knightsoflegend | briefing ♔ i will never know myself until i do this on my own

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briefing ♔ i will never know myself until i do this on my own

This is War- 30 Seconds to Mars

WHO || Wynn, Jack, Hasmed, Lis'sa, Dovan, Solace, Koraith, Christos, Tia, Nessa, Grant, Buffy, Myri, Finnick, Spike, Gar, Archer, Des, Fred Jr., Dumage, Mark, Alainn, Zero, Colin, Lan, Eric, Val'drin, Risa, Anastacia, Faith O., Max R., Belle, Kadir, Edain, Sydney, Zatanna, Aurelius, Jaina, Erky, Davin, Riddick, Jordan, Henry, Leia, Willow, Kate, Allison, Francesca, Bo, Han, Aedan, Rocket, Drax, Nathan, Maxwell, Sam, Faith L., Cora, Dimitri, Alanna, Jaime, Klaus, Gus, Andrew, Stiles, Lydia, Gold, Jackson, Adam, Miles, Penelope, David, Derek, Andie, Kali, Cara, Nels, Taradiddle, Abigail, Astrid, Bambi, Frankie, Rose, Helen, Alaric, Alice, Lissa, Alex, Emma F., Cordelia, Zoe, Sebastian, Malina, Alcide, Phineas, Fiona, Arthur, Faye, Mars, Kate, Lila, Jameson, Felicity, Thoster, Adi, Brantley, Hook, Emma, Eleven, Alisha, Will, Dean, Grimrot [Closed]
WHAT || Andres War Briefing
WHERE || Knights HQ, Round Table Room
WHEN || September 19th [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, please call dibs in the dibs plurk!

On the eve of battle, an impressive array of Knights gathers in the Round Table room of the castle. The usually cavernous room seems tightly packed with this many bodies, and places at the Table are reserved for Wynn, the Section Heads, all those who have had any hand in the Talisman mission, including New York, and Christos, but who's going to argue with him, really. The air buzzes with a mixture of impending dread and on some fronts, excitement. It's hard to deny that there are those in the room who have wanted to make a move on Andres for years.

Wynn waits for the appointed hour, before nodding for the doors to be sealed and calling the meeting to order.

"Before we begin, I'd like to thank each and every one of you, many who have traveled an extensive distance at a moment's notice to join us here today. I understand that many of you have little idea what you have agreed to, but I hope that before the end of this meeting, you will come to understand what we are doing, and why it must be done.

Andres' Isle has been held under the sway of the man who calls himself their "Prime Minister" for nearly a decade. In these ten years, he has turned what was once an idyllic country steeped in tradition into a tightly controlled fascist nation disguised as representative of its people.

Andres is far from the only country to fall to such a fate over the course of history, and it has never been the prerogative of this Knighthood to enforce our own personal vision of some sort of world order onto any nation. We are protectors of justice, and our enemy has always been both that which comes from the darkest depths of Shadow, and intolerance and prejudice that stems from this world.

But Dimitris Sarandis has proven to be an exception, an embodiment of all the ideals we stand against, who has aspired to systematize the kind of violence and hatred that threatens the welfare of countless innocents under his rule. He has used his position to exploit Shadowkind on the island to the point of conducting torturous experiments on them, designed to help him accomplish his goal of forcibly enslaving non-humans, so that they may serve what he sees as the superior race of homo sapiens.

As if this were not enough, Dimitris knows of our existence, and wishes to tear down our organization, understanding that we pose a threat to all he seeks to accomplish. To this end, he has conspired against us, kidnapped members of our organization and subjected them to brutal and vile torture, and attempted to blackmail us through detaining Sir Thomas Bancroft and now Sir Samcelot, into complying with his whims - to leave his regime alone entirely, to turn over our most ancient, powerful artifact, and for me to submit to death at his hand.

Killing Dimitris alone will not stop the system he has created, and will not help free the people of Andres. Most citizens of the country remain innocent, terrified into compliance, or completely ignorant of what Sarandis does behind closed doors. These people deserve our help, and the only way to do so is to show them the evil that lurks at the heart of their government, gain their support in uprooting that evil, and assist them in stabilizing their country thereafter.

To do this, we will need to go beyond the usual parameters of our missions, with a militant, strategic push into the island designed to seize the castle, and take down Sarandis' rule." He pauses there, letting that sink in. "What I will not stand for is a callous attitude towards the innocents who we seek to protect on the Island, during this insurgency. Their safety will be paramount to our operation, and as such, speed is important to what we will be accomplishing. Dimitris expects retaliation, but he also underestimates our tactics. As such, rather than attacking the castle with an army, you will be deployed about the Island in a number of small teams, each with an objective that will help us cut off Dimitris from contact with his supporters, secure Sir Bancroft and Sir Samcelot's safety, free those who are imprisoned, and confront Sarandis, taking the castle in the process.

