The Roof (Again), Saturday Evening

[cantgetnorelief]

He wasn't sure how many details of his adventure the previous night had already gotten around, and the power issues were probably helping that, but either way Anders had decided that laying low would be a good idea for a while. Especially since he figured Parker and Zero, if not the rest of the band, were going to kill him for his . . .

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[mparkerceo]

Parker was not heading up to the roof to smoke. She didn't take her cigarettes. She was just trying to think, and an M-less room and a non-ringing phone insured that her own suite made that impossible.

Seeing Anders smoking didn't help her mood any.

"Youuuuu...." She stomped over to him, snarling the second she saw him.

[cantgetnorelief]

. . . well, of course, this just figured.

"I'm still in one piece?" Anders offered quickly, trying and failing to hide the cigarette behind his back.

[mparkerceo]

"Gimme those!" Parker took a breath, and stepped closer. "Yay. One piece. Bel didn't take you to Hell to be his love-slave. And now you're throwing it away with lung cancer. FRAKKING BRILLIANT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

[cantgetnorelief]

"Hey, hey, hey!" Anders protested, flinching back instinctively but not surrendering the cigarette. "I told you I'd quit, just not yet!"

It was not the best thing he could have said by any means, was it?

[mparkerceo]

"Too frakking bad, Anders!" Parker grabbed the cigarette and pitched it off the roof, then grabbed his jacket and shook him. "Give me the carton or die, Daisy. Do you want to push me? Do you? Or do you want me to tell you about my day?" She whispered menacingly.

[cantgetnorelief]

Anders gulped, bit his lip, and surrendered the rest of the pack without further protest. "The day you had after I abandoned you guys?" he asked, his voice suddenly much quieter and less argumentative.

[mparkerceo]

"Why yessssss," Parker hissed. "That was just fine. Documentation being what it wasn't. But you know what made the Radio, Anders? Your phone call to Bel. NICE." She grabbed the pack and pitched it after the single cigarette. "Just what I wanted on the air about the band! Perfect!"

[cantgetnorelief]

"Like I could control what they were going to say!" Anders straightened up, glowering in the dark at her. "You think I wanted them to know that either? When -- lords, Bridge is going to kill me. I'm sorry, okay? I've never been arrested before, unlike some of you guys. I didn't know what else to do!"

[mparkerceo]

"You think I have?" Parker screamed. Then she really screamed. "AAAaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" She spun away from Anders, kicking out at the balustrade, then spun back. "I had to call my godfather for bail! I had to have lunch with him and the band have him tell stories about me! I am not in the mood to put up with one more person doing stupid shit that can get him hurt! I'm not! THIS IS IT! IT! IT!"

[cantgetnorelief]

Anders had jumped to the side, alarmed, once Parker screamed. Making a mental note not to smoke where she could see him again, he held up his hands in what he hoped was a placating gesture. "Whoa, okay. I'm sorry, all right? You've had a frakked-up weekend and it's partly my fault. You wanna hit me, if it makes you feel better, go ahead. You wanna go somewhere else and blow off steam? I'll be glad to help."

[mparkerceo]

"I WANT--" Parker snarled, and some of the ire drained away. "To kill someone." She punched Anders in the arm, hard enough to hurt. "You're the wrong someone. Damnit." She glared at him. "I want to set things on fire!"

[cantgetnorelief]

It did hurt, and Anders was already rubbing his arm gingerly where he was sure a bruise was going to be forming very soon now. "I'd kind of appreciate it if you didn't kill me," he said quietly. "And I'd kind of like you to not end up in jail --" he was at least tactful enough to leave out the 'again' -- "for murder. But if setting things on fire'll make you feel better, well . . . I've got lighters."

[mparkerceo]

"Heh." Which got Parker so close to laughing, that it was on that edge of crying. "Damnit." She scowled at him. "Sorry." A breath. Another breath. A lot of blinking. Then she gritted her teeth. "That might be good. I have things to get rid of. But I did that last time. And he was there, and... Damnit!"

[cantgetnorelief]

Anders decided to risk it, and reached a hand out to pat her on the shoulder once, lightly. "'s okay. Lords know you have a right to be pissed at me. We could go to the junkyard and smash things . . . or throw things off the causeway?"

[mparkerceo]

Parker seized on that idea like a lifeline. "Yes. That. That. I like that idea. Throw it in the ocean let it sink to the bottom go away."

[cantgetnorelief]

"The splashing sound'll be fun, too," agreed Anders. "Therapy, sort of."