RIPPER VS. REPO MAN, ROUND 1

[watchher]

Who: Rupert Giles, Nathan Wallace, Shilo Wallace, possibly Blind Mag
What: Band Candy!Giles chats with a teenage girl and irritates her father. What ensues is ASH vs. ASH and alter-ego vs. alter-ego.
When: late Saturday night
Where: around town leading to the Wallaces' house
Warnings: POTENTIAL TRIGGERS shortly after Nathan enters, involving heavy violence.

[ It doesn't take long for the Makeout Point partiers to exhaust their alcohol supply, and Ripper winds up volunteered to go back into town for booze, mostly because he refuses to let anyone else drive the convertible.

He's on his way when he spots Shilo, out alone at night, presumably unarmed. Bad idea in Sunnydale; maybe not as bad an idea in Mayfield, but he's buzzed and bored and the town isn't without its dangers. He considers offering her a lift to wherever she's headed, weighing the nagging of his lingering conscience against the fact that it's out of his way. He does not, of course, bother with the fact that he's far too tipsy to be driving right now, especially with a kid in the car.

In the end he pulls up beside her, leaning over the side of the convertible. ]

Wallace, you want a ride?

Comments

[stevedore]

[ When his fingers encounter nothing but the waistband of his jeans, empty space where the hilt should be, something unpleasantly cold and hollow takes up residence in his chest. His eyes fix on the knife in the Repo Man's hand, his knife, and for a moment indignation outweighs everything else. Takes precedence over fear and surprise and the still-sharp pain in his head.

But then the Repo Man is on him and shirt is being cut away, he can feel his shirt being cut away, and he realizes belatedly that the man is likely better with a blade than he is. Giles jerks under him, snarling, defiance in his eyes and every tensed muscle in his body. ]

Didn't-- get kinky with her in the backseat.

[ And damn it, damn it, that was his only weapon and he doesn't even know what he's dealing with here. Doesn't know what sort of creature has him pinned, because this cannot be a man, cannot be Nathan Wallace. ]

[keen_incisions]

[Giles' naked torso presents such a canvas for him to work on, his eyes tracing old scars as he might a road map. The Repo Man shifts easily with Ripper's motion like the rise and fall of a lover, slipping his free hand through the other man's hair and pulling his head back roughly.]

Shh shh...

[He makes sure Ripper can see the knife, purposely reflecting what little light there is into the man's eyes. The first cut is quick, a neat turn of his wrist along the skin over his lower ribs, deep enough for blood to begin welling almost immediately in its wake.]

[watchher]

[ He hates the solid weight of the man, hates the way he moves. He hates the fingers in his hair and the hate only turns to fierce hot adrenaline, giddy in some maybe-hysterical-maybe-high part of his mind. He's flying on it, and there is a single instant in which it occurs to him that even with the Repo Man's comment, this could be sexual, could, might.

He refuses. Tears the thought to shreds because he can not, will not be terrified-- the hollow horrible feeling remains in his chest or maybe stomach but he defies it, because the Repo Man does not deserve his terror, has not earned it. He is not better or stronger or scarier and Ripper will not submit.

He sees the knife, sees Nathan's eyes, and it reminds him of something. Reminds him of ropes on his wrists, colder fingers wrenching his head back, a different fake-soothing voice but a man with the same expression exactly. His own same helplessness, exactly. But the memory is too distanced, belonging to another Giles in another time (Rupert not Giles-also-Ripper), and he is not as afraid as he should be.

The pain comes belatedly and he jerks, whole body arching up like he's been shocked. He gasps and then snarls, twists under his captor, struggling. Tries to get a hand free and up to the Repo Man's face, wanting to hook fingers into his eyes his throat his anything vulnerable. Wanting to fight so he can be too angry to be afraid. ]

[likehermother]

[Shilo has been watching the entire time, but it's the flash of metal that finally does get her to - quietly - run inside. But she doesn't run far, instead watching from the window. She'll get Mag if she needs to, but as it is, she's hoping it will stop on its own.]

[keen_incisions]

[From the angle they're at, in the darkness, it might just look like they're engaging in an entirely different, but equally illicit, activity. He tilts away from Ripper's questing hand with practiced ease, moving to snag him by the wrist, his thumb digging sharply into the pressure point there.

Repo's smile is crooked. He tilts the knife back and forth, its edge glittering with red, a waving finger of reproach.]

I'm not finished yet.

[A second cut follows, running parallel to the first and he sighs. Shilo's bedtime was eight. It's a little after midnight now, four hours after she should have been home.]

Two.

[Four should do it. Four should be enough. It takes a great amount of self discipline not to draw the blade further, to slice the man with his face open and see just how deep their similarities went.]