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

[forcevisions]

Of course.

[ she steps aside immediately, awash in concern. ]

[highlyemotional]

You heard Solace's announcement?

[ obviously, she doesn't know why it was a question, everyone heard it. both of them. caroline slinks inside with none of her usual bouncy step. ]

Do you remember when I told you about my friend who didn't remember me? Her name is Elena Gilbert.

[ agent of hell. ]

[forcevisions]

... The traitor?

[ she doesn't know a lot about hell. she hasn't been here quite long enough, but she has been here long enough to pick up that it's Bad and solace's message was clear about no contact. ]

[highlyemotional]

[ shrilly: ] Apparently.

[ she frowns, chewing on her lip. ] Do you think it's stupid, that I tried to be her friend when she didn't remember me or care about me?

[forcevisions]

No.

[ said urgently. ]

She deserved a chance. You can't blame yourself because she refused it.

[highlyemotional]

What does it say about me that my best friend, my former best friend works for Hell?

[ probably that she's a monster. maybe her dad was right. a self-obsessed monster because of course she's making this about her. she didn't even stop to ask if rey was okay or how she was handling any of this. what a garbage friend. ]

[forcevisions]

Nothing.

[ she pulls caroline into a hug, pressing one hand to the back of her head to cradle it. ]

Caroline, you are the kindest person I've ever met. What she does, the choices she makes, they don't say anything about you.

[highlyemotional]

[ oh. oh. she should have come to rey first.

caroline tries so so hard to be good and kind and the opposite of what her nature tries to tell her to be. she wants to be friendly and well liked still and being an undead abomination shouldn't have to make that an either or, but she always feels like she's failing.

caroline sinks into rey's embrace, forcing herself to push away tears even if her chest feels like it's cracking open. for a long moment, she's at a genuine loss for words and when they come to her, they feel weak and small, not good enough. ]

Thank you.

[forcevisions]

I'm sorry you lost her.

[ she's allowed to mourn that, the same way han was allowed to miss his son. but they were both gone. some people, you couldn't bring back. ]

[highlyemotional]

[ caroline nods, clinging tightly to rey until she feels like she let go without bursting into tears. it takes probably too long to shove those feelings down because rey is so sympathetic, but eventually she breathes out a slow breath and straightens up. ]

I'm sorry I made her out to be more important than people that actually care about me.

[ read: rey, herself. ]

[forcevisions]

You have nothing to apologize for.

[ she says it with some insistence, pushing. she doesn't know if it will make a difference. she doesn't know how this is supposed to look. but she's figuring it out, a little bit at a time. ]

[highlyemotional]

I do, [ caroline insists, firm and determined. ] You've been the greatest friend to me since you got here and I've been too preoccupied with the past to pay attention to the present.

I'm sorry, Rey. Thank you.

[forcevisions]

I know what it's like. The past is ... hard to bury.

[ she squeezes caroline's arm. ]

It's a part of us. It's not wrong to need time to figure out what part and how much.

[highlyemotional]

I wi-- [ she cuts herself off, she wishes nothing anymore. fuck u, loki. ]

It'd be nice if there was a way to shut it off.

[forcevisions]

Alas.

[ no such luck. she withdraws and steps back, making herself more comfortable as she segues, ]

How are you doing? Aside from this business with your friend. I'd heard ... worrying things about our new guests from Hellsing.

[highlyemotional]

[ caroline takes a tiny bit longer to change conversations, looking at rey blankly for a moment. ]

What kind of things?

[ LOOK. she knows, her brain is just not too quick right now. ]

[forcevisions]

That they're dangerous.

[ there's almost an aggression in the way she says it. it comes across as, "haven't you been paying attention to things that want to kill you? you really should" instead of what it really is, which is disdain for hellsing and how they operate. ]

[highlyemotional]

Oh! Yeah, I'm on their list of things to hate. [ it's flat, little emotion behind it. ]

You know, vampires are an abomination, we're evil.

[forcevisions]

[ emphatically, ]

You're not evil.

[highlyemotional]

I know, I know. I'm a good person. I try to be a good person. I just have to prove to them that I'm a good person.

[ she is a good person! if she says it enough she will believe it! ]

[forcevisions]

You won't prove anything to them. It doesn't have anything to do with if you're good or not.

[ she's firm, now that she's talked to cora. ]

They don't think you're a person at all. And it's not your job to show them they're wrong. You stay away from them.

[highlyemotional]

They live here now, we have to train with them. I can't stay away from them unless I leave.

[forcevisions]

Then maybe we should. Leave.

[ it erupts out of her before she considers it fully. it's crazy, of course. but even after a breath, she leaves it hanging there. it's not only caroline's relationship to hellsing that has her thinking about it. it's all this ... tension. the jedi. ahsoka. jaina. all of it. ]

[highlyemotional]

[ for a moment, caroline looks taken by the idea, lips parted in surprise that rey would drop everything and leave with her. maybe... cora would understand, but who would have cora's back?

after a pregnant pause, caroline shakes her head, expression all apprehension and fragility. ]

We can't. Where would we go?

[forcevisions]

I don't know. Somewhere. Somewhere that they don't bring people in who kill your kind.