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xp_logsBackdated to Friday evening - Amanda comes back from Albany to find her two best friends waiting for her with news.
(For the sake of actually having something to log, we're assuming Wanda called in the basics of what happened during Bleeding, same info as Storm gave, since none of the SV people nor Angelo can read the staff board. Hope that's okay.)
It was a rather grumpy witch who came stomping up the stairs to the second floor of the brownstone, grumbling under her breath about dusty files, bureaucrats, New York State roads, idiot drivers and Remy LeBeau and his sudden obsession with census files. Why it couldn't have waited, Amanda didn't know. Still, she'd gotten the job done, as the bulge in her file bag attested. Fishing in her pockets for her keys, she wondered tiredly if they'd been able to track down Marius and Jennie yet.
Angelo and Marie-Ange were both, currently, sitting in the apartment across the hall listening carefully for any sign of Amanda coming home - it would be best all round if they were the first to catch her, they'd decided. Hearing the keys, they both jumped up at the same time and raced for the door.
Amanda blinked, startled at the sudden appearance of her two best friends. "Um, what did I do?" she asked cautiously, looking from one to the other.
"It is not anything you did." Marie-Ange said, shaking her head. "It is.. just the circumstances of this last week, and.. " she looked over at Angelo, hoping he had somehow found a better way to say this. "Jennie and Marius were not alone in Europe.."
Amanda shrugged a little, moving to unlock her door. "Well, that makes sense - 's not like either of 'em is good enought to hide from Remy and Wanda for long. They would have had to have had help." She paused in the act of opening the door. "Everyone's all right, aren't they? No-one's hurt?"
And now they got to the bad part. Angelo exchanged another glance with Marie-Ange, then plunged straight ahead. "Actually... they're both in medlab. An'... the person they were with's in the hospital in Monaco."
"Being vague is not going to help..." Marie-Ange said. "Jennie and Marius were with Manuel. I am not sure yet what happened, if he was responsible for their disappeance, though knowing him, I suspect it. He.. was in an accident, when the X-Men went to go get them."
Amanda went white, her grip on the door the only thing that kept her from falling over. "How bad?" she asked, voice small and distant in her own ears. "How bad are they hurt?"
Angelo was at her side a moment later, holding her up. "They're not sayin' much. Just that Marius an' Jennie are still in the infirmary an' they're not allowed visitors yet. I don't know much about Manuel."
"I should have known," she choked out. "If Manuel was hurt, I should have known, felt something..." She shook her head almost violently. "And he wouldn't have done anything to Marius and Jennie. They were the only fucking friends he had left after..." After she'd left.
Marie-Ange frowned. "After everything that happened, you may not have felt anything. And if Manuel was..." She hated to think it, it was easier to just demonize Manuel and assume he was the cause of all of this. Because very probably, he was. Marius and Jennie were good kids. Manuel was most undoubtably not. "If he was trying to keep it from you? To keep you from being hurt? Who knows what would have happened. Your powers changed, the link was not there, the distance?"
"The link's gone. I tore it out when I... when I went to Selene." Amanda felt ill, trying to take all this in. If it wasn't for Angelo's arm around her, she might have already hit the floor. "But we were linked so long, we were so..." Close didn't begin to describe it. "That's why fucking Albany, isn't it? Remy knew about this and wanted me out of the way?" Looking from one to the other, she asked almost desperately: "Does anyone know what happened? How he is? You said a hospital in Monaco?"
"It was best you weren't around until it was all over", Angelo told her as soothingly as he could. "Not when you might've found out what was goin' on an'... tried to do somethin' about it. The team was dealin' with it, it was best that way, what with how... personal it is for you." He looked to Marie-Ange for an answer to the second question, not having much of one.
"Doug and I found out the night before they went to get them that they were with Manuel. They were in a casino in Monaco, but I do not know what happened to them after." Marie-Ange explained. "I .. do not know. It could be serious, or perhaps Manuel just elected to stay in Monaco. I have not been told any of the details, except that all three needed medical care."
"Personal? 'S only the bloke who I fucked over, what makes you think it's personal?" Amanda pulled away from Angelo, opening the door of her apartment and stumbling inside, leaving the door open behind her and dumping her bags on the floor. "And of course, no-one knows a thing. Bloody typical - secrets, all it ever is is bloody secrets." Her voice wobbled, dangerously close to tears. "Who does know? Who do I talk to?"
"Remy may know. Or Ororo. " Marie-Ange answered quietly. "I do not think they are so much keeping information from us as that they just have not had time to tell us. And .. I have not been very inclined to ask, until the immediate crisis is over." She thought for a moment. "Marie may know as well. And I think.. oh.. Wanda. And Wanda would be most inclined to tell you what happened, yes?"
