polychromatic application
[series]: Buffy/Angel
[character]: Faith Lehane
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Post BtVS 7.22, Chosen
[character history / background]:
To Faith, her life begins as a slayer, when she finds her saving grace. She acquires a watcher; a female role model to look up to and that respects her. Unfortunately, her watcher is killed by a mega vampire, and Faith ends up fleeing away where she thinks she'll be accepted: Sunnydale, the home of the other slayer, Buffy Summers. Buffy's got things locked down in Sunnydale; she's the golden girl in Faith's eyes and at first, Faith makes a good fit into that life. She fights alongside Buffy and she befriends Buffy's friends, but two slayers were never meant to exist at one time. At first, there's tension because Buffy feels inadequate next to the new hot slayer girl in town, who lives for the hunt and talks weapons with Buffy's watcher. Faith tells cool stories and wins over Buffy's friends. Then the tables start to turn and Faith feels a little of that jealousy herself when she realizes that she is not in fact a part of the group. A 'replacement watcher' is sent to help Faith, but the woman only feeds on her insecurities and uses Faith to attempt to procure an occult item for herself. Faith realizes her mistake in trusting the 'watcher' but the damage is done and she's completely outside of the group. The next replacement watcher is just as bad, as Wesley Wyndham Pryce is pretty much out of touch with reality and has no ability to garner Faith's respect and keep her in line. He drops the ball on her completely, unable to connect and help her through what she has to deal with.
This leads to a deadly downward spiral for Faith, which culminates in her stabbing and killing a man. She shows no remorse for her action, though she does feel extreme guilt - Faith's reactions at that point were to ignore and keep moving. This all leads to Faith working for the Big Bad of the town, Mayor Wilkins, who despite his unsavory nature treats Faith like a daughter. They develop a sweet and sort of scary relationship, where either would do anything for the other, Faith's emotional needs are filled and she trusts the Mayor completely. Still does to this day, even. Events turn Faith and Buffy against each other in an ultimate fight to the death which leaves Faith with her own knife (a present from Mayor Wilkins) in her gut and then in a 4 month long coma in the hospital. During that time, Buffy defeats the Mayor, with some tips from Faith in a shared coma-dream. Buffy blows him up inside the high school and leaving Faith to sleep for months.
When Faith does wake up, she's as murderous as ever: killing a girl inside the hospital to steal her clothes and escape. The Mayor's left Faith a gift; a tape of himself explaining that he's left her a device to help her get revenge on Buffy. The magical gift is a body switch tool; it puts Faith's consciousness into Buffy's and vice versa. Faith terrorizes Buffy's family and friends while driving her skin; even sleeping with her boyfriend and witnessing just what 'making love' means, rather than just straight carnal sex. This freaks Faith out more than anything, and contributes to her attempt at making it right. She's a slayer deep down in her core and that means protecting the innocent and she returns from her plan to flee the country as Buffy to help rid a church of vampires. Buffy, in Faith's body, also made it to the site and with the help of her friends, had another magic device to switch them back. Before the switch, the women fight and Faith loses it when confronted with herself, beating her own body as hard as she can and professing her hatred for herself. Once Buffy gets an upper hand and they switch back to their original bodies, Faith flees and makes her way to Los Angeles.
It's likely she knew that Angel resided in LA, and when Faith arrives she is back to her psychotic, broken self - the moment of hero- dom has passed after the bus ride to the city of angels. Two minutes off the bus and she's beaten a man up, taken his money and the keys to his apartment. Soon after, she's approached by the resident Big Bad in LA, hiring her on as an assassin to kill Angel. Faith accepts happily, and begins to play with him, confronting him with promises of a fight and his death. Though it won't kill him, she even shoots Angel because it will cause him pain. When she realizes that Angel won't retaliate with fatal force, Faith goes after his friends, Wesley and Cordelia - knocking Cordy out with a powerful hit to the face and then Wesley, kicking him unconscious. She brings him back to her stolen apartment and begins to torture him, seriously, using broken glass and fire and everything else she can think of. Faith hates herself for it; the act tears her apart even as she does it, but with nothing left to lose, Faith just wants to bait Angel into raging out and killing her. Putting her out of her misery.
Faith's not so lucky; after a major fight, Angel still refuses to put her down even though she begs and claims that she's bad. After a lot of deliberation and emotional anguish, Angel works to get through to her that she is able to atone and pay for her sins. She knows a simple apology won't do it, and this begins her journey to redemption. Buffy follows her to LA and shows up to Angel's while Faith is fighting to decide to make her life right, and initially Buffy just wants to hand Faith over to the Council, the organization that oversees slayers' doings, but after seeing their cruelty and realizing that they're more intent on killing Faith off than actually try to rehabilitate her, Buffy helps her escape their arrest. With this show of faith from the person that should hate her the most, Faith runs away to turn herself into the authorities for the murders. She's convicted of murder 2 - with 25 years to life in jail, and she's prepared to serve it even though she could easily break out of jail at any time she wants.
A couple years after she's been in the pen, Angel's friends require her help in bringing Angel back from losing his soul and having the demon within take full reign of Angel's body and mind: Angelus has emerged. Wesley comes to her for help because he knows that she won't kill Angelus, she'll want to capture him in order to give them the chance to put Angel's soul back into his body and save him. Faith breaks out with Wesley and starts to work out the kinks she'd developed from the lack of vampire dusting in jail. She's rusty, and she's a little gun shy because the last time she let go and ran full throttle, she became a murdering psycho. Wesley is finally stepping up to the plate and pushing Faith to her limits in her own words. He's harsh with her, and demanding but it's what she needs to save Angel and in the end, she uses her brain over her usual Faith Smash policy and drugs her own blood and then lets Angelus drink from her, knocking them both out with a powerful magical drug. They enter a dream world together where Faith learns about Angel's past, and finally witnesses Angelus and Angel fight each other. She almost dies a few times, but Angel pep talks her and stresses that she isn't finished making up for the pain she caused others. She helps Angel defeat Angelus, and then wakes from the coma to keep Angel's son Connor from killing him. After Angel's been saved, Faith finds that her services are needed back in her favorite place on the planet: Sunnydale.
