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!malina harvey

text | to faith lehane

[So the day after everything goes down, and after her conversation with Ashley, Malina shoots off this text to one of their MIA knights, keeping it casual more than anything else. She'd rather call Faith on the phone, but considering she's never actually spoken with her before she figures a text to open the lines of communication are her best option.]

Hey, this is Malina Harvey of the Dragon's Fire. I'm not sure how attached you've been to your phone lately and how much you know about what's going down, but I was told you didn't come back from your last mission, and since we are lacking people who were present for the entire mission, I wanted to check in and was hoping you might be able to fill me in on what went down.

[She's trying to make it not about Helen, but it is kinda about Helen.]

Just give me a ring when you get a chance. Promise not to take too much of your time.

[And after that she will ... wait and see what happens.]

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[In a DRAMATIC change of events... Faith is actually still in London. Apparently, she ditched everyone at the landing strip and headed back to her flat in London to go pack a bag. Her phone had been plugged in and charging when that infamous message came out and by the time she actually looked out the window to see HOLYSHIT Dragons and checked her messages... well, things were already going to hell in a hand basket. She got back to the castle in time to see the smoke and wreckage. Which put her into an even bigger spiral of guilt and frustration.

She'd been planning on taking time off... and instead, the one place that had actually felt like home to her was in ruins. Well, bits of it were in ruins. Plus there was a giant metal tank on the front lawn. Well, bits of it.

She does what she can to help, but she's mostly distracted and she knows that she's not being of much use. After night falls, she heads back to her flat and makes plans to meet with Wynn the next day. She knows she needs to debrief him, but she figures he might be a bit busy with plotting revenge and all.

When the text comes from Malina in the morning, she is on her way out the door. The bag she started to pack is still half-packed and she's still unsure of what she's going to do.

Rather than text her back, she just calls her.]

Malina? It's Faith. I'm actually on my way to the castle, if you want to meet up - cool, if you want to do the whole speakerphone over the car while I drive over, I can go with that too.

No, meeting up is good.

[And she's glad that Faith is still in town, which is more than she can say for some people. She exhales slowly, before glancing around.]

I can meet you in the remains of the lobby?

Yeah, sounds good. I'll be there in fifteen.

[(driving sounds.)

She steps into the lobby and glances to Cheryl... who is sitting on top of the remains of her desk. Whatever. She spots someone standing around and assumes that's Malina.]

Malina? [She moves toward her.] So, what do you already know?

[She takes a deep breath as she turns to face her more.]

I know that Dean and Rose came back with two bodies and I know that Helen didn't come back, and now she's not answering her phone for anyone - even her daughter. I'm just worried about my friend - this isn't like her, especially with everything going on right now.

Paris... [She runs her hands through her hair and shakes her head. Frustration and confusion is definitely a common theme for her in this.]

It was a mess. We were sent to track down some vampires that had been making sport of murder and mayhem. Framing up civilians for their feedings gone too far. See, I'm a Slayer - kinda born into the whole finding vamps and getting them to stop being idiots.

We tracked them to a club. I went to try and snag a lead, which I did - but Helen saw something I didn't. She sent them... Max and Lissa out back. I dialed her on my phone, keeping the line open in my pocket and started to follow my lead. He was some darkness is my friend type. I sold him some line about coming to Paris to experience something new.

We got some distance between us and the bar, where I'd left Helen and them. I started getting a bad feeling, that maybe my vibe on this guy wasn't right. I tried to leave, but turns out - my vibe had been right. Vampire. I fought him, got my phone out just in time to hear a struggle.

By the time I made it back to the bar, Max and Lissa were dead and Helen was gone. Phone destroyed and left in the alley. [the Narration will pause here for questions...]

[Malina nods as she takes all this in, not really sure what it is that would have Helen sending Max and Lissa off on her own while she stayed behind, but there had to be something. Then the part about her phone being destroyed at least makes some of it make sense.]

