[FM] Slipped Across My Desk... the Hyperion Hotel.

[taughtbykerouac]

"Nice work on that Graeves job Harris. Clients called this morning to pass on their comments. Still underbudget for the year too I read?"Xander nodded in agreement. He liked his job, liked his boss too, but he would have liked him better if he didn't have that odd scent of pickled relish on him all the time. Xander assumed the guy just liked hot

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[taughtbykerouac]

He was almost wondering if he had come on a bad day, that out of all the days to walk into the hotel that today they were all out killing demons or shopping for something of the occult variety. He was reaching into his back pocket to leave a card and a note, when he heard footsteps coming up behind him. The voice wasn't one he'd have forgotten either, turning around he leaned against the counter trying the non-chalant thing that he never quiet had pinned down. "It's been more than a while Faith."

Turning to face her he thought he caught her giving him the eye, but figured she was making sure he wasn't a vampire, or dead or something other worldly. He had been out of the Scoobie Adventures for a while, and wasn't sure if there had been some secret code word initiated in his absence. He did however take note that she looked almost the same. A bit more toned up, a little sweaty from whatever she had been doing but still the same. The dark eyes haunted with whatever inner demons she had, and yet still had that fire in them hinting at the danger she knew she was. Still had the smirk to match her posture, and the rest... well let's say it was a glance and a good one at that.

"I'm actually here on business of sorts, not of the demon variety either."

[neverbeenfree]

His answer was nice and ambigious so I wasn't gonna make him elaborate on it. Fuck if I didn't understand wantin' to get the hell away from B for a little while. Buffy'd been livin' over at the beachhouse with me and Harry for awhile and I hadn't seen any of Xand and Red. Feelin' kinda bad about not askin' about that but really I didn't give a shit. Buffy's problems were Buffy's problems. Faith's got a whole set of her own shit to deal with.

I raised an eyebrow at his casual statement. Not of the demon variety. Okay....so he was here on what kinda business exactly? Wolfram and Hart stuff? No way. Couldn't imagine Xander gettin' involved in some shady ass shit like evil law firms.

"Lookin' good." I said, not wantin' to directly say HEY HOW COME YOU HAVE AN EYE NOW? That might be awkward. So instead I just figured a blanket statement would get the job done. He seemed to perk up a little bit so points for me.

"Want me to get Cor? Or are you....you're not lookin' for Angel?"

It'd always been my understanding that Soul Boy and Xander weren't exactly the best of friends.

[taughtbykerouac]

Yeah the eye question was always a fun one, but luckily Faith skipped over that, and he assumed the looking good comment was in regard to the weight he had lost. He would be the first to admit that leaving Anya at the alter had added a good twenty pounds of weight to him, and he blamed the comfort food and lack of 'activity' for that one.

He laughed a bit at the remark for Angel, he had traded a few comments with him about his hair, and the soul as an excuse, he was pretty sure Angel never wanted to see him. "No, I doubt Angel would even pencil me in these days. I'd say Cordelia, but really I just need someone to take me on a tour. I work for an architectual firm uptown, seems this hotel is something of a Historical Landmark, and the city is footing the bill to have it restored. I got lucky and landed the contract."

He glanced around the place smiling, because it was luck and a lot of hard work, "So I think you might be seeing a bit more of me around here, at least during the planning stages. I just needed to get an idea of what kind of timeline I need, so I can start applying for the permits and such...." he glanced to her and figured she didn't care about that stuff, "... and this is boring to you. So how about we walk and talk? You probably know where some of the damage is around this place, and you can catch me up, on your life."

[neverbeenfree]

It was a good thing he didn't want Queen C cause hell if I even knew where she was. I gave up tryin' to keep track of her and the punk. Not even Angel could make me tail those two unless they were havin' sex and I was gonna get a front row seat. Either way I didn't feel like chasin' down prom queens today. Had enough shit on my plate with the impending party. God, I couldn't wait to get that over and done with.

Think he started to get that my eyes were glazing over as he kept talkin' his construction talk. Like I gave a crap about restoratons and permits. What exactly did he want?

Oh! A tour. Now that I could do. I hadn't lived at the Hyperion for as long as some of the other people around but when you're me you spend alot of time exploring. Ghost would actually probably be a better tour. She was always showin' up in the most random spots.

With a shrug I turned and started walkin' up the stairs cause most of the damage was on the top floor. Think something big went down there a wicked long time ago and Soul Boy'd just closed off an entire wing and never really dealt with it. Man, he was gonna be pissy when he found out that Xander was hangin' around the hotel.

"Not much to catch up on. Got married. Got divorced. You know, the usual." I winked at him as we continued up the stairs. "How about you?"

[taughtbykerouac]

They headed up the stairs and he was taking mental notes the entire way. The railing on the staircase, the spindles along the bannisters for the hallways all of it was just little notches of work being filed away in his brain. Most of it was pretty standard, but he knew a place that had Angel in it for the past five or so years was bound to have more than it's fair share of trouble.

