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

[doubletake]

[Worry creases her brow as she catches Vi's pained expression, but she bites her tongue about it for now. Elena doesn't even kind of understand how the other girl's abilities work, and doesn't realize what she's doing to herself.]

Tired. Worried about the others.

[She's not going to bother to lie when it's written all over her face.]

How's Finnick?

[Because that's more important.]

[graveflowers]

[ her expression crumples, lips pressing together because that's impossible to answer. physically, he's fine. mentally and emotionally... ]

He's-- [ she swallows, shaking her head before healing archer for another +4 hp (life's healing), and pushing off the bed to pace away, arms crossing protectively across her chest. ]

We're not real to him. He's terrified and so hurt.

[doubletake]

It's not wearing off? At all?

[Elena's inside seem to grow cold. The mind control she'd been through had ended, but then again, it had only done so because she let it.]

[graveflowers]

No. [ her head shakes again, remembering everything finnick told her about the games and wanting to vomit. what the mind master had done to finnick was by far the worst thing she could imagine happening, above even what the nightmare lord did to her and what the mind master had done to elena.

she ripped away finnick's entire life and made it a fiction, one he was so sure was going to end. ]

[doubletake]

[That cold feeling only spreads further, numbing her mind, and when she speaks again, it's through clenched teeth, her words icy.]

I'm going to kill her.

[It's said with a kind of finality, as if there's no other option.]

[nothingsodivine]

[is this bad timing for the party car to arrive??? just kidding, it's the horrible murder car containing (1) charbroiled Alainn. Des holds open the door so the rest of his group can get in, and his timing is... great enough he catches that look on Elena's face and stares at her.]

What happened?

[doubletake]

[Elena's head turns sharply towards Des, eyes meeting his for a moment before she answers, her words still hard.

She has to keep it together.]

Sniper. [She motions to Archer.] But he's fixable. Rafael and Isabella are fine, but I can't say the same for the car we left in. [She tries to look past him, to see the others, make sure everyone is accounted for.] What happened on your end?

[shootfirst]

Rocket launchers. [ kat grimaces as she comes in and flops on the couch ] Total dick move.

[slay]

Is Myri back yet? Alainn and Kat could both use a hand.

[ Speaking on Kat's behalf because she doesn't expect Kat to ever ask for help tbh. She glances around visibly upon entering, but Elena's assurance keeps her from doing much beyond that, and she opts to look Elena over with a quick glance of concern instead. ]

[doubletake]

[Elena shakes her head.]

Not yet. [Her lips press together as she tries to stamp down another swell of anger. Poorly.] Apparently Finnick isn't doing too well, either.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des sticks his tongue in his cheek as he steps further inside, giving Elena sidelong glances.] The Mind Master's thing? Shouldn't that have worn off by now?

[chessing]

Unless what she did wasn't temporary. [ jack casts an unsettled look around at them, eyes settling on the closed doors as if he wonders where finnick is rn ]

[graveflowers]

He's in the bathroom and he doesn't want to come out, so don't... try. It upsets him and he's as calm as he's going to get right now. [ it comes out more tersely than intended, but this night has been incredibly trying for her. moving to the couch, she puts her hand on kat's shoulder and that same cool green glow flows from her palm, healing kat for +21 hp. (infuse with life) ]

[nepotism]

[ kat squirms at the touch but fred sits on the other side of her and gives vi a grateful look on her behalf ] Not that I'm in any way an expert on this stuff, but... who could even do something like that? Just break a guy's brain without ever touching him? [ he casts a worried look at them all ] No one knows what the hell she is?

[nothingsodivine]

She's bad news. Maybe she's got god juice like Blade does. Or something worse. [he flops down on the couch and looks deeply uncomfortable, opening his mouth to say something else, and then deciding against it.] Did Rafael and Isabella cut and run?

[doubletake]

All I've got is that she's hiding her true form and she's got crazy reptile eyes.

[From her fun little run in with her on Andres.

She looks at Des, shaking her head and gesturing vaguely towards the other room.]

They're talking.

[graveflowers]

[ while they talk about the mind master, vi edges around the uninjured (or less injured), in order to get to the one that look like she needs to be healed stat. she reaches out to touch alainn tentatively, not wanting to hurt the woman's seared skin more as she wills the healing magic to flow from her and into the terribly injured woman, smoothing out some of the scrapes and burns. (+ 21 hp from heightened transfer wounds, lesser) her eyes close as she feels the pain pass into her own body, but she opens them with a weak smile directed at the half elf before moving back to where finnick is hiding to retrieve her now cold tea. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike opens the door, holding it open for the rest of team successboat.]

That worked well. Everyone make it out alive? [His eyes skate over, taking stock of everyone. He doesn't see Rafael or Isabella, but they could have buggered off to do celebrity things. He doesn't know. Not everyone looks in one piece, though, so he steps aside so Myri can get in.]

[slay]

[ Buffy whips her head straight towards Elena at that, brow furrowed. ]

Here? Now?

[ God fucking damn jesus christ Rafael literally cannot leave you alone. Buffy blinks quickly, bumbling through her response and settling on a grimace. ]

Maybe we should clear out before things get— [ She's never been so happy to be interrupted in her life as Spike pipes up, and she glances quickly back to look at him. Relief washes over her and she crosses the room back towards the doorway. ] Spike! Thank god—are you guys okay?

[witchwoman]

[As Spike steps aside, Myri slips into the room, glancing over her should briefly to make sure the other women are close behind. She looks to Buffy as she hears that question but... doesn't say anything. "Okay" is a hard thing for her to confirm when all she can feel is a pit in her stomach at the fact that her husband hasn't rushed to greet her yet. Glancing down at the floor, she continues to walk into the room until she's basically in the center of the group.

She can feel the aches of all the various injuries tugging at her in all directions. It's hard to focus to know where to even start. Without a word, she drops both hands to her sides, fingers splayed. Her hands take on a soft blue glow as the magic flows to touch each of them (except Spike) in the room, a healing energy restoring at least some of the damage (20 HP to anyone who needs it. She can hit up to 13 people with it at this point so we should be fine).]

[rationalizes]

None of them came after us - none that could catch us at least. The plan worked. [ she casts a grateful look at jack, and then looks past him at kat and alainn. even healed, their clothes still show signs of the blast, and fred and buffy are probably still caked in blood too, hooray. FRETS. ]

[coldheritage]

Vladislov said he'd meet me at 3am at an address not far from here. I'm going to ... try to get some sleep before then.

[slay]

[ With Myri's healing, aside from a second ruined dress and bloodstains, Buffy's looking good as new again but for some lasting scrapes. When Nadia makes her presence impossible to ignore, Buffy turns to Jack. ]

Can I talk to you for a minute?

[ Concern is written all over her expression, tense and ill at ease. ]

[graveflowers]

[ now with her tea held between her hands, vi leans against the opening to the bathroom area. ]

Nadia. [ she doesn't really know the woman, but she can't deny she feels something for her, some sort of sad familiarity, and that bleeds into her name as vi says it. she knows that there is a loop and that she is miles out of it so the question may have been asked already, but she can't help voicing it herself. ] Do you know if Dumage is okay?

1/2

[coldheritage]

[ nadia pauses from where she was moving towards an empty room, one hand on the door, and looks back at them. ]

If there's one thing I've picked up about Dumage... [ she diverts her gaze again ] -- it's that she's a survivor. [ she shrugs slightly ] The fact that you're asking after she claims to have abandoned you all tells me that she's playing a very dangerous game with him.

I just hope she knows what she's doing. [ with that, she heads into the room and the door closes softly behind her ]