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edenfallingOkay. Two points. First, Faith's outburst is too long and I don't really think she'd say all of that to a relative stranger, but I am too tired and braindead to fix it right now. If you have suggestions, I am all ears. Second... um...
I did have a second point, swear to god, but I seem to have forgotten it. See above re: braindead.
Anyway. Story now, yes?
---------------------------------------------
Lemonade
---------------------------------------------
Part IX: in which we discuss the joys of water
Faith studied the ground as they walked, pretending to look for water. Really she was just trying not to think. She felt like someone had pulled her inside out and then stuffed back into her body the wrong way -- something intangible itched, like a festering bunch of maggots in her soul.
She didn't miss being so tied in knots that she thought Dick was the good guy, that she didn't care about killing B or Wesley, that she thought making Angel kill her was a good idea. She didn't want to go back to hating herself and locking that hatred into a box and chucking it down a well to poison herself.
She didn't. She really, truly, didn't. And there was no way on earth she could've sat down and calmly, coldly ripped Mr. Voodoo to little, quivering pieces and then made him spill his guts.
But to hurt him... to slice him open for interrupting her life, and trying to kill her, and just being a demon, for fuck's sake... to let go and give in to the rush...
Faith held Angel's face in her mind like a talisman.
"Hey," Duo said, ambling up beside her, hands stuffed in his pockets. "I know you probably don't want to talk to me right now, but I wanna make sure you know that if you need to vent some pressure, I'm here. Just saying."
Faith shrugged, aiming for nonchalant -- she didn't think she pulled it off. "Whatever."
"Seriously, I have seen what repression does to people, and it ain't pretty," Duo continued, still sounding light and careless; Faith didn't believe that tone for an instant. "And whatever you were thinking of, you didn't do one damn thing to Mr. Voodoo or his buddy. I did, and Sasuke did, but you didn't. And everything we did, we did over your protest. So... don't kick yourself too hard."
Faith whirled and glared at him. "Stop sounding like you understand! I went to fucking prison -- I turned myself in for murder -- to make sure I never did shit like this again. I'm supposed to be a defender, to fight for what's right and good and fucking pure, okay? But it's still fighting, and killing, and where the hell do you draw the line?
"Killing demons who want to kill humans for no reason, fine. Stopping an apocalypse, fine. Killing demons who want to kill me, okay, fine. Killing people... there's laws for that, so that's not fine. But what makes humans so different from demons?" She threw her arms wide, reaching, stretching for an answer-- and then let them fall, her hands still empty. "Sometimes I think that's why Slayers used to die young, so we wouldn't see too much and start asking questions. So we'd still think it was okay to do anything we wanted to demons, just because they're demons. But it's not cool. It's not right. And I want to do the right thing, fuck it. I want to be a hero. I'm never gonna be a good person, but I have to try, or I might as well be dead!"
Duo's face had gone set and still, strange for someone so expressive. Abruptly, Faith realized she'd been practically screaming private shit at him, and she had no idea how to cover. This wasn't something she could swagger her way out of.
"You're right -- I don't understand, not exactly," Duo said after a moment of awkward silence. "Nobody ever completely understands anybody else. But I get it. I wasn't just a soldier, you know. We -- all the Gundam pilots -- we were terrorists too. We hit civilian facilities as well as military ones. We gave no warning. We killed people just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and becoming potential witnesses. It was war, yeah, and even the civilian factories were deep in the military-industrial complex, but justification doesn't make it right."
He shrugged, flipping his braid over his shoulder. "I dunno if anyone ever finds answers that work all the time. But at least you're looking -- that's got to count for something, right?" Then Duo turned away, looking toward Sasuke, and shielded his eyes with one hand. "Hey, change of subject -- I think the kid found something!"
Sasuke had stopped on top of a low ridge, next to a large patch of the purplish sawtooth grass, and was waving his arm in a wide, beckoning motion. "Mizu!" he called. "Water!"
Water?
