FtVS

I went back on over to my room after my chat with Spike, collapsing onto the bed. I'm honest to God ecstatic that Chuck is dust in the wind, because he was fucked up enough as a human. Plus, a bigger pad and a business for us, all at zero bucks.

I mean - round bed? Like he ever got any. No one who was getting laid had such a massive 'tude, unless they had a stick up their ass the size of a telephone pole. But hey, some people are into that.

The fact that he was obviously not making with the screwing made sleeping in that bed twenty times easier. I washed the sheets (twice), yeah, but the stains on my visual imagination? Those babies would never come out.

Back to the point. I definitely realized somethin' today. I wouldn't call it a revelation or anything dramatic and lifetime movie at four in the afternoon like that, but I'd definitely been hit by a big, honking pile of bricks. And that brick-smacked feeling didn't have anything to do with the beating that I let Hollywood lay on me, just as an FYI. Pain isn't that much of a hassle, once you get used to it. Sure, bruising is a bitch, but it's the fatigue that kicks you right in the balls. I was tired as hell. I've obviously gotten used to the big sleeps. It makes that white light a hell of a lot easier to approach; I'll tell you that.

Nah, it was more to do with what Andy got me thinking about earlier. Spok might be a complete loser, but he gives it his all, and that phrase "it takes one to know one?" Comes in handy this time. That talk with Spike got my wheels turning too. The dude wasn't bad. He'd taken a lot of hits in his day. So had Andy. I didn't really need to be handing out extra ones left and right just because I was stressed. How fucking cliche is that? I can handle a little burden on my own. It's what I was built for.

As it was, the sitch wasn't all that slipshod. No big evil that I knew of, and I had some serious muscle in addition to Spike and Andy. Gunn and Oz, plus the Minis, and minus Lara? I'd say we were pretty well off. Then there was the deal with me having a semi-steady job at the Lizard and the Blue Moon bringing in the green. Yeah, I'd say we were doing alright. Tamara and Mike's getting axed sucked, and if I wasn't so used to this sorta thing by now, I'd be halfway to the emotional highway. Maybe. But I am used to it, and I'm not. I've never been sensitive, anyway. And, okay, there was the possible issue of Hollywood. Couldn't say that I was too worried about that one. And then - that was it, right? Like I said, there wasn't even an apocalypse around the bend, or if there was, I sure wasn't in on it.

We'd take care of things. It was nothing a good uppercut and some amatuer investigation couldn't fix.

So we had us a couple of dead friends and a wrong-side-of-the-tracks Slayer. Can't say that the situation didn't sound familiar. We'd deal. Could be worse. Even if it got the way of the worse, and the four horsemen came a-knockin' at our door, we'd handle it. We had each other. That was something. I never could really say that before. Being a part of the seriously creepy and majorly dysfunctional Patridge Family of the Cleveland Hellmouth was better than being alone. We'd deal, and more shit would come. In the end, it'd be five by five. Or we'd all die. Whichever.

Christ, look at this. I'm turning into B.

Think they make a pill for that?

Gunn didn't stick around long after the Faith vs. Lara throwdown. He'd gone back to the Blue Moon with Faith, said goodbye, and retreated to the nearest motel, throwing down a moderate amount of money for a small, cramped room that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. It didn't bother him; he'd slept in worse conditions. He was just glad to have a real bed to look forward to, especially after all that driving he'd done, crossing more than half the country to get to Cleveland from LA. He thought it would have been too rude to ask Faith if he could stay with her crew. It would have been awkward. Besides, he wasn't about to try and break through whatever Faith's circle of friends had going for them. Team Angel had been like that, once upon a time. Impermeable. No matter how hard any one outsider tried, they could never really become one of the team. Groo had never really been one of them. Connor never became one of them, either. Faith, even though her stay in Los Angeles had been brief, had also been unable to work her way into the circle.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been at the motel now, laying back on his bed with his head resting in his hands as he looked up at the ceiling and thought about all he'd left behind in Los Angeles. The underlying cliqueyness aside, he missed the days when he and Angel and all the others had been so tight in their friendships. They all trusted each other with their lives back then, working together like a team should. Then things went downhill. He wasn't sure when it had started... but it became most apparent when they took over Wolfram & Hart.

They weren't Angel Investigations anymore. That, admittedly, was part of why he left. He wasn't doing any good there, sitting in that office building and pretending he had an authentic law degree, as if that gave him some sort of worth. He had decided to go where he would be useful. He knew Faith could use him and his muscle, something he had recently become very proud of. Before, he saw being the muscle as an insult. Not anymore. Maybe working at Wolfram & Hart had given him some clarity.

