The One Who Sees

What do you call a one-eyed dessert? A pie-rate Just one example of my fine sense of humor. And who am I? I am the landlubbing pirate, the funniest man in town, the expert builder and master gamer, co-founder of the Scoobies and Cleveland's Chosen Comics Club, Xander Harris.

[into-each-generation]

Xander has been re-opened!

This is a really important role to us, and we’d love to have it filled by a wonderful new player as soon as possible! Feel free to message us if you’re interested.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

ooc

Hey everyone. I love IEG. I really do. The months I've spent here have been wonderful. I've enjoyed para-ing and interacting with everyone. Most of all, I've enjoyed the friendships made. IEG has been a second family, one that I will never forget and will always miss. 

That said, I'm leaving. This isn't a rash decision; in fact, it's one of the hardest I've made recently. I've been mulling over this for a few weeks now and while I've been procrastinating on making a decision, I think it's time. I'm just too tired and stressed these days. I know I'll only get busier, at least until the summer. I know I can't be as active as I should be, as I'd like to be anymore without sacrificing school and other activities like the museum position I'm starting after spring break. Staying here, as wonderful as it is, will just add more stress. And while it's painful to say this, I think leaving is the best choice for me right now, both for my health and for my future.

To those I have paras with, I'm sorry for leaving like this. I really enjoyed writing with you - I can't stress that enough, but I just can't keep up anymore. I'm willing to talk with the new Xander if needed to help catch them up.

I'm sorry. You guys are all wonderful and I'll miss everyone. I wish I could stay, but I think this is for the best. Perhaps when I feel better and have more time, I'll reapply for a more minor character, if you'd still have me. I love you all and would love to stay in touch. My personal is dralf-burns and if you'd like my skype, just shoot me a message.

Love,

Dralf

[allmythicanddefender-y-deactiva]

Sore || Buffy & Xander

It was the hardest day of her life.

No, no, it wasn’t… but it felt that way. Today, it felt that way.

The few bumps and scrapes she’d taken from collapsing and the strain she’d put forth to try and drag Giles out of harms way would normally have dissolved in the night, gone unnoticed by her muscles entirely, or… or some other slayer-y mojo magic thing…

And the marks left on her body from patrolling… Any other time, what marks?

This time, she ached. This time, she bruised. This time… this time her outsides matched her insides: marked, compromised, wounded.

It was the pickle jar, of all things, that did it.

She tried to patrol… in denial, not wanting to believe that her powers, who she was, was gone. She managed to kill a vamp, one on one, but later… two came upon her… They grabbed her, she fell… and she couldn’t bounce back like she usually did… Luckily, her quick mind was a Buffy thing, not just one part of the Slayer package, so she wiggled away, but not without harm…

After she got home, she curled up in bed and felt dead, felt dead until she slept. When she woke up, it was dark. Her stomach felt hollow, tight, and pulsed too hard. She had to eat. Didn’t want to, didn’t want to move or breathe or think, but she had to eat. She managed to walk her way into the kitchen, a blanket still wrapped around her body. Pickles were almost the only option that looked back at her when she opened the fridge and stared inside. They were certainly the easiest.

But she couldn’t open the damn jar. 

So she threw it.

It didn’t even break. And she was much too weak to clean up the mess she made. 

She sat down then, in the corner of the kitchen and cried, curled up in her blanket, leaning against cabinets, half tempted to crawl inside of one. Buffy clutched at her wrist, the one she’d thrown the jar with, the one the vampire had pinned to the ground, the one she fell asleep convincing herself wasn’t broken.

She needed comfort… But who could she call who would let her be this weak? Who would still look at her and trust her and love her and believe she might protect them (they shouldn’t; i can’t)?

She wanted to go home and she didn’t know what that meant.

After a few minutes, she rushed to her phone. Dialing, connecting, a ring, and a voice.

“Xander,” she said. “Xander… can you… can you come over?”

Buffy tried to mask the fact that she’d been crying, but she wasn’t confident it worked.

