Wanda, Amanda - Wednesday afternoon
Jul. 5th, 2006 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_daytripper posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsJust another day... Amanda and Wanda are unpacking books and bantering when the world suddenly changes.
"Strange really didn't skimp on the books, did he?" Amanda observed as she peeked in the top of another box.
They were in what had been Wanda's second bedroom but was now apparently a nesting ground for book-filled boxes. Mind you, Amanda's own spare room had been just as bad for a while there. Wanda had finally gotten sturdy-enough bookshelves installed - no Ikea crap for a collection as valuable as this - and she'd decided today was as good a day as any for unpacking. Amanda had been more than willing to help; the former witch's love affair with dusty leather-bound tomes was well known.
"And there are boxes still in the attic at Xavier's," Wanda commented, turning the TV in the room down a bit. She'd brought it in for a bit of back noise but with Amanda in there with her, she didn't need it up quite so loud. "Those are the ones that are not quite so old or, well, powerful in some cases, I suppose."
She waved a hand at the walls of bookshelves and sighed. "I think I will have to put some of these up in the living room as well. I don't know if this will all fit in here."
"We'll see how we go. Probably should keep the weirder stuff in here - there's conversation pieces and then there's Bloody Awkward Questions." Amanda chuckled slightly. "So, where to start, O Boss Lady?" She'd taken to calling Wanda that since the older woman had started at the Centre and given Amanda someone to be research assistant to.
Her smile widening at the name--Wanda not so secretly got a kick out of it--she answered, "I think on the shelf in that corner..." She pointed and then spun around to where the TV was now sitting. "...and finish up in that corner, all nice and clock wise."
Amanda nodded. "The big grimoires on the bottom where they can't do any damage and then work our way up with the sizes should work too. You don't want those big bastards where they can fall on you."
Wanda winced slightly at the thought. "No, you really do not. I've been the victim of a number of fallings books and even one or two shelves in my day, not something I wish to repeat in my own place." She shot Amanda an amused look. "It is a very good thing I'm tall or else we would have to go begging for a ladder."
"Why do you think I'm so short?" Amanda replied, grinning mischievously. "Horrible grimoire accident when I was a kid. I'm
supposed to be your height, really, but a book fell on me and I've never grown since."
That got a gale of laughter to come out of her, infectious enough to span more than a few moments. By the time Wanda was able to look at Amanda without falling over with a case of the giggles, she was holding herself up by the bookcase. "You are horrible, you realize that, yes?" she asked, catching her breath.
"So I've been told. Hey, think that could be my new nickname? 'Horrible'? Since 'Trouble's been outgrown these days - it's been ages since I was any trouble, if you ignore last year." Amanda opened a box and started pulling out books. "Ooh, Ignatius! Brilliant. I've been looking for this, but I couldn't afford it. Thing's worth a fortune."
"Hrm, Horrible is a little hard on the mouth, especially to yell across the room." Peering over Amanda's shoulder, Wanda grinned. "Do you want to borrow it? Stephen managed to find and hold onto two of them and I would rather that it be put to use than gathering up dust in here."
Amanda's eyes lit up. "Can I? Really?" She inadvertantly hugged the book to her chest. "That's be great, thanks, Wanda."
Smothering a grin at the display, since she really wasn't laughing at Amanda but it was very cute, Wanda nodded, digging out a small box from the mess around them. "Of course. I will be able to use some of these books but a lot of them..." She shrugged. "Right now, for me, they really are just interesting reading material and a way to get as much knowledge about the things that I am after. You actually use a lot of this knowledge on a more practical level and you are more than free to borrow them or to come and read in here anytime you need to."
Holding up the box, she smiled, "We can put whatever you want to borrow this time in here."
Amanda shrugged. "Used to, you mean. But Tante says it's a good idea to keep up on the Knowledge." It didn't stop her taking the box and carefully laying the book in it. And given Strange's collection, she had a feeling that box would be full before long. "All right, let's get cracking, shall we?"
Wanda sprawled bonelessly on an empty part of the library floor, wiggling her toes as she balanced a frigid bottle of water on her nose. The toe wiggling was simply to make sure she could feel her feet after all the lifting and shelving they were doing and the cold felt good on her face.
