concoursec | Family Meeting at Namur's

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Family Meeting at Namur's

Characters: This Family ™ (Marco, Grell, Ace, Thatch, Namur, Espio, Fionna)
Location: Namur's dorm
Rating: PG-13 for potty mouths
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: They haven't had a family meeting in awhile. And also Namur wants to buy a ship.

Namur wasn't best known for his thinking, but he could smell trouble brewing. Thatch and Fionna were both working on using magic without the use of Guardian Forces- which technically didn't make them witches (he'd looked it up specifically to find out) but it was still walking close enough to the line that natives might get confused. What was really starting to bug him was the lack of higher ups being at their posts, with no word or explanation given to those who were meant to serve them loyally. And in looking up what made or did not make a sorceress, he'd found out that the Headmaster's wife used to be one years earlier. With Sol Invictus making moves and Time Compression on the fritz, it didn't take a genius to see how a few of those things could fit together in a very bad way.

It might be a little too much to convince everyone in Garden that something's coming, but maybe he could get his nakama on board. Causing panic wouldn't do any good, but neither would sitting around worrying about papers due, when they could at least be working on getting some backup plans in place. Garden's full of fighters, an army unto itself, true. But it'd been floundering lately, making unpopular moves and more enemies than friends. Namur wanted somewhere to fall back to, in case Garden ceased to be an option.

Namur stacked his piles of CDs into a neat tower against the side of his boombox, opening up space to line the counter with drinks as promised. Whatever food people brought could be put on the coffee table, which he cleared of its usual mess of half-graded papers and drawings. There weren't quite enough seats for everybody either, so he pulled out a few blankets from his bedroom and folded them up to make cushions. Good enough. All that he needed was for people to show up.

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Fionna was there first, bringing popcorn as requested. She had a knapsack as well, as Finals were still happening and she had n wish to get behind: so much had been happening lately she had to make up for lost time with long hours in the library, non Fionna behavior which made her grumpy.

This break, while needed, still had her slightly anxious.

"Hey Namur," she greeted, placing the popcorn on the coffee table and taking a place on the floor.

Namur was sprawled out over the couch with a geology book open on top of his face, attempting unsuccessfully yet again to learn through osmosis. It never worked, he's not entirely sure why he kept trying. He lifted the book with a finger, just high enough to peek at Fionna as she walked in and got herself settled.

"Hey," he said, giving her a bit of a nudge with his ankle. "Crunch time sucks, huh? Good t' get this shit done with."

So yes, Grell had her pizza gift in tow and upon stepping in, she spotted both Namur and Fionna. Those poor souls having to study.

She placed the pizza near the popcorn, taking a few warm kernels in the process. "I've brought this pizza people have been talking about." No way was she sitting on the floor, so Grell pulled up a chair. "I'm not sure about the taste, but it should be fine."

"Damn..."

Espio was shortly behind Grell. Honestly, she could have said she was bringing food. Espio went ahead and made fajitas for everyone, dragging everything in on a small cart he'd procured for the Homecoming thing.

"Well, pizza's good, but let's just say I hope you're all hungry..." he began, trailing off and glancing behind him to see another family member, who had taken it upon himself to observe the whole cooking process the moment he smelled something. "Wait. We have Ace. Never mind."

"Yes we do, and I'm starving. I'm not sure what the rest of you will eat though." Ace teases lightly as he trails behind Espio. He's eating a bag of chips as he walks inside and tilts it up crunching up the last remaining few.

Bag empty he crumbles it and tosses it in the trash and takes a seat near the food so he can eat as much as he wants.

"So what's the big announcement?"

"Just keep your hands off the food for now," Espio sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "And let's wait for everyone to show up, all right?"

"Ain't no big shitty 'nouncement anyway," Namur sat up from hogging the couch and set his book aside. "Jus' a couple things I wanna talk 'bout with everyone 'round. 'Sides, we ain't had a family thing in awhile."

"Actually, I don't think I ever got to have one with all you guys," Fionna said, a wandering eye out on the food. She'd already eating something by Espio before so she was actually looking forward to this. It was great to be around the family too.

"True enough." Ace says with a wide grin as he makes himself at home on the couch. When Espio isn't looking though he does start to steal bits of food because hey, he's hungry.

