ᴏᴏ2 ( ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ) | ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴅ ǫᴜᴇᴇɴ

[insubordination]

So.

[ it is a public message, to the network, that pops up on the circle's watches and roy looks Less Than Pleased (tm) with the sudden state of affairs. the weather in the temple is absolutely out of control, there are apparently weird cakes appearing in the kitchens, and the fighting ring has turned into a magical court. great.

so, that may be the reason why roy's tone is particularly clipped, or even frustrated. but he seems methodical, in his words, and he is sitting at a table with a notebook, a glass of water, and a weird looking lizard on the table that has an odd rainbow-shift to the scales.

( ignore the lizard. it seems roy is. ) ]

The Circle is currently compromised of people of a variety of talents; soldiers, magicians, teenagers . . . all of us have particular skills to contribute to the cause of whatever it is we're meant to do here. I know quite a few people [ like maes, and barabas ] have been keeping track of various magical powers that we have been gifted, and organized some semblance of structure -- all of which is necessary. But we have to acknowledge what happened to Akvos.

[ he pauses, there. ]

Astoria has not been entirely clear with the Circle on what our purpose is. That may be an innocent error, or a purposeful move to win our trust. I'm not here to argue the merits of whether or not we should trust her, but we have no choice but to participate in whatever world she sends us to. Whether we like it or not, we are stuck there until she brings us back, and we have some opportunity to assist whoever is there. We cannot depend on her to figure out what to do in order to prevent another Akvos, or -- it seems, another El Minha, given King Kathashun is no longer in his own world.

[ roy taps the pen against the table once. ]

I don't have any solution as to what we did right, or wrong, or whether or not it was our fault in the first place. But I want to begin the conversation to work to prevent it again, and seeing as Astoria is either not willing or not capable of explaining herself at the moment, we need to learn to work without her. What are we missing? What do we need to work on? And what can we do in order to be more organized before our next world?

[ and, finally, roy feeds the lizard one (1) piece of lettuce, which it lazily seems to chew on. ]

I'm of a mind we need to organize fighters, healers, and transporters, but I'm open to ideas and suggestions -- and questions, about previous worlds to those who were not there to experience them. I have been to El Minha, Struxta, and Akvos. And I'm certain "older" members of the Circle will be happy to share their experiences, too.

( filtered to maes + riza )

[ almost immediately, his expression turns from serious and leaderlike to tired. ]

Who wants to keep notes?

[ PLEASE DON'T MAKE HIM DO IT :( ]

( end filter )

( ooc: please feel free to threadjack in this post! especially if you want to use this to foster CR and/or build "teams" that roy is looking to enlist. c: )

Comments

video;

[cargoed]

[ lance has been having....well. conversations is one way of putting it? about this topic already. what they did in akvos, what they didn't do. organizing does seem like the best way of going about it all, but this kind of looks like a start?

it's also relatively relieving to know there are others who are willing to take a more practical look at it. lance wasn't about to message the network, but he probably should have. next time? ]

And some of us have a few talents, but I don't know if being a teenager is one? Some of us get as far as defender of the universe before we hit eighteen, so.... [ is he shrugging very very humbly right now? and not at all looking smug and like roy should be impressed? hmm. interesting. ]

But when you say organized- do you mean like a military unit? Or like...school? Are we going to be running drills? [ U G H ]

video;

[insubordination]

Quite the proactive teenager, volunteering for running drills like that.

[ without missing a beat; roy recognizes lance's type, because he, too, was once a shitty teenager, and unlike a lot of adults, he remembers what it was like to be a stupid kid, and deliberately forces kids to learn the lessons he did in a manner that is not fun.

you know. like a real parent. ]

Does oh-six-hundred sound adequate for a start time, or should we aim for something a bit earlier?

video;

[cargoed]

What? I-I wasn’t- wait. What? How?

[ what just happened. what did he miss. how...... HOW ]

I-I shouldn’t run them! That’s not what i was saying!

video;

[insubordination]

I think oh-six-hundred is a good start time.

[ just continuing on like lance said absolutely nothing of consequence!! ]

Perhaps you'd like to lead the drills, and round up your fellow -- what are you all called again, defenders of the universe? You all seem like a capable lot.

video;

[cargoed]

We're all very capable! We've been keeping an intergalactic war at bay for the last-

[ okay well that's where it gets complicated, so lance just kind of. makes a lot of motions and is frustrated but is completely unable to communicate any of that into words.

and then the moment passes and he takes a breath. ]

How about this- our leader? Shiro? Knows more about drills than I do. He's been having us run them all the time. We could use those?

video;

[insubordination]

Ah, Shiro is a good friend of mine.

[ and just when lance thinks he's off the hook....! ]

I'm sure he'd love to have another burden lifted from his shoulders, by your volunteering to take up the drills. I'm sure you can do it.

Re: video;

[cargoed]

I can't run them, I don't know them well enough!

[ panic? panic. ]

Keith can do it instead!

video; | threadjack.

[wraithes]

Defender of the universe?

[ literally nothing else you said was interesting, lance, sorry. ]

video;

[cargoed]

Yup.

