and mama always said--

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Who: Faith Lehane & training students & OTA
Where: Sparring Facility, Angel Investigations, a room on a floor of your choosing!
When: Aug/Sep Catch-all
Rating: PG-13, could increase
Summary: Faith is not handling her anniversary in Wonderland very well.
The Story:

sparring facility

[ she's going easy on everyone.

faith usually asks her trainees for an extra few punches, higher kicks, or harder throws. she makes it clear that the name of the game is to walk out feeling better than when you came in, sure. but this month she takes people at their word when they tire out, instead of asking for more.

her movement's still crisp but she doesn't hit or push as hard as normal. the threshold varies per person, a mental note in faith's head to tell her who needs her to throttle back less or more. ]

hallway, pick a floor any floor

[ she comes here weekly, to this unmarked door, but it's not her room.

when faith exits, it's with freshly-made bruises and drying blood that she hasn't quite cleaned up all the way. a sheen of sweat covers her, and she's pushing her hair out of her face like it's personally affronted her. ]

angel investigations

[ she's literally asleep on that middle round couch thing. which cannot be comfortable. wake the slayer, and choose your weapon wisely... ]

Comments

[widows_kiss]

[ Luckily for you, she's on a team with Difficult People. This is not new. ]

Nope. I'm quite content Nancy Drew-ing you. [ She smiles sweetly. ] Is there another person back there who also walked into some fists or was this a solo adventure?

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Yep. They need medical attention too, so you better hurry!

[ faith bares her teeth in a mocking grimace before faith turns the knob to escape into her room after waving natasha on. ]

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Aww yeah I could get behind that.

[ faith jabs a finger in the air to punctuate her acceptance of this very silly suggestion. ]

I draw the line at pottery though. I will exorcise the hell outta Patrick Swayze, no lie.

[lightgunhustler]

Think I'd draw the line there, too.

[She grins, glad that her suggestions seem to be having the desired effect-- whatever is weighing Faith down at the moment, she can still joke.]

Hell, I'd help with the exorcism. I'm a professional, after all.

[Without the whole getting paid part.]

Technically, with ghosts, it's banishing.

oh god i'm so sorry i lost track of this D: i'll make it priority to boomerang!

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[ the opportunity to joke around makes faith smirk and jump right in. she moves toward the door slowly, reaching back to pull her hair from its pony. ]

I'm speaking your language, England. I gotta warn you though, I eat 'em with special dipping sauce...

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[ that shakes her out of the nothingness, and faith's gaze snaps up to angel's. it's so spot on, and so not a thing she'd have actually considered that she isn't sure what to say for a moment, and just nods.

it makes her think of home. of who angel will be, someday. ]

A little while ago, you know-- at home? You told me we need the pain sometimes. Think I get what you meant, now...

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Damn, bubble popper. I'm just looking for spinning heads, here.

[ seriously jo can you just be cool about this? but no really fine faith will bite because this convo is way better than the stuff she'd been thinking about earlier. ]

What's the difference? If there's weird chanting I'm out.

[vampdetective]

Sounds like something I'd say.

[Grim. Cryptic. That's him all over.]

What do you think I meant?

[lightgunhustler]

[Hey, she feels like she's been plenty cool today, Faith.]

No weird chanting. Ghosts usually means burning the remains, or maybe a significant object that's keeping them tethered to this world. Exorcism is a lot of salt, iron and holy water. A little bit of Latin.

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Makes you who you are.

[ faith punctuates it with a shrug-- not indifference, but acceptance. she taps her chest, then. ]

People like us need something in here keeping us in check.

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[ be cooool daddio! ]

Hold up, you get to burn shit? OK, I had it backwards-- banishing sounds right up my alley. [ hold up-- ] You ever get that kinda work here?

[needlebearer]

Do you think it's really that simple? [Arya isn't sure herself, but then she knows nothing about whatever magic brought them here in the first place.]

it's okay ;o; don't force yourself! sirius is good for AC

[goodwoofjames]

[Sirius can't help but waggle his eyebrows at the way she says that.]

Ohhh? And what might that be?

<333 but he's cuuuute and i wanna develop this cr (gym)

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〈 oh god-- faith barks out a surprised laugh at that, and shakes her head before flinging the pony-holder his way. 〉

Mayo and ketchup, you freak.

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Eh. I don't think anything involving killing someone else is simple.

〈 she grimaces, unsure if this is the right way to go. 〉

Been there, done that. Didn't really change anything...

[vampdetective]

It reminds us that we can break like anyone else.

[Among other things. It doesn't feel right to say that it tethers them to humanity, because his own is spotty at best.]

What makes you think you need keeping in check right now?

[lightgunhustler]

[She laughs openly, propping a hand against her hip.]

It's not as glamorous as it sounds, but I gotta admit, there's something really satisfying about it.

[She pauses for a beat, and her smile fades a little.]

Haven't had to burn any bones here, but some of my world's monsters have come through. Hellhounds-- and we've had plenty of demons come and go. I've burned up a few zombies in my time here, at least. I try to keep myself as prepared as possible for any events that might sic any kind of monsters on Wonderland.

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〈 another shrug, but this time it gives way to her sitting back and pulling one knee to her chest. 〉

Met another vamp, decided to see what he's got. Went farther than I meant it to.

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〈 faith lets out a puff of air, nodding at jo's proclivity to be ready for anything. 〉

Never knew how much I actually hated research until Wonderland, actually. It's like-- there's infinite crap to have to plan for. I mean-- me, vampire slayer, right? 〈 also caveman apparently but moving along-- 〉 There are like a thousand different kinds out there and they're all weak to different crap. That's the actual nightmare...

[widows_kiss]

[ Natasha contemplates pushing - if this were Clint or one of her teammates she wouldn't even hesitate. But it wasn't, so she relents where otherwise might remain stubborn. She does, however, catch Faith's door before the other woman can shut it on her, meeting her gaze with a serious expression. ]

If you need help patching yourself up, I'm pretty handy at it. No more questions about where it came from, I promise. Or, in the future, if you want someone to punch who will punch back and not take it easy on you, I can offer that too. Consider it a standing offer, should you ever want it.

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[ the offer is a turn sharp enough to make faith stop in her tracks and look back at natasha. she nods, but her words seem to contradict the gesture: ]

I heal kinda fast.

[ she's not sure how to say that having a partner isn't the point, unless they're really committed to doing some damage. ]

[lightgunhustler]

Research has always been part of the hunting gig, but you're not the first one I've met who hasn't been a fan.

[Being a vampire slayer is something different, she knows. It's a calling rather than a job, but at the end of the day, they do the same thing, or they try to. They help people.]

I've always been good at the information stuff, but even then, no one person can know everything. There's too much out there, even if you're dealing with just one world. Forget someplace like this, where you have to worry about not just what it is, but where the hell it comes from. For the record, though, I find keepin' holy water, salt and iron on you goes a long way towards having all the basics covered. Silver, too.

[vampdetective]

[He goes still-- inhumanly so.]

What happened?

[No judgement, no accusations, but he needs to know.]

[widows_kiss]

[ Natasha cocks her head, considering that. ]

So do several of my teammates.

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Good to know. You'd have made a good watcher. Better slayer, even.

[ faith smirks with the compliment-- it's hard for her to deliver those without sounding like she's hitting on someone, but she doesn't say stuff like that just to say it. ]

We coulda traded knives like Pokemon.