knightsoflegend | debriefing ♔ in the emptiness there's a solution

Entry tags:

debriefing ♔ in the emptiness there's a solution | just look within yourself for absolution

♬ locking up the sun- poets of the fall

WHO || Wynn, Buffy, Myri, Finnick, Spike, Gar, Archer, Des, Vi, Rafael, Fred Jr., Dumage, Mark, Rocket, open! [Closed]
WHAT || Andres Mission Debrief & Aftermath
WHERE || Knights HQ, lobby etc.
WHEN || September 18th [forward dated*]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

There are plenty of missions that return to the castle a success - most of them, even. The defeated air of the solemn group that returns from their diplomatic mission to Andres Isle to hear the demands of dictator Dimitris Sarandis makes it quite clear that this wasn't one of those.

Starting with Sarandis' actual demands - for all Knights to withdraw from Andres under penalty of death, or for Wynn to offer his own head in return for Thomas' safe return - and ending with the unexpected, disturbing confession from Kat that she intended to stay behind on the island because she had "fallen in love with" the dictator, the events of the island made it very clear that Sarandis was cannily playing his hand to get the Knights where he wanted them.

Fred Jr. shoves open the doors with his unnatural strength, stalking in ahead of the group into the lobby. Whoever's on desk duty isn't going to have to roll a high wisdom check to see that these people are pissed... and distraught... and a myriad of other emotions on the bad end of the scale.

*I am changing the date of the briefing log and Andres log/live session to have taken place in September, to avoid us being in backdated hell forever, and to allow for a September squiring ceremony before apps are closed. Carry on... in the future!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ hopefully he wasn't expecting kali to read a social cue into his expression because she sure doesn't. nor does she infer his question to be asking for anything other than her name so that's what he gets. ]

Kali.

[oh his fuzzy god. she's like mini-drax. only cuter and fluffier. there is something inherently wrong with that.]

Of course. [He throws a paw up, like "okay gonna have to use the small words now."] Yeah, that's me.

[He places his gun on the ground and spreads his arms wide, which while being a gesture that's purely sardonic has the horrible effect of revealing just about every visible scar and implant on his chest not covered by his tattered jumpsuit.] Gawk at your convenience. Please. I never get sick of it.

[ she gives him a cursory glance, not very interested. almost as if she has seen this before and she's not sure why she is meant to be so fascinated. ]

You should put orthodontic wax on those. [ she motions to where the implants seem to be rubbing his skin raw. ] It will give your skin time to heal without the constant friction of the metal.

[ the more you know. ] You talk less excessively than I was told.

[EXCUSE YOU.

His initial response is to bare his teeth at her, because apparently any comment about his cyborg-y bits is an insult to his character, except... oh wait. It wasn't. His brain catches up with what she actually said and his temper fizzles out and he's left gawking at her for a second.]

What d'you know about it? [He tries to pull one of the straps on his jumpsuit back up over his shoulder, but it slides off again. Pathetically. GDI. Someone in this castle better be his size.

...also wait. Again. HE FOUND SOMETHING TO BE ACTUALLY OFFENDED ABOUT.]

And who the hell told you I talk too much?

An extremely large man named Drax. [ no big deal, just not answering his first question. ] He said you were genetically modified, like me. [ which she says with all the eerie calmness of some who has known that since she was born. turning slightly, she sweeps her hair away from the back of her neck, black barcode standing out starkly against her pale skin for a moment until her hair slips over it again like a blonde waterfall and she turns back to face him. ]

[omfg drax he can't leave you alone for five minutes or else you're drunk dialing the villain or saying too much about his tragic origin story.]

Drax is an idiot who don't know a d'asted thing about discretion and not talkin' about shit that ain't his business.

[that said... he eyes her for a second.]

Is that supposed to mean we're gonna make friendship bracelets now?

[despite the words, it's not really a harsh statement. he's never really heard the words "like him" and felt like it might not be bullshit.]

[ ... what .... the fuck .... is a friendship bracelet and why would she make one with him? you can't make bracelets out of friends, that is unsanitary. ]

...no.

[i can't believe i rolled a nat 20 to figure out why she's so confused. this is all your fault, drax. and he is just marveling at her. drax's dead kid, is that you???.]

Okay. Good talk. [he's about to walk off but his conscience makes him stay. stupid conscience.] And here's some advice- if you end up going off to liberate the Andresians from that overbearing whackjob Sarandis with the rest of 'em? Try not to let that whole "genetic experiment" thing out. If things go south, maybe you'll get lucky and they'll just off you.

Oh I doubt that. I'm a startlingly successful experiment. Not only do I meet the optimum performance levels prescribed for my unit, but I'm very pretty and fit into normal society flawlessly. No one who conducts genetic experiments would dispose of me, my base DNA sequence is too valuable.

[ she'll be getting tests if it all goes fubar and she knows it. ]

Edited 2014-09-05 23:25 (UTC)

[here's the thing.

rocket handles being the product of mutagens and bargain bin cybernetics with as much grace as a sledgehammer slamming into a concrete wall. he can't imagine anyone in his position taking that well unless they're heavily warped or possibly had the existential crisis centers of their brains removed.

so he's staring. and there's a lot of emotion here. rare sympathy because if he's basically a cheap joke made out of spare parts and had to endure the shit he's endured, then what's the cost of perfection? there's some mild annoyance that she can take it so gracefully and he can't. then there's just some nameless other emotions that keep him from speaking for a long time.]

