outfit
~*~

After giving Mason a taste of what he was capable of, Amanda decided to do the same for herself. The moment of panic when Mason had run off wasn't good, and she hated feeling like that. No, she wanted to have fun, carefree, careless fun and don't worry about what people would say. Besides, Mason wouldn't be able to tell Jack until after sunrise anyway, so she had plenty of time to worry about that later.

The witch decided to go back to the grill for another drink and her jacket and she stumbled across a vampire on the way that seemed like she could use some help. Being quite honest with the vampire, she brought her to the shop. Making sure all the blinds and stuff were down, she locked the door and kissed the blonde. She soon lost track of time, got lost in the moment.

It wasn't until morning approached and the vampiress started to move from their make-shift bed that she woke up. "Please don't go," she murmured and snuggled up to the blonde. When she learned that the vampire couldn't go out in daylight, Amanda made her an offer; if she spent the day with the witch, leaving once she got company, she'd get to go outside during the day on that particular day. Pulling on her clothes in a few swift movements, the witch pulled out a ring for the vampiress. "Borrow this and stay?" she practically begged her. She wasn't afraid to be alone or anything, she just wanted to make the most out of her day while she could.

Glad that it was a Sunday and she wasn't going to open the store anyway, they headed home as she had to change as well as make sure Jack could never enter her apartment without permission. It would make their awkward situation slightly better as she wouldn't have to worry about him knowing if she was home or not and whether or not she had company. The pair of them made it inside right before sunrise and Amanda was quick to start working. Once her spell work was done, she was happy to go take a nap comfortably snuggled up against the vampiress.

When she woke up hours later, Amanda brought the blonde with her to shower, enjoying the feeling of the hot water on her skin after the night she'd had. When they were both quite clean they got dressed and put on make-up before she decided to treat the vampiress to a day out. As it turned out, she could actually have a lot of fun with vampires other than just in bed; and she made sure the blonde didn't kill anyone that day. She had no interest in cleaning up that mess.

They finally made it back to her store though and she was quick to make sure only Mason could enter as she didn't want to be disturbed by anyone else right now. Besides, Jack would've found her by now if he really wanted to. So, instead she was on the blonde again, pulling down her shirt and purposefully making a small cut on her chest with magic. It didn't take long from the would started bleeding slightly until the vampiress latched on, pushing them up against a bookshelf, making Amanda tangle her hands on the other woman's hair. Before she knew it really, her shirt was off again and the vampiress had moved onto her neck, making her moan at the sensations. "That's enough love," she muttered and brought those ruby red lips to her own.

Breaking the kiss she looked up to see Mason standing there and she was quick to push Juliette off and pull on her shirt again. Realizing she still had blood on her lips, she wiped it off quickly. Noticing the cut on Mason's cheek, she reached out to touch it but thought better off it and dropped her hand. "Mason..." she muttered, actually feeling bad that Jack would hurt him like that. "How could he do this to you?"

It was time Juliette left, and it seemed the blonde realized that her time was up. The ring was only spelled temporarily and she knew she'd get it back before morning so she let the blonde leave with a slight smile.

It was just before noon when Mason finally came to a standstill. He’d been running, none stop, all the way from Jack’s cabin, all over the town in a desperate attempt to find the only person who could give him answers right now. His eyes were red, stinging under the pressure of staying awake all night and refusing to cry although that was all he had wanted to do since leaving Jack surrounded by the smoke from the fire he had caused. He felt terrible, a bag of nerves that just wanted to curl up and fall asleep only to wake and realise it had all been a bad dream but he knew this was no dream.
Every slightest noise made him jump. He kept expecting to see Jack’s angry, snarling face whenever he turned around but when he didn’t, it just filled him with a deep dread that he’d hurt Jack far much more than he had meant too.

He’d tried the grill but on finding it closed, had then moved on to Amanda’s apartment and everywhere else he could think of which finally resulted in him stood outside her shop and only now thinking twice about whether this was a good idea or not.
His face stung, the deep cuts burning amongst the coldness of his cheeks. He was shivering badly and could see his breath in front of him, only now did he realise how cold it actually was. He’d left his jacket and beanie at Jacks and hadn’t even noticed the tiny goose bumps that covered his arms.

