new orleans ♔ there's always a siren singing you to shipwreck

[dragonsclaw]

♫ Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse

WHO || Buffy, Alainn, Rose, Sam, Dean, Faith, Felicity, Isabella  [closed]
WHAT || The Ex-Knights of Failboat head off to interrupt an auction for Rafael Giovanni's life...
WHERE || New Orleans, LA
WHEN || A couple weeks post-LA
HOW || Actionspam

Held in the grasp of the Knighthood's enemies for a stretch of time that has been an aching splinter in the heart of the ones who love him, Rafael Giovanni's life now stands up for auction.  Having made a number of powerful enemies in his days as the vigilante assassin The Black Scourge, including the secret Vatican police known as Iscariot, Draken Crombe's organization sought to capitalize on the many who sought revenge by sending out word that Eterna Jade was not, as his trial had seemed to prove, the Black Scourge at all, and offer the chance to kill or torture Giovanni to whoever would pay the largest sum.

The Knights, being made aware of this, did what they could to stymie this auction from coming to pass, and Buffy Summer and Jack Chessing managed to at least thwart it several times, leading to its cancellation and inevitable rescheduling elsewhere.  However, none of this led to Giovanni's actual location. 

The capture of Draken Crombe finally allowed them to learn of the latest plans for the auction - to be held at a location in New Orleans, a temple of some sort.  It seems that Crombe's other followers still intend to follow through with ridding themselves of Rafael, making it clear that even with Crombe in Knights' custody, the villains still have some organization or leadership.  Tia Ellison rattled out the plan by invading Crombe's mind, learning of the way that he had been psychically manipulated by the Mind Master for years, and doing what she could to start to heal his shattered psyche.  

Jack Chessing, eager to see Rafael rescued after their many efforts, cautioned however against sending too many on what might be a mission from which there is no returning.  To that end, they've tried to split the forces of their magic-users, fighters, and researchers.

Now, it's up to a few to save their friend... without losing any more.

Comments

plane ride

[savemyself]

[ please post all plane ride convos here ]

planning | single-thread, everyone

[likedillinger]

[ at one point, when they are close to louisiana, dean slides out of his seat and heads towards the front, leaning one hand on a seat and looking at everyone speculatively ]

So. We got any kind of plan for this rodeo?

[slay]

Yeah. Save Rafael, kill anyone who tries to stop us.

[ She knows Dean's getting at the point that they don't have the numbers to just go crashing in, but Buffy is here with quips first and strategy later. Every other time they've been this close, she and Jack have only managed to send them scurrying back into their holes. She's nervous. ]

[savemyself]

[hunter - bjork

isabella is pressed against a window, dressed all in (still very stylish) black, speaking for the first time since they've boarded the plane now as she glances at buffy, her words a cold agreement ] I doubt there will be any there that we need feel guilt over killing.

infiltration team ◘ sam, felicity, faith

[savemyself]

[ the temple in question is rather isolated, which is perhaps no big surprise... it is a large building, in terms of width and length, although it appears to be only one story high. it is decorated with large arches and columns, giving it a classical appeal, and a large pool sits in the center of the drive at the front entrance.

the knights gather in the swamplike woods behind the building for now. from here, there is a visible line to the back doors, which have two men in suits with sunglasses staking out the place. it's not hard to spy long enough to see that they wear walkie-talkies, and have large machine guns strapped across their chests. ]

[familybusiness]

[Sam's donned in his magical disguise (disguise 26), thank Alainn.

He watches with the two others from a distance, trying to come up with some kind of strategy to deal with these two bozos.

He keeps his voice lower than a whisper.]

However we handle this, we can't let them call back-up.

[klep]

Nope.

[Felicity is in agreement there.]

We could probably use one of those walkies though. It'll help us keep tabs on where people are.

team research

[likedillinger]

[ after getting everyone else booked into the shittiest motel room on god's green earth, dean hops back into the car with whoever wants to come on the research train, and drives around trying to find the local library for awhile (it's great to not have phones). he is... not having much luck. ]

Taking it that Louisianans aren't big readers.

[familybusiness]

[Sam hopefully managed to at least change into some extra clothes at the motel before heading out so that he's not covered in blood, js.

Regardless, he glances out the window of the passenger seat (sorry Rose, he stole it), gesturing toward a gas station.]

Just stop and we'll ask someone. It's better than driving around randomly.

[littledhampir]

[ Rude, Sam. +1 on the extra clothes from Rose, otherwise she's chilling in the backseat bloody af right now. I mean upside, it's not hers?? Mostly. ]

Or just... Buy a map. [ With her know local check of 9... That's the most help she's gonna be. ]

motel threads

[romanticidal]

[ well this place is charming. the good news is that there's barely anyone else staying here, and that they don't ask many questions when dean books out a few rooms. he limits it to three to avoid too much suspicion, at least. since he took the key to one, it can be assumed that he's planning on staying with sam and rose. they get to decide how to split up the rest... there's 2 beds in each room, and a rollaway cot, so each room can hold three.

threads can go below for any motel convos that evening. ]

rafael ♔ (ota).