When she heard the rap rap rap on the door, she was cupping paper towels over the pickles. She pinched them up and crossed to the door.

She was happy to see him. It had been too long… too long since they’d spent time together, too long since they’d talked… too long since she really looked at him.

Are we really grown ups now? Xander certainly looked like one. None of the boyish vulnerability graced his face. He was bone and skin and no cherubish glow or plump to spare. Hard lines marked spots on his face. Laugh lines. He has beautiful laugh lines… Good. Good.

The look on his face was altogether perplexed. He gave a questioning nod.

Oh,” Buffy said, looking at the paper towels catastrophe in her hand. “I spilled my pickles. Because I threw them.”

For a while, he just looked at her.

“Come in.”

She stepped back and Xander followed.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

Once, he’d gone to every Scooby meeting. Never missed a single one, the only thing he had a perfect attendance record on except when something bad was happening to him, in which case that was an acceptable excuse to miss because bad things happened. Once, he’d been kept up-to-date on everything. He could always rely on that – well unless people were keeping secrets but that was different. Once, he’d felt like he truly belonged.

And now?  

Now he felt like he was floundering. Oh, don’t get him wrong, Xander knew he was still a Scooby. That wasn’t something you could erase. He knew he was still part of a trusted circle of friends, a family better than any blood kin. He knew they hadn’t meant to leave him out, that it was a crazy time and people forgot things. He knew they loved him and he loved them. And yet that didn’t stop the isolation or those questions. Oh, those questions. The ones that always popped back into his life, no matter how far away he got from his father.

What was he doing here? What could he even do? Why was he needed? Was he needed? Was he useless?

Round and round, the questions went, every permutation of them drumming away in his mind and other voices echoing their answers. Always answering and needling and calling him out, saying they didn’t need him, he offered nothing, he was forgettable, he was the Scrappy of the Scoobies. Loudest of all was dear, old dad. Dear, old, and very dead dad, always there, always at the forefront of the voices, talking about disappointments and uselessness.

Xander’s phone rang. He jumped, blinking for a few moments, before rushing over and answering. Buffy. It was Buffy and she’d been crying – she couldn’t hide that from him. “I’ll be there in the blink of an eye.” He put the phone down and rushed out, his own thoughts forgotten for the moment.

How long had it been since he’d talked to Buffy? Really talked to her about anything or hung out with her. Much too long, he was certain of that. For being best friends, they hadn’t spent that much time together recently. Xander blamed the Hellmouth and general life business and himself. Themselves, he supposed, it took two to friendship after all. He’d change that. They’d change that.  

Even with all the shit that had gone down recently, Xander found himself smiling as he parked the car and hurried up the stairs to her apartment. Once he was up, he knocked and waited, hands shoved in his pockets. He’d start with a big hug and then – Buffy opened the door. Xander stepped forward and then noticed the wad of paper towels in her hand. Was that green he saw? Was this a plumbing thing? A broken object thing? He was good with those. Hopefully not the only thing he was good at, but sometimes he wasn’t sure anymore.

“Uh… Buff?” He looked at her questioningly until she answered. Oh, pickles. Right. He looked back at her, trying to come up with something else to say. Half a million witty lines about pickles and spills ran through his head, but he didn’t say any of them. Not the time. When she allowed him in, Xander entered and followed her to the kitchen. “How’s it been?” Casual question for a not-so easygoing time. He didn’t have any better lines to start with. She didn’t look good. He knew she wasn’t doing good or even okay. Pickle jars didn’t break when you were okay and anyway things had been getting worse and worse lately. Before she could answer, he added, “And no fines or okays because I’m not accepting those today. It’s strictly honesty or quiet-y. Either of which are cool. Just choose what you want.” He shrugged.  

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

No Vampires Allowed || Olivia & Xander

[hopes-the-thing-with-feathe-blog]

This was the busiest she’d seen the place, most of the seats were taken up just after she got in and managed to place her order; a stroke of good timing. The crowd tonight was fairly chatty and the room filled with the chorus of voices fighting to be overheard. The noise was a welcome one compared with the quiet of her apartment.