She returns to Sunnydale with about as much gusto as a deflating balloon. Faith starts in as a tool; Buffy needs something from her, all she has to do is point and click and Faith's there doing her duty. Of course, there's no way the tension can be gone and they butt heads on more than one occasion. Faith finds the girls that have gathered at Buffy's house, the potential slayers, are completely sapped in morale and decides to be the cool aunt and take them all out on the town to relieve the pressure. Unfortunately it backfires when the cops spot and recognize her and take a toll on her. Then Buffy shows up to reprimand her, decking her deservedly in the mouth. Faith doesn't retaliate on Buffy; she feels like she deserves whatever Buffy wants to dish out to her, and usually stays quiet whenever she gets an earful (or a faceful). Events take a turn later when Buffy makes a mistake and gets the girls hurt, and the entire of Buffy's support group turn on her and demand a change in regime. They all look to the only other slayer they know, Faith, to lead their group. She disagrees with ostracizing Buffy, as she knows that she herself is not a leader in the least and that people make mistakes but it doesn't mean that they should be punished in that way. The slayers get to walk in each others' shoes for a time, and both find that their original places in life are the more fitting, especially when Faith makes a similar mistake to Buffy and leads the potential slayers into a trap, injuring many and killing a few.
They shift back to Boss Buffy and Faith falls more comfortably in line behind her, with a new plan to turn all of the potential slayers into real slayers and march into hell. During the battle, Buffy falls for a moment, and hands the scythe over to Faith, an understanding that she is second in command passing between them.
[character abilities]: The common powers of the Slayers: these include superhuman strength, accelerated healing, prophetic dreams, enhanced intuition, and innately superior fighting skills. In addition, Faith does some pretty neat brain-tricks in regard to fighting her way out of a coma (twice) and the ability to walk through others' minds/dreams given some sort of prior connection (slayer history with Buffy, a drug with Angel).
[character personality]: To start understanding Faith, you have to recognize the reason she was created. She is yang to Buffy's yin; they are two completely opposite sides of the same coin (let us mention here that Buffy is heads and Faith, tails). Faith is the opposite to Buffy; she is the dark path that Buffy could have tread. Buffy wears cardigans, Faith wears leather. Buffy loves, Faith screws. Buffy eats yogurt, Faith prefers Jack Daniels. Buffy is a natural leader, Faith prefers to be told what to do (for the most part). Buffy views slayer life as a job and sometimes burden. Faith views it as her duty, her life and her saving grace (though you'd NEVER ever hear her say it). But this is just the framing for a character that represents so much more than a Southie bad girl with slayer powers.
Baseline, Faith Lehane is an extremely tragic character; a woman (and in so many ways still a girl) that craves the love and acceptance provided by a family with no scope of reference to help her achieve that end, and who deep down doesn't even believe she deserves it. While it's less on the surface than in years past for her, Faith's issues with self-esteem still run her life, resulting in her don't try/can't fail attitude. Along with her inability to show pertinent emotions, her self-esteem drives her as a character. It contributes to her sexuality, her pride and most of her actions. When she thinks she's done something wrong, she takes it hard (though she won't let on that she is) and her instincts to either fix it or run away will kick in. Now, she's more likely to stick around and fix it rather than running away - her confidence has been steadily growing and she's trying to prove to herself that she is indeed worth saving (though she still presents it as the fact that she has more time to suffer in order to make up for everything she's done).
Faith's number one survival tactic is indifference. There's an inverse scale of reactions when it comes to dealing with personal issues for her. The closer something hits to home, the more she'll act like she doesn't care. Faith will always try to play it cool until she hits that breaking point, where she just can't bear to hear about it anymore. She would rather look morally bankrupt or dumb than reveal that she cares about something or someone, for the most part. Her loyalty once earned is rock-solid though she won't act like it's a burden, simply choosing to find a light-hearted reason to be doing what is necessary. This also means she's not very judgmental, though she will comment on things that confuse or are amusing to her, regardless of whether it's tactful or not.
Her looming abandonment complex means that Faith doesn't let herself trust easily (her own judgment included). In her mind, everyone leaves anyway so there's no reason to make strong attachments. Over the course of her development, her view of what trust is has changed, though she still has basic instinct reactions that cause her to continue to question everything around her. She's learned that trust is earned and that she has to give back in order for it to work. Her trust complex has been eased by her earning her place in the lives of the Angel team (Angel and Wesley especially) and, to some extent, the Scoobies. When she and Buffy come to an understanding after switching roles, Faith seems to be at a comfortable place with herself. She accepts that she has to earn their trust back and her willingness to do it shows that she is also beginning to desire someone else's respect. It's a major step in her character, especially since it also shows that she finds her own judgment to be trustworthy as well. As far as new friends go, she still expects them to prove themselves before she'll give up any trust. Respect is the first step toward that.
She'll show the opposite emotion of what she's feeling most of the time - she could be screaming inside and scared to death but she'll tell you everything is just fine, shrug it off like she scraped her knee on the ground. This is probably one of her more prominent traits, one that motivates her very strongly. It allows her to let people relate to her easily since it makes her seem easygoing but it also prevents people from getting too close. She's perfected the art of making acquaintances while never becoming friends. The breaking point regarding emotions applies just as strongly in these instances, when a person gets too close. The point will either result in backlash from her or an almost meltdown, unless handled very carefully and in some ways, firmly. She can't be allowed time to freak out, and she has to be trusted to react appropriately. It's a fine line to walk with Faith.
When Faith learned to walk emotionally, it was likely on a tight rope, with no net underneath her. It's a rope she walks daily, fighting the instinct to let loose on the people around her, people who care about her that she feels shouldn't. Power, pain, hatred, underestimation, sex. These things are all weapons in Faith's personal arsenal. She's been taught through her experiences in life that these things are how she gets by, how she gets a leg up. Faith wouldn't be so dynamic without the pain driving all of her decisions - it is the ultimate motivator behind her, her fuel. How to deal with it, how to inflict it -- she's accepted long ago that it's unavoidable and that it's a part of life. It turns on her, makes her hate herself and that hatred spills out in rage onto the people around her whether by fighting, fleeing or sex. To some extent, Faith has learned how to deal with, or more accurately filter away, the outbursts and the power struggles she used to use. Her desire to exert her power over others has dampened with her struggle for control, but they haven't entirely disappeared.
Faith's relationship with authority is a rocky one. On one hand, she needs and craves the attention and direction it gives her and handled correctly, she'll flourish under it (exhibit Evil: the Mayor). On the other hand, handled wrongly, it can send her packing in no time at all (exhibit Moron: Wesley). The flight response has somewhat dampened, once she encountered Angel, went through the jail time and then by necessity, reunited with Wesley when she broke out to help catch Angelus. You can see it in her interactions with Buffy, as well. Faith pushes and pulls with people in authority over her, but if she's shown trust and respect, she'll respond in kind. If there's enough baggage, the relationship will never be fully repaired but Faith has enough of herself put together (and let's be real -- it's not all that much) to make herself see certain things through. She's tapped into the part of the slayer that's more protector than destroyer and given it more control, fueled with guilt and repressing the hatred and anger. To a point. That said, faced with cops and a demand for something that she doesn't feel they deserve, Faith will throw down, almost for funsies.