Suddenly the motel room just wasn't doing it for him anymore. Already fully dressed, it was only a matter of seconds before Gunn was on his feet and wearing his sneakers, grabbing his jacket off the hook on the wall as he made his way out the door. It had been nice to relax for awhile, to process some of the thoughts that had been bouncing around in his head, but when the urge to work off some steam came around, he knew better than to ignore it.

He wasn't far from the Blue Moon, or the cemetery where he and Faith went to meet Lara. He reached the cemetery within a few minutes, and slowed his pace as he walked through the gates, now carrying a sharpened stake in his hand. Carrying his axe would have drawn too much attention, unfortunately -- and he was walking. That meant there would have been too many opportunities for people to ask questions. That was fine. He was just as comfortable with a simple stake as he was with his axe.

He hadn't been in the cemetery five minutes when he spotted someone sitting on the ground: a young man with spiked hair, sitting and looking just slightly... off.

"Hey. You know it's dangerous to be out here at night, right?"

((Open to Oz!))

"Well you understand, if I tell you I have to kill you, yadda yadda. At least in a public place like here. Now, if it was a bit more private..."

Kat raised a brow and leaned back in her chair, giving Lindsey a quick once-over. He had to be kidding. Was he for real? All this super-spy talk was a bit much. Kat wasn't being very forthcoming with the information herself, but she figured it was one thing to be cagey... and another thing entirely to be totally cliché. She smirked a little and folded her arms.

"Private?" she asked critically. She scoffed a little. "What, thinking you might get lucky?" She was teasing -- or at least as close to teasing as she ever got. Most of the time, if a man asked you to go someplace "private" with him, it meant something else entirely. This was different. She eased out of her rigid stance and nodded at him. "Yeah. Sure. I've got some questions I'd like to ask you, and this isn't really the best place for it. Too many people around."

She moved to stand, leaving her chair sitting a few inches away from the table rather than bothering to push it in. "Come on, let's get out of here."

((Tag to Lindsey.))

After taking a quick shower I threw on some clothes, making sure I was emanating the feel of ‘No I haven’t murdered anyone recently, much less people I know. Why do you ask?’ Hopefully, my lack of sleep condition I was in could double as one of stress and trouble. As I got ready and headed toward the Blue Moon, several things ran through my mind.

Obviously the bodies had been identified, since they already knew it was Michael and Tamara. I wonder who found them in the first place? Probably some random neighbor or something. Or maybe it had even been one of them. I made a mental note to try and pick up on that if I could. I could imagine how traumatized like, Andrew would be if he had walked in on something like that, and all of a sudden I really hoped it hadn’t been him. He couldn’t take something like that. Considering he was the one who called and informed me of the situation, it was probably safe to assume it wasn’t him. If Andrew ever saw something like that first hand, I highly expect he’d currently be huddled up in a corner somewhere, clutching his action figures still in their packaging, and weeping his little eyes out.

I also hoped it hadn’t been any of the others that knew them. That would just be- too much. Even I had my limits as to what I would wish on people. /And this coming from the girl who offed a former friend not too long ago…/ Shaking my head annoyedly, I put that thought aside for the moment. Regardless of what my involvement is or was in the whole situation, it’s fight or flight time. Time for that good old sense of self preservation to kick in. /Better make this good, Amy girl./ Raising a hand to door of the Blue Moon, I paused, taking a deep breath before going in, knocking lightly on the door as I did so.

“Hey, is anybody around?”

OOC: just thought I’d put up a new post, as I’m sure the one I was supposed to comment on is past it’s date by now. If this messes anything up, just let me know and it will be fixed asap.

I pulled the icepack away from my eyes, peeling the microfiber wrapping off the still-open cut under my eye.

"Um, you're pulling my hair," I snapped at Delilah, my hair girl. Not "Deedee" like I'd thought previously. Delilah. She was so fucking stupid -- she was a half an hour late to the appointment in my suite because she didn't understand what "penthouse" meant.

"Sorry Lara, sorry. It's just that you have all these scabby things all over. That must have been a really crazy car wreck. I'm not finding any glass, though," Delilah said, puzzled.

I groaned and yanked my head away. I was feeling a little better. I could actually hear voices now. Dr. Rush had come by earlier, to reset my nose and give me an appraisal. He said he thought that it wouldn't actually need reconstruction. I seemed to be healing pretty well on my own. (Thank you, Chris!) Dr. Rush patted my shoulder like a grandpa before he left; even though it kind of grossed me out, I tipped him $100 for coming by on his way to the golf course. You have to take care of the people who take care of you.

