16520/Dark Willow: Devil's in the Details

Dark Willow: Devil's in the Details
Date of Scene:	05 September 2024
Location:	The Bronze, Sunnydale
Synopsis:	Spawn meets Faith and discusses the stolen grimoire
Cast of Characters:	Faith Lehane, Spawn
Tinyplot:	Dark Willow

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Faith Lehane has posed:
It's a quiet afternoon at the Bronze. No shows or parties going on and with school starting up soon, most students are busy with classes.

Which leaves a certain Highschool dropout, haunting the mostly empty club as she nurses a few too many beers at the bar. She looks tired, distracted, maybe a little troubled even.

Most people know to stay away from girls like her..

Spawn has posed:
The Hellspawn has been hunting Faith for weeks, since the creature who claimed to be her lover gave her name and a few common hangouts to the monster. This place, the Bronze, is on its regular patrol path now. Afternoon is several hours early for "regular patrol" but since Faith hasn't shown her face at night, since he started looking, here Spawn is.

The monster is seven feet tall and four hundred pounds, but its footfalls are totally silent. The monster itself isn't even visible, or in fact tangible, by any means. It passes through a wall far from the entrance and begins pacing the interior of the nightclub, having apparently already scoured the back rooms.

While the thing itself is so intangible that even light passes right through it like it wasn't there, anyone with a sense of the supernatural would definitely sense the presence itself. Even common folk have what can only be described as a sense of something very wrong within a city block of Spawn, and that sense becomes more like a premonition of doom as the monster gets closer. That's just the Hellfire the monster was built from, and what its suit is made of, what fuels it, and what it makes out of the suffering of the damned when it feeds.

Right now, the Hellspawn is across the dancefloor from Faith herself. Spawn is checking out an unfamiliar face over there, but turns away from it when it doesn't turn out to be his prey. The glowing green eyes, literally smoldering in their sockets and smoking from the corners in a twisted mockery of flowing tears, turn and then lock onto Faith from across the room.

Faith Lehane has posed:
All sorts of weirdos, cosplayers, fancy dressed Highschools, and oh yes even vampires too, tend to haunt this popular night club. it's not super busy right now, but most people might pass of Spawn's appearance as a really awesome costume..Of course weird stuff does tend to happen around here too..

Faith is not your normal girl, and while she does frequent the nightclub, lately she's been pretty scarce for..Reasons.

When Spawn enters, she gets the feeling of hairs standing on end, it's a kind of danger sense that slayers get when supernatural beings are near.

"Soo..What the hell kinda demon are you? One of those hit men coming to bag a slayer?" she smirks and doesn't move or turn around, taking her time to lazily sip her beer.

Spawn has posed:
Spawn crosses the room in a blink when Faith addresses him personally. He's faster than fast, moving with a speed that's like thought itself. The wait staff still have no idea he's there, and some give Faith strange looks when she starts talking to empty air.

A telepathically transmitted audible hallucination echoes in Faith's head, sounding like a measured and smooth basso voice: "I'm no demon, and I'm not hunting you to do any harm. I can trade information." The intangible and invisible monster, itself, just stands there towering over Faith. Its cape flutters off toward the left, as if there was a passing breeze that simply isn't there (and would just pass through the monster even if it existed).

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane arches a brow, finishing her drink before she turns around. She thought she heard a voice, but there's no one there..Did she imagine things? But no..She knows she's not going crazy.

"Oh yeah? And who the hell are you? What-kind info do you have thatId be interested in.."

She frowns, dark eyes narrowed, trying to figure this out. "If you ain't my enemy, why're you hiding from me?!"

Spawn has posed:
Spawn's answer is another sensory hallucination which only Faith can see and hear. An imaginary black man of average height, athletic build, and sporting a tight fade with a neatly groomed goatee just steps out of thin air and perches on a bar stool near Faith's seat. He wears black jeans, white sneakers, and a clean t-shirt emblazoned with that universal image of Jesus Christ with one hand poised to knock on a door.

When he speaks it's with the same voice. "I don't hide for my own benefit, and the information is about your book and who took it. I want to know what the book is, and what a witch might be able to do with it."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane blinks as she sees a man sit beside her, seemingly coming out of nowhere. "The hell did you come from?" she frowns, giving him the once over, still unsure if this is his real form or another illusion..Either way he's definitely not a figment if her imagination..She's not crazy afterall (haha!)

And then he mentions the book and she scowls, "Ugh that's what this is about? how do I know you're not one of those vamp wizards trying to steal it back..." but then those vamp wizards already knew how to use that book.

