Fray-Adjacent

Xander sat in the den, books and printouts about vampires, Slayers, time-travel, use of technology with the supernatural spread out around him, laptop in front of him. He hadn't really been getting anywhere, and not just because Willow and Giles were the experts at this kind of thing and he... knew how to use Google and had passed the stage where he got distracted for very long by woodcuts of nymphs. There just didn't seem to be anywhere to get.

Next to his laptop sat his phone. Open to the right number, ready to send, even. Every so often he'd look at it but not pick it up, because what the hell was he supposed to say? And maybe the point was he shouldn't say anything at all.

Instead, he was slumped on the couch, and though his eyelid had slowly drooped shut, he wasn't sleeping. No. He was... processing information. Right.

Funny how processing information involved ( suddenly being back in his office )


( And then there was a knock. )



[Continued in a not-work-safe direction in a filtered post here.]