krozna ♔ our wrongs remain unrectified

[dragonsclaw]

♫ The Fog - Zulya

WHO || Failboat, Mikhail Kalachnik, ?? ??  [closed]
WHAT || The Ex-Knights of Failboat arrive at Krozna
WHERE || Krozna, Russia
WHEN || 2 days after LA
HOW || Actionspam or prose

Sidelined from the mission that has been many of their lives for years, the group who had once stood against Keijen Blade has made a dangerous gambit - they've decided to leave the Knighthood, knowing they may never be allowed to return.  With them, have gone Sam and Dean Winchester, and Faith Lehane.  Their destination?  A distant monastery overlooking the village of Krozna, in the Ural Mountains.   This hidden location was home to many Shadowkind who did not wish to deal with the prejudice that their appearance might force upon them out in the world, particularly in Russia.  Wynn had apparently established a location here for Knights that broke the rules of the Knighthood so extremely to reflect upon their crimes, or for those whose powers made it impossible for them to live out in civilized society.

This monastery of misfits is run by a man named Mikhail Kalachnik, a willing exile who volunteered for the position, a man vouched for as trustworthy by both Jack Chessing and Finnick Odair.  It is here that the former Knights will set up a base of operations from which they intend to rescue Rafael Giovanni, research a way to stop Keijen Blade, and take him down once and for all, along with the evil Mind Master.  

But first, they must get to know the exiled Knights with whom they will be sharing this hideout...

Comments

[selfexile]

Of the Eighth Hell? [ he looks over at dom like wtf is happening but dom looks like he's got no fucking clue and is p skeptical about all this ]

[attollores]

[She sees the look Rose gives the tumbler, topping hers off and anyone else who looks like they need another drink. And nearly choking on hers at the revelation of who exactly Des is married to. She very vaguely remembered seeing them together at Vi and Luthir's wedding...

Some of this was known to her and Mark, but... not near the half of it. Not near enough. The bitter taste of bile stings the back of her tongue and she takes another swallow of the whiskey quickly. She may not know all the ins and outs of the Christian Pantheon, being one to normally worship her own gods and goddesses, but with a Knowledge Religion check of 22 she sure knows enough of the generalities to understand the extent of their betrayal.]

What? [it's uttered softly, not really directed at anyone present, the slow burn of some strong emotion coloring her tone.

She doesn't seem able to say anything else, unwilling to say anything else, intent on getting the full story finally.]

[littledhampir]

Yes. [Her sombre tone matched only by the seriousness of her expression.] Nine layers of Hell, nine Archdevils.

[Rose doesn't waste her time trying to convince Dom and Mikhail of what she is saying, instead focusing her attention on Alainn. There's a thousand things she wants to say in that moment, but none of them seem appropriate with an audience. There was so much she still had to explain, so much she wished she didn't.]

To get even that much out of Kyp... I had to promise him that I wouldn't hand him over to The Knights. Obviously, I wasn't about to let him go, he still had to pay for what he did. Plus, we couldn't afford for it to get back to Elena and Des that we knew he was alive, let alone that we had him. Given what Kyp knew and how hard they'd worked to keep this from us... We had to figure out how to deal with him without anyone knowing. That's where... Mark and Alainn came in.

[nosdacariad]

[ mark is still trying to wrap his head around this shit but he will add: ] ... You know we wouldn't have kept this secret if we didn't trust Rose so much. We figured the secrecy was... temporary, at least.

[littledhampir]

And it was necessary. It was the only way we could think to keep everyone safe. Even if nobody was going to run straight to Elena and Des... If anyone so much as mentioned Kyp's name without Dean being around, it would have put their lives in danger.

[Rose nodding towards Mark and Alainn.]

So once we had Kyp secured, we went back to Wynn and told him everything. He agreed it had to be kept secret. [Here she looks at Jack now, ever the Wynn-Stan.] Not lightly, not because he wanted to but because there was an Archdevil actively meddling with The Knights. Because whatever it was, was so big that Angels were trying to send warnings and because we suspected, as we now know, that Lucifer was involved as well. If Hell had even the slightest idea we were on the right track then we might never have found out how far this had gone.

[likedillinger]

We were trying to figure out how far this had all gone. That was how we found out Helen was involved, but she wanted to protect both of them. For all we know, she probably tipped them off that we were figuring something out. Something had to trigger their coming out party.

[littledhampir]

She didn't deny it when I confronted her with it. [That was as good as a confession to Rose. ]

Hell get away with their shit because people like Helen, even members of this group assume that it can't possibly be that bad if people like Elena and Des are involved with them. They're wrong. They're Fiends. They admitted themselves that they're hundreds - thousands of years old. Any loyalty they may have once had for us and the Knights, died right along with them when they chose Hell. We're all just, people they used to know in a life that isn't theirs anymore and their interest in this mission? We would be naive and stupid to believe they want to be involved without Hell having a stake in this somehow.

[chessing]

So the question becomes... how does Hell benefit from our defeating Blade?

[familybusiness]

If there's some big up and coming god-like power, I'm sure they want to have a handle on that. Evil doesn't usually like competition, especially if they can't control it.

[It's just a theory, but one he doubts doesn't play a part in it at least.]

[littledhampir]

That... and I don't think this has anything to do with Blade... I think it's about the Mindmaster.

[But she doesn't seem like she has any real idea what that could be.]

