xp_logs | Logs up the whazoo

I claim the logwhore title tonight.

First, Hank confronts Jay in the medlab on Saturday morning, demanding to know what he was thinking when he asked Amanda to cast her spell. Jay doesn't take well to the good doctor's tone of voice, and Hank doesn't appreciate Jay's disregard.

Hank was lying in wait outside the Medlab proper. He'd seen Jay go in. Sooner or later, he'd have to come out... and then Hank could yell at him properly, without upsetting Amanda or getting caught by Maddie. He hoped. Maddie's hearing was annoyingly good, sometimes.

He watched as Jay slipped out, closing the door behind him, and then he stepped out to block the hallway, massive arms folded. "I want a word with you, young man," he growled, his eyes narrowed. "Lots of them, in fact."

Jay would never deny that it was his doing that put Amanda in the infirmary, and because he was responsible, he felt that he needed to check on her to make sure she was okay. Satisfied that she was recovering well, he left the ward to grab something to eat before another long day of brooding. Except then a big blue furry thing stopped him.

"Ooookaaay," Jay replied slowly. He knew what this was about, but he'd be damned if he'd let anyone intimidate him.

"What, precisely, were you thinking?" Hank demanded, eyes narrowing at the apparent lack of penitence. "I don't know how you talked Amanda into casting whatever spell it was for you, but I would very much like to know what in hell you thought you were doing asking at all!" Amanda was, thankfully, only drained this time... but that kind of expenditure of magic could have done just as much damage as any large healing spell. And the cuts weren't making him very happy either.

"Y'all don't really think that Ah have some kinda mind-controlling power that made her do somethin' against her will, do ya?" challenged Jay. "Ah didn't ask her ta do nuthin' she couldn't handle, and Ah certainly didn't force her to do it. With all due respect, Doc, this is between me and her."

"And you, of course, know so very much about what Amanda can and cannot handle. And I'm sure you did not in any way take shameless advantage of her compulsion to atone for her past sins by helping others, or her inability to say no to people even when she really should, if they make it sound urgent enough," Hank growled. "Just what, exactly, did you ask her to do? If you have any kind of defense for your behaviour, I would suggest you share it now."

A little voice was telling Jay that Doctor McCoy was acting awfully weird. He had never seen him so angry before. He always seemed to calm and cool. But if he was going to take this tone with Jay, then he'd return it. He would not let anyone diminish the feelings, good and bad, that he felt after last night. "Ah didn't force her, or threaten her, or blackmail her, or take advantage of nuthin'. Ah asked her 'cuz Ah knew she could help me, 'cuz she said she could before. Ah never brought up her past behavior. That never even came ta mind."

"I'm still waiting to hear what it was," Hank said grimly. "And I doubt very much that Amanda failed to warn you how dangerous whatever it is was. But you talked her into it anyway. I hope it was something very, very important, Jay. Please, tell me it was something important."

"You're dang right it was somethin' important. And yeah, she did tell me that her magic is sometimes dangerous. But what of it? She did her thing, everything went peachy, and we ain't got no problems besides her wantin' some bed rest." Looking McCoy in the eye, he continued. "And Ah ain't gonna tell you none 'bout what we did, neither. That's a private matter."

"Suit yourself." Hank glared. "I hope it was important enough to kill or maim Amanda for. Either could easily have happened. We still don't know if she did any permanent brain-damage - which is always a risk, and something we check for after every major expenditure of magic. So I really hope it was something you were willing to let someone die for, Jay, because that's what might have happened."

"And Ah'm close ta dyin' everytime Ah take to the air, y'know?" Jay pointed out rather nastily. "And ya don't see no one tellin' me that Ah ain't able ta fly. And by the way, Ah really resent ya sayin' that Ah'm willin' ta let anybody die. Ah'd kill mahself before Ah'd see a friend bite the big one."

Hank growled softly. "You could have killed Amanda with your request," he said flatly. "When I made the general announcement about Amanda being taken off healing duties, I made it clear that this was for the sake of her health. Since obviously that wasn't clear enough for you, I will spell it out. Amanda is still young, and she is still in training. Trying to handle too much magic at once hurts her, just as overstraining a developing power would hurt any young mutant. Next time you decide you absolutely have to have the use of magic, for whatever important reason it was... ask an adult. Not a student. Is that clear?"

