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

[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.

[spellweave]

'Tis not so strange a concept where I am from. I suppose worlds that do not have all powerful gods that can be made reality with a prayer would think so. [Haha... Your poor android brain, 9S.]

But it is precisely that that makes opposing her a task we cannot tackle at this time [There may not be the concept of the Echo here but... surely... there is something they can do.]

So you should be quite cautious if you've anything in mind.

[bestaround]

[ All-powerful gods, huh. If the world he comes from ever had a god out there, it never made themselves known, for better or worse.

But right now, he kind of hates the idea, if only because it makes it sound as though the rest of them are powerless against someone like Astoria. That others before today were right—there's nothing they could do, regardless of how they felt of the circumstances, and that's all there was to it. And Alphinaud toes that sentiment too closely for 9S' liking. ]

... No, I don't, [ He admits lamely. ] It was just beginning to feel like too many others were getting too comfortable with letting her do what she wants.

[spellweave]

[He actually feels some relief upon hearing that. While he sympathizes with 9S's thoughts on the matter, and certainly doesn't entirely disagree with them, he would rather avoid the conflict that could arise from such drastic actions. Not just from Astoria herself and how she may react but from fellow Circle members who may be more willing to trust her completely. That, he feels, would be much worse.]

I understand how you feel and there may be some who do not mind it... which is all the more reason to tread cautiously with our doubts. If there are cracks in Astoria's facade then they will make themselves known in due time. Many already have. We simply must wait until such time as we have more knowledge and more power to confront them.

[Despite how it sounds he's still very much an advocate on trying to talk things out with her. It would be nice if for once fighting was not the solution...]

That being said, seeking information about Astoria and our situation as a whole is perhaps a worthy goal to set our minds to in the meantime. I should be surprised if our travels do not eventually lead us down this path. [They have already. At least a little...]

[bestaround]

[ 9S can't help but slip out a tired sigh. He understands the value of gathering critical information—he wouldn't be much of a Scanner unit if he didn't—but with Astoria close by, it isn't as though they need to look far. And besides— ]

Just how long is everyone willing to wait? This'll only keep going the longer we do.

[spellweave]

On that, I cannot say. [These things can take a lot of time and he can't promise they'll find a wealth of information once they get there.]

Personally I am willing to wait for as long as is necessary to find out the truth and to resolve this peacefully. So perhaps the better question is how long are you willing to wait?

[He isn't sure he'd stop 9S if he wanted to try something more drastic though. Partially because he can't and partially because he can begrudgingly admit it might come to that.]

[bestaround]

[ Without missing a beat: ]

I believe it's already been long enough.