Backdated to Monday night

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Angel's burning off some pent up energy when she spies Amanda and decides it's time for some stress relief.



After Japan, Angel had a lot of pent up energy to get rid of. And not only from the whole "Ah, earthquake! Julio!" reaction. The flights had nearly killed her, it was hard to sit still for that long and harder still when she was up in the air and unable to fly herself. She'd shucked her jacket and shoes earlier in the night, out on the rocking chairs, and now she was blasting around the sky like a shooting star on Redbull.


There was a bang as the screen door to the kitchen closed, and booted footsteps on the porch. Amanda shivered and hunched into her jacket a bit at the chill in the air, before reaching for her cigarettes - with Angelo quitting, it wasn't fair to smoke around him, but after the day they'd had, she needed one to relax. She'd just lit up and was savouring the first lungful of smoke when she saw Angel careering by. The witch grinned - she liked Angel's energy and enthusiasm whenever she saw the girl on the bus run.


A second turn and then Angel spotted Amanda in kind and she grinned, pulling herself to a full stop before twisting around again. She didn't streak towards the mansion but came in at a much more sedate rate of speed before stopping in front of Amanda -- granted, upside down. "Amanda! Hey! How're you?"


"Not bad, Hothead," Amanda replied, using her usual nickname for the younger girl. She bent slightly at the waist so she could look Angel sort of in the face. "Still having trouble with landings, or are you showing off?"


A sly look crossed the younger girl's face before she slowly -- very slowly, this trick still taking some getting used to without ending up on her noggin -- rotated to the right position. "Maybe showing off a tad," she admitted, dropping the rest of the way to land lightly on the balls of her feet. "I'm been practicing a lot."

Amanda grinned and stuck her cigarette in her mouth so she could applaud briefly. "With control like that, you deserve a bit of showing off," she said, slightly muffled by the cigarette, before she took it out again and blew out a cloud of smoke. "Burning off some energy after the flight?" she guessed. "Japan's, what... twenty odd hours, yeah?"


"Silly time zones." She rolled her shoulders, relaxing now that she'd had a good, solid flight. "It was weird, flying but not under my power. Not that I could have, you know, pulled off that kind of transatlantic trip or anything, hoo! I'd probably have landed in an ocean or a mountain or, you know, the Bronx."


"And that's a fate worse than death," Amanda agreed with a snicker. Even a few minutes of talking with Angel had helped her regain her sense of humour. "Enjoy yourself over there?"


Angel craned her neck back so she could stare up at the sky. "Every single minute I'm up there," she responded, a quiet joy echoing in her words. It's not the brash, loud enjoyment that usually accompanies her -- but a deeper, longer lasting one. She knows she gets the same way with her photography and, soon probably, the firefighting.


"I meant Japan, but I get that." Amanda's smile turned wistful as she followed Angel's glance up. "I really do miss that spell sometimes."


"Oh, and Japan was great as well." Angel gave her a look and then her smile widened into a grin so big it nearly hurt. "Wanna go up?"

Amanda's eyebrows shot up. "What, you're gunna take me flying?" she asked, accent thickening in her surprise. "Aren't I a bit heavy for you?"


"I once lifted a fairly burly firefighter with all of his equipment on," she offered, bouncing on her toes. "Something about my powers when they're on make me stronger. The only down side is, you know, FWOOSH! But!" Now she was scampering up the porch and digging out her jacket and baseball cap. "They're totally fireproof, a Forge special."


Amanda opened her mouth to argue, then looked up at the sky again. Flying had always been that elusive goal with her powers, something she'd managed once or twice, just often enough to maintain the dream. She couldn't do it now - probably never would again - but she still loved it. "What the hell. I can use the shielding spell a bit, see if I can't take off some of the heat," she said, stubbing out her cigarette half-smoked and holding out her hand for the jacket. Just as well they weren't too different in size. "The second you get tired tho', you'll take a break? I don't want you pulling a Nate on me."


"I'm a spaz, not stupid," Angel replied, cheerfully, jumping back to the grass. "I'll need to get a bit of a start but I've gotten better with the whole grabbing the person thing..." Actually, this was going to be fantastic for her. It was something they were working on but mostly with fire proof nonliving dummies since, well, fireproof. Holding a person while flying for a while was going to be awesome. "Ready when you are!"


Amanda gave a rueful smile, pulling on the jacket. "I suppose I deserved that one. See what happens when I try and be all adult and responsible around you lot?" She tucked her ponytail up under the borrowed cap, tugging the brim down over her face. "Right, ready and willing."

Taking two steps forward in a running bound, Angel ignited, pulling her feet up so as not to catch the lawn on fire. Sounding like a mini-train barreling down on Amanda, she stretched out her arms to catch her under the armpits. There was a jolt when they connected before she straightened, going up in a lazy arc but mostly straight.

There was a slight yelp from Amanda at the sudden jolt and she had to restrain herself from either jerking away from Angel's hands or casting the shielding spell, but then her feet lifted off the ground and she made herself relax in the younger girl's grip. "Everything okay up there?" she called, feeling the heat of Angel's flames on the back of her head and under her arms, but things not getting too uncomfortable yet.

"It's like carrying a kid!" Angel answered, raising her voice a little against the wind. As much as Amanda was going to enjoy this, it was also one hell of a test for the younger mutant. She couldn't go too fast, or lose her grip, or go hot very quickly (burning pants, not so good) -- control. It was all about control and she was putting together everything that John and Shiro had been drilling into her head since she'd met them. They went up, above the mansion, before Angel paused, hovering. "How you doin'?" she asked back, giggling.

Amanda was grinning like a maniac. "It's fucking brilliant!" she crowed, looking down at the building below. Sure it wasn't the most comfortable position, dangling by her armpits from Angel's grip, but all that was forgotten in the rush of wind and altitude. "Any chance we can go a bit higher?"

Angel hesitated but then grinned -- Amanda had sounded kind of tired earlier but that was all gone now. "Hang on!" Angel said, tightening her grip. She directed a fairly large force of power down at the ground and they shot upwards, a little faster than either of them had been expecting probably as they both squealed at the movement.

The squeal had been pure child, Amanda laughing with glee as Angel flew them both around. "This is fantastic, just what I needed!" she told Angel, then she sniffed. Uh-oh, that smelt like burning... "Um, Angel? Might want to take us down. I think I'm starting to char a bit here."

"Whoops, burning bad! God, I hope it's not your shoes..." Before said shoes, or pants, could do anything worse than smolder a little bit, she was pointing them back down towards the ground. Landing had been the thing she struggled with but thanks to Mr. G, had managed to do...well, no disasters. It was just a little more difficult with a passenger.

"My shoes are safely away from you. I think it's my pants..." The ground was approaching at speed, and whilst she had confidence in Angel's abilities, she'd also seen some of her landings. Just before they impacted, she clapped her hands together smartly, the shielding spell springing up around them both and acting like an air bag.

Once they hit the ground, Angel let go, trusting in the shielding to save Amanda's shins. On the other hand, she giggled and bounced smartly to the top of the shielding, like a pinball in a machine. "Now that was cool," she giggled.