Red X: Reconstruction - Angel and Yvette, Monday night

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

At the end of the first day, Yvette and Angel catch up and swap stories.



Everything hurt. Angel swore that her eyes, teeth and hair hurt. But it was a good pain, coming from manual labor of the reconstruction and it had been a blast so far. Still, she was really happy to see the gym and the place they were going to be bunking down for the next week. It was like camping at a school or something, which was kind of neat. Mostly, it had beds. And showers. And beds. She grinned and took a flying leap onto one of the cots in the back, squeaking as she nearly bounced herself right back off with the momentum.

There was a soft giggle from Yvette as she carefully made up her own bed with the special sheets Forge and Clarice had made for her. "I do not know how you have so much of the energy left," she teased her friend. "After working so very hard."

"The secret, young padawan," Angel responded, rolling over to rescue the pillow that had been flung off the bed, "is in the Redbull. And soda. And coffee beans." She grinned as she sat up, pillow tucked against her stomach. "Seriously, I'm so about to drop, though. The second wind thing is starting to go away now. How was your day?"

"Good." Yvette tucked the blanket in, and then climbed onto the cot with a relieved sigh. Now she could relax a bit. "It was scary, to meet the building men I will be helping, but they were nice." She grinned a little. "I might have done the showing off, a little."

At that, Angel beamed. "Tell me!" she insisted, scooting closer to the edge of the bed. She was always happy when Yvette did things like this – she was so psyched at how far her friend had come in so many respects.

"Do you remember the work we were doing, for making the treehouse pretty?" Yvette was referring to the combination carving and etching she and Angel had collaborated on. "I did the same to show the building men how sharp my fingers can be. They said it was very good." She beamed, the glow of her eyes echoing the expression. "And they were not scared of me at all."

"See? Isn't working for RedX awesome? And the etchings came out fantastic, so I know they had to have been impressed with what you did. They have no choice because you are just that awesome." She grinned. "So after their demonstration, what did they have you doing? Lots of ginsu knives kind of things?"

"I was cutting and smoothing the boards - my hands are much sharper than the saws and make the cleaner cut, so there is not so much time to be spent making them smooth." Yvette allowed herself a small, proud grin. "What about you, Angel? What will you be doing?"

Angel wiggled her fingers at Yvette. "I showed them the fire and promptly got nabbed by some construction guys. Apparently, they had a welder who had to go home because his wife went and had their baby earlier than expected. So, I'm doing that. It's awesome but really hard – I have to be careful and controlled, not whoosh, all over the place." It was turning into excellent practice, actually, forcing her to work on the details. "I ended up with a lot of slag this morning but it's getting better."

"Slag?" Yvette asked, curiously. "Please, what is this?"
"It's what I call the mess when I screw up with melting metals," Angel explained, digging around in her pocket until she pulled out a paperclip. A second later and it was a little pile of melted goo. "This? This is slag."

"Oh!" Yvette grinned. "It is the very good word. It sounds like how it looks!"

"Yep! And it's fun to say! Slag. Slaaaaaag. Slag!" She giggled a lot, feeling slightly loopy from all the activity from the day's work. "Glad you came?" she asked, flopping on her side.

"Oh, yes. The Red X work is very good, but it is better when there is not the people hurt, yes?" Yvette tilted her head at Angel. "And you?"

Angel nodded. Yvette had hit it on the head, like usual. It was nice being able to help and do good without people being injured during their attempts. "And everyone's been so awesome in having us here," she said, twisting so her head was flopped over the side of the cot.

In contrast, Yvette was sitting neatly, her hands clasped in her lap. Her hair, always a good indicator of her overall mood, hung in long flat spiral curls. "They have been so very friendly, yes," she said. "I think it will be the good week." She giggled. "The building men gave me the nickname."

Eventually, she'd have to move as the blood rushed to her brain but for right now, Angel just grinned up at her friend. "What was the nickname?"

"Spike." Yvette waggled long fingers at her friend. "Because of my powers, yes?"

When Angel giggled, it wasn't the "I'm laughing at you" kind but the laughter between friends. "Dude, that's awesome and it so fits you!" And then suddenly she dissolved into a fit of laughter, rolling around on the bed. "Spike and Angel..." she gasped out.

Yvette looked puzzled for a moment, but then realisation dawned. "The television show with the vampires and the slaying girl, yes?" She broke into laughter herself. "Perhaps you need to be using the hair gel more?"

"To the poofmobile!" It was a near thing but Angel managed not to land on the floor. Still giggling, she pulled herself up right. "That's it, that's us from now on because, really, that's hysterical. We're so having a Buffy and Angel marathon when we get home, you realize this, right?"

"Of course. And perhaps we have the Halloween costumes for this year?" Yvette suggested.

"Brilliant!"