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xp_logsForgetting her keys, Amanda goes back to the office and finds Wanda avoiding in time-honoured workaholic tradition. With a combination of wheedling and jokes, she manages to get the Boss Lady to take a break.
The ping of the elevator was loud in the dimly-lit foyer. Muttering under her breath, Amanda summoned up her werelight, flickering in crazy neon shades of pink and green, before hoisting up her bag on her shoulder and heading past Mark's work station to her desk. Of all the nights to leave her keys behind... Then she noticed the bright patch of light coming from one of the offices and she paused, puzzled. Remy was still away, she'd seen Pete and Betsy heading for Finnegan's a few hours ago, and Sofia had said something about a yoga session. So who was working so late?
Well, only one way to find out.
With all of the day-to-day work out of the way, Wanda was mentally elbows deep in one of her papers for her doctorate class. A lover of many things history, it was still probably one of the most dry subjects she'd ever had to talk in length about. It probably would not take her quite so long to write the thing if she had better typing skills but it would take even longer to write it out by hand and then transcribe it.
She heard a noise and glanced up, frowning. "I have no idea who is out there," Wanda said dryly, "but if it is a burgler, I would leave before anyone...cranky comes along. We've been known to have a few."
The werelight buzzed around the corner and swooped around Wanda's head, followed by Amanda's voice. "Wanda? That's you?" The girl herself peeked around the doorway, looking puzzled. "It's gone nine. What the hell are you still doing working? Something come up?"
Poking at George idly, she shook her head. "No disasters, thankfully," she said, turning her attention back to Amanda. "Most of my office work has been caught up but there's this paper I've been trying to do for my class. Why are you here so late, I thought you left?"
Holding up her keys, Amanda jingled them at her supervisor. "Had a couple of drinks with Sarah and Angie after work and then realised I'd left my keys in my desk. Again." She rolled her eyes and came in properly, cancelling the werelight as she did with a snap of her fingers. "Class, huh? When's it due?" she asked, curiously, leaning to peer over Wanda's arm at what she was doing - Wanda's PhD work was always interesting to her assistant.
"In a few weeks," Wanda responded, letting Amanda take a look at her notes and what she had so far. As cranky and tired as she had been in the last...well, a while, she was not about to take it out on Amanda. Or anyone else she worked with. There was a reason she was working so much lately, her aggression had to go somewhere and it was either that or drink excessively. And her brother was probably guessing which one she was going to do. "But you know how fast I type so I have been working on it and other non-Snow Valley things after hours."
"Fuck, Wanda, you type slow, but not that slow. Is this what you've been doing since I left? Staying late?" Amanda changed her study from Wanda's notes - and they were actually pretty interesting, if you were into history - to Wanda's face. She looked tired, wan, dark circles not quite hidden by makeup.
Yep, definitely time to call Strange. And not just to get rid of Josh's bloody book.
Wanda just blinked once or twice. She'd had some late night run-ins, mainly with Pete though there had been Doug's inquiry, but since she normally worked later than the others it hadn't really hit anyone's radar. "It may have started before you left but not by much," she admitted, hitting save on the document in question. "Cambridge is in it's usual snit right before the holidays, plus the college here due to the American's Thanksgiving, on top of everything else..."
"And how long are you planning to keep this up?" Amanda asked, but softening her tone a bit. Wanda was on the touchy side, thanks to that brother of hers. "'Cause I hate to say it, Boss Lady, but you're looking a bit worn out."
"And I believe that is why God invented India, so we could have tea," she replied, tone teasing but Amanda was right. She was wearing down fast. But every time she had some downtime, her thoughts went back to the fight with Pietro and then the mission right after.
"See, this is why you're the boss and I'm the assistant." Amanda grinned and tugged Wanda's arm gently. "C'mon, there's a comfy couch with your name on it. We can play Hangman on the whiteboard while we're waiting for the kettle - I need the practice to beat Mark tomorrow during lunch." She sighed tragically. "He's beaten me eleven to three this week."
