xp_logs | Jay & Jake then Jay & Amanda (Reply)

Jay goes to see Amanda and has an abrupt run in with Jake

Jay turned the corner and headed for the stairs, wondering vaguely if he should get intentionally lost this time, just to run into Remy Lebeau again and try to tempt a little fate. The last time they met, he nearly got his... well... he didn't really know what Remy had been about to do to him but it had something to do with finishing him off. Though he was toying with that, he didn't have a suicide wish and quickly made his way up the stairs, wings out and ducked under the landing while swinging around the corner.

"Woah--" Jake had been headed down the stairs when he suddenly came face to face with a pair of sharp, bristling wings. He took a step back reflexively, ducking and putting his hands up to cover his face.

The pair of wings pulled out of the wall where Jake's head had been and Jay drew them back, visibly startled. "Huh, sorry, er uh.. about that," he said, backing up a step and scratched the back of his neck. "Didn't expect to run into anyone," except Remy.

The shapeshifter blinked at the wings from between his still upraised arms, then at Jay, who seemed as startled as he was. Jake relaxed slightly, lowering his hands after a moment, although he still eyed the younger man warily. "You...should be careful with those things," he said, eyes flicking back to look at the damaged plaster. "Wouldn't want to put someone's eye out."

"Sorry, it's kinda uh... Ah get on hyper alert when Ah'm here since, uh.. ran into Remy last time. He got a little physical with me," his cheeks grew bluer and he shifted his wings. "Yeah uh, anyways, been meanin' to say hi, yanno? But uh oh here," he offered his hand to help Jake up off the stairs. "Yeah, ugh, sorry, still tryin' to work out the psycho in me," he joked lamely. Goddamn he was rambling.

"He can be...intimidating," Jake agreed, accepting the hand up. He glanced at the wings again. "Do they fold back or anything, or are they always out like that?" The only wings he'd ever had any experience with had been Warren's, which were rather different from Jay's.

He didn't realize that Jake was seeing only his metal wings and not what he was before, so this was entirely a first impression in a way. He bit his lip and the wings loomed over in an intimidating fashion, until Jay backed up a pace, just to give themspace in these tight quarters. "Well they uh, do... usually. Sometimes - depends. When Ah'm here, Ah can't do shit about it. At the mansion's different, guess its cause Ah'm more relaxed."

"Interesting," Jake mused. "So they're tied to your emotional state?"

"Kinda yeah.. well, it ain't... you know, sorta figured out yet. We're still workin' through it," he said. "So you work here now or something? "

"Yep," the shapeshifter confirmed. "I gave Remy puppy dog eyes until he hired me. Surprisingly effective," he joked. "He barely even threatened to kill me."

"That man's got God written all over him," he shook his head. "Sex n' blood. He gets mah blood pumpin' in all the wrong places when he gets threatenin'." Probably not the thing to share, but he had never been one not to be open about it.

Jake blinked for a second, mouth hanging slightly open, then shook his head with an amused if slightly nervous smile. "Remy?" He glanced around quickly as if his boss might appear at any moment--which was not entirely outside the realm of possibility, considering where they were and who they were talking about. "Really."

"Yeah, but he's all datin' Munroe, so there ain't no chance in hell," he shrugged it off easily, though he did look up the stairs to see if someone was coming down them. "yeah so uh, you and Jean-Paul huh?" he grinned.

"That's who it is," Jake snapped his fingers. "Jubes was trying to torture me by making me guess--about Remy," he added upon catching sight of Jay's confused look. "She dropped some hints a while back." It was weird trying to use the Cajun's love life to distract from his own, and he glanced around again out of habit.

"What the hell you lookin' for?" he asked, letting the conversation slip away from the subject of Jean-Paul. It didn't take a geninus to tell when someone didn't want to talk about it - he'd gotten enough of that from Kevin.

"Hmm? Oh. Remy," Jake admitted sheepishly. "He's good at the whole sneaky thing."

He resisted the urge to tell Jake to stop being so skiddish because it was making him get all pouncy and predatory, which he really didn't want to be in such a cramped up place."You ain't good at the whole sneaky thing are ya?"

"I can be, when I want to be," Jake protested, glancing at Jay's wings as they bristled slightly. "But I usually don't sneak around the Brownstone."

