A day in the life of Mr Casey

Air Date: 25/7/2001

6 Sep 2000, Wednesday, 2:03pm, Out with Faith

Casey walks Mary home to the halls and then goes home to meet Faith for patroling. Casey goes upstairs, drops his swim stuff, gets changed into dark shirt and jeans, trots downstairs, grabs something to drink and grabs a chair, watching faith play (coming in to her line of sight at a distance.)

Faith's just pounding her way through DOA2 (again, she seems to enjoy taking Neo's save games and running them through to the end and then leaving the finished game on the save card). "So, what you wanna do, C? *punch* Stalk Conrad at the wall? *kick* Go *kick* mess *kick* with *kick* Jayde? *leg sweep* Try and find us a vamp *falling elbow* to play with? *leap up* Or just wanna look for general evil? *GAME OVER!* You're the one who wants to be all Xmen, so choooose the form of your destruction?" Save. Overwrite save game? Yes. Are you sure? Yes.

Casey winces at the destruction of Neo's game but doesn't say anything. "I'm not amazingly keen to get down and dirty in da hood." He flexes his arm "I am not heffing ze muzzles of h'Arnie you know. For me it ez ze library and ze geeky glazzes"

Faith flips off the power and then stands up. "Maybe not. But maybe I can help..." Reaching down under her leather jacket, she pulls out a pistol. "But we be heffing ze gun like Arnie." She spins it round, cowboy style then hands it to Casey. "Just incase."

Casey takes it and weighs the gun in his hand. "Hmmm. For me or them?"

"Im not really a big fan of guns, but you aint exactly superman now are ya? Just make sure it doesnt fall into the wrong hands. Im not keen on facin' a gun toting vamp. Look, you'll probably be ok. I mean few of 'em kill their pray right off, most like to suck 'em down live and screamin' so that gives me enough time to rescue your sorry arse, but just incase you can probably slow 'em with that. Its only got 4 rounds in the mag, so make sure you shoot 'em all in one go before you die, as I dont want some pissant little vamp shootin' me with my own gun. This is a get out of jail free card, one time only and only when you think you're gunna die. Last resort, 'K?" She smiles wickedly, "Anyway, cheer up. It could be for me. Maybe Im gunna hunt you for sport and I wanna give you a fighting chance."

Casey gives Faith a long look. "Gee, thanks Supergirl, you sure know how to cheer a fan up." He looks for the safety and makes sure its on before putting it with his coat. "So... if I wasn't here, what would you be planning?"

"Well I'd do a few sweeps of the parks and graveyards. This town is pretty dead really. Not much action. Id probably have already scanned the parks and graveyards and then I'd go tease Jayde about sittin' outside all night, but she isnt doin' that any more. Maybe do another loop or go to some nightclub and drown my sorrows or find some stud to distract me. Err. Yeah."

Casey grins at Faith. "She's not standing around outside? This wall thing that people have been talking about?" Casey leans back into the chair and looks at the ceiling. "Where do they come from? Do you know?"

"What vamps or the wall?" she shrugs, "I dunno on either count. Some spooky wall that vamps wanna get through. Plan A is just to kill 'em all. Plan B too. We use: decapitation, sunlight, holywater, state to the heart or *shiiiiiink* groovey knife, oh and fire too."

"What's on the side of the wall they want to get to? Is that what the others are poking about with?"

"Yeah, I guess so. 'cording to..." she gives Casey a sly smile, "Alex's diary Conrad's lookin' into it, but I'm pretty sure they don't know what it is. Some sort of mysical barrier of primal energy or some such crap."

Casey smiles. "Don't fancy finding out how they do it? Could maybe make some fancy armored duds for you that they couldn't see or touch." He sits up. "I'm not sure - I guess I don't know enough to ask the questions. I know my strengths though, and my weaknesses, and I don't know that I'm a frontline kinda guy. Its just since that whole, er, ghost thing, its been ... I dunno. Intriguing me, but also a bit weird that its suddenly so blatant."

"Hahaha, yeah HellyDale was always havin' 'gangs on pcp' runnin' round so the 5-0 said. Man that place was cool. Um, look Case, they don't call me Sherlock Wilkins for a reason. Armor 'd be great and if you could swing it, great. But then someone like the Mayor and his goons 'd be good too, but that aint likey. If you can nut it out then great, I'm in."

