RP LOG with gr8muppetyodin, histhornedrose & lotterylucky
[Follows THIS and THIS]
There were four people in Riley's office right but, but he could actually swear blindly that there were eight. He was sitting at his desk trying his best to look like he could actually focus on them without going cross-eyed, but it wasn't the easiest of tasks he had ever faced. He blinked slowly a couple of times, his hands resting splayed on the desk. Man, was his head pounding. He was aware they were probably waiting for him to say something, and he would get to that. He would. In a moment when the room stopped spinning a little. After getting his head slammed into a concrete wall by an extremely pissed off Scotsman, who could really expect his brain to be functioning 100%? It was probably a miracle it was still attached to the interior of his skull. Beside his desk, Graham was standing in his camos, arms crossed as he just glared at Buffy. It was like he was waiting for her to say something negative against Riley to give him an excuse to bitch her out. "Graham, dude. Unless your ass is made of razor blades and you're gonna slice up my interior design, please sit. I need you all on one eye level so I don't have to move my head," Riley finally spoke, gingerly touching the back of his head where he had been subjected to no less than seven sutures. It seemed that along with Kindred emotions, Rory was harbouring a percentage of their physical strength, also. It probably had literally been only moments to spare before he would have been turned. Lucky didn't even begin to cut it.
Blaise was sitting in one of the chairs on the opposite side of Riley's desk facing him. On either side of him sat Juliette and Buffy, all three of them managing to watch Riley with the same curious, yet dumbfounded, look on their faces. Blaise's eyes shifted to the other soldier who was watching Buffy far too closely for his liking, and Blaise's eyes even flashed in warning just momentarily when the guy finally moved to sit on the windowsill. Blaise kept his gaze locked on the other soldier long enough to make sure he wasn't going to touch Buffy in any way before he looked back at Riley. The soldier was an interesting shade of white and his blue eyes really weren't managing to focus for too long. "Have you suffered an accident, Sergeant Finn?" he eventually asked. The thing was, he was slightly concerned his feeding from the solider was the cause of the obvious wooziness. A phone call had come through just as Blaise had managed to have the balls to try and open up to Buffy again. Rory was awake and Blaise's presence was requested at the Nuit Noire Operation HQ, along with Buffy and Juliette's. Blaise had been beyond pissed. Every time he tried, he got cut off in some way. He really was about a step away from tossing the towel in with the whole thing.
"I suffered a Scotsman," was Riley's reply as he stiffly reached for his bottle of water to swallow two painkillers that were sitting on the desk beside his hand.
"Mon dieu," Juliette murmured. She'd said very little since she'd arrived at Riley's HQ, knowing full well that she would not be permitted to see Rory unless Rory asked for her. She arched an eyebrow slightly as she watched the young soldier and tried to weigh up if she actually wanted to ask him what Rory had said. Her gaze soon flicked to Blaise, wanting to ask what the had happened between him and Buffy as well. She could sense his discontent, but this was hardly the time to interrogate him. "It really was Brujah. I'm assuming no questioning could take place?"
Buffy had been trying not to meet Graham's gaze since she'd walked into the room. She felt unbelievably uncomfortable under his gaze, but when Blaise had given him a Kindred glare there was a part of her that warmed from the show of protectiveness. She hadn't been able to answer him, the phone call putting an end to any kind of discussion that might have taken place. Buffy thought she'd be grateful for the save, but the truth was it was agonising. Only, a couple of days ago when she might have felt an urge to try and take over as Riley's personal nurse there was none. He'd made it more than clear where she stood in his life. Buffy tried to be subtle as she slid her hand over to take Blaise's, hoping like hell it didn't just aggravate Graham more. "Did we know taking on Kindred strength was a possibility? I mean, truth be told I would honestly not pick Rory as a winner in a match up between him and Riley."
"I would say he wasn't receptive, but he was. He was super-receptive to everything around him, despite having a dead injury and broken bones. He managed to sit on the bed with a broken rib, he managed to destroy one of our defibrillators by throwing it against a wall. He managed to throw me against a wall. That was my fault, though. I provoked him. In saying that, he provoked me, but I should have known better considering every second word out of his mouth started with an F or a C. I think he came a lot closer to Embrace than we thought. I'm talking probably seconds away. I could be mistaken, but it was like he had an urge to bite me, but he pulled off in confusion. He was in a rage, but Rory was still in there somewhere. By the time the team pulled him off and had him on the ground, he was in tears." Riley exhaled heavily, looking down at the notes in front of him. "We might have a problem, though. He is absolutely averted to Kindred. Especially you two," he added, pointed between Blaise and Juliette. "I couldn't mention Buffy, I don't know how he feels in regards to her, but you two are like, erm, Prince and Princess of Cunts. His words, not mine. It makes me wonder if the guys that got to him were a rebel group of some sort. They maybe wanted Rory to join their ranks. As he is now, he has the strength and fight to pull it off. If he was Embraced, I'm thinking he would be a more than effective weapon."
