Marie and Amanda, Friday night pizza

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Amanda and Marie get together for a Friday night. The talk gets a little serious, but then the pizza arrives.

"Housekeeping!" Marie called out as she knocked on Amanda's door with a smile on her face. She hadn't seen the blonde witch in what felt like ages and she was looking forward to a quiet evening in with her friend, enjoying some cheesy movies with even cheesier pizza.

"What, no Avon lady?" Amanda joked as she opened the door. She was looking a little battered, face a bit pinker than usual from the fire in the warehouse, hair a little shorter that before where Marie-Ange had trimmed the singed ends off, and she was moving a bit stiffly from the bruises she'd collected Tuesday night. "Great to see you, mate. You have no idea how much I've been needing this after the week I've had."

Marie stood in shock for a moment, taking in Amanda's appearance. "Looks like it," she said once she finally found her ability to speak again. Entering the suite, she closed the door behind her. She tentatively laid a gloved hand on Amanda's arm. "What happened to ya?" she asked, concern radiating from her.

"Work," Amanda said wryly. "Things got a bit hairy in a warehouse the other night." Because she hadn't been able to control the magic properly - it still rankled. Just what spells were left to her these days or did she have to re-learn everything? "I'm all right, just a bit singed 'round the edges. And thinking I'm really gunna have to work with Remy and Wanda on the defence stuff some more since my powers' not worth squat that way right now."

"Ah thought y’all did the super sneaky spy stuff…you look like y’ just got back from a full-fledged X-Men mission." The worry was still apparent in her expression and tone. “And why do all the new haircuts around this place start with a little bit of singing?” she asked, a wry smile on her face as she ran her hand through her own short hair.

"Well, we were being sneaky," Amanda protested, closing the door after Marie and waving the older girl towards the couch where a couple of bottles of beer waited on the coffee table. "But then things kind of went wrong and the warehouse got set on fire. Pizza'll be here in a minute - grab a seat." She grinned at Marie's gesture. "I was due a trim any way - Sofia was muttering about split ends and a beauty treatment at my last evaluation." She pulled a face.

Ah. Hate. Fire. Setting the DVDs down on the coffee table, she grabbed one of the beers and popped off the top. Sitting down, she raised an eyebrow with a questioning look on her face. “How’s that going? Ah know you’re not her biggest fan.”

"We're fine as long as she doesn't tell me what to do. Then things get messy," Amanda snorted a little, grabbing her own beer. "Samson set me up with a mate of his shrink-wise and I talk to him about the personal stuff, the addiction and the rest, and Sofia and I stick to psych eval after jobs. Which reminds me, I have to make another appointment to see her after the other night." Her nose wrinkled. "But she does pull her weight, if we ask her nicely with a cherry on top."

“How benevolent of her,” Marie said a bit dryly. “It’s good you have someone to talk with though, besides her Ah mean.” She took a swig of her beer, leaning back in the couch. “So what were you doin’ in a burnin’ warehouse anyways? Or is this one of those if you tell me you’ll have to kill me kinda things?”

"Yeah, she's our benevolent highness, all right. Handy with those winds of hers, tho'." Curling her legs up underneath her, Amanda shrugged a little. "Well, I can't talk about it generally, but you know what we're about." Pausing to drink some beer, she went on. "We tracked down the people who grabbed Sarah and sold her to that fucker in Germany. They had a whole mutant smuggling ring going on. We managed to get their latest batch out, but the guys in charge got away." She grimaced. "Sort of my fault. I had a bit of a mistake with the magic and ruined the whole stealth part of the night. That's why the fire - they had the place rigged to go up if they got raided."

"Damn," Marie said, shaking her head. "The important thing is that y'all got out ok and kept them from sending anymore people out." She made a mental note to check on Sarah; she could only imagine how the other girl would be feeling knowing that one of her captors got away. Taking another sip of her beer, she swallowed hard and then grimaced. "Unfortunately, Ah'm sure he'll show back up on our radars. Those type a' folk never vanish the way they oughta."

"Yeah, they're like roaches that way - you step on 'em but they bounce right back when you aren't expecting it." Amanda shuddered at the memory. Fortunately she was saved more reflection by a knock on the door - the pizza had arrived. Getting up and paying the delivery guy, she came back and set the box on the table, flipping it open. Delicious-smelling steam arose. "Yum."

Marie's stomach growled as soon as she inhaled and she reached out to grab a piece of pizza. "That's why we keep stomping." Almost seems like it'll never stop. She blew on the slice, then took a big bite. Waving her hand in front of her face, she grinned. "Ah never have patience to wait til it cools down."

With a chuckle, Amanda sat herself back down and reached for a slice, blowing on it to cool it down. "You'd think you'd learn after the first ten times," she teased, then looked thoughtful. "So, the invulnerable thing... how far does it go? If you're burning yourself on molten cheese and all..."

Marie grinned. "That's why Ah don't learn my lesson. It doesn't actually burn my mouth, Ah just logically know it should be. It's really strange." She took another bite and chewed, while she thought. "Y' know Ah probably need to do some real tests, see how far it goes. Cain's run me through a DR room to work on me flinching less, but it's still hard."

"Cain? Bloody hell, you'd want to be invulnerable, having him throw you around." Amanda laughed. "Bad enough now Remy's got his legs back he's making noises about giving us junior trenchcoats a good going over in the Danger Gym." At Marie's snort, she explained. "Doug's name for the gym up on the third floor here. Got it all kitted out for training stuff, but it's nowhere your fancy rig. Think the old bloke downstairs might wonder if we installed our very own holodeck."

"Yeah...Ah like Cain though. Even when he's gleefully shooting rocket launchers at me," she said with a wink. "It's good y'all have a place to train though, especially if things are gonna keep happening like the warehouse." She grinned at Amanda. "An' Ah'm sure you'll be driving the old guy downstairs batty and out the door in no time."

"Rocket launchers? Bloody hell, and I thought it was bad enough when he was threatening to deck me." Amanda laughed aloud. "Or making me do repairs - Jubilee and me thought we'd be fixing that hallway forever..." She shrugged a little at the idea of training. "Wanda's great to work with, so I don't mind her, but Remy's back to thinking he's a monster again so fuck knows what he'll come up with." She avoided mentioning Lorna's name, but the thought of the woman and what she'd done made Amanda grind her teeth. "And the old geezer's not so bad - he puts up with us coming and going at all hours already. Must think we're the biggest party animals or something."

"Well, aren't y'all?" Marie teased. Standing up, she picked up the movie from the coffee table and slipped it into the DVD player, then settled back on the couch, snagging another slice of pizza. "Ah couldn't resist the chick flick, so Ah take no responsibility for the quality of this movie."

"And here's me without the glitter nailpolish. What's a girly girl to do?"