"So...hold up a minute, you want me to be..."
"You'd have to go through all the usual training, or at least start it anyway. We know you can fight already."
"Sarah Summers is already training to be team leader, isn't she?"
"Well..yes, but..."
"Then no." Jamie says, with a tone that suggests the decision is final.
Joan and Ororo exchange a look of vague exasperation.
Joan sighs. "Sarah's a nice enough girl around everyone else. What's going on between you two, anyway?"
Jamie scowls. "She's a yuppy Barbie Doll! And she's had it out for me ever since she found out I was friends with her boyfriend. Just friends! There's no way in hell I'm about to let her boss me around."
Ororo crosses her arms, almost smug. "You'd be training along side my son as well."
That seems to get Jamie thinking. "Oh. Well. Really?"
"Mmhmm. Actually, he's even asked me before whether I planned to bring the idea up to you. He seems to really like you, and has been quite upset about Sarah's initial behavior towards you. I happen to know that you're training with the pair of them would likely be the perfect way to get under her 'Barbie Doll' skin."
Jamie blows out a breath, raking a hand through her short mane of brunette waves. "Alright. Fine. Guess I got nothin' better to do anyway."
Not at all bothered by Jamie's sass, Ororo smiles triumphantly. "Sessions in the Danger Room are held every other day, there's one tonight at six."
"I'll be there." Jamie huffs, already heading back out of the room.
Joan watches her daughter go, thoughtful now, though she waits the several moments it'll take for her daughter to be finally out of earshot before she speaks. "You know, one would almost think you want my daughter to snatch your son out of Sarah Summers arms."
Ororo shrugs, openly smirking now. "When it comes to my son, I've found I usually know what I'm doing. We shall see this time."
"Yes, I suppose we shall."
...
"Fletcher? Please tell me you're lost or something."
Jamie strolls into the Danger Room, not even missing a beat at the sound of Sarah Summers voice. "Go suck a dick, Barbie."
"Girls! Come on, now." Anna scolds.
"Sorry, Ms. Rogue." Sarah answers.
Jamie just shrugs. Anna rolls her eyes.
"Hey, Jamie! My mom finally talked to you, then?" Jake comes up to greet her.
Future-mate! Wild Thing perks up at this. He looks like himself for once, all broad shoulders and fluffy fur, his voice a smooth baritone.
Jamie smiles at the sight and sound of him. "Yeah. Figured I'd give it a try."
"You have no idea how happy that makes me."
Ugh. No, she's not blushing. Wild Thing does not blush. "Yeah, well. Nothin' better to do around here. I'm goin' stir crazy, this place is lame."
Jake just laughs.
A solid handful of other students make their way into the room - some Jamie's talked to, a few she actually hasn't - and another teacher joins Anna. Mr. Drake. All blue eyes and thick beard. He teaches math, and alot of the other female students are crushing on him hard. Jamie's indifferent - he's a little too much a generic pretty boy for her tastes and seems awful tight laced. She's seen him use his ice powers once or twice and that's awesome enough to earn him some points, though.
He clears his throat. "Alright, alright guys, settle down. We've got a few new recruits here so for today we're just gonna run some basic solo simulations, that way everyone can get basically acquainted with what your teammates can do. Don't worry too much about skills, just stick to using your powers and what you already know. Bare in mind that even if you know how to fight, as we're well aware a few of you do already, there's certainly still a lot you've got to learn. Now I know there's a few of you with abilities best suited to close-quarters, I'll pull up an opponent for you guys to show off with first since I know at least two of you will be raring to go."
Jake offers to go first and happily. The simulated opponent is another mutant - clearly a woman, though there's hardly much about her that one could identify as human with her scaly blue skin and the way she fights more with her feet and legs than her hands. Jamie wonders idly if that's someone the X-Men have fought before.
The simulation isn't set to a very high level. Jake dances around the strange opponent with a grace that's impressive for his size, lashing out with his long arms and easily breaking free of the holds she puts him in.
See! Future-mate is strong and fast, a worthy partner! Wild Thing prods her.
Jamie huffs a growl at herself.
Anna catches her gaze and sends her a questioning look. Jamie waves her off. Talk later. She thinks, maybe, she could be comfortable confiding in the older girl.
Incidentally, did Anna hear her growl? How could Anna have heard that?
Jake completes an ending move wherein the blue skinned simulation is thrown against the far wall of the Danger Room and dissolves into nothingness. Jake brushes himself off a bit and seems to grow sheepish at the grin his girlfriend is sending at him; if Jamie didn't know better, she'd say he's probably blushing beneath all his fur.