At the repeat of Rory's charming nickname, Blaise's eyebrows rose slightly as he glanced at Juliette. "That would make sense, of course. However, if that is the case, we may have a bigger problem than we initially anticipated. It means we would have to have at least one defector amongst us to have information on Rory to know he would be capable of Brujah rebellion. Unless he has encountered someone on his own since being here. Or someone has followed him from Scotland. The latter is unlikely. It would have been far easier to Embrace him on his home turf where he is in his comfort zone." He pressed his lips together with a small, aggravated shake of his head. "Merde. He needs to be at my estate for protection. There is no saying they will not try again. I need to locate who did this, which we cannot do without information from him."
After all this time, there were few things that could disgust Juliette, but the C-word was one of them. She realised it was part of the Scottish language and could be prevalent when they were angry enough, but she still had never appreciated it. To be called one managed to rile her to her very core. If Rory had said it to her face, she would not have hesitated in taking a swing at him. The problem with Brujah was that even if it was them provoking you into a physical reaction - they wanted you to hit them so they had an excuse to retaliate. At least now she had an answer, and knew he did not want to see her. Whether that was Rory or the Brujah inside him was a question she really didn't want to ask. "He might need to be at the estate, but apparently he will not want to see us at all. I'm sure Riley's men can help us with that, hm? And Buffy if we find out if he has an aversion to her or not. She also has Slayer strength on her side." Juliette's gaze looked past Blaise to the small blonde. "This is the part you stop sitting on the bench, non? You do anything that harms him though, and you will regret it."
Buffy didn't flinch at Juliette's threat. Truth was she'd probably be saying the same regardless of whether a lover was angry at her or not. Her gaze went back to Riley and she looked at him quietly before looking at Blaise. "How are you even going to find the defector. If they're... part of your inner circle, isn't it dangerous bringing Rory closer?"
"Actually," Riley began, looking at Juliette evenly, "And excuse me for being so blunt, Mademoiselle Rousseau, but I think the fact he did want to see you is the very reason he is in the position he is in right now. If everyone else in this room is willing to take some form of blame, then I think you must too. I heard that voicemail and he sounded dumbfounded that you had turned him away, a decision you made without even telling him. If you had admitted him to your estate, he would never have gotten attacked on the side of the road returning to the city. He is angry that you cut him off without explanation, and despite the fact he is under the influence of a Brujah state of mind, I don't think there is any male on the face of the earth who wouldn't be pissed off with that. If anyone is bench-sitting here, it's you. If he is angry at you now, you only have yourself to blame."
"No one would dare attack on my private property. There has been attempts in the distant past, and the consequences are dire," Blaise replied calmly. "It is that very reason he was preyed on outwith the boundaries. That is not a fact that has been publicly issued here as yet, but Sergeant Finn and his partner here are aware that Monsieur Buchanan's attack occured less than a hundred feet outwith the boundaries of my property. It may look as though the estate ceases at the gates and fences, but it does not. No one, not even a defector, would be stupid enough to attack on the property. I assure you, there are reasons for that. Perhaps if it was some sort of rebellion suicide attack where the attackers did not care whether they survived or not, but they have not occured in my realm since the late Eighteen Hundreds. Non. They could have just killed him, but instead they tried to Embrace him. They wanted him for some reason, and it could be for something as simple as the fact Rory is a Hunter with Kindred knowledge. I wish I could say this was an uncommon occurence, but it is not. Just like the human world, we have persons continuously trying to gain power by criminal tactics. Not just in France, but all over the world. Rory was just evidently a prime target. I will find the detector because I have eyes and ears everywhere. Someone will defect the defector. They always do."
Juliette felt a burst of irrational anger that had her eyes turning silver and a growl threatening to escape her lips at Riley's comments, no matter how much he excused himself for being blunt. She managed to rein it in though, keeping her expression calm even if her eyes said otherwise. Of course she was guilty, of course she blamed herself. How could she not? The voicemail haunted her, and so did the fact that she'd been stupid enough to turn Rory away. "It's not as if we don't have the time to be patient," she murmured quietly.
