You look all nice and un-cursed now, so that must be an improvement. ( It isn't often Xander uncurses anything. Holding her glass of wine, she tilts her head, though. Xander is currently staring into his soup that's placed down in front of him. ) And how Xander, did you uncurse such a personal relationship?
("Will," he starts, looking up. He looks to ex-girlfriend, the utterly uninterested Angel, Clara, Lee, Giles, and a positively smirking Spike, like he's the cat that caught the canary. Like he remembers sharing a basement and a host of gay panic and nummy treats. "Okay, let's just address the big Farie element in the room, and not fairy like fairy, but, he was a cursed fairy and now he's not. And over the course of several months, we did form and have and are currently sharing a..."
Why is it so hard to say out loud. He needs someone like Cordelia to just ask him to spit it out, but his eyes find Simon's because this isn't easy to just say but he knows he can just say it. He's safe, blah blah. And things are thawing with Willow. And, hopefully, with Dawn, who he owes a conversation later. )
[Scarlett's eyebrows go up at the start of that explanation, but she swallows any response with a sip of her wine, leaning in to get more of the hot goss. Clara and Lee are also checking out of his conversation because this seems far above their paygrade.
Cordelia, on the other hand is clocking in. She doesn't quite know where this is going yet (9), and she's been done with Xander for years, but things apparently exploded in some of the time where she was either gone or working with the Winchesters and she's trying to catch up.
Simon, on the other hand, realizes where Xander is taking that conversation and while Faerie doesn't necessarily have a need for coming out conversations - most of Faerie is fairly queernormative as a rule - he knows that this is important for humans.
So he falls quiet and Cordy helps with a:]
Sharing a what? Is this guy your new best friend? Or is he ...
That doesn't make sense( is his quick, instant response - but then he turns to Simon ) for us it makes sense, but not for, for everyone else. ( so he turns back. ) I have lived a long and often colorful straight life, often to my own detriment and almost dying or being clawed to death or sacrificed or had my head eaten -- and then yes, I met Simon and over the course of a lot of time, we, we found something. It's found. But what about it makes sense?
[Oh, Xander is going to engage her directly. That was probably a mistake. Cordelia was not given a lecture about playing nice to not disrupt the wedding because it was mostly assumed that she would have no reason not to.
That was also probably a mistake.]
First of all, I'm one of the now two people in this room who have actually dated you, brief but illuminating as that was. Second of all, Xander, I also know that you spend about ninety percent of your energy at any given time judging the crap out of everyone around you for not meeting your arbitrary standards about what you think is right or not.
[She sets her drink down on the table and turns to fully put her ex-boyfriend in her sights.]
What you don't seem to realize is you spend at least that much energy if not more being highly judgmental of yourself, and if you just let all of that nonsense go you'd probably be a much happier person.
[She pauses to let that point land, before glancing away.]
And for the record, I'm not saying this for your benefit, I'm mostly saying it for his -
[She points to Simon.]
- as he deserves to be with someone who actually likes themselves and is not going to impulsively cheat on them with his best friend - no offense, Willow - or leave him at the altar because he's convinced himself he can't hack it.
[Simon blinks, before shaking his head. "Do not worry, Lady Cordelia. I believe I bear the self-loathing crown in this relationship, as I have more than earned it. But I do appreciate your efforts."]
( His eyes narrow. Brief, but illuminating. And, Willow and he didn't date. She had the unrequited crush that turned into hormones. And yes, Xander ruined that. But they were the two. They did that together. Maybe his part in it is worse. Was worse.
Willow goes a bit red as Cordelia talks.
In terms of judgment? Yeah, there are things he doesn't get. Like vampire loving. Why and how and why? Everyone came around to Anya, why was he so loathsome about Spike? Well, he'd never measure up to a man like Spike. Obviously. He's hashed most of this out with Simon over time. With nothing to do but talk for months. He opened up more.
Jesus Christ. Yeah, he's an unhappy person and always has been. And made his bed. Why is he doing this again? Why did he think this was a good idea?
Fuck, and she mentions Anya. He's not about to sit here and defend that. Not now.
Willow waves a hand. She feels like she started this. )
Also, misery loves company and we work. But, I'm also not sitting around thinking about what could've beens. I fucked up. I'm here admitting I fucked up. With Willow. And Buffy. I've made some real selfish decisions. And isolated myself. And yes, judged my friends. And you, Cordy. ( But who is he to judge? ) But, I've also made my own sacrifices. And confronted a lot of crap. So. With way more pomp and circumstance at an event not about me, yes. Simon and me are figuring our way through things. And it surprised me. But... yes, maybe, something like it could be seen coming. And as for apologies I do owe, Buffy and Willow will be spoken to directly and not over a table. But, thanks Cordy for really boiling it down.
("Really missed you round here," Spike says under his breath, leaning in to Cordy.
