MCA Sub-Basement, Wednesday, a little after lunch.
It was a wee bit nippy in the land of MCA today. So sayeth Xander's... yeah he was waaaay too mature to make that joke now. Rly. Or possibly he just sighed sadly when he realized the central heating was out, because there was nobody around to make that joke to except the frog, who was unimpressed. Oh well - doing something about it beat sitting around re-hashing the weekend and worrying about stuff he couldn't control.
The apartments above were probably still warm, but that wouldn't last if he didn't get the heat started again, so Xander left a note at the office and on his door indicating for any similarly-nipped residents that yes, he was working on it. And he was. Two floors down -- one of them stairs-only -- in the sub-basement. Flashlight in one hand and box of matches in the other, staring at the boiler and wondering where exactly the pilot-light was on this model.
Dawn
Dawn opened the door to the MCA lobby and turned around to look at Mel as she held the door open. "Okay, am I nuts, or does it feel colder in here than it did outside?"
Mel
"Feels like it," Mel said rubbing her arms and looking around the room a bit warily. "He's not here. Let's bail."
Dawn
"Let's just check," Dawn said, not particularly eager to try and get Mel down here again. She walked behind the desk, looking for an appointment book or something. "Oooh, note." She read it quickly, then grinned at Mel. "He's downstairs, being sweaty repairman guy."
Mel
"Well that sounds attractive," Mel replied. "But if he's busy maybe we should come back at another time."
Mel may have added a "like never" on to the end of that sentence in her head.
Dawn
"He's not too busy for me, unless he's with Bridge or Willow, but that's not usually a note-leaving kind of thing," Dawn said casually as she glanced around. "Do you see the basement door anywhere?"
Mel
Mel sighed and looked around the room. Looks like there was no polite way to get out of this.
"Is that it over there?" Mel asked, heading for a door that was partially open.
Dawn
"See? That's why you're the slayer, and I'm still trying to work my way up from sidekick to watcher," Dawn said as she began to clomp her way down the stairs. "Helloooooooo?"
Mel
Mel walked down the steps saying nothing. Even though Willow and Dawn vouched for this guy, her first meeting with him had not gone well. And her general impressions of Watchers, with the exception of Dawn, were that they had a distinct urge to make themselves kindling.
Xander
Ducking down under an overhanging pipe (and reminding himself not to stand up and bean himself on the noggin with it), Xander crouched by the boiler, studying the diagram on the side. Ah, that's where the pilot-light was, under that little flip-up hood.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs made him turn his head in that direction and shine the flashlight at the foot of them. "Careful; they're a bit steep."
Mel
Mel just kind of froze on the steps. "We can come back if there's a better time."
Again adding the "never" part on to that sentence in her head.
Xander
Xander recognised that voice; at first he couldn't remember from where, and then... he could. He shined the flashlight up a bit, though hopefully not high enough to flash in her face. "You'd be Mel."
Mel
"You'd be the guy that bit me," Mel said crossing her arms.
Xander
"Well, not with these teeth. I'd be the alternate dimension version who actually lived to grow up and learn better manners." Xander played the light back down the steps again. "So I'll have to apologize for him."
Dawn
"Not him," Dawn hissed at Mel, "He's not a vampire, I told you."
Mel
"Yeah, well tell that to the bite marks on my neck," Mel sulked as she went down the rest of the steps. "So is this what Watchers do? Hang out in basements with no lights?"
Xander
"See, you make it sound so much less glamorous than the recruitment brochures did..." Xander stood, ducking the pipe. "Actually this is what apartment managers do; I'm multitasking."
Dawn
"You got a brochure?" Dawn asked curiously, looking around. "And compared to the sewers, this actually isn't so bad."
Xander
"It smells better. But yeah, the lighting sucks. Should fix that before I go. Install some new--" Oh, so ironically, a certain set of batteries chose now to wear out, giving just a flicker to the beam in his hand before the sub-basement plunged into complete darkness. "--flashlights. Great."
Xander sighed, crouched again to set down the flashlight, then stood and struck a match from the box he'd been holding in his other hand.
Mel
And at the light of the match something snapped in Mel's mind and she was going after Xander in a full fledged tackle mode. "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE?!"
Xander
"We like to see?" Xander tried to reply, but he really only got as far as "Whuuuuuuuuuu?" before he was tumbling backwards, because Harris mouth vs. Slayer speed is... actually a pretty good cagematch but not when he wasn't expecting it.
