RP:Doing What You Must To Win

Part of the Dissonance Theory Arc

This is a Warrior's Guild RP.

Summary: Kasyr returns from him and Magik's pyroclastic extravaganza with a present for Khitti and Tessa.

Khitti's Office, Vigilanti Semper

Kasyr || There's a distinct sense of urgency that accompanies the knocking on Khitti's door, in tandem with the impatient scuffling of feet. And, should the door fail to open, it would only intensify, and grow more insistent. That said- it still pales in comparison to the actual scale of the matter, given the very hallway is -cluttered- with Syndicate members. Really, the sheer number would have likely been cause for concern to the Warrior Guild members, were it not for the fact that both Kasyr & Magik had been seen within their midst- alongside a mysteriously large crate.

Kasyr || Magik, for his part, has been directed towards the infirmary as hastily as possible- but Kasyr was still in the thick of things, leaning against a wall opposite Khitti's office- and doing his best to look casual despite the fact that he'd been barely cobbled back together by their medics, and his own magics. So, he sort of looks like a queasy wall flower. It's fine, though- you should see the other guy.

Kasyr || "Don't drop that crate, by the by. Can't spoil the surprise." There's a not-quite-collective roll of eyes at this remark, though the Unseen dutifully keep it aloft, despite the container's size. And the fact that their current duty is anathema to their namesake. Mostly out of loyalty to Magik, rather than anything else.

Khitti tried really hard to ignore the knocking on the door. Like, really really hard. But once the knocking got increasingly more urgent sounding, she sighed heavily and went to open the door. Upon doing so, she was “greeted” by far too many Syndicate members and one Kasyr leaning against that wall like he was the only thing holding it up. “What the actual f--” She stopped short, her olive-green line of sight taking in the kensai’s appearance a little more fully. “Kasyr, why do you look like I do when I’ve done something incredibly dangerous and/or stupid?” Khitti squinted at him, suspicion clearly written all over her face. “What did you do…?” There’s a bit of hesitation, but eventually the redhead sighed heavily again and opened her door a bit more fully, letting him come inside to sit if he wished.

Kasyr actually manages a cheeky grin in response to Khitti's question, despite the fact that his insides feel like they've been partially pureed. "Well, i can't spoil the surprise out here." There's actually a slight emphasis on the 'can't in that statement, a moment where the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. And then just as quickly, the swordsman shakes his head, and peels himself away from the wall, barely masking his aggravation at the sense of effort that simple motion takes. "Do you have somewhere we can store this?" He faintly raps at the crate with his knuckles as he passes it by and moves to enter the room, immediately scanning around for a seat to collapse into. "Preferably somewhere -safe-, et possibly warded. Suffice to say, I come bearing gifts. Et I think you might like this one, madamoiselle."

Khitti couldn’t help but smirk in response to Kasyr’s cheekiness, but it soon faded as she turned her attention towards the crate. “The lab probably. Warded things up a bit for that thrall.” She contemplated trying to open it up, but thought better of it and went to her desk. Before sitting down, the cabinet behind her chair was opened and a couple glasses and a bottle of cinnamon-flavored whiskey withdrew from within, the latter of which was uncorked and poured into the aforementioned drinkware. One glass was slid towards Kasyr and the bottle moved just between the two of them so he could reach it if he wanted more. “I’m going to assume what’s in there isn’t good then, if you’re wanting wards.” Khitti took a sip of her drink, cringed a little at the strength of it, then drank a bit more. “And if you’re coming to me about it over anyone else, then it’s probably pretty bad.” One hand moved the glass a bit, swirling the amber liquid within as the redhead eyed it, though her line of sight didn’t last long on it. “How warm am I?” Khitti downed the rest of the whiskey and fixed her attention on Kasyr again finally.

