Room 322, Monday Midday

[not_every_mage]

Kathy had no way of knowing this, but her Valentine's Gift couldn't have come at a better time -- although probably not for the reasons she intended. Nathan had gone home over the weekend, and he hadn't been sure how long he'd need to stay. The important thing to Anders was that, romantically speaking, it had been goodbye.

Anders knew from the start that they'd almost certainly need to split up to go back to their respective worlds someday, and Nathan's growing distraction had made that unpleasant fact ever more clear of late. But Anders still held on to a stupid romantic hope that somehow, the break wouldn't come until the hazy future.

With that hope dashed, he was going to drain the bottle of champagne from the gift basket, eat the strawberry tarts, and write maudlin poetry in the journal. He knew he'd recover, but he deserved a good wallow first.

[OOC: Door closed but knockable.]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"And if all else fails, we'll go to the mainland and get you laid," said Dante, king of the fantastic break-up woes cures. "You'll be fine. Fuck it." Beat. "Why'd he go?"

[not_every_mage]

"Getting laid," Anders said, and frowned, "... Shouldn't sound as good as it does right now."

Weird. Well, at least his libido was healthy.

"He had family stuff," he added vaguely. "It's a long story. He's not sure he'll never come back, but he's not sure he will, either."

[rebelseekspizza]

"So he's basically like, what do you call it-- that cat they locked in a box that died but didn't die or something?"

... Dante paid attention during classes. Sometimes. Very sometimes.

"Whatever," he decided.

[not_every_mage]

"What maniac is locking cats in boxes?" Anders asked with undisguised horror. (He had missed *that* class, and Dante's point.) "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm not locking your cat in anything," Dante said, fast. "Even if he tries to eat stupid shit."

[not_every_mage]

"He's exploring his environment," Anders said, and scooped up a surprised Lachlan protectively. "He's curious. That doesn't mean he should be locked in a box."

Lachlan, it should be noted, tended to explore his environment by eating a lot of stupid shit.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm just saying, at some point some teacher couldn't stop talking about a cat who was dead and not dead at the same time, as long as you didn't open a box to check," Dante said. "... Which is actually pretty stupid. Science sucks."

[not_every_mage]

"That's why magic is better," Anders said sulkily. "Magic almost never asks you to lock cats in boxes."

He sighed, and stroked Lachlan again. "Anyhow, you aren't wrong. He's not absolutely gone forever and he's not here. But either way he's not my boyfriend anymore. Too much else going on for him."

[rebelseekspizza]

"That fucking sucks too," Dante said, which was probably about as sympathetic as he ever got. He tilted his head, adding in a teasing, sing-songy voice, "But hey, you get a free card to fuck whoever you like for the next couple of months."

It was entirely possible he didn't fully grasp the pitfalls of romantic entanglements.

[not_every_mage]

"Great, I can replace somebody I loved with a dozen random bodies," Anders said -- though he didn't sound entirely repelled by the prospect. He knew Dante was only trying to be nice. "Fantastic. Don't know why I bothered with him to start with."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Well, not random," Dante said, "I was going to go with 'hot'."

... yeah, he was trying.

"You can have some of my scotch if you want to?"

[not_every_mage]

"Hot might be different," Anders conceded. "But today I'm only taking Scotch to bed. Thank you."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Scotch it is," Dante said, leaning over to start rooting around under his bed until he found the cheapest bottle. (Look, he wasn't a saint.)

He held it up. "That should get you through."

[not_every_mage]

"You know, Dante," Anders said gratefully as he took the bottle, "Rapunzel may have had fewer overnight guests, but she never gave me Scotch. You're winning as favorite roommate right now."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Half my overnight guests are overafternoon guests anyway," Dante said, sitting back down on his bed. "But hey, I try."