Faith ran forward, leaving Duo behind, and pulled up beside Sasuke. Suddenly, all her problems faded into the background -- there wasn't just some piddling desert spring or a muddy stream beyond the ridge. There was a lake. It filled the narrow valley, maybe a couple football fields across at the widest point, but very long, twisting out of sight around a corner to the northeast. The near end, to her left, ended on a pebbled beach of sorts. The whole valley was patchily carpeted in purple grass and graced by occasional scrubby trees that looked sort of like weeping willows, only with rusty, iridescent leaves.
Objectively, the scenery was barren, ugly as hell, and the colors stank.
It was the most beautiful thing Faith had seen in months.
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, from the bottom of my heart, thank you," she muttered. "Someone else take first watch. I am going to get clean."
---------------------------------------------
Duo walked briskly into the valley, watching Faith strip down to her bra and underwear (sports bra and string bikini briefs, both black, a stray corner of his mind noted) and wade into the lake. Sasuke was behind him, circling along the ridge and presumably watching for an signs of an ambush.
"How's the water?" he called down to Faith.
She had reached waist depth, and scooped up a double handful of water to splash over her head. "Lukewarm. And really, really clear -- it's like a swimming pool, but no chlorine," she called back. "The bottom's sand and a few weeds."
"Cool. But don't drink anything -- we'll have Sasuke boil the water first. Better safe than dead." God only knew what sort of bacteria might live in a hell dimension. Duo shuddered. Demon bacteria -- now there was something he'd never expected to consider. He wondered if there were demon fish in the lake, and if they liked the taste of humans.
"I won't swallow," Faith said, laughing, and ducked underwater before Duo could snap back a response. When she came up for air, the white sunlight glistened on her skin, and water cascaded from her dark hair. Duo stared, and then decided to look elsewhere for his own peace of mind.
Besides, this was way too nice a place for people not to have stumbled over it before -- and they knew, from the fire-pit at their last campsite, that there had been sentient beings in this world fairly recently. He really didn't want to lay odds on whether they were still around, and whether they'd be friendly to strangers.
"Sasuke! I'll keep watch here -- toss me the centipede and go check for signs of life around the bend," he called up toward the ridge where he'd last seen the kid.
"I don't take orders from you," Sasuke said, sliding out of a patch of shadow halfway up the hill, Duo's jacket still slung over his shoulder.
"Yeah, whatever. Please go do recon around the bend." Sasuke nodded, dropped Duo's jacket to the ground, and vanished again. Duo shook his head and groaned. "Was I that stupid when I was fifteen? Man, I gotta apologize to Howard next time I call. And maybe to G, if he ever sends me his new email." He glanced down toward the lake -- no Creature From the Black Lagoon had appeared, thank God -- and set out to make a thorough investigation of this end of the valley, retrieving his poor, abused jacket along the way.
Twenty minutes later, he concluded that somebody had built a fire here a while ago, but there weren't any signs of permanent habitation. He turned his attention back to the lake, where Faith was scrubbing herself with handfuls of sand in lieu of soap. "Nice improv," he called to her, grabbing a perch on a fallen tree trunk and unlacing his shoes. "You learn that firsthand, or from some survival documentary?"
"Firsthand, actually -- see, there was this alligator, and... I'd tell you the funny version, but I don't feel like it right now, and the real story's fucking boring." Faith shrugged, and then dunked her hair one last time before heading for shore. "Your turn. And hey, like what you see?" She stood, shallow water lapping around her ankles, and shot him a challenging smile.
"Hell yes, and you know it," Duo said, pulling his gun out of his pocket and his spare from his waistband. He set them, his scythe, his long knife and back sheath, and one of his short, matte-finished knives in a neat pile next to his jacket; he kept the other forearm sheath fastened just in case. It would be damn stupid to get munched while he was taking a bath. He pulled off his t-shirt and grinned back at Faith. "Wanna make something of it?"
She sauntered into his personal space and ran one hand down his side to the fly of his pants, slow enough for him to pull away any time. Duo held still and made himself relax; Faith's smile spread to her eyes. "Yeah, I think I do. I think maybe I want to vent some pressure." She undid his belt, and the buttons -- one-handed, letting her fingers press against his through the cloth -- and stepped back. "But take your bath first. You stink."