Kasyr gestures to the Unseen, who seem almost relieved that they're not being requested to somehow figure how to finangle the box into the room. "You heard the lady. I-" Wait. Did they know how to navigate there? The kensai pauses for a second, fingers pressing against his forehead as he tried to ascertain whether or not Magik would have had them scout this place out. Probably. But, was that knowledge going to be widespread? "Just- uh, down the hallway, and then a left, down some stairs . . ." So, they get instructions, but it's the normal sort of vagaries you get from someone that usually just leads the way. Which means, it might take them a little bit to arrive- and yet, the fact that it's a warded area is doubtless a relief, given what the Kensai says the moment they've departed and he can close the doors. "Comme ci, comme ca." That's the answer to her question, though he figures he owes her a bit more in the way of clarification. "We -hurt- it. Wounded it badly even." Despite how much his chest hurt, it couldn't dim the savage satisfaction that still lingered. "Our Angry Vegetation problem, I mean. Et not only did we cause it to flee- we did one better." Kasyr pauses, gesturing off towards the closed door, and the now receding sound of footsteps, "We took a piece of it. A large one. Shore off one of it's tendrils." He exhaled at that point, turning back to look at the redhead, in an effort to gauge her expression and see if her mind was sifting through the same possibilities he was. And honestly, he'd be happy to let her do just that for the moment, so he could take a seat and accept the glass of whiskey- and y'know, not further elaborate on the -cost- of this endeavour.

Kasyr || Unfortunately, his plans are -slightly- complicated, given their trip to the archipelago had woken Empera back up- and thus ensured he wasn't actually -able- to drink. . . but he could still bask in the aroma, and the simple feeling of it's weight in it's hand. ...Lament the fact that it's a pretty poor substitute for drinking.

Khitti || Crimson brows furrowed as Kasyr gave Khitti the news. Well, she had been right. He -had- gone and done something both stupid AND dangerous. She briefly contemplated whether or not it was a good thing for people like her and Kasyr to be higher ups in any of the guilds that they belonged to, but her thoughts soon returned to the task at hand. “I would scold you and say that you shouldn’t have done that without the rest of the guild, but… I would’ve done the same thing. The guild makes too much noise, essentially.” She poured herself another glass, this one fuller than the last, and leaned back into her chair. “We’ll have to be careful with it… Tessa and I. I don’t even know where to start with experimenting on something like that. I’m sure she would though. I’m still sort of new to -this- sort of experimentation…” Her lips twisted into a faint frown for a moment before she shook her head. “How did you even get it?” And there it was, the question that Kasyr had been dreading this entire time. “Are -you- okay?” It wasn’t a question she often asked people--she didn’t like being asked that question either, after all. But, as one of the highest ranking members of the guild currently, and without a deputy, Khitti felt that it fell to her to keep the guild leader safe in whatever way she could. She’d failed with Lionel, but she had another chance at least.

Kasyr had been braced for -some- form of admonishment, so he's grateful that it doesn't immediately follow on the heels of their successful outting. "I wasn't immediately sure who else I -should- have brought. Too many, et complications arrive- et the last thing we need is to fuel our enemies army." The kensai pauses, wrestling with the words he wanted to say- before finally settling on the truth, "Et I wasn't sure how palatable the operation would have been to most of our fellows." That feeling of pride in a job well done faltered for a moment, especially when he recalled the conflict that had brewed in Magik. He'd ambushed the man into making a terrible decision for the greater good, and now he was making Khitti a part of it. "Our biggest advantage with the shrub was our timeline. A set of events that -will- happen, culminating in in it's attack on Frostmaw. I- made sure the timeline remained intact. " Kasyr pauses, uncomfortable, before shaking his head and starting again, "We waited. Deliberately waited for when it was going to attack the village- and -then- attacked it while it was exposed. Vulnerable. Poured every bit of magic I had into Magik. Had him channel a spell- et. . ."The Kensai lifts up his drink, peering through the liquid floating within it. "Glassed it. -We- glassed The village et it's inhabitants. ...Unofficially."

Kasyr || Here was the truly unpalatable part. "Officially, this whole operation needs to be redacted, the details filed away et forgotten, because I can't even imagine what this would do to morale." The swordsmans gaze intensifies as he studies the contents of the glass- each moment a fresh challenge, and a fresh failure, at bypassing the compulsive aversion to alcohol that's been imposed on him by Empera. Garbage, meddling bird. "Hopefully it's worth it. A piece of that thing might provide us insight, or maybe some way to subvert it's strengths, or even weaponize them against it, or even just it's troops. Hell- If we could just find a way to make it's thralls -ignore- us, so we could send down a strike team. -Anything-." Because what if it was useless- what if it amounted to nothing. Would it still be worth it? Just to prove you could give it a black eye. The Kensai purses his lips, at once from discomfort and pain, before shifting in the seat to glance over at the door, "I'm dealing with it.