If you say so. Not like they care either way, I guess. It's all the same to 'em. If it ain't human, it oughta be gutted. [the realization he's going back hits him hard and he struggles to find his composure, scratching an ear with a scowl.]

[ kali has lived like this for twenty years, the first fourteen of them being poked and prodded and experimented on to figure out just how well her unit worked. but she grew up, effectively, in the military. treated like a grown soldier -- when she was two. the existential crisis center of her brain isn't having an existential crisis because she knows exactly why she is here and why she was made.

she doesn't run on emotion, she runs on logic. ]

Isn't that all the more reason to free them?

[rocket could have a hundred answers to the why and he'd still break down at how unfair it all is. he didn't ask for this.

he may have sort of asked for all that torture on andres because of the whole attempted murder thing, but the torture wasn't what got to him. the trouble of running primarily on emotion is that some things hurt worse that scalpels.

so basically stop being logical at him. he has too many for that shit.]
Is that supposed to make it easier?

Simpler. [ she just looks at him calmly. life, she's figured out, isn't easy, but that doesn't mean it's not very, very simple. ] We can do things ordinary people cannot. They're hurting and we can help them. Doesn't that make it easier?

[Cats have that "go limp" reflex when you grab a certain spot on the back of their neck. Rocket has one of those too- present him with enough logic and his sense of pride (and 90% of his visceral emotional responses) shut down. He might be annoyed by it, but it works to shut him right the fuck up.

His primary weakness is a good diplomacy check, basically. This is probably why Groot's so good with him. For a tree, he's surprisingly good at diplomacy.

So whatever he was gonna shoot back with is cut off by the fact that his only response was probably something stupid. He thinks about it. He thinks about it a little more. And then he stares at her.]

For a quirky little broad, you sure got your head on straight.

[Rocket, you are in no position to call anyone "little." AND YEAH, THAT WAS A COMPLIMENT. KINDA.]

[ the funny thing is that kali's diplomacy is -1.

she's just crushing him with the sheer weight of logic and a genuine earnestness to help people because that is what she was made to do. she's a soldier, she's killed people, a lot of people, but she did so with the assurances that she was helping. the people she killed were hurting people and now they're not. ]

The non-pejorative word you're looking for is woman, but thank you all the same, I know.

[ also she doesn't know what false modesty is.

whoops. ]

[You can always take up a second job as a raccoon whisperer, Kali. That or just keep logicing at him until he BSODs. That also works.]

Lady.

[Look, if you want him to not be sexist then he will choose how he isn't sexist. You're not his mother. It serves as both a correction and also a "gurl, I am a raccoon that talks, no one's allowed to correct my word choice and/or grammar."

He's about to go again and then he stops and turns back around. Again.]

You don't come from a planet where everyone takes everything literally, do you?

[He just... really needs to know.]

[ lady is fine, kali accepts it. maybe. if he ever starts a sentence with "listen, lady" she will have more words for him. ]

I'm from a facility in Wyoming. [ so no, she's just the sheltered product of the american government. tax dollars at work. ] On Earth. Here.

[He cants his head at her. Damn Terra, what happened. You got all advanced and shit.]

And here I was thinkin' Terra was backwards. [He shrugs.] Still got a hell of a long way to go.

[Which reminds him- hi machine gun. He's picking you back up again.] I mean look at this thing. I've seen better weapons than this on security in preschools.

[beggars can't be choosers, but beggars can bitch as much as they want about not being able to choose.]

They don't have security at preschools. The risk of an armed gunman taking the guards weapon is too great, it would put the children in more danger. [ a beat. ] And there is an armory here.

You've obviously never met the Kree.

[Because the Kree are fucking crazy and would totally-

wait. EAR PERK.]

Oh yeah? Where do they keep that?

[Look at him sound so casual about... wanting to look at and/or liberate weaponry. Look he just... has a strong need for large weapons.]

In the Dragon's Hide wing. [ yeah bitch, she had to sign up to get the perks. she may be incredibly literal, but she's not stupid. she's not going to give him directions. ] You can only access if you're a knight or squire.

[ or steal a key card, but that is why she didn't mention the key card. ]

[He was just sort of hoping you'd give him a guided tour, but raccoons aren't exactly known for not stealing shit. Dammit.]

And none for the guy puttin' his ass on the line to escort everyone back to that hellhole I just got out of.

[FINE. It's you and him, Stolen Andresian Machine Gun.]

[ come on, dude, what were you expecting. this girl was literally built to be a soldier, she's not going to do anything without her boss telling her she can. except nathan, she'll do nathan without orders. ]

I'm sure Wynn would give you adequate equipment if you asked.

[what is

asking????

no really. he just kinda has to laugh at that, like omg that's funny. Asking for shit. who even does-

oh she's not joking.]

Wow. You're really serious about that, ain't you?

[ she just stares calmly while he laughs. she's understanding the "excessive" part of rocket, that is for damn sure. ]

Or you could stick with... that. [ just saying. choice is yours. actual decent weapons. or andresian crap. sans however many bullets were previously expended. ]

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