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

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

♬ 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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[mercifully des didn't hear what's going on out there or else he'd do something really stupid. as it stands, when the lizard man snaps his lasso and he's left with a slack wire and all of the confidence drains out of his expression. He doesn't drop the wire though. Instead, he snaps it like a whip and starts making wild man sounds in a blind attempt to confuse it and keep it from going for Spike since he's weak and injured. (Intimidate 19) No one ever said his plans were good.]

[ The ringing finally subsides. In its wake, everything sounds too loud. Her head is still fuzzy, but she can think again. Dawn can see trails of blood from Elena's ears. She should probably be paying more attention to the stage. She should probably be doing a lot of things differently right now. Moving closer, she looks from Elena to Gar. ] What happened?

[ Kat grimaces, seeming to suddenly grasp what might be wrong with Elena. She looks to dawn, one eye always on the stage. ] If I had to guess? Chad sent one of his cronies to crash the party. And this time, they're playing hardball.

[ Mark looks as if his heart is in his throat, and he puts a hand on vi's shoulder, as if to keep her from pulling an archer and marching out there. He whispers fiercely: ] Is he nuts?

[ meanwhile, Buffy socks the monster spike has grasped, and he goes limp in the vampires grip. Des' display, miraculously, seems to actually surprise the now free second guy so much that he hesitates for the entire round, as if he can see some true level of crazy in des' eyes. The final beast, deafened and useless until now, roars forward finally, throwing another swipe at Buffy that...also misses. ]

[Spike gives Buffy an adoring grin as he lets go of the monster, then steps up behind the one that Des is scaring with his.... microphone cord to flank him. He hopes Des isn't dumb enough to actually try to use that thing as a whip, but he did just deafen an entire audience, so who knows. He throws a punch at the back of the monster's head (atk 17, dmg 12 if it hits).]

[ he raises his gun instantly to aim at archer's head in warning, never loosening his grip on jade. ] I SAID NOBODY MOVE. [ and then he looks back out at myri, all impatient ] Show me.

[Myri's expression flashes with worry as her teammates attempt their own individual distractions. She swallows thickly, glad that his attention is at least divided amongst them, though it might make him all the more dangerous. Using her new found skills in taking on a new persona, she speaks calmly and firmly. (Diplomacy 17)]

We can all get what we want tonight. I hid it back stage. For safe keeping. Let the girl go and I'll show you where. [Unfortunately her nerves are frayed and the lie isn't as convincing. (bluff 9)]

[ gar is just staring too, and she reaches out to take elena's hand and give it a squeeze, as her eyes fix on myri, as she whispers: ] ... I hope she knows what she's doing. [ even though it's 100% clear she doesn't, w/e gar gives her credit ok ]

Edited 2013-06-28 00:51 (UTC)

[Sorry Mark, but since Archer's interruption didn't distract whomever the hell is making Myri lie, Violet just surges forward without warning or general coherent thought. She stumbles to a stop, still very near the edge of the stage, once she finally sees the full breadth of the situation at hand. The man with the gun, Myri and Finnick, Rafael. And Jade. Jade who didn't get a choice in this. At least the rest of them volunteered. And Rafael, asshole, caused it. There is a point where respecting what he would do for love and being disgusted by it collided and Vi has sailed right past that. He knowingly put her friends, her adopted family, in danger. He caused Finnick and Myri pain -- there is nothing she won't do now to fix that. While the half-elf stands there and does nothing.]

I have it, sis. [Her voice isn't very loud, considering, but it is very firm and very serious. She is her mother's daughter, after all. As if instinctively, her hand reaches up to brush fingers across her necklace the same way Jade was wont to do. (Bluff 17) She glances to Rafael for a tic before her eyes slide back to the man holding the gun and her shoulders straighten. She adds, wryly: ] I was backstage. You can let her go now.

