Log: Billy & Amanda, A Slender Debrief (Backdated)

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Amanda checks up Billy, and they discuss long jumps, potatoes and chaos in general (Backdated to Jan 25)


Billy was curled up in one of the lounge armchairs, trying to work his way through one of the magic books Amanda had them reading. It was a dry read, but it kept his mind from going to black suits and white fingers. Plus, well, once he'd got past the whole terror part...well, sometimes the magic DID work. That was almost as hard to believe as everything else about the whole series of events. His mind wandered from the page in front of him, calling back the exhilaration of landing on the fire escape, replaying the moment several times, a smile creeping to his face.

"You know, I don't remember that book being so funny when Doc Strange made me read it," came a voice from the doorway. It was Amanda, leaning against the door frame, looking amused. "Mind if I interrupt for a few?"

Billy's daydream cut short, his attention came back to the book in hand, then over to Amanda. "Well, I was just getting to this fascinating part about..." he paused, looking down at the first word to come into focus, "arcanic hys-ter-esis," he slowly tried to sound out the phrase, "but suppose I could finish it later." Between how quickly the book snapped shut and the eager expression on his face, it was obvious the interruption was welcome.

"I promise I won't tear you away for too long," she replied in the same tone, then grinning. She came in properly, curling up in another arm chair opposite him. "'M doing the rounds, after your adventure the other day, and wanted to check in on you," she explained. No point being coy about it. "'Specially since you really busted out the magic there, from what I hear."

"Well, yeah, kinda," Billy answered, the attempt at modesty not working very well, and he finally burst into a wide grin. "It worked! It really did! Well, eventually," he added, his tone still enthusiastic, though with some added reserve. "Once...once I stopped being afraid of it, I guess."

"I probably didn't help with that being afraid of it, with all my warnings and dooming and glooming," Amanda said with a laugh. "But 'm glad you had the breakthrough. The magic's useful, especially in situations like that, and you used it to keep yourself and your mates safe. That's a pretty good thing. Now if we can just work out your fuel source..."

"Well, I did almost blow up New York," Billy said sheepishly, "So I guess I needed to hear them. But yeah, it was awesome! I jumped up to a fire escape to get away from the fires and a Slenderman that had me trapped in the alley. It must've been like---thirty feet!" Just a slight exaggeration.

"How'd you manage it?" Amanda asked, interested. Besides, the more Billy talked, the better idea she got of his mental state. Unlike his fellows, he didn't seem as distressed by the Slendermen as he might have been.

"Well," Billy began recounting the tale, starting with Tandy and Sue vanishing. His tone began enthusiastic, though it grew distant, and he paused several long moments when he got to the point of the fires growing out of control, before he finally continued. "So I'm backed against the wall, and all I can imagine is any spell I can think of getting out of control...again. And no one to help stop it. But then I heard Maddie's voice." A smile crept across his face, and the story regained some of the earlier enthusiasm. "Not sure how she did it, but she got a message to us. Then I saw the fire escape and knew I if I could get up to it, I'd be safe. It wasn't even a very good spell. I think I just said I wanted to get up there. Could have gone all kinds of wrong, but..it didn't. I ran and did this like Olympic jump, and suddenly I was up there."

"Maddie did save your necks," Amanda admitted wryly. The girl was something, that was for sure. "She got out and came to Doug and me at the office. Tho' you were all doing pretty well by the time we got there, you just needed an exit." She pondered what he had said about his spell. "You know, with the way your spells work out, I'm starting to wonder if there's not a chaos element in there. Things not working out the way they're supposed to... that's usually something that happens to me when Wanda's about and using her powers."

Billy's eyes widened at the word "chaos," the rest of Amanda's words not quite registering. "Wait... you mean...I might always cause this much chaos? I don't mean to. It just...sorta happens that way."

"Not causing chaos, at least, not exactly. But chaos does seem to be an element." Amanda chuckled. "Like your potato fest."

