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

[nepotism]

♬ 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!

Comments

[lurings]

[ um, yourself is that answer to that. #survivor. where is abigail's million dollars??? she tries to phrase it in a way that doesn't sound like she would throw fred into a monster to save herself.

oh wait. ] Yourself is probably a good bet. So you can keep worrying about everyone else.

[untethered]

[ she smiles slightly, only taking the positive meaning out of that ] Good point.

So, along those lines, what do you want to do?

[lurings]

[ because belle is not terribly damaged tbh. ]

I'm not sure. [ she says it very carefully, picking her words before she says them. ] I know I could help, a little, and it's sort of the part of the oath... but.

[ her fingers unclench from the desk to touch her scarf. ] I spent three months captive in a murderer's basement. [ surprise...? ] I don't want to do that again.

[ she knows it can't compare at all because she wasn't tortured, hannibal hadn't even been that incredibly cruel to her aside from cutting off her ear and keeping her in an abattoir and murdering beverly right in front of her and manipulating her into murdering alana and... okay, it was bad. but physically it did not compare to torture. at least to abigail it doesn't. ]

[untethered]

[ luckily for belle, she came through the veil before she spent months in a murderer's tower. so she looks stricken at the news, reaching out to gently put a hand on her arm, ready to draw back if the touch looks unwelcome. ] Abigail... how long ago...?

[lurings]

[ she doesn't pull away, but it takes her a moment to answer because she can't decide how to. she knows the number of days, she knows it in months, weeks. maybe not hours, but she could do the math. ] Six months. I came through the veil in March.

[untethered]

Straight from--?

[lurings]

[ she nods slowly. ] Will thought I was dead.

[untethered]

I'm so sorry. [ it's hard to say for which part. ] I can't imagine ...

[lurings]

I don't want you to try. [ because... it still keeps her up at night and haunts her nightmares. ]

But I don't know if I can... [ normally abigail keeps all of this inside, because admitting all this makes her look weak and vulnerability is the biggest weakness. but the circumstances are too huge to not say anything. ] I'm scared.

[untethered]

I think we all are. It'd be rather foolish not to be.

[lurings]

[ she opens her mouth to say that people tend to die when she is scared, but... that would actually be a good thing. ] I don't know what to do.

[untethered]

You can always go to the Council, and then if you change your mind...

[lurings]

I guess. [ she looks down at her hands, shoulders slumping. ]

[untethered]

No one will think any different of you - if you don't go at all.

[lurings]

[ she looks askance at belle, cautious of that naivety. ] Yes, they will. But... I'm used to people looking at me like that. [ just not here. ]

[untethered]

Like what?

[lurings]

Like I'd let other people die to protect myself. [ that's basically jack crawford's resting expression in her direction. ]

[untethered]

Abigail, it's perfectly natural to want to ... to survive. I don't believe for a moment that that means you want someone else to get hurt.

[lurings]

[ she can't remember if anyone has ever said that to her. reassurances that she's not like her dad, yes, and reassurances that she's the victim, not the monster. but she can't remember anyone wording it like that. she looks up, looking at belle with no small amount of nervous, fleeting hope. ] What if I do go and when we get there I just... freeze?

[untethered]

Then you'll be human. That's why we aren't going into this alone. If any one of us freezes, there's someone with us to help us, or to do what we find we can't. Working together means it's alright if you can't do something on your own.

No one's expecting you to.

[lurings]

[ she doesn't look 100% sure because she is so used to a life where being useful was the only thing keeping her alive, but slowly she nods as if trusting belle not to steer her wrong. it's incredibly hard, but like she said, abigail can always change her mind. ]

[untethered]

Plus, Wynn won't assign us somewhere where we won't be practical in some way.

[lurings]

[ while that is probably true, abigail doesn't necessarily know if he finds... cannon fodder practical. so... she nods a little, managing to pry up a small smile for her mentor. ] Thank you, for talking to me.

[untethered]

You never have to thank me for that. Even when I'm not your mentor, and you're your own Knight, I'll still wish to.

[lurings]

[ u r 2 sweet, belle. it concerns abigail. sweet gets murdered. but her lips twitch into a grateful smile that comes a little bit easier than it's predecessor. ] Thanks.