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

[msattentionspan]

[Assumptions being made that Faith gets out of there, she will spot the car (spot 20) and glance back behind her, just to make sure the rest of them are following her. She'll head to the car and wait at the door to make sure everyone gets in.]

[slay]

[ Buffy piles in after Rafael, and when she settles in beside him, she immediately starts checking him over for his injuries. She can't do anything about them, not really, but she at least wants to take stock of them. And there's no use in talking right now while he's deaf. ]

[klep]

[Felicity continues to follow everyone's lead and slides into the car next to whoever's closest and collapses back against the seat with a huff.]

[savemyself]

[ isabella slides in next, besides felicity, and there's a moment where she clearly half wants to clamber over her so that she can sit next to buffy and rafael, but she gets herself over it and settles in, glancing over anxiously towards where the slayer is examining his wounds. buffy can't get a great read on exactly how hurt he is, just that he's sustained a lot of injuries and looks covered in bruises and cuts of all kinds. and bug bites some of them might be fresh, some not, but he all but waves her off from them, as if to indicate that he is fine, or at least fine enough to get out of here alive. still, she sees markings all around his neck that look like signs of some kind of collar or something that had literally been dug into his throat on various sides, leaving scars.

isabella cranes her neck a bit to see if dean is getting the car primed and ready to roll out or not, as alainn slides in behind them. then her eyes skate back towards rafael, and her face falls: she looks somewhere between exhausted and heartbroken and relieved, and is doing a terrible job of schooling her features at the moment.

a few more shots ring out after rose from the doorway abruptly. one of them... is a nat 20 and actually hits, the bullet striking her in the back of the calf. 16 dmg

isa's voice is quiet as she asks: ] Is he alright?

[littledhampir]

Fuck.

[ Y'all are lucky she just nailed her Will Save as she pulls her hand from her calf to see the blood there, Rose shooting a murderous glare at the remaining cultists as if daring them to try that again (Intimidate 38), but leaving it at that.

It's with the slightest of limps that she heads for the car, slowing to glance over at Dean first, making sure he's okay before shifting her focus to Sam.

Without any warning, she reaches up to take his chin in her hand, trying to force him to look at her as she zeros in on the blood that smears across his face. ]

Don't do that again. [ Her voice low, concern lacing through her words as she holds his gaze, wanting to be sure he knew what she meant. Then with a final nod, she releases him and hops in with everyone else.

And now Sam can take his turn instead of holding his action for her to get in :) ]

[familybusiness]

[His wisdom roll was a whole 4 so he literally has no idea what she means. He's pretty sure he's in trouble when they get out of here, but he just nods regardless as she gets in. With everyone in the car, he gets in as well, shutting the door after him.]

Dean?

[Please finish hotwiring the car bro. Everything hurts. Thanks.]

1/2

[likedillinger]

[ dean is focused on what he's doing, luckily, and doesn't notice his girlfriend get shot over there, or it might break his concentration and screw them all over. but the car hums blessedly to life, and he shouts: ] Get in! [ directing the comment to faith, who's the only one still waiting. once she does so, he slams the thing into gear and backs it out of there as bullets continue to be shot their way (drive 20). one of them strikes a window right beside faith, but merely cracks the apparently protected glass, not shattering it. once he's turned around in the driveway, the tires screech as dean peels them out towards the gates, which are... currently closed. ]

[romanticidal]

[ his head jerks over at isabella's question, and he raises his free hand to fiddle with his ear, clearly starting to finally pick up on some sound here and there as the deafness begins to subside. ] Si, Bella. I am alright. [ his words are firm, his jaw set as he glances back out the front window to see the gate that dean is speeding towards. he reaches forward to grip the back of the seat in front of him, fingers curling around it as he preps for impact, his entire body on edge. ] I hope he knows what he is doing.

[msattentionspan]

[Thanks for making sure she got in the car, Dean. :) Faith indeed, gets into the car and starts glancing over everyone. She saw Rose get shot and gives her a knowing glance. One that hopefully expresses "Are you okay?" along with "That was pretty badass." and a side of "You could probably use a drink, too." all rolled into one slight lift of her head.

She glances forward at Raf's comment, seeing the gate.]

If you got something to brace yourself with, I'd take the option. [She offers the warning and shifts to plant her feet a bit more firmly to the floorboards, trying to make sure she doesn't fall onto someone else when he inevitably hits that thing.]

[slay]

[ Buffy is doing her best soccer mom impression, barring an arm across Rafael's chest to keep him anchored as they approach the gate. She's holding herself steady onto the seat in turn. ]

Hearing's coming back?

[ That's a good sign. ]

We should have brought Myri or Vi. [ She should have anticipated Rafael would be in terrible shape like this ?? ? She'd seen him in her dreams. Plus all the injuries everyone else sustained getting him back. She's choosing to postpone grappling with putting everyone at risk for her boyfriend until they're entirely in the clear. She feels guilty, but not remorseful. She'd do it again. ]

[klep]

[Oh what a good moment to have her hearing come back into play. She hears Buffy's comment about Myri and Vi and pats down her pockets before pulling out a Cure Light Wounds and holding it up for Buffy to see.]

It's not much, but it's something until we get back.

