LOG: 27 March 2008
WHO: Xander eyesocketparty, Connor ialwayshadasoul, River bitsandfluids
WHAT: Making Blue Sun less Scary
WHEN: Thursday Afternoon
WHERE: Dienw Flat
WHY: First has been tormenting River with hands of blue, so Connor's trying to make blue, and blue hands, a more benign, dare say pleasurable, idea.
WITH: PAINT! lots of paint. and a bit of snogging. Mostly Paint.
Xander's phone rang.
After a few moments fumbling, Xander clicked the answer button. "Hello, Evil Fighting Hotline"
A heavily accented male voice spoke. "Herrow dere evir fightel. How goes the fighting of the Evir?"
Xander blinked, pausing. "Um.....good?"
"Ah sooooo, dat is velly good to be healing!"
Xander listened a bit more, his one eye narrowing. "Yes....drunken....person?"
There was the sound of a very familiar choked giggle. "I is not dronken persun, Xander Raverre Hallis! I is concerned citizen carring to tark to you!"
"...Connor?", asked Xander, before leaning on the wall of his room, "Is that....you?"
"Oh thank God, that accent was getting hard to keep up. Took you long enough."
"Well, I'm not used to drunk people...", Xander blinked, "Oh, you're not. Good, got me worried for a minute there, thought you'd got into the cellar or something"
"It's very difficult to get drunk."
"Point", Xander smiled fondly, "Everything okay? You were really down online the other day."
"Manabe's got superworms in his brain," Connor replied.
"He's got....", Xander blinked, "What?"
"It was an amusing conversation that helped a little bit even if it didn't. However I did figure something out that I need your help with when River comes back to visit."
Xander considered, then stepped out onto the balcony of his hotel room, in case of listening woman-ears. "Sure, you mean helping her with her...umm...is broken the right word?"
"Sort of. I mean helping her with making what the First uses to get to her something that won't get to her."
"What the guy with the funny hair and that odd look in his eyes?", offered Xander
"Huh? I meant that blue suns thing it keeps throwing at her. I don't know how to neutralise the Wash and Book things."
"Oh, hands of blue", Xander nodded wisely, "Yeah, they creep her out. I don't think we can nab any of them, though. Those scret agency types are hard to get hold of"
"Who says we nab them? I was thinking of turning the concept of blue hands into something good."
Xander glanced over the view of Tokyo. "You mean, like, candy blue hands?"
"I mean like turning something hurtful into something enjoyable."
"Oh", said Xander, then caught on, "Ohhhhh"
"Somewhat oh, but yeah, oh. She's going to be able to come back soon, how long do you think it'll be before you can?" Connor failed at hiding the slightly needy tone to his voice.
Xander caught the tone easily and frowned. "As soon as she's back, you tell me and I'll be there", he said, "She's got her fighters"
"You should head back on your way now, then..."
"Now?", Xander stepped inside, grabbing his bag, tossing clothes in it, "Sure thing, I'm on my way, see if I can get Willow to hook me up with a telepo...oh she's already here"
"How is she already there?"
"Because she's in the next room and she listens!"
"I do not! I overhear!", came a voice nearby.
"She listens", said Xander broodily.
"But you didn't think she was even there and now she is... you're confusing me, Xander."
"She was in the room next door", Xander explained, "You know, hotel. Toyko"
"Oh, right."
"There you go", Xander beamed, shifting out of the way as Willow set up for a spell, "She's making a teleportation spell now, I should be there before you know it", a pause, "She says hi"
"Tell her 'hi' back. and thanks."
"Will do", said Xander, "Be there soon, 'kay?"
"Kay. bye." click.
Connor finished setting up his room, after having taken all the furniture out and piling it up on the roof under a tarp so it wouldn't get ruined. Once he finished laying some dropcloths down, pulled out several buckets and pans, and got everything else set up, he went to wait in the living room for River and Xander to get back. Well, waited once he'd put the phone back on the hook, of course.
River would never get used to the sensation of being ripped out of one world and transported into another. It made her head spin. Of course, she was also tired, as usual, and mentally drained from having to deal with The First while looking after Meggie, so neither of those things probably helped. Once her vision re-oriented itself and she regained her sense of balance, however, she favored Connor with a slow smile. "Missed you," she said quietly, meaning every syllable. She still felt bad for disappearing before she'd had the chance to say goodbye.
"Same," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Xander should be here in abou-"
There was a ripple of light from the corner of the room, followed by a flash as Xander stumbled with all the grace of a housebrick into the room. "Oh well, hey, none of my limbs fell off, she's getting better at this", he looked up and smiled, "Hey guys"
Connor pulled Xander into the hug, "Group hug."
"Xander~." River snuggled into the hug pile, feeling warm and complete again. "Missed this too. No more stupid fights," she scolded, glaring at them both.
Xander blinked, still a little disorientated as he hugged them back. "Missed you guys, too", he said, "No fights. Nope, not even a bicker"
"I had something messier in mind anyhow. The fun kind of messy." Connor grinned.
"Explain," the brat in River demanded, poking him in the side. She was getting a general idea from Connor's mind, but she wanted him to put it in words.
"We're painting my room. Without paintbrushes," Connor nodded firmly.
Xander grinned. "Like in kindergarten, but more fun"
"I thought we could all just strip down to underwear or something, but then figured River might not be comfortable with that," Connor glanced at her, "So I procured expendable clothes for us all that we can get as messy as we like.
River blushed at the image of them all in underwear, shaking her head. "Clothes are good," she squeaked, once again mouse-like. "I like painting though~," she added, smiling again. Art was really something of a hobby of hers, in general.
"Paper clothes?", asked Xander in glee, "I haven't worn paper clothes for ages! Please say it's paper clothes"
Connor blinked, "They make clothes out of paper?"
"Yeah, they do, it's great stuff", Xander nodded
"Earth is so weird," Connor shook his head. "I just got some shorts and t-shirts. Fred donated a set for River," he said.
"That's good~. We're close enough to the same size. And related," River chirped. "And I agree, Earth-That-Was....Is...is strange." It was very odd thinking about the Earth-That-Was as being a present thing...she still hadn't gotten used to that yet, either.
