 |
|---|
Social
|
| Players |
|
|
Factions |
|
|
Music |
|
|
A monster gets away, and Faith is worked up. Rather then having her go to the bar to 'relieve her stress', Angel offers her a massage instead. It works, and she chooses to drink her beer with him instead. Later, Erica brings Brian by to meet them.
4/17/2016 7:00 PM
Hyperion Hotel San Francisco
The Hyperion Hotel - Faith Lehane's Room[]
The lights are on, illuminating the area.
A fairly spacious room, this one is also clean and smells fresh, though there's a sort of age in the scent, something that nothing can really draw out of the walls of the place. The decor has a sort of mod, art deco feel about it. It's not unpleasant though, and the large bed is made neatly, with soft, plush bedclothes and fluffy pillows. A small table, enough room for only two, sits near the window with two chairs. Dark red drapes blot out the window, but they part easily enough. An air conditioner unit sits on the wall nearby. A small bathroom with a combination shower and tub, as well as of course a toilet, sink, and well-lit mirror, lies nearer to the door.
Outside, it's raining hard and the winds are strong.
Grumpy Faith heading back to the hotel. Grouchy Faith. She didn't get to kill anything. Always frustrating. Especially when fighting something she's allowed to kill. It's a bit different when she knows going in, after all. "Ugh."
Angel isn't overly thrilled it got away either, but he's more concerned about the people that are inevitably going to get hurt when the demon attacks next time. And there will almost certainly be a next time. "You okay?" He knows she's strong, but still.
"Annoyed. I can't believe it got away." Next time she'll be ready for it. Next time that thing's going down.
"It got away from us." Not just her, them. He bears responsiblity for that too, after all. "We'll get it next time." Hopefully before it feeds.
"Maybe we can find something it's more vulnerable to before it comes back." She sighs as she gets back into the hotel. "See if Wesley or Fred can find something."
Angel nodded, "Yeah. We'll research it." He's gotten to the point he doesn't have to all that often, but sometimes, a creature with unique vulnerabilities shows up, and those things aren't obvious at all.
"It certainly didn't seem particularly vulnerable to my fists," Faith adds, grumbling, and shaking out her hands a little. No, she didn't actually hurt her hand on it, but...
"Or mine." He's beginning to wish he'd brought a broadsword along, but he doesn't usually carry it due to the difficulty of hiding the thing, even in that billowing trenchcoat of his. Maybe he should try more often, though. "It's frustrating, isn't it?"
"Maybe I'll go get drunk." Which is an advantage of being mostly human. "If anywhere's still open at this point."
Angel thinks about this. "Actually, Faith, I have another idea." Not the least of which is because a Drunk Slayer still has superpowers and could break the noses of 5 people in 3 seconds, but..."It might be more relaxing."
Faith Lehane snorts. "More relaxing?" She side-eyes Angel. "When do *you* relax?" Dodging the issue.
Angel shrugs, "I brood." And that's RELAXING? Well no. It's contemplating all his failings as a Champion and all he must atone for. "Or work out." Which, through things like Tai Chi, really is relaxing. "But right now, I want to see if I can help you out."
Faith Lehane shakes her head a little. "Go ahead." Her tone, though, is skeptical.
Angel quirks a half smile, "Ever had a massage before?" Pause. "From someone that knows how?"
"Had one. How much they knew how..." Beat. "When did *you* learn how to do that?"
Angel shifts his eyes away. "Long time ago. Don't ask what Darla did afterwards."
"...I'm not." He said Darla, so she definitely, utterly, completely does NOT want to know.
The good news about mentioning Darla, however, is that implies over a century of experience. "Anyways, go ahead and lie down on the couch. Or your bed, whichever's more comfortable."
Couch works. Bed has too many other implications which would make her tense. Jacket comes of first, of course. Heavy leather. Armor of a sort.
Angel nods at the choice, perhaps it's better that way. A little less room to manuever because couches have backs, but he'll be fine. It's about her comfort, anyway. Angel gets rid of his trenchcoat, in preparation for this. "There's usually oils that can be used for this kind of thing. I don't have any right now though."
