The Roof, Late Monday Night

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders wasn't as physically drained as Tannim was, but after returning from the Underworld he was emotionally exhausted.

Any recent attempts to cut back on the number of cigarettes he consumed went up in -- pun intended -- smoke as he paced the roof, trying to get some semblance of control back.

Actually, he was mostly trying to prevent himself from throwing up, or having a nervous breakdown, or completely losing it one way or another. He'd never had to help kill a friend before . . . even if it had really been a monster wearing a friend's face.

With any luck he'd never have to do it again.

[OOC: The roof is the place for emo -- and open.]

Comments

[water-wonder.livejournal.com]

Tori's classes were technically done for the week, at least until Thursday. She had been roaming the dorms, still very much wide awake and unsure of what to do with herself.

Fresh air sounded like a good idea, so Tori now found herself making her way to the roof, bundled up against the cold. She hadn't expected to find Anders on the roof, though he was there.

Something was up, his pacing giving that away. Tori wasn't sure if she should say anything, so instead she opted to hang back and give him some space.

[So going to be up studying until 1:00 AM EST, wide awake!]

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Anders said quietly when he saw Tori. "What're you doing up here this late?"

[water-wonder.livejournal.com]

Tori shrugged and gave him a small smile. "I'm still very much awake. And I don't have another class until Thursday, so I was trying to figure out what to do with myself." She chuckled a bit. "What about you?"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you know," Anders said with a shaky laugh, "trying to recover from the trauma of going to hell."

[water-wonder.livejournal.com]

A concerned look appeared on Tori's face at the mention of hell. "What?" She immediately moved to his side, realizing what that must have meant. "Did this have to do with Bel and the Source?" She hadn't heard much on that after talking with Chris and Wyatt a week ago.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders nodded. "Yeah. We . . . went there to finish it. He's gone. Both of them are."

[water-wonder.livejournal.com]

"Oh no." Tori had only met Bel on two occassions, but he had seemed nice at the time, even if he was the Source. Still, there had been a good guy trapped in there. "I'm sorry." Tori really didn't know what else to say. "Is there anything I can do?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker was marginally better for having talked to Jack earlier, but still feeling tired and depressed from the events of the weekend. She headed up to the roof, tired and trying not to think. "Hey, Daisy."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Parker, hey," Anders said, trying and completely failing to give her a smile.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"You're smoking and you look like hell and what's wrong?" She walked over and leaned against the same balustrade, watching him. "Tell me."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"The key word," Anders said slowly, "would be hell. As in I just came back from there."

He didn't want to say more just yet -- he'd start crying on the spot and that would be all kinds of embarrassing.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no." Parker sucked in a breath, hand tightening on the railing before lifting to draw Anders closer. "Daisy? What happened? Tell me you didn't go alone."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"And risk you killing me?" Anders drew a shaky breath. "No frakking way. Chris and Wyatt took a bunch of people down -- Angel and Phoebe's sisters came from California. We talked Phoebe around, got her to snap out of it . . . and she and her sisters used a spell to finish it all."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker had been vaguely aware that something weird was going on with Phoebe when she didn't show up at Caritas, but she'd had no idea that she'd been with Bel. "That's... good. Depending on the definition of 'finish' you're using."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge had gone back to his room to call Xander and let him know they got back safely, but after that's done, he heads up to the roof and his best friend.

"Hey, dude," he says softly.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Promise I'll take a really long shower when I get back to the room," Anders says quickly. "I know I smell like a chimney right about now and Willow would probably kill me."

It's . . . a lot easier than the other things he could say.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge nods. "Just this once, I'm not going to lecture. Just this once."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"'preciate it, dude," Anders says. "You . . . you holding up okay?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Bridge says, trying to give Anders a reassuring smile. It's... not the truth, between Miranda this weekend and then the Underworld today, but this isn't about him. It's about Anders.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"This is why I hate Mondays," Anders says pitifully. "Can I go get drunk?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker pointed at him with a cigarette cadged from Anders. "You went to hell after visiting the pre-show this weekend. I should be mad at you."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"You're smoking," Bridge shoots back. "I should be mad at *you*."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Pffttt." Parker looked at the cigarette, took a drag, and blew a smoke ring. "True enough. We both have been risking our lives today. Want to declare tomorrow a do-over?" She leaned against Anders side, and shot Daisy a sad look when he wasn't looking her way.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I like that plan," Bridge admits.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Good plan," Parker exhaled along with more smoke. "So. You guys are going to dance with me on Friday, right?"