tushanshu_logs | [EVENT] A NEW WORLD ORDER

[EVENT] A NEW WORLD ORDER

Characters: ALL!
Date: December 8, 2015 (with some starters for the following weeks)
Location: Keeliai, the Midnight Hotel, others
Situation: The Foreigners have awakened.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

They've been in the Dreaming for so long that when they wake up their bodies feel more like automatons, alien and ill-fitting. They haven’t atrophied, thanks to Milyn, but they’re stiff and a little bedsore, and the solidity of the Life Plane is jarring. Here, the surroundings don’t move on a whim. Here the world is more stable, almost harsh and unyielding in spite of the homey surrounds.

It’s been a year, says the clock on the mantle and on the second floor. Says Milyn, too, when she’s able to stop hugging them long enough to speak.

Nothing much has changed in the Midnight Hotel. There are dishes out of place, objects belonging to either Milyn or Eva in evidence, the diorama exactly where it had been but now brightly-painted thanks to Milyn's boredom. Milyn and Eva took a room each, in the time the Foreigners were sleeping, though neither used them much.

Eva’s upstairs, Milyn will tell anyone who asks. In her room.

Eva hasn't left that room in three days. She hasn't spoken in three days, either, or walked, or moved, or breathed. Her effects are neatly arranged around her bed, and the sheet has been pulled up. There is heavy incense in the room and Milyn has managed to preserve the body enough to remove the risk of too much mess (and other things). In a way, that makes it worse: as though Eva is sleeping. It’s difficult to tell whether Milyn is in denial or whether spending three days with no one to talk to other than sleeping Foreigners and a corpse has had its influence.

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I don't know about that... ["Nice enough place to get your head on straight" would not have been Tony's first choice for Keeliai's tourism tagline, since its niceness is frequently questionable and it's full of enough surprises to send anyone's head spinning.] But if you're worried about what you're supposed to be doing back home, this is the place to be. Time stops in your universe when you get pulled here. When you go back, you go back to the same instant that you left.

[Then Tony chuckles, and says,] Okay, wait, how many assassins do you know? Is there a big French assassins club or something?

[Oh, Tony. You have no idea.]

[To be fair, Arno's just watched the execution of the king, had to kill a lot of people, and been betrayed a few times. Keeliai's...well, comparatively speaking, a better alternative to somewhere you can at least try to deal with your myriad issues. That said he also hasn't been here long enough to have many surprises to roll with, so there's that, too.]

Time stops entirely? [That actually has Arno sighing with...well he's not sure yet.]

I DID leave a lot of shit behind me. [Which is followed by a snort at Tony's question.]

Chief among those, the Paris branch of our big assassin's... Well, we're more like a cult with world wide influence than a club by NOW.

A global cult of assassins? [What.] Ooookay. Maybe we're not from the same version of Earth after all.

[Wouldn't SHIELD know about something like that? He's pretty sure SHIELD would know about something like that. He would have heard of it by now if that was a thing in his world, right?]

Whoa, hold on— so— are you an assassin? [He said "we." Is he a part of this cult?]

A global cult of assassins. Though...I doubt for any un-initiated that you might have heard much. [There is a nod of confirmation, there. Though probably a major player WOULD know sooner or later.]

We have our enemies and we keep our secrets.

[There is the question then, and Arno has to laugh at the way that's asked. Does Tony suddenly think he's going to kill him if he confirms it?]

I am, actually, yes. But I usually don't strike unless I've been told to do it.

[Arno laughs, but Tony doesn't find the admission very funny. Almost immediately, his friendly curiosity is replaced by chilly suspicion.]

You kill people? Assassinate them?

[It's one thing to kill people who are an immediate threat to innocent lives, when you've run out of options and they can't be subdued any other way. It's another thing entirely to hunt people down and murder them in cold blood.]

[That's a fair reaction, really. Arno isn't surprised that Tony's a bit suspicious just now. It makes sense, from a logical perspective.]

I do and have. There are men out there deserving of death. A few women too.

[THAT admission is a bit harder for him to admit to. It's not that she was not deserving, and you don't become a full assassin unless you're willing to do the things that are hard for you too, but still. It's a hard and probably awkward situation.

He doesn't need to explain himself to anyone, Arno thinks, but there is something about this that he doesn't want to foul up so soon. His expression turns serious as he looks to Tony.]

I... think I should give you a better explanation than that. [He's stopping, where it looks like things are quieter, then leaning on the side of a building that looks nearly deserted this time of day.]

Being an Assassin is one thing. Killing in cold blood for no reason is another. When we strike, we strike those who could not be reached in any other way. A grain agent who insisted that her couriers lose some of their wheat, so that less bread could be made and the price be driven up, when the people were already starving on what they could barely afford, murderers, those who would not be punished in the system because they know how to play it and win

[It still doesn't sound great, and he knows it, but it's not so bad as it comes out at first.]

Our moves are more deliberate than it must sound. Our Mentor and a Council give the orders. First, we investigate, then we analyze what we've found, and they decide on our course of action. Well, we are supposed to wait.

