Amanda, Nathan - Saturday morning
Jul. 28th, 2007 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsDropping by the school, Amanda runs into Nathan and they chat about... well, not anything hugely significant. Set for after the team gets back.
The school in summer was always quieter than usual, and this Saturday morning was not a lot different. Amanda had parked the Snow Valley car in the garage and was making her way to see if Laurie was in, intent on checking on the girl before finding out if Angelo was back yet. Yes, she could have called, but it was Saturday, she'd been up to her ears in alternate dimension research all week and to be honest, she'd gotten up and driven over here before realising that she wasn't doing the bus run any more. Force of habit.
Amelia had given him the rough side of her tongue over "aggravating a preexisting problem", even when he'd told her rather defensively that he'd been tackled by a flying two-year-old, so Nathan was in a rather grumbly mood as he made his way up from the infirmary. He was not looking forward to returning to the boathouse just so that Moira could tell Rachel to play gently with her rickety old father.
The sight of a familiar figure carefully negotiating the halls made Amanda pause. Angelo had mentioned something about Nate's adventures with falling roofs, and there'd been that post in his journal. And judging by the way he was moving, he was probably feeling it. Catching up to him with a few easy strides, she greeted him with an overly-cheery grin. "Hey, Nate."
Oh, that was an overly chipper look. "Amanda," he said dryly. "If you're looking for Angelo, he's not in the boathouse. He actually poked his nose into the office early this morning and Moira chased him off."
"Good for Moira." She fell into step beside him. Well, sort of - she had to lengthen her steps to keep up with him. "Just thought I'd stop by, say hello to a few folks, check to see how Laurie's doing - this whole Attilan thing is knocking her about, especially so soon after..." She made a vague gesture, knowing Nate would know she meant the mass abductions. "I'll go chase Ange down later, see if he's up for going out today." Her 'plans' for the morning outlined, she tilted her head slightly to look up at him. "How're you doing? Ange said things got exciting in Africa."
"Yes, I need to stop going on trips. Or at least packing heavy weaponry when I do, since they all seem to be going to hell lately..." Wow, he was sounding like a grouch. "I'm fine," he said, more dryly. "My back was a little twitchy already, and Rachel decided to practice her flying tackle this morning. It really says something when my darling offspring actually does more damage than the bad-tempered mutant arms dealer."
"Well, considering Rachel's all about the sneak attack, I'm not surprised she did you in." Amanda chuckled. "She still got the squirrels ducking for cover?"
"Oh yes. Still being absolutely mannerly and gentle with any animal that isn't a squirrel, too, so I'm baffled." Nathan squared his shoulders for a moment, then relaxed with a wince. The stronger painkillers Amelia had given him hadn't quite kicked in yet. "But Africa could have been worse, I suppose. Rahne's healing up well... did Angelo tell you she got shot?"
"Remind me to show you the Blackadder episode with the squirrels," Amanda said, before nodding soberly. "And yeah, he did. Good to know she's going to be all right, but yeah, not the best way to spend a work trip. Leastways, not normal work trips," she added wryly, well aware there was no such thing for either of them.
"I have to go back, one of these weeks, get some of what we didn't get done finished," Nathan said. "Or maybe I'll just send someone over from Tel Aviv. They are closer." He snorted softly. "I've had enough long flights for the time being."
"'S not as comfy flying without the big black jet," Amanda teased with a grin. "Remy makes us take coach when we fly most of the time - draws less attention than someone like me sitting up in first class. 'M just glad 'm small - they must make those seats for bloody midgets."
"First-class seats are not much better. I always feel half-crippled after a commercial flight, even if I do go first-class. Which we don't usually do with Elpis," Nathan conceded. "Better things to spend the money on. Although T'Challa was the one who arranged the flights back, and he insisted." His lips twitched briefly, almost reluctantly.
"This the bloke who was trying to sweep 'Ro off her feet?" Amanda asked, curious rather than hostile. "King of Wakanda and the rest of it?"
"There was no sweeping going on, Remy's apparent paranoia notwithstanding," Nathan said, unable to help the smile this time. "Although he expressed some regret that she was quite clearly taken..." And he should probably stop gossiping. "He's an interesting guy," he said, more briskly. "Bigger than me, probably doesn't need telekinesis to fling cars around. Works as a civil engineer in his non-kingly life, actually."
"Remy likes to say 'just 'cause you paranoid don't mean dey aren't out to get you'," Amanda said, dropping into a reasonable imitation of Remy's Cajun accent. "The day he stops being suspicious of everything is the day we have Betsy check him for possession." She raised her eyebrows a little at the description of said king. "Bigger than you? We're getting into Cain territory here. Sounds like an interesting sort. You lot're collecting those, by the looks. How's John-Boy settling in with things?"
"John? John is sour, disagreeable, occasionally insubordinate, and generally hard to get along with." Nathan gave her a crooked grin. "He's also amazingly good at his job. We're going to see if we can't get him house-trained to the point where we can let him actually speak at meetings soon. Although, to be honest, I imagine that his attitude towards the diplomatic approach is most harmonious with mine."