Wanda. Amanda seized on the name like a lifeline. And Remy wouldn't lie to her, if she asked him outright, but he'd never approved of Manuel and her relationship with him. Hell, sometimes she agreed with him on that score. The anger drained out of her abruptly and she dropped limply onto the couch. "Fuck," she said miserably, leaning forward and burying her face in her hands. "This'll never bloody stop, will it? If I hadn't torn the link out, if I hadn't done what I did... maybe none of this would have happened."
Angelo had followed her in, and sat on the other end of the couch now, watching her worriedly. "You can't go second-guessin' yourself", he said quietly. "What's done's done, an' Manny had access to help with the link. To all the help he needed that anybody could give, if he asked for it. But he didn't."
Marie-Ange nodded firmly, scowling. "And if Manuel hadn't been -Manuel-, none of this would have happened at all. If he hadn't been so convinced that his name meant everything, if he had treated you like an equal rather than something to fix.. we could play tennis with 'what if' all day." She crossed her arms. "Angelo is right. What is done is done, and perhaps hindsight is more accurate than foresight, but if you live in the past, you lose what is now." She'd heard this speech enough herself to finally believe it.
"He might have been Manuel, but... I loved him. And he loved me. It just wasn't enough." The words were spoken quietly, half-muffled by her hands still covering her face. Dropping them revealed her eyes were dangerously bright, but she wasn't crying. "This is all... 's too much to process. All this time, I figured he was in Spain somewhere, doing the big business thing. And now..." She sighed. "Remy was probably right sending me off. I can't deal with this. Not without answers."
"We'd give them to you if we had 'em", Angelo assured her. "An' we're not goin' anywhere tonight unless you tell us to. 's why we were waitin' - we didn't want you to hear it from anybody else first."
"I know you would. I'm sorry, 'bout before..." Amanda's voice was lost-sounding, trying to focus and not managing it terribly well. How bad is it? "Thanks, for telling me. If I'd seen it on the journals or something, well, I'd probably be on a plane right about now." She smiled weakly at the small joke. "As it is, I don't know what to do."
"I am not sure what we can do more than wait.." Marie-Ange said. "As much as I hate waiting, knocking down doors for information is probably not going to help very much." Nor would it endear them to the people at the mansion.
"And here I was thinking knocking on doors was what we did." Amanda leaned back against the couch, looking and sounding exhausted. "All right, waiting it is. Someone want to put the kettle on?" When in doubt, tea.
(For the sake of actually having something to log, we're assuming Wanda called in the basics of what happened during Bleeding, same info as Storm gave, since none of the SV people nor Angelo can read the staff board. Hope that's okay.)
It was a rather grumpy witch who came stomping up the stairs to the second floor of the brownstone, grumbling under her breath about dusty files, bureaucrats, New York State roads, idiot drivers and Remy LeBeau and his sudden obsession with census files. Why it couldn't have waited, Amanda didn't know. Still, she'd gotten the job done, as the bulge in her file bag attested. Fishing in her pockets for her keys, she wondered tiredly if they'd been able to track down Marius and Jennie yet.
Angelo and Marie-Ange were both, currently, sitting in the apartment across the hall listening carefully for any sign of Amanda coming home - it would be best all round if they were the first to catch her, they'd decided. Hearing the keys, they both jumped up at the same time and raced for the door.
Amanda blinked, startled at the sudden appearance of her two best friends. "Um, what did I do?" she asked cautiously, looking from one to the other.
"It is not anything you did." Marie-Ange said, shaking her head. "It is.. just the circumstances of this last week, and.. " she looked over at Angelo, hoping he had somehow found a better way to say this. "Jennie and Marius were not alone in Europe.."
Amanda shrugged a little, moving to unlock her door. "Well, that makes sense - 's not like either of 'em is good enought to hide from Remy and Wanda for long. They would have had to have had help." She paused in the act of opening the door. "Everyone's all right, aren't they? No-one's hurt?"
And now they got to the bad part. Angelo exchanged another glance with Marie-Ange, then plunged straight ahead. "Actually... they're both in medlab. An'... the person they were with's in the hospital in Monaco."
"Being vague is not going to help..." Marie-Ange said. "Jennie and Marius were with Manuel. I am not sure yet what happened, if he was responsible for their disappeance, though knowing him, I suspect it. He.. was in an accident, when the X-Men went to go get them."
Amanda went white, her grip on the door the only thing that kept her from falling over. "How bad?" she asked, voice small and distant in her own ears. "How bad are they hurt?"
Angelo was at her side a moment later, holding her up. "They're not sayin' much. Just that Marius an' Jennie are still in the infirmary an' they're not allowed visitors yet. I don't know much about Manuel."