Wanda hesitated, looking towards the stacks of paper and books on her desk, but she let herself be drawn out of the chair anyway. There was always tomorrow. "Tell him he is not allowed to use made up words, though I suppose you could cheat and have Doug translate some ruins for you," she mused, wondering if she could slip back into the office after Amanda went off to bed.
"I tried some Latin, but turns out Boy Dazzler knows some Italian," Amanda said with a grin, pleased to see Wanda was taking a break at least and plotting to figure out how to lock her in her apartment, seeing how Strange was still in Asia somewhere. Possibly. "And they're close enough that he guesses 'em." Nudging Wanda towards the couch area where the whiteboard was, she set about finding clean cups and putting on the kettle. "So, what's been going on, besides Angie going undercover to Toronto to check out that new cop?"
"Not very much, but then again I have been in my office a great deal." She sat down, stretching out her legs to ease the stifness in them. Her shoes were still under her desk--along with half a dozen others--since it was so late. As much as shoes were integral to her, Wanda knew that sometimes nothing felt better than nothing on your feet at all. "Mark has learned each and every website for java games, I believe."
"Hah. He'd better watch it or Pete'll give him more homework. Oh, thanks for getting that email off to Remy's mate. He must be off his game, forgetting I was away. Anyone with a less healthy ego'd get a complex or something." Amanda chuckled as she said it. "I suppose no-one's heard from him - he said he was going dark for a while, didn't he?"
"He is probably avoiding something with teeth, be it ex-wife or alligator," she responded. "And not a problem, I knew there would be no way you would be able to do that before he needed it. There are just somethings you cannot access remotely."
"Like the pile of papers on his desk. Man loves his clutter." Amanda finished making the tea and brought the mugs over, handing one to Wanda before curling into the chair opposite. "So, um, did you see Kurt's thing? In the journals? About his name?" she blurted, cheeks flaming red.
"I did see that and I should have been more aware so I could post or contact him." Wanda frowned deeply into her mug, taking a drink. Was it getting so bad that she was ignoring her friends? It appeared so. "How are you handling all of that?"
"I dunno, it's weird... but in a good way," Amanda said, wrapping her hands around her own mug. "I mean... I don't know if he gets it, but what he's done, taking my name... it's a huge deal to someone like me. With the magic background, I mean. I think I told you once, back when we were both at the school - names are power?"
Wanda nodded. "Yes and I seem to recall the old witch in my caravan saying something along those lines as well." It was why she'd been so reluctant to use actual names when she'd ended up dealing with Cyttorak. That felt like a life time ago, now. "I think it will do the both of you some good, though."
"It was like he was saying that out of all the people he knows, all the names he could have picked..." Amanda trailled off, unable to put it into words. "Any way. Won't be official for a while yet - German registry of names is a bastard to work with - but it's what he wants, so I'll have to get used to thinking of him as Kurt Sefton." She snickered a little. "Fuck, I hope no-one thinks it's cause we got married or something."
"Are you trying to say that the German government tends to move slower than a snail?" Wanda asked, quirking a brow at her. She laughed a little at the last bit. "Now that would be quite a scandal, one to top Marius and Jennie's 'wedding', as it were. You should run with it though poor Kurt would die slowly from all the unwanted attention."
"A snail with arthritis, even." Amanda scrunched up her nose. "An' I'll take a pass on that. I like a good joke as much as the next person, but they're limits. Besides, poor Kurt'd self-combust from blushing - he hasn't done anything to deserve that, least not yet."
"I make it my life mission to make shy people blush as much as possible, I find that it brings out the best in them." Her mind wandered to Stephen with a pang, she was missing him rather badly right now. "But the official paper will be in...probably well past when it was supposed to be."
"It'll happen." Amanda watched Wanda, making plans of her own. Too bad she couldn't arrange a holiday as well, but that would take more persuasion than she was capable of. Better to stick to small deviousness. "Things seemed pretty quiet up at the school. Newcomers settling in, kids doing their thing without too many explosions... shame about Jono, tho'."
