knightsoflegend | andres ♔ a tiger's waiting to be tamed

andres ♔ a tiger's waiting to be tamed

♬ clocks - coldplay

WHO || Prince Marcus Andres, Jeanne Gar, Myrilandel de Tanos, Finnick Odair, Spike, Buffy Summers, Sterling Archer, Desmond Descant, Dimitris Sarandis, Lara Tamon, Michael Collins, Dana Green
WHAT || The lost Prince of Andres leads a team of Knights in a coup against Dimitris Sarandis, to reclaim his throne
WHERE || Andres Isle
WHEN || September 19th, 2014
HOW || Actionspam

[ It seems that Wynn was hoping for Sir Mark Sandazhard to reveal his true identity, and to lead the charge against Dimitris Sarandis' tyrannical hold over the island he was born to rule. He was not disappointed, and Prince Marcus Andres stands poised to lead the group of Knights who he's worked beside for two years, to confront Sarandis, save their friend Kat, and search the castle dungeon for the captive Dragon's Claw, Sir Thomas Bancroft.

Before they attempt to answer the castle, however, it's time to reunite the Prince with his childhood friends on the Isle, who had long held out hope that he was still alive, including his once-betrothed, Countess Lara Tamon. Their first task will be to convince Lara to make a risky attempt to draw Kat out of the castle.

The fate of their captured allies, and the future of Andres Isle, lie in their hands. ]

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[ The disappearance has Buffy's attention skirting up the stairs to the balcony, dread and panic warring within her, but also a tenuous feeling of relief. Watching Spike tear up the stairs certainly hadn't inspired a lot of faith in her about this getting solved diplomatically, and she has a feeling the people of Andres would be hard-pressed to accept another regime that started with an execution.

The important thing is that they've taken the Isle. She tries to hold onto that, forcing herself to compartmentalize the loss. Refusing to look at where Fred and Thomas lay on the floor until the castle is truly theirs, even if only guards stand in their way.

Guards that, she suspects, Spike won't hesitate to take his fury out on. ] Spike!

[ She tries to call him down, approaching the foot of the stairs. Her axe hangs at the ready by her side, but she's not surging into battle just yet. With their leader gone, seeing themselves outnumbered, they might surrender.

To the guards, she calls: ] Everyone, just put your weapons down. It's too late; the island is ours. No one else has to die tonight. [ There's been more than enough of that (diplomacy 34 sO FUCKING CLOSE TO A NAT 20 DAMMIT). Turning, she searches Myri's eyes. ] If they're still on the Isle, we need to find them. How far could that spell have taken them?

[ the guards hesitate, a moment of tension filling the air, as they exchange looks with one another, trying to weigh what the others are thinking.

finally, however, they lower their guns one by one, placing them on the ground, and putting their hands up. gar keeps her gun up on them, and manages to find her voice to say: ] Your leader's abandoned you. If you don't resist, we'll hold true to our word. No one else will die.

[Next to Elena, Myri is frozen in place. Everything happens all at once and is somehow impossibly slow at the same time. But as she watches Fred fall to the floor, the rest of the room seems to grow muffled (sorry, Buffy. she didn't hear that question at all). Myri can feel her heartbeat pounding in her ears as she prays to the Stargods for one thing:

She wants to feel his pain. Because if she can feel that, then it means he feels it too. But she doesn't. Fred doesn't hurt any longer. So many of the others do, but not him, not now.

Mouth hanging partly open, the realization of Thomas' death seems to compound with the events that have played out and Myri crumples under the weight of it. She falls to her knees, knowing that she doesn't have the power to bring Fred back. She's simply not that powerful. (will crit fail).]

[ it's a little appreciated fact that fred is probably the closest thing mark has to a male best bro in the castle, and witnessing his death in his own family's throne room, during a coup that circles around restoring the island to him, is not an easy moment for the prince.

in fact, angry tears threaten the corner of his eyes, which he keeps from falling, but the raw edge to his fierce words as he follows up gar and buffy's statements says it all. ] Buffy's right. He can't get away. He's not getting away. [ he takes a few purposeful strides towards the first guard, never loosening the grip on his sword. ] If you're looking for a pardon for following that man, you're going to do yourself a great big favor by detailing whatever evacuation plans he had in order.

[ kat's panic turns into something else as she realizes just how still fred is, as he fails to respond to her shaking him, calling his name. when she looks up, scanning the room to find myri with her gaze, she looks dulled, dazed, and lost. ] Help him. [ her voice scratches in her throat, and she repeats herself with quavering insistence, a firm note of useless anger beneath her words, as if myri's lack of response presents a reality she's not ready to accept. ] Myri, come on, you have to help him.

[finnick ... also looks expectantly at myri. do the thing. be amazing :( ]

[ the guards exchange more uncomfortable glances, and the one wriggling under mark's scrutiny doesn't look happy about the answer he has to give. ] We-- we don't have knowledge of any such plans, sir.

[ further interrogation is cut off by the entrance of a slow figure carrying a rattling tray, who pauses when he sees the carnage, stopping in the doorway. ] Oh dear...

