[OPEN] DEFENSE MEETING

[uncalled_for]

Date & Time: Five days after the completion of the bombing event. Starting early morning.
Location: Whatever area is decently clear of debris.
Characters: Anyone, whether it was previously arranged with Fiona, someone else did the convincing, or they just happen to be around the cleared area at the right time.
Summary: First “Defense” Group Meeting. Some chatting, some sparring, a little showing off, and everything in between.
Warnings: Violence and swearing, I guarantee it.


[When most have gathered Fiona will find some small piles of debris to climb on so she can at least be eye level with everyone else. It’s not the biggest of groups but it will hardly do if no one can see whoever is speaking. She’ll tap her staff to get some attention.]

Thank you all for coming and taking an interest. I’m Fiona, the one who spoke on the network before. Sorry there was a delay but I appreciate everyone coming nonetheless. [Detecting a little anger here…]

If what’s happened this past week has proved anything, it’s proved we need to work together and defend ourselves and each other. Those bastards aren’t going to help us no matter what lies they feed us. They can’t defend us, they have proven that again and again. They say they’re glad we survived, but how many of us didn’t make it through this last endeavor? We’re dealing with complete fools and we have only ourselves to rely on. So we need to find a way to help each other. You don’t have to agree with all of my opinions, but at least stay long enough to try and see if this will work.

[She’ll take a deep breath] This is only our first meeting, none of us really know each other or what each other is capable of. If we actually intend to defend each other then that is the first thing we need to fix. Use this meeting time to get to know the person next to you and what they’re capable of. And if you can fight then show everyone else what you’ve got. [She’ll hold up her hand and produce a tiny ball of fire, whirl it around a moment and wink it out as quickly as she made it.] Lets not be caught off-guard by those bastards again.

[And then she'll start hopping off the debris. Ah, wait. Almost forgot something.] Thank you.


[OOC: Behold the tiny organization abilities. All right so, here’s how I’m thinking this can roll. We’ve got a little fighting and a little chatting for threads. If conversation leads to battle you are welcome to keep it to the talking thread, just maybe tack it into the subject line “Chat -> Fighting” or hop to the Battle thread! Feel free to jump in as you please, opened, closed, whatever. This is a fantastic chance for CR, spoil it rotten! And thanks for being patient with me despite the OOC delays. :)

Edit: Okay so. People are on hiatus and stuff and that's okay. If your character would happen to be here, but you just can't toss them in, try putting down a placeholder reply or something. I am gonna be doing a headcount from the tags list when this wraps up so leader picking later on is easier to handle. :)]

Comments

[ofthegrey]

[Casual disinterest will never fail to capture his attention in circumstances that are at odds with the demeanor. He just so happens to settle near him as Fiona begins to speak, his posture erect but relaxed with his hands at his sides.

When she finishes, he turns his head toward him without angling his body.]

What do you think? Shall we take the advice? I'm Duncan. Fiona is an old friend of mine in our world.

[onemoredeath]

What I think? [ A slight shrug, his bandaged hands waving at the group of people milling about and Fiona standing and speaking. ]

That this would be better if some groups had also joined. Those with far more skill in fighting who think that this is a feeble wave of hands.

[ Duncan might not have seen anyone like a Japanese person before, but he would hear the accent and the slight struggle with finding some words. But he is well spoken enough even if he just makes a slight face at some of her words. ]

I also find some of her ideas lacking. Some are sound, but some are not. We cannot afford to fight both the Initiative and the United Earth. Where would we go if we did so? Take over this place? There is no purpose in that. We do not even know what we are looking for even if we searched for their machine, or how to make it operate even if we did find it.

And we cannot be so smug to think that if we did leave, they would not try to find us. Them of the Unite Earth. Between the two, I would prefer to work with the devil we know while building up our resources and strengths.

[ He shrugged and glanced back at Duncan, a flash of a smile on his plump lips. ]

But I am no fighter. What do I know?

