xp_logs | Amanda, Meggan, Sunday afternoon (Reply)

Way backdated to Sunday May 8, Amanda takes Meggan on her first trip to the mall. Meggan takes to shopping with great enthusiasm, and many toys and clothes are purchased - and Amanda discovers just what a girly-girl Meggan really is. Then Meggan asks what weddings are, and things get a little more serious.

"That's the mall,"Amanda said, making sure she had a good grip on Meggan, scanning the crowd for trouble. Not that they'd attract it, not with the glamour. It had posed a brief moment of worry - would Meggan think Amanda was ashamed of the way she looked? But the danger involved, especially in the wake of Jay's beating, was too much to risk. She'd already had to take one of the panic buttons, just in case, before she'd been allowed to go with just her and Meggan. "Don't let go of me, all right? It'd be too bloody easy to lose you in all this. An' if there's too many people, we'll go home straight away, okay, love?"

"Stay Manda," Meggan agreed, taking hold of Manda's shirt with her free paw, just to be sure. She thought she could handle all the people.... nobody would hurt her or take her away with Manda there to protect her. And Doug had told her what to do if she got lost... find the line with a spot on top of it, tell them 'lost' and Manda's name. So they would be okay. "Big," she added, leaning back to look up at the building as they got closer. "BIG big."

"That's America for you love, they like everythin' big," Amanda replied with a soft snort. The mall wasn't her favourite place in the world, but it did have the best range of stores. "Clothes first, yeah? Then the toy shop." If she took Meggan to the toy place first, it was likely she wouldn't want to leave.

"Clothes, toys," Meggan agreed. She wasn't quite sure how they were going to get the clothes and toys... presumably they were inside, but where? Would they have to look for a long time? The building was so big. Still, it was nice to have Manda all to herself for a while.

The kiddie's clothing place wasn't one Amanda had been to before, but it wasn't far from the art supplies place Marie-Ange and herself frequented, so she knew the way. It was actually sort of fun, the way Meggan was staring wide-eyed at everything, asking questions in that newly confident piping voice of hers. Having her to herself, without having to look over her shoulder wondering if she was doing things properly, if someone was going to point at any particular thing and say she was screwing up.

Meggan's first impression of the nature of a 'shop' was 'Marie-Ange's closet, but bigger'. She'd been in Marie-Ange's closet a few times, and this was like it... lots and lots of clothes hanging up, and lots of bright colours. Only here, all the clothes were little! (Not that some of Marie-Ange's weren't kinda little too) She looked around, wide-eyed. "LOTS."

"Somethin' for every occasion," Amanda said with a grin, amused. Seeing Meggan was overwhelmed, she steered the small girl over to a rack of play clothes - basic t-shirts and jeans and shorts and the like. She knew Meggan preferred her smocks because they didn't make her fur uncomfortable, but perhaps they'd find something she'd like. She pulled out a bright red t-shirt, and held it up against Meggan's front to get an idea of sizes. It was little large, but then again, large meant loose and airy.

Meggan made admiring noises. "Pretty!" she said delightedly. It was so red! She loved colours, the brighter the better. And she remembered what this was. "Shirt," she said, glancing up at Manda to see if she'd gotten it right.

"Very good," Amanda said, nodding. She hung the shirt over her arm for Meggan to try on, and then paged through the other clothes until she found a pair of denim shorts, with knee-length legs and an elastic waist. "Do you want to try these on, see if you like them?" she asked. "If you do, we can find some more shirts. Different coloured ones."

Meggan gave the shorts a dubious look. "Yes," she said, a little reluctantly. Those looked as bad as 'knickers', which she was still resisting. But to get more pretty shirts, she could at least try them on.

Grabbing another pair of shorts in a slightly larger size, Amanda nudged Meggan in the direction of the change rooms, enduring the cooing of the salesgirl over how cute her little sister would look until they reached the cubicle. "Arms up," she instructed, pulling Meggan's smock up over her head and giving her a tickle as she did. The t-shirt was a good fit, possibly a little large, but it gave Meggan room to move. But the red was a good choice - Meggan needed colour in her life.

