flight ♔ pride can stand a thousand trials

[dragonsclaw]

I'm Kissing You - Des'ree

WHO || Failboat [closed]
WHAT || The Knights return in the wake of the Keijen Blade concert, much worse for the wear
WHERE ||On a plane
WHEN || Directly after the concert
HOW || Actionspam or prose

The mood is darker than it's ever been as the Knights' plane takes off from the blackening skies above Los Angeles, which continue to spread out after them.  They expected a trap, they expected the worst, but what actually happened dwarfed even those dire expectations.

Painful revelations about their teammates themselves, followed by the separation of Vi from the team, and then being forced to watch Blade enact a dark ritual in the concert-hall-turned-dark-temple that culminated in the sacrifice of hundreds, including the deaths of those who had been on the mission back-up team were only the beginning.  Realizing at the last moment that Crombe still had no understanding of what Blade was truly doing, the team made a last minute bid to change his mind and get him to stop the ritual, but it was far too late, and as things escalated quickly, the Nightmare God Malaak'a was freed from his prison, the seal broken with the final step - Nadia's death.  The god himself appeared before them, and Blade stood triumphantly behind him - only to use the dagger soaked in Nadia's blood to plunge into his father, and usurp his power for his own, ascending to some sort of deity-like powers himself.  

This scene lies further and further behind them now, the images forever etched in their minds, and the silent forms of two of their teammates - one mysteriously incapacitated, the other dead, act as haunting reminders on their journey back towards the castle of what has befallen and what may be to come.

Comments

& dean & rose

[slay]

[ it's hours before she approaches them.

she's busy processing up until that point. there are too many thoughts, too much hurt, to put to words or place. she's alone now. really and truly alone. it's not just rafael. des and vi are gone now too. her best friends, taken from her in one fell swoop: worse, one was by choice.

she's cycled through every conversation. every vulnerable moment. tried a hundred ways to think about how she could have prevented this and gotten nowhere. it doesn't matter, in the end. she didn't prevent it. if she could have, she'd failed, and now she had to figure out what she was going to do about cleaning up the mess.

by this point in the flight, those who could sleep have slept. most can't, of course. the atmosphere is thick with silent tears and the smell of salt and stale discomfort mingled with grief when she settles into the seat across from rose and dean, finally inviting herself to their company. ]

I'm sorry.

[ she decides to start there. it's for dean, of course. ]

It shouldn't have taken friends turning on us for me to find perspective. But I get it now. We unite against this, or they win. I'm done ... measuring, competing, whatever it's been. I'm ready to put the cards on the table and talk about what we're going to do about this.

[littledhampir]

[Given all that had transpired this evening, it wasn't really a surprise that Rose was among the many for whom sleep hadn't been an option and the darkness of Rose's mood meant that there really weren't many people she would have welcomed joining them.

After today? Buffy made that list.

Straightening, her dark gaze shifts between her two companions, Rose regarding Buffy with something rarely offered to anyone she knows.

Respect.]

There's a lot we should probably discuss... [Glancing over her shoulder to the pair in the back of the plane.] When we can.

[likedillinger]

We'd been working on cracking this open for God knows how long now. If they think spilling the beans themselves is gonna change things, they've got another thing coming. [ he seems much less worried about them potentially eavesdropping on that part at least ] But you're right. We weren't trying to freeze anybody out. We just never knew how far this thing had gone. Seemed safer to play it to our chests.

& spike

[slay]

[ buffy sits with spike when they first board.

it's been a while — a long while — since she's felt close to him in any way. there's a lot between them. but she can't help feeling like she's running out of friends, with des the traitor and vi gone, and so she settles in across from him — even if that means sitting near dumage, too.

there's no animosity or bite in her anymore. ]

Thanks. [ she rubs at her neck, weary to the bone and sore all over still from the fight. ] For going after Crombe. I tried to find him, but by the time the giants had shown up, everything was — He might be our only shot at Vi and Rafael. So, thanks.