Ugh.
The simulation promptly materializes again in the center of the room, standing straight and staring blankly ahead as the computer awaits a further command. Another boy goes up to bat next. His mutation is speed, but his coordination needs work. He appears to be trained as a boxer but is unimpressive when compared to Jake. He beats the simulation but only barely. And then it's Jamie's turn.
She'd watched the simulation when Jake was fighting it; it's probably hovering down at level three at most. The system goes up to 15, and Jamie had come in here to blow off steam running level nines. Though, in fairness, that was on nights when she low-key wanted to get her ass kicked good.
Anyway, this'll be a peace of cake.
Anna calls it. "Begin simulation."
The blue-skinned woman comes to life and sends a leg out to slam into Jamie's chest, but it's slow. Jamie catches the holo-woman around the ankle and twists. The holo-woman kicks out with her other leg, landing back on her hands for support; Jamie dodges and spins around with her own leg up high to catch the it right in the head. It'll be an instant knock out. Jamie will have won without even really having to try.
Anna's voice rings out again, sounding oddly mischievous. "For heaven's sake, computer, bump it to level nine!"
Jamie only just has time to send a raised eyebrow in Anna's direction before the simulation readjusts itself. "What the he-" And then she's really dancing, all across the room, narrowly avoiding the other students even. The blue-skinned woman is a whirlwind of activity, far more vicious now, even sending a hand out to hit Jamie right in the throat.
Iceman starts to call out for the simulation to end itself, genuine worry clear in his tone, but Anna stops him.
The holo-woman swirls around and sends one scaled foot slamming hard into Jamie's chest, and Jamie lands hard on her backside. Before she can get back to her feet, the simulation has it's legs wrapped firm around her midsection, and an arm wrapped firm around her neck.
Jamie had been trying to hold back in the hopes of not seeming too much a freak of nature, but Wild Things getting annoyed now.
With a low growl Jamie unleashes her claws and sends them to slicing straight through the holo-woman's legs. The simulations grip quickly loosens; Jamie throws it off, shoots to her feet, and delivers a sharp kick to the holo-woman's chest. The simulation flies back and doesn't get back to it's feet quick enough; a snarling Wild Thing charges her opponent with claws out and soon has it pinned against the wall.
The holo-woman promptly disintegrates.
A brief moment passes. The other students all begin tittering excitedly.
"Whoa. Uh, that was..." Mr. Drake starts, incredulous.
"Badass?" Anna suggests, smug.
"...admittedly impressive for a seventeen-year-old." He settles on. "Though not totally suprising, she is Logan's kid."
Breathing heavy, Wild Thing sends her claws back into hiding and turns back to Anna as rshe rolls her shoulders a bit, feeling the bruises around her neck heal up the rest of the way. "A little warnin' woulda been nice."
Anna's smirking, hand on her hip. "Aww, c'mon now, sweet pea, we both know yah like showin' off."
Wild Thing rolls her eyes and retreats willingly back into it's mental cage. Jamie takes another moment to catch her breath and then shuffles along to lean against the wall behind the other students, arms crossed, feeling huffy. (Most of the others look impressed. Sarah Summers appears very un-impressed. Jake... Jake's got a look in his eyes that sends Wild Thing to preening internally but Jamie ignores that.)
Sarah almost looks like she wants to go next, but seems to be more practiced than that at keeping her head, to her credit. Mr. Drake pulls up an entirely different opponent, this one a simulation of someone Jamie's at least vaguely familiar with - the old guy had made it all over the news at some point, causing some kind of mayhem with an ability to control metal. Two of the others volunteer readily to face this one. One can create fire, the other displays some form of plant manipulation (likely far more impressive in an outside and authentic environment, but he manages to get the point across well enough with the simulations provided).
And then Sarah steps up to bat.
"I know you've trained with this sim before, Sarah." Mr. Drake says. "Want me to bump it up to seven for you?"
Sarah seems conflicted a moment, calculating, and turns to eye Jamie up. "I've beat it at higher than that. Make it level ten."
Mr. Drake's eyebrows shoot up. He brings a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "I'm not sure that's..."
Next to him, Anna rolls her eyes. "She wants to act like a big girl, let her get her ass kicked if she wants, I won't stop yah shuttin' it down this time."
"Rogue." He grumbles, exasperated. "You're as bad as Logan. You promised you'd behave."