[ buffy's head snaps back towards ben affleck and the stage when she hears his voice, but it appears he's more worried about archer than them at the moment.

so ... might as well keep getting rid of the lackeys, for the time being. then maybe they can attack the guy holding jade hostage.

she moves around and crescent kicks the remaining oaf in the face (atk 25, dmg 14). ]

[ ♬ half jack - the dresden dolls

the man's gaze bounces quickly from myri

to violet

to archer

to the side of the stage where there are definite sounds of combat as buffy and spike and des clean house in the far wing.

it's clear that he realizes the situation is getting too out of control too fast, and his gun wavers from archer to myri to finally come to rest on violet.

it's impossible to see his eyes behind those shades, so it's unclear whether he looks suspicious or not of one or either of the girls. but it doesn't seem to matter, because he shakes his head, laughing slightly with deranged nerves.

"Let her go? Let her go?" his voice rises angrily. "You don't get it. I'm taking the girl and the necklace. So put it down nice and easy, and maybe I won't take you too."

he's so distracted, his focus split in so many directions, that he doesn't see the wordless exchange happening between rafael and jade. she seems to be trying to convey a message, that isn't meeting with a pleased reception on his end, his face hardening as he shakes his head almost imperceptibly. but she looks at him with wide, trusting eyes, full of faith and he seems to be unable to resist her silent plea, despite the grim hesitance in his features. and she smiles, ever so slightly, and nods to him.

now.

just as the giant tv screens above have zapped back to life thanks to burt and crew's restoration of the feed, showing a close up view of jade's expression reflected over their heads several times over.

things happen very quickly.

jade's hands suddenly surge against the man's arm, trying to take advantage of his slack and distraction, and it almost looks as if they're dancing for a moment, as their arms come up and they whirl around, while she tries to break away. rafael reacts immediately, and it's clear somehow that this wasn't the first time they'd done this - that they'd lived a life where this was normal enough for them to have it down to a science. but the man caught jade's nod in the screen above, just in the nick of time.

he sees it coming.

and as they spin, he slams her closer to him, with sudden suffocating strength, and twists their bodies around in a jack-knife, and it's jade's body that comes between him and the bullets intended to end this once and for all.

they strike unerringly, and red blossoms against the white of jade's dress as her eyes widen with the too-late realization of what's occurred. ]

[ ♬ (no really tho)

THIS
IS
WHY
HE WANTED
TO LEAVE

he just ~knew~ jade was dead. it wasn't one of those gunshots you stood a chance at recovering from.

finnick hadn't even been particularly close to jade, not like some of the other team members. but he'd tried to get to know her before this, tried to be a friend. even if he hadn't, it still would have been hurt. this was what happened when you cared and tried to let people in. he should have known better. he had the same sinking feeling in his stomach when francesca died, but at least he hadn't stood there and witnessed the whole thing.

there had been some kind of security in living here. no matter what happened, it couldn't be as bad as the games. it was (relatively) safe. even with all the mutts and mind control and all this bizarre shit, it would never be that bad. he could even recognize his behavior right now as irrational — it wasn't like this was the worst thing that had ever happened to him, but it's not like that recognition could actually help anything. there were a lot of different elements in play here — he'd been blindsided (or deafsided aHahah HA ha...), he was weaponless, and the person he loved most in the world basically flung herself into danger and didn't seem to give a single fuck about it.

something instinctual that felt almost beyond his own volition propelled him toward myri. it was unlikely that anything would happen to her at this point, but he still wanted to protect her. not for her own sake like she was some kind of precious damsel, but because he needed to know that she was okay before he could be okay. he knew (in his perspective) that she was disgusted with him, probably didn't want him around anymore, but he happened to not give a single fuck about that. ]

[Elena can barely stand to watch, because she can see that there's people speaking, but she can't hear a word of it. Instead, her hand squeezes Gar's as she's transfixed by it all, terrified of what might happen, her only indication of the state of things being communicated in people's movements.

So when Rafael's gun goes off, she doesn't hear it. She simply sees the reactions, the struggle, and then Jade's body (because it's a body now oh god it has to be) blooming with bright red wounds.