Knowing it was the best option he had; he took the handle in his hand and quietly tried it. When it opened he felt his stomach turn around, suddenly feeling nauseous and wanting to turn back. It was only when he saw Amanda and the girl attached to her did his heart actually stop and his whole body refuse to move another muscle. With his wide eyes on the redhead and blonde, he didn’t dare move out of fear that any noise would have them both turning to see him and get the wrong idea. In some ways he felt he wouldn’t be able to tear his eyes away anyway, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to figure out what the hell they were doing and why Amanda was topless. It was all too much for him right now but before he had chance to turn on his heel and walk back out, Amanda had noticed him and was pulling her top back up as though her life depended on it.

He quickly turned his attention away from the two females though made sure to scowl at the blond first. It was none of his business what Amanda did when she was alone but he didn’t particularly like the sight of her with blood smeared across her lips. He didn’t flinch when she reached towards his cheek but was relieved that she decided against it and left it alone. His scowl hardened as she spoke though it was too hard to stop the tears that streamed down his face now. Moving to the side slightly to allow the blonde to leave, he waited until he had heard the door close firmly behind him before he turned to look at Amanda properly.

“I don’t know Amanda. Why don’t you tell me?” He asked through gritted teeth, wiping at his eyes to stop the steady stream of water flowing from them but although he tried to keep the cold, stony look across his face, his voice gave him away as he started to choke his words against the sobs that broke out. “I could have killed him Amanda… I-I didn’t know… I didn’t mean to shout at... at Kailah or at him… H-He lost it, he just lost it and… I-I didn’t know what else to do and then… and then…”
His word became muffled by his hand s as he buried his face in to them, finally letting his crying win and giving in to it. It felt better than getting worked up, allowing himself to snap at Amanda too which is what he had planned to do until he had come to speak.

Amanda wasn't going to apologize to Mason for walking in on her and Juliette, simply because she didn't think they'd done anything wrong. Sure, letting an untrained newborn loose during the day might not have been her brightest moment, but that one day outside was a gift to thank the blonde for getting her through the night without doing anything incredibly stupid to prepare for the storm that was surely coming. Why was she even trying to justify things to herself? There was no point trying to hide the fresh bite on her neck either, but she honestly didn't care.

Was he seriously asking her why Jack would attack Mason? Obviously he didn't understand, and she could expect him to come barging at her door sooner or later after this. Now that was something she wasn't looking forward to as Jack somehow seemed immune to her guile and he'd make sure to drag that little lovable monster of a baby into it. They were sure to have one hell of an argument if he couldn't handle what she'd given Mason as a gift.

As soon as Mason broke out in sobs, the redhead quickly and quietly magicked away any evidence of her night and gently guided Mason to her comfy chair in the back. "It'll be ok Mason," she said softly, feeling almost bad that her trying to help had brought him this much pain. Though, she was secretly very happy that Jack had finally understood not to mess with witches. "So he just attacked you and expected you to do nothing?" she inquired, concerned that Mason might yet go at her for all this when clearly Jack was at fault.

"Let me help you, I never wanted for you to get hurt, I just need you of all people to understand." Amanda was keeping her voice down and trying her best to not do or say anything she'd regret later. After all, the last thing she wanted was to push Mason over the edge right now since she needed to get him back on her side of all this. "Let's get some warmth back into you," she said and reached out, actually touching his cheek this time. Unlike before when she'd used magic on Mason to transfer magic form one to the other, now she just focused on warming him up.

"Tell me what I can do to help," she said and dropped her hand again. She really was concerned about the other witch, wondering how he'd done so far with the magic and how it had truly felt.

Between trying to stop the pathetic noises leaving his lips and not catching his cuts every time he tried to wipe the tears away, Mason felt himself being guided to the back room where he was prompted to sit on a plush looking chair. He didn’t need telling twice and sat with his head in his hands as his mind kept replaying the events that had taken place in the last 24 hours.
Hearing Amanda’s words, he knew she was only being comforting but he shook his head none the less. It wasn’t going to be ok, nothing was. He’d blown everything all because he lost his temper. He’d lost Jack and felt sure Jack would never forgive him after what he had done and because of that, nothing felt like it would ever be ok again. He wasn’t sure who he should be angry with, himself for losing it in the first place or Jack for lashing out the way he had. He hadn’t meant for it to go that far, he had never wanted to hurt anyone or jeopardise anyone’s life either. Still, he couldn’t help but feel betrayed and hurt that Jack could do such a thing without a second thought.

