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

[likedillinger]

What I don't understand is how this guy intends to prove what he saw. Because if the answer's a blurry smartphone video, I'm gonna punch him on principle.

[littledhampir]

[ Grinning a little, before she considers that more seriously. ]

I wouldn't have thought it's something K-Douche would just leave laying around.

[ She's not sure how the rules work for him but she's not risking it, k. ]

[likedillinger]

Maybe he didn't have it yet. Had to get it from somewhere.

[littledhampir]

We know somebody who might be able to tell us that. [ She doesn't sound too happy about it, though. ] Dumage.

[ Alainn is her best friend. Damn straight she's not big a Dumage fan. ]

[likedillinger]

She's back with the rest of the Knights, isn't she?

[littledhampir]

[ Nodding. ]

I already mentioned to Jack that she might know more than she even realized. We didn't think about the knife until you brought it up.

[likedillinger]

So how do we get a hold of her?

[littledhampir]

[ She gives him a slightly amused look like; 'were you expecting me to be the brains of the operation?', and lifts her shoulder in a half shrug. ]

Phone? Not the greatest idea I know, but if we get desperate... It depends on what she's up to. I wouldn't put it past her to go crawling back to you know who, just because she thinks it's her best shot at survival.

[likedillinger]

Maybe it's not the brightest idea to go asking her then, if she's gonna head back his way and tip him off that we're looking into it.

[littledhampir]

[ Weirdly... Rose doesn't think she'd throw them under the bus, at least not easily anyway. Dumage almost seemed more self-serving than straight up traitorous... but it was neither here nor there. At the end of the day, she did agree that she would likely put herself first. ]

Fair point. [ Scooping up the papers into some semblance of a pile. ]

Maybe we just need a nether-whatever weapon of our own. [ Flopping back on the mattress with a sigh and staring up at the ceiling. ]

[likedillinger]

Guess next stop's the ancient Shadowkind artifact store.

[littledhampir]

[ This is the face of a girlfriend whom you're glad loves you enough to not throw something at you for the mocking.

]

If 'Daddy issues' can get one it's not impossible. [ Unlikely and out of the realms of her capabilities? Definitely, but not completely impossible, surely. ] Wynn probably keeps one in his sock drawer.

[ While it's meant to be a joke, it falls kind of flat because she can't even mention Wynn without guilt and loss churning in her stomach. ]

[likedillinger]

If he did, I woulda hoped he’d have brought it up before the psychopath wannabe deity got unleashed. [ but they don’t know that for sure, and now they can’t ask, which… is frustrating for him, clearly ]

[littledhampir]

[ Which she thankfully realizes, so she manages to keep her Wynn-Stanning under wraps. (Sense Motive 33 + Will Save Nat 20 smh.) ]

We should be looking for him. [ Voice quiet.

She gets it, the other things they have to do but she couldn't imagine him doing nothing if one of them had gone missing like that. ]

[likedillinger]

[ he hesitates, clearly not eager to be the one to say it, but... ] You really think if he got outta there, he'd be layin' low?

[littledhampir]

Of course not. [ Not mad at the suggestion, but resolute in her belief in Wynn. ]

I think he either can't contact us or doesn't know how. [Or think he should?

She had a thousand scenarios but not one of them involved Wynn staying out of the fight for no reason. ]

[likedillinger]

Then the most likely scenario means that looking for him's gonna involve goin' right into it.

[littledhampir]

[ She should be looking crestfallen, or at least surprised by that revelation. She's here talking about how they should be looking for him, after all, and yet it's written across her features as she looks in his direction. This too, she has already realized and she still wants to look for him. ]

Probably. [ Her tone suggests that she at least seems to appreciate the gravity of that, even if her thoughts seem like they err on the side of suicidally stupid. ]

He's not dead.

[likedillinger]

I don't think he is, either. But if we're going in to find him, we need to be ready for Blade. So I think we're doing everything we can. Might not feel like it though.