At that, she grimanced. "I know and things had been going so very well, too. Poor Paige, I hope everything gets worked out and soon. Though with Dr. MacTaggart on the case, I fear for any mutation that stands in her way for long. And the school is still standing, even with my brother and his attitude's arrival." Wanda grimaced at that and took a sip of her drink, teeth accidently clacking against the mug.
"Yeah, I had a talk with Julio 'bout him the other day. Not exactly the friendly sort, is he? Sort of the opposite of you." Amanda spoke casually, but she was watching Wanda carefully. "You'd think someone in his position'd be a bit more diplomatic, considering he's the one in distress this time."
There was a snort. "That is his way," she said finally. "And it keeps people at arms length." Even the ones that shouldn't be but she'd done it to him as well. The more she thought about the argument, the more tired Wanda felt. "Tact was not something that ran in my family."
"Ah, no, it really isn't." Because running around with a bucket on your head styling yourself the Master of Magnetism was oh-so-tactful. "I take it you haven't spoken to him since the last time?"
"No, not as of yet," Wanda responded. "I would say I have been far too busy but that would just be an excuse. We fight a lot, considering our personalities, but still."
"Ah, the ancient Snow Valley tradition of working your arse off to avoid the personal stuff. I know it well," Amanda said sagely, grinning a little as she gave Wanda a look that was one part sympathetic, one part assessing. "Just don't avoid yourself to death, Boss Lady. I sort of like having you around. Besides, if you wasted away under a pile of doctorate work, I'd have to be Betsy's assistant instead, and you know what they say about working for ninjas. Especially psychic ones."
At that, Wanda laughed, shaking her head. "What am I to do with you?" she asked wryly, giving Amanda a tired smile. "I promise no working myself to death. The last thing I want is to leave you in the hands of a psychic ninja. You would never be able to get away with anything."
"And that'd be an end to all my plans for world domination," Amanda agreed, glad to see the smile. "So... Hangman? I'll let you use Romani words..." she coaxed.
There was work to be done, and guilt to avoid, but one night would not hurt to just ignore everything. An early start in the morning would take care of the paper. "You are on," Wanda said gamely.
The ping of the elevator was loud in the dimly-lit foyer. Muttering under her breath, Amanda summoned up her werelight, flickering in crazy neon shades of pink and green, before hoisting up her bag on her shoulder and heading past Mark's work station to her desk. Of all the nights to leave her keys behind... Then she noticed the bright patch of light coming from one of the offices and she paused, puzzled. Remy was still away, she'd seen Pete and Betsy heading for Finnegan's a few hours ago, and Sofia had said something about a yoga session. So who was working so late?
Well, only one way to find out.
With all of the day-to-day work out of the way, Wanda was mentally elbows deep in one of her papers for her doctorate class. A lover of many things history, it was still probably one of the most dry subjects she'd ever had to talk in length about. It probably would not take her quite so long to write the thing if she had better typing skills but it would take even longer to write it out by hand and then transcribe it.
She heard a noise and glanced up, frowning. "I have no idea who is out there," Wanda said dryly, "but if it is a burgler, I would leave before anyone...cranky comes along. We've been known to have a few."
The werelight buzzed around the corner and swooped around Wanda's head, followed by Amanda's voice. "Wanda? That's you?" The girl herself peeked around the doorway, looking puzzled. "It's gone nine. What the hell are you still doing working? Something come up?"
Poking at George idly, she shook her head. "No disasters, thankfully," she said, turning her attention back to Amanda. "Most of my office work has been caught up but there's this paper I've been trying to do for my class. Why are you here so late, I thought you left?"
Holding up her keys, Amanda jingled them at her supervisor. "Had a couple of drinks with Sarah and Angie after work and then realised I'd left my keys in my desk. Again." She rolled her eyes and came in properly, cancelling the werelight as she did with a snap of her fingers. "Class, huh? When's it due?" she asked, curiously, leaning to peer over Wanda's arm at what she was doing - Wanda's PhD work was always interesting to her assistant.
