Fourth Wall: We Gather Here to Face the Dusk

[thewatchers]

Fourth Wall: We Gather Here to Face the Dusk
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With the call for aid for the advent of the Suneater, the Academy has become one of the many operational centers around the world. The school while never having been quiet by any measure is now buzzing with extra traffic as those from all walks of life and not-quite-life gathered, preparing to literally fight for the sake of the world.

Whether the added souls were new to the supernatural, old faculty and students returning to the fold, or even legends whispered of in hush voices by those in the know, all are welcomed with open arms, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere despite the grim purpose of their visit.

A. Team-Build Exercises
To help with coordinating for the massive undertaking, team-building measures have been enacted, from trust falls to tag-team spars and even trivia bowls. Everything is designed to bring the disparate groups together to build trust and understanding...with varying results.

B. Breaking Bread
With the increase number of people needing to eat, the kitchen under the helm of Chef Hendersen aka Professor Bigfoot has been bringing out food from all corners of the world and the outlands - to make people feel at home - and for the daring to try the far more exotic fare such as Baatzou Surprise or Cumulus Puff from Celestia. And as it turns out - a speciality for the adults, they found some Ambrosia - drink and be merry.

C. Shop Talk
With the experience and wisdom of all sorts of trades and specialities being brought together, it’s only natural to want to exchange information and see what new innovations or experiments has been underway, or to get into impromptu competitions over whose ideas, spells or artifice will work better, especially if there’s money or bragging rights to be had.

Wild Card
If none of these appeal, make up a prompt of your own.

((ooc: This is the first fourth-wall log before the 5th Herald and opened for ALL characters current, past and not yet here. Feel free to throw any and all characters in to get a feel or get them established before the big battle.

If you'd like to make further plans oocly, we invite you to make use of the CR meme and AU planning meme!))

Comments

[benedetta]

[Gunvolt's text message does not receive an immediate answer. Though, he's probably expecting that it would take more than a few minutes for Desidera to get her thoughts straight enough that she can provide an answer.

Viola remains oblivious to any of this.]

I found two of them and I'm pretty sure I know where the third is, but I didn't last long enough to actually get there the last time I took a shot at this thing. Guess I know what I'm doing next time around.

[shockingblue]

[He figured Desi wouldn't reply right away. GV knew he kind of casually dropped a big reveal on text, and normally he wouldn't do it that way, but given circumstance? That was the most low profile way he could think of to handle it.]

Yeah. You gotta deal with Dog Hallway for it. Which you can either deal with by shooting them with the handgun or by baiting out their lunges and dodging them.

[He'd taken to the latter strategy more lately to save ammo for quicker kills against enemies later.]

Or if you can get the Knife right under their chin and stab straight upward you can put them down in one go. Risky, but good if they knock you over.

[benedetta]

[Soon enough, though, GV's phone buzzes with a response: "I didn't know, no. I don't know if she would know, either."

... So Desi hasn't said anything yet. If Viola does know about it, then someone else had to have told her.


In response to the advice, Viola makes a sound of really obvious displeasure.] Ugh.

I am not a dog person. Even when they're, you know, actually alive and not part of an undead horde. The longer the distance I can deal with those from, the better. [She's way more of a cat person, really.]

[shockingblue]

[He quickly checked his phone, and concealed a frown before quickly typing a response.

I'm sorry to drop it on you suddenly like this. I needed to keep this on the down low. Didn't want to say anything to her without telling you first and seeing what you wanted to do about it.

Especially if you wanted to be the one to tell her. I can sit on it for now, if you want.

He then looked back up to Viola.]

I don't even hate dogs, but I hate those guys. They're more obnoxious than anything in the simulation once you get used to them, but yeah. I wouldn't waste anything bigger than the handgun on them though. You need your shells for efficient zombie dispatching, killing hunters, and anything bigger than that.

...I guess you can probably use a Flash Grenade on them too. That'll just make it so you can run by without problems. But those also make for efficient zombie killers in a pinch if you shove it in their mouth. They won't get back up from that, even as those crimson-red jerks.

[benedetta]

I've had nothing but bad experiences with dogs, so, you know. [Well, that probably explains something.]

Don't suppose there's some other way to get to that crest without having to deal with the things somehow? [She knows the answer to her question is a Probably Not, but she has to ask anyway.


After Viola asks her question, GV gets another text: "I think we can trust her."

There's no further text to offer an explanation as to any reasoning for the answer, but Gunvolt doesn't need one, does he? It probably would have helped for her to say what should be done, but apparently she's neglected that too, leaving the ball in GV's hands as far as that goes.]

[shockingblue]

[He doesn't answer right away, taking a long, hard look at that text, his facade slipping a bit. Desi's short reaction belied what he knew what was true. Odds were, Desi was rather overwhelmed and confused at this revelation. Happy, he'd hope, but... the matter has to be complicated. Fortunately, at this point, he doesn't need an explanation.... or much more to go on than that.

Right. Leave it to me then. I'll let you know when I'm on my way back.

With that, he sighed, and slid his phone back into his pocket.]

...There's not another way, unfortunately.

[He blinked, looking her more squarely in the eye.]