"That was before Ah remembered just how borin' yah are." She shrugs, holding his gaze, challenging him. "Ready Sarah?"
Sarah seems a little more unsure as she eyes up the two teachers, who are as yet still engaged in a battle of wills.
Jamie grumbles from her position still back against the far wall, just loud enough to be heard. "Aw c'mon Summers, don't be stupid."
"Level ten, I'm sure." Sarah answers.
"Eight." Mr. Drake finally tears his eyes away from Anna to send Sarah a stern look.
"Computer, bump it up to level nine again!" Anna calls out. "And just begin simulation already."
The simulation ripples a bit and then comes to life at once. The computer produces several pieces of debris that are far heavier than they had been for the other students; the holo-man promptly sends one to flying straight at Sarah, who dodges easy enough, and...
Oh. Is that what her powers are? The hunk of metal floats in mid-air just before her via what can only be telekenesis. So she's just another mind freak. She's not too well in control of it, though; she manages to throw the hunk of metal at her opponent, but is clearly left some kind of winded by the effort. She dodges the next attack thrown at her, but barely this time. She won't last long if she's trying to show off that way, and she clearly knows it. Instead of trying, she pulls out an odd pair of glasses and puts them on with trembling hands. It's a visor of some sort that also looks oddly familiar, but Jamie's got no clue where she'd have seen it's like before.
Anyway, Sarah's primary power proves to be admittedly much cooler than the other one she'd displayed - a beam of red energy emits itself from what can only be her eyes, focused through the visor it seems. It slices haphazardly through a few other pieces of debris around before Sarah finds her footing and trains it on the next hunk of metal flying directly at her. But that creates another problem - the hunk of metal breaks apart and is now red hot. A piece of the debris catches her off guard. She dodges but stays facing it with the clear intention of blasting it further into oblivion, except her foot catches on the rocky ground created by the simulation. Her ankle twists and she lets out a yelp as she falls, landing hard and awkward enough on the ground that her visor flies off and lands just out of her reach, forcing her to shut her eyes quick as her power seems to take a moment to shut itself off. The bit of piping hot metal still left flies towards the group of other students - and is stopped by a wall of ice courtesy of Mr. Drake.
Anna calls out for the simulation to end itself.
Mr. Drake snarls at her. "That. Is the last time. I run a Danger Room session with you."
"Ah, this wasn't my idea in the first place. Tell 'Ro to bring herself down here and do it if yah don't like it."
"I take it back. You're worse than Logan these days, I don't know what's gotten into you, but Ororo will hear about it." Mr. Drake replies, hostile.
Jamie files that exchange away to question Anna about it later. "Summers, you're an idiot." She grumbles, shaking her head as she eyes up the redhead.
Jake flies across the room to his girlfriends aid as Anna suggests someone should go get Dr. McCoy.
"No, no, I can make it to the medlab if someone else is willing to give me a hand too." Sarah interjects quickly. "My ankles just twisted, that's all. It's not Ms. Rogue's fault, Mr. Drake. I..wasn't thinking exactly straight."
Heaving a sigh - because she knows what she needs to do, even though Wild Thing howls in indignant protest - Jamie shuffles off across the room. "C'mon. Between me 'n Jake we can probably get yah to the medlab."
Sarah hesitates for a fraction of a moment, but ultimately decides to take the olive branch and throws an arm over Jamie's shoulders for extra support. "Thanks."
"No problem."
"I..really have beaten the same sim at level eight."
"I believe it." Jamie answers readily, because she does. "Just gotta learn to get yahr head in the game and keep it there, Summers."
Sarah winces before she can respond again, letting out a hiss in what might be pain. "Damn!"
"Your other ankle?" Jake asks, worried.
"No." Sarah answers, hesitating. "It's..it's the same one. It feels..wrong."
Jamie barely hears her. An odd sort of pressure builds - she feels a little light headed, but manages to keep moving along. The feeling subsides so quickly she almost thinks she imagined it anyway.
.
"Jamie! Wait! Something's up."
She makes it most of the way down the hallway before his voice reaches her.
He lumbers up, gesturing back towards the medlab. "My dad wants to see you, now I guess."
"Oh." Jamie blinks at him. "Uh. Somethin' wrong?"
"No. Actually, that seems to be the point."
She shrugs. "Alright."
"Fair warning." He leads her back down the hallway. "My dad gets a little...uh, just, he forgets himself when he's excited."
