chicago ♔ subscribe me not to darkness

[principal]

♬ To Darkness - Mumford and Sons

WHO || Buffy Summers, Sam Winchester, Robin Wood [closed]
WHAT || Buffy accompanies Sam to Chicago, seeking answers about Dean's past... and the fate of the version of Sam from this world
WHERE || Chicago, USA
WHEN || Late-October [back-dated]
HOW || Actionspam

Sam Winchester has not a very easy time of this world.  

Most of the reasons for which, it seems, can be traced back to the fact that there was another Sam Winchester native to this dimension.  One who somehow managed to alienate his brother Dean to the point where he almost murdered Sam on sight, and it's been a very slow, uphill battle ever since to get Dean to say more than two non-hostile words in a row to him.

An uphill battle that's going too slowly for Sam's taste.  

Upon googling his own name and doing some research in hunter circles, he learned more and more disturbing facts - including the fact that he and Dean from this world were held responsible for the deaths of Jo & Ellen Harvelle, and Bobby Singer.  Distraught by what he'd learned, he shared the facts with his new friend, Buffy, who agreed to travel with him to Chicago tracing down one of the only leads they have on finding out more about what happened, since Dean doesn't seem inclined to share.

And so off they go to Chicago - home to some of Buffy's own demons - to check out the Hunter's bar run by Robin Wood.

Comments

[familybusiness]

[He moves over to her, hands reaching out to grasp her shoulders. She looks like she's about to fall apart, crumble into a million pieces, and he has no way of knowing why.

Did she hear something about him? Was this about something else entirely?

He guesses if she punches him or gives him some horrified look, he'll know.

In the meantime, though, he looks over her shoulder at the man standing nearby, and assumes that he followed her in here, that he might know...something?]

What the hell happened?

[principal]

[ robin fixes sam with a steely look of his own b/c what if he turns evil any second jk ] She got a call. Someone... Something happened to them.

[slay]

[ Robin's attempt at explaining doesn't do much to draw Buffy out of her crying fit. She comes apart at the seams, overburdened by everything she's been trying to hold back. Thomas, Fred, the war, her own actions in it, Sam, and now this? It all crashes into her at once, the final straw, her back breaking under the weight of trying to be so strong and so sure.

She accepts the comfort from Sam, sinking into him, shaking apart further. It takes her a long few moments to compose herself enough to get words out, though there are a few aborted attempts. Turning her face away, she wipes at her tears with her open palms, and more fall to replace them readily. She glances out towards the door, a scattered understanding that they need to hurry. ]

It's Rafael.

[ She gets that much out finally. There's literally no way he came up in a conversation with Sam, so pop culture check to guess it's Rafael Giovanni, I guess. ]

They can't find him.

[ Not the whole of it. It's Rafael, and it's Thomas, and it's being forced to face the monster that she's harboring inside of her. ]

[familybusiness]

Hey, hey.

[He looks between Robin and Buffy, wondering how just one phone call had turned into this. With a pop culture check of 18, and then a roll for a gossip check that also nat 20'd (good fucking lord), Sam is apparently on top of this shit? For some reason?

Maybe he really likes his music and thought it was super cool that he'd been involved in knight's business. <.<]

It could be nothing, okay? Let's not jump to the worst conclusions right off the bat. We'll find him.

[And then with a nat 20 listen check, he apparently can hear Rafael's magical voice breaking through the noise in the bar as a guy is changing channels on the bar tv.]

Hey, leave it there a second.

[Turns out it's totally Rafael. And the feed is totally labelled LIVE.]

Isn't that him?

[He asks as he turns to look back towards Buffy, to make sure she's seen it.]

[slay]

[ With a listen of 20 total and a spot of 25, she figures out what Sam means quickly, distracting from her tears. She whips her head around, searching out the screen. Breaking away from Sam, she moves towards the bar. ]

Turn that up. [ It's hard to tell she means Robin, since she's not looking at him. ]

[principal]

[ he figures it out like a smart cookie, and grabs the remote from the hunter, cranking the volume. The bottom text reads fully: Live from Kyoto, Japan and Rafael Giovanni World Tour. The camera pans across acres of screaming fans inside a stadium, shifting to closeups of girls holding signs in Japanese, English, and Italian proclaiming their love, some with tears on their cheeks.

A smiling Rafael waves at them from the stage, as the program announcer continues narrating: "- in the wake of the tragic incident on his first televised concert and subsequent controversial trial that divided a nation, NOVA Records kingpin Burt Becksworth and Giovanni's acting manager, Isabella Alessandro have reportedly beefed up his personal security to levels rivaling the Secret Service." A chuckle. "Given his track record, some comedians are already cracking wise about whether that's to protect Giovanni... or his fans. Am I right, Joan? Hey-o!"

Robin looks between Buffy and the tv a few times, before finally saying: ] That's your 'it's complicated'?

[slay]

[ That comment, and the faint assurance that Rafael's at least presently alive (though concerts don't historically bode well for him) affords Robin some of Buffy's attention. Her eyes dart over to him from the screen, and a hapless look crosses her features—the kind that anticipates familiarity. You know me. She pops a self-deprecating sort of shrug, tilting her head to the side to confirm. ]

[familybusiness]

Well, at least we avoided that emergency.

[No really, what the hell just happened. This is a trip for the ages.

Oh and he got a wisdom check of 5 to figure out wtf you two are talking about, so that went right over his head. :)]

[slay]

I wouldn't be so sure.

[ Her gaze flicks back up to the screen, confusion sinking in. ]

Des said his phone was disconnected.

[ Which maybe just makes her sound like a groupie stalker that he has to avoid. But. Shh. ]

Something's hinky here.

