xp_logs | Kurt and Doug, Tuesday afternoon

Kurt and Doug have an encounter in the caravan and come to better terms over the matter of Jimaine.

~All's well that ends well, I suppose,~ Doug mused to himself as he looked around the Szardos clan caravan. It hadn't ended completely well for Margali, but Doug hoped the old Rom woman had found some measure of peace in doing the right thing at the end.

There was still no trace of a smile on Kurt's face when he stepped out of one of the caravans, but then, there hadn't been for at least two days. He nodded to the younger man, crisply. "Doug."

Doug's nod in reply was just as crisp. Amanda's foster brother had made it all too clear that he did not approve of the way Doug and Marie-Ange had treated Jimaine while she was in their custody. Doug's opinion was that one slap to the face and a bit of harsh language was far less than the girl deserved, acting on Margali's orders or no.

"How long will you be remaining among us?" Kurt asked. It wasn't quite 'when are you going to leave?', because there were traditions to observe here, but his tone made it not far off.

Over the years since Doug had discovered his power, it had become easier with practice to read tone and body language, especially when they said things as obvious as how little Kurt wanted him and Marie-Ange at the Szardos clan caravan. "Only as long as necessary to make sure Amanda's okay," he answered, staring off into the woods.

Kurt nodded. "I thought as much. By the guest laws you will, of course, be fed and sheltered to the best of our ability for as long as you wish to stay, but I did not think you would wish to remain long among a lying, cheating pack of sneak thieves."

Doug had a snappy retort ready, but it died in his mouth. Kurt probably deserved an apology for that one. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely, turning to face Kurt finally. "Have you ever said something you didn't really mean, but wanted to give someone the impression that you did?" he asked. "I was angry at Jimaine for what she had done, and we wanted to know why she was trying to frame Amanda for the theft of those books. I don't really think that of the Rom."

There was a slight softening in Kurt's face at the obviously sincere apology, but those words from someone who should have been an ally, even heard second-hand, had cut deep. "And yet it came very quickly to your mind, as something to say."

"Partly because of the stereotype," Doug acknowledged. "But mostly? Because it's what she -did-. She came to New York, did a whole lot of sneaking around, stole some extremely dangerous books from Doctor Strange, and tried to frame Amanda for it. She pretty much hit every negative stereotype about the Rom there is, so I called her on it."

"She did what she was told", Kurt said quietly. "We were raised to loyalty above all else, and what was asked of her was not enough to break that. So she did it."

"Loyalty is one thing, blind loyalty is another," Doug said in return. "There has to be a point where you question for yourself if what you're being told is true."

"Put yourself in her shoes. You are the youngest of the family, and you hear all your life about the older sister who was lost, and who had far more potential as your mother's heir than you have ever had - and one day, she returns, and your brothers seem to favour her over you when she is there, and whatever place you had, you have just lost. But then, things happen and your mother turns against her and casts her out, so the place is yours again. Would you not listen to whatever your mother said, in that situation? And act against your older sister, when she asked you to?" He looked down. "Jimaine did not know that Margali intended the body switch. Please believe that."

"I do believe that," Doug told Kurt. "But my loyalty is to Amanda, and knowing that Jimaine didn't know about the body switch still doesn't excuse what she did to Amanda. You know what happened with Selene. She thought it was happening again."

"Mine must lie with both of them, you see. And I know that, but Jimaine did not, not really. She is seventeen, and she was jealous and she was foolish. I do not say she would not have done it if she had known, but she might have let something slip at least, and Stefan would have told me."

"I suppose it all worked out as well as it could in the end," Doug echoed his thoughts from before Kurt had walked up. He understood Kurt's divided loyalties, and how they must have torn at him the entire time.

"In some ways", Kurt said sadly. "My mother could have lived... but then, perhaps not. She drained herself too far, working this magic."

Doug wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he remained quiet and nodded thoughtfully. His own feelings about Margali aside, the woman had been Kurt's foster mother, and not an irredeemably bad one. It was perhaps a bit harsh to judge her off of the one incident.

"I will be staying here for a while", Kurt said abruptly. "There is the funeral, and then... I think Stefan will marry. He has a heavy load, he will need help. Jimaine, too."

"They are your family," Doug agreed. "It's obvious they both care about you, despite whatever may have happened with your exile." It was easy to see, in the way Kurt's talking to Jimaine had gotten through where Doug and Marie-Ange's intimidation had not, and in the way Stefan and Jimaine both acted around him.

"They always have", he said softly. "It was never their idea. And if I had not been exiled... but that is done and cannot be changed. I must help them with the future, now."

"It's a good attitude to have," Doug said with a nod. "Letting go of the past isn't always easy."

Kurt nodded. "Far from it, and perhaps still less for us. But all the pieces of the past that can be, are here, and now... now, I think I see my littlest sister getting into trouble." He looked rueful, and nodded over to a muddy patch of the field. "I had better go and fetch her before Jimaine sees the state of her fur."