Jamie just chuckles. She'd met the good Doctor - the minute he'd heard of her arrival he'd come to ask her if she'd mind him performing a basic examination on her. Mutations such as her particular regenerative capabilities are rare, though clearly not unheard off, and he was eager to take some notes and see if some of the more detailed differences he'd found in Logan's physiology were shared by her.
(They were. Of course.)
"It's alright." She answers Jake. "Your dad's cool."
They slip into the medlab. Sarah's just in the process of putting her shoes back on, and looks oddly bewildered herself.
"Jamie! Oh, good! We ought to test this out at once, I think." Dr. McCoy bustles out of his office as she and Jake enter.
"Test what out, Doc?" She prompts.
He waves her over. "See for yourself." He nods at Sarah's ankle.
Jamie eyes it up, raising an eyebrow. "Uh..."
"Well, look at it! Sarah here was quite certain that she had twisted it, but there certainly doesn't appear to be any damage, nor is she still feeling any pain."
"Ok. So..what's that got to do with me?"
"I felt something..off." Sarah interjects. "A tingling sensation. Kinda. I don't know, Dr. McCoy thought you might know what I meant."
Jamie's brows furrow. "Tingling...painful. Like pins and needles but hot ones, burning. Crazy intense for a minute but the worst of it over pretty quick."
"Yeah, actually. That was exactly it."
"That's what it feels like when I heal."
Sarah stares at her oddly. "Every time? You feel that every time?"
Jamie shrugs, bringing a hand up to rub at the back of her neck uncomfortably. "Yah get used to it."
"I know." Dr. McCoy says quietly. "Logan once explained it the same way."
Jamie stares at him, bewildered. "Well...so what the hell does this mean?"
"Have you ever noticed anything odd happen when you touch people?"
"I ain't exactly the touchy-feely type, Doc. Unless yah're countin'..." Sex. But best not say that out loud. She can't hold back a bit of a smirk, though. "Well. Times you wouldn't be countin'."
Sarah rolls her eyes and Jake chuckles but Dr. McCoy shakes his head. "You'd have noticed this before, it's possible your mutation didn't develop itself the rest of the way until more recently. There's little way of knowing that but the proof of my theory should be simple enough to achieve."
"So wait, you think I healed her somehow? I mean, how would you test that out unless...?"
Dr. McCoy snatches up a small scalpel off a tray nearby. "Simple enough. A small cut would suffice, it doesn't need to be anything elaborate." He holds out his own hand, palm up and, before anyone can protest, makes a cut with the scalpel on his palm. "There now, relax children, there's little harm done there if I'm wrong. Jamie, if you'd care to..."
Shrugging, Jamie reaches out to circle a few of the doctors large fingers with her own. "Not sure what I did in the first place, though, assumin' you're right." She's skeptical.
"What might you have been thinking earlier, in the hallway?"
"Well, I..I was thinking about when I was ten. Before my mutation manifested itself." She chooses her words with car. "I was playing outside and tripped over a tree root, got my foot caught up in the thing. Hurt like crazy, my ankle was twisted pretty bad. I had to keep it in a brace for weeks, missed half my summer holiday that way, I was miserable. There aren't too many people I'd wish any sort of real pain on, much less..."
Dr. McCoy winces a bit. Jamie feels nothing this time, but sure enough, the small cut on his palm suddenly stitches itself neatly back together as though nothing had ever been there at all. His voice goes quieter, wistful, almost..awed. "Well, Ms. Fletcher. It seems we've found our answer. How kind a thought for you to have. My dear, with a mutation like this, I..."
Jamie takes her hand back abruptly. "I..need...to..." She looks around. Jake, the doctor, Sarah, they're all just staring at her. Her stomach twists. "S'cuse me." She brushes past Jake and out of the room.
...
"Jamie!" His voice follows her down the hallway again. "Jamie, wait, please!"
"You gotta work on just lettin' things be, Jake." She barks at him, gruff.
"Hey." He grabs her arm, surprisingly forceful. "I told you, we're friends, dammit. What's wrong? I know it's probably a little weird to suddenly realize there's more to your mutation but..."
"I didn't heal your girlfriend because I wanted her to feel better." She blurts it at once, because the thoughts already trailing itself in circles around her mind.
"What?" He just looks confused.
"I didn't give a shit about your girlfriend being hurt. I really thought it'd serve 'er right for gettin' cocky and tryin' to show me up like that. I accidentally healed her because I realized you'd be upset about her bein' hurt."
Realization just begins to dawn behind his yellow-gold eyes. "Jamie...what are you tryin' to say?"
