knightsoflegend | venice ♔ the piano keys are black & white but they sound like a million colors in your mind

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venice ♔ the piano keys are black & white but they sound like a million colors in your mind

WHO || Rafael Giovanni, Isabella Alessandro, Hiro, Kat, Gar, Buffy, Myri [closed]
WHAT || Kat, Gar, Buffy, and Myri spend the night at Rafael's. Nothing of consequence happens at all.
WHERE || Rafael's villa, an hour outside Venice, Italy
WHEN || July 6-7, late night.
HOW || Actionspam, NO TAG ORDER

After returning from her ~~interrogation~~ ~~date?~~ outing with Rafael, Buffy was ushered back into the girls' shared rooms, where Gar and Kat and Myri have set up shop. Myri and Gar both spent most of that time on the phone: Gar with Wynn and Myri with Finnick, and Rafael dropped by to wish all the girls a good night before retiring and leaving them alone with Buffy.

As the household settles into sleep, maybe now is the time they can get some serious snooping done...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ buffy shrinks back as rafael moves beside her, like she's quick to try and avoid touching him, and she only looks more uncomfortable as he starts interrogating the guy. but she doesn't stand up and walk away, just averts her gaze towards gar. ]

That's what we're trying to figure out. [ a beat. she glances sidelong at rafael because she's honestly not sure what he's saying. ] I think.

Isabella assumes that we brought these men here- that we are associated with them.

[She doesn't understand any of the Italian, so that's the best she can offer Gar. Plus, she's had a rough day. She's almost been fired and is now being accused of being a bad guy. Not cool.]

But we are not. [She turns to Isabella.] We do not wish to harm any of you.

[ ♬ The Scientist - Coldplay

Isabella opens her mouth to reply but she's cut off by a sudden twisted chuckle from the man on the ground. It's the cruel, hollow laughter of a man with absolutely nothing left to lose. He replies to Rafael in English, perhaps spurred on to such by everyone else speaking in the language, and there's pure vitriol in his eyes as he stares Raf down.

"You cannot stop us. You cannot save yourselves. Take us down, and more will come. They will keep coming." He grins more wildly. "You've been sold out, Giovanni."

Rafael's eyes harden even further, and the gun clicks in warning as he demands in a tone that would make anyone leap to comply (intimidate check 25): ]

Sold out by who?

[ The man's eyes trace across the group and he licks his lips, the smile gone now.

"Paolo." He returns his gaze to Rafael, letting that sink in. "Paolo spread the word to everyone. You're a dead man. There's nowhere you can run, because they're all coming to wipe you out. You and your little half-breed whor--"

He never finishes the sentence. There's a loud BANG and his head slumps to the left immediately.

Rafael's grip on the gun is so tight that his knuckles are all but white, and he stares down at the now dead body with a hard and terrible look in his eyes before finally lifting his gaze to meet Buffy's. It's only then that he seems to register that she's still there, and his eyes skid across the others, taking in Myri, Gar, Kat, Isabella, and the scene of the yard. The hard eyed anger seems to fade out and as he looks to Buffy once more, there's something else there, as if the smiling mask of the singer they'd spoken with earlier has been stripped away entirely now, revealing an almost entirely different man. There's a great depth of sadness, regret, pain, and even something of an apology hiding in his eyes, but he doesn't vocalize it. Instead, his voice is carefully steady as he says: ]

Isabella, call someone to come for the rest of them.

[ she looks, of course, almost ready to protest, but when she meets his eyes, she seems to change her mind. there's a change in her demeanor as well after hearing the now dead man's words, and she whispers: ] Paolo. [ shaking her head, and then turning, casting a silent gaze at the girls that seems to still hold a lot of blame - and a lot of threats.

and she heads back in the direction of the house. ]

[ gar watches all of this in silent horror, and the moment isabella turns away she swallows and then says: ] I think we all need to discuss some matters.

