15775/Open Door: The Scythe in the Stone

Open Door: The Scythe in the Stone
Date of Scene:	05 November 2023
Location:	The Magic Box, Sunnydale
Synopsis:	The scythe in the stone.
Cast of Characters:	Faith Lehane, Thomas Raith, Harry Dresden, Satana, Buffy Summers
Tinyplot:	Open Door

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Faith Lehane has posed:
The Magic Box is getting ready to close, but members of the Scoobies and Paranet are starting to come out of the woodwork after Faith sent out a message about a 'Scythe in the stone'. Of course such and ancient, powerful and potentially dangerous magical artefact on par with the legendary Excalibur itself, is bound to attract all sorts of other trouble.

Which is why Faith strides in, hoping that someone got her mass message.

For now, the m? Scythe is safely sealed in a big chunk of rock, it's power largely sealed away and locked up in the restricted section upstairs. No doubt the Magic Box, a public place will need to get its wards beefed up, or at least the restricted section, which is probably why this meeting is so important.

As she waits, Faith casually slips into a chair on the main floor, kicking her feet up on the table and pops open a can of beer..

If Buffy we're here she'd likely have a fit..

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith is sitting much the same way, eating chow mein out of a carton with chopsticks. "What all I am saying is that I think Kaylee is cuter. I mean Inara is sexy and all, but you have to admit Kaylee had that cute sweetness, while being just wicked enough to get you with your gaurd down." He glances to where the scythe is and adds, "Slayers and your sharp pointy toys.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry makes his way into the Magic Box, catching the last of Thomas' comment. He shakes his head and laughs softly,"Who would have thought? My brother the degenerate prefers the Earth mother character to the tawdry woman on the night. What will the neighbors say?"

Satana has posed:
The next arrival steps in from nowhere. Having heard Faith's message using her own network of listeners, she projects herself astrally first, to step into the store and see who's there before revealing herself.

Harry. Check. Thomas. Check. Faith ...

Satana purses her astral lips and shrugs. Faith doesn't like her for some reason, but that's on her, right? Time to be a show-off.

Eldritch syllables drip from both sets of lips: the astral form in the shop and the physical form in Boston. This is a tricky thing, but very impressive to those in the know.

Step 1: Her physical body teleports into the shop in a showy puff of oily, sulfur-tinged smoke that vanishes in an instant, leaving her body standing there. The body that doesn't have her spirit in it, yet.

But of course she's ready for it and the astral form steps into the body and brings it to life before it can collapse to the floor.

The result is a very small catching step and Satana is in the shop, live and in the flesh. "Hello, darlings! Did you miss me?!" she asks with a face full of mischief.

And 'in the flesh' is very literal. She'd forgotten to dress her body before showing up.

"So what's the call for?"

She still hasn't noticed.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane rolls her eyes at Thomas, reaching over to steal some of his chow mein with her fingers. "Well Geez Thomas, if you think she's so sexy why don't you sleep with her?" she makes a face, finishing the rest of her beer. "Soo, anyone else coming or just the two of us?"

Then Harry enters, and she smirks, waving to him, "Yo Harry, wassup? Glad you could make it.." And then...Satana just..Sort of pops in out of nowhere and Faith's eyes narrow, jumping to her feet and pulling out her stake instinctively.

"The hell? Satana? Jeez, you trying to give me a freaking heart attack? Do you not know how to use a freaking door?"

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith smirks a little bit at his brother. "I grew up in Silverlight Manner don't forget. Tawdry woman on the night were always around me. They made me sandwhiches and read me bedtime stories. they never had much appeal." adding to Faith, "Married, unfortunately. And apparently happily so, more is the pity..." Which is when Satana...and just Satana... appears. "Hello there cousin... My brother was just talking about you."

Harry Dresden has posed:
The sound of a new arrival gets a reaction of his shield bracelet falling in place. Once Harry confirms the face, Harry relaxes...until he confirms the rest. He shakes his head,"Next time I want a peep show I will make sure to say that outloud again."