The Cheese Whiz was one of a few places that did Italian food just right, plus there was that nifty ‘Vampires not welcome’ sign right up front; A+ in her book, would recommend. Olivia settled into her seat and put the menu card back into the holder on the table and put her bag beside her on the seat.

Unfolding the local paper she’d bought from one of the vendors outside she flipped it open to give it a read just so she would have something to do while she got to work on her pizza slice. A particular article on the latest food that may or may not kill you managed to catch her attention with the mug shot of some health expert looking out at her who looked like they got their qualifications from google. Flavor of the month seemed to be dairy. You know, here’s a new one, living drastically increases the chance of death, where was the article on that? She was going to die of something, might as well be pizza. Taking a defiant bite she flipped the page over to have a scan through the news section and took a sip from her cola.

“Listen Up!” she heard before she saw anything. A sudden scratching of chairs erupted as they scraped back and toppled as the diners scrambled to get as far away as possible. A collective wave of panic flooded the whole room making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Putting the pizza down with a reluctant huff  and looking up from behind the clear Perspex screen lining her booth she could make out three blurred figures right by the door. “We don’t like your attitude. It’s feeling more than a little discriminatory. We think this place could do with a little change.”

What was it about time? Something like it was supposed to slow down at times like this, it didn’t. It did the opposite; everything seemed to speed up. At first her mind went to the thought that they were being robbed and then she heard took in the words that followed the smashing of the sign with an oh crap I’ll have an audience as soon as their apparent leader decided to put his game face on. There was complete silence and a few frozen moments where none of the diners moved. A few people had that look on their face that looked like they were seeing a replay of their lives in HD and surround sound. You were supposed to get that kind of thing in moments like this, right? Except for her the first thing that popped into her head was how many she could take out before any of them got a hold of somebody. With a quick sweep of the room with her eyes she clocked one guy a few paces back from her who for all the alarm that colored his expression didn’t have that same cornered rabbit expression and stomach lurching fright that the rest had. There was fear there sure, but it was like he was keeping watch like he’d seen it all before and knew the drill. Maybe he was a native.

Flicking her gaze back to the seemingly illiterate trio the back of her mind wondered for a moment how they even got in before she remembered that the rule didn’t apply to public places, great. Slipping the stake from her bag she slid it upwards into her sleeve ready to go and moved around so she would be seen. ‘If you want to protest you could always do what everybody else does and passively aggressively blog about it,’ she said, calmly moving out from her seat and angling herself out of the cover of the screen.  It was a long shot, but worth a try anyway. Olivia shifted around a little more so she could be seen properly and quickly took stock of where the nearest exit was to start hurling people out of soon as somebody made the first move.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

It was strange how people always froze in situations like this. A few moments of complete silence where everyone just stared at the threat and thought about life and death. Run. Go on, run. Except Xander knew running wouldn’t do much good. Sure, some of them would get out, the majority probably since it was just three vampires, but not everyone. Someone would die. More than one someone. Unless he did something. Maybe some grand distraction, flash a cross, send a stake into one of their hearts. Xander chewed on his lip, frantically trying to come up with a good battle plan and wishing he had back-up. At least one other person – didn’t even have to be a Slayer, just someone who knew about this and could help. Even Andrew would work.

“If you want to protest you could always do what everybody else does and passively aggressively blog about it.”

Cocky female voice standing up to a trio of vampires? Had to be a Slayer. Xander smiled. He didn’t recognize the voice, but that was okay. Any Slayer would do. It was just good to know that there was someone here who wasn’t quite as prey-like as the rest of them. They could double-team the vamps and send them packing… Well, packing in ashtrays.