"Are you alive over there?" she called out to Amanda. She wanted to make sure because they had accidently boxed the poor girl into a corner at one point and it'd taken them a few minutes to undo it.
"Barely." Amanda waved a hand limply from the other side of a series of boxes. "I think I've been booked to death."
"To think, to have made it out of Germany with barely a scratch, only to be booked to death in my apartment. Life is cruel, if slightly funny." With a groan, she pushed herself up, catching the bottle of water in one hand. "We did make very good progress, though."
"Progress is good. Yay for progress," came the tired response, followed by a tousled blonde head as Amanda pushed herself upright. "And I still say you lot should have given me something to patch up in Germany. What's the point of lugging the first aid kit all the way there and all I got was sticking a band aid on your elbow?"
"You were able to play nurse when you and Betsy came to my rescue," Wanda teased, pausing to drink some water. For all that the air conditioner was going full blast, you'd think they were outside. She pulled a face. "And at the rate that Doug and Marie-Ange are going, you might just get to play nurse here as well since I am sure someone is going to end up punching a wall or throwing a fit. With objects."
Amanda rolled her eyes. "I don't know what to do about those two. The only reason they tear each other apart so well is because they love each other." This she knew from bitter experience. "I just wish they'd sort it out."
"They'll work it out one way or another," Wanda assured her, silently telling herself that the arguing was fine as long as it didn't cross the waking her up in the middle of the night line. And that was simply solved by throwing them both in a closet and hoping they'd either kill each other or were too busy having sex to really disturb her sleep. "But in the mean time, I know a place to buy plenty of pots and pans so we can toss freezing water on them when they get too much." She purposely was teasing to lighten the mood some. There was very little they could do and get through to Marie-Ange or Doug.
Even if she still voted for locking them in a closet.
"In this weather they'd probably appreciate it and take it as encouragement." Amanda snagged her own bottle of water, rolling it across her forehead. The whole situation made her heart hurt. "I want to do something to help, but it's up to them, in the end. Best I can do in the meantime is be there if either of them needs me to be."
"There is a reason I tended towards Europe for most of my travels," Wanda muttered, cursing the heat under her breath. "And good, they really could use the shoulder but remember to take a break for yourself every now and then." A mischievous look crossed her face. "You can always send them to me for advice," she continued slyly. "Granted, that would simply be that they probably need to have a good round of sex, regroup their thoughts and go from that..."
That brought a tired laugh from Amanda. "That's your answer for everything," she told the older woman. "That and tea."
"Both of them are better than medicine," Wanda agreed. "Should I make some tea now? Though I suppose it's far too hot...ohh, iced tea."
"Only if it's the proper stuff and not that crap in a can," Amanda said. She grinned a little wickedly. "Since it's too hot for sex and you're my boss and all."
Wanda gave Amanda a soulful look. "Would I really give you the iced tea in a can?" she asked, horrified, as she pulled herself to her feet and offered Amanda a hand up. "And besides it being far too hot, you've really got all the wrong equipment." She paused and then grinned a little. "Though there was this one time, in Jamaica..."
"Oh, I have to hear this story," Amanda teased, but then her attention was caught by something happening on the television. A special news flash. "Wait a minute..."
Looking over Amanda's head, Wanda frowned and then moved forward abruptly, hitting the volume button.
"...on the Richter scale. I repeat, a massive earth quake has hit San Diego." The news reporter sounded shaken as they flashed from him to a brief news reels.
"Cell phone videos," Wanda said quietly, moving to the side so Amanda can see. "Oh my God, look at the damage..."
"Bloody hell..." Amanda breathed. "Place is coming down like a pack of cards." Groping for a seat without taking her eyes from the television, Amanda perched on the edge of a as-yet-unemptied box. "All those people..."
"And this is just the start," she agreed, sinking down to her knees, not even bothering to try to find a seat. Wanda's fingers dug into her knees and breathed a soft prayer for everyone in that area. She might not have a church she went to on a regular basis but it never meant she didn't believe. "It just started not too long ago...and already all the damage. They do not even have the start to a body count or the missing or even the injured yet."
