Jubilee visits Amanda: medlab, Saturday night.

[xp_daytripper]

Jubilee paused outside the medlab, holding a plate with a freshly made hamburger. She wasn't exactly sure if this was a good idea, she hadn't really hit it off with Amanda when they first met and to be honest, she really wasn't in the mood for another lecture about how she didn't know shit about shit. She hadn't been trying for the "I'm more street then you" competition, she'd just been… Shit, she'd been territorial when she really admitted it to herself. Just didn't want trouble for this place. Well, maybe she could fix things...

"Hey, anyone home?

Amanda paused in her mental cataloging of just how many piercings she had (sixteen, if she subtracted the nose ring that had been torn out in the attack) at the sound of the voice. Fuck. Jubilee. The wanna-be street rat had made good on her threat to come visit. She was tempted to tell her to get knotted, but then she'd be back to entertaining herself, and she'd already read her spellbook cover to cover. Anyone needed a charm for curing dandruff and she was there.

"Well considerin' the doc ain't about t' let me ggo wanderin' the halls, where else would I be?" she replied with little grace. "Come in if yer gunna."

'Wow, this is gonna be fun' Jubilee thought silently as she gingerly stepped into the room. The one place she really didn't want to be right now was the Medlab. It wasn't just the whole ‘having bugged out on everyone when the trouble started’ guilt thing but also the knowledge that the soldier whose head she'd blown clean off was probably rotting quietly somewhere nearby.

"Hey, brought you that burger I promised," Jubilee said, holding it out awkwardly, her fingers trembling slightly, possibly from the lingering affects of shock, she supposed.

The trembling wasn't lost on Amanda. Having not much else to do, she'd read the journal entries three times over and she knew that something had happened to the kid.

"Ah, the traditional food of the States," she said, slightly mocking. "Still, beats the hospital-type crap they've been feeding me an' now my jaw's healed I can actually eat it." She curled her legs up under the blankets and pulled the table on its wheels towards herself. "Gimme."

Jubilee moved forward and placed the plate on the table, stepping back into the shadows closer to the wall. 'Just calm the fuck down, it's not like you handing her something is gonna harm her, right?' Jubilee thought to herself. As if on queue, the almost physical flashbacks she'd been having since the 'incident' hit her, causing her to twitch slightly. She slid down to the floor and curled her hands around her knees, looking at Amanda through her hair. 'Just get a fuckin' hold of yourself, come on, you can do normal, right?' she thought. Smiling more brightly then might be necessary, Jubilee made an effort of looking around. "So, nice decore...very early 80's prisonish."

Amanda shrugged, seizing the burger as soon as Jubilee's fingers left the plate and wolfing down great mouthfuls. "Sucks, don't it?" she managed with her mouth full. "So, what's eating you, kid? Big bad soldier boys scare yer?"

Jubilee's eyes darkened slightly, something like a thousand yard stare and she smiled bitterly. "Yeah, they did. So, what happened to you? Thought you would have been kicking arse and takin' names."

The Brit chewed deliberately, considering the girl huddled on the floor. The kid had some spark to her after all, and Amanda enjoyed a good bitch session almost as much as she enjoyed freaking out older male authority figures by coming onto them. Sex and anger were good ways of judging a person, seeing what made them tick.

"Magic ain't worth shit against metal, an' they caught me on an off day," she replied, shrugging and taking another bite of the burger. "Least I was in the thick of it an' not playin' hide and seek an' freakin' everyone out."

Jubilee glared at the other girl silently for a moment, before smiling. "Yeah, ‘cause getting yourself put in hospital is such the better choice. I didn't know people were worried about me, didn't even know...I thought maybe everything was gone."

"Didn't exactly poke your nose out to have a look, did yer?" 'Bring it on, little girl', Amanda added to herself, ignoring the slight sting of Jubilee's words hitting home. 'I can take whatever you want to dish out.' "An' if this place is so fuckin' important to yer, why'd yer scarper in the first place? Use yer fancy powers to make some noise, do some damage?"

Sparks formed around Jubilee's fingers and she thrust them behind her back, clenching them tightly against the shaking. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about. This place is important to me, only home I've had in...can we talk about something else, okay?"
'Ooh, got her there. Kid's a bloody mess.' "Fine," Amanda said, pushing the table with the empty plate away from her and stretching. "You can do yer bit for the team an' walk me to the toilet. Doc seems t' think I'm all weak an' fragile and won't let me go anywhere on me own."

Jubilee smiled brightly and got up. 'Thank God,' she thought in relief at the sudden change of topic. "Sure. Should I get you the wheelchair, or can you walk by your little lonesome?" 'Take that, bitch.' she thought, her smile still bright.