Casey smiles. "Ok - well, I'll have to see how it works or something. I dunno, maybe it won't be practical. Just ... dude, I'm smarter than your average bear, and I'm happy to put those brains to work helpin' ya out - deal?" Casey sticks out his hand.

"Before you sign on, you should know that I'm not going back to prison again. Thats just a death sentence for me with the Council waiting in the wings. I'd rather croak than let them win again. Same with long term hospital, ok? I'm tellin' you this because I'd like someone to look out for me if, you know, something bad happens and I need the plug pulled. Plus you should think about what youre gunna do if Jayde and I throw down. Mary'll be in the preppy camp and I'm guessin' you will to, but if thats the case then its probably gunna get ugly." She holds her hand out. "Still in?"

Casey nods slowly... "Mind if I do what I can to stop those things from happening? I mean, I know it'd be way fun to have to make those choices, and I'd hate to be a spoilsport, but maybe we can work on finding a way of not getting you or anyone on the good guys side killed?"

"Yeah, sure, if you want." She turns and walks quickly away. "Lets motor." She tosses Casey a motorcycle helmet and heads out the door. Once outside, she turns to Casey and holds out a hand to silence him, "Look, I'm know I'm @#*$ up with trust stuff, ok? I mean Jayde's fine with all the scooby stuff, but I'm just feeling very alone and angry and stupid and... @#*(&$ this is so hard." Taking a breath she leaps in again "It feels like I'm telling you alot of stuff that I'm scared the others will find out and part of me is saying that I shouldn't tell you this stuff, especially given that more likely to run to Jayde or Buffy's corner when the #*($&#@ hits the fan. But Alex's report said I have to trust people if I'm ever going to stop being a psycho so I'm trying, but its just really hard, ok?" She takes a few breaths, "Ok, trust... trust.. So Im sorry if I'm #@*$ed to be around or if I hurt you or Mary, ok? I just wanted you to know that. That I tried, I mean. And that I'm sorry in advance if I don't make it. I like that you wanna help me, Case, only the Boss has really done that before and I just hope that you mean it, 'cause look what I did to Buffy when she ditched me. I mean you got Jayde and Mary to run to but I've got, what, a demon's the guy to give a #*@( about me? So this is it, Case, last chance to bail from the psycho and 'just be friends' 'cause from here on in I'm gunna try and trust you and their aint no backin' out of that."

Casey leans forward and kisses Faith on the cheek. "Thanks."

Faith jumps a little and then looks at Casey surprised. "Er.. I..." She shakes her head in surprise. "You... you still want in? But.." She stares for a bit looking confused "Ok. That was for the trust thing, right?"

Casey nods. "You're right, its hard to trust people. I'm in for the ride."

"Ok, well so what do I have to do then? I mean for you to trust me."

Casey blinks. "Er, I actually meant it the other way around." He frowns and looks thoughtful. "I guess I mostly trust you. There's just some stuff where I don't know where you stand, so its hard to say." Casey holds up a hand. "But that's not to say I want to grill you about them - I'd rather find out over time... I mean, that's the fun part of getting to know someone, right?"

She looks a little startled. "It is? Er, ok, sure. I just want to tell you everything now, so you wont be scared off later. But, yeah, I guess that sounds ok. So where do we stand then?"

Casey drops one shoulder. "Igor serve mistresth. Kind misthreth... niiithe"

Faith laughs and shakes her head. "Well maybe if Igor's a good little boy, mistress 'ill show him just how nice she can be. Hop on, humpy." She pulls on the helmet and hops on the bike, startin' 'er up. A muffled shout, "And hold on."

*thinks*Now, I'm going to die*/thinks* :)

The bike roars off into the night at a highly unreasonable speed. Rocketing through the darkness and the cold night air. After a few minutes, the bike slows and pulls over to the sidewalk to park. Faith pops up the front of the helmet. "You can let go now... we stopped. The park... I was going to do a sweep."

Casey urks and tries to undo his fingers.

"So, just follow my lead, ok? Vamp's wont go for a couple so might have to split up every now and then, but I'll look after you, don't worry." She leads Casey into the park. "So what do you actually wanna do here? I just see what I do or what?"