"This is going to be bad." Amanda's voice was barely audible over the newscast. "Really bad."
"Here," Amanda said, holding out the mug to Wanda. All pretence of unpacking boxes was gone and they'd been watching the news constantly. Eventually the scenes of destruction had gotten to Amanda and she'd fallen on old comforts. Tea, even despite the heat.
"Mmm, thank you." Wanda held the mug between her hands, the warmth a welcome feeling to the numb she'd started to get. They'd been watching for a little while now, clearing an area to get comfortable in, and she felt sick. This wasn't something you could fight back against, it was the weather. You couldn't punch it or shoot it and it did more damage than on the missions she'd been on with the X-Men.
Amanda sat down beside her, unconsciously sitting close enough to touch the other woman. "The death toll's already in the fifties," she said, and then frowned as the camera angle changed to that of a helicopter, hovering above the beach. "Wait, is that..." She squinted - the picture as blurry, hard to make out. Tiny figures in black, on the beach.
The mug of tea froze half way to her mouth as Wanda stared at the screen. "Yes, yes it is," she said slowly. "What are they do...oh God, it caused a tsunami." The tsunami's force, just that much water, would double the death toll. Maybe a lot more than double it. "They're trying to stop the water." She looked over at Amanda with a horrified expression.
Amanda's eyes were huge and her hands were gripping the mug in a white-knuckled grip. "They can't... they can't do that, can they?" she whispered, watching in horror. On the screen a plume of white steam rose from the wave as something superheated it.
Wanda didn't respond as the camera swiveled from spot to spot and suddenly focused on the water.
Under all the noise that was being broadcasted, a soft, terrified voice could be heard. The camerman, probably. "Oh god. Oh god oh god. The water, do you see it? It's coming fast, really fucking fast. Do you see it?" The video never wavered, the person manning it realizing that there was nowhere to run if it made it past those on the beach.
And when there was a streak of fire, spreading its wings before the onslaught, Wanda's hand reached out to grip Amanda's. Nathan. That was Nathan.
"No, please, no, Nate..." Amanda's hand tightened on Wanda's so hard it seemed she must break bones. "Run, Nate, please, don't..." The firebird grew, impossibly large and as the wave hit the beach it also hit the wall of fire and for a breath-taking moment, held. But they both knew how much effort it must be taking and one man couldn't do it alone, even if some of the force had been blunted by the steam.
Putting the tea down so as not to spill it on herself, Wanda cupped both hands around Amanda's hand, letting her grip as tightly as she needed too. He wouldn't run, they both knew it...
She'd seen more than one flooded river in her time but the sound of the ocean racing towards the beach of San Diego must have been overpowering. It was just a rumble on the TV speakers, not even a fraction of what they must have been hearing there. And even the tinny noise they were hearing, all the way across the country, hiccuped as it slammed into the wall Nathan was holding up.
"It's...holding?"
"It is." Amanda's whisper was incredulous, but a sudden hope filled her. The water was still steaming off and the firebird was holding... then the entire picture was obscured by a brilliant white light. "Wait! What happened? Did they make it?" Amanda sat up, tea spilling unheeded to the floor as static filled the screen.
The broadcaster in the studio suddenly started talking again. "Folks, we're trying to get picture back again. Our crew is safe, I repeat that our crew is safe but whatever that white light was it scrambled some...there we go, we've got visual again..."
As the picture slowly focused back on the destruction on the beach, the breath escaped in a soft whoosh from Wanda's lungs. That white light had managed to shove the wall of water back, sending it scattering back towards the ocean and not the city and all those people still reeling from the earth quake.
"Thank God." Amanda didn't hear herself say it, tears of relief spilling down her face. "Thank you, thank you, thank you..." On the beach, more figures in black were appearing... and then the picture went dead again. They waited for a few minutes, but all they got was the newsdesk again, stating that they'd lost all cameras in San Diego.
Sagging with relief, Wanda wiped her own tears away. There would be a lot of work over the next couple of days but for right now, the X-Men deserved the praise they got. They had just saved thousands of lives at the risk to themselves. With the hand that Amanda didn't still have in a death grip, she slipped it around the younger woman's shoulders, the need to touch someone else and reassure herself very strong.
