chapter five ♔ it'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down

[eldritchweaver]

the blues - switchfoot

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || Failboat returns from the disaster in LA as the Knighthood goes on lockdown
WHERE || The castle, London
WHEN || Directly after this, Fall 2017
HOW || Actionspam

Hasmed's announcement does not brook any rebuttal: all Knights are recalled to the Castle, where they must remain until the Section Heads and Jack Chessing have spoken about the events in Los Angeles that have left the Knighthood without their usual leader.  

The entire Los Angeles area is now covered with a dark miasma that has interfered with any signals that might be sent out from phones, etc., leaving the whole world wondering what exactly is happening down there.  Final images showed horrendous monsters, a panic of citizens, looting and violence from humans and Shadowkind alike.  

Hasmed has warned of extra magical wards on the castle, and anyone arriving will immediately take notice of one very prominent one: above the entire roof of the excessively large building hovers a black and red sigil in the air, a pentagram in a circle surrounded by runes or words in an unknown language, stretching for miles.  

[ This is the social log for post-LA lockdown.  Failboat must complete the top log before being allowed to tag outside of it. ]

Comments

rey (after solace's announcement) | ota

[forcevisions]

[ There's no contesting Solace's passion for the cause, and that at least is inspiring, but Rey has seen passionate men before, fervent about a cause that could not be more wrong. It worries her. Sticks in her teeth like gristle that irritates her every move.

Is this not what she signed up for? Is she not a weapon for their cause?

But Wynn is gone, and even Jack Chessing has been removed from his post. Perhaps the Order is not what she swore her oaths to.

It troubles her to see the uncertainty that hangs over the castle. It's a fog, thick and distracting and muddling Rey's own commitment. She stares into the training room. Soon it won't feel like theirs anymore. She doesn't know the name Hellsing, but she knows it's someone outside the Knighthood.

She tries to push through it, to find peace in practicing her forms. Luke's lightsaber ignites, warm and steady in her palm, and she cycles through a series of practice stances, trying to push indecision from her mind. ]

[nojedi]

[It didn't take Ahsoka long to pack up everything she owns. She's not a Jedi anymore. But she still hasn't gotten over the habit of not owning much. Packing took less time by far than deciding to leave had.

She's ready to leave. But she's drawn up short by the sight of a very familiar blade.

Odd enough to see a lightsaber around here. Stranger still that she knows this one.]

Where did you get that lightsaber?

[forcevisions]

[ she lowers it, looking ahsoka over for a silent moment. she's never seen a togruta in person before, but she knows they come from her side of the galaxy. it takes some consideration to decide the right answer. ]

Takodana. [ she looks down at it, dimming the blade. ] From a woman named Maz Kanata. Why?

[nojedi]

It was my Master's. [She doesn't know of Maz Kanata or Takodana, but it's a big galaxy. There are a lot of things she doesn't know. Though how Anakin's lightsaber would end up with someone she's never heard of is yet another mystery.

She takes her eyes off the lightsaber, taking a look at the woman who wields it instead. The Force is clearly strong with her, but she's no one Ahsoka knows. Not from before.]

Anakin Skywalker.

[forcevisions]

[ anakin, huh?

she doesn't know the name, but she does have basic reasoning skills and a memory of maz kanata's introduction to the blade: luke's, and his father's before him. ]

He passed it to his son Luke. One day, if I can find a way, I'll return it to him.

[realists]

[ between poe and finn, obviously jyn knows that people from her part of the galaxy are stuck on this pre-space rock. she doesn't really expect to find more, but she also doesn't expect to find a lightsaber. jedi are basically fairy tales already, even if their extermination happened during her life.

admittedly she was two and has zero memory of it, but her mother's faith was r e a l. saw on the other hand thought they were a waste, that any of them left wouldn't be of any use fighting the empire.

and then there were the guardians. ]

Are you a Jedi?

[ her arms are crossed, leaning against the wall, watching rey with a carefully controlled expression of neutral curiosity. ]

[forcevisions]

The Jedi are gone.

[ she keeps swinging the saber. jaina might disagree, but from rey's perspective, it was accurate to her time. but then,
once she might have called the whole thing a myth, too. they could still return. ]

I don't know what I am.

[ it's frank because she's reached a point of not knowing how to be anything else about it. she is something in between. ]

[realists]

[ the jedi are gone but she has a lightsaber. ]

Misplaced, [ jyn offers. that's what she is. a girl with a lightsaber stuck on a planet with zero reasonable space flight technology (but also dvr, which is amazing?)

her hand comes up to tangle in her necklace. what is she? a girl raised as a warrior with no war to fight? ]

[forcevisions]

You too, it sounds like.

[ she slows, lowers the saber and looks at jyn. ]

What do you know about the Jedi?