[He looks, and sounds, rather chagrined as he admits to this last part, indicating, well, it's probably obvious.]

If a death can be prevented, then other ways to solve the problem are found. Death IS the last resort that's used. Killing may be wrong, but when someone presents the larger threat, we do...well...

[Arno's pausing, actually swallowing a moment before he continues that.]

We do what we need to. That's all.

[His thoughts turn to Bellec, and his eyes go dark for a moment, remembering their last fight and all that came next. Certainly not a high point in either of their careers, he would imagine.]

And we do have our enemies, who work against not only us, but the principles that we...that many people hold dearly in this world. I don't think the Templars are going to stop until they've taken over the country, maybe the world.

They aren't all bad, Templars. But a good number of them are in some godforsaken noble's pocket and they know it and don't care. Whatever influence and power they can gain, they take. We do the same, when we can, but I would say that personal freedom and the ability to not be indoctrinated like sheep into a world that a few select of their members take care to give the orders in are worth it when you weigh our pros and cons.

[He shrugs a little here, hood falling forward over his head as he does so. ]

They harm guilty and innocent alike, when it comes to the Templars. We stay our blades from innocent flesh. It's not...it was not all so dark and criminal as it must sound. If I have a soul, I've probably sold it, back when I signed up. But the brotherhood...it gave me a great bargain for that soul is what it did.

The point is, I guess, we're not all what we seem. No one actually is.

[Tony stops when Arno does, and listens with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.] Was all of this in secret? Did any of these people know you were coming for them? You weren't hired or elected, were you? [They sound more like accusations than questions.]

You can't just make up your own rules and enforce them yourself, that's... [um... kind of... exactly what Tony does, actually...] I mean, if somebody's running around the city blowing stuff up, they need to be stopped, but you can't murder people for... graft and tax evasion. [~~Otherwise you'd have to assassinate the entire United States legislature, ha ha!~~

Tony is becoming increasingly agitated. His gut is telling him that what Arno is describing is wrong, but all his justifications are uncomfortably similar to the reasons Tony became Iron Man.

Sometimes there are situations that regular law enforcement can't handle, that require extraordinary intervention. Sometimes the system doesn't work. But when Tony intervenes, he's saving Stane and dozens of Stark International employees from Blizzard, or keeping Whiplash from killing his friends and their families, or stopping Mr. Fix or the Living Laser from leveling the whole city. Clear threats putting people in immediate danger. Arno's talking about... murdering unsuspecting petty criminals. That's different. That's nothing like what Tony does.]

We're supposed to do what the system can't when things get really bad, [Tony insists, not even noticing the 'we' slip out,] not replace it completely - by assassinating people.

[This is possibly the first time in his life, Arno's talked to someone outside of the order, well, someone who is not Elise about the brotherhood and what being a part of it means. He couldn't have dared that in Paris, not that he would have wanted to. It's different now, obviously, but those first accusations do have him bristling a little as it is.]

Specifically myself, and specifically the time and place, certainly no. [The answer to that first question comes easily enough, at that. ]

But no one tied up in Templar business, either those in the order or those who work for them, is so naive as to think they'll not be caught up with eventually. And no Assassin dares to think that he's above being fed an aconite cocktail along with his wine if he lets his guard down for too long, so that...works two ways.

[Well. Arno likes to think that he, personally, is above such things, but Mirabeau, even Mirabeau fell prey to poison, albeit not given to him by a Templar. It's a chilling thought, and a reminder that even the brightest can be taken by surprise. He's...keeping it in mind, or trying to, these days.]

I was recruited in the Bastille and inducted into the brotherhood after its fall, actually. The man died, and the assassin was born.

[So far, Arno's been speaking of the brotherhood and its role with a certain sense of assurance, but there is more pride in his words now, and a reassurance creeping into his posture. Thinking of that moment keeps him centered, even when he thinks of how it all turned out.]

It's funny, but you sound so much like the last lecture our council gave me, oddly enough. Throw in something about my personal vendetta being against the values of the brotherhood and...

[Arno shrugs, not certain how to go on, straightaway.]

Well. They hold a few standards I haven't measured up to yet, and you have pointed out most of them. Congratulations, are in order, I assume.

[The smile Tony gets is far from sincere, along with the little bow that Arno tosses in there, though they don't actually last, and there's a moment, just one, where he looks almost tired by this act.]

We live in contradictions, and I won't deny it. Sometimes we make mistakes, but, on the other side, we're talking about Templar world domination. Each sacrifice, all of the blood I've spilt...if it keeps that from coming, and might save a few people from dealing with corruption in the first place, not to mentioning punishing the guilty, well, that's worth it.

In a Just world, maybe not. [He'll cop to at least that much, the idea that in a better world, one without templar and assassin struggles, things could be different, but that is something he has never really known.]

But it isn't a just world. It is France. [And therein lies the difference.]

[...Wow, okay, this is a lot to take in. Tony's anger is being slightly swamped by his confusion and total lack of context.]