She's easily influenced, and has been manipulated by both good and bad sources, to her detriment and to her benefit. In order to influence her a person has to show her respect, which allows her to trust them more readily. Both the Mayor and Angel used this tactic and both were genuine in wanting to help her in their own way. Once her loyalty is won, it's unfailing and she will never turn her back on a person she trusts implicitly unless they deliberately hurt her and even then her tendency is to turn back to them, because of her desire to avoid betraying someone she trusted. This goes double for people she's hurt in the past, as it's almost a penance for whatever she had done to them. To make up for her mistakes, she puts herself behind them 100% whether it's a good or bad idea.
She's got something of a flexible personality based on the circumstances surrounding her: who she's dealing with, what kind of stress she's under, etc. She's rarely a completely open book unless her walls are taken completely down but she'll give up bits of information here and there in a non-chalant way as her attempt at meeting a person in the middle. As she grows, she finds she's quite adept at fitting into and acting in situations that require her to be a bit of a con artist. At the same time, she finds herself able to relate to others on a basic level, which help her with pretending to be someone else. Faith seems so real that even when she's acting a part, she pulls it off with flying colors.
Of course a slayer, at her very soul, is a creature of death. Slayers were tools built to destroy and only through guidance and training and control were they used for good. Their power lies in demon origin and even affects them physically, calling them to kill vampires in their proximity through a painful sixth sense. This weighs on Faith because without guidance she spins out into chaotic violence -- and this is something she struggles with daily. Faith went through most of her life at full speed - all power, no control. As she attempts to redeem herself, Faith has reeled in her power as much as she can. She allows herself time to think before acting or speaking, which is an enormous step for her. Before she hit rock bottom, she was all reaction and no premeditation, the very core of a slayer. She's begun to evolve now, though, communicating and expressing herself better. Unfortunately this means sometimes she is wound very tight, corking all that rage and power in until it's shaken up and let out in an explosion of violence and hatred, often directed at herself and resulting in casualties beyond her consideration. Then begins a guilt cycle and it's the flogging and repressing all over again.
Faith is, happily, a bit of a tool. She isn't by any means dumb, but she isn't interested in the responsibility that comes with decision-making. She'd rather be told what to do, and in that way, she's the epitome of a classic slayer. Fierce, violent and willing to do what she's told. Without some sort of control or direction, Faith is a nuclear bomb, capable and willing to level the lives around her to gravel. It should be said that a part of her hates that about herself; she feels as if she's in a pit too deep to climb out of and even if she manages to get to the top of that pit, she'll just slip back down to the very bottom. The difference now is that she's willing to just keep trying. She's going to continue climbing and slipping until it kills her.
She's a bit of the classic image of a mercenary, as well. A woman far beyond her years who's seen too much warfare and bloodshed to be completely whole anymore. She finds comfort in the rougher joys of life; alcohol, sex and violence. These might serve as outlets for her baser instincts, letting her act out on some of that rage. She doesn't experience any of them in a healthy manner, boasting that she enjoys fighting and screwing in a show of just how loose and fast she is. It's a bit reigned in after her stint in jail, as she's been tightening up on everything she can in order to control what she sees as the monster inside of her. In the comics, we see that when she gets home from a hard day, she stabs the wall with her stake. Staking is a fairly phallic image to being with and canonically Faith has a preference for knives as well. If she were being profiled as what she'd be if not a slayer (that is, a serial killer), one would equate those stabbing motions and the rage as a release. A controlled release, especially for Faith. It shows that in her own way she's actively trying to deal with the feelings she gets when she's frustrated and feels out of control. Of course, she may or may not realize that all she's doing is repressing, but she attempts, which is a big deal for Faith.
She sometimes shows characteristics displayed by sociopaths - while she doesn't necessarily get people, she can read them and adjust her reaction appropriately. She doesn't do this often, rather she'll speak her mind, even if it means hurting someone's feelings - which usually happens without her intention. Now that she's more confident, she's less likely to overreact based on what she thinks is happening around her; usually she would take fault and leave or punish herself. This has been replaced by a indifferent almost fatalist attitude, probably something she learned while locked up in jail - if she can't control it, there's no point in trying. She'd rather come off as morally bankrupt and stupid than caring enough about something to worry or obsess about it.
Almost comically, Faith and Buffy behave a bit like exes. Faith's view of Buffy changes with Faith's degradation and then her growth; at first, she sees a comrade, someone who will finally understand Faith, someone she can trust and kick ass with. She comes to Sunnydale afraid, lost and looking for help from the one person who should be able to help her. As they progress through a relationship, Faith eventually abandons the idea that she and Buffy will be equals, because of unavoidable events that distance them, and because of Faith's inability to view the events objectively she treats Buffy as a lover that's betrayed her. Faith is an all or nothing girl; Doug Petrie says that her modus operandi is 'if you don't love me, you will fear me.' And when she finally hits the breaking point and decides that Buffy is never going to see her the way Faith wants her to, that she won't get the right kind of attention from her, Faith opts to get the wrong kind of attention. To this day, that's sort of how she and Buffy operate. They connect most strongly on a slayer level, though there's a bit more give, an understanding of their places in the world. Still, when Faith feels she deserves punishment of some sort, she often seeks out Buffy, who she knows will deliver it. And really, for what Faith has done to her, Buffy is the only one who should exact that punishment on her. It wouldn't be accurate to say that she trusts Buffy, but she recognizes Buffy's plight in contrast to her own and accepts that it is something Buffy has suffered with her whole slayer life.
For the longest time she couldn't understand why Buffy was so ungrateful because to Faith, Buffy's life was positively perfect. In the seventh season this turns around when the two slayers get a chance to walk in each other's shoes. Each learns that the other's path is not to easy to tread and learns a new appreciation for their allotted roles in the world together. They come to a rocky, mutual agreement that they're just simply not supposed to exist together.
