epidemiology | EVENT ▸ DIPLOMACY

EVENT ▸ DIPLOMACY

DIPLOMACY

As the skirmishes between wandering Mountain and Sea Clan groups continue in the Flowerlands, by this point enough attackers have been interrogated by Guild Ophelia to paint a compelling picture of unorganized chaos. Each time a skirmish is interrupted, both sides blame the other for starting the impromptu fight, claiming no knowledge of or participation in an organized cabal; the conflicts are entirely coincidental, they say, just a situation where enemies clash in neutral territory.

The Flowerlands are suffering, crops trampled and livestock traumatized, and more and more Mountain and Sea Clan people are terrified to leave their cities, lest they be set upon by warriors from the opposing clan. Under this type of political strain, Hanabira threatens to erupt into full-out civil war at any moment, with or without the sanction of the empresses.

Two weeks after Ophelia's arrival in the Empire of the Crashing Wave, Doro sends word: Empress Nama and Empress Youmi have agreed to meet and discuss the term of an alliance. Doro's castle will serve as a meeting place, but the difficult part is bringing the empresses there safely. You foreigners have already proven yourselves to be capable and invested in seeing the conflict to a peaceful conclusion, so Doro contracts Ophelia to act as escorts and guards.

This might just be the perfect opportunity to whisper proposed solutions to advisors or, if you're lucky, to the empresses themselves.

▸ THE RETINUE

Ophelia has a few different options if they choose to take Doro's contract: escort Nama or escort Youmi and/or guard the Flowerlands castle.

ESCORT ▸ EMPRESS NAMA.
It's a week's worth of travel to return to the Land of Celestial Mountains from the Empire of the Crashing Wave, so the sooner Ophelia starts out, the better. Skirmishes between clans still dot the forests and farms of the Flowerlands, and each time the retinue encounters one, they must decide if they have the time to interfere or if they must push on. After all, the longer there is no peace in Hanabira, the more dire the situation becomes.

When the group finally reaches the Land of Celestial Mountains, they'll find that the entire city is locked down. Guards bar the gates, but upon seeing Doro's seal, they'll let the guild members inside and explain the situation:

Mountain Clan rebels have stormed Heavenly Summit, cutting a large swath through the castle. Much of Nama's court and guards lay dead inside, with the rebels holding the remainder hostage -- including Empress Nama herself -- unless war is declared against the Sea Clan. The city guards are afraid to approach, worried that this will only anger the rebels further and cause Nama's death, and have directed all townsfolk to stay in their homes until the situation has been resolved.

The guards caution Ophelia not to try any rescue efforts themselves, and instead ask them to either find a building to barricade themselves in or leave the city. Of course, it's not like they're keeping a close watch on everyone.

Those who choose to slip into Heavenly Summit Castle will find guards surrounding it, trying to stop anyone from coming in as well as keeping arrows trained on all windows in case a rebel shows her face. Stealth is the name of the game, or at least enough brute strength to knock a guard out in one blow before she sounds the alarm.

Inside the castle, rebels stalk the halls of every floor, masked in the green color of the Mountain Clan. Some are heavily armored and some only wear peasants' clothes, carrying farmers' sickles; it seems as though the attack on the castle was planned very quickly, too quickly to evenly distribute armor and weapons. There are corpses left where they were killed, with splashes of bright red blood beside them; there are hostages huddled in the corners of rooms, wide-eyed but silent at the sight of foreigners ostensibly here to save them; and, in the heavily-guarded throne room, Empress Nama herself.

Fight through the rebel guards with Nama's help, or find a back door and snatch her up before the rebels notice. Either way, once Ophelia lays eyes on her, the magitek will project words in front of them that only they can see:

» EMPRESS NAMA
Leader of the LAND OF CELESTIAL MOUNTAINS. 23 years old. SPECIES: Human. MEDICAL CONCERNS: Lactose intolerant, recent blow to the head.

