CHAPTER THREE ♔ heaven rain the colors down to form another prize

[romanticidal]

♬ someone like you (acoustic) - brian vander ark

WHO || Rafael, Buffy, Des
WHAT || The OT3 escapes Italy
WHERE || Venice --> etc
WHEN || June 8th
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

It's already about ten or eleven in the morning by the time Raf, Buffy, and Des made it to a hotel in Venice and got a couple rooms to crash in for a few hours, since they were running on zero sleep and a lot of adrenaline after their escape from Rome and subsequent barrage of revelations.

A few hours of rest is all they're looking for before they make their way back to London, but they're still cut off from the Knights, thanks to Iscariot taking all their phones.

When Buffy's eyes flutter open after some very, very satisfying sleep, it might take her a moment to realize that she's actually awake. Rafael's face is remarkably close to her own since they're sharing a pillow, and his own eyes are open, studying her face with a thoughtful, fond expression and the shadow of a smile on his cheek. One of his arms is still wrapped around her, and he squeezes her side when he sees she's awake and greets her gently.

"Buongiorno, carina."

Comments

[slay]

[ despite everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, she feels more rested than she can ever remember feeling when she opens her eyes. she turns contentedly to look up at rafael, one hand smoothing over his on her side. ]

Hi.

[ she agrees with a glowing smile that she tries to temper. the events of the late morning had done a great deal to assuage her distress, and she can feel warmth humming through her now. she reaches up to brush her other hand over the side of his face, holding his gaze and taking a moment to breath and just bask. ]

[romanticidal]

[ he doesn't seem put off in the least by the intimate gesture, although a hint of concern works its way into his gaze as he asks: ] How are you feeling? [ it's clear that he means more than just emotionally, by the way his eyebrows knit together. how's that... lack of slayer strength doing bb :( ]

[slay]

Good. Really good. And very superhuman-y. [ buffy abandons her attempts to mask her smile in the face of his concern. she sits up finally, moving her hand from where it rests on top of his at her side and instead using it to turn on her back and prop herself up with that elbow. she makes no move to otherwise disentangle herself from him, nor does she draw back in any capacity. ] This demon slayer's back in business, Iscariot be damned. [ her nose crinkles at that, but her expression evens out into one of slight concern as well. ] You?

[romanticidal]

[ he flinches a little bit, because man, thinking about himself means thinking about... yesterday and last night and all of that is not a grand old time for his melon. or emotions. ] I am... still wrapping my head around many things, I think.

For now, though, [ he raises his other hand to brush the back of his hand against her jaw ] I am here, no? [ bittersweet smile. at least he hasn't committed suicide, buffy. ironically, unlike so many others in this finale. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Oh yeah, there was a third person on this vacation, wasn't there?

And he's probably responsible for that OBNOXIOUS FUCKING BANGING ON THE DOOR.]

Wakey, wakey, you two. We got a big fucking problem. Open up.

[slay]

Here is good.

[ reassuringly, she offers a smile. des hastily steals her attention with his pounding and she jumps up quickly as if she ... has something to cover up.

she casts a quick look over at rafael, squeezes his hand, and then gets up to answer the door. ]

Just a second!

[ she flips open the deadbolt and pulls the hotel door open, leaning on it to greet des. ]

What problem?

[nothingsodivine]

[Yeah, 'sup. Morning. Hi. Des looks like he's seen some shit, which given the night they've had should scare anyone.]

I take it you two weren't watching cable this morning. Turn on the TV.

[romanticidal]

[ rafael looks at him like wut, but fine, he'll grab the remote and turn it on.

to news reports from nyc of THE MASS SUICIDE OF SHADOWKIND LAST NIGHT ] ... What is this?

[slay]

Do you actually sleep, or do you just sit around waiting for the next opportunity to throw bad news around?

[ she scowls, turning to walk further into the room and back to where rafael is on the … only bed that has mussed covers. whoops. des is a detective he gets that one. she assumes des will catch the door and follow her inside ok.

and then any humor and sarcasm drains out of her, watching the footage from above the hudson river. she freezes. ]

… Turn it up.