[ he smiles, easy and bright. this he can talk about. and would rather talk about. ]

My name is Lance. Paladin of Voltron, defender of the universe. Pretty sweet, right? [ the confidence will fade to something brighter, though. softer. ] And you are...?

video;

[wraithes]

[ paladin. a holy warrior, maybe? defender of the universe sounds important. voltron means nothing to her. he seems young, though, or at the very least her age . . . ish. ]

What type of resume do you need to have in order to become a defender of the universe?

[ it's not an obtuse question; she's clearly joking, judging by the faint upward curve of her lips. ]

And I am Inej. I'm afraid I don't have a fancy title like that.

[ the wraith means nothing here, and so she'll keep it to herself. ]

video;

[cargoed]

[ does she want to comment on what people their age can accomplish? because...... ]

Typically we're chosen by the spirits of the lions. The paladins before us were picked, and we were picked, kinda of chosen out of the entire universe to help protect peace and the lives of every society alive?

[ it sounds a lot more impressive than it is. even if he knows it's impressive, it's still....a lot to explain to people. ]

I don't know. I like Inej. [ bright smile, easy truth. ]

video;

[wraithes]

[ . . . how interesting. the word 'spirits' catches her attention, as does being chosen. she's not entirely sure what lions have to do with it, but it sounds like these individuals were chosen by some sort of god-like beings to fight for whatever cause the gods seemed fit.

doesn't sound too insane, to her. there are martyrs in every world.

her smile grows at his compliment, and inej shrugs her shoulders. she's not necessarily outwardly warm, but she doesn't seem too put-off by his quasi-flirting. ]

I like it well enough.

[ she only has one name, after all, so she may as well grow to like it. ]

I imagine you'll be volunteering, then, for whatever needs to be done. [ it sounds like it's his job description. ] I'm not sure how my own skills would be of assistance [ liar ] but I can also help where needed.

[ she pauses, before she continues, a little dryly: ]

I rise with the sun, so running drills will need to be early.

[ get ready 2 get wrecked boi ]

video;

[cargoed]

[ she doesn't seem immediately put off by the explanation, which lance was quasi-expecting, and that's....refreshing? nice? either way, lance just nods, the smile lingering as it tends to do. ]

Yeah! Definitely volunteering. Astoria is kind of crazy and I don't know if I trust her? But she seems to want the same thing we do- peace. But...

[ he'll look a bit pensive and then shrug. ] We need to work together more than anything. Titles or not, being a team is what is going to actually help. And your skills would totally help! If you want to come by we can definitely figure something out.

[ the mention of rising with the son makes lance suddenly look very. tired. ]

Yeah it looks like I'll be....at the drills too....

[ help him ]

video; threadjack

[spaceforged]

Practicing team efforts wouldn't be amiss. We all need to work together. [He's not surprised Lance is flexing their title. Shiro taps the edge of t book laid out before him.]

It's more vital than ever since we now know we might be separated from people we're familiar with when we are sent to other worlds. And you do your best when working in groups.

video;

[cargoed]

So......you’re going to lead practices. Got it. Thanks for volunteering, Shiro!

[ SAVE HIM ]

video;

[spaceforged]

Everyone who is willing is going to have a turn at practicing teamwork. We need to be able to work with anyone.

[He won't be baited.]

It probably means we should train in more than the skills we know too. Speaking of that can you move water while you're in motion?

video;

[cargoed]

Yeah! And you've been doing that for ages. It'll help everyone else including those of us who didn't start out at the Academy, you know?

[ there's no baiting, as far as lance is concerned the deal has been sealed. ]

Oh! Uh. Kind of? It's not as strong if I can't get the stance right but yeah. Why?

video;

[spaceforged]

[He'd been about to say something and opened his mouth to say it. He shuts it without uttering a sound. He blinks.]

....wait. You can only do it if you're in a stance? What stance?

video;

[cargoed]

Um. { why does he feel embarrassed. ] Yeah? Kind of? Or it helps, at least. I didn't really know what I was doing before Mako showed me some moves and stances and things and it's helped so much I don't usually try using my power without them?

Except for when we were in Akvos. But we were kind of....in water. So I didn't need to center myself.

threadjack, video

[shootstyles]

Defender of the universe?

Literally the whole universe?

threadjack, video

[cargoed]

Yup! The whole universe.

[shootstyles]

...Wow.

Umm, I wish I had more to say but I'm kind of stuck at "wow". So... you must be used to this sort of thing, huh?

[cargoed]

Kind of? It’s definitely weird being given powers and forced to do what we were kinda already doing but it’s not that weird.

[ and then some of that grand confidence will reel back. not disappear, but it’s just not. stifling. ]

What about you?

[shootstyles]

I'm just in hero training so I haven't really done much beyond fight a few villains. Nothing compared to the entire universe.

...And even then, I'd never imagine that sort of thing. I was just hoping I'd be able to save people in my own country.

[cargoed]

If you've fought villains I wouldn't really call that in training. You're already a hero, right?

[ said simply. ]

But I get it- it's kind of hard to wrap my head around too? And I've been doing it for a few years. [ a beat, and then he grins. ] But it's not as cool as it sounds. Having to save the universe also means there's someone trying to destroy the universe, so.....