knightsoflegend | chicago ♔ it’s a tragedy to be left only with memories

Entry tags:

chicago ♔ it’s a tragedy to be left only with memories

WHO || Failboat and friends [Closed]
WHAT || As the trial drags on, the Knights spend their last few months in Chicago and tensions mount
WHERE || Various locations, Chicago
WHEN || November 21st - The end of the trial?? [Back AND Forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam, don't sweat tag order

Everybody loves a media circus and the trial of Rafael Giovanni is no exception. If he was famous before, in the days following the shooting, now he's all people are talking about, and all the tabloids want to focus on. The complications presented at some of the early hearings by Jaka, regarding the identity of the Black Scourge and Rafael's alleged reaction have only made the story more appealing to the millions watching.

They've also caused the trial to drag out for months as facts are checked, evidence is poured over, and the jury becomes only more split on the issue. In the meantime, the holidays fly by, and one of the most terrible winters in years blankets Chicago in blizzards.

This log covers any work and non-work related shenanigans the Knights have while staying in Chicago, immediately following the last log and continuing for the next couple months. This will be the Knight's last time in Chicago before the trial: after which they plan to return to the castle to fully Knight Violet and Elena and decide where to head next.

Make your own threads, don't fuss about tag order, feel free to threadjack multiple people into one thread for hang-outs, ask me if you want a certain scene with an NPC, etc. forever whatever.

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[Between Vi, Spike, and Finnick all ganging up on her with logic and telling her that it doesn't have to be here and all the reasons why she shouldn't... Well, it doesn't change her mind at all but it gives Elena time to swoop in and be a bad ass. As the bleeding stops and Des' own healing abilities kick in, the urge to rush to his side start to fade. Being so focused on him apparently gives her bat hearing because she catches those murmurings (listen 19).]

What..? [She untangles herself from Vi's arms, giving all three of her bodyguards a reassuring glance. She isn't going to do anything stupid but she does want to go to him. Crouching beside him, she places a hand on his shoulder, fighting the urge to give in to her gift (will save nat 20) but only trying to comfort him.] What didn't you know, Des? Talk to us... please. [(hahahah diplomacy 30 because she learned from the best manipulators around on a trip to Illinois...)]

Edited 2014-03-01 05:11 (UTC)

[Spike comes behind Myri, ready to yank her away if she starts healing. But so far she seems all right. He gives Des a slightly sheepish look. Things are definitely not all right between them, but... he did just... kill him a little bit.]

Sorry about nearly doing you in, mate.

[ isabella had been about to move towards rafael, when suddenly spike slams his fist into his face. rage colors her features as she very ineffectually tries to slam a fist of her own at spike's chest, but just winds up... hurting herself slightly. ] What is wrong with you? [ she looks hurt, and somewhat lost, but it sweeps away into concern as she turns back to raf ] Rafael. You should not be here now.

[ he looks almost sick to his stomach as he makes eye contact with isabella, and he keeps shaking his head, taking another few steps away, unable to look at des as he wakes. ] Bella--

You--

[ and then he closes his eyes, turning away and muttering: ] Si. Si, not this.

He's staying right where he is. [Des coughs hoarsely, finally coming to enough to sit up. He rubs his jaw and cracks his neck and seems to be making sure his face is still working properly before he acknowledges Myri.]

I didn't know it was gonna get this bad. [He tries to stand up and falters (dex 13) and decides... he should probably stay on the ground.] Look at you all. Finest bunch of idiots I've ever had the opportunity to meet.

[Elena tries to help him as he sits up, and stays seated as he decides to do that too, though she shifts away from him to give him space, watching him with concern even as his wounds start to heal before her eyes.

Also, her hands and wrists are covered in his blood. That's...not the most pleasant feeling, but she feels like leaving to wash them right now would be inappropriate.]

That's no excuse for taking matters into your own hands.

[But the real anger that should be in her voice is gone now. She gets why he did it, and he seems to understand that it backfired.]

You "didn't know." [ wow guess how much buffy fucking cares. zero. she zero cares. her voice is all but a scoff, disregarding the dramatics of other entrances, because she's 100% zero'd in on the situation with rafael and des right now. ] It doesn't matter if you thought it'd work out. You went behind our backs, behind all of our backs. You didn't trust us.

This wasn't your call to make, and that? You did know.

[ vi watches myri go without stopping her but she is far from reassured because she doesn't trust that girl a lick when it comes to her gift. after just a couple of seconds she follows after her and reaches down to brush a hand against des' shoulder. because she does feel a tiny sliver of bad for being willing to sacrifice him for myri. a tiny, tiny sliver. infinitesimal. and so myri won't do it, she... totally heals him (infuse with life +15 hp) to make him feel a little better, squeezing his shoulder like shut up and act hurt still because i am not admitting i just did that.

and it's a little bit solidarity, because she gets it. he lied to them and he fucked up, but he got raf a free pass to a life without the black scourge over his head and no one wanted that more than jade. ]

Edited 2014-03-01 06:00 (UTC)

[ gar looks fed the fuck up, and blusters out in buffy's direction: ] That-- that doesn't mean we turn on each other, like animals. Yes! What he did was certainly wrong! But he doesn't deserve this!

