CHAPTER TWO ♔ a sigh escapes from heaven and worlds end

[savemyself]

♬ The Dream Within - Lara Fabian

WHO || Rafael Giovanni, 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 TWO: Following the traumatic and tragic events of Finnick and Rafael's concert, our heroes are taken to be interrogated at the police station
WHERE || Concert Hall > Chicago Police Department, Chicago, IL
WHEN || July 3rd, 2013 [ forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam

Nothing is okay.

What was meant to be the Knights' triumphant collaborative effort to cut off Chad Becksworth's bid for total control of NOVA Records, allowing them to follow the trail elsewhere, has descended into chaos. Rafael's songs triggered some kind of reaction in Jade that allowed her to regain her lost memories, only to have their reunion cut tragically short by the actions of a hitman who took her hostage on stage, demanding her necklace. While Myri and Violet attempted to convince him that the necklace did not lie with her, Jade signaled to Rafael that she meant to utilize the distraction to break free - but things went out of control and Rafael's bullets struck Jade instead. The Knights felled the hitman, as the world watched, and Rafael begged a distraught and enraged Des to end his life. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure that only Buffy & Spike could see assisted Myrilandel in healing Jade enough to hang on for a little time more...

Time for people to say goodbye.

In the meantime, the police have arrived, arresting Rafael, Archer, and Des (or attempting to), and preparing Jade to be taken to the hospital. Everyone else is being ordered to head outside to be taken down to the station for questioning. It's a hectic scene, but people can finally snatch a few moments amid the chaos to try to make sense of what just happened...

Comments

[slay]

Any chance our friends with the Chicago PD mentioned something else about how our anonymous tip sounded?

[nothingsodivine]

Wouldn't say. By the time, they started talking premeditation to me, they were half-convinced Rafael shot Jade because she was having an affair. I had to get him to drop it.

[slay]

An affair? An affair with - [ 'who' is obviously going to finish that demand, but she figures it out, so the next word out of her mouth is; ] ... Oh.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des deadpans at her.] Yeah.

[He draws back a bit.] They wouldn't have told us shit anyway. Anonymous tips are anonymous for a reason.

[slay]

And yet they seemed to struggle with the concept of not being allowed to have my name. Why am I more suspicious than some anonymous mouth-breather on the phone?

[nothingsodivine]

Because you shit-kicked a hitman.

[slay]

And the creepy mouth-breather on the phone probably sent him!

[nothingsodivine]

I'm just saying you can't really argue with physical violence on live TV. And you kicked him really hard. The fact that they didn't arrest you with that shotgun-tossing lunatic is a miracle.

[slay]

Believe me, they made it pretty clear they would've if they could've. [ asking questions about how ~she could kick him that hard~ wow really. she's pretty much thanksgiving dinner levels of done with cops at this juncture of her life. she shakes her head, reflecting on that. ]

Des, I - [ she stares into her glass, and then drinks it quickly, shuddering as it goes down. she stills, and contemplates for a moment. ] I was glad. When Archer shot him, I was glad. I didn't care that he was dead, I thought ... I thought he deserved it.

[ it's the closest she can come to describing precisely why she'd kicked him so hard. because she'd wanted to do what archer had done, she'd been willing to. ]

[nothingsodivine]

You want me to say that was the wrong way to feel? [He downs the last of his drink and moves on to the second.] 'Cause I'm not your guy. And obviously Wynn doesn't hire people because they're noble or righteous or know when to stop, otherwise he wouldn't have people like Archer and Bancroft on his payroll.

Point is, there's no point in feeling bad just because you don't feel bad.

[slay]

I guess I just ... I don't understand. If that's not where the line is, if that's supposed to be okay, or the right answer - ever - then how do you know? How do you know when it's right, or when it's the only option, as opposed to when you just want it?

[ that awkward moment when buffy admitted she has some latent inclinations towards murder. ]

[nothingsodivine]

You don't. [He doesn't even think about it. He's been four thousand years straddling the line and all he knows is his gut.] You go with your gut. Sometimes you spare someone, sometimes you kill them because they deserve to die, and sometimes you can't think of a good reason to keep them alive. There's no magical line between a good and bad time to kill someone. You can't pretty it up by calling it justice. You go in for the kill, then that's it. You're a killer. And when they ask you why you did it, all that leaves you with is a steaming pile of "I did what I had to do."

[slay]

And when it's over? How the hell are you supposed to live with yourself?

[ you know who's not having these moral dilemmas? archer. who actually killed someone. he's probably doing crack cocaine off a hooker right now. an arrested hooker with illegal coke, since he's in jail or sth ... ]

[nothingsodivine]

You do it, because the other option is don't.

[Says the guy who got his curse from being suicidal.]

[slay]

Or because you don't have an option?

[ yeah des she's got your number. ]

[nothingsodivine]

Yeah, well. Suicide may be painless, but it costs a lot. [Another sip.] Maybe you shouldn't be listening to a jaded old man.

[slay]

I like to think jaded old men are just more pragmatic than the rest of us.

[nothingsodivine]

You know, I wouldn't have shot him. [Speaking of...] Rafael. I wouldn't have shot him.

[slay]

You wouldn't?

[nothingsodivine]

No. Living's worse for some people.

[slay]

Maybe living with it, he'll realize the gunshot wasn't where he went wrong.

[nothingsodivine]

And maybe pigs will-

[He stops, pulls a face around his alcohol, and changes tactics.]

He had that planned since the day they got Jade in the line-up. He had plenty of time to talk himself out of it.

[slay]

I can't believe that. I won't.

[ if she believes that, it means he used them. and it taints what he was thanking her for when he bought her that dress, when he thanked her, when she thought maybe they had a chance. ]

[nothingsodivine]

You really think he just bullshitted that right there?

[slay]

Des, I don't - [ she gets uncomfortable, straightening up and hunching her shoulders. it's not that she thinks that. it's that she can't come up with a good justification for how it wasn't premeditated, for how he might not have been using them, and that crushes her. ]