Mel
Mel crashed into Xander, grabbing his arm to keep the match from coming anywhere close to Xander's body.
Of course said crash into Xander also had a lot of momentum so they crashed into the wall.
And then through the wall.
And then on the ground.
Mel glared at Xander as she ripped the matches out of his hand. "You people really need to stop setting yourselves on fire."
Dawn
After an ear-piercing shriek of surprise, Dawn stared at the mess Xander and Mel had just made and hoped this didn't mean the entire apartment building was going to collapse on their heads in a few minutes.
"Geez, overreact much, Mel? Fire also equals light, not just crispy Watcher ickiness." She climbed carefully over some of the debris and reached down to help Xander up, glaring down at Mel as she did so. "How long have you known me? Have I set myself on fire yet? I know there's no handbook, but I've known two other Watchers, and neither of them set themselves on fire either. It's not a thing with us. Maybe it's time you let it go. Just a little."
Xander
Xander sat up slowly, brushing plaster and particle-dust from his hair, then took Dawn's offered hand. "Yeah, not on fire. On...drywall, actually. Really, really cheap drywall. Whoa shoddy craftmanship. Also may I reiterate the NOT ON FIRE part?" He turned his head to stare at Mel -- and realized he was staring at Mel. As in, he could see her.
And Dawn's hand, and the boiler, and oh yeah, the large empty hallway beyond the ruins of the wall, illuminated by the same soft white lights that ran throughout the rest of the public areas of the building.
"What the...frak?"
Mel
Mel brushed herself off. "Yeah, okay so you didn't set yourself on fire. This time. I've been dealing with whacko self-burning Watchers for a year now. You'd be a little jumpy too. What's with this room being walled off?"
Xander
Xander brushed yet more dust off his jeans, and knocked away a bit more of the wall, moving through into the hallway. "It's not a room. It's -- the hell? A whole other floor."
Just to the right was the elevator that supposedly didn't go down this far. A few steps forward and to the left was another hallway, with apartment-style doors set into it, while forward and right was yet another door.
Dawn
Dawn started wandering through the empty hallways. "Cooooooool." She turned in a circle. "Nothing like wanton destruction and rampant paranoia to increase the property value."
Mel
"I'm not paranoid," Mel sulked. "I'm just acting on previous experience."
Xander
Xander frowned, checking one of the doors. Locked, and his passkeys were back in his apartment. He had a feeling they should be staying there, for now. "My previous experience says people don't board up perfectly good rooms unless maybe there's something a little less than perfectly good about them. Remember how great the mortgage rates were in Sunnydale?"
Dawn
"Okay, point." Dawn rolled her eyes. "But hey, nothing ate us or attacked us so far. That's got to count for something? Also, hi, and this is Mel, the Vampire Slayer, and wow, that sounds weird. Mel, this is Xander, who's still not setting himself on fire but is a Watcher."
Xander
"This is Xander who's definitely not setting himself on fire, but is not a Watcher," he corrected Dawn. "My official job title is Schmuck Who Fixes Stuff And Brings New Slayers Back To Boot Camp With The Real Watchers. Only more with the boots and less with the camp, because this is Buffy we're talking about."
Mel
Mel just sort of looked at Xander as if he just grew a second head. "I'm sorry? Take me where? I don't think so."
Xander
"To London," Xander said. "They have crumpets. And lots of other Slayers."
Dawn
Dawn blinked at Xander a lot. "But, you can't take her. They sent her here for a reason, whoever they are."
Mel
"Seriously. And what planet are you on that makes you think I trust you?" Mel said sharply. "No offense. You who bit me or not you. Watcher or not a Watcher. Friend of Dawn or not: I don't know who the heck you are and I'm not running off to join some camp where you're just going to throw me into a pit on my 18th birthday without any powers and a hungry lurk.
Xander
"........Sorry what now?" Xander stared at her. "You mean the Cruciajiggimathing they did to Buffy? We don't do that."
Dawn
Dawn shot Xander a look that said someone needed to start taking better notes of this kind of stuff. "Not anymore, anyway. Stupid Watchers." She looked to Mel. "And I don't know about the England stuff Xander's saying, but I think we should probably go on the theory that anything you know about Watchers is, well, wrong."
Mel
"Really?" Mel said. "Because the funny thing is I read a lot of this stuff from either the journals of Watchers or watching those guys set themselves on fire. Look... it was nice to meet you, Harris, but if you think I'm just dropping everything to go off to some camp to make boots you're more spun than the guys who set themselves on fire."