Buffy looked between everyone else as she tried to work out if she was following. She was pretty sure she was. Blaise just hadn't been kidding about Kindred being different, and Buffy felt even more stupid for her dumb comparisons. "Um, just out of interest... and please, feel free to call it a stupid comment, but how is locking everyone up on the estate going to help? Wouldn't it just make the defector happy? They're trying to attack you, and this would make you close ranks. It would keep you in the same spot for effectively an infinite amount of time. Are we also sure they won't go after Rory again? Or someone else?"
Blaise rested his elbow on the arm of the seat and slowly rubbed his forehead with the corner of his thumb, scrunching his face up just a little. He forced himself not to get pissed off that she wasn't listening. Again. "Who said anything about locking everyone up?" he asked, turning to shoot her a look. "Who said anything about me remaining locked up? Correct me if I am wrong, but were we not talking about Monsieur Buchanan, who is injured and needs help? Do you not listen to anything I say?" he finally snapped in exasperation. "No one is closing ranks. I am operating in exactly the same fashion as I always do. Did I not just say this happens all the time?" He shook his head and looked away from her again, swearing softly to himself in French. "And I am sure I just heard myself say there was a chance they could still want him. Maybe I just thought that was an obvious conclusion."
Riley looked between Blaise and Buffy, blinking slowly at the exchange. He couldn't help but be curious about what had occured when he had left Blaise's place, because he was sure they were still making schmoopy eyes at each other when he left. To his side, Graham let out a soft snort of amusement, and it was Riley's turn to be shooting pointed glares. "It's true. Rory will need some taking care of, even just to prevent him hurting himself. I asked everyone here for suggestions on what the next turn should be. We can't keep him sedated forever. We can't all just avoid him because he's pissed off, either. He'll remember that when he comes out of this."
"Mon dieu, if I was still capable of them, I'd have a headache right now. Non, we cannot keep him sedated. Which is why it needs to be Airlie that stays with him. We have secure rooms - that do not need to be locked - where he can stay. Where he can vent his frustration if need be. I still think that I at least need to avoid being in his presence to provoke him. Perhaps it is just the Brujah coming out, but his anger is still based on fact. On things he was feeling that have now become magnified and distorted." Juliette looked at Blaise, and then Buffy. "Perhaps this does happen all the time, but there are always exceptions. I think Rory might be one of them. It has cut close to home like it was obviously meant to. Perhaps I would be more use to being out searching for the defector?"
Buffy sighed as she slumped low in her seat. She really did feel like the naughty child that just kept opening her mouth and getting everything wrong. So much for schmoopy eyes. She even wondered if there had been schmoopy eyes or if Riley had just imagined them. Suddenly him being in Blaise's room with her didn't seem half as awkward as right now. She glared at Graham briefly. "We can at least assume that the person that wanted this to happen now knows that Rory hasn't been Embraced, right?"
"Not necessarily," Riley replied, noticing that Blaise was bugged by something. He wasn't himself. He was still commanding control, but he was distracted. "The Kindred that did this were killed at the scene by Graham and other members of our team. There were three of them, but no doubt there are others in this whole defecting group. For all they know, Rory could have been Embraced and is just being held somewhere. He really did come extremely close. There could even be a chance that if their men were killed, another Kindred came in to finish off the job. They couldn't even be sure he is Brujah at this stage, if they do believe he is Embraced. I believe Blaise already has people working on tracking down the defectors?"
Blaise gave a nod. "Bien sûr. As soon as I heard what had occured. There is unrest within certain arms of the Brujah Clan. It is not even necessarily an attempt to overthrow me. They fight amongst themselves all the time. They fight amongst other Clans, always looking to increase their ranks. If news of a Slayer in Paris has gotten out, it could just make them even more determined to close their own ranks, build their strengths to fight for Kindred. They are often a mistaken Clan. Not all are bad, they are just passionate about their own beliefs. Kindred rights is one of them. They just have evil amongst them who use their strengths and weaknesses as weapons of power. None of us here can deny Rory would make an ideal Brujah. That has been evidenced in his behaviour. I just happen to believe that ultimately, it is not a Clan he would be happy in if he ever chose that route. Which he has not."