Nama doesn't ask questions, recognizing the foreigners of Ophelia as those who were meddling after the festival attack and trusting they're here to help her escape. Longbow in hand, she leads the group through secret passageways in the castle, insisting they rescue the nobility on the way out. From there, Nama suggests stealthily escaping the castle and quickly riding out of the city to the safety of Doro's castle, unsure who she can still trust in her own empire.

With Empress Nama and her surviving courtiers added to the retinue, it's time to ride back to the Flowerlands -- and hope you aren't chased by rebels along the way.

ESCORT ▸ EMPRESS YOUMI.
It takes half a week to travel from the Empire of the Crashing Wave to Doro's castle in the Flowerlands. Youmi and two advisors ride in a carriage, with an entourage of royal guards on horseback in front and behind; those in Ophelia who choose to escort this group will either be on foot or must find a mount themselves.

The journey is peaceful, allowing for time to make camp by forested hot springs and in farmhouses (in which case Ophelia might need to sleep outside, depending on the size) along the way. The Sea Clan guards are open to idle chatter with the foreigners, curiously discussing cultural differences and indulging in quick lessons in archery.

Everything seems to be going smoothly until the entourage enters Flowerlands territory and is confronted by a winged spirit of the forest, angered by all the recent bloodshed in his home. There is no time to talk; the spirit does not wish to negotiate, only to stop the crew from moving any further into his territory by any means possible.

The spirit calls the creatures of the forest to his aid, controlling them as if they are under some sort of spell. Ogres, imps, bears, and wolves are the most worrisome among his helpers. His own attacks come from the sky, diving down to slash at his victims with exceptional speed. Those archery lessons will come in handy here, because ranged weapons are most effective against him as long as he remains in flight. He can take an astounding amount of hits, and once he is weakened, will land on the ground to fight in close quarters.

Once he is finally defeated, his spell on the forest animals is broken, and even the most aggressive of them scatter. His feathers are black, but up close, seem iridescent in the light, differentiating them from a common bird's. Youmi's guards suggest everyone take a feather to prove they felled a legendary beast.

GUARD ▸ FLOWERLANDS CASTLE.
Until the empresses and their escorts arrive, it's very uneventful at Doro's castle. It's a smart idea to keep an eye out in case someone hears about the summit and tries to interfere, but so far, things seem to be peaceful. Take the time to bolster defenses, relieve a guildmate of guard duty, or explore the castle.

▸ THE SUMMIT

Youmi and her entourage reach Doro's castle first, her royal guards immediately making a sweep of the castle and the grounds to ensure there is no danger lying in wait. Once the castle is cleared, Doro and Youmi disappear into a guarded room to begin discussions. Youmi's advisors are left out of this initial meeting, making now the perfect time to start some discussions of your own.

Days later, Nama's retinue arrives, and Doro and Youmi (and the rest of her entourage) meet her at the castle gates. The two empresses step cautiously forward to meet each other, bowing politely. Moments later, Doro steps forward to gather Nama into a hug, which she gladly returns, giggling like the young girl she is. She's had a rough time, which she quickly explains to Doro, and asks if she can first have a bath and a moment to breathe. Doro and Youmi are more than willing to give it to her after hearing her experience.

Doro tells Ophelia they have their run of the castle until dinner tonight, when Doro, Youmi, and Nama will all be together in the same room with the team. Sounds like the perfect time to propose a plan, so you'd better finish up discussions about what to do! There's a bit of a time limit.

▸ OOC NOTES

If you have questions about this log or the overall mission, please ask them on the dossier. Questions about Futurology in general should be directed to the FAQ.

▸ Up now:

Proposal submissions and voting, due 21 February 23:59 UTC.
Uniform Design Contest, submissions due 28 February 23:59 UTC. Gamewide voting will be in March.