Xander
"Cruciamentum," Xander, who did know the word when he wasn't sputtering it, said. "They pulled that crap on Buffy and she quit over it." Okay, so he was neglecting to mention the part where she went back later to ask for help and that was what got him here in the first place. "Not a part of WC Two Point Oh, believe me. Half of the people in charge are Slayers."
He sighed and held up one hand. "But if you don't want to do the Chosen Ones thing, it's cool. We don't force anybody into it."
Mel
"I am the chosen one," Mel replied stubbornly as she turned her head to the side. "You know. To stand against all the vampires, demons and all that evil crap. I've done pretty well without your council so I don't see a need to start now."
Xander
Fair enough, and it wouldn't be the first time somebody'd said thanks but no thanks to him, or thanks but maybe later. He'd even said he wouldn't stick around for more than a couple weeks, and if she didn't want to go, she didn't want to go.
So why did Xander find his fingers crabbing up in frustration and his brain reaching desperately for a response besides 'Cool, your call, no hard feelings, send word if you change your mind' ?
Why was the breath he took one of relief, when his eye finally fixed on the scar on her neck?
"Then why did you let him bite you?"
Mel
Mel flinched at the question and found herself hugging herself and looking at anything but Dawn or Xander. "You- He reminded me of someone. Someone I cared about who turned into a vampire and..."
"Okay. Yeah. I froze up. Not the first time either."
Xander
Xander leaned back against the wall, and just for a second it was another wall that was a lot older, in a place that didn't exist anymore. "Been there." He ran a hand through his hair, and it came out plaster-streaked. "Would've died there, if somebody hadn't saved my ass." By accident, but not exactly the point here.
Mel
Mel suddenly found the tips of her boots very interesting. "Moral of the story: Other people know more than me. Got it. So maybe I need to think about it. Okay?"
Xander
"Moral of the story is - and I am not just saying this to get cookies from Willow - knowing stuff is good. Especially stuff that'll save your life or somebody else's. It's not about who knows more." Xander stopped. "Wait, you'll think about it? Coming with me?"
Xander would ask why saying that last part suddenly made him want to sigh with something other than relief, but he didn't want to have to give himself the bitch, plz face. When he'd said 'two weeks, tops,' he hadn't known she was here.
Mel
That earned Xander a glare. "Yeah. That'd be a hell no. Your council wants to train me? They can rutting send someone to do it. I don't know how I got here exactly but I'm pretty sure I have to stay on the island if I want to get back to my timeline."
And with that Mel turned and headed for the stairs. "Good luck with your new apartments, Harris. I'll see you around."
Dawn
"I think she's right about having to stay here. I can help," Dawn took a few steps closer to Xander and added, "but I can't do it alone. There's way too much I don't know, especially about fighting. I don't want to be the reason she gets hurt."
Xander
"Neither do I." Xander shook his head and led the way back towards the still-unlit boiler. ...which he was going to have to go back to his apartment to get some more matches for, since Mel apparently didn't trust him with the ones she'd confiscated. "Willow'll help," he said distractedly, covering both with one name.
Then, a little helpless himself because he'd ask if they wanted to send somebody else, but he already knew what the answer would be - you're there, you know the place and the people, everybody's busy, suck up and deal -- "I don't do this. It's not my thing."
Except...maybe he just knew what he wanted their answer to be. Because just hearing the words 'stay here' from Dawn, not even about him, not yet... More weight had zoomed off Xander's chest than could've come from any cheap plasterboard wall or tackling Slayer.
Which granted the zoomy could be caused by the incipient panic-attack, too. "Okay, possibly it's my new thing," Xander admitted, finally. "But I reserve the right to be completely terrified. And whine about same. A lot."
Dawn
"We can be whiny and terrified together," Dawn promised, then kissed him on the cheek. "And Mel has no idea how kick-ass a Watcher she just got. I think I'll go tell her," she said as she took off up the stairs, then shouted back, "Bye, enjoy your new hallway!"
Xander
"I have a hallway. How the hell do I have a hallway?" Xander muttered to the empty basement. His empty basement. "And okay, also a Slayer. Who thinks I'm crazy and took my matches away so maybe I should focus on the hallway part for now."
Because standing in the basement talking to himself with an uncontrollable grin on his face? Totally qualified him to get his burnination privileges back, yes.
