Vanessa & Amanda | Thursday evening

[x-copycat.livejournal.com]

After having cancelled on Amanda the previous night, Vanessa meets up with her at Finnegan's for drinks and a possible reconciliation.

The last time Vanessa had set foot in Finnegan's must have been about a year or so ago. She'd come looking for Amanda, who was significantly unhappy with her over the way Vanessa had left Snow Valley and the brownstone. In retrospect she could understand Amanda's point more, but at the time she was so emotionally involved with the situation it had been hard to really think about from the other woman's perspective. But she'd missed Amanda. Vanessa may not have said it aloud much but she did, and she felt the loss of that friendship more acutely since Adrienne had fled.

Now she was sitting at the bar, sipping on her Anchor Steam and waiting for the witch to arrive.

The door opened, letting in a blast of cold air and a bundled up Brit. As she began peeling off the layers of scarf and hat, Amanda scanned the bar for a familar blue face. Her expression, when she caught sight of Vanessa, was relief mixed with apprehension. Obviously, she wasn't sure how this meeting would go, but was willing to try anyway.

"Sorry 'm a bit late," she said as she slid onto the bar stool next to Vanessa. She was short enough that her feet dangled without the railing. "Work. You know how it is."

Vanessa nodded a greeting to her newly arrived companion. "Aye, I know. I'd say we should look into nine-to-five jobs, but I'm not sure either of us would know what to do with the down time. We'd end up with part-time jobs on top of them or summat." While Vanessa supposed she should act more like someone who had barely spoken to the woman beside her in the past year, her default was always to act like no time had passed. Maybe that was left over from slipping into other people's lives so often.

"Been there, tried that, went balmy with being bored," Amanda agreed. A pint of Old Speckled Hen was placed in front of her by the bar tender and she nodded and smiled her thanks. "So..." she said, trying to think of small talk. "I hear your lot took down a dinosaur-man in the District?"

"He wasn't in the neighborhood when we took him down, but yeah, we did." She couldn't help smiling at that. Vanessa reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the many lollipops Calvin had sent them. She slid it over to Amanda on the bar. "Our client was so happy we got the guy he sent us a bucket of lollipops. I guess that's what you get when you work for a pediatric nurse. Unfortunately for us we hadn't realized he was a dinosaur man until he shifted and attacked Jean-Paul, but him, Bishop, Laura and Kyle took him down while Laurie and I took care of the crowd. No one got hurt and he got locked up. It was a spectacle, but it was a good day, y'know?"

Amanda chuckled and picked up the lollipop. "Ta," she said, sliding it into her jacket pocket for later - beer and candy didn't go together, in her mind. "And yeah, those are the good days. Take down the bad guy, stop them from hurting anyone else... reminds you why you do the hours in the first place." She sipped at her pint, mentally summoning her courage. "I sort of owe you an apology. For being a brat before. When you left."

Vanessa waved a hand. "No worries. I probably owe you an apology for vanishing." Of course, given her life of vanishing Vanessa wasn't entirely sure she felt apologetic about it. It wasn't like she'd left the country, just the building. She hadn't even left the city. "It was sort of a quick domino effect of actions at the time, you know?"

Amanda nodded. "I'm... not good with people leaving. Had it happen too much in my life, usually in ways that made me feel pretty shitty. But that's my damage, not yours." She glanced hesitantly over at Vanessa. "I thought I was doing the right thing, y'know? 'Bout Jean-Paul."

"I know you did. That's why I don't hold it against you." She might have held it against Amanda a bit at the time. But she'd gotten over that eventually. "You had reasons and precedent to go about things the way you did. I was emotionally involved and I don't take kindly to anyone fucking with my people, even when they are other individuals who qualify as 'my people.' Which you did." Past tense there. Vanessa amended, "And still do, if you want to."

It was definitely a change from the last conversation they'd had. And the offer was pretty much what Amanda had wanted, but hadn't held out much hope for. "It might sound sappy," she said at last, looking the other woman in the eyes. "But it hasn't been the same without you around. I... miss you, being my mate."

A playful sort of smile spread across Vanessa's lips as she leaned over and nudged Amanda's shoulder with her own. Well, with her arm anyway. "I've missed you, too. I had to replace you and Adrienne with two little sisters and Jean-Paul. Do you see how flawed that is?" She sighed and shaking her head. "There's no one to check out girls with or go dancing with without feeling like I'm playing protective big sister. It's a damn shame, really."

"Yeah, it's been the same for me since Angie took off. And Marie. And Adri." Amanda pulled a face, not wanting to dwell on absent friends - it only made her mopey. "So, if we were, you know, actual girly girls, there'd be pinky swears or hugs or something. But we're not, so.." She held up her pint. "Friends?"

Vanessa grinned and held up her own pint glass. She tipped it until it made a small clink with Amanda's and nodded. "Aye. Friends." After taking a pull from her cup she muttered in a faux annoyed tone, "I've really got to get myself less attractive mates." Her head tipped to the side so it was clear she was looking over at Amanda and grinned again.

