you and whose army — meeting [12/06] .

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]❝ A’right, could everyone gather around then, ‘ey? ❞ Eddie grumbled impassively as he shifted his weight from where he stood in the living room, dull, bloodshot eyes darting across the faces of those who’d already joined him for today’s meeting. With Alfie’s grave freshly dug and covered back over beside Dominik’s, it was clear the exhaustion on his face was from the intense grief he was feeling.

Even despite the profound loss in his life, Edmund knew that he had to push on regardless. After all, Bluestem Prairie had managed to infiltrate the group without alerting anyone of their current position, and that cost the lives of two Flintlock members and an associate of the Stirling family. Bluestem Prairie was not a force to be reckoned with, and he’d now realised that this was the time to retaliate offensively.

[cygnus]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; line-height: 15px;"][font=calibri]wren watched numbly. eddie was the only person she was close to, and she felt his grief like a ton of bricks. she knew what he was going through, she knew what losing a brother felt like. her heart felt like it contained the weight of the solar system, but for eddie, she'd be there.

sitting down, one leg crossed over the other, she fiddled with a lock of hair mindlessly. a part of her felt like she knew what eddie wanted to discuss, but at this point, there always seemed to be an element of uncertainty. waiting for other flintlockers to tune in to the leader's words, wren huffed patiently, anxious for the meeting to begin.

[❝ TAPEWORM.]

✦ tapeworm; tags; location: meeting; tagged: npcs, edmund, wren

xSalem hadn't been here long enough to remember anyone's names. Though, he had heard talk of the recent deaths that had plagued these people. It didn't make any him more sympathetic, however; he had his own concerns to deal with and he barely knew those who walked about him. His first and foremost concern was making himself appear as a decent citizen. He didn't expect trust from these people; he merely expected tolerance. He figured the best place to start would be attending the first meeting he could. He'd never had to attend one, and he doubted he'd actually learn something about this place. However, he decided he didn't want to miss a single word just in case it was his pessimism trying to get the best of him.

xThe lame man would hobble in, cane hitting the floor with some degree of obnoxious tone in Salem's efforts to get some sense of the place. A few moments passed and he'd discover a chair, which he sat down in to get the weight off his bad leg. Then, with a degree of impatience as some of those around him shared, he waited.

[JOSEPHINE]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-size: 12px; font-family: calibri; letter-spacing: .6px; color: #494949;"]holding rosie with one arm, joey looks around at the faces already in and ready for the meeting. the air’s almost thick, everything that’s happened the last few weeks hang around, weighing on each and every flintlocker; well, most of them at least. her first feeling when hearing that alfie had been killed was relief. she’s been waiting in agony for the second show to drop ever since they discovered aiden’s body; now, it looks like the investigation will fall to the side, much more important business to attend to. plus, being an adviser, joey could gently push eddie towards a conclusion. it was bluestem’s first attack! clearly, they wanted to see the layout, try out some tactics, threaten. whatever. a perfect scapegoat has fallen into her lap and she’s not stupid enough to pass it up.

finding her usual spot on the couch, joey sets her daughter next to her, leaning away from her and onto the arm of the couch. she still isn’t taking to motherhood all too well.


[spoiler=tags, updated 12/08/2020]◜BASICS ┊ I HAD A DREAM◞
&. ❝ josephine elena van doren ❞ |  joey, joy, hoey | female [ she/her ] .
&. 22 years old . | november first ; scorpio .
&. reaper of flintlock lodge .

◜PERSONALITY ┊ GOT EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED◞
&. impulsive . outgoing . femme fatale . flirtatious . seemingly emotionless . guarded . self-destructive . obsessive . hot headed . reckless . kleptomania tendencies . selfish . brat .  assertive . loyal to those close to her . intuitive . stubborn . passionate . self-preserving . quick . nosey . reliable . non-committal . determined . secretive . resentful . resourceful . distrusting .

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ NOT WHAT YOU THINK ◞
&.  five foot six & one hundred and seventeen pounds ; reference .
↳ blonde hair just past her collarbone, grows a dirtier blonde, lightening up as soon as any sun touches it .
↳ slim, muscular build. legs on the longer side .
↳ big blue/green doe eyes, light yet well-groomed eyebrows, full lips, dimples .

