i'm leaving you my last curse

[bravebartender]

Comments

[moralitypolice]

Heat. Intense, loud, hot -- heat.

( AND... )

[prettyclothes]

[BOOM.

Were it not for the warning, Scarlett may not have been able to move as fast as she does. As it is, she's still thrown by the force of the blast as it slams into them from the center of the castle, pitching all three of them over the edge of the balcony. But it does allow her to do the math quickly enough to prioritize.

Isaac will heal. Bonnie will not.

She truly does try to grab them both. She snakes an arm around Bonnie's waist, pulling her close, and tries to grab for Isaac, but he slips out of her reach. So instead she shoves, positioning him as much over the nearby body of water as she can so he can have a (somewhat) softer landing.

Hopefully he knows the appropriate way to land in the water.

Then she tucks Bonnie into her and twists trying to gain as much footing as she can as she runs, but in the end, they still land in a heap on the grass outside the blast radius - just not a deadly one.

There may be a small snap. She hasn't determined yet if it was her heel (tragic) or her ankle (managable).]

[moralitypolice]

( Bonnie's bad feeling goes from bad to boom.

Everything happens in a snap's worth of time, it feels like. Had Scarlett pushed Isaac? And, she thinks, looking down at Scarlett's arm around her waist, held her and - she pops her head up, breath coming back to her lungs. They're on a patch of land down below, but not too far down.

She coughs from some of the debris, covering her mouth. She looks around them, before trying to yank herself out of Scarlett's arms, pulling herself, wobbly to her feet. He's not here. He didn't make it. )

Isaac!

( The sun has set and it's too dark to see where he landed - or could have. The moonlight isn't enough and a lot of the light that emanated from the castle seems to have been - blown? Away.

She whips around to Scarlett. Assessing. )

Are you okay?

[prettyclothes]

Well enough.

[She glances down, pulling off one heeled shoe that is definitely broken and she sighs, before shedding the other shoe as well. Then she pushes her feet, continuing to scan the area for signs of trouble.]

Whoever did this owes me a criminally expensive pair of shoes.

[And also better not have damaged her husband, or things will be getting much worse for them. But for now, perception checks, ladies.]

[moralitypolice]

( Only a vampire could go barefoot under siege, but Bonnie's seen it before. You work with what you have. )

I think Isaac can swim.

( But does she know? She has to get it together. )

Everyone is in danger. ( That explosion was concentrated inside the castle. (18) for a perception check as Bonnie scans around them. )

[prettyclothes]

[Isaac can, in fact, swim. Bonnie would remember him mentioning off-handedly that his father used to coach the swim team. So he will be fine.

It's everyone else that's in trouble.

Scarlett, the one with the actual night vision, is unfortunately distracted (9) by the buzzing of her phone in her trouser pocket. She immediately reaches for it before bringing it to her ear.]

Wesley? Are you alright?

[She steps away to have a brief conversation, while Bonnie is free to focus on the landscape around them.

The fading light does not make it easy to spot, but Bonnie's eyes are sharp enough - probably from all those years of dealing with supernatural shenanigans in the dark - that while her human eyes can't make out strong details, she does catch sight of dark shadows shaped like bodies moving through the trees, making their way closer.

Scarlett hangs up a minute later before coming back.]

Damon and Wesley are trapped in the wine cellar, but they're otherwise fine. Unfortunately that means they're the only two we can currently account for.

[That said, she follows Bonnie's eyes to the tree line.]

What is it?

[moralitypolice]

Bodies. ( It's her default setting lately, and she clarifies. ) People. Moving toward us.

( Fast.

They're on an open bluff so there's nowhere to hide if they're enemies. Which, she's bet on, since everyone was just blown up. )

Lapsus locorum..

( The ground between Bonnie, Scarlett and the approaching figures slicks over about twenty feet out, giving the appearance of a sheet of black ice. DEX saves, dark shadows. )

[prettyclothes]

[The first skids to a stop just on the edge of the spell (19), while the other two manage less well (14, 10), the latter slipping onto his ass though it may not have all been because of the ice. Because the first word out of his mouth as he lands is: "Scarlett?"

Scarlett tips her head to the side, studying the face and shakes her head.]

Oh, Randall. You've made a grave mistake.

[After which she takes a running leap over the slick space at the first vampire (20), shoving her hand into his chest cavity.]

[moralitypolice]

( and roll for initiative, Bonnie got a 5 )

Randall?

[prettyclothes]

[The other vamps rolled better (15) with Scarlett next (9), so they swing in first, trying to swarm the two of them. The one with Scarlett's hand in his chest (One) can't do much, though he tries to wrench himself free without letting Scarlett keep his heart (1 vs. 3), but Scarlett is a more skilled vampire, tensing her fingers and keeping him in place.

Two studies the slick surface, trying to figure out if she can get to Bonnie, then deciding to take a swing at Scarlett (18 vs. 4). Scarlett's head snaps back and blood spills from her nose and she shakes her head.]

You shouldn't have done that.

[Randall wastes his turn going "Scarlett, no!" as Scarlett divests One of his heart, and he drops to the ground.]

Randall, darling, you do realize that you just tried to blow up, not only myself but also Rhett and my son. How do you think am I taking this, when I do not even know if they are dead or alive?

["We didn't know you were in there. We were just trying to get the Slayers."]

