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xp_logsIt's Friday and that means only one thing - beer and pizza night!
A week was a long time in recovery. The bandages were off her wrists, showing healing scabs and bruises. Her back was still tender, but things had finally healed up enough for her to stop using the antiseptic cream and the gauze. And she was bored out of her skull, idly wondering if she could ask Pete and Remy about getting back to work next week. The fact it was Friday, and tomorrow was Saturday and she'd normally be heading over to the mansion in the morning to collect the kids for the bus run might have been a contributing factor to her restlessness, but not one she was openly admitting. There had to be some denial, after all.
She was just rummaging through her DVDs for something she hadn't watched a dozen times over when there was a knock at the door. "'S open!" she called, figuring it to be either Kurt or Angelo or one of the Trenchcoats, and continued to paw through British comedies and various movies, in the hope that she'd missed something up the back.
"Hey you," Marie called out as she pushed the door open, balancing a pizza box with a six pack of beer on top of it. "Figured you could use some company and it was about time we got started back on our normal routine. Ah've missed girl's night." She kept an air of lightness in her tone, despite the concern she was feeling for her friend. Kicking the door shut behind her, she tossed the small black bag in her other hand into a corner.
"Marie!" Amanda smiled, an honestly pleased and happy smile, instead of the wry, slightly bitter expression she'd been using far too much lately. Getting up, she came over to relieve Marie of the beer. Yay, beer - while she'd been on the painkillers she hadn't been allowed to drink, and after a night binging on vodka when she came off them, she'd gotten Marie-Ange to keep all her booze until she was less tempted to use it as an emotional anesthetic. "'S good to see you."
Setting the pizza box down on the coffee table, Marie turned to take an evaluative look of her friend, glad to see what looked to be a true smile on Amanda's face. "Not as good as it is to see you," she said with a smile of her own. "Had us worried there for a bit. How're you holding up?"
Amanda shrugged, carefully. "Good days and bad days," she replied, honestly, taking the beer to the fridge. She returned with two bottles, and waved Marie at the couch. "Physically, I'm healing up pretty well. Start physio soon, to make sure I keep as much movement as I can. The rest..." Now the smile became faintly self-mocking. "Sofia and I are having a lot of talks. It's getting there."
"And it's gonna take time," Marie said as she accepted the bottle from Amanda, popping off the top as she settled on to the couch. "But Ah know you know that. Anything Ah can do to help, just let me know, but Ah know pretty much this is your own path to go down." Kicking off her shoes, Marie pulled her legs up against her chest, resting her chin on her knees. She knew most of Amanda's friends had probably already done the compassionate listen and decided that she would try for the opposite - distraction. "Ah'm guessing there also has to be some sort of gossip we need to share at this point...oh, Angel and Julio broke up, but seem to have done it in a more adult fashion than any of the rest of us ever managed. Ah didn't hear any screaming and haven't seen anything broken...yet."
The witch curled into the other corner of the couch, twisting off the cap of her beer and taking a small sip. "Oh, that's good," she said. "First beer since... well, since." She gratefully took the offered topic of distraction - talking about it inevitably led to expressions of either guilt or sympathy, and she couldn't handle either right now. " Now, that's just breaking tradition. Don't they know there has to be property damage and angst? Kids today, I ask you." Picking unconsciously at the label on her bottle, she went on: "So, how'd you survive the whole Parents' Day and graduation thing? I finally got to read some of the journals, saw Kyle's mum had the place on its ear."
"Ah, uh, hid," Marie said, ducking her head, her hair falling forward. "For the first part of the morning anyhow. Then Ah felt guilty. And not all the parents were like Kyle's mom, though the ones that were just quietly disapproving were almost worse." Taking a sip of her beer, Marie tucked the fallen strands behind her ears. "It still could've been worse, after everything. We've got a strong bunch of kids, y'know?"
"Poor Kurt looked a bit worse for wear when he came to see me at the clinic. I think he would have liked to have tried the hiding thing himself." Rolling a small fragment of label into a ball and leaning over to put it in the full ashtray on the coffee table, Amanda nodded. "They are," she agreed quietly. "What they've been taught, what they've picked up from you lot... it's stuck well, and it's bloody good that it has. Much as we might wish otherwise, there's a lot of bastards out there who won't go easy on them 'cause they're kids. If they know they don't have to take it, be victims..." Amanda trailled off, the train of thought becoming uncomfortable. "Laurie came to see me in the clinic, helped nudge the healing along with her powers. Poor kid was feeling guilty 'cause they had to leave us behind. Ange and I tried to put her straight, but I'm not sure how well it took. She's a good kid. Tends to think a little too much in terms of your movie heroics, but that's not always a bad thing if it means she cares about people."
