chicago ♔ beside you in time

[romanticidal]

♬ Right Where It Belongs - Nine Inch Nails

WHO || Buffy, Spike, Finnick, Myri, Dawn, Archer, Elena, Kat, Gar, Mark, Isabella, Burt, Des, Rafael, Violet, Francesca, Luthir. [closed]
WHAT || The events directly following the day of Jade's death
WHERE ||Various, Chicago
WHEN || July 5th, 2013 to the funeral
HOW || Actionspam

[ Following a long night after returning from the hospital where Jade finally passed away, there remains a lot to be said and done.

As Burt struggles to deal with the legal side of things, Francesca begins to head that way across the ocean in order to help the Knights do the same, and to help Finnick leave his celebrity life behind somehow. Violet takes the full weight of responsibility for planning the funeral into her hands, and the others continue to try to cope with what's occurred, and slowly put the pieces of information that they have together.

But many of them are still reeling from the revelations of the last few days, or carrying their own emotional burdens. Des continues to keep the truth about Jade's last words to himself as he deals with losing a woman he'd come to love, and faces up to a now uncertain future, thanks to a deal struck with Iscariot. Myri worries deeply about the potential fate of Violet, who's been considering hunting down Keijen Blade on her own, and her concern causes another small rift in her relationship with Finnick. Buffy finally reaches a point of breaking down over her conflicted feelings for Rafael, as Elena assists Archer in completing a giant fireworks bomb for reasons unknown.

This log covers the events leading up to the funeral, which means it will most likely cover a day or two or three. We will use it to make threads for any and all events occurring during this time. ]

Comments

des, buffy, rafael ♔ closed

[romanticidal]

[ there are things there hasn't been time to discuss, but as the gang goes their own directions the morning after jade's death, des will finally have some time to speak to buffy about a few matters, largely concerning a certain pointy-eared italian, who is still holed up in jade's room. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des is standing outside Buffy's room, dangling the keys to his 'vette from his fingers and jingling them obnoxiously. When that fails to get a reaction, he knocks on her door.] Up and at 'em, Blondie.

isabella, violet, burt ♔ closed

[savemyself]

[ guess what happens if violet falls asleep at the hospital

no, guess.

:D

it's the same dream as last time, as if to brand it into her brain for when she reaches her waking hours. at which point, she would have a text from isabella, who says she's waiting for her outside. ]

Spike and Mark } closed

[bigbad]

[Hey Mark, remember when you were sketchy on the phone because of family issues and promised you'd tell Spike what the hell is going on after the concert?

Because Spike sure does :-)

Which is why shortly after they both wake up, Spike corners Mark.]

So, how's the family?

francesca, luthir ♔ closed

[luthir]

[ it was almost hilarious, how luthir and francesca both converged at the round table hallway, on their way to see wynn for not-entirely-dissimilar purposes. luckily, he likes both of them a great deal, and he was already hoping to send some senior knights out there to sort out the big mess the children got themselves into.

luthir's very quiet on the plane, which... is pretty normal for him, as francesca knows, but there's a level of tension there that he doesn't usually display even en route to the most dangerous of missions. ]

[nosdacariad]

[ mark steps out of the shared bathroom, a toothbrush shoved in his mouth, which he mumbles around: ] The family?

Myri and Finnick | closed

[witchwoman]

[The spat at the hospital had worn her nerves thin, so much so that she had been unable to sleep. But that unrest had lead her to Buffy's room (and later to see Elena and Archer, but that was another matter entirely). It was something Buffy said that struck a chord with Myri, and when she came back to bed, she simply curls up beside him and tries to collect her thoughts.

She dozes in an out of a light sleep, and it's still very early in the morning when she places a hand on his shoulder and speaks to try to wake him.]

Finnick? [Perhaps waking a person up to apologize isn't the right foot to start out on, but it's been troubling her heart all night long. She's still new to this love thing- give her a break.] I need to talk to you about something.

[behindcloseddoors]

[ ♬ guess it may - rosie thomas ]

[graveflowers]

[Guess who hates everything? Yep, Vi sure does. But sorry Isabella, she can be a little surly and snappish when she is exhausted and considering her sleep for the last three days has been interrupted and the sleep she does get seems kind of useless... That's not even taking into account how emotionally drained she is on top of everything.

What she wouldn't give for 24 hours of uninterrupted, dreamless sleep...

She answers the text with an annoyingly short one of her own (don't you just love it when people text back with "k"). A few minutes later she slides into the car with a cup of coffee from the cafeteria and two muffins. She holds out ot a little, eyebrows lifted as if asking if Isabella wants it. Vi isn't that hungry -- when was the last time she even ate? -- so she is pretty sure she grabbed two muffins out of habit alone.]

Morning. Thanks for picking me up.

myri goes to the zoo | open

[witchwoman]

[Somehow, there's still time for mundane things like watching television. After a year, it's not nearly as exciting as she once found it, but it's still entertaining- and more than that, it takes her mind off things. Myri's sitting, chin resting in the palm of her hand while her elbow rests on the arm of the couch.

