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

[graveflowers]

[Myri, check. Finnick looking... no, not right now. Finnick, check. Buffy, check. The lights sputter back on, and oh, Spike and Elena. Double check. Okay, that's enough people to be a crowd that Vi thinks she can break off for five seconds and grab Mark (because he is all alone, guys) but she pauses a moment to assuage her worry. GOD Des, be less right next time. Imagine the Thunder from Down Under. Or a petting zoo.]

Are you guys... alright? Anyone hurt, wounded, in need of medical attention or knots?

[slay]

Nothing solid yet. Either Chad taking the loss badly, or ... Rafael's enemies jumping at the chance to get at him while he's making a spectacle of himself.

[ she shakes her head as she answers finnick's question, looking dissatisfied with how little she knows. at vi's question, she begins to assess the others for injury. ]

[nothingsodivine]

Can't rule out that Chad might be here for Jade. Rafael pretty much put up the searchlights. Anyone with clout probably knew what the hell he was doing. And given how badly Chad wants her, he might jump at the chance at seeing if she's more amenable when her boyfriend is threatened.

[bigbad]

[Spike looks over at Buffy, expression somber. At least she seems to be holding together well enough from the emotional pain that he can... skip asking her about that for now.]

I thought I saw a demon on the stage. I mean, it looked like a person, but Isabella couldn't see him at all.

[notaroundme]

[Elena glances around at the small crowd.]

What about the others? Where are Kat and Gar?

[slay]

Demons looking like people? [ there's a little groan. she rubs her hand to her face, trying to think. ] Okay. Okay, there's a good chance he's with Chad. Demons always seem to pop up when he's around. Which means we should find him, grab him, and figure out where Chad's at. Let's get backstage and find this guy.

[graveflowers]

[Demons that look like people? Okay. That is sort of new, the vernacular is new. She pushes it aside, compartmentalizing it to think about later.]

Should we split up? Half go get Kat, Gar and Dawn, and half get Burt, Archer and Mark. Or... thirds, and grab Jade before someone figures out she remembers and can probably work out that Talisman for them now.

[nothingsodivine]

[......]

I'm going to Jade. [AND HE'S JUST HEADING OFF.]

[slay]

Violet's right, we need to cover all our bases.

Myri, Finnick - find Burt. Violet, Elena, you two meet back up with the others. Spike's with me and Des. If this thing's a demon, we're the best ones to shake it down.

[ i hope everyone is ok with her barking orders bc it's habit, whoops. she turns to spike, gives him a nod, then barrels after des. it's ok she won't know if you ignore her the minute she's out of earshot. ]

[borrowedheaven]

[ ♬ it will not be forgotten - the pierces

violet's the first to zoom to the backstage area, with spike and buffy coming fast at her heels as they outpace des. there's precious little light back here anyways, and it's possibly to see smoke coming out of the wings. there's a sense of pandemonium among most of the crew back here - people in all black running around with flashlights, shining them at fuseboxes and shouting warnings here and there. it'll take a dexterity check of at least 14+ in order to run through everyone without careening into stagehands and the like, or tripping on wires. among the stagehands, there are a few who seem to be standing entirely in place, keeping an eye on things back here - really, really, really large dudes who look more like security. ]

[graveflowers]

[Huff huff huff. That isn't exactly what she meant, okay. But whatever, she is apparently Usain Bolt when pressed because she just sprints backstage like the tiny goddess of speed. Speed on speed. Sorry Buffy, it's fairly obvious she isn't listening -- single minded to a fault. She skitters over wires and around people, though it's nice of the ones not moving to not get in her way (dex 18). Nice in a creepy way. Half way there!]

[bigbad]

The demon vanished before the lights came back on! No clue if we're facing one or not!

[That seems like important intel before everyone shows up and can't find Orlando Bloom. Either way, it seems likely they'll be up against something demonic, and he and Buffy are the experts there. Spike's sprinting on past Buffy to the stage and.... smoke. That's... great. He can't see anything.]

[themuscle]

[ as spike makes a beeline for the stage, a huge figure suddenly blocks his path, rearing up in front of him like something out of a bad cartoon. the looming stagehand exhales and smoke rolls out his nostrils... and spike's earlier spot check means he can definitely see the thing's reptilian yellow eyes, as the hulking brute reaches out and slams his hands against spike's chest, knocking him backwards a few feet so hard that it feels like he walked into a truck. (atk 21, dmg... 14) ]

[graveflowers]

[It would probably be morally not cool to enter herself in the Olympics right? 'cause she is a gold medalist right now. Instead of running through some plastic ribbon a la Roger Bannister while Chariots of Fire plays inspirationally around them though she just runs... into the door. Hey honey, she's home.]

