[Guild Leaders] This Is It, Boys, This Is War

[firecracker_hopping]

Who: Ezra, Gabe, Jordan, Lera, Rhys
When: Friday
Where: Mianeh
Before/After: After Lera and Ezra talk.
Warnings: N/A

QUICK NOTE: feel free to do side threads before/after the briefing!

[So the announcements were all sent out: it was time to discuss war plans and the plans are getting moved up. A location in Mianeh was secured, thanks to French contacts; they have a conference room in a hotel and the Saftan embassy sent over a few guards to keep an eye on things and one of the Earth ones swept it for bugs.]

[Lera is standing at the front of the room. She isn't obviously the Mazda; she has regular Saftan civilian clothing on to give her a surprise. The exception, of course, are those sharp golden eyes.]

[There are also some chocolate chip cookies, soft drinks on ice, and shrimp with cocktail sauce. She's waiting for everyone to arrive -- and is here early, like she always is -- before they start the spiel. Besides, they all need to get to know each other first. Of course, Ezra and Gabe probably came with her.]

Comments

[coolmonsoon]

Yyyeeeaannnnnnggggggno. I mean... [ he shifts a little, lifting his shoulders up in a sort-of-not-really shrug, thinking on it ] On a personal level, not that much. I guess I just- well, I'm glad I couldn't tell. [ he rubs at his mouth then, somewhere between amused and sheepish. ]

Professionally, I guess you could call it, it's a little frustrating, but I understand it, too. We know one another, but we also play roles. The Mano's always been kind of aloof. Far as I've heard, anyway. I looked a little into past guild leaders when I was looking into mine but that's all I really caught.

[ he dunks his shrimp into the cocktail sauce because this stuff is fuckin awesome. he does it really carefully though because he's wearing gloves and he's not wearing gloves to keep from getting cocktail sauce on his fingers! ]

I just wonder if we could have avoided some of this if we'd been more comfortable or open talking with one another? But it's not something I have time to worry about or process.

[nosweethome]

[ you tell me, she thinks, what the knowledge of the mano's identity would have changed.

rhys had no answer. she doesn't think ezra will have one, either. ]

Mm. You'll have plenty to worry about. Enjoy running a country with the Queen and whatever sucker's the next Vahishta.

[coolmonsoon]

[ what would it have changed? who knows. maybe he would have refused her. probably not, but he never considered it at all before. nothing big, nothing game-changing. more to cling to. he doesn't have the same trust issues that rhys has with jordan- he never expected much from her the way he does. would it have changed anything...

too late now. though he does wonder what it would have been like if he could have kept anonymous... ]

Yeah, like that's not something I don't think about all the time. [ of course there's a matter of what he thinks of the present vahishta, but it's not something to bring up now, he hopes. ] Omid's precious, you know? I don't even know who'd succeed her if she goes.

[nosweethome]

She's working with the Khshathra. I think it is precious.

[ there is no way to tell whether she's serious or not. ]

[coolmonsoon]

See, I can't figure out if that should be funny or not because I seem to be the only one of us that doesn't know who the Khshathra is.

[nosweethome]

Sardonyx? [ ring any bells? ]

[coolmonsoon]

Nnnnnnnope? I was only on the server about six months before this all started happening...

Ah, wait, wait. She did fanart, didn't she? Like, bad fanart.

[nosweethome]

Dunno. I don't know her very well myself. [ she doesn't know anyone very well, tbh. not counting lindsey, who she knew before the game, rhys is the person she knows the most about.

that's saying something. ]

She's a friend of Heimdall's.

[ she eats another shrimp. ]

[coolmonsoon]

Who isn't a friend of Heimdall's? [ said after a few shrimp, because once you start, you can't stop, let's be honest

it's a pain in the butt, all that cr he got with ravindra. it means ravindra knows everyone, too.

good thing? bad thing? it gets hard to tell who to tell what.

.......hm. that helps put jordan's silence on being the mano into perspective a little. hypocrite much, ezra? sigh. ]

Yeah, I was so new to everyone, I've really only gotten to know Rhys... and that's been mostly here. And Lera, I guess. Uh, and Cuthbert.

[ but he doesn't presume to have gotten to know her any better at all. ]

[nosweethome]

[ jordan.

jordan is not a friend of heimdall's.

cheerfully, ] Live, and you'll get to know more.

[ then back to neutral ]

How is he? Cuthbert.

[coolmonsoon]

[ promise or threat? he laughs a little ] About you or Heimdall?

[ heimdall, duncan. whatever's easier for her to say, it doesn't matter to him. he has to think on that question, though. cuthbert, how is cuthbert... ]

Hard to say. They can't do much about my position, so he puts his energy into working with what he has. He's a good guy. Ah, he adapted to his fake leg really fast, and we've been learning French... it's been really fucking weird for the both of us. It's all been pretty hard on him, too- sounds like he gave up a lot in life to dedicate himself to the guild. Sometimes I feel- I dunno- like I'm gonna do this for him more than for anyone else.

[nosweethome]

[ because she had meant that he would come to know more people if he lived through the war, his question temporarily confuses her, and then he's talking again, so she sets it aside. ]

Ah, that's someone you do want by your side. You're learning French, though? Really? [ it doesn't not make sense, but. ] Say something.

[coolmonsoon]

Do you have anyone like that? Any of the hunters that've decided to stick it out with you?

Uhh... [ he pauses, trying to think of a phrase he can say that isn't voulez-vous coucher avec moi ] Uh... non, monsieur, je n'ai pas manger tes biscuits.

[ it sounds convincing. villiers makes fun of him a lot. speaking proper english was hard enough, nevermind proper french, okay french guy?? ]

[nosweethome]

Maybe.

[ sierra, if for no other reason than to make sure things are running as they should, administration-wise. she's very particular about that.

but of personal loyalty? no.

jordan makes a face at the french. ] Biscuits.

[coolmonsoon]

Uh-huh. [ let's hope he never has to know who to talk to if something happens to you jo ]

Well, cookies, actually. Some of it is conversational, but most of it is military stuff, weaponry talk. Business. Lera and I interact a lot with the French army...

[ and, let's face it, it's kept him busy, kept him engaged with what's going on around him. it was totally possible he'd hole up and ignore everything. ]

[nosweethome]

So you said something about military cookies?

[coolmonsoon]

No, I said... I didn't eat your cookies.

...it's come up before.

[ don't judge. ]

[nosweethome]

[ ... ]

Did you eat them?

[coolmonsoon]

Cuthbert has a sweet tooth, I didn't know.

[nosweethome]

[ she closes her eyes and shakes her head before reaching over to grab a napkin. she pinches a cookie in it, then holds it out for ezra to take. ]

I will gift this to you in the hopes that you'll cease your cookie snatching from respectable men.

[coolmonsoon]

What? [ what? ): ]

Look, I didn't know it was his, okay? ...I'll make sure he gets it.

[ he takes said cookie and folds it up nice and neat before hiding it in one of his pockets

I'll let him know that nice polite girl from Omghan wanted him to have it.

[nosweethome]

[ it sounds like ezra is taking her seriously. she is not kind enough to correct him. ]

Oh no, what if he thinks I'm trying to come onto him?

[ she does not sound very concerned ]

[coolmonsoon]

He's a pretty classy fellow. He'll let you down like a gentleman.

[ yeah okay he's kidding around ]

[nosweethome]

[ she raises a shrimp to her lips, but speaks before biting it. ]

I feel my heart breaking already.