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

[ambitionist]

Honey, you look fabulous. Is that your natural hair color? I would murder a puppy to have boob like yours. Blah blah blah, there you go. You got the experience. [he shrugs, and just so she's sure — ] It's fine.

[graveflowers]

At least put some enthusiasm in it, I didn't believe that for a second. [ a beat. ] I barely have boobs. [ actually... she sits up straighter in her seat and glances down at her chest. ] Oh. Maybe a little bit.

[ambitionist]

I'm not capable of being enthusiastic, this is naturally how I sound. [he snorts] They're not bad. Sincerely, I wasn't joshing that time.

[graveflowers]

Thank you. I'm personally fond of them. But there has to be something you're enthusiastic about. Humor me, maybe you can get me out of this feeling undesirable funk. Pretty please?

[ambitionist]

Space exploration. Sushi. The New York Rangers.

[graveflowers]

You're enthusiastic about sushi? See... I'm thinking like those people who collect hello kitty dolls and pencil cases and everything, is your room full of sushi paraphernalia? 'cause that would be weird and now I'm always going to think that is the case until you prove me wrong, you adorable sushi enthusiast. [ that definitely got a smile out of her. and a babble... he is succeeding at slowly cheering her up. ]

[ambitionist]

It's not. [he rolls his eyes.] What, you wanna see my room?

[graveflowers]

[ she considers quietly for a while, far more time than the question actually warrants and then she asks her own question instead of answering. ] Do you really think I'm pretty?

[ambitionist]

Yeah. [he raises an eyebrow like why is this conversation happening????] Not really a point in lying about it.

[graveflowers]

[ look, she is a needy, overemotional basket case whose entire family is about to go to war and leave her alone, she had a crazy ass dream she can't talk to her best friends about because it might worry them and they're going to war, worrying about her is the last thing they need to be doing and she knows they will.

all she wants, for maybe ten minutes, is to forgot that her life is turning out to be a series of tragedies and there actually is something nice in it. so he says yeah and she sets her pizza aside, reaching up to grab at his shirt and tug herself up to kiss him. a+ life choices by violet reedhym.

for ten minutes, all the wants is to be wanted again. ]

[ambitionist]

[wtf???? alex is shock. i mean ... he kisses her back and doesn't try to jump out the window or anything, but he's still surprised. after an acceptable amount of kissing time, he pulls his mouth away from hers to ask] What's that about?

[graveflowers]

Honestly? I haven't kissed anyone in four months, I haven't done anything in four months, I'm like a sexual pariah. That's what my life has turned into. And I really, really want someone to look at me like I'm not... [ she looks down briefly. ] Damaged goods. [ she pauses before looking back up. ] I'll rap if I have to, but I can't promise it'll be good because the only one I can think of is the one from the Pest.

[ambitionist]

[guess who failed his wis check to realize vi wants his dick??? and is talking about rapping bcuz last time she rapped for him he was like yeah i'd tap that??? this one. this guy. actual idiot alexander karamazov. i guess he expects her to be a mourning widow forever. like ... his psycho mom. so all that actually comes out of his mouth is] What?

[graveflowers]

Are you... seriously? [ SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY, ALEXANDER. ] God, you're a dumbass. I want to have sex, stupid! With you!

[ambitionist]

[oh. oh. OH. it's all coming together. his eyes get wide as he pieces it together like the lights slowly coming on in a house when there's a noise disturbance down the block. he knows this is probably a bad idea. being rebound guy is ALWAYS A BAD IDEA. especially when the other guy is dead. but ... she's sad and fucked up and lonely, he's sad and fucked up and lonely, and he's going to fucking war tomorrow.

also, he crit failed his will save. because this thread wouldn't be complete without a crit fail hat trick.]

... Yeah. Okay. We can have sex.

[graveflowers]

[ she wants to say something like "ground rules: no falling in love with me" but that's about as unlikely as the second coming so she just ignores the entire concept of ground rules. the ground rules are yay sex. ]

Okay, great, thanks. [ yep. she just said thanks. ] Where is your room full of sushi memorabilia?

