Jean and Amanda: Zombies, Run!

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Jean runs into Amanda, literally, during her morning jog.



The snow crunched under Jean's sneakers as she ran along one of the trails on the grounds. It seemed to be popular with a lot of the mansion residents, as she'd noticed people running there occasionally. This time she had taken to running herself. It was early in the morning, and the sun was high, making the snow glitter.

Jean had a pair of headphones on, and was listening to music as she ran, along with an app her sister recommended called Zombies, Run! which was a sort of interactive game that made you a runner in the zombie apocalypse. It was just a bit of fun.

"Wake up in the morning in the clear blue sky, turn up the music when I hop in the ride. The window's down let the whole world see, can't nobody rock it like little old me..."

The music played in her ears and she ran with the beat. But, somewhere along the way, the app kicked in and the 'story' broke through over her headphones, explaining that she needed to run to get away from a hoard of zombies.

Jean suddenly broke into a sprint, a look of determination on her face amidst a faint grin.

Jean wasn't the only one out on the running trail that morning. Amanda was, by nature, not a fitness fan. Or even a fitness acquaintance. But when you work for a team of spies and when your job sometimes involves a lot of running, climbing and punching people in the head, a reasonable level of fitness was a good idea. Which was why she was out here on the running trails, in the snowy woods, wearing a set of Xavier's sweats and wondering if perhaps she should cut back on the cigarettes again.

Still, it was nice out here, if you ignored the snow. Which was difficult, because it was everywhere.

So wrapped up in trying to 'escape' from the zombies, Jean rounded the corner on one of the trails and narrowly avoided running right into a woman who appeared to be out as well. By some small miracle her telepathy had sensed the presence nearby and managed to warn her. Sort of like a built in oncoming collision light.

Immediately slipping off her earbuds, Jean blinked. "Whoa, sorry. Almost didn't see you there," she said, pushing pause on her game.

For her part, Amanda had been so wrapped up in trying to breathe that she hadn't noticed the woman at all. With a yelp she'd leapt backwards, tripping on a root and landing on her butt in a snowbank. Sitting in the cold white pile, she looked up at Jean, the sarcastic remark on her lips dying as she realized who it was. Oh, bollocks.

"Um, hi?" she managed, rather lamely. Then, more naturally as she reminded herself that this wasn't the creature who had destroyed several universes. "Sorry, my fault entirely. I wasn't watching where I was staggering about."

Jean offered her a hand up, adding another mental tally mark as she tried to ignore the same expression that crossed the woman's face that she'd consistently gotten lately from most people she'd first met here. It was a mixture of the look one got like being spotted by your ex-boyfriend at a party and not being able to find an exit, and...she couldn't quite decide what to call it. Haunted, perhaps. After awhile she had learned to expect it. She was still trying to figure out how to navigate around it.

"It's okay. I wasn't paying attention either. I didn't expect anyone to be out here, and I was running from zombies," she said, holding up her phone with a smirk.

"It's an app. Not real zombies. But from what I hear, that's certainly possible around here..."

Amanda took the offered hand and between the two of them, the witch was pulled form the snow. As she brushed herself off, she snorted at Jean's explanation of what she'd been doing. "Depends on the zombie," she replied with a grin. "If it's your original brand voodoo magic zombie, that's within the realms of possibility, at least down in New Orleans. But the Walking Dead sort? Not so much. Still, touch wood and all." She reached over and knocked on a nearby tree trunk. "I'm Amanda, by the way. Jean, right?"

"I wouldn't rule science out to eventually try to completely ruin your day with rotting reanimated corpses. Could it be for longer than a minute or two? Probably not. But man is a stubborn beast. He'd certainly try. Woman, on the other hand? Generally more level headed," Jean said with a wry smile. Science, like many things, was neither good nor bad. It was all in how you used it.

She extended her hand again, this time for a shake.

"Yeah, I'm Jean. Apparently I'm infamous. As are you. I heard you're the person to talk to when it comes to magic. Not that I'm looking for any but I've heard your name come up a couple of times. Nice to finally meet you."

"Well, if it's science's fault, I wash my hands of you lot." Amanda's reply was full of humour, however. "And I'm wondering now what you've heard about me - someone's been telling tales out of school, have they?"

