15392/Picking up where we left off..

Picking up where we left off..
Date of Scene:	29 July 2023
Location:	The Blue Lady, Fort Joseph
Synopsis:	Faith catches up with Nick and Thomas and inquires about the whereabouts of a legendary weapon..
Cast of Characters:	Faith Lehane, Phantasm (Drago), Thomas Raith
Tinyplot:	Open Door

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Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>It's early evening at The Blue lady and business as usual. A jazz group is getting ready for tonight's gig although Thomas is nowhere to be seen yet. Perhaps that's a good thing as he apparently allowed some deranged wind spirit stuck in a skull to go out on the town in his body in exchange for helping him to free Faith from a petrification spell, or so the rumours go.\<br\>\<br\>But of course Faith couldn't avoid him forever, so she's back at The Lady, scoping out the place, checking in to see if the possession spell wore off yet..It's been a few days but magic tends to mess with her head, so she's maybe lost a couple days of time, peering around, searching for a table and a drink.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>Sometimes it is hard to keep track of time. Life generally ends up being a combination of crashing exhausted into bed and dealing with the events that cause for the exasperated cries of 'What now?'. The cycle can last for awhile to where when one does get presented with a peaceful day they come up for air, look around and realize it's been months or even years without speaking to someone. \<br\>\<br\>Nick had some experience with that and he's made some effort to talk to some of them. Which may explain what he's doing sitting at the bar of the Blue Lady, apparently not here as part of the entertainment this time.

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane finally finds a seat at the bar and orders a Jagermeister as she watches the musicians getting all set up and ready for their show in a little while from now. As she idly listens to the conversation, she notices a somewhat familiar face among a sea of strangers and smirks, taking a sip from her bottle before waving to him.\<br\>\<br\>"Yo, Nick, how you been? Seems like ages since I saw you last in here!" wait, has she ever seen him in here before? Realky, she doesn't know him too well but he's Thomas' friend and he seems pretty chill.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>The musician seemed relaxed. Or as relaxed one can be when they're occasionally glancing to the mirror to the back of the bar. Hearing his name but not in the general tone of voice he was expecting, pale eyes shift to look to Faith's approaching reflection.\<br\>\<br\>"Hey Faith." Nick greets, giving a small smile. His head turns to look to the slayer more directly. "It's been about what? Two months ago? McNally's... I think."\<br\>\<br\>He glances back to his drink. "I...had good reason to avoid the club. But, I think that reason got resolved so. Here I am."

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane chuckles and nods, "Riight, that crazy superstitious hangout. Dunno why Harry's nuts about it." she pats the seat next to her, "Why don't you join me and you can buy me a drink? Maybe tell me a few of Thomas' best kept secrets, hmm?" she grins wickedly as she says that, clearly unashamed of prying into Thomas' private life.\<br\>\<br\>His mention of avoiding the club causes her to frown. "Oh yeah? I'm sure Thomas missed you. Aren't you like, a musician or something? I'm sure he'd love for you to play here some time.."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>"Well... Even the powerful need safe places where they can relax." Nick comments, "Also those sandwiches are amazing and worth the trip alone."\<br\>\<br\>The performer glances to the seat being patted on and debates for a moment having already been comfortably seated at his spot on the bar. With a slight grumble, he takes the glass and slides over the extra space to close the gap between the pair. A glance is given up to the mirror once more before he settles down. "Well, it wasn't the club that was the problem. It was more-" Nick pauses, considering how to explain things. "...Bad people, bad things, targeting friends and family. And until the situation got resolved I didn't want to risk another target getting painted on your backs."

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane arches a curious brow at him, all questions, "Bad people after you? The hell would be after you an' why?" she does wave the bartender down and orders one of the more popular beers for Nick before taking another sip of her drink...Hopefully he likes beer? "I mean, sounds pretty intense, but you're safe now?" she doesn't generally give a Damn about anyone but herself, but he's a friend of Thomas' so maybe she is a bit friendlier for that reason.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>"I wouldn't have come here so directly if we didn't think it got resolved." Nick responds. "...It's complicated. But uh, someone else found out a couple things regarding my parents and I guess those responsible for the problems panicked and... well things kind of snowballed, more shit got dug up and then there was this whole investigation thing that required me to lay low." \<br\>\<br\>Nick pauses as another glass of beer is set before him. Looking between the two glases, he ponders for a moment before shrugging and working to down the one he had been working on.