"I guess just get an idea for what they are..."

"Ok, well lets go walkies then." uncomfortable pause. Faith twiddles with a wooden stake. Casey's not too keen on the watching faith kill ...er...vampires, but figures that he needs to know first hand some stuff, so...

Wandering around the park, "So, I took a peek at Mary's notes the other day. Looked like maths and computers and stuff, huh? You gunna be one of these rich internet geeks? Whats the plan?"

"Plan... I dunno. Have fun, kick about, learn stuff. Y'now. Do neat things." Casey grins to himself. "Sounds a bit weird when I say it out loud."

"Well yeah, I wasnt gunna say anythin' but now you mention it.... So you always wanted to this this? Its like a child hood thing? You a nerdy sort of student as a kid?"

Casey rolls his head around until his neck cracks. "So-so. I won't deny having nerdy tendencies. I'd like to think that nerds are just hacker embryos."

"Uh-huh. Lucky you. So, now you're this bad arse hacker, whats the plan? Rip off a bank or somethin'?"

Casey grins at Faith. "You think that nerdy study hards aren't worth your time?" He shrugs and looks around. "Learn. Grow. Get the hell off the planet"

"Huh? No, its not that. I just never really hung out with them before. Me and school didnt get along. I mean I know I'm not really the brightest crayon in the pack, so hangin' out at the chess club meets wasnt really on my list of lunchtime activities. I guess I had other things on my mind." She looks at you weirdly, "'Off the planet?' Like in vrooooooom." as she shoots her hand upwards. "Wanna be a spaceman, huh?"

Casey grins. "Fair enough. Find your true path, young one." he arches one eyebrow and attemptst to look vague eastern and mystic. Looking up, Casey tries to see a star or two. "Maybe. Could be cool. But maybe if all this mystic stuff is real there is no outerspace. Maybe the moonlanding was faked by the illuminati."

Faith stops mid step and stares at Casey, "El Eliminati? Dead and gone. Toasted them and their daemon buddy. Err, well the others did, I mean."

Casey looks at her. "What? Bavarian illuminati? Weishaupt? Fliegende Kindershiesse and all that?"

Faith just stares and blinks. "Huh? Err." Confusion just evident on her face. "Some vamp dueling cult or somethin'." She looks at Casey suspiciously, "Did Alex put..." She shakes her head and resumes walking. "Look Casey, if you want to ask somethin', then just ask, OK? You wanna know about Finch then just ask. Dont beat around the #@*$&ing bush."

"Finch?" Casey looks bafffled. "I think we're both on different wavelengths here and getting a bit confused. Want me to go first?"

"Yeah, Finch. Finch! The guy in the alley. You know, spy on Bazalthar and Eliminati, decide to wipe 'em out, go to look for weapons, meet Eliminati, stake Eliminati, dust Eliminati, repeat a few times, meet Finch, stake Finch, watch Finch die. Remember now? Dead guy. Guy I killed. Finch. You obviously wanted to ask somethin' about it or you wouldn't have mentioned them. I mean why the #*$&'s would a group of vamps fake the moon landing?! Pretty lame, Case, really." That old 'wall' is back in her behaviour. "So, what you wanna know? Huh? Did I like it? Did it excite me? Was that when I went Bad?" She's starting to ignore Casey and just stare off, "Whats it like to watch someone die close up?"

Casey backs up a lot as Faith gets louder. "Wo! Timeout Dude!" Casey puts his hands up. "I don't think you actually mentioned his name before. Bad coincidence, I swear. Really... If I wanted to talk about it, I'd ask you." Casey tries to make eye contact "You cool?" He waits until she's at least looking at him, if not saying anything. "The guys I was thinking about are a secret society from Germany. The conspiracy freaks think they're behind everything. Like, um, the Masons. Or the templars. Or the CIA. If they even exist."

Faith stares at Casey for a while. "Yeah. Ok. Look, lets just chalk small talk up to another thing that I suck at and move on, huh? I mean if you wanna be an Astronaught thats cool. I mean I wanted to be a farmer when I was a kid, so I cant laugh, right?" She squints a bit and looks to her left. "We're being watched, so lets move on. Its too close to the road here, they wont jump us this close." She starts walking into the center of the park, away from the lighted paths.