He could do nothing but nod his head at her question, a feeling of numbness washing over him as he settled back further in to the chair and his sobs slowed to the odd snivel here and there. He hadn’t yet explained why Jack had lashed out as he had out of fear that Amanda would only say he had deserved it. But had he? He couldn’t stop questioning himself. Had he deserved the deep gashes that had been torn across his cheek just for shouting? Sure, he’d been in fights before because of his temper and his thoughtless speaking out but this was taking it too far. Wasn’t it?

He didn’t object nor try to push Amanda away as she touched his cheek, almost feeling grateful that he had a friend to turn to and feeling much more relaxed as he felt the heat being transferred to him. He yawned loudly, the tiredness kicking in now that he felt safe and comfortable.
At her question, he took a few moments to find his voice, shaking his head again as he figured there wasn’t much she could do to help. What was done was done and there was no going back, no matter how much she tried to offer her kind words and comfort him.
“There is nothing Amanda. It’s over. Jack’s going to hate me forever and it’s my entire fault.” He said in a hushed voice, almost a whisper. Sighing, he closed his eyes for a moment and tried to forget about everything, much like he usually did when something went wrong in his life. He tried to turn off and pretend none of it had ever happened.

Turning to look at Amanda with a puzzled expression, he remembered she still hadn’t answered his question, suspicion growing inside him to the point he wasn’t even sure if he could trust his friend now.
“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t… Amanda, what did you do to me? How did I cause the fire? I’m not stupid… you did something to me and I want to know what. I deserve to know…”

It was a good thing that Mason just followed her into the back so she could take care of him properly. When everything else was falling apart, her 'office' was her sanctuary and the one place she could always come to find peace as her books were stashed there. When nothing else worked she could search them for a solution. Like she might have to do soon anyway to placate Jack.

There was something to be done about Jack though. Whatever Mason had done, Amanda knew that the werewolf would blame her anyway, so he'd most likely forgive his boyfriend for whatever had happened. Question was would Mason really forgive Jack for going at him like that? Should she let him? Scolding herself for even thinking something like that, Amanda watched the other witch grow more comfortable as he was slowly warming up again. If there was anything she could do despite Mason's denial, she would.

"The question isn't whether or not Jack will forgive you, but whether or not you'll forgive him. I don't know what happened between the two of you, but he'll come looking for me to blame when all is said and done, just wait and see." There really was no way around it as the werewolf was bound to have realized it was her magic that had given Mason his new powers for the time being. He was smart that way, and he also always seemed to find a way to blame her anyway, so she was getting used to it.

Upon hearing Mason's question she sighed slightly and looked down at her hands for a moment. Yes, she owed him an answer, and a truthful one at that. She'd crossed a line somewhere and she knew it, it wasn't right to force power onto someone else in panic just to let them know how good it could feel and what they were capable of if they were only a bit stronger. Heck, she might just have to start answering his question by answering one he'd asked the night before.

"Last night, when you asked me what had happened to me..." she started, looking up at the other witch again, clearly hesitating. "I'd known for a while, but it truly became clear to me after Kailah was born... She had too much magic for an infant, and I wanted her to grow up and learn at the right pace, when she was ready for it, so I robbed her of her magic to safeguard it until she's ready to learn..." She didn't know how much she should really tell Mason as she didn't want to scare him away again, but she could tell him safely about that experience at least.

"That's how it got started anyway, and I panicked last night. I didn't know how else to tell you what had happened than to show you, didn't want Jack to learn the whole truth and take Kailah away completely." So far it was all true, just emitting a few details about the other witches, and it made her nervous as to how he'd react to it all. Finally she couldn't stand just sitting there and looking at Mason and got up from the desk and started rearranging stuff on her shelf while talking. "I gave you a taste of your true potential, amplifying your magic. I told you I could show you how to make your own fire, I just didn't get a chance to warn you that you'd be able to before you ran off..." Facing Mason again, she was biting her lower lip slightly, hoping he wouldn't get mad at her for only trying to help.

