Amanda, Jubilee - earlier this week

[xp_daytripper]

Jubilee makes Amanda climb the walls. Literally.



Amanda looked doubtfully at the wall, and then at the harness Jubilee was buckling for her, beginning to regret the impulse that had led her to email the other girl. But anything was better than sitting in her room, fretting about Pete's abrupt (and still unexplained) departure, and trying to ignore the power gradually building up in her. "You sure this is safe?" she asked at last.

Jubilee snorted and shook her head. "Where's your sense of adventure, Mandy? Can't all live forever. But yeah, I'm sure it's safe. Tested it myself a few times when they first set it up. You'd be surprised at how much whining till they let you on the thing works."

"Yeah, well, not bein' able t' catch meself makes me a little less on the risk takin' side of things," Amanda muttered, but let Jubilee clip her onto the other end of the rope. "All right, what now?"

Jubilee pointed to the first of the foot holds, standing with her feet slightly apart and pulling the rope so it curled down behind her. "Right, that's the beginner level, which I'm thinkin' you're going to find damn easy but it's best we start there. Think of it as a ladder, you just put one foot in front of the other, push with your legs and grip the stuff above you with your hands. Try not to pull yourself up the wall though, your back is so not goin' to love you in the mornin' if you do that. Anyway, belay on, climb when ready." Jubilee replied, snapping her gum for emphasis on the last.

With a nod, Amanda set her foot on the first hold, and then looked up for handholds. Jubilee had been right, it was an easy climb. Perhaps the Docs weren't the best shoes to be wearing, 'though... "So... keepin' busy?" she asked as she climbed, not really sure how small talk worked, but not wanting to be completely silent.

"Kinda. Mostly just keeping a running tab of how many times I can put my foot in my mouth in a single month. Haven't hit the record yet but I'm thinkin' I could get my second wind any second now. Apart from that, contemplating actually getting good scores this month, an perhaps getting a picture of someone faintin' when I do well in math. Not sure who yet, but I'm narrowing the field." Jubilee replied, her tone dry, as she slowly took up the slack in the rope, giving Amanda enough to still climb with but making sure it wasn't enough that she'd fall far if she slipped.

She'd changed into her gym clothes for the session, a truly hideous shade of fluorescent green that she'd brought merely to piss off Logan, who had been the self defence teacher at the time. She had been serious about the class but there was the appearance of not giving a shit that she'd felt she needed to keep up at the time.

"Yeah, well, wouldn't be you if you didn't put yer foot in it sometimes. Tho' you wouldn't be wrong if you said Pete was gone this time - looks like he's taken off again." Amanda said the words with careful nonchalance - they'd come a long way, but she wasn't about to treat Jubilee as her closest mate. And Pete was family business. "How's it goin' with Cain? Still cleanin' for him or are you gunna leave it t' the mad pregnant girl who seems t' think the rest of us are useless?"

Jubilee screwed up her nose. "Like I'm lettin' her muscle in on my territory... Okay, that was so out of left field. Sorry, just burns me that suddenly cause I leave the place alone for like, one day, then someone else just comes in an cleans. The fact that I'm startin' to think of it as 'my job' and gettin' 'pissy' cause someone else took it is so seriously of the strange, though. Guess I'm gettin' into this whole responsibility thing. Like the fact that people look at me now and don't immediately see 'useless waste of space'." Jubilee replied, carefully avoiding the mention of Pete Wisdom. She knew it had to be a sore point with Amanda right now, and this whole 'getting along' thing was new and somewhat fragile yet. Best to go slow, and not push too much.

"Yeah, she's a pushy bitch for someone who's been here five minutes..." Amanda paused in mid-climb and laughed suddenly. "You know who I sound like? You, when I got here."

Jubilee snickered suddenly. "Oh Dude, that's classic. Seriously. See, now you know. An' it's totally not somethin' you even realise you're doin'. You're just all 'Bitch, who does she think she is, thinkin' she's all that. Well, I'll show her whose boss dog round here. An' then by the time you realise what a complete shit you're bein'...well, that was about the time you punched me in the nose."

Jubilee shook her head, pulling more of the rope and throwing it back past her leg as she made sure she always had two hands on the rope. The climbing with Nathan had been educational, that was for sure. And a lot better emotionally then sitting around talking about how much of a fuckup she was. Least with climbing there was a quantifiable result and reward.

"Yeah well, apparently I'm a pushover, but there are limits." Amanda stretched up on tip-toe to reach the next handhold, cursing the lack of height. "Still, if she wants t' clean, I say let her. Won't be long before she's too preggers t' do it any way, so it's not like you'll lose yer place."

"True, an this does get me an extra day in between. So, what'cha thinkin' of the course? Other then wishin' for levitation on the holds you gotta stretch for. Spent half my time havin' to jump for the holds on this wall, especially the harder bits." Jubilee replied, tilting her head slightly to keep Amanda in sight.

"'S not bad, but yeah, it was set by a tall bastard." Amanda grimaced slightly at the mention of levitation. "Who'd've thought layin' off the magic would be such a pain in the arse? 'S not until I stop that I realise how much I use it."

"They still givin' you shit over that?" Jubilee asked, somewhat surprised. Usually the adults knew when to lay off. But the shocks had been coming thick and fast this past year. She couldn't blame them for being a little off the game. Still, they had to know doing what they did with someone like Amanda was just asking for trouble. Jubilee knew herself, she'd be more likely to do exactly the opposite if someone came down hard on her about using her powers. Still, she and Amanda weren't exactly alike, an she had to hope the adults knew what they were doing.

"Nah, no-one's said anythin'. The spell I did..." Amanda hesitated before actually saying it, but figured Jubilee ought to hear it at least. Especially after the healing incident. "It caused some damage. T' me brain. So no magic at all for a couple of weeks until it heals up."

