Connor and Faith: A Trip to the Maul

[cordys_bitch]

Faith:I may never reach you...
Seriously. My life? A total trip right now. First I get sprung by the lawyer who personally made sure that my ass ended up in the joint in the first place. For Angel of all people vampires. Cause Angel and his vamp chick popped a kid out who managed to somehow get kidnapped into an alternate dimension. Sure, I had my reservations about the whole lawyer part of the deal, but I dig. I'd do whatever I had to to help out Soul Boy. Not sure how I was gonna help rescue a baby from another dimension but I was sure Angel had a plan. Angel always had a plan. That was his job, to be the big hero or whatever.

So I show up at his new digs only to find junior himself tryin' to pick a fight with me. But hey, Angel's kid was supposed to be a baby and the kid in front of me? He mighta been wearin' some weird shit but a diaper wasn't part of the getup. Definitely not a baby. Definitely not. Either way, he was all lookin' to pick a fight with Angel. Had his panties all in a twist about killin' Angelus. Someone's been fucking with that kid's head hardcore if he had a hardon to kill Soul Boy. Trust me, both been there and done that. Course I couldn't just let him try and kill Angel. 'Sides I been trapped in the slammer for a long time, needed a quality fight, among other things. He showed me his moves, I showed him my moves. He was a wicked good fighter. I so woulda wupped his ass if he hadn't gotten himself all distracted slaying the answering machine. Out of this world, yo.

Now I find myself pullin' the biggest babysit ever. I couldn't just let him head out into a world that he so clearly didn't get...at all. I mean, I had to make sure everything was five by five with him for Angel. Plus, if he ran into Angel I wanted to be around, just in case Soul Boy needed a little backup. Cause this punk? Desperate to put the hurt on daddy for real.

At least I'd finally convinced him that he needed some new threads. Bear skin? Really not the look to be sportin' in downtown L.A. Connor and I walked side by side to the closest mall and he seemed all tweeked out by all the people around as we stood outside. Great, he was probably gonna flip out and cause some kinda scene. Actually...that might be interesting.

"Be cool." I warned him as I opened the door and both of us stepped inside.
Connor: Faith informed me that I would need to change out of the skins I wore and into clothes that came from this dimension so that I would blend in. I thought, perhaps, that she did not like my skins and was using this as an excuse to have me disrobe, but she stopped me from stripping off the skins. Apparently this dimension does not allow people to walk around nude. That made no sense to me, nudity is natural, but if I am to complete my mission, blending in would be necessary.

Faith was not the only person to look upon my skins with confusion on their face. As we walked to this maul, people frowned at me and whispered to their companions about my dress. I merely growled in their direction and looked forward to visiting a maul. I hoped there would be demons to fight.

When Faith stopped suddenly in front of a building and opened the doors, I frowned. This did not appear to be a maul. Where were the weapons? Where were the dead demon bodies from the previous battles?

I sniffed the air and found no sign of death.

"This is not a maul." I said, as I scanned the area with my eyes. There were many people, all clutching bags as they pushed past each other in an attempt to enter the smaller buildings housed in this large abode.

Faith:"What are you talkin' about?" I asked as he told me that this wasn't a mall. Maybe malls were different in Quor'toth or wherever the fuck. He was just confused because this mall sold stuff like jeans and leather pants and not demon skins.

I stopped for a second and watched him, he took in everything around him and seemed wicked freaked out by all the people walking around. Maybe this wasn't my best idea ever, bringing him in here. But I didn't have a better idea and he needed clothes for real. It was a good thing Lindsey hooked me up with some cash before takin' off like the big wuss he was.

"You cool?" I asked, trailing dark eyes over to Connor as he completely ignored me, still takin' everything in.
Connor: "You said we were going to a maul." I turned my head to meet her gaze. "A maul should have weapons. Where are our opponents? Do we fight the humans in this dimension? That does not seem like a fair fight."

A human woman, clutching bags and two small children, push between us, narrowing her eyes at me. "Move out of the way."

"I was here first." I growled. "Perhaps we should fight the humans." I sniffed the air, my senses filled with a sour aroma of scents that resembled flowers and trees. "If she is a human. She disguises her scent."

"Mommy, he is weird." One of the children said, clutching closer to her mother. "He is wearing skins like Daddy brings home from hunting."

"Your father...hunts?" I asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Mommy, can we go? He's really scary." The boy child said, shooting a withering glare in my direction as he took a step in front of his sister and mother.
Faith: Putting a hand on Connor's arm I braced myself for a second waiting for him to lash out at me. Surprisingly he didn't so I pulled him to the side, away from all the people that crowded the hallway.