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane frowns, "Geez, sounds pretty messed up, but good to know you're safe now.." she chuckles, "Of course I'm no stranger to trouble..Few years back, my first watcher was brutally tortured and murdered in front of my eyes, then the vamps who did the deed tracked me down to another city to finish the job. I mean, I'm so over that Kakistos bastard now but for a while there it was pretty touch and go for a while there.."\<br\>\<br\>She grins, "But I'm pretty tough, looks like you can handle yourself too..By the way, have you seen Thomas around in the last couple of days? Figured he'd be back here by now..Yknow,after he made some crazy ass deal with that talking skull guy to de-petrify me in exchange for gettin' to possess him for a day or however long he agreed to, the fool.."\<br\>\<br\>Faith seems equal parts annoyed, and amused.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>When Faith mentions the watcher's death and the attempt on her life, the performer starts to open his mouth but pauses. Instead he goes back to drinking his beer. \<br\>\<br\>Nick sets down the emptied glass. The question regarding Thomas's whereabouts does give a bit more of a pause. "No. Last time I saw him was when we went out for drinks earlier this month. Actually the reason I swung by tonight was to say hi to him before I start traveling." His hand moves over to the other glass of beer. "...Talking skull guy?"

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane smirks, "Oh yeah, it's like..Uh.." wait, is Bob supposed to be a secret? Faith is really terrible with secrets but. "Ok well the point is, there are some strange things goin' on and if you're travelling, you'd better be careful. A few weeks ago, I had a creepy dream about a big shadowy..Thing trying to eat cattle or some shit.." actually she forgets the details beyond a field with sheep or cows or something and the giant shadowy monster.\<br\>\<br\>"And the other day, some giant freakish looking cross between a rooster, a snake and a dragon wrecked havok around Darlington park. We managed to wound it enough to scare it away but it's still out there somewhere, and oh yeah, it turned me to stone. Who knows how many others it turned to stone?" \<br\>\<br\>She takes a long sip of her strong drink then and somehow doesn't even cough on the strong stuff, "Probably not the best time to be out and travelling, at least til we can ramp up our game, but I tell ya, I really think we need a stronger weapon to beat these new threats.." she frowns at a thought shaking her head.\<br\>\<br\>"Funny, I had a dream about some kinda powerful weapon a while back, an' I remember Buffy mentioning some kinda scythe thing but.." well she was often cut out of Scooby stuff so things are vague and fuzzy..

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>Nick looks over to Faith to the warning of the weird things going on, brow rising. "Faith." He comments, voice lowered to where only she may hear, "I literally turn into the stuff of dreams and dream walk. I've played piano at a club run by Thomas and headlined at a club owned by Lucifer Morningstar, I just recently found out that a vampire character from that movie I was in was based off an actual vampire and got to meet his displeased ass before he dusted himself in the sunlight. I've time travelled, been to space on a few occasions, helped to stop an alien invasion, and to top it off, hung out with you guys. I'm aware there's strange things going on. But the key thing here is... I've been stuck shifted from safehouse to safehouse and I'm. Done. With. Staying. Put."\<br\>\<br\>The glass is lifted. "Guess she never got around to asking for the scythe after it got confiscated." He takes a sip.

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane pauses mid sip as Nick describes some-of his crazier-than-her-ass adventures and she nearly chokes this time. "What the hell! You shittn' me? You seriously met and done all that crazy ass shit?! That freaking awesome! And I had nooo idea you could do half that stuff."\<br\>\<br\>She laughs, turning around to face him fully now, giving him a long look up and down. "Well Geez, guess I sure underestimated you, didn't I.." she smirks, and now she really needs another long drink.\<br\>\<br\>"Okay, I get it, I mean, I thought my life was pretty crazy but guess you got me beat there, if I were in your shoes, I'd sure want a major vacation too.."\<br\>\<br\>Beat.\<br\>\<br\>"Wait what?! You mean this M-Scythe whatever, is real? And Buffy knew about it but didn't bother to tell me about it?!" she slams the table with her fist, causing the table to quiver a bit. "Go figure, but..If we could get our hands on it...Wait what, confiscated you say?! By who? Why??"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>Nick glances aside and gives a shrug as Faith expresses her disbelief. "The time travel thing wasn't of my doing." He adds in, lest Faith get any ideas about that particular note, "And I would not recommend it. And yes. Kind of a result of my problems overlapping with hers. But...While a friend was helping me figure out that snowballed problem, Buffy called asking for help and well, he tagged along. It was going to be an off the books thing for him but Buffy got hurt, things got out of hand, and so he had to call it in. It's in SHIELD custody now."

