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

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

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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[For a girl that uses her ability to drive, her ability to put distance between her and the problem at hand -- being on lockdown is making her a little more claustrophobic. She knows that it's in her head. Which is why she's just trying to fill it with anything else at the moment. The library is an easy way out. She can try to escape in a book or in an instruction manual. Just something to occupy her thoughts.

She meanders through the stacks, a small pile of books in her arms.]

Robert Musil: The Man Without Qualities. I think I know that guy.

[He looks up from the book, a finger keeping his place on the page at her voice.]

Know him or know about him? [Look, it's a legit question, there were a lot of long-lived people in the Knighthood so it wouldn't have surprised him.]

This is the first of his works that I've read and I'm only in the introduction, but it's pretty interesting so far.

I'm Jordan, by the way.

[Cybill let's out a small laugh.]

No -- I meant, the man without qualities. I'm pretty sure I've dated a handful of them. [She moves toward him, setting the small pile of books down and dusting her hands off as if the books weren't kept up. Which she's sure they are.]

Cybill. Sorry, I didn't mean to snoop. I just didn't expect anyone else in here at this hour.

[He chuckles and a light blush stains his cheeks as he makes room for her stack of books in all the clutter he'd accumulated on the table. He gestures for her to take one of the empty chairs if she was so inclined.]

No, it's fine, I don't mind. [He shrugs, tapping a pencil on the open notebook in front of him that's covered in a tiny, very neat script.] I usually try to avoid being in big crowds. I also didn't expect anyone else here at this time.

[He just so happens to be avoiding certain people, what's your story?]

[She takes the offered seat and exhales in relief. It's not that she's that exhausted, but it's definitely one of those nights where staying busy means you don't realize just how long you've been walking until you sit down.]

I guess everyone is just going to start being in each other's way with everyone showing up here. [She pulls one of her books off the stack and frowns. Why did she grab that?] I just haven't been grounded since I was eight.

[He snorts as he glances curiously at the books she had chosen.]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the cabin fever is gonna get pretty bad by the time this is all done. I was out of the castle before the call went out, and I was pretty shocked at how full this place has gotten.

I'm waiting for someone to suggest pillow forts in the lobby. Then I know we've reached critical mass for cabin fever.

[She pauses.] It does sound fun, though.

[He's never built a pillow fort before, so he has no idea if they're really fun or not, but the idea is intriguing, to say the least.]

I have no experience with pillow forts, but the thought of Koraith trying to hide under a stack of pillows and sheets is quite entertaining. [He chuckles at the image]

I have to admit that I haven't done anything even close in years. I think the last time I made one was when I was still babysitting to earn money for the weekends.

[She stacks a few books up and tries to make a mock one.]

See, you just take existing structures and then drape blankets over them to create a tent. Then pillows go underneath and you pray that it all holds through the night. It takes a lot of skill.

[He has a very mathematical mind, you see, and he really likes to figure out how to make things work, and work well.

He also knows that building a huge pillow fort in the middle of the castle entrance, really anywhere in the castle, is probably not the best idea in the world. Especially with Hellsing descending upon them.]

I may have the perfect place to test out our architectural skills.

[Cybill looks up from her stack of books with disbelief. She hadn't really anticipated her idle commentary to turn into a plan of action.]

Wait -- you're serious? You want to go build a pillow fort somewhere in this place?

[She laughs, amused at the direction her late night library trip has taken.]

Alright, I'll bite. Where is this perfect place?

Sure, why not? You can only read for so long before you go crazy. [He looks a bit sheepish, but is determined now to see this through.]

Well, technically there are two really good places this could happen. But my first thought was in the secret passageway behind some of the rooms.

[The exact moment he says the words 'secret passageway' she slams her palm on the book in a library appropriate volume and rises up to her feet. Her chair scooting at a not-library-appropriate volume behind her.]

Lead the way. I'm so in. You said secret passages and I'm wondering why we aren't headed there already.

[See, for as long as Cybill has been here with the Knights she's only been exposed to a few of the secrets of the architecture. It's not exactly something people just discuss.]

[He chuckles as he collects his book, leading the way out of the library.]

It's interesting and perhaps a bit disconcerting that there are secret passages in the castle, especially for the fact that they run behind some of the bedrooms here. But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised with a castle as big and old as this.

[He pauses at a section of the wall, running his hand along a few marble panels before pausing to press on one. With a scrape of stone on stone, a section of the wall pushes back, then to the side as a passageway is revealed. He turns to her with a grin, flourishing his hands in a "voila" motion.]

When I was little, I loved Scooby Doo. I didn't realize how predictable it was, because I was more interested in the Mystery Machine and how they managed to keep it from getting stuck in every single muddy place they parked it in.

I should have paid more attention to the secret passages. All those paintings with eyes that moved.

[She watches him reveal the passage and she's so stoked.]

Yeah, this had to be fun for the contractor on this place. [She takes on a thicker, more fake sounding British accent, something distant from her own.] It needs more secret passages! Make more passages!

[He chuckles, stepping into the passage and allowing her ahead of him. It's black as pitch and after a moment she would see tiny, glittering lights dancing down into the darkness ahead of them, Jordan's outstretched hand directing them as a faint fall of glitter trails from his fingers.]

See? I figure this way it's nice and out of the way. Of course, we'll have to let the people whose rooms are on the other side know what we're doing so they don't think we're spying on them...

Or that they're room is haunted. [She smirks.] There aren't any paintings with the eyeballs cut out, are there?

Um... I don't think so? I've never actually been down here before. [His hand is trailing along the wall to one side applying pressure every few feet to see if there are any hidden doors or the like. Maybe if he was more of a prankster he'd take advantage and try to do a bit of spooking, but he wasn't so he wouldn't. What a bummer.]

I'm going to pay so much more attention to the paintings in this place, now. [She says it mostly to herself, but it's loud enough for Jordan to hear.]

How long have you been with the Knights?

Only a few years, not long at all. [Not considering how long-lived he was.] How about you?

Yeah, just a couple of years. [She remembers that her ceremony for becoming a squire was pretty small. Just a handful of people, but she knew that she needed to stop driving for criminals if she wanted to help her family out.]

It's been interesting, that's for sure.

You can say that again [his voice is bemused, thinking back to all that had happened since he'd come to Wynn for a position within the Knights.]

So, what brought you to the Knights?

Leaving my life of crime behind. [She recites it as if it's the throwaway line in a movie.]

No, but honestly, I race cars and it's hard to find a job that pays enough when that's your interest.

I probably would've just ended up as a Lyft driver or something, but I actually ran over a vampire. After my freak out - thinking I'd hit someone, I ended up with a Knight bailing me out of jail and offering me a job.

[His eyes light up, intrigued by her story.]

Really? I've never driven before, but I've always been fascinated with real drivers, not the kind that just go around a track.[Hopefully that wasn't the kind of racing she was talking about.] Though I suppose that does take a certain kind of talent as well.

You've never driven?

[Cybill can't even imagine that.] Not even a go kart?

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