"Can't argue with the truth," Duo agreed, a little breathless. He kicked his pants off, hitched up his boxers, and tried not to flush at his reaction to Faith. It was just sex, just a bit of stress relief, a shout to the world that they were alive and doing fine -- nothing to get worked up about. He waded into the lake, enjoying the feel of sand between his shoe-cramped toes, and then turned around. "Hey. What about Sasuke? Still want to jump him?"
"That," said Faith, tossing Duo's spare knife from hand to hand, "is entirely up to him... for now." She smiled.
Duo fell back into the water, laughing.
---------------------------------------------
Sasuke followed the valley for nearly a mile before he found the lake's egress -- it spilled out into a thin, sluggish stream, which he didn't bother following further. There were no signs of cultivation or permanent habitation, but halfway between the southeastern ridge and the stream mouth, there was something that looked a bit like an abandoned hunting cabin, or travelers' hut. The foundation was stone, loosely mortared with sun-dried mud, and the roof was made from split logs, probably cut from some of the local trees. He watched the building for several minutes, and then walked through the empty doorway.
Inside, the tiny house was dusty and bare, with no furnishings but a cold hearth against one wall, and what looked like the remains of a purple blanket in the opposite corner. Sasuke shaped the dispelling seal, just in case, but the cabin didn't change. No illusions; good. He crouched to stir the ashes in the hearth -- they were greasier than he expected, perhaps something about the sap in the local trees -- and then ran a hand over the blanket. It was scratchy and fibrous, and something about the texture reminded him of heavy paper -- a plant-based fabric, then? Did this world even have furred animals, or was it inhabited by nothing but insectoid creatures?
Even if the thinking inhabitants were insectoid, they were clearly enough like humans to build a shelter that would serve equally well for Sasuke and his companions. He'd have to check it more thoroughly for traps, and figure out where to place tell-tales of his own, but that could wait until he'd fetched Duo and Faith.
Dusting his hands, Sasuke headed back to the pebbled beach where he'd left his companions.
Duo was in the lake, sweeping his arms across the surface to send erratic gouts of water through the air; the droplets sparkled distractingly in the brilliant white light. His hair was unbraided, soaked, and pulled back in a simple tail. Faith was lounging on a chair-sized rock several yards up the shore, combing her wet hair with her fingers and watching Duo. Neither one was paying attention to the surrounding area.
Sasuke drifted up behind Faith and reached forward.
"Hi, Sasuke," she said before he touched her shoulder. Sasuke frowned; when had she noticed him? She turned, saw his confusion before he could blank his face, and grinned. "I --- your shadow," she said, pointing at the ground. Sasuke looked down, and realized that he'd been careless enough to stand where his shadow fell on Duo's white shirt instead of dark rocks.
He scowled at himself. "I need talk Duo," he said, ignoring his mistake. "I find place, camp..." He broke off and shaped a rough picture of a house in the air.
"A house!" Faith said; Sasuke mentally repeated the word. "---- people?"
"No people. No food. No fire. We go stay house."
Faith shot him an unamused look. "Ask, Sasuke. You don't ---- orders, I don't ---- orders. We're ----. Partners," she added, at his incomprehension. "---- with it." Then she turned her back to him and stretched, lazily, her bare arms glistening where water had dripped from her hair to her fingers.
Sasuke was suddenly aware that Faith was very nearly naked.
He walked down to the water's edge, looking away from Faith, and called to Duo. "I found a house halfway down the lake -- maybe half a mile from here. It's old and abandoned, but it should work as a defensible shelter. Finish washing and let's go."
Duo stuck out his tongue and sculled a few feet further out from shore. "Hey, if you won't take orders, don't expect me to roll over either, Sasuke-kun. There's no rush -- why don't you strip down and come on in? The water's nice, and you could use a bath."
"Later," Sasuke said, frowning repressively. "We can't afford to be careless."
Duo sighed and stood upright, pushing the tangled mass of his hair back over his shoulders. "Look, Sasuke. Yeah, Faith and I don't have your training, but we're not helpless, no matter how much you want to think we are. Past a certain point, all paranoia does is wear you out and drive you crazy -- Faith and I have enough experience to know where our edges are. You, on the other hand, have got to learn how to unwind... especially after something like questioning Voodoo-san. Get over yourself and relax."