[bigbad]

[Spike shrugs a shoulder, not looking up at her. It was the right thing to do. So was helping Wynn save some people. But all he can really focus on is how completely they failed to save so many others. And to save Nadia.]

Seemed the thing to do at the time.

(ota).

[dragonsclaw]

[ jack spends part of the flight in the back room on the phone, presumably relaying some of what occurred to the other leadership back at the castle. when he comes out, he spends some time sitting quietly next to gar, who tries to wordlessly comfort him. eventually, she goes to speak with kat and mark and he is left alone, staring out the window, burdened with heavy thoughts ]

[littledhampir]

[It's during one of those moments when Gar has left Jack's side that Rose comes to sit across from him. Silent for a long moment as if knowing there are a thousand more things she could or would like to say, but one at least that she really should.]

I don't... really know you. [Stating the obvious there.] I mean, in passing and all but, not really.

[She shifts uncomfortably in her seat, buying herself the time to construct a sentence without emotion choking off her words.]

But Wynn trusts you. [She allows those words to hang in the air or a moment before pushing forward.] So I guess, we should probably talk.

open

[doubletake]

[Elena is nearly silent during the flight unless someone deliberately engages her in conversation. She's pensive, almost distant, and she spends the vast majority of the flight simply standing at the back of the plane, staring out one of the windows as they clouds and sky pass by, her fingers toying with the pendant hanging around her neck.

She's both anticipated and dreaded this day in equal measure for a very long time, and now she's left with a bitter taste in her mouth that she isn't sure is ever going to go away.]

& des

[dragonsclaw]

[ oh yeah, the other thing jack does during the flight is... come see you two. hooray.

he places one hand on the opposite seat, looking down at them. ]

I've a feeling we should talk.

[rationalizes]

[ gar heads back to check on jack at one point and when she comes out, she lingers a bit by elena, although keeping a healthy distance. her expression is pained. ] I can't claim to understand what's happened with you, or what's led you down this path. I don't think I ever will.

But I can't help but feel that we failed you, or the girl I once knew, at least. And for that, I will always be deeply sorry.

ota;

[65]

[finnick is sitting in the back by himself just as he was when they first took off, but this time his expression is even more grim (not that it was that happy before but ... y'know.). playing along with this was just a game for him — that's how he managed to keep it together for the mission, telling himself he was just playing a role. but this was no longer some sort of reprieve — the dream was just as bad as it was back home. if not worse. home didn't have demons and fire giants and whatever the fuck.

he goes into the back to check on myri every couple hours or so, beside himself with worry and grief. if something happened to her — then ... what was the point of anything? why should he —

shayla. for shayla. he had to remember.]

[postergirl]

[ dumage comes back there when he's with myri, standing in the doorway and surveying them both for a moment before saying: ] Have you considered that maybe she's better off, not having to have seen all that?

[littledhampir]

[It's during one of those times when he's checking on Myri that Rose appears, unconcerned the way others might be with intruding on the two of them. Given the circumstances? She doubted Myri would much mind and Finnick? She doubted people tiptoeing around him was going to help him either.

For several long moments, Rose just stands in the doorway watching Myri, the rise and fall of her chest providing cold comfort.]

That bitch has got a real hard-on for you Odairs. [Sure hope you weren't hoping she'd be here with gentle, comforting words.]

Rose ~ Open

[littledhampir]

[Perhaps if she had anything left after the events of the day, even Jack's words wouldn't have been enough to force her to leave Los Angeles without Wynn. While she might have agreed to get on the plane and return to London without searching the rubble of the Concert Hall? You only had to look at her to realize that while she might be physically present, her mind was still fixed on the scene she'd witnessed before being forced to flee the crumbling building.

Rose wasn't one to count Wynn down and out in just about any situation but going one on one with an egomaniacal douchebag with the power of a Nightmare God? It wouldn't have been the first time somebody she thought of as indestructible had proven her wrong.

