xp_logs | A Log That Was Long Time Coming

Alex and Amanda have a bit of an encounter by the skate ramps. She practices magic, he freaks out. They trade thier common storys with surprising minimal amount of angst. Friends are made and both of them get to show off a bit.

If she couldn't leave the grounds, she could at least leave the house... The spate of warmer late-September weather was more than enough lure into the Great Outdoors, and Amanda had decided to do the practical side of her magic homework out by the skating ramp. Lots of space, a handy bench to sit on and not get her arse damp, usually not too many people around.

Today was Elements, since Strange wasn't impressed with her lack of progress in that regard. Lighting cigarettes was all well and good, but there were three others besides Fire and her luck with Air and Water was patchy, at best. Earth? Forget about it. Sitting cross-legged on the bench, hands cupped in her lap, facing upwards, Amanda closed her eyes and tried again, saying the words of the spell aloud so she could fix them in her memory properly.

"Earth and Air, Fire and Water... Elements I call to task." Fix the Element you wanted in your mind, focus on it as you invoked the spell. Easy stuff. The leaves in the trees around her shivered in a sudden breeze, some drifting down to join those that had already decided it was autumn. "Blessed Ones, spirits of the world's breath, heed my call." The wind picked up, localized, and became a small whirlwind in front of her, sweeping fallen leaves up off the ground into a twister no more than a foot high. With a small grin, Amanda continued, unaware that she was about to have an audience.

Alex was whistling happily as he made his way out to the skate ramps for some nice relaxation after class. Everything was wonderful; he and Lorna weren't fighting, he was actually sleeping soundly he and Angelo were going to start a PE class for the youngins and the weather was perfect for a little boarding. And now he didn't even have to worry if Alison was around this time. Alex still had the bruises from last time.

Over his whistling, Alex heard some chanting and the small whirlwind caught his eye. He stopped short, his eyes staring at the obvious unnatural sight. The chanting, though he didn't hear the words, started ringing in his ears, conjuring up images he really wanted to forget. Images of Her and Alex winced visably, all his previous happiness draining away. He started having his nightmares while still awake, and he dropped his board with a loud clatter.

The sound broke Amanda's concentration, and mini-tornado abruptly became a pile of leaves again. "Bugger it all t' hell," she said, looking up to see what had distracted her. The sight of Alex, clearly not in the Happy Place, was unexpected. "Alex?" she asked, getting up and walking slowly towards him. "You all right, mate?" Stupid question, since he obviously wasn't. Readying her shielding spell,
just in case, she reached out and touched his arm. "Alex?"

Alex immediatly pulled his arm away, not seeing Amanda but someone else entirely, someone older and more...frightening. "Get away from me! Don't..don't hurt me again!" He pulled back so violently that he tripped and fell backwards. The impact of him hitting the ground caused him to jolt back into reality and he shook his head. Alex opened his eyes and was surprised to see Amanda looking down at him instead of Her. He swallowed hard and looked away, blushing. "Hi Amanda..." He said softly.

"Hey," she replied, frowning a little as she crouched beside him. "Um, you all right? You sort of lost it for a minute there. Can I get someone...?" Alex wasn't someone she'd had a lot of contact with, but she hadn't expected that sort of reaction. Or the turmoil in his aura - he was... scared?

Unconiously, Alex backed away a bit from her, but stopped when he realized what he was doing. It took a deep breath to stop his nervous shaking. "I...I'm fine." He knew there was a reason he'd avoided Amanda...well not Amanda but more her magic. The magic was too similar...And he definatly hadn't expected her to be at the ramps doing that very think. Still shaking slightly, he grabbed his board and stood up. "I...I'm sorry I bothered you."

"Looks like I bothered you, more like," she replied, straightening as he did. "Look, I weren't doin' anythin' dangerous, just some homework for Strange. You don't need t' run off like a scalded cat." She hadn't missed the backing away, the way he was trying to keep his distance. "I ain't gunna hurt you," she added, almost pleadingly.

"I..I.."Alex paused and took another deep breath. "I know Amanda." He looked away, at his feet, at the sky, any where but at her. "I'm sorry...it's nothing you did. Magic stuff just makes me..." He shuddered. "Makes me relive things I'm still trying to forget. I...I'm sorry, I'll leave you to your homework." He turned slightly, getting ready to bolt.

"Sod me bloody homework." Amanda reached out for his arm again. "That's why you tend t' turn an' go the other way when you see me in the halls, ain't it? 'Cause the magic freaks you out? Look, I promise, I ain't gunna hurt anybody... well, anyone else." She didn't know why it was important she try and fix this, but it was. Samson would say she was projecting her own issues, she thought with black humour. "What happened to you that makes magic so scary? If I know... maybe I can help."

Alex shook his head quickly, after tearing his gaze away from her hand on his arm. "I know your not going to hurt anyone..." He bit his lip, a lost look in his eyes. "I don't think you can help either. I was hurt, no used by someone...The Black Queen...the magic reminds me of her..." He was rambling, like he always did when he was nervous. "Look Amanda, I never meant to avoid you...I'm sorry"

To his surprise, she chuckled, although the sound was more bitter than amused. "Yer talkin' t' the walkin' mystic battery here, mate." When he looked puzzled, she softened her tone. "Look, give me a few minutes? I wanna tell you somethin', an' I think it'll help. Knowin' someone's in the same boat tends t' do that, I'm told."

