open ♔ castle farewell socialization

[sirsolace]

home - machine gun kelly, x ambassadors, bebe rexha

WHO || The Knights [ota!]
WHAT || The Knights prepare to depart for America
WHERE || The castle, London
WHEN || Directly after this is announced, Fall 2017
HOW || Actionspam

The acting Heads of the Knighthood - Hasmed and Solace - have made a decision that is not easy for many.  Given the terrible state of everything happening in America, they've decided to relocate operations entirely to the States, and have secured a facility near Las Vegas.  It is certainly possible, with the grim missions that lie before them, that many, or all, of the Knights may never return.  Reactions to the announcement are certain to be strong, but it's time to choose what they will bring with them to their new life - and for some, to decide if it's a journey they can bring themselves to take.

[ This is the social log for anything before the Knights relocate to Las Vegas ]

Comments

[ambitionist]

[ he follows after her, now with more low-key "please don't touch any of piffy's stuff jesus fuckin christ" energy. ]

What, feeling left out?

[hacker]

You're the one saying everyone's your type.

[ Those are the facts. She inventories the ingredients she can see and opens some cabinets and the fridge. ]

[ambitionist]

You could be my — hey, I just said don't touch anything! [ he tries to get between her and the fridge. a valiant effort. what a nerd. she'll never be his type at this rate 🤷 ]

[hacker]

What, did she spell the fridge door?

[ She looks dismissive. ]

Pretty sure nothing's going to explode if I open it and take a look inside.

[ambitionist]

That we know of. [ the raised eyebrows though. ]

Look, stop snooping around. We can talk about this later. Give me a couple days, and then ... I don't know. You can come back and pick me up.

[ you may think he's trying to rush her out the door, but consider: he does not want skye and piffy to exist in the same room. despite piffy being vaguely knight-aligned, she's still not entrenched in this nonsense.

just kidding, the most important thing is that if they exist together in the same space, they might combine forces to dunk on him. ]

[hacker]

Yeah, I get it.

[ Infringing on fuckfest 2018. She backs off, holds her hands up. ]

Give me a call when you're ready. I'll talk to the Director.

[ambitionist]

[ mm this sure does. feel weird. he's still trying compartmentalize a lot of emotions he doesn't really know what to do with. why do the hard labor of thinking about how your friend was a lie and she was acting like your friend when she was really only there to take notes for her secret organization when you could repress that betrayal until you die and never think about it again? it's a drake saying no / drake saying yes meme.

and yet, here he is, hopscotching over to her shady organization. he's not dumb enough to think that nobody will ever see him to wonder about it again, especially if they're consolidating. lying about it would be a waste of time.

the simple truth of it was that he had a price and she named it. business. we're all transactional here. ]

Sounds good. I will. [ when you could say thank you, but you're bad at this so you just make a soft face then say ] C'mon, get outta here.

[hacker]

Yeah, yeah.

[ She's out. At the very least, she has secured Alex to the Dark Side. That means he can't be mad anymore. Great. All of this is going great. She's got Sam. She's got Alex. Everyone else will obviously super duper come around. ]

[panaceum]

[ annnnd soon thereafter she comes in balancing a tray with two starbucks orders, dumping her keys in a little bowl by the door and closing the door with a hip ] I know, I'm a fucking sell out. Grande's yours, if you want it.

[ambitionist]

[ hoo boy. he had a very short amount to time to process his feelings about not getting to live his coffee shop au after all, and now the coffee shop au has come to him. with coffee. the sponsor of coffee shop aus everywhere, realistically.
]

I'll take it. [ is he a little bit of a coffee snob? yes, but he would never turn down free coffee. ] Hey, uh, not trying to freak you out, but we need to talk.

[ there's literally no good way to say "we need to talk." ]

[panaceum]

[ she goes to hand it to him and freezes with her hand halfway at the words, her eyes darting up towards his, more narrowed than widened with surprise. he gets the feeling that she automatically starts running worst case scenarios in her mind. ] Oh. Goody. [ the sarcasm is tightly bound with a casual bow. ]

[ambitionist]

I think I figured out what I wanna do. Already.

[ he clears his throat. this is hard. this right here is why he tries very hard not to form any kind of attachment to anyone. one night stands don't care if you fuck off into the night, never to be seen again. ]

Different organization recruited me while you were out. And I thought — I kinda wanted to just stick it out with you if the world was going to end. [ there's something soft and vulnerable in that admission. two things he hates being very much. ] But I don't think I can. Maybe making sure there's a world left is better.

