I've died before. It's no big deal.

[unbreakableteen]

Claire was bored and she'd had her fill of History and French. She could honestly only do so much homework. The cruel twist was the bookshelf was only offering up novels in French (Les Liaisons dangereuses???) and, like, every issue of National Geographic ever

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[scoobys_heart]

Xander walked into the rec room right when the girl on the screen jumped. He winced then watched in amazement as the girl stood up and popped her shoulder back into place. Though he wasn't exactly surprised. It's not like he'd never seen Buffy do something similar.

What did surprise him was in he walked in and saw the girl from the screen sitting on the couch watching it. And she was really cute...He shook his head. No way, not a good way to start a stay on a magical island, not with his luck. Instead he just stood by the couch, hands in his pockets and asked curiously, "Attempt number six at what?"

[scoobys_heart]

There was probably a reason for the no gay people in Texas but the Pittsburgh bit still baffled him. Why Pittsburgh? But then what did Xander know, he'd hardly ever been out of Sunnydale, aborted roadtrip so not counting. "Riiight..." He said, not patronizing just trying to understand in his trying hard to grip something kinda way. "Pittsburgh never stuck me as a gay sorta town but then I've never been there. Never been out of California really...Are you from Texas?" Yes let's please change the subject from his pathetic life.

[unbreakableteen]

"Mmm-hmm. Odessa, born and raised," she smiled. It wasn't quite the truth, but she had no memory of Kermit, so it was easy to discount. "I've been to New York, once, though. Mostly I just did the high school thing. Cheerleading. Homecoming queen. Total freakshow," she shrugged, waving absently at the film.

[scoobys_heart]

Xander snorted. "Sounds like my life. Except you know, minus the popular stuff. Went to school, got picked on, hung out with friends who happened to include a Slayer and a werewolf, killed vampires, that kinda thing." Oddly enough, he didn't sound negative about his life, just...complacent. He was happy most of the time, that's what mattered.

"So you know, I kinda have to ask..." He indicated the screen. "Are you a Slayer or something?"

[unbreakableteen]

Claire smiled, almost mischeviously--except it was a little too sweet. She knew all about Oz and Buffy and Angel and them. She had all of them on dvd.

Her smile didn't fade, even when she closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. I'm just a cheerleader," she insisted. "Who, you know, can do..."

She waved at the screen again.

Xander thought she was a Slayer! How cool was that?

[scoobys_heart]

"Buffy, my friend whose the Slayer, was a cheerleader...or well she tried to be. That was drea...er nightmare right there." He stopped and looked bashful for a moment at his slip. "So no magic huh? Just what you could do?" He asked curiously looking at the screen. He hated to admit it, but some of the observation skills Giles had tried to install into him had stuck. "That's pretty awesome, though I bet pretty terrifying..." He said as he looked back at her, an understanding light in his eyes.

[unbreakableteen]

She met his eyes again and it seemed like he got it. He was from Sunnydale and used to weird stuff, after all. He probably did.

"...I died a lot," she admitted shyly, finally looking away. "This just shows the six times on purpose and the fire. There was way more than that."

[scoobys_heart]

He may not understand first hand, but he knew the strain powers like that took on his friends. How many times had he let Buffy just bitch at him until she felt better?

He whistled softly. "Definatly terrifying. I don't think I'd even be brave enough to test it like that, much less live with it." Then Xander cocked his head at her shy look away but didn't say anything. He could only imagine...He just hoped she wasn't ashamed or anything. The fact that she survived under that burden said something.

[unbreakableteen]

"You get used to it," she shrugged. "I mean, I'd rather be a freak than dead, and it was all about me there for a second. Save me, save the world. Or something. Something like that."

She wasn't good at explaining it, and he could quit looking at her like that any second now because it was weird and wrong and there were butterflies in non-butterfly places.

"...My boyfriend thinks it's cool," she blurted.

[scoobys_heart]

Xander smiled. All about her...Buffy liked those days too. She would never admit it, but she did. "welll, I wouldn't say freak. I know freaks, all scaley and stuff. Horns too." he wrinkled his nose playfully. "I can't see you in horns."

Ahhh...there is was. Of course she had a boyfriend, Xander really shouldn't have been surprised. Still, he liked talking to her and he was never one to turn down a friend. "I bet he does." Xander said, chuckling. "Superpowers are always of the cool, ya know?" Weight and responsibility aside.

[unbreakableteen]

There may as well have been a muppet in her head screaming and waving it's arms when he did that thing with his nose. Wrong wrong WRONG wrong!

But there was no screaming puppet, just her, nodding and blinking and smiling as sweet as ever. "Yeah. Of the cool," she repeated. "I, um...what about you? We're just talking about me and I'm not that interesting. Really. Unless you want to hear about the manatee. I know a lot about...that."

Oh. Yeah. Of the cool.

Please.

[scoobys_heart]

Xander was completely oblivous to anything he was doing that had an effect on her. And if he hadn't been...he wouldn't know if he should be horrified or flattered...probably a bit of both.

He gave a small chuckle. "Your definatly more interesting then me. That's me, Un-Interesting Life guy...I mean, I could tell you about Buffy, or Willow or hey, like were-wolf stories? Then i could tell you about Oz. But me, eh, not so much."

Then he leaned in and said in a soft voice. "You know...I've always wanted to know about the manatee..." He said in a playfully.

[unbreakableteen]

If he'd missed it before, he'd have to be dense to miss it now. Claire blushed furiously dark when he got that close and spoke that low.

"I...uh...you..."

Mr. Muggles barked once sharply, saving the end of the statement.

[scoobys_heart]

He'd been called dense before, but usually not seriously. He picked up on too much for that. So it was no surprise he picked up on this...

First, Xander jumped at the bark, then gave her a concerned look. Was he not supposed to talk about the manatee? He thought he was being friendly! What had he done wrong?

"Are you okay?"