CRY FOR JUDAS [January Catch-All | OPEN]

[slayerskiss]

Who: Faith Lehane and you!
What: A slayer arrives in Trench, finds a hole to hide in and gets ready to start slaying again. 
When: Early January
Where: Around

Content Warnings: Will be tagged as needed.

I. (where judas went to die)

[It's been a few days since Faith's arrival, and for the most part she's shut herself up in an abandoned house in Crenshaw and left it at that. It used to be that she arrives in a town and immediately tries to establish herself as the toughest kid in the playground, but she's changed. Or she'd like to think she has, anyway.

She mostly leaves the house to get food, and when she does she comes back with bags full because frankly? Prison food fucking sucks. 

One night, however, she decides she's going stir crazy from being pent up like this, and even though she didn't leave by choice, getting out of prison's something you're supposed to celebrate, not sit indoors and sulk about. So she'll find... something. She wonders aimlessly through Crenshaw late at night, and ends up at the docks with a bottle of whiskey and a plate full of gingerbread cookies.  If she sees you coming she'll give a nod, but her stance around the cookies is protective. The whiskey she'll share but these cookies are hers.]

They always keep this marketplace runnin'? Figured it'd be cleared out by now. 

II. (getting equipped)

[It's been a week by this point, and she's done sitting around moping. She's a slayer, and yeah, maybe she's not a good one, maybe she's an evil heartless bitch who fucked everything up because she was rotten to the core but she's a SLAYER. And there's plenty of things that need slaying.

She heads for Prufrock, starting with the whole weapons thing. She needs something with range. A bow or a crossbow or even a rifle, though she kinda doubts this place has much in the way of firearms. Eventually, she gets kind of lost and overwhelmed, so she'll stop a stranger and ask. And that stranger... is you!] Yo, help a girl out, you know where I can find something a bit less medieval? Like, long ranged crossbows and rifles and shit?

[Or alternatively, maybe she's visiting the Gate, to get some healthy slaying practice in. She thinks these people are wimps for coming and watching the real warriors kick the shit out of chained up animals but hey, Diana told her that some level of training's required before she goes out guns blazing and starts hunting for real.

And... as always, she was more or less exactly correct, and it makes Faith feel like shit to even think about. Maybe you've been paired up with her in a team, or she's just come out from fighting, or you're both just taking a break in between fights but Faith gives you a smile and a totally chill nod from a very chill and cool girl.]  You got much experience in this? Killin' monsters n' shit?

iii. (i need noise, need the crack of a whip)

[And now she finds herself at the club. It was only inevitable. She's on night... 8? 9? And she's dancing in a crowd of people, feeling the rush of being surrounded by other people's heat and the music's rhythm bouncing against her skin. She's wearing tight leather pants and a tight fitting crop top that shows off a generous amount of her cleavage because Faith's isn't shy and she thinks modesty's a scam for virgins.

She needs to feel everything and nothing at once, because it's the only way she can silence the rage in her head and stop thinking. She does need a break every now and again, and she drops down into a sofa close to the bar that you just happen to be sitting next to and she lets out a breathless laugh.]

This place is dope as fuck. [And then she'll sort of slump lazily and turn to whoever she's next to.] You look like you could use a drink, huh? Makes two of us.

iv. (winter's mourning)

[She was just wandering about, hands in her pockets, patrolling the area for any monsters that need killing when suddenly she's gotten too close to a ritual that she had no idea about.

In a memory that's not hers, she looks around, alarmed at the new scenery.] What the fuck? Where am I?

 

Comments

[entreats]

Well, as long as they're not going to suddenly jump up like a bad horror movie, I'll take it. [ Though she wouldn't put it past this place. It's not like she's going out totally defenseless at night, after all. Ange is always prepared, just in case something bad does happen.

But right now things don't seem so bad. She got all the way out here without getting bothered - and this isn't such a bad talk with a stranger either, Ange thinks.

She hums, and then remarks: ]

You sound experienced.

[ With what exactly? Who knows. Perhaps just danger in general, or weird, creepy towns. ]

[slayerskiss]

Yeah. I'm a Slayer, and I used to slay demons and vampires n' shit in this nightmare town called Sunnydale, so I know a thing or two about monsters. [Not as much as Buffy, but enough.

She understands giving in to the hunger in your core and lashing out at everything like an animal. Which, Buffy doesn't understand quite as intimately, at least as far as Faith's aware.]

So, y'know, if any of 'em do leap out, I'll just beat the shit out of them.

