needsaparrot | MCA Apartment Zero (not Pi), Sunday Evening

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MCA Apartment Zero (not Pi), Sunday Evening

Waiting around to hear from certain people who dropped major bombshells on him then ran off to spend the weekend someplace that might possibly have corpses? Why no. Alternating that with worry about other people, just for a change of pace? Of course not.

After all, Xander'd had a busy week. He'd rented two apartments (three if you counted the one for the chalk), met or re-met a bunch of very ~~pretty~~ interesting ~~arms~~ people, and been called cute on the radio. Plenty to think about that wasn't corpse-related.

So not thinking about that. At all. Nope.

[OOC: for a couple of returning wayfarers.]

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"The, ah. Bare bones." Xander grimaced. "No, sit down. I'd been thinking I should talk to you about some things, anyway. For a while now."

"Yeah?" Parker took out some chopsticks, and clacked them at him, looking curious. "Like what?" She curled up on one of the kitchen chairs, and went hunting for the shrimp again through the bags. "And do you want to hear horrible tales of space non-vampires first, or tell me your stuff? You may or may not want to eat. I'm so hungry that I don't care. You might, though."

"I...haven't really eaten much today," Xander admitted, finding himself a plastic container and some chopsticks. "Little distracted."

"Yeahhh. We had a really good meal, on some planet called Beaumonde. And then it kind of got overturned by the bar fight. And the cannibals." Parker sighed, and opened up one of the boxes, diving into the shrimp and rice. After a minute or two of eating, she said, "And we found out that River might be crazy, but she wasn't wrong. Or a murderer. Always a bonus."

Xander stared at the food for a second. "The cannibals. Right."

Parker stared at the food too, took two more bites of the eggroll, then gave up. "Right. And now it'll be another hour before I can eat anything more, at least." She put the food down and poured herself a glass of wine. "Did Bridge tell you how they got made? The drugs in the air, and the goddamn stupid government who was trying to do things to people for 'their own good'?"

"Yeah, he hit the main sad creepy points. Wanna join me in pretending it could never happen here?"

"I wish. I so wish." Parker took another slug of wine. "River reminds me of Angelo. And those creeps...." She shook her head, thinking of the Centre. "I hope it works out. I hope it gets stopped. We had to come home before we found out how the story ended. I hate that."

"Angelo... yeah, I can see that." Xander reached for the bottle of wine and poured himself a glass, because that, at least, didn't seem to be ruined by the concept of space cannibals. "Seems like they've both been through a lot." Among other people, he didn't say, but didn't not say.

"A lot, a lot." Parker's eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "Nothing ever changes. It's depressing, five hundred years in the future-- some future, maybe not yours, maybe not mine, and it's still happening." She blinked, and then covered with, "People still get hurt for no good reason."

"And people still try to stop it," Xander pointed out. Back at home, in her own way, it had seemed like... Maybe now was as good a time as any to bring that up. "You remember when I said I saw somebody who looked like V, back home?"

"Yes." Parker nodded, taking another sip of wine. "Did you ever find out if it was another Veronica, or just another random twin with another name?"

"I didn't talk to her, but it was right on the outskirts of Neptune, so I've got my guesses." Xander took a drink. "She wasn't the only person who had a version in my dimension, though."

Parker curled a leg underneath herself, and leaned her chin on her hand. "Who else? That Andrew guy, and your-Willow, and your-Dawn, and your-Buffy, and... is there another Bridge?"

"Never found one." Xander glanced at his glass for a second, then back up. "The others, yeah." He didn't go into the fact that there had been a his-Dawn before a certain point; that was Dawn's story to share or not. "But not just the ones I knew from home. I met a version of you, Parker."

She stared at him a moment, her eyes widening. Then she finished her glass of wine in three gulps. "Oh, really." Okay, there had to be a first time for everything. But for as many times as she'd speculated about what her life might be like elsewhere, having someone arrive with an answer, if not the answer was... really disturbing. "Is she evil? I know she can't dress as well as I do."

"I don't think she's evil." Xander paused a moment to let that one attempt to sink in before adding, "She is about twice your age, though. Give or take."

"Whoa." Parker poured herself more wine, and tried to get her mind around that. The very unsettling thought that this other version of her would be about the same age as her mother was when she died was shoved aside after a minute, although the freakiness didn't diminish. "How the hell-- that's new. And bizarre. And, uh." She took a sip of wine, and shook her head, still bewildered. "How did you even meet her?"

"I was picking up a Slayer. The Centre was looking for girls with super strength, speed, and reflexes. Other-you didn't go into specifics about what for, but it didn't involve puppies and trips to Disneyland." Xander watched her carefully for a reaction.

"Sonuvabitch." Parker put her head in her hands, nearly knocking over her wineglass as she started calculating the possibilities of that, and what would happen if the Centre succeeded in acquiring a Slayer, and how the hell she could head that off at the pass.... Part of what Xander said snagged her attention, and Parker's head snapped up to stare at him in shock. "I never mentioned-- she told you about the Centre?"

"Couple of Sweepers busted into the room we were staying in, drugged the girl and dragged her out. Other-Parker... " He smiled,a small, twisted one. "Miss Parker, wasn't exactly on the same page as they were, but she didn't know who I was working for. Didn't know if she could trust me."

And she needed another drink or a cigarette in order to deal with that one. Parker refrained from either, just shook her head, trying to picture it, and frowning. Then it slotted together: another her, working against the Centre and playing both sides, and meeting Xander, and trying not to get caught....

It made her head hurt.

Parker took another gulp of wine. "She pointed a gun at you, didn't she?"

Xander shrugged, though it wasn't shrugworthy. "Wasn't the first time." Though it was the first and only time she'd ever pointed a gun at him. "If she'd thought I planned to hurt Kristen - the Slayer - she'd probably have blown my head off before she walked out of that room. Glad she didn't, but I admire the sentiment."

"Well, sure." Parker pushed the wineglass away; it wasn't helping, and she was still two steps behind Xander on this. "Miss Parker." She wrapped her arms around herself, fighting a shudder. "That's what I'm called when I'm there, always, ever since I was little..." Parker shook her head, feeling exposed and off-balance. "I should apologize, except it wasn't me; and it wasn't her idea, I'm guessing, and she couldn't know she could trust you, and--" She bit her lip, staring at Xander, and wishing she hadn't left all those phone messages. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Which Xander was not. Slow on the uptake sometimes, yes, but he'd had quite a while to think about this one. "So this big secret project that you've got Bridge and Willow and Weiss helping on.... that's about the same place she was working for? Or against, kind of, I think."

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