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ AND IF I’M BEING HONEST ◞
&.  [ 8/10 ] physically  |  [ 9/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ medium ] | difficulty w/ melees [ hard ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ hard ]
↳ combat information .
&. attack in bold #990000 | [member=570]scully[/member] | PM for any major plots .
&. friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .

◜INVENTORY ┊ IT MIGHT’VE BEEN A NIGHTMARE◞
&. [ 2 ] weapons | [ 0 ] armor pieces | [ 0 ] consumables | [ 2 ] aid items | [ 1 ] misc .
↳ one combat knife .
↳ a three piece throwing knife set
↳ one german short-haired pointer puppy, demetri
↳ one english setter puppy, robin
↳ a bracelet from her late mother, each one of her sisters has a piece to the same set, their mother having the biggest piece

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT CARE◞
&. elizabeth van doren (npc) x malcolm van doren (npc) | second youngest of nine children .
↳ cassian van doren, eldest, flintlock .
↳ beau van doren, second eldest, unknown .
↳ range rover van doren, unknown & scarlett van doren, dead .
↳ auden van doren, unknown & tara van doren, dead .
↳ maxine van doren, just older than joey, flintlock .
↳ richard van doren, youngest, flintlock .
&. pansexual, panromantic ; mongamous  . | scared of commitment, however enjoys casual fun .
&. lover to william stirling
↳ reoccurring friends with benefits.
↳ parents to rosalie willa van doren, three months old . [/spoiler]

[MAXINE.]

[align=center][div style="width: 350px; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: #6B6953;"]the news of alfie's death had been a hard pill to swallow for everyone at the lodge. the friendly giant seemed to always be there as some sort of relief in situations like this, and with his death being the reason for the heavy air around the lodge, it only made it worse without his bright smile there to light everyone's spirits back up. max walked into the living room, her gaze drifting up to look at eddie as he waited to start the meeting. he was there for her when her siblings had met their early end, so she wasn't going to think twice about being there for him, deciding she would try and find him sometime later that night to check in on him.

max's eyebrows furrowed as she watched her younger sister set rosie down on the coach by her instead of holding onto her. even though she wanted to, she chose not to say anything, instead carefully picking her niece back up before sitting down beside joey. she adjusted her hold on the baby, smiling down at her. "hi, ro." her voice was just a little more than a whisper, blue eyes looking up as seb made his way to sit on the other side of max, running his hand gently over rosie's head in the process with a grin on his face.

[blake k.]

Her eyes were still red and puffy from crying. Although she denied it to Lottie, the little girl sat close to her mother anyways. Blake stared at nothing in particular, not at anyone but just...off. Alfie had been her best friend and though she had divorced from Eddie, his brothers still treated her like family. But she was losing her family slowly it seemed.

Holding Louis and Keiron close, she went out of her trance and looked to Eddie with Tommy on the side opposite to Lottie. She kissed the back of Louis's head, waiting for the meeting to start. The thought of losing anyone else to Bluestem worried her, though the thought of one of the children being taken as retaliation for Jessie never left her mind. She doubt it would happen now, but still. She was worried...and angry. She hoped they'd go after whoever killed Alfie.


[spoiler=TAGS 12/10]
Sick of all these people talking, sick of all this noise — general
▪ Blake Adrian Kegan | Blake, Blakie | open to nicknames
▪ AFAB | Identifies as Genderfluid | she/they
▪ 23 | Born July 26th | ages real time
▪ combat | member of Flintlock Lodge

Tired of all these cameras flashing, sick of being poised — physical
♦ Health: 100%
— They stand at 5'9" with semi-long wavy ginger hair. She has a rose tattoo and a few scars from past events. She's closer to an athletic build and is on the thinner side. She has a broad Australian accent as she's originally from Adelaide, Australia.
— minor injuries: n/a
— major injuries: n/a

Now my neck is open wide, begging for a fist around it — important events
— 7/26/40 Celebrated her 23rd birthday
— 5/31/40 Had Keiron and Louis; The "Hell Twins"
— 4/26/40 Thomas and Charlotte turned 2

