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

[graveflowers]

Yeah, that would be him. And that -- [She points to the hourglass.] -- is pretty much a collect call to my creepy stalker, I'm guessing? [Wisdom 17] So you can see why I would prefer destroying it to be a last resort for the time being or until the nightmares go away.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des has been lurking in the back as he's wont to do, because he is the worst team player. He still has the lockbox and he moves away from holding up the wall to put it down on the coffee table.

INTERRUPTING COW TIME.]

All right, all right. Let's get all this straight here. We have a collection of pop stars that have divine bloodlines, a woman with freaky mind powers who is practically the Mother Goddess to a collection of snakebloods as far as they care, a cult determined to eliminate Shadowkind, a doppelganger that may or may not be pretending to be Chad Becksworth, a bunch of wacky experiments, an hourglass that lets people commune with a drow god that has a thing for Violet, a drow House testing our mettle with their giant pet spiders, a frame-job to get Rafael out of the picture, and one unkillable Paladin who wants him to fry.

And somehow all of this ties back to some spiel with the Lazarus Talisman, which is currently in the hands of some dictator from some island no one gives a damn about.

[slay]

Yeah, I'm actually kinda with Des on this one, assuming "with Des" involves being on Team Really Confused. If I hadn't been here the past 18 months, I wouldn't believe any of this even connected. So how does it?

[witchwoman]

[Myri worries her lip, sitting quietly beside Finnick and picking restlessly at a spot where the spider tore her shirt.]

Pieces fit- or can be made to fit, but I don't believe any amount of talking will knit it all together. The hourglass is likely connected to Chad, as well as Vi's nightmares- of which the latter should be our immediate concern.

[Mama Myri is not letting anyone forget that, folks. No way in hell is she letting Vi end up targeted like Jade was.]

[nothingsodivine]

Our immediate concern ought to be figuring out if our enemy is really the enemy we thought he was. If Chad's not Chad, then it's just the Mind Master and her Choir Boy boss running the show- and that's a big maybe.

[Des looks at Finnick.] Either way, we need to get some context on the Becksworths, see how they fit into this.

[slay]

Uh, anyone forgetting our good pal the jailbird? Kinda thinking he ranks priority number one right now. Time sensitive and all.

[notaroundme]

[Finally speaking up. Wow, she hopes she gets a martini too...]

Yeah, but if they keep sending assassins after us, we aren't exactly in a good place to help him. We need to try and do both.

[graveflowers]

[LET ME TELL YOU A THING.] Our immediate concern should be all of them. Well except me. There are like thirty seven of us, it's not like we need all the Avengers on every single issue at once.

It's all connected, it way too big a series of coincidences if not. If we go at it from all angles we'll have more information to go on for everything. The spider and the House are obviously connected to the hourglass, which is connected to me and the other kinda divine people. [Please hold while she makes a face because she just had to put herself and Keijen in the same category.] Which is probably connected to -- [She looks at Des. It is probably connected to the Talisman. But then she would have to possibly explain Jade's deal. No.] -- uh, possibly fake Chad. So see? All those things are connected. [Wisdom 18, she could be guessing...]

If we start looking into things from all directions we can figure out how everything else ties together, too. And save Raf in the process.

[isisagent]

[Archer leaves a few martinis sitting at the bar, then walks over to Finnick balancing four in his hands.]
[He just kind of looks wide eyed when Des and the others lay out all those puzzle pieces, then passes Finnick two of the drinks.]

Something tells me we're going to need more...

[Sorry Elena, he's no mind reader... there's a few sitting on the bar still! ]

[slay]

[ the look buffy shoots vi is incredulous, because one: girl's been in this two weeks since their return to chicago, and she's telling them what to do; two: buffy's still of the opinion that the best place for her is actually holed up at the castle where there's no chance of her getting snatched for whatever they want demigods for; three: she didn't honestly believe she needed to explain to everyone that there is a connection whether it's obvious or not, did she?

the levels of patronizing get an instinctive tightening of buffy's expression, because of course they know it's connected, but the fact is that it still doesn't add up to lazarus talisman or what chad's plans are - or ... fake-chad or the mind master or whoever the hell is in charge now. every time they round a corner thinking they've learned more, it just makes more of a mess of what they'd already known.

but there are bigger things at stake, and now's really not the time for her frustration to win out. so she just bites it back for now and turns to francesca. nothing is more important to her than saving rafael's life, nothing. but she also knows she doesn't need a gang of fifteen to do it. ]

I'm not putting all our eggs in Teken'duis' basket. I want into that police station to see what they've got, where this tip of theirs came from, and exactly what was said. Maybe while some of us are on that, you and your expert source could figure out more about this hourglass and its connection to Baenre?

In the meantime, I think someone should be working on figuring out what happened to the real Chad Becksworth; chances are, he could shed more light on this than we can. We can probably assume he got replaced around the time Burt said he started acting strangely and developing connections to the Mind Master.