Meggan giggled and squirmed delightedly. Getting dressed and undressed was always fun... she had all of Manda's attention, and there were little tickles and games. The shirt was nice... loose enough to be comfortable, and soft against her fur. The shorts weren't too bad, either, she decided, once Manda had manouvered her into them and she'd wriggled experimentally. They were tight around her middle, but loose elsewhere, so they wouldn't rub her fur the wrong way too much. "Okay," she said, conceding that they were wearable. "More shirts!"

"All right, more shirts," Amanda conceded with another grin - she was learning Meggan didn't let her forget her promised treats. "Four more, all right?" she continued once Meggan was dressed in her smock again and the first shirt and the shorts were safely hung over Amanda's arm. She held up four fingers to show Meggan how many four was - she wasn't short of money, but there were limits how much she could actually carry. And with Meggan growing the way she was, she'd outgrow these soon enough. She had to admit, she was curious about what Meggan would choose - the girl was certainly adapting to freedom and baving choices a lot faster than she had herself.

One for each paw. Right. Meggan could do that....

There was a LOT to choose from, though. It took her quite a while to decide on a blue one with a bird on it, which reminded her of Bella, a green one with pink and orange flowers, a yellow one with a picture of a brown dog that was a little like Joyita, and a pretty pink one with little bows. "Four," she announced, trotting back to Manda. They were all about the same size as the red one, she'd held them up to see.

Pink? Well, she was attached to her pink crayon... Amanda had picked out another pair of shorts, these ones in a lighter grade dark blue cotton, and added Meggan's shirts to the pile, which the now-highly-attentive salesclerk. Underwear as well, over Meggan's nose wrinkles. Now for the wedding... "We need a prty dress, for the weddin'," she told Meggan, leading her over to that section with a slight feeling of trepidation. In-store tantrums were something she had heard horror stories about...

Meggan looked around, wide-eyed. LOTS of pretty things, as pretty as Marie-Ange's... soft fabrics, some that were shiny, or had lace, or ribbons... "Four?" she said hopefully, holding up all four fingers.

The other eyebrow rose. Not quite the reaction she'd been expecting. "Two special dresses and two you can wear around the place?" she compromised. "You wouldn't want t' get the pretty dresses all dirty when you're playin', like."

Two. One for each hand-paw. Right... Meggan looked around, and her eyes brightened. "THAT!" she insisted, heading straight for a dress that was shiny AND had lace AND a big ribbon around the middle AND ruffles around the bottom of the skirt. The ribbon was yellow, and the rest of it was a pretty flowery pink. "Wedding THAT!" she announced, pointing to it insistently.

It looked like a cotton candy explosion... and Meggan would look adorable in it, even without shoes, although she might manage to coax her into a pair of those soft ballet slipper things... "All right," Amanda said, finding one in about the right size - they'd have to try it on to make sure. "An' another one?" There were some nice plain smock-type dresses over on the next rack that would work for play dresses, she'd decided.

Meggan had more trouble deciding on the next one, but eventually found a purple one almost the exact same colour as Lockheed, with pink bows. "Lockheed," she explained, pointing at it. "Pretty! That?"

With a giggle, Amanda took down the purple dress. Another one for the Purple Club. "Lockheed will think it's very nice," she said. "An' I think Clarice will like it too. Want t' go try these on, see how pretty you'll look in them?"

Meggan nodded eagerly. She was going to be pretty. "Good!" She leaned over to hug Manda, who was giving her so many nice things. "Manda good," she said firmly.

"You're welcome, love." The witch returned the hug, knowing what Meggan was trying to say. "Such a pretty girl needs pretty clothes. You'll be so cute at the wedding..." Prattling along those lines, she got Meggan into the change room and into the pink dress. "Hang on a minute," she murmured, reaching out with the magic to overlay a temporary glamour over the proper one - Meggan's true appearance. "There," she said, with some satisfaction. The spell took a little out of her, doing it cold the way she was, but she could handle it for the sake of Meggan seeing her true self. "Pretty as a picture."

Meggan squeaked delightedly, clapping her paws. "Pretty!" she said, gazing raptly at her reflection. She was all pink! She loved pink, it was such a pretty colour. "Meggan pink!" she said happily, turning around to look over her shoulder at the back of the dress. There was a bow!

She was so happy... Amanda beamed, sharing the emotion even if she couldn't share the enthusiasm for the colour. Somewhere the Gods of Punk were laughing at her. "Wish I had a camera," she murmured, reflecting there'd be plenty of chances at the wedding. "You'll be the prettiest little girl at the wedding."

