(no subject)

[slutbomb]

Too good to be true, that's what this place is.

Or that's what Faith decides on her third pass through its halls. Through the lavish reception area, past that long as hell dining room table, and then the stocked buffet table -- Faith had stuck to the walls and the shadows, playing recon for almost an hour.

"Swear to god I'm not making a twins joke..." She mutters to herself as she steps out in full view, choosing to invite whatever trouble might come her way. Sure, maybe she'll sample some of the food just sitting out for the taking. Peek into some rooms, maybe try to find the head. She'll wind up at the bar, though, asking if the tender accepts euros. Long day like this one means she's definitely going to need a drink.

Or ten. Then she can figure out if this is a vacation on a platter or some kind of wacko fever dream she's got to fight her way out of.

Comments

[whattingawhat]

Buffy catches Faith on one of her passes through the hall. She's just leaving her room and heading down to the gym when she sees the brunette and does a double take.

"Faith?"

Totally not who she expected to see and she can't decided if she's still pissed at her for trying to kill her again or if she's going to let it be water under the bridge. After all, she's tried to kill the brunette a time or two as well. IT's kind of the norm for them.

[slutbomb]

Pissed is fine, Faith's all about the forgiveness these days. She turns, brow furrowing and muscles tightened for whatever might follow her name being said like that. It always was a gamble, whether she'd get fists or chit chat. But upon seeing Buffy, she relaxes, eases back a little even.

"B, you check this place out yet?" She figures it's better to wait for Buffy to be mad that she wouldn't come help out her friend, what was the name again...?

[whattingawhat]

She's going to have to wait a moment for Buffy to decide how she feels about this. Right now, she's feeling a little encroached upon. Yet again, Faith has to show up in her house. She crosses her arms over her chest and eyes Faith critically.

"Yeah, I've been here for weeks. Catch up, F."

So...basically things are status quo. Awesome.

[slutbomb]

Faith's eyebrows raise up and she can't help but let out the awkward laugh in response. Her hands go up in a classic surrender move, and her surprise could not be more clear. Faith's good at forgiveness, and she's not interested in crap she thought was long over. Like Buffy's PMS moods.

"Whoa, OK. Guess I'll catch you later, then." And she literally turns on her heel and decides that maybe this broom closet has actual interesting things in it. Because wow this is so not what she signed up for.

[whattingawhat]

Faith is a bit further along in the forgiveness track than Buffy is. She's been working actively at it, while Buffy has more been trying to maintain status quo with everything. She hasn't had time to think about forgiveness.

Buffy lets out an exasperated sigh. "Faith! Wait," she actually starts after the other slayer. Maybe she should try a little harder, especially since they're in this situation apparently together, whether they want to be or not.

[slutbomb]

"Look, I'm not trying to horn in on whatever you got happening here. Just thought maybe you'd know something I don't." She's still walking, albeit slower. But Faith doesn't do this anymore, not the punching bag tango. Sure she deserves a lot of bagging, but it's on her own terms now.

It's not her fault Giles left her everything and she'd been so sure Buffy was on the same page with Faith being Angel daycare. What the hell happened in between...? "If this is because I wouldn't help with your friend Dawn, I'm sorry, but I had some big fish in the fryer."

[whattingawhat]

"Probably," Buffy answers, but it's a little less smarmy. It's not nearly as satisfying fighting with Faith when she doesn't fight back. Sure, she'd been on the same page with Faith being Angel daycare. He'd just killed her watcher. That didn't take away years of whatever it is they've got going on. Forgiveness is a rocky road.

"My friend?" Buffy gives her a confused look. "Dawn is my sister."

[slutbomb]

Good thing they're such mature and well-adjusted individuals ... no one said, ever.

Faith looks over at Buffy after the sister comment, trying to mask her face from showing all the disbelief trying to break through. Man, Buffy really was bonding with the bitty slayers, huh. "OK. You know, you don't have to go all hippy on the juniors, right?"

Also, hey look: distraction from the current tension! Well-adjusted indeed.

[whattingawhat]

They can't be perfect.

Buffy gives her the most 'are you crazy' look ever. "Faith, we settled that. She's not a junior. Remember? Dawn, the pretty little brunette that sided with you in the whole Impeach Buffy side plot? Did you just wake up from a coma again?"

They can always replace current tension with old tension. That's better, isn't it?

[malachai]

When Nick turned the corner and saw an unfamiliar face standing mid-hallway, it wasn't quite enough to put him off his stride, but he did slow down just a little. There was a skittish vibe coming off of her and he thought it better to keep shit casual.

"You expecting trouble?" he asked casually.

[slutbomb]

It was a natural habit, Faith sizing Stranger Guy up: whoa, tall. Like almost a foot taller than she was. And wicked ink, too.

"Almost always," she said. Faith punctuates it with a shrug, because that's just her life. "Box of chocolates, and all. Like, I always get the ones I hate -- who actually likes nougat, you know?"

[malachai]

"Nougat I don't mind so much, it's when I bite in and get nothing but some sort of fruit. That's just wrong. On so many levels," Nick smirked back. He couldn't help it. She reminded him of Tabby. "So. Is there any reason you're always expecting trouble, or are you just naturally pessimistic?"

