xp_logs | Amanda, Logan; Amanda, Angelo

Mid-morning, and Amanda's doing battle with linoleum. Rather unsuccessfully, as it turns out. Good thing Logan's around and comes fitted with his own set of linoleum cutting tools. There's a certain amount of testing the waters and testing of Amanda's lungs.

"Come on, you bloody bastard piece of shit," Amanda growled under her breath. She was tugging at a piece of linoleum in the bathroom, rather ineffectually as it turned out since the glue had apparently been made with cement and possibly whatever it was you found in baby vomit that made it impossible to get it out of clothing. The knife she had was next to useless, too. "Fucking bastard son of a bitch cu..." The piece she was pulling at abruptly broke, sending her falling backwards and smacking her head against the tiled wall. "Ow! Fuck!"

Logan, following the sound of cursing, stopped in the doorway and looked down at Amanda. "Trouble, darlin'?" he asked in a friendly tone. He had his cigar between his teeth but it wasn't lit. He was holding a bottle of ice-cold water, and he offered it to her along with a hand should she be so inclined.

She looked up at him, ruefully rubbing the back of her head. Cain had mentioned something about Logan being around to help this week. "Bloody stuff's welded to the floor," she said as she took the offered water. And the hand, after a moment's hesitation.

Logan easily hoisted the girl back to her feet, almost jerking her off of them. "How deep's this stuff go?" he asked curiously, squatting down to get a better look.

"'S the old thick lino," Amanda said, sitting on the edge of the tub and taking a sip of water. "So it's about... what? Half a centimeter thick? 'S the glue that's the problem - I can't budge it and the knife's a piece of shite."

Logan couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "Lucky for you I can do better." he said. He extended the claws of his right hand, then poked a claw-tip into the linoleum. "Cutting through the floor, now that's a problem." he muttered.

Amanda squeaked a little as the claws came out. She hadn't actually seen them before, just heard them talked about, usually in hushed tones. Then she watched in fascination as he began cutting through the linoleum as easily as if it was paper. "Ever thought of going into the home renovation business?" she joked.

Logan looked up for just a moment, then returned to what he was doing. The linoleum was coming up quite easily, and he was managing to avoid cutting through anything _really_ important beneath it. Like load-bearing structures, wiring, pipes, etc. "Dunno if you heard." he said as he was working. "Em decided to head back to Xavier's."

"Angelo said," she replied, in the same casual tone. She was quiet for a long while, rolling the bottle of water between her hands. "He said she was doing much better," she offered at last. "Got her head together after all the shite at the school before she left." Including a certain magical misfortune.

Logan nodded, then moved further into the room to start cutting a different area. "She's doin' a lot better. The hippie did her a world of good." In addition to being entirely too apologetic about how some things were just beyond his power. Things like Logan's psyche. He swore as a piece of old linoleum fractured by where he was cutting and drove a large splinter of itself into his hand. He held his hand up and removed the splinter, watching the wound close itself in moments before going back to work. "Got a rag?" he asked her.

Amanda winced, the words "Are you all right?" already dying on her lips as she watched the wound close over. "Um, sure," she said, patting her pockets and pulling out a handkerchief. An old habit from her magic days - she'd gotten used to carrying something for the nosebleeds. Handing it over, she watched him slicing the linoleum off cleanly. "I'm glad Marie's back and doing all right," she ventured, wondering just what the nature of the man's relationship with Marie was these days. "I suppose you are and all?"

"It's good to see her as whole as she's gonna get." he said, wiping the couple of spilled drops of blood off his hand with her handkerchief before passing it back to her. "As for me - I get by, darlin'. Can't ask for too much more." he said, and left it at that. She wanted to poke, that was her business. "Switch places with me and start getting some of this crap out of here." he told her.

Well, some things hadn't changed - Logan was as much of a font of information as always. "Rumour is you two aren't... together any more," she said, changing places and beginning to pick up chunks of linoleum. It was probably taking her life in her hands, but she wasn't called "Trouble" for nothing.

"That'd be true." he said. "Wasn't right. Know that now." he said, really not wanting to get into this with _Amanda_, of all people. When she got her own shit in order then she could grill him on his. Not before. But she'd made a decent start on that and it wouldn't kill him to meet her halfway. Besides she'd gotten along tolerably well with Em before the whole potion furball.

