CHASE BUCKLEY
Demon
Posts: 150
Age:
38
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Roxanne Braschi
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 17:13:48 GMT
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Post by CHASE BUCKLEY on Jul 11, 2022 17:51:48 GMT
’The DEA would appreciate your cooperation.’
Chase had stared at the sheriff for a long minute, waiting for the other shoe – or an Agnelli sized jack boot – to drop. They’d asked for him by name, bypassing the narcotics detectives at the station. He was betting that had chapped de la Peña’s clenched ass. The partner had looked too distracted later to probably even notice that the big boys were leap frogging him for once, but Peña would. He’d strip a layer of skin off of Forbes with his belligerence later, but Chase doubted it’d give him any more of an explanation as to why him than he’d gotten.
The nerves knotted tight, the office chair under him squeaking until the agent in charge walked in. Dark eyes flicked up to him anxiously and then fixed. There was why. They’d worked a case together before. New Orleans, just a year after he’d made detective. A bad stream of China White that had been dropping bodies all over the quarter. He’d caught a couple of the deaths that had been questionable – skirting that line between possible OD and homicide – and had been kept on board. Knowing the area had got him in the door on the DEA’s investigation, but in the end it had been the arrest of a half dozen long distance truckers that had broken the back of the operation.
It wasn’t China White this time. Fichtner had been quick to reassure him, hands up before he’d popped one for a shake. It was narcotics though, slowly filtering west into the area. The Sheriff had been keeping them appraised of the situation in town and when time had come to start breaking down the operation in the area she’d been happy to provide support. With him.
Last night he’d barely slept. Flickering images of those junkies behind his closed eyelids until he’d woken up in a cold sweat around dawn. Shoving his way free of the sheets until he’d been sitting on the edge of the bed, folded in around himself. The second body hadn’t just been shot full of the stuff, it had been broken like a marionette on the ground beside a six story parking structure. In the end they hadn’t gotten anybody for pushing him, Chase had been sure he hadn’t jumped though, no matter how high he was. He’d been glad to see the body count drop for a while after Fichtner’s guys had cleaned out that operation. Like a wound starting to heal after it had been lanced.
The sun streaked the sky now. It risen while he’d showered off that cold sweat, had reached its peak right around the time some junior agent had broken out the refreshments in the back of one of the two vans they’d driven out in. They’d grown increasingly stuffy as the afternoon had stretched out. Now it dipped towards the horizon, almost pretty if you took the time to stop and appreciate it. Chase just wanted it down, wanted the skells to arrive so he could get back to Mystic Falls and brush off the stench of corruption that seemed to linger around the complex of warehouses.
Fichtner suddenly pushed forward from the command console at the back, clapping a hand down on his shoulder as headlights up ahead splashed across the shadowy channel between the ramshackle buildings. ”Bingo. Get ready boys and girls, soon as they’re in, we go.” He started firing off orders at the rest of the team, strapping on the bulletproof vest it had been too hot to sit around in.
A screech of metal as a loading dock door was rolled up, muted voices carrying to the vehicles. A spill of agents and the lone cop flooding out from the two vans. In minutes they had the place surrounded. Fichtner buzzed over the radio, counting them down and then they were …
Finally. Dark lashes practically fluttered as the thing inside of Buckley stretched itself out. Working out the kinks that came from sitting around on his ass in that little cell in Buckley’s head. Castor opened eyes black as pitch as the first fools came spilling around the corner. He’d caught the scent of sulphur under the chemical stench of the cutting facility the minute he’d piled in the door behind Fichtner. Now another set of eyes flashed black at him, the yawing mouth of a gun (come on man, unnecessary when you weren’t having to play act a sainthood), rising to start spraying bullets in his direction.
Castor didn’t bother looking where the first spray of his own bullets went. A shot – someone’s, who cared whose – hit the light overhead, spraying glass, plunging the place into darkness. There was a roar of pain – alright, that sounded a little like Fichtner – from feet away and then carnage. Beautiful and bloody. Pain flared across his own skin, well, Chase’s, the coppery scent of slaughter filling the air. A blade whistling through the air, blocked with one thick wrist before he wrenched the knife free of the hand that grasped it. Castor plunged it into the neck of the person wielding it and felt the hot wash of blood a second before another sliced like a line of wildfire across one hip. He swung with the blade in his hand, saw a flash of light before the demon he’d seen come around that corner crumpled like a paper bag.
