Jay, Amanda - backdated to April 3
Apr. 3rd, 2008 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsFollowing these emails, Jay and Amanda meet up for coffee and answers.
Fits of laughter rose up from a corner table in the coffee shop, while Jay stood in line, digging for change. The heat inside was turned up, despite the warmer temperature outside and he resisted flapping his wings to cool his body. He dumped his change out on the counter, counting it out to an annoyed cashier. Six people stood impatiently behind him. He smiled to the blond behind the counter as his wings insecurely pulled back under her teenaged stare. She gave him a less than appreciative glance before trying to look around him to the next customer. Already he was invisible to her. There was never a middle ground. Either people noticed him or didn't, and on the grand scale of it all, he wished he went unnoticed. Upon turning around, Jay eyes locked with six other pairs of eyes. All were paying attention to his red wings rather than him as a person. Mumbling an apology and excusing himself around them, he fetched milk for his coffee, then hurried over to a table and plunked himself down in front of Amanda.
"So?" he started in question.
She gave him an amused glance. Contrary to how she usually dressed when she was at the mansion, she was wearing business casual - a nice pair of navy slacks and a white blouse with a navy jacket over the top. Of course, she still had on her Doc Martens, a small badge with the anarchy symbol graced her lapel and sunlight glinted off the eyebrow piercing, but there was a definite differnce to the juvenile delinquent punk witch Jay had known at the school. Cupping her hands around her tea mug, she blew on the hot liquid before taking a sip.
"Cutting straight to the chase, are we?" she asked, with a slight smile. But she glanced around the crowded coffee shop, and dropped her voice a little so they wouldn't be overheard. "Well, I won't insult your intelligence and assume you believe we're just a think tank, for a start. We go out, do stuff that needs doing. About a year or so back, that involved going to Tennesee to deal with a spot of demon summoning."
"Can't help maself," he shrugged and his hands left his cup, leaning back into the chair while he dug around his pockets again, arching his back. Jay thought she looked nice, stylish but very much out of sync with her personality. He gave her an easy, lazy smile and his bangs fell in his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief. "Already this story is gettin' screwy an' ya barely even starin'."
"Welcome to my life," she told him wryly. "'Screwy' isn't even the start of it." She took another sip of tea. "So, demon summoning. We sorted it, but the problem with vengeance demons is, they tend to hold grudges. Something happened, and last week we found ourselves being tailed. By a bunch of very scary silver wolf-demons."
After he emptied out one pocket, setting the contents on the tabletop, Jay fished around the rest of the hidden treasure in his jeans until it was all spread out by his coffee mug. He nodded while picking up the papers and pushing them back into his pants before separating the coins by denominations, glancing at her briefly to continue her story. "Guess it's one of 'em see 'em ta believe 'em stories."
Amanda repressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Hey, you were the one getting his knickers in a bunch about how no-one tells you anything. I'm telling you. If you don't want to believe me, fine, but Mark's lying in hospital with half his guts hanging out and chronic frostbite from spending time in a demon dimension. It's real enough to him."
"Cause they don'," he said simply, feeling a little defensive about it. "Yer tha first ta even bother an' Ah appreciate tha'. Ma own friends don' tell me shit," he stopped counting his coins and placed his hands over his coffee, giving her his full attention. "It's jus' Ah've never seen a demon an' it's hard ta picture. Mark's al'ight then? Ah mean, bein' alive is one thing, bein' al'ight is 'nother."
"Well, he won't lose any extremeties." Amanda put it bluntly - part of her ire at the jokes on the journals had been because she'd seen the state Mark had been in when he'd landed in the foyer. Somehow, she didn't find the situation at all amusing, coping mechanisms or not. "And they've patched him up reasonably well - he's been in ICU since he came back. It'll be a while before he's back up to snuff, but it could have been a lot worse. Demon dimensions... well, they're not the best place to grow up. Look at 'Yana."