[impetere]

[Cora has also been taking up space in the training room, pounding out her frustration on a punching bag. She has not exactly had a great twenty-four hours and needs to let out some of her anger somewhere before Hellsing arrived and she would have to keep herself in check even more.

No matter how much Dovan reassured her, she still didn't trust them.

Her fists continued to pound hard until she wears herself out and needs to take a step back. That's when she turns and sees Rey, and her face blanches for a moment.]

Sorry.

[forcevisions]

For what?

[ rey lowers the saber and turns to look at her, brow furrowed. ]

[impetere]

If I was bothering you.

[The heavy bag is still swinging wildly behind her, and she reaches out with one hand to try and steady it.]

I was just being kind of loud. Never mind.

[forcevisions]

It's a training room.

[ she realizes this does not explain properly, and tries again. ]

I didn't come for quiet.

[ no, now it just sounds rude and rebuffing of her apology. she tries one more time, waving to the spot on the mat in front of her. ]

Do you want to try with something that hits back? I can put the saber away.

[flyingsolo]

[ there's the buzzing sound of another lightsaber igniting, as jaina slides into doing forms nearby ]

You seem tense. [ it's not that jaina isn't, not with everything going on. but there's something strangely familiar about all this, something ... that feels oddly like home ]

[forcevisions]

[ that prompts her to think about it. she sighs as she shifts to her next form. ]

What happened to the Jedi? [ where did they go? why did they disappear? maybe it's that she's worried the same thing, whatever it is, is happening to the knights. ]

[flyingsolo]

[ she pauses for a moment, lowering her blade ] Why is that on your mind?

after hellsing, makes my own starter

[highlyemotional]

[ caroline had avoided after solace's announcement. avoided everything. it's not every day you find out your childhood best friend is an agent of hell and that was just too much for caroline to even contextualize until hellsing actually showed up and forced her to deal with everything.

which finds her standing in front of rey's door, knocking softly. she'd listened to make sure rey was in there, like a creep. ]

It's Caroline.

[forcevisions]

Caroline?

[ rey comes to the door. her room is no longer sparse, as it once was. computer and other machine parts litter the floors, half-assembled. there are grease-stained clothes slung over whatever surface was handy.

she opens the door. the air is tacky like tar and humming with electricity. she frowns. ]

What's wrong?

[highlyemotional]

[ caroline is compelled to clean, but she's too preoccupied by everything else to do more than glance idly around at the mess. ]

Can I come in?

[militarized]

[It's been a couple days since they last talked, and things have only gotten worse. The only bright spot had been Gus telling him that Felicity was alive, but there wasn't anything else he knew. He hadn't been able to talk to her. He didn't even know if she was in the castle, just that she would have been considered compromised with the rest of her team.

Maybe she bailed.

He knows she's there, in the training room, from the noise. It's a lightsaber, after all, and she's the first person that comes to mind when he hears one.

Well, her and someone else, but that other person isn't here, fortunately.

She seems hyper-focused, and he waits until she pauses for longer than a moment to say anything.]

I figured you might be here.

[forcevisions]

[ she slows her downward slash in the completion of a set of positions and turns to glance at him. ]

Any news?

[militarized]

They brought her back. Her friend Gus told me.

[He looks relieved and bothered all at the same time.]

I haven't seen her yet, though. It's like she's not here, cuz she's not in the infirmary and I haven't run into her anywhere. [He shrugs his shoulders, though.] She's probably just resting. Totally understandable.

[So that's 'fixed,' but everything else is still messed up.]

closed to vane and finn

[forcevisions]

[ After her conversations with Jyn, Ahsoka, and Jaina, Rey is scattered. Frequently distracted and secretive, she seems lost in thought, even morose, a surprising departure from her usual pragmatic, action-oriented mindset.

It's not an uncommon mood, in the current climate of the castle, but it's particularly unusual for her.

She tries to slip off quietly after the morning training session, at first it looks like she might just be heading to her room, but she heads down the stairs into the dungeons. She's moving quickly, and it looks like she might be trying to keep from being seen.

She comes to a stop in front of Vane's cell. ]

[militarized]

[To his credit, he wasn't trying to follow her. With everything going on around the castle, though, he's been kind of sticking to her side sometimes, if only because she knows at least in part what suddenly having a military organization all up in your business might do to him.

He's not super into it, in other words.

He's not blind, though. She's not quite herself these days, but who among them really is, right?

He sees her heading out of one of the training session, and he follows after her without a second thought. He doesn't even think anything is weird until she starts heading down to the dungeons.

Still, he doesn't think anything too off about it. Surely she wouldn't be trying to keep something a secret. He's just curious as to what she's up to down here.]

[throughvictory]

[ vane sits still in the center of her cell, folded into a seated position, eyes closed.

she speaks up as rey approaches, without opening them ] There is great turmoil in this place.

In you.