Faith's life was saved, literally, by Angel. He'd been there for her a few times, and been on the opposite side than she was just as many. She sees him as a mentor, someone she can trust but that she doesn't want to cross the line of. Once he refused to kill her, her life was passed into his hands. Faith was happy to die, and by refusing to kill her, Angel took over responsibility for her life for that amount of time. In a short span, he cared for her and talked her down and eventually helped her come to the realization that she was not a rabid dog that needed putting down. She was a human in pain that had made mistakes and needed to pay for them. Angel helped Faith move from being a hurt child that was acting out to an adult woman ready to take charge of her life. He visited her in jail and talked her through a lot of her time there, and even with that small amount of contact, they became good friends. She trusts Angel more than anyone, and she would do anything to help him if he needed it.
If anyone needed a parental figure, a father figure, it'd always been Faith. Unfortunately, when one came along, she was in a prime position to be manipulated by him and even though the case was that he helped her become even worse than she was, Richard Wilkins III gave Faith the affirmation she so desperately needed. At an extremely vulnerable time in her life, Faith stumbled into a small surrogate family when she was really just looking for more power to stick it to Buffy & Co. for what she saw as being rejected by them. Faith and the Mayor ended up grounding each other, keeping their humanness evident in light of all of the suffering they caused and scheming and planning they did. She still loves him and while she knew that it was wrong and that he was not a good man, Faith today might still give into the temptation he provides, because she craves so badly the approval that he gives without question. He's the type of person who required Faith act better; he taught her how to receive respect and maybe a little bit how to earn it. He was the ultimate father figure, and the worst possible thing for her; and she knew it deep down, and within their shared dream, told Buffy how to defeat them. You don't come away from that without a lot of guilt. Guilt that probably directly contributed to her rampage when she woke up from her coma.
Another person that's had a dramatic effect on Faith's behavior and self-image are her third watcher (well, second actual watcher - though another one that ended up dead), Wesley. They ended on a rocky partnership, him more prepared to guide her and deal with her complexities, and Faith more willing to accept guidance. Their relationship is by no means that cut and dry of course, the usual push-pull that Faith exerts on everyone being exponentially difficult because of their intimately screwed up past together. It's a very good demonstration of how bad Faith's relationships can be but that she's also willing to make up for them. She will not discuss details, won't even broach the subject of their past, but Faith will try, no matter how difficult, to make up for everything she's done in her own way. Which is often dysfunctional and resulting in more awkward issues than when they started.
Robin Wood represents the most major turning point of Faith's personality. The way she views sex is a big indicator on where Faith is emotionally. She's never had the luxury of a boyfriend being patient and calm and telling her that they'll wait for her forever. Men are never a challenge for Faith because she's hot and she's easy and she can get sex and be in control no matter where she is with little effort. Robin, however, refuses to let sex be just sex. They started out mutually irritated at Buffy and then seeing something else in each other. By the time the end rolls around and Wood is possibly dead, Faith genuinely cares for him and it's very obvious that she's ready to allow herself a chance at being something more than just a deadly weapon. She's ready to try to be a whole person; whether or not she'll ever succeed isn't the point, because it's likely unless the exact right person comes along at the exact right time she won't succeed. But she begins to let herself try, and that's a big step for her.
one;
Would wouldn't Buffy do? Faith is the opposite to Buffy; she is the dark path that Buffy could have tread if not for all of her loving friends and family. Buffy wears cardigans, Faith wears leather. Buffy eats yogurt, Faith prefers hot pockets. Buffy is a natural leader, Faith prefers to be told what to do. Buffy views slayer life as a job and sometimes burden, Faith views it as her duty, her life and her saving grace. Unfortunately for Faith, a lot of her life is contingent on Buffy - without her, Faith wouldn't exist as she is today, for better or worse. So, for every decision, big or little - WW'ntBD?
two;
Faith is a character. From a prime time network station. She is a slut who smokes, drinks and probably plays with drugs, but it's a more implied side to her personality. It doesn't define who she is, these are just tools to further emphasize her non-Buffy persona. To keep the TV flavor, I try not to overtly or overdo these things. It might be something I mention in passing, or that is implied by her casual demeanor regarding the subjects. This might make her come off as too PG and not like she really is but I really believe that when it comes to Faith, a balance of all the bad she's into is key to her personality and keeping her true to character.
three;
She's also a murderer. And though she isn't a serial killer by any means, she is inherently a psyopathic personality. Fortunately she's on the straight and narrow but it by no means diminishes her killer instinct. She just gets to exercise that instinct killing evil things. She struggles with that issue every moment of every day, because it's her price to pay. Faith runs from responsibility but when she knows it will contribute to her penance, she'll keep on to prove everyone wrong, especially herself. Faith is a pariah of irony, her murderous past now gives her purpose and a future. Plus, being a fugitive is probably something she brags about.
four;
Playing pretend. Faith's number one survival tactic is indifference. There's an inverse scale of reactions when it comes to dealing with personal issues for her. The closer something hits to home, the more she'll act like she doesn't care. Faith will always try to play it cool until she hits that breaking point, where she just can't bear to hear about it anymore. She would rather look morally bankrupt or dumb than reveal that she cares about something or someone. Her loyalty once earned is rock-solid though she won't act like it's a burden, simply choosing to find a light-hearted reason to be doing what is necessary.
five;
The lone wolf. Ultimately Faith trusts almost no one, least of all herself. The lone wolf description is accurate down to physical behavior - she shifts her weight from foot to foot, cracks her knuckles, shifts her eyes - she's always ready to be on the move. When that cycle was broken by settling her down in Cleveland, she struggled and distanced herself from the headquarters and Robin Wood, who she'd previously connected with and openly showed feelings for. Now, after she's worked with Giles and has a clearer purpose and is able to be on the move in recruiting wayward junior slayers, she'll act more herself, more comfortable. Thought she enjoys solitude, she does get lonely and will generally gravitate back toward people and things that she's familiar with, but it'll never get mushy and she'll never invest too much.
etc;
Furthermore, I write her based on the inference that she was picked on as a child, rather than cool or a bully. She brags to the Mayor about her brave accomplishments, but who's to say she wasn't just looking to gain his approval? I see Faith as having been very much a geek in the sense that she's never had friends, she's never had anyone to turn to and once she gained this enormous strength as a slayer, it changed her life but not her habits. She's still most comfortable with being alone because she is a hyper-aware individual coming from an abusive home. She recognizes things that make her feel bad or hurt and she learns to avoid them, whereas a normal person would simply chalk each bad experience up to just that, a singular bad experience. Faith sees it as the recurring pattern that she perpetrates by just being herself. She displays this image of cool and jaded but when she looks in the mirror she sees a pathetic lonely nerd with nothing to offer anyone else because when she tries, things go south fast. So for her, it's best to keep to herself so she doesn't get hurt and so she doesn't hurt anyone else.