Satana has posed:
"I'm not 'tawdry', Mr. Raith," Satana says archly. "I did listen in a bit before showing up..."

'Subtle' warning to Thomas: she can do that.

"It sounded interesting," she continues, "so I thought I'd come in person, so to speak."

Faith gets a wink. "I did use the door. I just needed to bring my body too."

Then the amber eyes turn Harry's way and Satana's face lights up in a smile. "Harry! So nice to see you again! Sorry if I startled you." It comes as no surprise to anybody, likely, that she shows absolutely no sign of being sorry. Indeed seems more amused. "And peep show? You sent that kind of a message that loudly that even my most idiotic of minions could follow along ... to advertise a peep show?"

That last pointed again at Faith.

"10 out of 10 for style! I quite like it. Who are we scrying on? Do tell me it's Jude Law and whatever prostitute he's hired this week?"

She still hasn't noticed. No.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane just smirks at Thomas about to say something more..When she takes a double take at the apparently naked woman. And smirks, "So what, you're here to decide Thomas too? Seriously, talk about desperate..I guess you really *are*another white court vampire then, huh...It'd fit.." Really, she seems more amused than appalled, staring long and hard at Satana with an unusual appraising look in her dark eyes.

Shaking her head, she nods to the table, "Sooo anyone want a beer? Or is it straight to shop talk tonight?"

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith holds out a hand for Faith to toss him a beer but says, "it's not a blood relation, more of an honorific. The demons that give White Court our powers are related to incubi and succubi." He gestures to Satana with his chop sticks and adds, I can count the number of White Court who are on her level who have ever lives and not even need to take my shoes off.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry shakes his head and sighs. Everyone else seems to want to play oblivious so he moves his eyes from the naked temptress to hold a hand up for a beer as well,"She's got the looks and the talent for that sort of thing." He looks in her facial direction to smirk.

Satana has posed:
"Oh, Thomas, you're forgiven for that 'tawdry' crack!" Satana says, melting immediately at the praise. "And I'll have to confess that your White Court is among the best outside of our corps of tempters and temptresses. Several of you exceed our run-of-the-mill, in fact."

Satana reaches out and pulls a beer can to herself with a simple flick of the wrist, at which point she becomes aware...

"Oh, my. I appear to have forgotten something." She shakes her crimson tresses, eyes closed, and her body is clothed.

Technically.

It's very much a case of her lawyers in Hell going over obscenity laws and having an outfit that follows the letter of the law while committing horrible abuse to the intent.

"There. I do apologize. When I'm at home I don't ... constrain ... myself. I forgot my body was unclothed."

Buffy Summers has posed:
She was late. Because of course she was late. But it wasn't her fault! Running into a Groxlar demon on the way and having to deal with that aftermath before someone wandered upon it. But in the end, Buffy made it to the Magic Box.

She entered through the back door, using her key to do so. Hearing voices, she headed toward the main room which made up the bulk of the store as well as the sales area. Thankfully, they were closed of course at this point. It had actually been her night off or Buffy would've already been there, since she'd be taking a lot of evening hours at the store.

She stepped in wearing a pair of jeans and a blue blouse with a lightweight jacket over it. Slayer weapons not visible but definitely present underneath that material. "Hey, everyone. Sorry I'm late." Her eyes ticked from the one to the next, thankfully having arrived after Satana was quote-unquote clothed. She remembered her as a customer who had come into the store, not knowing the details about the woman at all. But if she was here with the others, maybe she was part of the team now?

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane laughs, shaking her head. "Seriously, is there even a difference? I mean, you're basically an incubus, Thomas..Although you at least don't forget your clothes when you make a freaking flashy entrance.." she rolls her eyes, yawning and stretching as she climbs to her feet, taking her beer with her.

"Well, enough of the small talk, are we gonna look at Excalibur's freaking cousin or what?" and then she pauses as the back door opens, smirking wryly, "Well, look who the cat dragged in..You're late, B." she smirks.