Juliette secretly believed that Rory would be happy as Toreador, but she didn't open her mouth. She was hardly going to risk any chance of people thinking she was about to try and Embrace Rory while he was in his current condition. Or at all. She highly doubted her fangs would be let anywhere near him. "Oui, I agree. He would no doubt be a useful Brujah, but ultimately he might prove to be... disloyal. The Brujah could have been shooting themselves in the foot with him. I think at this juncture we just need to try and get Rory into an environment he might at least start to feed us detailed information."
Buffy was still watching Blaise from the corner of her eye, not sure how she was ever supposed to prove to him that she could make it in his world. She needed to call Giles and Willow again to see if there was any progress in finding a way to reverse the Slayer mojo. "There's not exactly any way to prove I'm not a threat to Kindred, is there? The Brujah won't have anything to fear from me. Not my turf. But still my friends in danger."
"Actually, and don't hold me to this later down the track, but I'm not sure Rory would be as opposed to Embrace as you all think. Maybe he was before, but now that this has happened, his feelings might have changed. It's true, he was extremely angered, and his eyes were as hard and as cold than any of you have probably seen them, but he said something really uncharacteristic of what I understand of Brujah, telling me that he's still in there and still hurting. Probably as confused as all hell why he's suddenly so furious with the world all over again. He actually taunted me to take him out if I thought he was going to be a threat to you two," Riley told them, pointing at Blaise and Juliette. "He said it's not like he had anything to live for anyway. I mean, I don't know him very well, but it made me even feel like something he stepped in. Then things just took a bad turn, and I hit him. But that's beside the point."
Blaise raised an eyebrow. "You hit him first? I assumed it was the other way around. Interesting..." he noted, watching Riley closely. Wouldn't the only reason Riley would be hitting Rory be Buffy, or something to do with her?
Juliette knew the look on Blaise's face. He had been watching the second soldier, waiting for him to attack Buffy, and now he was watching Riley, no doubt drawing his own conclusion as to why the soldier had hit Rory. Juliette couldn't help but be interested as well. Her own jealousy was hardly going to ebb at the knowledge that Riley and Rory were involved in a punch out over Buffy. She was starting to feel as if all the men in her life were doomed to lose it over the Slayer. "Oui, very interesting..."
Buffy frowned as she tried to work out what she was missing, and Riley was avoiding her gaze all over again. Now she really was worried. "What did he say? This is because of what he's been through. He doesn't think he has anything left to live for because he has no family. No wife, no kid... It's all he wants."
Riley was about to reply, or even to wonder why the hell Blaise or Juliette hadn't commented on the fact Riley basically just indicated Rory could have a hint of suicidal tendencies under these new influences. At least it hadn't gone over Buffy's head. But suddenly there was an abrupt knock at his office door, and before he had a chance to admit whoever it was, the door was shoved open and a posse of his team members were standing there. Six, apparently. "What the hell? I didn't authorise your entrance, soldiers," he growled in annoyance, noting that Graham had already jumped to attention waiting for something to go down.
"Sir, there is a--" one of the soldiers began while there sounded like there was a scuffle behind him and he got nudged out of the way.
"Logan Buchanan," was the abrupt interruption before said Logan Buchanan appeared in front of the group of soldiers. He turned around and glared at them. "Stand down, laddies. For feck's sake! I thought we already clarified I was fecking unarmed. What am I going to do? Lick him to death? Stick my finger up his arse and use him as a puppet? And I swear to fecking god if one more of you nudge my butt cheek with a rifle barrel, I'll shove it down your fecking throat. Got it? Are we cool? Aye?" He held up his hands just to indicate he was holding now weapons. Again. He turned back with a roll of his eyes and a soft snort of, "Military."
At some point, Graham had actually managed to lodge himself firmly in front of Blaise and Juliette like some sort of white ninja. In fact, Riley's head was hurting so much he was sure he hadn't even actually seen Graham move. The only thing was, he knew if he actually tried to stand up himself, he would just face plant the desk. "I'm sorry. Logan Buchanan? Did we have an appointment?"
Logan looked at the bloke blankly and then looked at the other occupants of the room, hoping one of them would pipe up and say this lad was a dipstick. "You dinnae know your own schedule and they tell me you're the Sergeant? What the feck?" He leant back out into the hallway. "RILEY. FINN," he told them loudly with emphasis. "You all got the wrong person, laddies. And I cannae speak French. Have you got cue cards? Cannae even mime a fecking Riley. How aboot a Finn?" He put his hand up and make a Jaws-like fin with his hand.
Riley didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point. "Logan Buchanan? A relation of Rory Buchanan, I assume?" How could anyone miss the accent?
Logan turned back into the room, raising a wary eyebrow at everyone in there. "Aye. I'm his brother."