Khitti tilted her head, watching and listening to Kasyr as he spoke. The thought of destroying an entire village brought back memories of her own village back in Dhavislaav. That was different, of course. Anything that had been left in Dämmerung Stürze, after she’d escaped from the experimental torture at the hands of a mindflayer, they were nothing but shambling, mindless corpses. Her parents. Her extended family. Neighbors. Friends. All of them. Her line of sight lowered to what was left in her glass, her lips pressed together into a grim line. Similarly though, she’d had to destroy all the undead there, in an effort to keep the rest of Dhavislaav safe from any of the necromancers that had managed to remain hidden beneath the continent’s soil. “You did what you felt you had to do, in order for us to win. And their sacrifices won’t be forgotten,” Khitti said at length after downing the rest of the cinnamon whiskey. “Even if it’s just you, me, and Magik that knows about it.” Though, if Magik had been there, Meri was bound to find out too--it was too big of a secret to keep after all. But Meri was good at making tough choices when she had to, so Khitti hoped that she would’ve understood the reasons for annihilating an entire village.

Khitti || The redhead didn’t press anymore when it came to Kasyr’s health. She knew full well what it was like to want to deal with your own wounds in time after doing what Kasyr and Magik had done. It was almost sort of like a punishment for it. It was something Khitti had done far too many times. “I’ll take care of it,” she said. “The redaction. You and Magik went to save it. The thralls had already gotten there and killed everyone, so you burned it to make sure that none of them would be turned into thralls. They might end up being the lucky ones, honestly, if we do fail.” Khitti said this matter-of-factly. She didn’t want to think about her family and friends being turned into thralls, but what else would happen if the Warrior’s Guild didn’t succeed? Especially considering the majority of the guild also made up several other guilds. You take out one guild, you take out them all.

Kasyr finally settles the glass back down on the table, grudgingly accepting the fact that nothings changed on that front. Still, as much as he can't retreat into a drink, he does at least have some form of solace. Just the simple act of understanding helped, but he couldn't even describe just how much of a relief it was that word of this wasn't going to leave the room. He actually can't help the slow exhale that finally escapes from him. "Right. . . Right." He pauses, takes in another breath to keep himself level, and then gets back to it, "I appreciate it. I think, if we manage this- we can actually -finish- this. ...Et I think we need to. We've just about run out of time. It's due for Frostmaw soon." Hopefully, Khitti and Tessa would figure out -something- but it was such a time crunch. "If either of you need anything, feel free to ask- I know this is asking you to pull long hours." An unfortunate necessity, and one that was apt to result in him just ensuring they got an arcane coffee maker as a gift soon. "I think we'll also need to form a group meeting soon. There's a lot to be debriefed on- and we really do need to form a plan of attack for when things happen."

Khitti smirked. “You act like this is the first time she and I have had to do something like this. We do research for hours on end for fun.” The redhead shrugged and finally set her glass down, scooting it over to sit next to the bottle. “We’ll get through it. We always do.” It was almost said wearily, seeing as how there was never a shortage of world-ending scenarios that she had to help deal with. “A meeting’s a good idea. I imagine they all would like to know what Tessa and I found out. Probably better off with her explaining it to them. Public speaking is not my forte.” Baking. Cooking. Killing people. Those, amongst other things, were what she was good at. Talking to people? Not so much. “You should go get some rest for now though.” Not that that was going to do him any good, but she wasn’t aware of that just yet. “Don’t worry about the paperwork.”

Kasyr draws a finger up to his neck, if only to awkwardly scratch at the underside of his jaw, "Still. Normally, you wouldn't have quite as tight a deadline." And whose fault was that, ultimately? His fingers fidget, then slither down to tug at the scarf around his neck- taking some small reassurance in it's presence. "Yeah- there's a lot of things that need to be addressed I think. A final plan of attack, division of labour et quoi- ce-soit. Might change a bit, depending on what's found." With a nod at her mention of rest, he pushes himself out from the chair and begins to head towards the door to his office, before pausing at the threshold, "Thanks- again. Et I hope I don't end up asking too much of you. You just seem more in tune with everything that's already here." There's a vague gesture at the edifice, as well as towards whatever accumulated paperwork might already be present. "But, yeah. We'll- figure this out." And unless there's anything else to add, the Kensai makes his way towards the exit- notably more relieved then when he entered. A feeling that would no doubt come in handy, given he was due to show up at the necromancers guild later, to burden Khitti with a fresh set of problems.