"Don't look at me." Well, he's looking at her, that's for sure. Maybe this'll work. If not, well, it's a failed experiment and the booze will still be there."
Angel considers, "Well, if this becomes a regular thing, I'll get ahold of them. For now, we'll do without." They do enhance the experience, but muscle tension can be released without such aids. He waits to see if there's anything else she wants to take off. "Tell me when you're ready."
Faith Lehane is wearing a tank top at this point. It's not going to be in the way, and it's not going to...well. She DOES worry about temptation sometimes. Hers, not his.
Angel begins, then. To start off, he has to get a feel for her muscle groups, how she's put together, where the intial tension is, old wounds and scars from the previous battles Slayers fight all the time. He so far keeps it soley to her back. "If you want me to cover more area, let me know." Otherwise, ancient traditionalist is traditional.
Definitely tension. Slayers, fortunately, don't scar the way normal people do, or she'd have quite the collection. Muscle knots all over the place, though. "Keep to this for now?"
He should've known that. For all that happened to Buffy, she never scarred either. With one notable exception...the scar on her neck. Even Dracula noticed that mark 2 years later. With all those muscle knots, though, he silently begins...soothing each one away with strong hands. Lucky he is so strong, as a Slayer's tough as nails muscles would be unworkable by most. But to him, they're well within he can untie, one knot at a time.
"Okay...that does feel good." It might not work for the purposes Angel intends it for, but even Slayers have to look after themselves...better than Faith does sometimes.
Angel is quite calm about everything, as if helping his dear friend relax were something that is normal. Perhaps it should be. "You're wound up all over..." But that is something he can ease away, slowly, little by little.
"Often am, especially after a patrol," Faith admits. And perhaps this should be normal. Do vampires benefit from massages? Probably not.
...Actually they do! After all, he did learn to do this from Darla. And she was most decidedly undead. It's how he also got used to working with unnaturally tough muscles. "Well, let's see what we can do about that. Tell if you feel it anywhere else." His hands scan her back for more.
"A bit more...to the right, just above the waist." Then she asks out right, "Do you benefit from this too?"
"Well, yeah. I did learn it from Darla." Sure, undead muscles do work a little differently, but since a vampire is a demon in a mostly human body, the muscles are still put together the same way, and still get tense the same way. And Angel's hands go where she asks him to go...sure enough, big knot there. He soothes it away, little by little.
"Maybe you should teach me so I can return the favor." Especially as it would be hard for somebody with normal strength to do this.
Angel considers, "Okay. I can do that. For now, though, I want you to enjoy yourself. Anything else?" He's willing to find tension wherever it happens to be, within the boundaries she's currently set.
"I...I'm not sure." She's not sure this is working. Well, it is and it isn't, and she's starting to get just a bit uncomfortable with it. Just a bit.
Angel considered that maybe she needs him to stop. Or maybe not. "...Do you want to stop?" The discomfort is something he didn't want to give her, after all. Defeat the point.
"I...think so." A bit of an odd smile. "It *does* feel good, though." Maybe she has to build up to relaxing for this. Or maybe...well. This IS Faith after all.
Angel stops, then. "Well, like I said, I can get the oils to do this for your properly next time. With professionals, they're usually doing this sort of thing for an hour straight." That is, if she went and paid for this, it'd last an hour.
"Let's build up to that." She pushes herself up on an elbow. Of course, she'd probably be LESS uncomfortable with a professional.
"Alright." Angel, of course, isn't in the way as she moves to get up. "How do you feel?" He could tell she was a little uncomfortable at the end, but couldn't quite tell why.
"Better. But it didn't entirely solve my problem." Which is probably why she's uncomfortable.
Hmmm. "What did I miss? I don't think I left any knots behind...in your back at least. You should feel fairly loose after that. And relaxed."
"You didn't." Faith smiles at Angel. "There's just always other tensions with me. You know that." Angel, more than anyone, knows the knife's edge she walks.