[ofthegrey]

[He listens without interruption, fully focused, and considers the ideas presented. No, he has never seen anyone quite like this man before. Given others he has met since coming here, it doesn't surprise him overly much. He looks more human than some.]

It would definitely be better if more cared to show. That I can't argue. Perhaps over time, if they're given a reason to think it's worthwhile.

As for fighting on two fronts at once, I agree. However, we would not have to operate the machine, not necessarily. We would just need to find the leverage to get one of them to do it, or however many it takes. Not that I'm naive enough to believe that would be an easy task. They're bound to have safeguards. Probably training in resisting coercion.

They might come looking if we succeed. They might even find us. That's always a risk when one tries to escape captivity.

[He looks thoughtful at that, a few ideas brewing in the back of his mind for later consideration, the sorts of things a man dead back home might consider a worthwhile risk for the benefit of others. He draws back out of that before the pause is too long.]

You don't have to be a fighter to have valid concerns or strategies. I don't think any of us are talking about an immediate uprising, no matter how strongly worded the message. We're months away from that, if not much longer.

How long have you been here?

[onemoredeath]

Those are my main concerns. Perhaps there are ways around them. Perhaps I am not seeing them, but it what it is.

[ Reasons within reasons within reasons. He was content for now, the fighting having soothed his own inner demons and for now, he was willing to exercise his mind in this meeting. He was not sure ab9out this Duncan - he seemed far too focused for a simple bystander. Maybe he was someone behind the words. ]

I was among the second group brought here. Most of them are gone now, to home or whatever is waiting for them.

Here is another matter to think of: Those people who have no place to return to, be they already dead or almost dead. What will you do for them?

[ofthegrey]

They're worthy of serious consideration. Nothing that you've said isn't a big issue we're facing. If you've been here that long, you have more perspective than those who are newer. We'd be foolish to take any large action without the best answers we can obtain.

[Whether from direct observation or more subversive means.]

As for those in that circumstance, we have no idea what could be done for them, if anything. Some may prefer death to being a pawn. Others might want to stay and take their chances. Before we could answer that question intelligently, we'd need to know more about how this machine works.

[onemoredeath]

My perspective is that everyone is too quick to label everyone as evil save for us. Yes, they took us from our worlds and yes, they are asking of us to fight for them. But they are not evil. Misguided, perhaps. Too use to a world where people are mindless and do exactly what they are told, yes. As I have told others, it would have been so easy for them to insert a control mechanism into us while we were still senseless on their machines.

They have the means, after all. It is too easy to attack when you are still reeling with new information after all.

[ He smiled, tapping the side of his head with bandaged fingers. He can understand the anger some people keep on displaying but it grew tiring. Anger did not get anyone anywhere but dead. ]

The so-called attacks later - the drugging, the VR situation, those are more clumsy attempts that do not hold the same smell as the machine that brought us here. Thus they are not of the same group. One group wishes for our help to save a world and a future. Another group wishes for control over us. There may be several groups inside of the Initiative that we do not know of.

[ofthegrey]

There is a certain danger in labels, and it may be short sighted. Are you suggesting attempting to reason with them?

[He voices the question in a non-confrontational way, genuinely curious.]

Is it possible, however, that this is merely what they wish for us to believe? In my own experiences, those in power will often attempt to manipulate those in their control by presenting them with "rogue" elements who are in actuality part of the agenda. By comparison, their compatriots look reasonable and contrite, apologize for the abuses, vow not to let it happen again. It fosters a connection they would be unable to forge otherwise.

[onemoredeath]

Yes. They have more to fear from us getting mad than they do of the United Earth. That government is far away. We are here. And we are not helpless.

[ He thought for a moment, thinking about what had happened, and the steps that they had gone through. ]

Perhaps, perhaps not. I think that they are a bit too transparent to do such a thing. It may be naive of me, but the ones I have spoken to have simple minds.

[ofthegrey]

[Again, he gives a thoughtful nod, considering that. They might have more to fear from them, but they'd have to get organized if they were going to be a credible threat.]