Thomas Raith has posed:
So, what is the etiquette when your ex, who you haven't seen since she didn't just break up with you but completely forgot your entire two year long love affair suddon;y walks into a room and you are seeing her for the first time since that incident...and you've also started some sort of relationship with her rival? If you are Thomas you make sure your mouth is full of Chow Mein and you just sort of wave at her with your chopsticks.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry takes his beer and opens it. He moves his attention towards the arrival of Buffy. He raises the beer her direction and tells her,"Buffy. It's been a while."

He looks at Thomas, maybe waiting to see if his head explodes. So far...nothing. He leans against the nearest wall, waiting to see how things turn out. The weapon thing, not the Thomas/Buffy thing. Really.

Buffy Summers has posed:
There is a moment where Buffy had glanced at Faith's boots up on the table where Thomas is eating. A moment of something passes in her expression as she focuses on Thomas next. Then Harry drew her attention and she focused there. "It has, Harry. Since that dream thing. Which have you gotten that figured out yet?"

Though she did nod as Faith rose to her feet and she motioned to her fellow Slayer to lead the way since they were the ones that left the object here. Though she made sure to finish the rounds, so to speak. "Thomas. Good to see you." Polite. Not too weird. Hopefully. Who was she kidding? It still was weird. Then back to Satana. "We've met but not officially. I'm Buffy." Since they didn't actually wear nametags when they worked. Though she might've heard it said by Willow that time they met.

Satana has posed:
"I'm Satana Hellstrom of the Boston Hellstroms," Satana says to Buffy graciously, smiling regally despite being dressed in a way that would make a Vegas streetwalker say "bitch, that's going to far!". The golden skull belt. The acres of flawless flesh. The very, very, very small amount of fabric. The rich crimson hair. The amber eyes with sparks of flame in the pupils...

Wait, what?

No, that's gone. Must have been a reflection, though something malicious in Satana's face suggests otherwise.

"I'm a bit of a ... let's call it 'witch' and leave it at that. Or we could go generic and say I'm a bit of a magick user." Somehow the 'k' shows up in her voice. "I'm friends with Thomas and Harry." Her eyes flock to Faith, adding with a distinct purr in her voice, "And I'd love to be Faith's ... let's call it 'friend' ... as well."

Her eyes rake over Buffy again. In a way that likely makes people uncomfortable. Half-way between a predator eyeing prey and a different kind of predator. Eyeing prey.

"It's nice to meet you again Buffy."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane rises a slight brow, paying attention to whatever subtle exchange is going on between Thomas and his ex but says nothing. Her smirk does seem just a bit chillier however, only briefly distracted by Satana. "Seriously, Satana, coy just ain't you. Just tel, her your a Succubus like Thomas and be done with it, we all got our demons Afterall, now, don't- we?" the whole 'I wanna be your friend!' thing causes her to laugh, shaking her head.

"Lady, I ain't nobody's friend, but you're pretty damn entertaining all the same.."

Taking another long sip of beer, she peers around at everyone before nodding towards the restricted upper level, held back by little more than a velvet cord and a staircase."So yeah, it's up there, Harry, you'll probably wanna set some proper wards once we release the scythe..Who knows what the hell's gonna happen? But simply putting this dumb sign up sure ain't gonna stop all manner of demons from trying to get their grubby hands on it!"

And with that, she will lead the way up the narrow staircase..

Thomas Raith has posed:
Yup, it's weird. When Buffy comments that it's good to see him, he falls back on his own personal brand of ego centric self deprecating humor. "Of course it is, when you are as pretty as me it's always nice to see, right?" he asks with a smirk that everyone there, with the possible exclusion of Buffy, knows he is faking. At Faith saying she doesn't have friends he smirks, "Aww if you said that to Crush you'd hurt his feelings. He doesn't break out the pictures of his babies for just anyone..." Bold faced lie... Crush will show pictures of his rescue kittens /literly/ to anyone. He once bounced a man out of the club so hard he gave him a concussion...then sat with him and showed him pictures of his kittens waiting for the ambulance. His food gone, he three points the empty carton and says, "Well then, sharp pointy objects?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry follows Faith up the stairs,"I will get on that. Maybe add Willow and Sabrina to the mix to look for blind spots in them."