"Two of you? Bloody hell, you'll drive Ange to drink between the pair of you." Amanda's laughter showed she was in no way serious. "Which reminds me..." She paused, and stretched up on tip-toe to kiss Nathan's cheek. "That's for the lake. If you hadn't done that, the two of us might've not-talked ourselves into the world's dumbest breakup."
"Mmm. Was tempted to come find you in New York and locate the closest fountain to the brownstone," Nathan said with a very straight face. "Just to cover all the bases."
"I think if everyone at Snow Valley hadn't been so caught up in things, you would have had to get in line," she replied with a wry grin. "Good to know that we're still able to be incredibly dumb, even with all this growing up we've done. We both were too scared to talk about the hard stuff 'cause we didn't want to upset each other, which was just moronic when you think about how long we've been friends." Amanda shook her head at herself. "Still, we're talking now."
"I've noticed the improvement in his mood." Nathan rubbed at the back of his neck. "It's hard, when things keep happening," he said candidly, the voice of long experience, "but that's what makes the moments in between the crises more important."
"Considering the way we got together, you'd think we'd be better with dealing with the crises," came the wry reply. "But I'm not so stupid as to blame myself for not being able to react to something, or to blame Ange for his reactions. Part of the reason I took so long to get back to work - I knew I wouldn't be able to cope if I pushed too hard. Of course, I'm going to be still catching up come Christmas. But at least Ange'll come and dig me out if I get buried in it again."
"So long as you do the same for him. He's something of a workaholic himself," Nathan said, with absolutely no shame whatsoever. He had no problem at all being a hypocrite on this particular issue.
"I wonder where he learned that from?" she teased. "But yeah, we've got this whole reciprocal thing going on. I distract him, he distracts me... It works, even if we have to hide each other's phones to manage it sometimes." Of course, it was much better if there wasn't the kidnapping and torture beforehand. "And speaking of distractions... How was Santorini? Must have been better without the broken leg this time, yeah?"
"Um... slept a lot," Nathan said somewhat evasively. "The area around the house where we were staying was nice. We didn't do much sightseeing this time around." He smiled slightly. "Terrible waste of a vacation, I suppose."
"No such thing." They'd reached the main stairs, and Amanda glanced up. "I should go drop in on Laurie. It was good to see you, Nate. Take care of that back, yeah?"
"I'll give it my best shot," Nathan said wryly. "Though if I'm expecting Rachel to suddenly start playing any less rough, I'm probably shit out of luck. She is my daughter."
"And Moira's as well. So, you're pretty much doomed," she told him cheerfully.
The school in summer was always quieter than usual, and this Saturday morning was not a lot different. Amanda had parked the Snow Valley car in the garage and was making her way to see if Laurie was in, intent on checking on the girl before finding out if Angelo was back yet. Yes, she could have called, but it was Saturday, she'd been up to her ears in alternate dimension research all week and to be honest, she'd gotten up and driven over here before realising that she wasn't doing the bus run any more. Force of habit.
Amelia had given him the rough side of her tongue over "aggravating a preexisting problem", even when he'd told her rather defensively that he'd been tackled by a flying two-year-old, so Nathan was in a rather grumbly mood as he made his way up from the infirmary. He was not looking forward to returning to the boathouse just so that Moira could tell Rachel to play gently with her rickety old father.
The sight of a familiar figure carefully negotiating the halls made Amanda pause. Angelo had mentioned something about Nate's adventures with falling roofs, and there'd been that post in his journal. And judging by the way he was moving, he was probably feeling it. Catching up to him with a few easy strides, she greeted him with an overly-cheery grin. "Hey, Nate."
Oh, that was an overly chipper look. "Amanda," he said dryly. "If you're looking for Angelo, he's not in the boathouse. He actually poked his nose into the office early this morning and Moira chased him off."
"Good for Moira." She fell into step beside him. Well, sort of - she had to lengthen her steps to keep up with him. "Just thought I'd stop by, say hello to a few folks, check to see how Laurie's doing - this whole Attilan thing is knocking her about, especially so soon after..." She made a vague gesture, knowing Nate would know she meant the mass abductions. "I'll go chase Ange down later, see if he's up for going out today." Her 'plans' for the morning outlined, she tilted her head slightly to look up at him. "How're you doing? Ange said things got exciting in Africa."
"Yes, I need to stop going on trips. Or at least packing heavy weaponry when I do, since they all seem to be going to hell lately..." Wow, he was sounding like a grouch. "I'm fine," he said, more dryly. "My back was a little twitchy already, and Rachel decided to practice her flying tackle this morning. It really says something when my darling offspring actually does more damage than the bad-tempered mutant arms dealer."
"Well, considering Rachel's all about the sneak attack, I'm not surprised she did you in." Amanda chuckled. "She still got the squirrels ducking for cover?"