The program switches to commercial, which is an advertisement for the Lincoln Park Zoo. Since she's never been exposed to this concept, Myri sits up a little straighter and watches the ad with curiosity. When it ends, she glances around the room to see if anyone else was around to have seen that.]

I've never heard of a zoo.

[notaroundme]

I can't remember the last time I've been to one.

[One, because it's something that usually kids go to. Second, because she...doesn't remember.]

[bigbad]

[Spike rolls his eyes.] The one you spent so long chatting with on the phone. [Come on, Mark, have a brain for once.] Family troubles, remember?

[witchwoman]

What's it like? [She's used to seeing animals- all sorts of animals, really. She slept in a badger's den for god's sake :| But this seems different.]

[notaroundme]

Well, there's different exhibits, usually each representing a different kind of habitat or environment on the earth. And the animals are put into separate areas of the habitat so that people can view and learn about them.

[And then because that might seem humane to someone not used to it.]

A lot of the animals are endangered or about to go extinct, and need to be protected from hunters and poachers, or were rescued by the zoo and can't be put back into the wild.

[65]

[this time he was more alert after being awoken, which can probably be attributed to all the sleep he had after the hospital trip. he was so drained and exhausted he felt like he could do nothing but sleep today, too, honestly. as soon as she says "we need to talk", he sits the fuck up (obviously fearing the worst.)]

What? What's wrong?

[witchwoman]

[His alarm surprises her and she jumps back slightly when he moves to sit up, pulling herself more upright as well.]

Wrong? No- No... nothing's wrong, I just... I wanted to apologize. For yesterday.

[65]

[no one wants to hear a variant of we need to talk, ok!!!! he reaches up to scrub his hand over his face, only to realize his fingers are still tangled up in a shoelace that he was using to tie knots with the night before. so he pauses to pull that off first.]

No, it's — it's all right. [bluff 6. ouch.]

[witchwoman]

[Sense motive 21. Stop that.]

No, it's not. [She reaches out and helps him untangle the shoelace from his fingers, her fingers more nimble than one might imagine for this early in the morning (dex 17).] I shouldn't have... [She sighs because the matter of the actual fight still twists her up inside. Her concern for Violet is still valid, in her eyes.]

We won't always agree about these things. I see that now, but perhaps it's better that way. If it weren't for that, you might not have pulled me out of the room like you did. I get too caught up in things. Sometimes it's hard to think clearly when it comes to the people I love.

[nosdacariad]

Oh. [ there's a lot packed into that 'oh'. disappointment, angst, dread, even. ] Right.

[65]

I know, and I love how deeply you care about other people.

[he looks down at his lap, fighting the urge to fiddle around with the shoelace now that his hand is free again.]

But I felt like you might resent me for doing that. But I couldn't just stand by and let you do something like that to yourself after you told everyone what could possibly happen. You can't expect me to do that.

[savemyself]

[ isabella looks like a mess. in the few days she's been around, violet's never had occasion to see her look anything less than perfectly coiffed, but today, she looks like she wasn't even trying. her hair's been barely brushed, it looks as if she left her make-up on last night, and there are smudges where it looks like she'd been crying, visible beneath the shades she's sporting from violet's side angle.

she glances over, tight-lipped for a second, and then reaches out to pluck the muffin out of her hand. ]

I still do not understand, why you had to stay.

[witchwoman]

[Myri is mildly concerned about how these animals ended up in such a place, but Elena's explanation makes sense. Plus, she assumes that her squire wouldn't enjoy something that would put defenseless creatures in harm's way.]

It sounds interesting... [She trails off and wonders how inappropriate it might be to have such an outing while all the rest are wrapped up in seriousness. Perhaps they could use something lighter to break up the somber mood.]

[graveflowers]

[Good. They can be hot messes together. She shrugs, shifting her coffee slightly so to not smudge the writing on her leg and glancing at the other woman. They're about the same age, if Vi heard the story right, Violet's memories started the same age as Isabella's story. But she hadn't much thought they were remotely similar until right now. They probably aren't, she knows, but grief is universal.]

I don't either. But I didn't want to go back to the hotel and this was as good a place as any to not sleep.

[notaroundme]

Well...

[It seems Elena is on the same wavelength on that.]

Why don't we go? We have a couple of...days, and it'll help us get our minds off things.

[witchwoman]

In the moment, perhaps I did. [She says honestly, knowing that it all has to be left out on the table.] But it's hard for me to explain what it's like for me. My gift draws me towards people in need. It doesn't matter if I've known them for years or minutes, if the damage is dire, there is something in me that needs to seek it out, to try to repair it.

When you grabbed me, pulled me out of there, it felt like being ripped away from the one thing I needed to do. It didn't hurt... I don't want you to think that. But so long as she was alive, that part of me was focused only on trying to save her.

[She reaches out to take his hand in hers.] I know what you did, you did to protect me. And for that, I am grateful... it's the reason that I told you to begin with. I know that so long as I have you, you won't let me go too far, but...

[She hesitates, because this was meant to be simply an apology. But she has her own concerns, and perhaps now is as good a time as any to address them.]

I need to know that you won't simply refuse to let me heal. [He's larger than her, stronger, and if he wanted, he could simply cart her off any time she tried to work her healing magic.]