"KENNY!" I screamed. Delilah jumped like she'd just been scared out of her skin, which -- actually -- might not be that bad of a thing. Delilah had way too many wrinkles for me to feel relaxed around.

"Yeah, baby, I'm out here," Kenny's voice said. "I'll be right in."

I groaned and moved my shoulders back so Sven could get at my problem area: my collarbone. Sven was such a darling man... he always followed my directions. Not like Delilah.

"Are you done?" I barked at Delilah, who was nervously wringing her hands and staring at me in anticipation. "Because I'd really like you to stop fucking staring at my injuries now, okay? It's not as bad as it looks... and you're here to do my hair, not judge me."

Kenny walked in, bringing me a paper and a tray with four tiny shots of wheatgrass on it. He flourished them in front of me and set them down on my dressing table. Smiling, he looked at Delilah and asked her to please take the fuck off.

"Oh, Kenny. I love you. Thank you. Please give Deedee her money and have her sign a release," I purred, coughing half way through my sentence. As an aside, I looked at Deliah through my puffy eyes, "Thanks for everything, sugar. I'm not going to need your services any longer. If you want a headshot for your portfolio, Kenny can get that for you."

"Miss Zellar," Sven whispered into my ear. "You are still too tense. Please relax your shoulders and do not raise your voice. Remember your yoga breathing. In, out, in, out..."

I tried to do it, but every breath made my chest feel like it was going to explode. I closed my eyes and let Sven use his magic, Swedish fingers on a point in my neck that made me want to vomit. Breathing, breathing. He stopped and bent closer to my ear.

"Will you need my special treatment today?"

I groaned and considered it... but, no. Sven's special treatment was way way hot, but it was also expensive and exhausting. Plus, two days later, I was sore again, and then I'd have to call him back in for a massage. I think it was his way of ensuring job security.

"Mmmm... no, darling. Not today. Perhaps next week, though? We can schedule an afternoon appointment, I think?" I sighed as his hands, strong and expert, left my shoulders. Aw, he was disappointed. I could feel it in his touch. But, still... a girl has her limits.

Kenny came back in as Sven left. He just sat with me and held my hand while I did my yoga breathing. The more oxygen I got into my skin, the faster I'd heal. That's what Madonna told me at the yoga retreat, anyway.

But come on. You know what gives Madonna that youthful glow, and it ain't oxygen, honey. It's money.

[[ Open to anyone who has a reason to see/talk to Lara. Or if someone wants to play Kenny. ]]

"The hell happened out there?" I asked, brow raised as I took another few steps forward in order to get a better look at her. She must've taken quite the beating for her face to end up looking like that. Normally I might've commented on how the new look was an improvement, but somehow my sense of humor seemed misplaced at the moment. Wonder why that could be--oh right, the blonde haired devil on two legs, if you could call her as much. Really, her dye job had been shoddy at best. Roots showing all over the place. In any case, Faith didn't seem to be much in the mood for jokes, either, and so any wisecrack I might've had in mind was left unsaid for the time being.

"Lara decided to throw down with me," Faith replied with a small shrug of her shoulders. I was sure my face dropped at the mere mention -- Lara? That was the name of the bird I'd been romping around with out in the cemetery only a few hours prior, right? It couldn't have been the same girl, though. Lara was-- .. and Faith .. I mean, hell. From the looks of it, Faith had been up against someone equally matched. Sure, Lara was a Slayer and all, but there had to be some other explanation. "She's lookin' about ten times worse, though, trust me," Faith amended, and I didn't doubt it. I'd seen Faith in action -- hell, I'd faced her in action. She was no pushover, that's for sure.

"Anyway, what the hell happened out there with you, huh?" She continued, successfully turning the tables back on me. Should've seen that one coming. As it turns out, I'd stepped right into it.

"Huh?" I heard myself respond before I'd even realized. "What do you mean?" I followed it up, hoping to mask anything in my reaction that might have shone through to tip off Faith to exactly what it was that had taken place in the cemetery only a few hours earlier. "You never showed up like you were supposed to." Right, Spike. Get defensive -- make it look like it was her fault. "Left me to fend for myself with the Slayer Barbie," I continued, "who just happens to be a tad unstable, as is evidenced by your face." Now what?