Mason couldn’t deny it; he knew full well that Amanda was going to get the worst of it when jack eventually caught up with them. Mason had been around the guy often enough to hear his thoughts on the redhead and believe me, they weren’t always nice ones. He did seem to blame her for a lot, especially when it came to Kailah and her safety so no doubt this would be all her fault in the werewolf’s eyes. Mason sighed and looked down at his feet, nodding his head in agreement though he kept quiet as he didn’t want to make things worse for his friend.

His attention was all on Amanda when she started to explain how she had come across her powers, pulling his knees up and wrapping his arms around them as he stared at her with wide eyes. He’d had no idea that Kailah had been born with so much power; nobody had bothered telling him, not even Jack. Then again, it wasn’t really anything to do with them so he couldn’t be angry with them for keeping that from him though he did wonder if Amanda would eventually give her daughter the powers back. He had seen another side to both Amanda and jack in the last 24 hours and it set off alarm bells that told him to keep his distance from then on and to be careful who he trusted so easily. He couldn’t however, stop himself feeling sorry for the redhead as she carried on to explain what she had done to him. He had never planned on hurting or upsetting anyone, especially not to the point of them having to do something so drastic just so he wouldn’t run and tell their biggest secret, not when Kailah was involved too. He just couldn’t do that to a friend, not Amanda anyway.

He felt stupid for running now, feeling that maybe it had all been his fault and he shouldn’t have allowed himself to get so overwhelmed by the whole situation like he always did. He cursed that his thoughtless thinking was going to be his downfall. He carried on watching her as she climbed to her feet and walked to the bookshelf to start arranging books though he thought now was a strange time to be doing such thing. Still, he didn’t comment on it and stayed hugging his legs and listening in great interest.
When she finished, mason took a few moments to take it all in and make sense of it but it was still a lot.
“It wasn’t my potential though was it? It was just your powers enhancing mine and something really bad could have happened Amanda. You should never do that without someone’s permission first. Do you realise how much damage it’s caused?”

He rolled his eyes and turned the other cheek so he didn’t have to look at her before his gaze dropped to the floor again.
“I don’t think I could have told Jack anyway. You were my friend. I could never be the reason for Jack to distrust you completely, or hate you for that matter. But what you did was wrong. What you both did was wrong and I don’t know if I can ever trust either of you again. What would you have done if I’d accidently killed Kailah? Would you be able to live knowing it was because of your thoughtless actions?” –He paused for a second to look at her and try figure out what she was thinking before carrying on. –“I know I shouldn’t have freaked out and ran, I know that… but you weren’t yourself Amanda so what did you expect me to do? I couldn’t stand and watch my own friend kill an innocent man; I needed to get out of there, to clear my head and figure things out. Don’t get me wrong, whatever you did helped me in the aspect that it probably saved me from Jack and stopped me getting upset about it, if it wasn't for that i'd have more than likely freaked out there too and would never have been able to think of a way out but you can’t go around forcing it on people.”

Maybe a lot of the things Jack blamed her for was her fault, but whatever the reason for blaming things on her, she'd never felt bad about any of it before. She'd mostly just laughed it off and tried to get Jack to think about other things so she wouldn't get physical with him. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt the werewolf, no matter how much it would satisfy her.

Mason truly didn't think he'd ever be able to start his own fires? With the proper little enhancements he should be able to do so without a problem, but he seemed angry at her for trying to show him. And it made her hug herself slightly where she was standing. This was the first thing she'd felt bad about in quite some time, because she knew how addictive it was and how tempting. She knew all that all too well from personal experience and she didn't want Mason to end up like her, she just wanted him on her side of it all.

It hurt that he was not only scolding her for trying to make him understand, but speaking of their friendship in the past tense like that. She didn't like feeling like that at all, and when she learned she could've put Kailah in danger with her little experiment she really had a hard time breathing for a moment. It was almost too overwhelming to be dragged back into the world of heartfelt emotions by a 'what if' scenario like that and she tried to choke back whatever emotion threatened to flood her system and she had to remind herself to actually breathe.

Turning her back on Mason again, she leaned against the shelf and steadied herself while breathing deeply, listening to what else he had to say. She was doing all this to keep her daughter safe and if her own thoughtless actions had put her in danger, then it was all in vain. Nothing she did would help stop the choked sound that left her even if she covered her mouth right after to stop another sound from escaping her. At this point she was gripping the shelf so the knuckles on her hand turned white.