[And after that she will bracing herself because this is probably going to be rough.]

[savemyself]

[ isabella, who looks

honestly worse off than anyone else here whatsoever

says nothing, seeming content to let the potion go to rafael instead. she does, however, wrap her fingers through the headrest of the seat in front of her, bracing for the inevitable impact ]

[familybusiness]

[Sam looks like shit too, though not as bad as Isa (they needed a pity cleric), but he's gonna roll down the window next to him as they approach the gate and the guardhouse posted outside, aiming his gun at the guard standing inside. He fires one round at him (atk 33 crit, dmg 22) before he shouts at the top of his lungs.]

Open the goddamn gate or I'm shooting again!

[Intimidate 21, heroic surge if that's needed to do both things.]

1/2

[likedillinger]

[ well, that shot got him right in the chest, apparently and he believes 100% that the next shot will be to the head, because the guard slams his hand down on something and the gate starts opening. dean veers the car to angle completely smoothly through without slowing down (drive 28), almost going up on two wheels a bit, but it's fine, most people are braced for it at this point.

they land back with a thwump, and then are off like a total shot. dean shoots a look back at the others with an arrogant smirk. ] Don't you ever let me hear you doubting us again.

[romanticidal]

[ where do y'all even find these people, is clearly rafael's expression. does he even recognize the winchesters??? good question??? esp with sam in disguise.

either way, he glances back out the window, before glancing to buffy again and giving her a nod about her question ] The others... is everyone...? [ alive at all? ok? he's missed a lot. he seems to realize that's asking a big question and changes it to: ] Where do we go now?

[ and that question will steer us out of initiative. please use the init plurk to call dibs! ]

[littledhampir]

[ Because clearly, Rose speaks non-verbal (Sense Motive 32), she responds to the only way she can; By lifting her shoulder in a shrug by way of suggesting she’s good, it’s only a flesh wound and make that two. She saw the pile of dead Iscariot agents at Faith’s feet so, she’s definitely somebody Rose intends to drink with.

Just in case anyone was wondering where the Winchesters fit in, the wide smile playing across the lips of the relaxed-looking Rose is probably a give away as she glances out the window to ensure they aren’t being followed. (Spot 35 ). ]

How do you feel about snow? [ Dragging her gaze back to finally give Raf a once over. Her smile losing all traces of arrogance as she adds. ] It’s good to see you, again.

[klep]

[Felicity reaches towards him, handing over the potion.]

Felicity. I don't think we've really met.

[And if they have spent more than two seconds in each other's company, she had a different face back then. So names to faces is important.]

And the others, generally speaking, are good.

[familybusiness]

[Sam conceals his gun back under his shirt then, finally wincing as he sits back in his seat. He exhales a calming breath, pressing his hands against his chest and healing himself again (+61 hp, which is just enough to heal him back to full). He shifts uncomfortably as his wounds magically close, most of them pretty ugly gashes from an axe or two. It's fine.

His lips perk upward ever so slightly as he glances at Buffy and Rafael before his eyes move over to Alainn, the resident magic user, before pointing a finger at his disguised face.]

So...how do I get rid of this?

1/2

[romanticidal]

[ alainn offers up a wave of her hand to turn sam back into... sam, as rafael glances between all the new and only barely recognizable faces, before nodding to felicity uncertainly. his eyes still skate to buffy for confirmation, as if not sure how much stock he can put in the assessment of someone he doesn't really know, but he does take interest in rose's comment. ] ... Snow?

[likedillinger]

About that. [ dean casually guides the wheel with one hand as he glances back at the others in the rearview mirror ] As much as I'm sure everyone's rarin' to get back to Uncle Vanya's cabin, we might wanna use this field trip for double duty while we've got some access to a reliable internet connection. Do some digging on this dagger.

[familybusiness]

Find me some access to a laptop and I can see what I can find.

[It's like Sam's ears perked up at the idea of Research.]

[klep]

As much as I love the siren song of cell service, it probably shouldn't be all of us.

[People were likely going to be looking for Raf and a group this large is hard to subterfuge.]

Unless there's somewhere very quiet where we can hole up while Sam researches?

[littledhampir]

There have been a few changes while you've been gone. [ Grimacing at her own understatement of the century. ] We're not exactly calling London home these days.

[Sure. Let's go with that as the greatest concern, for now.]

Library? [ She's got nothing okay, Rose is the muscle, not research girl.]

That's Dean and Sam. My boyfriend, his brother. [Pointing out each for Raf's sake, because god knows they aren't going to introduce themselves any time soon. At best he may recognize them from Rose's Rez? Fun times.]

[likedillinger]

Welcome back aboard the party bus. [ the comment is tossed at rafael, and then the other goes back to rose, sam, and felicity ] We only got one plane to fly us outta here, so I was gonna suggest I throw down a fake ID to get us a couple cheap motel rooms as base for tonight. That way, those who got hurt in all that action back there can heal up before we stick 'em back in the air, and some of us who aren't gonna stick out as Shadowkind can hit the library, see what we can pull, and get some printouts to take back with us.

[familybusiness]

That should give you guys enough time to fill Rafael in on what's been going on.

[Since that will... Probably take awhile.]