"In a few weeks," Wanda responded, letting Amanda take a look at her notes and what she had so far. As cranky and tired as she had been in the last...well, a while, she was not about to take it out on Amanda. Or anyone else she worked with. There was a reason she was working so much lately, her aggression had to go somewhere and it was either that or drink excessively. And her brother was probably guessing which one she was going to do. "But you know how fast I type so I have been working on it and other non-Snow Valley things after hours."
"Fuck, Wanda, you type slow, but not that slow. Is this what you've been doing since I left? Staying late?" Amanda changed her study from Wanda's notes - and they were actually pretty interesting, if you were into history - to Wanda's face. She looked tired, wan, dark circles not quite hidden by makeup.
Yep, definitely time to call Strange. And not just to get rid of Josh's bloody book.
Wanda just blinked once or twice. She'd had some late night run-ins, mainly with Pete though there had been Doug's inquiry, but since she normally worked later than the others it hadn't really hit anyone's radar. "It may have started before you left but not by much," she admitted, hitting save on the document in question. "Cambridge is in it's usual snit right before the holidays, plus the college here due to the American's Thanksgiving, on top of everything else..."
"And how long are you planning to keep this up?" Amanda asked, but softening her tone a bit. Wanda was on the touchy side, thanks to that brother of hers. "'Cause I hate to say it, Boss Lady, but you're looking a bit worn out."
"And I believe that is why God invented India, so we could have tea," she replied, tone teasing but Amanda was right. She was wearing down fast. But every time she had some downtime, her thoughts went back to the fight with Pietro and then the mission right after.
"See, this is why you're the boss and I'm the assistant." Amanda grinned and tugged Wanda's arm gently. "C'mon, there's a comfy couch with your name on it. We can play Hangman on the whiteboard while we're waiting for the kettle - I need the practice to beat Mark tomorrow during lunch." She sighed tragically. "He's beaten me eleven to three this week."
Wanda hesitated, looking towards the stacks of paper and books on her desk, but she let herself be drawn out of the chair anyway. There was always tomorrow. "Tell him he is not allowed to use made up words, though I suppose you could cheat and have Doug translate some ruins for you," she mused, wondering if she could slip back into the office after Amanda went off to bed.
"I tried some Latin, but turns out Boy Dazzler knows some Italian," Amanda said with a grin, pleased to see Wanda was taking a break at least and plotting to figure out how to lock her in her apartment, seeing how Strange was still in Asia somewhere. Possibly. "And they're close enough that he guesses 'em." Nudging Wanda towards the couch area where the whiteboard was, she set about finding clean cups and putting on the kettle. "So, what's been going on, besides Angie going undercover to Toronto to check out that new cop?"
"Not very much, but then again I have been in my office a great deal." She sat down, stretching out her legs to ease the stifness in them. Her shoes were still under her desk--along with half a dozen others--since it was so late. As much as shoes were integral to her, Wanda knew that sometimes nothing felt better than nothing on your feet at all. "Mark has learned each and every website for java games, I believe."
"Hah. He'd better watch it or Pete'll give him more homework. Oh, thanks for getting that email off to Remy's mate. He must be off his game, forgetting I was away. Anyone with a less healthy ego'd get a complex or something." Amanda chuckled as she said it. "I suppose no-one's heard from him - he said he was going dark for a while, didn't he?"
"He is probably avoiding something with teeth, be it ex-wife or alligator," she responded. "And not a problem, I knew there would be no way you would be able to do that before he needed it. There are just somethings you cannot access remotely."
"Like the pile of papers on his desk. Man loves his clutter." Amanda finished making the tea and brought the mugs over, handing one to Wanda before curling into the chair opposite. "So, um, did you see Kurt's thing? In the journals? About his name?" she blurted, cheeks flaming red.
"I did see that and I should have been more aware so I could post or contact him." Wanda frowned deeply into her mug, taking a drink. Was it getting so bad that she was ignoring her friends? It appeared so. "How are you handling all of that?"