No, she didn't want this, didn't want to be so fragile that a single truth could bring all her defenses down, but before she realized what happened, another sob escaped her and she was astonished to find that she was still capable of that level of dread, even after everything. "I never meant to hurt any of you," she whispered, wanting nothing more than to run away from it all, but found that she couldn't. Her feet just wouldn't move. "I know I shouldn't have done that spell, but please don't be mad?" She didn't know if he could even hear her, she could barely hear herself at this point as she was trying really hard not to give into the flood of emotions flushing her system.

Mason watched every one of Amanda’s expressions and moves carefully, hoping that he had at least talked some sense to her. He hated talking to her like that, hated talking as though he really was disappointed in her and ready to give up on their friendship but he felt this was the only way he could show her how he really felt. She didn’t have a right to force those powers on to him as she had but deep down, mason could never really stay angry with her. He just wanted her to have a taste of how she had made him feel.

His expression lightened as he noticed the change in her. Something had hit a nerve and mason was surprised to actually see her sob. He had never seen Amanda get upset over anything, always knowing her to be brave and facing her fears with her head held high but now she looked like she was about to have a breakdown.
Jumping to his feet, mason stood there awkwardly for a moment, confused and puzzled as to what to do. Walking across the floor towards her, he gently rested a hand on her shoulder before hesitantly wrapping one arm around her.

“I’m not mad Amanda… please don’t get upset… I didn’t mean to make you sad. A-And I know you would have never intentionally hurt me or Kailah… Jack I’m not so sure. You guys have your issues, I know, but I’ve always taken your side and you know that. I wouldn’t have said anything to hinm because I know he gives you a hard time as it is… It just hurt me to see you turn like that. That’s not the Amanda I knew. It’s those powers… they take every bit of humanity inside you and throw them out. I don’t think it’s healthy you carrying them all the time. And it’s certainly not healthy for me to have them… Not after everything I did. For a while, it was great, like I didn’t have to worry, or be upset, or hurt by anything. It was like my emotions were numbed… but then I realised that they weren’t, it just brought my ugly side out and it’s doing the same to you Amanda.”

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, only now lowering his arm back to his side and looking around for something to give to Amanda to dry her tears on but there was nothing. He wasn’t sure what else he could say to cheer her up. What he had said made sense to him though it surprised him to feel himself wanting to argue with himself, argue that in fact it had made him feel like he was something, something so much stronger than the baby-faced witch that couldn’t fight a butterfly if his life depended on it. He didn’t want to admit how it filled him with a sense of contentment towards everything, his only emotion that got free was his anger but that was a small price to pay for being strong fore once. Wasn’t it?

Though she knew that what she was feeling when she started sobbing was what normal people felt from time to time, it made her feel weak again. It made everything so much harder when he was being all concerned and wrapping an arm around her rather awkwardly. It was a nice gesture, even if it didn't help the feeling of hopelessness that was creeping up on her when Mason started talking again.

By the time he was halfway through his little speech, Amanda was already feeling better. Yes, she might hurt Jack if he pushed her too far, but she truly would never intentionally hurt Mason or Kailah, they were family and she wanted them both safe. Even if they were a strange family and things had severely gone out of control, she knew deep down that Mason always had her back as long as he understood what was going on.

Amanda was calm again as Mason started looking for something and sighed ever so softly in an attempt to think about something else to talk about. "I tried stop, I stored it all someplace safe for a while, but I couldn't take it. Without them I worry about everything, every shadow on the wall is a monster out to get my baby girl. I really only want her to be safe," pacing the floor in front of the book shelf, she decided she ought to tell him another thing as well.

"I don't know if I can stop, Mason. I don't want to be in a situation like the one with Finny where my magic isn't good enough because it's the wrong alignment. Look at his," she was getting excited again now and brought something from across the room to her hand by manipulating the air to move the object. Placing said object on the shelf behind her, she looked around for other innocent applications for her new powers to show Mason that they weren't all bad. Finding something with water in it, she watched as the water froze and formed ice crystals instead, and chuckled slightly at the simple joys. "It's not all bad, not if I stay away from dark magic entirely."