***

Amanda stood in the doorway of the Toys 'R Us store, eyes almost as wide as Meggan's. She knew toys, and toy stores, as a concept existed. She'd even played with the odd toy in various foster homes, hand-me-downs from other children, even if she hadn't really been sure what to do. But this... Suddenly she wished she'd brought someone a bit more toy-savvy along with her. How on earth would they be able to choose anything?

Meggan clung to Manda's hand, her eyes as wide - literally - as saucers, under the masking illusion. So many toys! All the toys in the WORLD must be here! "BigbigBIG!" she said with emphasis, taking hold of Manda's shirt again. The store was crowded, and she didn't want them to get separated. Then she saw something she did recognize, and bounced a little. "Ball!" A whole big box-thing full of them, all different sizes.

Well, they could start with the basics... Letting Meggan drag her over to the ball box, she grinned. "All sorts of balls here, love. Did you want a different one to play with too?"

Meggan dug around happily in the box, squeezing the different balls and looking at them. Eventually, she picked out one that was bigger than her tennis-ball, but not so big she couldn't hold onto it easily. It was pink with yellow stars, like her lovely new dress, and had a picture of a pretty blonde Person on it. She held it out hopefully. "Ball?" she asked coaxingly. Could they take this one home?

It took all of her experience with Manuel to hide the cringe, both the physical and the emotional. Barbie. She'd picked a ball with a Barbie on it. Well, if the pink dress hadn't been indication enough... With a smile, she nodded. "We can get that, yeah," she agreed, and then realised they'd better set some limits here, otherwise her keycard would explode. "We can't buy the whole shop, least not all at once... six things, yeah?" She held up six fingers so Meggan would know how many.

Meggan nodded. Six toys. Clutching her ball, she looked around thoughtfully. "MANY," she said, heaving a little sigh. How was she even going to find six toys she liked among so many strange, unfamiliar plastic objects? The little cars she at least recognized, but didn't see the point of. And there were a lot of undefinable lumps of bright plastic that, while the colours were pretty, didn't look like any kind of TOY.

Amanda wasn't keen on the plastic stuff either, however, there was something she remembered playing with herself, in the Children's Home, that had been quite fun... Grabbing a basket for the ball (and sundry other toys-to-be) and taking hold of Meggan's hand, she led her down various aisles until she found the Lego section. Hmm... the little tiny technical bits were a bit too advanced, but there were the nice big brightly coloured ones. There was a demonstration set on the shelf, and she set the basket on the ground before sitting down next to it to show Meggan how the pieces fit together. "This is Lego," she explained. "Blocks that fit together. You stick them together and make things, see?" Under her hands a basic little house was forming.

"Ooooh...." Meggan took a block and added it to the wall, then giggled. She could make stuff with those! "That!" she said decidedly. That looked like a fun toy. And the colours were bright and pretty, too. "Blocks good!"

Amanda beamed and found a decent size pack of the basic beginner blocks to add to the basket. Maybe she knew what she was doing after all... And she'd had another idea. The puzzles weren't far along the aisle, and she grinned. There were a few decent ones. "Jigsaw puzzles," she explained. Again, there was a demonstration one, a farm setting with various animals to put together in the slots. "You put the pieces together to make a picture," she explained, putting the first half of a cow in the right-shaped slot. She figured it would be a good way to teach Meggan the names of things too. And there was one with letters of the alphabet too, and numbers. "Where's the other part of the cow, love? Can you see it?"

Meggan found it, and offered it to her. Manda showed her how to put it in, and she did so. "Cow," she said happily. After some consideration, she picked out a puzzle that had dogs, cats, and birds on it. "That." Then she took Amanda's hand, and tugged her down another aisle. She'd seen FURRY things.

There were LOTS of toys here. Stuffed animals of all descriptions, in all different colours and sizes... and different feels, too, she discovered when she patted them. Oh, picking just one of this kind of toy would be HARD....

Okay, teddy bears weren't so bad... Amanda would never admit it, but she had a secret weakness for them. Something to do with the not sleeping alone thing - sleeping with a bear was somehow comforting. She could see Meggan's dilemma, but had to stick to what she'd decided. And then take note of the next favourite and get it for her later. Or hint for one of the others, say, Angelo, that it would make a nice gift. "The thing about teddy bears," she said softly, so no-one would overhear her. And laugh. "Is that they're like people - they've all got personalities. So you have t' find the one that is the most friendly one t' you, right?"

