Countess Lara Tamon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
affianced) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
knightsoflegend2014-08-20 12:52 am
affianced) wrote in knightsoflegend2014-08-20 12:52 am
andres ♔ but what he told me last night lays on me like lead
♬ dear ophelia - abney park
WHO || Buffy, Myri, Finnick, Spike, Kat, Gar, Archer, Des, Rafael, Fred Jr., Vi, Rocket, Lara, Dimitris [Closed]
WHAT || A diplomatic mission to Andres Isle goes about as successfully as one would guess
WHERE || Andres Isle
WHEN || August 15th [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.
Even the briefing for this mission went well, with Wynn walking in on Dragon's Claw Jack Chessing macking on Sir Gar, in direct violation of his vows of, er, abstinence, both romantically and physically. Following the briefing, and the team's attempts to make Wynn see reason in the face of Jack's resignation, they gathered up a large amount of weapons of all kinds into their private plane and took off for Andres Isle.
Upon arrival, they found the island did not match up to their expectations. Instead of fields of torture, they found themselves in a very upscale part of the city, full of affluent manor houses close to the palace. They spun a cover story upon learning about a party there, using Finnick's celebrity on Andres to get access to the festivities.
Inside, they met Dimitris Sarandis, Prime Minister of Andres Isle, who invited them to stay for the party, which was being thrown in honor of Countess Lara Tamon, who had helped Jack, Spike and Myri escape from their torment on the Isle. They took the opportunity to chat up the local aristocracy, picking up the vibe that most of them had either benefited from Dimitris' rise to power, or were too afraid to stand up to him. Spike talked to the Marquesse de Lyons, and learned that her son, Percy, had been a friend of the late Prince's, and had died shortly after voicing his belief that Sarandis had framed the Andres family in order to seize power. Archer was shocked to find his manservant Woodhouse employed at the palace, and extra annoyed to learn that he didn't remember him. For once, Archer found a reason to care about liberating the Andresians... if not purely for selfish reasons.
The party itself was to announce the breaking of the betrothal that had long stood between Lara and the late Prince, even after his death, a blemish on the reputation of the Tamon family that Sarandis sought to rectify by arranging a new betrothal: between Lara and her childhood friend, Lord Michael de Collines (aka Michael Collins). Neither of them seemed particularly thrilled about the arrangement. Lara managed to sneak a message to Myri to meet her that night under the bridge.
Following the announcement, the gang went to speak to Sarandis in private and find out his demands for the safe return of Sir Thomas Bancroft. He wasted no time in making clear his position - he painted the Knight's vigilante attitude towards policing the world as the ultimate evil, and warned that no more Knights would set foot on Andres, lest they be killed. He also demanded that Wynn himself bring the artifact Excalibur to the island to give to him - so that Dimitris could behead Wynn in exchange for Thomas' life. The demands were met with outrage by the Knights, and in the face of their fear that Thomas was not even still alive, Sarandis agreed to let one of them stay the night to speak with the Dragon's Claw. He specified that Kat be the one to stay, and despite protests, she agreed, and convinced Gar to let her stay.
The other Knights headed back into town, where Gar, Fred Jr., and Vi headed to the nearby hotel to wait to hear from Kat, and be ready in case they should need to reach the palace quickly. The others headed to the bridge across the river, where they met with Lara and her friend Lord Dana Green, another of her childhood friends. They explained the situation on the Isle, and how many of the younger generation wished to see things returned to the way they'd been before, but the challenges they faced in doing so seemed almost insurmountable to them. Lara expressed her fears that toppling Sarandis' rule would only wind up putting Andres in an even worse position. They also related how Dimitris had created programs and taxes that had basically banished Shadowkind to the other side of the river and left them all but destitute, all while pumping more and more money into the coffers of the rich, particularly those serving on his Parliament. She secured the Knights' promise to help in every way they could, and Myri asked her to show the way back into the woods where she'd found them before.
Finnick, Archer, and Rafael crossed the bridge into the Shadow village to do some recon, and spoke with a local tavern owner/dwarf who related that people down here were turning up missing more and more often - likely to feed Dimitris' experiments in the woods. They seemed largely disheartened, but could potentially be talked into fighting if giving the means to do so.
In the woods, the others ran across a strange talking raccoon named Rocket, who was running for his life from a beholder, which the party managed to take down. They discovered that Rocket had escaped from captivity in Dimitris' labs, and he was none too happy at the prospect of going back, even to show them where it was. They argued briefly over the best course of action - whether the break out would be the best or worse time to try to make their way into the lab, particularly given that Dimitris had Kat as well now.
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Okay, seriously. Stop. I think we need to get our heads together before we go back in there and think this through, because if we bullrush the hotel with some bullshit plan, Gar's gonna throw a British shitfit.
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[She leans down a bit to get more on Rocket's level. She really doesn't mean to be condescending. Sorry about her Disney princess life.]
You'll be safe with her, Mr. Raccoon. I can promise you that.
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so in awe of your life, Myrilandel.
The sort of awe one feels when you have no idea if a person is even real or not.]
Rocket. [Very. Slowly. Because Myri, you might be touched in the head.] It's Rocket. [A tad bit more impatiently. Deep healing breaths, Rocket. Deep healing breaths. Except where he's just getting progressively louder.] Not vermin, not rodent, not Mr. Raccoon. Rocket. Is everyone happy now? You got a name you can use.