The little outburst of humanity was slowly fading again as she couldn't help but want to show Mason exactly what he was missing. Deep down, Amanda knew that her ventures with the darker magic would catch up to her sooner or later, but as it was it was too easy to just fall into old patterns and learn more about the things that made everything else seem like a cake walk with no reason to worry at all. No, he didn't need to worry about her, she would be better than fine once she'd straightened things out with Jack once and for all.

"You know, it's easier not to feel anything when you get blamed for everything little thing that goes wrong," she said and shrugged and decided to tell Mason another little truth. "What I did to you isn't permanent, but I can't take it away until it's run its course either."

[/color]

Leaning back against the side, Mason watched as Amanda paced up and down in front of the bookshelf, his eyes full of concern for the redhead as she explained how the powers had her hooked. He could understand that it helped take away the emotions and feelings that hurt you most but he also understood that those were the feelings that made you who you were, made you human. Without them you were a monster, much like the one he had seen in Amanda the previous night. Was that what he’d turned in to as well? The thought made him shudder as he shook his head at Amanda’s ability to give up so easily but kept quiet as he didn’t want to interrupt.

He felt a small pang of jealousy when the witch brought up Finny. It was true though, nothing they tried worked and if it wasn’t for Amanda being there, mason would have probably never been able to defend and fight for what was, or rather had been at the time, his.
Breaking away from the thoughts that threatened to send a wave of depression over him at his own weakness and failures, he watched curiosity as an object from the far side of the room seemed to float towards her before she took it in her hands and placed it on the side. Mason stared at her with wide eyes for a moment before she turned water in to tiny shard of ice. It was impressive to say the least, knowing she had the power to do all these things weather she was using them for good or not.

His expression took that of delight at how much happier the redhead seemed when showing of these new gifts, almost feeling himself that he wanted to have a go. It was all very fascinating. His expression dropped slightly when she’d had her fun and went on to explain exactly what he had been thinking but only in her own words. It was true, when things were being forced on you, getting too much, having no point anymore, it was easier to turn off and shut it all out.

Mildly confused by her next truth, he decided now would be the best time to speak up if he wanted to remember all he had to ask.
“This isn’t permanent? So how long does it last? Can I do all those… that thing you did?” He asked, his voice sounding almost hopeful at his last question though he tried to hide it. He had pushed the negative points to the back of his mind for now though as his curiosity grew. There was also the small matter that he was slightly worried as to how he was going to cope when it did wear off and the events that had taken place started to become more real.
“I guess having a temper is a small price to pay when you can do all that. Life would be so much easier without the worries and an unlimited supply of magic running through your veins.”

It wasn't just that she couldn't stop using magic, she wouldn't. What she'd done to Mason was just a taste really. He'd beg for more when it had worn off, she knew she had the first time someone had used that spell on her. Naturally, she'd asked for it to learn faster, but still, the high she got from it was incredible and the withdrawals absolutely terrible. There was a reason why she'd gone looking for ways to keep get up to that level on a more permanent basis so she wouldn't have to worry anymore.

Amanda loved that Mason seemed impressed with her innocent display of magic. Despite everything that had transpired during the past 24 hours, she was almost relieved; it felt good to be able to share her new powers with someone, even if it had been impossible for her to just show him out of the blue the night before. Whatever had happened with Jack, she'd take care of it, make sure the werewolf remained angry with her and not her friend. It was her fault after all.

The redhead grinned slightly at Mason's enthusiasm and giggled slightly at his question. "It depends on how fast you're burning through the magic really. I only gave you enough for it to last a couple of days at most. And with training you can do pretty much anything." She'd been about to continue to tell him how she could teach him when she realized his wound needed to be taken care of. However, before she could get to it, Mason surprised her by what he had to say next.

Reaching out to her friend, she rested her hand over the cuts and focused on taking care of it. It took a few minutes, but when she was done all that was left were faint scars of the incident. She figured Jack deserved a reminder and Mason could use one as well. "That's much better," she smiled and had to stop herself from skipping away. Such a simple thing as Mason wanting to learn had made her day and she promised herself to take it slow and be nice to him as she didn't want him to get mad at her again for doing anything without his permission.