"This is a shopping mall. I don't know what kinda mall's they had in Quor'toth. But here? We buy you clothes. We don't fight anything, and we don't scare the shit out of small children. So just play it cool okay? Everything's gonna be five by five. We'll get you some threads....and well me too. And then we'll blow on out of here. Until then try not to fight with anything?" Holy shit and when did I become the voice of reason?

Stepping away from him a little bit I started towards a store before looking back at him. "Come on."
Connor:Faith placed a hand on my arm and pulled me away from the angry woman and her children. Faith's words were soft as she patiently explained the difference of this maul to the one that I expected to see.

"There were no mauls in Quor'toth. Father told me about mauls from the stories he would share with me at night." I explained.

She wanted me to change out of the skins so that I would fit in with this dimension. "I am sorry if I did something wrong. The woman, she pushed between us and was angry. Combative. I thought she was challenging us to a fight."

I paused, considering the words from the children. "Why are the skins I wear scary? The children's father hunts. Shouldn't they be used to demon skins?"
Faith: "She wasn't tryin' to pick a fight with you." I explained as we walked into the nearest store. American Eagle. A little preppy for my tastes, but it was wicked expensive and Lindsey had given me a credit card. Might as well spend some of his cash. "You just scared her that's all. Cause...ya know, you're wearing demon skins and she had a kid."

Browsing through the aisles I started picking up pants and shirts and putting them into Connor's arms.

"I already told you. People don't know about demons here. Her dad probably hunts racoons or something." I snickered as I walked past some jeans and pulled out a pair that I bet would fit him and put them in his arms too. Man, shopping. Why wasn't Cordelia doing this?
Connor: "Raccoons? What are they like?" I asked, accepting the clothes she handed to me. There were so many and she showed no sign of being finished. "I believe you have found more than enough clothes for me."

She gave me a look that edged with a smile. This mall had many stores and if all the stores had the same amount of clothes as the one we were currently in had, then we could possibly be here for some time. I did not think I would ever enjoy this kind of maul. The one father described seemed to be much more appealing.

"I do not understand how people can not know they live among demons." A couple of girls, who appeared to be not much younger than Faith, started to laugh. I heard one of them whisper, 'He's a freak.'

"What is a freak?"
Faith:"They're like nasty little rodents that eat garbage." I said as I absently put more clothes in his arms. Some of the clothes were for me, but since he was here and I was doin' the shopping he could hold them.

I ignored the girls who kept walkin' by and whispering and pointing. Girls like that were a dime a dozen in Southern California and all they did was piss me off. They reminded me of Cordelia and Buffy and I had to fight off the urge to punch 'em in the face til they stopped laughing.

"Come on." Pulling him towards the desk I had him set all the clothes on the counter as the saleslady gave us both a look before ringing everything up.

Couldn't help but smirk when she told me the final total. Thanks Lindsey. Have fun payin' that one off. Although he was a laywer, so this was probably just clean the change out of his couch cushions and pay that off.
Connor:I waited for the person on the opposite side of the counter to bag up the clothes and pass them back to me. Faith seemed very pleased about something. I guessed she really liked clothes.

"Are we finished now?" I asked, shifting the bags to one hand so that I had access to my knife or stake if needed.

"We could go hunting." I suggested hopefully as we exited the store and stepped into the path of other people who clutched their own bags. There were so many people. This place made me uncomfortable.

"Do you wish for me to change into the new clothes now?"
Faith: "Yeah. We can always come get more stuff later if we need it." Not like shopping wasn't wicked fun, except that it wasn't. Sure it was cool that Wolfram and Hart's bitchboy just handed me a credit card- but shopping was never my thing. And dealing with all these bitches and their dirty looks was makin' me want to get my violence on something fierce. Couldn't do that though, I was different now. Didn't just spend the last few years kickin' back in the clink for no reason.

"We could. Maybe when it gets dark out or whatever." Who was I kidding. I was desperate for a fight. Just got bailed out the joint and I needed to get my slay on. Connor might be fun to go on patrol with.

"Yeah, you should change." Pulling out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of the bag I handed it to him. "Go in there." I pointed to the bathroom. "And try not to get into any fights. Cause if I gotta come in there I'm gonna be pissed."
Connor:I took the clothes that Faith handed me and walked into the bathroom. There were a couple of men inside who gave me strange looks as I stripped out of the skins.

"Um, dude, maybe you should change in a stall." One of the men suggested.

"Why?" I asked, shrugging out of the last of the demon skins. One of the men rushed past me. The guy who spoke to me stared at me as I stepped into the pants. "Why are you staring at me?"

"You're naked. Did you, like, just sneak in from another country or something?" He asked, taking a step toward me.

