CHAPTER FOUR ♔ does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love

[coldheritage]

♬ The Truth - Nonpoint

WHO || Failboat, Rafael, Isabella, Nadia  [Closed]
WHAT || After an exciting Grammy night, the Knights meet up with Nadia to hear what she has to say
WHERE || Staples Center, LA -->  Warehouse
WHEN || Feb 8th, 2015  [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam

[  The Knights' mission to stop the signal and prevent Draken's cult from spreading whatever subliminal message  was lurking beneath Keijen Blade's performance was a success.  It didn't come without its bumps in the road, however:  Alexander Anderson showed up, and the Knights ran afoul of the Mind Master.    Buffy nearly died fighting Anderson, but in the end, he was defeated, beheaded, and hopefully put to death forever.   Finnick, though, found himself thrust into a mental illusion that convinced him he might still be in the Hunger Games, and left him uncertain about whether any of his life here was real.  

Another surprise came in the form of an announcement by Nadia Reichenov, an artist working with Crombe and company, that she was changing her band name and taking things in a 'new direction'.   This direction was perhaps revealed when after her performance, she approached the Knights in Rafael's dressing room - and handed them the necklace that connects her to the Nightmare God Malaak'a, saying she was willing to tell them everything.  ]

Comments

[littledhampir]

[Shadowing Myri with her stake in hand, Rose takes in their surroundings, more worried about signs of a surprise Mind Master than she is expecting Nadia to appear right now (Spot 32, Listen 36.)]

Seriously... We couldn't have done this at a Denny's?

[savemyself]

She is a tiefling, is she not? They don't need light. [ rolls her eyes at y'all to be honest. but myri does see something moving just beyond the range of the light, a shape against the far wall. ]

[witchwoman]

[All the bickering and sarcasm is giving Myri heartburn. And she's not exactly in the right state of mind to make well thought out decisions. Every second that she stands still, all she sees is Nadia being hurt and Finnick running off into the night with his trauma as his only comfort. She doesn't have time to wait for the darma llama to come back for another round.

So she's just going to move towards the shape she sees moving.

Bye.]

[bigbad]

I'm a vampire. I don't need light either.

[Or your sass, Isabella. When Myri moves, so does he, since with his vampire eyeballs (spot 30 + darkvision) he can make out that it is, indeed, Nadia. He doesn't... really feel the need to say anything to the rest of the party about it, though he does smile a bit.]

Hullo there, love. Nice performance tonight. Best song of the evening by a long shot.

[coldheritage]

[ as she steps forward gingerly, she doesn't return the smile. her eyes dart behind them all as if she expects to see someone she doesn't want to see walk in behind them. ] Were you followed?

[slay]

[ Uneasy with the circumstances, Buffy advances after Spike. If bad things go down, it'll be near Nadia. She oughta move in close. ]

For a little bit, but we took care of it.

[ She shoots a glance back at Isabella the genius. ]

We probably don't have great big buckets of time before they find a way to catch up.

[littledhampir]

[With a flash of recognition and grim smile, Rose nods her greeting at Nadia and moves to shadow Myri but leaves the talking to the others as she sweeps the warehouse again for any other signs of life.

(spot 36)]

[witchwoman]

Nadia... [Myri doesn't have a smile to offer, but instead a pleading gaze- just as nervous as the other woman about all of this.]

We want to hear everything you have to say, but I don't want you to feel like you need to look over your shoulder with every word you breathe. There are more outside. We're doing everything we can to keep you safe. I swear it.

1/2

[rationalizes]

We should have a couple hours before they find us. [ lmao but gar looks really nervous anyway ]

[coldheritage]

[ her eyes trace across those gathered, stopping for a moment on rafael, who has one hand curved into a fist as if to keep himself from saying anything. ] It's fine.

I'm not planning on running. There's no running from him. And if that makes me a target, then I'm ready to be one. It's better than going on living this way.

[bigbad]

[Wow he does not like the words better than going on living coming out of her mouth even with the "this way" tacked on the end. He steps forward.]

We'll stand with you, then. We're not letting him take you back.

[He knows what she's done can't have been easy. That makes it brave. Like hell is he going to let that be the end of her story.]

[coldheritage]

If he wants to, you're not going to get in his way forever. [ she sounds fatally resolved to the point, at least, folding her arms across her chest protectively ] But that's not what we're here to talk about.

You need to know the truth. About this tour, and Keijen, and us tieflings.

[ she pointedly looks in the other direction from where raf stands, and says with a tight muscle in her jaw ] About Jade.

[slay]

We heard plenty from Lazarus. About Sehanine, and what Corn Flakes and his dad did to her.

[ It's amazing how she makes that sound so dark and hateful despite calling Keijen "Corn Flakes." But she'll just never get "Kel'in'hrae."

