xp_logs | Log: Dani and Amanda (Reply)

Proving that strangely normal things can happen at Xavier's (well, relatively speaking) Amanda and Dani run across each other in the garage. They've changed since their last close encounter.

In a burst of not-thinking-clearly Dani had decided to brave the Salem Center Mall for her holiday shopping. It hadn't been as bad as the day before perhaps, but it was overwhelming and crowded nonetheless. She was glad it was getting cold now so she had a legitimate reason to wear long sleeves and avoid touching people. As it was, she'd felt little pinpricks all afternoon, but whether those were from her powers or nerves, she wasn't sure.

Regardless, she was back at Xavier's now. She pulled the truck into its space in the garage slowly and began gathering up her bags. In addition to her holiday shopping she'd done some for herself too and had bought wrapping paper and stick on bows.

Headlights appeared at the entrance of the garage, and the familiar sound of the mini-van's engine filled the area. Hauling on the steering wheel, Amanda maneuvered the unwieldy vehicle into its place, the kids already dropped off at the door and signed back in. They were running a little late because of a nasty traffic snarl coming out of New York, and all the Brit wanted to do now was head up to Angelo's room, grab a beer if he had any, and possibly pout her way into a shoulder rub. So when she saw a head bobbing around in the cabin of Dani's truck, she groaned out loud. Apparently Jeff, the God of Spoons, was not happy with her today.

Laden down with bags, Dani wanted to get back to her suite, put everything away and go find something to eat. Maybe find a movie and relax quietly. Politeness dictated that she at least acknowledge Amanda though, "Hey," she said, headed towards the door. "How was the bus run?" Obviously, no kidnappings this week.

"Not bad. No-one went missing, and no-one got carsick this time." For a moment Amanda contemplated just going back to New York, but she'd already arranged to stay the night with Angelo, and dammit, she wanted boyfriend time after her long week of catchup work. Which meant she was heading for the door just as Dani was. Ooh, this would be fun. "Christmas shopping?" she asked, despite the clearly Christmas-themed roll of paper sticking out of one of the bags.

"Yeah," Dani nodded. She wasn't much of a shopper, but she was trying to get into the holidays again. The past few had been hard, but this year she was going enjoy them, go to Church and maybe even decorate her suite. "Went and bought decorations for the dorms and my suite...going to do it big this year. Of course, I say that and something will come ruin it, ain't it?"

"I've already said if we get zombies, it's Angie's fault for bringing them up on the journals," Amanda replied with a snort. "Me, I'll be happy just to avoid the quarantine this year. Even if it means letting Ange and Kurt drag me to one of the church things." Amanda wasn't big on Christmas, or Christmas shopping. She liked giving gifts, but tended to do all her shopping in one place, usually some kind of music or book store.

Hopefully, Amanda would get the door since Dani's arms were full, "Stranger things have happened. Like the dinosaurs," that had been interesting. "Or even Crystal mellowing."

"I'll be surprised if I don't burst into flames the minute I set foot on holy ground." Amanda realised Dani's dilemma and reached for the door. In all, this was turning out to be a less snarky encounter than she'd expected. Talk about stranger things happening. "I'm not sure about Crystal mellowing. I think I liked her as a kid better - she was less prissy than she is now."

"You've never tried to teach her to cook then!" Dani laughed, "Thanks," she said referring to the door.

"No one is irredeemable," Dani said. She wasn't going to preach to Amanda for a lot of reasons, but really, it wasn't appropriate for right now, "I used to go every week and look where it got me. I go perhaps four times a year now, and I feel better about my life than I ever did," and that had nothing to do with church.

"Eh, the whole witch thing tends to get me funny looks, if I'm lucky. But it's important to Ange and Kurt, and they're important to me, so I'll wear the flame-proof underwear, just for them." Amanda shrugged off the thanks, it was as much a matter of practicality as politeness.

Dani nodded, she understood that. Forge tended to put up with her 'hocus pocus' because she believed it and it was important to her. "You're not afraid of potentially burning in hell though," she pointed out. Dani wasn't trying to be rude, but she saw other peoples fears and that wasn't one of Amanda's.

"Fuck no!" Amanda laughed out loud at the thought. "When you've got Satan's cheerleader doing your filing, hell's not so much of the abstract threat for good behaviour and more something on the to do list." Besides, her own fears were very specific - at the thought, her back itched and she wriggled, trying not to scratch it and raw attention.

As a rule, Dani didn't discuss what she saw with others. Sometimes, she would when she met with Dr. Sampson, but very rarely. It had gotten to the point now where the fears were just there and she moved on and around them. The boogey man wasn't so scary when he never went away. "Cyborgs attacking are scarier than an abstract concept anyways. Those have a greater than maybe chance of happening."

"Funny you should say that... wasn't it cyborgs that time the school got invaded and no-one got hurt or traumatised?" Amanda wasn't going to confirm the space laser thing - that was still highly classified, as far as she knew.

She tried to be careful and not talk about things she hadn't expressly been told. She'd been seeing fears of outerspace, lasers and the like ever since the school had been evacuated a couple weeks earlier, but she didn't quite know what to make of it. Were they real fears, something that had happened or something that they had successfully prevented? She had no idea, "Exactly, the cyborgs attacked and we evacced properly and everything was fine. Our defenses worked perfectly."

"So, not so scary, then? Since you were saying cyborgs attacking were scarier than threats of hellfire," Amanda pointed out. "Might want to work on that pitch."

"It all depends on your point of view. Cyborgs did attack here, hellfire might not exist. I'll worry less about the possibilities and more about the actualities," Dani was nothing if not practical when she wanted to be. "Anyways, I gotta take this stuff upstairs. Have a good evening."

"You too." Amanda replied, a little bemused at how the conversation had somehow not degenerated into a shouting match. Still, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.