Jean shook her head, trying to catch her breath from the running. Her skin glistened with sweat, making the cool air even cooler. "I'm not sure, actually," she admitted, dabbing at her face with a towel. Her pale skin made the rush of blood flow from the workout even more apparent on her cheeks. She almost looked like she was blushing.

"I've only heard that you work with magic and demonic possession. They didn't go into specifics beyond that but it had me curious."

Amanda laughed at the description. "Well, that's one way of putting it. Actually, I'm a witch. My mutant power fuels my magic, but yeah, I paddle in the occult and mess with the natural order of things. Usually when it's been messing with us first."

The description made Jean shift her weight from one foot to another as she quirked a brow. "Huh," she said impassively with a nod, a whirlwind of thoughts behind her eyes.After a moment she realized she was just staring at her and blinked. "Sorry," she said with a laugh.

"I was just wondering how many times I might have seen the effects of it at my job and never knew." She was still convinced magic wasn't entirely unexplainable. It had to have a system and rules, just like science did.

"'S all right - I tend to get that reaction a lot." Amanda waved away the apology. "Magic's... well, it's not really well known. And to be honest, if it wasn't for people like me and Topaz, you wouldn't know about it here at the mansion, either." She shoved her hands in her pockets, looking for her cigarettes out of habit, before realizing she didn't have them with her. "As for coming across it in your day-to-day... well, it's possible, but not statistically likely. Magic's rare, and since M-Day, people have gone underground even more. They're scared."

Jean nodded. "I imagine they would be," she said. From what history said, for awhile mutants themselves were reported to be 'mythical.'

"So what are your powers? You said you used magic but it wasn't your ability."

"Energy conversion, basically," was Amanda's breezy reply - she'd answered this many times over the years. "I take the living energy of cities and convert it into magic. Comes with a few side-benefits, like being able to teleport in a limited sense, but I have to be pretty well-acquainted with the places before I can manage that." She cocked her head at Jean. "And you? What's your deal?"

"So are we talking metaphorical living energy or actual? Like...say if you got dumped into a small town that was the oldest town in the United States or something and had a rich history, would that have more power?" Jean said. She then tilted her head.

"Oh, I'm a telekinetic," she said. She was surprised the word hadn't spread to her yet.

"And a telepath. I....haven't read your mind though," she said quickly. She'd practiced it around her mutant friends. The only ones she told other than her human family, and a handful of trusted human friends.

The result was, despite acceptance, that brief burst of panic. The elephant in the room moment usually occurred, when all of their thoughts came rushing to the surface, and she had to bolster her mental walls. Bad thoughts, good thoughts, random thoughts, images. Anything they didn't want her to know usually turned into the opposite.

She never read the thoughts anymore...but she had when she was younger. It was a combination of lack of experience and a touch of teenage rebellion. Often she wound up finding out what she didn't want to know.

"I know I scare some people."

"It sounds trite, but I know exactly what you mean." Amanda continued to look Jean steadily in the face, a friendly smile on her lips and nothing different about her thoughts - it might be another life now, but the lessons learned from Nathan and Manuel and Topaz still held and her shielding was instinct now. No abrupt slamming up of walls or shrinking away. "The magic, some of what I can do... it's not easy for people to deal with, and I've done some things that have scared the hell out of even my closest friends. But we came through it. You'll find that's the case too."

Jean didn't know what to say to that. She wanted to think that maybe some day she would feel accepted. But right now she wasn't. Still, everything was fresh with the people that lived here. She knew had to give it time. So she was just going to carry on and live her life and give them no reason to fear her.

"I hope so," she said with a soft smile. Her concerns were a little much for a stranger. That was what wound up happening with Adrienne. She'd been too eager.

"Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Amanda. You were not at all what I was expecting. I had guessed goth....dark hair, broody disposition."

"That was back in my teenage days. You had to be there." Amanda chuckled a little. "But yeah, nice to meet you too. I'm heading back in before my arse freezes off. Have fun with your zombies."

Jean tilted her head, expression not changing beyond a note of thoughtfulness. "Well, nice to know I'm good at pegging people," she said with a smirk as she put her earbuds back in.

"Thanks."