[romanticidal]

[ raf is... a little out of it. no one can probably blame the guy, and he's certainly grateful to everyone, but his injuries appear to be more than just physical, and he seems to be having a hard time grasping that this is exactly real. he's also probably not gonna get much sleep and someone's gotta handle the awful task of filling him in on everything he's missed. ]

[slay]

[ Welp. Most everyone else is heading on team research, so even if there were a question, Buffy isn't really engaging it. She's staying with Rafael. Her efforts might be better used elsewhere, but emotionally, this is where she needs to be right now. She settles down beside him on the bed and reaches out to start threading her fingers through his hair.

It's tangled. Split at the ends. It has lost some of its luster in the time he's been kidnapped, and grown shaggy. She frowns deeply over that, but hopes the gesture is soothing nonetheless, smothering her expression of grief and the awareness that ... he might be back, but he's not going to just be the same. She'd seen what Finnick's change had done to him and Myri. She hates drawing on it, but -- it's there. In the forefront of her mind. 'Trauma is hard' in big flashing letters. ]

Hey.

/for whenever

[littledhampir]

[ She'd come looking for Raf with the intention of asking how he was doing, but the second Rose opens her mouth... she realizes just how stupid it is. He was kidnapped and held captive by the Mindmaster and has returned to learn that one of his best friends was now shacked up with an Archdevil.

Or ya know. She's really hoping he's been filled in on that because Rose doesn't want to do it. ]

It's good to see again. [ Alive being the key factor here, especially because the last time she thought she saw him? It was actually a fake dead body full of hell wasps. JS. ]

isabella ♔ (ota).

[savemyself]

[ isabella is a) very very injured, b) really unhappy with being in this trash heap, and c) ignoring a & b because rafael is alive and seems relatively well. she is going to spend a lot of time locked in the bathroom dressing and cleaning her wounds. ]

[slay]

[ Buffy knocks on the bathroom at one point, after Isabella has had some time to herself and Rafael is all filled in. ]

Do you need any help in there?

Rose ][ OTA

[littledhampir]

[ As OTA as she can be for somebody who is going to head to her room after they get back and allow herself some time to heal up. Short of looking over the photocopies the boys made and watching bad cable, things aren't going to get too exciting. Unless there's a plan to eat. Then she'll find the motivation to move. ]

[likedillinger]

[ dean flops down in one of the chairs in the motel, looking exhausted, as she pours over the papers ] I'm gonna need a beer for this. Or seven.

Sam | OTA

[familybusiness]

[Sam is obsessively going over the print outs that he brought back from the library at times, though otherwise he's probably doing push-ups or an ab work out, or relaxing on either a bed or a chair.

He's also available for rudimentary first aid if anyone wants some of that. There's not going to be any painkillers though, and he'll probably sew you up with a sewing kit, but at least he knows how to sterilize things???]

[likedillinger]

[ while sam is working out, dean is across the room, clearly holding in a thing that he isn't going to hold in all day.

aw here it comes. ] So. We gonna talk about what happened in there?

[klep]

[And she will come over during research time, tipping her head to the side curiously as though that will help her read the words better when they're upside down.]

Need a hand?

[littledhampir]

[ Dean's gotta not be around at some point, right? Anyway, look Rose isn't dumb. She knows Dean will have already offered his opinion on this and the two of them tag-teaming Sam is not going to help matters, so she's going to try a different approach.

Try... being the operative word, here. ]

Can you... explain to me what happened back at the auction house? [ See?! Questions, not accusations. It's... a start? ]

Rose attn Alainn

[littledhampir]

[ Welp... Not too long after this, there's a fast series of taps on the door to the room Alainn is staying in. Because clearly when it takes you this many years to get to this point, it's super important to have zero patience to take that final step. ]

YES YES YES

[attollores]

[She had been in the middle of trying to learn a new spell, though it hadn't been going too well (concentration check....13), so when Rose starts rapping on her door she is only too glad to jump up and answer to see who it is. Apparently, she's not too into study-time today.

As soon as she sees Rose, she knows something is up (Wisdom 19), and the other woman's smile is infectious, her own spreading across her features quickly.]

Rose! Yer glowing, love! [ she kinda thinks Rose is glowing cuz she probably just got laid, tbh. she steps out of the room cuz fresh air and a smiling bestie are better than the small, smelly motel room.] Did you and Dean have some alone time finally?

[attollores]

[Alainn is here, mostly spending her time in the motel trying to study and learn a new spell or two as time allows, and will be constantly casting anti-scrying spells on all of their rooms. She isn't hard to tear away from her studies, seeming unusually distracted after rescuing Rafael. She is up for hanging out with the rest of her teammates but doesn't seem to have the concentration necessary to actually initiate anything between them.

Come bug her and get her out of her small, smelly room.]