"And what adult here can do what she can, huh?" Jay demanded. "No one. She's the witch, not you. She's the only one here who knows what she can and can't do, so she's the one who decides what she will and won't do. Just like Ah'm decidin' ta end this conversation." Jay turned around and started to walk out of the room. "Don't blame me for what somebody else does, dang it. And don't blame anyone for doin' somethin' that they can handle anyways. She didn't do nuthin' wrong, and neither did Ah."

"If she could handle it, Jay, she wouldn't be in the Medlab right now," Hank said grimly. "However, since she is, and I don't want her disturbed, your punishment can wait until tomorrow. As soon as breakfast is over, you will come straight to the Medlab, and you will clean every. single. inch. Every floor, wall, ceiling, flat surface, and bedpan." He scowled. "I am a teacher, and I do have the authority to issue due punishment for the endangerment of another student. Be thankful it's no worse."

Jay shrugged. "Not like Ah have anythin' else ta do, anyway. Already got a few weeks' detention for bein' on the other end of Kyle's claws." Pausing when he reached the door, he turned around and looked at McCoy intensely. "Y'know, if and when ya fall in love and then ya lose 'em, come ta me and tell me ya wouldn't do the exact damn thing Ah did." He left without letting McCoy respond. The time of arguing and bitching had ended. It was sulking time, now.

Hank took a deep breath. Well. That explained a lot, even to his fuzzy brain. "When you're old enough to have lost more than one, and to have learned to pick yourself up and go on living as well as you can, come to me and tell me that you wouldn't react the same way I have to some snot-nosed teenager who thinks the world's ended because he's unhappy and tries to kill someone else to make himself feel better," he told the empty air where Jay had been. Then he stalked back to his office, to check to see if anyone had responded to his angry ultimatum.

Later in the afternoon, Kitty and Lockheed stop by Jay's room to see how he's doing. She manages to get him outside for a little while and is generally a good friend.

"What do you think?" Kitty asked the dragon perched on her shoulder. "Rescue time?" Lockheed just cocked his head questioningly, but Kitty nodded as though he had agreed with her. "Yes, I think so, too." She knocked smartly on the door to the boy's suite and popped her head in. "Hey, Jay, you in here?"

Jay was actually in his own room, sitting on his bed, absently strumming his guitar. The door was close, but he heard the familiar voice out in the common room. It would have been nice to sulk in peace, but Kitty was one of those few who just seemed to get it. "Ah'm in mah room," he called out, "and the door's unlocked."

"Kay," Kitty called back, coming in and heading towards Jay's room. "Play along," she muttered to Lockheed. Eyeing the clean front room, then shrugged, and opened the door. "Hey you. How goes?"

Jay shrugged, and continued the play a slow melody on his guitar. If he'd been playing it normally and not so mournfully, one might have recognized it as Jason Mraz's "Unfold." "So what're the rumors out there now? Do Ah got dragon wings and breathe fire now?"

"Nope, that sort of thing is still reserved to this little guy. Although, I don't think he'd mind being related to you that way. He's rather fond of his flight teacher, hey?" In agreement, Lockheed cooed and pushed off from Kitty's shoulder, gliding over to land with a thump on Jay's bed. "He's getting better, too, I'd say. Downright maneuverable, even inside."

Jay stopped playing and petted Lockheed's head. "He's a natural, don't'cha know. You, uh, wanna sit?" He nodded at the chair over by his desk. "There's some food and drinks in the fridge out there iffn ya want."

"Nah, I'm good, thanks." Kitty dropped into the offered chair. "Had lunch and all that. Unless you're hungry? I can't imagine you boys keep good food in that fridge, but I'd be happy to scrounge up something that's, you know, warm and balanced mean and all that."

"Nah, Ah'm fine," Jay said, shaking his head. "The docs done filled me up with sweets on Thursday, and Ah'm still tryin' ta burn it all off."

"Sweets hardly constitute a balanced meal, but I'll take your word for it. If you really want to burn it off, I bet Lockheed'd be glad to have a flying partner for a while..." Standard Kitty operating procedure: 1) offer moper food, 2) get moper out of their room...

"Ah think that Ah'll stay in here as long as Ah possibly can. Don't need no one ta jump me the second Ah walk outta here." Jay continued to pet Lockheed. He wasn't quite like a kitty (although scales did have a certain, er, charm), but the purring-esque sounds were nice.