"They did it," she said simply.
"Strange really didn't skimp on the books, did he?" Amanda observed as she peeked in the top of another box.
They were in what had been Wanda's second bedroom but was now apparently a nesting ground for book-filled boxes. Mind you, Amanda's own spare room had been just as bad for a while there. Wanda had finally gotten sturdy-enough bookshelves installed - no Ikea crap for a collection as valuable as this - and she'd decided today was as good a day as any for unpacking. Amanda had been more than willing to help; the former witch's love affair with dusty leather-bound tomes was well known.
"And there are boxes still in the attic at Xavier's," Wanda commented, turning the TV in the room down a bit. She'd brought it in for a bit of back noise but with Amanda in there with her, she didn't need it up quite so loud. "Those are the ones that are not quite so old or, well, powerful in some cases, I suppose."
She waved a hand at the walls of bookshelves and sighed. "I think I will have to put some of these up in the living room as well. I don't know if this will all fit in here."
"We'll see how we go. Probably should keep the weirder stuff in here - there's conversation pieces and then there's Bloody Awkward Questions." Amanda chuckled slightly. "So, where to start, O Boss Lady?" She'd taken to calling Wanda that since the older woman had started at the Centre and given Amanda someone to be research assistant to.
Her smile widening at the name--Wanda not so secretly got a kick out of it--she answered, "I think on the shelf in that corner..." She pointed and then spun around to where the TV was now sitting. "...and finish up in that corner, all nice and clock wise."
Amanda nodded. "The big grimoires on the bottom where they can't do any damage and then work our way up with the sizes should work too. You don't want those big bastards where they can fall on you."
Wanda winced slightly at the thought. "No, you really do not. I've been the victim of a number of fallings books and even one or two shelves in my day, not something I wish to repeat in my own place." She shot Amanda an amused look. "It is a very good thing I'm tall or else we would have to go begging for a ladder."
"Why do you think I'm so short?" Amanda replied, grinning mischievously. "Horrible grimoire accident when I was a kid. I'm
supposed to be your height, really, but a book fell on me and I've never grown since."
That got a gale of laughter to come out of her, infectious enough to span more than a few moments. By the time Wanda was able to look at Amanda without falling over with a case of the giggles, she was holding herself up by the bookcase. "You are horrible, you realize that, yes?" she asked, catching her breath.
"So I've been told. Hey, think that could be my new nickname? 'Horrible'? Since 'Trouble's been outgrown these days - it's been ages since I was any trouble, if you ignore last year." Amanda opened a box and started pulling out books. "Ooh, Ignatius! Brilliant. I've been looking for this, but I couldn't afford it. Thing's worth a fortune."
"Hrm, Horrible is a little hard on the mouth, especially to yell across the room." Peering over Amanda's shoulder, Wanda grinned. "Do you want to borrow it? Stephen managed to find and hold onto two of them and I would rather that it be put to use than gathering up dust in here."
Amanda's eyes lit up. "Can I? Really?" She inadvertantly hugged the book to her chest. "That's be great, thanks, Wanda."
Smothering a grin at the display, since she really wasn't laughing at Amanda but it was very cute, Wanda nodded, digging out a small box from the mess around them. "Of course. I will be able to use some of these books but a lot of them..." She shrugged. "Right now, for me, they really are just interesting reading material and a way to get as much knowledge about the things that I am after. You actually use a lot of this knowledge on a more practical level and you are more than free to borrow them or to come and read in here anytime you need to."
Holding up the box, she smiled, "We can put whatever you want to borrow this time in here."
Amanda shrugged. "Used to, you mean. But Tante says it's a good idea to keep up on the Knowledge." It didn't stop her taking the box and carefully laying the book in it. And given Strange's collection, she had a feeling that box would be full before long. "All right, let's get cracking, shall we?"
Wanda sprawled bonelessly on an empty part of the library floor, wiggling her toes as she balanced a frigid bottle of water on her nose. The toe wiggling was simply to make sure she could feel her feet after all the lifting and shelving they were doing and the cold felt good on her face.