Angel will release all he can for her, of course. "Well...for that kind of tension, I understand." The heavy weight of redemption causes him to get all broody.
"For both of us," she adds, thoughtfully. "We're both always on the edge, aren't we."
Angel nodded, gone well into brood mode. "Yeah. We are. But we're not alone. Not anymore."
"Definitely not. How's the wolf you picked up?" she teases. "We're taking in strays again."
Angel considers that. "Erica's a little different. She's wounded too...fell in love with the wrong guy." Of course, Faith might well understand THAT idea! "And then she found another one. I think she had him borrow some of my clothes."
"She did. Hopefully we'll get them back." If not, things have vanished from Faith's wardrobe over the years.
Angel shrugged. "I can spare them. This is a help those in need business. And if Erica finds a fellow wolf wandering the streets, she's welcome to help him out." He's sure he can get more great dark and broody fashions from various San Fran clothing stores later.
"Everything but the jacket. Nobody borrows the jacket." Faith grins at Angel.
Angel halfsmiled. "I had a leather jacket once. I gave it away." Guess who the recipient of THAT might've been? "I know they're replaceable, but there's...something about leather jackets." Isn't there just. Good armor, too.
Angel nodded, "They are. Some types of medieval armor were made from leather. I wouldn't give one away to just anyone."
And Faith, of course, IS a biker. "So...nobody borrows the jacket." A grin at him. "I think I have..." She rummages, tugs out a beer. "Excuse me."
Well, at least she's drinking with him rather then at the bar. He'll consider that an upgrade. "Feel free." Angel seems relatively relaxed, despite being the massuese rather then the receiver.
And it's only beer, not something stronger. She cracks open the bottle, takes a swig. "Not bad." It's some local brew.
Angel almost feels like he should crack open a pint or something, but he's always been rather...embarassed to be seen drinking his particular beverage. Even if it's normal for him.
And if anyone wouldn't be bothered....but Faith shrugs, swigs a little bit more of her beer. "We're going to get that thing, right?" Definitely more relaxed.
Angel nods, "It's going down. Besides, we won't want to let it feed again. It's...not a pretty way to die."
Faith Lehane winces. "That's part of why I was so mad." She really doesn't like that particular demon.
Most demons do some variation of eating people or stealing their minds or whatever, but this one... "Anger's good. We need that. Just gotta make sure it goes in the right place."
"Yeah. The problem is when the place gets away." She makes a face.
Angel hates to say it, but, "That thing will feed nightly. So we'll have another shot at it tommorrow night." The trick is getting between it and potential victims.
Faith Lehane nods. "Do we know what kind of victims it looks for?" All business now.
Angel shakes his head, "It varies by individual. Even things like vampires, each individual is going to have his or her own preference on which neck to bite."
Faith Lehane nods. "That's going to make it hard to find, and it won't strike in the same place." They did bloody its nose, at least.
Angel thought about it. "But no matter who it attacks, it pobably lairs in the same place. If we can find it there...before it has a chance to hunt..."
Faith Lehane nods. "That's not a bad idea. If we can work out where that is. What kind of lair it needs..."
Angel halfsmiles, "Works for most creatures. Vampires often come in groups, and taking out the nest spares us the trouble of hunting them all down one by one. Still, it wasn't anything that could pass for human, so we'd be looking either underground or in abandoned areas for it."
Faith Lehane nods. "Great. Sewer diving." Faith makes a face.
Angel frowns. "Come to think of it...it didn't smell very good, did it?"
"It definitely smelled like sewer diving." She makes the face again. "Eh well."
Angel shrugs, "Well, that's another excuse for a really long shower?"
"I suppose." She makes a face. "I suppose we'd better make plans for that, then."
"Hmmm. I think Erica's got her new friend around. Shall we go meet him before we need seriously long showers?" Because it wouldn't be polite to meet new people after a sewer based monster hunt.
