knightsoflegend | CHAPTER FINALE ♔ cause it's always raining in my head

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CHAPTER FINALE ♔ cause it's always raining in my head

♬ oceano - josh groban

WHO || Keijen Blade, Nadia Reichenov, Rafael Giovanni, Buffy Summers, Alainn O'Rourke, Myrilandel Odair, Finnick Odair, Desmond Descant, Elena Gilbert, Rose Hathaway, Fredrick Jr., Jack Chessing, Kat Samcelot, Jeanne Gar, Spike, Sterling Archer, Violet Reedhym, Burt Becksworth, Isabella Alessandro
WHAT || Failboat does the Grammy's, tries to stop Keijen Blade's performance from reaching the masses, and aspires to save Nadia
WHERE || Staples Center, Los Angeles
WHEN || Feb 8th, 2015
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

The day has finally arrived: the 2015 Grammy's gather together musical talent at the top of the food chain, which means that NOVA Records will be well represented at this year's ceremony. Unfortunately, this includes performances from Keijen Blade's band, Heatless Passion, and Nadia Reichenov's, Derere, both of whom are working for "Chad Becksworth", aka Draken Crombe, head of the Shadowkind-hating cult, the Church of the Lord's Humanity. Equipped with some sort of ability to hypnotize large crowds with subliminal messages, Wynn fears what lies beneath Keijen's intended performance, and is sending his Knights to shut down the broadcast, to prevent that message from being spread to millions of viewers worldwide.

Meanwhile, the gang finally has a chance to see Rafael Giovanni again - but what he's been up to in the months since they last saw him, and how his reunion with Buffy will go, remains to be seen.

Several of the Knights have decided that this is their last chance as well to try and break Nadia free from Keijen's influence, now that they've learned the truth about him - that Keijen is in fact Kel'in'hrae, sadistic son of the Nightmare God Malaak'a, likely working to free his father from the prison Sehanine had created for him. The prison sealed by the relic that the team has been chasing for years, believing it to be an immortality-granting talisman of great power.

The truth, it seems, was worse than they could have imagined.

One step at a time, however, and stopping the signal is first priority on Failboat's to do list for now. With an actual plan under their belts this time, maybe this is the turning point they've been waiting for...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ up on the screen, finnick's shocked face is projected between rafael's smiling one where he sits between burt and isabella, and keijen's smug smirk, sitting surrounded by his bandmates.

taylor opens up the envelope, and looks across the audience. "And the winner is...

Rafael Giovanni!"

the audience erupts in applause, as rafael's voice floods the arena from the speakers.

♬ music of the night - josh groban

raf stands up, followed closely by burt, who keeps one hand on his shoulder steering him towards the stage like he's his personal bodyguard, and even climbing up there with him as taylor hands him the award.

gar applauds wildly over here, clearly pleased as punch. ]

Do you want me to storm the stage like Kanye, 'cause I'll do it.

Please don't. [he keeps a stepford face on while saying that now that he's aware he's ... on candid camera and there will prob be reaction shots. /slowly applauds.]

[Des makes exuberant WOOO noises as he claps. YAY RAFAEL. sorry finnick.]

[It's a good thing the cameras think Spike's seat is empty because he's rolling his eyes and looking generally unimpressed right now. Bleh, Rafael. He was routing for Bastille. I mean Finnick. That one.]

[Polite applause from the doppelganger. She didn't really...care who won. So long as Keijen didn't. :)]

[Yeah, Alainn is over here cheering and whistling through her fingers b/c that is her pop-star idol man, whoo!]

[ Buffy doesn't make a spectacle. Her eyes find Rafael, track him up onto the stage, and though she claps loudly, she keeps any screaming and cheering to herself. The glow in her face speaks for itself; this is everything he's deserved to have. If there's a tinge of sadness in her eyes, it's only because the darkness they keep kicking around has darkened the event for him. ]

[Myri doesn't even look towards the stage. She just looks down at Buffy instead. Worriedness intensifies.]

[ while taylor is congratulating rafael, burt slaps him on the shoulder, giving it a squeeze, and leans over to the mic looking proud as a peacock. ] As someone who's had the privilege of watching this particular star rise out of obscurity? I wanna be the first one to congratulate him on making it this far. The moment I met this guy, I knew we had something special on our hands, and I'm honored to have been able to help introduce him to the world.

[ rafael turns around, smiling a little awkwardly as burt tries to usurp his speech over there ]

[Just this look.]

Why's he even up there right now?

Because he's Kanye.

[Rose looks happy with the winner at least, a grin pulling at the corner of her mouth as she applauds Raf but she's not really watching him go up to accept his award, instead scanning the faces in the crowd to try and figure out where Keijen and Co are seated (Spot 28)]

[ that might be them way down front and on the other side?? It's hard to find people, ok, it's dark and crowded and huge.

As raf turns to try and usurp the mic, burt holds up one finger to him and leans down to add: ] And I'd like to also be the first person to get to publicly congratulate him on his engagement, to his beautiful manager, Isabella Alessandro! [ raf looks straight up stricken for a second, so the camera switches to an audience shot of Isabella smiling away up at them. With that, burt hands over the mic - but Rafael can't seem to make words at first ]

[and let finnick be the first person to raise his eyebrows like oh gurl. gurl! werwatey?]

[With a pretty average Will Save, even Rose barks out a;]

What the fuck?

[Des has to resist the urge to look at Buffy, because he can't bear to see the look on her face, but he looks... pretty damn livid.]

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

[ gars smile melts in the face of shock ] Oh... dear.

