The Knights Next Door

[Eluvianii he/him]

Edwin looked up when Shana spoke up. "We`re always happy to listen."

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

"Hit me with your best shot!" James proclaimed. "Always open to a good discussion."

[+Sorana she/her]

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Sorry, Dapper, somehow I placed Doc somewhere else. I remember you writing that he's in the kitchen though.

"Thanks."

Shana nodded, paused for moment to find the words for her thoughts.

"So, we're here to fight evil. And to protect. And to save the world."

She stated, then spread her arms.

"But, there are laws, and judges and wise people that thought about this."

Lifting a finger she indicated that there were several points coming.

"One, why do we decide who lives and who dies. I don't doubt that the Voidbringers are evil, but I doubt my experience and knowledge to decide who might be saved, who not."

"Two, can they be saved? That crystal influenced normal people as well. So they are human. Where is the difference between them and a normal murderer with a gun? The way they kill - but apart from that?"

"And three, I somehow assumed we are the good guys, like in the movies. But if we destroy, if we kill and take law into our hands - we are just as bad as they are. We only claim to be good."

[old man moomba he/him]

"I wouldn't call myself a wise man, but I have thought about this a bit. I can't promise that I have the right answers, however, so don't go around using my words a justfication for who knows what." he cleared his throat, then continued, "In response to your first question, I would ask this. Who would you rather be the judge, if not us? We have to do this, because no others can. In responce to your second question: There is nothing that seperates them from a normal criminal, but the people we trust to protect us from normal criminals can't protect us from Voidbringers. So we're doing what they can't." 

Doc paused, "Finally, I'd say this to your third question: 'Good' and 'Evil' aren't really the best terms in general. In this case, they suck. Killing could be considered 'evil,' and saving someone 'good'. Don't think of it like that. We're not good or evil. We're just fighting to protect what we love."

[Eluvianii he/him]

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You just poked at my constant urge to debate about stuff.

Edwin thought for a moment before answering. He knew this conversation was coming, but, this early?

"Well, for the first point," he started "we don't. At least not personally. That's why we have someone to guide us," he gestured towards Doc "someone who knows when it's for the best and when it would be better to hold back. Now, if you're talking about last night, well, we were attacked, it was either that or die ourselves. You shouldn't beat yourself about that so hard."

"For the second point, I honestly don't know, but I want to believe they can, there could even be good people in the inside, but until we find out, I can't think of any pacifist way to deal with them."

"And for the third, you might be right. We do cause damages while we fight and do so without anyone even knowing we were there, but this is something that happens in the, shall we say, normal world too. Bad things happen all the time in order to prevent bigger problems and these are backed by the law. We don't even make things that big, most of the time innocent people is not involved. It's the same in our case, there are people who makes the rules and decides what has to be done to prevent a disaster. It just isn't known by other people because, well, you know why. I didn't choose to fight Voidbringers. Someone told me I was one of the few people who could and decided to do so. We're not straying from the law, we just follow a different one because it's the only way to face this problem."

[+Sorana she/her]

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I'm always up for a friendly debate

Shana listened, thought about their words.

"Honestly, Doc? I think there are lots of people in the world more qualified to make that decision than I am. I mean there is a reason we don't live in the medieval ages anymore, there are those that do nothing but think about crimes and and appropriate response to those that commit them."

She grabbed a pancake and spread some sugar on it, then rolled it up. She was hungry.

"I am fifteen. I read books and watch series, and I feel like I am a superhero, but I am not living in a magical kingdom, I am living here, on earth. I can live with yesterday being self defense, but our first battle - We saw them and immediatly attacked. Without any justification. We didn't even check if we can save them, if we can remove whatever it is, that makes them Voidbringers. Maybe Ben could do something, maybe some therapy could do something. And additionally, we didn't even wait to see if they commited a crime. We simply finished them."

She fell silent for a moment, considered Edwin's last words.

"But there are innocents involved. Ashlyn," she point at the ceiling, "for example. The police officers, that now have Voidbringers in their captivity without knowing what they will face. Those that questioned you, that saw a part of your powers. Those that treated us and wondered about the injuries. And to claim, that we follow a different law, I don't know how I feel about it. Journey before destination. Our path matters more, than the goal at the end. I'm simply not sure about our path, about the way we, more importantly I approach things. The first time is considered to try to free the Voidbringers was last night, it never occured to me before."