"'S not possible, least not around here. The x-gene's on the same part of the DNA as "smoking hot", didn't you know?" Amanda teased, preening a little. "And speaking of... what's your take on the new bloke at the mansion? Wade? He seems like a lively sort, at least." She didn't mention that X-Force was doing its usual history check, the same one they did for all new arrivals.

"He's...interesting. Knows his guns and his knives. Decent marksman. Probably as good as Kane, possibly better. Possibly better than me but I'm not sure. Keeps things light so he's probably covering for something. But that something is very likely just his job and the details of it, the parts of you it brings out. Xavier deep scanned him before he came to the mansion. He's one of my people, not one of Lex's." She knew Amanda would know that she meant he'd been a mercenary. "I don't know if he's still on the job or not, but Charles gave him clearance so I doubt it. All in all, I like him. More so because he didn't hold it against me when I threatened him should he bring danger to anyone at the mansion."

Looking more fully at Amanda, she smiled. "He might even come in for an interrogation if you ask, but I don't know that he'd tell you much of use."

"I've already offered him a ride on my Broomstick, so I'm ahead of you there," Amanda replied with a snicker. "And yeah, I know, professional curiosity. But if the X geezer's given him the works, then that makes me rest a bit easier. As long as he doesn't hit on Meg. Then there might be horrible death."

Vanessa's lips pursed and her eyebrows went up. "Well...I think he hits on anything that moves. At least from what I got from the journals. Which...makes him the male equivalent of...of me when I first showed up. Possibly worse. Hopefully he has like a do not cross line where age is. I like him and all but...if there's a horrible death can I watch?" She even sat up a bit straighter with her hopeful perk.

"You know I could never resist you when you make the hopeful face at me, so sure, you can watch. You can even help, if you want," Amanda offered magnanimously. "Provided Kurt leaves us anything."

Vanessa's head came to rest on Amanda's shoulder. She rubbed her cheek against Amanda and made a purring sort of sound. "This is why you're my favorite. You know that, right? Okay, watching you dance is actually why you're my favorite, but this is the back up reason."

"I have the mad skills," Amanda agreed solemnly, before cracking up laughing. "All right, enough Doug quotes. This calls for shots. And maybe Silver later, so you can catch up on all that missed ogling while I dance."
"Definitely shots." Though after flagging the bartender's attention she was waggling eyebrows at Amanda. A finger trailed up the Brit's thigh suggestively before disappearing from contact at her hip. "Can I get handsy, too?"

"Tease." The witch poked her tongue out at the shapeshifter. "You're so totally taking advantage of my desperate single state." She didn't seem to overmind, however. After... how long had it been any way? Way too long if she couldn't remember.

"If you were that desperate we'd be in a bathroom stall right now." Vanessa tried to hold back her smirk, but with her playful, mischievous mood it was hard. Yeah, Lex had pissed her off last night and she'd spent half her day recovering from her hang over today, but she had missed Amanda and now she had her back. "I used to have very specific ideas about what I wanted to do to you in that club...but you were taken."

Amanda was about to respond in kind, mentioning Vanessa's current taken state, but there was something... off about the other woman's reaction. Nothing huge, but it was giving Amanda a 'here be dragons' vibe and she wanted to avoid another fight so soon after finally sorting their shite out. Yay for learning and maturing. The shots arrived and she picked hers up. "Well, now we can live to torment the boys on the journals another day, yeah? You, me and this Wade character, bringing innuendo to new lows."

"One day we will graduate to pictures and the children will never be the same." Her voice was almost wistful. "Either that or the three of us will go out and get arrested for public indecency or summat. That's my favorite offense right behind gun possession, you know." Vanessa was working on getting a gun permit in the city, which was easier since she was working for a PI. "One day will you get arrested with me for lewd conduct?"

"Any time." Amanda slammed back the shot, shook her head to clear it and grinned. "We're young, we're dangerous and we're very, very pretty. Look out world, eh?"

Vanessa followed suit and knocked back her own shot. Drinking two nights in a row was probably not a great idea, but she'd drink a ton of water later. Especially if they went out dancing. "Aye. And we are extremely pretty together. Do you know the damage we could do if we decided to fuck with some poor soul in a double team?" Vanessa must have been working too much lately because her mischief was ramped way up on the scale.

"I was going to say, didn't we already do that? Tho' it was for work, not for fun." Amanda held up two fingers to signal the bartender they needed a couple more shots. "It'd be a lot better doing it for fun."

"Yes, because when we do it for fun it doesn't have to be some sleazy bloke we'd both rather kick in the balls rather than rub up against." Though the memory of that made her smile a bit anyhow. "We could use our powers for good or for evil, but maybe for good this time. Find the sweet, awkward guy all alone and make him into the most envied guy in the room?"

"Bonus points if he's got mates that are giving him a hard time," Amanda agreed with a slightly wicked grin. Flirting for entertainment, oh how much she had missed it, at least until Wade had shown up on the journals. Someone who could take some teasing, at last!

Their new shots were set out in front of them and Vanessa raised her shot glass with a beaming smile at Amanda. "To breaking the hearts of the jeering crowds."