"Are you alive over there?" she called out to Amanda. She wanted to make sure because they had accidently boxed the poor girl into a corner at one point and it'd taken them a few minutes to undo it.
"Barely." Amanda waved a hand limply from the other side of a series of boxes. "I think I've been booked to death."
"To think, to have made it out of Germany with barely a scratch, only to be booked to death in my apartment. Life is cruel, if slightly funny." With a groan, she pushed herself up, catching the bottle of water in one hand. "We did make very good progress, though."
"Progress is good. Yay for progress," came the tired response, followed by a tousled blonde head as Amanda pushed herself upright. "And I still say you lot should have given me something to patch up in Germany. What's the point of lugging the first aid kit all the way there and all I got was sticking a band aid on your elbow?"
"You were able to play nurse when you and Betsy came to my rescue," Wanda teased, pausing to drink some water. For all that the air conditioner was going full blast, you'd think they were outside. She pulled a face. "And at the rate that Doug and Marie-Ange are going, you might just get to play nurse here as well since I am sure someone is going to end up punching a wall or throwing a fit. With objects."
Amanda rolled her eyes. "I don't know what to do about those two. The only reason they tear each other apart so well is because they love each other." This she knew from bitter experience. "I just wish they'd sort it out."
"They'll work it out one way or another," Wanda assured her, silently telling herself that the arguing was fine as long as it didn't cross the waking her up in the middle of the night line. And that was simply solved by throwing them both in a closet and hoping they'd either kill each other or were too busy having sex to really disturb her sleep. "But in the mean time, I know a place to buy plenty of pots and pans so we can toss freezing water on them when they get too much." She purposely was teasing to lighten the mood some. There was very little they could do and get through to Marie-Ange or Doug.
Even if she still voted for locking them in a closet.
"In this weather they'd probably appreciate it and take it as encouragement." Amanda snagged her own bottle of water, rolling it across her forehead. The whole situation made her heart hurt. "I want to do something to help, but it's up to them, in the end. Best I can do in the meantime is be there if either of them needs me to be."
"There is a reason I tended towards Europe for most of my travels," Wanda muttered, cursing the heat under her breath. "And good, they really could use the shoulder but remember to take a break for yourself every now and then." A mischievous look crossed her face. "You can always send them to me for advice," she continued slyly. "Granted, that would simply be that they probably need to have a good round of sex, regroup their thoughts and go from that..."
That brought a tired laugh from Amanda. "That's your answer for everything," she told the older woman. "That and tea."
"Both of them are better than medicine," Wanda agreed. "Should I make some tea now? Though I suppose it's far too hot...ohh, iced tea."
"Only if it's the proper stuff and not that crap in a can," Amanda said. She grinned a little wickedly. "Since it's too hot for sex and you're my boss and all."
Wanda gave Amanda a soulful look. "Would I really give you the iced tea in a can?" she asked, horrified, as she pulled herself to her feet and offered Amanda a hand up. "And besides it being far too hot, you've really got all the wrong equipment." She paused and then grinned a little. "Though there was this one time, in Jamaica..."
"Oh, I have to hear this story," Amanda teased, but then her attention was caught by something happening on the television. A special news flash. "Wait a minute..."
Looking over Amanda's head, Wanda frowned and then moved forward abruptly, hitting the volume button.
"...on the Richter scale. I repeat, a massive earth quake has hit San Diego." The news reporter sounded shaken as they flashed from him to a brief news reels.
"Cell phone videos," Wanda said quietly, moving to the side so Amanda can see. "Oh my God, look at the damage..."
"Bloody hell..." Amanda breathed. "Place is coming down like a pack of cards." Groping for a seat without taking her eyes from the television, Amanda perched on the edge of a as-yet-unemptied box. "All those people..."
"And this is just the start," she agreed, sinking down to her knees, not even bothering to try to find a seat. Wanda's fingers dug into her knees and breathed a soft prayer for everyone in that area. She might not have a church she went to on a regular basis but it never meant she didn't believe. "It just started not too long ago...and already all the damage. They do not even have the start to a body count or the missing or even the injured yet."
"This is going to be bad." Amanda's voice was barely audible over the newscast. "Really bad."
