CHAPTER FINALE ♔ darling can't you see it's now or never

[romanticidal]

♬ Astronaut (A Short History of Nearly Nothing) - Amanda Palmer ft. Zoe Keating

WHO || Rafael Giovanni, Eterna Jade, Burt Becksworth, Isabella Alessandro, Finnick Odair, Myrilandel de Tanos, Buffy Summers, Spike, Elena Gilbert, Dawn Summers, Desmond Descant, Jeanne Gar, Kat Samcelot, Mark Sandazhard, Violet Fiore, Sterling Archer
WHAT || CHAPTER ONE FINALE: Rafael Giovanni & Finnick's televised international concert debut
WHERE || A music hall in Chicago, IL
WHEN || July 3rd, 2013 [ forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam

The hour is finally upon our heroes, to learn whether their crazy plan to invest in making Finnick and Rafael international superstars under Burt Becksworth's management will pay off, and keep control of NOVA Records out of the hands of Chad Becksworth and his sinister compatriots. Now, as the Knights finish taking their seats in the balconies directly overlooking the stage, the concert goes live, broadcasting around the world, to where even other members of the Knighthood in London can gather to watch.

The camera pans across the endless sea of gathered, curious fans, who shake their arms wildly for their two seconds of fame, and then zooms in on a blonde figure on one corner of the stage, where she stands ready with a microphone: Buffy Summers.

[ the action of this post will be continually propelled by the interspersed musical numbers performed by finnick and rafael. each musical number will be up for a short amount of ooc time, in which players are free to create mini-thread responses directly to that song comment. these can be for internal reflection, to make commentary to the neighbors seated in their rows, for backstage convos for those involved in the program, or for 'host' commentary between some songs by archer and kat. threads that result from these responses should be kept short and sweet, as each song is only 3 to 5 minutes long, which doesn't leave a lot of time for in depth conversations. ideally, by the time the next 'number' is posted (as a direct response to the last musical number comment), your response threads from the previous number should be considered over and done with, and you can continue anything going on in them as a new mini-thread under the most recently posted song. in order to keep track of when things are rolling on to the next song, I highly encourage everyone to please track this entire post. ]

Comments

[slay]

[ no, really, finnick, it's not just you. buffy has consistently been telling rafael over and over again that brainrape is bad and he shouldn't be trying to force jade to remember or holding out hope that she will because she didn't want to. and yet.

and yet he did this.

he did it, it's obvious from all of their reactions, and it's evident that elena is right based on jade's. it feels like glory just socked her in the gut - or it would, if she remembered what that felt like. the shellshock hasn't fully worn off by the time she responds, so she's just staring with an empty expression and hollow words. ]

It wasn't a dream.

[ speaking doesn't help the suffocating feeling that's tightening her throat and weighing down on her chest, and it's a wonder she's still standing because she doesn't feel like she should be able to. she feels blindsided and broken and dizzy. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des grits his teeth and shakes his head, trying to smile, but it only comes out as a cringe.] You got it all wrong, Blondie.

[He looks Jade right in the eye and only sees that stranger looking back at him and that ought to make it easier to keep a straight face, but he still ends up looking more like he's going to throw up on her.] It is a dream. A waking dream that you can walk into and share with someone else, and while you're in that dream, absolutely nothing outside of it can hold you back. Not the constraints of reality, not your everyday life, not your responsibilities, and not how royally fucked you actually are. Nothing matters, because it's not real the way this crazy messed up world is, and you're free. For the first time, you actually feel free.

[He holds out a hand to her.] And now the show must go on.

1/2

[starfucker]

[ burt is here to ruin this heartbreaking moment a little, as he leans over and adds: ] Can we skip the metafuckingphysical monologues when my girl's gotta get her ass on that stage? C'mon, pronto, kids. I'm dyin' here.

[borrowedheaven]

[ she stares at des for a moment, obviously baffled by his words, but seeming almost struck by them as if they hit on some distant echo of something far back in her memory that she can't place. then burt interrupts and breaks the moment, and she reaches for des' hand but stops, turning to burt, who she seems to recognize. ] I'm not even going to ask how you're here. But do me a favor. [ she points down at the composer ] Go tell Giacomo to play the number we opened with in Firenze. Trust me. [ with one last lingering stare down at rafael, who is patiently waiting out the standing ovation he's receiving, she looks back at des and slaps her hand in his ] Lead the way.

[witchwoman]

[Myri has been watching since the three girls returned from their moment away from the balcony. She has a hard time piecing it together as she glances at each of them. Obviously something important has happened but she's uncertain to what it could by (wis 8). She moves naturally to Finnick's side, placing a hand on his arm and giving him a curious glance before turning to watch Jade walk away.]

What was that? She seems...different.

[65]

[now he's grasping her hand again, like recovering from amnesia and losing feelings for your current love interest has become some kind of epidemic.]

Jade got her memory back, but now she doesn't remember any of us. It's something Rafael did. [and finnick is not sounding too pleased about his life choices.]

[witchwoman]

[As Finnick speaks, it's as if a dam breaks in Myri's mind. By making her aware, she cannot help but feel everything that her teammates are experiencing at this moment.

Fear, confusion, hope, admonishment, heartache.

Her head and heart are filled to bursting with the complex layering of emotions from all these people that she cares for so deeply. She can't speak, can't even move. Her face pales (though it might be difficult to notice with the low lights of the concert). She holds onto Finnick's hand like a lifeline, trying to separate her own sense of self from the barrage of emotion from the rest of the balcony.]

[shootfirst]

[ kat looks back out the balcony curtains, double taking at des and jade's retreating forms before turning back to finnick ] Wait, what? I thought that was like, beyond the realm of impossible.

[rationalizes]

Under normal circumstances, yes, however... we don't know that Jade's memory loss operated under the usual parameters of Veil amnesia. She was the only case we'd ever heard of anyone leaving this world and returning to it.

According to Rafael, she returned here from a divine plane.

[65]

[the way she's holding his hand makes him feel like she may need some additional support, so he pulls her closer to him, this time in a protective way instead of the kawaii sexychan way earlier.

ALSO, remember that time finnick actually searched "is there a different between shadowkind memory loss and normal memory loss" on google? well, he sure does.]

I read somewhere that some people think memories can by taken by gods for specific purposes. Maybe it was something like that? Especially with the whole divinity thing. Rafael just … prayed them back.

[notaroundme]

[Elena nods, listening to Finnick's hypothesis.]

And her necklace broke, right when it happened.

[She moves to look below Jade's seat, searching for the remnants of the piece of jewelry.]

[rationalizes]

[ it isn't difficult to find. strangely, it's the silver of the actual necklace that's broken the most, fallen into pieces, while the jade pendant has fallen out of its casing and lays there with a big crack across it. something about the coloring of it seems duller than when jade wore it before. ]

Well, yes, I suppose... I suppose theoretically that's possible. But Sehanine would have had to agree to it - wanted it to happen. Gods aren't merely at the mercy of the prayers of those who ask them for things.

Perhaps this is tied somehow to Sehanine's particular connection to the Veil.