Word Count | 4,063
There were four people in Riley's office right but, but he could actually swear blindly that there were eight. He was sitting at his desk trying his best to look like he could actually focus on them without going cross-eyed, but it wasn't the easiest of tasks he had ever faced. He blinked slowly a couple of times, his hands resting splayed on the desk. Man, was his head pounding. He was aware they were probably waiting for him to say something, and he would get to that. He would. In a moment when the room stopped spinning a little. After getting his head slammed into a concrete wall by an extremely pissed off Scotsman, who could really expect his brain to be functioning 100%? It was probably a miracle it was still attached to the interior of his skull. Beside his desk, Graham was standing in his camos, arms crossed as he just glared at Buffy. It was like he was waiting for her to say something negative against Riley to give him an excuse to bitch her out. "Graham, dude. Unless your ass is made of razor blades and you're gonna slice up my interior design, please sit. I need you all on one eye level so I don't have to move my head," Riley finally spoke, gingerly touching the back of his head where he had been subjected to no less than seven sutures. It seemed that along with Kindred emotions, Rory was harbouring a percentage of their physical strength, also. It probably had literally been only moments to spare before he would have been turned. Lucky didn't even begin to cut it.
Blaise was sitting in one of the chairs on the opposite side of Riley's desk facing him. On either side of him sat Juliette and Buffy, all three of them managing to watch Riley with the same curious, yet dumbfounded, look on their faces. Blaise's eyes shifted to the other soldier who was watching Buffy far too closely for his liking, and Blaise's eyes even flashed in warning just momentarily when the guy finally moved to sit on the windowsill. Blaise kept his gaze locked on the other soldier long enough to make sure he wasn't going to touch Buffy in any way before he looked back at Riley. The soldier was an interesting shade of white and his blue eyes really weren't managing to focus for too long. "Have you suffered an accident, Sergeant Finn?" he eventually asked. The thing was, he was slightly concerned his feeding from the solider was the cause of the obvious wooziness. A phone call had come through just as Blaise had managed to have the balls to try and open up to Buffy again. Rory was awake and Blaise's presence was requested at the Nuit Noire Operation HQ, along with Buffy and Juliette's. Blaise had been beyond pissed. Every time he tried, he got cut off in some way. He really was about a step away from tossing the towel in with the whole thing.
"I suffered a Scotsman," was Riley's reply as he stiffly reached for his bottle of water to swallow two painkillers that were sitting on the desk beside his hand.
"Mon dieu," Juliette murmured. She'd said very little since she'd arrived at Riley's HQ, knowing full well that she would not be permitted to see Rory unless Rory asked for her. She arched an eyebrow slightly as she watched the young soldier and tried to weigh up if she actually wanted to ask him what Rory had said. Her gaze soon flicked to Blaise, wanting to ask what the had happened between him and Buffy as well. She could sense his discontent, but this was hardly the time to interrogate him. "It really was Brujah. I'm assuming no questioning could take place?"
Buffy had been trying not to meet Graham's gaze since she'd walked into the room. She felt unbelievably uncomfortable under his gaze, but when Blaise had given him a Kindred glare there was a part of her that warmed from the show of protectiveness. She hadn't been able to answer him, the phone call putting an end to any kind of discussion that might have taken place. Buffy thought she'd be grateful for the save, but the truth was it was agonising. Only, a couple of days ago when she might have felt an urge to try and take over as Riley's personal nurse there was none. He'd made it more than clear where she stood in his life. Buffy tried to be subtle as she slid her hand over to take Blaise's, hoping like hell it didn't just aggravate Graham more. "Did we know taking on Kindred strength was a possibility? I mean, truth be told I would honestly not pick Rory as a winner in a match up between him and Riley."
"I would say he wasn't receptive, but he was. He was super-receptive to everything around him, despite having a dead injury and broken bones. He managed to sit on the bed with a broken rib, he managed to destroy one of our defibrillators by throwing it against a wall. He managed to throw me against a wall. That was my fault, though. I provoked him. In saying that, he provoked me, but I should have known better considering every second word out of his mouth started with an F or a C. I think he came a lot closer to Embrace than we thought. I'm talking probably seconds away. I could be mistaken, but it was like he had an urge to bite me, but he pulled off in confusion. He was in a rage, but Rory was still in there somewhere. By the time the team pulled him off and had him on the ground, he was in tears." Riley exhaled heavily, looking down at the notes in front of him. "We might have a problem, though. He is absolutely averted to Kindred. Especially you two," he added, pointed between Blaise and Juliette. "I couldn't mention Buffy, I don't know how he feels in regards to her, but you two are like, erm, Prince and Princess of Cunts. His words, not mine. It makes me wonder if the guys that got to him were a rebel group of some sort. They maybe wanted Rory to join their ranks. As he is now, he has the strength and fight to pull it off. If he was Embraced, I'm thinking he would be a more than effective weapon."