"I have no ---- what he ----, but Duo's right," Faith said from behind him. Sasuke whirled, furious at himself for letting his attention slip, but she grabbed his hands as he brought them together in a reflexive seal. Then she grinned. "Think fast!"
Faith kicked his legs out from under him, grabbed his waist as he started to tuck into a roll, and threw him into the lake.
---------------------------------------------
End of Part IX
Back to part VIII
Continue to part X
See the original crack pairings meme and the scene that attacked me and became the first section of part I
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
Oh, hey. I think I remembered my second point. Which is that I know Duo is basically repeating the same thing he told Sasuke back in chapter 1, but that's because it bears repeating. And the third point (neurons are firing, my god, what a peculiar feeling...) is that I also know Faith seems to recover awfully quickly from her little existential crisis, but there is an explanation, so please wait until her POV section in chapter 10 before yelling at me.
Thanks muchly!
I did have a second point, swear to god, but I seem to have forgotten it. See above re: braindead.
Anyway. Story now, yes?
---------------------------------------------
Lemonade
---------------------------------------------
Part IX: in which we discuss the joys of water
Faith studied the ground as they walked, pretending to look for water. Really she was just trying not to think. She felt like someone had pulled her inside out and then stuffed back into her body the wrong way -- something intangible itched, like a festering bunch of maggots in her soul.
She didn't miss being so tied in knots that she thought Dick was the good guy, that she didn't care about killing B or Wesley, that she thought making Angel kill her was a good idea. She didn't want to go back to hating herself and locking that hatred into a box and chucking it down a well to poison herself.
She didn't. She really, truly, didn't. And there was no way on earth she could've sat down and calmly, coldly ripped Mr. Voodoo to little, quivering pieces and then made him spill his guts.
But to hurt him... to slice him open for interrupting her life, and trying to kill her, and just being a demon, for fuck's sake... to let go and give in to the rush...
Faith held Angel's face in her mind like a talisman.
"Hey," Duo said, ambling up beside her, hands stuffed in his pockets. "I know you probably don't want to talk to me right now, but I wanna make sure you know that if you need to vent some pressure, I'm here. Just saying."
Faith shrugged, aiming for nonchalant -- she didn't think she pulled it off. "Whatever."
"Seriously, I have seen what repression does to people, and it ain't pretty," Duo continued, still sounding light and careless; Faith didn't believe that tone for an instant. "And whatever you were thinking of, you didn't do one damn thing to Mr. Voodoo or his buddy. I did, and Sasuke did, but you didn't. And everything we did, we did over your protest. So... don't kick yourself too hard."
Faith whirled and glared at him. "Stop sounding like you understand! I went to fucking prison -- I turned myself in for murder -- to make sure I never did shit like this again. I'm supposed to be a defender, to fight for what's right and good and fucking pure, okay? But it's still fighting, and killing, and where the hell do you draw the line?
"Killing demons who want to kill humans for no reason, fine. Stopping an apocalypse, fine. Killing demons who want to kill me, okay, fine. Killing people... there's laws for that, so that's not fine. But what makes humans so different from demons?" She threw her arms wide, reaching, stretching for an answer-- and then let them fall, her hands still empty. "Sometimes I think that's why Slayers used to die young, so we wouldn't see too much and start asking questions. So we'd still think it was okay to do anything we wanted to demons, just because they're demons. But it's not cool. It's not right. And I want to do the right thing, fuck it. I want to be a hero. I'm never gonna be a good person, but I have to try, or I might as well be dead!"
Duo's face had gone set and still, strange for someone so expressive. Abruptly, Faith realized she'd been practically screaming private shit at him, and she had no idea how to cover. This wasn't something she could swagger her way out of.
"You're right -- I don't understand, not exactly," Duo said after a moment of awkward silence. "Nobody ever completely understands anybody else. But I get it. I wasn't just a soldier, you know. We -- all the Gundam pilots -- we were terrorists too. We hit civilian facilities as well as military ones. We gave no warning. We killed people just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and becoming potential witnesses. It was war, yeah, and even the civilian factories were deep in the military-industrial complex, but justification doesn't make it right."
