#raisethestake 01

[wickedlehane]

@raisethestake gets a Season 3 starter

Sunset wasn't for a few more hours, but that didn't exactly mean the Slayers had time to rest. Buffy had just gotten off school and Faith had been itching to get some training in before the night's patrol -- punching her homemade training dummy got pretty boring after a while. It was nice having someone who could keep up with her and return some quality banter.

"See, B -- isn't this so much better than homework? 'Sides, you can let Willow get hers done first and then just, i'unno, tell her you didn't get it."

Faith held up two foam paddles for the blonde to punch. She ducked and strafed around Buffy's back yard (since Joyce knew about the whole Slayer thing now, she was pretty open to letting the girls use the lawn for exercise), taking the hits and trying to jump in with a few of her own. The brunette even tried to go all Karate Kid, sweeping the leg -- had to keep Buffy on her toes, right?

"I don't understand why you have to be cooped up in school all day. We're Chosen Ones, it's not like you can go to college and major in slaying."

[wickedlehane]

She wasn't hitting her hardest, but Faith wasn't exactly pulling her punches. Buffy could surely take it, even if the foam pads might not withstand the full extended force of two Slayers. For now, things would hold up...

"Normal life? Tch." Faith kept up the barrage, barely stopping to consider Buffy's words. Their definitions of normal were vastly different -- the brunette from Boston barely even had a frame of reference for 'normal'. What she saw in the movies... that was as close as it got and she knew that was mostly fake anyways. Yeah, Faith understood that Buffy had it better than her. The slayage probably put a huge cramp in her social life, not to mention the whole school thing. Then there was the loving mother, the friends, the Watcher.

Her reaction was delayed by only a moment, but Faith lunged forward to meet Buffy's evasion.

"I get what you're sayin', B, but I can't say I agree," she said, keeping her fists close to her face as she continued her jabs. "Bein' a slayer is the best thing that ever happened to me. It's why I dropped out of school... or, at least, it made the choice easier. "

Faith didn't want to be unsympathetic to Buffy's frustrations, but...

"I don't think a slayer gets a normal life. I'd do anything to make sure I don't go back to where I came before."

Taking the pads from Faith once she'd unstrapped the gear and handed it over to her, Buffy worked on securing the wraps around her arms. As fun as training with Faith was she would be glad to avoid a bruised arm or two come tomorrow morning. Once the pads were comfortably in place, Buffy lifted them up.

"In that case I'd be glad to take some friendly fire," Buffy encouraged, before she let out an 'oof' when Faith's first punches landed against the pads. Blonde brows rose from the intensity of the strikes, both impressed and slightly amused. "You weren't kidding, huh." She braced herself for the next attack.

It felt easier to take the hits for a while and take a break from dishing them out, but that was kind of the root of her entire problem, wasn't it? Letting Faith take charge while she took a backseat on the slaying front. Buffy thought she'd been doing better about accepting her fate, her duty, and then some days she felt like she was back at square one, like, today, for example.

"I don't know, a normal life?" she half-shrugged, but quickly held up the pad properly again to avoid knuckles colliding with her face. Buffy took several steps forward to force Faith to change her stance. "A normal life or the life of a Slayer. The more I try to have one the harder it is to keep the other. It's like I'm constantly being pulled in two different directions." Buffy leapt backwards with the pads, staying light on her feet to keep Faith moving. She frowned, worrying that she might have said too much.

"Does that make any sense?"

[wickedlehane]

Faith slowed her punches as Buffy moved the pads away. She narrowed her eyes, taking a breath and rolling her neck a little. "Yeah, well... pre-Sunnydale Faith isn't worth talkin' about," the girl said, shoulders tensing.

What did Buffy want to hear, anyways? She already got most of the dead Watcher picture, Kakistos, and all. Faith had shared a few choice stories at the Bronze that first night, mostly telling the truth of her adventures. But she hadn't been a Slayer all that long, all things considered. And pre-Sunnydale, pre-Slayer Faith... well, she hoped that girl was gone forever.

"Trust me, it's weird to me too. 'Specially after being told it's just a Chosen One gig, and I show up and the Hellmouth's already occupied." She didn't begrudge Buffy for still doing her duty, no. But Faith did very much feel like the runner up when it came to their destiny. Still, it was nice having someone else who could understand her on a level no one else did. Buffy's smile was a little disarming, but Faith resumed the position and started punching again, a little slower than before. She tried to return the easy grin.

"I just really wish you didn't have school. Slaying should be a full time gig -- this town has no idea how much trouble you save them from," she said. "And would it kill Giles to give you a night off? So we can do something that's not training or patrolling?"

It was true that they hadn’t exactly ventured into the deep and meaningful with each other given their lack of time outside of slaying, but from what Buffy gathered through their conversations, Faith’s past was something she’d chosen to avoid for the most part - which told Buffy enough. 

Part of her wanted to know Faith better, but another part, the louder part, was keeping her at a safe distance. Losing Kendra had done damage. She wasn’t ready to face the fact that she could lose Faith too, before they even had a chance to be real friends. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for the kind of discussion they were bordering on right now; which was entirely her own fault for going there.

