Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

Anakin had been coping with the ever-growing list of students and friends that had been added to the board of the missing, even as he received final messages of his own.

But the one he woke up to this morning left him sitting quietly behind his desk and staring into space. Rory was the great love of his life, and his best friend, but Aeryn--they'd boggled at the strange Earth traditions together and commisserated about the abject evil of Santa Claus and had been thrown out of every paintball course in a three-state radius of both of their homes...and now she was gone.

Anakin wasn't quite ready to deal with a universe without Aeryn and John in it. He definitely wasn't ready to tell his wife about this.

So his office door was open, but it might take a minute to catch his attention.

Comments

[solo_sword]

Jaina's player was maybe still crying had been listening to radio broadcasts since she woke up way too early today, and she had to take a break and do something normal for a bit. Luckily it was Thursday, so there was no question what that something was.

She even knocked.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's hand went involuntarily to where his lightsaber normally hung from his belt--old habit that went with being startled--then smiled at her, still looking a bit frayed at the edges. "Hi. Come in."

[solo_sword]

"You okay?" she asked, stepping inside.

[sith_happened]

As the one who laid into other family members for using the word "fine" when they weren't, Anakin was stymied for a moment, then shook his head.

"Bad phone call."

[solo_sword]

At this point, Jaina could assume what kind of bad phone call it was. "Sorry," she said, meaning it. She was saying that a lot the last couple weeks.

[sith_happened]

He ran his hand through his hair. "Thanks," he said. "She was my first friend who wasn't Obi-Wan, and he and I were always...complicated."

[solo_sword]

"I gathered," she said with the tiniest smile, and paused. "With every person I hear about now, I become more convinced there has to be a way to turn this around somehow."

Let's see if she still said that after the next time she checked the board.

[sith_happened]

"I'll settle for slowing it down," Anakin said. "Not there aren't infinite multiverses, but I'm getting the feeling it's bearing down on us soon."

[solo_sword]

"Same. There are too many names on radio now, and too many people coming into town all at once. Whatever's going to happen, it'll be soon." Cheery thought when you had no plan.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders had been remiss in checking in on people since his arrival, but he was about to start rectifying that.

"Skywalker." He was leaning against the door frame, red eye from the Perk in hand and days' worth of ragged stubble augmenting his still-messy hair.

[sith_happened]

"Anders!" Anakin said, eyes lighting up.

With the members of his graduating class and those near it seeming to be dropping like stunned hawk-bats, he might almost be glad to see even Bel at this point.

Well, probably not.

"When did you get in?"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders would be really disturbed if Anakin ever was happy to see Bel. Really, really disturbed.

"Couple days ago. Gods, I'm telling you, man, we gotta stop meeting like this."

He counted Homecoming as the sort of adverse circumstances he meant. He knew Bel always stopped by the dunk tank.

[sith_happened]

"I'll put in a request with the mayor for the biggest New Year's part ever," Anakin promised.

If they got to New Year's.

"How are things where you came from?"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Bad, I'm guessing. Haven't checked in myself since we left, but you probably heard we lost Piper." Anders frowned down at his coffee cup before taking a sip.

"Think we oughta be used to all this end of the world stuff by now, or what?"

[sith_happened]

"Probably," Anakin agreed, "but normally we tie that sort of thing up by Friday. I'm sorry about Piper. She was a great cook."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders offered him a brief, sardonic smile.

"I miss the constant low-level antagonism."

He needed that in his life, actually.

"Man, this whole thing is way out of sync with the usual Fandom crisis schedule," he went on. "Or have you guys gone and shaken things up since my time?"

[sith_happened]

"Nothing I've planned," Anakin said, "or even heard of. Where I come from, we take out a planet with a giant superweapon and everyone knows how it happened."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Even Isabel realized there were only so many times you could clean a kitchen as a way of not thinking about things. Besides, even though nothing was happening on the island, it didn't hurt to go check on people.

So there she was at Anakin's door, two large coffees in hand.

"Knock, knock..." she said quietly.

[sith_happened]

"Come in," Anakin said, glancing up.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I come bringing coffee and a complaint," Isabel replied with a weak attempt at a smile as she stepped into the office. "The schedule is off."

[sith_happened]

"Just a little bit," Anakin agreed with an equally weak smile. "Would you like to write an angry letter?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'd rather hit things. It's a lot more satisfying." Setting the coffee she'd brought Anakin on his desk, she pulled up a chair. "We're supposed to have clue by this point. Or at least an idea of what's going even if we don't know quite how to stop it yet. Instead that damn list keeps growing and we're still clueless."

[sith_happened]

"It's really frustrating," Anakin agreed. "I prefer things to hit, too."

That would come as a massive surprise to Isabel. Really.

"There have been people in the library for weeks now, and so far they've found things that it's not...but that still leaves us with nothing."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

She is shocked. Absolutely shocked.

"I figured. I want to go help but that would mean sitting still. And if I sit still I start to think about who's gone, and wonder about who we haven't heard from." Isabel took a sip of her coffee as she contemplated that mental list. "If we haven't heard anything does that mean they're okay? Or did things just happen so fast they didn't get a chance to get word out?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "I'm this close to going through my senior year yearbook and just cold-calling people."