▸ Coming next:

Formal proposal arguments begin 22 February.
March calendar on 24 February.
February AC begins 1 March and lasts through 5 March. Please review our activity requirements to ensure you have the correct amount of proofs!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ah, so he had given all of the details, There is a moment where he doesn’t quite meet Rey’s eyes when she confesses it. There is no explaining it away, as he is quickly turned speechless by both anger (at Thrawn) and fear (of failure).]

I do not trust him.

[He repeats it, like that explanation should be enough for her. He doesn’t have the words or emotional awareness to explain that — yes, perhaps some part of him had wanted to keep Rey’s existance from him. Because of his Imperial ties, but also because he recognied in some shriveled part of himself that he wanted to keep her close.

And that meant that he could use her against him. Maybe she can’t make that leap of logic herself, but he certainly can’t put voice to it. To do so would be to acknowledge that he was weak. That he’d allowed himself to be conquered by the Light. That he’d failed.]

[ The way he falls back on this almost disheartens her, for combined with the sense she gets of his fear and anger, she can read it as perhaps he had simply not wanted to give anything at all to a man he did not trust. A reiterated declaration of the same. But … no, that's not quite it. This is an admission; he had done as Thrawn said, and now he offers mistrust as rationale for withholding information about her while giving it freely about Finn and Poe.

She studies him openly, fixing upon that feeling of fear, trying to understand. He's always so afraid of her. She reaches for him, sets her hand in a soothing position atop the fist he has made. The curl of her fingertips around his palm presses them gently into his grip. It's an unspoken reassurance, but also an unconscious offering of strength in answer to the weakness he's so afraid of.

She doesn't press it further, but rather, tries to understand that conversation with Thrawn better. Now that she recognizes that it was manipulation, the threads start to bare themselves. ]

He brought it up when he saw what I could do. [ When he saw more information than Ben would give him of the link between them? Yes. That tracks. And it supports the theory that maybe he was hoping to see some reaction to Ben taking steps to protect her. She hadn't given him anything though, about that. Had she? ] He must have been hoping that in bringing you up, I'd reveal something you hadn't.

[ If that was true, it meant two things: first, that Ben was right, and Thrawn saw a use for them; second, that she was the weaker link. Briefly she feels ashamed of that. It's tied up in the rest of her feelings of inadequacy, after all. The very reason she'd looked to Thrawn for help in the first place. She had exposed that underbelly to him. ]

[Her hand covers his again, and it draws his focus back to her. It enables him to watch her come to the same conclusions that he had, when it came to Thrawn's trustworthiness. They were out of his time, and he was out of their's -- they had no tether to one another beyond Hathaway.

Kylo Ren offers her a slow nod of agreement as she confirms his fears verbally. Thrawn had already picked up on the fact that there was something there, even if he didn't make sense of it entirely, and was trying to manipulate it. There were ways for him to play it off, but none of them were appealing.

Admitting that he was afraid of Rey's power would make him look weak. Admitting that he wanted to keep her around also made him weak. He couldn't win.]

We will have to work with him regardless.

[That was a truth he'd had to come to terms with two long years ago. He'd gotten better at swallowing down the frustration of needing to work with people he didn't like.]

But we can be mindful of how much we help him.

[He can sense her shame, and he finds that he cannot really blame her. She was so desperate to trust, where he was naturally suspicious as well as inherently selfish.]

[ This is new to her. She has never had anything that anyone would want to manipulate her to take advantage of. The closest comparison she can draw was Devi and Strunk, but even they had been lost and desperate; opportunistic, rather than calculating. She could not blame them for that.

But isn't Thrawn the same? Desperate, devastated by the loss she had informed him of? She tries to pull herself back from that instinct to reach for compassion, for understanding. He had taken advantage of it already.

Stars, she hopes Ben's not the same. But surely she would feel his intent. If this were a manipulation, wouldn't she feel it? Not his fear. He would not have been so angry, so hurt by the fear that she had betrayed him in some way. Whatever the case, she knows that she does not want to live her life second-guessing the people she cares about. ]

You're saying I have to be better than him at exactly what I'd asked him to help me with. [ She says it with a sort of wryness. ] It won't take him long to realize.