[slutbomb]

"Little of column A, little of B. Gotta figure something's up when I leave the flat and walk into a hotel hallway." Though so far no actual trouble, Faith's still erring on the side of skeptical. Especially when a big dude strolls up acting like no big deal. Though, she's not dumb enough to think asking's going to get her an answer on his level of involvement in the whole thing.

[malachai]

"In my experience that kind of attitude is the one that keeps you alive. I'm not saying you have," Nick qualified, "but you look like someone that's not exactly new to the type of shit that causes you to walk from one universe to another. Either that or you're just really, really adaptable."

[slutbomb]

"Adaptable, that's a nice way to put it. Most people go for, uh, batshit." She smiles at his offered bit of info. Alternate universe, she can dig that. Much better than the last hellhole she jumped into, anyway. Faith takes a deep breath, crossing her arms and making her second sizing-up of her new buddy pretty clear.

"Then again here you are like it's no big deal making with the psychoanalyzing. Sounds like we both know a little something about something. So, what do you say? You show me yours, I'll show you mine."

[malachai]

"I've seen enough crazy in my life to not use that word lightly," Nick smirked because with every word, he was transported back to the New Orleans of his early twenties, before everything went to shit.

Then he laughed full out. "Trust me. You don't want to see mine."

[slutbomb]

"Actually, I kinda do." Her stance shifts a little, and she takes a full step toward him. "'Cause in my experience, popping through portals isn't just something you wake up to on a Saturday morning. Someone's gotta open them up. And here you are. Tall, dark, and kinda shady -- not that it isn't working for you. But me? I'm the suspicious type. It's a character flaw."

Faith takes another step forward. She's really got to learn some diplomacy, seriously.

[the_dawnster]

Dawn sits in the lobby a lot, mostly because it's where she gets the chance to meet new people and learn about their worlds. She's there on a couch, legs curled up beneath her, hair falling down to frame and hide her face as she scribbles into a journal with a purple glitter pen. When she hears that voice, however, she looks up and into familiar eyes and a familiar face and to a familiar person.

The last time she had seen Faith, she had been helping the Slayers in Tibet with Twilight and the Seed. So Dawn, naive as she is, goes ahead and assumes Faith is still on the side of good. And while Buffy might care that Giles left everything to Faith, Dawn could care less. Giles always had a reason for everything he did, even misguided reasons. But somewhere deep down, she knew that Faith needed everything more than her and more than Buffy.

So her lips twist into a wry grin, brow lifting as she looks back down to her journal. "Could be worse. We could be stuck in a hell dimension where tiny demonic faeries nibble at your toes. Nobody ever thinks about how important toes are... until they're gone."

[slutbomb]

Faith's nose scrunches up because eww, faeries are the worst and shakes her head loosely. "Unless I get a fly swatter in that dimension? Hard pass."

She looks the girl over, wondering if her comment will lead to a disbelieving look at the confirmation of such a dimension or if she'll roll with it. Faith liked making waves, and messing with people a little. She may have picked that up from a certain broody vampire, though.

[the_dawnster]

Dawn would assure Faith that making waves and messing with people was all her. No broody vampires required. Her nose scunches up a bit as she mulls that over. "Probably no fly swatters unless you carry one through the portal with you or get all survival invent-y and make one yourself once you get there."

[slutbomb]

Dawn wouldn't be totally wrong, true. "Yeah, that ain't gonna happen. You ever see one, though? They're always half naked and getting in your business."

She might be making a note to herself to hunt down a fly swatter, now.

[the_dawnster]

"Yeah, I'm hip to most all the monster creature features... especially since we've gone digital. Everything's been uploaded to databases and websites for easier researching and overall slayage." And Dawn is proud of that because she had been trying to get it done for years and had actually played a part in getting the whole Slayer network up in Scotland. Welcome to the new age, big bad's. Just... let us SlayerWiki you first.

[slutbomb]

Well, color her impressed. Faith's not as averse to research as she'd like people to believe. Add in the fact that she has no idea who she's really talking to, and Dawn's going to get a version of Faith she generally wouldn't ever let a Sunnydaler see: she smiles wide, nodding.

"Woah, no way. Even the crazy pictures and the special characters and stuff?" She will go head and make herself comfortable, too. She needs a break after what she'd been through her first few hours here.

[the_dawnster]

"Totally with every weird symbol and tri-horned head." Dawn nods. She had her usefulness. Not as useful as most. But she tried to stay relevant in her sister's world, as much as she could anyway. And the database had been a pet project of hers initially started by Giles and Jenny Calendar. But continually added to by Dawn and Xander. It was their way of helping while not being in the way anymore.

She smiles a bit when Faith joins her. "And let me tell you, some of those images I could do without cause... ew. Right?"

[slutbomb]

She shrugs, never having been squicked by that stuff. Sure, some of her indifference was a crafted front, but when it came to the dirty side of her job, Faith tended to dig in.

"I dunno, I always dug that stuff. Nastier the better."