![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_daytripper posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsThe night before they leave for Genosha, Amanda checks on Nico.
In the morning they'd be splitting up and heading their various ways to Genosha. Part of Amanda was eager to go, eager to be doing something instead of sitting and waiting and feeling the anger building in her. Part of her was desperately worried for those taken - Angelo, Adri, Meggan, Molly. Rachel. Especially Rachel. Amanda hadn't visited Muir for a while, but she could still remember the little girl's bright happy face as she played with her friends. She wasn't supposed to be part of this. Wasn't that why the Trenchcoats had been formed? To stop innocents like Rachel being caught up in this shite?
Amanda winced as she realised she'd bitten her thumbnail to the quick again. She needed to be busy, before she shredded all of her nails and drove herself batty. She'd go check on Nico - it was her apprentice's first real mission, after all, and she'd probably be needing distraction as well. At the least, Amanda could check she had all her papers and the rest together.
Except, when she approached Nico's door, all she could hear was crashing and banging. Her heart in her mouth, she tried the door handle and when she found it locked, she banged hard on the door. "NICO!" she yelled. "Are you okay?"
There was more indistinct sounds of destruction from a little longer, and then panting. Nico muttered something (kcol nepo) and the door unlocked. Inside, her room looked like a freshly bombed war zone; books were lying everywhere, broken things covered most of the ground -and bits of wood were stuck on the walls at places- clothes had been thrown and torn and the air was damp, dead after Nico had started draining energy; the Staff of One, which had been used as a club for a moment, lay over her messy bed. The girl in question was on her knees at the center of her room, back facing at the door as her hair fell freely over her face. When she spoke, her voice was filled with anger and something else- desperation.
"What do you want?"
Amanda raised her eyebrows slightly at the mess, letting the ball of New York energy in her hand die away. "I was just coming to see if you were ready for tomorrow," she replied quietly, coming in and closing the door behind her. "I needed something to do so I wasn't chasing my tail thinking about all this." She lay her hand on Nico's shoulder, knowing the girl couldn't drain her energy. "You want to talk? Looks like you're done with the smashing."
Nico sunk under Amanda's hand as if it were way heaver than it actually was. "I lost it for a minute there." She sounded pretty damn angry, so it was debatable whether she was actually better or not. "This whole thing- I joined this to stop that from happening. Not to solve it, but prevent it. Those people, they are my family." She looked up at Amanda, eyes completely black as her eyeliner traced black lines on her cheeks. "They are all I have. If you weren't here I- I would-" She didn't want to even imagine what would she do; something incredibly stupid, for sure.
Amanda dropped down to kneel next to Nico, her hand still on the girl's shoulder. "Love, you just described what I was thinking before I came in here," she said with just a hint of wry humour. Great minds indeed thought alike. Or at least angry ones did. "The people they took... most of them aren't supposed to get involved with this shite. They're innocents. And if I could, I'd be down there now, raining down bloody vengeance on the people that took them."
"We need to get them back", muttered Nico as she closed her eyes. "And we need to make them pay." That was perhaps what mattered more to Nico deep down, and it was a terribly troubling feeling. She had to stay focused. "God, I'm not even nervous. I'm not even nervous." She opened her eyes again, now back to normal, and looked at Amanda dead in the eye. "I'm just so incredibly pissed because I can't put my hand through their stupid heads and call it a day. Why them? Aren't they brutal enough with their mutants already?"
"We'll get them back." Failure wasn't an option here, even if it meant sacrificing herself to get the others free. "We'll get them back and find the person who made this happen. Because countries don't make decisions like this, not something so personal. We pissed someone off and they want us to pay. Even more, they want us to attack them. It'll give them the reason to do whatever they want."
Without adding a word, Nico turned around and hugged Amanda. It was brief, but emotional, and a moment later she was standing up slowly. "Thanks, I needed to hear that." And most importantly she needed Amanda to be there for her. She still had a long way to go, and Amanda being with her was all she could ask. Looking around her room, Nico sighed. "At least I did pack everything before turning my room upside down."
"At least there's that." Amanda stood as well, wincing a little at the stiffness in her knees. "Stick close to Jubes," she continued, unable to resist giving Nico some last advice. "She might sound like a twit, but she's smart and she's got good instincts when it comes to keeping herself safe." She bit her lip, trying to control the emotion that was rising. "I'll see you in Genosha, yeah?"
For once, Nico was glad of having someone trying to smother her. She needed that sometimes. "Don't worry, I even like her, so it's not like I'm complaining about spending time with her. You take care too, alright? We are missing enough people as it is."
Amanda's response was to step forward and grab her apprentice in a tight hug, holding onto her longer than Nico had done before. "I will if you will, Grosshopper."
Nico hugged her once more, overtaken by emotion. She had been careful all this time, but at least with Amanda she could show some weakness from time to time. "It's a promise then." She was going to stay like that for a while, taking in Amanda's warmth for as long as she could.
