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

[crashing]

[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?

[wishuponadjinn]

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.

[crashing]

[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.]

[wishuponadjinn]

[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.]

[crashing]

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!

[wishuponadjinn]

[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...

[crashing]

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

[wishuponadjinn]

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.]

[crashing]

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?

[wishuponadjinn]

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

[crashing]

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.

[wishuponadjinn]

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?

[crashing]

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.

[wishuponadjinn]

[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.

[crashing]

You've never driven?

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

[wishuponadjinn]

[He shrugs, not bothered by her incredulity. There were a lot of things he'd never had a chance to experience, growing up where he had.]

Not even a go-kart. There aren't cars where I come from, and I've never had a need to learn here.

[crashing]

[She nods, considering what he says.]

Huh. [She shrugs it off.] Do you want to learn? I've taught other people, before.

[wishuponadjinn]

[His eyes light with delight at the offer, a startled laugh coming from him.

The only other person who had offered had been his sister Fiona, and she was by far the worst person he could think of to try and teach anyone how to do something so scary.]

Yeah, sure, that'd be great! I'd really like that, thanks.

[oh hey look, they've reached the end of the secret tunnel, the wall ending smoothly at what they can assume is the wall of the castle perhaps.]

[crashing]

Sure, I mean, once we're off castle arrest we can get started.

[She looks at where they are, having no real idea of where to orientate herself to. It feels like she can sort of figure it out, but it's been a lot of weird unknown halls.]

[wishuponadjinn]

Yeah, that sounds great, thanks. My sister Fiona is the only other person to offer to teach me and I declined for my own safety.

[He chuckles, shaking his head at the memory.]

[crashing]

[She laughs.] Is she a road hazard?

[wishuponadjinn]

Well, let's just say, if she is driving, it's usually not the road she's paying attention to. The last time I rode with her she scared ten years off my life, and I don't really want a repeat of that.

[crashing]

Yikes. See, maybe I should offer her driving lessons too. I really hate that all the good drivers have to do twice the work. Driving their own car and keeping an eye on the rest of them.

[wishuponadjinn]

If you can find her, you're more than welcome to try [he says, giving a negligent shrug, as if her being missing wasn't really a big deal. And with Fiona, it probably really wasn't.

He looks around at the secret passage they're in, giving a tiny chuckle.]

Well, are we still interested in constructing this grand masterpiece?

[crashing]

I am, but we didn't bring any supplies. [It's a good spot for it, plenty of walls to anchor things to and enough space to get in and out without knocking a head about.]