(1412) Meeting

[Jonokuchi]

Jonokuchi looked towards Animus with nothing but sincerity in his eyes. He had, it would seem, given everything he could for the Consilium and would not risk it all again.

Sacrifice and honour.

A breath, not a sigh. This was the first step in calm. "Animus-san, you are a respected warrior within the Consilium. We are trying to build something strong. We are 'stepping up'. You could be the cornerstone of that."

Jonokuchi was not attempting to sway Animus in any way, simply making a statement of fact. They needed him despite his madness.

Eyes turn suddenly towards Striker, his cabalmate. A disapproving look. The Mastigos could warn him about the woes of taunting a wounded animal but then again, where would the lesson be?

[Avis]

"You're fucking crazy if you think you're not being political, Asp," Avis said, breaking her silence with a bleak, taunting smile on her lips.

"Animus is right about that. Just look at fucking thanksgiving. That was you doing a dance, waving your 'Asp is the best, look how she serves motherfuckers,' flag in everyone's faces. If you really wanted to highlight service then you would have done what I did and invite the fucking people that actually specialize in serving the Consilium that way, that specialize in uplifting the sleepers. So don't you even lie about your aspirations anymore. You told me yourself, months ago. One of the reasons why you chose your name was because of its connection to royalty. So you want to lead. That's your goal. Admit it," Avis demanded, jabbing a finger at the Obrimos.

"I want you to do that before you go on with your political fucking plan for how to fix the Order."

[Weavebreaker]

"Tis the season..." Weavebreaker muttered softly as she glanced around her fellow Arrows for a moment. She couldn't help but give a soft smile over Jonokuchi's words.

"Okay I think we need a slight pause on talks about this matter." Weavebreaker clapped her hands together once to draw attention.

"Can we transition to a equally important issue for the time being?" Weavebreaker knew that this next topic would help the one that has people so worked up at the moment.

"Squads..."

"What would be the strongest pairings...?" Weavebreaker's eyes slowly transitioned from person to person.

"Also, take into account, that we can build for specific situations as well. We can build for what would work best for general patrol, for reconnaissance, and et cetera."

"If we take our time to configure our people to some of the common and uncommon tasks we know we will run into, then we can magnify our strengths and shore up our weaknesses for a variety of situations."

"With dedicated groups for specific taskings, we would be able to focus training and it would provide us with the additional benefit of having the experience of working alongside each and every single person here."

[Teeramus]

Striker breathed out a sigh of frustration. He felt like Animus was being let off the hook to easily, but it was obvious that Asp was already doing a better job of organising the Arrows in the last few weeks than anyone else had done in the last six months. Plus some of that stuff that Asp mentioned about Animus sounded... Messed up. To say the least. But then again Asp was changing her tune and it bugged the Shaman.

He looked at Asp contentiously "So first off you don't care where you serve. Then Avis calls ya out and now you're all gung ho about admitting you want to do it. What's up with that? Stuff it. I don't even care about your reasons. Animus is obviously too messed up to lead anyone. Right now. So you're the best we've got. I mean do you even want the position Avis?" He asked, turning to her. "Or are you just dragging the rest of us down or something? 'Cause I wanna hear what Asp's gotta say about the stuff Weave's talkin' about." He said giving Asp a look of approval which had a half smile to go with it.

But the smile didn't last long as connections were suddenly made. Just how well do these fellas know Animus? Concern flooded his face as he spoke again. "Wait. Animus threatened Leo?" He gave the elder shaman a good long stare before looking back to Asp, a question written on his face. Do we know he's not responsible?

[Animus]

Words. Everywhere. The shaman tries to follow them, but they blend together into a wash of high-strung emotions. As he struggles against the tide, a challenging call finally breaks through.

Asp.

Was this, finally, the reckoning he deserved?

"I disobeyed orders. I was in pain, and broken, and I lashed out. At Leo, but my words attacked the integrity of the Arrow." A submissive bow, gaze lowered to the floor. "I should be punished. I could have put lives in danger in my petty need to throw my grief around."

[Weavebreaker]

Weavebreaker shook her head slightly. "I think this is a fundamental issue that I know we have been trying to make progress towards." She motioned to Striker and Jonokuchi.

"While those are potentially good pairings, the reality is that it is just a guess because you do not know the ins and outs of what each person is capable of. None of us do..." Weavebreaker motioned around towards the others, as not even her cabal mates knew she had access to mind arcana.

"We put so much emphasis on physical training, yet we do not tend to the mental or emotional. We will need to go so much deeper then that for ourselves and for the Consilium." Weavebreaker shook her head softly.

"For two years and up until recently I have went to school at a place infested by Banishers. In that time I have yet to see the Arrows train in anything but physical prowess. There has been no instruction on military tactics..." Weavebreaker glanced around for a moment, as she considered whether she should say it, but knew biting her tongue would hurt worse. "...And with people abhorrence to rotations, which is something that is fully functional within almost every country's military...I think we need to rethink and expand our training."

[Avis]

Avis slumped back in her seat. Not in a huff, but in a slow slide, a gradual retreat back out of the conflict. It was clear that things had settled, an outcome had been reached, and nothing was going to change that. It wasn't a bad outcome, necessarily, but she was disappointed that so many of them were eager to just accept what was happening.

Well...That wasn't true for all of them. Weavebreaker was breaking the mold, spitting words at the heart of their problems. Thank -- uh -- whoever that somebody was. Too bad she wasn't going to be in her squad. That could have made for something interesting.

"I agree," Avis said, fingers dragging the ripped piece of paper back over to her. She finished tearing it in two, deciding she'd just put up with a smaller amount space to work with, and then looked up at the Arrows clustered around the table with her. "Drag out fights are great in abandoned houses in the middle of nowhere, but as we've heard, we'll be getting into it in crowded places. Casinos. Soon to be colleges. We've gotta start training for how to cover our tracks. We might be the Adamantine Arrow but it's gonna be hard to do our job if there's wanted posters up everywhere." She didn't bother looking at the offending party. They knew who they were.

"Besides, I've gotten as good as I'm going to get at being stabbed to death."