Actually, it was more than she'd expected to get and it was hard to not let the surprise show. "Fair enough," she replied, with a small shrug. "So," she went on after a moment. "How're you finding things back at the school?"

"Same shit as always." he said with amusement. "Still stinks and there's still teenagers being teenagers." Yet there wasn't anywhere else he could really see himself sticking around for as long as he had. "Scott's bike still goes fast."

"See, that's one of the things I never got to do," Amanda said with a mock pout. "Some teenage rebel I am."

Logan quirked an eyebrow at her. "You got a light, kid?" he asked with a grin. He then reached into the pocket of his battered jeans and pulled out a pack of cheroots, tossing it to her. "You could use a good smoke." he said.

She rolled her eyes at him and straightened so she could dig her lighter out of her own pocket. "You had to ask?" she said, passing him the lighter and taking a cheroot in exchange. Sniffing at it a little cautiously, she stood, tilting her head doorwards. "Break?" she suggested. Smoking this in the bathroom would probably kill her. Not him, since he had the healing factor, but even her lungs had limits.

Logan shrugged. Sometimes he forgot that other people could get bothered by the smoke. "Sure." he said, straightening up and sheathing his claws, the small incisions between his fingers healing over almost instantly. He thumbed her cheap lighter to life and lit his cigar before passing it back to her. "Outside?" he asked.

"Or at least somewhere with a bit more ventilation," she replied. Which turned out to be the living room, perched on the sawhorse. She lit her own cigar, coughing a little at the first inhale. These things were strong, but she wasn't about to admit weakness.

Logan just leaned up against a wall, pulling the smoke deep into his lungs and holding it there before letting it go through his nose. He made sure to quirk an eyebrow at her cough, but he gave her points for sticking with it. "So why come back?" he asked her.

Well, she had gotten nosy with him. Turnabout was fair play. "Seemed the thing to do," she said at last. "I was as together as I was going to get. Time to start fixing things."

Logan snorted in amusement and took another drag off his smoke. "Takes guts, kid." he told her. "Not a lot of brains, but guts."

Amanda wrinkled her nose at his words. "What makes you say that?" she asked, gingerly taking another puff of the cigar. It was slightly better than the last one, although her eyes were watering.

"You really wanted to put things right, you'd forget these geeks and build a life they - you - could be proud of." he commented. "Sticking yourself back into it is a good way to get yourself fucked up again."

Amanda looked at him levelly through the smoke, considering her answer. "Good point," she said, evenly. "And that was the plan, y'know? Only then my powers came back and I realised that sometimes you don't get that. 'Normal's' a perspective thing - this is as normal as I get."

Logan barked out a chuckle at that. "Life's a bitch, and unless you're me, then you die." he said, saluting her with his cheroot before sticking it back into his mouth for another drag. He wanted to get a little more quality time with the wonderful nose-deadening properties of his cheroot before he headed back to finish off that bathroom.

"Pretty much," Amanda admitted, heartened by the laugh. She hesitated, and then asked: "And you? Why'd you come back?" She added almost immediately after: "Oh, and feel free to tell me I'm sticking my nose in. I won't get offended."

Logan looked at Amanda and shrugged. "Canada wasn't working. Langkowski hit a wall in his efforts. Coming back here - felt right. Right place, right time, right thing to do." He left it at that, as he wasn't a wordsmith at the best of times and he wasn't elaborating on his feelings well. If he could prevent anyone else from having done what happened to him, if people like Marie could get the help they needed to live a normal life, he'd count his life well-spent.

"Hah." Amanda took another drag of the cigar, coughed again and grinned. "These things are pretty rough, you know that, right?"

"Suit me fine. Too much for ya?" he teased with a hint of a wink. "They cut the shit in the air."

Amanda raised her eyebrow. "Enhanced senses, right," she realised. And then obstinately took another drag. "I'm fine," she wheezed, trying hard not to cough out the smoke.

"You're a lousy liar, kid." he said, but affectionately. "And yeah. Smell and hearing."

"Must be a bastard, smelling everyone's BO all the time," she said, wrinkling her nose at the term 'kid'. Still, to someone as old as Logan, she was a kid. Same as she was to everyone else she worked with, it seemed.