Already choking on my pride, so there's no use crying about it — personality
— I like to think Blake is a good example of the whole "strong, independent woman" thing even if she doesn't identify as a woman. She has a short temper and what I gently put as homicidal tendencies. She will gladly fight someone, regardless if they're bigger than her or not. However, she's also rather maternal and is more likely to protect a child than anything. Her maternal side has massively shown itself since the twins were born, though that leaves her more violent side to be overlooked or forgotten.
— Maternal, "Strong Independent Woman", Protective
— Violent, Homicidal Tendencies, Short Tempered

I'm headed straight for the castle — relationships
▪ Ryan Kegan x Katherine Kegan
▪ Pansexual | Panromantic | Polyamorous
▪ It's complicated | Crushing on no one | Maybe Crushing on no one
    ↳ Involved with Danny Hargrove
▪ Ex-wife of Edmund Moray
    ↳ cheated on her
▪ Mother of Thomas, Charlotte (2yr), Louis, and Keiron(6m) Moray
▪ Currently pregnant, due in April

They wanna make me their queen — interaction
— Physically very hard | Mentally intermediate
— Uses combound bow and arrows
— Also skilled in hand to hand combat
— No killing and ask before major injuries or major interactions
— To attack, [member=9567]Noccy[/member] & attack in #B34600
[/spoiler]

[freddie]

[align=center][div style="background=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; width: 400px; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 125%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: black"]

— fred often didn't allow himself to grieve. he sat contemplatively, zoned out by thought. this was simply part of being a stirling. people came, people died, people carried on because what else came from being a stirling? he eventually snapped out of his thought and glanced around the room at all the grief-stricken faces. partly sickened by everyone's tears and angst - partly sickened that there was a disconnect within himself that didn't allow him to feel the same way. eventually he looked over towards eddie, for once biting his tongue and keeping his mouth shut amid a sensitive situation.

although fred didn't particularly grieve in the same way everyone else did, there was at least a part of him that recognized that keeping his damned mouth shut was what alfie would've wanted.

[spoiler=tags ― updated 08/31.][size=8pt]◜BASICS ┊ THE CURSES OF DIAMONDS AND RINGS ◞
‣  ❝ frederick flynn stirling ❞ | freddie, fred, freds | male [he/him] .
‣ 24 years old . | june 20th; gemini.
‣  currently the warlord of flintlock lodge

◜PERSONALITY: ESTP ┊ ONLY AT FIRST DID IT HAVE ITS APPEAL ◞
‣  boisterous . adaptable . athletic . articulate . brilliant . captivating . charismatic . charming . clever . confident . precise . youthful . loyal . amusing. aggressive . deceptive . proud . smooth . stubborn . traditional . argumentative . conceited . difficult . greedy . power-hungry . impatient .
↳ lover of beer and attention
↳ considers himself royalty

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ NOW YOU CAN'T TELL THE FALSE FROM THE REAL ◞
‣ five foot ten & one hundred and seventy five pounds ; reference .
↳ blonde hair kept short and neat
↳ muscular, toned build
↳ blue eyes , often alight with mischief , a deceitful smile

◜ FAMILY ┊ EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH TURNS TO GOLD ◞
‣  kelby stirling x lydia clarks | whereabouts unknown
‣ has a brother named william and two sisters named harriet and lucy
‣ large family; multiple cousins and other relatives

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ STATUES AND EMPIRES ARE ALL AT YOUR HANDS ◞
‣  bisexual ; monogamous | never had a serious relationship before
‣ current lover to mollie hawthorne
↳ no strings attached . sees her as a best friend . is terrified he has developed genuine feelings for her.

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ WHO CAN YOU TRUST ? ◞
‣  [ 9/10 ] physically  |  [ 9/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ very difficult ] | difficulty w/ melees [ difficult ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ difficult ]
‣ [member=1512]elysian.[/member] | dm for any major plots .
‣  friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .[/size][/spoiler]

[SAINT BERNARD]

[align=center][align=center]

a

THE TIRED SOLDIER

[b][i]bernard smith. bernard was not there for the death, nor for the news. he had kept his head down to avoid talking to anyone, though when he sat in the room, with his hands tensed on a table and someone sobbing beside him, he realized he missed something [i]big. it was obvious when he first came in that they had problems with bluestem, and bernard felt his skin grow hot as he thought about all the prairie had done so far. and he had only been here for a few weeks, if even.

