chicago ♔ people say that you'll die faster than without water

[socialgraces]

WHO || Failboat + Francesca [Closed]
WHAT || After spider fights and cleric visits...
WHERE || Back at the hotel, Chicago, IL
WHEN || July 11, 2013, late night (backdated)
HOW || Actionspam

[ Jaka agrees to go to the police himself to report the spider attack, and after the group makes a much-needed cleric visit, they can (and will) return to the hotel. Francesca’s anxiously waiting for them, because she doesn’t trust Jaka in the least, and was obviously concerned for what they may have found or encountered while out. Speaking of which, she also has some recently acquired information she’d like to share.

She’s working on her computer in the suite living room, but stands when they file in, giving them each a once-over to ensure everyone’s in one piece.]

Well? What happened?

Comments

[slay]

Can I just be the one to ask: what the hell is it with these people and giant bugs?

[ buffy's stretching and rotating her shoulder as she walks in, as if regaining the last of her mobility and health from the cleric visit. ]

[graveflowers]

Archer tried to feed a spider his gun. [That is what happened, that is all that happened. She flops on one of the couches, kicking her flip flops off.] It was surprisingly effective.

[witchwoman]

[Despite being healed, the majority of the group has to look like a hot mess- because this isn't charmed, so we can't just heal our clothes and clean up the blood with whitelighter magic. Myri's got her own blood and Buffy's caked on a good portion of her. As the others pipe up, she shakes her head wearily.]

Soul spider. [That says it all, as far as she's concerned.]

[socialgraces]

[ With an 18 arcane lore check she can probably piece together that's definitely not a good thing, even if she doesn't know all the specifics. She visibly tenses even more, looking past them towards the door, as if expecting Jaka to be following and clearly relieved he's not ] A spider? Seems awfully... coincidental.

[slay]

Lawyer-guy said something about a drow house that was keeping it as a pet. House ... Bane? Bantha? Look, there was a poison thing, it could've been House Babaganoush for all I know. [ she looks expectantly to their company except myri who was ... also poisoned and she doesn't expect to remember any better. ]

[graveflowers]

House Baenre. It was branded with their symbol or something. He seemed pleased.

[socialgraces]

Did he say why it would be following him?

[witchwoman]

I believe he thinks it was following us...

[bigbad]

[Spike is lurking around behind people and shooting furtive looks at Buffy. She's better, and she's strong, and she's not going to collapse but he came really close to losing her and he's still fretting.]

Probably pals with our mate Chad. Or fake-Chad, as the case may be.

[isisagent]

[Yay Clerics! Tinnitus is 100% better. Archer wastes no time, however, as soon as they get back.]
[He cuts past the "interrogation", though does pause when Violet mentions him feeding his gun to the spider, interrupting with a boisterous "Woo!" before continuing on to the bar to start mixing himself up a few Martinis. It's been a stressful night...]

Well it's dead now, what's the problem? Spiders hunt in packs here, or something?
[He jests, clearly unconcerned, and missing all the context from his deaf moments.]

[slay]

The problem is the people who sent it after us probably have more where that came from - maybe not more spiders, but more something.

[65]

[he calls over to archer:] Make one for me, too.

[that's finnick's contribution to the conversation. alcoholism. alcoholism and manpained expressions while sitting next to myri.]

[socialgraces]

[ She looks between them all before pointedly moving her attention to the hourglass still carefully encased on the table. ] Well, I don't know how you all became entangled in House politics, but it might have something to do with that.

Either way, I doubt that lawyer is entirely innocent. If House Baenre is interested in you or Chad or any of this, then House Teken'duis is as well, if only for the purpose of thwarting the other House.

[bigbad]

[Spike pauses at the entrance to Buffy's room. He doesn't technically need an invite here, but it's still polite. Especially when she's just left to go have emotions away from everyone else.]

Mind if I come in, pet?

[slay]

If I did, would it stop you?

[ she's shooting for sass because she's just an abyss of sadness right now. ]

[bigbad]

It might. I'm pretty sure you could beat me up if you protested too much. [But she's not really protesting at all so he walks on in. He almost goes to sit next to her, but all things considered.... he sits on Myri's bed.]

