Amanda, Marie-Ange - Tuesday
Jun. 26th, 2007 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsIn repsonse to this email from Mark, Amanda goes to check on her former roomie.
"Angie?" Amanda rapped again on the French girl's door, frowning in concern. "I know you're in there, so you might as well let me in. Or I'll have to go find a hairpin and let myself in." Still no answer. "Angie? You all right? Seriously, mate, you're scaring me out here."
From the outside, Amanda could hear the deadbolt and latch being undone, and then the door swung open, not to reveal Marie-Ange, but one of her frequently sketched imp helpers, who disappeared after hopping down from its perch on the doorknob.
Marie-Ange was seated on the floor of her living room, crosslegged with a spread of tarot cards on the floor. She gave a distracted wave, and without a word swept up the cards into an untidy pile, and reached to her side to pick up another deck. Little piles of cards, not unlike the one she'd just created spotted the floor of the room, and the low coffee table, and the table in her dining room.
The witch came in, closing the door behind her, and crouched opposite the other girl. "Should have figured," she muttered to herself, before reaching out to touch Marie-Ange's shoulder. "Hey, you all right? You haven't been at this all night, have you?"
"Not all night." Marie-Ange replied tiredly, pointing to a container of takeout on the table. "I went out... well, I suppose it was really this morning, but it was dark out, to get food." She had a vague idea that it hadn't been too longer after the bars had let out. "Nothing makes sense. None of this makes any -sense-."
"You didn't come into work or call in - people were worried." Amanda brushed her own comment aside. "Show me?" she asked instead, settling herself into a seated position. "What isn't making sense?" It was a situation she'd witnessed many times over the years of being Angie's friend and roommate.
"Everything is not making sense." Marie-Ange said tiredly. "I should have some kind of answer, something to look into besides water, or cards that relate to water." Next to the container of carryout was a bottle of aspirin that she picked up and shook several out, swallowing them dry. "I -know- there is water involved, Attilan is an island! Everyone knows there is water, every news report has had scenes of where the island used to be, and all the water that is there now!"
"Easy, these things're always as obscure as hell." Amanda climbed to her feet and went into Angie's kitchen, coming back with a glass of water. "Look at it from another way, maybe? What sort of things tend to mess up your readings? Maybe there's something there."
Marie-Ange thought about that while for a few minutes. "Demons, or people like Wanda or Jennie. I cannot think of anything else. I would think that an entire island disappearing would have come up somehow." She was going to have to sit down with Doug and see what he could find in her notes. Sometimes he found things she would have never caught. "Or Forge going missing. I just talked to him last week!"
"No magic involved - I would've noticed that, even from several hundred thousand feet up in a plane, the amount of power it would have taken. So maybe a probability manipulator was involved somehow at least... that'd be something to ask Wanda, if she felt anything off beforehand." Amanda handed Marie-Ange the glass and sat down again, contemplating the pack of cards in Marie-Ange's hands. "Have you been able to read for Forge before? The metal always messed up the magic for me."
"I have never had to before, but..." Marie-Ange turned the pack of cards over in her hands. "No, I think I did when he was missing before, when Magneto had him. All I saw at the time was change, which was right, but very vague." She dropped the cards on the floor leaned her elbows on her knees. "I am sick to death of vague. An entire island of people missing, I should be able to see something for Forge, I know him well enough, and I get nothing!"
"Hey..." Amanda reached out again, lay her hand on her friend's shoulder. "It'll be..." All right, she was going to say, but then she stopped, pieces slotting into place in her mind. Nothing but water. No readings for Forge. An entire island gone without a trace. "Angie..." she began, voice trembling a little. "Isn't there another reason you can't read for someone?"
"No." Marie-Ange shook her head firmly. "No, I am not going to believe that. It makes less sense than all the water." She reached over and picked up a few cards from one of the discarded piles. "If that was the case, I would think I would have seen it. I knew Doug would, I knew Nathan and Alison would not. I knew Remy would unless he was saved. Why not this time?"
"I don't know." Except that no power was infallible, and Marie-Ange's less so than most. "I hope you're right." She bit her lip. "Maybe Tante can help?"
"Or she will tell me not to meddle and that what happened was meant to happen." Still, Marie-Ange thought she should at least get in touch with Tante Mattie and see what she thought. "Or that she too cannot see anything for Forge because of the metal. I never asked if she had that restriction." The pessimism was hard to shake. "I should call her though..."