"Yeeeaaaaaahhh," Billy replied slowly, not meeting her eyes. "About that.... I... made supplies for Taco Tuesday? And...like everything else this week."

"Relax, grasshopper, it was an accident. We all make them." Amanda reflected that perhaps she had been hard on Billy, given his disastrous introduction to the world of magic. "It is a bit of a warning about using magic for stuff you can just as easily do yourselves, tho'. Next time, just go downstairs and get what you need from the kitchen, yeah?"

Billy's shoulders relaxed, though he hadn't realized he'd been quite that tense. "Yeah, I thought it would be good practice. Especially while magic seemed to be working pretty well." And since a long lecture didn't seem to be coming, he shifted more comfortably in the chair, quiet for a moment as he tried to work through her previous idea. Finally, he looked over her, puzzled. "So magic going crazy could keep making it go crazy? Like a chain reaction?"

"Try and keep the summoning to a minimum," Amanda advised wryly. "But yeah. You remember what I was teaching you lot about fuel sources? How where the magic comes from impacts the sort of magic you can do?"

"Yeah, like cities and emotions and...well, whatever Nico's is," Billy nodded, ticking off the ones he remembered. Their ragtag group of magic users was certainly anything but traditional, arcane or otherwise. "So...my spells going wrong power my next spells?" he ventured, not quite putting two and two together. Well, unless two plus two equaled potato. "Wouldn't that mean if I get them right, the magic will go away?" For once, he sounded more concerned than hopeful at the prospect.

"Not so much 'going wrong', but there's definitely a chaotic element. I'm wondering if maybe chaos energy is your power source, especially since you mentioned that run-in with Wanda before you started doing things. Easy enough to test, I s'pose." She gave him a reassuring grin. "And no, working things out doesn't mean the magic will go away. It's not that easy to get rid of."

"Oh, good," Billy said, relieved. "I guess I'm kinda getting used to everything, and it'd be kinda boring to go back to the way things were. Though I can't wait until the spells start working more...instead of having potatoes coming out my ears." He stopped, thinking back to the first meeting with Wanda. "How would you test that kind of thing? Would it...hurt?"

"Practice makes perfect, padawan," Amanda replied, inwardly reflecting that Doug was contagious. Still, she needed a nickname for Billy-as-her-apprentice, and 'padawan' fitted as well as any. "We'll keep working on things and hopefully we'll avoid too many more potato incidents. As for testing your power source... did it hurt before? When you met Wanda that time?"

"You know, I never really thought about it," Billy squinted, trying to recall. "I was already hurting all over before she showed up, so...I dunno. I guess I just thought that was coincidence. But wait, I already had that mutant gene, right? Meeting Wanda couldn't give me that, could it?"

"No, but with us energy converter types, sometimes our mutations just sit around quietly, waiting for the right type of energy to process," Amanda explained. "It sounds like you basically manifested when you met Wanda - and manifesting can hurt, especially for energy-based powers. It's like..." She pondered it for a moment, looking for a metaphor. "It's like switching on the lights for the first time in a new place. All those wires have been sitting there, waiting for the electricity, but it's not until you turn on the switch that they actually, you know, work. We're sort of the same - our bodies are hanging around waiting for the right kind of electricity before our mutations actually turn on."

"That makes sense," Billy said, pondering the concept. "I was mostly trying not to bleed all over her and hoping I wouldn't have a black eye. Which I didn't, come to think of it. But nothing like getting hit by lightning. Well, that day, at least," he added.

"Well, maybe we should have Ororo around when we test this, just to avoid lightning strikes," Amanda teased. "I've been called a lightning-rod for trouble, but you're one for actual, you know, lightning."

"I guess I'm both. Or maybe I'm just a general chaos magnet," Billy laughed. "But being there made me glad I'd practiced controlling lightning, at least a little. You should have seen us fighting our way out of there. Maddie, Clint, me--we made a great team. Pow, pow, pow," he said, miming throwing the lightning javelins. "It was awesome. And...I guess if it means I might control spells better, I'm game for these tests."