"If you truly want to learn, we can take as slowly as you want, I have books full of spells, artifacts... I've been collecting things ever since I moved here that I couldn't use until I had all this magic." Deciding she might as well be completely honest with Mason as far as her spell books went, she would share whatever he needed with him until he was sure what he wanted. And she knew it would just make Jack all the more mad at her if she gave Mason the knowledge to do things on his own.

"We can help each other. I can help you learn and you can make sure I don't do anything stupid?" Mainly make sure she didn't do anything she would regret when she finally had to let go of her power. Because right now, nothing stuck with her for too long, the guilt was gone in a flash as she was distracted by something else that satisfied her.

Mason had found his way back to his seat and had gotten himself quite comfortable again. His knees were cuddled up to his body as he perched on the edge of the chair and listened to Amanda eagerly. A couple of days? That sounded Ok to deal with. In small doses it would be easier to handle and if Amanda could teach him how to use these things then he should be able to cope with it right? His eyes practically gleamed. What else did he have to lose? Jack had already gone, he was in a dead end job, and he was nothing. This could be the opportunity he needed, not to mention take his mind of everything that threatened to drag him to the gutters right now. He felt his heart sink at the thought of Jack and his smile slowly faded too.

He stayed perfectly still as Amanda rested her hand over his cheek, feeling a warm, tingly feeling wash over his skin and making him shudder slightly. When she had done, mason raised his hand to inspect what she had done and was surprised to feel the slices in his cheek had gone and instead had been replaced with what felt to be his normal cheek and dimple minus the odd indentations that felt like scars but it was good enough for him. He smiled at Amanda as she skipped across the floor, feeling happy that she was so gleeful to have helped. It reminded him of the old Amanda that he enjoyed spending time with.

His face lit up more as she carried on talking; the prospect of learning these powers and being able to be stronger and control it filled him with hopefulness. It seemed she had been studying this for some time and was more than appreciative she was willing to share what she knew. It was nice to know he could have something in common with a close friend again, something he hadn’t felt for a while.
He nodded his head to show his approvement and nearly jumped to his feet to rush across the room and cuddle her in his usual way of saying thanks. He remained seated though, figuring that the powers shouldn’t be the only thing that should be taken slowly. He still had to regain his trust in the redhead.

He hadn’t even thought about what Jack would make of it all. He didn’t even think he’d care if he was going to be honest with himself. Sighing, he turned sideways so he was curled up with his head resting on the arm of the chair. He glanced up at Amanda’s offer, offering a small smile. He couldn’t bring himself to smile properly, not with thoughts of Jack in his mind. Biting his lip, he thought about the offer for a second before slowly nodding his head.
“Ok, it’s a deal. But on one more condition. You keep my mind of Jack. That means no talking about him... don’t even think about him. Coz I will know...”

He narrowed his eyes at the redhead in a mock warning before shaking his head. This was going to be a slow process but at least with the powers he’d only feel anger towards the man and not question it. Without them he would still feel the anger but that mixed with betrayal, and terror wasn’t something he wanted to cope with right now.

It was good that Mason had forgiven her for what she'd done to his magic. After all, she really hadn't meant to hurt her friend, actually she could never do anything to intentionally hurt Mason. He could annoy her to the point where she would've seriously hurt anyone else, and she'd still only get vocal with him. Maybe in time he could start to trust her again, and she swore to herself that she would do whatever it took to regain that trust so they could work together like only a couple of witches could.

Amanda was really happy that she'd been able to help Mason with his cut. Simple things still brought out the best in her. Making Mason happy, hearing Kailah giggle... At times that was all she needed to be brought more back to who she'd used to be, what she needed to not shut everything else out. After all she'd done, these two people were the only ones who could bring out whatever humanity she had left and make her want to do the right thing. Though she'd never admit that Mason was right about the powers taking it away to begin with.

Naturally, when Mason agreed to her proposal and the condition to accept it, Amanda smiled slightly. She didn't like thinking about what Jack would do or say about anything anyways as they seemed to get on each others nerves, so that was a condition she could live with. "I have absolutely no idea who you're talking about," she beamed at him. And even if Mason had remained seated, she didn't remain in her spot and went to hug the other witch before taking a few steps back again rather awkwardly. So she still needed to work on the contact bit with friends.

