felldenlogs | Court Gossip (Stars Only)

[For a moment Sarah just blinks a little at Lisa's reaction. And then she can't help the bright laugh that rises up.]

I'll be right behind you when they start breaking out the fire-breathing dragons, trust me.

[ If she weren't already listening hard, she might have missed him, with as much her thoughts want to draw her attention inwards. She lifts her head a little by way of greeting. She's not going to be rude, but she's a little... worn down for actual pleasantries at the moment. ]

Quite a few, yes. [ Her eyes drift back towards the ground. ] None of the kind that will have easy answers, I'm afraid.

[ As if any of this would. ]

Another way without feeding into their bullshit?

[Rhetoric question, but it's nice to hear the words anyway. After going through that entire audience toeing the line and watching others bow and scrape to the Emperor, it feels nice to finally say what's really on his mind without fear of retribution. For now at least.

If Sarah's smile is dry, Bigby's is downright parched. It curves a bit when he hears the way Sarah describes herself and he has to stop himself from adding, yeah, that really isn't much to go by. But what the hell, right? There are plenty of stories out there about ordinary or unlikely people forced into action, enough for him not to count out an English teacher just yet. If that fuck-up Jack could slay a giant, a teacher from Queens has a pretty good shot of doing whatever she wants.]

... Sure. [And the smile slips a notch, just enough moisture trickling back into it to show that not only is he taking this seriously but he believes what he's saying when he adds,] Or at the very least, find somewhere for everyone to go where they don't have to deal with... this.

[His eyes give a quick glance around the room and his head tilts a little in gesture, just enough to give her the impression that he's not talking about the library or the castle itself, but everything beyond it.]

I don't think the Emperor was lying when they said the world is dying. But I don't know that it's worth giving up on just yet. [Although he doesn't have all the pieces to the puzzle to make that particular judgment just yet. Still, it's something he finds himself wanting to believe in regardless until he has a reason not to. Bigby shifts in his seat, the position he takes a little like Sarah's, arms folded, body leaning into them.] These people should have the home they want, not one that's chosen for them. The kind of life the Emperor wants to force on them, it isn't— [He interrupts himself, trying to think of the best way to put it.] ... It's not the happy ending they seem to think it is.

Edited 2019-09-14 04:38 (UTC)

That's a good way of putting it.

[Succinct and to the point. She listens quietly though to the rest of his words, following the quick glance a moment and giving the library a look over. By now most of the attendants themselves have filtered off, she thinks. Or at the very least she can't quite hear any dry footsteps whisking along the rough floors of the library as they were earlier. The mousy little attendant probably booked it out of the room when she could.

His words though make her head tilt a little.]

No, happy endings don't happen in real life.

[She shakes her head gently, eyes still directed off around the library itself. Her words come in the tone of someone who holds no illusions otherwise. She might not have been through wars like he has but she's experienced enough lows in her life, from missed dreams to broken engagements (which she had fooled herself into thinking meant a happy ending at one point), that she can't quite hold up the ideal of a happy ending being a real thing anymore. She hasn't since she was a teenager anyhow.]

Particularly not in situations like these where someone is trying to make a decision for you.

[Sure that's what an Emperor or a King was supposed to do. Make decisions for their populace and lead them. However the populace should probably get a say in it too, at least somewhat.]

[Aqua hasn't quite started into the introduction of the tome, when Sarah asks her question. She looks up then, thinking about it…]

There is a fair amount, from what I've seen… though, I suspect there are many more to be found at the University.

[There are many more in the Castle of Departure, after all.]

I've only looked into the novice tomes for Conjuration, Destruction and Restoration – that are the schools of magic that come closest to my skill set.

I hope not… but I don't think we should test their tolerance carelessly either.

[The war is, right now, at a stalemate after all.]

If you wish to talk someone from the other side and find out more, I would do so on neutral territory.

[Aqua certainly planing to, but she isn't about to say as much two steps out of the throne room.]

[Fury is a blinding feeling, hot in her veins and burning away her uncertainty and the bitter taste of failure. Her weapon is a warm comfort in her hand, an assurance that this time, right now she won't fail.

She will protect the worlds. She will free Bigby from Xehanort's Darkness.

A wordless yell escapes her as she swings Master's Defender again, then cartwheels to the side, to cut off the imposter's escape route into the hallway that leads back into the castle.]

I won't let you get away. Not this time.

[She's failed too often already.]