[entreats]

[ Oh. Oh. Demons, huh. Ange isn't sure whether this is a great moment to mention that she summons those, considering she's pretty sure not everyone has as nuanced an opinion on them as she does.

No, instead she focuses on something else she's slowly starting to realise about what Faith is saying here. A name that feels weirdly familiar to her, though it takes a little while for her to realise where she's heard it before. ]

.. Sunnydale.

[ Ange slowly repeats the name, and then it dawns on her. She glances over at Faith - her expression still mostly a pokerface, but with her eyes slightly widened in surprise. ]

You're from the same place as Willow. [ And look, Ange is pretty sure they've got to know each other if they're going around in the same supernatural circles. ]

[slayerskiss]

[She tenses, just a minute, when Ange mentions Willow by name. Right, yeah, of course she knows Willow. At least it doesn't seem like Willow's been talking extensively about the things that happened back home.

She takes a big swig from the bottle.]

The very same, yeah. We've, uh, met.

[Unfortunately. Except that's not really fair, especially on her end. Besides, they're both trying now.]

You know her well?

[entreats]

Uh.. kind of, I guess.

[ It's partially the usual need to downplay any attachments on Ange's part rearing its head, and partially the fact that it's not like she and Willow are BFFs or anything like that.. But she does like to think she's gotten to know at least some things about the other while hanging out.

Though she also thinks Faith's own answer is a little odd. She would genuinely believe it if they had only briefly met, considering it's not like they would have been the only people in that town - but that little 'uh' does feel like there's more to it than that.

It's better to not dig though, right? Maybe some more information will end up coming her way if she just waits. ]

We ended up living in the same house here. And she's been helping me practice my magic for a while now.

[slayerskiss]

[Probably. It's not like Faith is as guarded as she probably should be about the whole "convicted murderer" thing, and she can't imagine that Willow will be particularly considerate toward her privacy.

Which is... probably fair.]

Huh. Yeah, I've been meaning to reach out to her. [She's just been... too overwhelmed? Procrastinating? ...Afraid?] She found me when I first washed up, haven't really sought her out since then.

Probably owe her one for that. [Put it on a list of the many debts she's accumulated.] You're a witch, then?

[entreats]

[ There's some weird, weird thing going on between Faith and Willow, that's for sure. Those are some definite Vibes Ange can pick up over here, even though she doesn't know their exact nature, given that she has no clue what might have transpired between these two back home. ]

Yeah.

[ She nods. It's a much easier question to answer nowadays. ]

I don't think it works exactly the same for me as it does for witches in your world, but it doesn't seem entirely dissimilar, I guess.

[slayerskiss]

[There SURE is. She's not even sure herself what it is. Willow's not her old friend, or her former rival, or her former nemesis. Enemies, by association rather than anything personal on her end. Now they're just tip-toeing around eachother.]

Yeah, that's more Willow's gig. I don't do magic. I have powers but they're more... part of the whole chosen one gig.

So if it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

[entreats]

Oh, that's good. I was already terrified of having my magic judged by someone I'm meeting for the first time.

[ Usually it would have been a statement that would have been sarcastic to all hell and back.. but it doesn't sound that way this time around. Instead it sounds more like a genuine joke on Ange's part, with a smile playing around her lips and all.

Like she just thinks it's all kind of amusing.

Ange's hands glow golden, and a butterfly seemingly made out of golden light slips out of them, flying off into the night.

Ange seems pretty casual about it though, instead glancing over at Faith. ]

Can I ask what kind of 'chosen one' powers those are? It's fine if you don't want to share, it's just that you make it sound so mysterious that it's a little intriguing.

[slayerskiss]

You can't call me mysterious after summoning a fuckin' butterfly in your hand like a disney princess.

[She chuckles, taking another swig. She could say no, just to keep that intrigue, as a sort of game. But her self confidence is shot to shit as it is so she's not going to pretend she's that interesting.

That Faith is dead and buried.]

Let's see if I can list 'em... super strength, increased speed and agility, super fast reflexes, rapid healing, heightened senses, I'm sort of able to sniff out monsters by instinct uh... [She squints.] Cryptic-ass dreams that tell me shit that's dubiously useful or just puts me in a room to make a bed over and over with the only other living chosen one. Oh, and I can jump like fifteen feet.

[entreats]

[ Thankfully Ange is in a relatively good enough mood - especially by Ange standards - to not mind a comparison to a Delsney Disney princess all that much.

The other might be kind of drunk anyway, judging by the way that bottle is being used at the moment. ]

I don't know, I'd say your powers are way more over the top. [ Even if that display just now was only a fraction of Ange's power, but ssh, ssh, that doesn't matter here. Clearly. ] You sound like a real superhero. I mean, super strength, super speed, super senses.. You've got it all.

