see you again || Semi-Closed

[slayerskiss]

Who: Faith Lehane & CR
What: Faith grieves, moves into the clockhouse, spills some secrets, has a normal time about Christmas.
When: December.
Where: All over, primarily Clockhouse and the Academy.

Content Warnings: Deportment, patriarchal secret society of sexist british men, general Faith Lehane cws. TBA

Comments

for Ange

[slayerskiss]

[The memory starts at it usually does when Faith has this nightmare. In a moving truck, with no idea where she is or how long she was kept asleep. With strange men on all sides. She feels a weight against her wrists, iron chains, as cold as she remembers, and the fear and paranoia starting to bubble up in her chest and she - has to remember.

Right. The ritual. Letting go. Right.

She chose this.

She just feels tired. Tired of this mistake, of the way it haunts her, of being met with the looks of disgust and fear after every bit of progress she’s made in the last two years. She doesn’t glare at Wesley. She’s not sure she has to right to be mad at him after what she did to him eventually (she still is, though. It’s almost like that’s not how it works.)

Instead, she focuses on the foreign object in the room. Ange.]

What’re y - [She pauses.] Right. This one’s not a happy feel good story, just so you know.

[entreats]

[ Ange's facial expression is hard to read. A more common occurence, really, considering how much she likes to keep up her pokerface.. But it certainly is intentional in this case.

After all, she doesn't even need to hear what Faith is saying here to know that this isn't a good memory. How could it be? All these people here, and just Faith with her hands chained like that. It spells trouble - for Faith, that is - and of course Ange doesn't like the idea of that one bit. Nothing about this place feels safe, and so Ange is quick to lock up all emotion, regardless of whether or not these men can perceive her.

Faith can, though. Their gazes meet when the other speaks up, even through Faith's momentary surprise and confusion before she realises what's going on.

At least it means they're mostly on the same page here now. Even if only one of them knows what's about to happen here. ]

.. what's about to happen? [ She asks, the only thing betraying her worry the way her voice dips a little near the end.

She doesn't glance at any of the men around them. Ange just looks at Faith. ]

[slayerskiss]

[She relaxes against the metal of the truck, her limbs going more relaxed. She knows how this goes. She gets out, gives Wesley a black eye, kicks one of his goons' shins in, meets B on the docks after Giles calls his manhunt.

She's all sanctimonious speeches and well meaning attempts, all from the high ground because she just can't accept that maybe she's not any better than her. That maybe the only reason it was Faith that drove a stake through a human life was that the world likes Buffy just a little more, that she gets to be the hero and Faith gets to be this walking fucking tragedy, of what would happen if Buffy wasn't so damn pampered with her two story house and her loving (dead) mom and her bratty (not real) sister and all her friends. And from there... Faith made her choices, Willow was right about that.

But maybe she's not lucky. Maybe it's worse to have something and lose it than it is to have nothing and claw desperately for things you can't ever have. She remembers how it felt to drive her dagger into Willow and she wonders, maybe, if it was like that for Buffy too...

There's no changing it, she's sure of that. These men think they're waging the war, and Faith's just fighting in it. She doesn't get a choice, it's to get on the floor and beg and accept the chains or live as a rabid animal until they come and kill her like they'd promised.]

They're deporting me back to the motha' country. [Her words take on a horrible impression of a british accent, and she smiles wryly.] Britain, where they sit in their castles and use us as battle pieces. All 'cuz I killed someone I thought was a vamp.

This is Wesley Wyndam Price. He's a snobbish posh pretentious fucker, and he's decided I need to be 'rehabilitated'.

[entreats]

[ Maybe Ange is a little bit of a hypocrite. She judges people often enough for killing others, after all - sometimes even on a personal level, considering how much Sayo's actions influenced Ange's own life. Because she knows how bad the effects of even a single murder can end up.

And yet now she's standing here.. she hates the idea of something happening to Faith over something like this.

She doesn't feel bad about it though. It's just a matter of perspective, right? This, too, falls along the lines of 'without love, it can't be seen.' She sees Faith as much more, as an important friend, someone whose life she saved without hesitation before, even though it was Ange's own family member attacking her back then.

This is the same. Every second she's standing here, feeling the vibrations of the moving vehicle, the desire to get Faith out of here rises.

Even if it's just a memory. Even if this already happened.

It doesn't matter.

Ange glances over at Wesley when Faith points the other out. A moment of quiet observation, followed by a huff. It doesn't seem like anyone here can see her, and logic would dictate that she can't influence this memory if she isn't present, but.. well, the witch of Rokkenjima was never seen.

Ange is that witch now, isn't she?

It feels like the magic is practically already at her fingertips, itching to come out, but Ange first glances back at Faith, asking: ]

Do I want to know what his idea of rehabilitation is?

[slayerskiss]

[She should speak up in his defense. Wesley was trying to help her, he was just terrible at it. As terrible as he was at everything. It's like how Faith tried to be a hero and sucked at that too. She punished him severely for it, and it was one of the worst things she ever did. It made her feel hollow and filthy and disgusted with herself.

But the council is rotten. Buffy knew it. Faith knew it. Angel knew it. Even Giles knew it. They would have killed her if they had the chance, and the remembers Sineya's screams as they violated her soul and created this impossible burden to be passed down eternally. She thinks that maybe that girl, the one forced to became this instrument of war and murder, she thinks that maybe she deserves some revenge. Maybe that will help her. Maybe Faith owes her that much, after all she's done to taint her name.

She breathes a shaky breath.]

They wanted me to be loyal. They say we fight the war and they wage it, so they want me to be obedient. They've already lost Buffy, they need me under their thumb.

[She doesn't know what they would have done. Would it have been better than the decisions that Faith herself made? Would Wesley have changed his mind? She doesn't think so. But she's not sure she can bring herself to fight back this time around either, not knowing what comes afterward.]

[entreats]

[ It's a vague statement - maybe since Faith doesn't know what exactly they wanted to do to her either. After all, when Ange met Faith, she was still.. Faith, and not whatever obedient puppet they wanted her to be. She never found out, meaning this situation won't play to some inevitable bad conclusion.

But Ange still hates the idea of her friend being stuck in it at all, no matter the circumstances that lead up to it.

So she steps over until she's right in front of Faith, putting her hand on top of the chains around her wrists that bind her, even if Ange doesn't seem to be casting magic just yet, or doing anything else to it.

Instead she just looks Faith in the eyes. ]

Then let's get away from here.

[ Sure, it's a memory. Technically it shouldn't be able to be changed. Technically it won't matter.

Ange doesn't care about any limits right now though. ]

You want to get out, right? I don't want you to stay here for even a moment longer than you want to be. [ There's a pause, and a voice in the back of Ange's head telling them that isn't enough, it's not enough by far, and she adds-- ] I won't forgive them for being putting you into this position. Don't you want revenge?

[ Faith would understand, right? She's always been wilder than Ange. If anyone would understand that question, it's her. ]