108 Ficlet: Scouring
Title Scouring
Author Bruttimabuoni
Rating PG
Word Count 350
Prompt 108 (both Faith and Anya)
Characters/Pairing (if any) …Faith, Anya…
“All the baby slayers tucked away?” Faith looked up from the table full of planning documents.
Anya slumped down on a chair opposite. “Pretty much. There was a small rebellion over bathroom precedence, but it was quelled with some negotiations over mouthwash which I don‘t want to go into. This loco parentis thing sucks.” Faith rolled her eyes in agreement.
“Also: responsibility for life and death of dozens of kids? Not fun. Can we talk about something else?” Faith’s desperation was convincing, but her first cast was a bad one. “So, vengeance demon. Got to be some cool stories there?”
Anya looked down at her fingernails. “I’m not proud of it. Not anymore. Well, sometimes, maybe…” She looked up and recited, “But it is inappropriate for me to express satisfaction at the brutality I inflicted.”
This didn‘t sit too well with Faith. “Yeah, but real assholes. Gotta be satisfying to squish ‘em?” Anya resolutely failed to respond to this open invitation. Faith, twitchily moving away from the table, eventually broke the pause with a half-change of subject.
“So, you did some pretty impressive stuff I hear. Do the powers just…happen? No magic messing? They wish and that’s it?”
“Yep, snap your fingers and it happens. Feels like crap, mind you. All that power gushing through you, your veins and guts and pores, it’s like…like a scourer.”
Faith’s face was a picture. “Great image. Gross image.”
“Appropriate image. It took a few years of humanity to recognise the effect, but it took little bits of me away, every time I granted a wish. It got to the point where I‘m not sure there was any of the real me left… I imagine you might have an idea what that feels like.”
Anya held Faith’s gaze for a long moment, before the Slayer broke the connection. “Gotta talk to Giles. Get this plan nailed down.”
She made it almost to the kitchen door before turning back. “Yeah. I know what you mean. So it’s payback time, right? But I can’t think about that now.”
Anya watched the empty doorway for a while after Faith left. That girl needs some serious help, still. But it’ll have to wait till after the fight.
Author Bruttimabuoni
Rating PG
Word Count 350
Prompt 108 (both Faith and Anya)
Characters/Pairing (if any) …Faith, Anya…
“All the baby slayers tucked away?” Faith looked up from the table full of planning documents.
Anya slumped down on a chair opposite. “Pretty much. There was a small rebellion over bathroom precedence, but it was quelled with some negotiations over mouthwash which I don‘t want to go into. This loco parentis thing sucks.” Faith rolled her eyes in agreement.
“Also: responsibility for life and death of dozens of kids? Not fun. Can we talk about something else?” Faith’s desperation was convincing, but her first cast was a bad one. “So, vengeance demon. Got to be some cool stories there?”
Anya looked down at her fingernails. “I’m not proud of it. Not anymore. Well, sometimes, maybe…” She looked up and recited, “But it is inappropriate for me to express satisfaction at the brutality I inflicted.”
This didn‘t sit too well with Faith. “Yeah, but real assholes. Gotta be satisfying to squish ‘em?” Anya resolutely failed to respond to this open invitation. Faith, twitchily moving away from the table, eventually broke the pause with a half-change of subject.
“So, you did some pretty impressive stuff I hear. Do the powers just…happen? No magic messing? They wish and that’s it?”
“Yep, snap your fingers and it happens. Feels like crap, mind you. All that power gushing through you, your veins and guts and pores, it’s like…like a scourer.”
Faith’s face was a picture. “Great image. Gross image.”
“Appropriate image. It took a few years of humanity to recognise the effect, but it took little bits of me away, every time I granted a wish. It got to the point where I‘m not sure there was any of the real me left… I imagine you might have an idea what that feels like.”
Anya held Faith’s gaze for a long moment, before the Slayer broke the connection. “Gotta talk to Giles. Get this plan nailed down.”
She made it almost to the kitchen door before turning back. “Yeah. I know what you mean. So it’s payback time, right? But I can’t think about that now.”
Anya watched the empty doorway for a while after Faith left. That girl needs some serious help, still. But it’ll have to wait till after the fight.