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

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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ 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. ]

[ 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.

[ it's hard to tell at first if the physical contact is actually extending any comfort, or if it seems to be causing him to grow more tense, which is disturbing in and of itself. he sits with his hands clutched, staring down at the carpet, eyes closed against the pressure of her fingers, and it isn't until she speaks that something seems to crack. he turns to her suddenly, reaching out to bundle her in his arms and draw her tightly against him, his face buried in the crook of her shoulder. he holds her there as if to confirm repeatedly to himself that she's really, truly present, seemingly ill-inclined to move.

it takes him a moment to find his voice, which is thick with emotion, although not with tears. ] Thank you.

[ She gets her free hand up around his rib cage, continuing to comb her fingers through his hair with her other, soothing him. She goes so far as to rock him against her, shushing and soothing him as grief closes its grip around her heart. It hurts to see him like this. It hurts to know that she'd drawn him into it. ]

I told you I'd come.

[ He'd believed this, of course. She knows. But it seems like the only reassurance she can give, in the wake of it all. ]

[ there are some tears now, she can feel them, warm and wet against the skin of her neck, although he remains strong and solid against her, nothing shaky in his grip. his words come in spurts, as though he can't quite gather his mind around them in long bursts. ] I knew. Time and again, they would say that the auction would come, and then--

It was you, wasn't it? You kept coming. Stopping it. After all this time. I never doubted, from the moment I agreed to go, that you would. She tried-- [ he doesn't say a name, but hardly has to, shuddering slightly ] to make me believe many things. About you, and that you were killed, gone, never coming. But I had your dreams to know. As long as they came, I knew you were out there.

[ he draws back finally, reaching up to pull down his collar so that she can see something, all but branded into his skin near his heart. it looks to be a crescent moon, slightly threaded in silver. ] She protected me as well. From the worst of it, I think.

[ She looks down at the scar — she can't think of how else to frame it. Buffy's entire experience is framed around battle, and to her, this is one more piece of it. She runs her fingers over it, something serious and puzzled in her expression as she examines it, trying to parse what is so far beyond her. She's the Slayer, she's been visited by angels, but gods still feel like they're just ... out of her wheelhouse. The whole thing.

But it had worked, hadn't it? However alien, it had worked. Sehanine had come through. ]

Looks like neither of us are ready to give up on you yet. [ Her lips twitch, then flare out into a wider pursed expression, and turn eventually into a sad smile as her glassy eyes meet his again. It's hard. Just being the strong one is hard. She has been fighting so hard for so long for this moment, and she's ready to come apart now that it's over.

Except the fight is only beginning, and Rafael is in so many pieces. She has to hold on yet. A little longer. ] The place that we've been staying, it's far away from the fight. You can stay there. You'll be safe.

[ Protected. Removed. At this point, it's all she can hope for. Surely he's not prepared to dive back in. Not against the Mind Master. Not after everything this fight has taken from him already. ]

Where are you staying. [ he repeats the words, as though trying to sort them out, make any sense that there is to be made of the world ] Did something happen to the castle again?

Uh. Sort of.

[ Fuck. There's no better way to say this except the most direct way. ]

... Wynn's gone. Hasmed and Solace decided they were in charge and the rest of us couldn't be trusted.

[ he doesn't seem entirely surprised by the latter half, for whatever reason. but his eyes narrow in concern at the first. ] Where has he gone?

Hopefully somewhere.

[ But Buffy doesn't sound too hopeful on that. It's hard to be when they've had no word from him. ]

Because the alternative is that Blade killed him. He disappeared after the concert.

Concert? The one Draken insisted you all attend?

[ She nods, her frown deep. ]

Blade did some ritual with some enchanted something and now he's all god-like. The real deal. Wynn tried to fight him.

Godlike? [ he repeats the word, incredulous, obviously hoping that he heard her wrong or-- ] What else? Buffy, what else has happened? [ it seems to be sinking into him very rapidly just how much could occur outside given the passage of time, which has sat so still for him in a series of cells ]

Los Angeles is gone.

[ Or practically is, anyway. ]

Blade immersed it in some kind of evil energy.

[ his eyes widen a bit, before they sink to the floor, as he tries to process this ]

Were you--

Hurt, but fine.

[ It wasn't a time she wants to relive, by any means. Buffy has never in her life felt so powerless, and she'd come up against Alexander Anderson. Twice. At least, she assumes she's his concern. That sounds like the Rafael Giovanni way to end that sentence. ]

[ yep, she’s not wrong. while there’s a slight furrowing of his brow at the fact that she was injured, she’s clearly fine now, and while he wants to know more, he also… probably doesn’t really, and recognizes as much, nodding once tightly. his dark eyebrows knit together tightly, before he says: ] I need to know, Buffy. What else.

Hasmed and Solace took over the Knighthood. Everyone here has gone rogue.

[ It's not a promising situation. ]

They think we've been compromised by the — ... By her.

Compromised. [ he repeats it again, exactly what that means seeming to dawn on his face ] Like what your dream told you. About Elena?

[ She nods. ]

They thought we were being manipulated. That we couldn't be trusted. Our only choice was to sit back and let the rest of the Knights handle the mission without us ... or find a way to do it ourselves.

And you could not do that. Of course you could not. [ there's a light of both relief and respect in his eyes as he nods ] I am sorry that it has come to this for all of you.

But you are right to keep fighting. We must.

Some of us need to take a break from fighting. [ She looks meaningfully at him. ] You've been doing enough of it for long enough. When we get back to Krozna, maybe it'd be better if you took it easy for a while.

[ he looks uncertain, but not outright dismissive of the idea at least ] For awhile. Perhaps...

[ that's going to take him some consideration, and he stands now, moving to look out the window, fingers pressing the blinds aside slightly ] I just--

I do not wish to ever feel that powerless again. Trapped, in such a way.

[ he drags his gaze back to her, pensive, but something suddenly seeming to come to him ] We leave tomorrow, si?

[ a while is enough. for her, she might be able to get used to it. she might be able to find some kind of peace knowing that he's safe for at least a while. this is going to chase them their whole lives, she realizes. a while is all she can hope for.

he pulls her from that thought, and gladly, with his question. she nods, puzzled. ]

Why?

rafael ♔ (ota).

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/for whenever