[character]: Faith Lehane
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Post BtVS 7.22, Chosen
[character history / background]:
To Faith, her life begins as a slayer, when she finds her saving grace. She acquires a watcher; a female role model to look up to and that respects her. Unfortunately, her watcher is killed by a mega vampire, and Faith ends up fleeing away where she thinks she'll be accepted: Sunnydale, the home of the other slayer, Buffy Summers. Buffy's got things locked down in Sunnydale; she's the golden girl in Faith's eyes and at first, Faith makes a good fit into that life. She fights alongside Buffy and she befriends Buffy's friends, but two slayers were never meant to exist at one time. At first, there's tension because Buffy feels inadequate next to the new hot slayer girl in town, who lives for the hunt and talks weapons with Buffy's watcher. Faith tells cool stories and wins over Buffy's friends. Then the tables start to turn and Faith feels a little of that jealousy herself when she realizes that she is not in fact a part of the group. A 'replacement watcher' is sent to help Faith, but the woman only feeds on her insecurities and uses Faith to attempt to procure an occult item for herself. Faith realizes her mistake in trusting the 'watcher' but the damage is done and she's completely outside of the group. The next replacement watcher is just as bad, as Wesley Wyndham Pryce is pretty much out of touch with reality and has no ability to garner Faith's respect and keep her in line. He drops the ball on her completely, unable to connect and help her through what she has to deal with.
This leads to a deadly downward spiral for Faith, which culminates in her stabbing and killing a man. She shows no remorse for her action, though she does feel extreme guilt - Faith's reactions at that point were to ignore and keep moving. This all leads to Faith working for the Big Bad of the town, Mayor Wilkins, who despite his unsavory nature treats Faith like a daughter. They develop a sweet and sort of scary relationship, where either would do anything for the other, Faith's emotional needs are filled and she trusts the Mayor completely. Still does to this day, even. Events turn Faith and Buffy against each other in an ultimate fight to the death which leaves Faith with her own knife (a present from Mayor Wilkins) in her gut and then in a 4 month long coma in the hospital. During that time, Buffy defeats the Mayor, with some tips from Faith in a shared coma-dream. Buffy blows him up inside the high school and leaving Faith to sleep for months.
When Faith does wake up, she's as murderous as ever: killing a girl inside the hospital to steal her clothes and escape. The Mayor's left Faith a gift; a tape of himself explaining that he's left her a device to help her get revenge on Buffy. The magical gift is a body switch tool; it puts Faith's consciousness into Buffy's and vice versa. Faith terrorizes Buffy's family and friends while driving her skin; even sleeping with her boyfriend and witnessing just what 'making love' means, rather than just straight carnal sex. This freaks Faith out more than anything, and contributes to her attempt at making it right. She's a slayer deep down in her core and that means protecting the innocent and she returns from her plan to flee the country as Buffy to help rid a church of vampires. Buffy, in Faith's body, also made it to the site and with the help of her friends, had another magic device to switch them back. Before the switch, the women fight and Faith loses it when confronted with herself, beating her own body as hard as she can and professing her hatred for herself. Once Buffy gets an upper hand and they switch back to their original bodies, Faith flees and makes her way to Los Angeles.
It's likely she knew that Angel resided in LA, and when Faith arrives she is back to her psychotic, broken self - the moment of hero- dom has passed after the bus ride to the city of angels. Two minutes off the bus and she's beaten a man up, taken his money and the keys to his apartment. Soon after, she's approached by the resident Big Bad in LA, hiring her on as an assassin to kill Angel. Faith accepts happily, and begins to play with him, confronting him with promises of a fight and his death. Though it won't kill him, she even shoots Angel because it will cause him pain. When she realizes that Angel won't retaliate with fatal force, Faith goes after his friends, Wesley and Cordelia - knocking Cordy out with a powerful hit to the face and then Wesley, kicking him unconscious. She brings him back to her stolen apartment and begins to torture him, seriously, using broken glass and fire and everything else she can think of. Faith hates herself for it; the act tears her apart even as she does it, but with nothing left to lose, Faith just wants to bait Angel into raging out and killing her. Putting her out of her misery.
Faith's not so lucky; after a major fight, Angel still refuses to put her down even though she begs and claims that she's bad. After a lot of deliberation and emotional anguish, Angel works to get through to her that she is able to atone and pay for her sins. She knows a simple apology won't do it, and this begins her journey to redemption. Buffy follows her to LA and shows up to Angel's while Faith is fighting to decide to make her life right, and initially Buffy just wants to hand Faith over to the Council, the organization that oversees slayers' doings, but after seeing their cruelty and realizing that they're more intent on killing Faith off than actually try to rehabilitate her, Buffy helps her escape their arrest. With this show of faith from the person that should hate her the most, Faith runs away to turn herself into the authorities for the murders. She's convicted of murder 2 - with 25 years to life in jail, and she's prepared to serve it even though she could easily break out of jail at any time she wants.
A couple years after she's been in the pen, Angel's friends require her help in bringing Angel back from losing his soul and having the demon within take full reign of Angel's body and mind: Angelus has emerged. Wesley comes to her for help because he knows that she won't kill Angelus, she'll want to capture him in order to give them the chance to put Angel's soul back into his body and save him. Faith breaks out with Wesley and starts to work out the kinks she'd developed from the lack of vampire dusting in jail. She's rusty, and she's a little gun shy because the last time she let go and ran full throttle, she became a murdering psycho. Wesley is finally stepping up to the plate and pushing Faith to her limits in her own words. He's harsh with her, and demanding but it's what she needs to save Angel and in the end, she uses her brain over her usual Faith Smash policy and drugs her own blood and then lets Angelus drink from her, knocking them both out with a powerful magical drug. They enter a dream world together where Faith learns about Angel's past, and finally witnesses Angelus and Angel fight each other. She almost dies a few times, but Angel pep talks her and stresses that she isn't finished making up for the pain she caused others. She helps Angel defeat Angelus, and then wakes from the coma to keep Angel's son Connor from killing him. After Angel's been saved, Faith finds that her services are needed back in her favorite place on the planet: Sunnydale.