"I should have known," she choked out. "If Manuel was hurt, I should have known, felt something..." She shook her head almost violently. "And he wouldn't have done anything to Marius and Jennie. They were the only fucking friends he had left after..." After she'd left.
Marie-Ange frowned. "After everything that happened, you may not have felt anything. And if Manuel was..." She hated to think it, it was easier to just demonize Manuel and assume he was the cause of all of this. Because very probably, he was. Marius and Jennie were good kids. Manuel was most undoubtably not. "If he was trying to keep it from you? To keep you from being hurt? Who knows what would have happened. Your powers changed, the link was not there, the distance?"
"The link's gone. I tore it out when I... when I went to Selene." Amanda felt ill, trying to take all this in. If it wasn't for Angelo's arm around her, she might have already hit the floor. "But we were linked so long, we were so..." Close didn't begin to describe it. "That's why fucking Albany, isn't it? Remy knew about this and wanted me out of the way?" Looking from one to the other, she asked almost desperately: "Does anyone know what happened? How he is? You said a hospital in Monaco?"
"It was best you weren't around until it was all over", Angelo told her as soothingly as he could. "Not when you might've found out what was goin' on an'... tried to do somethin' about it. The team was dealin' with it, it was best that way, what with how... personal it is for you." He looked to Marie-Ange for an answer to the second question, not having much of one.
"Doug and I found out the night before they went to get them that they were with Manuel. They were in a casino in Monaco, but I do not know what happened to them after." Marie-Ange explained. "I .. do not know. It could be serious, or perhaps Manuel just elected to stay in Monaco. I have not been told any of the details, except that all three needed medical care."
"Personal? 'S only the bloke who I fucked over, what makes you think it's personal?" Amanda pulled away from Angelo, opening the door of her apartment and stumbling inside, leaving the door open behind her and dumping her bags on the floor. "And of course, no-one knows a thing. Bloody typical - secrets, all it ever is is bloody secrets." Her voice wobbled, dangerously close to tears. "Who does know? Who do I talk to?"
"Remy may know. Or Ororo. " Marie-Ange answered quietly. "I do not think they are so much keeping information from us as that they just have not had time to tell us. And .. I have not been very inclined to ask, until the immediate crisis is over." She thought for a moment. "Marie may know as well. And I think.. oh.. Wanda. And Wanda would be most inclined to tell you what happened, yes?"
Wanda. Amanda seized on the name like a lifeline. And Remy wouldn't lie to her, if she asked him outright, but he'd never approved of Manuel and her relationship with him. Hell, sometimes she agreed with him on that score. The anger drained out of her abruptly and she dropped limply onto the couch. "Fuck," she said miserably, leaning forward and burying her face in her hands. "This'll never bloody stop, will it? If I hadn't torn the link out, if I hadn't done what I did... maybe none of this would have happened."
Angelo had followed her in, and sat on the other end of the couch now, watching her worriedly. "You can't go second-guessin' yourself", he said quietly. "What's done's done, an' Manny had access to help with the link. To all the help he needed that anybody could give, if he asked for it. But he didn't."
Marie-Ange nodded firmly, scowling. "And if Manuel hadn't been -Manuel-, none of this would have happened at all. If he hadn't been so convinced that his name meant everything, if he had treated you like an equal rather than something to fix.. we could play tennis with 'what if' all day." She crossed her arms. "Angelo is right. What is done is done, and perhaps hindsight is more accurate than foresight, but if you live in the past, you lose what is now." She'd heard this speech enough herself to finally believe it.
"He might have been Manuel, but... I loved him. And he loved me. It just wasn't enough." The words were spoken quietly, half-muffled by her hands still covering her face. Dropping them revealed her eyes were dangerously bright, but she wasn't crying. "This is all... 's too much to process. All this time, I figured he was in Spain somewhere, doing the big business thing. And now..." She sighed. "Remy was probably right sending me off. I can't deal with this. Not without answers."
"We'd give them to you if we had 'em", Angelo assured her. "An' we're not goin' anywhere tonight unless you tell us to. 's why we were waitin' - we didn't want you to hear it from anybody else first."
"I know you would. I'm sorry, 'bout before..." Amanda's voice was lost-sounding, trying to focus and not managing it terribly well. How bad is it? "Thanks, for telling me. If I'd seen it on the journals or something, well, I'd probably be on a plane right about now." She smiled weakly at the small joke. "As it is, I don't know what to do."
"I am not sure what we can do more than wait.." Marie-Ange said. "As much as I hate waiting, knocking down doors for information is probably not going to help very much." Nor would it endear them to the people at the mansion.
"And here I was thinking knocking on doors was what we did." Amanda leaned back against the couch, looking and sounding exhausted. "All right, waiting it is. Someone want to put the kettle on?" When in doubt, tea.
