needsaparrot | MCA #0, Thursday Night (Sleepy People)

To say it'd been a weird couple of weeks for a lot of his friends would be an understatement. Xander knew a movie night wasn't going to magically fix that, but it least it would give them a chance to relax a little.

So he had the basic necessities: popcorn, stuff in the kitchen for more substantial snacks, over-caffeinated soda and, of course, movies. The box of his things that had arrived from storage this week contained most of his dvds, not that he'd amassed all that many since Sunnydale went boom, but certainly enough for tonight.

And Harper had been nice enough to leave the place furnished with a less than basic necessity - the huge tv in the den. Xander wasn't about to claim this job didn't have perks.

So now he (and Jeremiah, who was supervising the proceedings from a table near the couch) were just ( waiting for people to show up. )

And, you know, fall asleep. As you do.

Willow	"I think it’s strange," Willow says. She’s typing on her label maker, printing out ribbon after ribbon of words that she doesn’t bother to read.
Xander	Xander's getting old, that's what it is.
Bridge	They're all sprawled around the living room of Xander's apartment...
River	River sat up in her bed. The red Osirian sun was setting outside...
Isabel	Isabel blinked as she recognized the garish decorations of the Crashdown. "The hell?"
Nadia	It was warm and dark. Night time. Every now and then, she'd hear a little girl's giggle, and she'd lift the edge of the threadbare blanket she was hiding under to look out into the darkness of the long room that served as the orphanage dormitory. "//Psst! Nadia! Are you awake? Nadia!//"
Alec	He was playing a piano, and everyone was watching him.
Dawn	Dawn curled into Sam's side as she drifted into sleep, the noise of the movie fading away. A few minutes later, she jerked awake, blinked her eyes and sat up, stretching. "I guess I was more tired than I thought."
Sam	Sam gave a little snort as he woke up and looked around in bleary confusion. He didn't remember him and Dawn coming home from the party, and yet there they were, him in his bed, and Dawn...packing?
Mel	It's the same nightmare she has most nights. It's her and Harth running on the rooftops.
Buffy	She was at the Zoo, watching the striped cat. It was lounging on a stone behind the bars, watching her cautiously. "Hi," Buffy said, holding out a hand.

[OOC: Preplayed with *points up* those people. This is cantjossme's and 1ordinarygirl's show; I just donated the stage. Special thanks to game_of_you for return appearances, and kypriothschoice for not being herself. ...Um. For being people who are not her! And everyone for getting everything in on time and making me be not crazy. And my roommate for not killing me. The end. Except for OOC comments quite welcome after the tiny OCD is up. The real end.]

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Xander woke up with one hand over his eye. As you do. Which meant it was dark.

Then he took a sharp breath and uncovered it. "...ohthankgod." *blinkblink* "Yeah. Are you?"

"Yeah," Mel said rubbing her neck self-consciously. "Just... Yeah. That was ruttin' insane."

"You have nightmares too? I dreamed..." Xander touched his eyelid again just to...jeez, check that everything was there that was supposed to be. Then he shook his head. "Something was after me. And then it got me."

"Not like yours," Mel said softly. "It was trying to get to me. And Buffy. You guys were kind of... collatral damage. Then there was some guy with a skin disorder and weird hair and a guy with a cheese fetish and my bro- Yeah. It was weird."

"...you saw the cheese guy too?"

"Yeah. Something about cheese in can. Did he gripe to you about it too?"

"No, he tried to kill me by offering me Brie." Xander rewound to the part about the guy with the skin disorder and-- "Weird hair? Was the other guy really pale and had black eyes?"

"Yeah. Called himself one of the Endless," Mel said with shiver. "He took me on a crazy road trip through the lives of the slayers. Said Buffy and I pissed off some First Slayer chick from being out of time and that I didn't have a link to the previous slayers."

Mel looked over at Buffy for a second. "I saw you trying to rescue Buffy from drowning," she said quietly.

Xander blinked. "Wow. That was a long time ago. And not this Buffy."

"Yeah," Mel said with a nod. "I kind of gathered that."

She looked at the room and everyone talking about what had just happened. To all of them.

"I have to find a way to talk to her. The First Slayer," Mel said seriously. "I can't let her come after everyone again."

"The First Slayer." Xander rubbed sweat-soaked hair off the back of his neck. "Buffy - my Buffy - talked to her, I think. Giles did some vision-quest desert retreat thing with her."

"Can you find out how that worked?" Mel asked. (In a very demanding kind of way.)

Xander nodded. "I'll call him and see what we need to do." He frowned slightly, trying to remember. "I think there was a disturbingly-shaped vegetable involved."

Re: Wakey Wakey

cantjossme.livejournal.com - 2007-02-16 04:50 (UTC) - Expand

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"Xander?" Bridge says hesitantly, fiddling with the strap of one of his gloves.

Xander turned instantly at the sound of Bridge's voice. "Are you okay?"

"I think so?" Bridge says. "I- I couldn't feel anything, in my dream. It's kind of stupid, but would it be okay if-" his gaze darts from his hands, to Xander's hands, back up to Xander's face, not actually voicing his request. "Please?"

Xander thought of what had happened to him in his dream - which granted probably not the best thing to be thinking about given what he was about to do - and wordlessly held out his hand.

Bridge takes the glove off and grabs Xander's hand, twining their fingers together.

He only sees bits and pieces- Xander heading up the stairs, Mel leaning against the wall, a hand reaching for Xander's eye...

Xander knew where his own thoughts were going, and muttered, "Crap, sorry," when he realized what Bridge was probably getting. He tugged at Bridge's hand, trying to free himself.

"Not your fault," Bridge murmurs, his grip tightening for a moment before he forces himself to loosen it.

"You okay?" Xander asked again, more softly.

"Yeah, mostly," Bridge says. He smiles tentatively. "Thank you for letting me touch you."

The words and the tone flashed Xander back to the first time he'd ever heard Bridge say it, or something like it, and just what they'd been doing right before that. He glanced down for a moment, thrown and shaking his head to clear it of the image, almost as vivid as those fading ones from tonight's dream.

"No problem," he said finally, hating how awkward it came out.

"Are *you* okay?" Bridge asks. "I saw... things."

"I'm fine," Xander said quickly, but not untruthfully, at least as far as he knew. "Something -- " He thought of his conversation with Mel and corrected himself. "Somebody really was after us, but it was just a dream."

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