chapter five ♔ it'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down

[eldritchweaver]

the blues - switchfoot

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || Failboat returns from the disaster in LA as the Knighthood goes on lockdown
WHERE || The castle, London
WHEN || Directly after this, Fall 2017
HOW || Actionspam

Hasmed's announcement does not brook any rebuttal: all Knights are recalled to the Castle, where they must remain until the Section Heads and Jack Chessing have spoken about the events in Los Angeles that have left the Knighthood without their usual leader.  

The entire Los Angeles area is now covered with a dark miasma that has interfered with any signals that might be sent out from phones, etc., leaving the whole world wondering what exactly is happening down there.  Final images showed horrendous monsters, a panic of citizens, looting and violence from humans and Shadowkind alike.  

Hasmed has warned of extra magical wards on the castle, and anyone arriving will immediately take notice of one very prominent one: above the entire roof of the excessively large building hovers a black and red sigil in the air, a pentagram in a circle surrounded by runes or words in an unknown language, stretching for miles.  

[ This is the social log for post-LA lockdown.  Failboat must complete the top log before being allowed to tag outside of it. ]

Comments

[druidisms]

It's not a resurrection, I'm not capable of that. She's been reincarnated. [ into... some other body. ]

[layonhands]

Reincarnated? What does that... mean, exactly?

[druidisms]

Her soul goes into a new body. [ he literally copy/pasted her somewhere ] I'd always thought it would be brand new but.

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster steps forward.]

We have to find her. There's no telling where she is or if she's safe. We have to... We...

[He can't finish the thought, fighting back tears.]

[layonhands]

Do you have any way to... to track her?

[druidisms]

I can scry for her, she's still Felicity. [ but like she might be a newborn baby? ] We should be able to, barring being in another anti-scrying field.

[bluffcheck]

Whatever it takes. We need to find her. [Not that he can really help. He doesn't do that kind of magic.]

[layonhands]

Then let's try it. What do we need?

[druidisms]

A stream. There's one in the woods.

[ and off gus goes to find the stream he'd used to scry for her before they'd all came back to the castle. ]

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster doesn't ask permission to go with him. He just quietly follows behind. He's too nervous and needs to be there the moment anything new is learned. Sorry Gus. You have a shadow for now.]

[klep]

[And as they're walking, there'll be a ring ring ring Gus phone.]

[druidisms]

[ literally the only person he can imagine would call him right now is malina so he picks up without looking. ]

Kinda busy right now.

[klep]

Gus?

[The voice isn't one he'll recognize, unfortunately. Downsides of having a new body. But the panic might be something that gets through to him, and she can only hope he's going to believe her as she speaks rather than assuming she's fucking with him, but the relief at having something actually familiar, even if it's just over the phone, has tears slipping down her cheeks.]

It's Felicity. I know ... I know it doesn't sound like me, but something happened on my mission and I don't know ...

[Okay, now it may be more tears than words, she's not having a good day.]

[druidisms]

Felicity, [ he says it with a relieved sigh. reaching out to clap thoster on the shoulder. of course she isn't going to sound like her, she's in a different body but it sounds like a female one so that's one less thing to worry about. ]

I know. Listen kiddo, something really bad happened on your mission and you didn't make it out. [ no use sugar coating it. ] Your resurrection didn't work so I reincarnated you. I know this is a lot but I'm going to need you to accept that for the time being, you can freak out about it later.

This is you, this is your body. Now where are you so we can get you.

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster's mouth falls open at the mention of her name. He reaches a hand over to grip the one Gus places on his shoulder. He doesn't want to interrupt but gods he wants to talk to her.]

[klep]

[You didn't make it out.

The words hit her like each of Buffy's blows did earlier, hard and fast without warning, but she doesn't really have enough time to process that before the next bits of information hit her.

This is your body.

The problem is, this isn't her body. This is the body of a girl named Julia who has a family and a life far away from the Knighthood. How was she going to explain this to any of them? Did she have the right to just steal their daughter, their sister away from them?

Does it really matter, since the damage was already done?

Somehow, she manages not to have a complete breakdown at all of that hitting her at once (will save nat 20), through sheer force of needing to get out of here and get home, to find Vi and make sure that the rest of the group was okay. She glances up, looking at the rest of the room to see if she can try and find the name of the hospital on somewhere she can see it (spot 20 total).]

I'm ... I'm in a hospital. The ... the body I'm in was in an accident. I'm not sure where, just ... give me a minute.

[behindcloseddoors]

[ she sees a brochure on the end table, on which is the name "Central Middlesex Hospital" ]

[klep]

Central Middlesex Hospital.

[And provided she can't reach the brochure from where she's sitting, she's going to follow up with:]

But whether that's Middlesex, England or Middlesex, New Jersey, I wouldn't be able to tell you.

[There's probably only one of those hospitals, right? She hadn't spent much time in Jersey, but she's pretty sure that wasn't one of the big hospitals.]

[druidisms]

Central Middlesex Hospital, [ gus repeats, mouthing GOOGLE to thoster and gesturing to his phone, clearly indicating he google it. ]

It's fine, kiddo, I can scry for you. We'll come get you. Are you okay? [ a beat. ] Physically.

[ she just died and came back in someone else's body, he doubts she is okay emotionally and mentally. ]

[bluffcheck]

[Real Google says it's in London?? Thoster just gives Gus his phone with the whole search result page up.]

[klep]

No.

[She made it so far without losing it but she's also still in a lot of pain so ... there are tears now. She's tired and she's scared so please come get her.]

The girl took a piece of metal through her chest in the accident.

[So yeah this body is not in good shape.]

[druidisms]

Lissie. [ breaking out her childhood nickname. ] We'll be there soon, I'll heal you. It's gonna be fine.

[ she's in someone else's body and just died, fine might not be the right word, but it's all he's got. she has to be fine or he will expire from guilt. ]

I'm going to give you to Thoster so I can focus on getting us there faster. [ a beat. ] Love you.

[ and he will swap his phone to thoster's so he can look at the picture that popped up with the info to find a tree nearby on google earth, thanks technology, so he can transport them via plants. he keeps walking them into the woods to find his designated transport tree. it's wide af. ]

[bluffcheck]

[He takes the phone eagerly, cupping it with both hands, as if he can somehow hold onto her from here.]

Felicity? I'm right here, love. We're going to find you, alright? Gus knows just what to do. You've been in good hands with him from the start. Don't lose hope now.

[All the while, he's following along into the words.]

[klep]

[She huffs a breath as she closes her eyes and leans back against the chair she's sitting in.]

She has a family, Thoster. The body I'm in, she has a family and they're here. I don't know what to do.

[... sorry boyfriend. You get to deal with this end of her existential crisis.]

[bluffcheck]

Breathe. Just breathe. [He keeps his voice soft, calm.] Best to stay put. If you disappear, they'll likely panic and start a search. If they want to talk, maybe just tell them you've lost some memories, let them fill in the rest.