fandomhighdorms | Fourth Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

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Fourth Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

Wesley did not have visitors, and he didn't much like disturbing those who did. The feeling of interrupting what could be a person's last chance to see a loved one was not what he would term a pleasant sensation. So to the common room it was, based on some bizarre notion that no one with visitors might possibly join him there. That was logical.

He settled on one of the couches with a book in hand that he actually hadn't read before. (That was a first.) Well, it was a nicer place to read than his own room, anyway.

[Common room is open, of course.]

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"Thank you," Alexander smiled back. "Even if your journey ends up as unsuccessful as mine has been so far, I will always appreciate your kindness..."

And that was about the moment when Alexander started to feel a little awkward, and he cleared his throat a bit. Now that he was finished making an absolute fool of himself, delving so quickly into his issues again, he was ready to turn the conversation toward something else.

"So, you're a scholar, then, Wesley?" he asked. "Or at least one to enjoy scholarly pursuits?"

"As it happens, I am," Wesley said, smiling. "I enjoy research and reading and all the activities one might associate with being a scholar, so I suppose that is how you would describe me."

[can wes help? :)]

"Is it safe to assume, then," asked Alexander, grinning back, "that you've been to the library here? Is it not incredible?"

A dreamy smile spread across Wes' face as he agreed eagerly, "Oh, yes, quite. It's much more thorough than one might expect of a high school library, or really any library." The one time he'd been there, he'd had to fight to keep from looking like a total moron in front of the library attendant, but it had been pretty amazing.

It was clear that Wesley had a passion for books and learning, so Alexander smiled, because that kind of enthusiasm was always nice to see. "It's even larger than the royal library back home, although, really, no one much uses that one except for Mother and myself. Rosella and my father sometimes grudgingly."

Wesley nodded. "I'm accustomed to a library of similar proportions to this one - perhaps even larger - but not as welcoming, nor as versatile. The library back home covers only a limited range of topics, all focusing on one central idea. Here, the topics covered have a much wider range."

"Are your father and - Rosella, did you say? - not particular readers?"

"Not if they can help it," Alexander smirked, shaking his head. "They tend to be more hands-on in their approach to things. And Rosella's my twin sister."

The one who looked nothing like him...

Wes grinned. "Yes, I quite know the type," he assured him. "I spent the past spring with a group of people who couldn't bring themselves to read if their lives depended on it. Though ironically they spent most of their time in the library..."

Alexander chuckled as thought that was one of the most amusing things he'd heard of. "What else would they do in a library, then, praytell?"

"Er. Mostly they sat around discussing their love lives, actually," Wesley laughed. "And occasionally they fell asleep."

"Sounds a bit like your friends could be friends of my sister," said Alexander with a smirk. "Especially if the discussion involved a lot of complaining..."

Wes laughed out loud at that. "Oh, certainly. The complaining was their favorite part, I daresay." Well, except for Cordelia, who had been not so much with the complaining and more with the flirting with Wes. "Though I wouldn't call them my friends, exactly. More like... allies, I suppose. Or colleagues."

Glad to get a laugh out of the other boy, Alexander grinned and quirked a brow. "Oh? Allies and colleagues in what, since scholarly pursuits seem a bit beyond their reach?"

Oooh, here came the inevitable "my world is weird" chat. Wes sighed and launched into it.

"Our objective was to stop a supernatural threat called an Ascension, wherein a person invulnerable to harm transformed into a massive reptilian demon and tried to eat a high school," Wesley explained resignedly. He paused for an appropriate length of time to let that sink in before continuing, "My job was to assist a girl known as the Slayer in this and other missions, along with her friends. We - didn't quite get along, but eventually we were victorious."

Amazingly enough, Alexander didn't need that pause for things to set in. In fact, that pause made him wonder a little, thinking maybe that was it, and was about to respond when Wesley continued. And, in the end, he nodded with incredible understanding.

"I see," he said. "So you were able to rise above your differences to succeed in the task at hand. Very admirable. It is often in times of threat and crisis that we find the most useful," and, it seemed Alexander said that with a bit of a wistful sigh, "allies, indeed...The girl who I was telling you about before. I actually met her when she was helping my father rescue my family and me from the clutches of an evil magician trying to take revenge for the ill that had befallen his brother..."

Alexander mused on this all as if he had walked outside and commented on the color of the sky.