Kitty rolled her eyes and grinned. "Well, you wouldn't exactly have to walk out, you know. There's a perfectly serviceable exterior wall right there, and I have it on good authority that someone in this room can take you through it." Lockheed was perfectly happy to curl up under Jay's hand, humming to himself and occasionally shifting his back so Jay could reach a different spot.

Jay glanced at the window and considered. Maybe a short flight would be nice. But just a short one. "Ah guess, for a little while. Unless one of the flyers is waitin' out there . . ."

"Doubt it," Kitty said with a shrug. "And I don't think any of them would give you any shit, anyway. Promise to run interference if they do, though." She stood up and offered Jay a hand. "Give it a shot..."

Offering Lockheed one last rub, Jay got up and took Kitty's hand. "So we just up and walk through the wall?" he asked.

Kitty nodded, scooping up Lockheed with her other hand and phasing them all out. "Yep." She tugged his hand and strolled towards the wall. "Only, don't let go..."

Jay slowly walked with Kitty. He didn't feel any different, but when he raised a hand and put it against the wall, it went straight through. "Damn. Just for curiosity, what'd happen iffn Ah did let go?"

"At this point?" Kitty asked. "You'd probably just lose the hand. It would go back to being solid, while still existing in the space where the wall is. When I was first learning to do this we were testing the power with lab rats. One of them squirmed out of my hand while we were in the wall and died." Not giving Jay a chance to really think, Kitty kept on walking, passing through the wall and out into thin air and the 'floor' she was imagining for herself. "Blast! Cold!" Standing there, she started to shiver.

Standing on thin air next to Kitty, Jay could only blink. "That was funky. So, uh, iffn Ah let go now, Ah'll fall?" Jay spread his wings and took his hand back. The instant he phased back in, he began to fall, but he got himself back up a moment later. "Whoa."

"Exactly," Kitty grinned, letting go of Lockheed so he could get his own wings under him. Her hands free again, she quickly tucked them deep in her jean pockets. "I'm getting much better at the walking on air, thing, too."

Jay pulled a small figure-8 before flying back to Kitty. "Now iffn you're not careful with how ya use your powers, ya could break your neck and die," he warned mockingly, although his voice lacked much humor.

Kitty snorted. "Yeah, true enough. But you didn't ask, I offered." She shrugged. "Dr. McCoy's worried, whatever. From his perspective it makes sense."

He could do it without soundin' like a giant dick. Ya know what he has me doin'? Ah'm on medlab clean-up duty. Thankfully without a toothbrush, but there's still time for 'im ta change his mind."

Kitty looked at the boy, dark eyes serious for a second. "But was it worth it?" she asked, a slight smile on her lips.

Jay didn't even need to think about the question. "Damn right it was. It powerful sucks that Amanda needs ta recuperate from it, but it's nuthin' major, she ain't angry, and she don't regret it."

"Then take the clean-up duty and weight it up against that. I'd think the 'punishment' would fall pretty fall short." Kitty shrugged. "There have to be rules, and they have to be the ones to make them and enforce them. And then we have to be the ones to decide when the punishments are worth it."

"Ah ain't gonna bitch none about it," Jay asserted, pulling a big loop-de-loop. "That'll just make McCoy make it worse, and Ah think Ah'll skip that."

Kitty grinned as Lockheed came swooping back, turning circles in the air next to Jay. "Good plan," she said. To keep warm she started walking back and forth, moving about quite assuredly as though she weren't hanging two stories up in the air.
"Iffn you're gettin' cold, we should go back in. Wouldn't do no good if ya get sick, y'know. 'Cuz then Ah'll have McCoy and Jamie ridin' mah ass." Jay paused, then blushed and shook his head. "Bad choice of words."

She snorted. "Not something I'd previously worried about, but now..." Kitty teased. "Nah, I'm ok, for now. If nothing else, it's good practice for me, too, you know." She imagined herself a stairway and hurried up, rising through the air.

With a nod, Jay flew up a little bit higher, keeping up with Kitty as she progressed. "So is it always like this? Ah mean, teachers yellin' one thing and kids yellin' another? Ah've seen it before once or twice, but Ah didn't think it was a trend or nuthin'."

"It happens with distressing regularity, yes." Kitty sighed. "Not that that's all that different from a normal school, you know? Kids and teachers at odds and so on. But we're closer to our teachers, so it just gets messier."

