xp_logs | Angelo and Amanda, Monday before classes

They sit out on the smokers' porch and talk about Illyana and demons, then happier subjects.

After firing off one final comment to Illyana, Angelo grabbed his jacket and his puppy and headed out for the smokers' porch to meet Amanda. She was already there when he arrived, sitting in her usual place on the swing seat.

"Hey," she said briefly. If the curtness of her tone wasn't enough to indicate she was Not Happy, the smoke haze around her and the collection of butts in the bucket by her feet would have been. She managed a brief smile as Joyita bounced up to her, sniffing curiously at her boots. "Hey, puppy. Don't get too near - might give you puppy lung cancer with me evil habit."

Angelo grinned wryly. "She lives with me, don't she? Comes out here with me more often than not. She's low to the ground an' smoke rises, she'll be okay." He sat down on the seat with her, sighing. "Hell of a weekend."

"'Hell's' right. 'M startin' t' think we pissed off some major deity or somethin'," Amanda said, resting her head on the back of the swing seat and closing her eyes. "An' if the trouble that comes lookin' for us ain't enough, we've got an open door policy which lets in any ravin' looney that's passin' by."

Angelo shrugged, drawing deep on his cigarette. "It's the Professor's choice", he said quietly. "He wouldn't let anyone stay here he really believed was dangerous, though."

"Bollocks," Amanda said with feeling. "They piss on about how they don't have the information they need from us t' keep us safe, an' then when you try an' _tell_ them somethin', they tell you yer fuckin' crazy." Amanda would have said more, but at that moment her cigarette erupted into a small flash of flame, and she yelped, dropping it and stomping on it with her boot. "Bloody fuckin' hell," she sighed. "Look at me, Ange. Bitch is out of medlab a day an' already she's got me in a state. Bloody fire spell's out of whack, 'm seein' auras without even tryin'... there's no fuckin' way I can Heal Doug in this state."

"Who told you you were crazy?" Angelo asked pointedly. "I'd be willin' to bet it's not anyone whose opinion really counts in the Illyana thing. Aurora's got no authority here, over anyone, she's just a guest. An' Marko doesn't get to say who stays an' who goes, or what happens to 'em. We'd both've been out of here a long time ago if he did."

"No-one has t' tell me - 'm startin' t' think it all by myself," Amanda replied, perhaps a little bitterly. She picked up the scorched and flattened remains of her cigarette, sighed, and tossed it in the bucket. "Bollocks."

Angelo glanced sideways at her, worried. "You talked to anyone about it in person? Nathan, at least?"

"I spoke t' Strange's answer machine last night, does that count?" Amanda joked lamely, lighting up a fresh cigarette, careful to use the lighter instead of the fire spell. "'Sides, what's the point? He'll only tell me t' drop it, same as last time."

"What exactly did he say last time?"

"That he wouldn't give up on her, regardless of what's there. That she deserves the same chances as the rest of us." Amanda scrubbed her hands through her hair. "Yeah, all the reasonable, logical stuff. Now d'you see why I think 'm goin' balmy? I come across as the world's biggest hypocrite, when all I'm tryin' t' do is warn people t' be careful with her. Fuck, I never said she shouldn't be here."

Angelo shrugged helplessly. "Everyone's on kind of a short fuse lately", he offered quietly. "This, on top of the Doug thing, an' everythin' else that came before that... but they shouldn't give her her chances blindly. I guess Strange is lookin' into this very carefully, though?"

Amanda made a non-committal noise. "I s'pose. He ain't tellin' me much either, 'cept that it's up t' the Prof t' make the decisions." She took a deep drag on her cigarette. "Maybe I am bein' a bit irrational 'bout all this. But it's like... it's like those dogs they taught us about in Science class. The Russian ones. You know - ring a bell an' they drool? 'S the same with me an' demons - mention the word an' I turn into a psycho bitch." Joyita, who had hidden behind Angelo's legs after the exploding cigarette incident, poked her head out and whined a little at the word 'dog'. "Not you, puppy."

Angelo reached down to pet Joyita soothingly, but didn't lift her into his lap yet - he only had one hand free, and didn't want to forget that and accidentally burn her if she wriggled. He nodded at Amanda's words.

"Yeah, an' I get that. But most of 'em don't, because they don't know why. Maybe after we do the full disclosure thing, they'll understand a bit better."

"Maybe." Amanda leaned back again, took another drag. "If they don't see it as another bit of passive-aggressive bullshit." She looked across at Angelo. "Shit of a bloody week, eh?"

"I think what Aurora was talkin' about there was the last sentence of the first paragraph", Angelo suggested wryly. "An' it kinda was, but we were all runnin' short on patience by then. I know why you wrote it. Shit of a bloody month. Or more."

"Passive-aggressive or not, it was still true," Amanda said with a shrug. "Done all I can, the rest is up t' them. Just don't expect me t' sit around defenceless when she loses control of the place, or decides she's waited long enough for whatever it is she's plannin'. Let the bloody bleedin' hearts deal with it, I'm done. Game over."

"All you can do", Angelo agreed. "Can't say you didn't warn them, if either of those does end up happenin'."

"Yeah, but I really don't want t' see death an' destruction of the place I think of as home just so I can sit back an' say 'I told you so.'" Amanda rubbed her forehead fretfully. "Fuck it. Can we talk 'bout somethin' else? Before me head explodes? I'd even be willin' t' talk about that bloody email Doug sent me than this right now."

"Never said you did", Angelo reminded her quietly, before nodding. "Yeah, of course. 'd kinda prefer to stay off the topic of Doug myself, though. Somethin' else again?"

"How's yer mum doin'?" Amanda hazarded. Nice, safe normal topic, that one. "She doin' all right with that new job of hers?"

Angelo smiled, finally putting out his cigarette and retrieving Joyita from under the seat. Something else to do with his hands, that wouldn't give him lung cancer. "Yeah, she's doin' well. Loves the store, an' it sounds like they might give her a promotion soon."

"Great t' hear," Amanda said with the first genuine smile of the morning. "Must be good for you too, havin' her so close now."

"Yeah, it really is. Not least 'cause now I've got a place t'go if I need out of here for a night. You do too, you know, she'd always put you up. With or without me goin' too."

"Ta. I'll keep that in mind." Another smile, although this one turned a little wry. "Is it usual, needin' t' escape from the place you call home sometimes?"

He shrugged. "When home's as chaotic as this place? Probably. I wouldn't know - home in LA was hardly what you'd call usual."

"More usual than mine," Amanda reminded him, but nudged his shoulder gently to show she wasn't meaning that in a bad way. "Still, 's good t' have somewhere t' go. Seems like 'm collectin' havens almost as much as 'm collectin' family."

Angelo looked over with a smile. "Always a good thing - you can never have too many alternatives."