[OOC: Closed to IC interaction; there'll be an open MCA office post later today tomorrow though. (ETA: I lied; work ate me and it seems lateish for an office post now.) Preplayed with lilpunkinbelly and cantjossme. MCA residents can feel free to either notice or ignore the brief cold snap, since it would've been fixed within the hour.]
The apartments above were probably still warm, but that wouldn't last if he didn't get the heat started again, so Xander left a note at the office and on his door indicating for any similarly-nipped residents that yes, he was working on it. And he was. Two floors down -- one of them stairs-only -- in the sub-basement. Flashlight in one hand and box of matches in the other, staring at the boiler and wondering where exactly the pilot-light was on this model.
Dawn
Dawn opened the door to the MCA lobby and turned around to look at Mel as she held the door open. "Okay, am I nuts, or does it feel colder in here than it did outside?"
Mel
"Feels like it," Mel said rubbing her arms and looking around the room a bit warily. "He's not here. Let's bail."
Dawn
"Let's just check," Dawn said, not particularly eager to try and get Mel down here again. She walked behind the desk, looking for an appointment book or something. "Oooh, note." She read it quickly, then grinned at Mel. "He's downstairs, being sweaty repairman guy."
Mel
"Well that sounds attractive," Mel replied. "But if he's busy maybe we should come back at another time."
Mel may have added a "like never" on to the end of that sentence in her head.
Dawn
"He's not too busy for me, unless he's with Bridge or Willow, but that's not usually a note-leaving kind of thing," Dawn said casually as she glanced around. "Do you see the basement door anywhere?"
Mel
Mel sighed and looked around the room. Looks like there was no polite way to get out of this.
"Is that it over there?" Mel asked, heading for a door that was partially open.
Dawn
"See? That's why you're the slayer, and I'm still trying to work my way up from sidekick to watcher," Dawn said as she began to clomp her way down the stairs. "Helloooooooo?"
Mel
Mel walked down the steps saying nothing. Even though Willow and Dawn vouched for this guy, her first meeting with him had not gone well. And her general impressions of Watchers, with the exception of Dawn, were that they had a distinct urge to make themselves kindling.
Xander
Ducking down under an overhanging pipe (and reminding himself not to stand up and bean himself on the noggin with it), Xander crouched by the boiler, studying the diagram on the side. Ah, that's where the pilot-light was, under that little flip-up hood.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs made him turn his head in that direction and shine the flashlight at the foot of them. "Careful; they're a bit steep."
Mel
Mel just kind of froze on the steps. "We can come back if there's a better time."
Again adding the "never" part on to that sentence in her head.
Xander
Xander recognised that voice; at first he couldn't remember from where, and then... he could. He shined the flashlight up a bit, though hopefully not high enough to flash in her face. "You'd be Mel."
Mel
"You'd be the guy that bit me," Mel said crossing her arms.
Xander
"Well, not with these teeth. I'd be the alternate dimension version who actually lived to grow up and learn better manners." Xander played the light back down the steps again. "So I'll have to apologize for him."
Dawn
"Not him," Dawn hissed at Mel, "He's not a vampire, I told you."
Mel
"Yeah, well tell that to the bite marks on my neck," Mel sulked as she went down the rest of the steps. "So is this what Watchers do? Hang out in basements with no lights?"
Xander
"See, you make it sound so much less glamorous than the recruitment brochures did..." Xander stood, ducking the pipe. "Actually this is what apartment managers do; I'm multitasking."
Dawn
"You got a brochure?" Dawn asked curiously, looking around. "And compared to the sewers, this actually isn't so bad."
Xander
"It smells better. But yeah, the lighting sucks. Should fix that before I go. Install some new--" Oh, so ironically, a certain set of batteries chose now to wear out, giving just a flicker to the beam in his hand before the sub-basement plunged into complete darkness. "--flashlights. Great."
Xander sighed, crouched again to set down the flashlight, then stood and struck a match from the box he'd been holding in his other hand.
Mel
And at the light of the match something snapped in Mel's mind and she was going after Xander in a full fledged tackle mode. "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE?!"
Xander
"We like to see?" Xander tried to reply, but he really only got as far as "Whuuuuuuuuuu?" before he was tumbling backwards, because Harris mouth vs. Slayer speed is... actually a pretty good cagematch but not when he wasn't expecting it.
Mel
Mel crashed into Xander, grabbing his arm to keep the match from coming anywhere close to Xander's body.
Of course said crash into Xander also had a lot of momentum so they crashed into the wall.
And then through the wall.
And then on the ground.