Meggan nodded. "Friendly," she repeated solemnly. She worked her way over all the shelves she could reach, cautiously patting each bear. Her paws were clean, and she really didn't want to get one that didn't feel nice. Then she examined the expressions of those she liked, and eventually worked her way down to two... a furry blue bear with a blue bow around its neck, and a brown suedey one with a red bow. Hugging each one in turn, she decided that, as cuddly as the blue one was, the brown one was squishy and nice to hold. She put the blue one back on the shelf, and solemnly held up the brown one, which she thought had a very friendly face. And it squooshed nicely. "That."

"We'll have t' think of a name for him," Amanda said, taking the bear gently and setting it carefully in the basket on top of the other toys. But not before rubbing her cheek against the soft suede approvingly. "That's four. See anythin' else?"

Meggan looked around, and then heard a decidedly pretty noise. "Ooh..." she said softly, following it. It was a sort of chiming noise, she thought, one she'd never heard before. Peeking around the corner of the next aisle, she saw more of the plastic things.... one of which was producing the noise. A small People child was hitting the coloured flat bits, and it made pretty noises! She waited until its mother dragged it away, then went over to the toy. Tentatively, she poked the purple flat thing. A note! She tried the blue one. A slightly higher note.

She prodded the toy piano a few more times, then looked up at Manda with shining eyes. "Pretty! ThatthatTHAT!"

Making a mental note to make sure Angie's room was soundproofed, Amanda nodded. She had said six toys, without specifying what, and who could resist those big eyes? Besides, Alison would probably say encouragement at music from an early age was a good thing. Tapping out the first few bars of 'Mary had a little lamb', she reached up and grabbed an unopened box, tucking it under her arm since it was too big for the basket. "One more?"

Meggan counted in her head. She had... one less than six. One toy left. She thought about it, then went over to Manda, hugging her around the waist. "Manda toy," she said firmly. Manda didn't have any toys. If they were getting six, then Manda should choose one for herself.

"You want me t' get somethin' for me?" Amanda asked, wrapping her free arm around Meggan and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. "That's really sweet of you, love." And she knew just what to get, and share - there was a small collection of books on one side of the store, and there was a nice big book of fairytales, illustrated with big glossy frontpieces.

"ToyManda," Meggan agreed, snuggling happily. "Share." She would share her toys with Manda, she resolved. Since she had so many now. Manda had liked playing with them, she could tell. They could play together, like they did with the ball.

"We can share, yes," Amanda agreed, hefting the basket and the toy piano under her arm. Combined with the bag of clothes they'd already bought, she was doing quite the packhorse imitation. And she was getting hungry. "You want some food, Meg? We could get somethin' t' eat before we go home, once we pay for this lot."

"Food!" Meggan agreed enthusiastically. She never turned down food. Standing on tiptoe, she tugged her music-toy out from under Manda's arm, clutching it to her chest. HER toy. She would carry it. Manda was starting to look kind of overloaded. "Food now?" No, Manda still had to get her toy. "Mandatoy. Food."

"Okay, love." Amanda grinned and took her over to the books, picking out the nice fat book from the big ones on the bottom shelf. "We can read it together, when it's time t' go t' bed."

Meggan beamed. "Story!" She loved stories, and Manda did too... they could snuggle up together and read and be happy. That was a very good toy to choose.

"Stories are good," Amanda agreed, pleased. A good thing to share, and indulge in her personal secret passion for stories that started 'Once upon a time...' "Come on, let's go pay for this lot, an' then we'll get some food before we go home. You've been such a good girl, I think you deserve a treat."

"Treat!" Meggan nodded, holding onto the edge of the basket as they headed back towards the front of the store. "Manda Meggan Treat." Today had been a GOOD day. Even if it was crowded and confusing, she decided, the Mall was a nice place. It had toys and clothes AND treats!

* * *

Still clutching her toy-chiming-noise-maker, Meggan followed Manda into some of the best smells she'd ever smelled. The little shop was, clearly, a food shop, and it smelled SO good... like all the sweet things and coffee in the whole world! "Good!" she said, sniffing happily. "Smell good!" There were lots of little tables and things around, with people sitting at them and eating treats. Meggan was ALL in favour of treats.