Wesley blinked. "Oh," he said. "I'm terribly sorry that happened to you. Fortunately you seem all right now, and none the worse for wear..."

Which struck him as kind of a stupid thing to say once he'd said it, as just because a person doesn't look damaged doesn't mean he isn't, but oh well.

"She sounds quite courageous," he added in regard to the girl.

And Alexander's face was back to that lovely shade of frequent red, and all attempts he was about to make regarding how Wesley and his own got out of the demon predicament completely disappeared.

"She," he spoke with solid conviction and an unshakable dedication, "is by far and wide the most courageous woman I have ever had the privilege of having met. To think of all she put up with and then to bravely help my father in rescuing us and, through doing so, gaining the ability to free herself from her own abominable bondage...!"

Realizing suddenly how he was going on, again, Alexander stopped, cleared his throat, and failed to make the blush disappear. "Er, you can perhaps see why I would be so eager to see her again. To...err...ahh...thank her, of course..."

Wesley managed to control an impulse to snicker. Not at what was clearly the romance of the century, but at the way he was going on and on about it. It rather reminded Wes of the extensive sulking and brooding everyone back in Sunnydale over their respective romances.

"Yes, I quite see the appeal," Wesley said once he was sure he wouldn't laugh. "Well, I assure you that I'll do my best to find out where she might be."

And Wesley hadn't even seen Cassima! Then he'd see the appeal beyond a shadow of a doubt. Thankfully, though, Alexander was finding himself able to hold back on exalting the glories of her incredible beauty at this particular moment.

Which was very impressive, when you got right down to it.

He cleared his throat a little again, bobbing his head with incredible sheepishness. "Yes, well, and, again, I think you."

Thinking he might have something to add on the topic of romance so as not to be the loser virgin with nothing to talk about (not that he suspected that Alexander was much competition in that department), Wesley supplied, "I myself had the pleasure of meeting quite a lovely young woman this past spring as well. She was intelligent, remarkably witty, and quite attractive..."

...and a fling, one with whom he had had one fantastically awkward kiss and that was it. So maybe not the best comparison to the whole one-true-love thing Alexander had going on.

Alexander felt a swell of envy tug at his heart.

"Last spring," he said, "so before you started here. Do you miss her terribly?"

Did he spend every waking moment thinking of her and her dark eyes like deep pools in which one would be lucky to drown? Hearing her soft voice in the whisper of every breeze through the rustling leaves of trees...?

"Er. No. I'm afraid it was only a brief tryst," Wesley explained. "Mostly mutual flirting and such."

Awk-ward.

"Oh." Once more, disappointment washed over Alexander, as he saw an opportunity for bonding with someone who truly understood what he was going through slip away. But he was also determined not to let things drag him down too much. "Still, it was probably a lovely experience, and the brevity of the affair leaves you open to explore other similar...er...venues. Have you an eye for any of the fair ladies currently in our acquaintance here at the school?"

Truth be told, Wes had had more interactions with girls since arriving at Fandom than he'd ever had back home. So there were a few that he could talk about, such as the bratty cheerleader who scared him a little and the archery expert who'd spent the past few days with her dead best friend.

"Er. Not really," said Wesley finally.

"So do tell me more about your friend's daring rescue of you and your family."

And Alexander really couldn't refuse the opportunity to elaborate more on Cassima. Though he did feel a little bad for contributing most of the conversation, it was a topic on which he could speak of all night, and still have more to say.

"Well," he said, "you see, Cassima was actually abducted by Mordack to be a slave in his castle! That is, remarkable as it may seem, something that she and I share in common, for I, too, was abducted to be a slave by an evil magician, only I was kidnapped by Manannan, Mordack's brother, and while Manannan only wanted me as his manservant, Mordack had far more devious plans for Cassima! He wanted her as his bride! Of course, Cassima, being of such a high virtue and so brave, absolutely refused, and slavery was her cruel punishment for her bold refusal to give into to such a nefarious plan! Luckily, when Mordack stole Daventry Castle, and my sister, my mother, and myself within in it, as revenge for what I had done to escape from Manannan, and my father worked to save us all, he could join alliance with Cassima, who knew the castle well by then. They worked together until they could finally confront Mordack and defeat him in a battle of magic and skill to free us! He couldn't have done it without her assistance, and for that I am forever grateful. I owe to her the lives and well-being of my entire family!"

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Fourth Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

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