VIDEO | 21 NOV. EVENING | OPEN TO BOTH COURTS | whelp shit...

[waterbearer]

[ The message is broadcast twice, from two separate lockets. The background is a small inn near Daonna, Waver is in the forefront, while Kaldur has maps spread out across a table, and is quietly casting on the maps and making frantic annotations. ]

Good evening. As many of you have heard by now, much has been made about the threat of Reynard the Fox at Redgate. Doubtlessly, you’ve also noticed that since that announcement no other word has come out of the fortress. This is, to say the least, very alarming.

[ Kaldur looks up, briefly, to face the camera. ]

I am attempting to scry for the locations of individuals known to be at Redgate or near Redgate at this time, in light of the threat Reynard poses, in hopes that more information can be found.

If they have already engaged Reynard, and are trying to fight him, hopefully, we will be able to find out.

Until then, or until we have direct information from Saralegui himself, I would like to ask that everyone who is intending to lend aid to Redgate gather in Daonna. This gives us all an opportunity to group up, prepare, plan, and present a united front if things are as bad as they seem right now. Whenever we have word, we can act together. If you are en route, come to Daonna. If you are already up the mountains, please return.

I realize that I have no authority to enforce this, but I do ask that you heavily consider this option before forging on ahead.

[ In the background, Kaldur looks as though he is about to curse, and pulls Waver’s attention towards what he has found briefly, before setting at it again, and speaking towards the feed. ]

I also urge those who are heading to Redgate to gather with us, until we gain more information and can adequately prepare for what we will be faced with.

Thank you kindly for your time. If you have any further information on the situation, both Kaldur and myself would appreciate it being shared.

Comments

[waterbearer]

[ Kaldur chuckles as he tries to focus on the image that Waver is describing, but it is still hazy at best.

None of that matters, however, for as soon as he gets a 'lock' on Reynard's location is slips again and changes, and while he spends a few moments frantically ticking off wildly different locations upon the map on which to find Reynard, the end result is little more than a mess. ]

It seems Reynard's location is not an option.

[gordianknots]

[Waver has an idea of why Reynard is moving around so quickly, and it chills him to the bone. Lavnal had managed to teleport at random after Waver gave him one of the sigils. Reynard must have at least one as well, and that's one too many.]

It was worth a try, I suppose. There might be other, better ways of locating him, but hell if I know what they are now.

[waterbearer]

I cannot say I would necessarily like to trust them. It is entirely possible that he isn't just moving, but also 'scrambling' his signature, to make him seem somewhere else entirely.

[Kaldur couldn't say why Reynard was moving so quickly, but the fact that he is doing so, feels the need to do so, is... distressing in the very least. ]

[gordianknots]

That could be the case, but I'm hesitant to believe it.

[Waver's frown deepens.]

Here's the other problem at hand: this means Reynard used magic within Redgate.

[waterbearer]

Redgate nullifies magic based on it's proximity to a rock that either intereferes with it or absorbs it. I would not be surprised if a significantly large enough burst of magic could do it's work. [ Just because they couldn't, doesn't mean it wasn't possible. He's learned that well. ] You can have an incredibly fortified bunker. That does not mean it would withstand a nuclear warhead.

Or, he could have some artifact that counteracts or mitigates the effect of the bloodstone.

[ Kaldur doesn't really like either of those possibilities ]

I cannot say I like either of those possibilities, but it is something to keep in mind, when seeking how, precisely, to deal with him.

[gordianknots]

We will need to defer to older, wise authorities on the matter of how to deal with him. With Alyosha gone, that's a very, very short list.

[Waver swallows the lump climbing up his throat.]

I don't even know who to ask.

[waterbearer]

Your contact in Redgate, perhaps. Even the monarchs may know something, as Reynard was once one of their shardbearers, if I am not mistaken.

[ Not that either of those avenues would be particularly trustworthy, for one, but... who know. ]

The drabkeeper, if he/she could be located could also be a source of that information.

[ Basically: Ask everyone, and pray they don't tattle to Reynard. ]

[gordianknots]

Redgate first. Morla's been unhelpful with Reynard in the past. From there, we'll have to wing it.

[waterbearer]

I can ask the Seelie Monarchs to see if they have anything to add, though I doubt they will be much more helpful than Morla has been.

[ He's very distinctly not thinking about how he and Waver are essentially talking about how to gather information to tr and take down someone who seems about as indestructible as Vandal Savage. It doesn't speak well for their odds. ]

[gordianknots]

Probably because they have plans of their own, that don't include telling us what's going on.

[waterbearer]

I cannot say I would be overeager to inform my kidnapped soldiering force all of the details of my plans, either. [ He does trust Ridire and Solais, up to a point. But there is still a part of him that cannot move past that original wrong. ] It would hardly be wise.

The trade-off between control and functional soldiers. [ Kaldur has had to weigh that before. Not quite so gravely, but having to choose just how much information he tells his team. Often, he strives to be as transparent as possible but sometimes... sometimes he cannot. ]

[gordianknots]

Mmm. Learning to feed everyone just the right amount of information to overcome that initial wrong, gain trust, and prevent rebellion. [He sighs, leaning back.] It's not an easy thing to pull off, and a part of me can actually admire how it's done.

[Waver knows how silly that sounds.] Makes you wonder what it was like back when they first started bringing shard bearers in, what errors they made in getting that trade-off just right.

[waterbearer]

Honestly? I suspect they drew more soldiers, initially. There is a mindset that lends itself to following such orders. [ Kaldur knows. He has it, to an extent. There is very little that Kaldur would not do unquestioning should Aquaman command it of him. The problem is that he is honestly and wholeheartedly loyal to King Orin, as opposed to raised and trained to follow him blindly. ] But the longer this war draws out, the less picky they can become in those they draw in.

