Amanda and Kurt, Tuesday evening

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Amanda comes by to check how her new big sister's coping, and they talk about the change, the students, and fitting in.



So, having caught up on the whole gender-swap tale (and other things) with Angelo, and gone to make sure Marie-Ange at least had food and Doug hadn't blushed hi...herself to death (Sofia didn't need checking, considering he'd strolled into work as per usual), Amanda decided it was time to check on the rest of 'her' people. Which meant a trip to the school after work, and wandering up to Kurt's suite, after a brief check revealed he... she wasn't in the gym or in one of her other work-out spots.

Fuck, I hope he doesn't look like his mum, was her sudden, alarming though as she knocked on the door.

She came to the door with a smile, dressed... much the same as usual, because she liked her usual clothes. They were cut to accommodate the tail. "Amanda! Hello."

Nope, not like his mum. Thank fuck for small miracles. "I thought I'd drop by and see how you were doing, what with the whole..." She waved a hand at Kurt to encompass his new-found femaleness. "Thing. Which looks like pretty good. You're definitely doing better than some - Angie's been hiding in her apartment." She grinned at what was technically now her big sister. "I'd be more freaked out myself, but I already saw Ange last night."

"I did not see much of a need to hide", she said easily. "Certainly not inside the mansion, and I have been out too. It is only for a short time, and it is not as if the change is the reason why anyone would stare."

"Yeah, you would see it that way," Amanda realised. "So, gonna leave me out on the doorstep all day, big sis?" she added, incorrigible as always. Teasing Kurt was something she'd never stop doing.

Kurt chuckled, taking it in the spirit it was meant, and stepped aside. "Of course not. Come in."

"I can't believe I missed all the fuss yesterday," Amanda said as she walked past him into the living area of the suite he shared with Sam. "But I had so much work to catch up on from being away, I didn't even look at the journals. How're the kids taking it?"

"...variably", she said with a slight sigh. "Some of them - mostly the older ones - just think it is funny, but some are very confused. And Kyle in particular has been having a hard time."

"Kyle... oh, right, with the nose. Yeah, that must be hard, having something so fundamental change." Amanda grimaced. "And yeah, the younger ones haven't been around for as much of the weird shite, so it'd do a number on their heads. Still, this is the lot that coped with dinosaurs the other week, so at least there's no-one being chewed on this time?"

"This is true. And the changes will revert in a week or so, I am told. It would be harder if it were permanent." She glanced towards the kitchen. "Can I get you a drink, or something to eat?"

"Tea?" Amanda asked hopefully, and somewhat predictably.

Kurt laughed. "Do you think there would ever not be tea in my kitchen?" And she stepped over to start making some.

"I dunno, you do live with a Guthrie," Amanda retorted in the same vein. Kurt occupied with tea-making, she glanced around the suite's common area. Functional, fairly bare, apart from the collections of photographs that were obviously Sam's. "They're a good bunch of kids," she continued, grinning as she saw the Munich Circus poster she'd given him for Christmas hanging, neatly framed, in pride of place. "Not half as much trouble as we were, at least, if you take out Jennie and Marius. They've done enough in the last six months to last all of them for a while."

"That they certainly have", Kurt agreed wryly. "Though those two will not be students for very much longer. There were Kyle's encounters with Sabretooth, of course, but he did very well in both of those, considering."

"He's certainly been testing that healing factor of his," the younger girl replied with a sigh. "I had a talk with Laurie the other day. Nice kid, once she gets over the shy."

"Oh?" Kurt smiled. "Yes, she is a very nice girl. And working on the shyness, I believe. She certainly seems to be speaking up more lately."

"She's a regular on the bus run, and we get to talking sometimes. I think she likes the accent." Prowling done, Amanda leaned against the back of the sofa, watching Kurt in the kitchen. "I'm guessing she hasn't read too far back in the journals, tho', from the questions she asks. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I feel like she ought to have some idea of what she's dealing with, but I don't want to have to tell her the whole sordid story. Maybe I should just send her links to the bits she needs?" Amanda asked hopefully. She liked people not knowing her past, but her innate honesty meant she felt a bit like a cheat when they didn't.

