SOMETIMES THE ONLY ROAD YOU TAKE IS THE DARKEST || July Catch-All

[slayerskiss]

Who: Faith Lehane + Assorted CR
What: Faith is haunted, bares her fangs, deals with the consequences of her actions.
When: July 5th-13th catchall.
Where: Clockhouse, Cobra Kai.

Content Warnings: Grief, violence, torture, suicidal ideation, Buffy The Vampire Slayer Making Murder Weird Since 1997, TBA.

Comments

[frogfear]

[It feels too familiar, except when Willow came back it was the man she just knew at the time as the Captain who helped her find her way back to herself, but he wasn't able to help jog her memory at all. It's a relief she found Faith before anyone else did, and that her memories are all intact.

It's hard not to cry right along with her, in both relief and sympathy.]

It's okay... Everything's okay now. The main thing is you're back.

[She gently runs her fingers through Faith's hair, both to try to offer comfort and undo some of the tangles.]

I missed you too. I'm glad you're back.

[slayerskiss]

[Even dripping wet with salt and tears and blood, the blood of the ocean, the blood of Mariana, her captor and mother (and really aren't they the same thing in the end?), even as miserable and lost as she is, she can't help but smile.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe we forgot about you because we wanted to?

She buries her face in Willow's shirt and smiles and laughs against the fabric - it's been a long time since she's felt fabric hasn't it? A long time since she's felt this warm.]

You remembered me.

I'm glad. [Of course she did. Willow is her friend. Something more, maybe. And as she's getting accustomed to having a body again, as she's feeling the heat of Willow's body temperature against hers, as she's remembering how to be human, she blurts out...]

...I'm starvin'.

[frogfear]

[Willow keeps her arms curled around Faith, and leans her head against hers.]

Of course I remembered you. I'm just glad you remember us.

[The possibility hadn't been lost on her that Faith might not come to shore with her memories intact. Willow's still not fully certain why she had lost hers back in February, but her assumption remains the same - it had something to do with Deerington. So far, it's holding.

She laughs as Faith suddenly declares she's starving.]

Yeah, I bet you are after... Everything. Okay. I've been staying with Ford. We can go back there, and get you something to eat.

[slayerskiss]

[She leans against Willow, breathing in her scent like it's a reminder that she's alive. And it is a reminder. For the first time that she remembers, that's something she wants, actively. To be alive, to be here, with Willow and Tara and all her friends.]

Couldn't forget.

[She shuffles, prepared to move, but her balance is still shot and her footing shakes like it might crumble into dust. She turns to Willow, her brows stitched together in worry.]

Why Ford's...? What happened to the house? [She remembers heat and smoke and the bullets lodged into her body that still mark her skin even now. But surely it could have been salvaged, right? Surely... She remembers the broken remains of the school and is reminded that sometimes horrible things happen to good people too, not just deformed monstrosities like her.]

[frogfear]

[Willow keeps an arm around Faith as they begin to move. She remembers this part well too - stumbling around on new legs, trying to remember how balance works on land when it hadn't even been a consideration in the ocean. It had left her feeling so terribly vulnerable.

She shifts, uncomfortable suddenly at the question of what happened to the house. She remembers still far too acutely the smell of the smoke, and the heat of the flames that all came so soon after her own restoration after her second death. She remembers being unsure and afraid of what a third would bring so soon afterwards.]

It, uh. The fire. It's gone.

[She takes a deep breath. The house had quickly become a home in Deerington after hers had been destroyed, and it had been a pleasant surprise to find it intact, if not needing a little extra attention and clean up when they had first arrived. It had come as a relief and a comfort as well, after her first death, to find herself back on familiar ground when nothing else in the city sparked even the most vague sense of recognition. She has been grieving not only for the loss of her friends, but for the comfort, safety, and familiarity of their home as well.]

So, Qrow, Ruby, and Ange are staying with Break, and I landed at Ford's, so I've been staying there.