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xp_logs2005-08-06 08:28 am
x-dazzler.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2005-08-06 08:28 am
Log [Alison, Amanda] Just checkin' in...
Early Saturday morning. Amanda drops in to check in on Alison and allay a few personal fears. Both aims are reached- once Alison has ascertained that Amanda is just fine as well, there is much scrambling away from the dreaded Small Talk.
It hadn't been hard to miss the fact that Alison had been seldom seen around the halls since that Saturday, but she'd begun posting to the journals again, and in that teasing way she used to, so that had to mean she was all right, didn't it? Amanda hoped it did, since doubts had been raised by her argument with Strange and while she'd ignored them then, doubts seldom left entirely. Talking to Illyana might get some answers, but she wasn't sure she wanted those yet, so maybe it was better to go to the source.
Or at least, that's what she told herself as she waited outside Alison's door, trying to get the nerve up to knock. She had a CD as a conversation-starter, a bootleg of the dance remixes of Alison's old songs they played down in Brighton. Hopefully it would get a smile, even if she did lose her nerve and not ask what was bothering her. Maybe she wouldn't have to. How did you ask "Have you had any bad things happen as a result of being healed with demonic power?" any way?
'Oh for fuck's sake, Sefton, just bloody knock on the door already,' came the thought, and she finally made her knuckles contact wood, almost too softly to be heard.
It took a moment but the door finally opened - no one to be seen until Amanda looked down at the widely grinning little boy. "Mama! It is Amanda at the door! Mama was right, someone was theeeere!" The call was sing song, even as Miles scrambled between the door and Amanda and into the hallway. "Miles as to go now, Artie is waiting! Bye Bye Amanda!" Trotting off, leaving the door to the suite open for Amanda to enter as she would, Miles waved over his shoulder once before turning a corner.
"Hey… Amanda? Take a seat, I'll be there in a minute." Alison's voice drifted through from the other room, the sounds of a large object being moved carefully about echoing faintly as well.
"Seeya, squirt," Amanda called back as Miles left, before going in and closing the door behind her. Everything was reassuringly normal, and she relaxed a touch. If there was anything off about Alison, Miles would have noticed, surely. She was looking curiously around the room, admiring the unusual (to her) decor, a little afraid to actually touch anything in case she made a mess somehow, hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans, when Alison came in.
The skirt was short as short could be, Alison's tribute to summer and legs and other things that made Haroun a happy man indeed. The short sleeved blouse matched it nicely, and Alison lugged the guitar case to the living room carefully, setting it in it's usual corner with a small pat before turning around. "The couch won't bite, y'know. Well, not unless..." she trailed off a bit, eyeing the couch suspiciously. "Naw. I don't any carnivorous cookies are left. Miles ate 'em all."
"What? Oh, yeah. Um, yeah, thanks." Amanda sat gingerly on the edge of the couch, resisting the usual urge to tuck one leg up underneath her. Not on the nice couch with the boots. "You look... good. Been practicin'? she asked, leaping on music as a perfect starter topic. Belatedly she remembered the CD she'd put down, and nodded at it. "Brought you somethin', sort of a treat. Or not, dependin' on what you think of people re-mixin' your music." She grinned a little at the last.
"Manuel's mixed some of my songs before," Alison said, reaching for the CD and flipping it over to look at it with a small smile. "I was just showing Miles the basics, really. He hasn't the hand span for a guitar yet and the four fingered deal means it'd be extra work for him." She shook her head, just a bit. "I don't think he'll be wanting to learn to play the guitar anyway, really. Doesn't pull at him."
"Can't get 'em all," Amanda said with a brief grin, remembering the usual Alison response to any new arrival was "do you play an instrument? No? Do you want to?" "Apparently your stuff's pretty popular in some of the clubs in Brighton. The re-mixed version, that is." She hadn't known Manuel was working with Alison, although his secret project had apparently fallen by the wayside, given the lack of gloating from him. Maybe she'd missed it. "So, keepin' busy?" she continued, a little lamely. She so sucked at chit chat.
"Not nearly as much as I'd like, but I'm working on it." Setting the CD down, Alison curled up on the couch, leaning back to watch Amanda, taking in the sight of her thoroughly. Whatever she thought of the sight she kept to herself though, smiling crookedly before going on. If she felt anything else at the moment, it wasn't readily visible on the surface. "I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle again. And how've you been?"