"You didn't seem to be unhappy about my not being there before we split, y'know," Came her response. The way she was looking at me, brow raised -- I could've sworn she knew then and there. I must have had bimbo breath from earlier. Knew I should've eaten something as soon as I got back. Oh, wait. I don't breathe. Huh. Go figure. "And I did show, but you'd run off to .. Whatever. I can't really say much against the unstable - what'd she do to you?"

"Nothing," I insisted, the sudden urgency in my tone selling me out despite my words. Oh, that's great, Spike. Why not just come out and tell her everything, I reprimanded myself while resisting the urge to roll my eyes at my own stupidity. I knew better than to slip up like that. Faith could read people -- even undead types who had been around a lot longer than she had to practice their lying. It was just a talent that she had. "Nothing happened," I repeated, finally, after I'd manage to regain control of my thoughts and reactions. The way that Faith was looking at me, though, I really don't think she bought it. Bollocks.

"What?" I asked defensively, after a few moments had passed. Bugger all, now I needed a cigarette. After patting down the pants I'd been wearing, and turning up empty-handed, I decided to turn my unsuccessful search elsewhere. Reaching over for my coat, I managed to located the pack of smokes tucked within its pockets. Didn't take long for me to fish one out of the crumpled pack, and light it up. Once I'd finished, though, I couldn't help but notice that Faith was still staring at me like she'd caught me in a lie.

"What??" I repeated, albeit much more urgently this time.

"I think you will be very pleased with my latest offering to you." That's right, my latest offering. Why would I want to share the credit when the opportunity to steal it all for myself presented itself? It's just too bad for Amy, who wasn't here to dispute it at the moment. Not that it would have mattered if she was. She was just like all of the others, a means to an end. I, on the other hand, had managed to gain favor with Lord Kelne. I didn't share the fate of the other cannon fodder members of the coven.

"I'm sure I will," Kelne responded. "You've never let me down yet."

I adopted a satisfied expression after Kelne had gone out of his way to praise for a job well done -- not something he was too fond of doing, I'm sure. At least my efforts to please him had not gone unnoticed.

"Although .. I'm a little concerned about our .. progress with a certain personal matter," He continued. "I came here to ask you a few questions."

"Is something wrong, my lord?" I questioned, while leading him toward the basement, where I could perform the ritual that would infuse our gathered energies into the dark god given new life. The last thing that I needed now was for one of the other coven members to stumble along while Kelne was visiting -- especially someone like Amy. I intended to take full-credit for this latest sacrifice. Having Amy show up would only complicate matters.

"Just a pesky little matter concerning my mortality."

That didn't sound too promising. If there was something wrong with him, then all of this work would have been for nothing. What was the use of finding favor with a dying deity? In order to ensure my own position with him, I needed to ensure his well-being. It was almost symbiotic, aside from the fact that he held such higher station than myself. Still, this latest sacrifice would probably take care of any concerns he had with his own temporary mortality. Not only had we managed to sap the energies of a few practiced witches, but we had a Slayer's energy this time, as well.

( Collapse )

It was time for a long walk. I decided to duck out of the Blue Moon and head out for a walk to clear my head. I grabbed my bag, feeling this was going to be a wolf-y kind of night. I needed to step outside of myself, get away, if only for a moment.

Being this close to murder was not good for a person with guilt on their soul. I had almost blurted out my secret to Andrew, I had almost let people get too close. I didn't want to hurt Andrew or Faith or anyone. I liked working in the store, but maybe this was too much, too close to a hellmouth and I couldn't control everything that was spinning around me.

I walked the streets, head down, deep in thought. I found myself standing at the entrance of a graveyard, like something pulled me here. I heard a scuffle behind the bushes. Grateful for a distraction from my brain, I walked towards the noise. I let my wolf-y senses take over to enhance my sight and smell reflexes. I could smell human blood, felt a trail leading to the place of the disturbance. I evolved into wolf form and waited, muscles tensed.

A man, a vampire, came from behind the tombstone, blood dripping from his mouth. He swiped his jean jacket across his face and walked my way, confident and invigorated. I crouched in wait for him. He looked like your average college kid, except for the mess of gore on the front of him.

He passed just to my left, and sensing my presence lifted his head toward me. I took that moment to lunge at him, knocking his feet out from under him. He used my momentum against me and flung me into a tombstone. My head cracked against stone. I leapt towards him, becoming less Oz, less myself with the more pain I felt.

He used a roundhouse to the throat to stop me, but I was too amped up to feel it. I leapt again, low this time, going directly for his knees. He fell to the ground and I jumped on his face, jaws open, mouth steaming. He began to go limp beneath me.

