watcherless | (no subject)

> PLAYER INFORMATION
NAME: tifa
PRONOUNS: she/her
AGE: 27
CONTACT:

protects

> CHARACTER INFORMATION
NAME: faith lehane
CANON: buffy the vampire slayer
AGE: 19
CANON POINT: the beginning of angel the series 1x18 "five by five"

HISTORY: wiki
PERSONALITY:

Much of Faith's personality is set-up to directly foil for Buffy. Whereas Buffy thinks first, plans, and then acts, Faith recklessly jumps into any situation with no consideration of the consequences - and her jumping in usually involves some kind of violence. Faith earned the title of rogue Slayer by taking a little too much enjoyment out of her job and turning it into a sport. She unapologetically celebrates the violence and the rush it gives her, and uses it to escape her feelings of loneliness. Faith's "want, take, have" philosophy reflects her tendency to disregard consequences when she goes for what she wants, and to neglect forethought. She's impatient and always lives in the moment, not holding anything back.

Except, of course, her psychological damage. A lot of her devil may care attitude is a front to disguise the damaged girl within. Not having anyone who's loved her has made Faith learn to deal with her emotions poorly, and believe they don't have value. Rather than discuss her envy or her loneliness or welcome people's sympathy, she scorns it all. She deflects attempts to talk about her feelings, rejects sympathy and pity, and spurns the people who try to get close to her once she realizes they notice her damage for what it really is. In a lot of ways, Faith tries hard to not care about anyone but herself, but as evidenced in "Who Are You," she still has the instincts to do right in the world and just struggles to access them through her trauma.

Which is easy to sympathize with, except that Faith's trauma makes her very self-destructive in a way that hurts others. Any time she gets close to something she needs, she has to self-sabotage. Because of her own guilt for her crimes (murder among other things) and because of the abusive home life she escaped and total lack of positive mentorship, she knows she's terrible, that she screwed up, and she's a waste of space. Faith considers herself irredeemable, never able to make up for what she's done: who she's killed, how she's hurt the people who tried to reach out to her.

She begins to bond with Buffy, drawing closer and closer to her as friends, and then she finds excuses to turn on her before Buffy does the same. Misreading Buffy's intentions in the worst possible way is her excuse to get Buffy out of her life before she has to accept something good into it, or risk having someone else disappoint her first. Her self-hate is generated by never feeling good enough and constant abuse from those around her, and she often externalizes it and takes it out on others through her compulsive violent behavior. At her current canon point, Faith's opinion of herself has hit rock bottom and given her a death wish, leading to suicidal behavior.

Despite her efforts, Faith genuinely and completely cares about three people other than herself. The first and most significant is Angel, because he's never given up on her or doubted that she deserves a second chance, and he's done everything he can to make her see it. She thinks she's a lost cause to him, though. Buffy, who was the first real friend Faith ever had until she ruined it, a fact she fully realizes and a fact that makes her willing to do anything for Buffy without expecting something in return because she has a debt to pay. As much as Faith hero-worships and even loves Buffy, there's also some bone-deep envy there that causes her to blow the whole thing up.

And the Mayor, who was like the father she never had. With a neglectful, alcoholic mother and a similarly alcoholic, deadbeat father who was absent on his best days, Faith subconsciously seeks out that kind of guidance. He's a perfect example of how Faith is so desperate for validation and affection that she'll take it from amoral monsters, and in turn afford those people her unerring loyalty. It's easier for her to accept the love of terrible people because it is easier to picture them accepting someone as awful as her.

While Faith is outwardly charismatic, outgoing and relaxed enough to make fast friends with anyone she encounters, she doesn't often make friends with people anymore. Her last attempt left her so damaged, and she's so used to being alone. Part of the self-sabotage of her friendship with the Scooby Gang was to set her back to her equilibrium. In "Who Are You," it's evident that the first time she's ever truly felt loved is feeling secondhand the love that Buffy's friends and loved ones have for her. Romantic connections are also something Faith particularly doesn't do. All of her boyfriends have been deadbeats, just like her father, and as a result, she creates this very controlling, hypersexual self that enjoys casual sex with multiple partners, but never settles down on long-term relationships because she fears intimacy.

CRAU: n/a

SPECIES: human ("slayer" which means she has a tiiiiiiny bit of demon in her)
APPEARANCE: link
SKILLS:

most of faith's skills come from her superpowers, which will be lost. however, all slayers are given basic training in most martial weapons, in hand-to-hand combat, and in basic demonology. beyond this, faith's main skills seem to be in drinking, sex, and barfights.

NEW POWER:

Faith's power will be power steal. Despite how it sounds, she will at no point be able to take AWAY someone else's ability. It's more like power mimicry (think Rogue from X-Men). At its basic level, power steal means that as long as she's in physical contact with another Displaced, she can use their abilities. Obviously, she lacks the finesse and control they possess, and she loses it as soon as she loses contact.

POWER REASONING:

A lot of Faith's arc in Buffy season 3 and 4 revolves around the single-white-female way she tries to assume Buffy's position as the Slayer. Faith is just trying to get by and make it on her own; she's SUPPOSED to be the "Chosen One." But there already was a Chosen One, and that gives Faith some angst because she doesn't measure up to Buffy. So this will exacerbate her issues.

But also it is emblematic of her "want, take, have" philosophy. She will eventually be able to collect people's powers and either help her go more off the deep and cause problems for herself, or she'll have to learn how to cooperate with them.

> SAMPLES
SAMPLE ONE: link
SAMPLE TWO: link