"Can't complain," the girl replied, and she actually meant it. Whatever was going on in her life, there was enough going on with everyone else. And besides, she'd said she'd pay the price, and she would. As long as Alison wasn't. "Head was a bit off after the spell, but it's settled down some." Taking a breath, she bit the bullet. "I wanted t' ask, make sure you're all right. Magic like that... well, there's always stuff that comes up later, an' I wanted t' make sure I'd done all right, hadn't left anything," she blurted out at last. Alison seemed perfectly normal...
Alison's eyes glimmered for a moment, a sudden withdrawal that caused her features to go entirely neutral. The expression lasted only a split second though, and she smiled a bit tightly, shaking her head. "I'm fine. Granted, there's still some heavy sessions with Charles, but well…" She shrugged, clearly not entirely wanting to go into details regarding that particular topic. "Has more to do with what happened before, really. I'm alive and well, Amanda. I really don't have a single thing to complain about, here."
Hah. Take that Mr "Consequences for Other People". Amanda relaxed slightly, acknowledging what Alison had said about issues with what had happened with a slight nod. Far be it for her to stick her nose into someone else's trauma when they didn't want her to. "I'm glad," she said at last. "That you're okay. Or will be okay. Whatever. When I saw you there, I thought..." She swallowed and continued, changing the thread slightly. "I don't remember what happened there. In Limbo. Docs say I might've burned that part out of me head with the power I was channellin'. But I'm glad that it worked. That it was worth it." She shifted a little, hands clasped nervously in front of her. "Any way, you're all right, an' that's the important thing. Just wanted t' check, y'know?"
A bemused blink greeted that explanation, but Alison nodded without questioning it, pulling her legs up on the couch, toenails glinting a light blue before she tucked her feet out of sight. "Well, that you're all right too kinda works for me in sort of good ways for me as well," Alison murmured, lips quirking just a bit. "No lingering headaches?"
"Some, but just when I think of doin' a spell," Amanda joked, feeling more and more awkward the longer this went on. She found herself rubbing her thumb over the scar on the back of her hand, healed now to a shiny pink. "Bad dreams, sometimes, but that's pretty much usual."
"Yeah. Bad dreams." The words were said slowly, with an odd wistful inflection to them. Tugging at the edge of her skirt and then smoothing it back in place, Alison sighed softly. "They pass. That's what matters, really."
"Yeah, they do." There wasn't really anything else to say to that. "Um, I should go. Stuff t' do." Which was a lie, but obviously things were fine and she wasn't needed here. "Take care, yeah?" And without waiting for a reply, she rose and hurried out as fast as she could without actually running.
It hadn't been hard to miss the fact that Alison had been seldom seen around the halls since that Saturday, but she'd begun posting to the journals again, and in that teasing way she used to, so that had to mean she was all right, didn't it? Amanda hoped it did, since doubts had been raised by her argument with Strange and while she'd ignored them then, doubts seldom left entirely. Talking to Illyana might get some answers, but she wasn't sure she wanted those yet, so maybe it was better to go to the source.
Or at least, that's what she told herself as she waited outside Alison's door, trying to get the nerve up to knock. She had a CD as a conversation-starter, a bootleg of the dance remixes of Alison's old songs they played down in Brighton. Hopefully it would get a smile, even if she did lose her nerve and not ask what was bothering her. Maybe she wouldn't have to. How did you ask "Have you had any bad things happen as a result of being healed with demonic power?" any way?
'Oh for fuck's sake, Sefton, just bloody knock on the door already,' came the thought, and she finally made her knuckles contact wood, almost too softly to be heard.
It took a moment but the door finally opened - no one to be seen until Amanda looked down at the widely grinning little boy. "Mama! It is Amanda at the door! Mama was right, someone was theeeere!" The call was sing song, even as Miles scrambled between the door and Amanda and into the hallway. "Miles as to go now, Artie is waiting! Bye Bye Amanda!" Trotting off, leaving the door to the suite open for Amanda to enter as she would, Miles waved over his shoulder once before turning a corner.
"Hey… Amanda? Take a seat, I'll be there in a minute." Alison's voice drifted through from the other room, the sounds of a large object being moved carefully about echoing faintly as well.
"Seeya, squirt," Amanda called back as Miles left, before going in and closing the door behind her. Everything was reassuringly normal, and she relaxed a touch. If there was anything off about Alison, Miles would have noticed, surely. She was looking curiously around the room, admiring the unusual (to her) decor, a little afraid to actually touch anything in case she made a mess somehow, hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans, when Alison came in.
