InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Happy yesterday to all."

Connor MacManus (weneedrope) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2010-07-02 14:46:00

Entry tags:

connor macmanus, xander harris

Who: Connor and Xander
What: Not much sleep, need for coffee
Where: Kitchen
When: Morning
Warnings: Probably language

Connor's hand ran over the carpet beside the bed, feeling for the clock he knew was there. His fingers finally smacked into the cord and he leaned over the side of the bed, turning the clock up so he could see the numbers on the display. 7:30 am. Usually not early for him, but after a night of restless tossing and turning, giving it another hour didn't seem like a bad idea. A couple of bad dreams and a good night's rest went out the window. He rolled onto his back, closing his eyes again, waiting for sleep to return.

It didn't. After a couple of minutes of staring at the ceiling, he finally pulled himself out of bed. Pulling on a gray henley and running his hand through his hair, which made it stick out more, he stumbled into the kitchen. The one thing he was looking for wasn't there. Coffee, tea, something with a little kick to wake him up. Something the community kitchen probably had.

Not much work was needed to find the coffee. After the filter had been put in place, the reservoir filled with water, and the switch flipped, he settled down at the table and pulled over a newspaper someone had left behind, waiting for the machine to do its thing.

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xander_shaped
2010-07-06 07:06 pm UTC (link)

It was always the kitchen with him. Each and every time that Xander forgot to stop by the grocery store for food, he ended up in the kitchen foraging for the spare food that they kept stocked down there. It was becoming a pretty bad habit, but Xander had always made it in point to give a little to the area when he actually did go shopping. Rare and far apart as those trips to the grocery store might have been, Xander did his part. He was a citizen of the complex - a might proud one, at that - and his contributions to this particular society were definitely noticeable. Or so he would claim whenever anyone actually decided to point out that he was stealing all the food. Hey, it was a good argument. And it made him sound smart. He totally practiced the speech in front of the mirror a few times. For efficiency, see? There was even a face that came with it. It was very sincere and determined. Sort of. Armed with excuses or not, Xander definitely needed to get something to eat before he headed off to work. He had a building to help create and he very much doubted that he'd be able to do much by way of actually constructing it without a good meal in his stomach. At least a bowl of cereal. And some caffeine. The caffeine was most certainly a must.

As he neared the kitchen, Xander easily picked up the scent of coffee brewing within. That made him both perk up and deflate all at once. There was someone in the kitchen already, preparing a nice, warm pot of coffee that Xander was certainly going to try and snag a cup of before he left. But what if that person was Anya? The last time he had run into someone unexpectedly in the kitchen it had been her. Did Xander really want to sit through another experience like all that again? It had been awkward, uncomfortable, and it was most certainly something that he'd very much rather do without for as long as possible, thank you very much.

Rather than walking straight on into the kitchen, Xander paused by the door. He carefully leaned to the side and attempted to peek into the kitchen as slyly as he could. Xander was never all that slick though - in fact, as he leaned to the side, he lost the grip on his footing and practically fell right into the kitchen.

So much for being subtle. Bond would have been ashamed.

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weneedrope
2010-07-06 11:01 pm UTC (link)

It took him reading the sentence for the fifth time to realize that he wasn't awake enough yet. He couldn't even say what the article was about, except that it had to do something with the city of Lawrence and involved a museum. By then, the sound of the carafe filling with freshly brewed coffee had come to his attention and the smell wasn't far behind. Pushing the paper away, he ran his hands over his face and through his hair, giving it another minute before he stood.

Finding the mugs in an unfamiliar kitchen took longer than he'd expected, finally locating the cupboard they were in. He stifled another yawn and returned to the coffee maker, pouring a cup. No sugar, no cream, just straight up black coffee. It was the best thing he'd tasted in a while. A noise at the doorway caught his attention and Connor opened his eyes just in time to see someone come tumbling into the kitchen.

