i'm leaving you my last curse

[bravebartender]

Comments

[mojitos]

These days I've mostly been in Star City.

[There's just something about her that rings a bell, but the downside of his job is that he sees a lot of faces.]

Have you ever been to Verdant?

[madskilled]

Shit. Last month? Mia's a slayer. I was in town, dragged her and the gays out.

( Was a trip. Give her a second. )

You sling a mean drink.

[mojitos]

Thank you.

[He grins and nods as he finally places her.]

I've been working on my flourishes. The vamp reflexes help.

[madskilled]

Strobe probably kills.

( She hikes a foot on the edge of the chair, resting an arm on her knee. )

You and Mickey were chatting it up, I remember correctly.

[mojitos]

We were. We still are.

[More or less.]

He and Mia are roommates now, which keeps things interesting.

[madskilled]

Slayers and vamps mixing it up since 1998.

( But, she doesn't sound judgmental. She nods, winks at him. )

He's a piece.

( Swinging her leg back down, she stands up. )

You smoke?

[indurare]

[He's about to decline, but then he's recruited for wine retrieval and excuses himself instead. Dawn also excuses herself, going to see if she has time to make a phone call as they're waiting for dessert.

Melanie slides across an empty chair to get closer to Rhett with a sigh.]

Scarlett never changes, does she? She's not content with discord unless she's the one causing it.

[She loves her but it's true.]

[madskilled]

( "To be fair, they needed replenishment. You could say Buffy is the more mischievous one tonight. Perhaps, without purpose," Rhett says, draining the last bottle for he and Melanie.

Faith doesn't announce to anyone, but heads out the frond door and leans against a column by the step, lighting up a cig. )

[indurare]

It's true, she may not realize.

[Stefan steps out, scanning the room, before moving to go in search of some of those unaccounted for, mostly trying to get some space from the group after cooking, then playing host all afternoon.]

[madskilled]

( "Or, she does, and she's good."

Faith looks back through the open door, and nods a sup if he's looking for her.

And... )

[indurare]

[BOOM.

While most are pushed out, the first thing Melanie feels is that she's falling. The floor comes out from under her, and she reaches for the man next to her, her oldest friend, almost as though the world is in slow motion. Then he slips through her fingers, the world speeds up, and when the collision happens, things go dark quickly.

When she comes to, however, all she can see is a bloody chair leg sticking up through her gut. At first, there's a moment of relief at the fact that it missed her heart.

But then the pain comes, and that seems like a cold comfort.]

Rhett?

[Her voice is small and strained, but she tries to be as loud as possible. He was the one closest to her at the time. Is he there? Can he still hear her?

Is his heart intact?]

[persistingly]

( Rhett has been under siege before. Attacked. Kidnapped. Beaten. He has torn innards from ten men to get back to Scarlett, and she, him. There was a particular horny group of harpies who took a liking to him. Tragically, thanks to Mellie and Scarlett, their home went up in flames. As did they. He can still hear the screams.

But, he can't hear much of anything now. It's as if everything goes silent and then he's falling. He loses footing, seating, grasp of everything.

They don't hit with a smack, but with a series of crunches and the sound of wood piercing bone.

The table ontop of him goes flying out of righteous rage. He slams into what feels like a new cavern that's formed. As his eyes adjust, he sees that they've dropped down into - some sort of storage area. A weapons cache. And what he thinks is some newfangled high tech safe. And rubble everywhere.

And -- )

Mellie.

( He crawls over everything to her, looking more like an animal than a perfectly civilized vampire. His hands freeze above the chair leg, afraid of the worst. But she is still here. And she is not dessicated, or dessicating. )

It seems your good fortune continues.

( Of the four of them, Melanie has made the least enemies. Not counting the same enemies. They are a family after all. )

Brace yourself.

( With that little warning, he reaches out under her, takes hold and lifts with all his might. As the chair leg goes free, he takes her with him, rolling over as she lands on the other side of him. He's probably covered in blood. It's fine.

In fact. A sharp pain hits as he flexes his should and he turns his head, pulling out a metal fork. He lets it fall lazily out of his hands before he drops his head back down.

Just give him a minute. )

[indurare]

[She's not sure she considers it good fortune to be impaled, necessarily, but regardless she endures. She will continue to endure, and she bears this with her usual grace. There's a small sound of pain as the leg falls from her body but even as she lands, she can feel herself beginning to stitch together.

It's not perfect. She will need to feed before she's anywhere near in fighting shape. But she's well enough to move. But she'll take this breather, reaching over gently and placing her hand against Rhett's shoulder.]

Thank you.

[persistingly]

( A few inches North and he would consider things in bad fortune. )

Every time. ( They are family. She is his sire. And she is Scarlett's compass. On her good days. He peers up above them, pushing himself to his feet carefully. The ground isn't steady, the floor, table, and everything else having come down with them.