"SO!" Connor handed a bundle of clothes to each of them. "Go change and meet me in my room, if the door's open just walk right in."
"AYE AYE!", Xander saluted, stepping off into his room to change
Connor chuckled, brushed a hand down River's cheek, and took off to his own room. "You can change in Harm's room, she's downstairs harrassing Angel."
"Alright~," River replied, blushing a little at the affectionate gesture before wandering over to Harmony's room. She was attacked by George there, the puppy licking all over her face. She giggled, before slipping into Fred's clothes and heading back to Connor's room, the dog following loyally.
Connor waited outside the door, keeping it closed, leaning in the jam.
Xander stepped through shortly. "Please tell me there weren't vampire clothes", he said, "The thought occured to me, and sharing clothes with Spike once is enough for any person"
"I stole those from Doyle, he won't notice they're missing," Connor reassured him. "I stole some from Manabe," he sniggered.
"Naughty Conny, stealing clothes," River replied, wagging a finger at him and using the nickname Manabe had suggested just to see his reaction.
"Doyle, I don't know him, so that's okay, not awkward", Xander nodded, then smirked, "I like these, remind me of Construction Worker Xander. With the digging"
Connor blinked. Then sniggered. "RIGHT THEN!" he clapped his hands then looked at River seriously. "You still trust me and Xander, right? No matter what happens?"
"Dahng rahn," River replied, tilting her head a little and trying to understand why he kept saying that.
"Once we're in I'm going to lock the door," Connor said gently.
"......" River squirmed a little at that. She didn't like being locked in. Feeling trapped. She knew Connor and Xander wouldn't hurt her, but...after being virtually a prisoner for so many years it was hard to let go of that.
"We'll look after you", Xander smiled, "Promise, no nasties or anything of the sort, just us"
"I know," River replied, glancing up at him. "You're my knights. Trust you. Just not me."
"Do I get a shiny suit of armor?", asked Xander, "Aww don't worry, been stuck with more than our fair share of people that don't trust themselves. I'll even be nice and not tie you to a chair"
"You'd better not," River grumbled, jabbing him with a finger. "Or I'll hurt you." She wasn't kidding, either.
"My room's a decent size, and the window's open a little bit. I need you to trust us, so that we can have fun painting the room, but if you feel freaked, you stay with us, and let us show you there's nothing to be freaked about," Connor explained.
I trust you. Lock it, River said mentally, hugging them both again. She would beat this. George the puppy nuzzled her leg as an extra comfort.
Connor kissed her forehead and opened the door, pulling her and Xander inside before shutting and locking it. Inside, the floor was covered in drop cloths, the walls were bare, and buckets and pans of paint were strewn about. No paintbrushes, no rollers. ... blue paint.
No. Oh god. The paint was blue. She was locked in a room full of blue, and she couldn't get out...River closed her eyes, trying to calm her nervous breath. It was just a color. It couldn't hurt her.
Xander glanced carefully over in River's direction, before putting a hand on her arm. "It's okay, we're here, remember?"
"Breathe," Connor told her, resting a hand on the small of her back and leaning in to kiss her softly on the cheek. "We're going to make blue a good thing, something you don't have to be afraid of. One less thing for the First to try to use against you," he said gently.
"Two by two, hands of blue," River murmured, hiding her face against Connor's shoulder. They were going to paint with their hands, and there would be blue paint...and two of them. But they wouldn't be ripping out her pieces. They wouldn't ever. River tried to focus on that thought.
"Yes, but good hands", said Xander gently.
"And there's three of us," Connor said, picking up a shallow pan with paint in it. "You can go first," he encouraged.
River hesitantly dipped her hands in the paint, closing her eyes as she touched them to the wall. It would be easier if she couldn't see.
Her hands painted numbers, her mind still in equation-mode from working out a way to stop The First. They calmed her, too.
Xander watched her as she did it, dipping his own hand in the paint and putting it by hers. "See? No badness"
Connor dipped his own hand in, and used his fingers like an ink-pen, putting together a quick sketch of River. "See? No danger here. Just a beautiful mess."
River opened her eyes slowly, a flood of memories hitting her when she saw their hands. "Gorram needles shoving in my eyes and little blue hands working in and out and ripping and pulling and asking what I see over and over and over and always watching, always waiting, tugging from the outside, making everyone scream, hiding us away in the dark but you can't have this," she hissed, her fist somehow finding its way into Connor's wall.
Connor reached his hands to take hers, gently pulling it out of the hole it made. He knew it was probably going to get harder before it got better, that's why he stuck the lock on the door, made sure Xander would be there. "We're here, you're safe," he repeated. "Even with our blue hands. All THREE of us," he stressed the number, a break from the pattern of two.
Xander arched a brow, then nodded. "Yep, all three of us", he said, "And that makes hands of six"
River gave a bit of a strangled laugh. Her hand hurt, why had she done that? "Three. Six. Two. Numbers. Just...numbers. Here. Not there. Not locked in that room. Not with them. They're not here. Gone."
"Exactly. You're here, with us. Who care so much for you," Connor said, taking her blue hand and kissing the patch of unpainted skin he found on it.
"Yeah", said Xander, wrapping an arm around her, "And we're used to fighting the Big Bads, won't let anything hurt you, us"
"I...I'm here...I'm here. Not...there," River said again, letting Connor and Xander ground her, and bring her back to herself. "He's not here...." Except he was. He was there, staring at her with those dead eyes and blue hands and River shrieked, covering her head with the bloody hand she'd forced into the wall. "You're not HIM. You're not real, you're not anything, leave me alone," she shouted, winging one of the pans of paint in the general direction of The First.
Connor ducked the flash of blue that painted him across the chest from the movement before darting in faster than he should have been able to, and hugging River close, kissing her soundly to distract her.
Xander caught her reactions and scowled, remembering. "I can't see you but I know you're there, piss off", he said to thin air, squeezing River's hand gently.
River froze at the kiss at first, mostly in shock, but eventually relaxed into it, bringing all of her attention to Connor's lips and Xander's hand and everything that reminded her of the fact that she was just a girl. She ignored the First as it whispered into her ear, projecting a general I'm busy, go away thought to the room. She knew It would hear.