"Does he know wha' tha hell happened ta 'im or just fergot 'bout the whole thing. Tha's a pretty wonky situation he went through, so it's possible fer him ta block it all out. No damage ta tha head is wha' Ah meant." No one goes through that without having some hang ups afterwards, though Jay wouldn't know, he hadn't been through anything like that.
"'m not sure - he's been out of it when I've seen him so far." Amanda pulled out her cigarettes, realised where she was, sighed, and put them down on the table, nervous fingers turning the packet over and over. "No doubt he'll be putting in extra hours with Sof when he's able. She's our staff shrink," she elaborated, given Jay probably didn't know who Sofia was.
"Yeh, Ah'm sure e'll appreciate that. Everyone loves a good shrink," Jay replied with a hint of sarcasm. He liked to avoid them at all costs, especially now. He could only imagine what conclusions they would come to with him. Hell, even Amanda was someone they'd love to pick apart or any one that had lived in the mansion, worked for Snow Valley or was an X-Man. "Ah would go see 'im but he don' know who Ah am an' tha's a lil' awkward, Ah think, if Ah walked in there. So wha' did these things look like - if ya don' mind me askin?"
"Seeing Sof's part or our contract - we all put in the couch time." Amanda said it with a lot less rancour than she'd had two years ago. "Since what we do's kind of stressful." To put it mildly - Amanda herself was putting in extra time still in the wake of what had happened in the Morlock tunnels. "And if you like, once Mark's cleared for visitors, you can come along with me and I'll do the introductions. After long enough in bed, he'll welcome the distraction. Especially such a pretty one." She winked at him. "As for the Warwolves - that's what their name translates to in English - they're a bit like wolves, if they were made of mercury. Fucking big teeth and claws, red eyes. Hopefully you won't run into them." A thoughtful look crossed her face. "Tho' it wouldn't hurt to give the leathers a head's up on this one - we sort of have the monopoly on weird occult info with 'Yana and me both over at Snow Valley."
That was something he didn't know and it surprised him that Amanda would sign something like that. She was such a rebel in his eyes, a carefree spirit and he suddenly had the impulse to write something but knew it wasn't the right time. He hadn't felt an itch to write in awhile so this stirring within him made him anxious, bouncing his knee while she spoke. "Yeh, Ah'd like that," he said, dropping his eyes at the compliment and picked up his coffee, taking a sip.
"Hopefully not. They big as hell? Like over six feet? Cause tha way yer talkin' ain't no lil' five foot beastie. Ah reckon if they came back with a vengence, than they got some intelligence too?" He hoped he never ran into them. Just this talk made him wonder what things he would run into if he were on the team. He hated being shot at, hated being shot period and his imagination did wonders at filling in the blanks if teeth and claws came after him.
"Big, yeah. And smart. We had an ambush set up for them, and the fuckers ambushed us right back. Which is why things went to hell they way they did. I managed to send them back at least, but we're still trying to figure out how the hell they got over here without being summoned - there's usually rules to this whole demon thing." Amanda frowned: she didn't like these kinds of mysteries, they tended to wind up with people being dead. "We've got six definite bodies, and probably more between here and Tennessee."
"Ugh, did ya say six bodies? Ya say that with like no feelin' there. Like countin' off ducks. Yanno tha's a lil' disturbin if you was blowing these things ta shit an' yer talkin' 'bout 'em now like they're yer sugar in yer coffee. Ah know yer in therapy or whatever ya wanna call it, but did ya ever stop ta think tha' somethin' might not all be right upstairs?" It was easy to mess up the mind, but not so easy to fix the damage done.
Amanda chuckled, perhaps not the reaction he'd been expecting. "Jay, something hasn't been 'right upstairs' since I was five and being used as a magical battery. You don't have a history like mine and turn out a normal plain Jane. Yeah, it sucks that people were killed because these things were gunning for us and I might sound cold but I haven't forgotten those people have families who won't ever know what happened to them. But to do the job I do... I have to switch a part of me off. Otherwise I'd go balmy." She looked down at her tea. "There's a reason I am where I am and not with the leather brigade, fighting the good fight. Sometimes there's dirty work that needs doing and it's better someone like me, who's already bent, does it than someone like Paige, or Marie. They might be crazy, but they're clean."