Really studying her friend for a moment, Amanda noticed darkening circles under his eyes and frowned slightly. "How about we go for some coffee, then get started on mastering fire?" Normally, she would've just asked him if he'd slept at all the night before, but she'd promised to keep his mind off Jack and that meant she couldn't go around asking him questions about his sleep. Coffee seemed like a much safer bet as she could really use some herself.

Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Amanda came to realize that Mason didn't have any jacket either... maybe she should go get the coffee or teach him how to keep himself warm first. "Or would you rather we worked on keeping your warm first?"

Mason rubbed roughly at his eyes and shook his head, determined not to fall asleep right there and then. Smiling weakly at Amanda’s words, he couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped. It seemed he hadn’t lost everything, not just yet anyway. Amanda was still his friend, the closest friend he had ever had and inside he welled up a little at how much she seemed to know how to make him smile without even trying.

She still had a way of surprising him too. He felt his body tense slightly as she gave him an awkward cuddle, the cuddle being the least comfiest Mason had ever felt as he gingerly wrapped a single arm around her from where he lay on his side and patted her back before realising how silly that was and pulling away as quickly as she did. Sure, he was probably the worst person when it came to personal space and knowing when the times to cuddle were and when it was best to leave them, only Amanda had never seemed the cuddly type as he was. It surprised him greatly.

He frowned at the redhead when he noticed her looking at her, the studying facial expression filling him with slight paranoia. When she finally spoke again, he nodded his head at her suggestion, all prospects of learning to use his heat pushing his tiredness to the back of his mind as he swung his legs back of the couch and pulled himself up. There was plenty of time to sleep when he died, that was what he always said and right now, anything was better than being left alone with his own thoughts.

Wrapping his arms around himself so as to hug at his own body and keep it warm, he glanced at Amanda with a rather smug look though his voice held a hint of playfulness to it.
“I’ll be fine. As long as we’re inside. You can show me how to keep myself warm there right? I mean, if we keep to the back of the room and make sure no one see’s?” He looked at her through hopeful eyes, almost doing his best puppy dog expression without realising before marching out from the back room to the main shop itself giving the redhead no chance to decide.

It was all very exciting to Mason, the geek inside him coming out more as his own powers started to make him think of the fire benders in his favourite anime series. Oh how he hoped he could control his fire like that one day. Turning to face Amanda with a huge grin, he pulled open the door and gestured to her to go first with a teasing smirk across his face.
“Besides, if it doesn’t all work out and I prove to be a bit of an idiot… please do not comment on that… I always have you to make sure I’m all warm and what not. You wouldn’t let your friends freeze to death now would you?” He gave her a quick grin before shivering against the breeze and heading of down the street chuckling to himself.

It was obvious she needed to work on how uncomfortable she truly was with hugs and cuddles. Heck, she didn't think she'd ever really been in a situation that required that she stay and cuddle after sex even. But she had no problems with that kind of intimacy, it was only the less personal kind she had issues with. She shouldn't feel awkward hugging her closest friend though so she decided to work on it. Make sure Mason didn't feel completely lost, because he'd always have her.

Amanda was sure Mason would be a fast learner, at least for the fire stuff as it would be more natural than the other elements. In order to learn though, she needed to make sure he was awake enough to really focus and the lack of sleep wasn't helping. Even if she wasn't going to breathe a word of it.

A chuckle escaped her at his eagerness to learn at the coffee shop. "If we do it correctly, there won't be anything to see, so that won't be a problem at all," she smiled. They were gonna be using magic and he wasn't mad at her. The redhead truly hadn't had a better day in weeks, and she was kinda glad things had taken the turn they had as it meant she'd still have her friend around no matter what. After all, as long as she wasn't alone too much with other people, she wouldn't be able to do too much bad and maybe cling to whatever humanity she had left without feeling all the feelings that drove her to delve further into the magic to begin with.

Exiting the shop first, Amanda had forgotten all about the fact that she wasn't wearing her jacket at the moment either and shivered slightly before chuckling at what Mason had to say. Reaching for his hand, she focused on keeping them both nice and warm while they were walking. "You'll do just fine, I just know it. And until then, who needs jackets anyway," she chuckled. Nothing could ruin her day now, heck it could snow three feet all at once and she'd still be in a good mood since she had someone to focus her energy on and try to make sure her intents were pure for his sake.