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

[bestaround]

We don't have to continue letting her throw us around to all these worlds, do we? Isn't Astoria around here somewhere?

[rightfully]

What are you proposing?

[ It's asked in a withholding, too-even tone. ]

[bestaround]

[ A tone that gives him a brief pause; did he speak out of line with that? He grows more tentative in his reply: ]

It's just—everyone keeps saying we don't have a choice, but is that really true?

[rightfully]

[ It's not a judgmental tone. Just the opposite, in fact. She's reserving judgment altogether until she has a better idea of what he's about. ]

It's hard to say.

Her Grace's power certainly overshadows anything I am capable of. [ Because she has no head for magic in the slightest. ] And I don't believe saving a whole world to be unimportant.

But...

Perhaps you're correct to question. [ A brief pause. ] What would you do differently?

[bestaround]

No, I don't think it's not important, either. [ It isn't his first stint in this "aiding the multiverse" business, after all, but— ] It's different when all of you have the choice, though. Right? Astoria keeps running on these hunches with no clear directive...

If she had any idea what she was doing, we could've had a better chance of preventing what happened to Akvos. She isn't fit to lead us.

[ Or whatever the hell it is she's trying to do. ]

[rightfully]

[ Lucina has never thought of Astoria as a leader, but merely a bridge between. 9S does bring up a valid point, though. The disorder of their travels could be as much to blame for Akvos's fate as any of their own actions.

A god need not speak clearly, but - Astoria isn't a god, is she? She's just a witch. ]

I understand what you are trying to say.

May we speak later - in person?

[ Not over the watches, which are still an uncertainty to her. ]

[bestaround]

—Oh? ... Yeah, we can do that. I'm not busy.

[insubordination]

She is, but how reachable she is tends to be luck of the draw. She doesn't appear to be willing or capable of speaking with us at the moment.

[ given she's talking to herself and being generally batshit. it's a bad time, 9S. he pauses, there, before he continues, rather bluntly: ]

Resistance is always an option, but we'll have to be intelligent in doing it.

[bestaround]

[ He huffs, annoyed. ]

Does she ever? She's always avoiding us. [ Which does not strike him as a good thing. ] If that's an option, shouldn't we take it? Everyone always seems so resigned to all this.

[insubordination]

How do you propose we stop her?

[ it's a serious question. resisting Astoria has been on his mind since he got here, but with how the circle tends to shift around so frequently . . . it doesn't lend to much organization of active resistance. ]

We have a set amount of time before we are likely shunted off to another world, in her name. Attempting to prevent that could be doable, but we would need to figure out how to do it.

[ he pauses. ]

And we should operate under the assumption that she can also hear everything we say.

[ roy hasn't made his feelings about Astoria a secret, but organizing an active resistance against her would take some creative subterfuge that roy isn't entirely sure is possible, given the cards they've been dealt. ]

[bestaround]

[ He raises some fair points. 9S pauses, mulling for a moment. ]

To be honest, I... haven't dug too deeply into how. I don't think how she's doing this is right, but many of the others never seemed interesting in resisting her, so it didn't feel appropriate for me to further pursue the thought.

[ A part of him almost hadn't expected Roy to be on his side of the matter. Either way, the results of this past mission were too much of a disaster for 9S to idly sit by anymore. ]

[insubordination]

Questioning authority is usually appropriate.

[ said easily enough, given roy is usually in a position of authority, but he seems serious, when he says it. ]

You shouldn't silence yourself just because you feel as if you're in the minority; you'll find other people who agree with you if you speak up.

[ this gig sucks, 9S. ]

[bestaround]

[ Questioning authority is always something 9S couldn't help but do; he's gone behind their backs time and time again, despite how it never ended well for him. Growing outspoken about it, on the other hand—well, that's a little trickier. It's difficult to shake up the foundation of beliefs even 9S had, and it's harder to go against the wills of those he was built to serve—and there's a lot of humans here.

A part of him wonders if Roy says this because he doesn't realize what he's talking to. Another knows that's completely moot; for some reason, that never mattered to anyone. 9S nods once in affirmation, tentative. ]

Alright, yeah. I understand.

[spellweave]

Your statement has some heavy implications.

[Which is maybe not something he's opposed to but he'd rather find a more peaceful solution...]

You would oppose her then?

[bestaround]

[ Well, not that the option is off the table... A last resort, mostly. ]

For the benefit of everyone here, I would. What she's doing isn't right.

[spellweave]

Which is to say she is doing nothing. [She throws them into worlds with no intel. She expects them to gather it themselves in a short period of time and then resolve the world's conflicts that are often decades old. It isn't right at all.]

I confess I feel similarly although I would not even know where to begin if we were to oppose her. I would rather like to give her a chance to explain herself or to allow us to understand her position but my patience is waning. After Akvos we can ill afford to be thrust into another world so blindly.

[bestaround]

[ 9S gives a wry snort, if only because mte my guy. ]

Yeah—and chances are, it's going to happen soon if we don't find her quick. But... I don't know, do you think talking to her would really work out?

[spellweave]

[There's a brief pause and then a sigh.] Who can say? She has never given us the chance to do so for any length of time. My fear is that the blind has been leading the blind. Her previous responses to inquires left little to be confident in. [Which explains a lot including their recent failure, unfortunately.]

Rather than oppose her, since I don't believe we are capable with how little we understand, I feel we should simply count her out of the equation entirely. Until such time as we find a way to intervene in her ability to send us to different worlds we must make due. [But finding a way to intervene may be something to work towards...]

[bestaround]

[ 9S audibly groans. ]

How the hell does someone with that level of magical prowess exist? One person alone being capable of all this is just—insane.

[spaceforged]

She can be approached over these watches when you can't reach her physically. But I don't think she'll be available until whatever is going on with her is over.

[There's a rustle of paper and he continues.]

As said before, any resistance has to done carefully. We need the intel to be sure we can pull it off. Failure could impose a lot more restrictions on us.

[bestaround]

I'm aware of the risks—I don't care what happens to myself. She's already gone too far.

[spaceforged]

It's not just you that would be at risk. That's why this must be considered carefully. All of us are bound to her and through us, our realities.

[It's been on his mind since the first time he learned that face. His voice stays calm, they need to be rational.]

I won't stop you if that's what you wish to do. But I don't feel we have any information about any of this to make a move. ...I'm not even sure she has enough information about herself to truly understand what is going on.

[bestaround]

That just makes all this worse!

[ And, you know, there's an option here that doesn't really require getting information first, but he isn't going to say that aloud. ]

What could we need to put a stop to her?

[spaceforged]

[There's a long silence this time. He has had a lot of thoughts about witches. Each one that captured him has ensured ways to keep him bound to them. He's escaped one. Ripped from the other. What do they need to stop someone with the power to drag them from other worlds and bring back the dead?

There's a tap of his fingers on the table, as he turns it all over in his head. In his cell when in the claws of the first he'd memorized patterns and kept his ears open.]

She can appear and disappear as she chooses, how are you planning to prevent that? Exactly how do you intend to stop her? And yes, it's one injustice after another.

You're not alone in seeing that.

[bestaround]

[ He isn't. But how come everyone fears her too damn much to do anything? ]

It's not like she can hide forever. If she can't be reasoned with, then we do it by force. Just because she's powerful doesn't mean it's impossible.