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

[bigbad]

[OW OW OW FUCK THIS IS NOT SPIKE'S DAY. He doesn't fall over at least (balance 18), but he screams in pain from the fire and shrugs off the burning jacket, smacking at the flames (reflex 20). At least he's gotten it out, yay! But not before taking 9 damage from the fucking fire. He turns towards the lizard that set him on fire and growls, fangs sliding out because NOW HE'S REALLY PISSED. And has his sights set on the creature that can hurt him most. GENIUS. Buffy please save him before he dies horribly.]

[watcherjunior]

[ It's just the two of them up in the balcony. Dawn looks over in time to see one impressive fan being snapped open. That's definitely not something you pick up in a little souvenir shop. She can't help but look a little sheepish when Isabella asks if she's armed. ]

No. Uh.. yeah, no. [ Good going, Sir Dawn. She's just about to give a lame excuse when there's a screech of feedback. She winces, her hands covering her ears as if it would block out the sound. Given that she's near a speaker, not so much. She can't hear anything aside from a loud ringing in her head. ]

[witchwoman]

[As Myri hurries in search of Burt, she realizes that she doesn't know this area well at all. This is certainly not where she had intended to go (or is it?), but moving forward is the only thing she can think to do. She stills her steps, slowing down long enough to take a few deep breaths and regroup. She orients herself based off her earlier perspective from the balcony and has a much better sense of her surroundings now. She starts off again, this time with a better plan in mind (search 18).

There's a door. She walks towards it with determination, but upon opening it, realizes that it leads to the auditorium. Panic hits her in a wave, causing her to hesitate, then pain... so much pain. She clutches her head as it throbs in sympathy, but after gritting her teeth, she presses on. She keeps as close to the stage as possible, trying to put distance between herself and any of the people left who aren't bolting for the door.]

[rationalizes]

[ all gar does is move to elena's side, and grab her arm, looking her over with concern, and then glancing back at kat ] Kat! Did you bring any potions?

[graveflowers]

[Is she... Does she look alright? She gapes at Mark a second before she shakes her head. She doesn't have time to worry about why he is so pale and ruffled and surprised.]

No, I am not. Shit has hit the fan so fucking hard I wouldn't be surprised to see a god damn ghostly apparition waiting to cart his new soon to be dead friends off to the underworld. So table your family drama and get your ass in here because we're gonna need your fucking help. Let's go.

[savemyself]

[ isabella seems unaffected by the loud noise b/c she's a boss. instead she simply purses her lips together tightly, looks back towards the stage, as if considering, and then sighs: ] Then you should stay close. Come, let us check on those below. [ and she moves to the staircase to head down to the lower balcony ]

[65]

[ he doesn't move fast enough to cover his ears, and everything myri says to him is blocked out by a loud, metallic ringing followed by dizziness and nothing. it's a sharp, intense pain, like someone slammed an ice pick through his skull. all of this doesn't really do anything to make him feel less panicked. ]

What?

[ apparently asking "what" just makes myri abandon him. as she tries to walk away, he trails after her and yells her name louder than he intends to bc he can't really … scale how loud he's being rn. ]

Myri! Myri!!

[notaroundme]

[Moments after she makes it to the balcony, the room explodes into sound, and it's all she can do not to just pass out on the spot (fort save crit fail).

Elena's hands reach for her ears as she crumples to her knees, and her head is filled with a screeching buzzing noise even as she feels warm wetness against her palms. Tears spring into her eyes and she yells out, but she can't even hear her own voice to know if she's screaming or not.

Gar's beside her moments later, and through the dizziness she can see her lips moving, but there's no sound, just that constant roaring in her head.]

[isisagent]

[Years of firing loud guns have given Archer a rather serious case of Tinnitus, and this feedback bomb is no match for his built-up resistance (Nat 20 Fort).]

God Damnit Burt. There's no time for your bitching!

[Archer grabs Burt by the arm and starts dragging him toward the stage]

[starfucker]

[ oh no no. burt tries to yank away from archer but he is the biggest pansy ever because he sure got a str check of... 3. sounds about right. still, he'll smack archer hard on the arm with a nat 20 (2 whole damage), to get him to pay attention ] Where in the name of the Virgin Mary's gaping cunt do you think you're taking me? Hands off, jackass.

[slay]

[ let's just chalk buffy's fort save up to magic slayer resiliency because she grimaces and shakes her head at the noise, and it's enough to keep her from getting out of the way of the flames. she raises her arm to take the brunt of the blow. which is stupid, because her arm isn't covered at all.

will you still love her when she has horrible burn scars from all the 18 damage she took, spike?

as she lowers her arm, shaking it off to disperse the pain or at least put it out of her mind, she spots the look on spike's face and wow shes' going to have to help him or he's going to burn to death in his attempt to fight these things. ]

You okay?

[ she calls to him as she reaches down, tearing through her dress (str 18) to remove the bottom part of the skirt. it's beautiful, it's a gift from rafael, and now it's destroyed, and she wishes those were the last things on her mind right now. the scraps get tossed aside and she runs for the fire-breather spike's eyeing, running up to kick it in the face (atk 33, dmg 17). ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des, oblivious to the damage he is wrought to the entire fucking theater, is currently making a lasso out of microphone wire (there is still a microphone attached to the actual lasso part) (dex 15). While there's a distraction, he runs out of the closet swinging his makeshift lasso over heard with a sharp whistle to get the attention of the lizard Buffy didn't kick in the face and swings the noose around its neck (atk 24) and then tightens the lasso (str. 18)]

[watcherjunior]

[ The ringing makes her head feel fuzzy. Isabella doesn't seem affected, and doesn't seem to realize that Dawn is. She squints, wishing she had learned to read lips instead of dead foreign languages. She hears nothing of what Isabella says and instead replies, loudly: ] What?