Elena's on her feet, eyes wide and terrified, releasing Gar's hand as she moves to the edge of the balcony, her fingers desperately clutching Jade's necklace even as she leans forward with both hands on the railing. As if she'd be able to get there to stop what's already happened.]

No!

[She doesn't need to hear to know how loud she's screamed, but it comes out before she can stop it. Someone had to help her. Someone had to be able to save her.

Right? RIGHT!?]

Edited 2013-06-28 03:18 (UTC)

God Dammit Rafael, Watch where you're shooting!
[Archer's not wasting any more time, and he's not taking it easy - he straight drops his service pistols in favor of slinging up his sawed-off Remington, and he levels it at the stranger]

Eat shit, cockbag!
[He squeezes the trigger, and BOOM! Attack total 21; (11 Damage if that hits).]

[When the video feed switches on in the backstage area, Des is still whooping and hollering and egging Spike on, but the second he sees Jade on the screen, he doubletakes and pauses to observe the situation with knitted brows.

Seconds later, the makeshift whip hits the floor and he forgets he's in the middle of a combat situation. It's not like it matters. It's not like he can actually die.

But she can.

They'll tell you a lot of things about immortality, but it never gets easier watching people die. And that's why he doesn't bother getting close to people, because it's worse when he pulls some stupid stunt and other people get hurt if it's people he actually knows and also because of this. Because he always ends up here.

And all he can think is if Rafael hadn't done what he did- if he'd left well enough alone, let her stay in that dreamworld... She would still be alive. Suddenly, Des's mixed emotions on the subject come rushing back, because yes, it was cruel to leave her stuck in a half-life, but she would have lived.

He's so dumbstruck by the sight of Jade dying in surround sound and HD, he can't even move. That's it. That's his round. Round lost to manpain.

...But at least Archer shooting Ben Affleck shakes him out of his trauma a bit. Too little, too late, Des. YOUR SIX SECONDS ARE UP.]

[ des is far from the only one rooted to the spot. rafael stares ahead, hands falling to his sides, still holding his guns, but all the color, all the life, everything drains out of his face as he stares forward at jade slipping to the floor. even archer's shotgun blast cutting through the air so close to him, sending affleck staggering back does nothing to stir him. he just stares dumbly, looking completely and entirely lost. ]

Edited 2013-06-28 03:59 (UTC)

[ There was a stand-off. Myri and Violet seem to be distracting the guy holding Jade, and there's a moment where it looks like she'll be able to get away. Then someone's gun is firing and the front of Jade's dress is turning bright red.

Dawn has no idea what to do. No idea what she can do. She's nowhere near them and unarmed. But she feels like she should do something rather than stand there. At least she's not flinching at the gunshots. ]

[ isabella finally manages to react when the gunshot shakes her out of her staring... and she throws herself forward beside elena at the balcony rail, yelling desperately: ] Rafael!

[ kat gapes and manages a: ] Jesus Christ. [ and then raises her gun, and mumbles: ] Intentum Intuitum. [ the barrel glows for a moment, as does the small bullseye charm hanging from her bracelet ]

[ the two monsters are apparently distracted by all the gunshots and shotgun blasts, because their half hearted attempts to smack spike and buffy just... fail.

mark pushes out onto the stage beside violet, taking a step in front of her, and shooting as well: a surprisingly crack shot at affleck. (atk 25, 6 dmg) ]

[Spike stares in horror at the screen as Jade dies. All those times he made fun of Rafael for shooting his allies don't seem as funny as they did when it was just Spike and Des getting shot. He swallows, then turns back to the monster he was fighting to distract it from Des, who is currently in no shape to fight back, kicking it in the shin area, if lizard monsters have shins (atk 20, dmg 8). Spike liked Jade, but Des and Jade... were a hell of a lot closer.]

[ ben affleck is in a really bad way.

his fancy swag shades fall to the ground, as he staggers against the back wall of the stage and raises his arm to take aim at archer and his fucking shotgun (atk 25, dmg 6). it's a surprisingly good shot for a dude who's taken so much damage over there. ]

[This isn't how it was supposed to go. The moment that Violet steps out and redirects attention to her, Myri can feel fear tighten her throat. But she can't say anything because all it would do it tip him off that they were all lying to him. Her hands clench, nails digging into her palms as her eyes stay riveted to the stage. They have to stay safe. They have to make it through. They have to-

She feels the gunshot before she hears it.