But she just shakes her head. "You know what? Nevermind. Just run on back to your Barbie Doll, ok? It's better for everyone that way."
This time, he lets her go.
...
Jamie didn't expect this.
She was actually looking for Logan when she first went wandering around. But the school is only so big, and it becomes pretty quickly apparent that Logan isn't in it. When Jamie finally grilled Ororo on the subject, the Weather Witch had only shrugged and replied that Rogue was generally the best person to ask on an occasion such as this.
(Jamie doesn't even quite know what that means).
But when she catches the older girl's scent and trails it through the halls, she's lead to Anna's room. And Anna herself is... Well. There's an oddly copious amount of moonshine present. Long story short, Jamie ends up just as drunk as Anna is. And that's before she even manages to figure out why Anna is drunk in the first place.
What the hell is this stuff Anna has, anyway?
Anna explains. Kinda. She's really drunk. But apparently, she's known Logan for years and they'd been a thing up until Joan and Jamie arrived.
Oh..well..shit.
.
"So wait. You..'n..my dad..were about to get it on?"
"Yeah. Pr'tty mush."
"Jus' b'fore Ma an' I showed up?"
"Yep."
"...Y'know, I feel like I should say sorry..."
"Not yahr fault. S'kinda his fault, actually. Jackass never ev'n told meh 'bout y'all."
"He really is a jackass, ain't he? Damn."
Anna nudges the jar of moonshine closer to Jamie, who pours herself a shot and downs it without flinching. The first few shots had nearly come right back up, the stuff smells like paint thinner and tastes even worse, but she's drunk enough at the moment that she hardly notices.
"So wha'sup with you then?" Anna questions. "Yah kicked ass in the Danger Room. Summers made an ass of herself. Thought yah'd be happy."
"Yeah, maybe I should be. S'jus', I ain't worried 'bout lookin' good for anyone else."
"Just for Jake." Anna nods as she realizes. "Well. Mean. Pretty sure he was impressed."
Jamie shrugs. "Doesn' matter. He's only got eyes for her. You 'n I got a few more things in common than I first thought."
"Hm. Funny little world we live in, huh?" Anna pours two shots and holds hers up in a tipsy toast. "Forget them. Bein' single is awesome. We can do whatever we want."
"Or whoever?" Jamie adds, flashing a wolfish grin.
"That too." Anna agrees with a wink.
The pair drink and burst into drunken giggles.
...
"Marie! Marie, open up, we need to talk."
The banging on the door only grows louder and more insistent the longer they ignore it. It's Saturday. They hadn't gone to bed until maybe four or five in the morning and Jamie's phone tells her it's only seven now. She still feels half drunk, so it's likely Anna's still thoroughly loaded.
(They killed a jar of legitimate moonshine and then damn near a full bottle of whiskey, and half a case of beer Anna had had stashed somewhere and Jamie can't for the life of her figure how Anna kept up for so long. Or, for that matter, why the literal hell Anna had so much booze on hand to begin with.)
Oh, and it's Logan at the door. Of course.
"Marie, dammit, I ain't goin' anywhere. Open up or the doors gonna get to know one of my claws a little too well."
"Aww, shaddup already, I'm comin'!"
With a sigh Anna rolls out of bed and stands swaying a moment, hand held to her head. "He'll be pissed if he sees yah and realizes..." She grumbles.
Jamie turns to lay on her back and throw an arm over her eyes. "Eh. I got leverage now. My ma's got no idea the old man was seein' you before we turned up, I guarantee it, and I ain't afraid to point it out, either."
Anna barks a laugh. "Yah know, yah think kinda like him, only yah're twice as damned clever sometimes."
Jamie peers out with one eye and winks at her new found girl friend. Anna staggers across the room and finally opens the door, leaning against the door frame with a fist resting on her hip. "It is too damned early for yahr shit, Logan. What d'yah want?"
His cringe is audible in his voice as he answers. "An actual conversation would be nice, yah've been avoidin' it for weeks now. Jesus girl, you smell like..are you drunk?"
"Uh, no shit. Enough still to kick yahr ass fer wakin' meh up at seven a.m. on a Saturday, in fact." Marie replies, deadpan.
Jamie chuckles at this.
Logan pushes past Anna, who huffs but makes no move to stop him. "You too?"
Jamie just raises a certain finger up high.
He rounds on Anna. "She's seventeen. What the hell were you thinkin'?"
"That Ah needed a drinkin' buddy and she has a metabolism that's faster even than yours we're pretty sure, so there ain't no harm done."