"Oh," Jay replied. Somehow, Amanda admitting that she wasn't all there from the begining was something he already knew. And he only knew that consciously now because it was confirmed. "Al'ight, Ah won't pretend ta know wha' Ah'm talkin' 'bout cause Ah don't. Ah wanna but how can Ah? Ah only know tha' ya gotta have some pretty big scars ta be saying all that better-someone-like-me stuff. Ah reckon yer right,but Ah don' agree wit ya, if that makes any sense? Ya walk 'round like ya gotta ton o' bricks on yer back so yer thinkin' tha' ya can't do any better than that right? An' if people like Paige an' Marie did tha', they'd crumble." Jay paused, taking a healthy chug of his coffee and shrugged. "Yer like tha' cat in Alice n' wonderland. Can' tell if yer good or bad - maybe somewhere in between - but all we know fer sure is that yer crazy."
There was a pause, and then Amanda laughed, an honest, open sound. "Oh, I like that," she said, giving Jay a warm smile. "Sums up the lot of us over at Snow Valley, actually. Might have to spread that one 'round." Her smile softened a little, becoming slightly wistful. "There's all sorts of reasons for why I am the way I am, Jay. A whole sordid story - hell, you were there for part of it, the addiction, the going over to Selene, using my powers on people... There's scars, inside and out. But these days I'm not half-killing myself trying to be something I'm not. I get help with the stuff I can change, work with people who understand the stuff I can't, and you know what? I've been happier these past couple of years, doing the dirty work, than I ever was at the school. Out here at least, I can make who I am something that helps, instead of hurts other people."
"Oh see now yer singing tha song Ah am. Ah got tha same feeling, like Ah'd do better at somethin' else other than tha school, but Ah don' know wha. Ah mean, Scott's got me readin' over tha team stuff an' wha' they do. But Ah ain' sought 'im out again cause Ah don' know if its what Ah wanna do. Ah talked ta everyone an' everyone's grandma 'bout it but still can't make a decision. Ah should do it, cause Ah wanna help people, but Ah don' feel inta it. Like tha writin' block Ah've hit with ma music. Ah don't feel it." He ran a hand through his hair, pursing his lips. "Tha only stupid thing Ah got goin' fer me is this bartending course Ah took. Got a placement at Silver an' now Ah'm just waitin' ta start. Can' say a damn word 'bout it though. Kevin don' wanna hear it an' no one else cares. Sorta kills tha good news, don' it?"
"You'll be working at Silver? Great! They'll love you there, with the wings and all, and I'll definitely take you to meet Mark now." Amanda beamed. "I used to work behind the bar at a pub in New Orleans, in between doing my high school equivalency - I liked it. As for the rest... sometimes you really just have to keep trying different things before you find what you want to do. Talking to folks is all well and good, but everyone's going to see things from their point of view, not yours, and they aren't you. So if you want to try the leather brigade, actually try it. The whole trainee thing's so people can get an idea of whether it's what they want to do." She grinned mischievously. "Just don't let them feed you any Kool Aid."
Jay blinked at her excitement and cracked a smile, despite the fact that he now felt the insisting need to talk about Kevin and their problems. Again. He shrugged it off because he knew it wasn't a good thing, trying to respect Kevin's need for space meant not talking to people about it, so he grasped for the next best thing. "Kool Aid? Why no Kool Aid? Ah love tha' stuff."
"Bad joke. Reference to Jim Jones, wacko back in the 70s who had this cult. Got everyone to kill themselves drinking poisoned Kool-Aid." She blinked at her own words. "And I'm thinking I really need to get out more. Cults on the brain, apparently"
Jay recalled that, but hadn't initially thought of it. He gave her a lopsided smile and finished off his coffee. "Oh, yeh, well, huh. An' 'ere Ah thought ya meant Kool Aid shots. Ya really gotta get out more."