As the bullets sink into Jade's flesh, Myri cries out, an arm encircling her torso. Her mouth hangs open, not able to make a sound as her whole being echoes the pain of the wounds. It's only when Finnick approaches that she moves, turning to face him. There's tears in her eyes when she turns to look at him. Her expression flickers between fear and confusion and, yes... still love.]

I have to... [She can't finish, but instead just grits her teeth against a strangled cry as Jade's body falls to the stage floor. Her ability tugs her towards the girl, pulling her away from the man she loves. Isn't this how it always went? Her duty tearing her from a normal life. She didn't want to leave his side, but she could feel the woman slipping into the void and she couldn't allow it.

She moves as fast as she can, grabbing the edge of the stage and scrambling up (climb 15), barely making it without falling back in pain. She nearly falls as she hurries to standing and runs for Jade, throwing herself to the ground and holding her hands out over the bloodied dress.]

Please! [She pleads as her hands begin to glow a light blue. Her consciousness slips, one foot stepping into the void between existences to seek out Jade's lifeline.] Don't go. You've only just returned. [Her magic seeks the worst of it, tries to heal the damage as best it can. She can only pray it's enough (cure serious wounds - +24 HP)]

[ buffy and spike are the only ones who see something strange occur as myri runs forward. she seems to struggle for a moment in climbing, but to myri, it would seem that she got an extra boost of adrenaline from her resolve to save jade, although she gets a strange sense of warmth, a feeling of someone being on her side. the other two, however, would actually see that orlando bloom stands below the apron of the stage - and that he gives her an extra, gentle boost up.

as she approaches jade, he hops up effortlessly behind her, his expression much more pained than before, and he pauses by rafael, and places a hand on his shoulder, closing his eyes. it almost seems as if he's fighting tears.

as myri pours her magic into the dying woman, she can feel jade's body repairing itself - but also feel something else, just as actively tearing it down. with her 24 wisdom check, it's easy enough for her to tell what it is: other, powerful dark magic, that seems to have almost settled into jade's soul itself, with how deeply rooted it feels. it's a terrifying sensation, and fills myri with an icy coldness, even as she presses on to try to heal her.

orlando bloom, still unseen by anyone but buffy and rafael, steps beside her and crouches over jade, watching her with tortured eyes.

up top, gar turns to dawn, and begins to motion towards the exit of the balcony. ] I... I think it's best we go below.

[All of Violet's memories are of fighting and death, a gun pointed at her is familiar and she doesn't waver. Better her than someone else.

But it isn't her.

She has seen more people, friends, die in her short life than she can give thought to. She sees it coming in the widening of Jade's eyes and she can feel herself go cold, feel the color draining from her skin, even as she moves forward, past Mark, muscle memory taking over.

She and Jade were the same, lost daughters of some elsewhere goddess, memories messy and painful in the parts missing. Then Rafael took that away by giving Jade her memories back and Violet felt like she had lost something, but now she knows she has, sees it slipping away from her as the blood blossoms against the white of Jade's dress. A lamb to the slaughter.

Her eyes close and her words aren't more than a whisper as she rushes forward, following Myri like she's tied to a string.] Dad. Find her. [Maybe she does pray after all.

When her eyes open a breath later she is aware, absently, that she is shaking and that there are tears and mascara dripping down her cheeks. They are done. Jade is dead. She drops gracelessly to her knees next to Myri and puts a shaking hand on top of the cleric's bloody ones.]

It's too late. She's gone.

[Violet can't do anything, she knows that -- her gift of life is useless. But her mother is the queen of the Underworld, even if it is not the same one as in this world. She can still give Jade something; safe passage, a blessing, comfort, a goodbye. She deserves that.]

Edited 2013-06-28 06:18 (UTC)

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