The corner of his mouth quirked up, the attempt to hide his amusement at the graceless entrance short lived. "Mornin'," he said after stifling a laugh. "That doorway's a tricky one."

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xander_shaped
2010-07-07 07:33 am UTC (link)

Xander stumbled gracelessly straight through the doorway and slammed his knee somewhat painfully against one of the chairs lined up at the kitchen table. "Okay. Ow." With a wince, he grabbed at his knee and practically fell into the very chair that he had crashed his knee into only a few short seconds before. "That? That was not fun. I did not find that very fun at all and, hey, you're not my ex! This is good!" Xander frowned, then looked down at his knee again. "ANOTHER OW. That really hurt!" The sharp pain in his knee was something that would subside quickly enough. The fear that Anya was going to leap out at him from the nearest corner on the other hand..."It is just us in here, right? The two of us? You and me? No one else? As in...no one?" Xander rubbed at his knee with a wince and glanced over his shoulder anxiously. Nope. Zilch. Just the two of them. He let out a nervous sort of chuckle, then leaned back in his chair looking more than relieved. A little sore from the knee injury, but relieved nonetheless.

"It's not the doorway that's tricky, pal. Between you and me?" Xander swiped a hand across his forehead. "It's women. They're so..." He grimaced. "Womanly. And do you know how much worse that is when they can wish vengeance on a man and actually make all that wishy stuff come true? It's not good. Not good at all." Xander twisted around in his seat at that, then squinted at the man sitting across from him curiously. "I don't really know you, do I? And yet I'm rambling at you. Sorry, it's like vomit of the mouth or something. It never stops." Xander cleared his throat and clasped his hands together along the edge of the table. "Ignore me."

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weneedrope
2010-07-07 07:27 pm UTC (link)

He winced slightly at the sound of knee meeting chair. Connor had crashed into enough inanimate objects in his lifetime that he knew that collision didn't feel too good. That and the running dialogue, which took one of those sharp turns to something else completely. Was that what all the stumbling had been about? Checking to make sure his ex wasn't in the kitchen before he entered? If that was it, he was lucky she wasn't. That kind of an entrance didn't go unnoticed. "Unless someone's lurking invisible around here, there's just the two."

The moment he said it, a thoughtful look appeared and he glanced over the kitchen briefly. That explanation he'd been given to read on arrival had mentioned people with superpowers around. Someone in the building could have had that ability. He shook his head dismissively and took a drink. As long as they weren't bothering him.

He listened quietly, fingers tapping patiently against the side of the porcelain mug. It was starting to make a small amount of sense why this guy would be cautious what room he entered. "I've never had the misfortune of angering a woman enough for her to swear vengeance, so no." The criminal underworld of Boston was another matter. "They've got a talent for it." His shoulders rose and fell in a small shrug. "Don't worry. I've heard way worse." Moving away from the counter, he held out his hand. "I'm Connor. Only been here a couple of weeks."

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xander_shaped
2010-07-08 07:53 am UTC (link)

Xander was grateful that the man didn't give him a hard time about his accidental behavior. Not that Xander would have gotten all up in arms about it - he'd have ignored or made a crack at him in response if he had tried - but it was relieving to find that he wouldn't have to put in all that extra energy to manage either option. He didn't have caffeine in him yet. Xander needed some coffee. "You're a lucky man," Xander informed him, stretching back in his chair a little once he was done tending to his knee. "'Cause I gotta tell you, it's not fun." No, the fun had been before that. Back before Xander had known that he and Anya were going to end up here. Wherever this even was. He reached up and dragged a hand through his already sloppily kept hair, then twisted in his chair partially so that he was able to extend an arm in Connor's direction. Greetings. He might not have been awake enough yet to properly get away with sneaking around corners, but he could do greetings. Probably. Maybe.