That's right, you tell It, Connor thought as he continued kissing her.
"It can't hurt you unless you let it", said Xander, "So don't let it. It's got no real power"
I won't let it, River replied, pulling Xander closer, almost using the two of them as a shield against the First. Her eyes closed, and it was just her, Connor, and Xander.
No blue hands, no locked room...no ghosts. Just them.
Connor put a hand at the back of Xander's neck, pulling him down into the triune kiss half a moment, before leaving him to kiss River, his own lips moving to her throat to gently keep up the distraction against First.
Xander sighed softly, his lips pressed against hers as he soothed her, his painted hands brushing along her shoulders.
River wasn't even subconsciously thinking about the First anymore, she was too wrapped up in trying not to melt in a puddle of happy goo as she kissed Xander back, shivering at the new onslaught of sensation that was Connor's lips on her throat.
There was a slight rumble in Connor's chest as he kissed her throat, then travelled over the t-shirt and down her arm. He carefully took her bloody painted hand, between his painted own, the crimson of her blood stark against the blue of the paint, and brought his lips down, his tongue sliding along the new wounds on her hand, cleaning them. Closing them.
Xander's single eye had closed, partly with the sensation of kissing her and partly because he was trying to ignore the smell of blood, and the connor!rumble...yes ingoring was good.
River moaned into the kiss; Connor's tongue was doing funny things to her brain, mostly in the sense that it would probably be melting out her ears if such a thing was possible. She could sense that Xander was trying to ignore it and she didn't know what to do about that, besides distract him with more kissing.
Which was ironic, of course, as he was supposed to be the one distracting her and not the other way around.
Connor lay a lingering kiss on her hand as the last cut closed, kissing his way back along her arm before standing behind her, sandwiching her between himself and Xander, pushing aside her hair and planting soft lingering kisses on the nape of her neck, while his hands rested one on her shoulder, the other on the back of Xander's neck, playing with the short hairs.
Xander felt a purr sound in his throat, but cut it off before it could make itself known too much. No. None of that, one hand resting on top of Connors on River's shoulder.
"I like this better than painting," River mumbled against Xander's lips, taking a moment to catch her breath. She dared to glance around the room, and found that the First had disappeared again, and her mind was clearer than it had been in weeks, despite the Xander and Connor-induced fuzziness. She felt that she might even be able to sleep later, which was a miracle if the dark circles under her eyes were anything to go by.
Connor chuckled slightly in agreement. With their hands all covered in paint by now, the first step of making blue hands not-scary was completed anyhow. He definitely agreed, the kissing and caressing was a lot more fun than painting, at the moment.
"Probably a lot better than most things involving solvents", put in Xander helpfully.
River giggled, nodding. "We still have walls to paint though. Lots of walls. I wrote on walls, with Fred. Lots of numbers," she hummed, leaning back against Connor. "She's probably still writing."
"She does that," Connor said, resting his chin on her shoulder and looking up at Xander. "But we are in a room, with a closed door. Paint at our disposal, and nothing but t-shirts and shorts to ruin - did I mention it's latex paint?"
"Like rubber?", Xander blinked up at him, "Or like that body-paint stuff they wear in those strip clubs that I almost certainly never worked in"
"The latter," Connor's eyes sparkled.
River flushed at the implication, not actually knowing what a strip club was, other than the images she got from Xander's mind.
"That stuff is really cool", Xander grinned, then paused, "Not that I ever worked in one. No siree"
Connor chuckled, grinning as he looked at Xander from over River's shoulder. "I could paint on you," he said suggestively, watching Xander while he nipped River's ear.
"Walls first!" River meeped, knowing that they would never get any progress made whatsoever if things continued in this very nice direction.
Xander arched a brow at Connor with a small grin, then looked at River. "Hmmm, yes..walls"
"Oh fine," Connor pretended to huff, backing off a bit. "Have fun, be creative, I'll be curious what this looks like when we're done."
River rolled her eyes, tugging Connor close again and planting a kiss soundly on his lips. "Thank you," she said quietly, to both of them.
"Hey it's what we do, with the good deeds and the yes...that", Xander coughed, "Babbling agian"
Connor dipped his fingers in a little paint once the kiss with River closed and tapped one along Xander's cheek, then turned and tapped the other on River's.
"Babbling is fun, sometimes~," River replied, poking Connor with a blue finger of her own. "No painting people. Bad."
"Well, usually I draw people," Connor allowed cheekily.
"I draw people too, but I don't draw on them," River retorted.
"We'll have to fix that."
Xander arched a brow, looking between them. "Hey, you know what else is fun? Cheese squares!", he said, in his attempt to break up the discussion before ti got out of hand.
"Oh, see, now I'm hungry," Connor twapped Xander, getting some blue in his hair.
"Food is nice," River agreed, nodding. She hadn't eaten before she came, knowing the trip would probably cause bits to come up if she did. But they were locked in a room, so it was kind of moot.
"Ow, hey!", Xander whimpered, "Just recounting my cheese-square man dream"
"Well, this is my room..." Connor's voice trailed off. "I wonder if they still have that auto-food set up from when they incarcerated me...."
"Auto-food?" River asked, blinking.
"It just kind of appeared in here."
"That's strange~. Magic?"
"Are you sure they didn't just push it through the door?", tried Xander.
"Saw it appear in the middle of the room. Probably some spell one of those wizard types set up for them."
River made a face at that. "Don't trust magic food," she replied, still very much of the opinion that magic was messy.
"Tasted normal enough," Connor shrugged. "Smelled it, too."
Xander chuckled. "You know, we could, like, order pizza"
"It'd be like Ninja Turtles, only they'd have to deliver it to a fire escape, instead of a sewer crack thing," Connor smirked.
River raised an eyebrow. "Ninja Turtles?" Obviously this was yet another Earth-That-Was reference she had yet to learn about. She knew what a ninja was, and what a turtle was, but beyond that she couldn't make sense of it.
"They were SO awesome!", Xander beamed like the big geek he was, "Oh, River, you missed it. Cowabunga!.....I'll stop now"
"We'll show you on the tv or something," Connor promised. "So, Xander, how you calling out for pizza?"
