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Who: The Blues
What: Group meeting
Where: East of the library ruins
When: Now
Warnings: Nothing aside from general Blue shenanigans. Will updated if (when) needed

Carolina had given ample notice, or so she had hoped, for everyone to get to the location that she had scouted out ahead of time. Even if there was no one seeking to gun them down (that she knew of), she wasn't going to get lax with her procedures or take any chances. The instructions had been as simple as she could give them to the area, and she had arrived quite a while ahead of time, both to keep an eye out, and to ensure that she would be there when they came. Dressed in her armour, she was settled on an outcropping, fiddling with her device while waiting. She had been busy, at least once she had gotten her feet back under her, in learning what she could about this place, although she realized that there was more that she was still going to need to fill in further blanks.

Her perch gave a good enough view of three directions, with the fourth more defensive than anything else. Someone could come up, but they'd make enough noise to alert the Freelancer, or so was her thought. Overkill? Maybe. She still didn't really do things in halves. There were several things that she thought might need to be discussed, at least from what she had come up with, and perhaps the others would have issues or concerns as well. It was strange after everything - retirement, then Temple's Reds and Blues - to find herself here, and yet at the same time, she was rolling with it. Hard as it was, she had come to realize that not everything could be accounted for, not everything could be calculated, and sometimes you just needed to work on the fly, a lot. As much as she liked control, she trusted them all, even if they did still exasperate her at times. But, sometimes family did that, and she wouldn't trade that for anything in any world.

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Speaking of exasperation, Tucker finally showed up. On Time. As ~~demanded~~ sweetly requested in his inbox.

It wasn't bad; the meeting was a necessity, he knew that, and it was in the afternoon so at least it wasn't "Training Time" after it. The whole thing was set up to be solid, especially when it was almost all of Blue Team in one place, together since before--

Nope. Everything's cool. Gotta have that good face on for Caboose. Gotta not punch Epsilon in his face again. It's fine. If he came in with a black eye, Carolina would kill him.

This meeting was going to be fun.

"Am I seriously the first one here? How the fuck can I make a grand entrance if you're the only one to see it?"

"I saw it."

And trotting in just behind Tucker, as if on cue, was Caboose. Still clutching Freckles tightly in his arms, he looked from one side of the outcropping to the other, before kicking slightly at the dirt in front of him.

"Where, um...where's everybody else?"

That could be a note of worry. Or gas. Equally likely to be one or the other, where Caboose was concerned, but there was a nervous sort of shift to his movements.

Wash comes around the side of the rock formation right on cue, finding the others waiting. He still can't believe they're actually here -- he'd really believed that if anyone else showed up, it would be to cause problems. Instead he'd gotten his friends back. Since they arrived he's been at war with himself, wanting to be happy that he's not alone but also scared that they're going to get hurt here. Everyone does one way or another. He knows how Hadriel works, and that there are going to be things that happen he can't protect them from. Hell, he might even be the danger, sometimes. Which is something he never wanted to be for them again.

There's no sign of hesitation in his stride as he approaches, though, and any wariness in his expression is hidden by his helmet. He's fine. Things are going to be fine. They're together, they'll make it through.

"Is Church coming?"

"Sorry to ruin your day but Church is right here." It wasn't quite fashionably late but it kind of counted if he was the last one to show up, right? Church came to the party in armor, partly because he didn't want to get a lecture from anyone about how dangerous it was to be unarmored and partly because like hell was he going to give Tucker another chance to punch him in the face.

Not that he was still kind of pissed about that. Nope, not at all.

He's still not totally comfortable in his skin, even after a few weeks of living in it, though he tries to keep that out of his posture.

Surprise, surprise, or not really, as Carolina had made it extra clear to Tucker that he'd better show up, and on time. Of course she knew that he could, if he applied himself, but he just needed that little extra kick in the ass sometimes to get to it. "It's not a competition, Tucker."

And it was just them... Who would he actually be trying to impress? It still might have brought a little twitch to her lips, glad that some things never changed. And there, Caboose saw it, so two down, and as her eyes rose from Caboose and Freckles, she saw Wash, and a breath might have been let out. Even if he wasn't injured, it was still good to see him, good to see them all, actually, especially Church as she gave a little motion even as the latest member showed up, rounding off their little group.

With a nod, her own helmet was unbuckled, drawn from her head to rest on her knee. She did let her gaze shift over them all, settling on Church for a moment longer than the others, before speaking. "Good. We're all here. I thought it would be best to get us all together. Wash, of course, has been here the longest and knows the most about this place, but we should all get on the same page, especially about certain issues, and people who are here."

Wash nods, standing a little taller when Carolina addresses him. He'd been the most thorough with Tucker but had covered at least a little of what's going on in Hadriel with everyone individually already... and sort of assigned homework, because he was no fun at all ever.