Fits of laughter rose up from a corner table in the coffee shop, while Jay stood in line, digging for change. The heat inside was turned up, despite the warmer temperature outside and he resisted flapping his wings to cool his body. He dumped his change out on the counter, counting it out to an annoyed cashier. Six people stood impatiently behind him. He smiled to the blond behind the counter as his wings insecurely pulled back under her teenaged stare. She gave him a less than appreciative glance before trying to look around him to the next customer. Already he was invisible to her. There was never a middle ground. Either people noticed him or didn't, and on the grand scale of it all, he wished he went unnoticed. Upon turning around, Jay eyes locked with six other pairs of eyes. All were paying attention to his red wings rather than him as a person. Mumbling an apology and excusing himself around them, he fetched milk for his coffee, then hurried over to a table and plunked himself down in front of Amanda.
"So?" he started in question.
She gave him an amused glance. Contrary to how she usually dressed when she was at the mansion, she was wearing business casual - a nice pair of navy slacks and a white blouse with a navy jacket over the top. Of course, she still had on her Doc Martens, a small badge with the anarchy symbol graced her lapel and sunlight glinted off the eyebrow piercing, but there was a definite differnce to the juvenile delinquent punk witch Jay had known at the school. Cupping her hands around her tea mug, she blew on the hot liquid before taking a sip.
"Cutting straight to the chase, are we?" she asked, with a slight smile. But she glanced around the crowded coffee shop, and dropped her voice a little so they wouldn't be overheard. "Well, I won't insult your intelligence and assume you believe we're just a think tank, for a start. We go out, do stuff that needs doing. About a year or so back, that involved going to Tennesee to deal with a spot of demon summoning."
"Can't help maself," he shrugged and his hands left his cup, leaning back into the chair while he dug around his pockets again, arching his back. Jay thought she looked nice, stylish but very much out of sync with her personality. He gave her an easy, lazy smile and his bangs fell in his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief. "Already this story is gettin' screwy an' ya barely even starin'."
"Welcome to my life," she told him wryly. "'Screwy' isn't even the start of it." She took another sip of tea. "So, demon summoning. We sorted it, but the problem with vengeance demons is, they tend to hold grudges. Something happened, and last week we found ourselves being tailed. By a bunch of very scary silver wolf-demons."
After he emptied out one pocket, setting the contents on the tabletop, Jay fished around the rest of the hidden treasure in his jeans until it was all spread out by his coffee mug. He nodded while picking up the papers and pushing them back into his pants before separating the coins by denominations, glancing at her briefly to continue her story. "Guess it's one of 'em see 'em ta believe 'em stories."
Amanda repressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Hey, you were the one getting his knickers in a bunch about how no-one tells you anything. I'm telling you. If you don't want to believe me, fine, but Mark's lying in hospital with half his guts hanging out and chronic frostbite from spending time in a demon dimension. It's real enough to him."
"Cause they don'," he said simply, feeling a little defensive about it. "Yer tha first ta even bother an' Ah appreciate tha'. Ma own friends don' tell me shit," he stopped counting his coins and placed his hands over his coffee, giving her his full attention. "It's jus' Ah've never seen a demon an' it's hard ta picture. Mark's al'ight then? Ah mean, bein' alive is one thing, bein' al'ight is 'nother."
"Well, he won't lose any extremeties." Amanda put it bluntly - part of her ire at the jokes on the journals had been because she'd seen the state Mark had been in when he'd landed in the foyer. Somehow, she didn't find the situation at all amusing, coping mechanisms or not. "And they've patched him up reasonably well - he's been in ICU since he came back. It'll be a while before he's back up to snuff, but it could have been a lot worse. Demon dimensions... well, they're not the best place to grow up. Look at 'Yana."