"I agree, good and evil are vague, and biased. But in the, if I am evil, if I spread nothing but harm - how can I justify killing someone I've never seen commit a crime?"

 

[I think I am here. he/him]

16 hours ago, Blessing of Potency said:

Ashlyn gives a slow nod, "Yep, good enough for me. Second question, how can I help?"

Rob fell silent, thinking. She didn’t have any abilities, she couldn’t see Voidbinding and Surgebinding, and she wanted to help. Somehow, that made her the bravest of them all. No powers, no stormlight healing, but still eager to help. But how?

“You should ask Doc,” he said finally. “He’s the leader, he brought all of us together. He’s smart, he’ll know what you should do. Me,” he shrugged. “I am not too good at thinking of ideas. I leave that to the more creative people.”

[Bookish Ocelot she/her]

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Ah yes baker Leona would be a formidable foe. I see her wielding her shard blade2 as a massive rolling pin.

“While we are deciding who lives and who dies, the spren chose us for a reason.” Leona said. “Maybe we made mistakes in the past, but that doesn’t mean we’ll make them in the future. We are the last defense between the voidbringers and humanity. If the-“ she waved her hands “-powers that be didn’t think we would be good in this position, why would we be given these powers? The people we kill are voidbringers, they're  here to destroy.”

[xinoehp512 he/him]

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Ah, how fun it would be to have a Voidbringer in this discussion.  Sadly impossible- for now.  

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by xinoehp512

[Lunamor she/her]

9 hours ago, Sorana said:

Stepping into the kitchen she offered Ben a stool and then turned to all of them, not leaving Ben's side.

"Anybody here minding a discussion? I've got something on my mind and I need as many opinions as I can get."

Ben gratefully sunk down on the stool. He didn’t participate in the discussion; he didn’t know what to say and was too tired to think that hard about something. He looked around for Evelyn.

@Hope Spren

Edited September 6, 2019 by Lunamor

[AonEne he/him]

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Is Draug awake yet? 

Cassie stayed silent; she didn't know what to say. Normally she liked debating well enough, but she'd never thought about this before and it was making her feel weird. 

[WrathofaShardKitten]

Evelyn was in her room, using a piece of paper and pencil to draw out all of the various combinations that might have the effect she desired. And . . . talking to herself as she did so. "No, that one won't work. Nope. No . . . This one? Maybe." It seemed to have everything she needed. Evelyn looked at the paper, scanning through a mental list of requirements. No tiny lines that would become impossible to draw on a small piece, aon Ien for healing, aon Daa for power, the modifier that would cause it to draw more power from the Daa based on pain. Everything seemed to be there. She grinned, and began looking for something she could carve or engrave the aon on.

She reached down to grab her book bag, which might have something in it that would work, and frowned when she didn't immediately find it. Evelyn bent down, trying to see where her bag was, and in the process of doing so, banged her head on the table. "Ouch!" She jerked her head back up reflexively, her hand going to feel the injury. It stopped halfway there. "That's it!" she exclaimed. "That's what it's missing! If I use it as it is right now, then it responds automatically to any pain, making it so that I don't feel anything. It's would seem like that was a good thing, as I want this to block pain, but it's not." She started searching for her pencil, which had been on the table just a second ago . . . "If I don't feel any pain," she continued, voice more of a mumble as she looked for the pencil, "then I don't recognize that I've been hurt. For example, if I touched a hot stove on accident as I was now, I'd feel pain and jerk my hand away, avoiding further damage. But if I did the same thing while wearing this then I wouldn't feel any pain and wouldn't move, thus causing more damage."

She picked her pencil off the floor with a triumphant grin, and began her designing more aons that would counter the issue.

@Lunamor

Edited September 6, 2019 by Hope Spren

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

"As someone who is anti-war myself" James added, "My personal opinions are skewed towards finding a peaceful way out of our conflict. He shook his head with a sigh, "But I know that to be impossible- so I personally am putting my own opinions aside, so I can best lead you." he stood up, dramatically. "If we must wage war, we will do it so our descendants don't have too."

The Nightwatcher spoke excitedly Yes James! This is important, you are so close now to The Words.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

3 minutes ago, Wyndlerunner said:

"As someone who is anti-war myself" James added, "My personal opinions are skewed towards finding a peaceful way out of our conflict. He shook his head with a sigh, "But I know that to be impossible- so I personally am putting my own opinions aside, so I can best lead you." he stood up, dramatically. "If we must wage war, we will do it so our descendants don't have too."