[littledhampir]

[ Still With Hearts Beating - Rose & Dean Video Compilation

It's in that moment that she can see every beat of this conversation and it pushes Rose to sit back up. Her eyes meeting his from across the small motel room, emotion swelling inside of them. She sees so clearly, exactly what he just did and not only does it make her feel less useless in all of this, it also reaffirms something she's known all along. That she has, and will always love this man. (Wis Nat 20).

It's hardly new, it's something she's felt for years but sitting with him in a run-down motel that reeked of stale cigarettes and cheap whiskey? She's never been more certain of anyone or anything in her whole life.

She feels a sense of calm wash over her now, the corners of her mouth curving into the ghost of a smile and it's written all over her face; How unbelievably lucky she thinks she is. How much better everything is with him there beside her and the words just sort of, roll past her lips. Without thought or hesitation. As if it's natural. Easy. As if this is how it was always going to happen. ]

Marry me.

[likedillinger]

[ it comes out so simply, so naturally, that for a second, it clearly doesn't even really register. maybe he thinks she's making a joking comment, or maybe he just needs a moment to process the fact that She's Not. whatever it is, his gaze having slipped off from hers during the beat of silence, flicks back to hers, then away, then back again, in a sort of double-take. the last time they rivet back to hers, his own eyes have widened slightly as he pauses to actually read her expression, finding the gravity of what she's saying etched into every inch of the way she looks at him.

his stirring reply? a somewhat stunned, and impossible to read: ]

What? [ ... he couldn't have heard that right ]

[littledhampir]

[ He'd already shown in the last five minutes just how well he knows her. The thing is? It's not a one-way street and she knows him just as well. Perhaps that's why there's no fear or uncertainty in her eyes as she keeps her gaze on him. Just the slightest widening of her grin as she watches him attempt to process what she's just said. ]

You heard me.

[likedillinger]

[ it's the patience with his needing a second here that seems to get to him all the more, and his eyes skate around the room for a second, taking their entirely unglamorous surroundings in with a glance, before fixing back on her. he doesn't move from where he's sitting, as if there's a bit of deer in the headlights syndrome happening, but he studies her carefully, the wheels clearly turning a mile a minute upstairs ]

I did, I just-- [ he stops before finishing that thought, struggling, clearly, to find what to say ] Rose.

I-- [ YOU WHAT, DEAN ]

[littledhampir]

[ Latch - Kodaline

She doesn't care about the room. Not the stains on the ceiling or cigarette burns in the carpet. She doesn't even care about the fact that she can hear the shower running and knows that Sam is going to walk out any moment because all that matters, is this. It's the only thing that ever has. Through everything they've faced together; The search for Elena and Kyp, Andres, Sam, Lissa's death, her death... literal hell raining down on them. It's always been the two of them, for better or worse.

There's something freakishly zen about her right now and her look is one of infinite patience, this knowing glint in her eyes as she shakes her head. ]

Stop thinking so hard. [ Tone light, still far too at ease for the gravity of the situation. ] I love you. And you love me.

[likedillinger]

[ his response this time comes without hesitation: ] I've never had to think about that.

[ and he means it. that much is clear, maybe clear to him on a level he's never really even been able to grasp until right now. the admission seems to shift something in his own tone, even in his posture, the tension in his shoulders dropping away slowly, bit by bit, as his eyes remain fixed entirely on hers. it's as if she can see him banishing a hundred potential replies from his mind as he stares at her: all of them mired in doubts that are burned away one by one in the complete certainty and unconditional love and understanding in her gaze.

when the words come out, delivered just as simply and straightforward as her own, to an outsider, the situation might seem to be almost bizarrely anticlimactic. but the moment hangs heavily in the air between them, filled with every unspoken but fully recognized thing they share, the kind of bonds that don't need to draw on elaborate words to make their point.

everything he feels shines out through the way he looks at her as he says: ]





Yeah.



Yeah, alright.

[ what about now - daughtry ]