He pauses and looks back down the stairs at Satana and muses,"Maybe another on top of that." he thinks out loud, but for the moment he looks ahead of them to see the weapon that has eluded the Slayers up until recently.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy follows the others upwards and then pauses once up on that level, eyes widening at the sight before them.

The weapon looked like nothing she had ever seen. Yet, there was something familiar at the same time which made no sense whatsoever. Slayer memories for the win! She walked closer then paused just far enough away the she couldn't reach out and touch it. Though she wanted to. The gleaming silver of the blade embedded in what looked like obsidian yet that was melded in some way to a block of granite. Or some other rock. She wasn't an geologist. It was almost like an axe but it wasn't. A pike on one end maybe? But not really. It was unique.

"That is...not what I expected." She started to slowly walk around it, giving it that wide berth, before glancing to the others. "What do we know about it outside it's a Slayer weapon created for fighting the First?" They'd gotten that far in research on her side of the fence. Though they had no idea what the First was. But obviously it was a weapon designed for Slayers to battle the Biggest of the Bads she would guess with that sort of name.

Satana has posed:
Satana follows the crowd, though she does grumble on the way up. "I'm no mere succubus," she says in an aggrieved voice while her eyes pierce Faith's back. "I am a bona fide Hell Lord. Sure I enjoy sexual escapades; I'm a lover, not a fighter. And yes, I adore tempting people through lust over anything to send their souls to my domain. But I'm so much more than that."

Her feet hit the stairs. Clack, goes the heel of one absurdly-heeled shoe. "I'm one of the greatest demonologists."

Clack. "I'm able to scry better than most professional scryers."

Clack. "I can go anywhere I like in the multicosm."

Clack. "And if someone doesn't want my love, I can fry their soul or their body with Hellfire."

Someone's feeling a little put down.

"So to call me a mere succubus? That's just ... rude."

Once in the room she looks over the weapon with interest. "This radiates evil," she pronounces, shivering. "I don't want this thing anywhere near me."

It may take some perspective-warping to understand what she's saying.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane can't help but burst out laughing at Satana's sulking, shaking her head, "Ooh, so you're a Hell Lord? Like, is that supposed to scare me? I'm the freaking Slayer...Well, one of them, I slay demons, all demons! It's like my...Thing..."

She falls into silence as she peers at the Scythe in the stone, glancing sidelong at Buffy with a thoughtful smirk, "You feel it too, don't you? It's calling to us, it wants us to set it free..It's a part of us or some shit, am I right?" she listens to her explanation and shrugs, "Dunno, that's about all I know too..But with that giant chicken demon still out there, and whoever summoned it using that book I found in the church ruins..Well it sure can't stay in that hunk of rock forever right?"

Dark eyes narrow, hands clenched at her sides as she takes a step towards it, then hesitates, glancing at Buffy with a frown. "Do you think it...Judges us? You know, 'if ye be worthy' or however the heck that legend goes..?"

Well as the 'spare' Slayer, or the 'dark' slayer, maybe she's not so worthy....

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith tilts his head as he watches his past and present lovers discuss the obviosly dangerious weapon the way most women their ages would discuss shoes. Still he clears his throat, "Parlimentery point of order... Are we not going to discuss that the self professed Hell Lord just said that thing is too evil for /her/ tastes. And Also that /both/ of you have had issues with the dark side of the force in the past?" And maybe not completely in the past for at least one of them...

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry frowns thoughtfully and studies the weapon. He doesn't reach out to touch it and doesn't comment on the idea is it evil or not. His attention moves between it and Satana and back to the weapon. Her frowns thoughtfully and steps around the stone it is set in, getting an idea the size of the area he will be warding soon.