[slay]

[ with a dex 19, buffy easily navigates the backstage area and sprints out to where spike is, following him as closely as she can - but he's faster, and he beats her there by enough of a margin that she witnesses the hulking monsterchan attack him.

luckily the smoke is only barely creeping at the area they're at of the stage, which allows buffy the opportunity to run up and slide between spike and the big guy, springing upward to catch his chin in an uppercut (atk 27, dmg 39). ]

[savemyself]

[ buffy's attack sends the behemoth staggering back against the wall that curves out to form the wing on this side, and there's a tremendous crashing noise as he disappears into the smoky haze. however, they all got good enough spot checks to see that he's not the only one who was 'guarding' the stage area - and the three massive other 'stagehands' slowly lumber closer to them on either side.

up on the top balcony, isabella is straining to see the stage, but seems torn when she looks over and discovers it's just her and dawn up here. she takes a handfan out of her purse and snaps it open, revealing that it has deadly spikes on each end. she looks to dawn: ]

Are you armed?

[65]

[ finnick is aware of everything going on around him, but it's like it's all happening in in slow motion and underwater. loud noises. myri, finnick — find burt. burt is not myri, nor is he on team failboat (which would have given him a little bit of priority, at least.) he actually doesn't find burt as appalling as the rest of them seem to (maybe he's just become numb to it after constantly being in his presence for that last year), but not enough to put his neck on the line for him. the pragmatic, survivalist part of him doesn't rear its head very often, but it's here now.

so, as everyone starts fleeing in different directions, he stays put and looks down at myri.]

Let's leave. Pretend we didn't find him. [he almost punctuates that with "he'll be fine" but who fucking knows with burt.]

[notaroundme]

[She's about to go after Vi when she realizes that she's...going the wrong way. Before she has time to shout after her she's already off and running, and everyone else has gone their separate ways and she's...torn.

Finally, though, she does what she's told. She's worried about the two female knights, and Buffy told her to go so...

She takes of (dex 20 total) back toward the lower balcony, hoping they're there.]

[isisagent]

[Archer begins to head backstage to see what the commotion is all about, still pretty oblivious to what's going on.]

Stupid fucking gogg-Gauh![He exclaims as he slips and nearly falls flat on his ass in his own mushy-song inspired vomit.]

[He shakes his head, and wonders what could make this concert any worse, before continuing to walk backstage, guns drawn just in case some freaking stage hand gives him an excuse to vent some frustration.]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des, because he knows Buffy and Spike are powerhouses and he is a skinny bastard with a revolver, ducks into a storage room as soon as he finally catches up and finds himself surrounded by equipment and gets a brilliant plan. He fucks with the mics a bit (disable device 17) and an earsplitting SCREEEEEEEECH emanates from the speakers.

And Des is okay, because he got a 22 fort save.]

[shootfirst]

[ elena walks out onto the lower balcony just as des' crazy feedback bomb goes off. kat barely makes the save (fort 15), hands clapping to her ears, as she shouts: ] SonuvaBITCH! [ she manages to remove one hand long enough to dot the air with a finger and say: ] Protectis. [ and gives herself a +1 to saves because fuck you des ] What the fuck?!

[themuscle]

[ the feedback causes the remaining bruiser to buffy's right to groan and lose his round as he fails his save and sits there in brain punching misery.

as for the other two, hey remember when des thought they were his favorite snake people?

a little left of center. which becomes readily obvious when the two others open their mouths and breathe fire at buffy and spike. (37 damage, reflex save 19+ will half it to 18 damage) if spike fails his reflex save, he also... catches on fire. the dice love setting spike on fire, i guess. (unsure) ]

[nosdacariad]

[ there's a pause before the door violet ran into opens very gingerly and mark looks in. if possible, he looks even more frazzled than before, completely pale and hesitant, as if he doesn't want to see what's on the other side of the door. it does, however, seem to surprise him when it's violet. he also seems oblivious to what go on inside. ] ... Are you alright?

[rationalizes]

[ gar was looking out over the balcony, waiting for the smoke to clear with her gun drawn, and she manages the sound just fine, but turns to see elena as her ears start bleeding out and looks horrified. ] Elena!

[starfucker]

[ and archer comes backstage on this side to discover burt, hunkering down beside a camera crew watching the screens light back up, and he looks up as the spy approaches. and then double takes. ] You! What the fuck are you doing shooting fucking guns at my fucking concert? People are shitting themselves out there!