[ buffy's expression softens with a sort of pained sympathy as she meets rafael's gaze, and she reaches out to touch him at first until he speaks. then she just drops her hand like it never happened.

it's with more maturity that she meets this big heap of not who she thought he was than when she encountered spike's. there are circumstances, things people don't understand, things they don't understand about each other -- didn't have time to.

and she realizes, most importantly, that she's not exactly a paragon of honesty and forthcomingness. so she doesn't hold it against him, even in the wake of all of this. not like she would have a few months ago.

she ducks her head, then slowly straightens up, trying to avoid looking at the dead man beside them. ] Let's get inside.

[No one has to tell Myri twice. Being outside with all the dead and dying just makes her sick. And she's already not feeling her best, so she just focuses on walking towards the house.

She understand Rafael's decision to hide parts of himself. She's done it before, which is why she doesn't necessarily see it as an issue. There are things that you do in order to survive.]

[ he leads them back in, stepping over the glass and then drawing them down a hallway past lots of debris and bullet holes in the walls, tracing one hand across them idly as he does so. he doesn't speak again until he's brought them inside one of the living rooms on the untouched end of the house, and allowed everyone time to sit. he stands by the window, looking out. ]

Isabella, Hiro, and I are members of an organization known as the Shadowkind Resistance Movement here in Italia. Perhaps I do not need to tell you how bad things really are here, but perhaps I do. There is much that does not end up reported on the news, and things have gotten only bleaker in the last twenty years, instead of better. Shadowkind go missing from their homes, entire neighborhoods are raided for harboring those deemed 'dangerous' with no cause, families are separated, executed, imprisoned...

[ he looks back at them, eyes landing on Myri ] I thought you must be Shadowkind when I first saw you. [ he indicates her hair ] I thought perhaps the rest of you were, or if not, perhaps you did not realize how dangerous it was here for any non-humans -- especially young women -- to stay here alone.

[ and then he fixes his gaze on Buffy ] You asked if I knew Jade in the Shadow World. I'm not sure what gave you that idea... but I was born here, in Italia. It was my father who came from the other world, many, many years ago.

Waitaminute. He knows Jade? [ yeah, her and myri missed that train ]

He had a picture of her. [ Buffy explains it as a quick aside to Kat. More importantly, she turns her attention to Rafael. ] You were right. I mean -- Are right. About us. We work for a Knighthood that, uh, intervenes. We help. It sounds to me like we're all on the same team. [ Maybe she shouldn't mention the Knights. But, she trusts Rafael, and Kat and Gar will just have to deal. ]

We came here looking for Angelo because we found out NOVA Records was buying Shadowkind DNA, and we want to know why. We knew he was on the list of people they'd bought it from. [ a beat. she has to know. ] But, Isabella said something earlier -- you thought Jade was dead. How -- ? I mean, she's alive. Very, very alive, and in the States.

[ ♬ Foolish Games - Jewel

There's that earnestness in his demeanor again as he narrows in on the last part, seeming to just accept the rest for the moment so that he can get to this subject. He shakes his head. ]

Not dead, no. Not exactly. Isabella merely-- [ he seems to decide not to pursue that line ] We thought she was gone, lost to us. I... [ he seems to consider how best to say this ] I need to see her, if you are right.

Edited 2012-08-15 04:20 (UTC)

We can take you to her. [ she looks to gar and kat for confirmation. ] It's obviously not safe for him here right now. [ and it's their job to help. ]

[ gar looks hesitant. ] We, of course, want to help in every way we can. [ she glances aside at the other girls. ] But if you'll recall, Wynn's ordered us back to the castle as of tomorrow. As mission leader, I can't be absent from the debriefing.

[Myri looks up and catches Gar's gaze. Her memory is quick to remember the words from the squiring ceremony as if they were just spoken mere seconds ago (Wis check 23)]

I shall be everywhere and always the champion of the right and the good against injustice and evil. [Her voice is not loud, exactly, but each word spoken with great purpose.]