[gordianknots]

That would make sense. And suggest that they themselves had to become much more calculating with how they handle things. [And perhaps that explains some of why the war has gone on for so long.]

I find it weirdly reassuring that I'm towards the bottom of the barrel.

[waterbearer]

At least until other worlds to draw from produce more soldiering types to draw from. [ If they are pulling from a multiverse, it makes sense that there are dips in the quality of their recruitment. ] I suspect that, under different circumstances, I would be exactly the type they would wish to draw in.

[ He knows his weaknesses, his susceptibility. If they had drawn him here only just a bit sooner, or a bit later. Sooner, when he was faced with what seemed a betrayal by King Orin, or later, after he had the time to stew upon his faults in regards to Tula's death... He could have very easily been a very good, obedient soldier with a lot of tactical experience. ]

But, bottom of the barrel is a nice place to be. It is where you find all the interesting bits of wreckage.

[gordianknots]

Or a very grumpy Diogenes.

[The joke is an awful one, but Waver has to make it all the same.]

It makes you wonder why they pick the point in time that they do. If they make errors when they do it.

[waterbearer]

[ Trust me, it's not the worst joke Kaldur has ever heard, and he appreciates it all the same, with half a smile. ]

My best guess is that, each month of this time corresponds with some strange flow of time the other worlds, and they simply draw from whichever time-point is closest to them.

[ Save energy and all that. Multi-verses are strange that way, man. As someone who had briefly met their King from another one. ]

[gordianknots]

Sounds plausible, at least. Certainly better than the "I have no idea" that crossed my mind.

[He smiles, wry.]

All I can say is thank God they decided to go with thirty nine year old me, rather than nineteen year old me. I'd have lost my shard by now if they had.

[waterbearer]

[ You mean that tiny string bean was nineteen?! Cripes. ]

Perhaps you don't give yourself enough credit. [ In fairness to Kaldur, one of his best friends could completely whup his ass most times at the tender young age of thirteen when he was seventeen, so... ] You would be impressed at what talented individuals at that age can do, in the right or wrong sets of circumstances.

[ C'mon, Waver! Believe in the me who believes in you! ]

[gordianknots]

[y u p]

While I'm not inclined to disagree, I know I would badly mishandle the politics of this place due to a chronic inability to know when to keep my mouth shut at that age.

[He grins. Waver deeply values how nineteen year old Waver shaped him, but there's no denying that he was also a right brat.]

[waterbearer]

[ Glaucus preserve us

That, Kaldur can believe. Dropping some of his team alone in the Drabwurld? That would go over about as well as logic and reason in a Monty Python movie. Only with more broken bones, probably. ]

Very few nineteen year-olds of my acquaintance would probably do well in the politics of this place. [ Kaldur has problems, and he's much more used to monarchies of this variety than many others he knows.

Though nineteen year old Batman might be a sight... He'll have to have Nightwing ask Alfred one of these days... ]

But you survived, so it couldn't have been too terrible.

[gordianknots]

You do incredibly well, assuming I've got your age about right.

[Waver shrugs. The next part, Kaldur's earned.]

And only because I had to. Mage politics back home are truly something you either survive, or you aren't a mage. Easy as that.

[waterbearer]

[ Twenty-one, so probably pretty close. But the rest... something about knowing it seems, important. Or, perhaps, simply something he will keep to himself, for the time being. ]

There is some such politicking in my world among the higher sorcerers, I am told, but Atlantis usually keeps out of it other than our Queen Mera. [ Because she's kind of one of the most powerful sorcerers ever, but that's not here or there. ] Most Atlanteans are magical in some sense, that is how we survived. Some of us are just... more powerful than others.

[ Kaldur's natural electricity, for one, is not a particularly easy trait that he mastered quickly. ]

But, I confess, I have not met many fellow mages who's powers were identifiably magical. [ Bending and boons were one thing, to be born with that talent, or to have learned it otherwise? (Hermione is the only name that comes to his mind). Quite another. ]

[gordianknots]

To announce yourself as a mage removes any element of surprise that might come in handy later on down the road. You might imagine my surprise when the first holder of this title blurted it out. Flora was kind enough to tell me about that.

[That had been a day, that's for sure.]

To give you an example of how persaive it is back home, genetics are a massive factor in one's powers back home. Because of this, and because we're a small community in the end, arraigning marriages to produce more powerful offspring is a major preoccupation. Older families are more powerful because of their longevity as well as their skills, and so trying to get in good with them, finding allies, and ensuring a family legacy are all massive preoccuptations.

[waterbearer]

True enough. [ But everything about Kaldur is pretty obvious anyways, as far as powers go. Minus, perhaps his super-strength, and dense skin. But he is already easily identifiable as other, so he saves his surprises in things like... strategical planning, and pervasive and encyclopaedic knowledge of things. Which he will be working more on, in the next few months. Since clearly it is lacking. ]

That would... not be an existent problem in Atlantean communities, for the most part. We are, as a species, all magical to at least some minor extent, though the traits are more dominant in some than others. [ Kaldur, Tula, and Garth, for example are very strongly magical. ] Part of our adaptation to underwater life was first precipitated by magic, and that has remained an inherent trait.

[ The rest of that sounds vaguely like European nobility politics, which Kaldur has almost negative interest in, but does not surprise him in the slightest. ]

Power-games, however, tend to be universal. [ Also, Kaldur would ask about inbreeding problems, but that seems almost rude. It may or not be still written across his face given the brief awkward scrunch of his features. ]

You, I suspect, were not... as pedigreed as could be prefered. [ Something about the lack of deference in tone. ]