[familybusiness]

He's in Japan, Buffy. They have different cellular services there. His phone probably wouldn't work even if they took it there.

[It's...not that weird?]

It'll probably be re-connected once they get back or something.

[A beat.]

He looks like he's perfectly fine to me. Are you like...a really big fan or something? Or were you with that group that was working on his trial?

[principal]

I feel like I'm missing something here.

Maybe several somethings.

[slay]

Not without telling someone about it or getting us some way to reach him.

[ She looks away from Sam, back up at the TV. While they both start getting (unsure) about her being Stan about all of these, she just looks distantly up at the screen, wearing the expression of someone whose yearning has been faintly rebuffed. ]

We were close. [ A beat. Her eyes drop to the bar top. ] I thought we were close.

[ On second thought, there are like 900 reasons their last conversation might have scared him off, and now she's definitely wondering, with only Sam and Robin here to side-eye her, if maybe that's exactly what happened. He's not brainwashed or missing or hurt. He's just … cleanly breaking. The Knighthood didn't want him, and Buffy overstepped. Getting away from a life of missions and death might be exactly what he needed.

Whatever it is, he's in one piece. She shakes it off, glancing back between Robin and Sam. ] Sorry. [ She tilts her head towards Sam. ] You said you had a lead?

[familybusiness]

[He could say that there was some kind of misunderstanding, but he's so far and away removed from that situation and has no real context whatsoever, so he has the sense at least to just...let it go. Nothing he can say or do is going to make however Buffy feels about it better.

Not right now, anyway.]

Uh, yeah.

[He looks...mildly uncomfortable? Also, kind of disturbed, but kind of happy?

Sam Winchester is in a weird place in this moment.]

I kind of got...assaulted by two of the hunters here. [Hi Robin.] Someone helped me out and it turned out she...knew me. The other me, I mean.

[principal]

They started something in my bar? Who was it?

[familybusiness]

[Oh, so he is the owner of the bar.]

You must be Robin, then? [He gestures with his hands to where they were standing.] Uh, pool table. Young blonde woman and an older gentleman with a beard. [He fishes in his pocket for a knife and flips it around, handing it to Robin hilt first.] This was hers. Feel free to give it back to her next time you see her.

[slay]

She knew you?

[ Buffy exchanges a look of weLL SO MUCH FOR HIDING THINGS with Robin, then looks intently back at Sam. ]

What did she say?

[familybusiness]

Yeah. [A beat.] Um, intimately was the...word she used.

[Hahahahaha /coughs]

Apparently Dean got mixed up in some big mess between Heaven and Hell. He thought he was doing the right thing, but he was...only going to make things worse, and destroy himself in the process. [A beat.] And that I made sure he didn't go through with it.

[He's not sure...how much to say in front of Mr. Wood here, so that's the short version.]

[principal]

[ from behind sam

GIVES BUFFY POINTED GURL YOU IN DANJUH STARE ]

[slay]

[ Catching Robin's eye makes Buffy all the more defensive of Sam!!! She wants to draw something out of him to make him seem less like

a devil blood drinking psychopath. :) ]

… That's it?

[ Her eyebrows raise. ]

That's all she gave you. Sam, you were gone for like twenty minutes, what else were you— [ She chokes on the sentence, balking. ] … Oh. Right. [ Intimately. ]

[familybusiness]

What? [Confusion is in his gaze, then mild horror.] No? No!

[God Buffy what do you think he does in dark alleys exactly?]

Of course there's more, that's just...the cliffnotes version.

[His head turns ever so slightly since apparently Robin is BEHIND HIM and that went so well for him last time.]

Can we talk about this somewhere else?

[Not in the middle of a very crowded room?]

[slay]

[ Being alone with Sam Winchester tho ………….

Buffy balks for a beat, then blinks it off quickly and turns back towards the bar. ]

Right. Right, of course. [ She grabs a napkin and a pen, scribbling her number down onto it and handing it off to Robin. ] Thanks. For everything. If you hear anything else, or if you need something, just call. Slayer on duty.

[ She looks over at Sam. ]

I told Des we'd get back to the hotel and head for the airport. Did you get what you needed?

[principal]

[ he takes the napkin, and glances between them, before stepping so that his back is to sam, and he's facing buffy, fixing her with a solemn look ] That goes two ways. You find yourself needing backup on something... [ SOMETHING. ] you know where to find me.

[familybusiness]

Yeah, I'm going to have to fill in some blanks with Dean- [And Gayl.] -but I'm good for right now. Are you sure there are still flights this late?

[It's probably 8 or 9 pm already okay. There's usually one or two flights overseas a day per airline.

He starts walking towards the door as they talk, totally oblivious to any secret context in Buffy and Robin's conversation.]

[slay]

[ Somber and understanding, Buffy nods to Robin. She offers him one last, fleeting smile, and then turns to slip out with Sam. ]

If we can't catch a Red Eye, we should at least be able to get to New York to catch something early out in the morning. Robin, he … He hadn't heard much about what happened to you, but he told me a lot about Dean. [ bluff 25 IT WAS A 16 ON THE DICE OK THAT'S HIGH FOR BUFFY. ] Maybe there are some gaps I can fill.

[familybusiness]

Yeah, that sounds good.

[Maybe Gayl will be ready to leave by then :) Otherwise she can probably just catch a later one out. London isn't that enormous.]

Then maybe we can fill in each other's gaps.

[He sure crit failed his sense motive so he just...completely trusts her. Blindly. Get ready for some truth bombs, Buffy.

And he's going to start off with one right after they leave the bar, when no one's nearby.]

It took so long to get back because she took me to a rooftop, over that way. [He points.] She wanted to show me something.