She returns to Sunnydale with about as much gusto as a deflating balloon. Faith starts in as a tool; Buffy needs something from her, all she has to do is point and click and Faith's there doing her duty. Of course, there's no way the tension can be gone and they butt heads on more than one occasion. Faith finds the girls that have gathered at Buffy's house, the potential slayers, are completely sapped in morale and decides to be the cool aunt and take them all out on the town to relieve the pressure. Unfortunately it backfires when the cops spot and recognize her and take a toll on her. Then Buffy shows up to reprimand her, decking her deservedly in the mouth. Faith doesn't retaliate on Buffy; she feels like she deserves whatever Buffy wants to dish out to her, and usually stays quiet whenever she gets an earful (or a faceful). Events take a turn later when Buffy makes a mistake and gets the girls hurt, and the entire of Buffy's support group turn on her and demand a change in regime. They all look to the only other slayer they know, Faith, to lead their group. She disagrees with ostracizing Buffy, as she knows that she herself is not a leader in the least and that people make mistakes but it doesn't mean that they should be punished in that way. The slayers get to walk in each others' shoes for a time, and both find that their original places in life are the more fitting, especially when Faith makes a similar mistake to Buffy and leads the potential slayers into a trap, injuring many and killing a few.
They shift back to Boss Buffy and Faith falls more comfortably in line behind her, with a new plan to turn all of the potential slayers into real slayers and march into hell. During the battle, Buffy falls for a moment, and hands the scythe over to Faith, an understanding that she is second in command passing between them.
[character abilities]: The common powers of the Slayers: these include superhuman strength, accelerated healing, prophetic dreams, enhanced intuition, and innately superior fighting skills. In addition, Faith does some pretty neat brain-tricks in regard to fighting her way out of a coma (twice) and the ability to walk through others' minds/dreams given some sort of prior connection (slayer history with Buffy, a drug with Angel).
[character personality]: To start understanding Faith, you have to recognize the reason she was created. She is yang to Buffy's yin; they are two completely opposite sides of the same coin (let us mention here that Buffy is heads and Faith, tails). Faith is the opposite to Buffy; she is the dark path that Buffy could have tread. Buffy wears cardigans, Faith wears leather. Buffy loves, Faith screws. Buffy eats yogurt, Faith prefers Jack Daniels. Buffy is a natural leader, Faith prefers to be told what to do (for the most part). Buffy views slayer life as a job and sometimes burden. Faith views it as her duty, her life and her saving grace (though you'd NEVER ever hear her say it). But this is just the framing for a character that represents so much more than a Southie bad girl with slayer powers.
Baseline, Faith Lehane is an extremely tragic character; a woman (and in so many ways still a girl) that craves the love and acceptance provided by a family with no scope of reference to help her achieve that end, and who deep down doesn't even believe she deserves it. While it's less on the surface than in years past for her, Faith's issues with self-esteem still run her life, resulting in her don't try/can't fail attitude. Along with her inability to show pertinent emotions, her self-esteem drives her as a character. It contributes to her sexuality, her pride and most of her actions. When she thinks she's done something wrong, she takes it hard (though she won't let on that she is) and her instincts to either fix it or run away will kick in. Now, she's more likely to stick around and fix it rather than running away - her confidence has been steadily growing and she's trying to prove to herself that she is indeed worth saving (though she still presents it as the fact that she has more time to suffer in order to make up for everything she's done).
Faith's number one survival tactic is indifference. There's an inverse scale of reactions when it comes to dealing with personal issues for her. The closer something hits to home, the more she'll act like she doesn't care. Faith will always try to play it cool until she hits that breaking point, where she just can't bear to hear about it anymore. She would rather look morally bankrupt or dumb than reveal that she cares about something or someone, for the most part. Her loyalty once earned is rock-solid though she won't act like it's a burden, simply choosing to find a light-hearted reason to be doing what is necessary. This also means she's not very judgmental, though she will comment on things that confuse or are amusing to her, regardless of whether it's tactful or not.
Her looming abandonment complex means that Faith doesn't let herself trust easily (her own judgment included). In her mind, everyone leaves anyway so there's no reason to make strong attachments. Over the course of her development, her view of what trust is has changed, though she still has basic instinct reactions that cause her to continue to question everything around her. She's learned that trust is earned and that she has to give back in order for it to work. Her trust complex has been eased by her earning her place in the lives of the Angel team (Angel and Wesley especially) and, to some extent, the Scoobies. When she and Buffy come to an understanding after switching roles, Faith seems to be at a comfortable place with herself. She accepts that she has to earn their trust back and her willingness to do it shows that she is also beginning to desire someone else's respect. It's a major step in her character, especially since it also shows that she finds her own judgment to be trustworthy as well. As far as new friends go, she still expects them to prove themselves before she'll give up any trust. Respect is the first step toward that.
She'll show the opposite emotion of what she's feeling most of the time - she could be screaming inside and scared to death but she'll tell you everything is just fine, shrug it off like she scraped her knee on the ground. This is probably one of her more prominent traits, one that motivates her very strongly. It allows her to let people relate to her easily since it makes her seem easygoing but it also prevents people from getting too close. She's perfected the art of making acquaintances while never becoming friends. The breaking point regarding emotions applies just as strongly in these instances, when a person gets too close. The point will either result in backlash from her or an almost meltdown, unless handled very carefully and in some ways, firmly. She can't be allowed time to freak out, and she has to be trusted to react appropriately. It's a fine line to walk with Faith.
When Faith learned to walk emotionally, it was likely on a tight rope, with no net underneath her. It's a rope she walks daily, fighting the instinct to let loose on the people around her, people who care about her that she feels shouldn't. Power, pain, hatred, underestimation, sex. These things are all weapons in Faith's personal arsenal. She's been taught through her experiences in life that these things are how she gets by, how she gets a leg up. Faith wouldn't be so dynamic without the pain driving all of her decisions - it is the ultimate motivator behind her, her fuel. How to deal with it, how to inflict it -- she's accepted long ago that it's unavoidable and that it's a part of life. It turns on her, makes her hate herself and that hatred spills out in rage onto the people around her whether by fighting, fleeing or sex. To some extent, Faith has learned how to deal with, or more accurately filter away, the outbursts and the power struggles she used to use. Her desire to exert her power over others has dampened with her struggle for control, but they haven't entirely disappeared.
Faith's relationship with authority is a rocky one. On one hand, she needs and craves the attention and direction it gives her and handled correctly, she'll flourish under it (exhibit Evil: the Mayor). On the other hand, handled wrongly, it can send her packing in no time at all (exhibit Moron: Wesley). The flight response has somewhat dampened, once she encountered Angel, went through the jail time and then by necessity, reunited with Wesley when she broke out to help catch Angelus. You can see it in her interactions with Buffy, as well. Faith pushes and pulls with people in authority over her, but if she's shown trust and respect, she'll respond in kind. If there's enough baggage, the relationship will never be fully repaired but Faith has enough of herself put together (and let's be real -- it's not all that much) to make herself see certain things through. She's tapped into the part of the slayer that's more protector than destroyer and given it more control, fueled with guilt and repressing the hatred and anger. To a point. That said, faced with cops and a demand for something that she doesn't feel they deserve, Faith will throw down, almost for funsies.