Around him sounds of battle were dying down. Castor slumped against one wall, ignoring the dying squeals over the radio. ”Fichtner? Fichtner, talk to me man…” Like he cared if the gurgle he heard from the direction Fichtner had been in when this started was the guy or not. Quiet sounds approaching him had him dropping to his knees, a keening noise sliding out of him like there were many left to pretend for. Castor held a hand up in front of himself, like that was gonna protect him from anything, as the lights – scant as they already were – started to dim. That fucking demon blade….
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ROXANNE BRASCHI
Chimera
psychic-skinwalker
Posts: 188
Age:
30
Occupation:
Professor at Whitmore College
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Chase Buckley
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 11, 2024 20:39:32 GMT
|
Post by ROXANNE BRASCHI on Jul 16, 2022 0:29:47 GMT
 ━ i don't know where i'm going, but i sure know where i've been ━
And the guilt wasn’t so bad anymore, not after their long trip. There were a couple of hikes where she had to pretend she’d only gotten covered in a bit of sand from the rocks, when really her skin had healed from gashes. That happened now━thankfully. She was healing a lot faster than she had before their trip, which was especially helpful for the next time she was around Dick. As soon as one thing settled, another popped up to worry about.
He was changed━like her━and the hunters in the area were no closer to finding the cause of it. Vampires, that was her only guess. And a group of them.
Whatever or whoever they were, at least she could change into something other than a wolf now. She still stuck to that mostly, and often sprinted through the woods as a fox at times other than a full moon (it was better being a bigger animal when everyone was out), but both of those would look super suspicious standing outside of a police station. Roxxi was always the same mutt when she followed Chase around on his shifts, ensuring Nemo wouldn’t pop up out of the ground like the fucking mole he was.
He’d affectionately named her Domino, which Roxxi had a stinking suspicion was another geek reference, but at least it was slightly inconspicuous. In any case, it didn’t matter what he called her. He didn’t know it was his girlfriend, and she’d always be there to protect him.
She sat by the front door, accepted head pats from those coming and going, and waited patiently at her post until she heard the screeching of a back door and Chase walking through it. Even if it wasn’t his voice, she could recognize his gait: the shift of his feet along the asphalt, the bottoms of his boots. Padding around to the back of the station, Roxxi watched them with her big, brown eyes, reaffirming his scent so she could catch it later.
Trying to follow them on foot (or paw) proved to be a stupid fucking idea. Roxxi lost them on the highway, and veered off into the woods, trying to devise a better plan. She could… ah, fuck. A robin was staring at her from a nearby branch as she panted and silently panicked, and Roxxi almost hadn’t noticed him until she realized he was just… watching her. She went to bark, literally or figuratively, and suddenly she was changing, shifting, losing her fur and long, lean legs. She had two little stick legs by the end, and fucking wings, and… how the hell did this happen?
She would’ve thrown up if she knew how to in this little body. Roxxi could barely see herself with this tiny, stupid head, but she could recognize enough: yellow legs and a puffy, fat, red belly━she looked like a kid’s cartoon drawing of a robin. She went to curse, but tweeted instead, and decided this was as good a plan as any.
It was a little difficult to take flight. She kept bouncing from one branch to another, desperate to focus because she was losing Chase, and flapped furiously. She went torpedo-like towards the ground before finally taking off, and headed along the highway, internally screaming. Dio Santo, I’m flying, I’m fucking flying! Manache! It was like every dream about flying except better.
In the end, it turned out that landing was a lot harder. There were the natural instincts that imposed themselves, then her own head got in the way and made her second-guess herself. She tried to land in a nearby branch━just on the property line of the warehouse they’d stopped at━but ended up shifting just as her little twiggy leg hit the bark.
Cursing as she went down, Roxxi fell (naked) through the trees and landed on her back at the bottom, clamping her lips together through the pain. Her… her something was broken; she’d chip her fucking teeth if she held her jaw any tighter, but then she thought of Chase. Of their trip, of making love under the clear, starry sky in some desert near the Grand Canyon, of being held and holding him, and the freedom she felt when they were a million miles from anybody who could hurt them. Her shoulder and leg snapped back into place, and Roxxi sighed heavily, flipping over onto her hands and knees. This had barely begun.
It was easier to shift back into the familiar body of the dog, and she headed toward the warehouse with no real sense of urgency. She halted, though, upon hearing the massive gunfire. Roxxi sprinted then, bounding to the same entrance she could track Chase through, slipping into the plunging darkness. Thank God for canine eyesight, she thought as she hugged the wall and skirted along, rushing to Chase.
He was protecting himself, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t hesitate when his blade sunk into another man’s neck. Roxxi caught the man’s ankle between her jowls, snarling as she helped bring him down, and immediately darted for the one opposite━the one who got Chase. She smelled his blood in the air, a thick fog masking the oddly rotten egg-ish scent underneath, reminding her━again━of her father slain in front of her eyes.