Helen's phone, not Max or Lissa's?

It looked like it had fallen. Probably during the struggle. Max and Lissa still had their phones on them.

[She pauses for a moment, but she figures she's going to tell Wynn the whole thing, so she might as well tell Malina too. Especially if Helen is in trouble.]

On my way from that vamp - I ran into someone I know. He... literally walked out of a bar, into the back alley where I was beating down the vampire. He came with me to find the bar that I'd left them at. I called Wynn, let him know what was going on, and while my friend found a safe spot to put the bodies - I went back to that vampire. I figured, if he knew anything it was the best lead I had.

He'd been part of the group that had been framing up humans. I threatened him if he didn't get all his hunting party together. So he made a call and they all came to the house. One of them escaped during the initial fight, but my friend came in time to provide back-up and I managed to convince them all to stop murdering people for sport. Wynn calls for the update and tells me that back-up is on the way. So we head back to where the bodies where so we could meet up with Dean and Rose.

The four of us went back to the alley where Max and Lissa had died and Helen's phone had been. Then... while we were trying to sort out a plan, Helen just walks up. She'd been attacked, by a vampire - but not one of the ones I'd been talking to. She says that a friend happened to be in the area and saved her. Patched her up. [It was the first thing that seemed weird to her. That a friend would just happen upon Helen getting attacked - but she'd ended up having Quinn happen on her... so she'd dismissed it at the time.

PAUSE FOR QUESTIONS.]

[Yeah, that makes her squint because she can't remember Helen mentioning a friend in Paris. Then again, Helen's been around a long time - she could have friends that Malina doesn't know about. She's still in that frame of mind that she's going to give Helen the benefit of the doubt and not get too angry.

Yet.]

Did you meet this friend?

No. We took what we could from what Rose could gather from what happened to Max and Lissa added it into what Helen told us and tossed in all the info I'd pulled off that group of vampires and decided we had a few loose ends that could still cause trouble.

Plus, we needed to know what happened to Max and Lissa. So we went back to the alley outside the apartment that the vampires were staying at. Caught the trail of the vampire that had bailed out the window during my "interrogation". [use of air quotes just happened.]

Followed that until we came across her. She and the last vampire of that group swore off hunting people - but they also claimed they didn't know who killed Max and Lissa and we were hitting a dead end. The only other lead we had was these Elders - but the vampires we were talking to said they didn't really want to be found. Something about a lesbian vampire queen... Camilla or something. Rose was intent on the two that killed Max and Lissa - one was French, but the other... it just wasn't who we were running into and the vampires didn't know either.

We thought about heading to find these Elders - see if they knew anything, but Helen advised against it. We'd already lost two - we had back-up and someone that wasn't with the Knights in tow. She said we'd be better off with an actual plan before we try to take down some ancient vampire cult.

Especially since the reason we'd been called there was to handle the vampires that had been murdering people. We let the vampires go and decided to come back to London. Take care of Max and Lissa, inform Wynn... and Helen said she had some contacts she needed to get in touch with.

I asked her if it was the same people that patched her up and she said yes. [Technically, she nodded.] So, we went back to where the bodies had been kept so we could head back.

Helen stayed behind.

[Okay that might not ... be entirely weird, but Malina's still not sure about where all the details are falling. The Helen she knows wouldn't just send the bodies back of the people she's responsible for for no reason.]

Did she insist on going alone? And did she give an ETA of when she would be back?

[There's a beat.]

Did she take one of your phones?

She didn't take mine and she didn't give me any clue when she'd be back.

[Faith frowns, shaking her head.] Something ... she wasn't cagey, but she wasn't really big with details either. Kinda pushing us to get the hell out of Dodge. We'd already lost two and I wasn't going to question her. She was the leader of the mission.