Casey shrugs and (cautiously) puts his arm around Faith's shoulders. "Bad coincidence is all, don't worry about it. " He lets the silence go a few seconds. "You really wanted to be a farmer?" Casey tries to ignore the creepy feelings and not look around the place.

"Yeah, bad coincidences, story of my life. I know you gotta have questions, C, I mean who wouldn't? You can ask 'em. Back then when I thought that Alex had put you up to this, I wasnt angry at you, I was angry at her. So, like, you're still here and with all your limbs in tact, right? Thats a good sign, isn't it?" She smiles and leans in close, putting an arm around you. "Er, gotta look like a cute harmless couple so they jump us." Adding "Sorry. Farmer? Er, sort of. I think I just wanted to be away. Never thought of actually workin', but standing in the sun, chewing a straw, looking out on a field seems like a nice job when you're a kid. That was back when I was a kid though. Didnt last long."

Casey rocks his head back and forth a bit. "Not really. Not right now. Maybe later. Now, about this harmless couple thing, that I'm happy to know about right now" He leans in an leers.

Leading Casey into the park, where it gets darker and darker. As they pass a spot where the nearest light has blown and there are some buses to the left, Faith smiles and looks up at Casey. Suddenly she giggles and looks around (in a very gormless way) and pulls Casey into the bushes.

She pushes Casey against a tree and slides up close to him. Her fake smile fades, leaving only a slightly raised lip as evidence of some deeper cunning and amusement. "Looks like I get to score, huh?. Atleast 2, probably more. Just dont look up hon." With that she leaps up and grabs a tree branch, pulling herself up, leaving Casey standing alone in the bushes.

Casey gets to blink a few times and draws breath do say something when a noise in the bushes alerts him to someone's aparoach. A woman with light brown hair in jeans and a dark shirt pops into view. "Hi college boy. Out late on a school night, eh?" She cranes round to look around the clearing. "Dumped huh?". Before Casey can do much other than look surprised, two more guys push through into the clearing. The woman looks round and says to one of the guys, "Leave Robbie. Look for the girl, and remember, careful."

She walks up to Casey looking round carefully and suspiciously, "So college boy, where's your girlfriend?" Suddenly, there is a blur of movement and there is a hand at Casey's throat and the woman is right up against him. The hand is firm, but not choaking and the nails are sharp. "Well? Speak up, boy." She smiles and Casey cant help but look at her teeth. "Dont worry, I wont bite." With the spare hand, she points to Casey and the remainging guy walks up behind her. This guy is spaced out or something. He doesnt seem to be focusing on anthing and he moves very slowly. "So where's your little friend?"

Casey winces at the giggling and whispers "Acting lessons for you". Casey coughs a bit nervously and tries to remember the woman's face. "You, er, took your time." {OOC: I'm looking at casey's stats page and thinking he'll try and stall by bluffing :) } "So, like, what's Orme's message?"

She looks at Casey surprised and speechless for a bit. Loosening her grip she steps back a little, "Circle?" raising a questioning eyebrow.

Casey tries not to ham it up. "I wasn't told they were involved here... I.. I was told to wait for a message from Orme, from a er special messenger. Like yourself."

She stares at you for a little before letting go of your throat. "Told by who? If you're not with the Circle then who?" Her eyes light up. "Slayer?"

Casey tries to not react. "Look, I'm just a messenger ok, and I was told to get a message from someone who would know who I was. Sorry to have bothered you..."

Her hand thrusts out to Casey's chest pushing him back to the tree. "Orme has a message for the Slayer. He wants a truce with the her. All of us are in danger while the Circle have.." There is a rustle in the tree above Casey and the woman. She stops, and looks up...

Casey closes his eyes.

There is a woosh sound as something drops down and a thud as boots hit the floor followed by a hard impact sound and a scrape of metal and a gurgling sound which moves to his left. Infront of him there is a grunt and a woosh. Followed by a thud.

There is the sound of movement from the infront to the left and Faith's voice starts "Shi..". Powerful thwack! The sound of someone hitting the ground. To the left the sound of bushes and gurgling.

In front there is the sound of something cracking hard into what sound like bone and then the sound of continued fighting. But its moved off from infront of Casey.