the ex-soldier drew in a short breath and turned to edmund, trying to keep the crying out of his ears by focusing only on the man. he was good at blocking noises out, but when someone was mourning, his empathetic roots would still wiggle in and he couldn't help but hear their wails. he put hand over his ear to try to block out the noise, but it wasn't helping. if only he could afford another drink--if only he could afford to drink himself to sleep. he leaned on the hand covering his ear and closed his eyes, trying to focus on eddie's voice, although he did not talk much, which didn't help at all.

instead, he tried to focus on something else, like the steady drip of water or the wind outside. maybe someone else's voice. but not the crying. he couldn't take the crying. it reminded him too much of coming home from war, sitting in the airport and hearing everyone cry for the ones who were lost in the fight. he wanted to bury his face in his hands and cry himself when he heard a particularly distressed mother cry out for a son who no longer stood. bernard hated it. he hated this- he wanted it to stop.

but he was just one man, wasn't he?

instead, he rubbed his tired eyes and looked back up to teddy after he noticed that he was staring down at the table with tears forming in his eyes.

"speech."

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]All these people, all these eyes on him, and Eddie would still stand as a pillar of strength for them all. These were unprecedented times and, whilst his grief was great, all these people around him still looked up to him for reassurance that them and their loved ones would be kept safe. Whilst he remained as seemingly strong as he could through his own bereavement, it was wavering, and yet he’d put that aside until he was in the safety of the four walls of his bedroom. After all, he couldn’t change the fact that Alfie was gone; all he could do now was to try preserve who was left.

His bloodshot eyes flickered over to where Blake took care of their children quietly, Eddie’s gaze lingering on his children’s innocent faces before looking away. Perhaps the grief of losing his brother was excruciating, but Eddie didn’t even want to entertain the thought that it could very well have been any of his youngsters. Nobody was safe here, and that reality was very quickly coming to light.

❝ As you all know, Bluestem Prairie was here. They came for the boy that we’d been keeping here, and chose to leave a trail of destruction in their path. This includes three of our own that died protecting the lodge. ❞ He paused, quickly clearing his throat to urge away the lump that sat in it. He wouldn’t mention his brother as being one of the victim’s in the earlier attack, the chance of him cracking a very plausible outcome if he were to do so.

With a grave expression on his face, Eddie shifted his weight before he said, ❝ After the most recent events, we need to be ready. Bluestem won’t get away with this, and so we will be retaliating. First, however, I have been in talks with Northstar District. All vulnerable Flintlock members — all minors under the age of sixteen, all pregnant women, all elderly members over the age of sixty — will be evacuated from Flintlock territory tomorrow. I want all carers, except for you— ❞

Eddie pointed towards his last remaining brother in Flintlock, Tommy, before he continued, ❝ to travel to Northstar District with our people and to take good care of them. ❞ Eddie knew that this meant that Maxine would be away from him until this was all over, as well as his children and Henry & Ida; but, knowing that they’d all be safe in the end made the sacrifice all worthwhile.

❝ Tommy will be so kind as to set up three wagons to transport you and the supplies you may need tomorrow morning, and you will all leave when the sun comes up. We can’t afford to have any more vulnerable people here for a day longer. ❞ He swallowed hard, glazed eyes avoiding the gaze of others as he looked towards the wall behind where everyone stood.

❝ As for the rest of you, it’s time to prepare for the fight. Frederick, you are our Warlord. I’d like for you to prepare weaponry alongside your enforcers. Diplomats, I’d like for you to help Tommy prepare the wagons tomorrow. Medics, prepare your supplies; God forbid we end up needing your help but, just in case someone gets injured, we’ll need you on your toes. Joey, I’d be grateful if you and your team could ensure we have enough supplies to last us the next couple of weeks. ❞

Eddie swallowed hard. Now was not the time to show weakness in his grief when he had to remain strong as the group's pillar of strength. In their fight to keep the savagery of Bluestem Prairie at bay, Eddie would have too much work to deal with to allow for his heart to feel the grief of his loss. In those quiet moments where the fight would not be able to distract him, that would be when he'd crumble. In the darkness of his own private space, alone. ❝ Now, go for dinner and go to bed early. Tomorrow's a big day. ❞