In the morning they'd be splitting up and heading their various ways to Genosha. Part of Amanda was eager to go, eager to be doing something instead of sitting and waiting and feeling the anger building in her. Part of her was desperately worried for those taken - Angelo, Adri, Meggan, Molly. Rachel. Especially Rachel. Amanda hadn't visited Muir for a while, but she could still remember the little girl's bright happy face as she played with her friends. She wasn't supposed to be part of this. Wasn't that why the Trenchcoats had been formed? To stop innocents like Rachel being caught up in this shite?
Amanda winced as she realised she'd bitten her thumbnail to the quick again. She needed to be busy, before she shredded all of her nails and drove herself batty. She'd go check on Nico - it was her apprentice's first real mission, after all, and she'd probably be needing distraction as well. At the least, Amanda could check she had all her papers and the rest together.
Except, when she approached Nico's door, all she could hear was crashing and banging. Her heart in her mouth, she tried the door handle and when she found it locked, she banged hard on the door. "NICO!" she yelled. "Are you okay?"
There was more indistinct sounds of destruction from a little longer, and then panting. Nico muttered something (kcol nepo) and the door unlocked. Inside, her room looked like a freshly bombed war zone; books were lying everywhere, broken things covered most of the ground -and bits of wood were stuck on the walls at places- clothes had been thrown and torn and the air was damp, dead after Nico had started draining energy; the Staff of One, which had been used as a club for a moment, lay over her messy bed. The girl in question was on her knees at the center of her room, back facing at the door as her hair fell freely over her face. When she spoke, her voice was filled with anger and something else- desperation.
"What do you want?"
Amanda raised her eyebrows slightly at the mess, letting the ball of New York energy in her hand die away. "I was just coming to see if you were ready for tomorrow," she replied quietly, coming in and closing the door behind her. "I needed something to do so I wasn't chasing my tail thinking about all this." She lay her hand on Nico's shoulder, knowing the girl couldn't drain her energy. "You want to talk? Looks like you're done with the smashing."
Nico sunk under Amanda's hand as if it were way heaver than it actually was. "I lost it for a minute there." She sounded pretty damn angry, so it was debatable whether she was actually better or not. "This whole thing- I joined this to stop that from happening. Not to solve it, but prevent it. Those people, they are my family." She looked up at Amanda, eyes completely black as her eyeliner traced black lines on her cheeks. "They are all I have. If you weren't here I- I would-" She didn't want to even imagine what would she do; something incredibly stupid, for sure.
Amanda dropped down to kneel next to Nico, her hand still on the girl's shoulder. "Love, you just described what I was thinking before I came in here," she said with just a hint of wry humour. Great minds indeed thought alike. Or at least angry ones did. "The people they took... most of them aren't supposed to get involved with this shite. They're innocents. And if I could, I'd be down there now, raining down bloody vengeance on the people that took them."
"We need to get them back", muttered Nico as she closed her eyes. "And we need to make them pay." That was perhaps what mattered more to Nico deep down, and it was a terribly troubling feeling. She had to stay focused. "God, I'm not even nervous. I'm not even nervous." She opened her eyes again, now back to normal, and looked at Amanda dead in the eye. "I'm just so incredibly pissed because I can't put my hand through their stupid heads and call it a day. Why them? Aren't they brutal enough with their mutants already?"
"We'll get them back." Failure wasn't an option here, even if it meant sacrificing herself to get the others free. "We'll get them back and find the person who made this happen. Because countries don't make decisions like this, not something so personal. We pissed someone off and they want us to pay. Even more, they want us to attack them. It'll give them the reason to do whatever they want."
Without adding a word, Nico turned around and hugged Amanda. It was brief, but emotional, and a moment later she was standing up slowly. "Thanks, I needed to hear that." And most importantly she needed Amanda to be there for her. She still had a long way to go, and Amanda being with her was all she could ask. Looking around her room, Nico sighed. "At least I did pack everything before turning my room upside down."
"At least there's that." Amanda stood as well, wincing a little at the stiffness in her knees. "Stick close to Jubes," she continued, unable to resist giving Nico some last advice. "She might sound like a twit, but she's smart and she's got good instincts when it comes to keeping herself safe." She bit her lip, trying to control the emotion that was rising. "I'll see you in Genosha, yeah?"
For once, Nico was glad of having someone trying to smother her. She needed that sometimes. "Don't worry, I even like her, so it's not like I'm complaining about spending time with her. You take care too, alright? We are missing enough people as it is."
Amanda's response was to step forward and grab her apprentice in a tight hug, holding onto her longer than Nico had done before. "I will if you will, Grosshopper."
Nico hugged her once more, overtaken by emotion. She had been careful all this time, but at least with Amanda she could show some weakness from time to time. "It's a promise then." She was going to stay like that for a while, taking in Amanda's warmth for as long as she could.