Opening one eye (and noticing for the first time how crunched up his face) and peeking out, Faith is laying into the 'weird' guy. The weird guy has a bloody slash over his chest and is swinging what looks like a hammer at Faith who ducks underneath the blow and lashes out with a foot to catch the guy's knee on the side. With a grunt he bends over and starts to fall. Faith rolls down withe fall and rolls to her feet and away.

Looking over at Casey she starts to head in the direction of the woman ran. "Run, C!" Casey makes out the bushes and Faith blocks his retreat. Breaking into the park, Faith scans round. "I gotta get that bitch before she gets away. Keep him busy. Zombie. He'll be slow. Don't let him catch you or Casey burgers. I'll be back in a bit." Sniffing the air, Faith bursts into a sprint that'd get her on any track team and runs off into the Darkness, knife out.

Casey heads for the edge of the park, keeping an eye out for Faith or the vampchick or the zombie, but wanting to be within yelling distance if he needs to be.

After a bit the Zombieguy comes out of the bushes towards Casey, trying to walk rapidly but limping too badly to get any real speed up. It's reasonably easy to keep him at a safe distance and keep a view around the park. After a couple of minutes, Casey is just about at the edge of the park, wondering what to do with a Zombie tailing him, maybe forever, when he spots Faith running back to the bushes where they first hid. Noticing, she curves towards Casey and his new friend.

"One dead vamp chick. Hey need a hand there?" The Zombie turns between Casey and Faith. "Once their boss is gone there pretty stupid, huh? HEY STUPID!" The zombie turns at the noise. "Hey, wanna take him somewhere and scare some people?"

"Its an honest to god zombie? mmmm, no. Let not do that. It might put people off their food."

"Man its a pity that vamps dust. If we had the mojo thing, he could like clean the house and stuff. Hey, how about we scare Jayde?" Zipping in close to the Zombie, it turns and swings at her, starting to follow her. Faith hops a few feet forward. She turns and starts heading back into the park. She flips off her jacket and looks at her right arm which has a long bloody gash on it. "#@*($&er. Expected him to dust after I stabbed him."

"The mojo thing? You mean like a speaking stick? And that's what it takes to control it?" Casey tries to look into its eyes. "Is there anyone at home or anything?" Casey tries to keep a good couple of feet between him and it "Hey, you need help with that?"

"Yeah, somethin' like that. Pity she dusted, it'd be cool to have my own Zombie." Faith chuckles at Casey and the zombie. "I dunno. Its hearts for vamps and brains for zombies. Wicked messy if you dont come prepaired." Faith grins and pulls out a tire iron. "Lookie what we found. Oh what the arm? Na, its just a scratch. Slayer healing and all that." She pokes at the cut and pulls the flesh. "Look. Its stopped bleeding already. Cool huh?"

"Oh, its locked to her or something? Ok. Ew. I'll leave that to you shall I?"

"Na, it wasnt her. It's definatly a thing. The Mayor explained it to me after our little burger adventure back in SunnyHell. Man that got messy. Anyway, some item thats part of the ritual or somethin'. Trouble is vamps dust and take all their stuff with 'em." Faith gives a little laugh and points the tire iron at Casey. "So, not thaaaaaaat curious then? Hey, its cool, I mean once you've done 'em by hand, this is just looxery. Oh, I wonder if the knife works. That'd be interesting. Experiment time." The zombie lurches forward after its quarry, but again, the brisk walk of the Casey and Faith keep them well clear. It moans once, prompting a, "Yeah, yeah, in a bit."

"Ah, right - its something they've got to have on them. Weird that their stuff goes, really..."

"Yeah, but I aint complainin'. I mean I'd be neck high in bodies if they didnt. I mean, 3 vamps tonight. Atleast they dust, this bastard's going to dissolve and boy does that leave a stink."

"I just meant their stuff - like if they burn up, I could see jeans and stuff catching on fire, but leather jackets?"

"No they actually dust. All of 'em. *poof* Gone. Its not like burning... well not flame burning anyway. Hey there was this one vamp..."

"ahhh" offers the Zombie.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm scared. ...this one vamp, I fought in a graveyard where I'd gone for some peace and quiet and unBuffy time when this vamp leaps out. I dropped the bottle but it didnt break. Anyway, so were fighting away and he almost steps on the bottle so I shout 'stop' and he does and backs up. So I reach down and take a swig and offer him the bottle and he's drinkin' and I stake him and *poof* he takes my bottle to hell with him. The @*(#$&er!"