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[ Realtalk. Sorry, Rocket, you're a fucking raccoon, and their friends are still kidnapped. Your name is literally the bottom of her priority list. Actually, it's subzero.
She addresses Des instead of continuing to deal with the vermin. ]
Myri's right. And besides, if Sarandis wants him, I say all the more reason we take him as far away as possible. [ Right now, fucking him over is the extent of her plan since she wasn't able to raid the facility. ] We have a plan. We grab Rafael and Finnick, [ archer is optional, ] and we get back to the hotel to find out if they've got news about Kat. Win or lose, we keep looking for another way in there with everyone together, because there's no way we're leaving this island without our people.
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[Spike leers at Rocket for a moment, then turns back to Buffy.]
Gar's the smart sort. She can help us figure out the details. Standing around chatting won't get us any closer to busting Thomas out.
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[Des sighs and steps forward, giving Buffy a pleading expression.] Look. I admit I came here looking for a fight- I knew I wouldn't get one, because Sarandis plays dirty, but I was hoping I'd see the bastard pay for what he did to Myri. But this don't end tonight- it doesn't matter what he says. Look at us- we're more than willing to toss Marian's advice out the door, but we're listening to a crackpot like Sarandis when he gives us an order? Fuck that.
Lara and her little revolutionaries are the ones who are gonna have to take this island and they're the ones who have to live in the ashes of what we destroy if we fuck up. We have to help them- that's why I wanted to come out here tonight. To show them where they need to start looking, so they can get proof of what he's doing. We have to beat Sarandis at his own game and that means not rising to his bait. It means going after him where it hurts- show these people the man he really is. Show the whole damn world who he really is.
I'll tell you what's gonna happen if we go up against him tonight- he'll win. He'll get us with every inch of red tape he can find and choke us all with it and then he'll bury us somewhere no one can find us. Then he'll send Thomas's head home in a box. I'm telling you- he's got the chips in his favor. He had a jailbreak. He had a bunch of assholes who showed up
without invitation. We're interlopers. We're gonna get screwed no matter where we step if we don't step lightly.
[He sighs again and runs a hand over his face.] There are some battles you can't fight with your fists and your bullets. And Blondie, I know where you're comin' from- I do. You feel helpless. You feel like you've let them win. You feel like you've got something to prove. But you're not helpless. And by not barging in trying to save two people who might not even need to be saved right this second, you're gonna help save this entire island. You don't have to prove you're strong- I know you are. Sometimes being strong is knowing when you're outclassed and figuring out how to do things the right way.
We've got one grade-a revolutionary here somewhere. And you've got me- I saw the Civil War. I know how this shit ends, but I also know what comes after and what comes before. There's gonna be a war no matter what, but it doesn't need to start tonight. Buffy, please. Think this through. Don't let that bastard make you believe we don't have any options, because we do.
[(Diplomacy 35) Damn, son.]
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yet??] Thank you. [ the words are overflowing with sincerity as she takes a step forward, and puts a hand on his arm. she turns to look across the others. ] We aren't expecting anyone to do this for us. Some of us have been trying, for years now, to make what difference we can. But there are so few of us, and living in the middle of it every day, with no access to the kind of supplies we might need or-- [ she stops, frowning, as she looks at myri ] We'll do everything we can to fight for our home. We want that chance.no subject
So the fact that he’s trying to persuade her personally as if she has said something at odds with any of what plan he had proposed is outright irritating. Not only does she feel turned on, but she’s been cornered and put on the spot for something she can’t help but feel didn’t begin here.
Biting that resistance back, she still drops her voice to a hard snap. ]
If you think you’re gonna convince me that leaving here without Thomas is the right thing to do, you can save it. That is never going to happen.
[ She’s not saying she won’t do it, but it will never sit well with her. She’ll never feel right about it. And if he makes her do it anyway, if he helps them outvote her? She’s holding that one against him personally.
This isn't about Andres or Sarandis or any of the politics of it. She doesn't give a damn about their revolution one way or the other right now, because Des is right; it's a larger fight, it's one that they need to support the revolutionaries on, and it's one that they'll have better luck with if they play the long game. But she doesn't leave people behind, especially not friends. ]
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That's myri's phone and def not her vibrator. She checks it quickly.]
Vi says they've heard from Kat. We should go.
[Arguing can happen anywhere tbh.]
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Rocket's just over here. Muttering to himself.]
This is what I'm putting my hopes on gettin' off this rock on.
This. [Facepalm]
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An unstoppable fire monster that's probably still there and looking to make some fried raccoon. And they don't even know if that's the worst of it.
Rescuing Thomas right now, with no idea of where he's being held or anything even close to a plan, would be suicide, and worse, it would be pointless. He's got no problem throwing his own life away needlessly, but there are people here he cares about. Buffy included, even if she's being extra pigheaded right now.
When Myri speaks up, he nods sharply, stalking out of the woods and towards the hotel.]
Then let's go. I'm sure she's got lots to share with us.
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[That's all he has to say to that. Headed out now. Rocket's just hang out by this bridge with Lara and contemplate his life and his choices.]
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