open ♔ november/december socialization

[wynn]

WHO || Everyone! [ota]
WHAT || Shenanigans.
WHERE || Anywhere in the castle, surrounding environs, London, Andres Isle, etc!
WHEN || November & December [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam

[ The castle can be a happening place, even on more mundane days. This log is for random interactions over the course of November and December.

You are encouraged to start your own threads and tag around, and feel free to threadjack into any on-going threads that aren't specified as 'closed' in the subject lines since people can enter into rooms even in the middle of what's going on. WE ARE BIG ON THREAD-JACKING HERE. You can also specify 'single thread', meaning you want only one response for all participants, rather than multi-thread, where a number of different scenes/threads can be done as replies to the top prompt.]

On this log:
Wynn & Section Heads @ Andres/London
Cheryl @ Reception desk
Sam @ Various
Elena @ Andres/London
Drax @ Dragon's Hide Wing
Des @ Pub / Castle
Paige @ Caste Grounds
Grimrot @ the Library
Vi @ Andres
Matt @ Andres/London
Alisha @ bars in London
Cora @ Library/ Castle Grounds
Will @ Castle pond / Hoard wing/ Firing range / Castle grounds
Malina @ Dragon's Fire wing/ kitchen/ bar / castle grounds
Alainn @ Dragon's Fire library / kitchen / Andres
Jordan @ Andres/ London
Sylar @ Kitchen
Logan @ Castle Bars / London
Faith L @ London / kitchen / training room / castle grounds
Dean @ Rose's room / bars / armory / training room/ firing range / kitchen
Rose @ Andres / armory / training room / bedroom
Des & Buffy | Closed
Thea @ Training Room / Castle grounds / kitchen / TV rooms / bars
Sam & Buffy | Closed
Alex @ Firing Range / Airfield / Room / Garage
Failboat @ Breakfast
Alice @ Andres/ London
Sweets @ Dragon's Light Wing
Lydia @ Medical / Training room / etc

Comments

sam & buffy ; closed

[familybusiness]

[Sam has no idea if she's even in town after he gets from his Thanksgiving mission, but he figures it can't hurt to check.

A lot of things have come to light since the last time he saw her, and their paths haven't crossed since, which made sense considering his rather obvious decision not to go back to Andres after their trip to Chicago.

So the morning after he gets back, he's trekking over to her room in the Castle and knocking on the door. If she isn't there, he'll check a few other spots, like the dining area in case she's gone to get breakfast or the training room, in case she's punching stuff.]

[slay]

[ By the time December rolls around, Buffy's back at the castle—at least on and off. Rebuilding was all well and good, but everyone needs a break at some point. There's only so much space on Andres, and Buffy's not the biggest fan of crowds these days.

So she's in her room when Sam knocks, idk jazzercising. She shuts the TV off and heads over to swing the door open, brightening when she sees him. ]

Hey, stranger.

[familybusiness]

[He leans against the door frame as she opens it, a little surprised that he lucked out and she's actually here, but it gives way to an easy smile.]

Right back at you. [A beat.] I didn't catch you at a bad time, did I?

[slay]

Bad time's kinda relative with me. Nobody's bleeding, and we're not under attack, so this? Constitutes good time.

[ She steps out of the doorway, pushing it open the rest of the way to allow him inside. ]

What's up?

[familybusiness]

[He chuckles.]

Glad to hear it.

[He moves into the room, hands tucked into his pockets and waiting for her to sit down or whatever before he does.]

Other than wanting to see how you were doing after not talking to you for like a month? [His expression is amused before it turns a little more serious.] I, uh, finally got to talk to Dean. I thought you might want to know about it.

[slay]

Sorry.

[ She gestures widely to the room as if it were a concrete example of her follow-up explanation. ]

My team's out most the time. A month is, like, two hours in Talisman-time. If I remember right, at first, we went a whole year without coming back to the castle at all. You learn to just kinda … pick up where you left off regardless.

[ She shrugs her shoulder, then drops a hand to gesture at one of the chairs for him. Then, she settles onto her bed, one leg curled under her. ]

But I'm glad you came to talk. How'd it go with Dean?

[familybusiness]

You don't have to be sorry. Believe me, I get it.

[Being on the road is something he gets all too well. He's still getting used to having a home base at all, and being there more than being away.]

Better than I thought it would, actually. He believes me, about the whole parallel universe thing, so it's a start. [A beat.] He said you talked to him a little bit, before you both had a chance to make it home?

[slay]

As it turns out, your brother and I have more in common than I ever really wanted to be true.

[ Her nose crinkles into a look of minor distaste. ]

It was … Talking to him about what he went through helped me work a few things out. It sounds like it helped screw his head on straight, too. I'm glad to hear it.

[familybusiness]

[He doesn't look particularly surprised by that. In fact, he's going to even take a wild guess.]

What you worked out - did it have something to do with Michael?

[He's not even sure it has anything even remotely to do with that, but he knows it came up. Some destiny she apparently had and never mentioned to him.

It's apparent that he's not mad. He's just letting her know that he already does, in case she wants to talk about it.]

[slay]

It's complicated.

[ Her admission comes out apologetic, and she cants her head a little to the side as she replies softly. ]

Michael was one of the angels that I talked to, but he wasn't the only one. I was hoping Dean would be able to tell me more about them.

[familybusiness]

[His eyebrows lift a bit as he gives her a quiet smile.]

