Fellowship of Animus | First Council of Sages

[sageprincess]

Characters: THE FELLOWSHIP OF ANIMUS aka pretty much everyone
Setting: Floor 38, early afternoon - forward-dated to July 29
Format: Party style - pick your poison
Summary: After repeated delays, Zelda and Gandalf have finally called the populace of the Tower to discuss productive means of dealing with their situation.
Warnings: None yet, will edit should something come up

It's taken far too long to get to this point.

Come Sunday, the various couches and armchairs of the uppermost lounge have been arranged in vaguely semi-circle-like patterns, with chairs from other floors scattered amongst them to increase seating even more. The semi-circles face inwards towards a central point to facilitate discussion among a large group of people. Though this is by no means a party, small slices of Lembas bread are available on tables around the perimeter - though there is no shortage of food, the hungry tend to be less cooperative, all the same.

Outside, the sun shines brightly without a cloud to obstruct it, but the atmosphere inside is much less carefree. Considering the purpose of gathering here this day, it's to be expected. Should this council succeed, it may very well change life in the Tower as everyone knows it. If not, well... one should certainly hope individual efforts begin to bear more fruit than they have in the past.

Comments

On the topic of break-ins...

[attheclocktower]

Oh man she wasn't sure she could do this. She really, really wasn't sure. How was she supposed to talk in front of all these people? What if they didn't listen to her? What if they thought she was being ridiculous? She would be the first to admit there were some problems with what she wanted to say but...

She remembered waiting. Waiting and hearing the worst. How upset Shion had gotten upon finding out that Reno had died.

She stood up.

"A..." She was so nervous, it came out as whisper. She swallowed and tried again. "A-a couple of times... recently, some people have tried to break in to... to different parts in the Tower. For good reasons!" she added hurriedly, hoping to not offend any in her audience, "But both times... everyone died. So... I think we need to try to find something different."

She swallowed again, closing her eyes tightly, "Even if our friends are getting hurt..." It was almost painful for her to say. Sora was one of the people in the labyrinth, as were Yu, and Link, and the other Riku. "Or they stop running the Tower again... If they just kill us for even trying, there's no point-" She was getting emotional, this wasn't going the way she wanted it to. She cuts herself off, takes a deep breath, and tries again.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't try to help our friends. Or ourselves. But... there has to be a different way. And we should try to find it."

Her piece said, she sat down, pulling her hood up over her bowed head and not daring to meet anybody's eyes.

[alwaysataclimax]

"Whaddaya mean, no point?!" Momotaros - hitching a ride in Ryotaro for this meeting, as his regular appearance might make some people uneasy - all but jumps out of his chair, and glares in the direction of the hooded girl. "It shows these assholes that we aren't gonna take their crap lyin' down! That's point enough! And besides, if the jerks in charge of this place ain't gonna come out and face us, we gotta get to them!" As he speaks, he gestures a bit wildly - those sitting next to him might need to move out of the way.

He's off to a wonderful start...

[dontquestionme]

"And if they have the power to ensure we can't strike so openly without certain death?" Ryu asked, loud enough to be heard, but not rising from his seat.

He didn't even look at Ryotaro/Momotaros, but just tugged on his collar for emphasis to what he was saying.

"If one method's not working, another approach is necessary. She's not saying to do nothing."

[alwaysataclimax]

"Tch..." Momotaros scoffs. "Then we go anyway. I ain't turnin' tail and running from a bunch of jerks tryin' to keep us down just 'cause they can kill me. If it don't work, maybe I'll figure out a way to make it work. If I don't, maybe someone else will."

[dontquestionme]

Ryu seemed mostly unfazed, but he raised an eyebrow. He still didn't stand up.

"So you would just deny the chance of considering alternate options? I don't think anyone's suggesting we just run. There are other ways to deal with things than just going face first."

He paused.

"Using our heads is worth considering, at least, if our raw power's not going to do it."

[alwaysataclimax]

"Goin' face first is all my head's good for! They wanna do other stuff, that's fine for them. I'm just sayin' that chargin' in still has its uses!" And reacted badly to the initial suggestion, because he is kind of dumb and hotheaded.

