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[stake]

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@faith

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text 🩸 @SPIKE

[chipped]

So. How long were you planning on letting a bloke run around looking like a moron with his pants down after a second Slayer entered the arena?

[stake]

maybe you'd catch on quicker without your pants around your ankles
i'm using the handle @slayer
not exactly incognito

text 🩸 @SPIKE

[chipped]

How'd you feel about looting some tents for liquor with me instead of waiting for Buffy to take you seriously?

[stake]

[ If Spike hadn't gone out in such a blaze of pathetic pining, Faith might take offense to the implication. It's true, Buffy doesn't take her seriously, but who the hell is he to say it?

Well, he's the guy Buffy just stomped on in the digital town square, and that does take the edge off. ]

i'd say let's roll now while ms. high & mighty's occupied

text | @dr. sexy

[cholesterol]

( he understands why the hunt went nowhere, why the vampires wanted to take over. and yeah, maybe there's something itching under his skin. it's not the kill he wants. he's not like that, anymore. but the hunt. the help. and he misses his good boy, miracle. he misses a lot. he misses jack.

it's late at night, alone with his thoughts, when he remembers he's good and dead.

car is knocked out next to him. there is a firmly made pillow wall and a whole lot of restlessness about that he can't touch. he feels pretty neutered here.

it's late when he rolls over and pulls his phone out. what was that one chick's name? )

Hey, Jason, you asleep?

@dr. sexy

[cholesterol]

I need to talk to you. Alone. By the ice house, near the butcher's... whatever the fuck we called it.

[stake]

seriously? be more ominous, why don't you

what about?

@SET

[redsoil]

I am canvassing to determine my team's opinion of the game of wolves.

Are you a competitive person?
Would you die for someone else, or are you more of a self-preservationist?
When this is over, how will you look back upon the game?

And hello, Faith. Your name is my favorite thing!

[stake]

seems objectively shitty to me
i'm looking out for me [ Says the girl defending her rival in the group chat... ]
and i'll look back on this as a shitshow

...ur not a bible thumper are u?

🔒un: hap

[angelhunter]

Faith, right?

My name is Hap. I'd like to talk to you about what's going on.

🔒➡

[stake]

ur on my team right? the doc?

@BUFFY

[bronze]

how do you get the alpha to attack you?
i'm talking out loud. i think i already know.

[stake]

i'm all ears

text 🩸 @SPIKE

[chipped]

Thanks for sticking up back there, Slayer. I owe you one.

[stake]

[ uh oh

girl who's uncomfie with sincerity striking in 3, 2, 1... ]

yeah, don't mention it

@robert.plant

[cholesterol]

Wei, the not vampire is still gunning for you. He's convinced your wolf killed Homelander as a smokescreen hiding behind Buffy.

[stake]

wdym the NOT vampire?
that's the whole reason he's gunning for me
he wants it to be a slayer so bad it's making him look stupid

@hap, text

[angelhunter]

I'm sorry.
If not for all the votes wasted on me, we might have stopped you.

[stake]

yeah well
them's the breaks
your girl was pretty convincing

text — un: BUFFY

[bronze]

hi

( what to say, actually. buffy saves this invite for last, and yet — she hasn't cooked up a single thing to say to faith. blunt force trauma, buffy thinks, is the best plan she has, )

nov 22nd
i'm making a turkey. please come

[stake]

[ That sounds nice. Faith wishes she could jump out of her own skin again.

Her mind is set against going but it feels shitty, even for her, to leave Buffy on read. ]

thx for the invite

📦 delivery.

[powerhungry]

[ The morning before Faith's first shift at the Hex Club, an envelope finds its way to her door. Inside is a gold pin in the shape of a hexagon, as well as a note: ]

Faith,
Welcome to the Hex Club.
I look forward to working with you.
— Silco

@hyperion

[redeems]

You don't call, you don't write.

[stake]

tell me who u are & i'll tell u if i'm sorry about it

— action. cw: nsfw, bad bdsm

[achilles]

( they agree to meet, following their texts — less agree, and more that ash instructs and faith just happens to show up, in the bowels of otherworld where these things tend to go down. if you asked ash what, exactly, he thought he was doing, he wouldn't have a clear answer. trying to understand his wife's killer — knowing it wasn't her fault, but blaming her anyway. trying to figure out what justice looks like, when the person who faulted you was unconscious at the time of disturbance, whether it's possible to let bygones be bygones when lives are in question.

ash can be charming, ordinarily. but this isn't a usual situation and he doesn't behave usually, guiding faith to a private room lined with walls of impact devices and cabinets of other naughty things, a st andrew's cross taking up a good portion of the floor space that isn't occupied with a bed, and a few pieces of furniture meant to be bent over and fucked on. inside, ash approaches one wall and eyes the supplies as if observing a painting in a museum, thoughts all scattered on what he wants to do. it isn't like him — he's usually the man with the plan, the man who thinks it all out ahead of time, who knows every move a person makes before they make it. staring, he tries to get his thoughts in order. hurt her, hit her until she cries. fuck her until that mask of hers is gone. figure out who faith is underneath that blase layer of disinterest.

and if there isn't anything else? well. at least he'll know, then. )

I want you to pick a safeword, and tell me if you have any limits. ( he says this, not looking at her. he picks a nasty looking paddle with spikes off the wall and tests it against his hand. ) Then I want you to take your clothes off.