[ Heck, Ange knew an actual superhero in this place, and she's pretty sure he could do less than the list Faith is summing up over here. ]

You're just missing the spandex.

[slayerskiss]

[Her smile in reaction to that is just the slightest bit melancholy. Buffy's the hero, she's just the backup. Or that's what she's been telling herself. In reality, she does have a lot of things at her disposal.

And she threw it all away for spite, jealousy and fear.]

Eh, always preferred leather. Feels a bit less comic book, I guess, more action movie.

[entreats]

Less superhero, more "last person to survive in a horror movie."

[ Ange waves a hand.

If there's anything she's gotten more used to since leaving her own world, it's actually sitting down and watching movies. She hasn't done that since she was so young. Back when her dad was still alive and kept showing her westerns. ]

I guess that's not a bad aesthetic to have here, of all places. [ Maybe it's a little less horror movie than Deerington.

But that bar is so high up that anything could move underneath it. It still works. This place is spooky, and in some ways still pretty awful. ]

[slayerskiss]

Final girl except not a virgin. [She hums, considering.] I'll take it.

[She's adding the 'not a virgin' part on her lonesome. She refuses to be seen as a virgin that's a cornerstone of her identity. Faith does feel like the genre's a bit more accurate, though she'd say that at the end of the day she wound up being closer to the monster than the final girl.]

This does feel like something out of Lovecraft's wet dreams, yeah. Or some fucked up sci-fi fantasy horror mix. [She can't name any authors that specifically specialize in that niche. Her prison-induced literacy only goes so far.]

[entreats]

[ Thankfully Faith moves the topic on just a little bit, because then it's a little less obvious that Ange is ignoring that 'not a virgin' part... Won't touch it with a ten foot pole, thanks.

She'll just instead touch the topic of this setting as a whole, that feels a lot safer. ]

I don't think it's so sci-fi when we're living in a place that looks straight out of a historic novel.

[ Though the horror is sometimes sci-fi, so.. you know. Who even knows!

Maybe it's best summed up with: ]

This place is a mess.

[ So, in that sense, Ange won't blame the other for drinking here whatsoever. Whatever gets Faith through the day. ]

But at least it's not straight up dumping me on the Titanic that's being sunk by Godzilla, so I'll take it.

[slayerskiss]

[Welcome to talking to Faith, where every conversation no matter how benign can turn into a conversation about sex. Sorry, Ange.]

Eh, it's like... post apocalyptic sci fi, you know? That's also where the fantasy comes in.

I'm guessing the titanic story's about uh... what'd Willow call it, Deerington?

[entreats]

Yeah. It was the first thing that happened when I showed up there. Fell asleep in the car back home in my own world, woke up on the Titanic. [ And yet Ange says it all with the same calm, near-flat tone. Like she's entirely unimpressed by a weird story like that.

Then again, at one point you just get used to weird stories. ]

I figured that it was some witch toying with me, but I figured out quickly enough that I wasn't playing by the rules of my own world anymore.

[ ...

There's a slight pause. She considers what Faith's own experience must have been, and.. ]

I guess it's also pretty weird to have your first experience be the way people show up here.

[slayerskiss]

[She nods along. Sounds like a bitch and a half to go through. She doesn't even think about her own situation, she's too busy thinking about that Titanic movie. Damn. At least the food would be good. Now she's hungry. She takes a bite out of her gingerbread cookie.

Then Ange points out how everyone else gets here and she lets out a huff of laughter.]

Nah, just a regular sunday night for me. Squidding and de-squidding. [She shrugs.] It's bad, but I've been through worse.

When you say Titanic, you mean the actual Titanic or just a boat that sinks? [She pauses.] ...uh, I don't know if you've watched it or not. Sorry if I spoiled it.

[entreats]

[ It's the fact that Faith acknowledges it as bad that makes Ange believe her casualness, honestly. 'It's bad, but I've been through worse' is how Ange classifies most of the stuff that happens here. Pretty hard to think of anything here as worse than what the witches put her through back home, after all. ]

The actual Titanic.

[ Faith might just be the only one who tried to spoil her, rather than Ange accidentally spoiling all these people from Titanic-less worlds. ]

Without Leonardo DiCaprio, though. [ Guess who's from 1998. Even though Ange was isolated from the world for a long time, Titanic was everywhere. Can't escape those posters. ] But, you know.. big boat. Orchestra that plays as it sinks. People being incredibly old-timey and melodramatic. That was my entire first month in that place.