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

maybe because you never do your job

[dadandgone]

Check-ins probably. After all, we have a lot of people who don't exactly trust Astoria. I think if we keep the exchange between the people actually traveling and being brought here would be more acceptable.

wow rude he's putting in overtime with this stupid project

[insubordination]

A world just got destroyed and she's talking to herself on the network. No one in their right mind would trust her to deal with much of anything after that.

[ good help is so hard to find these days. but roy has little sympathy for whatever difficulty she's experiencing; when you lead, you take the bad with the good, and you shoulder the burden, and keep moving forward. Astoria's absence leaves something of a bitterness in his mouth, and he's all but ruled her out as useless, at this point.

still. he sighs again. ]

I don't want to interact with her more than necessary, and including her will only make it more complicated. People need to build trust with one another, and including her to their concerns and private information will only make it worse. We need an actual leader for the Circle.

[ he's not volunteering but this is absurd. ]

[dadandgone]

[Maes is pretty sure there wasn't much trust even before that. But Roy has a point. If it was difficult to trust her before, then the current state she is in certainly isn't helping matters.

He sighs.]

Getting people to cooperate has always been our challenge here. Picking out leadership is going to be even more difficult because we probably have a lot of people who could take charge, but due to the fluctuation of people coming and going we lack a stable system to build around. What if we find people to lead and then a few weeks later they vanish? Not to mention the fact that as we get new arrivals they aren't necessarily going to be keen to follow.

It's all a mess is what it is. But I guess we have to start somewhere. Maybe as we're organizing all this things might fall into place a little more clearly.

"he" is putting in overtime. uh-huh.

[efface]

It's the same method we took back in the coven as well. While Astoria might be more present here, the burden is going to be on us.

[ riza had pretty much decided she didn't trust astoria from day one. the coven had left too much of a bad taste in her mouth, that no matter what astoria's intentions might have been, she brought them here against their will. hard stop.

but hughes has a point, and riza sighs. ]

Everyone tends to keep to their own as well. Picking one person to lead or organize is going to be nearly impossible, as most who are here don't have much more in common than the fact they are trapped here. Unless it was a group who led as one. It's less likely everyone in the group would go home at the same time.

he said what he said.

[insubordination]

[ he digests the opinions carefully, quietly running through different scenarios in his mind. for a moment, it almost appears that he's not listening, but maes and riza should know better -- roy is thinking. and when riza finishes speaking, he allows a long, heavy sigh to escape, frustrated.

all of them are too different, from too many different places, with too many different expectations . . . picking one person to lead them is impossible, having too many leaders is equally impossible, and throughout it all, astoria still has more power than any of them combined.

but in thinking it through, there's a sudden spark in his eyes, and he inhales. something connecting.

it isn't quite checkmate, but it is close. ]

Maybe we're approaching this in the wrong way.

[ slowly, methodically. ]

King Bradley was a puppet, wasn't he? He ruled Amestris with an iron fist, but it was for a greater purpose -- for the Homunculi, and to destroy the city. And the top brass went along with him because he sounded like he knew what he was doing, and they were greedy for power. He was a leader because he promised them something they couldn't have, and they were too stupid to think otherwise.

[ until roy stumbled into their meeting, and king bradley held riza hostage to prevent him from saying a word. but he breezes past that aspect of the story easily enough. ]

Maybe the problem is less that we need a leader, and more that we already have one that is inept, ineffectual, and ruling for her own purposes. Astoria has this place divided down the middle in who supports her, and who does not. Organizing anything that may question her, even innocently, will only serve to divide this place more.

[ and as he talks, the pieces of the plan fall into place . . . ]

Maybe we just need to tear it all down.

[dadandgone]

[Maes shouldn't be surprised by the suggestion per say. In fact, there's a brief sense of deja vu when Roy mentions his 'plan.' It's less a plan at the moment though and more a suggestion. Although, knowing Roy he's already starting to move past that and into something more concrete.]

While I get where you're going with this and you know I'm going to follow you no matter what, I feel like I should point out a few things with this "plan" of yours. Starting with the fact that it took you several years to build up the connections and support necessary to begin your plan of overthrowing Bradley, and that was before you knew he was a puppet to something else. Not to mention that was working within a system you already knew with a reputation that took you an additional number of years to cultivate within the academy and on the front lines.

Not to mention the whole part where overthrowing Bradley happened during the chaos of the Promised Day anyway which took the cooperation of several forces from the North and Xing as I recall you telling me.

[He's not even getting into the Elrics' part in all that mess. His point is, he wants to hear how these two situations are in anyway similar aside from the fact that they're attempting to overthrow one powerful entity.]

[insubordination]

I decided King Bradley needed to go because I was sick of being a tool in his act of genocide.

[ it's said evenly, but it's an honest statement. roy's initial decision to act against bradley had been a wholly selfish one, made out of anger and frustration and guilt, rather than what it turned into. ]

It evolved, and became what it needed to be. Restructuring whatever the hell is going on here isn't a short-term idea, but a long-term way of thinking.

[ so overall, roy is in agreement, albeit with a correction, as he takes all of maes' (rightful) criticisms with a grain of salt. ]

What do we have to gain, by cooperating, and what do we have to lose? She holds all of the cards, and we have nothing aside from a general promise that what we are doing is the right thing. But we have no proof of that, and for all we know, we're hastening the demise of the universe by playing along.

[ he pauses, there, and shrugs his shoulders. ]

I'm just putting forward the idea that questioning authority may be the correct way of looking at it, rather than organizing with the presumption that this is the right thing to do. We need to look at all potential avenues, rather than just the narrative she's told us. She very may well be telling us the truth, but that doesn't mean we should be forced to operate as if she is. We should be doing the opposite. And we need to start with the idea that Astoria is already the leader of this doomed experiment, and maybe she shouldn't be.

[efface]

[ riza opens her mouth to make some comments - about the differences here, about what it means that they're having this conversation over the network, about how roy should consider what he means by all of this. but she closes it again not much long after. ]

Sir. [ it sounds a bit like she's going to chastise him. but again, she pauses, considering his words, and then lets out a breath. ] Questioning authority and "tearing it all down" seem a bit different.

[ he has a point, of course. he always has a point. but riza is looking at this a bit more pragmatically. whether or not they trust astoria and her intentions, unseating her... is another story. ]

What would our other options be? If we weren't going to follow her instructions? Let these places we're being sent to fall without trying to help?