Logan just chuckled at that. "It's got its uses, but the stink gets pretty bad sometimes." he confessed. "Don't even really notice it all that much anymore."

"Smoking these things, I shouldn't wonder," she snorted. Another drag and she finally admitted defeat, stubbing the cigar out on the sawhorse. "Okay, I've smoked some real shite in my time, but there's limits to the self-punishment."

"That would be the point, kid." he said with another chuckle. "Let's go finish that bathroom."

Later on the same day, Angelo drops by. There are souveniers of Nepal, the usual banter and Angelo asks her to some dance going on at the school. Nothing special, really.

Amanda's apartment was one of the second-floor ones, slowly taking shape through large amounts of hard work. Someone - Cain, she supposed - had been in whilst she'd been away and done the really hard jobs like minor electrical repairs and rehung the bedroom door that had insisted on scraping across the floor, but there was still a lot of grunt work to be done. Like removing the truly disgusting vomit-green paint on the kitchen cupboards. This afternoon she was perched on top of a step-ladder, using the topmost step as a seat as she sanded away at the upper cupboard doors. There was music on, as usual, one of the John Peel favourite mixes she'd borrowed from Pete and she attacked the paint with a certain amount of stubborn determination.

The next time she happened to look round, Angelo was leaning in the doorway, watching her with some amusement. "Havin' fun?"

"Gah!" She started, nearly dropping the sanding block and grabbing onto the ladder to steady herself. "You scared the shite out of me, mate."

"You're losin' your touch", he teased. "I wasn't even tryin' to be quiet. Much."

She wrinkled her nose at him. With her hair in two short braids and wearing a pair of denim overalls, she looked much younger than her nineteen years.
"At least I wasn't singing. Cain walked in on me and got a free concert and all." Beginning to turn around so she could climb down, she continued. "But still, heart attacks and all, 's good to see you. What d'you think? Place is slowly getting there - I should be ready to start painting soon now all the wallpaper's off. Just need to finish in here."

"It's lookin' pretty good", he said, studying the room from his vantage point. "Can see where it's goin', now."

"Well, I'm no great shakes with the interior decorating, but I can't do any worse than whoever did it over the first time." Her feet now firmly on the floor (still covered with worn linoleum - she had yet to get to the kitchen), Amanda turned and gave Angelo a hug. "'S been a bit," she observed. "All that office moving keeping you busy?"

"Just a bit", he said with a crooked grin, hugging her back. "An' Rachel keeps gettin' out of her room. She can open doors now. An' the new secretary's frightened of her."#

"Not dealing with the flying baby, is she?" Amanda remarked wryly. "She'll come 'round. Or quit, I suppose." There was a cooler in the corner of the kitchen, since there was no fridge yet, and releasing Angelo she crossed to it. "Want a Coke or something?"

"Yeah, I won't say no to that", he said casually, moving to the living room to sit down. "How're the others?"

"Pull up a box," she told him with a laugh, picking out a couple of cans from their icy nest and following him. "They're okay - busy with setting up stuff. Betsy came with me to Nepal - kept me out of strife and all." Passing him a can, she grabbed a plastic shopping bag before taking a seat herself on the floor, legs crossed Indian-style underneath her. The bag was printed in HIndi, with "Kathmandu Duty Free" across the bottom. "We didn't have a lot of time for shopping, but I got a couple of things here and there."

He looked over at the bag with some interest. "Yeah? What'd you find?"

"Well, this is for the new office. Sort of a good luck thing." Amanda set aside her can and pulled the bag into her lap, withdrawing from it a small bronze Bhudda of the happy fat jolly type. The top of his bald head was shiny with contact. "The bloke who sold it to me says it's a traditional thing to rub the top of his head for good luck. I figured he could be a mascot for you lot. Or a paperweight." She grinned, but there was a slightly nervous edge to it - gifts always worried her, in case people didn't like them.

Angelo grinned back, accepting the gift happily. "Well, God knows we could use a little extra shot for good luck. He can live in the office."

"You can never have too much luck," Amanda agreed solemnly, the lines of her shoulders easing somewhat and her eyes twinkling with humour. "You get something extra. 'cause you're special and all," she added, teasingly as she pulled out a bundle of dark blue cloth. It turned out to be a Nepalese shirt made of raw silk.

