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

[slay]

[ It's always the way with them.

Words turning to ash on their tongues, failing them, leaving too much left unsaid. Creating this space between them that stretches from the railing to the door of the warehouse. And for a moment, Buffy looks ready to let him go. Beaten, worn down, hopeless and defeated. She was just like Isabella—striving blindly for something that was never going to happen, and he was in no hurry to prove her wrong (sense motive c-c-crit fail).

But her eyes dart up out to the bay when he mutters to himself, hand on the door (listen 27). There's something there that she can't let lie. Her face turns toward him, searching the slump of his shoulders. (And that's where the action point came in. Sense motive 26.)

Breezing through the darkness like she's made her home at it, Buffy reaches abruptly out to grab his arm, to keep him there with her. She whips him around to face her, searching his eyes for that glimmer of hope she needs. Three years, she's held onto whispers like that. Three years, she's built hope from near-nothing out of him, but now … ]

I'm not asking you to stop loving her. I know that's impossible.

[ Better than anyone, she knows. Even if they did go their separate ways, even if there were no way for him to move on and love her back, she would never be able to forget what she feels for him. ]

I'm just asking you to love me too. You're not incomplete without her. Jade will always be a part of your past, of who you are, but if you can let someone in, then they can be your future. [ A beat. She's come this far (will save 24). ] I want to be your future, but if there's no chance of that, then … [ She shakes her head. ] Keep walking. And maybe one day, I'll find a way to stop following.

[romanticidal]

[ ♬ the rose - leann rimes

he stops at her touch, letting go of the door, which bangs shut once more with a jarring noise as he turns to look down at her. his own hand rests on her forearm, initially as if to steady himself when she whips him around, but then with a tenderness that's reflected in his eyes, a hope kindling there, warring against all the self-loathing he's been drowning in.

her words take a moment to really sink in, but as they do, amazement and bewilderment prompt him to raise his hand to her cheek. he brushes his knuckles there with gentle affection, eyebrows drawing together in concern as he registers the remaining tears in the corner of her eyes, moving to brush one away with intense care. ]

Carina. [ while the word broadcasted his conflicted heartache before, now it holds something else, a breathy exhalation that's nothing but overwhelmed by what's directly in front of him. ] Would you give me a chance I have done nothing to deserve? A chance perhaps to earn such affection? [ there's a plea there, born out of his current low point of self esteem, that's all too clear. accepting her love right here, right now, having done what's clearly nothing in his eyes to merit it, will probably just leave him feeling just as insecure about it.

he moves to tangle his fingers through her own with his other hand, raising it to his lips, and pressing a kiss there as his brow furrows further. ] Per favore, mia carina.

[slay]

[ A traitorous warmth bubbles in her chest as he brings her hand up to kiss it. She wars with herself a moment, but even as she stamps the reaction down, the light doesn't leave her eyes.

Slowly, she nods. ]

To earn it. [ The words are an agreement that there's a road ahead. ] I would. [ correcting herself, she quickly amends, ] I will.

[ Here comes the but, a lingering uncertainty in her eyes. ]

But not like this. [ She squeezes his hand before dropping hers away to her side. ] Not with you … engaged to someone else. [ If asking Isabella to marry him was wrong, what they're doing here is worse. Everything that Isa doubtlessly feared. ] I can't do this to her. [ Even if she had no problem doing it to Buffy ... ] After you end it, then we can talk.

[romanticidal]

[ as she drops his hand, he lowers the one still hovering against her face, a tacit agreement, even as he nods. ] That was my thought as well. [ there's a moment of relief there, that she understands why he can't - won't - say or do more here and now. that he's honestly concerned about doing right by isabella as much as he can through all this, even if his intention is to end it. still, he can't seem to tear his eyes off her, or make himself move towards the door, so it's a good thing that suddenly a rock comes flying over the building and hits the deck next to them, causing him to jump for a moment, and look around sharply. ] -- What was that?

[slay]

[ Genius and scholar that she is, Buffy does tear her eyes off of him to go crouch and pick it up. Turning it over in her hand, she looks up at Rafael, confusion evident. ]

's a rock. [ What the fuck. Standing, she looks suddenly alert. ] Some kind of signal?

[ She glances out at the dark water, then back at Rafael. ] Let's move around front and make sure they're okay.

[romanticidal]

Si, that is probably best. [ with a nod, he moves towards the edge of the building, glancing back at her out of the corner of his eye again for a lingering moment, as if he's afraid this was a hallucination. #finnickodairlife ]

[slay]

[ Shoulder-to-shoulder, Buffy keeps close to Rafael and the edge of the building as she moves along the side, up towards the front. She doesn't look up at him as she notes, ] About that gun ... [ That she'd definitely told him to put away. Let's just say prowling around the side of a warehouse is enough to make a gal change her mind. ]