Selecting a booth (for the privacy and the space to dump the many bags with a sigh of relief) Amanda grinned. "It smells very good," she agreed. "Especially when we're both hungry, I think. We can get dinner back home, but a snack now? Since we've had such a busy afternoon?"

"Treat!" Meggan said, bouncing a little on the padded bench she was sitting on. "Please?" she added, doing her very best Pleading Face, the one she'd copied from Joyita. That almost never failed, no matter who she used it on.

Amanda knew full well she was being played, but she had promised a Treat, so a treat there would be. Hmm, what form should it take, though... "Cake?" she suggested, knowing Meggan had been introduced to the word at least by the amount of time she spent with Dani in the kitchen.

"Cake!" Meggan bounced excitedly. She had tasted raw cake - she'd been allowed to lick out a bowl, once - and she'd had a taste of the sugary stuff that went on top, but she'd never actually had proper cake. "Choc'lit?" she asked hopefully. She loved chocolate, and knew that cakes could be made to taste like it.

"Not _too_ much chocolate," Amanda said, remembering all too well the stories of what happened to small children and too much sugar. A hyperactive empathic shapeshifter in a crowded mall sounded like a recipie for disaster to her. The waitress chose that moment to come for their order, and Amanda chose a fairly simple chocolate cake that had whipped cream and strawberries and chocolate sprinkles on top - lots of window dressing that wouldn't upset Meggan's stomach _too_ much. She ordered a strawberry milkshake, too - this place made them with real fruit, which she loved, and she figured it might be a way to get Meggan to drink the evil milk. "Two glasses?" she asked, and the waitress nodded, understandingly.

"Sure, hon. Looks like you've had a busy day," she said in that motherly tone adult women invariably adopted with the skinny-looking witch, before going back to the kitchen to place their order.

Meggan nodded. Clearly the nice lady was very perceptive. "Busy," she agreed, looking at all the bags. "Big shopping." She was definitely getting tired now, but it had been fun. They had so many nice things to take home! She slid off her seat and under the table, to climb up on the seat on Manda's side and give her a hug. "Day good," she said happily.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, love," Amanda said, chuckling a little at Meggan's seat change and hugging her back. "And we've got somethin' nice for you to wear at the weddin' too, which was the reason for coming out, so mission accomplished and all that." She'd stopped simplfying her speech patterns for Meggan - she was picking up words rapidly, and would ask if she didn't understand. Better she learn from the start.

Meggan nodded, tucking herself under Manda's arm. "Manda?" she asked seriously. "Wedding what?" She knew it was something that Moira and Nate were going to do... and that they were happy about it... but she wasn't sure what it was, or why everyone was dressing up for it.

She'd been half-expecting this question, and had half an answer, at least. "Well, you know Moira and Nathan like each other very much, yeah?" she began. At Meggan's nod she went on. "Well, sometimes when two people like each other like that, they want t'... promise they'll always be together. In front of all their friends. That's what a weddin' is, when they promise to be together an' look after each other forever. It's a thing grownups do."

Meggan nodded slowly. That kind of made sense... she knew Moira and Nathan loved each other a lot. But it didn't quite fit with what she knew about people from before. "Moira... belong Nathan?" she asked a little dubiously. "Be ~my wife~?" The last words, in Romany, still carried a possessive quality, implying ownership.

Amanda nodded, reluctantly, not liking the possessive pronoun. "~Yes and no,~" she said, switching to Romany to explain better. "~Moira and Nate belong _with_ each other, but no-one will own anyone else. They're choosing to be together, does that make sense?~"

Meggan snuggled up, trying to work that out. "~Bad,~" she said quietly. "~Wife... bad. Hurt.~" She'd seen the way the Grgic men treated their women, and although she couldn't imagine Nate being unkind to anyone, it was hard to imagine it being different too.

