Log: Amanda and Bishop

[x-bishop.livejournal.com]

The pair goes out for the day, presumably to try to bond. Bishop doesn't seem to be good at it anymore and Amanda doesn't let him get away with it.

Bishop didn't tend to tell people when he was going out, not unless he wanted them particularly to show up. Amanda was expected to come by his desk though, as requested on the journals, so he stayed over as he usually did. While the solitary man wasn't exactly expecting her to show up from a casual invitation, he wouldn't mind much if she did. He needed to socialize at least some times and the people at his work were slowly feeling more and more like partners.

"So," came Amanda's voice at his elbow as the much shorter woman appeared at his side, bag slung over her shoulder and a jaunty grin on her face. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'm taking that to mean you're expecting somewhere out of the ordinary?" Bishop stood and pulled his jacket on. "I'm sure a small place deep in the heart of the city that only someone like me would know about."

She chuckled. "Well, you're the one being all mysterious. I'm easy to cater for - as long as there's something to drink other than American beer and there's no football on the telly, I'm good." She stepped back a bit to give him room - Bishop was big and she tended to feel like one of the munchkins around him.

"There's something wrong with American Beer?" After leading the way out, Bishop was even kind enough to open the passenger door to his car for Amanda first. "Or is that just a cultural bias talking?"

"American beer is like making love in a rowboat," Amanda responded, making a small curtsey of 'thanks' before climbing into the car. She waited until Bishop had gotten in as well before continuing. "Fucking close to water, yeah?"

"So when you say American beer you think Bud and not Sam Adams, I take it." Bishop didn't bother to tell her where they were headed, at least not yet. "I'm not sure you can hold that against America any more than a different country's poorly brewed beer."

"Ah, but see, England doesn't have badly brewed beer," Amanda countered. "After all, we invented the bloody stuff. Nectar of the gods and all that."

"I'm pretty sure that's not true." Bishop shook his head and laughed. "Either part."

"Well, we drink enough of it we should have invented it," she said, laughing along. It was good to see Bishop laugh, given how serious he generally was. "Hey, Bish, can I ask you something?"

He nodded in response, "Can't say I'll answer but I probably won't hold it against you."

"Back in the journals, when we were talking about training and Laurie... you got sort of..." She paused, hunting for a non-offensive word. "Narky? I mean, I was just saying you train me, so I didn't get why you were all "don't drag me into this" and all. Wasn't dragging you into anything, or so I thought. Did I piss you off or something?"

"I was half joking. I don't need to train the mansion's residents too much, though. They already have me doing some shooting range trips." Bishop sighed a bit and glanced to Amanda as they pulled into a parking spot at a small bar that specialized in local micro brews. "I trained some at the PD and not all those guys have made it very far." He didn't specify much beyond that intentionally. "No reason to make that mistake again now that I have this job."

She raised her eyebrow, both at the response and at the destination. Interesting, on both counts. "Well, there goes my cunning plan to get you to teach me to handle a gun," she admitted as they got out - she opened her door before he had a chance to do it for her, not even thinking about it. "Since I still have sod-all in the way of offensive spells and the minute you drop me somewhere isolated, I've got nothing at all."

"Buy the gun and I'll take you to the range I go to. The biggest mistake most people make is not learning how to shoot while moving." Bishop lead the way into the bar and to a booth so they could sit and talk. There didn't seem to be any TVs present.

"Can I bribe you into coming with me or should I ask Remy?" she asked, looking around the place with an approving nod. "Since we Brits don't tend to have over-the-counter gun shops." The waitress approached and she gave Bishop a challenging look. "So, I'm guessing you brought me here to prove me wrong about American beer. You get to pick, then."

"I can go with you." Bishop laid the menu out on the table facing Amanda so they could look it over. "Have you decided on what kind you're looking for?" He pointed to a dark beer that could be comparable to Sam Adams or New Castle.

"Something with some bite for it. Not this fizzy lager stuff they seem to drink everywhere that isn't England," Amanda replied, relaxing a little now the gun issue was settled. It was something that had been preying on her mind for some time, especially after Poland. "I'll try that one," she decided, pointing at the darkest looking ale they had.

Bishop nodded and, when their server came by, he ordered one for each of them. "Is that what this trip is really about? The guns or the journals?" He didn't seem to be upset by either, just curious.

"Hey, you invited me, remember," she reminded him with a grin. "But yeah, a bit of both. Also, there's that whole wanting to get to know my teammates thing. I like to have an idea of who's got my back, and we haven't really talked much outside of the Danger Gym." She smirked. "And unlike Jubilee, I have enough social graces to actually do my snooping somewhere comfy with beer, instead of breaking into your apartment in the middle of the night, 'in my sleep'." She made the inverted commas gesture with her fingers at the last.

"Been working with you for well over a year. I'm better at being mysterious than I thought." Bishop laughed slightly at his comment. "The last time one of our co-workers tried to get to know me she propositioned me. Now that I know Jubilee sneaks around I might have to look into some other approach to my workers."

"Well, I do tend to spend a lot of time with the books, so it's not like you've been that mysterious," Amanda acknowledged. "But yeah, I mean, I know the basics from the files, but you do keep to yourself a lot." A wry grin appeared. "Then again, we are spies, so I s'pose it comes with the territory."

"Oh, I'm extremely mysterious." Bishop nodded. "So much so you'd have to ask yourself if the files are even true." He smirked teasingly. "I was even brought over by Emma, no telling what she's doing to everyone's minds at any given moment."

Instead of laughing at the joke, Amanda's expression clouded and she looked away for a moment. The thought of anyone doing anything to her mind, after the years of being linked to Manuel, gave her the creeps. When she looked back, she managed a weak smile. "So, you were saying before, about not wanting to get too involved with the mansion? People too crazy there for you?"

"I was warned about them. Probably by you." Bishop took a drink of his beer when it arrived. "I have a few friends there but I don't want to get too caught up in that... culture." He shrugged, it was the best word he could think of to describe how Xavier's was.

"'Specially given what we do," Amanda said with surprising insight. Or perhaps not - the witch was good at reading people. "'S why I dropped the bus run, in the end, besides the job making it hard to commit to anything regular. What we do makes us prone to being targets - no point dragging innocents into things."

Bishop just nodded as he drank for a moment. He didn't have much more to contribute to this topic and didn't exactly care to. He was better at his job when he didn't analyze it.

Obviously not the philosophical sort... Amanda cast about for another topic of conversation, even though she was itching to ask about his "previous mistakes" with the NYPD. However, she also respected the privacy of her teammates - again, they had to, given what they did. "Been keeping busy lately? Anything interesting on your side of the fence?"

"Nothing unusual." The response was an easy way for Bishop to avoid to topic of what was usual. He wasn't sure how much his co-workers kept track of each other and the mansion's residents. He also wasn't sure if they would see it as part of his job like he did, either. He had decided long ago to simply avoid the topic of what he did with most of his time.

"Which is funny, considering our line of work tends to be whatever isn't usual." Amanda shrugged and sipped at her beer again. It really was better than she'd been expecting.

Bishop laughed a little, seemingly for not much reason, and nodded. "Yes, you're right. I was locking up." She might not have meant to say that with her response but he knew enough about how people interacted to take the point. "I haven't done the partner talk thing in a while. I haven't really been close with people at work, either. It makes it hard to know what to talk about."

"Well, as long as it isn't some kind of sport, we'll work something out."