"It can't hurt, 'specially since there's not a lot coming up from our side of things." And, Amanda thought, it would get Marie-Ange away from her own cards for a while.
Amanda didn't even need to hint. Marie-Ange knew that if she kept this up, there'd be at best, an enforced trip to get food. And she most likely needed to have breakfast... or lunch. She wasn't sure exactly what time it was. "None of you have found anything?" She asked, pushing one of the decks of cards away. "Well, I suppose at least no one can yell at me for wasting time finding nothing myself, if no one at all can find anything."
Amanda shook her head. "Hard to investigate an island that isn't there," she admitted. "There wasn't magic involved, which is about the only thing we do know. Everyone else is working on it, but it doesn't look like anything we can help with this time." Pete had told them that most intelligence work involved chasing up dead ends, but these particular ends were deader than most. She sighed. "News reports are saying the royal plane crashed before the island went."
"I saw on the news..." Marie-Ange said quietly. "And then I turned it off because I could not watch anymore. The news reports were just saying the same things over and over." No news was -not- good news, in this case. "I suppose perhaps I should go into the office." she glanced down at the long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans she'd neglected to change out of and shrugged half-heartedly. Changing clothes seemed like a terrible chore at the moment.
"Call in," Amanda suggested. "Email Mark that report he was saying he needed and take the rest of the day off. Keeping me company, if you need an excuse." She gave Marie-Ange a small, wry smile. "You've already done overtime last night."
Of course there were reports. Bureaucracy didn't stop for strange disasters. Marie-Ange sighed in irritation, and went to her table, where her laptop sat atop a pile of papers. It only took a few minutes to send off the report, and then she went back to the living room, dropping onto her sofa. "Do you want to get... is it lunch now, or still breakfast? Because I know I ate last night but I cannot recall what I had, and this is silly but all I can think to do right now is go to eat."
"Life goes on. Sometimes even when we think it should at least pause to notice," Amanda pointed out pragmatically. "And eating's part of that. Come on, roomie, I'll take you to lunch." She rose, and held out her hand to Marie-Ange to help her up. "Change of perspective might help, yeah?"
"It certainly cannot hurt." And it wasn't as if she was getting anywhere with the readings. "But no sports bars or anywhere with a television. If I hear about the island disappearing one more time, I am going to throw something."
"Angie?" Amanda rapped again on the French girl's door, frowning in concern. "I know you're in there, so you might as well let me in. Or I'll have to go find a hairpin and let myself in." Still no answer. "Angie? You all right? Seriously, mate, you're scaring me out here."
From the outside, Amanda could hear the deadbolt and latch being undone, and then the door swung open, not to reveal Marie-Ange, but one of her frequently sketched imp helpers, who disappeared after hopping down from its perch on the doorknob.
Marie-Ange was seated on the floor of her living room, crosslegged with a spread of tarot cards on the floor. She gave a distracted wave, and without a word swept up the cards into an untidy pile, and reached to her side to pick up another deck. Little piles of cards, not unlike the one she'd just created spotted the floor of the room, and the low coffee table, and the table in her dining room.
The witch came in, closing the door behind her, and crouched opposite the other girl. "Should have figured," she muttered to herself, before reaching out to touch Marie-Ange's shoulder. "Hey, you all right? You haven't been at this all night, have you?"
"Not all night." Marie-Ange replied tiredly, pointing to a container of takeout on the table. "I went out... well, I suppose it was really this morning, but it was dark out, to get food." She had a vague idea that it hadn't been too longer after the bars had let out. "Nothing makes sense. None of this makes any -sense-."
"You didn't come into work or call in - people were worried." Amanda brushed her own comment aside. "Show me?" she asked instead, settling herself into a seated position. "What isn't making sense?" It was a situation she'd witnessed many times over the years of being Angie's friend and roommate.
"Everything is not making sense." Marie-Ange said tiredly. "I should have some kind of answer, something to look into besides water, or cards that relate to water." Next to the container of carryout was a bottle of aspirin that she picked up and shook several out, swallowing them dry. "I -know- there is water involved, Attilan is an island! Everyone knows there is water, every news report has had scenes of where the island used to be, and all the water that is there now!"
"Easy, these things're always as obscure as hell." Amanda climbed to her feet and went into Angie's kitchen, coming back with a glass of water. "Look at it from another way, maybe? What sort of things tend to mess up your readings? Maybe there's something there."