The Nightwatcher spoke excitedly Yes James! This is important, you are so close now to The Words.

 

"Did you try? To reverse it, to free them?"

Shana looked at him interested.

"What happened?"

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

1 minute ago, Sorana said:

"Did you try? To reverse it, to free them?"

Shana looked at him interested.

"What happened?"

"See, the thing is, if a Bondsmith doesn't know how to free them, I don't know what order could." James sighed, but turned to Doc, "Is there anything to suggest that a Bondsmith could do such a thing?"

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Agh! Why must it be that I cannot tag people?

 

[+Sorana she/her]

@Dr. Dapper

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See above

 

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

Just now, Sorana said:

@Dr. Dapper

 

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Thanks Sor  (Mind if I call you that?)

 

[Eluvianii he/him]

"I believe we're going into this blindly. We know the problem but we're still looking for the solution. That means making mistakes, lots of them. True, innocents got involved last night, but that just means we now know we have to be more careful, be prepared every time we go out, look for ways to take the fight away from other people. True, we don't know if they can be saved, but that just means now we can focus on looking for a way, it's a step forward. Making mistakes isn't wrong in an of itself, it's the only way to eventualy reach a satisfying conclusion. Of course, we're in a bigger problem than most people, and that means we have to be brave enough to make bigger mistakes and face them in order to improve."

[+Sorana she/her]

4 minutes ago, Wyndlerunner said:

Thanks Sor  (Mind if I call you that?)

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I would prefer Sora if you want to shorten it. 

And gladly!

Shana listened to Edwin. Make mistakes, but learn from them. That sounded good. Really good.

"Alright."

She smiled at them, finally took a bite of her pancake, chewed and swallowed.

"We will try to find a way. And if we can't we can always kill them. Or I can. Whatever."

[overlord stick]

Flid turned to Shana.

"Dustbringers aren't the only front line soldiers. If you need us, we'll be there."

[old man moomba he/him]

"The Voidbringers, they bond spren, just like us. That's what's gives them red eyes, and their powers. They bond the spren willingly, with Intent. They made that choice willingly, to bond that spren. So now that I think about it, they are different than most criminals, in the fact that they willingly decide to destroy, and bond a spren to do that." 

[Lunar Blessing she/her]

7 hours ago, I think I am here. said:

Rob fell silent, thinking. She didn’t have any abilities, she couldn’t see Voidbinding and Surgebinding, and she wanted to help. Somehow, that made her the bravest of them all. No powers, no stormlight healing, but still eager to help. But how?

“You should ask Doc,” he said finally. “He’s the leader, he brought all of us together. He’s smart, he’ll know what you should do. Me,” he shrugged. “I am not too good at thinking of ideas. I leave that to the more creative people.”

"I'll do that then, now I smelled pancakes and I forgot to eat before I came over here," Ashlyn says, and stretches and yawns, "and you guys owe me an M1911. That as a good gun I had to kick into the gutter."

[Bookish Ocelot she/her]

"If you can find me plans of your gun," said Leona,  "I might be able to soulcast you a new one." 

[AonEne he/him]

1 hour ago, BookishOcelot said:

"If you can find me plans of your gun," said Leona,  "I might be able to soulcast you a new one." 

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They're upstairs and I think that would be a bit too complicated.

 

[I think I am here. he/him]

On 07/09/2019 at 1:55 AM, Blessing of Potency said:

"I'll do that then, now I smelled pancakes and I forgot to eat before I came over here," Ashlyn says, and stretches and yawns, "and you guys owe me an M1911. That as a good gun I had to kick into the gutter."

“Sure, Doc can get you a gun,” Rob said. He looked at her blankly, sitting up on his mattress.

“Now that you mention it,” he said, allowing himself to relax. It was easy to relax around Ashlyn, he didn’t feel he had to closely guard his feelings. At least, not more than he did with anyone else. But he kept the neutral face. “Yeah, it does smell like pancakes. Must be... Flid, Leona or Shana. They’re good at cooking.” Unsure what to say he changed the subject.

He shrugged, face blank. “Shame about those Voidbringers. They completely crashed Prom night.”