[Finding her voice, Myri fights back tears as she tries desperately to find a way to say this. Her eyes move to each of them, all of her friends, her family standing around her. They all expect this of her- or that's how it feels. She's going to let them down.]

I-- Kat, I can't. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wish I could, but he's... [Her voice cracks but she swallows back the lump in her throat to say it. Because she has to. And if they hate her for it, then so be it.] He's gone.

[She's trembling by the end of it, more terrified of this than she was was to face Dimitris. It had been hard to face them after Jade, but this was worse than that. This was one of their own, someone that most of them had known for years more than she had existed in this place. Would they ever be ale to look at her without seeing that scene play out? Would they be able to stand the sight of her?]

Edited 2014-12-18 04:54 (UTC)

[This dramatic moment interrupted by: Sterling "The Duchess" Archer]
[Archer storms towards the old man]

WHAT THE SHIT, WOODHOUSE?!
You'd better be here to either A bring me some Glengoolie Blue, or B tell us where Dimitris the Dickless Wonder just teleported away to - or else I'm going to rip your eyes out and your balls off, and put your eyes where your balls go, and your balls where your eyes go, you senile, amnesia-stricken piece of SHIT!!

[Des has been keeping his gun up, despite the guards dropping their weapons, knuckles white as he points the weapon at the spot where Dimitris and the Mind Master left, which is where its been pointed since he decimated Asha. It's only when Kat starts demanding that Myri do something that his fingers loosen and he starts lowering it, looking to Myri with concern.

And then he crosses over to her, squeezing Elena's shoulder as he reaches the two of them to acknowledge that he's glad she's back and he's noticed her, and kneels down in front of her. He still remembers a time when he was in Kat's shoes, when he was upset and hurting and snapped about Myri not being able to do anything, and he doesn't want her to endure that again.

...Hold on, Archer is yelling. Des takes a moment so sit here like this while Archer berates an elderly man for no reason. He's not entirely sure how the hell Archer knows that guy, nor does he care, but he's gonna let him finish.

...Okay, he's finished. He nods slowly and looks up to meet Myri's eyes.]

Little Bit, look at me. There's some things that're beyond your power to bring back. You did what you could. [He turns back to Buffy.] The Mind Master's powerful. What Myri knows about that spell might not be a fraction of what that sorry bitch can actually do.

[so everyone get off myri's dick, basically.]

[As the guards lower their guns and the adrenaline of the constant running and fighting starts to wear off, Elena's left standing in a room with a bunch of people who should hate her and the bodies of people who were never supposed to die.

She doesn't want to believe that it's over, but she's almost certain it is. She knows first hand what the Mind Master is capable of. She highly doubts they're anywhere reachable now.

Elena watches Des with guarded eyes as he makes her way over, not expecting the gesture, and as he kneels in front of Myri, her feet move her away, toward a corner of the room she might avoid less eyes. She feels sick, helpless, worthless, having made not a difference at all, and she's waiting for the outburst, the proof that she doesn't belong here.

It's going to come from somewhere. It's only a matter of time.

And honestly, if she could get away to mourn by herself, she would do it. She just knows that now that they've found her, they're not going to let her go. She just doesn't think of it in nearly the same terms as they do.]

[ gar crosses slowly behind myri and elena, making her way round to where kat is sitting stunned in the face of myri's pronouncement, squeezing her eyes closed and shaking her head as she tries to reject it. gar squats down beside her, moving a tentative hand to her shoulder. ] Kat...

I'm so sorry.

[ kat's eyes open slowly, but she doesn't look away from fred's body, frowning deeply to keep from letting tears out as she says: ] Don't be sorry. Sorry means he's gone, and he's not-- [ she manages to stop herself, to weakly add: ] They can bring him back. Someone can. Someone will.

[Despite Des' encouragement, Myri can't help but see everything falling apart, which causes her to interpret the actions of the others as some reaction to her failure. When Elena moves away, she assumes it's because the girl can't stand to remain beside her. When Kat states that someone can bring Fred back, it feels like a slap. Someone else. A better cleric. Someone who won't let her down.

So she remains on the ground, silent, waiting for someone to ask her to leave.]

And your brilliant plan is to—what? Stand around and do nothing? Let him get away?

[ Buffy bristles under Des' gaze, already on edge from the effort of suppressing her reaction to her dear friends' deaths until a more appropriate time, made worse by the fact that he's acting like he needs to defend Myri from her.

Snappishly, she turns to Gar, because Kat's in no position to do anything but panic, and someone needs to deliberate and get them moving. They can't just stand here, frozen in shock. ] Call Solace.

[ And she makes her way to Myri's side. Crouching beside her friend, she rests a gentle hand on Myri's shoulder. Blood rubs off Buffy's palm, staining the back of her shirt. ] Please. Even if it's just a best guess, it's the only thing we've got. How far do you think she could get with a spell like that? We need to know how wide of a net to cast on this island—if they're even still on it.

[ Thomas and Fred would want them to find Sarandis. They'd want the Knights to get the job done, so it wasn't for nothing. It can't be for nothing. There's something measured and uncomfortably distant about how Buffy responds. Divorcing herself from the situation means not engaging on the emotional level of her teammates, not allowing herself to sink into that because she knows she won't be able to pull out of it.