"..." He had quite possibly never actually got his hands on anything like this, the new tendency to wear suits and ties aside. "This is..."

"Is it okay?" Amanda asked anxiously. "I saw it and thought the colour would really suit you, but then again I'm really bad at that stuff and maybe I should just..." She reached for the shirt, intending to take it back and hide it away.

"No", he said hastily, holding onto it firmly. "It's great."

Damn her colouring - the blush had reached her ears and wasn't going away any time soon. "Um, I'm glad you like it," she said, rummaging around in the bag in order to give herself something else to focus on. Angelo's opinion had always been important to her and she felt like a bit of an idiot now. "I got something for Rachel too, if you could take it for me?"

"Course I will. Maybe it'll keep her from terrorisin' poor Ellen too much."

She handed him a tissue-wrapped object. "'S a rattle, traditional Nepal thing I found at the airport. If she doesn't like it, she can always throw it at someone." She grinned at the last, to show it was a joke.

Angelo laughed. "She probably will, at that. With TK, just to make sure it gets to the target."

"Nate mentioned something about squirrels." Amanda snorted a little. The uncomfortable moment had passed and she set the bag aside and reached for her drink. "I've got a couple of things for Doug and Angie, but Remy said something about them getting drafted to help out here so I'll hold onto them until I see them." There was something a little eager in her tone - she hadn't seen a lot of her friends in the last week or two.

"She threw a squirrel at Haller. Or somethin'", Angelo explained as best he could remember. "An' they're comin' to help you out? A one-off, or...?"

"Just the renovations so far - the whole place needs work and between Remy's leg and Pete fleeing as soon as he could and the work we're doing as well, there's just not enough of us." Amanda shrugged. "Cain mentioned about getting some more people from the school involved too, but I guess things have been a bit busy with your lot moving into the boathouse and the rest."

"Kind of has been. But most of that's just been shiftin' boxes. An' unpackin'. Lots of unpackin'."

"Sick of boxes, are you?" she asked, chuckling at his tone.

"Little bit", he said unrepentantly. "But there's been business to deal with too. Doesn't stop just 'cause we're all disorganised."

Amanda nodded. "Yeah, I'm getting that. Still, I'm glad you had the time to come out here. Remy and Pete tend to be pretty busy."

"You should come back to the mansion, since you're in the city. We've even got a dance comin' up, I think I'm gonna end up as a chaperone or somethin'."

"Chaperone? You? Bloody hell, we're getting old. Time was you'd be the one spking the punch, not guarding it," she teased. "I dunno... 's a school thing, isn't it? I'm not a student there any more and maybe it'd be too... I dunno, too awkward?"

Angelo shrugged. "I'm not a student either. I only still live there 'cause it's convenient, workin' on-site an' all. You should come."

She fiddled with the top of her can, still hesitating. She missed the casual social life of the school, the knowledge she could just go find someone to talk to if she felt the need. Not that Remy and Pete didn't talk to her, but they were... well, they were Pete and Remy. And she and Betsy were still awkward beyond belief. "I will if you want me to," she said at last, aware of what Cain had said about making the most of her chances.

"I do want you to", he said with a grin. "Come on, you know you want to really."

It was the grin that did it. She never could resist Angelo when he smiled at her like that. "All right, then," she said, a small smile of her own crossing her face. "But you might regret this if there's any dancing. Better wear your steel toed boots."

"I can live with that."

"It's a date then." Amanda gave him a considering look. "So, want to be all manly and help me with the kitchen?"

Angelo laughed. "Well, I didn't have any plans for the rest of the day. Why not."

"Brilliant." There was a mischievous glint in her eyes. "There's a pub 'round the corner. I'll buy you a beer when we're done, if you like."

"Sounds good!"

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: East Village, New York
Current Music: Bruised - Ben Folds

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

x-traction.livejournal.com

Loving the Ben Folds lyrics...and my inner Marie is crowing about being talked about for doing ok and not for being a mess.

From:

xp_daytripper

*grins* I've got the song on my mp3 player and listen to it at least twice a day (I have a very basic mp3 player that holds 20 songs ;P) and it's been insisting it be used as a cut tag. These two logs were just perfect.

And Marie should be proud of herself. Doing ok is a definite achievement. :)