"Yeah sure," he said, not believing that for a second. Jay walked around Gavin and started up the stairs, briefly glancing over his shoulder. "That's why you're so jumpy?" Nice guy, weird, but nice, says the blue mutant with yellow eyes, red hair and metal wings.

Jake shrugged, his eyes drawn to the holes in the plaster where his face had been moments before. "To be fair, you almost skewered my face," he said mildly, watching Jay walk away. "Things like that tend to make me a little nervous, yes."

He paused half way up, discomfort playing off his lopsided smile. "Huh, yeah," he said, running a hand through his hair and glanced down at Jake. "Maybe Ah owe you somethin' for that? " He turned on the steps. "Maybe uh--" he checked his watch - amanda could wait. "Somethin to eat?"

Jake quirked an eyebrow. "I suppose I could introduce you to the place that made the pie--unless it didn't meet your exacting standards?" he teased.

------

In a moment of distraction and apologies, the dessert-lovers take off to a bakery.

"Exact standards met," Jay said, hunched over a table and slipped the pie in his mouth with approval. After texting Amanda, they left the brownstone and it finally gave Jay an opportunity to fold up his wings as an all too curious Gavin watched on. "It's all about the crust yanno? They screw that up and the pie turns second grade."

Jake swallowed his own mouthful of pie and grinned. "I'm glad you like it. I'd hate to promise something I couldn't deliver." Now that the wings were in, they had both relaxed quite a bit, Jake noted; he was curious if the wings were a reflection of Jay's emotional state, but didn't want to ask just now.

"So, how long have you and Amanda been friends?" He hadn't quite figured out where to put Jay in the organizational chart he carried around in his head; he was friends with Jean-Paul, but that seemed to have as much to do with their similar abilities as it did anything else. Beyond that, Jake had him in the nebulous area titled "Xavier's" and that was it.

"School years mostly," he replied easily, taking the time to swip the fork clean before diving for another piece. "She brings mah head outta mah ass when Ah need it, yanno? Like Ah get too caught up in what's going on and not enough 'bout the people 'round me. Plus, she knows everythin' that's going on. Ah can't be bothered to look at the journals sometimes and she knows what's happenin', so..." he shrugged, as though it was obvious why he went to see her. There were other reasons too but none he wanted to share.

"You was some sorta counselor at Xavier's? How come not now?" he probbed.

Jake laughed out loud. "Because I wasn't any good at it?" he responded. "I only took the job because I was drunk and because a hot chick threw me out a window. Trust me, we're all better off this way. I'm not what you might call a good role model."

He took another bite of pie. "So you went to Xavier's? Or still go there?"

Jay smiled and shook his head. "Nah, not going, just livin' there. For now, kinda. Ah work at Silver as a bartender, so Ah spend mah nights there and days in Xavier's. Thinkin' Ah should teach guitar or something on the side. " He shrugged and pushed aside a piece of apple for the crust, saving the best for last. "You at Xavier's only for Jean-Paul then?" he tried again.

Jake snorted softly at that, spearing a chunk of apple and pushing it around his plate idly. "Mostly, I suppose," he admitted. "There aren't a lot of people left there that I know. Most of them are either here in the city or gone."

Ah, just let it go Jay. He pushed the subject aside, throwing a light smirk to Jake. "Well Ah reckon now you have two reasons to visit huh?" He waved a piece of pie around. "Cause if you keep bringin' pies like this around, Ah reckon it's gonna be me that comes knockin'. You should come out to Silver sometime. Watch us work." He leaned over, stealing a piece of Jake's.

"Hey!" Jake protested, pulling his plate back and cradling it protectively. "Get another piece if you're that hungry," he said, although he had an amused smirk on his face. He took a big bite of his remaining pie, trying to eat it faster to protect it from the younger Guthrie. "What do you guys do that's so interesting to watch?" he asked, mouth full. "I've seen plenty of people tend bar before."

"We flare a bit. We're gettin' better at it. Could always use another set of eyes to tell us what we're doin' wrong, yanno?" He mocked Gavin teasingly pretending to poke his fork towards his plate, trying to get another piece. "Plus,there's always alotta skin to look at."

Jake fended Jay's fork off with his own, pulling his pie closer still. "Hey! I'm willing to stab you if it means keeping you out of my pie," he threatened, eyes twinkling with amusement. It was a little weird, if funny, having his own tricks used against him. "Do you do a good Tom Cruise impersonation? Or did that movie come out before you were born?"