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane frowns in annoyance. "SHIELD? The hell?! You mean that super secret, super paranoid private organization like the Men in Black or something that has maximum security measures and makes sure they can't be traced?! The hell am I supposed to get something like that back from them? And from all I've read and learned in my visions, it's pretty useless unless a Slayer can free it from that chunk of rock anyway.." she sighs, rubbing her eyes. So much for that idea.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>Nick nods, "Well, I guess if you have a very GOOD reason you could ask nicely." He sets the glass down on the bar. "So. If you did have a means of doing that, what are the reasons for wanting the scythe?"

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane groans, setting her glass down a bit too roughly but at least she's trying to not shake the bar table so much this time. "Seriously? I ain't so good at 'nice', isn't that what you got Buffy for?" she frowns, rubbing her temples, "Well let's see..Like I said, got a vision of a powerful unbeatable monster rampaging in some wilderness somewhere..Plus we got a raging cockatrice loose in Sunnydale somewhere, probably turning other people to stone by now too. We managed to put a dent in it an' clipped its wings after a lot of beatin' around the bush, but this ain't no five by five, Yknow what I'm saying? We *need* that weapon, or more innocents will get hurt, and only a Slayer can use it so that's a thing too.l"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>Nick nods. "Ok. So what you're saying is that if that scythe were turned over to you or Buffy and either of you lost it. Then it'd be unusable by anyone else who may find it?"

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane hmms, "Something like that, although I dunno all the specifics. I think it has magical powers which can be unlocked with an experienced witch or some thing, but as a powerful weapon, it's just a regular weapon in anyone else's hands I imagine Buffy and them would lock up someplace safe of course."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>"Of course," Nick agrees, regarding it being locked up. "I assume you would keep it safe if you had it. But they would want to know what would happen with it if it were to leave your possession. Worst Case Scenarios. Risk assessment, that type of stuff. If the special aspects of it is that highly restricted, that's likely in your favor."

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane chuckles, "Of course, I think the Magic Box has safety measures in place, wards and stuff, protected by Giles and Willow, and the other Scoobies. At least the restricted area has wards I think. So it's not just one person that would protect it but all of us. I'm sure the list of people with access to it would be pretty short too, the Slayers, the Watchers. probably Willow too." she shrugs, "Honestly it's in better hands with us than with people who don't even know how to use it y'know?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>Nick frowns to the comment. "...They actually have a magic division." The musician comments, promptly picking up his beer to take a long sip. "I think their concern would be on whether or not those capable of using it would use it for the right reasons. So that's the argument that should be used most likely."

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane sighs, "I mean, that weapon, from what little I know, was BUILT by those who created the Slayers, to be used BY the Slayers. So technically it's our freakin' property to begin with. Wasn't Buffy the one who found it in the first place? Technically SHIELD stole it from us." she smirks. "If they do their homework, they'll know that too, or they should."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>"I don't think it ever came to Buffy's possession." Nick comments, "She got hurt. So as far as I can tell the scythe was in the possession of vampires when SHIELD got a hold of it. So...No. They didn't steal it from you. And if that's the argument you want to use I have a strong feeling you won't like the response." \<br\>\<br\>Nick stares at the glass, watching as a droplet of condensation flows down the side of the glass. He sighs, "...I'll go talk to who I know for you. I make no promises but I think I might get further than you."

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>"Geez, if I were there I wouldn't have let just any random guy pick up such an important weapon. Clearly the vamps stole it from us." but then again if it were up to Faith, she'd just stalk in there, demanding and threatening to have it back if they did not comply. \<br\>\<br\>"So, you got friends in SHIELD too, huh?" she smirks, "You sure get around, but if you can convince them that there's a raging monster running around petrifying people and the only way to stop it is with a special weapon that can only be used by a select few people, maybe you'd have better luck."\<br\>\<br\>She grins and winks, "I'd appreciate it."