Thatch arrives a little late, bringing a fair amount of food. Mostly snack types though he's considered everyone's favorites-- as well as some leftover rum and the tin of sardines. Unfortunately his hands are full so he lightly kicks Namur's door.

Now why didn't the door open on its own?

Grell rose from her seat and opened it, seeing Thatch on the other side with both arms preoccupied.

"I see you've decided to bring food, hmm?" She at least helped him with a few items.

Marco was travel-weary, and hardly done with the traveling yet, so to be notified of a family meeting urgent enough to come back -- well, he was wary, to say the least. Not that it showed of course, not much did on the man if he didn't want it to.

"Are we all here, yoi?" Marco asked casually, as if he hadn't spent almost the entire last month off the Garden.

The quick hug he snuck to Ace and leaning on the orange-hatted brat probably gave him away though.

"Yeah, think yer the last," Namur stood and grabbed three bottles from the counter. He passed one to Ace, one to Marco, and bit the top off one for himself.

"Look, this is..." He blushed a little, rubbing his hand over the back of his head. "A'ight so I dunno if y'all listen t' the news an' shit people say 'bout what's goin' on in other places. Dunno if I believe most a it either. But one thing's for sure an' that's that shit's goin' down. Prob'ly soon. Garden's got more enemies'n friends, 'specially now it ain't part a no bigger country, an' Time Compression's bein' a bigger bitch than normal. Got them damn Solja boys runnin' 'round causin' all kinds a ruckus too. Think it'd be good if we started poolin' resources, an' try t' get ourselves a ship big 'nuff t' sail anywhere an' house us all. Ain't sayin' we oughta skip out a town, jus' it'd be nice t' have a backup plan, in case somethin' happens t' this place. What y' all think?"

Grell listened well, adjusting the sling for her right arm. The latest mission left her shoulder pretty damaged. In truth, she thought almost the same thing when she asked Marco if they could move out of Garden and into their own place. Mostly because they needed their own space, and yes, things were getting a bit more heated than usual.

She gave Marco a glance before smirking to Namur. "I think it's a good idea. There is a lot of commotion running rampant, and it would be foolish for us to not make a plan should things fall all around us."

Ace cuddled back into Marco not caring at all what message it sent. He liked cuddling and cuddling with Marco was always something he enjoyed. He was running his fingers through the blonds hair, scratching at his neck like one would a cat, and sipping the bottle Namur had handed him. He listened to the conversation with full attention. This was his family after all and he would make sure he did his part to keep them safe.

"It is a good idea for sure. We should probably set up an evac plan and contingencies in case we get separated or something happens while one of us is on a mission. Maybe something like the alert codes we had at home?" Ace said glancing between Thatch, Namur and Marco.

After all, with four of them form the same world...well it made more sense to maybe let them take the lead....they were from the same crew, had been together for years. They knew how each other worked and all four of them were used to being in charge of large groups of people and managing to keep them safe.

He'd been listening to the whole thing. Of course the Garden had enemies. They were first and foremost a mercenary group no matter what kind of heroic label people tried to stick on it. He listened to the others suggestions, picking quietly at the food-- He was on board with a ship, of course. Not that it would put them on much safer ground, but maybe they could be inconspicuous for a while. Gather a crew of the loney and disillusioned. Maybe a sorceress or two. Marco could become the strongest man even on these seas, couldn't he?

"Why not start now? Beat the rush?" he said, trying to sound amused even if he was serious about it. As far as he was concerned there was very little point in sticking around and watching it all go to hell.

Fionna listened, her heart heavy with worry. Of course things would be bad before they were good, but...this sounded like a pretty bad situation, one that could happen at any time. If the boys were already talking about getting a ship, it was their way of saying things might happen, and we want to keep that family close.

"I'll fight until there's no hope left, you guys know that," Fionna said. "So who else are we thinking of grabbing? Because I already am thinking Kory."

"We're not leaving the Garden until we're going home," Marco stated flatly.

"If you all want..."

Marco shifted. He wasn't used to telling things. Sharing everything he was doing so openly. He worked like a magician. Distract the audience with one hand and do something secret with the other. But that was how a first mate did things, not a Captain.

