Your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones. [Closed]

[thegoodslayer]

Who: Faith and Angel
What: A treasure hunt, of sorts.
When: Mid-February
Where: The Crystal Forests.
Warnings: Probably smoking, violence, Faith being Faith, will update for anything worse than that.


She'd seen the glittering forests in the distance, but she had to admit that up close it was a lot more... sparkly. She had to admit it was kinda pretty.

She's got her usual kit on hand- her signature knife, which Angel has seen before, and her HK-41 rifle, which he decidedly has not. Apparently she learned her way around firearms at some point. At present, she's just got the former in its sheath and the latter slung over her shoulder on a strap, but she's still definitely keeping her head on a swivel.

"Wish I could say I had good news and bad news, but nah, this pretty much all blows."

She says it lightly, like she's trying to be dismissive and glib, but that's hardly a new variety of emotional front for her.

"One, pretty much everything on this world is out to screw with us. The plants and rocks and crap, not just the monsters. Two, there's definitely also gonna be monsters."

She contemplates retrieving a cigarette, but nah, she'll hold off. She's finally found a flavor she doesn't hate, she wants to make them last.

"Three, sometimes it turns us into monsters. Not like the moon, these ones usually wear off." After a short pause, she cracks a smirk and adds, "Guess that's good news, the wearing off thing."

Comments

EHEM

[beatsthebadguys]

Since he first showed up and met with Faith, Angel has adjusted pretty well to being in yet another new dimension. Almost too well, if he was being honest with himself; there's a honeymoon phase for driving a nice coupe again, of course, but he was assured by many that the moon will change him and overall he doesn't feel that different. Less bothered by fire, perhaps, and he thinks he can walk in sunlight fine, that's pretty nice... but this all feels very forgiving to him. So he can't help but wonder when the other shoe is going to drop.

Which may be why he's mostly quiet as they set out on their little expedition, for the oddly-tame task of "crystal collecting". He's got the broadsword he found in the armory last month and a metal scrap that served well enough as an ice pick that he suspects it might also come in handy as a gem pick. The glow of the "forest" is almost soothing with its vast array of colors, enough that he finds himself staring at the bright patches as Faith speaks.

Once she makes her last comment, though, he provides his own smirk. "So, anything is dangerous, lots of monsters, we become monsters, and sometimes we're briefly new monsters. Very monster-focused. Weirdly consistent. More consistent than my last hell."

He finishes the statement with a shrug. The whole thing feels casual, like he's either resigned himself to the situation or he's trying to make light of it for her sake. She's probably going to deduce it as both.

[thegoodslayer]

"How many hells have you even been to at this point?"

A question that she does not want to know the actual answer to, she decides, since she nearly sent him there herself once, so she's just gonna follow that up.

"We gotta get you a show on the Travel Channel. Five stars, great restaurants, beautiful lakes of fire in the spring."

She flashes him a very forced smile at her own little joke. She doesn't know which one of them is pulling the punches here, emotionally... but she feels like it's her fault either way, so she's not gonna call it out.

[beatsthebadguys]

"Two suns are a nice view. Less fun are the torture and the cults and the crowning of-"

No, he's stopping there. We're not yet at the stage where he feels comfortable talking about Cordelia so casually.

He forces out a chuckle before trying to distract himself with the crystals again. "Of all the labor in hell, I didn't exactly expect mining. If I'd known, I'd have brought my hammer."

Sorry, Faith, he's pondering the question anyway. Has it been three by now? Maybe four if he gets more technical...