"Does he know wha' tha hell happened ta 'im or just fergot 'bout the whole thing. Tha's a pretty wonky situation he went through, so it's possible fer him ta block it all out. No damage ta tha head is wha' Ah meant." No one goes through that without having some hang ups afterwards, though Jay wouldn't know, he hadn't been through anything like that.
"'m not sure - he's been out of it when I've seen him so far." Amanda pulled out her cigarettes, realised where she was, sighed, and put them down on the table, nervous fingers turning the packet over and over. "No doubt he'll be putting in extra hours with Sof when he's able. She's our staff shrink," she elaborated, given Jay probably didn't know who Sofia was.
"Yeh, Ah'm sure e'll appreciate that. Everyone loves a good shrink," Jay replied with a hint of sarcasm. He liked to avoid them at all costs, especially now. He could only imagine what conclusions they would come to with him. Hell, even Amanda was someone they'd love to pick apart or any one that had lived in the mansion, worked for Snow Valley or was an X-Man. "Ah would go see 'im but he don' know who Ah am an' tha's a lil' awkward, Ah think, if Ah walked in there. So wha' did these things look like - if ya don' mind me askin?"
"Seeing Sof's part or our contract - we all put in the couch time." Amanda said it with a lot less rancour than she'd had two years ago. "Since what we do's kind of stressful." To put it mildly - Amanda herself was putting in extra time still in the wake of what had happened in the Morlock tunnels. "And if you like, once Mark's cleared for visitors, you can come along with me and I'll do the introductions. After long enough in bed, he'll welcome the distraction. Especially such a pretty one." She winked at him. "As for the Warwolves - that's what their name translates to in English - they're a bit like wolves, if they were made of mercury. Fucking big teeth and claws, red eyes. Hopefully you won't run into them." A thoughtful look crossed her face. "Tho' it wouldn't hurt to give the leathers a head's up on this one - we sort of have the monopoly on weird occult info with 'Yana and me both over at Snow Valley."
That was something he didn't know and it surprised him that Amanda would sign something like that. She was such a rebel in his eyes, a carefree spirit and he suddenly had the impulse to write something but knew it wasn't the right time. He hadn't felt an itch to write in awhile so this stirring within him made him anxious, bouncing his knee while she spoke. "Yeh, Ah'd like that," he said, dropping his eyes at the compliment and picked up his coffee, taking a sip.
"Hopefully not. They big as hell? Like over six feet? Cause tha way yer talkin' ain't no lil' five foot beastie. Ah reckon if they came back with a vengence, than they got some intelligence too?" He hoped he never ran into them. Just this talk made him wonder what things he would run into if he were on the team. He hated being shot at, hated being shot period and his imagination did wonders at filling in the blanks if teeth and claws came after him.
"Big, yeah. And smart. We had an ambush set up for them, and the fuckers ambushed us right back. Which is why things went to hell they way they did. I managed to send them back at least, but we're still trying to figure out how the hell they got over here without being summoned - there's usually rules to this whole demon thing." Amanda frowned: she didn't like these kinds of mysteries, they tended to wind up with people being dead. "We've got six definite bodies, and probably more between here and Tennessee."
"Ugh, did ya say six bodies? Ya say that with like no feelin' there. Like countin' off ducks. Yanno tha's a lil' disturbin if you was blowing these things ta shit an' yer talkin' 'bout 'em now like they're yer sugar in yer coffee. Ah know yer in therapy or whatever ya wanna call it, but did ya ever stop ta think tha' somethin' might not all be right upstairs?" It was easy to mess up the mind, but not so easy to fix the damage done.
Amanda chuckled, perhaps not the reaction he'd been expecting. "Jay, something hasn't been 'right upstairs' since I was five and being used as a magical battery. You don't have a history like mine and turn out a normal plain Jane. Yeah, it sucks that people were killed because these things were gunning for us and I might sound cold but I haven't forgotten those people have families who won't ever know what happened to them. But to do the job I do... I have to switch a part of me off. Otherwise I'd go balmy." She looked down at her tea. "There's a reason I am where I am and not with the leather brigade, fighting the good fight. Sometimes there's dirty work that needs doing and it's better someone like me, who's already bent, does it than someone like Paige, or Marie. They might be crazy, but they're clean."
