hold your breath, kiss me now | catch-all

[slayerskiss]

Who: Faith Lehane & CR, both old and new
What: Catch-all. Faith has a normal valentines day.
When: Mid January to late February.
Where: All over Trench.

Content Warnings: Jealousy, toxic ideas about love and consent, loss of body autonomy, panic attacks.

Comments

Speed Dating

[slayerskiss]

[Faith kicks her feet up on the table. Speed dating. God. At least it's not as bad as the rest of the shit Trench puts them through, and maybe there's some benefits to be had.

She almost winces when she sees her own bio. That line taken out of context is... well. It's worse with context and she knows it. But well, it certainly could be worse.]

Right. Wanna give this a shot?

Re: Speed Dating

[ex_sink985]

No.

[ The Chinese guy opposite her looks deeply uninterested in giving anything a shot. At least he answered rather than ignoring her.

He sighs, then ... doesn't smile, exactly, but there's an accepting resignation in his gaze. She isn't his first rodeo. ]

I will ask you some easy questions so we can move on without electrocution. What is your name?

Re: Speed Dating

[slayerskiss]

[She laughs at his immediate refusal. Fair, yeah.]

First name Faith, last name Lehane. Yours?

[ex_sink985]

First name Xuan, family name He.

[ It would Americanise as Shaun Hay, basically. ]

There. Two questions, easy.

[ Now he's a little stuck, he doesn't really do the small talk thing and he wants to keep the questions flowing while also imparting and receiving absolutely no information about each other. Walls up, super healthy. ]

What was in your life before this one that you have not found here, Xiaojie?

[slayerskiss]

...Xiaojie? [She blinks.] Uh, my name's Faith. I just told you, man.

[He does not deserve this, but alas, Faith is kind of an idiot.]

Uh. I guess... the food was a lot shittier? There's a lot less shivs here, or asshole prison guards. I didn't have a lot left by the time I arrived.

You?

[entreats]

[ Speed dating could be hell for Ange.

Though the girl has found that as long as she just meets faces she already knows, it's not that bad. They know she's off the market without having to look at her wedding ring, for one, and it's also just so much less awkward than talking to strangers. Ange's true #1 fear.

Which means Ange casually huffs, rather than looking embarrassed. ]

Do I want to know what they wrote for you?

[ Because Ange hasn't taken a peek yet. But she could.

Or Faith could look at her profile. ]

[slayerskiss]

[She laughs, relaxing against her chair. This is much better than a stranger. Feels a lot less like a performance.]

Ehhh, something something hurt you a little more, pop like warm champagne. Nothing too important.

Yours?

[entreats]

[ Ange's shoulders move up into a shrug. ]

It certainly isn't going to make anyone want to match with me. [ Because, you know, that's clearly the important part.. Out of all they wrote for her..

Better to be seen as a serial killer than a potential romantic interest. ]

It's saving me a whole lot of trouble. Maybe I should thank them for writing that for me.

[slayerskiss]

I mean, there's also the fact that you're married and out of their league anyway. [Not that that would have stopped Faith when she was just a bit younger. But she wasn't a great person. Still isn't, but she's getting there.

She does look down at Ange's profile and she snickers at it despite herself. It feels so random to her.

She carefully doesn't think about having seen Ange's dark side first hand.]

Terrifying. And here you were judgin' me for having too many weapons. [They're going to get shocked at this rate.] Gotten any weird reactions to it?

[That's a question. Phew.]

[onekindsoul]

[Ruby isn't exactly looking for a date but she's always down to clown and hang out with a good friend. Her ownprofile flashes on screen as she takes a seat.]

You're on! What's your favorite weapon?

[slayerskiss]

Well, your wife says I had too many.

[She hums, thoughtfully. Whether it's something she actually has to put too much thought into is another thing, but, well.]

Axe for short range, bloodstone rifle for long range. [She looks at the questions being generated by their omnis, and squints.]

What's your... as-pirea-tions? Whatever the fuck that word means.

[onekindsoul]

Look, my beautiful wife was amazing taste when it comes to a lot of things. ...Weapons not so much.

[She is absolutely willing to drag Ange over this. But she didn't exactly start hanging out with Ange because they were exactly the same.

However these are great options.]

Oh my gosh- You know. Maybe we should get you a weapon that does both. I think that would be a lot of fun. I had a teacher who used a blunderbuss axe. ...I wouldn't make yours like his, it would be way cooler.

[Ruby blinks.]

Wait let me look at it.

...As Peer Ations?