"That ain't the point and you know it!"
"Aw, just fuck off already old man."
He turns around slow this time, dangerously controlled and quiet. "S'cuse me?"
Jamie's just snatched up one of the beers that was left; she pops it open and looks the Wolverine right in the eye. "You heard me." She drinks.
"What in the hell do you think yahr doin'?"
"Oh no. What matters is what in the hell you'd do if I told Ma you were this close to screwin' someone else not four months ago. No offence, Anna."
"None taken, Sugah." In fact, Anna's failing miserably at surpressing a smirk.
He reeks of anger. "So that's how we're playin' this, now?"
"I'm runnin' outta reasons not to play it like that pretty damn fast." Jamie answers, honest. "Go bother someone else. Anna doesn't wanna talk to you and I need my beauty sleep."
Silence. He takes in a breath and lets it out with a half growl, sizing Jamie up, but she just calmly takes another pull from her beer. Finally, he shakes his head. "One day you'll realize some things, kid." He sounds more sad than anything else. "Things I wish I could make yah realize now but I can't. Just know that I ain't goin' anywhere in the meantime. Yahr stuck with me and I got a feelin' yah'll be glad of that some day. Get some sleep, yah both look like shit." He stalks back out of the room, slamming the door shut a little harder than necessary behind him.
Anna snatches up a beer for herself, heaving a sigh. "He's probably right, yah know. Again, Ah sure's hell ain't yahr Mama, Ah'm just sayin'. "
Jamie doesn't know anything right now. The look he'd given her...there was such an intense sadness there. She doesn't know what to do with this. "Fuck him anyway." She grumbles.
They pass back out not more than half an hour later.
...
"Hey."
Jamie's sitting outside again. It's maybe one o' clock in the afternoon; a bit more sleep and some food was enough to clear away any trace of a hangover (though Anna hadn't been so lucky). Cold as the weather is growing, the grounds outside the mansion have become the best place to find some peace and quiet, so she'd decided to wander outside. It's Jake that's coming to join her, looking his normal self, the fur no doubt providing him with extra warmth.
"Hey." She answers quietly.
He sits next to her in the grass, handing her one of the two steaming mugs he's holding. "Hot chocolate. It's freezing out here. Aren't you cold?"
She accepts the mug with a smile, closing her eyes as she sniffs at the cocoa. "Mmmm. No. Mom and I lived up in the mountains back home. Would take us half an hour at least to even get to town. The cold never did bother me much as it should. You should see what winter up there is like if you think this is bad." She sips the cocoa.
"I'm sure it's probably beautiful, though."
She nods. "Yeah. I kinda miss it. There's a lot about living there that I miss, honestly."
"You know, I don't think you've ever said - did you have any friends up there?"
"Oh yeah." She glances at him, a bit of a smirk pulling at her lips. "Just, uhm, maybe..not the kind of friends anyone down here would approve of."
"Ah." He chuckles. "S'fair enough, but I'm sure you miss them anyway."
"There's a couple I do." She thinks of Tierney, and Hunter (and the many different reasons why she kinda misses him), and clears her throat. "Course now there's at least a few people down here I'd miss if I went back to live there. So..there's that."
"Just a few?" Jake questions, staring down into his hot chocolate.
"Yeah. Just a few. But... I mean, I'd really miss them."
"Really?"
"Really."
He glances at her. "We'd miss you, too."
"I know."
They exchange a smile.
"I was gonna head down to the Danger Room before dinner, run a couple simulations. I could use a sparring partner, if you'd like to join me." He offers.
"Sounds..fun, actually."
"Good. I'll see you then." He gets up and wanders off back to the warmth of the mansion.
Jamie sips her cocoa and smiles at the sky as a few small flakes of snow land in the steaming mug. Sparring with him. It's not much. But at least it's something.
...
"I don't know." Ms. Munroe looks fretful.
"We'd be back before it gets too late, I promise!" Jamie assures her. "It's just Tash seems really bummed about her Birthday for some reason. Won't tell me why but I..." She blows out a breath. "I just don't like seein' her upset, I guess. I've got a little money saved up, I figured I'd take her to do something."
"And that's very sweet of you, but..."
"Aw, c'mon, what is it with you people? It's not like Tash or I attract that much attention! It's the Holidays anyway, people are gonna be too busy worrying about their shopping."
