Wearing:
Armor |
Leather Pants |
Pathfinder Boots |
The Forgemaster's Ring |
Ring of Stasis |
Sofitor
Wielding: 10
Czerka knives | 2
Nastirci Combat Knives |
Fire and Smoke (lightsabers) |
Hidden Wrist Blades |
Knight Obsidian Sword | 4
Glitter Bullets
Madalena remained quiet as Aofie gave the briefing. There wasn't much for her to say anyway; she'd heard and read all this information hours before, when the opportunity to lead the mission had been granted to her. Opting instead to remain in her chair and silent, glowing green eyes scanned the room, seeing the reactions of those who were gathered there.
She couldn't deny that this mission somewhat unsettled her. This was something they had not dealt with before. The rules were all different. The rules didn't even remain constant in any way that she could understand, and neither did the Archivists who had been studying this alternate realm thing. It was all
this might happen and
that might happen with a serving of
but we're not certain on top. It was so much easier to just have her enemy pointed out to her and then go and try to stab it.
Three ways to get there and back; only two that could be used. What was she supposed to do if anyone got stuck on the other side, accidently used the third way as well? How did those roads thing even work? Why did each even work once? She'd asked all those questions earlier, but it seemed that there was no answer, not even now, when the high uppers had decreed that the information was sufficient to semi blindly send in a bunch of Knight Obsidians. And- No. They weren't "and" anymore. The Mandragora had been assimilated into the Knights Obsidian. No longer a different group, Madalena was going to have to overcome her discomfort around those people. If nothing else, they were now battle brethren, and she would work as hard as she would for the others to make sure as many of them came back alive as was possible.
And there were so many faces here that she did not know, did not recognize. Were they all Mandragora? Every time someone new signed up on the roster, Madalena glanced at her datapad, reading the information that was available to her. Some were, some were not. But they were all going to have to work
together. There was no other way.
Looking at Pathfinder Yumi ([member="Kurenai Yumi"]), Madalena kept her facial expression pleasant. She couldn't shake the feeling that inside the few compliments there were also a few attempts at nabs below the belt, but now was hardly the time to give them any sort of attention.
"The children come first," she agreed with a nod. That was, after all, their mission – rescue the children.
Looking over to the tall woman ([member="Nine Lives"]), she nodded again. She remembered her though, but only now did she have a name; Nine. They had fought each other off in the arena during that silly war game of chitz and giggles. She knew her weakness. Madalena flicked her fingers a few times across her datapad and seconds later, one of the Knights Obsidian who worked on another floor came storming in to hand her a package. Madalena took it delicately, and walked to the tall woman.
"We don't know what we're going to face in Winter," she said, handing her the package,
"if it something that can make loud noises, this is for you. I want you back safe and alive like the rest of us."
Next came a salute from a Mandalorian she did not recognize either ([member="Ithiel Vi'Dreya"]) but she knew by the scent of his blood who his father was, and she saluted back. She knew, as anyone else, that the Vicelord had sired many children. Her luck so far had been great, as she'd only come across the successful and strong ones among them, and she hoped that this one would be on par with the rest of them, if not better.
Before turning to the group of Mandragora, Madalena was approached by a Tusekn that she did not ([member="A'runda"]).
"You were not a screw up last time, A'Runda," she said softly, clasping a hand on his shoulder for the briefest of moments,
"you were new, and you made a few mistakes, but you fought through all of them and never gave up. You're exactly the sort of person I want on a mission like this – someone that does not give up even when things get hard and don't go according to expectations."
And then there was Mr. Grabbyhands ([member="Darth Tacitus"]). Normally, Madalena would have been more comfortable not being around him, not since the incident in which he'd so randomly grabbed her arm and it had
almost ended in her attempting to slit his throat. Still, they would be on their best behavior during this mission. If she was not mistaken, he was also the only one among them that was not part of the Knights Obsidian that would be joining. Madalena offered him a nod.
Looking at [member="Taramaz Laurs"], she smiled. They had worked together on Triffis. She knew what he was capable of. His was a trusted blade.
And that left her with the group of Mandragora ([member="Kasca Fen"], [member="Asher Mossa"], [member="Fawn Alzi"]). She knew so little of their culture and ways, though she knew a handful of Witch Spells herself. But how did they operate on a field of battle? Would they even have time to utter their spells? Would their spells even work in that dimension? Putting her most welcome face on, Madalena walked to the three of them, offering them all her warm smile.
"Hey," she greeted them,
"this will be the first time I get to work with Mandragora. I'm looking forward to it; I hope we'll all be even more amazing together than what we were when we were apart."
There was enough time for a handful more of sentences; but after that, it was time to go.
Madalena returned to the podium and looked at the people that had gathered.
"Open roads and safe travels," she sort of blessed them all, pulling a phrase from a story she had heard so long ago and could remember nothing more of it,
"We will gather on the other side."
With that, Madalena Antares clicked the button for the Road of Tears. Within moments, a single tear rolled from her left eye, and she vanished into thin air, as though she had never been standing there at all.
[member="Fawn Alzi"] [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Nine Lives"] [member="Ithiel Vi'Dreya"] [member="Asher Mossa"] [member="A'Runda"] [member="Darth Tacitus"] [member="Taramaz Laurs"] [member="Kasca Fen"]
OOC: Feel free to finish your conversations before you jump on the road. We'll start the Winter section in a day or two. If anyone else wants to join the thread in the meantime, you still can!