“You don’t really talk about that much,” Buffy said, despite her inner fear gal screaming at her to drop the subject and move on. “Pre-Sunnydale Faith I mean.” The pads in Buffy’s hands waved as she raised them up in surrender, “which is totally fine, not my business, I get it,” the pads stilled as Buffy lowered her arms.

“It’s just…this whole two Slayers thing is still kinda weird.” Buffy smiled, lifting the pads back into position, “but I’m glad you’re here.” 

[wickedlehane]

Faith gave a big laugh at Buffy's attempt to sway her to the dork side. "No, no -- you almost sounded convincing there," she teased, lowering the sparring pads as the blonde took a pause.

Thing is, Buffy would never really get why Faith dropped out. It wasn't just that she didn't fit in (even before the Chosen One thing). The bad grades, getting in fights with older students, not really having a parent to call when the girl was acting delinquent... it all added up to a bad mix of memories Faith was all to happy to drop when she got the call of the Slayer. She tried not to think about how a girl had to die for her to get there -- two girls counting Buffy, she supposed. Blondie had a life outside of slaying. Slaying was Faith's whole life.

Which is why Buffy's next comment had her even more confused. No way was she gonna let that one slide. "Yeah, I've got some pent up energy I need to punch my way out of," she said, removing the wrist guards from the targets. It wasn't that she got bored waiting for Buffy to get off school -- Faith had plenty of Sunnydale to explore, to plot out patrol routes. But as she walked the streets, it became clearer that it wasn't her town, not really.

"I dunno, Buffy... capital D destiny is supposed to be the biggest thing there is, ain't it? Sure, I mean -- it'd be nice to get paid for all the slayage. The Motor Inn doesn't exactly scream Chosen One, but..." Faith waited for Buffy to get the gear in place before working on her jabs and hooks, grunting with effort at each hit. "What more could you want?"

You, the girl who has everything I don't.

Life had certainly thrown Buffy a curveball when Faith had entered it, but the more they got to spend time being Slayers, the more she felt a sense of relief that the burden of being chosen wasn’t a weight she had to carry alone anymore. So it meant Faith had to carry part of it too, but at least they could shoulder it together and not have to worry about the loneliness that came with being cosmically ‘special’. It wasn’t something her friends would ever understand - Faith was the only other person in the world who would ever really ‘get it’. The unique Slayer kind of loneliness that could make you feel so powerful and so small all at once.

“Things could be different this time,” Buffy paused to catch her breath. She lowered her fists to get a better look at Faith, “you might even enjoy it!” Grimacing, Buffy made a face; “okay, that was too far,” she admitted.

Buffy went quiet for a moment. “What if destiny isn’t enough?” She hadn’t meant to voice the thought aloud. She shook herself out of it - that wasn't a conversation she was ready to have. It was a little too heavy for a late afternoon sparring session.

"Sorry, it's been one of those days. You were right though, this is way better than homework. Wanna switch?” Buffy offered, in case Faith wanted to take some shots.

[wickedlehane]

If Faith had had smart friends -- or friends at all -- in school, she probably would have tried that trick. But it worked with guys, only she wasn't ever really talking about homework. It was nice Buffy had an entourage though. Sure, they couldn't do everything for the Slayer but she could at least rely on them when things got tough.

Faith would be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit jealous, though.

She didn't have time to hold onto the thought for long, though -- Buffy was quick to fire back a volley of blows at the foam. Faith was taking the impacts with ease, a wolfish grin creeping up her face. There was something about the way she didn't have to pretend she was something she wasn't when she was around Buffy... Faith had to protect herself and stay guarded to survive much of her young life, but with Buffy she didn't have to hide. Not the parts that mattered. They were just a couple of teenage superheroes who understood each other.

"Yeah, well... we've all seen what Xander's okay with," she laughed before catching another one of Buffy's punches with a grunt. Faith ducked and raised the padding to catch the blonde's leg as she spun into the kick. Confusion flashed across her face for a moment -- there was no way Buffy actually wanted her in school.

"Nah, B -- you know they'd give my ass detention five ways from Sunday and then I'd have to go all truant to make patrols, or they'd try to send my ass to juvie. I dropped out to follow my destiny. Our destiny."

Rolling her shoulder back with one hand pressed against it, then swapping to the other side, Buffy finished stretching out her muscles after their first round of sparring. She aimed a smile in Faith's direction; Buffy had to admit, Faith was right - this was a lot better than attempting to tackle the building pile of homework waiting for her upstairs.

“Ah, that old ‘get Willow to do my homework for me’ trick,” Buffy quipped, shaking her head, “she’ll never see it coming.”

Striking the foam paddles with a series of quick, sharp blows, Buffy twisted to dodge an incoming counterattack from Faith, appreciating how much better she was in the role of sparring partner than, say, Giles. At least Faith could actually give her a run for her money if she wasn’t paying attention. Sometimes even when she was paying attention. Buffy managed to leap over Faith’s leg, her smile widening from the slick execution of her fellow Slayer’s attempt to catch her off guard.

“Maybe not,” Buffy agreed, throwing a right hook, then a left, “but I can’t just be a permanent no show, I’d never hear the end of it from my mom, or Giles, or Willow, or-actually, I think Xander would be okay with it.”  

Spinning on her heel, Buffy launched into a roundhouse kick, carefully navigating the subject. “You know, you could always try actually attending. Then we could not do our homework together.”