He's immortal. He can take it. [He looks down at Des again. He's supposed to be able to take it, anyway. That was damn close.] She's right, you know. We're supposed to be a bloody team.

A team. [Des laughs and finally manages to get to his feet, thanks to Vi speeding up his healing.] Spare me your moral indignation, Blondie. You don't even know what the hell you're talking about. It was my call- more than it was your call. Rafael ain't a member of your sparkly little order. You're here out of loyalty to him and because his crap got mixed up in your crap. I'm the one who put my ass on the line to save his hide from Iscariot- the only people who had a real stake in this were him and me and if the broadcast is anything to go by, I'd say I did a hell of a lot better making him look like a victim than he did. And I did it without relying on those sons of bitches, the Grays.

[He paces, glass from the table crunching under his feet.] But that's not the point. The point is name me one person on this fucking team who hasn't screwed everyone over or fucked up or caused a problem or put all of us at risk.

[He points at Kat.] The Car-Killer, herself. [He points at Mark.] The guy who let Roger James in the back door. [He points at Elena.] The girl who's been getting lessons from the bastard working on the other side and letting him skim God only knows what off the top of her head every second she's with him. [He points to Rafael.] Do I need to make the obvious joke?

[And then he swings his focus to Buffy.] And you, Buffy, do you wanna tell me right now you've never made a decision without consulting the rest of the group? Or do you wanna tell everyone in this room right now the real reason you don't want Rafael in the nuthouse, and how much that benefits everyone as a whole?

[He doesn't linger on that, he just swings his focus to the whole room.] We all fucked up or will fuck up. The important thing is getting through this whatever way you have to. You have a fucking job to finish, so maybe it's about time some of you sorted out where your priorities are and got your heads out of your asses, because the other side is winning and this is why.

[ there's an awkward beat of shocked silence after des' spiel, broken by kat's sudden scoff and eye roll ] Are we really dragging your car back into this? Are we seriously not over that?

[Spike's nat 20 will save means he resists the urge to punch Des in the stupid face. He contains his anger and frustration into ]

Really? Your argument's that it's ok cause other people have buggered it up before you? Did you practice that one in the mirror while you were deliberately planning to bugger up? [Because really, spur of the moment car murders are NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL with something he's obviously planned out with Jaka and not talked to anyone about.] If you were so certain this was right, why couldn't you tell us?

[Pushing herself back to standing, Myri hangs back in shock as Des unloads on them, singling some of them out. All of it feels like the start of what happened when Mark nearly left (and she along with him). Her stomach twists and she shakes her head silently as the other start to chime in. All this is going to do is turn into a shouting match. She steps forward and moves to stand in front of Des, placing a hand on his chest, not pushing or threatening, just looking up at him with calm resolution.]

No one asked you to put yourself on the line for Rafael. You chose to put your stake into this, to make it a game you needed to win. And you continue to be so desperate to separate yourself from us, yet you have tied your fate to his. The only way that we are going to see this through is if we do it as a... [family] team. That means no more secrets. [Her hands drops away from him and she turns to the rest of them.] No more... [She just gestures to the room around them as if to say NO MORE SHIT LIKE THIS.] It has to stop. Or we're going to kill each other before they even have to try.

[ maybe it's the excessive depression or the lack of sleep or the overwhelming sense of apathy, but vi isn't all that bothered by his speech since it's something they all sort of know in the back of their minds. except the car part, but she supposes he deserves something completely unimportant to harp on about. and everything myri said is true, also. they just suck at the execution. it could use a little work.

she puts her hand on des' arm as she passes for another top up (infuse with life +19 hp) in case sometime tries to deck him again, which doesn't seem entirely out of the question at the moment, and heads over to luthir, adding quietly as she goes: ] He didn't tell us because we would have stopped him.

You're right. Most of us have messed up and kept secrets. And the biggest problem with that is no one is learning from it. That includes you, Des. You've had plenty of opportunities to learn from our mistakes, and you chose the route that messed everything up. Again.

[She looks at the others, the one responsible for the current mess, holding up her very, very bloody hands.]

But that's besides the point now, because apparently our team is as full of monsters as any team we're fighting. Do you guys feel better now? Was it worth it, nearly killing him out of anger? If I screw up, are you just going to pummel me to a pulp because you can't control yourselves?

Edited 2014-03-01 14:38 (UTC)

Hey, you know what this conversation doesn't need? [ there's steely aggression in buffy as she rounds on elena, her retort a sharp snap that she can't reel in. she doesn't take well to being called a monster for a lot of reasons, chief among them being her own uncertainty in her status. but despite her fear, she's holding onto a rational perspective and using that to maintain her disagreement with elena, as much as her emotional side wants to break down and agree and run away. elena might be trying to pretend that des is as defenseless as she is, but that's just not the truth. he's immortal. and if five punches could take down an immortal, they'd be having a lot less trouble with anderson. there was never any real danger here. ] A bunch of overdramatic panic from people who don't understand immortality.

