open ♔ august castle socialization

[wynn]

WHO || Everyone! [ota]
WHAT || Shenanigans.
WHERE || Anywhere in the castle, surrounding environs, London, etc!
WHEN || Any time during August [back and forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam

[ The castle can be a happening place, even on more mundane days. This log is for random interactions over the course of this month.  Because not everyone is into parties, ok.  

You are encouraged to start your own threads and tag around, and feel free to threadjack into any on-going threads that aren't specified as 'closed' in the subject lines since people can enter into rooms even in the middle of what's going on. You can also specify 'single thread', meaning you want only one response for all participants, rather than multi-thread, where a number of different scenes/threads can be done as replies to the top prompt. ]

Comments

[necessaryevil]

Knew, you mean. And yeah. 'Course.

[lastdragomir]

Some of these paintings look centuries old.

[necessaryevil]

None of the ones I know. [ he nods towards a row of paintings labelled as former Dragon's Claws. this one in particular - an attractive middle aged human, with the name of "Sir Byron Ellison" engraved below. ] I remember our last Dragon's Claw though. The one before Jack.

[lastdragomir]

[Lissa hasn't met either of the esteemed Dragon's Claws, but she knows what they are and her eyes take in all the details of the portrait. He looked so young.]

I'm sorry.

[necessaryevil]

Don't be. We weren't close. Dragon's Claws rarely are, to anybody. He was the last exception to that rule.

[lastdragomir]

What do you mean?

[necessaryevil]

Meaning he had a family. Dragon's claws aren't supposed to have any personal connections, but Wynn had made an exception for Byron's father, who was the Claw before him. But after the way that ended, Wynn made it clear it was back to the old way - and he wouldn't be changing his mind again.

[lastdragomir]

But... How did it end?

[necessaryevil]

Sir Byron went missing in action on Andres Isle - home of the Knights public enemy number one, basically. His daughter... didn't handle it well. She had a lot of raw untrained psionic power and a chip on her shoulder. You do the math.

The Claws always end that way - their job is to take the missions that are all but impossible, so most of them don't live long. It's probably not a great idea for em to have young kids floating around anyway. Just gonna end with someone missing a mom or dad growing up.

[lastdragomir]

A lot of kids grow up without parents, though, regardless of what their parents do. It's not fair to exclude someone because they have a family -- firefighters have families, soldiers, police officers. The President has a family, Wynn has family. Personal attachments are impossible to escape, even if they're not so huge as family.

[necessaryevil]

I don't know if I'd bother to call Wynn personally attached to his family. I doubt any of them would claim as much. It's a pretty big family tree, far as I can tell, and most of 'em have been Knights, but he doesn't really bond with 'em anymore than with anyone else. Which is next to nada.

He expects the same from the Dragon's Claws. They're the guys who have to make the hard calls: sometimes in the field, they decide who lives, who dies. It's not just that it clouds the judgment to have them care more about certain people than others - it's that Wynn doesn't think it's fair to ask them to be impartial if it came down to letting someone they loved wind up screwed over.

Plus, I get the vibe that Wynn feels strongly about the whole no-romance angle for some personal reasons, but hell if any of us are gonna get that story out of him.

[lastdragomir]

[It's fairly obvious that Lissa is struggling to reconcile all that, but she is trying, sifting through it to try to understand. Because it's not just that Lissa disagrees with it, on a basic level she doesn't understand it. She is pulled to help people, it's in her nature to love and spread it. Love and beauty and kindness, that is what she was born to do, it is the most basic part of who she is: Lissa cares, even as a detriment to her own wellbeing.

So the concept of willingly giving up the chance to have some kind of love in her life is unfathomable, Lissa could never be a Dragon's Claw -- even if she didn't have Rose.]

But isn't that their choice? They know what they're getting into, he knew there was a possiblity that he would have to make those choices and he still agreed to his post.

[necessaryevil]

Wynn tries to avoid making those choices by keeping his distance from everybody. It's not that he doesn't care, but-- [ a shrug ] I guess it's his idea of professionalism.

He was probably more willing to compromise for the Ellisons because they both married non-Knights, I think. Wasn't as likely to cause some kind of disruption in the field, in theory.

[lastdragomir]

As opposed to if he had to choose the mission over his wife's safety... That makes sense. [Most begrudging admission.] Has there ever been a female Dragon's Claw? [Idle curiousity, as she doesn't want to be one and she doubts Rose would give up Dimitri... but Rose would be amazing. Though, arguably, Lissa is incredibly biased.]

[necessaryevil]

Oh sure. Plenty. Why, you looking to aim for the stars?

[lastdragomir]

[She laughs a little, almost nervously, and shakes her head.] No, no, I could never. I've just never heard of any. Though, I suppose I haven't heard about a lot of the Knights' past.

[necessaryevil]

[ he gestures at a portrait further up the line of a radiant looking bright-eyed woman, WHO YES, I ALSO CAST AS INTEGRA, BUT ONLY BECAUSE I NEEDED A LIVE ACTION VERSION OF HER FOR THIS GAME AND VESPERIA WAS LONG DEAD AND NONE OF Y'ALL WILL MEET HER, with unearthly looking reddish-blonde hair and a noble tilt to her chin. ] Vesperia Terra, actually the Dragon's Claw to hold the title for the longest period of time. Over sixty years, before she bit it. Thomas took over for her and I think he's about to overtake her record in the next couple years.

[lastdragomir]

You know a lot about them. [There is a question there, probably, but she is too busy moving closer to the portrait.]

[necessaryevil]

I've read the History in the library a few times. And people talk, if you're the type who listens.

[lastdragomir]

[She looks over her shoulder at him with a small smile.] I'm listening. [Do go on, sir.]

[necessaryevil]

What? You want a full retrospective? It's a long book.

[lastdragomir]

[She glances around at all the pictures and statues before looking back at Max and shrugging, curiosity plain on her expression.] It's a long hallway.

[Diplomacy 20 total.]

[necessaryevil]

Well, the Knights have been around over a thousand years. Figures. [ still, he nods to another portrait of a young man who a wisdom check of 18+ might even say bears a passing resemblance to fred jr., except that he has mr. fantastic style streaks in his hair, that are completely silver. ] Vaughan Rondel. Dragon's Claw before Richard Ellison. Last one of Wynn's family to hold the title so far.

[lastdragomir]

[She just notices, eyebrows knitting together. (Wis 18) "So far." Hmm. Did Fred want to go that route?]

That couldn't have been too long ago, could... I suppose some people have extraordinarily long lives though. [She still gauges time with a human lifespan, who knew how long people lived, that woman was Dragon's Claw for sixties years! Lissa can't see a wrinkled eighty year old out fighting monsters.]

[necessaryevil]

Depends: do you consider 1950 very long ago?