[Spike's expression falls a little, though not for the same reasons. He shakes his head and looks up at Isabella's face on the screen.]

Being with someone desperately in love with someone else. That won't end well for you, pet. Even if you think it's what you want.

[And then he sneaks a look over at Buffy, though he's sure he won't like what he sees.]

[ Spike's words don't even enter her head. In fact, none of their reactions do, though Buffy feels the oppressive weight of their eyes and attention whether they're looking directly at her or not. For a moment, she thinks she must have misheard, but her clapping stops instantaneously.

No.

No, she didn't.

And a part of her wants to slam her fist into Burt's smiling jaw, but a bigger part is simply too discouraged and defeated to bring herself to. A mistake. That's what he'd said. And she'd promised, then, that it wouldn't change anything, but how can it not? The comparison is impossible not to make: more than a year spent supporting him, loving him, helping him through a loss at his side after Jade without daring to breach that threshold because he couldn't do it, and her understanding all the while.

It took not even five months for him to get over her, five months for him to become engaged to someone else.

Her expression is as stone, but the clench of her jaw and the darkness in her eyes betrays that it's not so easy for her to force it into that mould. When she promised it wouldn't change anything, she'd imagined something that would have her at it with rebuilding Rafael again. She didn't imagine herself to be worth so little to him, and she cannot help but feel a bit sickened to think she was sending messages like those back and forth with someone who eventually set them aside to move on with someone else.

A million uncertainties cripple her outward response. Are they living together? Sleeping together? For all her carefully trained self control, it's worth nothing now as she can't purge the image of them at Burt's club in New York from her mind. She should have known to give up then.

As if it would have hurt less, somehow. ]

[Meanwhile, Elena's opinon of Rafael just fell like a million points. Unless for some strange reason Burt decided to pull this out of his ass as a fake publicity stunt without telling anyone, which she highly doubts, then she sees this as some desperate and pathetic attempt for him to not be alone, and all he's going to do is create a mess in the process.]

Gross.

[Because there's no way in hell he went from being obsessed with Jade for literally forever, to wanting to be with Buffy, to being in love enough to be engaged to someone he had the opportunity to be with for like forever in that amount of time and have them all be real. Just get out.

Unless there's some piece of the puzzle she's missing, that's all sorts of fucked up.]

... Thanks. [ rafael manages a banging will save to get it together finally, drawing out a card, however, from his pocket, to remind himself of what he planned to say. he stares down at it for a moment, before looking up, woodenly reciting the first bit as if he's having trouble getting the words straight: ] Thank you to all those who have believed in me and supported me... through the tragedy of these last couple years. I'd like to thank-- [ he pauses, as if stuck on the words on the card, before pushing onward ] -- NOVA Records, and of course, Burt Becksworth, for planning all the things no normal human being could even conceive of. [ burt seems pleased by the comment, grinning behind him ] I'd like to thank my entire crew and staff... And my-- [ he stops again, this time as if to alter what he's reading, the word coming out a little stiffly ] ... fiancee, Isabella, for continued love and support... And--

[ he waffles another moment, glancing up, as if he hopes he can spot any one face amid such a crowd. the hopelessness of the exercise seems reflected in his eyes, and he looks back down at the card, reading the last words with an earnest quality that's almost apologetic. ] And I would also like to thank a very special someone... who has taught me the very definition of support and trust, and without whom, [ he looks up, expression turning a bit solemn as he tries to impress the full meaning of the following words - both sets of meaning, to the few who will understand that ] I would not be standing here today. Miss Buffy Summers.

[ he bows his head again, before looking up at the ceiling ] And I would like to thank Eterna, for her inspiration. I thought I had lost my muse when I lost her, but I have learned now that she will always be with me in spirit.

Thank you. [ with that, he raises a hand and burt moves to head offstage with him ]

[Des squints skeptically at Rafael during his speech, taking in the way he's delivering certain phrases, his pauses, etc., and trying to get a better read there, but it's difficult with all the crowd noise and bright lights, so he probably just picks up on what's painfully obvious all over his face. (sense motive 23)

He's come too far to judge what people do behind closed doors, however. Every person who has made a mistake or an allegedly poor choice- himself, included- had a reason for it. Despite his cool, irritated expression, he's willing to hear his reasons out and then make judgment calls and possibly slap Isabella senseless for having such low self-respect that she'd actually say yes.]

[ It seems cruel.

In the face of the announcement, mentioning her at all feels like false hope that twists the knife. That his feelings for her could coexist with this choice only makes it hurt that much more.

It's Buffy's turn to go wooden as she joins the applause that follows his speech. Her heart aches, and the sound of polite clapping sound far away. Keeping her distance from the whole thing is how she manages to keep it together, looking (if anything) coldly unaffected by the speech. ]

[ meanwhile, kat leans over to whisper to gar: ] Didn't he pretty much raise her? [ judging u raf

meanwhile ariana grande takes the stage to sing a moving ballad as the ceremonies press on as if nothing earth shattering has happened.

♬ just a little bit of your heart - ariana grande

I don't ever ask you where you've been
And I don't feel the need to
Know who you're with
I can't even think straight but I can tell
That you were just with her
And I'll still be a fool
I'm a fool for you

Just a little bit of your heart
Just a little bit of your heart is all I want
Just a little bit of your heart
Just a little bit is all I'm asking for

I don't ever tell you how I really feel
Cause I can't find the words to say what I mean
And nothing's ever easy
That's what they say
I know I'm not your only
But I'll still be a fool
Cause I'm a fool for you

I know I'm not you're only
But at least I'm one
I hear a little love is better than none
Oh babe ]

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