"Quor'toth." I said, tugging the shirt over my head. I looked down at the skins, debating if I should bring them back with me. Faith mentioned, more than once, that people did not wear demon skins in this dimension. I sighed. "You can have the skins if you wish."

I turned and walked out of the bathroom, and found Faith waiting for me outside of the door. "Is this better?"

Faith: I smiled slightly when Connor came out of the bathroom in the jeans and t-shirt. He looked...like a normal kid. Well go me, stage one of the dealing with Angel's kid was successful. Now I just needed to somehow convince him that killing daddy dearest wasn't his best idea ever.

"You look great." I smiled at him, and for some odd reason found my fingers gently pushing back some hair out of his face. Frowning at my own irritatingly gentle display I turned around and started stalking towards the exit.

"Come on, let's get outta here." I turned around and waited for Connor to catch up before opening the door so we both could get out.

Once we were back out on the sidewalk I lit up a cigarette and took a long drag.
Connor: I frowned at the cigarette, but chose not to say anything about it. Faith seemed to like the disgusting fire sticks, despite the way they tasted and the foul way they smelled.

The clothes were more comfortable than I imagined they would be. The demon skins were heavy and at times, it was a struggle to move in them. The new clothes fit my body in a way that I could move in any direction without being constricted. I decided to try out just how flexible the clothing was by taking off at a run, flipping forward and landing gracefully on my feet. I lashed my leg out at a tree and finally flipped backwards while pulling out my stake with a quick, fluid motion.

My face broke into a smile as I ran back toward Faith. "I can move freely in these clothes. Thank you."

My eyes scanned the maul parking lot, taking in the rows of cars and groups of people. "Where can we go to hunt?" I asked, pretty sure that the maul parking lot was not an area that Faith would wish to hunt at.
Faith: I grinned as Connor took off and did a flying leap, before running back. The people in the parking lot stopped to ooh and aaah for a minute and I was thinkin' they probably thought he was some kinda gymnast or something.

Looking up at the sky I saw that the sun had already begun to sink below the horizon. It would be dark soon and we could patrol. Or hunting, whatever he wanted to call it.

"Been a long time since I slayed anything in L.A. But I'm thinkin' if we hit up the warehouse district we could find something slayworthy."
Connor:I fell into step beside her. The people who passed us were no longer staring at me like I was...weird. I guessed the clothes really did allow me to blend in with the others in this dimension.

"It will be good to fight demons. I am curious as to what demons, besides vampires, lurk in this dimension."

The sound of horns blaring as the cars came to a near stop on the road startled me. "How do you get used to all this noise? They blare sounds at each other, but it does not do anything to increase their speed."

I clutched at the bags from the store in one hand, stopping as we came to the edge of a street. "Should we store the bags some place? It will not be wise to only fight with one hand."
Faith:I had to almost grin at Connor's enthusiasum. He was gonna be fun to go on patrol with, to fight with. I knew it, and not just cause he was wicked strong and fast like Angel but because he was just so damn excited. It was almost contagious.

My attention went to the cars in the street nearby. Weird how I'd been in lockdown all this time and I'd even missed the sound of L.A. traffic. Anything was better than the sounds of my bunkmate snoring the night away. That sound almost drove me to the edge of crazy most nights.

"Where are you gonna crash?" I asked him, giving him a curious look. "You didn't even think about that, did you?" I could tell from the look on his face that he hadn't. Not that it mattered, we were both kinda the same. Scrappers, we'd manage even without a plan. We were the kinda club kids that always did.

Plus, having super powers didn't hurt.
Connor:"Crash?" I asked her, trying to understand what she was asking me. There seemed to be a lot of words that I needed to learn. "Do you mean where do I plan to sleep?"

She smiled and nodded her head. I couldn't help but smile a little shyly at her. I'd finally figured out what she was asking me without needing her to explain. Maybe I would understand this world soon enough.

"In Quor'toth, I crashed wherever I found a place to lay. It wasn't safe to sleep for long periods of time because demons were always near by, waiting for me or Father to let our guard down. Is it different here? Are you able to sleep without being on guard?"

I had a feeling that people needed to be on guard at all times in this world too. Though, how any of them survived when they did not realize the demons that walked among them puzzled me. How can you fight an enemy that you are not aware of?
Faith:Hey, the kid was catchin' on. It was wicked hard too, cause me? Half of the words I used were slang. But what the hell did you want from the girl who never even finished high school?

"Well here we sleep at night, most people sleep for like eight hours at a time. Vampires can't come in without being invited, and the chances of being attacked in your sleep? Not all that great. You know, unless you're us. But still...we gotta find some place to crash. Place to keep our stuff." I was about to say the hotel was our best bet but somehow I knew Connor was gonna be shootin' that idea down hardcore. Have to come up with plan B.