[65]

[oh hey, two margaritas. well, he's not going to argue with that. although he does set one aside for now bc he wasn't planning on double fisting them.]

I was telling them [he nods towards spike and des] a few things I learned about Chad after talking with Burt. He has an ex-wife, and I think it might be worthwhile to contact her and see if she can offer any insight regarding Chad's character. I'm already in the process of arranging it. [oh hello mr. margarita don't you taste good yes you do]

[bigbad]

I'll go with you, Slayer. [Not just because he's a little worried if he goes away for more than five minutes she might DIE AGAIN. Or get poisoned or hurt or any number of things. Besides, breaking into a police station makes him smugly satisfied in a way that probably doesn't mean he was a big hero before he came to this world.] Some of you others can do the boring research bits.

1/2

[rationalizes]

[ when did gar appear in the doorway??? not very long ago, but enough to get a gist of where the convo was going. ]

I think Francesca might have a handle on looking into the hourglass. I was actually going to remind everyone that we still wished to attempt to procure one or both of the chips taken off the corpses of those guards who were planted backstage at the concert. They've likely been stored at the morgue. A small team should be enough to infiltrate, and I think Mark and I both intend to go. If any of us wished to join us, it might be a slightly less... risky venture than breaking into the police station.

[shootfirst]

[ kat shoves past her into the room unceremoniously ] One of many reasons why I'm opting for police station. Other than, y'know, like, magicking alarms and stuff. [ she wiggles her fingers then balls up a fist on her hip ] Did you guys really fight a giant spider monster... without me? [ i'm gonna assume SOMEone called or texted gar while buffy and myri were getting all healed.. so no one has to explain shit twice... ]

[nothingsodivine]

Why? Did you want to crash my new car into it? [HE'S STILL PISSED. In his defense, it was like... yesterday.

That quip done, Des nods in Finnick's direction, while stealing the second margarita. You don't need two, Finnick. That's greedy.] So Pretty Boy and I are going to the Becksworth homestead. I need to get outta town for awhile.

[The more false leads he gets on the trial front, the harder it is to hide how much this is getting to him. Luckily, he has Liam doing his share of the trial BS, but the less everyone knows about that, the better.]

[slay]

Believe me, you didn't wanna be there. [ buffy holds up her hands because you know what the adrenaline of the event might still be happening but it doesn't change the fact that almost dying is a fairly traumatizing occurrence she'd not like to repeat. ]

1/???

[rationalizes]

I'm just very glad you're both alright. [ and gar, always ten times more sensitive than kat, moves to give buffy and then myri a big hug. ]

2/??

[nosdacariad]

[ mark wanders in from the hallway too, because I imagine those three were altogether, and he makes a sort of beeline for the lockbox, picking up one of the files on top and glancing through it ]

Do we think the real Chad could be dead?

3/3

[luthir]

[ luthir emerges too, and doesn't address the entire group at all. his eyes lock onto vi and he winds his way directly to her side, evident concern behind his eyes. his hand seeks out hers, silently. ]

[graveflowers]

Wouldn't it be better to keep him alive? Hey. [Hi elf, hi. Wait, she was saying something, stop distracting her by existing...] I mean, I might be flashing back to Harry Potter, but wouldn't it make sense to keep him stashed in a trunk somewhere so they could pump him for information?

[65]

Just one more use for all those secret passages he keeps building in. Or someone keeps building in, anyway.

[isisagent]

[Archer gulps down his first drink...]
Well, you guys can sort out the Chad garbage. Since I'm ISIS' top field agent, I'll go with one of the infiltration teams.

[He eyes Gar judgmentally (For no reason)]
Probably the morgue, to make sure nobody screws it up. Jeanne.

[And he starts in on drink #2]

[witchwoman]

[Myri just stays quiet. This part... splitting up the group makes her nervous on a normal day, but they literally just experienced what could happen when they were separated and only barely made it out alive. She won't protest against it, because she knows that they have to do it... but she also knows that she can't be everywhere and with everyone, so she'll just stare at her hands for now.]

[65]

[his horrible wis roll (5) means he has no idea wtf is up with myri, but that could also be his margarita. which is gone now.]

You should go with us, Myri.

[witchwoman]

[She glances up to Finnick, then looks at the others- pausing on Vi, but looks at Buffy last and lingering there. The image of her friend nearly dying right in front of her is not something she can just shake off.

But she can't be everywhere, can she? And maybe Jaka was right... Maybe she wasn't a real cleric anyway. The healers at the hospital had done such a better job of it, hadn't they? Her gaze breaks from Buffy after a few seconds and she forces a smile, trying to act like nothing's bothering her (bluff 10).]

Sure. As long as... [She looks back over at Des] Would you mind?