Casey stares at Faith and the ludicriousness of the whole night catches up with him and he gets the giggles, almost bad enough to not be able to keep moving...

"Errrg!" as the zombie lunges, but Casey resumes walking and clears him.

They approach the bushes. "Well here we are. You run along and I'll brain our friend, ok?"

"Er, yeah, a plan. I'll meet you over there, ok?"

"Yeah, cool. Hey come on spooky. Thiiiiiiiiis way. Catch ya in a bit, C." Faith leads the Zombie into the bushes. "Here kitty kitty kitty....."

So Casey just sits and waits out in the park? Trying to look innocent and not suspicious? :) Er, i guess so - how suspicious does he look .. in a park... at 2.30am... in dark clothes....

The sounds of a scuffle come out of the bushes and just as suddenly they stop. A short while later Faith comes out holding 1/2 a tire iron in her left hand and the knife in the other. "Check it out Case." She hands Casey the 1/2 a tire iron which has been cut right though. "Im likin' this knife".

"Wow. That's amazing." Casey looks at the edge of the cut, to see if can see any deformation, or whether it just sliced through, but it looks like a clean cut.

"Pretty cool huh? I think its alive. Well or somethin'."

"How's that again?" Casey peers at it. "Hey can you quickly slice an... oh, an inch or so off the end?" Casey prepares to catch it, but is a bit wary that it might be hot.

"Yeah, sure." Faith tenses up, ready for action in a very similar way to the Primal in Casey's dreams. Holding Casey's stare, she suddenly spring into action and there is a slight jarring sensation in Casey's hands, he blinks and its over. The tire iron is cut off about 1/4 of an inch from Casey's white knuckles. Faith follows through on her spin and the knife is gone again before it even registers. "Neat, huh?"

Casey just quickly picks up the end that she chopped off. It looks like a clean cut, right though. It's warm, but not very. Looks unnaturally good to casey :) who expected the end to be hotter.

"Cooool. Mind if I show this off to a couple of matsci people I know? They'll freak" Casey grins up at Faith. "Yeah, its very neat."

"Errr, why?" Suddenly smiling, she actually bounces, "Oooo, ooo, so I'm in with a chance in the surprise Orme game?!? Wicked! Er, they won't ask too many questions will they? I mean I think the knife is magical and we can't go flashin' it around."

"Why will they freak? Um, when you normally cut things, it leaves a sort of signature - I don't think this thing will. I mean, this" Casey hefts the cut off piece "would have been red hot if you'd used something normal to cut it that fast... " Casey sees Faith tuning out. "The short answer is 'yes' - this should surprise him. I might even be able to tell you what it won't be able to cut... er, if anything. Hey, that reminds me - what's the Circle?"

"Cool. Just be careful. Remember, cutting swords. Unless his is magical, then its a one way trip to Mayor central for me. Err, Im not sure what the Circle is. Never heard of it before. I thought I heard the chick say somethin' like that. Anything interesting?"

"Got anything else magical we could test it on?" Casey says a bit facetiously with a grin. "Maybe you could wangle something from Alex or something? Dunno what her eerie factor is.... anyway, yeah, I, er tried to bluff her a bit to sort of give you some time to work your magic and she asked if ... actually she just said "Circle?" kinda with that question mark bit at the end. And when I played dumb she asked if I was with the Slayer, cos Orme has a message for her...."

"Unless the @*#$&er said where I go to kill him, its Jayde's problem. Ill mention the Circle to Jayde and see if she can get Alex to find anything about it. Alex wont be much help on the knife though. She looked at the knife when I first got it back. Said it was just wicked sharp, but I know its special. I feel it."

"Er, no, something about a truce if the Slayer played nice. I'll tell Jayde then." Casey looks at the knife. "Nah, she's wrong. You couldn't do that with a normal knife, no matter how strong and fast you were."