"I dunno, it's weird... but in a good way," Amanda said, wrapping her hands around her own mug. "I mean... I don't know if he gets it, but what he's done, taking my name... it's a huge deal to someone like me. With the magic background, I mean. I think I told you once, back when we were both at the school - names are power?"
Wanda nodded. "Yes and I seem to recall the old witch in my caravan saying something along those lines as well." It was why she'd been so reluctant to use actual names when she'd ended up dealing with Cyttorak. That felt like a life time ago, now. "I think it will do the both of you some good, though."
"It was like he was saying that out of all the people he knows, all the names he could have picked..." Amanda trailled off, unable to put it into words. "Any way. Won't be official for a while yet - German registry of names is a bastard to work with - but it's what he wants, so I'll have to get used to thinking of him as Kurt Sefton." She snickered a little. "Fuck, I hope no-one thinks it's cause we got married or something."
"Are you trying to say that the German government tends to move slower than a snail?" Wanda asked, quirking a brow at her. She laughed a little at the last bit. "Now that would be quite a scandal, one to top Marius and Jennie's 'wedding', as it were. You should run with it though poor Kurt would die slowly from all the unwanted attention."
"A snail with arthritis, even." Amanda scrunched up her nose. "An' I'll take a pass on that. I like a good joke as much as the next person, but they're limits. Besides, poor Kurt'd self-combust from blushing - he hasn't done anything to deserve that, least not yet."
"I make it my life mission to make shy people blush as much as possible, I find that it brings out the best in them." Her mind wandered to Stephen with a pang, she was missing him rather badly right now. "But the official paper will be in...probably well past when it was supposed to be."
"It'll happen." Amanda watched Wanda, making plans of her own. Too bad she couldn't arrange a holiday as well, but that would take more persuasion than she was capable of. Better to stick to small deviousness. "Things seemed pretty quiet up at the school. Newcomers settling in, kids doing their thing without too many explosions... shame about Jono, tho'."
At that, she grimanced. "I know and things had been going so very well, too. Poor Paige, I hope everything gets worked out and soon. Though with Dr. MacTaggart on the case, I fear for any mutation that stands in her way for long. And the school is still standing, even with my brother and his attitude's arrival." Wanda grimaced at that and took a sip of her drink, teeth accidently clacking against the mug.
"Yeah, I had a talk with Julio 'bout him the other day. Not exactly the friendly sort, is he? Sort of the opposite of you." Amanda spoke casually, but she was watching Wanda carefully. "You'd think someone in his position'd be a bit more diplomatic, considering he's the one in distress this time."
There was a snort. "That is his way," she said finally. "And it keeps people at arms length." Even the ones that shouldn't be but she'd done it to him as well. The more she thought about the argument, the more tired Wanda felt. "Tact was not something that ran in my family."
"Ah, no, it really isn't." Because running around with a bucket on your head styling yourself the Master of Magnetism was oh-so-tactful. "I take it you haven't spoken to him since the last time?"
"No, not as of yet," Wanda responded. "I would say I have been far too busy but that would just be an excuse. We fight a lot, considering our personalities, but still."
"Ah, the ancient Snow Valley tradition of working your arse off to avoid the personal stuff. I know it well," Amanda said sagely, grinning a little as she gave Wanda a look that was one part sympathetic, one part assessing. "Just don't avoid yourself to death, Boss Lady. I sort of like having you around. Besides, if you wasted away under a pile of doctorate work, I'd have to be Betsy's assistant instead, and you know what they say about working for ninjas. Especially psychic ones."
At that, Wanda laughed, shaking her head. "What am I to do with you?" she asked wryly, giving Amanda a tired smile. "I promise no working myself to death. The last thing I want is to leave you in the hands of a psychic ninja. You would never be able to get away with anything."
"And that'd be an end to all my plans for world domination," Amanda agreed, glad to see the smile. "So... Hangman? I'll let you use Romani words..." she coaxed.
There was work to be done, and guilt to avoid, but one night would not hurt to just ignore everything. An early start in the morning would take care of the paper. "You are on," Wanda said gamely.
