milliways_bar | (no subject)

Faith shakes her head. "I only saw him die the once, that was...they're not even in the bar, and I think it has to be symbolic. My old Watchers...do you know what Watchers are?"

Asar-Suti shakes his head. "No, I haven't heard of them in connection with your world; David's tradition has those people that call themselves Watchers, from a secret society called the Talamasca, but that's probably different. What are your Watchers?"

"It goes back to the people who created the first Slayer...these guys chained a girl to the earth and tied a demon to her so she could fight the evil. they and their descendants were supposed to be responsible for watching out for the Slayer, protecting her, training her...but somewhere down the line it became more about controlling her." Faith sighs. "Giles and Wesley though, the ones I had, they're all right. They wouldn't...I think they had to be symbolic."

"It does sound like a very evil way of fighting evil," Asar-Suti says, making a face. Not to say a very inane way - but he does not, indeed, say so. "Forcing sombody unwilingly to her destiny, that sort of thing, and controlling her by means of general Watcher-dom."

They sound like cowards that are afraid of fighting their own evil, and send young girls to kill vampires instead.

"So you dreamt your watchers killed Nick and forced you to watch that?"

"And stabbed me in the chest," Faith says, nodding. "Yeah. But then I had another dream where...well, somebody here cut my throat open. And another, totally different somebody staked me, in yet another dream. So I honestly don't know which way I'm going to die. Especially when you add the dream where I was a vampire, much as I hate to think about it...no offesne to the vamps here, but the ones in my world, by and large, aren't so pleasant."

"Apart from the one who is, as you said."

Asar-Suti looks at her, quite serious.

"I may be wrong, I may be too logical, and I certainly utterly lack the empathy that Esk or Aidan have when dealing with such things, but for me, those dreams make sense. They rhyme, gel, and deliver a clear message."

He doesn't go on - he wants her assent before he inflicts his theory on her.

"People keep telling me that I can't save everybody," Faith says thoughtfully. "In the dreams. That's the only real message I'm getting...some outside input would be much appreciated."

"No, take the whole and draw a mental line through it. At home, you're a slayer. In those dreams, you're a vampire, you're staked, you're stabbed, you're killed, your vampire friend is killed, and it's your watchers that are doing it. Sounds rather obvious to me."

Asar-Suti shrugs.

"You said 'control'? You said the first of them made the first of you to fight their evil for them? You're here, Bound, out of their control? They will want you back. They might be working on getting you back. Either the dreams are messages from them, trying to blackmail you back to your 'duty' - not that you can, because, Bound and all that - or the dreams are warnings that they are working on getting here and reclaim you. If not Giles and Wesley, whoever they might be, then other Watchers? The organisation that hands down their tradition? Having a Slayer go AWOL and make friends with vampires must be utter catastrophe to them. They must be after you in some way."

Asar-Suti doesn't like the idea of those Watchers at all, even if Faith says those that she had were all right. Shady figures sending out young girls to kill nice vampires - ugh! A bunch of prejudiced cowards and self-righteous vigilantes, as far as the former Dark God is concerned.

Faith sighs. "That's actually the one thing it can't be," she says, shaking her head. "The Watcher's Council was blown up not long ago. There are very few of them left alive, and none of them are likely to have the power and resources to reach me here."

"Watcher Council sounds bad - I wouldn't discount it. BLow them up, and they keep crawling back from who-knows-where. Secret Societies and all that, ugh!"

Asar-Suti shudders. What an awful world she comes from. The idea is inane, and the execution is cruel.

"Whoever is left must be desparate to get their hands on a Slayer and start out again," he adds. "I said I might be wrong, but keep it in mind, as a possibility. The 'one explanation that is impossible' often turns out to be the truth; the one with the most obvious alibi is the murderer while the one with the most obvious motives is innocent. Narrative causality; it applies to all of us here."

Faith tilts her head slightly, acknowledging the point. "True. And I will keep it in mind, thank you. I...have the feeling, though, as much as I'd like not to, that Nick is the target, not me." She sighs. "I would rather think it was me, frankly."

"You must take your emotional disposition into account, and his. You're both people whose first priority is watching out for others, people who take their chosen duty very serious. Of course you worry about him more than anything, and he will worry about you, in this whole business. Altruism is fine, but it can be cruelly exploited - the worst I ever felt since I came here was when somebody I desparately loved was hurt solely on my account, as it seemed at the time - it all made sense since then, but still, as long as he was suffering and in danger, I didn't dare do a thing. If the person who did it had been actually evil, they could have got me to do whatever they wanted. Whatever. Anybody who knows you at all well will realise that they can get at you through Nick, that way. My question might sound insulting to you, but has any of your Watchers ever come here?"

"Not to my knowledge," Faith says, temporarily ignoring the rest of that in order to answer the question. "But just because I don't know they have doesn't mean they haven't."

Asar-Suti nods.

"So if they have, they might know, disapprove, and exploit your friendship with Nick to bring you back under their control, the way I explained?"

He shrugs, and sighs. "I don't claim it's the truth or anything - just keep your eyes on the possibility while still doing the things that seem more obvious to you, like being protective of Nick. If you can ever use the help of somebody who can smite goddishly or visit purple burnination upon your foes, don't hesitate to count me in."

Vigilantes who hate vampires, who might harm Nick Knight, nice fellow in and of himself and most importantly (for Asar-Suti's mental network map of the people around him) the lover of Alex of Tirragen who'd utterly lose it if anything happened to Nick - Asar-Suti firmly knows what side he is on, and is ready to prove that if needed.

Faith nods, thoughtfully. "Yeah." She snorts. "Of course, they also might just be coming after me, if they are, because I'm kind of a loose cannon...I did some bad things, ended up in prison for it...it might have nothing to do with Nick, but...there's other things, outside of my dreams, that when you add it up, it points to, well, Nick being involved. Somehow."

"What other things outside your dreams - and he would be involved if they threatened him, wouldn't he?"

Then Asar-Suti suddenly perks up, distracted utterly.

"There is Richard (http://www.livejournal.com/community/milliways_bar/3609697.html)!!" he exclaims. "Turn around; the fellow behind the bar, that is Richard!"

[[OOC: can you go on that thread first? Then AS follows to introduce Faith, and then he goes conjure more dowels - as his mun needs to go home from work soon.]]

"It's kind of complicated..." Faith trails off, turning around. "Oh! Good! I'll go talk to him then, thanks for your help!"

((OOC: She can introduce herself, if you need to go home.))