[ambitionist]

[sounds like legit ground rules to him, ok. he just leads her to his room. i still don't know what it looks like. it's a squire room, so. probably fug. he hasn't done a lot to decorate it, either. it's not even a never being home thing, like it was when he lived in manhattan and had a nice apartment that looked barely lived in. he just doesn't know how to make a place feel like home at this point. negative ranks in homemaker.] This is it. You'll notice the lack of sushi memorabilia. They had that shit in Japan though. Like ... pillows, socks, alarm clocks, whatever. [he's casually carrying this conversation while undressing as soon as the door is closed behind them, ftr.]

[graveflowers]

Slippers. I saw slippers in the Skymall magazine when we were flying out of Andres. [ every plane in the history of skymall has a skymall magazine, it is the way of the universe. it's physics. since she changed out of her bloodstained dress and right into her pajamas after the debriefing, she's still in... her pajamas, so she just yanks her tank top over her head. which means alex gets to see her awesome shark bite scar and, you know, the brand new ones from getting shot three times twenty four hours ago. :) do they still count as war wounds if she got them before the actual war was declared? deep thoughts. ] There's a distinctive lack of any memorabilia in here... I was expecting a space poster.

[ambitionist]

I'll hire someone to decorate while I'm on Andres. [his spot for her gnarly ass scars was a whole 6, so i guess he's still ... too depressed to be invested in anything in life rn. offering to heal her would probably be a bad idea, anyway. that's just what he needs tonight, right? nosebleeds and seizures and all that awesome shit. how about no. now that his clothes are off, he grabs a condom off his dresser. bc he's just like astrid with her condom crusade.]

[graveflowers]

[ she wriggles out of her chicago cubs shorts and bounces over to alex, winding her arms around his neck. ] You should definitely do that. [ and then she's kissing him again, standing on her tip toes, because she's going to milk everything she can out of this pity sex while it lasts and because alex is, like, really pretty and vi is shallower than a dry puddle. enjoy the aphrodisiac smell of violets and the taste of hot sauce. fiery kisses. ]

[ambitionist]

Okay. [o-oh, more kissing. he's better prepared for it this time. and now he's gonna ... pull her down onto the bed and have sexy times.

♬ the way down - the white tie affair

str 22
dex 8
fort save 24
wis 15
cha 13

so ... that was a thing. bonus depressing thought: he was probably thinking of beks the whole time. ]

[graveflowers]

[ ♫ endless sleep -- sucré

str 8
dex 22
fort save 17
wis 10
cha 8

it's clear her heart isn't entirely in it, however enjoyable it was. (and it wasn't bad.) she hadn't been thinking of alex much either, so at least they're even there. she sits up, arms lifting to pull the sheet over her chest and her hair out of her face, braiding it over her shoulder. ] Thanks.

[ambitionist]

[he'll just stay laying down like a dead fish if that's cool. or even if it's not cool. w/e ] Uh, yeah, sure. Anytime. [really anytime, alex???? probably not, but he's going to war tomorrow so who cares.]

[graveflowers]

[ she had thought it would distract her, but all it really did was remind her of what she'd lost and her heart feels heavier than it did before. not that she thinks luthir would mind or even begrudge her having sex. she just misses him so much.

leaning over, she kisses alex's cheek before sliding off the bed and pulling her clothes back on, shoving her bra in her pocket instead of dealing with it. ]

Pretty sure I'm never going to take you up on that offer, but if you ever need references... [ she shoots him a thumbs up, smile a little wan, but crooked and still somehow filled with that buoyant light she wrestled free from the nightmare lord. she starts moving to the door, but pauses before she leaves. ] I'm pregnant, by the way. And I'm due in roughly nine months, so. Don't worry your pretty little head, okay?

[ambitionist]

[ HE IS SITTING UP NOW. up like a weed. he made his wis check to realize there's something weird about the math there (wis 21) but his knowledge: arcane lore check was 14?? that's ... probably not high enough, actually.] You know the math for that doesn't add up, right?