[Cordy smirks before leaning back towards him and murmuring. "Don't start none, won't be none."
Simon then clears his throat and shifting the conversation back to Willow.]
To answer your question, Xander worked with my daughter and my sister-in-law to find a solution to breaking the spell that kept me in the orb. Lady Dawn assisted us as well, using her vast collection of books.
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[He pauses, before glancing to Xander, because is this going to be revealing too much? It's hard to be sure.]
And early on in our relationship, Xander did not have a lot of company beyond occasional visits from the Nadals.
[Lucia did check in with Xander when she could, but it's clear they weren't incredibly close.]
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( Back when things were still icy. )
You look all nice and un-cursed now, so that must be an improvement. ( It isn't often Xander uncurses anything. Holding her glass of wine, she tilts her head, though. Xander is currently staring into his soup that's placed down in front of him. ) And how Xander, did you uncurse such a personal relationship?
( "Will," he starts, looking up. He looks to ex-girlfriend, the utterly uninterested Angel, Clara, Lee, Giles, and a positively smirking Spike, like he's the cat that caught the canary. Like he remembers sharing a basement and a host of gay panic and nummy treats. "Okay, let's just address the big Farie element in the room, and not fairy like fairy, but, he was a cursed fairy and now he's not. And over the course of several months, we did form and have and are currently sharing a..."
Why is it so hard to say out loud. He needs someone like Cordelia to just ask him to spit it out, but his eyes find Simon's because this isn't easy to just say but he knows he can just say it. He's safe, blah blah. And things are thawing with Willow. And, hopefully, with Dawn, who he owes a conversation later. )
no subject
Cordelia, on the other hand is clocking in. She doesn't quite know where this is going yet (9), and she's been done with Xander for years, but things apparently exploded in some of the time where she was either gone or working with the Winchesters and she's trying to catch up.
Simon, on the other hand, realizes where Xander is taking that conversation and while Faerie doesn't necessarily have a need for coming out conversations - most of Faerie is fairly queernormative as a rule - he knows that this is important for humans.
So he falls quiet and Cordy helps with a:]
Sharing a what? Is this guy your new best friend? Or is he ...
[And then the penny drops.]
Oh ... that makes so much sense.
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( Is then sent to Cordelia. )
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That was also probably a mistake.]
First of all, I'm one of the now two people in this room who have actually dated you, brief but illuminating as that was. Second of all, Xander, I also know that you spend about ninety percent of your energy at any given time judging the crap out of everyone around you for not meeting your arbitrary standards about what you think is right or not.
[She sets her drink down on the table and turns to fully put her ex-boyfriend in her sights.]
What you don't seem to realize is you spend at least that much energy if not more being highly judgmental of yourself, and if you just let all of that nonsense go you'd probably be a much happier person.
[She pauses to let that point land, before glancing away.]
And for the record, I'm not saying this for your benefit, I'm mostly saying it for his -
[She points to Simon.]
- as he deserves to be with someone who actually likes themselves and is not going to impulsively cheat on them with his best friend - no offense, Willow - or leave him at the altar because he's convinced himself he can't hack it.
[Simon blinks, before shaking his head. "Do not worry, Lady Cordelia. I believe I bear the self-loathing crown in this relationship, as I have more than earned it. But I do appreciate your efforts."]
no subject
Willow goes a bit red as Cordelia talks.
In terms of judgment? Yeah, there are things he doesn't get. Like vampire loving. Why and how and why? Everyone came around to Anya, why was he so loathsome about Spike? Well, he'd never measure up to a man like Spike. Obviously. He's hashed most of this out with Simon over time. With nothing to do but talk for months. He opened up more.
Jesus Christ. Yeah, he's an unhappy person and always has been. And made his bed. Why is he doing this again? Why did he think this was a good idea?
Fuck, and she mentions Anya. He's not about to sit here and defend that. Not now.
Willow waves a hand. She feels like she started this. )
Also, misery loves company and we work. But, I'm also not sitting around thinking about what could've beens. I fucked up. I'm here admitting I fucked up. With Willow. And Buffy. I've made some real selfish decisions. And isolated myself. And yes, judged my friends. And you, Cordy. ( But who is he to judge? ) But, I've also made my own sacrifices. And confronted a lot of crap. So. With way more pomp and circumstance at an event not about me, yes. Simon and me are figuring our way through things. And it surprised me. But... yes, maybe, something like it could be seen coming. And as for apologies I do owe, Buffy and Willow will be spoken to directly and not over a table. But, thanks Cordy for really boiling it down.
( "Really missed you round here," Spike says under his breath, leaning in to Cordy.
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Simon then clears his throat and shifting the conversation back to Willow.]
To answer your question, Xander worked with my daughter and my sister-in-law to find a solution to breaking the spell that kept me in the orb. Lady Dawn assisted us as well, using her vast collection of books.