Hey, uh... can we talk outside? I know it's kinda out of nowhere, but it's important.

[benedetta]

Dammit. [She's tempted to try asking Valvatorez himself, just in case, but Gunvolt doesn't strike her as the sort to mess with people.]

Huh? [Out of nowhere is right; she's caught completely off-guard by the question.] Uh... Sure. [With that, she follows GV back out to wherever it is he wants to do this.]

[shockingblue]

[Gunvolt leads out of the room, moving out of the crowds and into a more open hallway. It's not strictly speaking the most private place in the world, but it's open enough that there's nothing ill-intented here... but people are spread out enough that errant ears won't be eavesdropping.

Once he checked it was the least busy as it could be in a public place, he turned and took a deep breath. Keeping his tone level and calm, while quiet, he did his best to be as even and stoic as possible in delivering the news.]

Look, I'm going to level with you. I recognized your tattoo. I know someone who had that same one. And no, it's not a bad thing. This ain't some family feud or whatever else.

[He slid his hands into his pockets.]

My point is, you're not the only one around here from the Pavesi family line, even if you got told otherwise.

[benedetta]

You—huh? [It looks like that bit of news is a little bit of a surprise.]

Nobody said I was, but... [Neither did they say said she wasn't. But, with not having seen any proof (on account of said proof having not existed for more than a year now, not that she knows that), she could only assume that she was.]

[shockingblue]

But they didn't say anything about it at all, I take it. Assuming they even knew...

[He paused again, hand slipping out of his pocket and scratching the back of his head, just above the start of his braid.]

...I'm not exactly great at this kind of thing, so forgive me if I'm not especially delicate about it. Truth is, I don't know how much you might even know about the whole family situation. Or if you even knew if they existed.

[Given Viola was younger than Desidera and Marise was probably a black sheep of the family and not talked about very much after... well, everything, it stood to reason she probably didn't know very much about it.

Either way, part of him regretted being the arbiter of this news, but he was already here, and he had to commit.]

Anyway, if I had to guess, I think you and the person I'm talking about are actually cousins? ...Second cousins, maybe? That's just me guessing.

You're... probably wondering how I know any of this. Truth is, I'm pretty close to the other person who had that tattoo. She's uh. My girlfriend. So I've heard some of the family stories from her and her mother.

[benedetta]

[record_scratch.wav]

It's Desi? [But she doesn't have—wait, GV's been saying "had"...so it was removed at some point? Why? What hasn't Viola been told?]

[shockingblue]

Yeah. Yeah it is.

[He doesn't think twice about that, given he essentially tipped his hand telling her how he knew any of it.]

Her Mom's kind of on the outs with the rest of the family because of... well, reasons, and Desi's essentially in the same position. I'm sure you can guess why.

[It really wasn't hard to figure out.]

I know that's a hell of a bomb to drop out of the blue, but...

[benedetta]

[There are two relatives that Viola's mother regularly talks about—two of the woman's own cousins—but she's also aware that there's a third who...isn't usually spoken of, due to having dabbled in things that the rest of the family found unacceptable. It really isn't hard to figure out what those things were, having seen Desi.]

Some of the adults take a really hard line when it comes to anything involving daemons. [Which is an understandable thing. Hell, even knowing that there were daemons on the staff here at the academy nearly made them balk at the idea of her enrolling.

But...what should she do now? What does she do with what she's just learned? She's not sure. Try to establish a more-familial relationship? Or maybe just continue on as normal and hope things don't suddenly become strained between them? Or something else? It would really suck if this ended up negatively impacting the tutoring sessions, but depending on how things shake out, there might not be any way to avoid that.]

[shockingblue]

So I've heard. Which, to a point, I definitely understand. Even here, we get told to be extremely cautious about almost anything to do with daemons. Professor Valvatorez and Professor Atchison warn us about that all the time, after all.

[So it's not like he even finds the Pavesi family tack on the matter even all that offensive, or even misguided. Nuance on such matters is incredibly difficult, especially when humanity has spent so long under the existential threat of daemonic influence and invasion.]

But at the end of the day, things need to be seen and evaluated on truth and reality, I think. Sometimes you won't find nuance, but you often do. And it sounds like you've already been doing that, considering you didn't turn your back on learning from either Professor Valvatorez or from Desi herself.

[benedetta]

The Professor might be a little weird and might have a little bit of a history, but he seems like a pretty good person anymore. [Sounds like somebody's done some homework.]

Same goes for Desi, really, minus the whole history thing. [... Sounds like somebody's calling your girlfriend weird, Gunvolt.] I mean, I haven't once seen any reason not to be cool with her.

Hopefully this isn't gonna change that.

[shockingblue]

[He catches onto the weird thing, but expressly doesn't deny it. It is part of what he loves about her, after all.]

Hopefully not. I mean, it might be a bit strange at first. ...And I think the fact that you're hoping that it'll work out well will go a long way.

[He smiles, a more genuine, thoughtful one. Warm, even.]

Desi's... well, she's got a big heart. If you accept her for who she is, then that'll mean more to her than anything else. With that... you can both go from there, and figure out what you both want to do.