River laughed at Xander's enthusiasm, and nodded in response to Connor. "We don't have a phone in here, do we?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Not unless Xander put a mobile in his shorts."
"I do not have a cell in my shorts!", complained Xander, "...I have one in my shoe"
Connor blinked.
"...Isn't that kind of uncomfortable?" River asked, grinning.
"No, it's really small and cool, Andrew bought it me for my last birthday", said Xander, pulling out a little phone form his shoe with a geeky grin.
Connor just shook his head and snorted his laughter.
"It's...a tiny phone," River stated obviously, eyes wide as she plucked it from his hands and began to figure out how it worked.
Xander chuckled. "Just don't take it apaprt, Andrew will have a hissy fit"
River stuck her tongue out at him. "I could put it together again if I took it apart. And it would be better."
"Call for the pizza first?" Connor asked.
"Food IS important", Xander nodded, trying to ease it away form River
"Oh! Right. Pizza," River replied, before blinking a bit and realizing she'd never had that before either. "You should order."
Xander grinned, taking it. "What's everyone having?"
"Meat," Connor nodded.
"No meat," River replied, making a face again.
"How about I get one of the four-way thingies?", asked Xander, "You know, the square ones?"
"One all meat, one all veggies, one some of both, and one cheese?" Connor suggested.
"I like vegetables," River replied, nodding.
Connor shuddered.
"Connor doesn't like vegetables", said Xander conversationally as he dialed up, "Lorne keeps trying to feed them to him"
"They're tasty~. And good for you. And they didn't have thoughts once," River replied, shivering a little at that.
"Vegetables are what food eats."
Xander chuckled, letting them bicker as he ordered the half-n-half to keep the peace.
Connor muttered something about celery having evil plans to take over the world.
River stuck out her tongue, ignoring that bit of nonsense. "If vegetables are what food eats, does that make me food?"
"Well, you do taste very good," Connor allowed.
River blushed at that, mumbling something about perverts in Chinese.
Xander made the order, turning off the phone. "See, you turned vegeatbles dirty for me, just like everything else"
"WHAT?!?" Connor looked innocent.
"Don't play innocent with us," River replied, poking him again.
"Connor, you couldn't be innocent if it crawled into your brain and took up root", said Xander pointedly
"I'm sure there's a demon that can do that," Connor said thoughtfully.
"Well there's not one in there right now," River replied, giving him another experimental poke just for fun.
Xander chuckled, leaning back against the wall, then blinked. "...Oh yeah....wet paint"
Connor pulled him away and looked at the backward equations now painted on his shirt back. "Well... they make about as much sense either way, to me," he mused.
Xander tried to turn his head to see. "They make even less sense to me", he said, "Iv'e understood demon texts better"
River looked at the equations and blinked. Then paused, and blinked again. ".....Backwards numbers gone backwards isn't forwards," she mumbled to herself, dipping her hands in more paint and rewriting the equations on the wall as they appeared on Xander's shirt. "Backwards, sideways, upside-down...."
Connor blinked.
Xander blinked as well. ".....My brain is starting to hurt"
"When you see yourself in a mirror, it's backwards," River hummed in a vague explanation, pacing to the other side of the room to paint more numbers. There was no hole in the wall over there.
"I can only guess what that room looks like after she and Fred got together in it", said Xander, looking at Connor from the corner of his eye, "I mean, maths, EVERYWHERE!...I had nightmares like that"
Connor leaned up and kissed him, "Then make random things to counteract the maths on the wall," he suggested.
"I can paint other things besides numbers," River grumbled. "I just don't want to." Numbers helped her focus and forget that she was still in a locked room.
"I don't mind the numbers," Connor told her. "Xander's only got one eye, it effects his brain," he winked at the other man.
"HEEYYY", whimpered Xander, "Numbers confused me waaaaay beofre then"
"Well, if you're not going to paint, Xander, then take off your shirt," Connor decided.
River flushed, and there was a big glob of paint in the middle of her nicely painted equation.
Xander pulled a face, before smriking, pulling his shirt off over his head, tossing it to one side.
Connor glanced over at River, then dipped both his hands in blue, and started making intricate markings on Xander's back, moving so Xander ended up facing toward River as he did so.
"I know what you're doing back there," River muttered, using all of the will she had not to look. Because she knew if she did she wouldn't be able to stop.
"He makes a very good canvas, you know," Connor said conversationally. "You should join in."
"Weren't we supposed to be painting the walls?" she replied pointedly, still not looking.
"I really fail at being obvious with my sneaky attempts, don't I?" Connor asked, frowning as he decorated.
"You're always obvious", chuckled Xander, "And since when did I become a canavas? It's because I'm the biggest, isn't it?"
"It's hard to be sneaky with a psychic," River agreed, nodding. She hazarded a glance backward, which brought a lovely shade of pink to her cheeks again that nearly matched her dress.
"So come paint on Xander." Connor told her. He kissed the nape of Xander's neck, "While the 'biggest', I'd say it's more that your body is better suited than mine to being a canvas. River's would make a beautiful canvas as well," he smirked, glancing at her.
Xander 'hmfed', before smiling. "Yeah, she would, you have a point"
"It would not," River replied, ducking her head in embarrassment.
"We beg to differ," Connor pointed out, watching her.
"I would too!", said Xander, "And I'm a craftsman, I know these things"
"It's not a canvas, it's a weapon," River replied, quiet and awkward. She wasn't used to thinking of it in any other way.
"Every weapon," Connor said, walking over and taking her hand, bringing her toward the two of them, "is a work of art."
"That's true", Xander nodded, "Like that thingie-majiggy Buffy has that's, like, a stake and an axe in one", he considered, "And Mr. Stabby"
"I don't want to be a work of art, or a weapon, or an experiment or any of it...I just want to be a girl. I am, sometimes, I know I am, but then it goes away," River whispered.
"You're one of the most amazing girls I've ever met," Connor told her, reaching with a painty blue hand to tip her chin up so she wouldn't look away. "And that's the whole package. Neurosis, danger, beauty, insecurity, gentleness, defiance..." he smiled slightly. "You are who you are, and who you are is magnificent."