Amanda responded by throwing the covers back and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed easily. "Think I can manage the walk," she said, matching Jubilee's smile with one of her own, the mocking grin she used as a shield. "I'm only still here because McCoy is havin' science versus magic issues. Just don't go an' do a runner on me if something goes 'bump' in the night, right?"

Jubilee's smile faltered slightly and she shook herself mentally. 'She doesn't know shit. She doesn't know...' she repeated to herself silently, sweat softly beading on her forehead, a headache starting behind her eyes. "Right, come on then, haven't got all night. Although, dude, if they gave you one of those hospital gowns, I'm so walking in front. No way do I want to be confronted with naked butt at this time of night."

"No fucking nightie - got Doug t' bring me real clothes. An' you'd be so lucky, kid. Yer couldn't cope with the perfection that is my arse." Amanda adjusted her t-shirt as she got out of bed, bare feet slapping the floor. She moved to the door and held it open for Jubilee, bowing extravagantly. "After you, yer highness."

Jubilee snorted despite herself and walked through the door. 'Maybe she's not that bad...maybe.' she thought. Heading toward the bathroom she looked back. "So, just what did happen?"

"I put you off yer guard is what happened. Before I stick the knife in," replied Amanda with a smile that had nothing to do with humour. "Only I need something out o' you, so I'm playing nice until I get it. Which is now, actually, since we're here. Amuse yerself with those little coloured lights of yours whilst I'm busy, okay? Don't blow the place up."

'Right, nup, she's still just as big a bitch as I thought.' "Right, try not to slip in there, what with all that metal, you might get hurt... wait, metal doesn't hurt you, it just makes you useless, right?" Jubilee smiled, her teeth apparent and leaned back against the wall in front of the door.

"I think I'll cope. Been doin' that for a while now, lookin' after meself. Don't need some wanna-be street rat crybaby givin' me advice," was Amanda's parting shot as she closed the door behind her.

Jubilee tried not to listen to the sounds going on past the door in front of her, staring intently at her nails, clenching them and letting them go as they slowly started to shake. 'Come on, girl. What the hell is wrong with you? Get a grip.' "So, when do you think Hank's going to let you out?" she called, anything but standing here in the silence, listening.

"Fucked if I know," came the muffled response. "I figure he'll get a surprise when he gives me the once-over tomorrow - apart from a bit of bruising an' the broken bits, I'm as good as new. An' the broken bits are healin' - those take longer than skin stuff." Amanda hit the flush and moved over to the sink to wash her hands – well, hand, since the other was still in the cast. "Pinin' for me company, are yer?" she asked, turning on the tap.

Jubilee started as she heard the sudden rush of water, just like that night. Waves of multi-coloured sparks started crawling up her arms as she stood stiffly, facing the door, the pupils of her eyes dilating as she went into shock. The bodies from her dreams flashed in front of her eyes, headless corpses sidling toward her. No longer aware of her surroundings she shook uncontrollably, sliding down to the floor.

There was no reply to her jibe and Amanda frowned a little. "Not giving up on me already, are yer?" she asked, turning off the water and drying her hands. She reached for the door handle. She opened the door to confront Jubilee in full freak-out mode, sparks crawling up her arms. "Nice lightshow, kid, but I was only jokin' about using yer fireworks t' entertain yerself. Too much of that makes yer blind, y'know?" Amanda kept the tone light, seeing the girl was in real trouble here. And she wasn't too sure if she could cast a shielding spell in time - she always had trouble with the incantation for that one. "Oi, Jubes, you wanna tone it down a bit? People are trying to be injured here. Have your freakout later, all right?" The words seemed to sink in, and the sparks receded.

"Huh?" Jubilee seemed to be speaking from a huge distance, but then seemed to catch up with herself. "You're a total bitch, Amanda."

Amanda grinned at her. "I try. Now get off your lazy arse and walk me back to me bed before Hank finds us and decides to make you my medlab roomie."

Jubilee's answering grin was wobbly but there. "God, I hope not."she replied, heading back, Amanda close behind.

***

*evil grin* These two so don't like each other...

Comments

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[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

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*laughs*

I'm not even gonna try to explain the logic behind Amanda and Jubilee NOT getting along while Amanda and Marie-Ange kinda almost do.

Re: ...

[xp_daytripper]

Marie-Ange didn't pull the 'I'm tough 'cause I was homeless in a mall' card. ;) Besides, there was too much happy and not enough bitchy. *evil grin*

Re: ...

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure Marie-Ange could be bitchy even if she wanted to. The worst I generally get out of her is exhausted and then she just starts using swearwords and getting all precog creepy.

[x-crowdofone.livejournal.com]

Actually, if you're updating from the web you can jigger an "evil" mood. Pick a default mood from the drop-down that has an appropriate icon ("angry" works for Jamie, for example, because it gives him a scowling red-eyed hamster) and type "evil" in the "Other" blank. You get the icon, plus the custom text.