Is that your way of telling me you don't want to talk about it? Because I think my life coined the term complicated a long time ago, and that doesn't sound like anything got worked out.

[Since she said 'was hoping he's be able to' instead of 'he told me.']

[slay]

It's how I can see demons. One of them found me, talked about how I was meant to fight them, and vanished without even giving me a real name.

[ She wrings her hands, hunching her shoulders a bit as she sits forward. ]

You weren't through the Veil then, but … Last year, we put on this huge concert with NOVA records as part of our mission. Jade … A friend of ours was killed. Afterwards, Rafael took it pretty hard. He was on trial, and stressed, and … And they showed up again, offering a way to make sure that we'd win. A deal: they could intervene, get him off, but it would mean Hell had the chance to balance the scales. To act more directly, just like they would be.

Dean doesn't exactly have a high opinion of Heaven. I wanted to know more about why, and what they wanted from him.

[familybusiness]

He doesn't have a high opinion of either side. Would you, after what they put him through?

[He rolled a damn high will save (23), so any anger he feels about the whole thing is hidden pretty well.]

They wanted him to suffer, and they got their wish. From what I can tell, that's all they really want from any of us; to suffer so they can win a bet.

[He pauses, though, curious.]

And here I thought only demons liked to make deals. [Guess who also doesn't think highly of angels? That opinion just keeps...tanking further into the hole.] It doesn't sound much like a deal, though. Usually both sides are getting something out of it. Didn't they ask for something in return?

[slay]

He owes them a favor.

[ She doesn't think she needs to spell out that they took them up on the offer of help. Just as Dean would throw his life away a hundred times over for Sam, so too would Buffy take any risk if it meant insuring Rafael's wellbeing. They'd figure it out later, together, that was the idea.

Well. It's later, and they're not together. ]

[familybusiness]

I'm just speaking from my experience here, but deals tend to not end very well.

[A beat.]

So much so that Dean and I actually agreed on something. No more deals.

[He rakes a hand through his hair.]

For both your sakes, I hope whatever it is they ask him to do is...well...

[Not fucking terrible.]

You know, it's funny, but before Dean told me about Michael, I told him I wanted to try and keep you out of this mess.

[slay]

Well, it was a nice sentiment. [ She offers him that, laughing a bit. The chuckle dies off into a resigned, sad sort of smile. ] It's my mess too, though. For better or worse. At least I can say that I signed up for it: you just inherited this from someone you never asked to be.

[familybusiness]

I've been pretty much signed up for it since I was born. Or six months old to be exact.

[A beat before he decides he should probably elaborate, though he looks incredibly unsure about how she's going to take this.]

My Mom was killed by a demon the day I turned six months old. He was there to...feed me Lucifer's blood. I may have inherited a lot of the rest, but that hasn't changed.

[slay]

... That's pretty gross, as ritualistic spookiness goes.

[ Says the girl whose boyfriend mutilated the bodies of his serial murder victims. ]

[familybusiness]

[He's not going to argue with that statement.]

I think they call it a blood gift. I was going to have the sight already, like Dean does. But that made it stronger, among other things.

[Psychic power things.]

[slay]

[ wait





motherfucking wait. ]




What kind of things?

[familybusiness]

[I'm sure it'll be fine, Buffy. It's nothing.]

I had visions back home. I guess you could call them premonitions. They used to only come when I was asleep, but then they started happening when I was awake, too. And then there's...this.

[And then he turns his head, spying a hairbrush nearby, and lifts his hand as he focuses on it (concentration 31).

A moment later, said hairbrush flies off the surface and lands in his hand (reflex save 18). He almost looks a little startled by how...well that worked.]

[slay]

[ Her eyes widen with acute surprise—it's not shocking, obviously. She's seen magic before. But it's startling to come from Sam, anyway. And knowing what the origin of those powers is sets her ill at ease. But that's not the real reason she'd asked.

Her gaze drops to her hands in front of her, and she closes them into fists, dropping them at her sides and stowing whatever questions he prompted within her. ]

Sam, is this the kind of thing you should be … You know. Using? Obviously, I don't have to be the one to point out that we're talking about powers from Satan here.

[familybusiness]

[He sets the brush aside, and when he replies, he's perfectly calm, despite the fact that he's...probably about to play devil's advocate here (lol will save nat 20).]

I got my sight from Hell, you got yours from Heaven. But they're the same thing. It doesn't make mine bad and yours good.

[He leans forward, resting his forearms against his knees, looking at her imploringly.]

Look, I know that you mean well, and you're concerned about me, but this is something that's going to be a part of me forever. I can either hide from it and let it control me, or I can learn how to use it and maybe turn it into something good. What I can do is no different than what psions can do. Why does where it came from have to matter?

[slay]

I trust you.

[ She wants to start there, and that's not particularly promising for what's about to follow. The fact that she feels compelled to reiterate that warns that there's about to be something tempering that trust. ]

But if Hell gave you these powers, it's because they wanted to be able to use them. To use you. I just … I'm worried about you, Sam. Promise me, if you keep using them, that you'll be careful.

[familybusiness]

If that's true, then they wanted me to use them in a world I no longer live in for reasons that my other self is probably already doing for them as we speak. If you believe my brother, Heaven was doing the same thing to him for even longer.

[No one is innocent here. Don't believe everything you read, kids.]

I won't take things too far. I promise.

[And he knows what that line is, and it's more blood. He just doesn't know that Buffy knows about it, too.]