[Sarah's sneaking trip into the University library hadn't been in-depth enough to catch the breadth of their magic collection but she had to admit what she had gotten to view was pretty spectacular. She almost hated that she couldn't simply study there as she liked at the moment.

At the mention of restoration Sarah looks intrigued.]

Restoration is something like healing, right?

[That's probably a little simplistic of a way of putting it but she thinks it suffices as a start?]

[...is he being punked? where's the camera??]

I'm the guy losing sleep because you can't afford a friggin' watch.

[seriously... this guy's being way too nonchalant about this whole thing, damn cheeky bastard.]

The fact it's dark out and there's no one else around wasn't a clue?

[it's late. way too late for flute playing of any kind. this much is common knowledge, he's sure.]

How about I tell you my name after you give me a good enough reason not to kick your ass?

[The blade comes down at an angle, and this time he has to throw himself out of the way to avoid it. Next time, he probably won't be able to. Not with the way she's fighting.

Once his feet hit the ground again, he pivots and starts trying to put as much distance between the two of them as possible. His heart is starting to race, and he can feel something sick crawling up his throat.

Calm down. Calm down. Calm down.

But Aqua is already a step ahead of him and all he ends up doing is throwing himself into her direct line of sight, easy access for another blow, and his body prepares for it even if his mind doesn't.]

I don't want to hurt you. [But the yellow glare in his eyes says something different, and the way his nails begin to tingle and face starts to itch doesn't go ignored either. The knot in his throat claws harder, and something deep and dark simmers within his gut.] Calm down.

[He doesn't know if he's telling her or himself that anymore.]

Hoisamuro!

[Lisa seems quite relieved at that. She's put her faith in that. Sarah seems like the tactician type that could lead her around which works for Lisa. She's no Tatsuya but she'll certainly work for her. At least to make sure that they both come out of everything okay along with anyone else. Lisa relaxes a bit, sinking back further into her chair.]

Hey. You don't think we're going to have to kill the others on the other side, do you? They're in the same situation as us so it seems kind of wrong...

[Maybe it's because no one actually pressed for the specifics, she muses, but elects not to voice the thought aloud.]

In that case, the Emperor and people in the castle aren't going to be of any more help than before. [For what amounts to "help," anyway, which is quite little.] Are you planning on contacting the Court's soldiers, then? If we must fight, we'll have to know just who we are supposed to work with.

Ensuring our dedication is the goal, huh? ["Everyone thinks they're right in a war," or something — there was a campfire, perhaps, she doesn't fully remember the circumstances leading up to that conversation —

Anyway.]

It worked, didn't it? At least one of these guys was raring to go. [Aragorn, she means, and she would gesture at him if she could spot him after the audience had wound down, though for such a towering figure, he's disappeared quickly.]

Would you believe me if I said yes? [She keeps her voice and expression casual, trying to gauge his reaction. As displeased as she was, still is, about the "Re LIVE"s, she understands the necessity of them, although explaining all that stuff isn't something she wants to go into when he seems on the verge of agitation. Or even if he wasn't.

(1) Be drawn to a different world altogether.
(2) Fight in a war.
(3) Win somehow.
(4) ???
(5) Save this world, save their own.

Nope, even if she noticed the similarities to what she faced, she reserves the right to remain dubious.]

[Hoo boy, what a question. It sets Sarah's brow to furrowing because... honestly? She can't give Lisa the answer she really wants to to that question. What Sarah wants to say is, "Of course not, not if you don't want to."

What she has to say is:]

War is sort of unpredictable. It's safe to say though we may be expected to do things we don't exactly agree with or want to do.

[They shouldn't bloody well need to, is Nia's opinion.]

Oh, good question. Are we going to fight with the soldiers? I'm a lot more used to a small group. Wouldn't be surprised if a lot of other people here were too.

[Soldiers... had their purpose, she supposed, but in Nia's experience that's primarily peacekeeping and maintaining order. When things got to a point where actual armies moved, they'd gone to hell so badly that it'd take a real miracle to save things.]

Seems like it’d be. Be stupid to rile everyone up otherwise.

[Unless the whole point was to have a bunch of angry dissenters on-hand, but that seems terribly unlikely.

But she’s right, there’s at least one person who seems to be entirely on-board with all of the madness. Crowley isn’t a fan, he’s entirely convinced that such blind faith is misplaced and foolish. Dangerous, even.]

