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

[krmvgivv]

That's a lot of blood for nothing to worry about. [Dipper frowns. He is not convinced.]

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Sorry-- habit.

[ a sigh and a shrug, and faith knows better than to try that shit with dipper, doesn't she?she's supposed to have learned it across the board, with angel. but old habits of hiding pain die hard. ]

It's worse than it looks-- and just me. Promise.

[krmvgivv]

[He believes her, but that doesn't make her any less covered in blood. He frowns, tilting his head.]

So what happened?

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Uhm, just-- took out a little frustration on some furniture. And a wall.

[ she doesn't exactly squirm, but faith's attempt to not say too much manifests in the way she chews at her lip and won't meet dipper's eyes. ]

I'll be good in the morning. Slayer thing.

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper squints. She's clearly not telling him something, and nothing annoys him more than people keeping secrets from him. He wants to know things. Everything's so much less scary if he can only learn everything about it.]

Is this one of those "not telling me the whole truth because I'm a kid" things? Cause that's always seemed pretty dumb.

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[ that makes faith laugh a sort of hollow, rueful sound. ]

Kinda wish it was. But not everything other people do is all about you, Dip.

[ wince. ]

Shit, sorry. I'm not-- [ huff. ] I suck at words right now. You should probably just... I'm sorry, Dipper.

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper knows not everything is about him, but secrets still make him suspicious. He crosses his arms.]

The last time someone kept a secret from me, it was a potentially world-ending portal.

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Gee, you got me. Built a whole big thing.

[ as deadpan as she can possibly manage. does she look like the kinda brain who can both build something world-ending and then also hide it from the likes of dipper pines? ]

Just gotta juice it, you know: 1.21 gigawatts, Marty.

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper rolls his eyes.] You know what I mean.

[It could be a metaphorical hidden world-ending portal!]

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[ ok yeah point.

tired, faith stops and turns. she sighs and spreads her arms out to her sides. ]

I'm trying to not hurt other people.

[ she doesn't have the language for it. doesn't know how to tell him about feelings and history only one person in wonderland knows. she's been pretending to be whole and normal for a year, maybe longer. but the truth of the matter is: the things that hunt the monsters have to be worse than they are. ]

Sometimes it's better for me to stay away.

[krmvgivv]

...wow. I gotta give you a copy of that CD I made for Chara. [This is not a compliment. He has no patience for that kind of EVERYONE SHOULD STAY AWAY stuff.

Though. He can think of one explantion that would account for the blood and the hiding away.]

...are you turning into a werewolf in there or something?

[Is it a full moon?]

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[ .................

c'mon sell it faith you can totally work with this. she rushes her answer, and it's not hard to already sound stressed: ]

No!

[ are her pants on fire yet ]

[krmvgivv]

[Squint.]

...I was joking but you're acting weird enough that I'm wondering now.

[He starts rifling around in his vest pocket. He has to have something silver.....]

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Hey. Hands where I can see them.

[ she'll just

start backing away now ]

[krmvgivv]

Why? What are you afraid of? What is going on?

[Not like Dipper could take Faith on a good day.]

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[ he could like solve a puzzle at her or sth.

but not right now because she's turning tail and booking it away down the hall... ]