Faith Lehane nods. "Sure. Let's meet him. Wolf, she said, right?" Angel nods, "Yep, another wolf. Apparently NOT affiliated with Derek and Scott. So she picked up a packless wolf."
+-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-***-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
+===The Hyperion Hotel===
The lights are on, illuminating the area. The California-Spanish building known as the Hyperion Hotel was built in the 20s. Through the cast iron gates from the sidewalk is a small front courtyard with a rectangular fountain and a mythological figure holding a bowl from which water flows. Greenery frames the walls and a large set of glass double doors open into a high ceilinged lobby. Dark red carpet descends the four steps to the lobby floor and climb the two sets of stairways that lead to the second floor. The green marble floors are accented with wavy red inserts, as are the walls have a complimentary red border running their length. A set of doors identical to those of the entrance lead to a small enclosed garden. Cream-colored pillars line two sides of the room, holding up the second-floor balconies that look out onto the lobby and creating arches. Underneath one of them is a large plate glass window that looks into the hotel office - now used as the office and nerve center of Angel Investigations. Nearby, there's a wraparound counter with dark wood paneling and a top the same color as the floor. Behind it are filing cabinets and a pair of desks pushed together. A navy blue circular couch harkening back to a 50s design sits near the back of the lobby. A large wooden, glass-doored cabinet pushed up against the wall holds a large assortment of weapons. Outside, it's raining hard and the winds are strong.
The newest (and, as of yet, temporary) inhabitant of the Hyperion is just walking out of the elevator with Erica. Brian is dressed all in black, an outfit from among what Erica asked Angel to borrow. It's a little big on him. Emerging from the elevator, Brian looks around the lobby to see if anyone is around. He has yet to meet any of the building's other occupatns.
Erica is texting on her phone, casual in her jeans, sparkly golden tank top, and golden sandals. Blonde is loose over her shoulders, and she idly hooks some behind her ear. "What were you thinking about food? Hungry?" She asks Brian, still looking at her phone.
Angel arrives, coming out of Faith's room, as it turns out. "Hey Erica. Who's your new friend here?" Could be the one he was texted about, it might be someone else, but Angel's not going to make any assumptions.
Brian answers Erica, "Well, we did Chinese, and we did pizzza. We could just pick up some stuff and I could cook? I'm actually not bad in the kitchen." Hearing another voice though, snaps his attention around. He looks at Angel for a moment, getting his first impression of the man. Brian almost immediately offers his hand, "Brian. I'm the stray Erica brought home. You must be Angel. Wanted to thank you for the clothes."
Faith Lehane comes out of her room. "Sorry about that." She'd wanted to finish her beer before coming out in front of Erica, let's not tempt the kid to start...not nearly as young as Faith did. "Is this Erica's stray?" She glances up from her phone, before it gets tucked away in a pocket.
"Brian, this is Angel and Faith." There's a roll of her eyes at everyone calling him the stray. "Yes, this is the one you got clothes together for me for, Angel." She hooks her thumbs in her back pockets, just sort of... standing still. Odd for her, but none the less..
Angel shakes the offered hand, "You're welcome. I'm glad I could help, Brian." His hand's a little cool, and of course, he has no pulse. Still, it's a strong confident handshake. "So how'd you run into Erica, here?"
Brian's handshake is firm, but just a good handshake, not crushing. At the question from Angel, he glances to Erica, uncertain how much of his own story to share. But he knows she trusts these people, and after a few moments decides to take her lead. "Well.... funny story. I was kind of running from a cop at the time." Brian smooths a hand through his hair self-consciously, "He spotted me trying to steal dinner. Not proud of it, but you do what you have to to eat." He realizes belatedly what that comment might sound like given who he's talking to, and rushes on, "But yeah, so I'm running from this cop and Erica saw me jump a fense. Well, jump over a fence, actually. She saw my eyes do their thing, then I saw hers, and well, we pretty much had to go somewhere and talk at that point." Demonstrating what he means with the eyes, he lets his glow golden for a few moments as he speaks.