At the repeat of Rory's charming nickname, Blaise's eyebrows rose slightly as he glanced at Juliette. "That would make sense, of course. However, if that is the case, we may have a bigger problem than we initially anticipated. It means we would have to have at least one defector amongst us to have information on Rory to know he would be capable of Brujah rebellion. Unless he has encountered someone on his own since being here. Or someone has followed him from Scotland. The latter is unlikely. It would have been far easier to Embrace him on his home turf where he is in his comfort zone." He pressed his lips together with a small, aggravated shake of his head. "Merde. He needs to be at my estate for protection. There is no saying they will not try again. I need to locate who did this, which we cannot do without information from him."
After all this time, there were few things that could disgust Juliette, but the C-word was one of them. She realised it was part of the Scottish language and could be prevalent when they were angry enough, but she still had never appreciated it. To be called one managed to rile her to her very core. If Rory had said it to her face, she would not have hesitated in taking a swing at him. The problem with Brujah was that even if it was them provoking you into a physical reaction - they wanted you to hit them so they had an excuse to retaliate. At least now she had an answer, and knew he did not want to see her. Whether that was Rory or the Brujah inside him was a question she really didn't want to ask. "He might need to be at the estate, but apparently he will not want to see us at all. I'm sure Riley's men can help us with that, hm? And Buffy if we find out if he has an aversion to her or not. She also has Slayer strength on her side." Juliette's gaze looked past Blaise to the small blonde. "This is the part you stop sitting on the bench, non? You do anything that harms him though, and you will regret it."
Buffy didn't flinch at Juliette's threat. Truth was she'd probably be saying the same regardless of whether a lover was angry at her or not. Her gaze went back to Riley and she looked at him quietly before looking at Blaise. "How are you even going to find the defector. If they're... part of your inner circle, isn't it dangerous bringing Rory closer?"
"Actually," Riley began, looking at Juliette evenly, "And excuse me for being so blunt, Mademoiselle Rousseau, but I think the fact he did want to see you is the very reason he is in the position he is in right now. If everyone else in this room is willing to take some form of blame, then I think you must too. I heard that voicemail and he sounded dumbfounded that you had turned him away, a decision you made without even telling him. If you had admitted him to your estate, he would never have gotten attacked on the side of the road returning to the city. He is angry that you cut him off without explanation, and despite the fact he is under the influence of a Brujah state of mind, I don't think there is any male on the face of the earth who wouldn't be pissed off with that. If anyone is bench-sitting here, it's you. If he is angry at you now, you only have yourself to blame."
"No one would dare attack on my private property. There has been attempts in the distant past, and the consequences are dire," Blaise replied calmly. "It is that very reason he was preyed on outwith the boundaries. That is not a fact that has been publicly issued here as yet, but Sergeant Finn and his partner here are aware that Monsieur Buchanan's attack occured less than a hundred feet outwith the boundaries of my property. It may look as though the estate ceases at the gates and fences, but it does not. No one, not even a defector, would be stupid enough to attack on the property. I assure you, there are reasons for that. Perhaps if it was some sort of rebellion suicide attack where the attackers did not care whether they survived or not, but they have not occured in my realm since the late Eighteen Hundreds. Non. They could have just killed him, but instead they tried to Embrace him. They wanted him for some reason, and it could be for something as simple as the fact Rory is a Hunter with Kindred knowledge. I wish I could say this was an uncommon occurence, but it is not. Just like the human world, we have persons continuously trying to gain power by criminal tactics. Not just in France, but all over the world. Rory was just evidently a prime target. I will find the detector because I have eyes and ears everywhere. Someone will defect the defector. They always do."
Juliette felt a burst of irrational anger that had her eyes turning silver and a growl threatening to escape her lips at Riley's comments, no matter how much he excused himself for being blunt. She managed to rein it in though, keeping her expression calm even if her eyes said otherwise. Of course she was guilty, of course she blamed herself. How could she not? The voicemail haunted her, and so did the fact that she'd been stupid enough to turn Rory away. "It's not as if we don't have the time to be patient," she murmured quietly.