Mel glared at Xander as she ripped the matches out of his hand. "You people really need to stop setting yourselves on fire."
Dawn
After an ear-piercing shriek of surprise, Dawn stared at the mess Xander and Mel had just made and hoped this didn't mean the entire apartment building was going to collapse on their heads in a few minutes.
"Geez, overreact much, Mel? Fire also equals light, not just crispy Watcher ickiness." She climbed carefully over some of the debris and reached down to help Xander up, glaring down at Mel as she did so. "How long have you known me? Have I set myself on fire yet? I know there's no handbook, but I've known two other Watchers, and neither of them set themselves on fire either. It's not a thing with us. Maybe it's time you let it go. Just a little."
Xander
Xander sat up slowly, brushing plaster and particle-dust from his hair, then took Dawn's offered hand. "Yeah, not on fire. On...drywall, actually. Really, really cheap drywall. Whoa shoddy craftmanship. Also may I reiterate the NOT ON FIRE part?" He turned his head to stare at Mel -- and realized he was staring at Mel. As in, he could see her.
And Dawn's hand, and the boiler, and oh yeah, the large empty hallway beyond the ruins of the wall, illuminated by the same soft white lights that ran throughout the rest of the public areas of the building.
"What the...frak?"
Mel
Mel brushed herself off. "Yeah, okay so you didn't set yourself on fire. This time. I've been dealing with whacko self-burning Watchers for a year now. You'd be a little jumpy too. What's with this room being walled off?"
Xander
Xander brushed yet more dust off his jeans, and knocked away a bit more of the wall, moving through into the hallway. "It's not a room. It's -- the hell? A whole other floor."
Just to the right was the elevator that supposedly didn't go down this far. A few steps forward and to the left was another hallway, with apartment-style doors set into it, while forward and right was yet another door.
Dawn
Dawn started wandering through the empty hallways. "Cooooooool." She turned in a circle. "Nothing like wanton destruction and rampant paranoia to increase the property value."
Mel
"I'm not paranoid," Mel sulked. "I'm just acting on previous experience."
Xander
Xander frowned, checking one of the doors. Locked, and his passkeys were back in his apartment. He had a feeling they should be staying there, for now. "My previous experience says people don't board up perfectly good rooms unless maybe there's something a little less than perfectly good about them. Remember how great the mortgage rates were in Sunnydale?"
Dawn
"Okay, point." Dawn rolled her eyes. "But hey, nothing ate us or attacked us so far. That's got to count for something? Also, hi, and this is Mel, the Vampire Slayer, and wow, that sounds weird. Mel, this is Xander, who's still not setting himself on fire but is a Watcher."
Xander
"This is Xander who's definitely not setting himself on fire, but is not a Watcher," he corrected Dawn. "My official job title is Schmuck Who Fixes Stuff And Brings New Slayers Back To Boot Camp With The Real Watchers. Only more with the boots and less with the camp, because this is Buffy we're talking about."
Mel
Mel just sort of looked at Xander as if he just grew a second head. "I'm sorry? Take me where? I don't think so."
Xander
"To London," Xander said. "They have crumpets. And lots of other Slayers."
Dawn
Dawn blinked at Xander a lot. "But, you can't take her. They sent her here for a reason, whoever they are."
Mel
"Seriously. And what planet are you on that makes you think I trust you?" Mel said sharply. "No offense. You who bit me or not you. Watcher or not a Watcher. Friend of Dawn or not: I don't know who the heck you are and I'm not running off to join some camp where you're just going to throw me into a pit on my 18th birthday without any powers and a hungry lurk.
Xander
"........Sorry what now?" Xander stared at her. "You mean the Cruciajiggimathing they did to Buffy? We don't do that."
Dawn
Dawn shot Xander a look that said someone needed to start taking better notes of this kind of stuff. "Not anymore, anyway. Stupid Watchers." She looked to Mel. "And I don't know about the England stuff Xander's saying, but I think we should probably go on the theory that anything you know about Watchers is, well, wrong."
Mel
"Really?" Mel said. "Because the funny thing is I read a lot of this stuff from either the journals of Watchers or watching those guys set themselves on fire. Look... it was nice to meet you, Harris, but if you think I'm just dropping everything to go off to some camp to make boots you're more spun than the guys who set themselves on fire."
Xander
"Cruciamentum," Xander, who did know the word when he wasn't sputtering it, said. "They pulled that crap on Buffy and she quit over it." Okay, so he was neglecting to mention the part where she went back later to ask for help and that was what got him here in the first place. "Not a part of WC Two Point Oh, believe me. Half of the people in charge are Slayers."