(TBC - eventually)
WHAT: Making Blue Sun less Scary
WHEN: Thursday Afternoon
WHERE: Dienw Flat
WHY: First has been tormenting River with hands of blue, so Connor's trying to make blue, and blue hands, a more benign, dare say pleasurable, idea.
WITH: PAINT! lots of paint. and a bit of snogging. Mostly Paint.
Xander's phone rang.
After a few moments fumbling, Xander clicked the answer button. "Hello, Evil Fighting Hotline"
A heavily accented male voice spoke. "Herrow dere evir fightel. How goes the fighting of the Evir?"
Xander blinked, pausing. "Um.....good?"
"Ah sooooo, dat is velly good to be healing!"
Xander listened a bit more, his one eye narrowing. "Yes....drunken....person?"
There was the sound of a very familiar choked giggle. "I is not dronken persun, Xander Raverre Hallis! I is concerned citizen carring to tark to you!"
"...Connor?", asked Xander, before leaning on the wall of his room, "Is that....you?"
"Oh thank God, that accent was getting hard to keep up. Took you long enough."
"Well, I'm not used to drunk people...", Xander blinked, "Oh, you're not. Good, got me worried for a minute there, thought you'd got into the cellar or something"
"It's very difficult to get drunk."
"Point", Xander smiled fondly, "Everything okay? You were really down online the other day."
"Manabe's got superworms in his brain," Connor replied.
"He's got....", Xander blinked, "What?"
"It was an amusing conversation that helped a little bit even if it didn't. However I did figure something out that I need your help with when River comes back to visit."
Xander considered, then stepped out onto the balcony of his hotel room, in case of listening woman-ears. "Sure, you mean helping her with her...umm...is broken the right word?"
"Sort of. I mean helping her with making what the First uses to get to her something that won't get to her."
"What the guy with the funny hair and that odd look in his eyes?", offered Xander
"Huh? I meant that blue suns thing it keeps throwing at her. I don't know how to neutralise the Wash and Book things."
"Oh, hands of blue", Xander nodded wisely, "Yeah, they creep her out. I don't think we can nab any of them, though. Those scret agency types are hard to get hold of"
"Who says we nab them? I was thinking of turning the concept of blue hands into something good."
Xander glanced over the view of Tokyo. "You mean, like, candy blue hands?"
"I mean like turning something hurtful into something enjoyable."
"Oh", said Xander, then caught on, "Ohhhhh"
"Somewhat oh, but yeah, oh. She's going to be able to come back soon, how long do you think it'll be before you can?" Connor failed at hiding the slightly needy tone to his voice.
Xander caught the tone easily and frowned. "As soon as she's back, you tell me and I'll be there", he said, "She's got her fighters"
"You should head back on your way now, then..."
"Now?", Xander stepped inside, grabbing his bag, tossing clothes in it, "Sure thing, I'm on my way, see if I can get Willow to hook me up with a telepo...oh she's already here"
"How is she already there?"
"Because she's in the next room and she listens!"
"I do not! I overhear!", came a voice nearby.
"She listens", said Xander broodily.
"But you didn't think she was even there and now she is... you're confusing me, Xander."
"She was in the room next door", Xander explained, "You know, hotel. Toyko"
"Oh, right."
"There you go", Xander beamed, shifting out of the way as Willow set up for a spell, "She's making a teleportation spell now, I should be there before you know it", a pause, "She says hi"
"Tell her 'hi' back. and thanks."
"Will do", said Xander, "Be there soon, 'kay?"
"Kay. bye." click.
Connor finished setting up his room, after having taken all the furniture out and piling it up on the roof under a tarp so it wouldn't get ruined. Once he finished laying some dropcloths down, pulled out several buckets and pans, and got everything else set up, he went to wait in the living room for River and Xander to get back. Well, waited once he'd put the phone back on the hook, of course.
River would never get used to the sensation of being ripped out of one world and transported into another. It made her head spin. Of course, she was also tired, as usual, and mentally drained from having to deal with The First while looking after Meggie, so neither of those things probably helped. Once her vision re-oriented itself and she regained her sense of balance, however, she favored Connor with a slow smile. "Missed you," she said quietly, meaning every syllable. She still felt bad for disappearing before she'd had the chance to say goodbye.
"Same," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Xander should be here in abou-"
There was a ripple of light from the corner of the room, followed by a flash as Xander stumbled with all the grace of a housebrick into the room. "Oh well, hey, none of my limbs fell off, she's getting better at this", he looked up and smiled, "Hey guys"
Connor pulled Xander into the hug, "Group hug."
"Xander~." River snuggled into the hug pile, feeling warm and complete again. "Missed this too. No more stupid fights," she scolded, glaring at them both.
Xander blinked, still a little disorientated as he hugged them back. "Missed you guys, too", he said, "No fights. Nope, not even a bicker"
"I had something messier in mind anyhow. The fun kind of messy." Connor grinned.
"Explain," the brat in River demanded, poking him in the side. She was getting a general idea from Connor's mind, but she wanted him to put it in words.
"We're painting my room. Without paintbrushes," Connor nodded firmly.
Xander grinned. "Like in kindergarten, but more fun"
"I thought we could all just strip down to underwear or something, but then figured River might not be comfortable with that," Connor glanced at her, "So I procured expendable clothes for us all that we can get as messy as we like.
River blushed at the image of them all in underwear, shaking her head. "Clothes are good," she squeaked, once again mouse-like. "I like painting though~," she added, smiling again. Art was really something of a hobby of hers, in general.
"Paper clothes?", asked Xander in glee, "I haven't worn paper clothes for ages! Please say it's paper clothes"
Connor blinked, "They make clothes out of paper?"
"Yeah, they do, it's great stuff", Xander nodded
"Earth is so weird," Connor shook his head. "I just got some shorts and t-shirts. Fred donated a set for River," he said.
"That's good~. We're close enough to the same size. And related," River chirped. "And I agree, Earth-That-Was....Is...is strange." It was very odd thinking about the Earth-That-Was as being a present thing...she still hadn't gotten used to that yet, either.
