More crud

Air Date: ?/?/200?

(time warp) sunday morning...

Casey wakes up in bed, sans Mary. He thinks back to the previous night's dancing and remembers that she was staying over with Gemma (because they went to visit Jayde at a steakout).

He is almost ready to fall back to sleep when he hears the front door open. Waiting... no Mary.. no bike sound for Faith... neo doesnt get up pre 11 on sundays.

Giving himself up to the God's of Getting up Early on Sunday(tm) he is just out of bed when he hears Faith's door slam closed.

Thinking more of the subtle "I'm cooking breakfast, you want some? and letting the smell of cooking food drift in" followed up by the "so how did last night go after we left?" plan he leaps into action.

Soon a limping faith walks out, all cut and grazed. "Dont ask, ok? Ohhhh, bacon!"

"Shit, is any of that serious? ... oops, er, yes, burning bacon. Sit!" Flick it onto plate, get her eating cook more, see if she wants something else like eggs or something. Then... "Any of that need seeing to? Or patching?"

"Its fine that #@&$*@#*#$*@#&$*#@ing #@*$&@#*hole conrad patched me up. *mutter mutter*... hit something on the bike *mutter mutter*." She vaccumes the bacon down and swigs out of the OJ bottle in the fridge... ewwwww. "Anyway the others are havin' some secret scooby meeting crap thing and I guess im not invited."

"Yeah, sure. You stole Jayde's sand and kicked men in her face, didn't you..... "

Faith looks up at you with a curious look on her face. Silently she returns to eating the bacon.

Breaking the slightly uncomfortable silence, Casey flips an egg onto the plate as Faith drinks more OJ. Dryly he comments "I'll tell neo you backwash into his oj... You and me both then..... (looks thoughtful) it might just be a friend thing, you know..."

"Maybe. I... " she allllmost looks like she's going to say something more, but then this smile drops into place and its like a new person takes over. "Distraction time. Im gunna do some training. Er, wanna join me? We could get some padding so I dont break ya? We'd have to go shopping... Errk, I sound like Buf.. err Jayde. Ok, Playstation, video arcade, something extra violent on tv or.. well I dont see stalker gir.. err Mary.... we could always hit the sack?"

"It bugs you, doesn't it? So let's just go over there and drop in. If they say 'bug out' then we come back here and bonk like bunnies. Sound like a deal?"

"Why should I care? Im not a Slayer any more. Let em play famous five. Screw em." (Oh, maybe some unresolved angst here, boys and girls.) "Look, im goin' into my bedroom and im either gunna punch the crap out of my new punching bag or im gunna make your brain explode. Your choice."

"Errr, as much as it pains me to say it, I think I pulled something last night and I'd rather not exercise too exuberantly until it straightens out... I'll keep you company while you beat up on that poor undeserving punching bag if ya don't mind..." (thinks: This is fucked. Words must be Said to Jayde about not making Faith feel like scum)

"Yeah. Fine. Whatever." Faith and Casey finished their breakfast in silence and then retire to the bedroom where she prepares to punch the crap out of the punching bag. She is sporting a nice huge bruise along her side from the previous nights adventure.

Oh, man, that extra super special powers thing is pretty obvious once she gets warmed up. A couple of times you wonder about the attachment in the roof being strong enough bit its mostly cool.

After about 30-40 mins just as your attention is finally wandering from the question of 'how long until this thing splits' and 'will we have to pay bond if she punches it through a wall' she stops and turns to you. "Sorry. 'Bout before I mean. We're cool, right? I aint spooked ya?"

"Nah - everyone has rough nights. Just because you've killed that thing twice over, why would I be feeling spooked." *grinning* "I think walking might be better than sitting for my back - want to come along? I feel like moving around a bit..."

Faith and Casey go for a walk. They start chatting and talking and walking and... they start to do the whole story swapping thing.. (to cut and paste from a buffy script:

FAITH -- it was about a hundred and eighteen degrees, I'm sleepin' without a stitch on, suddenly I hear all this screamin'. I go tearin' outside -- stark nude -- this church bus has broke down and three vamps are feasting on half the Baptists in South Boston. So I waste the vamps and the preacher is hugging me like there's no tomorrow when the cops pull up. They arrested us both.

XANDER -- They should film that story and show it every Christmas. (Script for Faith's arrival if you wanna browse it. Its quite a cool ep, banter wise, or you could come over and watch it somtime :)

(nothing wrong with back :) Ok, baiscally Casey's plan: keep Faith company but make it sound like she's doing me a favour by keeping me company. Find some time to speak to ... er, I'll chicken out - Gemma about either including Faith in stuff or being more sublte about not including her....

Wanna make sure that Gemma makes sure that Casey's not in lerv with Faith - he just thinks that they are cutting her out and they might not realise.

Thats a cool plan. That shouldnt be too hard to do. She is reasonably easily distractable and she doesnt seem that sharp socially. She actually seem to be reasonably content spending time just hanging round. Oh and Slayer abilities make her rock on the playstation :).

The next story is about resolving Faith and Conrad and I dont want to start it just yet, so it'd be cooler to either

• just 'warn'/'mention' rather than 'alert' at the moment.
• maybe mention it to mary instead (so its more indirect)
• just go ahead and do what you want (; Im running two stories and a metaplot arc at the moment, so stiring the last one in wont hurt any more ;)

Not seeming to notice any manipulation on Casey's part, Faith answers: "Look, forget 'em. I guess Im just tryin' not to care. People that I trust end up dead. Im trying to.. I... just think its best that I dont get involved, 'cause if I do, someone's gunna die. Im probably sellin' 'em short. But its easier if I just walk away from the slayer gig."

"I thought it was .... I dunno..."

"...a calling? Yeah, well maybe. But I did like a good little soldier and died so Jayde got called, so I figure that passes the cape and boots on to her. Her problem now."

"Cool, so let me get this right - you're clever, physically amazing and have pots of cash. Sounds like a good start point for life..."

"Thats the weird thing. When I was a kid, I just wanted to strong and fast and get out. Now I got all that and I dont know what to do with it all. I figure that while Im here, the Watchers cant grab me again, so I guess I got a while where Im safe, atleast till Jayde gets killed. Then Ill have to run again. So, spend up big and have fun eh? Atleast I have ID where Im over 18 now... that should make stuff more fun."

"*nods* Seems fair. Done your bit and all.... *halfshrug* San Fran's a nice town, maybe you can figure a way to stay and avoid these watcher dudes. Hangon, what's Jayde dying got to do with it?"

"Yeah something like that. Watchers? Oh, well I sort of pissed them off. Im sure they wanna get me out of the way an' all. They think they own me, err, the Slayer and well since I went 'bad' they've been looking to, well, get me somewhere quite and soundproof. From what I overheard it was experiment on me then", she puts a hand to her head, like a gun, "*bang*."

Looking over at Casey's confused look, she continues. "Jayde. They are running the 'we're here to help' line past Jayde and they can't really do that if they axe me, so I figure while Jayde lives, I get a Watcher free life. Average life expectancy of a slayer is like 1-2 years, Cas. Buffy's top of the list at 4 point something so far. Dont figure Jayde for the knee deep in the dead type. *shrugs* Maybe she'll make it tho. Anyway, not for me. Im looking for... a quiet life... err, maybe... "

"Hmmm. WEll, if you're dropping the slayer stuff, maybe you ought to look long term... Get them off your back somehow..." Evil Grins "You know, if you train Jayde up, she'll live longer..."

roll credits

Lawyers take note: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel and all characters related belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and fox.