"Here," Amanda said, holding out the mug to Wanda. All pretence of unpacking boxes was gone and they'd been watching the news constantly. Eventually the scenes of destruction had gotten to Amanda and she'd fallen on old comforts. Tea, even despite the heat.
"Mmm, thank you." Wanda held the mug between her hands, the warmth a welcome feeling to the numb she'd started to get. They'd been watching for a little while now, clearing an area to get comfortable in, and she felt sick. This wasn't something you could fight back against, it was the weather. You couldn't punch it or shoot it and it did more damage than on the missions she'd been on with the X-Men.
Amanda sat down beside her, unconsciously sitting close enough to touch the other woman. "The death toll's already in the fifties," she said, and then frowned as the camera angle changed to that of a helicopter, hovering above the beach. "Wait, is that..." She squinted - the picture as blurry, hard to make out. Tiny figures in black, on the beach.
The mug of tea froze half way to her mouth as Wanda stared at the screen. "Yes, yes it is," she said slowly. "What are they do...oh God, it caused a tsunami." The tsunami's force, just that much water, would double the death toll. Maybe a lot more than double it. "They're trying to stop the water." She looked over at Amanda with a horrified expression.
Amanda's eyes were huge and her hands were gripping the mug in a white-knuckled grip. "They can't... they can't do that, can they?" she whispered, watching in horror. On the screen a plume of white steam rose from the wave as something superheated it.
Wanda didn't respond as the camera swiveled from spot to spot and suddenly focused on the water.
Under all the noise that was being broadcasted, a soft, terrified voice could be heard. The camerman, probably. "Oh god. Oh god oh god. The water, do you see it? It's coming fast, really fucking fast. Do you see it?" The video never wavered, the person manning it realizing that there was nowhere to run if it made it past those on the beach.
And when there was a streak of fire, spreading its wings before the onslaught, Wanda's hand reached out to grip Amanda's. Nathan. That was Nathan.
"No, please, no, Nate..." Amanda's hand tightened on Wanda's so hard it seemed she must break bones. "Run, Nate, please, don't..." The firebird grew, impossibly large and as the wave hit the beach it also hit the wall of fire and for a breath-taking moment, held. But they both knew how much effort it must be taking and one man couldn't do it alone, even if some of the force had been blunted by the steam.
Putting the tea down so as not to spill it on herself, Wanda cupped both hands around Amanda's hand, letting her grip as tightly as she needed too. He wouldn't run, they both knew it...
She'd seen more than one flooded river in her time but the sound of the ocean racing towards the beach of San Diego must have been overpowering. It was just a rumble on the TV speakers, not even a fraction of what they must have been hearing there. And even the tinny noise they were hearing, all the way across the country, hiccuped as it slammed into the wall Nathan was holding up.
"It's...holding?"
"It is." Amanda's whisper was incredulous, but a sudden hope filled her. The water was still steaming off and the firebird was holding... then the entire picture was obscured by a brilliant white light. "Wait! What happened? Did they make it?" Amanda sat up, tea spilling unheeded to the floor as static filled the screen.
The broadcaster in the studio suddenly started talking again. "Folks, we're trying to get picture back again. Our crew is safe, I repeat that our crew is safe but whatever that white light was it scrambled some...there we go, we've got visual again..."
As the picture slowly focused back on the destruction on the beach, the breath escaped in a soft whoosh from Wanda's lungs. That white light had managed to shove the wall of water back, sending it scattering back towards the ocean and not the city and all those people still reeling from the earth quake.
"Thank God." Amanda didn't hear herself say it, tears of relief spilling down her face. "Thank you, thank you, thank you..." On the beach, more figures in black were appearing... and then the picture went dead again. They waited for a few minutes, but all they got was the newsdesk again, stating that they'd lost all cameras in San Diego.
Sagging with relief, Wanda wiped her own tears away. There would be a lot of work over the next couple of days but for right now, the X-Men deserved the praise they got. They had just saved thousands of lives at the risk to themselves. With the hand that Amanda didn't still have in a death grip, she slipped it around the younger woman's shoulders, the need to touch someone else and reassure herself very strong.
"They did it," she said simply.
