MCA Apartment Zero (not Pi), Sunday Evening

[needsaparrot]

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.]

Comments

[needsaparrot]

"Not a lot. She trusted me to hold a gun to her head for about three minutes. Information... yeah, not so much." Xander set his glass down, shifting in his chair to face her more directly. "I do know she didn't know about Angelo. Somebody told her that her brother was a guy named Lyle."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Lyle?" Parker frowned, thinking. "Maybe they named him that instead of... Well." Maybe her older twin grew up with a brother who wasn't all but autistic. Parker suddenly hated that woman, just a little. "And I can see her not telling you anything. Even though if there's a Centre in your world, you probably should know about it."

[needsaparrot]

Xander shook his head. "She knew Angelo, just didn't think he was her brother - though she seemed pretty over the moon about the idea. She didn't say much about much, but enough to know this Lyle guy was bad news. In fact--" he added, remembering and giving a shudder that was more about tonight than back then, "She actually used the word cannibal about him."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker stared. "Oh my God, please let that have been a metaphor." She swallowed. "Especially after this weekend." She shook her head, looking nauseated. "I don't know any Lyle. But I'd trust Bridge's instincts, and Angelo's, over any blood test. Which means the Centre is probably messing with her. Again."

[needsaparrot]

"Meaning they've messed with you." Xander laced his fingers together. "The whole thing with Angelo, your mom - it's all about that place, isn't it."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker stared at him, and finished her second glass of wine. "Yes." There was no good way to start telling Xander about it; she didn't know where the beginning of this story was any more. So she just dived in. "They hurt people. Not even in the name of science, though that's what they'd claim if you tried to call them on it. They do it for profit, and power. Any Slayer that ends up there would be lucky to be dissected." She looked away, and reached for a wonton, trying not to think of what she was doing as she bit into it, chewing and swallowing. "The Centre used to do good things. Protect people, design peace accords, cancer research...."

[needsaparrot]

"Probably River's government did too," Xander pointed out. Then, "And, y'know, ours. But hopefully we're not putting stuff in the oxygen supply yet."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"The Centre's not a duly elected anything, though." Parker took another sip of her wine, another bite of food, feeling the alcohol start to hit, and hit hard. "But yeah. If you think I don't see the parallels, you're wrong." She toasted him. "Which is why I-- and probably Miss Parker-- are trying to raze the place to the ground. One brick at a time."

[needsaparrot]

He hadn't asked before - all of Xander's bricks had been invested in rebuilding something that had already been torn down, and anyway he'd known what the answer would be. He asked now, though. "Can I help?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker blinked at him, and put down her wineglass, then grinned at him very wearily. "I wish. I mean-- the next few bits are all, um... fairly illegal. You probably don't want in on that." She poked at the shrimp, then added in a very low voice, "But I could use someone to talk to, sometimes. I don't want to put too much on Weiss all the time."

[needsaparrot]

"I just bailed my Slayer out of jail for robbing the chocolate shop," Xander pointed out with a snerk. "Which isn't the least legal thing the Watchers' Council ever gets up to. But you probably do have people who're better at that than me." He nodded. "And you need somebody to listen, I'm here. Also available for telling you you're being a dumbass if needed, free of charge."

Granted it might net him some footwear-related injuries, but he was willing to risk it.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker snorted into her wineglass, and started to get the boneless feeling that being drunk and not caring inflicted on her. "Thanks. Awesome. I feel like I should apologize, almost. All those messages while you were gone, and now you know all *this* stuff, and you know, you get sick of hearing about it, pour me into a cab."

[needsaparrot]

"I spent six years with three voicemails and a couple of soundfiles to listen to," Xander answered slowly. "You think I mind finding out you guys were trying to talk to me while I was gone, or hearing from you now?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Awwwww." Parker looked around to see who'd made that noise, then grinned at Xander again, her diction becoming unnaturally crisp as she became more buzzed. "So hearing me cry on the phone for two or three months when I couldn't stand talking to anyone else is okay? You really did have a bad time back home, didn't you?"

[needsaparrot]

"Some days were better than others. But I missed you." Xander tilted his head at her. "The Parker I met, she was you, but...not. Really, really not. She never dated Jarod, for one thing, let alone broke up with him."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Okay, and now? I'm feeling really sorry for her, instead of just you." Parker put a hand over her mouth, then gave up and took another big gulp of wine. "I missed you too, damnit. And was she taller? Do I get to grow another two inches? Because that would be cool."

[needsaparrot]

"I think she might've worn even higher heels. Does that count?" Wine wasn't going to get Xander liquified nearly as easily as it would somebody Parker's size, but he matched her for trying, at least. "She was... wow, am I glad I'm in another dimension where there's no chance in hell of her hearing me. Lonely, I think. Kind of permanently that way."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

And that hits something, like an underwater mine, that together with the mention of no Jarod, has her carefully putting the wineglass down, at least for a minute. "Oh. Wow."

Parker thought, then vehemently shook her head, and said, "Not my ambition, to be that lonely. As much as I still want to kill him some bad days, and that stupid better-loved-than-lost thing is still a crock... I can't imagine a me without a Jarod." She picked up the wineglass, and muttered, "I can imagine having no friends too easily, and that's scary enough."

[needsaparrot]

"She still knew him, but it didn't sound like they were friends, exactly." Xander leaned back and crossed one leg over the other, resting his glass on his knee. "You really okay with him now? I can't exactly throw couches at the guy, but...maybe an ottoman?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"'Okay' varies from day to day, but... yes." She really needed less alcohol, or more, for this discussion. "We both screwed it up, is the thing. And we're both still mad about a lot of stuff, which is probably why we didn't get back together when he got back." Parker blinked slowly at Xander. "But I'd rather have him talking to me than not. And pretty much friends again, than nothing. Alive than dead."

[needsaparrot]

"Welcome to Complicationville, population...lots of us," Xander said with a nod and a snort. "I saw him at Caritas the other night; wasn't sure if I was supposed to be invoking the sacred Friend Of The Ex glare or not."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker giggled a little tiredly. "Zero's got that covered. And Weiss. Isabel is squarely in the No Man's Land of Friends With Both of Us, and doing okay. You don't have to hate him now." She snickered. "Listen to me, all mag-nan-i-mous. He just, he--" She took another gulp, then burst out with, "He's too clueless to hate forever, Xander. And I hurt him too much too. So. Do-over. That's all."

[needsaparrot]

Xander nodded. "I...get that, yeah. Do-overs are good, when you can get 'em."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Trying to be." Parker took another slow sip, then studied him over the rim of her glass. "Are you okay? With this do-over? And being here, when we're all the same, and... you're not?"

And she couldn't bring up Bridge, but it's not like she was avoiding the topic, either.

[needsaparrot]

"Okay?" Xander thought about it, and no, he wasn't sloshed on a glass and a half of wine, but it did smooth the sharp edges of his brain a little. "I dunno. I'm here. Wanted that for so long, and then finally had to give up wanting it that hard if I was gonna do anything else, you know? And now I'm here. And...what you said."

Except not, not really. Things had changed here too, just maybe less.

"So maybe okay's not the word. But it feels like the right place to be."