He shrugged, flipping his braid over his shoulder. "I dunno if anyone ever finds answers that work all the time. But at least you're looking -- that's got to count for something, right?" Then Duo turned away, looking toward Sasuke, and shielded his eyes with one hand. "Hey, change of subject -- I think the kid found something!"
Sasuke had stopped on top of a low ridge, next to a large patch of the purplish sawtooth grass, and was waving his arm in a wide, beckoning motion. "Mizu!" he called. "Water!"
Water?
Faith ran forward, leaving Duo behind, and pulled up beside Sasuke. Suddenly, all her problems faded into the background -- there wasn't just some piddling desert spring or a muddy stream beyond the ridge. There was a lake. It filled the narrow valley, maybe a couple football fields across at the widest point, but very long, twisting out of sight around a corner to the northeast. The near end, to her left, ended on a pebbled beach of sorts. The whole valley was patchily carpeted in purple grass and graced by occasional scrubby trees that looked sort of like weeping willows, only with rusty, iridescent leaves.
Objectively, the scenery was barren, ugly as hell, and the colors stank.
It was the most beautiful thing Faith had seen in months.
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, from the bottom of my heart, thank you," she muttered. "Someone else take first watch. I am going to get clean."
---------------------------------------------
Duo walked briskly into the valley, watching Faith strip down to her bra and underwear (sports bra and string bikini briefs, both black, a stray corner of his mind noted) and wade into the lake. Sasuke was behind him, circling along the ridge and presumably watching for an signs of an ambush.
"How's the water?" he called down to Faith.
She had reached waist depth, and scooped up a double handful of water to splash over her head. "Lukewarm. And really, really clear -- it's like a swimming pool, but no chlorine," she called back. "The bottom's sand and a few weeds."
"Cool. But don't drink anything -- we'll have Sasuke boil the water first. Better safe than dead." God only knew what sort of bacteria might live in a hell dimension. Duo shuddered. Demon bacteria -- now there was something he'd never expected to consider. He wondered if there were demon fish in the lake, and if they liked the taste of humans.
"I won't swallow," Faith said, laughing, and ducked underwater before Duo could snap back a response. When she came up for air, the white sunlight glistened on her skin, and water cascaded from her dark hair. Duo stared, and then decided to look elsewhere for his own peace of mind.
Besides, this was way too nice a place for people not to have stumbled over it before -- and they knew, from the fire-pit at their last campsite, that there had been sentient beings in this world fairly recently. He really didn't want to lay odds on whether they were still around, and whether they'd be friendly to strangers.
"Sasuke! I'll keep watch here -- toss me the centipede and go check for signs of life around the bend," he called up toward the ridge where he'd last seen the kid.
"I don't take orders from you," Sasuke said, sliding out of a patch of shadow halfway up the hill, Duo's jacket still slung over his shoulder.
"Yeah, whatever. Please go do recon around the bend." Sasuke nodded, dropped Duo's jacket to the ground, and vanished again. Duo shook his head and groaned. "Was I that stupid when I was fifteen? Man, I gotta apologize to Howard next time I call. And maybe to G, if he ever sends me his new email." He glanced down toward the lake -- no Creature From the Black Lagoon had appeared, thank God -- and set out to make a thorough investigation of this end of the valley, retrieving his poor, abused jacket along the way.
Twenty minutes later, he concluded that somebody had built a fire here a while ago, but there weren't any signs of permanent habitation. He turned his attention back to the lake, where Faith was scrubbing herself with handfuls of sand in lieu of soap. "Nice improv," he called to her, grabbing a perch on a fallen tree trunk and unlacing his shoes. "You learn that firsthand, or from some survival documentary?"
"Firsthand, actually -- see, there was this alligator, and... I'd tell you the funny version, but I don't feel like it right now, and the real story's fucking boring." Faith shrugged, and then dunked her hair one last time before heading for shore. "Your turn. And hey, like what you see?" She stood, shallow water lapping around her ankles, and shot him a challenging smile.