Of course, she'd only had one example. "~The Grgics were bad,~" she corrected gently, stroking Meggan's cheek comfortingly, amused by the sensation of fur under the glamour. "~But that's not how it's supposed to be. They did things wrong. You don't hurt your wife, and you don't lock little girls in cages.~" The habitual anger that always surfaced when the Grgics were mentioned was clear in her voice, but Meggan knew Amanda well enough now to know it wasn't directed at her. "~When it's done right, husbands and wives help each other, look after each other, love each other. And Nate and Moira are doing it the right way.~"

Meggan nodded, the frown fading. That did sound more like what Nathan and Moira would do... and she was coming to learn that a lot of things that she'd thought she knew, from before, were bad things that weren't really supposed to happen. "Moira Nathan good," she agreed, switching back to English and snuggling up. "No hurt."

Then she saw the nice lady coming back, and gave Manda one last hug before returning to her proper seat, watching the approaching plates with eager anticipation. You were supposed to sit up properly when you ate, she'd learned that, in your own seat. "Treat!"

"You must have been a good girl to get a treat like this, sweetheart" agreed the waitress, beaming at Meggan as she set the plate of cake down, followed by two glasses and the old-fashioned large metal cup the milkshake had been made in. She poured half into each glass, adding a bendy straw to each. "You enjoy that, now," she instructed, with another of those motherly smiles.

"Thank you!" Meggan chirped politely, reaching for the drink. "Pink!" she added happily, admiring the colour. Pink was definitely the best colour, she decided. She liked all the colours, but pink was best.

Amanda wisely didn't tell her it was milk - let her make her own mind up based on flavour, she decided, sipping her own. Yum, just as good as always. She'd gotten a thin slice of baked cheesecake for herself, the Bottomless Pit needing filling but sugar not being a favourite. "Taste as good as it looks?" she asked with a grin. Pink. Somewhere the gods of irony were laughing at her.

"GoodgoodGOOD," Meggan cooed happily after taking a sip, bouncing and wiggling her toes. "Like!" Taking another sip and setting the cup down carefully, she sniffed the cake. Mmm. Smelled good. She picked up the fork, scraping off a little bit of the squishy stuff and tasting it cautiously. "GOOD!" Chocolate flavoured! Yay!

"So, strawberry milk is a good thing?" Amanda asked innocently, watching Meggan trying the cake.

Meggan nodded enthusiastically. White milk still tasted bad, but pink milk was very good indeed. "Good," she agreed, trying some of the bread-like part of the cake. That was chocolaty too, and sweet like cookies.

Strawberry milk she could do. And reasonably healthily, too - not that pre-made stuff with all the sugar and fake flavour in it. She smiled, watching Meggan's exploration of the cake. "So, the weddin's all right by you now? No more questions?" she asked, wanting to make sure Meggan understood everything properly. And it might be a way to explain about her and Manuel. Things were getting better, and while she didn't want to jump the gun, maybe some groundwork might help smooth things along.

Meggan nodded. "No hurt," she said slowly, licking cream off her fork. Some of it fell off onto her lap, but she didn't notice. "Nathan, Moira, no bad." She rested her chin on her paw, looking at Manda solemnly. "~No fuck~" she added, just to be sure. She didn't know the English word for the Bad Icky Thing that married people did at home, but it was bad and therefore Nate certainly wouldn't do it.

It was unfortunate that Amanda had been drinking just then, since strawberry milkshake up the nose wasn't exactly fun. Grabbing some napkins from the holder, she wiped the mess up, coughing and spluttering. The question was bad enough, but that word was definitely not one nice little girls - nice _anyone_ for that matter - used in public. Needless to say, it had been one she herself had learned from Rack. "What makes you say that?" she managed to choke out, blowing her nose to get the last of the milk out.

"Bad," Meggan said firmly, shuddering a little. "BADbad. Hurt." Nobody really cared what the Monster could see or hear from her cage, and if brief personal experience hadn't convinced her how bad That was, seeing it happen to others would have.

"~It's bad when it's not the right time, or the right way...~" Amanda began, slipping back into Rom since this was one conversation she didn't want anyone to overhear. "~Remember what I said about the Grgics doing things the wrong way?~" Oh bloody hell, she was going to be using the expression 'when a man and a woman like each other very much' any minute now. But it did make a horrible amount of sense. Her poor little girl - it was just as well the Grgics were on the other side of the Atlantic just then.

Meggan gave her a very dubious look, taking another forkful of cake. "~BAD,~" she said firmly, with her mouth full. She was quite sure about that.