"Did you all get to read up on the history of this place? The Null posts are a lot to get through but if you want to make your own assessments it's important. As for the actual battles, there's something specific we need to be prepared for going forward."

He'll drop that bomb on them in a moment. For now, the interpersonal issues might be more important. Although he speaks to everyone, his helmet is tilted towards Carolina. "Ephemera just wants us to stay away from him. He hasn't caused me trouble in months and I honestly don't think he'll make a move unprovoked. But if he does threaten any of you, I've got one card I haven't played yet."

"Way to be dramatic." Over this. Over everything. There was a roll of his eyes behind his helmet, but fuck if he wasn't glad to see everyone in one spot. Even with his hesitation on coming to this thing (which was more habit than actual dislike; this was necessary and he knew it), it felt damn good having the team all together.

Especially when all of them were alive.

He gave a sidelong glance at Epsilon before back at Wash. "If he does threaten us, we deal with it. In case you haven't noticed, we sort of outnumber him at the moment." There was a wave of his hands at everyone.

"We'll be fine. We're always fine."

Except when one of them dies. Except when another one is injured. Maybe if he said it enough, it'd stick.

There's something to be said for the power of denial.

Caboose, meanwhile, was staring openly at Church, half in and half out of armor and...people sized again? He'd question it, but...no. No, he really wasn't going to question it, he didn't care enough at the moment.

In fact, the conversation as a whole paled in comparison to the need to immediately sprint in that direction with a loudly exclaimed "CHURCH" before his arms wound around Epsilon in a bone-crunching hug.

Hey! This was a thing he could do again. Neat.

"We outnumber him but he still managed to cause a fuckload of trouble before he got put down the first time," Epsilon said. Of course, anything else he might have said was drowned out by Caboose shouting his name and then all attempts at dignity went out the fucking window as he tried to save his spine from its inevitable fate.

"Caboose, don't you f-" Hands went up as he took a few steps back, as if that would save him. Instead all it did was trap his hands between them as Caboose pulled him into the world's most terrifying hug.

His spine definitely makes some nice audible cracks. Help? Please? Before Epsilon went the way of Lenny's rabbits.

She didn't answer Wash's question, as she didn't think she needed to. The other three... It likely was hit and miss as to how much they had read, and what they had taken away from it. Her eyes might have drifted towards Caboose when she thought that, although Tucker and Epsilon were likely just as apt to start, and stray away, for different reasons. She did want to understand this place though, to see what might be coming for them. She might not be able to predict anything but she'd damn well try.

Wash's statement about preparing for moving forward did have her focus back on him, but he'd get to that in due course, no doubt. "I wouldn't say just him. Or rather, Ephemera did give me a list of names."

One of which might be interesting, given that it was Kyna. As to Wash's card, again, something that Carolina didn't fail to notice, but her face strayed to Tucker with his comments. "We're not looking to start a war here."

Carolina would fight, if it was something that she felt should be fought, and while it was true that they had killed Ephemera once before, she had been sincere in her attempts to halt his actions. If he had just walked away... But she had been in the position that he had been in, not that he wanted to acknowledge that. She could understand.

"Caboose... Put him down." Because as amusing as it actually was to see him get squeezed like that, she knew the power that Caboose had, and they really did have some things to accomplish before Church turned in to a pile of broken bones.

Oof, Wash can hear that crack, and the creaking of Epsilon's armor in Caboose's grip. It's a good thing he kept his helmet on, because he's definitely got an amused smirk on his face right now.

"Gentle, Caboose." He reaches out and tugs on the younger soldier's shoulder, trying to ease him off of Church and back into the circle. But he's glancing at Carolina as he does.

"What do you mean, a list or names? For what?"

"Caboose, he just got a back; don't break it before he's gotten a chance to use it!" But he wasn't really worried about it, even as team-killing at Caboose could be, no one here was going to let shit happen to Church.

But it was fun to watch him sweat a little.

His eyes flickered back to Wash and Carolina. "I talked to him when I arrived and I think I said some shit that bothered him, at least a little." There was a roll of his shoulders, casual, easy. "Then he threw his helmet at my head when I left and I kept it."

Stole it. Kept it. Same thing.

"But I didn't get a list. What's on it?"

Reluctantly pulled away by Wash, Caboose releases his hold on Epsilon. But he doesn't stray far, bouncing slightly on his heels as the others talk about a list. It sounds really boring, to be honest.

"Yeah, I don't know about any list, unless it's the one that Command had of all of us. We kept having to change it back at Blood Gulch. I guess we're gonna have to change it again, cause. You know. The Reds aren't here."

Which is slightly worrying. Isn't it? Is that important to anyone else? Obviously Church is here and that is the most urgent thing.

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