new orleans ♔ the man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud | but nobody ever hears him

[shootfirst]

WHO || Thomas, Jack, Gar, Kat, Dumage, Mark, Myri, Buffy, Finnick, Spike, Rafael, Des, Elena [Closed]
WHAT || Various downtime shenanigans
WHERE || Various locations, New Orleans
WHEN || Tuesday Oct 16th - Oct 28th [Backdated]
HOW || Actionspam, don't sweat tag order!!

[[ Several of the Knights discovered a secret room hidden in Nova Headquarters, full of strange occultish paraphernalia and guarded by monstrous warriors. Amid this was direct evidence of an interest in the Talisman. They also took captive Chad Becksworth's personal assistant, Olean Gilbert, who has information about the location of the mysterious woman that Burt told Finnick about - the one whose presence has had a major effect on Chad's personality. Olean doesn't even know the woman's name, calling her the "Mind Master", and identifying her as Chad's 'advisor'.

The Knights also discovered that the other Dragon's Claw, Sir Jack Chessing, had followed his own secret mission to Nova Headquarters, and he'll be meeting back at the hotel with them to explain what brought him there...

This log covers any non-work related shenanigans the Knights have while staying in New Orleans, immediately following the last log and extending over the next two weeks.

Make your own threads, don't fuss about tag order, feel free to threadjack multiple people into one thread for hang-outs, ask me if you want a certain scene with an NPC, etc. forever whatever.]

Comments

[dragonsclaw]

Then for me to appear and attempt to assert sudden authority would be to try to strip you of what agency you already possess. Our goal is to create Knights who have the strength to operate beyond simply following orders. And I know that one of the reasons Wynn chose to assign you to me was that he felt assured from meeting with you that you had the ability to make those important calls already, a part of your very nature, perhaps. He thinks of you as someone with leadership potential, and what I've heard of your fieldwork speaks to that.

And now I hope for a chance to see some of it for myself.

[slay]

So, what you're saying is ... I don't really have to change anything. You're here to - well, to help - but as observe-o-guy too. A-And I just ... keep doing what I was already doing? Unless I need you. Spontaneously.

[chessing]

Or even under less spontaneous circumstances.

[slay]

[ there's a long beat as she considers this because it seems, well, a lot less complicated and confusing and basically she overthought this epically and it's sinking in. oops. ]

Okay. I can do that.

[dragonsclaw]

That applies to now, as well, if you had anything else you wished to discuss.

[slay]

Well there is one thing ... [ she shifts, uncomfortable, then starts to unwrap her hands, settling in and taking a seat on a workout bench to get comfortable because this is gonna take a while. ] Do you know a lot about demons? Like ... crawly, sometimes-invisible ...

[chessing]

I can't say I've had much experience, first hand, although I've heard... accounts. Not everyone believes them, in this world, but I always have.

[slay]

Prepare your "I told you so"s, because there's something you need to know about this Brotherhood and NOVA business. [ she levels her gaze on his, somber. ] There have been demons around - and plenty of them. At first I thought it was ... I mean, I didn't think it was related. Just one in this ... alley, feeding on the homeless. But, they were there at NOVA today. Two of them, trying to get into the room where we ran into Gilbert.

[chessing]

[ jack considers her words very seriously, looking cautious to jump to conclusions. ]

The occult room. [ a small frown ] Do you think they may have summoned the creatures?

[slay]

I think that if I were going to try and stir up some big conspiracy against Shadowkind using magic, making an army would be my first order of business. Demons make a hell of one. They're not exactly smart, makes 'em easy to use.

[chessing]

You sound as if you know quite a bit about them. [ it's not an accusation, more of a question ] Is this in your experience, since you've started seeing them?

[slay]

[ she stops to think about that, considering it for a moment to long before just nodding. it doesn't entirely feel like it is - some of it, she realizes, might be her dreams bleeding through. some of it might be instinct. but on the whole ... ]

I've fought enough. They're not bright - most of them are like ... like giant bugs.

[dragonsclaw]

And you've defeated them in unarmed combat? Or with the assistance of blessed weapons?

[slay]

Uh ... yeah? [ the cluelessness painted in buffy's expression makes it clear that she's not entirely sure why that's laudable. ] I mean, Spike helped. Once.

[chessing]

Sir Spike sees them as well?

[slay]

Apparently. I didn't know until today. [ she worries at her lip a moment. ] There's something else.

There was a man. W-When I saw the first one, there was this guy in an alley. He ... He knew stuff. About me, and demons. He told me to call him Mr. Gray. [ this is something she's spent a lot of time considering - he'd told her to call him that. it didn't mean that was his name. ]

[dragonsclaw]

Knew things about you? [ he raises an eyebrow ] Such as?

[slay]

About my name, about my - what I can do. And ... [ she hesitated. ] I've been having these ... dreams. I've always had them - that I can remember, anyway. About - About vampires. I didn't tell anybody, Jack, and this guy - he - he just knew.

He called me a demon slayer.

[dragonsclaw]

Hmm. [ he mulls this information over for a moment, remembering what she'd already mentioned to him about dreams ] It's possible that the man was a telepath, and was using your own fears and thoughts against you, but why he would bother with that sort of fiction is difficult to fathom.

Unfortunately, from what I know of the Knights' expertise, we don't have many members who can attest to knowing much in the way of demon slaying to aid you in interpreting all this. [ hesitantly: ] But there are others out there, that we do know of.

[slay]

Others. [ there's shaky disbelief in her voice, because it's the first real lead on what this is that she's had in months. so, as neurotic as she'd felt when he started, with reminders of her own discomfort and fear towards exactly what ~mr. gray~ had touched upon, there was reassurance in knowing that it's something legitimate that she can look into. ] What kind of others? How do I talk to them? Jack, if this is real - or if it could be, if it could give me even some kind of idea what's happening to me, I need to know everything I can.

[chessing]

I understand that. [ he still sounds very cautious as he chooses his words ] However, the organizations we're aware of whom protest to deal with demon slaying are hardly on good terms with the Knighthood, for a variety of reasons.

Both larger organizations are professed religious fanatics, and both highly value secrecy and privacy, preferring to refrain from letting any outsiders interfere in their 'missions'. There have been... run-ins as such, when their mission paths cross with ours.

[slay]

Do you think this Mr. Gray mighta been one of them? Like ... Like a recruiter or something?

[dragonsclaw]

... Potentially, although from what I understand, only Iscariot recruits members in such a way. Was he wearing anything that might mark him as a religious man? Catholic, particularly.

[slay]

Not really. I mean - Kinda. He talked about stuff like ... "awakening my gift" and "higher purpose." And sin. But, if he were one of those fanat-o-guys, wouldn't it be more like "poo poo, Chosen by God, poo poo"? I thought that was the extremist bag.

[dragonsclaw]

Even they might recognize that such talk scares off some potential candidates.