[worldsapart]

After Xion finished her speech, Fey reached over and rested her hand on her other's. After Momotaros finished speaking the first time, she gave Xion's hand a reassuring squeeze. But now, she can't help but speak up. Even though she's making an effort to control her tone, her blue eyes are flaring.

"She's not saying we should run away." Is she glaring? Maybe a little. "Weren't you listening? She's saying we should come at them from another angle. Change tactics, not give up."

[justabignobody]

Oh indeed, he is. Especially by blowing up on someone Riku happens to care about, who needed all her courage to say just that. He hadn't planned to speak up much, or this early into the discussions, but... he is not about to leave Xion to deal with this hothead by herself either.

When he speaks up, his voice is calm, his tone cold.

"Is it? If we die over and over again - whether due an experiment, their will or our own designs - even if we are retrieved again; only thanks to them no less... just how exactly is making a stand that's bound to fail 'not taking their crap lying down'? And where is the point in that?"

Riku has been in enough of those 'games' to tell that not playing along is rarely an option. Besides...

"As Xion said, there have been attempts before and they failed. And the only thing trying the same thing over and over again will get us is that we'll become predictable."

He doesn't have to explain just why this is a bad thing. Right?

[alwaysataclimax]

Momo scratches the back of his head, then makes an annoyed noise. "It just does! If they're gonna make some kinda stupid experiment outta me, I'm gonna let 'em know just what I think about it!"

"If we keep tryin', it's bound to go right eventually. Maybe they'll slip up, maybe we'll get lucky." It makes sense to him, anyway. Brute-force one's way through it. Something will give eventually.

[childhero]

Link has been quietly listening, but something Riku said caught his attention. He waits until Momotaros replies, and then speaks up.

"Maybe, if they think we're predictable... We can use that to our advantage. Maybe sometime in the future, we could use it as a diversion."

It isn't much to say, but he feels that's all he needs to say.

[pitiedthefool]

"...It did partly work in the pods, but not by much."

It was still painful for him to think about, of how much the others suffered and what resulted in that time, but he wasn't going to let that keep him silent.

"While we could use it to our advantage, there's something else..." He remembered far too well how easy it was for one of them to stop his friend literally in midair. "There's also the possibility that they'll use something more substantial here than death as punishment instead, if we do. Jason wouldn't have any qualms about modification, and Ruana's capable of stopping people in their tracks with little effort."

[keybearer]

"Except those attempts at 'getting to them' haven't gotten us anywhere." Riku groans, folding his arms over his chest. "There's this thing called insanity-- trying the same thing again and again while expecting different results."

He sighs and shakes his head, leaning back in his seat. It's tough to be put in a situation where you can't change anything, and Riku's definitely not in the mood to give up, but Xion, as well as his double, both have a point. The guys upstairs have way too much power. If break-ins don't work and people just wind up dead, they need a plan B. Something fresh.

"I think what we need to do right now is gather as much information as we can. There's enough of us here to get the job done. If we cover our bases, then maybe we can work something out that's a little more practical. Or at least more subtle."

[swordofzero]

"I agree." Suzaku had been silent so far, but as one of those who had attempted to free those in the pods he agreed with the black haired girl. "It has proven futile to attempt to go head to head with them, they have more power than all of us together. We were in the best position we have had since I have been here, since almost all our captors were distracted, yet we still didn't get close to our goal."

[cullscuttlefish]

When Feferi replies, her voice is warm and reassuring - she could tell that the girl was nervous about speaking and that having gone through that had just made things worse.

"First off, I - I don't mean to swim over any boundaries, so let minnow - shoot. This is searious, so I need to stop with the ocean puns and just try and speak straight."

She takes a moment to clear her throat, then starts to speak again.

"I agree with you. If people are getting killed trying to break into different parts of the Tower, even if it's for the very best reasons, then there's really no point to it. The only thing we can learn from it is that we're going to die if we try to do that. We can't do anything to help anyone if we're constantly dying. And...there's something else. If they can stop running the Tower, then they can..."

Feferi closes her eyes and takes a long, deep breath.

"It probably means they can choose to stop bringing us back, if they want to. I know that's a scary thought, but it's not a chance I want to take. It's not a chance I want anyone else to take, either."