Traitorous green eyes dart over to watch Rafael as Nadia looks at him. She can't help but be reluctant to hear it rehashed for him here and now, especially when he's already tripping balls and ready to shoot someone in the face over some hateboner for Nadia.

Buffy is very good at pretending not to care about people in that not at all way BUT HER FEELINGS ARE STILL HURT. ]

1/2

[rationalizes]

Buffy... [ gar's tone is half panicked, half warning over here, like OH MY GOD DONT TALK ABOUT OUR SECRET ELF WITH THE PERSON WE DON'T KNOW IF WE CAN TRUST YET WHILE THE EVIL GOD IS WATCHING MY LIFE IS SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL ]

[coldheritage]

[ it takes her a second to get what the fuck she's trying to say ]

... Kel'in'hrae.

That's only part of the story.

[bigbad]

[Spike notices a weird sensation in his brain, one that's... familiar. He growls suddenly and surges forward, grabbing Nadia's shoulders.]

Stop that. What are you doing?

[He wants to trust her. It'll be a hell of a lot easier if she doesn't mess with his brain.]

1/2

[romanticidal]

[ ♬ blood (empty promises) - papa roach

when spike grabs her, rafael reaches to his belt and draws out one gun smoothly, pulling it up in their direction just in case. ] I told you she cannot be trusted. She's a powerful telepath. He sent her here to spy on us.

[coldheritage]

[ nadia's eyes darken as spike shoots forward, but she stares up at him challengingly, not budging ] I thought it'd be faster to find out what you know than waste your time by making you explain it. You're the ones who said we didn't have much to spare.

[witchwoman]

[They're losing control of all of this so much faster than Myri hoped. Spike's rushing Nadia, which is slightly startling since she was also standing there, fairly close to her. Uhm, hi. The next thing she knows, Raf's got a gun out. Possibly Myri's gun.

In true "I only manage this during a finale post" fashion, Myri turns to Raf with a sharp mom look (intimidate nat 20).]

Put. It. Down. The last thing we need is more violence.

[bigbad]

[Just in case that's not enough, Spike turns around, fangs out, and growls at Rafael (intimidate 36 to help her out.)]

Don't you even bloody think about it.

[And he's going to position himself between Rafael and Nadia just to be safe IF THERE'S GONNA BE FRIENDLY FIRE IT BETTER BE AT HIM. He turns back to Nadia, shaking his fangs away (will 19).]

All right, that makes sense. But next time bloody ask first. With words, I mean. And just do me.

[He's pretty sure he doesn't know anything important that people haven't... blurted out already.]

[slay]

[ Son of a —

She's not remotely surprised by the way Myri and Spike lash out, and truthfully, she's on their team. Someone mark this date on the calendar because sometimes it feels like a goddamn national holiday when Buffy's knight allegiances win out over her Rafael allegiances.

Anyway, since Nadia responds better to Spike and Myri for obvious reasons, Buffy turns to play bouncer a bit and hold her hands up to pacify Rafael. Except her words are anything but pacifying, but there's really no point to being delicate when Myri looks like someone just woke the dragon. ]

Let's be clear: Jack might have okayed you coming in here, but I have no problem dropping you right back out if you can't keep that thing in your pants. Whatever issue you have with her? We'll get to it. But you didn't bother to tell us a thing about where this is coming from for five months: you can wait your turn.

1/-

[romanticidal]

[ for a moment, he just looks so lost, the gun still held up in place. but their apparent very real threats, convincing as they are, combined with buffy firmly taking that side, seem to break something in his resolve, and he drops his arm looking completely and thoroughly defeated, and at a loss as to what to say. ]

2/3

[rationalizes]

Everyone, please. [ gar's tone is quiet, but insistent. ] Nadia, we'd love to hear anything you're willing to tell us.

[coldheritage]

[ she just waits for y'all to back the fuck up a second before she speaks ] ... I was born in Romania, daughter of Ivana and Mikail Reichenov. Mine wasn't an easy childhood, least of all because my grandmother lost her mind, and killed herself - and my mother - in the same night. I never understood my heritage, never knew what I was, only that my mother had violent, angry tendencies, and that my father cautioned me that I was going to be like her. That I was bound in time to lose my mind as well, and that it was a part of 'my nature'. I grew up in fear of what I would become, of the devil that lurked inside me.

[witchwoman]

[As Nadia begins to speak, Myri turns back to her and forces some of the tension to leave her shoulders. Her expression slips to sympathy, knowing that fear. How many times had villagers called her a demon, turned on her because of something they thought they understood about her and the nature she was born into. Perhaps it wasn't entirely the same, but it still tugged at that particular heart string for her.

She doesn't speak, though, as she assumes there's more to the story and doesn't want to derail it with questions. They don't have much in the way of time for that.]