Sarah Summers gets to her feet and trails a path across the room. She'd been in talking to Ms. Munroe before Jamie peeked her head into the Weather Witches office; now the redhead clears her throat, eyeing Jamie up. "Y'know, in fairness, Jamie and I have run some simulations in the Danger Room together, I've seen what she can do, and Tash is eighteen now. Unless someone comes at them with one of those neutralizer guns law enforcement are being issued these days - which isn't likely, so far the police have been more than responsible and reasonable with security and usage of them, not to mention the fact that we all know better than to go drawing any attention to ourselves unnecessarily - it isn't unreasonable to think the pair would be just fine on their own for a few hours."
Ms. Munroe stares at the redhead, hands coming up to plant themselves on her hips. "In other words, the students aren't the only ones who think I'm being a little over cautious."
"Respectfully, no they are not, and outside of them, I have reason to believe I'm not the only one thinking it either."
Ms. Munroe sighs. "You're getting harder and harder to argue with, Sarah Jean Summers."
"I do my best." The redhead offers up an innocent smile.
The Weather Witch seems to think on it a moment more, and then heaves a sigh. "Alright. I supppose you can go."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Yes! Okay! Awesome! Thanks, thanks a bunch!" Jamie darts back out of the room to go tell Tash. She's not sure how she feels about Summers being the only reason she'd just won that battle, but decides to worry about it later. Right now, she's got a girls day to get ready for.
...
"So where are we going?" Tash hadn't objected to the idea of Jamie taking her somewhere. In fact, she seems to have perked back up a bit now that the pair of them are on the road in Jamie's truck. "To the mall?"
"That's what I was thinking. I wanted to buy you a present but I just wasn't sure what you'd even want."
"That's okay. You know I like shopping."
"And then I jus' figured we could go get something to eat, there's a couple of good places around."
"Sounds good."
The mall is crowded when they get there, as it's the middle of December. Jamie cringes at the idea of trying to push through the crowds of harried parents and their screaming children, but sucks it up for Tash's sake. They wander for some time; plenty of stores are having sales of some kind, and Tash really does love shopping. She perks up a little more as Jamie suggests she go try on some clothes, and is bouncing around more like her usual stuff when they find a boutique promoting a free makeover.
"Oh, won't you come do it with me?" Tash begs, tugging a bit at Jamie's arm like a kid in a candy shop.
"Uuuh." Jamie rakes a hand through hair and trails it down to rub at the back of her neck. "I really didn't sign up for this, Tash."
"Awww! Pleeeaase!" Puppy dog eyes and all.
Jamie huffs a growl. "Fine! Fine. I'm washin' it off before we leave for home, though."
"Yay!" Tash drags her along.
Jamie sits patiently as she can manage as an extremely heavyset, fluffy-haired swoman who smells far too strongly of perfume and hairspray comes at her with ten different colorful kinds of powder and greasy goop. God, she hated having to do this on herself to please her grandmother. Having it done by someone else is torture at it's finest.
"Oh yah know dawlin', I can give yah the name of some stuff that would work wonders on yah arms." The lady chatters casually in a thick New York accent, though Jamie wouldn't know what part. "Don't hurt to bad, neither, and yah wouldn't have ta worry about it again fah months, I swear!"
Jamie glances down at her forearms. She's well aware of how dark the hair is that grows in; she used to shave it at the behest of her grandmother. These days her give-a-damns pretty busted where such things are concerned, though. She shrugs, careless. "Nah. I got better things to do." Besides, it's not like she's gotten flirted with any less now that she gave up up on trying doll herself up like this. On the contrary, she somehow seems to be getting more attention now.
"Suit yahself, sweetheart. Yah know, I just wish I was as brave as you."
Jamie just manages to hold back an eye roll, grunts a 'mmm', and mostly doesn't bother to respond to the woman anymore than that.
"Awww, you look so pretty!" Tash tells her, when the torture is finally over. "I mean, I know you don't care about this stuff anymore, but you know..." She prattles on.
Jamie barely hears. She feels a headache coming on. Wild Thing's pacing restlessly in her mental cage, hackles raised. There's just too many people around. "You gettin' hungry yet?" She asks Tash as the other girl finally quiets down again.
"Starving! We should go to that burger place for dinner! But hey, I think I know what you can buy me here, if you don't mind..."
They wander back across the mall to snatch up a summer dress Tash had tried on earlier. Jamie happily pays and then beats a hasty retreat from the mall altogether with Tash following not far behind, seeming a little bewildered now.
It isn't until they make it outside that she realizes why she's suddenly feeling so tense; something had caught her eye a few times. Someone. The same person, a girl. Woman? She's so skinny it's hard to tell. But why is Jamie feeling like...?
