milliways_bar | (no subject)

"It looks like a very fascinating combination," Asar-Suti answers, trying to be tactful.

Unfortunately, he's not good at tactful. Some people claim he's complete rubbish at tactful.

"What's the stuff in the tin; it smells odd?" he adds, meaning the Red Bull.

Faith snickers. "You can say it looks awful, I'm hard to offend," she says cheerfully. "And the stuff in the tin is called Red Bull. It's a drink, gives you energy."

"Well, let's settle for 'it looks like something I would never eat in that combination', how about that?" Asar-Suti concedes, grinning. "But I was under the impression that all food is meant to give you energy? You know, that's what having a metabolism is all about."

Asar-Suti shrugs; he doesn't exactly have one.

"Yeah, but this gives you more energy than most kinds," Faith says, tapping the can. "Like coffee or tea, kinda."

She sticks her hand out for him to shake, grinning. "Hi. I'm Faith."

Asar-Suti takes her hand and shakes it with a surprised expression on his face. "Oh, so you are Faith! I've talked to many people who know you, recently. It's great to finally meet you in person. I'm Asar-Suti, and I'm a god of magic; I used to be evil, but then I came here."

He eyes the Red Bull again. "I'd rather have coffee, to be honest - why does it have to smell so evil?"

"It's nice to meet you too," Faith says, eyeing him. "Who've you talked to about me, then?"

She snorts, picking up the can and draining it. "Probably 'cause it is a little evil," she says, shrugging. "Not evil enough to stop me drinking it, though."

"Hmmmm - I talked to Connor, who said you had nightmares, then to Flash, who mentioned you in connection with that demon thing, then Gil mentioned looking for you, and I think people on the building site mentioned you at some point, too. Good luck you eat such odd things so I felt tempted to talk to you."

He looks at the can of Red Bull again. "Why does it come in such small tins, though, and what does it have that coffee or Pepsi doesn't?"

Faith tilts her head at him, eyebrows raised. "Who's Gil? And why was he looking for me?"

She honestly doesn't know the answer to that first question, so she ignores it. "I like variety," she replies in answer to the second, with a shrug. "A change now and then. 'S all."

"Gil's the cook, and, erm, my lover - he said that Richard was supposed to be looking for you, but hadn't found you, and he was worried about that; he wasn't very specific. Well, here you are, and definitely not lost - so if I see either Richard or Gil, I can tell them you have been sighted. I haven't a clue what this is all about," Asar-Suti adds, cheerfully.

Asar-Suti takes the empty can of Red Bull and scribbles something on it with his finger; there is a purple fizzle where his finger was, and then he holds two cans, one empty, one full.

"Thanks," he says, returning the empty tin; he then opens the other one, wrinkles his nose, takes a sip, and makes a face.

"Vile!" he declares. "It does have a certain kick, though." He reads what's printed on the tin. "Huh! They make that from actual bull's balls?"

"You know Richard?" Faith sags, relieved. "Thank fuck, I've been going nuts worrying...I have something for him, and I didn't know who he was or where or anything and it's really important for him to get it."

She snorts, softly. "No, it's not actually made from any part of a bull that I'm aware of."

"Oh good; the idea that anyone was drinking liquefied extracts of what is left over when young bull calfs are made steers for fattening is slightly worrying," Asar-Suti says, wrinkling his nose and taking another sip of Red Bull. "And the ingredient named 'taurine' led me to believe the worst..."

Then, he grows serious again. "A good thing I came and talked to you, then; I know Richard indeed. He's the barkeeper who works the breakfast shift; as I know his routine, he'll come on in about three or four hours, put on an apron, stand behind the bar and serve people. If I'm around I can introduce you; if not, he won't be difficult to recognise at all. But why would my dear Gil know that Richard should be looking for you while you are looking for him at the same time without knowing him at all? Very mysterious. Is it anything to do with the werewolf bite?"

"I don't know why Richard's looking for me, though I can assume it's because he was told...I have a dose of the antidote that'll stop him from changing," Faith explains. "Van Helsing gave it to me, and I told him I would find Richard, but I didn't even know his name at the time, only that he worked here, and when I found out who he was, he wasn't here. And then...other stuff came up...and I guess I got distracted." Faith's expression is very apologetic.

"Gil actually said something about him telling Richard to look for you, which sounded odd, as neither knows you; if you have the antidote that will help Richard not to be forcibly transformed into a monster, that is very good news!" Asar-Suti disapproves of inflicting magic transformations on people against their will; that's what you do when you're evil, and he no longer is. "His full name is Richard Mayhew, and if you just hang around for a few more hours, you'll be sure to catch him - if I see him first, I will drag you over, but I might get called away if the building site runs out of laths, screws, dowels or sheetrock - I conjure materials for the staff quarter expansion."