[ The other woman is moving though, and since she has the weapon, Dawn follows, staying close behind her. ]

[hiredgun]

[ ♬ hey man nice shot - filter

meanwhile, all that smoke filling up the stage area has finally dispersed enough that people can begin to see what the hell's been going out there all this time.




... it's not good.

rafael stands on the middle of the stage with both guns drawn, pointed upstage several yards at another figure - a stranger in an expensive suit and tie, sporting dark shades, who's clutching eterna jade in front of himself, the barrel of a gun rammed up flush against her throat beneath her chin.

rafael's expression is grim, entirely cold, but it's possible to see the layer of fear behind his eyes. jade's hands grip the man's forearm in front of her, and she struggles somewhat, causing him to tighten his hold on her and move back another couple feet, dragging her along, cutting off any good angles from the wings that don't put her directly in the line of fire of anyone wanting to plug the bad guy.

he sneers at rafael, and apparently all of them were equally unaffected by des' speaker trick. he yells out*: ] NOBODY MAKES A GODDAMNED MOVE.

[ * (intimidate 26, please make will saves, all those able to... hear.) ]

[shootfirst]

[ with a 20 will save, kat is undaunted, but afraid to disobey... however, she still surreptitiously reaches for her purse and kicks it over to gar on the balcony, since it's got the potion inside. she looks anxiously between elena, gar, and the stage. ]

[nosdacariad]

[ the lassoed behemoth struggles against his bonds, and then roars at des, before taking the entire round to flex, apparently, and snapping the wire from pure muscle power (nat 20...). at least it stalled him for six seconds.

the one buffy kicked in the face staggers away a few steps, then turns and roars at her, raising a hand out of which pop several terrifying claws, which he rakes at her face, but misses widely.

mark is still mostly outside tbh, and doesn't even hear this crazy guy yelling. all his focus, therefore, is on violet, and he hesitates a moment, before drawing his gun and stepping in, asking her insistently: ] What happened?

[bigbad]

Fine.

[But his bluff check of 14 isn't all that convincing when he's pretty clearly charred and bleeding, and even less convincing when he staggers towards her, clearly in pain.

And then there's some asshole pointing a gun at Jade and bloody hell, he's really gonna do it, isn't he, and Spike sure doesn't want that to happen.

So he doesn't move. But he does ready an action to try and grab the fire breathing asshole if someone gets the gun away from that guy.]

[hiredgun]

[ those close to the stage with a listen check of 17 or higher can hear the man's words even as he lowers his voice and addresses them only to the woman he's holding hostage, pressing his gun hard against her, words dripping derision: ]

Alright, you mutt bitch, here's what it's come down to. You had all the chances in the world to say yes, and you just had to keep up the stubborn act. So here's your last shot. [ he hisses the words as he bends her wrist to an awkward, painful angle, looking her over as if frustrated by something. ]

Where is it?

[witchwoman]

[Myri is scared... very scared, but as the man's words reach her, she knows that she has to do something. Jade only just got her memories back. What sort of healer would she be to stand by to watch someone reborn only to die at the hands of this maniac?]

She doesn't have it! [She cries out from her spot in the front row. She holds one hand behind her back, as if whatever he's looking for might be hidden back there.] I do. [Here's hoping that he attributes most of her jitters to the fear (bluff 14)] Let her go.

[rationalizes]

[ meanwhile gar very slowly bends to pick up the potion inside the purse, and then moves to elena's side again to uncork the blue liquid and hold it to her lips. she hears myri's shout and looks back over the railing... and then looks back to elena, her eyes falling and lingering on the necklace still wrapped around elena's knuckles. ] ... Oh dear.

[bigbad]

[NO MYRI THAT IS NOT AN OKAY SUGGESTION. Spike decides this is a good time to move. At the very least, it could distract from Myri and make the scary guy with the gun shoot Spike instead. He hurls himself at the fire breathing lizard man and grabs him hard, wrapping his arms around the monster's neck (atk 32, grapple 32, dmg 21).]

[graveflowers]

[It is good that Vi can't hear or see what is going on. As the other half-goddess in the room she would have gotten really, just thoroughly, insulted by that mutt comment. She does hear Myri though (listen 18) which pulls all her attention away from the flippant answer she was about to give Mark. Although, really, it is the same answer, though muttered under her breathe in nervousness instead of glibness.]

Shit.

[She turns to the stage even though she can't see anything and just sort of lurches forward before she realizes she is moving and edges against the wall, skittering silently forward toward where Burt and Archer are hovering. (Move silently nat 20, hide 23, although considering Spike... she probably doesn't need to try that hard.)]

[slay]

[ with a sense motive of 29, buffy isn't fooled. she sees just how much of a toll it's taken on him as she ducks the attack of the 'stagehand.' she delivers another quick blow via her fist to his face as something occurs to her (nat 20 attack (37 total), 24 dmg - wis 12).

she doesn't get the chance to open her mouth, though, because then comes the booming voice of ben affleck, which intimidates her into shrinking back a little (will save 16). when spike starts moving, her eyes widen. ]

Spike, stop!

[ because what part of don't move or he'll shoot her is hard to process omfg. ]

[borrowedheaven]

[ jade looks out towards myri's voice, most of her fear very effectively contained as she stills in the man's grip. her eyes slide to rafael's and lock there and they seem to be having an unspoken conversation - which prompts her to say nothing to contradict myri.

the guy, meanwhile, casts a suspicious gaze out towards her.

"Show me," he demands, not budging. ]

[savemyself]

[ isabella just stares on from above as gar tends to elena, shaking her head at myri's display ] Foolish girl...