"Too bad movie heroics only work in, well, the movies. Can't say Ah was much different than that when Ah first became an X-Man though. Ah was gonna save the world, y'know?" Marie paused to take a sip from her bottle. "Not that Ah haven't had my movie moments, but those are the exceptions, not the rules of this game."
"'S something we want to believe in, that we can save the world." Amanda sighed a little. "Gives us a reason to keep going out there. Now? I'll settle for making sure there's less bastards in the world. Like Candra."
"Agreed," Marie said, leaning over to clink her bottle against Amanda's. "Ah guess that should really be our slogan - saving the world, one bastard at a time," she added with a wink for the blonde. "You noticed anybody else struggling lately?" she asked, her voice dropping as the tone became more serious.
Amanda shook her head. "I'm not seeing a lot of anyone outside the Trenchcoats," she admitted. "The kids don't need the gory details of what happened to me on top of what they're already dealing with, and it's better I keep my distance. Bad enough they got caught up in the magic shite once." She finished the statement with a definite swig of beer. "Ange is... well, Ange. He's blaming himself," she continued. "I've told him it's not his fault, but, yeah, he spends too much time around Nate sometimes."
Marie ran one finger around the base of her bottle, nodding. "Yeah...he doesn't seem to be doing so hot. Wonderin' if we need to stage an intervention there." She didn't add that she thought doing so would be good for Amanda too.
"Maybe. Might help if it's someone else." Amanda's face closed off, and the label shredding increased. "'M hoping he'll go see that shrink of his, but I can't push." Abruptly, she flipped the lid of the pizza box open and reached for a slice. "Food's getting cold."
"Why can't you push?" Marie asked, reaching out for a slice of her own. "Isn't that what girlfriends do?" She'd noticed the change on Amanda's face as the topic had shifted and wasn't going to just let it drop.
Amanda didn't answer straight away, taking care to chew and swallow the mouthful of pizza as slowly as possible to give herself time to think. "I remind him," she said at last. "That he couldn't stop what happened, even tho' he tried." She reached for the beer again, took another swig. "That's why I can't push. Makes him feel worse."
"Isn't that part of the problem?" Marie asked gently. "That he can't take you, or anyone Ah'm guessing, talking to him about it? You can't not talk about something just because it causes waves initially - that's not healthy for either of you. And the more you let it sit, him feeling guilty about something he shouldn't - and you feeling guilty too, Ah'd hazard - the harder it'll be to get past."
"I'm not feeling guilty - I'm fucking well pissed off," Amanda replied with some heat. "Not at Ange - none of this is his fault any more than it was mine - but at the fucking bastards who did this, at whatever powers that be that think it's a great fucking joke to dump this on me again. 'M angry at myself that I couldn't find a way out. 'M angry that the kids and my boyfriend got mixed up in it. And that doesn't translate well to being the understanding girlfriend pushing Ange to talk about something he doesn't bloody well want to talk about. We'll sort it out. Just... not yet. We both need some time to sort our heads out, get a handle on things." She paused, taking a breath and visibly trying to calm down. "'S too soon, mate. I don't have it in me to push him on this. Not yet. Not while I'm still dealing with it myself."
"Ok," Marie said taking another bite of her pizza and chewing slowly. "Anger isn't a bad feeling to have, so long as you don't let it eat you alive." She made mental notes to check on both of her friends pretty regularly in the upcoming time and make sure they were taking care of themselves. "'s good to realize when you need time to just let things settle," she added, once she'd swallowed.
"Oh, don't worry 'bout me, I'm getting the full deal. Sof and I are having plenty of quality time." Amanda wouldn't admit it, but the older woman's presence calmed her almost as much as Kurt's did. "I worry 'bout Ange - I'd appreciate it if his mates made sure he wasn't letting things get to him too much. Maybe try and get him to go see Jack." She gave Marie a wry smile. "We didn't waste all this time getting together to let things get on top of us. 'S just recovery time, really."
Marie smiled back at Amanda, the Southern girl's expression more warm than wry. "Don't worry. Ah'm prepared to cover y'all with tunafish oil and lock ya in a closet should you try and mess this up. Always worked for the kittens back home."
Amanda wrinkled her nose before laughing. "You, mate, have some very strange fetishes."
