fandomtownies | Mauvaise Chance Office, Monday afternoon [3/26]

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Mauvaise Chance Office, Monday afternoon [3/26]

Though "I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away..." was no longer really a true statement for Xander, it still applied if you substituted other words for 'danger.' Which is why though he'd opened up the office just in case someone needed repairs or to be told there weren't actually any vacancies, anyone who walked in would find an opened newspaper sitting behind the counter. With a Xander behind it who'd read it three times already and was thinking about hiding behind a magazine next.
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[OOC: Open, despite what Xander would like people to think.]

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Isabel was out for a walking, using the time in the fresh air to clear her head. Walking by the apartment building, she poked her head into the office to see if Xander was around. "Anyone here?"

"Just us newspapers." Through there might be the very top of a dark-brown head sticking up above it, now.

"That's new, even by Fandom standards," Isabel replied, walking over and leaning on the counter. "Talking newspapers?"

"We read ourselves, so you don't have to bother." The newspaper nodded.

"Now if only my textbooks would do the same." She reached for the top of the newspaper and pulled lightly, while stretching up to peer over the top. "Hi there."

Xander looked up and pretended he hadn't been hiding. And also that he wasn't feeling like he'd have to climb a few rungs up the evolutionary ladder before he could reasonably pay social calls on pondscum. Not all that well, though. "Hey."

"You're talkative today," Isabel said, gently tugging on the paper. "No hi old roomie, glad to see you for me?"

"Hi, old roomie, glad to see you." He was, sort of, insofar as she wasn't on the list of people he was specifically newspapering from.

And now Isabel was starting to get worried because this was very unlike Xander. In fact the only time she remembered Xander being this withdrawn was about this time last year. "So what's happening in Xander world today?"

Xander pointed to the newspaper. "The head of the Smithsonian resigned. Very big in Xander-world." He nodded. "Also there's this comic about a guy in an office? Very droll. Highly recommended."

"See now, I liked the comic about the kid and his tiger. I miss it." She propped her chin on her hand and raised an eyebrow. "So what else is happening? Anything fun and exciting? Or is it all thought provoking and angsty which is why you have the long face?"

"Well... Bridge was possessed?" Xander didn't specifiy which category that fell into, though he probably didn't need to.

"What?" Isabel asked, not needing any clarification on the category. "How? When? Is he okay?"

"No idea, since sometime last week I think, and ...sort of?" Xander shook his head. "He's him again. He wasn't doing real well afterwards, though."

Isabel's seen the after effects of possession on Bel and on John. Both slightly different cases but still close enough for her to realize that no, Bridge probably isn't doing well. "Has anyone checked up on him?"

"Anders and Z were there - really they did the de-possessing and I was just kind of there. They took him home." And I snuck off with my un-evolved tail between my leg, he didn't add.

"They should have brought him here," she said. "He should have all his friends with him."

"Do you know what it was that possessed him? What it wanted?" Isabel asked, watching Xander carefully. "What did it do while it had him?"

Xander shook his head. "Seemed like what it wanted was to leave the island, once we finally caught up with it, but aside from that it didn't give out a lot of details. And it didn't seem like the time to be asking Bridge."

He left out the one thing he did know happened while it had Bridge, yes.

"No, probably not," Isabel agreed. "How are you dealing with this?" Because she's pretty sure that radio said something about Xander and Bridge being awkward during the week. She just wasn't sure if it was the usual awkwardness or something more.

"You mean aside from ~~not?~~ wondering how Z's little card jail thing would stand up to being sliced into about 500 pieces with a tablesaw, nice and slow?" Xander answered.

Deflecting a little? Yeah. But not untrue - fantasizing about what he'd like to do to the thing that had dared hurt Bridge made for an occasional, if brief, distraction from the fact that he had.

"Yes," she said, nodding. "Aside from any revenge fantasies, how are you doing?"

"It...wasn't my best weekend," he understated.

"Xander," Isabel sighed. "Come on, you talk, I'll listen. Isn't that what friends are for? We've done it before." There might have been a touch of not so much sad puppy eyes, but instead very much worried puppy eyes.

Yeah, but back then I was a moron and you were right, and now... I'm a moron and it's hard to tell what's right.

Xander shook his head. "Stuff got a little... tense, is all. And I should've known it wasn't him."

"How so?" she asked, reaching out to gently rub his arm. "And how could you? Because as far as I know, Bridge is the psychic one."

"Because he wouldn't act the way he acted. And I was too busy thinking about me -- except when I wasn't thinking at all -- to realize there was something wrong with him."

If he sounded like details weren't gonna be forthcoming anytime soon, she was reading him right.

Isabel nodded, backing off a little. "What matters is that you guys did stop whatever it is. With time, you can work everything else out."

Xander sighed and ran a hand through his hair, recognising that he had turned the lobby into a Place of Emo, but not actually able to do much abut it at the moment. "I guess. I hope so."

"I'm willing to bet on it," she replied. "Maybe a nice overly sugared and caffienated drink at the Perk one day? When things are looking up?"

"~~Ya sure~~ You betcha," Xander said, forcing a smile, though a bit of it was genuine, because he was glad to see her, in spite of himself.

Still worried, Isabel made herself smile. "Then it's a date. Possibly the only one I'm going to go on in the next few months. But that's okay. You're good company."

"Oh, clearly." Xander glanced down, then rewound and looked back up. "Wait, why am I your best dating prospect?"

She shrugged, "Possibly because I am no longer dating."

"You and Greg aren't...?" Yes, he missed this somehow.

"No," she said, shrugging. "I needed time when I got back because stuff had happened. And then I realized that given what I plan for the future, it was probably better to end it."

He got the first part - boy howdy, but-- Xander frowned in concern. "What exactly are you planning for the future?"

"Sometime in August is when the timelines should sync back up," Isabel explained, not really looking at Xander. "That's when I have to go back."

Xander took a moment to be stunned, and discovered he only needed half of it, so he used the other half to not be surprised at all. Funny how that was completely possible.

He closed his eye and then opened it again. "You better have more than just one coffee date with me before then, missy. And there will be no telling me you're going by voicemail, kaythanks."

Isabel kept her head down, not wanting to see the expression she was sure was on his face. "I will spend lots of time with you between now and then. And possibly even after. Because I don't have clue how I'm going to pull this off."

"I don't want you to leave," Xander said, aware of how unnecessary the statement probably was. "But if it's where you need to be... I get that. I don't know how I could help, but if I can, I will."

"I don't want to leave," she admitted. "But that's where Max and Michael are. And I need to be there for them."

Xander nodded slowly. "The other you, she was on the run with them. I don't think she was too happy about the running part, but I also don't think she'd have left them, even if she could've."

"No, she wouldn't. I won't. They're family," Isabel said quietly. "And having all this, everyone here. It wonderful but I can't just say, oh well, I'm back and forget about them. We'll have our coffee between now and then and we'll see what August brings."

The squirrel perched behind a pile of magazines wrote down "Xander 'n Isbl talkin' about poor possessed Bridge," then pouted.

No rum for him tonight, woe. Possession stories don't get booze.

No, but given Xander's mood, it was highly likely he'd be having some himself later. Possibly enough to be careless about leaving the cap off.

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Mauvaise Chance Office, Monday afternoon [3/26]

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