I can’t answer for anyone else, I really don’t want to anyways, but apparently some people are more willing to believe half-truths than the rest of us.

[Aqua nods, at that – for her it's the only way of putting it.]

Yes… that's exactly what it is. Though it seems that Restoration magic is far more complex than the Cure magic that I was taught.

[If only she had the time, if there wasn't so much to do… maybe then Aqua would focus on learning beyond the skill level she had held before coming here.]

Mm, I don't know much about the magic here myself but it's definitely a little more complicated than what I've seen.

[Which is all from a fae bastard so your mileage may vary on just how good of a demonstration of magic she really has had.]

But it's like a lot of things - the more you practice, the better you get. Complicated just means there's more practice needed.

[There was a lot of mix emotions going through Nike at the moment, enough to overwhelm her. New information, new items, new land, and new opportunities to grow her powers. Nike was excited over everything that had happened while all at once she felt other emotions swirling over her chest.

It was too much to take in. She doesn't even know where to begin.

So she decided to wander away from the lively group, where many exchanges were taking place, which in hindsight she should be participating in, but she was far too preoccupied and exhausted to discuss or strategize or whatever else. The city view and starry night sky was more than enough to keep her company, even if she can't hear them at the moment.

And yet, the Emperor had promised the more attempts she made to make a connection, the faster her powers will return. All the more reason to keep trying. To try to reach out to the world above and ahead of her. Reaching out, trying to touch its heart, and hopefully it'll be more incline to do the same. After all, she needed to hear the voice of the world and the voice of the people surrounding her to better grasp the situation.

It was only a shame that someone else had a similar idea. Which will leave Nike silent, at first, as she senses tension and notices the way the other woman hisses. What was she trying to...? Nike was too absorbed to do much other than watch and observe until she heard a light ringing sound which will catch her attention! That sounded a lot like....the way her world would sometimes sound whenever she used the purifying aspect of her rain summoning. Nike was too engrossed by the familiar sound she won't notice the woman swinging the item until it was being pointed at her. Nike's gaze will be on the.....weird sword shaped thing??? It was curious...]

Hey! Is your item alive? Or is it always purifying? Or is it due to magic? Is that why it has a nice ring to it?

[Why, yes, Nike has no issue over having an weapon pointed towards her! Especially if it has a nice sound to it since......weapons aren't suppose to have sounds other than what its purpose to?]

Hahahahaha!

[ He's very good at dodging. Is it because he's used to having people try to punch him in the face? We just don't know. ]

You're wrong, by the way. That there aren't a lot of people around. There's lots of people, everywhere. All the time, but mostly at night.

[ He grins like a lunatic. ]

You just can't see them!

I was just, I was just about to get it to speak, and—

[ Normally, with this many anger points, he'd be doing the wholesome red glowy eye thing accompanied by clouds of billowing black resentful energy. Right now however, with his abilities mostly nerfed, all he can do is shout like... like a... like a good-for-nothing.

After a while, he exhales. ]

Nobody here seems to be able to tell us anything useful, so I was trying to have a chat with some people who can.

[Lisa sighs. Well, she can't say she didn't really expect that answer. Even if she really didn't want to hear it. The idea of fighting against her friends on the battlefield seems more like a nightmarish situation more than anything. She can only hope that they end up on the same side of this whole thing.]

Thanks for being honest with me.

[Lisa slouches a bit.]

It's kind of weird that we'd have to do that though. Especially over a war that I'm sure not a lot of us care about. At least I think that none of us care about?

[Hmmmm.]

But there are neutral territories, though. Those are areas when fighting must absolutely not happen, right? That means maybe there's a way we could stop all this fighting through means of simple...peace talks? Trade? Whatever my history teacher talked about?

[Lisa isn't entirely wrong and she's on the right track. However... Sarah frowns a little more, evidently displeased.]

Peace talks only really work unfortunately when sides are willing to concede. And seeing how the Emperor is I can't imagine they're very eager to give any.

The soldiers are the ones who actually were from this place, after all. They'll have first-hand experience with the war. I don't think we're in so good standing that we can be allowed to just rush into battle unsupervised.

[And having some guidance is better than rushing onward with no clear goal. Win a war? If only settlement was as easy as both sides duking it out in a big winner-takes-all fight like they do in shounen comics.]

Court Gossip (Stars Only)

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god I'm so sorry new job knocked me flat @_@

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i hope this is okay!

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