"Y'know how much of a fortune MTV would make iffn they came here and filmed us? We're much more entertainin' than the losers on The Real World. A hundred percent intense drama."

"When mutants stop being friendly and start getting real? God, I don't even want to imagine. Jamie talks about writing a mutant sitcom, but I think a mutant soap opera is still more accurate. All My Mutant Children."

"That actually sounds like mah family's story than anythin' else, given that three of us are mutants, and Ah wouldn't be too surprised iffn Melody showed up on the doorstep next, glowin' or somethin'."

"Well, mutations do tend to run in the family. Look at Scott and Alex. Course, your family is bigger than most," Kitty added with a grin.

"Maybe in a few years' time, this place will be renamed the Guthrie Institute," Jay joked. "Hmm, maybe Papa shouldn't've spent so much time in the coal mines afterall."

"Nobody knows what causes the x-gene mutation, yet, or why it comes out so strange in different people. Could actually all sorts of different things. And now I am cold..." she said, the shivering becoming more apparent. "How on earth do you stand it?"

Jay shrugged and turned around to head back inside. "Ah get used to it. Ah can fly up pretty high, and it's cold up there, so maybe mah body is made for that. But Ah ain't no biologist. That science stuff is way over mah head. C'mon." He flew back to the window, waiting for Kitty to phase him back through.

Kitty hurried to his side, slightly above him. "Er, brace yourself," she muttered. She blinked herself solid, letting gravity take her down, and the second she felt Jay she phased them both back out and willed herself to stop. There was still a slight jarring, though. "There has got to be a better way to do that," she said. "Lockheed, I'll meet you downstairs later, kay?" The little dragon cooed and winged off and Kitty and Jay stepped through the wall and back inside.

Jay shivered once he was back inside. "Ah think Ah'm gonna go drown mahself in hot water. Thanks for the trip, Kitty."

"No problem. I am the not-so-secret master of getting into and out of places at need. If this science thing doesn't work out, maybe I'll just become the next Houdini." She grinned.

"Houdini was a Jew, right? So at least y'all've got that in common. You're on the right track."

Kitty snorted. "Excellent. Knew the heritage thingy'd be useful sometime." She shook her head. "Have a good bath. I'm gonna go let Lockheed in before he decides to try to breath fire to keep himself warm."

In the early evening, angered by Hank's ultimatum, Forge vents to Jay. The two also find out that they share more than they thought in common.

"Condescending overbearing fascist son of a bitch..." Forge muttered to himself, closing his laptop and pacing around the room. As far as he saw it, Dr. McCoy had no right, none at all, to try and dictate to Amanda what she could do with her abilities. That, he thought, should be between her and Jay.

Walking across the common area, Forge rapped quickly on Jay's door. "Hey, Jay?" he called, "got a few minutes?"

Jay had read a couple of Forge's comments on the journals, and had gotten the e-mail from him, too. So at least he knew that Forge wasn't out to bite his head off. Unless he came to talk about the fight in the common room. "Yeah," he called. He was sitting on his bed with his guitar, playing a rather mournful version of what should have been an uplifting Ryan Cabrera song.

Sticking his head in to make sure Jay was decent, Forge slipped quickly in and shut the door. "Hey," he began, "seems there's a whole shitstorm brewing about you and Amanda last night, huh?"

Jay rolled his eyes and put his guitar down. "Amazin' how people are more pissed about that than they are about me and Kyle trashin' the room and nearly rippin' each other apart."

Forge rolled his eyes. "Oh, that," He looked around at the state of Jay's room, much better looking than yesterday's debacle in the common room. "I figure you two didn't break anything but a chair, so there's no harm, no foul. Now, if you'd messed up MY stuff, then we'd talk."

He stood silent for a few moments, then quietly asked, "So what'd you ask Amanda for? I mean, I know what she did, and I know what it did to her, but that's beside the point. Just wondering... why?"

Forge was admittedly one of the few people whom Jay wouldn't hesitate to label as "cool," because if nothing else, then he was at least trustworthy. "Y'all won't tell no one, right? Ah mean, it ain't somethin' Ah'm embarrassed about, Ah just don't really want it gettin' around, y'know."

Forge snorted. "Hey, who do I talk to? Besides, I know what her spell did. I figure if it was that important, it was pretty damn personal."

