fandomhighdorms | School Grounds (Near the Garage) Monday Late Evening

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School Grounds (Near the Garage) Monday Late Evening

A good number of hours after some flailworthy time in this morning's Prophecy class and finding out his room assignment for the Vegas field trip this weekend, Anders was still trying to shake off a feeling of impending doom. (It was starting to be really annoying, how often he got those.)

A few good circuits around the island on his glider had taken some of the edge off the anxiety, but he was still kind of fidgety. Which was why he was sitting cross-legged on the glider and having a cigarette, drumming the fingers of his free hand restlessly against the toe of his boot.

[OOC: Open like *insert metaphor here ~~not dirty~~* -- and feel free to yell at him for smoking.]

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After getting a ~~handwavey~~ summons to appear before Raynor tomorrow, Bel headed outside for a cigarette. Impending doom? Yeah, he knew that feeling all right.

Anders groaned when he realized who was headed his way. "You again?" This was not helping him feel any better about the upcoming field trip.

Bel shrugged. "Needed some air," he said, more subdued than he had been in class. He nodded at Anders. "Guess Parker didn't get all your stash, huh?"

"Had another pack in my room," Anders said offhandedly. "You okay, man? You're not . . ." Baiting him? Trying to make him flail? All of the above.

"You seem kind of out of it."

"Why, you offering to cheer me up?" Bel said, but it was half-hearted.

Anders was used to this sort of repartee from Bel by now, and he noticed the difference in tone. "Just wondering, that's all. Offering to listen, too, if you want. You drive me up the damn wall sometimes -- okay, most of the time, but I guess I count you as a friend."

Bel hesitated, taking a long drag off his cigarette. "Gotta make a visit home tomorrow," he finally said. "Not looking forward to it."

Anders tapped the ash off the end of his own cigarette before taking a drag. "And you can't get out of it by saying you don't have a ride, either. You in trouble or something?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Bel admitted. He stared out into the darkness for a long moment. "Ever had to do anything you really didn't want to do, but you didn't have a choice?"

"A couple of things, maybe." Anders picked at a pebble stuck in the sole of his boot, then shrugged. "Before I came here, though. I thought it was a big deal at the time, but it was just kid stuff, really. Probably nowhere near the same."

He peered thoughtfully at Bel. "That have anything to do with why you got kind of jumpy in class today when Mister Phale was asking us questions?"

"That obvious, huh?" Bel said. He finished his cigarette, dropped it to the ground, and immediately lit up another one. "I'm supposed to have a big destiny to be all evil. Don't really want it to happen."

"The flinching was kind of hard to miss," Anders said honestly. "You gonna get the big evil destiny thrown in your face when you go home? Parents, man." He snorted and took another drag.

"Yeah, they suck," Bel said. He managed a grin. "So distract me."

Anders laughed briefly. "Could go for a ride, but I'm kind of tired. You've been to Vegas before, so give me an idea of what I'm in for?"

"We're gonna need to score some fake IDs to hit the casinos," Bel said. "But once you're there and playing, they bring you drinks constantly. And there's no windows so you can't see outside to see what time it is, but that doesn't matter because there's always something going on somewhere."

"Sounds like fun," Anders said after a moment. "Sounds like a lot of fun, actually. I'm gonna take a wild guess that you know where we could get those IDs."

He lit a fresh cigarette off the butt of the one he'd been smoking, flicked the butt away, and exhaled a long, steady stream of smoke. "I've been the good kid for way too long," he continued, his mouth twisting in a sardonic smile. "I could use a change from that. Want to help?"

"I think I can arrange them," Bel said. "We'll need them to get into the show anyway."

He looked Anders over. "Sure you want the demon to teach you to be bad?" he asked. "Might be more than you can handle."

"I said bad," Anders replied calmly, "not evil. Besides, you want me to trust you, right?"

"Well, the leather and the smoking is a good start," Bel said. "You've got potential. I think I can mold you into shape."

Anders grinned. "Somebody's gotta carry it on after you graduate."

He didn't look woeful about that. At all. Really.

"I'll make you my protege," Bel said. "Pass the torch to you. Unless I flunk all my classes or something." He looked like that might possibly be a reasonable idea.

"Yeah?" asked Anders, taking another drag off his cigarette. "Gonna teach me a few things?"

Despite the fact that he could think of several people who would smack him for this, it was sounding like a better idea all the time.

"I think that can be arranged," Bel said.

He cocked his head and let his gaze sweep over Anders. "For instance, you're holding your cigarette like a girl."

Anders immediately tried to imitate the way Bel was holding his cigarette, and ended up dropping it instead. "Good to know we're starting with the basics."

"You'll get the hang of it," Bel said. "So how are you at holding your liquor?"

"Not damn bad." The few times he'd gotten drunk, anyway. "Guess we can work on that this weekend."

"Yeah, I have a feeling I'll be needing a few drinks." He grinned at Anders. "We'll just have to be sure I don't shimmer us into a wall or something on the way back to our room."

"Oh, that's comforting," Anders grumbled. "Aren't there laws against that sort of -- no, wait, demon."

"Demons don't have laws," Bel said. "Well, obey the Source and your superiors, but other than that, we can do anything we want." He may have given Anders a covert look. "Anything we want," he repeated.

"Anything?" echoed Anders, a slight hint of envy in his voice. He could think of half a dozen people who would give him hell for thinking along these lines, but . . . "I kind of wish I could do that."

Bel exhaled a lungful of smoke, then flicked his spent cigarette off into the darkness. "If you could do anything you wanted, what would be the first thing you did?" he asked.

"Good question," Anders admitted. "I don't know, actually. I keep thinking of things I could do, and then go 'But I couldn't do that, I'd feel bad.' Guess that's just me being human," he concluded, shrugging.

"Yeah," Bel agreed. "That's a big difference between me now and me, say, a year ago. I don't do a lot of things that I sometimes think I want to do because it could hurt somebody. But sometimes...sometimes I slip."

Anders considered this as he took a last drag off his cigarette. "D'you think you're better off for it that way?"

"Doesn't feel like it sometimes," Bel admitted, "not when I have the Underworld chasing after me. And sometimes I miss being able to do whatever I want."

"Well, yeah, can't blame you for that. But hey -- you've got friends now, right?"

"Yeah," Bel said. "That's a big difference. Can't say I had any friends in the Underworld." He tried to suppress a shudder, lit up another cigarette, and took a long drag, trying not to think about his former life. And possibly future.

"This conversation is getting a little heavier than I expected," Anders admitted, laughing awkwardly.

"I could try to make you flail instead, if you'd prefer," Bel said, smirking a little.

And bizarrely enough, that broke the tension. "You have all weekend to do that," Anders pointed out.

"Plenty of time," Bel said, exhaling smoke with a chuckle. "You'll be all sorts of flailing when I'm done with you."

"Bring it," Anders drawled, opting for bravado over flailing for now. "I can't wait."

"I won't disappoint," Bel promised.

Anders pulled out a fresh cigarette and very deliberately put it in his mouth and lit it, taking care to hold it the way Bel had showed him. "I'm gonna hold you to that."

Bel flashed a toothy grin. "We're gonna have a great time, you'll see."

"Taking your word for it, man. Taking your word for it," Anders said. "If not? I'll find some way to get back at you for it." It was his turn to flash a toothy grin.

"We'll see about that," Bel said. He finished his cigarette and dropped it to the ground and ground it out. "Catch you later. I got an early class tomorrow so I'd better get some sleep."

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School Grounds (Near the Garage) Monday Late Evening

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