Hmm, this was going to be tricky... Amanda stirred her milkshake absently with the straw, trying to think of a way to explain this. Or even why she should, except that Meggan was operating with totally the wrong idea, and should things ever get to a point with Manuel where they... not that she'd do it in _front_ of Meggan, but she'd know, by smell if nothing else. Amanda was so deep in her thoughts she wasn't really paying attention to Meggan and the cake. "~It's bad when it's done to hurt someone,~" she said slowly, still not looking up since if she did she'd lose her train of thought. "~Or when the person's not ready. Little girls shouldn't have sex.~" That was said in a very firm tone of voice. "~But if two people love each other very much and they're both grownup, it can be very nice.~"

Meggan retrieved a dropped bite of cake from her lap and popped into her mouth. She was still very sceptical of this idea... After all, Manda had been known to be wrong about things, like white milk being good to drink. "~Different grownups?~" she asked a little dubiously. She knew there were things that adults did that were weird, but THAT weird?

"~The Grgics were bad people, love. They made everything bad,~" Amanda said, on surer ground now. "~Lots of people are different to them, and they have sex that isn't bad, because they care about each other and don't want to hurt.~"

Meggan rested her chin on her hand again, accidentally getting cream on her face. "~You?~" she asked, after a long, thoughtful pause. If Manda had ever tried it herself, then maybe she WOULD know...

Amanda reached forward with another napkin, wiping the cream off as best she could, given the glamour was confusing issues. Bath later, she decided. Cream and fur didn't mix. "~Yes,~" she said at last. "~Both sorts, the bad kind and the good kind. That's how I know it can be nice. But that's only when you're old enough,~" she added. Meggan had this habit of copying things she'd seen or been told about, she'd already noticed that. And the last thing she wanted was her experimenting in _that_ direction.

"~Bad AND good?~" Meggan gave her a skeptical look, picking up her own napkin and wiping herself off. Cream didn't wipe off very well, she realized, looking down at her smock. "~Old, good?~" Manda wouldn't intentionally lie to her, she was sure, but she could be mistaken.

"~When I was a little girl, it was bad. It hurt.~" Amanda hadn't ever talked about this so frankly before, not to anyone, but this distinction was important. And it was important that Meggan know she wasn't alone, that Amanda knew how it had been. "~But when I was older, and I liked the person and they liked me, it was good, yes.~" She paused, looking at the mess Meggan had made of herself. "And the cake's s'posed t' go in yer mouth, love," she admonished affectionately, getting up and moving around to Meggan's side of the booth. "Shite, look at you. Covered in it." She looked over at the waitress, who was watching with a certain amount of amusement, and she approached with a damp cloth. "Bath for you when we get home, yeah? And you can wear some of yer new clothes, show everyone how nice they are."

Meggan giggled. "Sticky," she agreed, looking down at herself. "Good!" She put the last bite of cake into her mouth for emphasis, making happy noises. Then she touched Manda's cheek gently. "~Manda good,~" she said seriously. "~When old, good.~"

"Ta," Amanda said to the waitress, accepting the cloth and wiping Meggan's hands and face first before working on the worst of the cream and chocolate on her smock. "~That's right, love,~" she said. "~When old, good.~" She couldn't help the snicker at using the adjective 'old' about herself. "Home now?" she suggested. "We'll have t' catch a taxi since Clarice has disappeared on us, but it won't take long."

"Home." Meggan nodded. "Tired." She picked up her glass, determined to finish the nice pink milk before they went anywhere. She patted the pretty-chime-making-toy's box. "Nap. Play."

"Bath, first, then nap and play," Amanda amended with a wry grin. Under the glamour, Meggan's fur was sticky with cream. On impulse, she leaned forward and gave her a tight hug. "Meggan good," she murmured, glad that the girl was an empath and could see everything she was feeling then, a deep protective, almost firece love. So much wrong had been done to her, but she was safe now.

Meggan cooed, basking in Manda's protective love as if it were warm sunshine. "Manda goodgoodgood," she responded, rubbing her cheek against Manda's shoulder. "Love Manda."

"Love you too, Meggan," Amanda said pulling back and rubbing a stray tear or two away. "Sticky an' all," she added, realising she'd managed to transfer some of the mess to herself. She counted out the money for the bill and tip and left it on the table, gathering up their bags before holding her free hand out for Meggan take. "Let's go home."