The vampires didn’t seem so keen on her disturbance. Xander tensed. Once they attacked – and they would, there were very few vampires that didn’t talk when people stood up to them – things would switch from this slow-mo paralysis to a high-speed action. He glanced around, noting where the exit was. Keep one eye on her and at the same time, keep that eye on the door to get people through. Defend them if the others tried to attack. It seemed like a solid plan in his head and he wished he could let her know, but there was no way. Ah well, hopefully she’d catch on.

The big talker, wearing an equally big scowl, growled. “We do. This is better.” He leaped at her then. Xander only saw her raise her hands in defense as he hurried over to the exit door.  

The bubble of calm panic burst; people began screaming and stampeding in an attempt to get away.  “This way!” Xander shouted, gesturing at the door. He stepped to the side facing the vampires as customers rushed out, shoving and pushing in a mad attempt to get away. Well, at least they were smart enough not to stop and argue for equal vampire dining rights or how it really was unfair to hang an anti-vampire sign. “This way!” He repeated.

He’d lost sight of the blonde Slayer with the crowd, but he could still see one of the vampires. This one hadn’t joined his boss in going after the Slayer; instead he prowled forward, eyes flicking around like a very hungry hippo except without the fun and color. Xander ran forward and lunged, pulling out his stake. “Would you like some fries with this stake?” He missed – the vampire sidestepped just in time. Maybe he would’ve been more efficient without the witty quip, but hey, when else would he get the chance to fight a vampire in a restaurant? Never, if that quip cost him more than the benefit of surprise. He backed away before the vampire could grab him.

[sassyvisiongirl]

Well thanks, at least my business skills are up to par. 

Oh, Batman is pretty awesome. I’ve seen some of the movies…but now you’re losing me with some of those. Unless they have movies I probably haven’t heard of them. Oh well. Thanks for the…insight? 

I’ll stick shoes. They’re my forte. 

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

You're welcome. No need to reciprocate with a list of shoes better than the ones I own.

[sassyvisiongirl]

But his logo is awesome and people get the we’re super point. :P

And do enlighten me on who the cool super heroes are. Besides Wonder Woman because I’m obviously real world Wonder Woman.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

It's a good advertising point since he's so well-known. Not going to bash that.

Just remember you opened this can of worms. Basically every other superhero is better than Superman. Supes has that too-perfect polish to him and he's overloaded with powers. Cool heroes - Batman, I hear Batwoman's pretty cool too though I've haven't gotten around to reading them yet, Captain America because he has more depth to him than Superman (and he's freaking Captain America!), Nightcrawler, Spiderman, Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel, Wasp, and well I could go on but I think I'll stop. You get the point, I think.

[sassyvisiongirl]

zeppo-with-one-eye replied to your post: Am I allowed to give myself a round of applause?

I’ll give you a round of applause when I see one.

I knew I liked you for a reason. I think you’ll appreciate the design. There’s a little bit of Superman in there. 

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

Awesome - even if Superman isn't that great. :P 

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

Say Yes || Anya & Xander

Tonight was a special night.

Xander was going to ask her. Pull their Slowfinger (or whatever) relationship cat out of the box and see if they could call themselves a committed couple or if they were going to stick with this slow sorta-dating, sorta-not state. He was scared. Scared that she’d want to stick with the slow, but then, that was the best worst-case scenario of the lot. She might change her mind about the entire ordeal. Decide she was better off without him, that he’d put her through too much, enough was enough. No, he wasn’t going to think about that. He liked spending time with Anya and he knew she liked spending time with him. They fit. Like Legos. His best worst-case scenario was leagues more likely than his worst worst-case scenario.

And maybe, just maybe, she would be willing to make this an official thing so when people asked them ‘how are things with Anya/Xander’, they’d be able to say ‘we’re dating, it’s good, we’re happy’ instead of talking about cats and gray areas. This lack of definition had been stressing him out for a while now, but it had been good too. They’d agreed to take things slow, to avoid rushing in and causing heartbreak later down the line. Slow was good, but too slow was dragging. Anyway, this wasn’t rushing things. They’d gone on a few dates by now; saying they were officially dating was a cinch. Right? Right?