[ does this sound too altruistic to actually be alex? just wait for it. ]

They think they could clean up my mess with the mob. I could go home.

[panaceum]

A girl can't walk around the corner without secret organizations popping out of the walls to recruit her boyfriend, huh. [ the deflection at least stalls her from having to react for a minute ]





Do you believe it?

[ambitionist]

I dunno. [ he thought about this, but he doesn't like anaylzing it too hard. rubbing his nose into the grain. and yet... here he is. ]

I think that if it is real, I'll regret passing it up. And if it's not, maybe it won't matter so much if this is all we got. Even if ... I really want to stay with you.

[panaceum]

You will. Regret it, I mean. You know it. I know it. It would make things pretty shitty around here. [ a long beat, as she crosses the room and exchanges her coffee for a pack of cigarettes, dumping one out with slightly shaking fingers ] For both of us.

Am I a terrible girlfriend if I tell you I don't want you to go anyway?

[ambitionist]

No. I'm the one who came here instead of fighting the good fight, right? I wanted to stay. But … yeah. You know. [ he doesn't know how to say "but i have to" again. ] We've been apart this long, right? We'll be okay.

[ then, 50% to diffuse the conversation and 50% because he'd actually like a smoke, he throws in ]

You got one for me?

[panaceum]

Here. [ she dumps out another one, and is so frazzled that it falls on the floor. she curses and bends down to pick it up, avoiding eye contact as she hands it over ] Here.

[ at least lighting her own gives her something to do ] Are you saying-- [ she still can't quite look at him, but she's having a hard time finishing that sentence ]

[ambitionist]

[ his face scrunches up a little like aw man you're gonna make me say it with my big adult words. he also... fiddles with the cigarette before lighting it. so he doesn't have to look at her immediately. they're mature adults. ]

I'm saying that... well, you know. I love you. [ he glances up to gage the reaction. ] And if there's a world left after all this shit goes down, I wanna come back to you. If you don't mind waiting.

[panaceum]

[ her reaction is hilariously neutral, in that the cigarette stills in her mouth, halfway between lighter flicks, her eyes widening the tiniest bit - although whether it's with panic, relief, or something else, it's really hard to say, because she seems frozen in place trying to process that for a moment.

finally, her forehead wrinkles together, and she pulls the cigarette out of her mouth, still unlit, staring at it as she says words out loud that seem to surprise her just as much ]

Oh I mind very much, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

You know I will.

[ she finally drags her gaze very slowly up towards his, where he can see the cascade of feelings there - the way she feels it too, and the way she hates this situation and is not ready to lose him, one way or another ] Because I love you too.

Way too much for my own good, apparently. [ she bridges the gap between them to just grab at the bottom edge of his jacket or shirt or whatever he's wearing, just to have something to hold onto ] Please come back. [ the words are simply stated, but it clearly compromises all her pride to say them, even if she keeps them as even as possible, her eyes searching his with firm resolution and faith ] I don't want to be a single cat mom.

[ambitionist]

[ he lets himself laugh a little bit. because that was a good tension-breaker. piffy diffused some of the emotions in this conversation — because there were clearly too many. he's also feeling a cascade; is the chuckling from humor or an almost-breakdown? ]

What, you don't want my cat to remember me by?

[ nah, he can't do it. can't be chill. he falls back into his more sincere and soft voice. ]

I'll come back. I promise.

[panaceum]

[ even though part of her wants to push it away too, she's more grateful than she expected when he says those words with gravity. her fingers curl into the fabric that she's clutching, pulling closer to him as she looks up, studying his face openly as she weighs whether she believes it or not. in the end, she seems satisfied, and lifts up to kiss him, one hand lifting to the side of his neck. ] Ok. [ it's accepting, not dismissive, and while it sounds a bit anti-climactic, it's apparently all she can muster. she turns her head, leaning into him. ]

[ambitionist]

[ his heart skips a beat when she stares at him, because it sends him on a spiral of wondering if she believes him or not. (she wouldn't be completely off-base not to; he knows this about himself. he'd deserve the doubt.)

but it's fine. "okay" is fine. he'll take it. eat that love kernel like a whole bowl of popcorn. he returns the kiss and lets her rest her head against him. she's warm. ]

Okay.