He nodded slowly, her chuckling having calmed him down a bit. At least he wasn't shaking anymore. "Alright, I guess." He nodded over to the bench she had been sitting on. "I think we better sit down, or at least I need too." Alex led her over to the bench then sat next to her, his board upside down across his lap as his hands idly played with the wheels. He took one more deep breath before turning to her, giving Amanda his full attention. "Alright, I'm listening."

"Okay, where t' start... You know 'bout me mutation, right? That I absorb mystic energy, an' that's what powers the magic?" He nodded, a bit hesitantly, and she went on. "Problem with that is, if you know how, you can drain what I absorb out of me an' use it yerself. An' that's what the bloke who brought me up did." She was wearing one of Manuel's shirts, and she undid the top button so he could see the scars. "When I was eleven, he did a bindin' spell on me, t' make me
power his permanently. Lucky for me, he never finished." She gave him a brief, sad smile. "So I know what it's like, t' be used by someone. T' wake up with screamin' nightmares, even after you _know_ yer safe. After that whole business in Mexico - that was Rack, comin' after me again - I couldn't sleep proper for weeks."

"I still can't..."Alex blurted out then he blushed abit. "Not unless I'm sleeping in the same bed as someone I know I can trust, like Scott or Lorna." He noticed that was the second time he hadn't mentioned Shiro when telling someone that. Brushing it off, he continued forcing himself to explain. He felt her owed it to her now.

"Rack sounds like the Black Queen...that's exactly what she did to me, without the binding spell...though she did a good job of making me think I was worseless and my sole use in life was to be used by her." He shuttered at the thought. "My night mares...they are are of how she used to drain me...which was like good ole vampires of old...rape." He took a deep breath, having just admitted that for the first time freely. It wasn't like he could tell anyone, but seeing Amanda's scars... showed she had gone through just about the same pain as him. "Your magic...it just reminded me of her. But now, after what you told me." Alex looked back up to meet her eyes. "I'm really sorry Amanda." Then he gave her a bit of a crooked smile. "It probably would have helped us both if we had this conversation sooner huh?"

"Neither of us would've been ready for it," Amanda said, echoing the smile. "Between the pair of us, we would've made the school disappear into a black hole of angst an' woe." She hesitated, then went on. "Rack... didn't drain me that way. But a lot of the spells he used me in, stuff he taught me... it's not stuff kids should know." Taking a deep breath, she pushed away the memories this talk was resurrecting, the itch in her fingers for a fix to make them go away again. "But I'm learnin'... it wasn't my fault, or my mutation. No-one deserves what happened t' me. An' neither did you. No matter what that bitch might've told you."

Alex nodded. "I Know...Scott and Lorna and Shiro...they won't let me forget." He didn't ask about the spells, though he had an idea. That was something she had to say on her own. "And I'm sure Manuel and Bethany and Angelo...they do the same for you. Because your right, neither of us deserved it. Just sucks that there are people like that, who would use others like objects..." Alex paused to shake his head to rid himself of his own memories. It was time for a change of subject. "So what were you doing before I totally wigged out on you? Might as well get educated while I'm getting used to it..." Now he genuinely smiled at her.

She recognised the change of topic for what it was, and relaxed somewhat. "Summonin' Elements," she explained. "Y'know, Earth, Air, Fire an' Water? Fire I can do easy..." And to demonstrate - and perhaps test out how wigged Alex still was - she snapped her fingers to generate a small flame at the tip of her index finger. "But the rest're trickier. I was workin' on Air when you turned up."

Alex nodded, a small smile on his face as the flame sprang up. "That's totally shibby. You don't need the whole chanting thing to do that? I think that's more what freaked me out the most."

Amanda took 'shibby' to mean a good thing and shook her head slightly. "Once I know the spell well enough - as long as it's fairly easy – it tend t'... I dunno how t' explain it. 'S like it wears a groove in me head. So all I have t' do is think about casting it, an' there it is." She blew the flame out, and went on. "The other elements I ain't so good at, which is why I have t' do the whole song an' dance."

He noticed her slight confusion that usually came when he slipped up and he blushed slightly. "Sorry, surfer slang. I slip sometimes. I meant that's awesome and it is, that you have that much control. Someday I hope to be that good with these blasters." Alex held up his hands for a moment, a small smile on his face. "If you want to get to your homework done, I can leave ya alone. I was planning on doing some skating today."

"The magic's the easy part. Me mutation... well, 'm workin' on it." She gave him another of those wry grins and nodded at the ramp. "Go on. Wouldn't mind watchin' for a bit, if you don't mind?"

Alex shrugged as he stood up, his board moved to under his arm as he gave her a smile. "Sure thing. I don't mind an audience. I just hope your a better one for me then I was for you. And well, if ya want, friends?" He held out his hand to her, his head slightly cocked to the side.

"Hey, don't worry 'bout it. Really." Amanda took the offered hand as she stood. "An' yeah, I'd like that." A brief mischievous look crossed her face. "'Specially now there's no danger of us angstin' each other t' death."

Alex laughed and rolled his eyes. "I've had enough angst in the past few weeks thank you very much...and now I know it'll come from one less source. That and a new friend are very refreshing." Then he gave her a playful wink before heading off to the ramps to show off what he did best.