The girl wanders off in a different direction, clearly shivering in the cold, and gets into a car a ways away.
Wild Thing snarls. Ain't right. She was followin' us and yah know it.
"Jamie?" Tash pulls her out of her reverie. "Everything ok?"
"Yeah." Jamie answers, shaking her head to clear it. "Yeah, everythings fine. C'mon, I'm hungry."
She's pretty sure that's the other car she just saw driving off. They're perfectly safe. Everythings fine. Really, it is.
They get to the restaurant and order food. Jamie's still feeling way on edge, but tries to keep her cool. She doesn't see anyone suspicious in here. No one staring at her and Tash or anything creepy like that. Everything is fine.
So why are her instincts still screaming at her to run like hell?
They're foods taking an awful long time to get done. Sure the restaurant is busy, but it's been... Jamie scans the room for a millionth time. There's people everywhere, just everywhere, she can't pick out one scent over another, not with all the food to contend with as well, but there is a group seated in the corner of the room now. The skinny girl from earlier is with them. Not so weird. But there's three guys with her. Big guys. Really big guys. And one of them holds Jamie's gaze a moment as she catches him looking...
"Tash, we're leaving. Now." She gets to her feet, stretching a bit, trying to make it look casual.
"Now? Why? Our food hasn't even...?"
"Yeah, I know. I ain't seen our waitress since she brought us our drinks, either, and there's a table full of awful big boys over that's been eyein' us up like a starvin' wolf would a ribeye. We need to go. Now." She looks her friend in the eye.
Clearly sensing Jamie's distress, Tash shoots to her feet. "Ok. Ok. Now."
"Breathe. Keep your cool. Take my keys, don't head outside too fast, and start my truck."
"You want go outside where we'll be alone?" She shrieks, drawing some stares.
Jamie half growls as she responds through gritted teeth. "I can prob'bly take these goons just fine if I gotta , just not in here, now do as I say, dammit! Head outside, start the truck, and send a message to Ms. Munroe."
Tash nods and darts off to do as instructed.
Jamie shrugs her own jacket on, and stuffs her hands in her pockets, waiting until she's probably, mostly out of sight of her potential attackers before she pulls out her phone and hits the button that will speed-dial her mother.
Then she slips her phone back in her coat pocket and zips it up there. It's questionable how much her mother will be able to hear, but the older woman should be able to tell somethings up.
She strolls out to the parking lot casually enough. It's a little before dinner time in reality, between rushes, and there's nobody else in this corner of the parking lot. As expected, it isn't long before the three large goons and the skinny girl make there way out behind her.
Jamie doesn't ask questions. The minute one gets too close, she totally gives Wild Thing the reigns, and the dance begins. The boys are big and well fed and stronger even than Jamie would've thought at first, but nothing she can't handle given who she's had for sparring partners lately. The only problem is they're a pretty hard-headed bunch. No, really hard-headed. Everytime she manages to knock one on his ass the others come back up swingin'. They don't seem to be mutants. Actually, Jamie's getting more the impression that they're maybe on drugs or something. In any case, Jamie's beginning to tire just a bit, and that's before one gets hold of her arm and twists it. Hard.
Oh shit. That hurts. That..that really hurts. She can't move the arm, the brute had pulled her shoulder clear out of socket. No fix to that until she can stop and pop back into place. Oh no, oh shit, oh..her heads swimming, her visions gone blurry, if she were anyone else she'd have probably passed clean out from the pain already.
The tallest and beefiest of the bunch lumbers up as she's left reeling and grabs her right around the waist, trapping her good arm too. Before she can get her bearings and even try to fight, the skinny girl comes up with a nasty look in her eye and produces what looks like some sort of gun. But it doesn't fire a bullet. It fires a small dart right into Jamie's bad arm.
Whatever's in it hits her bloodstream fast and hard. Her visions gone even blurrier, God, she's blind as a bat, and her ears..everything's getting muffled. Like she's got earplugs in.
"Sorry 'bout that." The girl drawls in a country bumpkin accent that's thicker than Anna's. "Ah's gonna git yah with the stuff earlier but one of these idiots forgot to load the gun wit' it. We'll get yah're arm fixed up, don't yah worry." She produces another dart from inside the gun and comes up to prick Jamie's finger with it. "You just go on and sleep for meh meantime." She says.
Distantly she can here Tash screeching loud, though the sound is cut off abruptly. And then, all goes dark.