Thomas Raith has posed:\<br\>Thomas Raith has a certain mystique he tries to maintain in the Club. Always the White suit. Always put together... Apparently he forgot that second part. While the white suit is there he looks like he is coming down the wrong side of a three day bender... Crush stops him at the exit to his office and they speak in whispers for a moment...before he finally lets his boss pass and Thomas heads over to join Faith and Nick, muttering "Is it always this loud in here?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>"Barnes is not just ANY random guy." Nick responds, looking over at Faith, "Once he knew what he was dealing with he was taking out vamps left and right. But yeah. I'll see what I can do." \<br\>\<br\>Seeing the less than pristine club owner come in, pale eyes blink to the sight. "Oh geez. Skull guy did a number on you, huh?"

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane grimaces and shrugs, "Sure, if you say so." she takes another sip of her strong drink. "I mean, I guess you know these guys better than I do. Want another round..?" and then she spies a rather roughed up looking Thomas and she can already guess what's got him bothered.\<br\>\<br\>"Heh, Bob was pretty rough on you, wasn't he?" she actually frowns at a sudden thought. "What exactly DID he do to you? Or do I want to know?" she can already imagine, given what a lech the Skull Guy is.\<br\>\<br\>"Seriously, was it all worth it..?"

Thomas Raith has posed:\<br\>Even Yosa, who notoriously relishes in Thomas's discomfort at any given situation seems to wince at the sight of his boss. Before Thomas can even ask for anything, he pulls out a car of pickles, pours a highball glass full of the juice and slides it over. Thomas looks at the one-eyed barman questioninly. Yosa looks stoic. Thomas drains the glass. He nearly gags, but Yosa seems to approve, then handing Thomas his Iced tea decanter. Finally Thomas says "Made the deal at six hours till sunrise. Managed to avoid him for two hours... but then he caught up with me..." He shakes his head. "He found a bachlorette party... I think the wedding is off.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:\<br\>"Nah. I think this will be it for me." Nick comments, studying Thomas's actions, "There's enough alcohol induced pain going on right there. I don't need to be running towards that."\<br\>\<br\> He holds up his own glass, finishing off the contents of that glass rather easily. Once Nick sets the glass down he looks back to Thomas. "Sounds like a wild night. How long were you guys at it?"

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane grimaces again, shaking her head as she tries to figure out the words. But she's never been one for words. "I mean, that's the kind of thing you people do all the time, I'd think you would enjoy it.." her tone might seem the slightest but bitter..But she's definitely not jealous! Why would she be?

Thomas Raith has posed:\<br\>Thomas Raith shakes his head slightly, "It's like... Okay, you've been drinking top shelf for months and months... and then you go on a bender of Wild Turkey... which incidentally he also did." He says making a face. Still he smiles, "But yeah it was worth it. We got you back to normal from the Poultry-giest right? That was worth whatever price the Bone head wanted...

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane frowns, "Youre kidding me right? You..You would really willingly make a stupid crazy sacrifice like that for me? That's just insane.." she seems confused, taken aback by that, maybe because she's not used to anyone sticking their neck out for her. And it's enough for her to need another refill and a long drink at that. "Guess you're full of surprises still, aren't you.."

Thomas Raith has posed:\<br\>Thomas Raith shrugs, and says "You'd do the same for me." It's not a question. It's a statement of fact. Said with the same tone as he might have said that water is wet and fire is hot. He might not have said it if not for the hangover, but right now his filter is fritzed. He honestly and fully believes that yes, Faith would have done the same or more for him if it had been him.

Faith Lehane has posed:\<br\>Faith Lehane frowns still, nodding slowly, "Yeah, I guess I would, heh, fancy that, me stickin my neck out for someone other than number one.." she peers at him thoughtfully, "So, guess you're pretty well fed for the next week or so, at least?"

Thomas Raith has posed:\<br\>Thomas Raith chuckles a little bit, "You'd think so wouldn't you?" He shakes his head slightly, "Thing is, I wouldn't let him feed. He was able to use my Hunger to whip them into a Frenzy, but it was too dangerious to allow him to actually feed. So I am /starving./"