new orleans ♔ need a fix cuz i'm going down | down to the abyss

[romanticidal]

♬ Season of the Witch - Dr. John

WHO || Rafael, Buffy, Spike, Des, The Mind Master, Olean Gilbert, anyone guarding Olean in the car... (including Gar) [closed]
WHAT || The Knights go to investigate Chad Becksworth's mysterious 'advisor' in her bayou home
WHERE || The Lousiana Bayou, outside New Orleans
WHEN || Thurs, Oct 18th, evening
HOW || Actionspam, don't sweat tag order! Keep it a rollin'.

Crammed inside a big white van, Olean rides up front, directing the driver outside the city of New Orleans, and in the direction of the stretches of swampland for which Louisiana is famous. He has them turn down a side dirt road, which leads them far off any highway or main street, and seems to go on without passing anything remotely similar to civilization for at least sixteen minutes of the drive.

The closer they get, the more he begins to sweat profusely, wiping his face repeatedly with a handkerchief, until he can't find a spot on it that isn't drenched. Finally, he tells them to pull over, waving his hand at the side of the road, and the vehicle pulls to a stop.

"T-this was about where we w-went in," he says. "But I can't tell you anymore, because it was only the once, and there wasn't a real path and ... and... I wasn't exactly paying attention to how to get back there anytime soon. Or ever."

Rafael cranes his neck to look out the back window, but then just pops the back doors of the van open and hops out.

"We'll find it," he says, a determined look in his eye. He nods a bit up the road, at what looks like a dilapidated shack that could be straight out of Cabin in the Woods. In front of it stands a sign that's fallen over, with "FREE TOURS" in white paint that dried dripping half down the wood. There's a light on inside, glowing through one of the windows. "And it looks like someone knows of a path."

Comments

[nothingsodivine]

[Des pushes ahead when he hears DA CHOPPUH.] Unless it's an extra evil airplane hangar in there, I doubt it.

[mindmaster]

[ when they burst out back into the shack at ground level, the sound becomes clear to everyone, except for spike. sorry spike. maybe you'll at least make your spot check. beyond the little cabin, visible through the windows to those who don't crit fail, there's a small silver helicopter lifting up into the sky. NOVA is emblazoned on the side of it, and the man they saw inside is visible on one side, while the mind master is operating it.

another helicopter sits on the small landing pad below. ]

[slay]

[ people who should fly this helicopter: not buffy.

with a spot 16 and the fact that she hears the helicopter now, it's pretty safe to say she sees it. flying away. with those two inside. she looks to the other one, grimacing. ]

Any chance one of you fine gentlemen knows how to pilot a helicopter? At this point, I'd be willing to settle for extensive experience in simulator video games.

[bigbad]

[HE SURE MADE HIS SPOT CHECK it's a nat 20 spot check so he can make out every freaking speck of dust on that copter.]

...I could try. How hard can it be?

[nothingsodivine]

[Spot check 16. He looks mildly green around the gills at the sight of it too. IS HE AFRAID OF HEIGHTS. Or maybe it's just the prospect of Spike flying it that freaks him out.

He turns to Rafael.]

You better have mad piloting skills in that bag of tricks of yours, Little Italy, or I'm taking my chances with the gators.

[bigbad]

Question is if he can pilot it without nearly killing one of his teammates. [STILL BITTER.]

[romanticidal]

If that is all it takes to nearly kill you, you may need a better line of work, no? [ it's said with annoyingly good humor even as he gestures for them to move to the chopper ] I have done this once or twice before.

[slay]

How about we save the sniping for once we're in the air, huh? And preferably at them. [ buffy's ignoring their dick-measuring and climbing into the copter with the assurance that rafael knows how to fly. because she probably wouldn't have gotten in if they were relying on spike's best effort either, sry spike. she scrounges up a headset and puts it out - btw she took the copilot seat, des and spike can have back, she and rafael need to cuddle. while he ... flies a helicopter. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Wow. He was actually expecting Raf to say no...]