"Oh," Jay replied. Somehow, Amanda admitting that she wasn't all there from the begining was something he already knew. And he only knew that consciously now because it was confirmed. "Al'ight, Ah won't pretend ta know wha' Ah'm talkin' 'bout cause Ah don't. Ah wanna but how can Ah? Ah only know tha' ya gotta have some pretty big scars ta be saying all that better-someone-like-me stuff. Ah reckon yer right,but Ah don' agree wit ya, if that makes any sense? Ya walk 'round like ya gotta ton o' bricks on yer back so yer thinkin' tha' ya can't do any better than that right? An' if people like Paige an' Marie did tha', they'd crumble." Jay paused, taking a healthy chug of his coffee and shrugged. "Yer like tha' cat in Alice n' wonderland. Can' tell if yer good or bad - maybe somewhere in between - but all we know fer sure is that yer crazy."
There was a pause, and then Amanda laughed, an honest, open sound. "Oh, I like that," she said, giving Jay a warm smile. "Sums up the lot of us over at Snow Valley, actually. Might have to spread that one 'round." Her smile softened a little, becoming slightly wistful. "There's all sorts of reasons for why I am the way I am, Jay. A whole sordid story - hell, you were there for part of it, the addiction, the going over to Selene, using my powers on people... There's scars, inside and out. But these days I'm not half-killing myself trying to be something I'm not. I get help with the stuff I can change, work with people who understand the stuff I can't, and you know what? I've been happier these past couple of years, doing the dirty work, than I ever was at the school. Out here at least, I can make who I am something that helps, instead of hurts other people."
"Oh see now yer singing tha song Ah am. Ah got tha same feeling, like Ah'd do better at somethin' else other than tha school, but Ah don' know wha. Ah mean, Scott's got me readin' over tha team stuff an' wha' they do. But Ah ain' sought 'im out again cause Ah don' know if its what Ah wanna do. Ah talked ta everyone an' everyone's grandma 'bout it but still can't make a decision. Ah should do it, cause Ah wanna help people, but Ah don' feel inta it. Like tha writin' block Ah've hit with ma music. Ah don't feel it." He ran a hand through his hair, pursing his lips. "Tha only stupid thing Ah got goin' fer me is this bartending course Ah took. Got a placement at Silver an' now Ah'm just waitin' ta start. Can' say a damn word 'bout it though. Kevin don' wanna hear it an' no one else cares. Sorta kills tha good news, don' it?"
"You'll be working at Silver? Great! They'll love you there, with the wings and all, and I'll definitely take you to meet Mark now." Amanda beamed. "I used to work behind the bar at a pub in New Orleans, in between doing my high school equivalency - I liked it. As for the rest... sometimes you really just have to keep trying different things before you find what you want to do. Talking to folks is all well and good, but everyone's going to see things from their point of view, not yours, and they aren't you. So if you want to try the leather brigade, actually try it. The whole trainee thing's so people can get an idea of whether it's what they want to do." She grinned mischievously. "Just don't let them feed you any Kool Aid."
Jay blinked at her excitement and cracked a smile, despite the fact that he now felt the insisting need to talk about Kevin and their problems. Again. He shrugged it off because he knew it wasn't a good thing, trying to respect Kevin's need for space meant not talking to people about it, so he grasped for the next best thing. "Kool Aid? Why no Kool Aid? Ah love tha' stuff."
"Bad joke. Reference to Jim Jones, wacko back in the 70s who had this cult. Got everyone to kill themselves drinking poisoned Kool-Aid." She blinked at her own words. "And I'm thinking I really need to get out more. Cults on the brain, apparently"
Jay recalled that, but hadn't initially thought of it. He gave her a lopsided smile and finished off his coffee. "Oh, yeh, well, huh. An' 'ere Ah thought ya meant Kool Aid shots. Ya really gotta get out more."