"SO!" Connor handed a bundle of clothes to each of them. "Go change and meet me in my room, if the door's open just walk right in."
"AYE AYE!", Xander saluted, stepping off into his room to change
Connor chuckled, brushed a hand down River's cheek, and took off to his own room. "You can change in Harm's room, she's downstairs harrassing Angel."
"Alright~," River replied, blushing a little at the affectionate gesture before wandering over to Harmony's room. She was attacked by George there, the puppy licking all over her face. She giggled, before slipping into Fred's clothes and heading back to Connor's room, the dog following loyally.
Connor waited outside the door, keeping it closed, leaning in the jam.
Xander stepped through shortly. "Please tell me there weren't vampire clothes", he said, "The thought occured to me, and sharing clothes with Spike once is enough for any person"
"I stole those from Doyle, he won't notice they're missing," Connor reassured him. "I stole some from Manabe," he sniggered.
"Naughty Conny, stealing clothes," River replied, wagging a finger at him and using the nickname Manabe had suggested just to see his reaction.
"Doyle, I don't know him, so that's okay, not awkward", Xander nodded, then smirked, "I like these, remind me of Construction Worker Xander. With the digging"
Connor blinked. Then sniggered. "RIGHT THEN!" he clapped his hands then looked at River seriously. "You still trust me and Xander, right? No matter what happens?"
"Dahng rahn," River replied, tilting her head a little and trying to understand why he kept saying that.
"Once we're in I'm going to lock the door," Connor said gently.
"......" River squirmed a little at that. She didn't like being locked in. Feeling trapped. She knew Connor and Xander wouldn't hurt her, but...after being virtually a prisoner for so many years it was hard to let go of that.
"We'll look after you", Xander smiled, "Promise, no nasties or anything of the sort, just us"
"I know," River replied, glancing up at him. "You're my knights. Trust you. Just not me."
"Do I get a shiny suit of armor?", asked Xander, "Aww don't worry, been stuck with more than our fair share of people that don't trust themselves. I'll even be nice and not tie you to a chair"
"You'd better not," River grumbled, jabbing him with a finger. "Or I'll hurt you." She wasn't kidding, either.
"My room's a decent size, and the window's open a little bit. I need you to trust us, so that we can have fun painting the room, but if you feel freaked, you stay with us, and let us show you there's nothing to be freaked about," Connor explained.
I trust you. Lock it, River said mentally, hugging them both again. She would beat this. George the puppy nuzzled her leg as an extra comfort.
Connor kissed her forehead and opened the door, pulling her and Xander inside before shutting and locking it. Inside, the floor was covered in drop cloths, the walls were bare, and buckets and pans of paint were strewn about. No paintbrushes, no rollers. ... blue paint.
No. Oh god. The paint was blue. She was locked in a room full of blue, and she couldn't get out...River closed her eyes, trying to calm her nervous breath. It was just a color. It couldn't hurt her.
Xander glanced carefully over in River's direction, before putting a hand on her arm. "It's okay, we're here, remember?"
"Breathe," Connor told her, resting a hand on the small of her back and leaning in to kiss her softly on the cheek. "We're going to make blue a good thing, something you don't have to be afraid of. One less thing for the First to try to use against you," he said gently.
"Two by two, hands of blue," River murmured, hiding her face against Connor's shoulder. They were going to paint with their hands, and there would be blue paint...and two of them. But they wouldn't be ripping out her pieces. They wouldn't ever. River tried to focus on that thought.
"Yes, but good hands", said Xander gently.
"And there's three of us," Connor said, picking up a shallow pan with paint in it. "You can go first," he encouraged.
River hesitantly dipped her hands in the paint, closing her eyes as she touched them to the wall. It would be easier if she couldn't see.
Her hands painted numbers, her mind still in equation-mode from working out a way to stop The First. They calmed her, too.
Xander watched her as she did it, dipping his own hand in the paint and putting it by hers. "See? No badness"
Connor dipped his own hand in, and used his fingers like an ink-pen, putting together a quick sketch of River. "See? No danger here. Just a beautiful mess."
River opened her eyes slowly, a flood of memories hitting her when she saw their hands. "Gorram needles shoving in my eyes and little blue hands working in and out and ripping and pulling and asking what I see over and over and over and always watching, always waiting, tugging from the outside, making everyone scream, hiding us away in the dark but you can't have this," she hissed, her fist somehow finding its way into Connor's wall.
Connor reached his hands to take hers, gently pulling it out of the hole it made. He knew it was probably going to get harder before it got better, that's why he stuck the lock on the door, made sure Xander would be there. "We're here, you're safe," he repeated. "Even with our blue hands. All THREE of us," he stressed the number, a break from the pattern of two.
Xander arched a brow, then nodded. "Yep, all three of us", he said, "And that makes hands of six"
River gave a bit of a strangled laugh. Her hand hurt, why had she done that? "Three. Six. Two. Numbers. Just...numbers. Here. Not there. Not locked in that room. Not with them. They're not here. Gone."
"Exactly. You're here, with us. Who care so much for you," Connor said, taking her blue hand and kissing the patch of unpainted skin he found on it.
"Yeah", said Xander, wrapping an arm around her, "And we're used to fighting the Big Bads, won't let anything hurt you, us"
"I...I'm here...I'm here. Not...there," River said again, letting Connor and Xander ground her, and bring her back to herself. "He's not here...." Except he was. He was there, staring at her with those dead eyes and blue hands and River shrieked, covering her head with the bloody hand she'd forced into the wall. "You're not HIM. You're not real, you're not anything, leave me alone," she shouted, winging one of the pans of paint in the general direction of The First.
Connor ducked the flash of blue that painted him across the chest from the movement before darting in faster than he should have been able to, and hugging River close, kissing her soundly to distract her.
Xander caught her reactions and scowled, remembering. "I can't see you but I know you're there, piss off", he said to thin air, squeezing River's hand gently.
River froze at the kiss at first, mostly in shock, but eventually relaxed into it, bringing all of her attention to Connor's lips and Xander's hand and everything that reminded her of the fact that she was just a girl. She ignored the First as it whispered into her ear, projecting a general I'm busy, go away thought to the room. She knew It would hear.