[slay]

[ with her sense motive of THIRTY she catches onto that decisive avoidance. she rolls her eyes to push back emotional response, dryly commenting; ]

God, is there anyone on this team that does want something to do with me?

[ it's whiny and self-involved but she doesn't particularly feel the need to mask those feelings with spike. none of this is about her, and she knows it rationally, but it doesn't change the feelings she's got about the constant shadow of jade, how it colored every interaction with des and rafael, or how alarmed she'd been to see the suddenness of her close relationship to vi. she hasn't felt the room to properly mourn herself because she's been scrambling to keep hold of what the lost, as she sees it, has taken from her.

and she realizes it's overdramatic, too - she knows they want everything to do with her. everyone in that room means a great deal to her (yes, even archer), they're her family, and the sheer number who'd rushed to her side at the sign of her falling against the spider spoke volumes. but upset people tend to put that out of their minds, particularly when confronted with a perceived slight. ]

[bigbad]

[He stands up again and sits next to her on her bed.] I always want something to do with you, love. I just thought you might rather-- [He shrugs uncomfortably. Clearly, he was wrong. But he would rather be near her anyway. As much as he's tried to get over her, she still shines brighter than everyone else to him. And he hates seeing her sad.

Instead of dwelling on his own feelings when she needs his support, he bumps his shoulder against hers. She's the one who matters right now.]

Tell me about her.

[slay]

You knew her. You don't need me to share some keen insight. And, not to point out the obvious, but if you wanted to talk about Jade, you probably would have been better off staying out with the group.

[bigbad]

I'm not interested in what they've got to say about her. [It isn't that he doesn't care at all about Des and Rafael's manpain. He doesn't want Rafael to go to prison or Des to be trapped forever in service to religious nutjobs. But he isn't actually here to discuss Jade. He's here to discuss Buffy's feelings. This just seems like a better way to tease them out than empty questions about if she's okay (she obviously isn't) or flat-out asking her how she's feeling.]

[slay]

And I'm not interested in talking about her. So where's that leave us?

[ she's had enough. she had to keep watch over her friend's grave in order to keep some psychopaths from digging her up, the same night as her funeral. it hasn't even two weeks and none of them have even had time to stop and breathe and mourn properly. they've just been moving. no wonder she's still all rafael can think about, and yet her ability to rationalize that doesn't change how it hurts. ]

[bigbad]

We don't have to talk about her. [He's here for her. To help her. If she doesn't want to talk about Jade, he won't press it.] We can talk about you, if you'd like. Or Myri and Finnick. We can make fun of Mark. We can even... [He gives a bit of a grimace.] talk about your pointy-eared Italian. [Not something that sounds fun to him, but he's not here for himself. He's here for Buffy. And he'd rather hear about how in love she is with a man that isn't Spike than see her unhappy.]

Or we don't have to talk about anything. Just tell me what you want. I'll do it.

[slay]

I want it to stop.

[ she sounds as perplexed by the outburst as anyone. she shakes her head, trying to work through it. ]

I want a minute to breathe, to think this through. To come up with a plan that isn't just - reacting. That's all we ever do is react, we never - we never get the jump on them, we still don't even know what they want.

How are we supposed to fight something like that?

[ she finally turns her head to look at him, shaking her head. ] We're all running on fumes, and they're playing us. We couldn't even mourn Jade without them throwing us off, nobody's at the top of their game right now, and we're only running more ragged every day.

[bigbad]

[She's right, of course. It's a mess. They're a mess, and the enemy has bloody giant spiders and evil priests and lizard people and god knows what else. And they're clever enough to use all of that and it seems like the Knights are only barely surviving the encounters.

Maybe Wynn should have pulled them off the case.

But that's bollocks. He knows they're doing bloody well for what they're up against, and he doubts Jack or Thomas could do any better. All he has to do is make Buffy see it.]

You're right. They've got every advantage. We've got no clue what the game is and no time to learn the rules. We're hopelessly outmatched.

[Don't worry, he's going somewhere with this.]

[slay]

... Wow. Thanks. That really helped.

[ she stares at him flatly, then just rolls her eyes and gets to her feet, pacing a little. ]

This is insane. How are we supposed to fight or investigate or manage any of this when we're all stuck on what it's costing us?