[derping]

Sora had been trying to find a place to break into the discussion for a little while, now. Sure, the boy had no fear of speaking his mind. But serious, formal meetings like this weren't something he was used to, and he wasn't sure exactly where or how to make his point.

Finally, he decided to stop waiting. Now was as good a time as any, and Xion needed his support. Besides, this girl, whoever she is, brought up a really good point.

"I'm with Xion, too." Sora said. "If there's a way to way progress without everyone getting hurt, then we should all put our heads together and find it! Besides, she's right. Who knows what they could do if we keep trying the same thing over and over again? I don't want anyone to have to take that chance, either."

Enough bad stuff happened around here without everyone just rushing into it. Sure, they might have to be brave and take risks, but...if there are ways to get things done without too many people getting hurt, Sora was all for finding those ways.

He had seen enough friends hurt already.

[lookmanostrings]

"I must disagree, my dear."

Fado wasn't usually one to speak up on these kinds of things, and when he did, he only did it with the politest intentions. So when he spoke, even though he disagreed, he was still smiling.

"It's true that bullheaded stubbornness will make us no progress in towards our goal," cough cough shut up Momotaros-- "But I would not say there is no point. I have born witness to two attempts to break in where we are not allowed, and one made it much farther than the least. Perhaps it is because once it was unintended, but those actions clearly had some affect on the administrators. It forced them to end their little games early-- so while we appear to be at square one, we have made at least a margin of progress."

[midgarhorizon]

"Lemme get this straight... were we on the same break in together or not? Did ya feel what just the kid did to us? I'm pretty damned sure," Reno finally spoke up again, just standing over where he was acting as a guard, "that if they hadn't been so damned distracted by their own squabblin', leaving the kid the only one in charge, we wouldn't have gotten as far as we did. Even then, we all dropped like flies once Zo got the computers back on, remember? I'm not agreeing with the idea Zo is the weakest either, I think he's the strongest and the others are controlling him. Either way, Sweetness is right, it's damned sure our effort's better put elsewhere. Like how to get out of here. If we can't go home, fine, but at least somewhere else."

[lookmanostrings]

"The child is capable of extreme power, and I am not denying that the arguments between the other administrators contributed to getting so far," He said, looking at Reno calmly and maintaining a soft tone.

"Another break-in attempt that was lead did not reach as far as that campaign did, however; they were immediately halted by Jason once a slight amount of progress was made, in fact. And the actions of the group on the outside affected the feud with the administrators. Blindly charging to try and reach them is foolish, but that's not to say all the efforts have been futile."

[midgarhorizon]

"Hey, Fado," Reno rubbed his face a bit tiredly, "don't put words into my mouth. I didn't say they were futile, I'm just sayin' they're better put into something that's more likely to get us outta this hell hole. I'd rather deal with my planet's post-meteor-apocalyptic-shitsville than this place."

[lookmanostrings]

Tired as Reno was, Fado let out a small laugh at the meteor comment, though it wasn't intended to be mocking or anything. "Forgive me, that wasn't my intention; perhaps I should say, that it is not necessarily something to count out too quickly, if the time should arise again."

[notagiraffe]

"But people got hurt..." It was only really because it was Fado that Taiki was brave enough to speak at all. He looked up from where he was hugging his knees. "No one should be hurt... even if it changes small things... they hurt us lots we shouldn't hurt each other..."

[alwaysataclimax]

"Tch, gettin' hurt's a thing that's gonna happen, whether we like it or not," Momo starts, then recalls how his prior comments went - and changes his tune just a bit. "We can't let that hold all of us back."

[notagiraffe]

Taiki shook his head, "We shouldn't do anything that harms others. Not at all."

[alwaysataclimax]

Momotaros' face twists into a scowl. Pacifism was something that just didn't compute with him. "And do what?! Just let these assholes in charge just run rampant all over us?!"

[savedbyasong]

Shion was sat just behind Xion and reached forward to take her hand as she sat back down, proud of her for speaking up. He agreed with what she had said, he remembered to the waiting and he never wanted to go through that again. Ever. There had to be a better way of fighting back.