"Truce? Screw that. Not a normal knife, eh? Yeah, but I think it doesn't work for other people. I mean" she pulls up her top and shows the scar to Casey. "I got gutted with it and... I thought it was the drugs in the hospital or something... but I remember it sliding around inside me around my insides cutting but not tearing. I mean look at it. Its wicked. Cuts through bone and muscle like butter for me, but wacked into my gut by a another Slayer and here I am. Gotta love the Mayor, huh?" She slices at the air with the knife a few times before putting it away.

"Keyed to you, eh? You said it was alive?"

"Yeah, Boss gave it to me as a present. Said it was wicked expensive and I thought he just bought it. But I mean it follows me around. It just turned up here in Berkeley. Yeah, like some bozo vamp just happens to have my knife for Jayde to grab just as I'm in Berkeley. Some chance. It kills vamps if I hit them in the heart and knifes dont do that. Plus its painful. They squeel like pigs on a stick if I just stab them with it. People too. More than normal knifes or anything." She looks over at Casey, a little uncomfortably before quickly finishing "PlusIthinkittalkstome. Er, yeah."

Casey narrows his eyes. "Really? What does it say?"

"Well it doesnt speak exactly. Its more urges, feelings. I'm not sure exactly what yet. I mean it was pretty keen to have me slicing and dicing back in 'Dale. Plus it's usually cold. But after I've skewered some vamp with it its all warm. And the more I play the warmer it is. People too, but even more."

"Dude, that's the archetypical /blaade of eevil/ from almost every fantasy novel I've ever read. At least it doesn't keep saying 'feeeed me'. As cool as it is, y'keep an eye on it, ok? I hate stereotypes."

"Er, yeah, sure. But its on my side, otherwise it would have gutted me when Buffy and I threw down. Plus I sort of feel that, but I can't describe it. It wants to be with me and I feel better with it around, ya know. Like its on my side." Faith sighs and looks at Casey. "Thats crazy woman talk, right? Ah, look, Im feeling stupid here, so unless you wanna play 20 questions or truth or dare, lets just drop it, huh? Im all pumped from the fight anyway, so go home and shag like rabbits or club till we drop. Your choice."

Casey smirks "Dude, I just spent 30 minutes running away from a zombie, I'm not saying anything about empathic knives liking you. Makes just as much sense, right?" Casey thinks back, just checking that he did indeed leave mary at her place. "Hmmm. Oh, I could do the club thing... or the shagging.. er, can I use a lifeline? Oh, I can't be bothered, lets just go home and, as you so eloquently put it, shag like rabbits" Casey starts to run.

Faith laughs as Casey runs off. "Eager much?!? Hey dont tire your self out now... its only like 1/4 to 4! You're no use to me dead of a heart attack." Catching up to Casey she looks over "Unless I can remember that Zombie ritual." She starts laughing. "Oooh, lurv Zombies! Cool, they could go all night, I bet."

"Ewwww. Not. Although in this town, there's probably a market for them"

Faith continues laughing as they job off back home.

Fade to left on computer lights....

Actually... before that... racing home on the bike they race home. Rolling down the street, engine off, Casey and Faith slide into the driveway and go inside. Casey heads off to the kitchen for a drink before heading to Faiths room.

So for casey its - get up, make 11am class, try and catch up with the othrs and sit in on the scooby meeting. If there's a reluctance there, want to see if i can get them to admit that faith said to keep me out, and that she knows i'll be there today. If still too much uncomfortablness, pass the message on to mary. Otherwise sit in and keep quiet in the scooby meating, only passing on the message, and asking who the circle are?

OK. so I assume that thursday morning finds the birds singing happily outside Faiths window and Faith and Casey curled up in her bed then? Ok.

Well Casey wakes up opens his eyes to find Faith sitting up in bed staring at him. The cut on her arm has faded down to an angry scab and there are a number of other fading bruises in plain view now that the sun is up. She is staring at Casey, a puzzled look on her face. "Er, morning." The look dissapears quickly and she gets up and pulling on a tshirt and some grungy jeans. "Training. You can grab the shower first."

Casey sits half up and looks at the time. "Eeek. Yeah, got a class too." He blows Faith a kiss as he leaps out of bed.

She watches Casey go and then starts laying into the punching bag.

Casey showers changes, pokes his head into Faiths room. "cya later tonight, probably"

"Yeah, fine."

Off to classes for Mr Casey.

Continued for mary and casey

roll credits

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