Is there anything you can't do? I bet your teeth even glint. [YEAH, WHATEVER. Des is getting in the back.]

[bigbad]

[Whatever, Spike has all the right in the world to whine. On top of the bullet, Buffy's still getting all cuddly with that wanker! What does she see in him? Sure, his voice is all right, and yeah, Spike supposes Rafael's reasonably attractive. And okay, when he's not shooting his teammates, he can, Spike supposes, hit the broad side of a barn. But there's.... well... his accent. It's bloody ridiculous. How can anyone like someone who talks like that? And honestly, he's a bit too pretty, if you ask Spike. Going right over into poncy.




........Spike's pretty sure he could take him. In unarmed combat, anyway.


He climbs into the helicopter next to Des and glares daggers at the back of Rafael's head.]

[romanticidal]

Do not speak so soon... [ yeah he's hitting all the buttons to turn on the helicopter but he must be forgetting some step because it's not so much starting. (pilot check 9) ]

[slay]

I think that one needs to - [ wow good thing buffy's up front because through some miracle of god, she manages to help him out. apparently she's better at figuring out a helicopter than a car, because she's flipping on the right switches and gets the rotor turning (pilot 22). ] There we go.

[bigbad]

[Haha. :-) Spike can't help feeling a bit of satisfaction at Rafael's failure. Especially since Buffy then manages and it turns out they're not stuck here forever. He turns towards her in surprise.]

You can fly?

[slay]

I can read. [ she points it out anticlimactically and indicates labels on the instrument panel. ] And on occasion, even see lights. [ a look to rafael. ] No, uh, offense.

[nothingsodivine]

I'm just glad he's not perfect. He's a pretty boy with two guns and an Italian accent, but he accidentally shoots people just like the rest of us.

[romanticidal]

I am far from perfect. [ his expression and tone darken just enough to make it clear that the words are significant in his opinion, but at that moment the helicopter begins to rise and he focuses on the controls. it's not a very clean take-off, and the chopper dips uncomfortably one way and another before steadying out. now would be a good time for seatbelts. ]

[slay]

[ buckling right the fuck up now because rafael is clearly not an expert pilot and buffy sure as fuck ain't either so yep hello seatbelt. ]

[bigbad]

[Yeah, seatbelts are definitely happening. Spike never thought he'd wish Buffy were the one driving, but he has zero faith in Rafael right now...]

[nothingsodivine]

[Safety first, y'all.]

Now would probably be a bad time to tell you I hate things that fly, right?

[HE'S NOT AFRAID OF THEM, THOUGH, OKAY.

He is afraid of one thing.

Well, two things, but the other fear is more existential.]

[romanticidal]

[ the bottom of the helicopter sways as raf clips the landing skids against the tips of trees as they come out over top of them. it's a rocky ride, so everyone fort save so you don't get airsick... (7 or lower is a gateway to barf town).

rafael curses in italian as they rise into the sky and see the other chopper is nowhere to be found ]

We have lost them.

[slay]

[ fort save 21. buffy just bobs in her seat but seems unfazed by the turbulence, too focused on searching out the other helicopter -

which they can't manage to get a glimpse of. her shoulders sag. ]

Damn.

[nothingsodivine]

[Yeah, Spike. Enjoy the sounds of Des losing his lunch right beside you. He looks up weakly and breaks out into an incredibly unmanly whine.]

I got in a fucking flying death trap for nothing?

[bigbad]

[It's cool, because Spike just crit failed his fortitude check which means he's throwing up in Des' lap.

And there's probably blood in it too since that's what he eats.

Worst mission ever.]

[romanticidal]

[ rafael banks hard to the left, apparently trying to see if maybe they went the opposite way, which didn't help their lurching stomachs, oops.

also they're not visible there either. ]

[bigbad]

Get us down already!