If we are not here to do what is right, then why are we here at all? This man is being hunted. We cannot in good conscious walk away, knowing that fact. [Nevermind that he can clearly take care of himself.] Moreover, he is obviously involved with Jade, who we have determined is linked to the talisman, which is the reason Wynn sent us on this mission to begin with.

If we cannot take him to Jade ourselves, then we should at least take him with us to the castle, to offer sanctuary until it is safe to reunite him with Jade- and perhaps in that time, we can learn more from each other and Wynn will realize how grave a mistake he makes by not trusting the instincts that caused him to put this team together in the first place.

[ aw, kat just grins at that from where she's sitting on the couch arm ] Hear, hear.

Did I mention I'm promoting you? Now might be a good time to mention I'm promoting you.

While I greatly appreciate your concern for our safety, Isabella and I can protect ourselves from our enemies. I have no wish to be sheltered away - I will go to Chicago, if you tell me where I might find her.

Unfortunately, it's slightly more complicated than merely giving directions. You'll need an escort. [ she looks to myri and squares her shoulders ] And Myri is ... quite right. We are Knights, and this is our sworn duty: Wynn is certain to understand.

But we need not all accompany Rafael. Perhaps only one or two of us need go, so that the others might relay what we've learned here to the rest of the team and work to impress upon Wynn how far we've come.

Would this accompanying mean opting out of the big Wynn yell-fest about whether we did or didn't perform up to standards? 'Cause, if that's the case, I volunteer. I beyond volunteer for this courier service. [ she raises her hand for dramatic emphasis, then looks at rafael. ] ... Not that I wouldn't otherwise. [ her hand drops. ] Don't get me wrong, I've totally enjoyed our time together on a personal level, but in the interest of saving our butts ... any chance swinging you over to Jade's place will get you to help us out with anything you might know about this Nova deal?

You'd have my gratitude and all assistance I might offer. Though I fear I know little about Nova's interest in Shadowkind DNA.

But I would offer my help in discovering what purpose they have in it, particularly if you think it is in some way a threat.

[She feels a little guilty for disagreeing with Gar, even if she does feel as if what she's said and done is for the best.]

I doubt Rafael could be in safer hands than Buffy's. [She smiles at her friend, knowing that Buffy was also most likely to get as much information as possible, since she and Rafael had already spoken.]

Do you have a suggestion for anyone to accompany her? [She turns back to Gar for the question. She wants to make a point of putting some of the control back in Gar's hands. It's not that she wouldn't also volunteer- but Myri's just not sure if she's best suited for this.]

Either yourself or Kat... although I would appreciate at least one of you coming along to speak with Wynn, as you're both quite... skilled at vocalizing your sentiments. [ so diplomatic ;; ] And if you wished to complete your Knighting ceremony while we were back in the castle, naturally, both of you would have to accompany me, although that could always be pressed off until a later time. I will leave it up to you, of course.

Mr. Descant might be a valuable additional party as well. His presence might make it easier for you to reach Miss Jade without much... fuss.

If he's going, count me castle bound.

So, Myri, Rafael and I hop back over to Chicago and meet up with Des, while you guys work on smacking some sense into Wynn? [ buffy gives a decisive nod. ] I'm kinda loving this plan. [ mostly because myri reasons c: she loops an arm around myri's elbow to lock them together. ] And you'll pass any updates our way?

[Knighting ceremony? :o She had assumed Kat was kidding back there. Her cheeks flush a bit at that, but she recovers once Buffy puts an arm around her.]

I'd be happy to go. I suppose someone has to be there in case of injury. [She smiles broadly, feeling a bit more useful at that notion. Not that she wants anyone hurt. But at least she knows that Buffy will be safe, which is pretty big deal to her.]

We'll of course stay in touch. [ a beat ] I imagine we should attempt to find Dumage before we leave.

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