Yet, it is not a simple mind that could devise such a machine that could reach across worlds and time. My suspicions are that we are never allowed to deal with those truly in power. I know if I abducted anyone who could do some of the things I've witnessed in the past several days, I'd keep a buffer between myself and my captives. Likely several buffers.

[onemoredeath]

[ Obviously Duncan hadn't seen some of these people on a rampage yet. ]

The technology is stolen. I've seen the kind of technology that they usually have access to and what the machine is comes from another time altogether. They may have made it work, but they did not even start on it.

[ofthegrey]

Stolen? [His gaze sharpens.] Is this confirmed or a suspicion?

[It would definitely make a difference in how he seeks to approach this entire endeavor.]

[onemoredeath]

Confirmed. They themselves have told us that the United Earth also has this technology and were looking into ways to rob our realities of their goods to strengthen their dwindling supplies.

[ofthegrey]

Have you spoken to Fiona about this? If not I'm going to. That paints some of this in a very different light.

[onemoredeath]

It has been mentioned a few times, but usually people feel that I am only being ridiculous with it.

[ofthegrey]

It's relevant. We need as accurate a picture of this situation as we can have. [He wonders how this fits with what was revealed on the network a few days prior.]

I just realized I never asked your name.

[onemoredeath]

I know. [ He shrugs. It wasn't like Takegami hadn't been keeping any of his knowledge secret. unfortunately, most people just do not buy it. ] I had gotten bored of mentioning it and being told that it is irrelevant considering that we were kidnapped.

You did not. [ a thin smile and a slight bow. ] Teijirou Takegami as they say in the West. Call me Takegami.

[ofthegrey]

Always glad to alleviate boredom where I can. [A little wry.]

[He does much the same, the gesture a little stiff from the breastplate.]

In the West? Takegami it is, then.

[onemoredeath]

The Western nations. I was born in the Eastern nations where it is common to announce one's family first, given name second. It is rude to my culture to use one's first name unless you are an older relative or a close intimate friend.

[ofthegrey]

I see. When one joins the Grey Wardens, one casts off one's family name and goes only by the given. I haven't been anything but Duncan in a very long time.

You say you're no warrior, but you do seem to have knack for tactical thinking. What did you do in your world before coming here?

[onemoredeath]

Yes, I have heard there are groups like that in my world.

I enjoyed puzzles and historical readings. My country has a past filled with warfare and a warrior culture, and often I think myself being a ronin in my time.

I did several things, but mostly I was a host.

[ofthegrey]

I'll likely keep asking you for definitions or meanings until you get tired of it. So many things here are completely new or alien to me. What is a ronin, and what is a host?

The first word is completely new to me. I have a definition of the second, but I doubt it fits what you mean if you say that was an occupation.

[He rubs idly at his beard, a sweep of index finger down the side of his chin.]

[onemoredeath]

It is how to learn a new language, asking questions until you have it right. [ He smiles, a little more pleasantly than before. ]

A ronin is in ancient times, a masterless warrior, a sword-for-hire, a man who had either lost his patron or was left homeless after some dishonor. In the modern times, it means a person who has stepped away from his or her chosen path to follow their own heart.

As for a host, in my country we have these host clubs. Often bored and rich women come into the clubs looking for a little companionship, a little fun. We serve them drinks and talk to them, making them feel like they are special. Most of us are skilled with talking and with drinking and with some kind of entertainment - mine was playing music and singing songs about love and heartbreak.

[ofthegrey]

[He nods and listens, seemingly appreciative of the indulgence in his curiosity.]

An interesting shift of meaning over time.

It sounds a bit like a bard. Some believe them to be no more than musicians, a misconception they happily cultivate. There's much more to it than that. This was your calling?

[There's no tone of judgment in the question.]

[onemoredeath]

I suppose there are similarities. Yes it did. After all, I could never stand the press of every day work.

[ofthegrey]

I can think of far worse occupations than giving ladies attention. Why do you think the Initiative targeted you to bring here? Do you think they did at all?

[He's not entirely sure it isn't random, or if not random at least imprecise.]