"Okaay.." Faith shrugs, "I give, how do you know about the book? You said you spoke with..My lover? What's his name?" she smirks. Another test before she reveals any info, perhaps.

Spawn has posed:
"I spoke with Nick Drago, who sent me to see Thomas Raith, who sent me to find you," the illusory black man answers with a bemused grin playing across his mouth. "And no, the man beside you isn't real. Just call me Al, and don't worry about it."

What follows is a full-sensory hallucination of a real memory from Spawn's recent experience. The giant thing is standing there in front of Thomas Raith, in the office above The Blue Lady. Raith is fishing a kukri out of a drawer and explaining that while the weapon tasted the flesh of an unknown monster that attacked a bookstore, the weapon was since cleaned so there is not likely anything left to find. The amusement felt by the monster who reaches out to touch the blade, probing at it with a dozen unearthly senses which reach across time and space, is overwhelming. Faith is there, as Spawn, reliving the moment.

Spawn was kind enough to filter out his own constant, never-ending pain, from the memory.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane frowns at the names, nodding slowly. "Well gee, 'Al', you seem mighty interested in that book, huntin' down my friends and all..So why the hell are you so interested in it and why should I trust you with the information I know?"

The visions seem real enough although something causes her frown to deepen.

"You're obviously some kinda powerful demon of some sort, a book like that in the wrong hands could be catastrophic. From what I could tell only the most experienced wizards could understand that grimoire."

Spawn has posed:
The average-sized man turns to sit sideways on his barstool, leaning to the side against the bar and giving Faith an injured look. "I already told you I'm no demon, lady," he says more defiantly than defensively. "And I told you I was catching up with Nick after a few years out of town. You don't remember me, but we've worked together before."

He irritably taps one foot on the lower foot-rest of the barstool. "AND I told you the book is already in the wrong hands. Evidently *your* hands were the wrong hands too, since whoever took it is one of your 'friends.'" The quote-marks around the word 'friends' is evident in a thickly sarcastic tone. "She didn't break your wards, she held the keys."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane doesn't seem convinced. "You sure ain't human, whatever you are.." she frowns, trying to figure that out, still not sure she trusts him.

His admittance that they met before causes her to arch a surprised brow. "Seriously..? When? Where?! I thought I'd remember someone as creepy as you..." but come to think of it, he dies seem vaguely familiar..Of course at the time, she was totally distracts and focused on a body swapped Buffy.."

"Okaay.." she sighs, "Assuming you're one of the 'good guys..'" she blinks as he says that last part, sitting up straight, staring intently at him. "What the bell are you talking about? Why would one of my 'friends' of which I don't have many, steal the book? And why would you think that?!"

Spawn has posed:
"I've already answered twenty questions, and you still haven't answered the only one I asked." The imaginary figure of Al relaxes, smiling, and props his head on his hand with his elbow on the bar top.

In physical reality, still not phased into physical reality, Spawn is standing behind Faith's barstool staring down at her. The living crimson cape has clung to him and then crawled slowly closed around him, until the monster looks like nothing so much as a black head, with balefire-glowing green eyes, on top of a fountain of gushing blood. That is, if anyone could actually see the monster that provides the hallucinatory Al.

"What is the book? You said grimoire... but whose, and containing what?"

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane narrows her eyes, folding her arms as she follows his every move. "Sorry, 'Al' but I don't trust easy.." she follows the movements of the red cape, frown deepening as she thinks.

"Dunno why you think I should have all the answers. All I know is that some vampire cult involving numerous talented wizards originally owned it in that old church Du Lac across the way.."

"They used it to summon numerous fiends sealed away in some fancy series of Glyphs used to keep some portal to hell from reopening..I ain't no magic expert but that's about as best as I can figure..I'll bet Harry or Willow could explain the technical magic crap better than me.."

Spawn has posed:
"So you know which of your friends could use it," Al answers with a snarky smirk and a sarcacstic note in his smooth basso voice. "The monster you fought was left behind by the one who walked in there and took that book. The witch was unconcerned about being caught, and didn't care who got hurt. She summoned that thing and left it for you to find the way a punk kid would flip you off after driving over your foot... and for the exact same reason."

Now the black man's expression grows more serious, and he sits up straight with his arms folded across his chest. "And you were just leaving a grimoire, containing the power to open and close portals to Hell, laying around in a retail store with some low-rent magic protecting it and, what, a dozen keys floating around among your homies?"