Working under a new sort of panic, Roxxi followed Chase to the wall he slumped against, nudging her big, furry head against his leg so he’d know she was there━that he wasn’t alone. It looked like just a scratch, he’d be fine… right? But he crawled towards another man as though he was dying, and she padded alongside him, letting out a low whine as Chase started to deflate. Cazzo.
She couldn’t lose him. She wanted to save the rest of them, especially the one Chase went to check on, but she only had limited amount resources━carting Chase out of there would be dangerous enough. Roxxi turned and pulled at the bottom of his pant leg, trying to move him, get his attention, anything. He was out cold, but she could still hear his heart beating, felt it in her own. She didn’t think━she just acted.
Despite worrying that her presence would bring him danger, Roxxi never thought that… well, she knew his line of work, but it was never supposed to be like this. Just when she’d started to accept them and what they were, he was going to go die on her?
It was love, too, of course, but huge amounts of stubbornness drove her. Despite the dying sounds of bullets and literal dying, she shifted back into herself. “Chase, Chase,” Roxxi leaned over him, pushing at him like she would if she were trying to wake him up. When he didn’t acknowledge her, though, Roxxi lifted Chase and tossed him over her shoulder like he weighed nothing. Running out, she went to one of the vans they’d arrived in and shoved him in the back along the floor, as close to the front as she could get. And then, still completely naked, she hopped into the driver’s seat and started the van, peeling out of there as fast as possible.
“Hold on, baby, don’t fucking die on me.” Roxxi reached back, trying to grab any scrap she could. The backs of her fingers found his cheek, and she sobbed as she took his pain, feeling it course through her in hot waves. “Posso salvarti, posso salvarti.” She’d save him━she couldn’t save her dad, but she was just a kid; she could do it this time. Chase would survive.
In the end, she made it to her apartment. Roxxi climbed the fire escape at the back to ensure they wouldn’t be stopped (and that nobody would see her running around naked with a dying man on her shoulder). She laid Chase out on her couch and stripped his top half, keeping one eye on the rise and fall of his chest while she started first aid.
Cleaning the wound, patching it up, searching for others. She… had a kit for emergencies. It was for her, maybe for Dick and a backup for Mikey, but she was so glad she had it now. An IV drip to keep him hydrated, the bag clipped to the edge of the lampshade that hung above her couch, and she used her abilities to check his pulse. Finally, at some point, Roxxi decided to put on some clothes. She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him alone, so she rushed to her room, grabbed a tank top and shorts, and came back out to change into them━just so she could keep watching him.
A while later, Roxxi decided she’d keep repeating he’ll wake up soon’ to herself as she sat on the floor beside the couch, one of Chase’s hands clutched in both of her own, her head resting against the edge of his torso. She’d take his pain for as long as possible, but she didn’t want him to wake up to see those black veins crawling up her own━because he would wake up. He had to.
CHASE BUCKLEY | 
translation: 1. oh my God / Holy shit!
2. Fuck
3. I can save you, I can save you.
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CHASE BUCKLEY
Demon
Posts: 150
Age:
38
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Roxanne Braschi
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 17:13:48 GMT
|
Post by CHASE BUCKLEY on Aug 3, 2022 16:52:33 GMT
The snarl had barely registered beneath the screams as he’d spun and danced in the dark, blood splattering over his skin like rain. Last time it had been louder, right there as Domino had charged out of his damaged car and straight at Nemo. Teeth sinking into the taller man’s wrist, tearing until the pain and threat had disappeared. This time it was like a roll of thunder under the hellish clash in that stifling space. A reassuring echo in his brain as that fog swirled around, taking memories of the last handful of minutes with it.
Fingers barely capable of twitching settled on that furry little head. The thing inside of him wanted to laugh. That fucking dog was everywhere, working that little nose in, all whimpery with devotion. That kinda thing broke something in you when it was snatched away, cut to pieces like everything else in here …
Castor – Chase – whichever one of them had a grip on whatever was left drifting in the fog scrambled over the ground to get to Fichtner. Surely dead now, everything in there dead except for him. And that dog.
A low grunt rolled out as something jerked at his body, fingers scraping at the wet concrete floor until that fog entirely closed over his head and he was out.
In that dark he rose and fell like he was on a boat at sea, waves tossing him up in the air, bringing him back down with a thud. The call of birds winging through that static filled air, seeming to caw out his name before the storm hit again. Dead weight thrown side to side, nausea rolling up in those moments where he crawled closer to the surface. That voice again still there, a different edge to it but no less insistent.
