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

[wynn]

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."

Comments

[ambitionist]

You okay? [he doesn't know how to do concern. he doesn't even know what he's trying to accomplish here. besides ... making everyone feel awkward.]

[reallywicked]

Yeah, I'm- [She sounds really convincing for the whole two seconds she tries, but putting in the effort seems so dumb. She ends the thought with a shrug.]

Do you want to get a drink or something? I found a random bottle of booze in the hallway on the way up here.

[ambitionist]

Yeah, sure. [wait, let him process what she just said.] What, like someone just left booze in the hallway?

[reallywicked]

I think they were trying to hide it? Hematite ran behind a plant and when I went to find her, there it was. [She doesn't get it either but hey- free booze.]

Pretty sure it's vodka, though. [And he's painfully Russian so this should work out. #racism]

[ambitionist]

This place is so fucking weird. [he snorts a little.] But hey, I won't turn my nose up at free booze. I used to drink vodka with my sister all the time.

[reallywicked]

[Comparing an interaction with her to hanging out with his sisters? Great. Faye doesn't comment on it, though. She just turns and heads for the hall, retracing her steps to find the bottle and having an easy time of it (search 17). Snatching the bottle out of it's weird little hiding spot, she turns to face him.]

So we have a couple hours to have a last drink in the castle before shit goes to hell. I think location is kind of important here. Suggestions?

[ambitionist]

[tbf ... he compares everything to his sisters. he cares about them a lot. it's gross.] I dunno, I'll drink anywhere. Want to go to the ballroom?

[reallywicked]

That or the chapel. [One is slightly less blasphemous than the other.] The ballroom's kind of awesome when there's no one there.

[She had camped out there for most of yesterday evening.]

[ambitionist]

[he thinks he'd probably burst into flames if the went to the chapel ok. he's not even a vampire.] Yeah, I go have a smoke on the balcony sometimes. It's nice. Quiet.

[reallywicked]

[Faye nods, like that definitely solidifies the decision.]

C'mon. [She heads off towards the ballroom, keeping quiet unless he decides to make small talk a thing. But otherwise, this can just be an awkward stroll. Yep.]

[ambitionist]

[he doesn't have a hell of a lot to say, so ... yep. awkward silence on the walk instead of awkward small talk. they are gr9 people. so functional. amaze.]

[reallywicked]

[She pushes open the door to the ballroom, walking towards the center of the large room. It has this strange dwarfing effect, making her feel smaller while still being the center of attention. She twists the cap off the vodka bottle and folds neatly into a seated position on the ballroom floor. Definitely taking the first swig of this nice bottle. Yep.]

So how are you?

[ambitionist]

I'm ... okay. [he shrugs, joining her on the ground and shifting around to sit indian style.] Hanging in there. Some days I wake up feeling like shit for no reason, some days I don't. You haven't missed much.

[reallywicked]

Maybe you just missed me. [She says it like a joke. And to a point, it is. But there's a part of her that wants that to be true, even if by now she knows it's not. She hands him the bottle so he can also partake.]

[ambitionist]

[he grabs the bottle and takes a swig. there's a scar on the back of his right hand now, that's faint but fairly noticeable unless she crit fails a spot check or smth. sexxxy.] Well, it sure was fucking quiet without you around, that's for sure. I know Lila missed you. You missed her birthday. And mine.

[you see, the thing about alex is ... he's horrible about feelings. even if he missed her more than anything in the world and cried into his pillow every night about it, he'd still be sitting here talking about how much lila missed her instead.]

[reallywicked]

[Well she didn't crit fail, but she came damn close. But she sees it. She's curious, but there's no easy way to bring that up, so she will file it away for later.]

I know I missed hers. That's why I gave her the foodgasm of her dreams this morning. [She's not dumb. She figures that Lila already shared with Alex after she left. They just... don't talk about him. Because it's awkward.]

So what happened to your hand? [Yes, that was definitely a smooth and subtle transition.]

[ambitionist]

Yeah, thanks for inviting me. [his tone is as dry as the sahara, but he's not ... really annoyed. bc he knows that things are awkward. BUT STILL HE LOVES NEW YORK MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD. HE IS STACEY FROM BABYSITTER'S CLUB. SHE KNOWS HE CAN'T GO BACK. AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN INVITE HIM TO THE NEW YORK BRUNCH. dat's fucked, faye.] Nice selection, though. I can't believe you got Hakkasan to deliver.

[o-oh then she asks about his hand. he half-shrugs while passing the bottle back to her.] Pissed off a Norse god. The knife went through my hand and into my abdomen, right about ... here. [he puts his hand against about where the scar would be. and also shows her the palm of his hand so she can see that it definitely did go through.]

[reallywicked]

I can get anything I want. I don't know why you have trouble remembering this. [She's not going to apologize for not inviting him when he didn't even come find her after she came back from her traumatic mission experience. Rude.]

Sounds like you had barrels of fun while I was away. Maybe, next time, don't piss off a god.

[ambitionist]

[HE WAS WORKING HIMSELF UP TO IT. AND THEN WAR HAPPENED.] Yeah, that's not something I'm keen on repeating. [and then, suddenly subject change.] Oh, I've been training to be a pilot. Soon I'll be able to take one of those private jets and whisk you away wherever the fuck you want.

[reallywicked]

Anywhere but Cuba. [She takes the bottle back to take another drink.]

What made you want to do that?

[ambitionist]

I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. Now that I'm sitting around with basically unlimited time and resources, I figured I'd settle on something more attainable. I guess this is how old people feel after they retire. Piloting's my ... crochet or whatever.

[reallywicked]

Okay, grandpa. [She teases with a roll of her eyes.] That's pretty cool, though. I think I'm giving up on the whole 'learn another language' thing. I don't have the patience for it.

[ambitionist]

[he snorts and makes a face at the grandpa comment, but doesn't throw in any additional pithy remarks.] Yeah? Languages are a bitch, anyway. Especially ... what were you learning, Mandarin or something? That shit's rough. It's all intonations and inflection.

[reallywicked]

Mandarin, yeah. I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew, I guess.

[She toys with the lid of the bottle, twisting and untwisting.]

This is weird, isn't it?

[ambitionist]

Which "this" are you referring to?