That's right, you tell It, Connor thought as he continued kissing her.
"It can't hurt you unless you let it", said Xander, "So don't let it. It's got no real power"
I won't let it, River replied, pulling Xander closer, almost using the two of them as a shield against the First. Her eyes closed, and it was just her, Connor, and Xander.
No blue hands, no locked room...no ghosts. Just them.
Connor put a hand at the back of Xander's neck, pulling him down into the triune kiss half a moment, before leaving him to kiss River, his own lips moving to her throat to gently keep up the distraction against First.
Xander sighed softly, his lips pressed against hers as he soothed her, his painted hands brushing along her shoulders.
River wasn't even subconsciously thinking about the First anymore, she was too wrapped up in trying not to melt in a puddle of happy goo as she kissed Xander back, shivering at the new onslaught of sensation that was Connor's lips on her throat.
There was a slight rumble in Connor's chest as he kissed her throat, then travelled over the t-shirt and down her arm. He carefully took her bloody painted hand, between his painted own, the crimson of her blood stark against the blue of the paint, and brought his lips down, his tongue sliding along the new wounds on her hand, cleaning them. Closing them.
Xander's single eye had closed, partly with the sensation of kissing her and partly because he was trying to ignore the smell of blood, and the connor!rumble...yes ingoring was good.
River moaned into the kiss; Connor's tongue was doing funny things to her brain, mostly in the sense that it would probably be melting out her ears if such a thing was possible. She could sense that Xander was trying to ignore it and she didn't know what to do about that, besides distract him with more kissing.
Which was ironic, of course, as he was supposed to be the one distracting her and not the other way around.
Connor lay a lingering kiss on her hand as the last cut closed, kissing his way back along her arm before standing behind her, sandwiching her between himself and Xander, pushing aside her hair and planting soft lingering kisses on the nape of her neck, while his hands rested one on her shoulder, the other on the back of Xander's neck, playing with the short hairs.
Xander felt a purr sound in his throat, but cut it off before it could make itself known too much. No. None of that, one hand resting on top of Connors on River's shoulder.
"I like this better than painting," River mumbled against Xander's lips, taking a moment to catch her breath. She dared to glance around the room, and found that the First had disappeared again, and her mind was clearer than it had been in weeks, despite the Xander and Connor-induced fuzziness. She felt that she might even be able to sleep later, which was a miracle if the dark circles under her eyes were anything to go by.
Connor chuckled slightly in agreement. With their hands all covered in paint by now, the first step of making blue hands not-scary was completed anyhow. He definitely agreed, the kissing and caressing was a lot more fun than painting, at the moment.
"Probably a lot better than most things involving solvents", put in Xander helpfully.
River giggled, nodding. "We still have walls to paint though. Lots of walls. I wrote on walls, with Fred. Lots of numbers," she hummed, leaning back against Connor. "She's probably still writing."
"She does that," Connor said, resting his chin on her shoulder and looking up at Xander. "But we are in a room, with a closed door. Paint at our disposal, and nothing but t-shirts and shorts to ruin - did I mention it's latex paint?"
"Like rubber?", Xander blinked up at him, "Or like that body-paint stuff they wear in those strip clubs that I almost certainly never worked in"
"The latter," Connor's eyes sparkled.
River flushed at the implication, not actually knowing what a strip club was, other than the images she got from Xander's mind.
"That stuff is really cool", Xander grinned, then paused, "Not that I ever worked in one. No siree"
Connor chuckled, grinning as he looked at Xander from over River's shoulder. "I could paint on you," he said suggestively, watching Xander while he nipped River's ear.
"Walls first!" River meeped, knowing that they would never get any progress made whatsoever if things continued in this very nice direction.
Xander arched a brow at Connor with a small grin, then looked at River. "Hmmm, yes..walls"
"Oh fine," Connor pretended to huff, backing off a bit. "Have fun, be creative, I'll be curious what this looks like when we're done."
River rolled her eyes, tugging Connor close again and planting a kiss soundly on his lips. "Thank you," she said quietly, to both of them.
"Hey it's what we do, with the good deeds and the yes...that", Xander coughed, "Babbling agian"
Connor dipped his fingers in a little paint once the kiss with River closed and tapped one along Xander's cheek, then turned and tapped the other on River's.
"Babbling is fun, sometimes~," River replied, poking Connor with a blue finger of her own. "No painting people. Bad."
"Well, usually I draw people," Connor allowed cheekily.
"I draw people too, but I don't draw on them," River retorted.
"We'll have to fix that."
Xander arched a brow, looking between them. "Hey, you know what else is fun? Cheese squares!", he said, in his attempt to break up the discussion before ti got out of hand.
"Oh, see, now I'm hungry," Connor twapped Xander, getting some blue in his hair.
"Food is nice," River agreed, nodding. She hadn't eaten before she came, knowing the trip would probably cause bits to come up if she did. But they were locked in a room, so it was kind of moot.
"Ow, hey!", Xander whimpered, "Just recounting my cheese-square man dream"
"Well, this is my room..." Connor's voice trailed off. "I wonder if they still have that auto-food set up from when they incarcerated me...."
"Auto-food?" River asked, blinking.
"It just kind of appeared in here."
"That's strange~. Magic?"
"Are you sure they didn't just push it through the door?", tried Xander.
"Saw it appear in the middle of the room. Probably some spell one of those wizard types set up for them."
River made a face at that. "Don't trust magic food," she replied, still very much of the opinion that magic was messy.
"Tasted normal enough," Connor shrugged. "Smelled it, too."
Xander chuckled. "You know, we could, like, order pizza"
"It'd be like Ninja Turtles, only they'd have to deliver it to a fire escape, instead of a sewer crack thing," Connor smirked.
River raised an eyebrow. "Ninja Turtles?" Obviously this was yet another Earth-That-Was reference she had yet to learn about. She knew what a ninja was, and what a turtle was, but beyond that she couldn't make sense of it.
"They were SO awesome!", Xander beamed like the big geek he was, "Oh, River, you missed it. Cowabunga!.....I'll stop now"
"We'll show you on the tv or something," Connor promised. "So, Xander, how you calling out for pizza?"
