xp_logs | One final log before the attack. Takes place several days ago.

It was a thoughtful and subdued Amanda that made her way to the rec room from Pete's office. The impact of her explosion on herself was something she'd definitely considered, but the impact on her victim? Suddenly the whole magic thing didn't seem quite so cool. She headed for the couch, intent on turning her brain to mush with bad American TV (she hadn't seen much of any kind of TV since running away that last time), but halted abruptly when she realised there was someone already sitting there. Someone who was sort of grey... and stretchy.

Angelo glanced up on hearing her footsteps, craning his head round to see who it was. Seeing a stranger, he smiled a greeting, knowing there was only one person it could be. "Hey."

"Um, hhey." Amanda eyed him warily. "Yer not gonna flee screaming from the evil witch?"

Angelo shrugged. "Nope. You said yourself you didn't expect that thing to work on Jake, and I'm not a shapeshifter, so..."

With a sigh Amanda plopped onto the couch next to him. "So which one are you? Everyone seems to know me, but I'm starting to think everyone should have their name tattooed on their scone."

"I'm Angelo", he told her. "And you'll get to know people soon enough - but I know it's confusing to begin with."

Hearing the sympathetic note in Angelo's voice, Amanda brightened somewhat. She gave him a sideways look and shifted slightly closer. Time to see what this one was made of. Besides she was intrigued by Angelo - he had the same street-harded air as Remy, although with a softened edge. "Been here long yourself?" she asked.

Angelo glanced over at her, made slightly uneasy by her shifting closer, but not about to say anything yet, in case he'd misinterpreted. "'Bout four months, now", he answered.

"And before that?" She looked up at him through the black-tipped blonde hair fallin over her face, blac-rimmed blue eyes wide. She'd drawn a sort of spiral pattern at the corner of her right eye in the fashion of a comic book character she'd seen once. "Got a home?"

Angelo shook his head. "Not really. Well, my mom lives in LA, but... it's kind of too dangerous for me back there right now."

She raised an eyebrow, causing the piercings in it (three in the right one) to shift. "Dangerous? Dangerous is excitin'." She edged a little closer and let her hand rest lightly on his leg.

Angelo moved quietly but unmistakably a little further away. "Can be. Not when it involves your friends trying to kill you."

A small smile touched the corners of Amanda's mouth as she watched Angelo shifting away. No squirming, no blushing - although it was hard to tell with the grey skin - no babbling... this was one cool customer. She liked that. "Sometimes people can take things the wrong way, get all murderous an' shit," she replied. "Speaking of which, d'you know Paige? She's supposed to be my room-mate an' I need to know if I'm gunna have to sleep with a knife under me pillow."

"Yes, I know Paige", he answered. "Very well, actually. And no, you don't. Usually."

"'Very well'?" Amanda grinned, leaning forward slightly so her chin was just short of brushing his shoulder. "How well we talkin' about here?" Her grin turned wicked. "Biblical?"

Angelo couldn't help a grin. "No. Not *quite* that well. But... yeah. We're kind of together."

Still smiling, Amanda leaned back, giving him back his personal space, noticing with amusement the way Angelo's posture relaxed ever-so-slightly as she did. "Regular little love nest, this place," she said. "Shinobi and his monster, you and my roomie... No need for me t' make love potions, they must be puttin' somethin' in the water."

"You haven't met Jamie and Kitty, have you?" Angelo asked, amused. "'Cause you'd have put them on the list if you had."

She wrinkled her nose in thought. "Kitty I've met on that computer thing - got a bit of a stick up her bum, hasn't she? Don't think I've seen her feller."

"He's hard to miss", Angelo dead-panned. "Mostly 'cause he can be in... six places at once, so far, and he's working on more."

"Teleporter?" Satisfied by Angelo's reaction, Amanda made herself more comfortable on the couch, tucking her legs up under her.

"No, he can duplicate himself. Only if he does it too much, it wears him out. He's got the limit up to six dupes at once, I think. Could be more by now."

"Multiple man, eh? Could be entertainin' for his bird.," said Amanda with a laugh. "An' something I could use meself. Pete's got me washin' everyone's dishes for a week as punishment duty."

Angelo blinked. "Everyone's? Man, that's harsh. Has he told you how many people live here?"

Amanda pouted. "No - I think he was worried I might end up on the freeway with a sign saying 'Anywhere but here' if he did. That many, eh? And the worst thing is I'm not allowed to use magic. Not that I'm really wanting to after today," she added in a low mutter.

"Magic?" Angelo asked, intrigued, suddenly realizing he'd never asked her what her power was.