"Hell no. Ah don't like Tom Cruise. He ain't all that, yanno. he's crazy anyways. Do whaddya sayin'? That Ah'm crazy?" he said, locking his fork with Gavin's and sticking it into the table.

Jake let go of his fork and scooped his pie up by the crust. "Crazy for pie, maybe," he said with a grin.

------

Finally, Jay comes back to see Amanda and they talk about Jake, powers and school decisions.

Jay knocked briskly at the door before trying the knob. "Hey, it's me, Jay," he spoke into a locked door. "Open up?"

"Come in, Bluebird! S'open!" came the bright reply. When Jay entered, Amanda was standing on a kitchen chair, reaching for one of the books on the top shelf of one of her floor-to-ceiling book cases. She glanced over her shoulder as he came in, up on tip-toe and still straining to reach. "You've been scarce."

"Sorry," he closed the door behind him. "Didn't mean to be vague. Gavin n' Ah went out for pie, so -- hey here, get down. Lemmie get that," he said, ushering her off the chair. "Shorty."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Good things in small packages, mate," she replied smartly, but climbed down off the chair to let him help. "Like dynamite, for example. But thanks - I don't use the books up there much, but every so often, something comes up."

"Yeah, y'all know what they say about size," he mused, passing the book down to her and stepping down off the chair. He turned it around, picking it up by the back to replace it where he thought she had taken it from. "Saw you at prom. That was kinda weird. Thought you was done with the whole highschool thing?"

"I am," she replied. "I was just there to make sure Jake was doing his share of our deal and making sure my little sister had a good time." She grinned. "That man will do just about anything if there's cake involved. And afterwards, I went up to sit for Valentia."

"You had your hands full then huh?" he asked, poking further as he wandered to plunk himself down on the couch. "What was the deal?"

"He takes Meg to prom - with whatever face she picked and without molesting her - and I buy him something shiny." Amanda shrugged and flopped into her armchair, legs draped over one arm and her back resting against the other, bare feet waving in the air. "Jake likes Meggan - he remembers her when she was small and furry - and she had Elijah Wood as her escort as they went in, so it went over pretty well. Jake's a good sort that way."

"Huh. He can do that?" Jay asked, surprised. He never thought to ask Jake what his powers were, even though he thought someone mentioned it off the cuff, he never gave it much thought. The guy looked so normal compared to the rest of the mansion's residents.

Amanda resisted the urge to knock on Jay's forehead to see if it rang hollow. "Yeah, Jake's a shapeshifter," she said instead. "A bit like Morgan, only he doesn't get powers, just the face."

"Ugh," Jay made a face. "Ah dunno. All that changin' shape's, like you gotta be someone else - that's gotta mess with your head. Like you'd have a problem figurin' out who you are. Jake's nice but Ah dunno how much Ah like his powers, yanno? How do you trust that? It's like uh, telepaths. Like trustin' them." He knew he'd get a glare for saying what he did, but he still said it because telepaths made him very defensive. He wasn't sure how he felt about a shapeshifting power.

Rather than glare, Amanda shrugged. "There's creepy parts about everyone's powers, Jay. I melt into cities and wind up somewhere else. You heal from almost anything, which is fucking gross to watch, mind you. Jake changes his shape. I'm not keen on telepathy or empathy after being linked to an empath for a couple of years - the way that turned out, I don't like people in my head any more. As for trust... I go by the person, not by what they do. Saying someone can't be trusted 'cause they can change their faces or look into your mind... it's a small step to saying you can't be trusted 'cause you don't look human, or that Kyle's an animal 'cause he's a feral. See what I'm getting at?"

"Ah wasn't saying that," Jay replied defensively. "Ah was just saying it's the powers that Ah don't trust, yanno? Just like Ah don't trust mah wings. Ah worry about walkin' into a party and things go wrong. What if Ah hurt someone?" He sunk into the couch. "Now Ah know what Kev's all on about."

"People aren't their powers," Amanda replied blandly. "Yeah, it's a part of us, but it's not all there is of us. You say you don't trust your wings, but you're here now, aren't you? So you obviously have enough trust to know you aren't about to lose your rag and try and cut my head off. So yeah, telepaths can see into your mind - doesn't mean that they aren't to be trusted to do it willy-nilly. Or that Jake's going to impersonate the Professor and embezzle all his money. Just 'cause you can do something doesn't mean you will." She gave him a lopsided grin. "Looks like all that studying's done me some good."