However when Faith mentioned the marriage and the divorce he stopped short. See he had heard the rumors, but really? That wasn't exactly the truth he was hoping to get from Faith. He was hoping that it was all tabloid bullshit and that she'd set him straight. Still there she was smirking and winking like it was just another day for her, which it probably was.

Picking up his stride again he shook his head, "See that wasn't what I expected to be the usual for you. Maybe escaping from a police car, a sexy threesome with some random celebrity? That sounds more like the usual for you, but married? Divorced? He must have... wait it's a he right?" His mind might have wandered a bit to the internal fantasies that toyed with his imagination for a few months back when Faith and Buffy were always at ends with each other, but it was a fleeting thought as he continued up the stairs with her.

[neverbeenfree]

I smirked a little bit when he brought up threesomes with celebrities. Not that I wouldn't mind tappin' Britney Spears, she had a cute little ass and I was sure Harry could hook that up for me but some vampires got real tense when I got my play somewhere else. And really, some vampires were already tense enough.

"Yeah, it's a he. Sorry that I can't fuel anything to store away in your spank bank for later." I winked at him wondering if it was just that obvious to everyone that I was pretty much wicked gay. How it was that I ended up gettin' caught up between two guys was beyond me. Made me wanna blow outta town with B and Fred for some hot girlsex on the beach.

Not that they would let me do that, but it was a fun thought. Speakin' of spank banks...

"Know everybody thinks it's weird but hey we met on the 'net, went to a tropical island and he popped the question. Figured I was just crazy enough to marry him after knowing him less than a week and what do you know? I was." I shrugged a little bit and wondered when he was gonna get with the turnin' the topic of conversation around onto him.

[taughtbykerouac]

Her story actually didn't sound as crazy as he thought it was. There was no mail order bride-ness to it at least, and it actually sounded like something she would be just insane enough to do. Who else would get married after only a week of knowing someone? It took him a few years to pop the question to Anya and that went down in flames.

"See now that explaination of it? Actually seems very much like you Faith. I mean I'm not the expert on the ups and downs of being you, but it does have that reckless abandonment that I know you love so much. Besides I shouldn't be one to talk, I barely made it down the aisle, hell I didn't even make it to the aisle. So you got me beat on that aspect."

They made it to the landing and Xander suddenly had a sinking feeling about this job. When you take a look around and the edges of the carpet are burned? That usually means explosions, and explosions meant... well they didn't mean hotel fun times. It was just another mental note though, "So how pissed you think Angel's gonna be? I mean this size of damage? I'll be here a lot more than he's gonna like."

[neverbeenfree]

I smirked a little bit in his direction when he brought up the infamous ex. Anya was fun, for an ex-demon. Although the constant talk about sex with Xander was only amusing for the first week I knew her. After that, I had to remind her that I'd had him first. Shut her up real quick. Course, that was before she'd died on the hellmouth. At least Xander seemed to be movin' on with his life. New eye and all.

Raised an eyebrow at his question. Soul Boy hadn't exactly been the happiest of vampires lately. Even more moody than usual which I was just chalkin' up to the ongoing Faith and Harry drama. Although maybe that was a little on the self-centered side. Either way I knew Xander hangin' around all the time wasn't gonna do much to improve his mood. But it could be entertaining.

"Well, he's at work all day. So you'll probably be able to avoid eachother most of the time." I said with a shrug as I glanced around. None of it meant jack to me. I mean, it meant that there'd been an explosion or something but I wasn't lookin' at it the same way Xander was.

"He hasn't exactly been in the best of moods lately but it's probably a waste of breath to tell you not to provoke him, huh?" I winked at him.

[taughtbykerouac]

Xander was vaguely interested in exactly what a Vampire could be doing all 'day' as a job, given the whole allergy to the sun thing, but he figured if Angel wanted to share that detail in some future heart to heart, he'd let him. For now though he'd just enjoy catching up with his deflowerer, Faith.

"Yeah, trust me I know better than to try and... well talk to him I guess would be putting it simply." They moved through the wreckage and more mental notes were made, most of it was with the notion that this section was going to just need to be gutted. There wasn't much to salvage except for fixtures and that was minimal at best. At the midpoint he shoved his hands in his pockets and turned back around to head out of the mess.

Faith looked good, and he knew he would be pushing it to say it, but she almost looked happy, or at the very least at peace. Whatever it was she was doing... or maybe even who it seemed to agree with her at least. "So who all is staying here? I mean is it all spread throughout the hotel? Or is it more of a wing by wing type deal?"

He was trying to make sure that whatever remodeling that needed to be done wasn't going to mess up many of their daily routines. He wanted to make sure that since people were still living there that it never turned into an actual contstruction site. He'd limit it to a floor at a time, or a wing if he could get that much space sectioned off. But it wasn't like he was in a race to get it done.