"You know, eye of newt, liver of toad, hair of dog..." Amanda said the last with a wry grin. "'S the way I channel my actual power - I absorb energy from mystical sources an' then use it to cast spells. A fuck of a lot better than having it sucked out of me, I can tell you." A small frown flitted across her face but she banished it quickly. "Here, watch this." Murmuring some words under her breath, she snapped her fingers and a small green ball of light, no bigger than a golf ball, appeared at her fingertips.

Angelo blinked at the light, impressed. "Wow. That's pretty cool."

"It's handy when you're trying t' find stuff in the dark." Amanda closed her hand over the ball and it vanished. "So, I've shown you mine - wanna show me yours?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively at him.

Angelo laughed. "Mine's not as flashy, but sure." He glanced around for the remote, then used a strand of skin to reach out and pick it up.

"Beats having to get up," Amanda said, smiling. If Angelo had been expecting some sign of shock or revulsion, he was disappointed. She merely looked intrigued. "So, you're what? Human chewing gum with the stretchy skin?"

"Something like that", he replied. "I got one of the simple ones." He studied her carefully, surprised by her reaction.

"Gotta love the genetic lucky dip. Still, at least you didn't have something like a head that looks like an arse." She noticed he was studying her and shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

He shrugged. "Nothing, really, just... don't usually show people I don't know what I can do. It hasn't worked out so well, before now..."

"Your mates with the guns?" she asked.

"Yep", he answered shortly, some bitterness evident in his tone even in that one word. "And some morons in Westchester Mall, but they only went for me 'cause I was trying to help someone else."

"People are fuckwits," Amanda stated. "Me, I don't see the point in getting your knickers in a twist because of something that isn't even someone's fault. You should visit, Brighton, mate, you'd fit in right well there. They tend to think you're a bit on the weird side if you're one of those God-bothering suit-wearing types, an' there's certainly not a lot of the biogtry." She patted his arm in a friendly way, all the flirting gone now. "Bet you gave 'em what for, but. You look like someone who can look after himself."

Angelo nodded, not smiling. "Yeah, I can handle myself in a fight, long as I know it's coming."

"Which is why it's always good t' make sure someone's got your back, in case you don't see it coming," Amanda said. "Learned that early on when I ran away the first time - young girl on the street, it's like having a bloody sign on her back saying 'come and get it'." She rummaged through the pockets of the beaten-up leather jacket she was wearing over the top of the layers of worn black clothes and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. "Is it ok if I smoke in here?"

Angelo raised an eyebrow. "Ran away the *first* time?" He took a moment to process that, before belatedly answering the rest of what she'd said. "Uh - well, they prefer us to go outside, but what they don't know won't hurt 'em."

Amanda lit the cigarette with her fire summoning spell and offered the pack to Angelo. "Want one? Yeah, had a lot of foster homes that didn't really deal with the mutant/magic thing, so I kept taking off. Fuckers at Social Services kept bringing me back - finally made a clean break of it about a year and a half ago, until Romany picked me up. She seemed to think my magic was getting to be a problem, and after that whole Jake thing, I startin' to think she has a point. Not that I can't control meself," she added defensively. "Just.. Jake got on me rag, you know?"

Angelo took one from the pack gratefully, not bothering to mention that he was supposed to be quitting. "Yeah, I know. And you said you didn't think it'd work..."

"Was supposed to be a joke, something to get him all worried. An' then it goes an' _works_." Amanda lit Angelo's cigarette for him with the same spell and leaned back, blowing a large plume of blue-grey smoke into the air. "Scared the crap out of me, to tell the truth. I didn't know Jake was a shapeshifter, an' an unstable one at that." She frowned slightly. "I feel a bit shitty about that now - Pete was telling me how he's having issues with not being able to control his power, an' then I go and fuck him about all over again. Wish I could make it up to him somehow."

Angelo shrugged. "I'm sure you'll think of something. Even if it's just grovelling."

"He got any weaknesses I can play on? Something I can bribe him with?"

Angelo paused for thought. "Well, chocolate works on most people."

"Chocolate. Right." Amanda finished off her cigarette in thoughtful silence, and when it was done, unfolded herself from the couch. "Thanks for the chat, Ange. I'd better get my arse into gear - I'm supposed to be sorting out my classes an' turning Jake into a frog sorta put me behind the eight ball." She smiled at him, an expression more genuine than the hard, mocking grin she usually employed. "You're all right, y'know?"

Angelo smiled back. "Thanks. You too. Come find me again sometime soon."