"Hell yes, and you know it," Duo said, pulling his gun out of his pocket and his spare from his waistband. He set them, his scythe, his long knife and back sheath, and one of his short, matte-finished knives in a neat pile next to his jacket; he kept the other forearm sheath fastened just in case. It would be damn stupid to get munched while he was taking a bath. He pulled off his t-shirt and grinned back at Faith. "Wanna make something of it?"
She sauntered into his personal space and ran one hand down his side to the fly of his pants, slow enough for him to pull away any time. Duo held still and made himself relax; Faith's smile spread to her eyes. "Yeah, I think I do. I think maybe I want to vent some pressure." She undid his belt, and the buttons -- one-handed, letting her fingers press against his through the cloth -- and stepped back. "But take your bath first. You stink."
"Can't argue with the truth," Duo agreed, a little breathless. He kicked his pants off, hitched up his boxers, and tried not to flush at his reaction to Faith. It was just sex, just a bit of stress relief, a shout to the world that they were alive and doing fine -- nothing to get worked up about. He waded into the lake, enjoying the feel of sand between his shoe-cramped toes, and then turned around. "Hey. What about Sasuke? Still want to jump him?"
"That," said Faith, tossing Duo's spare knife from hand to hand, "is entirely up to him... for now." She smiled.
Duo fell back into the water, laughing.
---------------------------------------------
Sasuke followed the valley for nearly a mile before he found the lake's egress -- it spilled out into a thin, sluggish stream, which he didn't bother following further. There were no signs of cultivation or permanent habitation, but halfway between the southeastern ridge and the stream mouth, there was something that looked a bit like an abandoned hunting cabin, or travelers' hut. The foundation was stone, loosely mortared with sun-dried mud, and the roof was made from split logs, probably cut from some of the local trees. He watched the building for several minutes, and then walked through the empty doorway.
Inside, the tiny house was dusty and bare, with no furnishings but a cold hearth against one wall, and what looked like the remains of a purple blanket in the opposite corner. Sasuke shaped the dispelling seal, just in case, but the cabin didn't change. No illusions; good. He crouched to stir the ashes in the hearth -- they were greasier than he expected, perhaps something about the sap in the local trees -- and then ran a hand over the blanket. It was scratchy and fibrous, and something about the texture reminded him of heavy paper -- a plant-based fabric, then? Did this world even have furred animals, or was it inhabited by nothing but insectoid creatures?
Even if the thinking inhabitants were insectoid, they were clearly enough like humans to build a shelter that would serve equally well for Sasuke and his companions. He'd have to check it more thoroughly for traps, and figure out where to place tell-tales of his own, but that could wait until he'd fetched Duo and Faith.
Dusting his hands, Sasuke headed back to the pebbled beach where he'd left his companions.
Duo was in the lake, sweeping his arms across the surface to send erratic gouts of water through the air; the droplets sparkled distractingly in the brilliant white light. His hair was unbraided, soaked, and pulled back in a simple tail. Faith was lounging on a chair-sized rock several yards up the shore, combing her wet hair with her fingers and watching Duo. Neither one was paying attention to the surrounding area.
Sasuke drifted up behind Faith and reached forward.
"Hi, Sasuke," she said before he touched her shoulder. Sasuke frowned; when had she noticed him? She turned, saw his confusion before he could blank his face, and grinned. "I --- your shadow," she said, pointing at the ground. Sasuke looked down, and realized that he'd been careless enough to stand where his shadow fell on Duo's white shirt instead of dark rocks.
He scowled at himself. "I need talk Duo," he said, ignoring his mistake. "I find place, camp..." He broke off and shaped a rough picture of a house in the air.
"A house!" Faith said; Sasuke mentally repeated the word. "---- people?"
"No people. No food. No fire. We go stay house."
Faith shot him an unamused look. "Ask, Sasuke. You don't ---- orders, I don't ---- orders. We're ----. Partners," she added, at his incomprehension. "---- with it." Then she turned her back to him and stretched, lazily, her bare arms glistening where water had dripped from her hair to her fingers.