He is thoughtful and his mind is clearly on something as he mutters to Thomas,"I am reasonably certain there isn't anyone in this room that hasn't crushed evil, let alone the entire city." He meets Thomas' gaze for a second or two and then looks back at the weapon.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane grins at Satana and nods, "Of course you think it's evil, it's an ancient weapon designed to destroy the First Evil, the most primal, powerful evil that gave birth to all other evil in the world..Or some crazy shit like that, I dunno.." well, she doesn't read the same books as Buffy but she does get the dreams.

Thomas' comments just make her laugh, "Hey, wasn't there this whole thing about the Slayer having the heart of a demon? I guess we sure ain't no angels...Guess those ancient old guys who 'made' is pretty much took the fighting fire with fire route pretty literally.." the thought makes her a little solemn, even if she smirks and shrugs to try and ease the tension.

"Well why don't you do the honours, B? Let's see if this is the real deal.."

Satana has posed:
"Wait, before we carry on, there's something missing from this conversation. Chicken. Demon?"

Satana looks around at the rest. "You have a ... giant. Chicken. Demon. Causing troubles and you didn't think to ask me to help? Whatever demon this side of a Hell Lord I can't just dismiss screaming back to the pits of Hell I can unleash the Basilisk on for a more roundabout (and entertaining!) way of accomplishing the same thing."

She looks at Faith again. "You may laugh, but I am, indeed, a Hell Lord. The fact I don't act like one with all the RAWR I WILL STORM THE GATES OF HEAVEN IN THE NAME OF EVIL!!!!111oneoneone! nonsense is because I'm fed up with my father and his idiot schemes to put me in some kind of role to do just that." Beat. "So next time you have a problem with demons, CALL ME! I can at least have some entertainment as I torment them back to Hell. Since if I start tormenting mortals I'll get your kind ... no offence ... coming after me and that's just inconvenient."

Beat.

"Unless you're coming after me for entertainment, of course. I AM also a very good lover..."

She winks broadly at Faith. "You know what they say, once done by Hell, you come running pell-mell."

Incorrigible.

Still she seems to be taking things seriously because as Harry starts preparing shields and wards of his own, she's building up ... impressive levels of her own shields. Wards. And Hellfire.

"I don't suppose I can seduce a weapon, after all," she mutters as she prepares.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Satana's statements as they climbed the stairs had her slightly amused at first. Then it slowly turned more into concern. And finally full out what the hell! But they had allied with all sorts of beings so just because Satana was a Hell Lord didn't automatically mean Buffy needed to be trying to kill her. She had learned lessons the hard way in the past with other beings.

As Faith took that step forward, so did Buffy. Leading to her giving awkward chuckle as she realized what they were doing. Though the question from Faith had her tilting her head slightly as she considered. "I mean, I would think we'd both be worthy as we were already chosen to be Slayers. At least for this particular weapon. I wouldn't be trying to pick up Mjolnir or anything," she added. "But if you aren't sure.."

Because Buffy had no doubts about herself, despite having had a few stumbles in the past as pointed out, she took that last step and considered the weapon again. Then she reached out a hand toward the handle, feeling a tug almost as it wanted her to pick it up. Which was insane because it wasn't like the weapon was sentient. Yet that compulsion was there. She took a slow breath then looked at Faith.

She had just been about to suggest the try to pull it free of the stone together, since we're both /the/ Slayer. They had managed to break the system that had been in place for millennia. At the suggestion from Faith, she gave a terse nod. Then her hand is lowered, fingers curling around the handle of the weapon.

It was like nothing she had ever experienced. There was a moment she as positive there was a glow from the sky though that was probably just having watched The Sword in the Stone one too many times as a kid. But as the weapon met her palm, she knew it was hers. Meant to be. It almost whispered to her, but not in words. And a warmth suffused her, a confidence that was more than she had felt before--though she was not one to generally lack confidence.

She gave a little tug and immediately the weapon came free. It felt featherlight, something she had not expected from the appearance. She hefted it and gave it a little swing up and downard then let the other part of the handle fall into her opposite palm, holding it across her body.

"Wow." A bare whisper of a word. But then a smile to the other Slayer. "Faith, you gotta try this."