I think there's plenty they're conveniently not telling us. Why else would the Queen of Hell be taking time out to tag along with us?

[dragonsclaw]

The way she told it, it seemed like a personal score to settle with the Mind Master.

[littledhampir]

And we believe a single word that comes out of her mouth? [ Looking at Jack for a long, hard moment as if giving him time to consider that question. ] She's been lying to us for more than three years, not to protect us but so she can just do whatever she wants without consequences.

[likedillinger]

There's two ways this could go: either they're benefiting from this in some way we can't see yet, or they're lying about wanting to help us, period.

[littledhampir]

[She almost looks relieved to have Dean here to back her up on this. As if his affirmation was making her look less like the crazy, bitter, jaded ex-best friend.]

The fact that they're pushing so hard to be involved, makes me think the former.

[selfcombust]

Not that I'm missing the implication that this is helping out Hell, or whatever, but if Jack is serious about going up against a god, maybe this isn't a terrible time for "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", especially when said enemies sound pretty powerful in their own right.

[littledhampir]

[Rose just stares at Dom for a long moment.]

Are you sure you're not missing that implication? [Gaze lingering for a moment longer before she seems to relent, just a little.] We can't stop them from forcing their way in at every possible turn, but we can control how much information they get from us, how close we allow them to be. If we defeat Keijen just to allow Hell a chokehold on our people? Then we've won the battle but lost the war.

[selfexile]

You said they have mindreaders. What kind of information are you trying to protect?

[littledhampir]

This place for one. That we know about Kyp in case it puts people at risk. Anything involving Dean, Sam or myself.

[Rose glances at Dean, her lips pressing into a thin line, every concern she has revolving around him but she wasn't about to share that with anyone.]

Des... wormed his way into every corner of my life. He befriended me and pushed me to talk about things I don't discuss with anyone. He involved Helen - the closest thing to a mother I've ever known. Anastacia, the mother of one of my best friends, while my ex-best friend is now a Fiend and the Queen of Hell. I'm not saying this is all about me, but I don't believe in coincidences, not that many. I want him and Hell, as far away from me and mine as I can possibly manage.

[familybusiness]

Hell wasn't exactly leaving me alone either, only they came at me from a totally different angle.

[He shakes his head, still clearly bothered by that turn of events. He should have seen it coming. Maybe he did and tried to pretend it wasn't there.]

Rose is right, though. If they want in bad enough, they'll do it one way or another. We just have to figure out the best way to keep the line drawn so that when it's over, it's over.

[dragonsclaw]

Meaning no one should be having any contact with them that isn't reported to all of us.

[littledhampir]

[ Every time Rose starts to gear up to have an argument, Jack opens his mouth and says the most reasonable thing imaginable, the act of doing so surprising her given... her history.

She gapes for a moment, quickly dialling back the fight she was preemptively waging in her mind, tension releasing from her shoulders as she slides the glass of fire whiskey towards her once more. ]

Well... yeah. Exactly. [ With that, Rose picks up her glass and again drains the contents, more in relief now than to bolster herself. She didn't really think she was going to get away without explaining more of all this at some point, but at least the worst of it was over for her. ]

[selfexile]

So the question becomes... how to be sure that's happening.

[familybusiness]

Well, we've got our own mind reader on the way. It's not ideal, but we might need to rely on her, just in case.

[Spying isn't the best so far as trust issues go, but it's better than not knowing at this point.]

[likedillinger]

Assuming we can trust her.

[attollores]

We can trust her [it's said softly, almost absently, but with conviction. They had to be able to still trust people, they just had to. Her stubborn optimism refused to believe everyone was suspect, but that optimism was taking a beating as this meeting continued.

She had been silent as Rose and Dean explained what they needed to explain, questions forming and dancing on her tongue, going unasked as the conversation went places she was having a hard time following. Her grasp of the religious aspect was solid, the revelation of the existence of Hell as a real place, actually, there being nine Hells, not coming as a particular surprise to her. Her own faith had good and evil gods that she believed in with no qualms, therefore the existence of the human equivalent was unsurprising.

What was giving her optimism a run through the gamut, what was really tying her up in knots, was the depth of betrayal that had been among them for these past years. Elena she really didn't know, she'd had no personal stake in her friendship.

Des, on the other hand... As Rose had said, he had wormed his way into her life, crying friend and taking information from her in the name of helping, being a shoulder to lean on. He had done the same with Alainn. She had told him things, personal things, about herself, her feelings for Mark before they were more than friends. And still, the things he had gotten from her was nothing compared to what he had done to Rose. He and Elena both.

The pain held in her eyes can't be hidden as she trains her gaze on Rose, occasionally going to Dean, but her main focus is on her friend. There is compassion, anger, hurt and not a little bit of rage burning in her heart, shining through her gaze. She had wanted to understand what was going on, why they had been doing as they had been, and Rose had asked for nothing but trust and time. She should have asked sooner, she should have involved herself more, should have done more, but should have's wouldn't turn back the clock.

She had been so caught up in everything to do with Mark and Andres and trying to help him to heal his home and nation that she had been negligent in the other areas of her life.

She only hopes that Rose could find it in herself to continue to trust her.]

I'm sorry. [It's soft, brief, and the only thing she can think to offer at the moment. She needs time to process everything that had just been revealed. She still had so many questions she wanted to ask, so many things she wanted to hash out, but that would come later. For now, they were all exhausted, they all needed to rest and recharge.

She needed time to think.]