[nothingsodivine]

Well, I was hoping for free HBO, but sucks to be me.

[Oh hey. There is one bed with mussed covers. And I'm gonna blame his wis roll of 13 on the fact that he doesn't care right now, but lbr did HE REALLY NEED A GOOD ONE TO ASSUME SOMETHING HAPPENED HERE.

He does close the door, though.] Weren't Vi and the others in New York last night?

[romanticidal]

The timing seems somewhat suspect, if so. [ but he sounds... worried as fuck now :( ]

[slay]

[ well, buffy crit failed her wisdom check to remember if any of the knights were swanning off to nyc, so. she’s just shaking her head with uncertainty. she suffered head trauma and was drugged since she was in the castle last, ok. she doesn’t know what day it is. or who was going where. except they were almost murdered. that happened. ]

I don’t know. [ useless. ] We need to get back. Something happened, and I’m willing to bet Sarandis was involved in one way or another.

[nothingsodivine]

[Yeah, Des is feeling very much like he'd like to not be on the run from fucking crazy people and back with the team. WHY WERE WE FORCED TO SPLIT THE PARTY?? WHY??]

Do you think it's safe to book a flight now? I'd like to think Iscariot's not stalking Priceline.com for suspicious flights from Italy to London, but I also thought breaking a deal was a sin.

[Although I guess if you break deals with heretics, you're doing God's work. Fuck if he knows.] We can't exactly drive across Europe and hope for the best either way.

plane ride ♔ heaven help the world when you're no longer for our eyes

[slay]

[ the plane is waiting for them at a rural milan airport, closed off by a metal fence and a coded lock. inside the airfield, a pilot is waiting with the passenger cabin of a private plane open. the trouble is over: other people can operate their impossible automobiles for them now. what a relief that burt would never learn to fly his own plane and arranged for their flight.

buffy actually begins to run up to the plane because wow this is the best thing she’s seen in two days. they’re going home!! ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Yeah. Home. Which is a novel idea when you don't have much of a concept of it. With the way out so close, the adrenaline has worn off, and all Des can think is that this isn't over. That fight will continue for a good long while. And there's another fight ahead of them on Andres Isle.

It's a very optimistic outlook, really.

He shoves his hands in his pockets and follows Buffy with a slightly less enthusiastic gait. He is so very tired. CAN WE REST, BUFFY???]

[romanticidal]

It feels like we have been gone such a very long time. [ he heads up and onto the plane, taking a moment to look around, one hand on the seat, before he settles into one black leather padded chair. ] There must be a phone on this plane we can use.

[slay]

You can call Zarad.

[ she looks at des. he gets priority ok, since zarad came up recently. buffy has a way out and they're heading back to england now, so she doesn't really see updating wynn as the most important thing in the world. and burt knows about rafael. ]

[nothingsodivine]

Yeah. [He blows his hair out of his face and looks deeply pained about the way that conversation is going to go.] They'll probably hear him yelling back in Rome when he hears about this.

[romanticidal]

I'm certain however angry he feels, it will be outweighed by his relief.

[slay]

He'll be glad you're okay, Des. And if he's really mad, you can blame it on me. He's not allowed to be mad at me.

[ finding a cushy leather seat. ]

[nothingsodivine]

Hell, he won't be mad at me- he'll be mad at them. [And hold on a second. He looks at Buffy like whoa there cowgirl. Look maybe he doesn't want to hear that his gossipy bitch turn got another.. long before he was actually a gossipy bitch.] You two must've had some conversation.

[slay]

Well, I didn't examine his sheets, if that's what you're getting at.

[ seriously bro what the fuck. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[where do they even keep phones on the planes. ARE THEY IN THE BACK?? he hopes they're in the back so he doesn't have to have this conversation in public.]

You really need to let that go, Blondie.

[slay]

Right. I'm the fixated one.

[ she waves him off like wow go get the phone from behind one of the seats where the phones live. jesus. stop fixating on her not-relationship. ]

[romanticidal]

You are the one who brought it up. [ just sayin ]