Chase’s fingers twitched. In the dark he tried to reach, to find the source of it and hold on but it was like trying to move through mud, each twitch of a nerve taking forever until suddenly some of that thickness, the ache of a body churned up like the sea easing. Drawn away like that voice, like he’d given in to the call of a siren and now he could drown a happy man, caught up in those arms until the very last moment, not wanting to let go.
The world settled after that. A rise and fall here and there, but none of the violence there’d been with it originally. The dark swept over from time to time, each wave less vicious than the last until he seemed to go back to just drifting through it all, waiting for the sun to rise so he knew which way to swim.
Dark lashes fluttered eventually, that pin prick of light working its way under them. His fingers flexed, found the resistance of from those clutched around his. A weight in his chest, that puff of breath against his skin. Dozens of mornings he’d woken up that way – happy with that press of warm skin against his own, the glimmer of dark eyes as she smiled up at him. Nuzzling her way up under his throat, drawing those first rumbles out of his chest.
Now the couch wracked through him instead, his hand tightening on hers as a fresh slick of sweat seemed to ooze from his pores to meet the faint coppery tang of blood in the air. Hers? ”Hurt …” Chase grunted, his eyelids fluttering harder as his pulse leapt into his throat. ”They shot … hurt you … Roxxi?” Words barely a croak as they emerged, heels and one elbow working at the couch like he could heave himself up and to her.
Pain rolled through again, leaving Chase gasping for breath. He fell back, frowning at the feel of a tether on his arm, the sting of a needle. Hospital? Had … No, no. It hadn’t been the street, Nemo rushing back in with a gun in hand and that twisted fucking look on his face. The warehouse, Fichtner and his people, the DEA had gone to take the gang down and … the scent of sulphur in the air and that blade rolling across his hip. Not Roxxi hurt … him. Dark eyes opened again, his chin tipping down towards his chest as he reached across himself to try and find that line of fire the blade had opened up across him. ”Where are they? Fichtner, his guys … did they get them out? They in the …” Hospital. No, this wasn’t the starched white room he’d been in when Nemo had opened him up. It was Roxxi’s apartment, an IV bag overhead hanging off her lamp, a dressing applied over his hip, her eyes he met now not some snot nosed 20 year old doc’s as they guy gave him a talking to about taking it easy.
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ROXANNE BRASCHI
Chimera
psychic-skinwalker
Posts: 188
Age:
30
Occupation:
Professor at Whitmore College
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Chase Buckley
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 11, 2024 20:39:32 GMT
|
Post by ROXANNE BRASCHI on Aug 26, 2022 2:42:11 GMT
━ i don't know where i'm going, but i sure know where i've been ━
She swallowed thickly, pressing her lips to his knuckles while her tears slid down and onto his hand, ready to bathe Chase in them the longer this took. The minutes rolled by━hours, maybe━and then she felt him squeeze her back.
Roxxi gasped lightly, dark eyes ticking to his face, her own full of hope and relief.
The stupid idiota was moving. Asking questions that didn’t make sense, wondering if she was the one in trouble while he was fucking clinging to his life on her couch. “Giù, giù. Sdraiarsi. Lay down.” Roxxi hissed, shifting onto her knees and attempting to gain some leverage to gently push him back onto the cushions. “Shh, baby, I’m here.” His body gave up at the right time anyway, likely succumbing to the pain that seeped in once Roxxi wasn’t stealing it from him.
She didn’t have any idea of how to excuse this. Settling back on the floor, one hand still in his, she tsked him and reached out with her free fingers to ward his away from the patched-up wound. “Don’t,” Roxxi whispered, though the warning was nearly silent, drowned out by the heavy, rapid pulse in her throat. He was alive, grazie, Dio, but that did not mean she would relax just yet. How could she when the man she loved was half-conscious in her living room, hooked up to a makeshift IV bag?
“I don’t know, amore mio,” She whispered, slipping her free hand up to press her palm to his cheek. He was looking at her now, and she thought he might finally, really be seeing her. “You… you called me. You were already outside, I came and I got you. You looked so bad… I couldn’t do anything but help you.” Tears welled in her eyes. Not just at the memory, the crippling fear, but because she had to keep lying. What was she to say? ‘I turned into a bird and followed you, then dragged you home naked’?
“I thought I was going to lose you,” And that was the truth. Roxxi rolled forward, pressing her lips to Chase’s in the gentlest kiss she could manage, then rested her forehead on his. Though, she didn’t ‘rest’ so much as just touch, making sure to not put any weight on him. Tears streamed harder, faster, down her cheeks, as she wished she could tell him how much she loved him. She hoped he felt it instead; felt the depths of her heart coming off in waves.