"Dude, that sucks. Both, you know?" Jubilee replied, gripping her hands tightly on the rope as Amanda moved up a step, and pulling up the slack. "Why'd you do it? You had ta have known it was gonna hurt you."

"See, that's the thing. Magic hurts. All the time, pretty much, unless it's somethin' so small I don't even have t' think about it. So I figured I could handle it, same as I do for healin' an' the rest of it. I thought it was worth it." She couldn't shrug with both hands occupied in holding herself on the wall, but her tone indicated she would have, if she could. "If I'd known it was gunna cause damage, maybe I wouldn't have done it, not for that person. But if it was Pete or Nate or Ange that asked? There wouldn't have been an issue - I owe 'em too much t' say no, ever."

"See, maybe that's why the docs are tellin' people not to ask you then. Cause for certain people you wouldn't say no. An well, what if what they asked you for wasn't needed, or bad for you or them. You do it and either you or they get fucked up cause you couldn't say no. Just cause you can do a thing, doesn't mean you should do a thing." Jubilee replied, tone thoughtful. "Still, it's your choice. I would so not react well to bein' told 'We're doin' this for your own good' if someone was tellin' me not to do somethin'. But I guess... why do you think you owe them anythin'?"

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm just stupid that way," Amanda said sourly, not liking having it shoved down her throat yet again that she was a mindless twit who did whatever was asked of her. "Still, if someone was tellin' you that only you could help 'em, an' that they might hurt 'emselves if you didn't, I s'pose it'd be easy for you t' say 'no, suffer', wouldn't it?"

"What I said wasn't about you bein' stupid, Dude. You ain't, wouldn't have survived long on your own if you were. An I'm not even sayin' you can't take care of yourself. Same thing again with the survivin'. Just that sometimes, no matter how hard it is, an how much someone tells you they'd die without it, you still gotta say no. An no, it wouldn't be easy for me to say no. Heck, in your position, I might have done the same damn thing. I don't know, I wasn't there. S'why I'm not givin' you shit about doin' it, or tellin' you you were wrong. Just think you shouldn't feel like you can't say no just cause you've got a connection with someone." Jubilee replied, hoping Amanda would see where she was coming from.

They were both still wary of each other, she knew that. You couldn't take a year of animosity and turn it into friendship, even with the confessions and apologies that had been made. But Jubilee hoped that simply being herself wasn't enough to destroy the chance for it. She wouldn't lie to Amanda though, and the way Amanda looked at Nate and Pete, what she was saying, it seemed a dangerous attitude to have. She knew that Nate would probably never ask Amanda for something that'd hurt her but she wasn't so sure about Pete or Angelo.

"Yes, it does," Amanda said simply. "I've never had anyone who wanted me before, an' they've all saved me life, one way or another. I owe 'em."

Jubilee shrugged, knowing that pushing Amanda would be a bad idea. Some things, just were. No changing them, or arguing them. A smart person knew when they were faced with one.

"Think we'll have to agree to disagree, ya know? Not sayin' yer wrong, just not what I'd do. Guess that means we ain't clones though, hey? Was gettin' scary there for a bit, how alike we were." She said, trying for a spot of humour to break the mood.

Amanda grunted, concentrating on the last couple of holds, which were the tricky ones. "Think we've got plenty of differences, Tinkerbell," she said at last, breathing a little heavily as she rested at the top. "So, now I'm here, what next?"

"Well, I believe the usual thing to do is come back down. Course, if you wanted ta hang around up there knittin' or somethin', I wouldn't stop you." Jubilee replied, unable to resist the urge to be a smartass.

"Funny girl." Amanda rolled her eyes. "I meant, how? Climb down?"

Jubilee grinned. "Sorry Mandy, couldn't resist. You just sit back in your harness till your legs are straight and then I lower you down while you kinda walk your legs down. Some people do the whole jump rappelling thing but that's a good way to screw your knees if you have an accident on the way down."

Amanda hesitated. "Sit back?" she asked, sounding a little doubtful - it was quite a way down. And it meant Jubilee would be responsible for not dropping her. "Um, sure," she said, but didn't immediately move.

Jubilee sighed inwardly, knowing why Amanda was hesitating. Climbing when you were by yourself, it was all about you but climbing with a partner, there was a lot of trust involved. "Dude, I ain't gonna let you fall, okay? Just trust me. Sit back and I'll hold you there awhile so you can get used to it, then when you're ready, give me the word and I'll start bringing you down. We'll take it all slow like, like Nate did with me when he first showed me how ta climb. Not gonna do anythin' without your say so first, kay?" she replied, keeping her tone even and free of impatience.

Amanda took a breath, and nodded, gingerly sitting back in the harness and letting go of the handholds. There was no reason Jubilee would drop her, she had to believe that. She squeaked a little as the slack was taken up, the rope jerking, and then she nodded. "All right, I'm good," she called down.

Jubilee let some of the rope out, watching Amanda carefully to make sure she was placing her feet properly. The other girl appeared to be getting the hang of it fairly quickly though and Jubilee allowed the rope to go a little faster. "How's that?" she called up.

"That's fine," Amanda called back, perhaps a little breathlessly, but when she touched the ground, there was a grin on her face. "That was sort of fun," she said.

"Ain't it? If you're up to it, after a little more of this I could see if Nate's willin' to take us out for some outdoor stuff." Jubilee replied, grinning back. "So, wanna try somethin' a little harder? Or you willin' to belay me for awhile on one of these?"

"I'll belay you on the next one," Amanda said. "If you trust me, that is."

"Wouldn't have asked if I didn't. Here, I'll show you how ta hold the ropes when you're belaying. We'll try one of the
harder courses this time." Jubilee replied, unclipping her harness from the tapes attached to the floor.