[moralitypolice]

( Bonnie doesn't hesitate to try and use an oldie but a goodie, the vampire aneurysm spell she lobs straight at Randall getting an (8) )

[prettyclothes]

[Randall shakes his head as he pushes it off (18), before glancing over back at the witch. "Scarlett, can we talk about this?"

Two tries to get past Scarlett to Bonnie (18 vs. 14), and she's fast enough that she succeeds, and manages not to wipe out on the rough terrain (13). She swings a fist towards Bonnie (7), while Randall tries to deal with Scarlett.]

Not unless you are interested in telling me what you want with the Slayers. The Tower made a point to stay off their radar. Why change things now?

["The witches. They said we had an opportunity."

Scarlett swings towards him, but half-heartedly (7 vs. 9), wanting to keep him talking.]

Did they now?

[moralitypolice]

( Two misses Bonnie by a lick (12), because this Bonnie has a little more fight in her than when she was a teenager. )

The tower?

( Bonnie tries her same spell again, but on Two who's right in front of her. (11) because he's in such close proximity. )

[patrols]

[BOOM.

Lindsay's instinct is always to throw herself in front of the danger, to protect her fiancé, because she's more durable than he is. So she does, putting herself between him and the blast but a bomb is a bomb and her body as a shield isn't going to do much.

What she can do is try to protect both their heads as they're thrown back into a wall, and to the ground. The rubble begins to come down around them, she hears before she feels the snap! of her arm breaking, and then she loses a little time.

She's not sure how much time, but she does come back to herself, eyes bleary as she tries to make sense of where they are.]

Beck?

[She tries to move her arm and there's a whimper of pain. Yep. Definitely broken. Among everything else that hurts.]

[telegraphs]

( They make it to the landing, at least, before chaos breaks lose.

Beck remembers nothing as his fiancee shields him as best she can.

He wakes up some time later. Soot, ash, and rubble cloud his view and lungs as he comes to. He's laid across Lindsay, almost like a ragdoll, but for the most part, he feels - sore. His entire body hurts but he can't feel any localized damage. Maybe a shoulder out of socket?

No, that's probably just the paid he took from his fiancee literally holding onto him.

His vision clears enough to see that there are no longer steps down, only open space and air and he pushes himself further up against the wall for safety, before pulling Lindsay closer to him. )

Linds. Linds.

( Her holds her close to him, looking above to make sure nothing else is going to come down. He rolls his stiff neck, lets out a few coughs and then looks down at Lindsay. He can finally address any... he lifts himself up so that he can sit back on his ankles. )

How bad is it?

[patrols]

Arm's definitely broken.

[Once he's moved, she pushes herself up into a sitting position so she can get a better look at her injured arm. It's the forearm that's broken, her hand tipping at an unfortunate angle. She cradles her arm back close to her chest as she looks around.]

Otherwise mostly just bumps and bruises. You?

[telegraphs]

( She's worked with less. He's worked with less. But, he doesn't like the look of it when she inspects her injury.

He stretches a leg out, checks in with his system. The pain. )

Just sore. Your definitely broken arm took the brunt of us. ( He sighs, looking out front. ) It. ( He frowns. ) Stairs're no longer.

[patrols]

I have a feeling there are a lot of things that are no longer.

[She takes a deep breath, scanning the rubble to see if there was a safe path to somewhere that's more solid ground. She tucks her broken arm into her chest, before peering forward.]

First thing first, we have to try and make it to solid ground. See if we can find anyone else.

[telegraphs]

( There's a lump in his throat, then, but until they get to safer ground, assessing casualties will have to wait. )

Best bet might be to head to a back staircase still intact. Not saying you can't jump us down into our honeymoon suite. Not one-handed anyway. But we also don't know what's awaiting us down there.

( If there is a down there to jump. If the stairs are gone... )

There's enough of a landing here to head back into the other hallways. Fine another way down. Doable?

[patrols]

[Lindsay nods, because he's right. They don't know what's down there. The cop part of her brain is already whirling, trying to put the pieces together. And it's much easier to talk shop than actually talking about anything else.]

To do this kind of damage, they had to have gotten some heavy duty explosives in here. This place was built to withstand cannons back in the day.

[Say what you want about old buildings but they're made to be sturdy.]

How did they get them in?

[telegraphs]

Underneath? There must be old tunnels under this castle. Probably escape routes, in case the English or French...

( He trails off. )

Inside job. Locals who befriended Buffy, any of the slayers.

( He nods. )

Last of the red hot hunters? Like a last stand? New Orleans, again?

( Which is another part of their argument they hopefully won't touch. The last time the hunters all came together, it was there, and there was a lot of carnage. )

[patrols]

[She shakes her head.]

This doesn't feel the same. I mean, yeah, they hit hard but they could have waited until we left the castle and picked us off one by one. This is a statement.

[She's just not sure yet what they're trying to say.]

[telegraphs]

A statement that says, we'd rather you be in smithereens.

( No reason to argue the logic, though. )

We can speculate til the cows come home, but we need to try and get back down. Can you walk?

[patrols]

[She nods, because she can. The legs aren't the ones broken and they begin to move slowly down the hallway. She keeps to the edge of the hallway, peering cautiously around doorways in case something or someone happens to hop out at her.

Perception checks, please.]

[telegraphs]

( Between being worried for his injured fiancee, getting his bearings after the explosion and an unresolved argument, he is shit at perception: (2). )