Sniffling, Roxxi pulled away slowly, glancing at the small bandage she’d wrapped him up with. “You managed to avoid any bullet holes,” It was supposed to be a joke, something light-hearted to help her stop feeling so empty, but she didn’t laugh. “This was the worst of it. How do you feel? I have… something stronger than Advil, but I won’t tell you what it is, and nobody has to know.” Finally, she smiled, though it was weak and only showed on one corner of her mouth. She hoped he’d take it━just so he’d sleep, or at least rest, so the pain could subside a little bit. Roxxi couldn’t watch him suffer anymore.
CHASE BUCKLEY |
1. Down, down. Stay down.
2. Idiot
3. Thank God
4. My love |
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CHASE BUCKLEY
Demon
Posts: 150
Age:
38
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Roxanne Braschi
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 17:13:48 GMT
|
Post by CHASE BUCKLEY on Sept 7, 2022 21:29:26 GMT
No, no no no no, not again!
Waking up in the hospital, senses dulled the pain and what they’d pumped into him to kill it, the panic had rolled in. Doctors hands had still been on him then, probing, sending those flares through him that there was no escape from. Fractured images had flickered in his head – of Nemo’s face, the fists that had swung at him, the muzzle of the gun aimed right at his head, the barking of the dog as it had flown in to save him. Barely enough for him to piece together, not enough for him to separate out what had happened to get him there from the beating he’d taken in New Orleans. Emiliano’s people both ways, that mocking laughter echo through from one to another. It had taken the soft nuzzle of the dog to reassure him that he hadn’t slipped into that long, nightmarish sleep of the coma again when he’d started to come around.
The dog. This time it had been there in a different dark, he was sure of it. It wasn’t fur brushing his knuckles as he came around though. Fingers warm, familiar enough that it felt like they were cradling his heart instead. Tears. The warm drip of them had the worry spearing through Chase’s gut. It shivered through him with the cough, those images flickering harder until he could almost see the flash of gunshots at the edges of his vision, the echo of gunshots vibrating in his bones. Roxxi’s gasp matched his own sharp intake of breath, but hers wasn’t sharp edged with pain.
Lay down… How was he gonna lay there when … Chase squeezed his eyes shut, keening low as the pain gripped and he half fell, was half eased back into place by Roxxi. Warnings hissed out in English, Italian, at least he assumed that was the first bite of get your ass on the couch, moron. Tears burned in the back of his eyes as he settled uneasy on the sofa, his arm held stiff, pinned by the IV like a butterfly’s wing. Roxxi’s touch, as her voice had done, soothed him, strong but featherlight, fingers pushing his away from the dressing on his side. Still, he got close enough to feel the twinge in the wood. ”S-shit,” he stuttered out. Another low groan, teeth gritting until it started to ease.
He knew now not to shake his head as he looked cautiously back up to her, but his eyes ticked back and forth, a precursor to a doubtful denial. The phone had been on his hip when he’d gone in, alongside the radio he’d worn. The team’s voices had been closer when they’d called out though, the screams fresh, not tinny with the transmission. ”I was inside,” he whispered through dry lips. ”Eichtner ordered us in. They …” There had been people in the dark. More fractured images flickered in, like they had been lit by a strobe, flashing away until it all went dark. ”Hey …” What strength there had been in his voice was stripped away as he saw the tears well up in Roxxi’s eyes.
Fingers curling in on the hand not tethered, Chase lifted it to curl into those raven waves as Roxxi pressed her lips to his. He’d been scared in that place, you’d have to be insane not to be, but it was the job, you bit down on it, let the bitter taste fill your mouth and you carried on. A thousand times over he’d walk into the same trouble. Roxxi hadn’t signed on for that, hadn’t seen what could happen to good men caught in the cross-fire, seeing her fear had him scared for her. ”Baby, you took care of me … you’re not going to lose me. I promise. I’m not going anywhere.” The whisper was breath thin against her lips, his thumb sliding to brush over her cheek, trying to chase the tears he’d put there away from her cheeks.
Chase’s hand slid down her cheek, fingers grazing her neck, settling on her bicep as Roxxi pulled away. Her comment wrung a laugh out of him for just a split second before the first vibrations of it set off the super nova in his side. ”Like I didn’t avoid anythin’ else,” Chase grunted, trying to settle back. ”N-nothing more, makes it fuzzy, y’know.” And that cottonwool feeling was already chokingly thick, wrapped around everything in his head.