"Xander. Been here much longer than that." He gave Connor's hand a shake, then settled back once more. "How are you adapting the life of the weird and wacky alternate, apocalyptic universe? Unless, y'know, wherever you came from was already weird, wacky, and apocalyptic. In which case all this is probably just another day in the life of Connor for you." Xander wouldn't have been too surprised at this point if the latter were true. He had met plenty of people who were pretty used to the kinda crazy stuff that he and the gang had seen back in Sunnydale on a regular basis. Judging people right off? It never ended well. It was always best to go at greeting people with an open mind, which left room for less confusion later on. Xander liked avoiding confusion.

Particularly when he still needed coffee.

Hopping up from his chair, Xander sidled on over the coffee machine and pointed toward it. "Mind if I steal some of this?"

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weneedrope
2010-07-08 06:18 pm UTC (link)

"I have moments," Connor replied, then hesitated. He'd almost forgotten about Rosengurtle Baumgartener and the kick that had him spending part of the afternoon with a bag of ice on somewhere that never should have been kicked in the first place. He winced at the memory. No sense of humor whatsoever. "Mostly. I can tell. The way you're trying to sneak into rooms, she must have sworn something pretty creative." Which left him with the idle curiosity as to what he'd done to deserve her wrath. He took Xander's hand, giving it a brief shake. "Nice to meet you."

His foot hooked around the leg of a nearby chair and he pulled it out to sit down, setting the mug down on the table. "This would be the first I've had the misfortune of ending up in." Before that, their existence had been in movies and comic books. "Still getting used to the idea that there might be a literal demon behind the evil that men do." A complication in the mission he and his brother had been given, since the host was most likely an innocent. He was hoping the upcoming camp would give them an idea of what they could do to help, since their usual methods wouldn't work.

He shrugged dismissively at the question. "Take what you want. I assumed it was community possession once it was brewed."

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xander_shaped
2010-07-09 06:18 am UTC (link)

Xander laughed. "She's probably sworn on plenty of creative ways to make me suffer." That laughed died away slightly and a wince quickly replaced it. "She used to be a vengeance demon. I mean, she is a vengeance demon again now -" Xander shook his head. "She can't exactly make any of all that vengeance she's capable of happen directly to me is the thing. But she is very creative. And if she really felt like she had to screw around with me, she'd find a way." Maybe she was working on it now. Or maybe Anya had decided to just let him be. He wanted to think that her life as a human had changed her viewpoint on a lot of things, but Xander honestly couldn't say at this point. It wasn't like he and Anya sat around and talked about morality. Not anymore, anyway. They used to discuss things like that all the time. What was considered appropriate, the right way to talk to people, when to keep your mouth shut...

"There's a demon behind just about everything, in my experience," Xander explained. "I'm not sure how it all works here, but where I'm from? We've even got dancing demons, pal." Yeah, that one had been a big mistake. Singing and dancing and happy ending his ass. Xander dragged an empty mug out for himself and saluted Connor with it. "Hey, you never know. Some people get crazy about their caffeine." He reached for the pot, then flashed Connor a serious sort of look. "My Uncle on my Dad's side almost put a man's eye out over a cup of coffee before." Xander whistled lowly. "Wasn't pretty."

Not a true story. Not entirely, at least. His Uncle had been drunk at the time so it probably hadn't been over the coffee. Then again, his Uncle (and a good handful of his family in itself) was always drunk, so God only knew what the fuss had been about to begin with.

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weneedrope
2010-07-11 04:13 pm UTC (link)

This was one of those moments where he wondered if he wasn't dreaming this situation. An entirely normal conversation about the aftermath of a relationship gone bad had just turned into a decidedly less normal one involving demons. At least the vengeance he could understand. "You dated a vengeance demon?" That was asking for it, wasn't it? A demon was bad enough but one that specialized in vengeance? "Seems to me the best vengeance she could get on you is doing nothing to you at all," he said, shrugging again. "You spend so much time expecting her to do something that she doesn't have to do anything." If she couldn't make something happen to him for whatever reason, it seemed like the way to go.