She's done too much to allow herself time to process it right now. Looking into that darkness, that empty pit of loss, might mean losing herself entirely in it, and they still have work to do. ]

[Taking a breath, Myri shifts to look at Buffy and nods.]

Hundreds of feet. Likely under half a mile. I wouldn't be able to go even half of that but I don't know just how far her power could take her.

[Her voice is still shaky but focusing on a question is easier than letting her imagination go wild with all the possible outcomes of this.]

[Des sets his jaw, clenching a fist instinctively, and stands, unable to give her a proper answer to that and, for once, not having a snappy, sardonic retort. He glances around the room for a moment, taking in the sight, and his hardened expression grows weary.

And with nothing else to do, he looks over at Elena trying to hide against the wall, and walks over to join her. It's an unfathomable gesture of solidarity, but also an act of a man who feels like he has nothing to offer anyone in this room. The least he can do is remind Elena that not everyone was ever against her.

The fist he's had clenched since Buffy reprimanded him slowly unclenches, finger by finger, until he reaches out to take Elena's hand, and there's something in the gesture that suggests Des thinks he needs it as much as Elena does.]

[Having been chased for months, this doesn't feel much different. She and Des hadn't exactly been close, after all, but if any of the people in this room are outcasts?

It's probably them.

So when he reaches out and takes her hand, that's what she takes it as. Her expression doesn't change; she just looks at him, and he'll feel her gently squeeze it back.

Finding Dimitris and the Mind Master will be difficult, maybe even impossible with whatever skills she has in her arsenal. Elena herself has already proven how hard it is to find someone who doesn't want to be found.]

Good.

[ An affirming nod later, Buffy squeezes her shoulder. Actionable information. That's a start. ]

That's good: they can't have made it far. [ She stands, deliberately turning away from where Fred and Thomas lie in mangled heaps on the floor. ] We need to rally everyone we've got, run a sweep. They're not getting off this island. [ This isn't over. It can't be over; it can't be for nothing. ]

[and finnick crouches down next to myri's other side, and against her other shoulder in a comforting gesture. /makes a myri sandwich.]

We should tell Wynn. [good thing he'll be here like any moment now ...]

[ pure death - yasushi ishii ]

There is little need. [ as a matter of fact, wynn is standing in the doorway behind y'all, taking in the scene before him slowly, gaze tracing between thomas - his dragon's claw - and fred jr. - his own blood, awash in their own blood where they lie. ] Sir Summers is correct. We will send every Knight available to scour this Isle.

[ he looks to mark next, who trembles with a rage that has nowhere to go, now that his mortal enemy has vanished into thin air. wynn's words seem directed towards him, even as he addresses the room. ] Justice will prevail, whether today or tomorrow. We will see this done.

Edited 2014-12-18 21:11 (UTC)

[Coming to a stop at Wynn's heels, Rose stands frozen as she takes in the sight before her, the broken body of Thomas, the bloodied remains of Fred, her eyes lingering on the latter as her face remains a nearly emotionless mask, only the air that feels as if it's been forced out of her lungs suggesting any response at all to the sight before her.

Death so fresh and so close pushes in on her, a pressure that makes her temples throb and she considers it, how easy it would be to lower the wall in her mind, to get one last glimpse but she says nothing, does nothing, just looks on in stoic silence as Wynn speaks.]

[ gus comes in and stops as he takes in the scene, heart seizing in his throat, stomach bottoming out as he catches the tail end of wynn's words. fucking fred, practically a baby. the expression on kat's face. he looks away from the tiny blonde. watching her grief seems... wrong. he's spent years watching her guard herself, seeing that guard shatter feels like a cruel invasion of her privacy.

it's thomas that draws his attention finally, moving across the floor to his broken body. thomas is safe, somehow, as if his age and status -- dragon's claws don't often last incredibly long, after all -- make his death easier for gus to bear. or perhaps it's the knowledge that nothing can bring him back, there is not terrifying hope to cling to. thomas' divine birthright precluded him from being resurrected.

with the ease of picking up a child (strength 20 total), he picks up the man he's admired for over a decade, looked to as a friend and confidante, and moves to carry him out of the throne room with a certain reverence. gruffly, he tells wynn as he passes, jaw tight: ] I'll bring him to the boats.

[As soon as the guards surrender, Spike stops punching them and instead just shoves his way past them, none to gently, perhaps, but not like he's actively trying to hurt them. While everyone else is debating and interrogating and mourning and whatever else, Spike's searching the balcony, hoping for any sign that it's a trick, that they're still in range, or maybe some sort of clue to where they've gone. He can't consider the possibility that they're just gone without a trace. He's been so ready to dismember Dimitris, to pay him back for all the pain he's caused Spike and Myri and Kat and so many others. He needs this. Has needed it for a long time now.

When Wynn arrives, Spike finally realizes it's futile, and kicks viciously at the balcony railing (atk 23, dmg 12). It doesn't help anything, but he has nothing else to take out his rage on. Might as well add a little to Mark's home repair bill.]

Bugger all. He bloody got away.

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