paris ♔ tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away

[necessaryevil]

♬ Facade (reprise) - Jekyll & Hyde

WHO || Faith Lehane, Max Rast, Lissa Dragomir, Helen Magnus
WHAT || The Knights investigate a string of vampire attacks in France
WHERE ||Paris, France
WHEN || April 11th, 2015 [backdated].
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

One vampire attack is cause for worry enough, but when bodies are found with telltale puncture wounds and heavy loss of blood become a recurring nightmare across any city, alarm bells are raised.  Such is the case recently in Paris, where Wynn suspects that either a careless clan has moved in, or some lone vamps are stirring up trouble.  With the locations of the bodies marked out in the eight block radius where the deaths have been occurring, the team arrives in the late evening, staring at the rows of apartment blocks, small businesses, and pubs that comprise this section of town.

Comments

[roams]

Hey, whoa. [ he squats down beside her, casting a disturbed expression at the bodies before sweeping his eyes back to her ] You're not the one who did this. I'm ... sorry about your friends, Faith. But you can't blame yourself for this. [ diplomacy... 24?? ]

[msattentionspan]

[She shakes her head, she understands the sentiment but it doesn't change the fact that she was the strongest one with them and she left them alone.]

I left them alone, Quinn. [She's not quite as angry, since he did seem so diplomatic about it??, but she does still harbor that guilt.]

I thought I was making a good call and I left them behind. I left and they were killed because I wasn't here to stop it.

[roams]

You said it yourself - you thought it was a good call. Why fault yourself for doing what you thought you had to do? [ he doesn't let her answer, putting a hand on her shoulder ] You said there were four of you. Maybe we can still find your other friend.

[msattentionspan]

[She frowns, shaking her head again.]

It's not like I made a bad call and something went wrong, I made a bad call and two people are dead, Quinn. [She needs to find Helen. She reaches into her pocket and finds her phone, moving to call Helen.]

[roams]

Even worse to try to take the blame on yourself, then. Trying to live with that guilt when it's not anything you did on purpose will shackle you, Faith. Cripple you, if you let it. [ he is strangely intense about that point. meanwhile, helen's phone goes... straight to voicemail. womp womp. ]

[msattentionspan]

[When the phone goes to voicemail, she glances up to him and tries to see the reason he's expressing, but this isn't something she's unfamiliar with. When she had blood on her hands, she didn't care and she's killed plenty of people... creatures on missions and not cared, but this is different. This is... this was part of her team.]

I'm not going to let it, but I can't ignore where the fault lays. [She knows she needs to call Wynn, to let him know that Max and Lissa are dead and she can't get a hold of Helen, but she almost doesn't want to. She wants to call Jack, because she trusts Jack -- but she knows she needs to call Wynn.] I need to call someone.

[She stays near the bodies and at this point she doesn't care if Quinn hears one half of her call. The longer she waits, the further away Helen could get.]

[roams]

I get the feeling you don't mean the police. [ which ... does not seem to bother him. ]

[msattentionspan]

[She doesn't answer him, but mostly she doesn't think he expects an answer. She just does the right thing and calls Wynn.]

[wynn]

Yes, Sir Lehane?

[msattentionspan]

I screwed up. [She opens with it, because it's the main focus of her mind.]

We tracked one of the victims to a bar. We split up. Max and Lissa went out back and Helen stayed inside watching something on the TV. I left with a vampire that I thought might lead me to the group, but when things felt off I stopped. I'd left the line open on my phone, so if I found something Helen could track it.

I heard something on the line - something loud enough to make me reconsider just how quickly I needed to get back to her.

[She just blurts it all out.] Max and Lissa are dead. I'm in the alley with their bodies, right now, and when I call Helen it goes straight to voicemail.

[wynn]

[ WYNN IS SO OVER GETTING THESE PHONE CALLS. ] Do you know what killed them? Was it these vampires you seek?

[msattentionspan]

[Faith's hand reaches to Lissa's neck, moving her so she can look at the injury. (spot 14) It's definitely vampires, but Faith can't be sure that it's the ones they were after.]

It looks like it, but all I have is what I see here. I can't say if it was them or some other vampire. [Her elbow rests to her knee, still crouched low to the ground.]

They just left them out here, though. Either they knew what they were doing or something went wrong... but if it was the same group they shifted their MO and decided that a frame job wasn't in them this time.

[Her tone shifts to something far more apologetic, heavy with guilt.] I let you down. I shouldn't have left them, but I need to find Helen. Can you get someone to ping her phone? [Knowledge Pop Culture 16 - because that's what they do on TV shows all the time to find a missing person. {Feel free to have him ask Felicity to do it LOL I can just add her into my next tag.}]

[roams]

[ no need, because kneeling beside her, quinn picks up a broken cell phone off the ground (spot 20) and taps her on the shoulder, raising both eyebrows apologetically. ]

[msattentionspan]

[FROWN.]

Nevermind, I think her phone is here. It's broken. I don't like this... [Faith stands up.] I don't want to leave them here in the alley, but I can't just wait around if she's out there.

[Faith takes a beat and makes a quick choice.] The vampire I was with, he was taking me to an apartment - and he didn't seem too eager to let me just walk away from him. I left him in a pretty sad state... I can go back to him. See if he has any answers - but I don't want Max and Lissa just in this alley.

[wynn]

It will take some time for our allies to meet you. Is there somewhere nearby you can safely stow them, without losing the vampire in question?

[msattentionspan]

Hold on. [Faith puts the phone down, covering it with her hand as she glances around (spot 9;;).]

I need somewhere that I can put them, somewhere that someone won't go nosing around and calling the cops. [Said to Quinn.] Do you see anything or know of somewhere?

[roams]

I can find a place for them, if you want to go back for that guy. [ with his nat 20 knowledge local check hell yeah ]

[msattentionspan]

I do. [Faith returns to the phone.] I can find a place for them and send you the information.

If you hear from Helen - you'll let me know?

[wynn]

Of course. Backup will be coming, Sir Lehane. Keep yourself safe.

[msattentionspan]

Thanks.

[/end that call and then she glances to Quinn.]

Do you want help with moving them? [as she also prepares herself for questions...]

[roams]

I think I can manage. But I do want one thing.

[ here it come ] Who are you people? Really.

[msattentionspan]

[So... question, singular. Of course, she doesn't even know how to answer this one either. She knows protocol, knows that she shouldn't tell him, but he's helping her the hide bodies. LITERALLY HIDING BODIES.]

Can I just ask you to trust me right now that I'm on the right side of things and explain as much as I can once I know whether or not that vamp is going to give me any answers? [Diplomacy 14? eh? come on, she's super hot and he's totally slept with her twice. that buys her a bit of trust, right? maybe?]

[roams]

I take it this explanation is going to include how you feel so comfortable going solo where vampires are concerned, right?

[msattentionspan]

[Faith lifts her hand up, one finger extended as she nods.] Yes. That will definitely be covered. [Because that is her secret to tell and she trusts him with that one implicitly.]

[roams]

Deal. I'll find a place for them and then come track you down. Don't go too far with that guy, alright?