A week was a long time in recovery. The bandages were off her wrists, showing healing scabs and bruises. Her back was still tender, but things had finally healed up enough for her to stop using the antiseptic cream and the gauze. And she was bored out of her skull, idly wondering if she could ask Pete and Remy about getting back to work next week. The fact it was Friday, and tomorrow was Saturday and she'd normally be heading over to the mansion in the morning to collect the kids for the bus run might have been a contributing factor to her restlessness, but not one she was openly admitting. There had to be some denial, after all.
She was just rummaging through her DVDs for something she hadn't watched a dozen times over when there was a knock at the door. "'S open!" she called, figuring it to be either Kurt or Angelo or one of the Trenchcoats, and continued to paw through British comedies and various movies, in the hope that she'd missed something up the back.
"Hey you," Marie called out as she pushed the door open, balancing a pizza box with a six pack of beer on top of it. "Figured you could use some company and it was about time we got started back on our normal routine. Ah've missed girl's night." She kept an air of lightness in her tone, despite the concern she was feeling for her friend. Kicking the door shut behind her, she tossed the small black bag in her other hand into a corner.
"Marie!" Amanda smiled, an honestly pleased and happy smile, instead of the wry, slightly bitter expression she'd been using far too much lately. Getting up, she came over to relieve Marie of the beer. Yay, beer - while she'd been on the painkillers she hadn't been allowed to drink, and after a night binging on vodka when she came off them, she'd gotten Marie-Ange to keep all her booze until she was less tempted to use it as an emotional anesthetic. "'S good to see you."
Setting the pizza box down on the coffee table, Marie turned to take an evaluative look of her friend, glad to see what looked to be a true smile on Amanda's face. "Not as good as it is to see you," she said with a smile of her own. "Had us worried there for a bit. How're you holding up?"
Amanda shrugged, carefully. "Good days and bad days," she replied, honestly, taking the beer to the fridge. She returned with two bottles, and waved Marie at the couch. "Physically, I'm healing up pretty well. Start physio soon, to make sure I keep as much movement as I can. The rest..." Now the smile became faintly self-mocking. "Sofia and I are having a lot of talks. It's getting there."
"And it's gonna take time," Marie said as she accepted the bottle from Amanda, popping off the top as she settled on to the couch. "But Ah know you know that. Anything Ah can do to help, just let me know, but Ah know pretty much this is your own path to go down." Kicking off her shoes, Marie pulled her legs up against her chest, resting her chin on her knees. She knew most of Amanda's friends had probably already done the compassionate listen and decided that she would try for the opposite - distraction. "Ah'm guessing there also has to be some sort of gossip we need to share at this point...oh, Angel and Julio broke up, but seem to have done it in a more adult fashion than any of the rest of us ever managed. Ah didn't hear any screaming and haven't seen anything broken...yet."
The witch curled into the other corner of the couch, twisting off the cap of her beer and taking a small sip. "Oh, that's good," she said. "First beer since... well, since." She gratefully took the offered topic of distraction - talking about it inevitably led to expressions of either guilt or sympathy, and she couldn't handle either right now. " Now, that's just breaking tradition. Don't they know there has to be property damage and angst? Kids today, I ask you." Picking unconsciously at the label on her bottle, she went on: "So, how'd you survive the whole Parents' Day and graduation thing? I finally got to read some of the journals, saw Kyle's mum had the place on its ear."
"Ah, uh, hid," Marie said, ducking her head, her hair falling forward. "For the first part of the morning anyhow. Then Ah felt guilty. And not all the parents were like Kyle's mom, though the ones that were just quietly disapproving were almost worse." Taking a sip of her beer, Marie tucked the fallen strands behind her ears. "It still could've been worse, after everything. We've got a strong bunch of kids, y'know?"
"Poor Kurt looked a bit worse for wear when he came to see me at the clinic. I think he would have liked to have tried the hiding thing himself." Rolling a small fragment of label into a ball and leaning over to put it in the full ashtray on the coffee table, Amanda nodded. "They are," she agreed quietly. "What they've been taught, what they've picked up from you lot... it's stuck well, and it's bloody good that it has. Much as we might wish otherwise, there's a lot of bastards out there who won't go easy on them 'cause they're kids. If they know they don't have to take it, be victims..." Amanda trailled off, the train of thought becoming uncomfortable. "Laurie came to see me in the clinic, helped nudge the healing along with her powers. Poor kid was feeling guilty 'cause they had to leave us behind. Ange and I tried to put her straight, but I'm not sure how well it took. She's a good kid. Tends to think a little too much in terms of your movie heroics, but that's not always a bad thing if it means she cares about people."