Xander ran a hand through his hair. He’d arrived at The Red Dragon with plenty of time to spare, so he could run through what he wanted to say beforehand. Bad idea. Worst idea ever, in fact. He glanced at the mirror, shot himself a smile. It would be okay. Once he was there, everything would tumble out. He’d be comfortable. It was always that way; he’d worry before but during his body was on auto-pilot, words coming forth without much thought, the ease of being with someone close.

“It’s going to be okay.” Xander told his reflection. He glanced out his window, noticed Anya approaching the restaurant. Eye back to his reflection. Everything was in order. Good. “Showtime.” He muttered before grabbing the flower bouquet and slipping out of his car.    

He approached Anya finally stopping in front of her. “Hey Anya.” He gave her a big hug, holding her close for a few moments while doing his best not to crush the flowers. Puzzle pieces, just right. His stress was already evaporating; it would probably pounce back on him once big, important topics came up, but it would never get quite so monstrous as when he was alone. Probably. Xander stepped away just a bit and presented the flowers with a goofy flourish. With a ridiculous medieval accent, he said, “Here you go, milady. Our reservations await.” He led her to the Red Dragon and entered the scarlet building. A table was quickly found for them, tucked away in the relative privacy of a corner.

So far, so good.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

Shop til You Drop || Harper and Xander

It was always good to go out and do something different. Shake up the system or whatever. Anything to make life a little more interesting, a little more fun, a little less humdrum and routine. Not that the Hellmouth didn’t come with its own brand of interesting, surprising things every week. Xander wouldn’t count them as fun, most of the time. Nuisances, tragedies, always different, the Hellmouth ran the spectrum, but fun was rarely on there. Going to the mall with someone new fell into the fun category. Also the different and exciting category, so it was a win/win.     

Xander had only talked to Harper online a few times. He already liked her. She was funny, honest, and interesting, all valuable assets in any person. Also completely off-limits in the dating sense as long as Oz liked her. Xander didn’t mind. Friendship was all good; she seemed like she would make a good one – she was a good one already - and he didn’t want to upset the waters with Oz so soon after meeting up with him again.

Anyway, Xander had Anya. In the undefined, taking-it-slow way of their relationship but still – they would go out soon and they’d talk and make it more defined. Hopefully. He already had plans even if thinking about what he should say gave him sweaty palms. Nope, he wasn’t going to think about that right now. Those thoughts could go in the box with the cat.   

He parked his car, shooting a quick glance at the clock. Right on time, excellent. He was going to have to start collecting stickers or something, one for each time he got someplace on time, to keep track. Definitely setting some Xander limits in that regard lately. Xander got out and walked to the mall’s front entrance. Most people were going in or out, a steady flow of humanity. They hadn’t come up with a more specific meeting spot and he hadn’t realized how crowded it would be. Xander turned around, searching the crowd for a familiar face. Eventually he spotted a figure, arms crossed, standing to the side of the entrance. Xander smiled when he recognized her. Harper. It was good to meet her offline at last. As much as Xander enjoyed the Internet and its ease in everything, he always preferred face-to-face conversation. “Hey Queen Harp. Ready to get your shopping on?”

She looked ready. Very ready, which brought images of Cordelia to his mind. Oh God, what was he getting himself into? Trips to the mall with Cordelia had always been hectic affairs the few times he’d come. Lots of bags, long hours, a seemingly endless amount of energy in the girl as his own energy levels dropped and died. Sure, it had been worth it; although he never would’ve admitted it back then, there had been some fun involved and it was nice to see Cordelia so enthusiastic. Hopefully things would go well with Harper. Fun and no flagging energy levels as he shopped ‘til he literally dropped and she somehow kept on going. He could wish.   

[yin-with-yang]

[pm] Not dying is always fun. Yeah, I’ve been to a pretty good amount of the bars, since we play at them a lot. An arcade, huh? It’s been awhile. And laser tag sounds intriguing. I would definitely be up for Quarter soon then. I’ll text you and see when you’re free? I don’t usually have much going on until evenings when we play.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

[pm] Funny enough evenings are generally when I have time off. I don't have to work Sundays, so those are good.