[ so shut the fuck up (intimidate 24). it doesn't occur to her in the moment that by barking out a disparaging remark like that after what just happened might only be proving elena's point, because she's on a mission, and she's not entirely sure she won't have another go at des right now. luckily she gets a will save of 19, so she accomplishes her attempt to abstain from violence by ... keeping distance between herself and des. ]

And you. [ she points at des as she rounds on him. ] You are the last person with any room to criticize anyone's motivations. Why are you still here? Jade's dead. And even if she weren't, she sure as hell wouldn't be with you. [ she shakes her head, lip curling in disgust. ] Trying to get a chance with her is the only reason you ever stuck around. You always said you were better on your own, now I'm beginning to see why.

Choosing to barter with yourself doesn't give you the right to run someone else's life into the ground because you're on a bender. The only person with a right to be making decisions about this trial is Rafael. [ no really it's his life. she looks over at him. ] And he made one. [ now seems like 100% the best time to bring up the seal yes it does. ]

You know what we really didn't need? Gratuitous unnecessary violence.

[How about no, bitch. (will save nat 20, 30 total]

Oh, so because he'll survive it's okay to beat him to within an inch of his life? Because what I do understand is what it's like to almost die, to feel like you're about to, and it sucks. So instead of murder, you're stooping to torture. I'm pretty sure that that's not justifiable by anything.

[Des almost mows over Elena with his next comment, stepping closer to Buffy, almost challenging her.] Because the job isn't done, princess. [Des sneers through gritted teeth. He eyes Myri and Vi for a second and then turns back to Buffy.] This was always about the Talisman or did you forget about that thing? We're all tied up in this mess together, so like or not, I get to be here, because if I'm not, then I'm gonna be tripping over you for the rest of time and not a one of us has time for that.

[Another glance at Myri.] But you're right. Honesty hour. You wanna know what I've been doing in-between rigging a trial so Rafael can come out of this with less bullshit on his record? [He glances around the room.] I've been doing some digging on the Grays- you know, the shady fucks that have been hanging around us. They made Rafael a deal- they'd win him the case, if he did them a favor. Sounds too good to be true, right?

It is. I got a buddy in Manhattan- arcane lore professor. He's been doing some digging on his own since the Grays first contacted us. I got a call from him an hour ago, saying he had some information. The Grays are watchers- people who stalk around on Earth, pushing events into motion to test humanity. They get off on suffering, they get off on seeing how far you can push a person until they break. Think about it- one was there the night Jade got shot. Then he showed up again at the hospital. And then they show up at the bridge when Rafael almost took a swandive into the river. This is what they do. They push and they push and they push just to prove we can take it. And they don't care if we can't. And Linda? My little stalker- she's no better. Same basic idea. Only she thinks people will not only break, they'll break bad.

It's a game and we're all a part of it. We're like lightning rods for suffering and we're playing right into their hands. So yeah, screw-ups only beget more screw-ups, and the only thing we can do is get off the fucking high horse and realize that maybe we're none of us better than the others.

Game or no game - it makes no difference now. The seal they gave is broken. I have agreed to accept their help.

[ for which he sounds UTTERLY UNAPOLOGETIC, guess who he trusts more right now: des or Buffy. Just guess. ] What consequences may come are mine to pay.

[Des looks utterly horrified at this news.] You did what?

[As the yelling continues, Myri edges herself out of the center of it, not able to handle this anymore. She can't calm them all down, much as she wishes she could. The last time this happened, the group was nearly torn apart. And now?

She just moves back, lets them yell all they'd like. She can't really stop them. Of all the loud voices in the room, a voice of reason isn't likely to be heard. She can only hope that it doesn't turn back to violence. So she keeps backing up until she finds an empty spot of wall and slides down to sit on the floor, waiting it out.]

Your "solution"? Wasn't a solution. [ beat. she's not shouting anymore, she's just informative and decisive. ] So, I told Rafael what the Grays offered us, and let him make his own choice. [ buffy isn't sorry either, even after what des is saying about them being some horrible enablers of human awfulness. ] We're going to win, and Rafael will owe them a favor to balance the scale.

And what if the favor they ask is that he go back to being an assassin? [ she looks over at rafael sadly, though whether it's because of all this or if it's just how she looks on the regular, now with the added bonus of his implied suicide (wis 14) is anyone's guess. but what if the favor he owes winds up being the one thing jade didn't want? she was in the room when he promised her, she's the daughter of a death goddess, she doesn't get to push that kind of promise under the rug. ] What if they want the Black Scourge? You're good, you're so good, Italia, imagine how you must look as an asset to them.

Imagine the kind of pain it's gonna cause him to make that choice. [He turns to Buffy and now he's... not angry. He's upset. Genuinely so. Anyone can see that something about this worries the hell out of him.

And more importantly, that for all his bad choices and yelling and calling BS, he is trying to protect them.] Buffy, you don't know what you're dealing with. These people don't dick around. Jade died because of this. They let her die. You can't let them get their claws in you.

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