Buffy looked between everyone else as she tried to work out if she was following. She was pretty sure she was. Blaise just hadn't been kidding about Kindred being different, and Buffy felt even more stupid for her dumb comparisons. "Um, just out of interest... and please, feel free to call it a stupid comment, but how is locking everyone up on the estate going to help? Wouldn't it just make the defector happy? They're trying to attack you, and this would make you close ranks. It would keep you in the same spot for effectively an infinite amount of time. Are we also sure they won't go after Rory again? Or someone else?"
Blaise rested his elbow on the arm of the seat and slowly rubbed his forehead with the corner of his thumb, scrunching his face up just a little. He forced himself not to get pissed off that she wasn't listening. Again. "Who said anything about locking everyone up?" he asked, turning to shoot her a look. "Who said anything about me remaining locked up? Correct me if I am wrong, but were we not talking about Monsieur Buchanan, who is injured and needs help? Do you not listen to anything I say?" he finally snapped in exasperation. "No one is closing ranks. I am operating in exactly the same fashion as I always do. Did I not just say this happens all the time?" He shook his head and looked away from her again, swearing softly to himself in French. "And I am sure I just heard myself say there was a chance they could still want him. Maybe I just thought that was an obvious conclusion."
Riley looked between Blaise and Buffy, blinking slowly at the exchange. He couldn't help but be curious about what had occured when he had left Blaise's place, because he was sure they were still making schmoopy eyes at each other when he left. To his side, Graham let out a soft snort of amusement, and it was Riley's turn to be shooting pointed glares. "It's true. Rory will need some taking care of, even just to prevent him hurting himself. I asked everyone here for suggestions on what the next turn should be. We can't keep him sedated forever. We can't all just avoid him because he's pissed off, either. He'll remember that when he comes out of this."
"Mon dieu, if I was still capable of them, I'd have a headache right now. Non, we cannot keep him sedated. Which is why it needs to be Airlie that stays with him. We have secure rooms - that do not need to be locked - where he can stay. Where he can vent his frustration if need be. I still think that I at least need to avoid being in his presence to provoke him. Perhaps it is just the Brujah coming out, but his anger is still based on fact. On things he was feeling that have now become magnified and distorted." Juliette looked at Blaise, and then Buffy. "Perhaps this does happen all the time, but there are always exceptions. I think Rory might be one of them. It has cut close to home like it was obviously meant to. Perhaps I would be more use to being out searching for the defector?"
Buffy sighed as she slumped low in her seat. She really did feel like the naughty child that just kept opening her mouth and getting everything wrong. So much for schmoopy eyes. She even wondered if there had been schmoopy eyes or if Riley had just imagined them. Suddenly him being in Blaise's room with her didn't seem half as awkward as right now. She glared at Graham briefly. "We can at least assume that the person that wanted this to happen now knows that Rory hasn't been Embraced, right?"
"Not necessarily," Riley replied, noticing that Blaise was bugged by something. He wasn't himself. He was still commanding control, but he was distracted. "The Kindred that did this were killed at the scene by Graham and other members of our team. There were three of them, but no doubt there are others in this whole defecting group. For all they know, Rory could have been Embraced and is just being held somewhere. He really did come extremely close. There could even be a chance that if their men were killed, another Kindred came in to finish off the job. They couldn't even be sure he is Brujah at this stage, if they do believe he is Embraced. I believe Blaise already has people working on tracking down the defectors?"
Blaise gave a nod. "Bien sûr. As soon as I heard what had occured. There is unrest within certain arms of the Brujah Clan. It is not even necessarily an attempt to overthrow me. They fight amongst themselves all the time. They fight amongst other Clans, always looking to increase their ranks. If news of a Slayer in Paris has gotten out, it could just make them even more determined to close their own ranks, build their strengths to fight for Kindred. They are often a mistaken Clan. Not all are bad, they are just passionate about their own beliefs. Kindred rights is one of them. They just have evil amongst them who use their strengths and weaknesses as weapons of power. None of us here can deny Rory would make an ideal Brujah. That has been evidenced in his behaviour. I just happen to believe that ultimately, it is not a Clan he would be happy in if he ever chose that route. Which he has not."
Juliette secretly believed that Rory would be happy as Toreador, but she didn't open her mouth. She was hardly going to risk any chance of people thinking she was about to try and Embrace Rory while he was in his current condition. Or at all. She highly doubted her fangs would be let anywhere near him. "Oui, I agree. He would no doubt be a useful Brujah, but ultimately he might prove to be... disloyal. The Brujah could have been shooting themselves in the foot with him. I think at this juncture we just need to try and get Rory into an environment he might at least start to feed us detailed information."