Asar-Suti takes another sip of the Red Bull. No bulls' balls. All right. He so isn't doing an analytic rune on this, though.

"I'm Bound," Faith says. "I'll be here for a while." she grins. "I'm so glad I know who he is now. I was...if he'd changed because I didn't get it to him on time..." She sighs. "I'm supposed to protect people, and I've had rather enough of failing at my job, these days."

"Bound, hmmm? Are you dead?"

Tactless. As we know.

"Protect people - are you with security?" Gil had said something about Faith being 'dangerous to know', though?

"I'm not dead, no. Just bound. And yeah, I'm with Security." Faith shrugs. "Didn't mean just that, though. In my world, I'm a Vampire Slayer. Chosen by...somebody or other...to protect the world from vamps and demons and other nasties. Leaves a girl with a sense of responsibility."

"Oh, you are from that" - Supremely silly? No. Infinitely weird? No. - "specialised and interesting version of Earth where teenage girls have to hunt and kill vampires? I must admit I quite like vampires; I know Nick and David and Armand and Lestat and Louis and that snarky old one, what's his name again? I'd rather you didn't slay them, actually."

He then smiles a wry little smile. "Armand is Richard's lover, actually, and he somtimes takes him along, fast asleep, for his shift, so please don't harm him when you bring Richard the antidote. I'm sure he'd rather be turned into a wolf than do without Armand."

If slaying vmapires is something she does by nature, the way Loki does Tricks, not her own choice, really, then she might be dangerous to Armand without meaning to be?

"Oh, I don't Slay here," Faith assures him quickly. "I've got a few friends here who are vampires...I don't know David or Armand...or Lestat, or Louis...but I know Nick very well, I'm...very fond of him. I don't Slay indiscriminately, even my world there's one vampire who's not evil who I'm friends with, and there's demons I don't kill too."

"Oh, good. Nick's a very nice fellow; I haven't met him all that often, but I like him a lot. He's very helpful, sincere and honest, and fun to talk to, unless you happen to touch a point that sets him off," Asar-Suti says. "So, if you're not danger to Armand, I am sure Richard will be extremely happy to see you."

He sips the Red Bull again; the vile sweet taste pervades everything. Perhaps you have to eat sausages and pop-tarts with it to combat that effect?

"Nick was the first person who ever said 'I love you' to me," Faith says quietly. "21 years old, and I'd never heard it until...he's been a good friend. I have managed to make him mad, but that was deliberate and for his own good." She smiles. "Short version, I promise not to try and kill any of the vamps here, unless one tries to kill me first."

"Why would nobody love you for the first 21 years of your life - that is not a good way to grow up," Asar-Suti says, his perkiness instantly replaced with genuine compassion.

He's a pushover for emotional woes, always has been, even when he was evil, which proved his undoing, back at home on his world...

He hopes Connor does say those three words to her occasionally, though.

"I accidentatlly managed to make Nick go all angsty and withdrawn once, upon which two people who hate my guts anyway saw fit to interfere and 'rescue' him from me, which gives me two very good reasons never to want to make Nick mad again - one, more importantly, because I like Nick and was very sorry to have scared him, and then also because if these people catch me 'bothering that same poor man again' - as they must see it - several sorts of unlawful events might follow, as they're quite powerful, but so am I when I have nothing to lose."

"Eh, my mother was...well, she liked the alcohol. And the 'smacking Faith around.'" She shrugs. "I hear it now, from Nick and from Connor, so."

She winces. "Yeah, I've done that too. Recently. It was...uhm. Bad. But he forgave me, and we're good now, thankfully."

"Yes, he forgave me as well. Actually, he started out by apologising for going odd at me. I hope I get on with him from now on; I got on well with him yesterday, in any case."

For the sad childhood, he has a bowed head and downcast eyes that blaze with sympathy. Asar-Suti has been quite eveil at times, but the pointless hurting of innocents has never made sense to him.

Faith nods. "Yeah, he has that habit of feeling guilty about stuff...see, uh, I don't know how much you know about Slayers, but we have Prophetic dreams, and I had one about his past, where I was inside one of his victims. It...freaked me out, and I reacted badly."

"Connor mentioned the dreams, and that they're prophetic - such things happened a lot on the world where I came from, too."

Meaning to say, Asar-Suti has no difficulties to believe that the dreams tell the truth, and that's the end of matters.

"I can guess how that would positively drive poor Nick into paroxysms of guilt, sliding from despondency downwards," he adds, nodding and sighing. Oh those complicated vampires; somehow you love them a lot, though.