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane's eyes widen at the sudden realization, quite shocked by this news. "You're kidding me...Little wimpy Willow stole it?! Why? How do you even know this.."

She rolls her eyes. "Gimne a break, none of us are idiots. The grimoire was sealed in the restricted section, protected by wards and booby traps. Only those with 'keys' could access anything in the section. I guess that includes inner scooby members only..What, maybe four keys?"

Spawn has posed:
The sensory hallucination that follows is full-on and as intense as a first-hand experience. Spawn's personal suffering is not filtered out this time, because it can't be... there's no way to understand the sensory input from the powers given by Hellfire without the pain of burning in it to communicate with a human brain.

It's the moments of memory immediately following the touching of the kukri presented by Thomas Raith. Spawn had never been really interested in *the monster* which was summoned and left behind... it was clearly cannon fodder. Instead, the Hellspawn had used the blade as a conduit into the summoned thing, then used the summoned thing as a conduit directly back to the one who summoned it.

The last images in this memory of clairvoyant recall are of Willow, as seen through the eyes of the monster she summoned. The girl's eyes are totally black, pupilless, and her hair is the same with streaks of stark white locks in it.

The senses of the Hellspawn reveal that this is a witch, that the wards were unbroken but simply passed through by someone who knew how, and give distinct impressions of the emotions she was feeling. Contempt and amusement dominate those.

In real time, the invisible Spawn is completely motionless except for that never-ending motion of his cape that looks like flowing blood. His illusory representative, Al, is still sitting on that barstool staring at Faith. "So you weren't irresponsible, you were just inadequate to the task," Al intones grimly. "Why bother getting the book back at all, then?"

Faith Lehane has posed:
"Woah..What the hell..." she stares in disbelief as memories flood her mind, violent, disturbing memories some of them, mostly the memories of Spawn himself seeping through...Memories of that ugly monster, which are less disturbing given she's no stranger to slayers monsters and demons..

But it's the vision of Dark Willow herself that has her truly disturbed. "No way..Little Red's got claws?! Who knew?!" she seems more amused than troubled. It's not like she ever truly trusted anyone really, nor is she particularly close to anyone, save maybe Thomas.

"What the hell happened to her...What does she want with that damned book..We should have destroyed it when we had the chance.." she shakes her head in disbelief..

Spawn has posed:
"I can help you retrieve it," Al says quietly, regarding Faith's reaction to the telepathically transmitted memory the way a scientist regards a test subject's reaction to an experimental drug. "And I definitely want it out of the witch's hands. If it contains what you say, you should have destroyed it when you had the chance."

The man is silent for a moment, then adds, "I won't return it to you. I want you to know that."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane peers intently at him, "Soo what..You'll help me retrieve the book so you can use it yourself to open a hell dimension?!" she laughs, shaking her head, "What would be the point in that? Better to destroy the damn thing.." clearly she still does not trust him completely.

Spawn has posed:
"I already can," the hallucination calling itself Al answers grimly. "You are speaking to the image of Albert Francis Simmons, United States Marine Corps retired, Central Intelligence Agency killed in action, who was murdered by a friend for growing a conscience about civilian casualties and collateral damage. Feel free to look it up. You'll see an honorable discharge followed by another decade of redacted mission reports."

The man pauses, lips pursed, eyes displaying annoyance that he has to give his life story. "I was damned to Hell for all the things I didn't want to do anymore, and now I'm back. In the right locations, and with an enormous effort which means I have to either rest or feed a whole lot for a long time, I can do what you say this book does. I could consume that book, and it would be a little easier for me... but it would be impossible for anyone else to use that book, without killing me and somehow retrieving it from the essence of Hellfire which returns directly to Hell if I die."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane arches a curious brow at that, "Oh yeah? maybe I *will* look you up.." she smirks, peering at the 'hallucination' or whatever the hell it is. "So, what will you do if you get the book back? Eat it?!" she seems bemused but the. "Yum.."

Spawn has posed:
Al tips his head a little to one side in a sort of amused shrug. "Eat it, burn it, rip open my chest and tuck it close to my heart, it's all the same in the end," the illusory man answers. "The bottom line is that the book won't exist anymore, for anyone to steal."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane rolls her eyes. "Okaaay...I mean the way you talk, don't sound like you need our help anyway, but as long as your with us and not against us, I ain't complaining.." she climbs to her feet, tossing some change on the bar for her drinks and smirks as the bartender gives her an odd look for seemingly speaking to thin air. "Since you know so much about us, I'm sure you know where to find us if need be..Seeya around.,"