...Is that anything like Salutations? You know like the thing Penny says instead of hello?

they are so stupid

[slayerskiss]

Can't say I ever understood your whole blend of guns and scythes and swords and whatever. But hey, if you wanna, I'd be down for an axe rifle.

[She grins, especially at the Penny mention. That's her buddy.]

What, you think like, Penny's evil clone rigged this whole speed-dating thing up? I could buy it. [That's a very normal conclusion to come to, sure.]

[jadedlynx]

I'm here for the part where I avoid electrocution.

[ Aren't they all? Ash has had his turn at a few games now so he knows the rules. His own profile ("Who's died twice, has parental issues, and a good heart that sometimes forgets how to control his mouth? One gang leader, Ash Lynx. His hobbies include sleeping too hard, biting people with sarcasm, sacrificing himself, and reading. Like all cats in the world, engage at your own risk.") is considerably tamer than hers, but that's a high bar. ]

That's a quote. Since it doesn't take a lot of explanation, I'll bite at the other part: what do you slay?

[slayerskiss]

Context of the quote is that I was talking to one of the worst serial killers in history. [Is that true? Probably. Diana made Spike out to be pretty fucking scary - and he killed three of her predecessors so that's something. The fact that when she'd met him he was a leashed up dog who'd lost all his bite in favor of meaningless barking.]

I slay vampires. And demons. Here? Mostly beasts.

[jadedlynx]

The context just sounds like you're into kinky stuff with serial killers.

[ And maybe she is. Ash isn't here to judge what kind of stuff she might be into. ]

Guns or martial arts training?

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul read her bio and struggled not to laugh. It wasn't like his own was much better, so at least they can laugh at each other if they wanted to.]

It does not surprise me at all you have a kinky side.

[slayerskiss]

Not like I hide it. [She grins, despite herself. Wow, this is weird. She reads his own profile and... wow.]

Man. [She is actually laughing.] That's a lot.

[survivalthroughhate]

True. You do seem like the type that would happily chain someone up against the wall if that was your pleasure.

[He didn't mind her laughing. (For once.) His was indeed a lot.]

Have you been able to find anyone in Trench yet?

[frogfear]

[It could be worse - it could be a whole lot worse, and in Trench, it frequently is worse than having to sit and ask and honestly answer silly random questions, and there are definitely far worse people she could find herself sitting across from than Faith.]

I mean, I guess it couldn't hurt, right? You know, the whole... lie-and-you-get-shocked thing aside.

[She looks down at the list of questions.]

Okay. Hm. Who wants to make you be a better person?

[slayerskiss]

Hey, what's a little electro shock between friends? [She smirks.] Some people are into that, you know.

[The question catches her off guard. Not because she doesn't have an answer but just... well. Almost all of what made her want to be a better person can be attributed to the people that surrounded her. Back home, here, both.]

Jeez, alright, uhh... back home it's Buffy and Angel. One, uh, more actively and intentionally than the other. Here...

Well, you. And Ange. Tara's gone but, y'know, her too. Snow, Johnny, Penny, Gideon...

[frogfear]

Yeah, not my kind of thing, really.

[The list of names doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it still brings a smile to Willow's face that Faith has chosen to include her in that list here in Trench. It's good to want to do better for your own sake too, but somehow it feels easier when there's someone else to put forth the effort for too.]

Yeah. Me too. It, uh, helps to be accountable to someone else too, huh?

[bolstafir]

[It keeps happening. Qrow sighs as his profile pops up, the stupid Hi, my name is Qrow Branwen sticker redundant on his shirt even though she obviously knows who she is.]

Not seeing where we've got much choice.

[Faith's quote is passing by without comment because she's just barely older than Ruby and has lived in his house for months and any flirting or dirty jokes with her would feel extremely weird!! He's kind of grumpy about that in particular, honestly; this would be easier with a stranger.]

[slayerskiss]

[This isn't awkward at all. That's a lie, it's super awkward. But hey, not like they've got a choice. The fact that he's taken, old enough to be her dad, not her gender preference and related to one of her friends wouldn't have deterred her when she was a teenager but she's not quite as paranoid about that kind of thing nowadays. She knows where she strands with Qrow at least.]

Corvidiot? [She raises her eyebrows. Whether she finds the stupid pun funny or she just doesn't get it? Anyone's guess.]

[bolstafir]

[Qrow simply rolls his eyes and shrugs.]

Doorway thinks they're real funny, I guess.

[It's actually not a bad pun, which is the worst part. He would tell a joke like that just to be annoying.]