Buffy was still watching Blaise from the corner of her eye, not sure how she was ever supposed to prove to him that she could make it in his world. She needed to call Giles and Willow again to see if there was any progress in finding a way to reverse the Slayer mojo. "There's not exactly any way to prove I'm not a threat to Kindred, is there? The Brujah won't have anything to fear from me. Not my turf. But still my friends in danger."
"Actually, and don't hold me to this later down the track, but I'm not sure Rory would be as opposed to Embrace as you all think. Maybe he was before, but now that this has happened, his feelings might have changed. It's true, he was extremely angered, and his eyes were as hard and as cold than any of you have probably seen them, but he said something really uncharacteristic of what I understand of Brujah, telling me that he's still in there and still hurting. Probably as confused as all hell why he's suddenly so furious with the world all over again. He actually taunted me to take him out if I thought he was going to be a threat to you two," Riley told them, pointing at Blaise and Juliette. "He said it's not like he had anything to live for anyway. I mean, I don't know him very well, but it made me even feel like something he stepped in. Then things just took a bad turn, and I hit him. But that's beside the point."
Blaise raised an eyebrow. "You hit him first? I assumed it was the other way around. Interesting..." he noted, watching Riley closely. Wouldn't the only reason Riley would be hitting Rory be Buffy, or something to do with her?
Juliette knew the look on Blaise's face. He had been watching the second soldier, waiting for him to attack Buffy, and now he was watching Riley, no doubt drawing his own conclusion as to why the soldier had hit Rory. Juliette couldn't help but be interested as well. Her own jealousy was hardly going to ebb at the knowledge that Riley and Rory were involved in a punch out over Buffy. She was starting to feel as if all the men in her life were doomed to lose it over the Slayer. "Oui, very interesting..."
Buffy frowned as she tried to work out what she was missing, and Riley was avoiding her gaze all over again. Now she really was worried. "What did he say? This is because of what he's been through. He doesn't think he has anything left to live for because he has no family. No wife, no kid... It's all he wants."
Riley was about to reply, or even to wonder why the hell Blaise or Juliette hadn't commented on the fact Riley basically just indicated Rory could have a hint of suicidal tendencies under these new influences. At least it hadn't gone over Buffy's head. But suddenly there was an abrupt knock at his office door, and before he had a chance to admit whoever it was, the door was shoved open and a posse of his team members were standing there. Six, apparently. "What the hell? I didn't authorise your entrance, soldiers," he growled in annoyance, noting that Graham had already jumped to attention waiting for something to go down.
"Sir, there is a--" one of the soldiers began while there sounded like there was a scuffle behind him and he got nudged out of the way.
"Logan Buchanan," was the abrupt interruption before said Logan Buchanan appeared in front of the group of soldiers. He turned around and glared at them. "Stand down, laddies. For feck's sake! I thought we already clarified I was fecking unarmed. What am I going to do? Lick him to death? Stick my finger up his arse and use him as a puppet? And I swear to fecking god if one more of you nudge my butt cheek with a rifle barrel, I'll shove it down your fecking throat. Got it? Are we cool? Aye?" He held up his hands just to indicate he was holding now weapons. Again. He turned back with a roll of his eyes and a soft snort of, "Military."
At some point, Graham had actually managed to lodge himself firmly in front of Blaise and Juliette like some sort of white ninja. In fact, Riley's head was hurting so much he was sure he hadn't even actually seen Graham move. The only thing was, he knew if he actually tried to stand up himself, he would just face plant the desk. "I'm sorry. Logan Buchanan? Did we have an appointment?"
Logan looked at the bloke blankly and then looked at the other occupants of the room, hoping one of them would pipe up and say this lad was a dipstick. "You dinnae know your own schedule and they tell me you're the Sergeant? What the feck?" He leant back out into the hallway. "RILEY. FINN," he told them loudly with emphasis. "You all got the wrong person, laddies. And I cannae speak French. Have you got cue cards? Cannae even mime a fecking Riley. How aboot a Finn?" He put his hand up and make a Jaws-like fin with his hand.
Riley didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point. "Logan Buchanan? A relation of Rory Buchanan, I assume?" How could anyone miss the accent?
Logan turned back into the room, raising a wary eyebrow at everyone in there. "Aye. I'm his brother."
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