Here via chrisleeoctaves. This fic kept me up late last night, so I'm a little sleep deprived and afraid I won't be able to leave you the feedback it so richly deserves. You really moved me with this, caught me right at the beginning with that totally unexpected direct address (though it's possibly more of an assault) to the reader. It's pretty unusual for a character to turn around and start cussing you out before you even get into the story, but if any character is going to do that it's Faith! I loved the way you conveyed all the layers of complexity. The rage and confusion, humour -- often obscene, sometimes brutal, rarely gentle but those gentle moments are earned and precious. Her fire, the one that so often seems to be burning her, and the utter vulnerability and longing behind it all. the dance that she was doing with angel was fascinating to watch and felt very true to the characters. I liked the slow building of trust, never easy, always precarious. The way their understanding grew. The common ground they shared. The whole lapsed Catholic bonding was very poignant, I especially loved Faith's reflection about her mother and her own name. But even more I loved the moment when she noticed angel still moving a rosary that wasn't there -- that made me tear up. Their conflict over Buffy was well drawn. For Faith it always seems to come back to Buffy, and for Angel it's the same. Ultimately that's terribly painful for both of them. In the midst of all the darkness and soul searching there were some LOL funny moments too. My one crit, and other people have mentioned it, is that at times I felt the voice got a little too poetic and drew me out of the Faith persona. It really is only a minor thing, but maybe something you could look at.

So, thank you for some wonderful Faith fic, the genuinely good stuff is pretty rare, so when I find a writer who can really nail the character, er, so to speak, it has me doing my happy dance.

I friended you btw. I hope that's okay.