fandomhigh | Construction site: Wednesday 7/18, all day

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construction

Construction site: Wednesday 7/18, all day

Now that the sinkhole's been filled in and smoothed over, there's some cement-work to be done pretty much right on top of it. Not that Xander looks like he's getting Sunnydale flashbacks about that; the thoughtful frown is entirely unrelated. Really.

"The truck did the big parts of it," he says, "But there's paths for a sidewalk laid out that you guys can pour." He points to a small cement mixer, in fact the one that was used to make sure those pesky stones remain in place beneath their feet.

And then there's a safety lecture. You knew there would be.
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[OOC: Open!]

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"Well, there's always-- yeah, nevermind." They'd had that conversation already, the one about what else Slayer-and-Scooby types usually ended up doing with the undead or demons. "Knitting, maybe? Keep up the manual dexterity."

"Just to remind you my job description entails stabbing evil with pointy objects, not knitting them stuff for winter."

"Yeah, but it makes a good cover for having pointy objects in places you usually can't get away with carrying them. Airports, for instance." Not that they'd had to come up with a whole list of ways for Slayers to bypass airport security in the past few years, or anything.

Also, not that he was stalling on telling Mel about the package he'd received, or anything.

"Why? Lurks are now hanging out an airplanes now?" Mel asked. "Somebody better tell the guest speaker from graduation because that's a bigger problem than snakes."

Xander snorted. "On planes not so much. You know how many dark maintenance tunnels and security halls you can find under an airport, though?"

"Not really," Mel said with a shrug. "In Haddyn everything is pretty dark unless you live in the uppers. So if you were totally unaware about the dinos this weekend what were you doing to keep yourself busy?"

"....Knitting?"

Mel snorted in laughter. "Uh-huh."

"Crocheting?"

"I thought the term was 'scrapbooking'."

"Nah, we decided that wasn't manly enough, so we went with bookshel-- Hey, look, I got a package from Willow!"

"Oh yeah? She send cookies?" Mel asked hopefully.

"Not exactly." Xander picked up the small box and started to hold it out, then thinking of the last 'surprise' Mel had pulled out of a box, lifted it out himself.

It was a small apple, carved out of wood, with a thin line around the top, and a tiny brass key sticking out of the side. "If it works, it's your trip home."

Mel wasn't really looking at the apple. She was just staring at Xander.

"What did you say?"

"You asked me to check with Willow about getting you home. She thinks this should do it long as your timeline's not cut off like ours was, and if your brother can send packages..."

And here was why Xander had been stalling. Sending Mel off alone to face her twin and whatever he was up to back home didn't sit right with him. Plus... well, he had experience with trips that turned out to be one-way, didn't he. What if it worked, but she didn't come back?

"I can go home," Mel said staring at the apple-thing for a few moments before looking back at Xander.

"Um. Can I get back?"

Which... when she first got here she never thought she'd want to ask that question. Now she thinks it's the most important one of all.

Xander held up Willow's letter. "She says it should get you between here and there, yeah. There's a little bit of dirt from Fandom inside that's supposed to tell it where to come back to."

If he sounded doubtful, it wasn't of Willow's power, not anymore. Just of whether the universe would decide to cooperate with it or not.

Mel gingerly picked up the device in her hand and nodded silently. "I.."

She stopped looking a little choked up. "Um. Thank you. You really don't know what this means to me."

"I spent six years stuck away from people I cared about and wondering if I'd ever see 'em again at all," Xander said with a small smile. "I've got some idea."

"Oh," Mel said trying to shake herself out her self-centeredness. "Right. I knew that. Um."

She looked at Xander and then reached over to give him a hug.

"Thanks. Give this to Willow."

"If the mojo went both ways, I could e-mail it to her; she did that to me once." Xander squeezed her shoulders. "I'll have to pass it on the old-fashioned way, though."

"Please do," Mel said quickly wiping her eyes.

No those weren't tears and she wouldn't admit it. Stupid allerigies.

"So. I guess I better try this sucker out soon, huh?" Mel said looking somewhat distracted.

Home. Erin. The Tav.

Harth.

Mel swallowed and breathed an uneasy sigh. "You know. Just to make sure everyone is all right."

He did understand, and that meant it was time to suck up his own misgivings. "Sounds like a plan."

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Construction site: Wednesday 7/18, all day

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