[stake]

[ Faith doesn't have to explain herself to anyone. She reminds herself of this every time doubt jolts her thoughts, infecting her with fleeting clarity. She doesn't have to know why she is doing this: her life is her own to set ablaze. The fire has been simmering for a good long while besides.

She steps inside after Ash and looks around the room, one eyebrow raising with passive interest, a smirk only starting to tug at her mouth. Another jolt when he picks up the paddle but she gives no sign of disturbance. She can't be scared away, not by him. She's game.

The instruction splits her mind in two: half of her wants to challenge and half of her wants to play. (All of her wants to be punished.)

Faith considers for longer than she means to before speaking up. ]

Mayor. That's my safeword. [ Her lips finally stretch into a full smirk after she pulls off her shirt and shakes her hair out. Her tone is somehow both confident and defensive when she next speaks, making eye contact as she steps out of leather pants. ] I don't have limits.

action ✁

[redeems]

( late into the month, foot loose and fancy free, angelus catches faith in the christmas village.

he watches from afar of course. her mannerisms, her interactions if there are any. he's a stall over when faith is asked for a good deed in return for whatever wares she's trying to "purchase."

a little while later, in one of the unpopulated squares, angelus sets his foot deliberately down on a cobblestone, letting the sound echo around faith. she needs to know she's not alone, after all. )

[stake]

[ It isn't the sound that gets her attention, it's the feeling, gut deep and all wrong. Slayer's intuition. Faith hasn't felt it as often here as she did in Sunnydale, so it stands out that much more.

There are no bystanders around needing moved for their own good. No crowd to form around whatever is about to go down. That makes it as simple as spinning around to pin her stalker with an angry glare. ]

Huh. [ Angel, it turns out, was not the great actor he thought himself. He said all the right lines to fool someone who had never met Angelus, but one look at him now and Faith knows the trick wouldn't work twice. This guy is loose in a way that tortured Angel could never manage. Not just unburdened: this is a vampire having fun. ] What'd I do to finally earn a visit?

@andor

[aldhani]

[he's not even touching that network post, but he does have something he wants to talk to faith about.]

Add Grace le Domas to the list. I was left a drawing of her today, after I was left a drawing of Max about a month ago.

[attached are two photos: one of each drawing.]

Does this fit his pattern?

[stake]

yeah, it fits
he did the same thing last rampage he went on

[ Faith wasn't there for it but she did her research like a good little Slayer. She still had dreams of proving herself back then. ]

✉️ text — un: silco.

[powerhungry]

[ The morning after the Angelus fiasco concludes: ]

Take the day off, if you need it.

[stake]

what'd you hear?

@koby, post angelusgate

[kobes]

Thank you. For helping.

[stake]

don't know how much i really helped
bet it didn't feel like enough to cassian
but hey, you're welcome

@robert.plant

[cholesterol]

I bitched out on my offer. The adrenaline doesn't get me going like that anymore.

Wanted to check in, anyway.

[stake]

safe to say angelus killed the mood for both of us

✉️ delivery.

[begot]

[ A few days after things return to (relative) normal, an envelope finds its way to Faith's door, containing a piece of pale blue card stock upon which has been written, in Amy's neat, looping hand: ]

Dear Faith,

I'm sorry it took me so long to reach out. I think I just needed some time to get my thoughts in order. I wanted to write to say thank you. You were there when a complete stranger needed your help. You're tremendously brave — if you weren't, I might not be here to write this to you at all.

— Amy

text — un: BUFFY

[bronze]

angel's back. he's himself now — i know, i know, why would you believe me, i already fell for this act once.
but it's him.

( what should i do? she types, doesn't send. what should we do? delete. )

@dean

[cholesterol]

You're invited to Dean Winchester's funeral. Refreshments and a small catering spread will be provided afterward. Prepared remarks and stories are encouraged.

@SET

[redsoil]

Hey there, killer. ♡

Would you do your poor widdle former-victim a solid?

1/2

[stake]

✅ READ AT 22:15 11 FEB 2008