The skirt was short as short could be, Alison's tribute to summer and legs and other things that made Haroun a happy man indeed. The short sleeved blouse matched it nicely, and Alison lugged the guitar case to the living room carefully, setting it in it's usual corner with a small pat before turning around. "The couch won't bite, y'know. Well, not unless..." she trailed off a bit, eyeing the couch suspiciously. "Naw. I don't any carnivorous cookies are left. Miles ate 'em all."
"What? Oh, yeah. Um, yeah, thanks." Amanda sat gingerly on the edge of the couch, resisting the usual urge to tuck one leg up underneath her. Not on the nice couch with the boots. "You look... good. Been practicin'? she asked, leaping on music as a perfect starter topic. Belatedly she remembered the CD she'd put down, and nodded at it. "Brought you somethin', sort of a treat. Or not, dependin' on what you think of people re-mixin' your music." She grinned a little at the last.
"Manuel's mixed some of my songs before," Alison said, reaching for the CD and flipping it over to look at it with a small smile. "I was just showing Miles the basics, really. He hasn't the hand span for a guitar yet and the four fingered deal means it'd be extra work for him." She shook her head, just a bit. "I don't think he'll be wanting to learn to play the guitar anyway, really. Doesn't pull at him."
"Can't get 'em all," Amanda said with a brief grin, remembering the usual Alison response to any new arrival was "do you play an instrument? No? Do you want to?" "Apparently your stuff's pretty popular in some of the clubs in Brighton. The re-mixed version, that is." She hadn't known Manuel was working with Alison, although his secret project had apparently fallen by the wayside, given the lack of gloating from him. Maybe she'd missed it. "So, keepin' busy?" she continued, a little lamely. She so sucked at chit chat.
"Not nearly as much as I'd like, but I'm working on it." Setting the CD down, Alison curled up on the couch, leaning back to watch Amanda, taking in the sight of her thoroughly. Whatever she thought of the sight she kept to herself though, smiling crookedly before going on. If she felt anything else at the moment, it wasn't readily visible on the surface. "I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle again. And how've you been?"
"Can't complain," the girl replied, and she actually meant it. Whatever was going on in her life, there was enough going on with everyone else. And besides, she'd said she'd pay the price, and she would. As long as Alison wasn't. "Head was a bit off after the spell, but it's settled down some." Taking a breath, she bit the bullet. "I wanted t' ask, make sure you're all right. Magic like that... well, there's always stuff that comes up later, an' I wanted t' make sure I'd done all right, hadn't left anything," she blurted out at last. Alison seemed perfectly normal...
Alison's eyes glimmered for a moment, a sudden withdrawal that caused her features to go entirely neutral. The expression lasted only a split second though, and she smiled a bit tightly, shaking her head. "I'm fine. Granted, there's still some heavy sessions with Charles, but well…" She shrugged, clearly not entirely wanting to go into details regarding that particular topic. "Has more to do with what happened before, really. I'm alive and well, Amanda. I really don't have a single thing to complain about, here."
Hah. Take that Mr "Consequences for Other People". Amanda relaxed slightly, acknowledging what Alison had said about issues with what had happened with a slight nod. Far be it for her to stick her nose into someone else's trauma when they didn't want her to. "I'm glad," she said at last. "That you're okay. Or will be okay. Whatever. When I saw you there, I thought..." She swallowed and continued, changing the thread slightly. "I don't remember what happened there. In Limbo. Docs say I might've burned that part out of me head with the power I was channellin'. But I'm glad that it worked. That it was worth it." She shifted a little, hands clasped nervously in front of her. "Any way, you're all right, an' that's the important thing. Just wanted t' check, y'know?"
A bemused blink greeted that explanation, but Alison nodded without questioning it, pulling her legs up on the couch, toenails glinting a light blue before she tucked her feet out of sight. "Well, that you're all right too kinda works for me in sort of good ways for me as well," Alison murmured, lips quirking just a bit. "No lingering headaches?"
"Some, but just when I think of doin' a spell," Amanda joked, feeling more and more awkward the longer this went on. She found herself rubbing her thumb over the scar on the back of her hand, healed now to a shiny pink. "Bad dreams, sometimes, but that's pretty much usual."
"Yeah. Bad dreams." The words were said slowly, with an odd wistful inflection to them. Tugging at the edge of her skirt and then smoothing it back in place, Alison sighed softly. "They pass. That's what matters, really."
"Yeah, they do." There wasn't really anything else to say to that. "Um, I should go. Stuff t' do." Which was a lie, but obviously things were fine and she wasn't needed here. "Take care, yeah?" And without waiting for a reply, she rose and hurried out as fast as she could without actually running.