Jay nodded. "Ah was . . . with someone before Ah came here." This would be the abridged version, because Jay wasn't in the mood for a pity party. "He died and Ah've been a mess ever since. So Ah asked Amanda iffn Ah could talk ta him one more time. She said she'd done somethin' like that before."

"Ah," Forge said, not wanting to pry. "well, I'm not going to pretend I know what that's like. But Amanda likely explained what it'd do to her, and if you think it was worth it - you know better than anyone, me or Dr. McCoy."

"She never said it could kill her, only that it's really intense and she might end up pullin' out somethin' else iffn she wasn't careful." Jay sighed. "Ah can't say that her gettin' hurt was worth anythin', but the ordeal itself was definitely worth it." He sighed again, but this time a touch more happily. "He looked exactly like the last time Ah saw him."

"He? Oh, right." Forge smacked his forehead. "Well, someone more educated than me in the whole psychology thing would probably say things about closure and whatnot. You might want to, I dunno, talk to the Professor or something. And in either case," Forge smiled, "talking to him or Samson should get people off your back."

"Ah don't need no one else tellin' me Ah'm a nutjob," Jay said, rolling his eyes. "Ah don't believe none in that psychobabble bullshit anyway."

"It can help, you know," Forge offered, "talking to people. Doctor Samson, he doesn't try and analyze me or anything. He just listens. I'd deny this if you ever told anyone, but it helps."

Forge looked over at Jay's guitar, then things clicked in his mind. "Hey, that song you're always working on? That's about him, isn't it?"

Jay considered. "Ah'll think about it," he finally answered, shrugging. He picked up his guitar again and played the first few notes from his song. "Yeah, it is. Started ta write it a few months ago, and it's pretty much finished. Ah find mahself tinkerin' with it sometimes, though. It still don't sound right ta me."
[21:34] MightyNute: Forge tried his best not to wince. He knew enough from Ms. Blaire's music class to recognize that Jay was good - very good - but he could tell that he was putting so much emotion into the song, it almost hurt to listen to.

"I couldn't tell you," he finally said, "I mean - it sounds correct, I guess. It's just... I don't understand the feelings behind it. I suppose it's like how I keep tinkering with my hand and leg, you know?" Forge flexed experimentally, feeling the new bearings take their share of his body weight. "You keep working on something so long, it's a part of you."

"And it's kinda like Ah don't want ta finish it," Jay mused, finding himself playing the next few notes of the song softly. "'Cuz when Ah do, then what? Ah don't want ta lose it and everythin' Ah feel from it."

Forge shrugged. "Wish I could help you there, man. It's like Greek to me." He turned back to the door, figuring Jay would probably want his privacy. "But for the record - I've got your back on this thing with Amanda. Shouldn't be anyone's business but yours and hers."

"Thanks," Jay said simply, but it was for more than just the offer of privacy. "Ah'll see ya 'round."

An alcohol-bearing Terry visits Jay, and the two discuss dumb adults and share homesickness. But they still have yet to determine who is prettier.

Terry rapped on the door to Jay’s suite and nudged it open. “Hello? Jay? Kyle? Forge?” A quick glance showed that no one seemed to be around and Jay’s door was shut in a way that she imagined meant ‘no visitors, brooding in progress’. Terry usually respected brooding but she was too Irish to let a friend be in pain alone. She crossed the common area and knocked again on Jay’s door. “Jay? Open up, lad before I drop the tray.” Not that there was any danger to the small tray balanced on her other hand but what’s a little white lie between friends?

Jay was slowly making his way through his mental playlist on his guitar. He'd started off with Jason Mraz, and after turning him from a fun folk-rock singer into a broody whiner, went one to mangle Ryan Cabrera. With him down, Jay was switching over to southern rock, ready to mutilate Dierks Bentley. "Another visitor?" he sighed, getting up from his bed and opening the door for Terry.

“Good afternoon, sunshine,” Terry greeted Jay with a knowing, ironic smirk. She propped her hand on her waist, looking like a perky waitress, “Can I interest you in a cup of hot chocolate with a bit of Irish?” She took in his appearance with a single glance and decided that he was really having himself a fine sulk.

Stepping aside, he let Terry in and closed the door behind her. "Ah ain't one for alcohol. Goes straight through me, and Ah don't even get a buzz."

“I’ll drink your share then and you can have your cocoa straight.” Terry handed him a mug off her tray then stole the only chair in the room for herself. She slid a flask from her pocket and dolloped in a healthy amount from it into her own mug. “Drink up. It’ll get cold, else.”