His touch slid lower, his fingers curling into hers again, tugging lightly like he’d done in the hospital. There was one thing that pushed all the pain, all the confusion aside and that was Roxxi. It was gonna hurt, he wasn’t fooling himself about that, but he’d take the pain with her there. ”C’mere,” he rasped, not even trying to move. The dark slash of brows furrowed, the equally dark eyes beneath studying her face. ”You didn’t go into the warehouse? See if they were alive?” If Eichtner had got word out in that chaotic whirlwind maybe Forbes and her people would be combing the area already, trying to track him down, if they even realised he wasn’t amongst the … Catching an image of blood spreading from bodies tossed around the floor like rag dolls, Chase paled, his stomach roiling against it.
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|
ROXANNE BRASCHI
Chimera
psychic-skinwalker
Posts: 188
Age:
30
Occupation:
Professor at Whitmore College
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Chase Buckley
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 11, 2024 20:39:32 GMT
|
Post by ROXANNE BRASCHI on Sept 19, 2022 22:31:15 GMT
━ i don't know where i'm going, but i sure know where i've been ━
She couldn’t keep thinking about it. It hadn’t happened; Chase was okay, patched up on her couch instead of bleeding to death in a fucking warehouse somewhere.
Roxxi didn’t want him to comfort her, either. He was the one suffering here, it didn’t make sense for Chase to start saying those gentle, reassuring things while her lips rested against his. She wouldn’t stop him, though, especially not when his thumb slid warmly over her cheek and he said everything she wanted to hear. “You better not.” Roxxi sniffled, “I’ll take you out myself if you try.” Smiling sadly against his lips, she pecked them lightly before sitting up again, brown eyes meeting his.
He was so strong. She didn’t know how many times he’d been through this, but clearly it was enough for Chase to take it like a fucking champ. Dio, she loved him. And she felt it again, just as strong now as it had been on the drive over. Warm in the centre of her chest, blooming just for him.
“Don’t laugh,” She said through her own breath of amusement, grinning and shaking her head at him. Dumbass, she thought, but lovingly. Her smile faded fast, though.
Fuzzy.
Roxxi wondered if he’d been beaten half to death enough times by Emiliano’s guys to remove pieces of his memory. Could he end up in a hospital in New Orleans without worrying if one of the Agnellis was there? Probably not. Even here, in Virginia, Roxxi wondered about it all the time, and she wasn’t even a consistent target for murder. Emiliano wanted Chase dead. Had this been him?
No, no, it was just a job hazard. It had to be. She had to keep expecting this━perhaps not so bad, but at least some level of threat to his life. Roxxi thought about taking more time off, about being the dog more often, just to make sure nobody got to him. She couldn’t be there twenty-four-seven, but… she could try, right?
“Okay.” Roxxi sniffled, though she wished he’d let her ease his pain a little better. But that was fine, she’d respect his wishes━and as soon as he started to sleep, she’d take his pain again. “You’re crazy,” She whispered as he beckoned her in, though━just like the medication━Roxxi obliged. “I’ll lay with you if you promise me you’ll close your eyes and try to rest.” Moving in gently, slowly, Roxxi barely touched him as she laid on her side, right on the edge of the couch.
Being careful of the little tube connected to her lampshade while she shifted in, Roxxi wrapped her arm around his closest and pressed her lips to Chase’s shoulder. As soon as they settled, she glanced up to ensure his eyes were closed before she began taking his pain again.
It radiated in the same places, but she controlled her breathing and tried to focus on something else. His question helped, as the guilt flooded in again. “No,” Roxxi mumbled, pressing her cheek into his shoulder. They were all dead, at least that’s what Roxxi had sensed, and she’d barely been able to save Chase.
“I’m sorry. I was only worried about you. Do you want me to call someone?” She hadn’t thought about the questions Chase might endure for this later, how they’d be suspicious that he’d crawled out of there alive without his team. He couldn’t just blame it on Roxxi, could he? “Just… tell them it was my fault, okay? I should’ve taken you to the hospital, but I was scared, and I wanted you to be comfortable. I don’t know. Something like that.” It was the truth, but would it be good enough? She didn’t want to put him in the position where he had to lie to his superiors, but what the hell were they going to do?
“We can worry about this later.” Roxxi puffed out a breath (even though she was the one doing the most worrying) and shifted, pressing her lips to his skin. “You should try to settle down again. Then later, if you’re feeling up to it, I’ll make enough food to last us a month━we’ll eat it in one sitting, though. Obviously.” Her words were somewhat muffled against his shoulder, but Roxxi was grinning anyway.