[yin-with-yang]

[pm] Yeah, our manager seems pretty happy with our success here so far, so it’s looking like we will be here awhile.

Agreed. What do you do around here for fun?

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

[pm] Not die? Okay, no, in all seriousness... There are some cool bars, but you've probably seen them. Oh, there's also this arcade! Quarter. There's a laser tag arena next to it that's a lot of fun.

[yin-with-yang]

[pm] Yeah, I’m just picky. And it’s hard to make lasting relationships when you’re in a band. Girls you meet tend to be groupies and just want a hook up.

Yeah, I made a stupid joke about wanting Willow back, so I kind of deserved it, but she was pretty drunk, too. Not my finest moment. 

Hm, yeah, I don’t really wanna think about that, thanks Xander. We should hang sometime though. I missed your strangeness and your humor.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

[pm] Hmm, never thought of it that way, but good point. The constant traveling probably doesn't help either. But you're staying in Cleveland for a good while, right? 

Ah. I can see her doing that.

You're welcome. And we should hang out. Somewhere with no mutant, killer roses hanging out with us.

[kramerpossible]

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide || Alice/Xander

[kramerpossible]

The stake flew, an unmistakable flash of wood in the night, and Alice’s hand shot out to snap it up before she even registered it coming at her. Woah. Guess the “use it or lose it” clause didn’t really apply to superpowers. She stared at it for a moment, surprised at how well it sat in her hand, settling in her grip like it was custom made with ergonomic support on top. But she didn’t really have a lot of time to contemplate the functionality of stake grips, because that vampire looked hungry and it was almost on top of this poor guy.

From where she was standing, it had to get closer to her to get closer to dinner and it must not have thought she was much of a threat or it had gone a long time without some nice, tasty neck because it was lumbering its dumb way over into her batting zone. Alice breathed, determined to do this strictly textbook – no need for any fancy business over here, okay, nobody needed to die ‘cus she wanted to add some flair to her dusting.

Feet planted firmly, stake gripped correctly with the pointy end out, arm cocked back in an iron solid 90 degree angle with her eyes on the prize. Er, the heart. She stepped forward with the foot opposite of her staking hand, using her shifting weight to push through the plunge and don’t close your eyes, don’t close your eyes and a second after squelchy, fleshy contact she yanked back neatly to watch the dust settle. Textbook.

(Okay, you can breathe now.)

Alice dropped the stake as soon as the threat was gone, turning to the guy still on the ground. “Hey, thanks.” She told him, holding a hand out to help him to his feet. “You kinda saved both our asses with that stake, man.” As he stood up, and she could actually get a look at his face in the meager moonlight, she saw a tell-tale eye patch and dropped her mouth. Nick Fury?? No, he had a real name, duh, which was…uh…

“Xander?” She exclaimed, half in remembering what his name was and half in surprise he was even out here. “What are you doing out here?”

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

She wasn’t going to make it in time; the vampire seemed to be getting awfully close. Heart pounding like crazy and blood rushing and he wished he had kept his stake with him. Some nice reassurance that didn’t depend on another unknown person who was probably a Slayer but not a Slayer who carried a stake so who really knew what kinda Slayer she was. Xander’s fists curled. His eye remained open; he was going to stare death down. Well, stare it down and try to punch it, anything to get her enough time to run over and stake him because -  

Dust. He blinked as the dust settled on the ground. A breath escaped his lips as his shoulders slumped. She’d done it. Miss No-Stake had done it. She’d been fast enough. No further assistance from him required. Xander took in some deep breaths as his pulse returned to normal. The air always seemed so sweet after a near-death experience and he let it go in and out of his lungs slowly. When she offered a hand, he took it and pulled himself up, dusting off the dirt. “And I’d be dead if it wasn’t for your quick stakeage. So thanks.”

“Xander?”