Well I had the credit card that Lindsey had given me. It wasn't like I was a stranger to seedy hotel rooms, we could always hit up one of those. Course it was Lindsey's credit card...maybe we should hit up a swanky hotel instead.
Connor:Eight hours? How could anyone sleep for that long? I couldn't imagine what it must be like to be able to relax, let down my guard, and give in to hours and hours of sleep.

"It isn't safe to sleep outside?" I asked her, pretty sure the answer would be no. This dimension had many buildings and it would be safer to take refuge indoors.

"I am used to sleeping anywhere. It does not matter."

The sun had nearly disappeared from the sky. My eyes scanned the area we walked through, looking for any sign of demon activity. We could find a place to sleep later. I wanted to hunt now.

I stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. A scream echoed through the night air. "Demons." I growled, taking off at run with Faith at my side. It was strange to be with someone who could run as fast I could. We turned a corner and stopped at the entrance of a dark alley. A girl screamed, struggling to get away from the three vampires who circled her.

"Get away from her." I said, plucking a stake from my back pocket.
Faith:A scream rippled through the air and before I knew it Connor was taking off. Like father, like son. I was bettin' Connor got a hardon over savin' the damsels in distress. That was Angel's deal anyway, and already the similarities were kinda funny. At least he waited til we were in the alleyway before he dropped the bag of clothes to the ground.

"Get away from her?" I raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Connor before all three vamps tried to jump us.

The girl screamed again and went racing down the alley. Jeez, some people didn't even know how to say thank you. Not like it mattered, I was here to get my fight on. Although I couldn't help thinkin' that it mighta been nice if Lindsey had brought me a stake along with that credit card.

Spinning around quickly I lashed out with a kick to one of the vampire's chest. With a grin I turned around and popped another one in the nose with my fist. I glanced over at Connor, who seemed to be holding his own. Least I didn't have to worry about him. Which kicked all kinds of ass, because this shit was fun! It'd been way too long since I got my slay on last.

Smashing my fist into one of the vampire's face, I held up my hand and looked at Connor quick.

"Stake!"
Connor:The girl let out a scream before running out of the alley, leaving Faith and me to fight the demons. I threw myself into the fight, punching and kicking at the closest vampire. I could see Faith out of the corner of my eye and she seemed to enjoy the thrill of the fight as much as I did.

For a moment I was caught off guard as I watched the way her body moved when she lashed out a brutal kick, slamming the vampire into the nearest wall. The vampire I was fighting took advantage of my distraction, punching me hard in the stomach. I doubled over briefly as the vampire laughed.

I smirked at him as I plunged the stake into his heart while I stood back up. Faith called out for a stake and I wondered why she would be hunting without a weapon, but did not have time to ask as the third vampire approached me. I tossed her the stake, before turning my attention to the demon. I turned slightly, lashing my leg out to kick him. "I will need that back." I called out to her, just as the demon threw a punch at me.

Faith:It just felt right.

The minute the smooth wood connected with the palm of my hand and I closed my fingers around it. It was the first time that I'd felt like a slayer in so long. In one swift graceful movement I slammed the stake home and watched the vampire crumble to dust.

That was so awesome! I could feel the blood pounding in my veins, my heart racing, that itch that spreads itself across my skin. I hadn't felt it in so long I was worried I'd never feel it again. But it was still there. I was still a slayer, still a fighter.

Turning around I watched the vampire cold-cock Connor in the face with a fierce left hook. He wasn't even paying attention to me though as I slammed the stake into his back and through his heart. When the dust cleared I smirked and handed Connor back his stake.
Connor:I watched as the vampire turned to dust. He had a shocked look on his face when Faith plunged the stake into the back of him, hitting his heart on the first attempt. If he had been paying attention to the way she moved, the way I had, then he would have saw her coming for him.

I accepted the stake from her. "You should have a weapon." I looked down at the stake, pausing for a moment before handing it back to her. "Keep this one. I can make another tonight. You killed two of the vampires. Impressive."

I smile at her as I reach down to retrieve our bags. "I have never seen anyone move like me before. You...You almost fight as well as I do."
Faith:"Impressive? Kid, I'm a vampire slayer. Ain't nothin' impressive about it." I said, and then thought that over for a minute. "Okay, well maybe it's a little impressive. Or ya know, wicked." I shot him a grin as I stuck the stake into my jacket pocket.

"Wait. Wait. Almost as well as you do?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow. "Almost? You're dreamin'. I'd wipe the floor with you." I was mostly kidding but the fact was I'd been in prison for a very long time. So I was a little rusty? Not like I was defensive or anything....except that I was.