He sighed and held up one hand. "But if you don't want to do the Chosen Ones thing, it's cool. We don't force anybody into it."
Mel
"I am the chosen one," Mel replied stubbornly as she turned her head to the side. "You know. To stand against all the vampires, demons and all that evil crap. I've done pretty well without your council so I don't see a need to start now."
Xander
Fair enough, and it wouldn't be the first time somebody'd said thanks but no thanks to him, or thanks but maybe later. He'd even said he wouldn't stick around for more than a couple weeks, and if she didn't want to go, she didn't want to go.
So why did Xander find his fingers crabbing up in frustration and his brain reaching desperately for a response besides 'Cool, your call, no hard feelings, send word if you change your mind' ?
Why was the breath he took one of relief, when his eye finally fixed on the scar on her neck?
"Then why did you let him bite you?"
Mel
Mel flinched at the question and found herself hugging herself and looking at anything but Dawn or Xander. "You- He reminded me of someone. Someone I cared about who turned into a vampire and..."
"Okay. Yeah. I froze up. Not the first time either."
Xander
Xander leaned back against the wall, and just for a second it was another wall that was a lot older, in a place that didn't exist anymore. "Been there." He ran a hand through his hair, and it came out plaster-streaked. "Would've died there, if somebody hadn't saved my ass." By accident, but not exactly the point here.
Mel
Mel suddenly found the tips of her boots very interesting. "Moral of the story: Other people know more than me. Got it. So maybe I need to think about it. Okay?"
Xander
"Moral of the story is - and I am not just saying this to get cookies from Willow - knowing stuff is good. Especially stuff that'll save your life or somebody else's. It's not about who knows more." Xander stopped. "Wait, you'll think about it? Coming with me?"
Xander would ask why saying that last part suddenly made him want to sigh with something other than relief, but he didn't want to have to give himself the bitch, plz face. When he'd said 'two weeks, tops,' he hadn't known she was here.
Mel
That earned Xander a glare. "Yeah. That'd be a hell no. Your council wants to train me? They can rutting send someone to do it. I don't know how I got here exactly but I'm pretty sure I have to stay on the island if I want to get back to my timeline."
And with that Mel turned and headed for the stairs. "Good luck with your new apartments, Harris. I'll see you around."
Dawn
"I think she's right about having to stay here. I can help," Dawn took a few steps closer to Xander and added, "but I can't do it alone. There's way too much I don't know, especially about fighting. I don't want to be the reason she gets hurt."
Xander
"Neither do I." Xander shook his head and led the way back towards the still-unlit boiler. ...which he was going to have to go back to his apartment to get some more matches for, since Mel apparently didn't trust him with the ones she'd confiscated. "Willow'll help," he said distractedly, covering both with one name.
Then, a little helpless himself because he'd ask if they wanted to send somebody else, but he already knew what the answer would be - you're there, you know the place and the people, everybody's busy, suck up and deal -- "I don't do this. It's not my thing."
Except...maybe he just knew what he wanted their answer to be. Because just hearing the words 'stay here' from Dawn, not even about him, not yet... More weight had zoomed off Xander's chest than could've come from any cheap plasterboard wall or tackling Slayer.
Which granted the zoomy could be caused by the incipient panic-attack, too. "Okay, possibly it's my new thing," Xander admitted, finally. "But I reserve the right to be completely terrified. And whine about same. A lot."
Dawn
"We can be whiny and terrified together," Dawn promised, then kissed him on the cheek. "And Mel has no idea how kick-ass a Watcher she just got. I think I'll go tell her," she said as she took off up the stairs, then shouted back, "Bye, enjoy your new hallway!"
Xander
"I have a hallway. How the hell do I have a hallway?" Xander muttered to the empty basement. His empty basement. "And okay, also a Slayer. Who thinks I'm crazy and took my matches away so maybe I should focus on the hallway part for now."
Because standing in the basement talking to himself with an uncontrollable grin on his face? Totally qualified him to get his burnination privileges back, yes.
[OOC: Closed to IC interaction; there'll be an open MCA office post later today tomorrow though. (ETA: I lied; work ate me and it seems lateish for an office post now.) Preplayed with lilpunkinbelly and cantjossme. MCA residents can feel free to either notice or ignore the brief cold snap, since it would've been fixed within the hour.]