River laughed at Xander's enthusiasm, and nodded in response to Connor. "We don't have a phone in here, do we?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Not unless Xander put a mobile in his shorts."
"I do not have a cell in my shorts!", complained Xander, "...I have one in my shoe"
Connor blinked.
"...Isn't that kind of uncomfortable?" River asked, grinning.
"No, it's really small and cool, Andrew bought it me for my last birthday", said Xander, pulling out a little phone form his shoe with a geeky grin.
Connor just shook his head and snorted his laughter.
"It's...a tiny phone," River stated obviously, eyes wide as she plucked it from his hands and began to figure out how it worked.
Xander chuckled. "Just don't take it apaprt, Andrew will have a hissy fit"
River stuck her tongue out at him. "I could put it together again if I took it apart. And it would be better."
"Call for the pizza first?" Connor asked.
"Food IS important", Xander nodded, trying to ease it away form River
"Oh! Right. Pizza," River replied, before blinking a bit and realizing she'd never had that before either. "You should order."
Xander grinned, taking it. "What's everyone having?"
"Meat," Connor nodded.
"No meat," River replied, making a face again.
"How about I get one of the four-way thingies?", asked Xander, "You know, the square ones?"
"One all meat, one all veggies, one some of both, and one cheese?" Connor suggested.
"I like vegetables," River replied, nodding.
Connor shuddered.
"Connor doesn't like vegetables", said Xander conversationally as he dialed up, "Lorne keeps trying to feed them to him"
"They're tasty~. And good for you. And they didn't have thoughts once," River replied, shivering a little at that.
"Vegetables are what food eats."
Xander chuckled, letting them bicker as he ordered the half-n-half to keep the peace.
Connor muttered something about celery having evil plans to take over the world.
River stuck out her tongue, ignoring that bit of nonsense. "If vegetables are what food eats, does that make me food?"
"Well, you do taste very good," Connor allowed.
River blushed at that, mumbling something about perverts in Chinese.
Xander made the order, turning off the phone. "See, you turned vegeatbles dirty for me, just like everything else"
"WHAT?!?" Connor looked innocent.
"Don't play innocent with us," River replied, poking him again.
"Connor, you couldn't be innocent if it crawled into your brain and took up root", said Xander pointedly
"I'm sure there's a demon that can do that," Connor said thoughtfully.
"Well there's not one in there right now," River replied, giving him another experimental poke just for fun.
Xander chuckled, leaning back against the wall, then blinked. "...Oh yeah....wet paint"
Connor pulled him away and looked at the backward equations now painted on his shirt back. "Well... they make about as much sense either way, to me," he mused.
Xander tried to turn his head to see. "They make even less sense to me", he said, "Iv'e understood demon texts better"
River looked at the equations and blinked. Then paused, and blinked again. ".....Backwards numbers gone backwards isn't forwards," she mumbled to herself, dipping her hands in more paint and rewriting the equations on the wall as they appeared on Xander's shirt. "Backwards, sideways, upside-down...."
Connor blinked.
Xander blinked as well. ".....My brain is starting to hurt"
"When you see yourself in a mirror, it's backwards," River hummed in a vague explanation, pacing to the other side of the room to paint more numbers. There was no hole in the wall over there.
"I can only guess what that room looks like after she and Fred got together in it", said Xander, looking at Connor from the corner of his eye, "I mean, maths, EVERYWHERE!...I had nightmares like that"
Connor leaned up and kissed him, "Then make random things to counteract the maths on the wall," he suggested.
"I can paint other things besides numbers," River grumbled. "I just don't want to." Numbers helped her focus and forget that she was still in a locked room.
"I don't mind the numbers," Connor told her. "Xander's only got one eye, it effects his brain," he winked at the other man.
"HEEYYY", whimpered Xander, "Numbers confused me waaaaay beofre then"
"Well, if you're not going to paint, Xander, then take off your shirt," Connor decided.
River flushed, and there was a big glob of paint in the middle of her nicely painted equation.
Xander pulled a face, before smriking, pulling his shirt off over his head, tossing it to one side.
Connor glanced over at River, then dipped both his hands in blue, and started making intricate markings on Xander's back, moving so Xander ended up facing toward River as he did so.
"I know what you're doing back there," River muttered, using all of the will she had not to look. Because she knew if she did she wouldn't be able to stop.
"He makes a very good canvas, you know," Connor said conversationally. "You should join in."
"Weren't we supposed to be painting the walls?" she replied pointedly, still not looking.
"I really fail at being obvious with my sneaky attempts, don't I?" Connor asked, frowning as he decorated.
"You're always obvious", chuckled Xander, "And since when did I become a canavas? It's because I'm the biggest, isn't it?"
"It's hard to be sneaky with a psychic," River agreed, nodding. She hazarded a glance backward, which brought a lovely shade of pink to her cheeks again that nearly matched her dress.
"So come paint on Xander." Connor told her. He kissed the nape of Xander's neck, "While the 'biggest', I'd say it's more that your body is better suited than mine to being a canvas. River's would make a beautiful canvas as well," he smirked, glancing at her.
Xander 'hmfed', before smiling. "Yeah, she would, you have a point"
"It would not," River replied, ducking her head in embarrassment.
"We beg to differ," Connor pointed out, watching her.
"I would too!", said Xander, "And I'm a craftsman, I know these things"
"It's not a canvas, it's a weapon," River replied, quiet and awkward. She wasn't used to thinking of it in any other way.
"Every weapon," Connor said, walking over and taking her hand, bringing her toward the two of them, "is a work of art."
"That's true", Xander nodded, "Like that thingie-majiggy Buffy has that's, like, a stake and an axe in one", he considered, "And Mr. Stabby"
"I don't want to be a work of art, or a weapon, or an experiment or any of it...I just want to be a girl. I am, sometimes, I know I am, but then it goes away," River whispered.
"You're one of the most amazing girls I've ever met," Connor told her, reaching with a painty blue hand to tip her chin up so she wouldn't look away. "And that's the whole package. Neurosis, danger, beauty, insecurity, gentleness, defiance..." he smiled slightly. "You are who you are, and who you are is magnificent."
(TBC - eventually)