She’d have another meal with him, and words couldn’t explain how thankful she was for something so simple.
CHASE BUCKLEY | |
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CHASE BUCKLEY
Demon
Posts: 150
Age:
38
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Roxanne Braschi
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 17:13:48 GMT
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Post by CHASE BUCKLEY on Oct 2, 2022 15:51:06 GMT
He hadn’t been one of those kids scared to death by the dark or small spaces. Chase Buckley had been the near feral kid – until he’d learned what feral really was from the Agnellis – the one climbing trees or leaping off the roof to see if he really could be Superman one day. Unafraid of anything until he’d seen the Agnellis get their claws into his brother. Even then fear hadn’t been about his surroundings, amorphous things that you couldn’t point your finger right at, it had been about them. The first time he’d blacked out had changed it all.
After that first time, the coma, the weeks in the hospital, he hadn’t known what he’d see in that dark. Blood on his knuckles, a face torn to ribbons with his name blubbered on those scarlet painted lips, smoke seeming to puff from his lips like the winter gone black when he laughed. Bodies like broken dolls, limbs bent wrong, pale and too still, scattered around him. Now those holes haunted him, threatened to swallow him hole again before he had a chance to fight his way out of them.
There’d been a hand reached into this one though. One person to haul him out as even now he could feel it trying to press at the corners of his vision, creeping up out of those places in his memory he doubted he was ever gonna get back. Roxxi, there to ease every ache, even when her knuckles had been the ones the lay them on him. Life was never gonna be painless, that wasn’t the way any of this shit worked, but you could shield yourself from some of those wounds, shield others from more and she’d been his.
In the cradle of her touch, their breath shared as she drank that fear in, Chase felt himself disconnect from his own fear. He’d tried to protect her from the pain of the risks he had to take, but tonight they’d come home to roost. Looking up into those velveteen eyes, he traced the line of the tears she’d cried for him, his lips quirking faintly against hers as she threatened him. ”You’re gonna kick a man when he’s down now? That’s … that’s harsh baby.” There was less humour in his voice at the words though. If he broke his promise, there wouldn’t be anything of him left for her to threaten, he’d leave one of those giant gaping holes through her life and that wasn’t just wishful thinking. He knew it when her eyes fixed on his, while he could still feel the ghostly impression of her lips against his.
The love in her voice settled him, his hand squeezing her arm lightly as his grunt rumbled away. Better than any painkiller she would’ve given him, the ones that took him right back to that claustrophobic trap of his memories – too drugged to fight his way clear of them all. ”Don’t make me laugh,” he chided, knowing he’d prefer it to the tears, even if they were just a different form of the same pain inside of him. Any trace of humour on her face slipped away, leaving his brows furrowing, his thumb sliding slowly back and forth in the crook of her elbow. Had he scared her again? Was this gonna be the moment she snapped and told him it had to be a hospital?
Maybe it should’ve been. The cavalry should’ve swept in when Eichtner had called in backup. There’d been chaos in the warehouse, it flickered now in the back of his mind, the flash of weapons again, the screams, the scent of cordite and blood in the air that left him sucking in a deeper breath through his nose. Not the wisest move when every expansion of his ribcage left that pain bolting across his side. Roxxi had been the one to drag him out of there though, to patch him up – he wasn’t about to start questioning how she knew how. Chase tipped his head back a half inch as he tugged at her hand to try and draw her up with him, noting where the IV bag hung, how much room he had here to get her with him, against him, like the biggest, most effective band aid.
She called him on his move, but it just left a half smile slanting crookedly below that frown. ”Crazy for you,” he murmured, giving her hand another little tug. Chase wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep that promise when everything seemed to swim up out of that dark place when he shut his eyes. ”Promise. Please.” There was a little kid’s plea to it, soft and innocent, unashamedly needy.
The dance of his broken body and hers reeked of caution. A slide a couple of inches across the couch for him, the whimper that wanted to roll out bit back, Roxxi sliding into that narrow space to wrap her arm around his, her lips finding his bare shoulder. He’d have risked keeping his eyes open, but he knew she’d make good on some part of one of her threats and slipped them shut. It didn’t erase the frown that still creased his brow, but the pain eased then at least. Seeming to drain out where they touched, his body relaxing against hers.
Curling his fingers, Chase settled his hand on Roxxi’s leg. Those fingers squeezed lightly at the simple answer to his question. No. Eichtner and everybody else he’d spent hours with in the van were probably dead. Whatever, whoever, had been in that place had rendered them lambs to the slaughter – oh Emiliano Agnelli would’ve got a laugh out of that, the man was a wolf in the sheep’s clothing his name suggested. ”Don’t apologise,” Cakes breathed, his voice barely a rasp. ”You saved my life … they were … there was probably nothin’ that could’ve been done for ‘em.” It didn’t stop that bite of anger and grief in his chest though.