"Oh yes. Still being absolutely mannerly and gentle with any animal that isn't a squirrel, too, so I'm baffled." Nathan squared his shoulders for a moment, then relaxed with a wince. The stronger painkillers Amelia had given him hadn't quite kicked in yet. "But Africa could have been worse, I suppose. Rahne's healing up well... did Angelo tell you she got shot?"
"Remind me to show you the Blackadder episode with the squirrels," Amanda said, before nodding soberly. "And yeah, he did. Good to know she's going to be all right, but yeah, not the best way to spend a work trip. Leastways, not normal work trips," she added wryly, well aware there was no such thing for either of them.
"I have to go back, one of these weeks, get some of what we didn't get done finished," Nathan said. "Or maybe I'll just send someone over from Tel Aviv. They are closer." He snorted softly. "I've had enough long flights for the time being."
"'S not as comfy flying without the big black jet," Amanda teased with a grin. "Remy makes us take coach when we fly most of the time - draws less attention than someone like me sitting up in first class. 'M just glad 'm small - they must make those seats for bloody midgets."
"First-class seats are not much better. I always feel half-crippled after a commercial flight, even if I do go first-class. Which we don't usually do with Elpis," Nathan conceded. "Better things to spend the money on. Although T'Challa was the one who arranged the flights back, and he insisted." His lips twitched briefly, almost reluctantly.
"This the bloke who was trying to sweep 'Ro off her feet?" Amanda asked, curious rather than hostile. "King of Wakanda and the rest of it?"
"There was no sweeping going on, Remy's apparent paranoia notwithstanding," Nathan said, unable to help the smile this time. "Although he expressed some regret that she was quite clearly taken..." And he should probably stop gossiping. "He's an interesting guy," he said, more briskly. "Bigger than me, probably doesn't need telekinesis to fling cars around. Works as a civil engineer in his non-kingly life, actually."
"Remy likes to say 'just 'cause you paranoid don't mean dey aren't out to get you'," Amanda said, dropping into a reasonable imitation of Remy's Cajun accent. "The day he stops being suspicious of everything is the day we have Betsy check him for possession." She raised her eyebrows a little at the description of said king. "Bigger than you? We're getting into Cain territory here. Sounds like an interesting sort. You lot're collecting those, by the looks. How's John-Boy settling in with things?"
"John? John is sour, disagreeable, occasionally insubordinate, and generally hard to get along with." Nathan gave her a crooked grin. "He's also amazingly good at his job. We're going to see if we can't get him house-trained to the point where we can let him actually speak at meetings soon. Although, to be honest, I imagine that his attitude towards the diplomatic approach is most harmonious with mine."
"Two of you? Bloody hell, you'll drive Ange to drink between the pair of you." Amanda's laughter showed she was in no way serious. "Which reminds me..." She paused, and stretched up on tip-toe to kiss Nathan's cheek. "That's for the lake. If you hadn't done that, the two of us might've not-talked ourselves into the world's dumbest breakup."
"Mmm. Was tempted to come find you in New York and locate the closest fountain to the brownstone," Nathan said with a very straight face. "Just to cover all the bases."
"I think if everyone at Snow Valley hadn't been so caught up in things, you would have had to get in line," she replied with a wry grin. "Good to know that we're still able to be incredibly dumb, even with all this growing up we've done. We both were too scared to talk about the hard stuff 'cause we didn't want to upset each other, which was just moronic when you think about how long we've been friends." Amanda shook her head at herself. "Still, we're talking now."
"I've noticed the improvement in his mood." Nathan rubbed at the back of his neck. "It's hard, when things keep happening," he said candidly, the voice of long experience, "but that's what makes the moments in between the crises more important."
"Considering the way we got together, you'd think we'd be better with dealing with the crises," came the wry reply. "But I'm not so stupid as to blame myself for not being able to react to something, or to blame Ange for his reactions. Part of the reason I took so long to get back to work - I knew I wouldn't be able to cope if I pushed too hard. Of course, I'm going to be still catching up come Christmas. But at least Ange'll come and dig me out if I get buried in it again."
"So long as you do the same for him. He's something of a workaholic himself," Nathan said, with absolutely no shame whatsoever. He had no problem at all being a hypocrite on this particular issue.
"I wonder where he learned that from?" she teased. "But yeah, we've got this whole reciprocal thing going on. I distract him, he distracts me... It works, even if we have to hide each other's phones to manage it sometimes." Of course, it was much better if there wasn't the kidnapping and torture beforehand. "And speaking of distractions... How was Santorini? Must have been better without the broken leg this time, yeah?"
"Um... slept a lot," Nathan said somewhat evasively. "The area around the house where we were staying was nice. We didn't do much sightseeing this time around." He smiled slightly. "Terrible waste of a vacation, I suppose."
"No such thing." They'd reached the main stairs, and Amanda glanced up. "I should go drop in on Laurie. It was good to see you, Nate. Take care of that back, yeah?"
"I'll give it my best shot," Nathan said wryly. "Though if I'm expecting Rachel to suddenly start playing any less rough, I'm probably shit out of luck. She is my daughter."
"And Moira's as well. So, you're pretty much doomed," she told him cheerfully.