Who are these Templars? How are they trying to take over the world? Why? [And then there was that thing about assassination targets being 'tied up in Templar business'...] Is this seriously just two competing secret societies trying to kill each other off?

[The face Tony's making is falling somewhere between baffled, skeptical, and judgmental. WTF, Arno. WTF.]

[Understandable, certainly. Arno hasn't exactly explained this to anyone in his own world, so he's a bit rusty on how to go about it. But when Tony asks, and makes that face, he's stopping, then trying to choose his words more carefully.]

At the moment, and in France, they've orchestrated an entire revolution. Once they place one of their own in total control, well. When I say that they mean to do this...have you heard much of a New World Order? They do not only want political gains, though those are good, they mean to influence thought itself. And there are, in fact, means to do it, artifacts from the ancient days left behind, that in the wrong hands, or any hands, really, could prove...very bad.

[He realizes how this sounds, and that it's going off track into a discussion of Evil Templars, which is, well, not entirely the truth. Arno's killed as many as most of them, probably more than Elise has killed, actually. All that said, though...

I sound a bit as though I were in some sort of a délire paranoïde, but when a group attempts to control everything, down to the thoughts of their general public, it does become hard to let go of the notion. The ideal state of the world is one in which they gain control over a world filled with sheep.

It is less about us trying to kill each other off than it might seem, given our name. But we do our best to...preserve the balance, to allow the people some freedom of thought, of choice. I think that if they had the means, they would have long ago laced water or bread or wine, something that enough have access to, to make it that much easier. So far, they're using rhetoric to get things done. A revolution that won't really come to pass.

I admit we needed to be rid of Louis Capet, but not on a premise that is a lie, that will ensure we're set up with "elected" [The word is given an especially sarcastic emphasis there. leaders who will attempt the same control, disguised as progress.

And that is only France. Were it our orders feuding alone, it would be different. But when the balance is the innocent...

I have enough of that blood on my hands to last a lifetime. It is only right that I try to protect those that I still can.

I thought the New World Order was a crazy conspiracy theory from those people who think the moon landing was faked and the world is run by lizardmen. [Actually, funny thing about that last one...] That's a real thing in your world? [New World Order. Wow. Maybe this guy isn't an assassin - maybe he's just straight-up crazy.

Or maybe he really has killed as many people as he says he has.

It still won't be as many as Tony's killed.

But that was different. That was self-defense. There were no politics or ideologies to argue over - the only options were to destroy the Makluans, or let the planet be wiped out. Maybe good and evil aren't as simple as he wishes they were, but there's still got be a line drawn somewhere. He knows he did the right thing.

The question is, what side of the line does Arno fall on? Assassinating people to protect others from this supposed New World Order? Is that right? Tony honestly doesn't know, and that makes him really uncomfortable.]

Moon...landing? [Arno's blinking rather furiously at that one, a little baffled as it were.] You mean to say that when...where...does putting them both together sound better? Anyway, something's landed on the moon, there? On purpose?

[Arno's not exactly the kind of person who can sit for hours discussing the fundamentals of how flight works, but the idea that someone can reach beyond the sky itself is amazing anyway. More amazing, in a lot of ways, than the fact he's ended up here. He had thought balloons the height, pun not intended, of possibilities for human flight.]

We do not quite have lizardmen , though. Our First Civilization, the Precursor race, were humanoid from what I understand, but I DID read a translation from the Italian and Arabic of those who actually made contact with them, and they're mostly gone now as I understand it. Biding their time, maybe but...

[There's a shrug.] I don't THINK they mean to come back as lizards. Somehow I can't see that going over with most assassins. The rest of it though...well...The New World Order is...a threat and potential reality if it's not put into check.

It must sound paranoid as anything, to the average person but for those of us who slink around in dark corners, swap insane sounding secrets and the rest...it actually IS a threat. And I don't see it changing for the better, unless we have some sort of miracle.

...France could use a few of those, don't get me wrong. I just don't see them coming soon. It might be nice to get away.

[Particularly, considering Arno has nothing going on at home right now, unless he comes up with some amazing, coming in from waaaay behind victory to impress the brotherhood again. Just killing people isn't going to cut it, this time.

As far as the right thing goes? It's a question Arno's wrestled with as the Revolution's gone on. He started out believing every word of all the rhetoric, but then, when he realized what was behind it...well, his morals and his politics are all one confusing mess right now. It's probably no wonder he'd reverted to his off duty hobby of cheap disgusting alcohol when he had half a chance to.

He's sighing now, then glancing at Tony, wondering how he can phrase that so it's something that he'll understand.]

These days, I think I'm following my own side first. If I could figure out what that is. At least, it sounds much easier here. Hating people who actually hate me and everyone else who wound up here when we didn't expect it, and avoiding them? That actually makes sense."

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[EVENT] A NEW WORLD ORDER

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going for the gold in Denial and Rationalization

Re: going for the gold in Denial and Rationalization

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