"What she is dealing with", Kurt told her firmly, "is no more or less than what you are now. Your past does not have to colour everything."

Amanda opened her mouth to argue, and then closed it. Maybe it was time she stopped letting that get in the way. "Get your inducer calibrated back to the way you wanted it?" she asked instead. "Tho' right now, 'Domenica' would probably fit."

"For when it is necessary, yes, it works well enough. I try to avoid using it when I do not have to, now."

"You do? That's brilliant." Amanda beamed at Kurt. "I don't know how you used it as long as you did, actually. It felt weird, seeing a different face all the time. And there's this odd... buzzing feeling, tho' that might be the electronics messing with the magic again. It's not as bad as it was, but something like that, where it's up close and personal? Brr."

"It was a precaution", she admitted freely, "when I first came here. To have gone from a place where I knew everyone, and how they would react to me, to a place where I could not be sure of anything outside the mansion... it was for security as much as anything." The word was carefully chosen, as opposed to 'safety'.

"What changed your mind?" Amanda asked, tilting her head a little.

"Time, I suppose. And Logan, pointing out that I did not really need it. Perhaps I never did."

"Logan, huh? Man's full of surprises..." She gave Kurt a warm smile. "And I'm glad you stopped needing it. Always felt odd, talking to someone who sounded like you, but wasn't." Then she snorted a laugh. "Of course, by those rules I shouldn't be standing here chatting to you right now, only... you being a girl feels more real than the inducer ever did? Does that make any sense?"

"It does, in a way. At least my colouring is the same now. And being a girl is not something I can turn off like a machine, though it will wear off on its own in time. And yes, Logan... you remember the night I posted to the journals in Romany."

A giggle broke from Amanda. "The night you got drunk? Logan got you drunk, did he?"

"...he may have done." Kurt looked distinctly shifty, at that.

"Good. You need to do that more often," came the unrepentant reply. "Hell, I'd take you out to Harry's of an evening sometimes, only Harry knows I'm underage." She pouted. "Twenty-one, I ask you. What sort of drinking age is that? I'm not even a teenager now, and I stilll can't drink legal. Maybe you could come for one of the Snow Valley sessions at Finnegan's. You know most of our lot any way."

"A very silly one", Kurt agreed, and managed not to make it sound like humouring her. "And perhaps I will. It would be good to meet those I do not know."

"You'd probably get on with Sof - she likes people who are quiet and polite. Anyone who's the opposite of Remy, really. And if you haven't seen Mark at reception as you've gone through, then you're in for a treat. He's a lot of fun." Amanda pushed herself off the couch and moved into the kitchenette. "Actually, for a bunch of misfits and rejects, we're a pretty good bunch. Be interesting to see how Illyana fits in."

"Misfits and rejects", she said quietly, with a faint smile. "More or less exactly my kind of people. And I wondered what would become of Illyana... I am glad you have taken her in."

Amanda poked her. "No moping. Or I'll drag you out and make you do shots, since that's the house rule around here, isn't it?" She shrugged a little. "Illyana did something really dumb, but she didn't deserve what could have happened to her. And she's not the right fit for the school. That's no-one's fault, it just happens sometimes. Hopefully she'll learn something with us, even if it's a bit of humility." Her expression turned wistful. "Did me wonders, after all."

"Only for the girls' nights out", she countered, "...but I suppose that fits, just now. And I can hope she will fit in better with you, yes. Look after her, as you can."

The witch nodded. "As much as I can, yeah," she said, with a certain seriousness. She couldn't explain just why she felt the need to help Illyana, but it was there. Trying to make up for how she'd been to the other girl, perhaps. Then, to break the abrupt sobering of the mood, she glanced at the kettle. "So... tea?"