Details of these individual operations not withstanding, I imagine there are some questions. I open the floor to you to speak."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ As a rule, Buffy doesn’t really consider herself good at a lot of things. Like … making friends, or knowing the right thing to say, or making plans (thanks Spike), or, you know, smart person stuff. But the one thing she’s really, really good at? Monster brawling. Taking down demons. She has fought giant worms and spiders (what’s with the bug theme? Seriously.) and acid-y demon assassins and she is not gonna stand here and swallow shit from Dean fucking Winchester. ]

Anytime you wanna get your head of your ass, feel free. He’s not a demon. [ She throws her arms out to her sides, fed up. ] How many languages do I have to say it in? [ Hopefully only one because that’s … all she speaks … :) Speaking of things Buffy’s bad at. ] Not a demon, not an archdevil—a person.

And you can sabotage your relationship with him, or embarrass yourself with assumptions, but you cannot act like you’re better at my job than I am.

[ Faith already makes her feel sensitive about that, ok. And, perhaps more to the point, she finally really looks him over, judgmental as hell as she points out: ] I mean, seriously. Do you even go here?

[ W O W dean is fucking over this chick's entire life. ] Your boss hired me to track down a monster. Because that's what I do. So don't go acting like you're some special snowflake because you've taken down a demon or two. [ he gestures towards sam with an angry hand ] Do you even know what a fiend is?

Because, spoiler, they look and sound just like a damn person.

It's another word for demon, unless that's different here too.

[Frustration seeps into his tone, which brings a bit of sarcasm too.]

What do I have to do to prove it to you? There has to be something.

You don’t have to prove anything.

[ She’s quick to make that note, because no matter what a fiend or demon can look like, Slayer sense doesn’t lie. She picks up on the vampires in the area, and on a number of other Shadow creatures, but Sam? Clean. Dean’s disbelief doesn’t do away with her certainty. ]

So you’re the hunter.

[ Wow the way she says that word is not remotely flattering. Her voice is tight, and her nose scrunches in a sneer. And, truthfully, it rubs her the wrong way that he knows more about fiends than she does. While she’s heard the term before, she pretty much maxes out at ‘non-demon, powerful servant of Hell.’ Even taking his word that they’re shape-shifters like Elena, she doesn’t believe that’s Sam. ]

You’re right. [ She shrugs simply, eyebrows arching briefly. ] Maybe Wynn should run better background checks on who he lets in the castle. [ Like you, actual garbage human being Dean Winchester. ] Great job finding Elena, by the way. I’m so glad to have her back, safe and sound.

Maybe if your boss hadn't insisted on slowing me down by sending the idiot brigade along, I'd actually have been able to get somewhere wait. 'Cept wait. Still did. Who do you think clued him in that they're on their way to Andres right now? [ eye. roll. back to sam, he's done with u buffy ]

There's nothing you're gonna do that I'm gonna believe.

If I didn't expect to get more than a cryptic runaround, I'd call one of those dicks from the other team around to settle this.

But I said I was done with this shit, and I meant it. I'm out. So whatever this is about? [ his gaze shifts to buffy ] You're on your own. Good fucking luck. [ and with that, he'll reach down to pick up his knife, sheathe it with a glare at sam, and then turn to start walking away ]

[Sam starts forward too, because hahahaha no.

Still, as he passes Buffy, he puts a hand on her shoulder, giving her a grateful look, but it's sad too.]

Thanks.

[He says it quietly to her before he starts walking after Dean.]

So that's it, huh? You're just going to walk away? You're just giving up?

[ the words have a visceral effect on him, and he slows for half a step, shoulders tightening. his voice is steeled with angry determination as he says: ] I can't do this again, Sam. Once was too much.

You made your choice. You did this.

Look, whatever happened, I'm sorry. But I didn't choose this.

[He didn't choose to get stabbed, to show up here. He didn't choose a lot of things, his upbringing. His only choice was school, and that didn't last.]

Veil or no, I'm still your brother. Don't do this.

[To him. Or to himself. (Diplomacy 23)]

Edited 2014-09-14 21:17 (UTC)

[ stupid magic words. his will save of 13 means he stops entirely, expression contorted with angst. ] My brother's dead. [ his heart isn't in the words, which are clearly painful for him to speak, and it sounds more like he's trying to convince himself of something than anything. ] Sammy, I-- [ he catches himself using the name and winces ] How the hell am I supposed to do anything else?

We fix it. We've done it before.

[As much as anything that involved the two of them could be fixed...]

This isn't something that gets fixed, Sam. [ he still won't turn around, still won't look at him. ] Believe me. If there was some way to save you, you don't think I would have done everything in my power to do it?

There's only one route to savin' you now. And that's freeing you from this thing he's turned you into.

[Sam swallows hard, his voice tense even as he tries to keep it steady.]

