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

1/2

[starfucker]

I wasn't born yesterday, sweetheart, but lucky for you I'm not in the mood to fucking argue. I've got a private jet in Milan. It's about 3 hours from Venice. I'll text you the address and they'll be ready by the time you get there.

[romanticidal]

[ raf also heads for the door, opening it a crack to peer out, and then signalling that the coast is clear. ]

[slay]

[ bless you, burt. buffy does a tiny fist pump of relief, shutting her eyes, and then hurries out; ] You can't text someone without a cell phone. Email it. We'll find a computer to use. I'll make it up to you! [ she hangs up quickly, then scrambles out from between the beds, towards the door. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des shoves his way in front of Rafael.] Age before beauty, Fluffy. [Also immortality before... people who die permanently if shot with enough bullets.]

If they drop me, just keep running. I'll catch up.

[So confident, Deschan. He checks his gun to make sure... the fiddly bit is still on SHOTGUN. He's gonna fuck up some bitches.] Might buy you some time, anyway.

[romanticidal]

That does not mean you should do it on purpose. [ HARSH LOOK. DON'T GET ANY IDEAS, DESCANT. rafael looks back, training his gun on the window and firing off a few shots to cover for buffy getting to the door, and then he nods for des to start down the hall. ]

[slay]

[ she ducks to the door and slips out after des since rafael is covering their asses with suppressive fire. she's pretty ok with just letting them handle the shooting unless such a time comes that they're close enough for her to destroy someone. ]

The goal here is nobody dropping. I don't wanna have to carry your corpse to Milan.

[nothingsodivine]

The idea was not having to. [he's just saying. but whatever. the noble sacrifice play doesn't work here. he's just following along after buffy.]

Are we sure these guys are even Iscariot? Snipers don't seem like their thing. Not when they've got...

[anderson.... which he is not gonna say because he is not invoking that beetlejuice shit.]

[romanticidal]

Anyone might have been watching the palazzo - I know that they had attacked it once before. I have made many enemies in my time.

We are going to Milan?

[slay]

Burt has a plane at a private airport.

[ and rafael has already explained what buffy's only theory might have been: this is more reminiscent of their last trip to his place than any iscariot attack. thanks, italy. ]

It shouldn't be hard to shake these guys on the way, right? [ and maybe steal one of their phones so she can check for burt's email ... ]

[nothingsodivine]

Of course he does.

[he rolls his eyes.] Y'know, you really have got to put the kibosh on pissing heavily armed people off, Fluffy.

[they are never ever ever getting out of italy.]

[romanticidal]

I was hoping they might have been put off by the evidence that Eterna was -- well, you know. [ probably shouldn't go around discussing this confidential shit in a hotel hallway ] But it seems not everyone was so convinced. [ down the steps they get, and rafael puts his guns inside his coat pocket as they make it into the lobby, and gestures for des to HIDE THAT SHIT ]

[slay]

[ and suddenly it occurs to buffy that they are the reason most hotels don't take cash. she looks a little sheepish on the way out, keeping step beside her boys. she has no guns to holster, yo. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[YEAH, YEAH, ALL RIGHT. He shoves the gun back into his jacket as he heads out. Be cool, guys. Be cool. It would probably be a lot better if they had a crowd or something to converge into.]

They're gonna start shooting the second we hit the door. [He hisses in Rafael's ear.] What's your exit strategy? Don't get shot.

[Wow. deja vu]

[romanticidal]

They are going to expect us to head up the street in either direction. Likely, if they staked one balcony, they have staked others up and down both ways.

[ he peeks out one window, taking note of the river that runs just outside. ] ... Unless, we do not take either. [ and he points out there where ... a bunch of speedboats are docked. ]

[slay]

... You better know how to drive one of those things.

[ because she doesn't have a better plan. the most useless member of this party rn tbh. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des doesn't either, because I... rolled to decide whether or not that's something that has occurred to him to learn in four thousand years and nope. It is not.]

Remember the helicopter? He can do anything.

[He barks a laugh, because this is... definitely one of the craziest fucking situations he's ever found himself in. Kudos, Rafael.]

It's just no fun if we don't get to hotwire something.

[romanticidal]

I can do it. But you will need to keep them off from me while I do so. [ he looks to buffy ] Carina, did you grab the other guns from the room?

[slay]

[ wow buffy helped with that helicopter thank you!! anyway rafael is ... expecting her to have weapons or something now and she just offers a shrug. ]

I left them in the glovebox. I didn't expect a shoot-out at our hotel. [ with a spot 36 she'll glance outside and ... see what her chances of stopping by the car on the way are ... ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des does the headtilt at Buffy.] All this time you've known him and you don't expect that anymore? I don't know how the guy eats breakfast without getting shot at.

[He loves you, Rafael...]

I've got nine rounds. What're the odds of there being less than ten of these jackasses?

[Maybe he won't miss...]

[romanticidal]

Slim enough that I think we should go for the other weapons. [ sorry des. ] I will cover you to the vehicle, Buffy. [ he digs out the keys to give her ] Go in the passenger side, and then we will all make our way to the boat.

[slay]

[ y a y.

why do the hot ones always have to be vash the stampede.

she holds out a hand for him to drop the keys into, closing her fingers around them and then leaning on the door. ]

On three? [ she doesn't bother waiting for confirmation, just counts down and then BURSTS THROUGH THE DOOR to run for the car. god bless whoever invented remote entry. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des has to save his bullets, so he'll just come out from behind Rafael to make sure they have a clear path to the boat.

or not because he crit failed his spot check. SO I GUESS HE'S JUST STARING INTO NOTHING. GET IT TOGETHER, DESCANT.]

[romanticidal]

[ maybe he's blinded by ~the sun~

rafael moves out the door, pulls his guns as he moves behind one of the columns out front, and scans the balconies above as buffy breaks for the car. except... no one actually fires at her?? so there's that. ... they do, however, fire at rafael behind the column. yaaay. one shot breaks off a piece of column right next to his arm, and then another strikes him in the shoulder (5 dmg). ]

[slay]

[ it took all 21 points of her will save to not turn around and fret over rafael getting shot tbh. but buffy makes it to the car, pulls open the passenger door, and digs the guns out of the glovebox. whee. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des shakes off his sunblindness thanks to the sound of gunshots and grabs Rafael by the shoulder that's not currently bleeding to haul him away from the pillar to give him some physical cover, because DUDE NO ONE ELSE CAN DRIVE THE BOAT.]

Well, at least they know what they want. [He glances in Buffy's direction. RUN BLONDIE RUN.]