I tore out his jugular vein to finish him and he stopped all movement. I slowed my heartbeat as I stalked over to where the human that I had smelled, was laid. He was dead: blond skater hair matted with gore and his converse still laced up tightly.

I focused myself and let Oz take over. I wiped my mouth from the blood that no longer tasted to so good. I dressed myself in the clothes I had brought and sat down in the grass to think.

[open to anyone]

Lindsey left the Blue Moon quickly, but as he got a block away, his pace slowed. /Where did that shop girl know me from? Las Angeles?/ he wondered as he glanced over his shoulder.

This could be seen as a good thing, or a bad thing. On one hand, she seemed to be connected to Faith, since she was working in the same shop as the "Personal Assistant to the Slayer." Letting Faith find out he was here is definitely a bad idea. But, if he could talk to this girl and find out more about the situation here, that would be very helpful.

On his way to the shop he had noticed a Starbucks two blocks down, he stopped in front of it and watched the shop door for a moment. Making a decision, he stepped inside, bought himself a drink and grabbed a table by the front window.

/I wonder if she will come and find me?/

[[Tag to Kat, if she wants to follow Lindsey]]

After leaving Lara's suite, thus putting an end testosterone-fest 2005, I quickly made my way down the hall and toward the elevators. Lara had been pretty banged up, like, worse than I've ever seen. Before tonight, I didn't even think it possible for something like that to happen to the Slayer. What's worse? She was depending on my power-boost at the time -- a thought that kept igniting pangs of guilt in the back of my mind. Really though, there would be time enough to lament over it later. Right now I had to focus on finding another way to help her. That is, if there even was another way to help her. I really hoped there was, if only so I could rub it into that Kenny guy's face. Sure, he was only worried about Lara, that much I understood. It was more than that, though. Kenny had been an asshole to me ever since I'd met him. Bringing him down a peg or two was something that I wasn't beyond doing.

Once reaching the end of the hall, I stepped into an open elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. While the double-doors drew to a close, I could have sworn that I saw someone at the end of the hallway, watching me. At least, I think she was watching me. Weird. She didn't look familiar to me, though, so it was probably just a coincidence. Or maybe she was a mental patient. You never know in a hotel as classy as this one. Those washed-up famous types were always doped up on something or other -- just look at Anna Nicole Smith. I was surprised that their 'people' let them venture outdoors in such a condition. I mean, really. And was it just me, or was this friggin' elevator taking forever? I reached over to hit the button for the lobby again. I honestly didn't think I'd ever hear the little 'ding' noise, and when I finally did? I noted that we were still on the eleventh floor.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me .." I said aloud, while some couple and their two kids ushered themselves into the elevator beside me. This was just great, Lara was upstairs in pain, and I was trapped in the elevator ride that wouldn't end. When we finally did reach the lobby, I was out of that thing faster than .. something fast. I think I might have knocked one of the kids on their asses in the process of making a mad dash out of the elevator. Whoops? Whatever, he'd live. Lara, on the other hand ..

It didn't take me too long to reach the Blue Moon from the hotel. I didn't have a car or anything -- and in retrospect, I should have probably asked Kenny to take his in order to speed up the whole process, but I knew the way pretty well by now. I'd only broken into the place, after all. This time around, the store was open, which was good. As exciting as breaking and entering was, I wasn't trying to make a habit of it or anything. From the looks of it, there was still nobody around to run the place. Go figure. I'm sure once they heard the little door jingle they'd come-a-runnin'. Or maybe not. I really couldn't say, as they only service I'd ever received here consisted of being thrown out and handed a free cross. Not that I wasn't grateful. I guess. That cross might actually come in handy someday. I wasn't into religion like that, but it didn't stop me from wearing the cross Lara brought me. It was probably pretty expensive, and hey if a vampire attacked? Yeah, all right, so maybe it wouldn't save my ass, but it might give them indigestion or something.

I moved over to the book shelf to browse through the selection. Too many books. Where was that one guy? Dark hair, the one who rang me up the last time I was here? He seemed to know what he was doing. I mean, aside from the lame lines he'd used as a novelty. Even then, he probably had to. Kind of like the McDonalds workers and the whole 'would you like fries with that?' thing. And what the hell was I doing? Sitting here thinking about McDonalds when I was supposed to be finding a way to help Lara is what. Focus, Chris. I glanced over toward the desk. Still no one.

"Hello?" I called, before turning back toward the selection of books. This was going to take forever.

[ This is set to take place a few hours after the previous Blue Moon post, to give ample time for everyone to clear out. Open for Andrew, and later Amy. Oh, and Anya can follow him now, too! ]