[ Would he guess it was Ben who'd made her cognizant? ]

I told him only of our conflict with each other. [ That should mean they're safe, right? She admits it because, well, Thrawn probably got something out of that. And Ben will be able to see what more clearly. Congrats this is now a strategy session. Trying to avoid having our secret relationship used against us before it's even a real secret relationship. Unless chronic handholding a relationship makes. Rey's really not sure. ] Of the Empire's fall, and that it was the Jedi that brought it about. But he thinks 'General Skywalker' is dead — your grandfather, I presume.

[His body language tightens at the mention of Anakin, and he pulls his fist back away from her in favor of turning to face her more fully. The way she says 'your grandfather' makes his mouth go abruptly dry. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.

While distancing himself from the well of defensiveness that suddenly rises in his chest, he tries to piece out everything she'd just given him. 'General Skywalker'? How was it possible to live in the time of the Empire and not be familiar with Darth Vader?

The information doesn't track. He files it away to investigate later and moves on.]

He only knows the bare minimum of present day politics. The command structure of the First Order. Who I am to them. [Sort of.] If that is all you told him, then that is an impression we can maintain.

[Guess that's confirmation that they're well and truly allies now. But before Rey can celebrate that victory or think too deeply about it:]

However, he knows you are lying about the Jedi. In the plural sense.

[That was one fabrication he didn't care to entertain, and he had trusted Thrawn a bit more than he does presently when he debunked that myth.]

[ The way he tenses leaves her with the acute sense that she has done something wrong, but— No. Promptly she squashes it with her nascent understanding of him. It has nothing to do with her at all, and likely no bearing on the intimate moment they'd just shared, especially given the point he settles on: an impression we can maintain. They're in this together.

So she doesn't reach for him, doesn't even feel any clawing desire to beyond the disappointment in the loss of his warmth and the satisfying feeling of skin-to-skin contact. This time, when he breaks it, she's not afraid that it might be the last time.

She doesn't get into the matter of whether or not Anakin counts as a Jedi for the purposes of defeating the Emperor. His tension tells her that bickering about two Jedi killing the Empire's head would only lead them down a path neither of them wants to take right now. It's too close to the nerve. ]

That could be a good thing, right? He already suspects I've withheld information from him. He won't suspect anything if I do in the future then. [ Maybe. Which brings her to … ] He already agreed to help me. I can't just avoid him, but I'm not a very good liar.

[ "Not a very good" wow she truly does not realize how bad she is. Even now. ]

[Yeah, he doesn't have a problem calling her out on that one.]

Not a very good liar. You're right.

[He repeats her in a tone that is clearly amused, though he doesn't smile or chuckle. The thought of "General Skywalker" is still haunting him over his shoulder.]

He will attempt to continue earning your trust. Continue to be cautious with how much you offer him, and you should not need to lie at all.

[ There's a flicker of something peevish in her expression when he echoes it back at her, like she knows he's making fun of her but she's not going to get side-tracked by it. Everyone has different skills, Ben.

But despite that remark, he sounds like he has some kind of confidence in her despite her increasing unease with the idea of confronting Thrawn again. He'd played her without her even recognizing it so far. Would she notice it while it was happening next time? Or would her compassion get in the way? ]

And Poe?

[ Surely he had noticed too that Thrawn had been talking to Poe as well. Ben is like 500x creepier than Rey and she'd noticed. ]

What of him?

[As far as he is concerned, Poe has nothing to offer Thrawn, and Poe is certainly not a vulnerable piece on the chessboard when it comes to--

Oh. He and Rey must be on good terms again. Too bad about that.]

I do not believe Commander Dameron will not consider my insight on this matter to be valuable. You will have to convince him.