What? How did she – Xander peered at his savior. Oh, it was that Slayer! The one who had called him Fury at a Scooby meeting, what was her name... Alice! That was it! Alice, she was one of Giles’ Slayers. It felt like ages since he’d last seen her. He frowned slightly. He would’ve figured a Slayer who’d managed to survive this long would know the basics of stake-carrying. It was like rule number one except maybe don’t invite vampires in. Maybe she’d lost it? Sometimes they turned to dust along with the vampire. Or maybe the anti-Slayer campaign, fallen to the wayside as it was, had frightened her off from the gig. It wasn’t like every Slayer needed to be in active Slayer duty these days anyway. They had a choice. The recent murder of Vi probably didn’t help matters either. With someone possibly hunting after Slayers, Slayerdom wasn’t a fact you wanted stamped on your forehead and stakes plus young women was almost as good as any stamp. Though he would’ve guessed a death would only motivate others to carry around stakes. A little security blanket.  

“Hey Alice, right?” At her nod, ha he’d remembered! an accomplishment given the number of baby Slayers running around these days, he continued. “I was walking home. Decided the park made for an easy, vamp-free shortcut.” He shot her a rueful smile. Last time he was going to think the park made a nice shortcut. But hey, he was still alive and he’d met up with one of the other Slayers. A cool one too, if her nickname showed anything. “Guess the Spidey sense isn’t working so well anymore.” He shrugged, a casual watcha-gonna-do shrug. “I should get a refund on that bite.”

Turning jokes off for the moment, he looked carefully at her. “What about you? What are you doing out and about with no handy-dandy stake?”        

[yin-with-yang]

[pm] Thanks man. A little over the top, but it was appreciated. I guess I am just not used to it. The last time I felt nervous around a girl was…Willow. So it’s been awhile. 

And yeah, hopefully she’ll grow on her? I am trying to let Faith grow on me. It worked a little, besides when she punched me.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

[pm] Toning down the mush now. And wow, it has been a while.

Faith punched you? ...Why am I even surprised? I'm really not. Faith's cool. I'm sure she'll grow on you and Harper on Willow.

...Now I've got the mental images of plant Faith and Harper growing on the two of you and burying roots into your skin. It's a weird picture.

[yin-with-yang]

[pm] Alright, thanks man. And I might need some encouragement that I am cool. Seems like every time I am talking to her, I say something stupid. It’s odd. And I don’t know. She didn’t say exactly, and I didn’t want to ask and get into an argument or something, but she seems less than enthused. 

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

[pm] You're cool. No worries there. If I knew how to compose songs, you would get a badass theme song to go with the coolness. Like Batman, but less Dark-Knight-y and more hairy some of the time with some guitar thrown in for extra cool factor. You should have her come to one of your shows. I say dumb things around girls I like all the time and I'm still okay. Mostly. Some find it endearing. 

Huh, don't know about Willow. Probably best not to ask.

[yin-with-yang]

Good, because I’d have to put on the superhero outfit and it’s bunching in all the wrong places right now.

[pm] Definitely. I kinda wanted to know where your interest in Harper was before anything happened. We’ve shared girls before and I wasn’t too keen on that. Also Willow doesn’t seem to like her.

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

Always a pain when they do that.

[pm] No interest. Well, there was some, just a little really, but I'm letting it go. You go for her, Oz. I'll be cheering you on and dropping hints of how cool you are around her. What's Willow's thing against her? 

[yin-with-yang]

I’m probably just having an off day. No need to inform the White House, or elevate the panic level yet. 

[pm] Schrodinger’s cat. Ah, I see. Well hopefully you get it figured out soon. Living in the gray area is no fun. And I don’t know yet. Harper, I think you know her, and I have been flirting a bit back and forth. She seems pretty cool. So maybe?

[zeppo-with-one-eye]

Alright. I won't turn the Cool Signal on yet.

[pm] Yeah, that cat. Gotta open his box sometime. Yeah, I know Harper. She's cool. Go for it.