[She frowns again.] It's a shitty excuse, but I didn't want to not listen to her and get someone else killed. I also had my friend there helping us. The less I told him, the more questions he was gonna ask and I covered for the Knights by feeding him the Slayer gig story. Hoping he'd kinda just think it's all connected to that.

[Malina turns from info gathering to comforting older knight easily, holding up her hands as she immediately goes for reassurance.]

No, no, no, hey. It was a rough mission - you were listening to your mission leader. I'm not blaming you for anything. If anything, I'm more concerned with why she didn't come back here herself and check in with her contacts later. It's her choices I'm questioning, not yours.

[Especially if she didn't have a phone and no way to contact the rest of the knights. She could have at least phoned home to let everyone know she was okay - particularly with Ashley. But she's not laying any of the blame on Faith at all.]

And that's a good call with your friend. You think he bought the story?

He watched me take down a room of vampires, by myself. [okay, so he helped a teeny bit.] I think he bought it, but if it had been anything other than a vampire group.

[She takes a beat.] I was packing. [Malina didn't ask, but she needs to tell someone and really she can't just go tell Wynn this part of it. WHAT ARE GAL PALS...]

See, you say that I didn't make the wrong call, but I left her alone - I left them alone and then when it came to coming home and actually telling someone what happened -- I took a stop at my flat to pack. For a vacation.

I miss the call, because my phone is charging and I'm trying to sniff a pair of jeans to decide if it's clean or dirty.

I'm not good at this thing.

[Malina watches her for a moment, because there was a time where she was this unsteady in her place in the knighthood, and if she had been hit with a mission like Faith had ... she can't say she wouldn't want to be running herself. Running away from her problems was always a specialty of hers when she was younger, and sometimes distance can provide you with a bit of perspective you didn't already have.

She takes another step forward and places a hand on Faith's shoulder gently.]

Look, you weren't the only knight who was out of pocket yesterday for whatever reason. There was a bunch of us that were on vacation, and everything happened so fast that the way things went down, there's no way you could have gotten here in time. Between the dragons in London and the gridlock between here and there - you would have needed a freaking miracle. And I'm certainly not going to blame you for wanting to get a little space. The important thing is that you came back when you were needed.

[Unlike her mission leader.]

None of this is your fault. You were following a lead and doing your job - Lissa and Max aren't on you. You tracked down those vamps and you did what you could to complete your mission and that counts for something too. I think you're better at this than you think.

[And after a minute she'll take a step back.]

I know you gotta go talk to Wynn and sort all this out, but it's okay to take some time and space if you need it. You gotta do what you have to do for you to keep your head on straight. But it doesn't have to be forever.

[She lets out a huff of a laugh, amused but having that slight hint of hollowness to it. Faith isn't really the type to accept praise when it comes from someone that doesn't really know her story. She knows the Knights are filled with people who are getting their second chance, but for all Faith knows - this isn't one of those people. No matter how many times someone tells her that Max and Lissa aren't on her - she's still gonna feel that weight.]

Yeah... I gotta figure that out. And find Wynn. Which, given the state of this place, I'm guessing isn't gonna be as easy as usual.

[a beat] You think she's taking time to get things straight herself?

[Malina isn't someone who is using the knights as her second chance. The knights were her chance, period. It was her chance to prove that she could be useful and do good, and she knows that Faith doesn't know her and has no reason to be taken at her word, but she hopes that she at least considers it.

And will definitely let her direct the conversation back to Helen.]

Honestly? I have no idea. I've known her for ten years, and ... this doesn't feel like a move she would make. I especially don't think she would just hang her daughter out to dry like this, but ... I guess people can always surprise you.

[And that could be either good or bad.]

As for Wynn though, I know he's been doing laps in the ballroom while they get things prepped for the resurrections. You can probably start there.

[Faith nods.]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll see if I can't track him down in that direction.

[She nods in agreement.]

Thanks for filling me in. I'll see you around.

[And with that, she will wander off to get back to work with the reconstruction. /scene]

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