Marie-Ange thought about that while for a few minutes. "Demons, or people like Wanda or Jennie. I cannot think of anything else. I would think that an entire island disappearing would have come up somehow." She was going to have to sit down with Doug and see what he could find in her notes. Sometimes he found things she would have never caught. "Or Forge going missing. I just talked to him last week!"
"No magic involved - I would've noticed that, even from several hundred thousand feet up in a plane, the amount of power it would have taken. So maybe a probability manipulator was involved somehow at least... that'd be something to ask Wanda, if she felt anything off beforehand." Amanda handed Marie-Ange the glass and sat down again, contemplating the pack of cards in Marie-Ange's hands. "Have you been able to read for Forge before? The metal always messed up the magic for me."
"I have never had to before, but..." Marie-Ange turned the pack of cards over in her hands. "No, I think I did when he was missing before, when Magneto had him. All I saw at the time was change, which was right, but very vague." She dropped the cards on the floor leaned her elbows on her knees. "I am sick to death of vague. An entire island of people missing, I should be able to see something for Forge, I know him well enough, and I get nothing!"
"Hey..." Amanda reached out again, lay her hand on her friend's shoulder. "It'll be..." All right, she was going to say, but then she stopped, pieces slotting into place in her mind. Nothing but water. No readings for Forge. An entire island gone without a trace. "Angie..." she began, voice trembling a little. "Isn't there another reason you can't read for someone?"
"No." Marie-Ange shook her head firmly. "No, I am not going to believe that. It makes less sense than all the water." She reached over and picked up a few cards from one of the discarded piles. "If that was the case, I would think I would have seen it. I knew Doug would, I knew Nathan and Alison would not. I knew Remy would unless he was saved. Why not this time?"
"I don't know." Except that no power was infallible, and Marie-Ange's less so than most. "I hope you're right." She bit her lip. "Maybe Tante can help?"
"Or she will tell me not to meddle and that what happened was meant to happen." Still, Marie-Ange thought she should at least get in touch with Tante Mattie and see what she thought. "Or that she too cannot see anything for Forge because of the metal. I never asked if she had that restriction." The pessimism was hard to shake. "I should call her though..."
"It can't hurt, 'specially since there's not a lot coming up from our side of things." And, Amanda thought, it would get Marie-Ange away from her own cards for a while.
Amanda didn't even need to hint. Marie-Ange knew that if she kept this up, there'd be at best, an enforced trip to get food. And she most likely needed to have breakfast... or lunch. She wasn't sure exactly what time it was. "None of you have found anything?" She asked, pushing one of the decks of cards away. "Well, I suppose at least no one can yell at me for wasting time finding nothing myself, if no one at all can find anything."
Amanda shook her head. "Hard to investigate an island that isn't there," she admitted. "There wasn't magic involved, which is about the only thing we do know. Everyone else is working on it, but it doesn't look like anything we can help with this time." Pete had told them that most intelligence work involved chasing up dead ends, but these particular ends were deader than most. She sighed. "News reports are saying the royal plane crashed before the island went."
"I saw on the news..." Marie-Ange said quietly. "And then I turned it off because I could not watch anymore. The news reports were just saying the same things over and over." No news was -not- good news, in this case. "I suppose perhaps I should go into the office." she glanced down at the long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans she'd neglected to change out of and shrugged half-heartedly. Changing clothes seemed like a terrible chore at the moment.
"Call in," Amanda suggested. "Email Mark that report he was saying he needed and take the rest of the day off. Keeping me company, if you need an excuse." She gave Marie-Ange a small, wry smile. "You've already done overtime last night."
Of course there were reports. Bureaucracy didn't stop for strange disasters. Marie-Ange sighed in irritation, and went to her table, where her laptop sat atop a pile of papers. It only took a few minutes to send off the report, and then she went back to the living room, dropping onto her sofa. "Do you want to get... is it lunch now, or still breakfast? Because I know I ate last night but I cannot recall what I had, and this is silly but all I can think to do right now is go to eat."
"Life goes on. Sometimes even when we think it should at least pause to notice," Amanda pointed out pragmatically. "And eating's part of that. Come on, roomie, I'll take you to lunch." She rose, and held out her hand to Marie-Ange to help her up. "Change of perspective might help, yeah?"
"It certainly cannot hurt." And it wasn't as if she was getting anywhere with the readings. "But no sports bars or anywhere with a television. If I hear about the island disappearing one more time, I am going to throw something."