A cloud of smoke or ash or whatever remnants above settles around them. )

I think we may be in the catacombs underneath.

[indurare]

Is that good or bad?

[Melanie can't say for sure how she feels about that, but if it stands a chance that the rest of the ceiling isn't going to come caving in, she'll take it. When she's recovered enough, she slowly starts to push herself up into a sitting position.]

Do you think there's an external entrance?

[persistingly]

That's our location.

( Hold for good or bad while he assesses, peers around them. )

And exit. There must. I couldn't see them sealing off catacombs. Think of the permits required and the religious backlash.

( He rips the table top away in a flourish as it slams a few feet away into the wall with a large boom. He then turns in the opposite direction. Turns back and then looks back over to Melanie. )

The only question that remains: forward or back.

[indurare]

I say move towards the exterior.

[As much as she needs to feed, the idea of feeding off the dead compatriots does feel a bit gauche. She'd much rather find her way to another blood source if she can.]

We were facing an exterior wall before we fell. We can't be too far from one here.

[persistingly]

( He agrees, holding a hand out to get her to stand up, if she can. )

Then we head in the direction of the exterior. Maybe find a terrorist for you to rip open.

[somanyadjectives]

[BOOM.

It's not Bonnie's warning that reaches his ears as he gives Faith a nod in return. It's Dawn's voice, somewhere in the bowels of the castle. She'd been idly chatting with Jeremy, but something about her tone has Stefan perking up:

"Hey. What are you doing?"

He turns to run back inside, something like alarm itching at the back of his mind, before the rush of heat and light hits him like a wave and he's thrown backwards towards Faith. All he can do is try and cover them both as piles of rubble come down around them.]

[madskilled]

( Slayer instincts are something. But they come from vampires. And, seldom, in prophetic dreams. They aren't Spiderman, or Gwenpool, or whomever is the latest animated Spider, Faith barely pays attention to that shit, but if someone's watching something - yeah, she can get down with a good movie. She just likes in-person action more.

Nearly being blown up? Not the action she's looking for.

She has seconds before she sees Stefan take off back inside.

She frowns, flicks her cigarette away and then that's the last thing she remembers before she's sent to the ground. She feels like a linebacker as Stefan lands ontop of her. She can feel some of the debris (some of the castle?) come down on the both of them, but mostly Stefan. Instinctively, she'd roll them over, but Stefan's got years and strength on her.

And something tells her to stay put. )

[somanyadjectives]

[It hurts, but it's nothing he won't survive. He can already feel the bruises, and maybe a broken rib starting to stick themselves back into place even as he shifts under the pile of rubble. He pushes himself up just slightly, so he's not shifting the rubble too much, but giving Faith room to move beneath him.]

We need to be careful. I'm not sure how high the debris goes above us.

[He glances down to meet her eyes.]

Can you move?

[madskilled]

( Stefan takes the brunt of the force, piles of rocks having cascaded down on top of them.

Senses kick in as she tests her limbs and her caved-in surroundings. )

Gotta say, this isn't a compromising position I wanted to be in today. ( She's been punched for less. But, the humor helps the shock. She's able to slide enough out from under him as she gets her bearings, twists a shoulder, flexes. ) Think we can burst up Little Mermaid style, but it'll hurt.

[somanyadjectives]

[Stefan makes a face at that suggestion but before he feels his phone begin to vibrate in his pocket. He shifts one hand, trying to maintain the balance of the rubble on top of him.

He phone tumbles out of his pocket, colliding with the ground and revealing a screen that is ... entirely shattered.

So yes, the call is going to go to voicemail.

Stefan has bigger things to worry about anyway.]

It also might hurt other people nearby. I think I remember hearing Dawn's voice before things exploded.

[madskilled]

Dawnie wasn't that nearby, was she?

( Was anyone? He tries to maneuver a little more, wishes she could prop her head up, find out what's around. Who. )

Pretty sure, it was just me, you, and a lit cigarette.

( Which is not lit anymore. And her hands not burnt. Or it is and it's under the bruising.

Most people were inside. Or upstairs. Out back. She mentally goes through it. )

Lee ( Leeandra ) and Clara were on the lawn kicking the soccer ball.

( Wholly uninterested in American Thanksgiving. They all received various versions of the same lecture. Colonialism. Smallpox. Death. Mixed histories but the points got across. )

[somanyadjectives]

I heard Dawn talking to someone. She was on the phone with Jeremy, and then she asked someone what they were doing.

[That question, right before something explodes? Stefan doesn't have a good feeling about it.]

Do you think the girls were far enough away to be out of the range of the blast?

[Which is the question he asks just before he hears a scream.]