His eyes still shut, Chase shook his head at her offer. Hearing from some stranger that an operation had fallen apart in the worst way would only bring the sort of scrutiny on Roxxi that he didn’t want her to face. Fingers would be pointed all around at this failure. ”I’ll do it, later. By now they probably know. If someone heard the gunfire the sheriff would’ve sent somebody out.” And he wouldn’t be there, it would probably trigger all sorts of shit down at the station, one of their own gone … Mikey. Fuck. ”Baby, it’s not.” Chase’s eyes opened for just a second, sliding sideways to her before he shut them again, worry for Mikey biting deep. Roxxi wasn’t gonna let it stay there though.
The laugh this time came with less of a groan, the puff of her breath and then her lips against his shoulder soothing the milder ache that creaked in. ”Healing with food, huh? I think I might manage somethin’.” Soup maybe, something that wasn’t gonna weigh like a bowling ball in his stomach, putting pressure on that wound from the inside out. ”Did you … did you tell Mikey? If they go there, he’s not gonna know…” His voice was already drifting, his fingers loosening their anchor on her leg. He didn’t care about the sheriff then, would mourn later for Eichtner and his team, but he needed the only two people in the world who really mattered to know, he’d made it through Hell.
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ROXANNE BRASCHI
Chimera
psychic-skinwalker
Posts: 188
Age:
30
Occupation:
Professor at Whitmore College
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Chase Buckley
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 11, 2024 20:39:32 GMT
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Post by ROXANNE BRASCHI on Oct 14, 2022 15:50:35 GMT
━ i don't know where i'm going, but i sure know where i've been ━
It wasn’t like Roxxi needed to hear it to feel better about herself, like she’d only feel she’d done the right thing if she got some gratitude out of it, but it did feel good. She was too young━too inexperienced━to save her father, but she’d managed to save Chase, and that’s all she could’ve hoped for. After everything he’d lived through, he couldn’t die now━it would be the sour ending to a story she wouldn’t accept. Emiliano would perhaps raise Chase from the dead himself just to ensure he was the one to end Chase’s life.
Ah, worrying about what could’ve happened was no use anymore. He was okay. It took Roxxi stealing a police van and driving around naked, but they’d made it to her couch, and now, snuggling up to him, she could ensure he was alright. Take his pain, dote on him like a weird mixture of a nurse and an over-protective mother, and keep him breathing.
She could only imagine the rush of officers to the area, noting that everyone was dead while one body━one detective━was curiously absent, and that was Roxxi’s doing. Her eyes flicked up to his, mouth hidden from behind his shoulder, though she didn’t stop taking his pain. He wasn’t looking━it didn’t seem like it, anyway━and, if he did, she’d claim he was all out of sorts and didn’t know what he saw.
Sniffling quietly, she stared down at his shoulder, trying to blink rapidly as her vision grew fuzzy. Not wanting to scarf down a seven-course meal meant he was really out of sorts, huh? Roxxi sighed, trying to think of soup recipes. “Food always makes everything better.” She whispered, knowing how stereotypical she sounded, though she’d always believed it. Her mother cooked when she was anxious or upset, and Roxxi did the same━she’d probably have both her freezer and Chase’s fully restocked by the time he was healed, leaving him set for months.
Dio, why couldn’t he just heal like she did? That had to be the worse part about falling for a human, watching them get banged up and beaten beyond recognition, especially when the fight was often unfair. She thought of Nemo again and clenched her teeth, trying to push him away. Rat. He’d already threatened Chase’s life and somehow wooed her sister again, but he had no place here. Not now, not between them.
Ah, Mikey. She truly was being selfish by bringing Chase here and wrapping him up in a cocoon, content with never leaving, wasn’t she? She hadn’t once thought of his brother, though that might’ve been a relief to Chase (if he knew, which she still hoped he never would). “I’ll call him.” Roxxi promised, mentally noting that she’d piled the contents of Chase’s pocket on the end table beside her couch. “Sleep, amore mio,” She whispered again, hearing the exhaustion in his voice. Roxxi nosed his shoulder gently, and waited a while until she contacted Mikey. Next was trying to figure out how to fake a phone call to herself from Chase’s phone, but she assumed it would come to her.
After all, she’d gotten good at deceiving him, which wasn’t something to be proud of. But every action was born of love, and that had to count for something, didn’t it?
CHASE BUCKLEY | zee end |
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