"Dancing demon? Scary," Connor remarked dryly. "So you had a head start to this madness before ending up here?" Differences aside, it would have made for an easier adjustment. He'd spent the first couple of days trying to figure out how crazy they were, but he'd more or less begun really believing after the entire world turned into one man. That shit couldn't be made up.

"I'm not that attached to my coffee." Most times it was having a warm drink around than the actual caffeine content. This morning just happened to be one of those few times he needed an extra pick up. Keeping a straight face but unable to hide the amusement in his eyes, he added, "I do get a little touchy about my beer though. Set a Russian's ass on fire for intentionally knocking the glass out of my hand." There was more to the story, like the threats, but sometimes it was more fun to leave out details to see why kind of a reaction it earned.

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xander_shaped
2010-07-18 05:13 am UTC (link)

"She was an ex-vengeance demon at the time," Xander pointed out, rather firmly. Yeah, that made it sound so much more appealing. Xander nervously drummed his fingers along the edge of the counter. "Aw, don't get me all optimistic! I'd rather be paranoid than have to deal with her ripping out my spleen with some magical creature from hell or..." Xander swallowed hard. "Maybe not. Heh." There were worse things. Things that he knew Anya had the mind to think up. No, no, no - he was not going to stand around all day thinking about how severely Anya could screw with him if she had her way. He was going to drink his coffee, he was going to purge his mind of all things Anya related, and he was going to somehow get through a relatively normal (or as normal as things could be here) day without any trouble at all. He hoped. That was the plan. The new plan, with the added bonus of there being no stress involved whatsoever. A man could dream, could he not?

"I've had a few years of demon dealings under my belt before I was thrown into the land of the lost and crazy, yeah," Xander replied, making way for the sugar. He dumped several spoons into his mug and stirred at it's contents with a spoon shortly afterward. "Dancing demons and all. I know some of these demons out here seem crazy intimidating, but you know nothing of suffering until you've had to break out in song while worrying about catching on fire from getting too into the song, my friend." Xander wasn't going to mention the part where the entire dancing demon thing was his fault. Nope, no way. It was easier to just pretend that part of the plot didn't happen. Because, yeah, people catching fire and dying due to his stupidity was not something that Xander particularly wanted to think about. Stupid plan. Stupid.

"Uh, how'd you get across on that one?" Setting someones ass on fire? That sounded...huh. Ow. "'Cause, y'know, I hear that's frowned on in some countries. Setting asses on fire, that is." Xander took a sip from his mug and smirked. Didn't mean that there weren't some people that he'd met in his time that he wouldn't have minded doing as much to.

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weneedrope
2010-07-24 08:08 pm UTC (link)

His expression remained dubious. If he was trying to make an argument for improvement, Connor wasn't seeing it. "Did she forgot her demon years? Otherwise it's the still the mastermind of the operation." This had to be one of the oddest conversations he'd ever had first thing in the morning, hungover or sober. That included one or two where the night before could only be remembered in pieces. He picked up the mug and leaned back. "Or maybe she knows you could come up with way worse. I didn't get the impression that people around here would be all right with someone sending spleen ripping magical creatures after someone else."

Draining the last of the mug's contents, he set it on the table, contemplating how much he'd hate breaking into song and dance spontaneously, risk of bursting into flames aside. "Better it stays in your world then," he said, shaking his head. "Few years back there and you're still calling this place crazy? That doesn't bode well." Beyond being stuck in another dimension with no possible way home. "How'd you get into dealing with them? Family business?"

He rose from his seat, picking up the mug and heading towards the coffee machine. "Most places, yeah," he said as he picked up the carafe and filled the mug again. "He just picked the wrong neighborhood and the wrong bar owner to extort." In the end, it had been the least of their worries anyway. "Russian mafia. No one was too broken up about it."

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