She's easily influenced, and has been manipulated by both good and bad sources, to her detriment and to her benefit. In order to influence her a person has to show her respect, which allows her to trust them more readily. Both the Mayor and Angel used this tactic and both were genuine in wanting to help her in their own way. Once her loyalty is won, it's unfailing and she will never turn her back on a person she trusts implicitly unless they deliberately hurt her and even then her tendency is to turn back to them, because of her desire to avoid betraying someone she trusted. This goes double for people she's hurt in the past, as it's almost a penance for whatever she had done to them. To make up for her mistakes, she puts herself behind them 100% whether it's a good or bad idea.
She's got something of a flexible personality based on the circumstances surrounding her: who she's dealing with, what kind of stress she's under, etc. She's rarely a completely open book unless her walls are taken completely down but she'll give up bits of information here and there in a non-chalant way as her attempt at meeting a person in the middle. As she grows, she finds she's quite adept at fitting into and acting in situations that require her to be a bit of a con artist. At the same time, she finds herself able to relate to others on a basic level, which help her with pretending to be someone else. Faith seems so real that even when she's acting a part, she pulls it off with flying colors.
Of course a slayer, at her very soul, is a creature of death. Slayers were tools built to destroy and only through guidance and training and control were they used for good. Their power lies in demon origin and even affects them physically, calling them to kill vampires in their proximity through a painful sixth sense. This weighs on Faith because without guidance she spins out into chaotic violence -- and this is something she struggles with daily. Faith went through most of her life at full speed - all power, no control. As she attempts to redeem herself, Faith has reeled in her power as much as she can. She allows herself time to think before acting or speaking, which is an enormous step for her. Before she hit rock bottom, she was all reaction and no premeditation, the very core of a slayer. She's begun to evolve now, though, communicating and expressing herself better. Unfortunately this means sometimes she is wound very tight, corking all that rage and power in until it's shaken up and let out in an explosion of violence and hatred, often directed at herself and resulting in casualties beyond her consideration. Then begins a guilt cycle and it's the flogging and repressing all over again.
Faith is, happily, a bit of a tool. She isn't by any means dumb, but she isn't interested in the responsibility that comes with decision-making. She'd rather be told what to do, and in that way, she's the epitome of a classic slayer. Fierce, violent and willing to do what she's told. Without some sort of control or direction, Faith is a nuclear bomb, capable and willing to level the lives around her to gravel. It should be said that a part of her hates that about herself; she feels as if she's in a pit too deep to climb out of and even if she manages to get to the top of that pit, she'll just slip back down to the very bottom. The difference now is that she's willing to just keep trying. She's going to continue climbing and slipping until it kills her.
She's a bit of the classic image of a mercenary, as well. A woman far beyond her years who's seen too much warfare and bloodshed to be completely whole anymore. She finds comfort in the rougher joys of life; alcohol, sex and violence. These might serve as outlets for her baser instincts, letting her act out on some of that rage. She doesn't experience any of them in a healthy manner, boasting that she enjoys fighting and screwing in a show of just how loose and fast she is. It's a bit reigned in after her stint in jail, as she's been tightening up on everything she can in order to control what she sees as the monster inside of her. In the comics, we see that when she gets home from a hard day, she stabs the wall with her stake. Staking is a fairly phallic image to being with and canonically Faith has a preference for knives as well. If she were being profiled as what she'd be if not a slayer (that is, a serial killer), one would equate those stabbing motions and the rage as a release. A controlled release, especially for Faith. It shows that in her own way she's actively trying to deal with the feelings she gets when she's frustrated and feels out of control. Of course, she may or may not realize that all she's doing is repressing, but she attempts, which is a big deal for Faith.
She sometimes shows characteristics displayed by sociopaths - while she doesn't necessarily get people, she can read them and adjust her reaction appropriately. She doesn't do this often, rather she'll speak her mind, even if it means hurting someone's feelings - which usually happens without her intention. Now that she's more confident, she's less likely to overreact based on what she thinks is happening around her; usually she would take fault and leave or punish herself. This has been replaced by a indifferent almost fatalist attitude, probably something she learned while locked up in jail - if she can't control it, there's no point in trying. She'd rather come off as morally bankrupt and stupid than caring enough about something to worry or obsess about it.
Almost comically, Faith and Buffy behave a bit like exes. Faith's view of Buffy changes with Faith's degradation and then her growth; at first, she sees a comrade, someone who will finally understand Faith, someone she can trust and kick ass with. She comes to Sunnydale afraid, lost and looking for help from the one person who should be able to help her. As they progress through a relationship, Faith eventually abandons the idea that she and Buffy will be equals, because of unavoidable events that distance them, and because of Faith's inability to view the events objectively she treats Buffy as a lover that's betrayed her. Faith is an all or nothing girl; Doug Petrie says that her modus operandi is 'if you don't love me, you will fear me.' And when she finally hits the breaking point and decides that Buffy is never going to see her the way Faith wants her to, that she won't get the right kind of attention from her, Faith opts to get the wrong kind of attention. To this day, that's sort of how she and Buffy operate. They connect most strongly on a slayer level, though there's a bit more give, an understanding of their places in the world. Still, when Faith feels she deserves punishment of some sort, she often seeks out Buffy, who she knows will deliver it. And really, for what Faith has done to her, Buffy is the only one who should exact that punishment on her. It wouldn't be accurate to say that she trusts Buffy, but she recognizes Buffy's plight in contrast to her own and accepts that it is something Buffy has suffered with her whole slayer life.
For the longest time she couldn't understand why Buffy was so ungrateful because to Faith, Buffy's life was positively perfect. In the seventh season this turns around when the two slayers get a chance to walk in each other's shoes. Each learns that the other's path is not to easy to tread and learns a new appreciation for their allotted roles in the world together. They come to a rocky, mutual agreement that they're just simply not supposed to exist together.