I can try, but ... We have no proof that Thrawn's manipulating anyone. [ She's not sure Poe would believe her, and more to the point, if he did believe her, he'd probably just show up and fight Thrawn. ]

And Poe's worse at lying than I am. [ Which, apparently, is really saying something. She shoots him a look because she hasn't forgotten about that. But there's something else to the fact that she's pointing it out, and now. She shifts her weight, ill at ease with her own implication. ] When he has a problem with someone, he prefers the direct approach. [ Not entirely without bitterness, she notes her personal experience, ] Believe me.

Edited (antecedent problems) 2018-02-24 01:21 (UTC)

You do not need proof to be cautious. Blind trust never served anyone.

[He could say something like "he is an Imperial, how could you trust him???" but...well, they were just holding hands, and he killed Han Solo right in front of her just a week or so ago so he's just.

Not going to bring up that point.]

Not trusting someone is not the same thing as lying.

[She should know that, and the way he tips his chin communicates as much.]

[ All this talk about lying and trusting also draws attention to all the other lies she's telling. This is a kind of introspection she just really didn't sign up for when she was like, 'I'm gonna go take a bath' thirty minutes ago. That bath she still hasn't taken. She looks marked uncomfortable with the subject, but pushes through because she's not a little bitch unlike some people. ]

No, but you when you continue to spend time with someone while keeping something from them, it— [ Wow that was a can of worms. She stops and sighs, recognizing her own vehemence for what it is. ] I'm just warning you that he might say something he shouldn't either way.

[Yeah sorry, Kylo Ren isn’t quite that oblivious. His eyes narrow just slightly as he focuses a little more intently on her. There is a silence that hangs.]

Are we still talking about Thrawn?

[ She works her jaw for a moment, weighing it. Opening up to him about this feels different than doing it about things that don't involve him so directly. ]

Yes. [ Well, not entirely true. Enough untrue that she knows he will call it out, so she preempts. ] I don't want to get into the rest because it won't solve anything. I'll still not have the words to explain it to them and you'll say the same thing you always do about necessity and I'll go on feeling like... [ A fraud? Yeah. She sighs. ] So yes. We're still talking about Thrawn because there's no good talking about the rest.

[Well, at least she understands the futility of trying to make it work. So, perhaps surprisingly, he backs down.]

I cannot assist you with Dameron. We may be on amicable terms now, but he will not entertain my perspective on someone he considers an ally. You know that.

[And frankly, he wouldn’t trust Poe’s perspective either.]

[ She lets out a breath that takes some of the tension out of her shoulders. She hadn't felt it there until it was gone. She had expected him to fight her and was ready to dig in. Not needing to is a relief. It takes her a minute to catch up as a result, and she exchanges a grateful look in there before getting back to Poe. ]

I'm not asking you to talk to him. I'm just asking you to recognize that he may say something that makes this more difficult for us. I don't want you to blame me when he does.

I do not need to blame you.

[There is a deadpan that comes across hopefully does enough to communicate what he thinks of Poe. That if he makes it more difficult for them, it was most likely his fault for being a dumbass.]

[ Despite her ardent desire to imagine a world where Ben is not a separate entity to her other relationships, distant and foreign, this response makes her smile softly. She has not forgotten the comfort he offered her when Poe was ready to write her off. It's short lived because she knows that's not what he's getting at here and because she knows her own feelings are not necessarily relevant. And because she and Poe are friends this week. ]

Surely you managed to work together against the forest spirit. [ He'd spent time with them who doesn't love Finn after spending time with him? Like maybe not Poe but surely it's impossible to be grouchy at Poe when Finn is there being wonderful. ]

“Managed” is a way to put it.

[Kylo moves to lean back over the terrace, staring out across the landscape. They hadn’t fought each other — Poe had even technically helped him. But he wasn’t going to talk about or even acknowledge that. The exhale that follows that thought is slow and deep.

Here is one of those moments where his programming is at odds with his personal growth and desires. He cannot help but wonder what Snoke might say, if he could see what this place had done to him. Would it be more of the same? Would he kill him and start over? Would he simply turn his back?]