"Yeah, looks like, " Jay said. "Sorry. Ah ain't slanderin' anyone just cause of their powers. Ah know the powers don't always make the people. Ah'm just sayin' it's one of 'em creepier powers, yanno? Like Ah'd think it'd be fun to be other people but then, maybe it gets tirin' after awhile. Screws you up and you'd never know who you are."

"Funny you say that - 's what tends to be the problem with 'shifting. Back when I first came to the school, Jake was there 'cause he got stuck as a woman. And then I accidentally turned him into a frog." Amanda snickered - the incident at the time had been a serious one, but six years on, she could laugh about it now. "All because he was suggestible enough to believe I could. Scared the life out of both of us."

"That kinda sucks. Bet you was worryin' more about losin' him than anything. Imagine if ya got like a dozen frogs in the same room? Ah reckon that's alotta energy to useto try n' find the right one."

"Lucky for me mass doesn't convert - he was a frog the size of a Saint Bernard, so no chance of losing him. Fuck but Uncle Pete chew me head off for that one - I was doing the mansion's dishes for a week." Amanda shook her head with a chuckle of remembrance. "Jake forgave me, eventually. Took a lot of chocolate to do it."

"So what 'bout you? Jake's cute but Ah dunno if Ah could go on 'bout him all night like Ah could Kev. What's goin' on here?" he asked.

"You're the one who stood me up with him for pie," Amanda teased. She stretched a little in her chair, almost cat-like. "Same old, same old. Demons, bad guys, getting smacked around by ninjas. Never a dull moment."

He was going to say something about that but resisted the urge to, if only because it would look like he was pining for another guy, another one that was clearly taken. Besides, Jake wasn't straight enough for him, he mused to himself. "Yeah, Ah dunno how you put up with that. 'cept Ah keep gettin' hints about joinin' the X-Men. Ah dunno though. It's starin' me in the face but Ah just hated the whole idea for so long. Seem's like joinin' 'em means... yanno, lettin' go of everything Ah was." Because everything he was back then had been against fighting, blood shed and being exclusive to a team. A shift in career decisions.

"Yeah, I've been reading the journals..." Amanda was quiet, framing the words in her mind. "Seems to me you're not so much holding onto the past but more clinging to it. Using it as a stick to beat yourself. That whole thing about everyone graduating and you not being able to go back - have you even asked about that? Or talked to the X-geezer? He's got a lot of clout, he could fix things pretty quickly. Even if it's studying with this new Institute of his." Before he could answer, she held up her hand. "Not saying you have to do anything - school, the X-Men, whatever. But make sure it's you choosing to do or not do something, and not just sitting back and letting circumstances make the choices for you. 'Cause that way makes you just as much of a victim as that Blaquesmith ever did."

"Ah gotta talk to Paige and Ah already went to the school. They're gonna call me back," quotations used there. "Then Ah guess Ah gotta apply again, maybe Ah'll do distance education courses or somethin'. Ah dunno. It's somethin' Ah'm pluggin through." He sat up and leaned forward, picking at his finger nails. "Don't know much about Blaquesmith to be honest. No one's told me anythin'. You dunno anythin' do yah?" he asked, glancing up at her. He knew what she was saying, that he got fixed on these things but sometimes pushing through them took a little extra work, sometimes too much energy that he didn't really feel he had.

"If the school gives you shite, call in the heavy guns. The Prof or Emma or someone. Sure it's not something everyone has access to, but not everyone gets attacked and kidnapped by crazy mutants, either." Amanda shook her head to his question. "Nah, not anything more than Pete put in his report. He strikes me as the sort that when he wants to disappear, he does."

"Well Ah'm tryin' to give 'em the benefit of the doubt, yanno? Plus, gotta fight mah own battles. Can't always depend on someone to do it for me," he reasoned. "Part of me's being lazy. The other part's wantin' to do it for mahself, yanno?"

"Doing stuff for yourself is exactly what you need to do," Amanda said approvingly. She tilted her head at him. "So, want a cuppa?"

He grinned and stretched out on his side, nuding her with his feet. "What Ah want is 6' foot, tall, dark n' irresistable, but beggers can't be choosers."