Faith's life was saved, literally, by Angel. He'd been there for her a few times, and been on the opposite side than she was just as many. She sees him as a mentor, someone she can trust but that she doesn't want to cross the line of. Once he refused to kill her, her life was passed into his hands. Faith was happy to die, and by refusing to kill her, Angel took over responsibility for her life for that amount of time. In a short span, he cared for her and talked her down and eventually helped her come to the realization that she was not a rabid dog that needed putting down. She was a human in pain that had made mistakes and needed to pay for them. Angel helped Faith move from being a hurt child that was acting out to an adult woman ready to take charge of her life. He visited her in jail and talked her through a lot of her time there, and even with that small amount of contact, they became good friends. She trusts Angel more than anyone, and she would do anything to help him if he needed it.
If anyone needed a parental figure, a father figure, it'd always been Faith. Unfortunately, when one came along, she was in a prime position to be manipulated by him and even though the case was that he helped her become even worse than she was, Richard Wilkins III gave Faith the affirmation she so desperately needed. At an extremely vulnerable time in her life, Faith stumbled into a small surrogate family when she was really just looking for more power to stick it to Buffy & Co. for what she saw as being rejected by them. Faith and the Mayor ended up grounding each other, keeping their humanness evident in light of all of the suffering they caused and scheming and planning they did. She still loves him and while she knew that it was wrong and that he was not a good man, Faith today might still give into the temptation he provides, because she craves so badly the approval that he gives without question. He's the type of person who required Faith act better; he taught her how to receive respect and maybe a little bit how to earn it. He was the ultimate father figure, and the worst possible thing for her; and she knew it deep down, and within their shared dream, told Buffy how to defeat them. You don't come away from that without a lot of guilt. Guilt that probably directly contributed to her rampage when she woke up from her coma.
Another person that's had a dramatic effect on Faith's behavior and self-image are her third watcher (well, second actual watcher - though another one that ended up dead), Wesley. They ended on a rocky partnership, him more prepared to guide her and deal with her complexities, and Faith more willing to accept guidance. Their relationship is by no means that cut and dry of course, the usual push-pull that Faith exerts on everyone being exponentially difficult because of their intimately screwed up past together. It's a very good demonstration of how bad Faith's relationships can be but that she's also willing to make up for them. She will not discuss details, won't even broach the subject of their past, but Faith will try, no matter how difficult, to make up for everything she's done in her own way. Which is often dysfunctional and resulting in more awkward issues than when they started.
Robin Wood represents the most major turning point of Faith's personality. The way she views sex is a big indicator on where Faith is emotionally. She's never had the luxury of a boyfriend being patient and calm and telling her that they'll wait for her forever. Men are never a challenge for Faith because she's hot and she's easy and she can get sex and be in control no matter where she is with little effort. Robin, however, refuses to let sex be just sex. They started out mutually irritated at Buffy and then seeing something else in each other. By the time the end rolls around and Wood is possibly dead, Faith genuinely cares for him and it's very obvious that she's ready to allow herself a chance at being something more than just a deadly weapon. She's ready to try to be a whole person; whether or not she'll ever succeed isn't the point, because it's likely unless the exact right person comes along at the exact right time she won't succeed. But she begins to let herself try, and that's a big step for her.
one;
Would wouldn't Buffy do? Faith is the opposite to Buffy; she is the dark path that Buffy could have tread if not for all of her loving friends and family. Buffy wears cardigans, Faith wears leather. Buffy eats yogurt, Faith prefers hot pockets. Buffy is a natural leader, Faith prefers to be told what to do. Buffy views slayer life as a job and sometimes burden, Faith views it as her duty, her life and her saving grace. Unfortunately for Faith, a lot of her life is contingent on Buffy - without her, Faith wouldn't exist as she is today, for better or worse. So, for every decision, big or little - WW'ntBD?
two;
Faith is a character. From a prime time network station. She is a slut who smokes, drinks and probably plays with drugs, but it's a more implied side to her personality. It doesn't define who she is, these are just tools to further emphasize her non-Buffy persona. To keep the TV flavor, I try not to overtly or overdo these things. It might be something I mention in passing, or that is implied by her casual demeanor regarding the subjects. This might make her come off as too PG and not like she really is but I really believe that when it comes to Faith, a balance of all the bad she's into is key to her personality and keeping her true to character.
three;
She's also a murderer. And though she isn't a serial killer by any means, she is inherently a psyopathic personality. Fortunately she's on the straight and narrow but it by no means diminishes her killer instinct. She just gets to exercise that instinct killing evil things. She struggles with that issue every moment of every day, because it's her price to pay. Faith runs from responsibility but when she knows it will contribute to her penance, she'll keep on to prove everyone wrong, especially herself. Faith is a pariah of irony, her murderous past now gives her purpose and a future. Plus, being a fugitive is probably something she brags about.
four;
Playing pretend. Faith's number one survival tactic is indifference. There's an inverse scale of reactions when it comes to dealing with personal issues for her. The closer something hits to home, the more she'll act like she doesn't care. Faith will always try to play it cool until she hits that breaking point, where she just can't bear to hear about it anymore. She would rather look morally bankrupt or dumb than reveal that she cares about something or someone. Her loyalty once earned is rock-solid though she won't act like it's a burden, simply choosing to find a light-hearted reason to be doing what is necessary.
five;
The lone wolf. Ultimately Faith trusts almost no one, least of all herself. The lone wolf description is accurate down to physical behavior - she shifts her weight from foot to foot, cracks her knuckles, shifts her eyes - she's always ready to be on the move. When that cycle was broken by settling her down in Cleveland, she struggled and distanced herself from the headquarters and Robin Wood, who she'd previously connected with and openly showed feelings for. Now, after she's worked with Giles and has a clearer purpose and is able to be on the move in recruiting wayward junior slayers, she'll act more herself, more comfortable. Thought she enjoys solitude, she does get lonely and will generally gravitate back toward people and things that she's familiar with, but it'll never get mushy and she'll never invest too much.
etc;
Furthermore, I write her based on the inference that she was picked on as a child, rather than cool or a bully. She brags to the Mayor about her brave accomplishments, but who's to say she wasn't just looking to gain his approval? I see Faith as having been very much a geek in the sense that she's never had friends, she's never had anyone to turn to and once she gained this enormous strength as a slayer, it changed her life but not her habits. She's still most comfortable with being alone because she is a hyper-aware individual coming from an abusive home. She recognizes things that make her feel bad or hurt and she learns to avoid them, whereas a normal person would simply chalk each bad experience up to just that, a singular bad experience. Faith sees it as the recurring pattern that she perpetrates by just being herself. She displays this image of cool and jaded but when she looks in the mirror she sees a pathetic lonely nerd with nothing to offer anyone else because when she tries, things go south fast. So for her, it's best to keep to herself so she doesn't get hurt and so she doesn't hurt anyone else.