If you were hoping to catch Rose alone on the flight, you're only real hope was when she or Dean go to get a drink. Given who they are flying with? She's not about to allow either of them to be caught alone for more than a few minutes at a time.]

[shootfirst]

[ in one of those moments where dean is gone, kat stops by her for a moment ]

So did literally everyone know except for me? Because it's starting to feel that way.

[bigbad]

[At one point when Dean's gone, Spike passes by, sitting on the arm of the seat next to her.]

We're gonna have to have a long chat you and me when we get back.

[He knows as well as she does how bloody difficult it is to have anything resembling a private conversation when there are people with supernatural hearing. There's a reason he listens to so much music on flights. Sometimes he just doesn't bloody want to hear it.]

des

[nothingsodivine]

[This is literally the most useless prompt, because Des is, for the most part, just sitting in tense silence beside Elena, making no noise and not forcing anyone to engage with him, and not particularly wanting to engage. As flippant as he's been, he definitely seems drawn and upset by everything that has just unfolded.

But he's not gonna shut anyone out if they approach him and Elena... Or just him if Elena has stepped away to stretch her legs.]

& elena

[bigbad]

[Spike doesn't approach until partway through the flight and several drinks. Not that they do much to help. Vampire stamina, not always a good thing. Still, it's been long enough since everything that he can at least act like he has his shit together. As much as anyone does.]

I've got questions. Lots of them.

[shootfirst]

[ guess who can't contain her questions to a whispered convo with rose? that's right, it's loudmouth mcgee over here. she can only spend so much time trying to comfort fred jr. over leaving wynn behind, because she's just not built for that kind of thing, so she's gonna wander back to the bathroom and stop to hassle des. ]

You know, all those times people told you to go to hell, they weren't exactly being so literal.

spike | open

[bigbad]

[As usual, Spike's sprawled out on multiple seats, alternating between drinking and staring soulfully out of the window, listening to music, or scribbling angrily in a notebook. He saved as many people as he could. But there were so many he couldn't save. Knights, civilians, Nadia...... there was nothing about this mission that was remotely a success.

And it's not like they can quit now. No boss, a bunch of dead knights, and they have to just keep going because to give up would doom the world even more.

A little bit of angry poetry seems called for, if it helps him keep going long enough to finish this. Not like he ever intends to let anyone see it.]

[postergirl]

I can't say I've given much thought to how I want to spend my last few days on Earth, have you? [ she's just gonna sit down near him and jump into cheery conversation ]

Alainn open post

[attollores]

[Alainn is sitting next to Mark for the flight back to the castle, and though she looks unscathed, the exhaustion on her face is blatantly clear. Having endured the damage from Buffy's beating of the Mind Master-by-proxy and having literally only 3 hit points left because of that, has her trying to conserve her strength when she can. Fede is present on her knee, her head is on Mark's shoulder, and her gaze is focused out the window. She doesn't know anything about what happened, or what was revealed on the Knights flight to California, but there are enough rumors and seething looks flying back and forth on the plane that she gets the gist it was something on the scale of very bad things. When she has enough energy she'll get up and visit with people, but feel free to drop by and chat in the meantime.]

[littledhampir]

[There weren't many people that Rose would go out of her way to come see on this flight, too strained by the events of the day to manage much in the way of conversation. Alainn wasn't just anyone, though, so it shouldn't be a shock that Rose comes to find her at some point.]

Given the number of times we get the crap beaten out of ourselves, you'd think I'd be able to find something better but...

[There likely was something better, but when you were blessed with Dhampir healing? You more concerned with where the alcohol was kept.

Handing Alainn a Cure Light Wounds Potion;]

Might help a bit, till we get back to London.

[65]

[finnick feels like he should say something to alainn, because she's so nice and treated him like normal and also she almost died wtf. :'( so he pauses by her seat once he takes a break from anxiously hovering over myri.]

It's good to have you around again, although I do wish it were under better circumstances.

[nosdacariad]

I'm not the only one picking up on the incredibly tense vibe around here, am I? I mean... apocalyptic scenario not withstanding.