[ When he gazes out over the garden, he goes somewhere else for a moment there. Rey watches the shift happen, feeling suddenly an outside observer.

She wants to ask, to know what that shift was, but she's quite sure he wouldn't tell her if she did. But she takes a silent moment to study him, at least, to consider that even catching sight of whatever happens there in his expression is more than she's gotten before, even if she cannot ascribe significance to it. ]

If something happened, I'd rather hear it from you first than from Poe during an argument. [ She's not suggesting that it was anything as bad as on Viridian Sea, but she does recognize now that she wouldn't know if it was. So it seems worth saying. As she says it, she leans on the railing beside him, more open in her posture. Less hunched under invisible burdens, more serene. ]

Nothing happened.

[Nothing negative. Nothing he wants to talk about. She'd probably like to hear that they managed to complete an encounter without tearing each other's throats out, but that is implied.]

Whatever you said to him, he seems to have taken it to heart.

[Because Kylo did nothing wrong at all, clearly. He rolls his jaw, like he has something in his mouth.]

I told him to stop trying to protect me from you.

[ And that she kicked Kylo Ren's ass across Starkiller. Sharing that part seems counter to the point here though, which is that this truce seems to actually be working somehow. That's new and exciting and reaffirms Rey's hope that they will all be one happy family sooner or later. Good.

That has her thinking about what Finn said -- that they are all used to a different kind of insanity. This is definitely insane. The thought of any of them cooperating with each other, let alone whatever this is with Ben. There's a wry and distant smile on her face as she shakes her head, acknowledging it. They're a mess tbh but somehow that mess is working. ]

Edited 2018-02-25 04:35 (UTC)

[She smiles and shakes her head, but he isn't sure why. A puzzled expression moves across his face before he decides that he doesn't actually want the answer as to why that amused her. He is almost certain it would annoy him.

He tries to find something else to look at or talk about, and his eyes land at her shoulder where the towel sits. That's probably an equally bad topic of conversation.

So, back to Poe.]

Is that what he called it?

Mm.

[ She doesn't sound entirely sold on it either, at least. Like there's something in her that's thinking Poe probably also just wanted to get revenge and the defense of Rey and Finn's honor seemed like a good excuse to be catty. She gets that. More than once, with ALASTAIR, she had been similarly reactive. ]

Well, me and Finn. Probably mostly Finn. Especially now that they're … [ She waves her hand vaguely. A pause. She looks up at him again, as if realizing for the first time that this is an honest to god actual real conversation ?? like it's not trying hard to be anything else. It's just … back and forth. Mostly comfortable, even. Time to fuck that up by saying something she should have said when she was busy crying about losing her friends forever. ] I don't blame either of you for it.

[ This comes out unprompted. ]

It was the same with us.

[ She's put some serious thought into this since Poe dropped this knowledge bomb, and ultimately, looking back on ALASTAIR, she can't say forcing Kylo Ren to live through his father's death was any less fucked up than going rifling around in Poe's head and aggravating his torture PTSD. Like. She's not on the moral high ground here. ]

[He raises an eyebrow. "Now that they're..." doesn't really help him draw any conclusions to what she was going to say. There's a little crease in his brow to tell her so.

Its probably not important.

"It was the same with us" gets a slow nod, and an awkward glance downward. Yes, they'd fought fiercely for several months, even knowing that their only option was to work together. It only stood to reason that Poe would go through the same process. They'd had nearly a year to get used to it.

Though he doesn't really want to tolerate Poe's or Finn's presence the same way he tolerates Rey's. ~~Mostly because "tolerate" had nearly transcended into "desire".~~]

Not an uncommon trait in pilots. Fighting each fight like it will be their last.

[TIE pilots were trained in a similar manner.]

Edited 2018-02-25 07:07 (UTC)

EVENT ▸ DIPLOMACY

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