Faith Lehane nods. "On your own, then?" the woman asks. "Always a tough place to be." She too offers her hand to the wolf - unlike Angel, her scent is pretty much, well, human. Female. Nothing unusual here, right?
"And a bad place to be, as a wolf. He told me why he was on his own, and.." There's another roll of her eyes in Angel's direction. "He had heard of the Beacon Hills pack.. so I had to at least bring him home and feed him, let him clean up, that sort of thing. I'm still trying to get a hold of Derek and Scott. Can't let him walk into their territory without a heads up."
Angel considers this. "You want to join in under Scott and Derek then?" Hmmm. "Well, I've forged an alliance with them, since we work towards the same ends." The golden eyes are noted, he nods at that. "Gotta be careful about who sees the wolf. There's many people around who...take note of that kind of thing." As for stealing food, "Well, stealing food is better then the alternatives you had. It took a good deal of self control to limit yourself to that."
Brian gives Faith the same kind of firm handshake he gave Angel, and nods at her words, his eyes widening in an eloquent statement of extreme agreement. When Angel speaks, he considers the vampire's words, nodding at appropriate times, "I've always tried to be careful. I've been on my own almost since I was bit. Long story, there were hunters involved." Not even a glance at Faith, he doesn't know her story. He continues, "Spent a couple of months just up in the Rockies, learning to deal with myself before I trusted myself around people. But it wasn't safe to just show up back in my old life, so I kind of wandered around the northwest for a while until I heard about the pack down here."
"Well, I only hunt wolves if they do something to deserve it." A slight upwards twitch of Faith's lips, a shrug of her left shoulder. No, she doesn't deny being a hunter. Just one who's learned that there are more nuances to the world than Humans Good, Non-Humans Bad.
Erica tenses slightly... she might have totally left out anything about Faith while talking to Brian about the way things are set up here. "I don't know if you can set up a room for him to crash in, if he wants it, until Derek and Scott actually call me back. Ainsley's been working so much, I haven't had time to make introductions there." She shrugs, just a bit.
Angel says, "It's easy enough. I have a ton of rooms here, so I can set him up as long as needed." Though he figures Brian will eventually go to Beacon Hills in the long term, Angel can welcome him as long as needed.
The seemingly offhand comment by Faith gets a thoughtful look from Brian, "I will keep that in mind." Half jokingly he adds, "I'm hoping petty theft doesn't qualify as hunt-worthy?" He turns to Erica then and says, "You know, I more than half thought you were kidding about having hunters as allies." The decision from Angel gets a relieved nod, "Thanks again. I'm trying to see if I can find something off the books but otherwise legal. I don't plan on sponging off anyone. I like to carry my weight."
Faith Lehane shakes her head. "Nah. Besides, right now, I'm more worried about people eating demon monsters in the sewers." Sounds like she's not even joking.
Erica just arches a brow at him, and tips her head with a shrug. She doesn't bother to kid, not about this stuff. She won't mention the Argents for now, either. "I'm sure we can find something, figure something out. I appreciate the assist on the clothes, Angel."
"Hey, we're glad to help." As for people eating demons in the sewers, "Yeah, we're headed down shortly to take it out. Preferably before it gets a chance to eat anyone else." Off the books, but otherwise legal. "...would you two like to come along on a demon hunt?" Because it'd give the werewolves a chance to stretch their fangs. "Mind, it lives in sewers, so your noses will be very unhappy the whole time." Not to mention his! And Faith's! But hey, it's what they do.
Brian starts to laugh at Faith's comment before he realizes it isn't a joke. Then he gets an odd, somewhat stunned expression on his face. "Wait, seriously? A demon?" He considers the offer from Angel when it's made, "Well, I freely admit I don't know a thing about demons, but I do know a thing or two about hunting, and I've gone toe to toe with a grizzly and won. If this thing's seriously eating people, it needs killing. If you think I can help, I'm in."
"Of course I'll come. Let me change my clothes though, to something I don't care about for wading through the sewer." There's a faint wrinkle of her nose.