MCA #0, Friday afternoon

[needsaparrot]

After sloshing out for some lunch and checking the outside of (Y)MCA to make sure the rising damp wasn't making its way into the apartments, Xander was sitting in the living room with his laptop, listening to the radio again, since the first run-through had mostly been obliterated from his memory by his momentary freakage at Broots' totally incorrect description of yesterday's TOTALLY NON-MAKING-OUT-FILLED events.

Freakage slightly less now that he noted the ongoing theme of 'squirrels gone wild' in last night's broadcast, but still.
__
[OOC: For a phone call. ETA: and a visitor, la]

Comments

[needsaparrot]

Blinkblink... Headshake that somewhat resembles a cartoon cat attempting to return ts face to cat-shape after getting smacked with an ironing-board... At least a 20-second delay before Xander realizes something actually got said....

"You what now?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Screwed up," Bridge repeats, going over to sit on the couch. "With Rory."

[needsaparrot]

Xander follows, a little less distracted by things that he shouldn't be distracted by, once he hears the tone of Bridge's voice. "What d'you mean? Something happen today?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"You could say that," Bridge snorts. "I went to talk to Anakin today."

[needsaparrot]

"Okay..." Xander gives the universal sign for I know there's more to this story... "And?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Apologized, 'cause I just... I should have watched out for her more than I did. She was hurting and she never talked about *why* and I should have asked. I should have," he says this all in a rush.

[needsaparrot]

"About something besides Anakin being dead?" Xander asks, leaning forward and resting his arms on his knees. Like it always has, like he'd forgotten how much it does, seeing Bridge upset feels like a dull kick to the stomach.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"About that, and how the person who killed him was here in Fandom and *teaching*," Bridge says. Well, as far as he knows, anyway.

[needsaparrot]

"I'm sorry what?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, Darth Vader, the guy who was teaching the class Anakin's teaching now?"

[needsaparrot]

And apparently a few of his synapses still work, because Xander finally makes more sense of what Rory said to him when he first got back to Fandom. "The Ethics teacher?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Bridge rolls his eyes at that. "Ethics, go figure."

[needsaparrot]

"And they let him teach here why?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Evil Overlord Outreach Program?" Bridge says with a shrug. "I don't know." Yes, he's aware the question was rhetorical.

[needsaparrot]

And okay, it's not like some of Xander's teachers in Sunnydale weren't, for instance, giant praying mantises. But still.

"Oh....kay." Xander nods. "Well, I can see why Rory would be upset about him being around."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"So can I," Bridge says. "I mean, if it had been *you*... and the person who'd done it was *here*, I would have done everything I possibly could to destroy them," he says fiercely.

[needsaparrot]

That leaves Xander silent for a moment, shaken by the vehemence of that, coming from Bridge. About him.

At last he asks, trying to piece together the part that's not about him, "Is that what Rory was doing?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Bridge says. "I offered to help, but I don't think she wanted me involved."

[needsaparrot]

"Did she say that? Or did you just..." Xander points to Bridge's hands.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"She said it," Bridge says. He glances down at his hands, crossing his arms and tucking them under. "I didn't... I didn't use my powers, or anything, because just because I *can* doesn't mean I *should*."

[needsaparrot]

"But you think you should've pushed her to talk about it anyway?" Xander frowns thoughtfully, remembering his earlier conversation with Isabel. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I wasn't here; I don't know how things were."

He won't say I wish I'd been here. Not now. He can't stop himself from thinking it, though.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge nods. "Yeah, I should have."

And I wish you *had* been here, he doesn't add.

[needsaparrot]

And this is so, so weird, talking to Bridge about his relationship with somebody else. Somebody else who's a friend - in the days when he'd been the guy Buffy talked to about things like this, he hadn't exactly felt the need to hold back from assuming Angel had been the bad guy, no matter what.

"Maybe." Because it doesn't really matter if Bridge is right; it matters that he thinks so, and he's hurting, and no matter how much his hands are twitching to pull Bridge over and hold onto him, all Xander can give him is words. "I've been there, even if I wasn't here. It's hard to tell when it's right to push, or it's going over the line. Sometimes you make the wrong call."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"It *sucks*," Bridge says, because he's eloquent like that.

[needsaparrot]

"Have you talked to Rory about it?"