Sasuke was suddenly aware that Faith was very nearly naked.
He walked down to the water's edge, looking away from Faith, and called to Duo. "I found a house halfway down the lake -- maybe half a mile from here. It's old and abandoned, but it should work as a defensible shelter. Finish washing and let's go."
Duo stuck out his tongue and sculled a few feet further out from shore. "Hey, if you won't take orders, don't expect me to roll over either, Sasuke-kun. There's no rush -- why don't you strip down and come on in? The water's nice, and you could use a bath."
"Later," Sasuke said, frowning repressively. "We can't afford to be careless."
Duo sighed and stood upright, pushing the tangled mass of his hair back over his shoulders. "Look, Sasuke. Yeah, Faith and I don't have your training, but we're not helpless, no matter how much you want to think we are. Past a certain point, all paranoia does is wear you out and drive you crazy -- Faith and I have enough experience to know where our edges are. You, on the other hand, have got to learn how to unwind... especially after something like questioning Voodoo-san. Get over yourself and relax."
"I have no ---- what he ----, but Duo's right," Faith said from behind him. Sasuke whirled, furious at himself for letting his attention slip, but she grabbed his hands as he brought them together in a reflexive seal. Then she grinned. "Think fast!"
Faith kicked his legs out from under him, grabbed his waist as he started to tuck into a roll, and threw him into the lake.
---------------------------------------------
End of Part IX
Back to part VIII
Continue to part X
See the original crack pairings meme and the scene that attacked me and became the first section of part I
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
Oh, hey. I think I remembered my second point. Which is that I know Duo is basically repeating the same thing he told Sasuke back in chapter 1, but that's because it bears repeating. And the third point (neurons are firing, my god, what a peculiar feeling...) is that I also know Faith seems to recover awfully quickly from her little existential crisis, but there is an explanation, so please wait until her POV section in chapter 10 before yelling at me.
Thanks muchly!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 12:10 am (UTC)So... much... glee! *handflailing* I just love it when people can fuck with Sasuke on his level. I cannot *wait* for his reaction in the next chapter XD
And the Duo and Faith interaction was pure gold, I love how straight they are with each other (except about the edgier stuff, but even that's starting to come out too).
Great chapter!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 06:17 pm (UTC)Duo does have a canon history of latching onto potential allies and treating them like friends before he really has solid evidential reasons to do so. (*cough*Heero*cough*) It's fun to wonder how much of that is because he's a people person, how much is planned ('if I treat them like friends, they'll be more likely to respond in kind'), and how much is just because he's a little nuts.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 01:32 am (UTC)Faith kicked his legs out from under him, grabbed his waist as he started to tuck into a roll, and threw him into the lake.
LOL
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 06:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 06:35 pm (UTC)cute pic in my head now too
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 05:23 am (UTC)Typo, in the first paragraph: 'then stuffed', not 'the stuffed'.
-- Guile
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 06:20 pm (UTC)I think I'm overly sensitive about long emotional outbursts/confessions in my stories, because I know I like that technique and have a tendency to overuse it. So I'm always wary when one turns up.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 03:52 pm (UTC)I see it as Faith being on a mental/emotional razor edge. She's in a situation not of her own making with dubious partners that have no problem doing things she herself had done in the past. Even though now she's trying not to cross that line, the lure to justify actions with the 'greater good' party-line is strong and is clashing with the moralistic highroad she's trying to take in regards to how she now lives her life.
When Duo approaches with his understanding yet light tone, it just pushes a button. And she does vent, just like Duo was aiming for, though perhaps her verbal arrows hit closer to his convictions and morals than he was comfortable with.
I can see that the water diversion lets both of them back off, to get back into their public personas while the subconcious deals with the fallout of the extistential crisis and reorders their mental worlds.
I can also see where Duo, as a manipulator, most likely realized that Faith said more than she would normally be comfortable with and reciprocated with a few pertinent details from his past. Quid pro quo.
So yeah, yay Lemonade!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-21 06:21 pm (UTC)I dunno. I'll look at it again tonight and see if I can think of any way to improve it. Thanks for your comments!