Jay accepted the cup and took a sip. This was good stuff, definitely not the Swiss Miss crap he'd once spotted hidden in the kitchen. Lorna must have missed that. "Thanks. So what's goin' on out there, now? People still bitchin', or are they mostly over it?"

Terry shrugged, “You know the mansion. Everything has a side and everyone has to pick one. They’ll not be satisfied until this is world war III played out. Myself, I figure ye and Amanda are both my friends even if she is a bloody Brit, so I’ll stay out of the battle and just worry about the survivors.”

"Right. Ah mean, she ain't mad at me, so what's the big deal? As long as there ain't no bad blood between me and her, which there ain't, then we're good." He took another sip, savoring the hot sweetness. "And my mama wonders why Ah usually can't stand this place."

“It’s not so bad here, all things considered.” Terry said mildly, adding more from her flask to the hot cocoa. “Even if the teachers don’t think we know our arse from our elbow. If she offered to help, that’s her affair. If you asked and she consented, well that’s her affair as well. It was up to you both to judge the need.”

"Exactly. Why is it that only us 'young'uns' can see that? Out of the mouths of babes and all that." Jay paused, and grinned slightly. "'Babe' in both senses, of course." A perfectly deserved compliment, as she did bring him sweetness.

Terry grinned back at him, pleased to see him smile. “Go on with you. Are you finally admitting I’m the better looking?” She sipped at her cocoa, pondering his question, “I think the teachers have a hard time remembering that we aren’t children and can make our own decisions. They want us to just listen to them for our own good like we were wee ones who need to be protected.”

"Now, Ah didn't say that. You're misinterpretin' mah words." He noticed her thickening accent, and made a note to keep an eye on how much she was drinking. Not that he thought that she couldn't handle it, but he didn't want a drunken Terry to be caught by the teachers. "And now Ah'm just waitin' for Sam ta come and beat me. Hadn't heard a peep from him yet, but it's only a matter of time."

“Paige looks like she’s ready to defend yeh if it comes to that. She tore into Dr. McCoy well and good for yer sake.” Terry nodded solemnly. “I’ll get yeh to admit it one of these days. Yeh can’t deny the truth forever.”

"Your insistence is cute but as close-minded and short-sighted as the teachers are." Jay finished his drink and put the mug down on his nightstand. "Paige surprises me sometimes. Can't say that Ah expected her ta respond like that."

“Yeh say that only because yeh have not looked in a mirror today.” Terry teased, finishing her own mug. “Pick up yer guitar and I’ll teach yeh a new song from my home. Nothing beats the Irish when it comes to music to brood by.”

"Ah ain't at mah best today." Jay picked up his guitar per Terry's request and raised an eyebrow. "This ain't no Riverdance, is it?"

“If all yeh know of Eire is Riverdance, yeh have been sorely misused. No, this is from my county Mayo.” Terry hummed the melody for him then began to sing in a sweet voice that in no way belied the heart-breakingly lonely lyrics.

Jay nodded as she sang, listening without playing for a couple of minutes so he could get a good feel for the music. He'd never played Irish folk-music before, but as this song fit his mood, he found it easy to duplicate.

Terry sang it twice through for him, keeping solely to the melody line rather than branching into harmony with herself. When she was finished, her eyes shone with tears that she brushed away with a little laugh. “Yer a quick study.”
Jay pulled a tissue from his nightstand and handed it to Terry, smiling softly. "Ah done got mahself a decent teacher. Y'all alright there?"

“Aye, there’s not an Irish born who can sing of home without shedding a tear or two. We’re a romantic race.” She accepted the tissue with a smile and wiped at her eyes. “Just makes me wish for home a bit is all.”

"Ah kinda know whatcha mean. Play me some good Patsy and all Ah want is ta be back milkin' cows, or even down in the coal mine." Jay shrugged. "Not very romantic, but'cha know what Ah mean anyways."

“I was thinking more of picking locks and playing harp while my uncle Tom planned a job.” Terry grinned and took out her flask again, drinking straight from it this time. “Strange the things we miss.”

"There are a couple other things Ah miss, but they don't bear repeatin' in front of a lady," Jay teased.

Terry looked around in mock-surprise, “When did there get to be a lady present? I imagine her sensibilities are just outraged.”