"I sent Toby back to our world as an anchor. He couldn't handle being back here, he wasn't able to process it all. I spent the last month tying up my loose ends. If you want to go I secured it that I can take you all with me. It won't be the same timeline, but that's the price we get to take Ace and Thatch home, and I won't accept anything else," his eyes narrowed as if to challenge any of them to say otherwise. "Your call, I'm not going to drag anyone who's not ready, but when you are, I'll send you there."

He didn't loosen his grip on Ace.

"It means not waiting for Pops though," he finally added quietly, barely above a whisper.

"Whaleshit," Namur rolled his eyes. "No offense but if he couldn't handle shit here where he had people who gave a damn 'bout him how the hell is he gonna handle our world where no one knows him? 'Sides, I ain't sayin' we leave. I'm sayin' we oughta have somewhere t' go, in case Garden ain't here anymore. A backup plan. 'S jus' somethin' I can't do on my own."

It was Grell's turn to roll her eyes. "No offense, he says." Everything he said was offensive in some way, but there was little point in arguing about that. "You'll need to have more faith in your captain." Who was she to doubt what he could and couldn't do?

"Simply leaving Garden isn't an option, but having someplace to fall back on is. So what specifically should we do, besides pool our money together?"

"Marco told me t' call him on his whaleshit, an' that's all I'm doin'," Namur rose to the bait. "Our world makes less sense'n this one in a lot a ways, an' there ain't no one there for him. Don't make a lick a sense t' send him there alone if he couldn't handle livin' here with family. But yeah, poolin' what gil we got left after Christmas, takin' as many missions as we can. Someone's gotta find a good ship if that's what we're gonna do. Find a place t' keep it safe, that kind a shit. Smaller boat's gonna be cheaper'n a big'n, but a bigger ship means we'll have room t' take others with us if we need, so we gotta talk 'bout that. Ace an' Fi gotta get SeeD certified quick as possible, no dickin' 'round with classes. Focus on learnin' as much as y' can 'bout junctionin' an' limit breaks an' shit, cuz hell knows when everythin's gonna head for the deep. Need y' both knowin' as much as y' can 'bout fightin' shit on this world's terms. I'mma be doin' the same."

He takes a quick breath. He's not the captain, so no one's going to wait for him to finish talking unless he does it quick. But the next thing's important, and he doesn't want to be interrupted.

"An' if we can, think we oughta try teachin' Grell, Espio, an' Fionna how t' use haki."

Namur looks around at Thatch, Ace, and Marco specifically. "What y' think? They prob'ly ain't gonna have time t' master it, but if they can start recognizin' it for what it is, feelin' it an' usin' it a li'l bit, be better'n nothin', right?"

The moment Toby was mentioned, Espio moved from his position of 'food guardian' towards the door, though he didn't actually make a break for it. Rather, he sat himself on the floor next to it, curling himself up into a ball.

Have faith in the Captain... huh?

Too bad an overwhelming sense of pessimism was fighting with it, not to mention every doubt he'd had over the last few months was kicking up a storm. All he wanted right now was for everything to just stop.

But that was no good, was it? He was supposed to be a hero. He was supposed to look after everyone. That was his job.

He raised his head.

"I'm not against a contingency plan, but I'm not up for bailing just 'cause it gets tough. You're my family... but Garden is my home. That's..."

He hugged his knees, and glanced away.

"That's why I came back. To look out for the cadets. I can't abandon everyone in a time of need. My pride won't let me.

"So, if you're gonna make contingency plans, include everyone else!"

Ace was still encompassed in Marco's arms listening to the thoughts around him. All the people he cared about were inside of this room, to hell with the rest. But as more spoke..he realized that they did care about the rest. He sighed to himself internally, making no motion on the outside.

"Well..then what do we propose? How can we save all of these people if all hell breaks loose?"

"I'm for leaving, but only when we take care of the threat." Fionna said this flatly, and there was no hint of anything but serious in her gaze. "We wouldn't even know each other, some of us, without this place, and its made me stronger. You know me: I love all of youse, and if we set sail for an adventure, I won't look back. But we make sure these guys are ok too."

She rubbed her neck. "But, uh, I don't know how that would work either."

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Family Meeting at Namur's

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SORRY.

Don't be XD

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