"Too bad movie heroics only work in, well, the movies. Can't say Ah was much different than that when Ah first became an X-Man though. Ah was gonna save the world, y'know?" Marie paused to take a sip from her bottle. "Not that Ah haven't had my movie moments, but those are the exceptions, not the rules of this game."
"'S something we want to believe in, that we can save the world." Amanda sighed a little. "Gives us a reason to keep going out there. Now? I'll settle for making sure there's less bastards in the world. Like Candra."
"Agreed," Marie said, leaning over to clink her bottle against Amanda's. "Ah guess that should really be our slogan - saving the world, one bastard at a time," she added with a wink for the blonde. "You noticed anybody else struggling lately?" she asked, her voice dropping as the tone became more serious.
Amanda shook her head. "I'm not seeing a lot of anyone outside the Trenchcoats," she admitted. "The kids don't need the gory details of what happened to me on top of what they're already dealing with, and it's better I keep my distance. Bad enough they got caught up in the magic shite once." She finished the statement with a definite swig of beer. "Ange is... well, Ange. He's blaming himself," she continued. "I've told him it's not his fault, but, yeah, he spends too much time around Nate sometimes."
Marie ran one finger around the base of her bottle, nodding. "Yeah...he doesn't seem to be doing so hot. Wonderin' if we need to stage an intervention there." She didn't add that she thought doing so would be good for Amanda too.
"Maybe. Might help if it's someone else." Amanda's face closed off, and the label shredding increased. "'M hoping he'll go see that shrink of his, but I can't push." Abruptly, she flipped the lid of the pizza box open and reached for a slice. "Food's getting cold."
"Why can't you push?" Marie asked, reaching out for a slice of her own. "Isn't that what girlfriends do?" She'd noticed the change on Amanda's face as the topic had shifted and wasn't going to just let it drop.
Amanda didn't answer straight away, taking care to chew and swallow the mouthful of pizza as slowly as possible to give herself time to think. "I remind him," she said at last. "That he couldn't stop what happened, even tho' he tried." She reached for the beer again, took another swig. "That's why I can't push. Makes him feel worse."
"Isn't that part of the problem?" Marie asked gently. "That he can't take you, or anyone Ah'm guessing, talking to him about it? You can't not talk about something just because it causes waves initially - that's not healthy for either of you. And the more you let it sit, him feeling guilty about something he shouldn't - and you feeling guilty too, Ah'd hazard - the harder it'll be to get past."
"I'm not feeling guilty - I'm fucking well pissed off," Amanda replied with some heat. "Not at Ange - none of this is his fault any more than it was mine - but at the fucking bastards who did this, at whatever powers that be that think it's a great fucking joke to dump this on me again. 'M angry at myself that I couldn't find a way out. 'M angry that the kids and my boyfriend got mixed up in it. And that doesn't translate well to being the understanding girlfriend pushing Ange to talk about something he doesn't bloody well want to talk about. We'll sort it out. Just... not yet. We both need some time to sort our heads out, get a handle on things." She paused, taking a breath and visibly trying to calm down. "'S too soon, mate. I don't have it in me to push him on this. Not yet. Not while I'm still dealing with it myself."
"Ok," Marie said taking another bite of her pizza and chewing slowly. "Anger isn't a bad feeling to have, so long as you don't let it eat you alive." She made mental notes to check on both of her friends pretty regularly in the upcoming time and make sure they were taking care of themselves. "'s good to realize when you need time to just let things settle," she added, once she'd swallowed.
"Oh, don't worry 'bout me, I'm getting the full deal. Sof and I are having plenty of quality time." Amanda wouldn't admit it, but the older woman's presence calmed her almost as much as Kurt's did. "I worry 'bout Ange - I'd appreciate it if his mates made sure he wasn't letting things get to him too much. Maybe try and get him to go see Jack." She gave Marie a wry smile. "We didn't waste all this time getting together to let things get on top of us. 'S just recovery time, really."
Marie smiled back at Amanda, the Southern girl's expression more warm than wry. "Don't worry. Ah'm prepared to cover y'all with tunafish oil and lock ya in a closet should you try and mess this up. Always worked for the kittens back home."
Amanda wrinkled her nose before laughing. "You, mate, have some very strange fetishes."
