fandomhigh | Office Hours (02/17/2006)

Xander pulled the door shut behind him, and dropped into a chair. Almost immediately, his fingers started tapping off-rhythm on his knees, as if he wasn't even aware he was doing it.

"So does this deal involve shirtlessness or the painting of things on me? I'm not categorically against either, but it is kinda chilly this week. And--" He picked a pink paint fleck off his arm, courtesy of one Bridge Carson. "I may already have the paint thing covered."

"No paint," said Jenny. She suppressed her laughter, but couldn't stop grinning. "And no shirtlessness. It's the technopagan in me. I go for a minimal amount of mumbo-jumbo when doing a working."

She studied him for a minute. "You wanna take a few and calm down? You seem kind of nervous."

Xander blinked, and looked down at his over-active fingers. "Ah, yeah, sorry." They stilled, though the clasp on his knees that replaced the tapping was a little tight. "Last time I sat still for a spell, well. The details are vague, but somebody named Alex apparently got himself into quite the pickle."

"Oh, God," said Jenny. "I'm sorry about that. I just--" She shook her head. "Did you know that Rupert just arrived in town?"

Xander looked up and blinked, and now that he was distracted, the stillness of his hands was less forced. "Giles? Is here?"

Jenny shrugged and spread her hands. "All roads lead to Fandom Town? But yeah, I ran into him the other day. The phrase 'looked like he'd seen a ghost' has almost never been taken more literally. Unless, of course, he'd been seeing an actual ghost."

Xander winced. "Oh man, yeah. That must've been harsh." He looked thoughtful. "Not the Giles from my timeline or whatever, I'm thinking? 'Cause he and Buffy were still busy trying to hunt down a giant snake back in Sunnydale, as of Christmas break."

"No, from what I can tell, he's from farther along the timeline than you or me." Jenny wrapped her hands around her coffee mug and took a long pull from it. "Not that I was big on the asking, but some of the things he's mentioned don't match up with some of the things you've mentioned. Like they maybe haven't happened yet to you."

"Or might never - I did that tango with Tara, where her version of me did something totally different for graduation. Like, actually graduated, apparently." Xander's twitchiness had stilled, and, now that he was distracted by the unexpected news, he'd relaxed more, slouching back into his chair. "I guess I ought to drop in and say hi sometime soon, even if he's not quite the Giles I know. Be nice to have somebody polishing glasses at me again, anyway."

"For a minute there, I thought you were saying that you'd actually done a tango with Tara," said Jenny, grinning. "Which would be a little odd. And you should visit. He's running a bookstore. Plenty of joke fodder there, I'm guessing. In addition to all the cracks that can be made about the glasses."

Xander laughed. "No, no tangos with teachers. The only person I've danced an anything with at this school would be Cally." He frowned slightly. "And possibly Bridge, if you count 'standing near each other but also near to the punchbowl while music plays in the background' as dancing, which for the record I don't."

"Good. Because I'd hate to have you breaking those particular school rules." She wrinkled her nose. "Ick. The whole teacher/student thing? Not cool, you know?" Jenny laughed. "I don't think standing near someone by the punchbowl counts as dancing with them. Unless you were both facing each other and moving along with the music, which it doesn't sound like you were doing."

Xander shook his head. "Nope. Vague bouncing, possibly, but it's Bridge; I think he'd bounce during a tax audit."

"You're not wrong," said Jenny. "So. Should we get started here? I've got one of the standard spells modified up a bit. Haven't had time to transfer it onto the computer yet, though." She frowned, slightly disappointed by that. "But then again, you're more used to traditional hocus-pocus anyway, aren't you?"

"Hey, if it does the job," Xander said, sitting up in his chair, "I'll do whichever hokey-pokey you want me to. Even if that would technically be dancing with a teacher."

"Actually, I don't need too much on your end," said Jenny, standing up and going over to her wooden box. "Just a few minutes without any sarcasm." She grinned at him. "That is possible for you, right? With an effort of willpower?"

Xander opened his mouth to say 'I think I can manage it,' but realized that was kinda sarcastic. As was, 'Okay, but do you really want to be responsible for the end of life on Earth as we know it?' and, actually, the expression he felt one of his eyebrows starting to make when he tried just keeping his mouth closed and nodding.

His fingers started with the tapping again; he stilled them with an effort, and thus distracted, managed to say, "Sure, I can do that," without any hidden snarkosis.

Wow. The one thing that could get Xander Harris to lay off the sarcasm was a magical threat. She was gonna have to remember that one for the future.

Jenny set the lid to her wooden box off to the side and pulled out a small bag of sand. She left the flash drive for the file she was converting the spell to in the box. "I already prepped the room." She nodded to the four corners of it, which had four quartz crystals set up in each corner. "You might want to close your eyes or you'll get sand in them."

Xander dutifully closed his eyes, and stretched his fingers out where they rested on his knees, just to cut off the instinct to do the opposite. He also took a deep breath, since he assumed sand in the lungs wouldn't be a party atmosphere either.

Possibly that was a little sarcastic, but at least it was just in his head.

Thankfully, Jenny wasn't telepathic. And she didn't have a built-in nonverbal snark detector. She took a deep breath and reached deep inside before she began to recite the spell.

"Thespia, we walk in shadow. We walk in blindness. You are the protector of the night. hespia, goddess," murmured Jenny quietly. "Ruler of all darkness, we implore you. Open a window to the world of the underbeing."

She poured a handful of sand out of the bag and blew it towards Xander before she finished the invocation, focusing on spells and charms, and willing any that had been cast to become visible in some way.

"With your knowledge may we go in safety. With your grace may we speak of your benevolence."

She paused, then said, "Open your eyes now, Xander."

He opened his eyes and looked at her hopefully.

"There are no spells on you," said Jenny. She held up her hand, which glinted softly where the sand had covered it. "Since I know for a fact I've got spells cast on me? We know the spell worked too."

OOC: Sorry for the long replies! I'm working around the kidlet and trying to get my computer room cleaned up.

"None?" Xander repeated, frowning. "Like nothing none, zilch, nada?"

__
{No worries!}

"Not a thing," said Jenny, brushing the sand off her fingers and onto the floor. She frowned. "That's good, though, right?"

If Xander's answer was slow in coming, it didn't lack in ~~forced~~ enthusiasm. "No, right, that's... great."

Ok, maybe it was a little lacky.

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