Is this about what Dad said? That you might have to kill me?

Whoa, what? No one is killing anyone!

[ Yr dad??? Really??? What fresh hell did he go to parenting school in?? ]

You don't know what you're talking about. [ Dean doesn't, that is. ] Just take a step back and think!

Will you butt the hell out already? [ that was 4 u, buffy. ] Trying to tell me I don't know anything, when you've no freaking clue what you're dealing with here.

Must be nice, not knowin' what the world's really like, and thinking you've got it all under control. Well, I hate to shatter your picket fence idea of evil, but the worst of it? Doesn't have fangs and claws and spines coming out of its eyeballs. [ he looks back at sam, face hardened again. ] The worst of it's the kind that bites you in the ass when you're not looking for it.

[Sam's expression hardens in response, because he's getting sick of some of this, and he's hurt and angry and this is not at all how he wanted this to go.

Thanks ~~Obama~~ Wynn.]

If you're accusing me of something, you could at least come out and tell me what it is.

It doesn't need to do anything! You're sabotaging yourself plenty enough without any of Hell's help.

[ diplomacy 34 because at this point he really is just ... ruining his own life. ]

You have your brother, right here, trying to make things right with you, and you're just going to walk away from that? Do you know how many people would kill to be so lucky? How many people don't have anyone, or don't have anyone that remembers them?

[ She can't take offense to his attempts to rebuff her because lol ofc she knows the worst of Hell, the ones who don't have visible signs of being demonic. She's met Azrael. The plain fictionality of it makes it impossible to take it too hard. ]

[ SO MANY EMOTIONS ;; dean doesn't say anything for a moment to that, before finally turning around and attempting, somewhat, to explain. ] You don't get it. This is how it works. They make you think they're coming at you from out there, while all along it's the person you trust the most, the one you'd die for, that they've already got their hooks into. [ he gives sam something of a pleading look ] I gave you every chance. And what did I get for it? [ he apparently... can't even put it into words. instead, he shakes his head. ]

They take advantage of this shit, you know. Thinking the amnesiac act's gonna make me put my guard down. Knowing that all I want is for you to be right again, for us to be right again. That's how they stick the knife in.

[ he grits his teeth, looking down at the floor ] This was supposed to be over. The day I said I was out.

It's not an act, Dean. And most of my memory is crystal clear. It's just the last couple of days before I popped in that I don't remember.

[Time for him to explain.]

I talked to Wynn. He talked about alternate dimensions, and I believe him. I don't know how, maybe somewhere along the line this timeline split from ours, or maybe it's more complicated than that, I don't know. For awhile, I thought this was all in my head, like maybe you and I had a case go wrong, but nothing adds up.

[He runs a hand through his hair and keeps talking, words spilling out.]

But that Sam that must have stabbed you in the back? It wasn't me. I wouldn't do that to you. I'd rather die.

[ You know, Buffy has spent time in the same vicinity as Zarad and Des, and this is … still definitely the most homoerotic conversation she’s been present for. For a moment, she looks between them, vaguely unsettled, and then Sam wins all of her attention with the weirdest fucking thing he could have said. Ever. ]

… Alternate what?

[ Professional demon slayer, y’all. She looks absolutely bewildered, but she shakes it off after a minute, choking it down and looking back at Dean. ]

Look. Whatever happened, whatever you remember, I’m telling you the truth. I can sense demons, and anything from another plane—the monsters that don’t belong on this one. So, yeah, even the human-looking ones. But this guy … Your brother. He’s the real deal. He’s human.

They take enough from us as it is, don’t take this from yourself.

Of all the shitty excuses you're gonna try to drop, you go with parallel universes? [ whatever chance there was that y'all were gaining ground in this convo just flew out the window ] Demons are a different animal than what I'm talking about. You claimed to know something about Archdevils - a Devil could stand in the same room as you and you'd have no damn idea, because whoever you are, they can hide what they are. I don't know where you got extraplanar radar or whatever, but they've got defenses against exactly that kinda thing.

It doesn't sound any more ridiculous than me teaming up with freaking Lucifer.

[Just saying.]

I don't just know about them. I've met one. And believe me, if Lucifer were hanging around here pretending to be your brother? I'd have heard about it.

[ She's got People for that. ]

[ well that earns her a Look ] Oh yeah? From who?

You've shown me nothing that makes me want to tell you.

[ He'd probably reach for his gun tbh. Or knife. ]

But it makes me confident enough to keep your brother breathing.

Edited 2014-09-15 02:45 (UTC)

[ he stares at her for a long moment, before he seems to realize something, and it causes him to snort. ] Bet I can take a good guess. [ there's a dismissive air to it, and he's obviously unimpressed if his guess is right. he shoots one more look at sam. ] This isn't over. But for now, I've got a job to do. And I plan on doin' it.

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