Second Floor Common Room, Tuesday Night, Oregon Statehood Day

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Trying to ignore everyone coupling off all over the damn school, Sam turned on the Aaron Echolls film festival and prepared to lose herself in the movies. She had a large bowl of popcorn and bottle of diet coke and settled into one of the chairs.

Of course, she was immensely interruptable.

[ooc: For anyone without a significant other, abandoned by them, or protesting Valentine's Day in general.]

Comments

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam, suddenly feeling very purple, took a bite of the cookie. "Uh huh. Sounds rough." She leaned over and kissed the side of the tank. "Happy Valentine's Day, Jeremiah."

[soldtoarmenians]

Jeremiah tilted his head and *ribbited*. Possibly happily. Either that or he was calling on Cthulu to get him the hell out of here; it was hard to tell sometimes.

"Dude? Even Paige wouldn't kiss him."

Xander coughed. "That, ah. Sounded bad. I just mean she's very friendly."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam shot Xander a funny look. "Please tell me you didn't mean that the way it came out."

[soldtoarmenians]

"I didn't mean that the way it came out," Xander dutifully repeated. "Except for the 'friendly' part."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I can't argue that," Sam said, remembering the radio broadcasts. "But poor Jeremiah, being all left out."

[soldtoarmenians]

"I just told him it was defective mistletoe." Xander glanced at the tank. "Not sure he believed me." He dropped his voice and added conspiratorially, "Don't blame him; as explanations go, gotta admit it's pretty lame."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"But very creative," Sam encouraged, offering more popcorn.

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander availed himself of the offer, and nodded. "Given the mistletoe came from the same guy who provided the zombie weekend food that turned everybody who ate it into their worst enemy, I guess it's actually possible that it was defective. I never asked where he got it. It... seemed wise."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

It occurred to Sam that talking to Xander sometimes made her head hurt. "Yeah, that definitely sounds like the right decision, there."

"Um, they didn't do anything to the aquarium, did they?"

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander blinked. "Jeremiah's aquarium?" He looked down at it. "Like what?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I don't know...maybe done something to the glass?"

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander raised an eyebrow. "So people couldn't see what a fine, strapping young frog he is, you mean?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Or so anyone kissing the aquarium would have something bad happen to them?" Sam suddenly had the urge to go gargle.

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander snickered. "If it helps, that's a new aquarium? He's only had it since Christmas."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Well, okay, then." She stuck her tongue out at him, "because I wouldn't want to have to explain that to the guy running the clinic in town."

[soldtoarmenians]

"Wouldn't want the new guy to know your shameful froglicking secrets." Xander nodded knowingly.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I think the worst that could be said is that I was an aquarium kisser. I've never licked a frog in my life!" Sam made a face. "Okay, there was the one time, but that was a complete accident and I think someone slipped something into my drink."

[soldtoarmenians]

"Me neither, but my BFF keeps accusing me of it." And he so owed her an e-mail. Just... gah. "For some reason she thinks I'm occasionally strange. I can't imagine why."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Oh? Where's your friend?" Sam gave Jeremiah in his aquarium a pointed look. "And I have no idea why she would think that."

[soldtoarmenians]

"Guest-starring in someone else's fandom. England. Sort of. They kind of did a mass exchange-program-without-the-exchange-part with everybody in our high school, and she ended up in another dimension at this academy for witches. I think it's the same place Malfoy's from, but..." He shrugged. "Dimensions wacky, Xander weird, News at 11."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"So this place must feel kind of familiar, huh?" She offered Jeremiah a piece of popcorn. "Do you miss her?"

[soldtoarmenians]

Jeremiah tilted his head and opened and shut his mouth several times, trying to figure out if the Thing that was being held out to him was food or not, but it didn't smell like food. Food wriggled and flew, or at least smelled like it used to wriggle and fly.

Xander nodded. "Kinda, yeah. There's a couple people from our gang of friends here, or close enough, but it's not the same without Willow. Or Buffy - she's back at home trying to hunt down a giant snake." He glanced down at Jeremiah. "He probably won't take that; he won't eat Twinkies, so clearly he's got no taste in snacks."

Then he looked back up at Sam. "What about you? You leave friends back home, or did everybody from your school of inbred mutant jewel thieves get shipped here? I know there's a pretty big bunch of you."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam tossed the popcorn kernel towards the garbage can and missed. "Is it weird for you, being a guy who's best friends with two girls?"

"No, I'm lucky. Most of my friends are here."

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander shrugged. "For me? No. Willow and I've been friends for as long as I can remember. For other people? I dunno; it's not like that stands out among the rest of the weird." He snorted. "I think I'm just destined to be one of those guys who's an expert at holding purses, braiding hair, and learning way too much about products I will never use unless dressing battlfield wounds."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"There's nothing wrong with being one of those guys," Sam smiled at him, "and in fact, some of us like that kind."

"Wait, you know how to dress battlefield wounds?"