Meggan and Amanda (Backdated)

[x-meggan.livejournal.com]

Following the talking and crying with Kurt, as well as another shower, Meggan can't help but seek out her big sister. Much needed hugs are given.



Meggan approached the door to her sister’s hotel room, and knocked. Having lost her watch to the teleportation process at the start of the drama, and not seeing a clock in the hallway—she hadn’t thought to check the time until after she’d trotted off down the hall—she wasn’t sure if it was too late to drop in. After the crying jag with Kurt had tapered off, and she’d had her second shower in the course of twelve hours, she’d decided she truly, desperately needed to see her big sister. And if she turned out to be too concussed, frazzled, and exhausted for company, well, then Meggan could always wait until they were aboard the long flight home.

Or even after the expected jetlag was taken care of. She noticed that this was rapidly approaching the exact same tiptoe away back-up plan she’d had earlier, just in case Kurt had been tired.

All those worries were for nothing as the door opened, revealing Amanda. The witch looked tired and wan and perhaps a bit thinner than she ought, but her hug as she flung her arms around her sister was just as strong as ever. "Meg!" she exclaimed. "I lost track of you in all the mess. You all right?"

Sudden not entirely unexpected hugs were always welcome, especially now. It was great to be on the receiving end, and she returned the squeeze. “Yeah. It’s mostly just bruises and killer tree scratches,” Meggan confirmed with a small nod as she reluctantly pulled back. There was the impressive one on her cheek, a few smaller ones from the various things that had happened along the way. But Amanda had been hurt worse, many others had been hurt worse, so bruises weren’t that bad.

For herself, Amanda had a spectacular but healing bruise on her temple, plus the numerous cuts, bruises and scratches they'd all picked up in the final battle against Moreau. But her eyes were clear and there was no sign of concussion. "I was just thinking I should hunt you down and squeeze the life out of you," she said with a relieved smile. She frowned a little as she pushed back Meggan's hair to get a better bruise at her cheek - she knew what the marks left by a fist looked like. "Looks painful," was all she said, however. "You want some tea?"

With the concussion, Meggan had expected to find Amanda barely able to focus. She was glad that wasn’t the case, even if that one bruise in particular looked bad to her. “Not as much as it was at the start,” she acknowledged. When she’d received the punch, now that had hurt so much more. “Not unless I accidentally bump it in the wrong spot.” At the offer of tea, though, she immediately nodded. Tea would be good right about now. “Yes. Please.”

"Kettle's on. Come on in and sit." Amanda waved her sister into the small-yet-functional hotel room she'd been allocated. "And stop looking at me like I'm about to fall down - 'm fine."

“Sorry about that,” Meggan said with a sheepish smile. She hadn’t realized she was staring like that until Amanda pointed it out, but it was true. She went over to sink into the nearest chair, which turned out to be softer than she expected.

"Let me guess - you talked to Kurt, didn't you?" Amanda replied with a grin. "I haven't had a chance to catch up to him yet - last he saw me I was a bit out of it. Part of it was real - rubber bullets hurt - but the rest was an act." She shrugged. "People don't watch you that closely when they think you're about to pass out."

“Yeah, I did,” Meggan acknowledged. She’d always thought rubber bullets would do more than leave scary looking bruises. People wouldn’t watch unless they were worried, but if they were Genoshan guards they wouldn’t be worried or watching once they thought someone was about to get up close and personal with the ground, and therefore wasn’t a threat anymore. ““Even if it was mostly acting…ow, either way.” It just made her want to hug Amanda again.

"Definitely ow," Amanda agreed, bringing the tea over and handing her sister one. "Still, I managed to get Hammer Bay to agree to a bit of healing, once it realised I was on its side after all, so it's a lot better than it was." She gave Meggan another look over. "How are you otherwise? Not the physical, the rest?"

Meggan nodded her thanks as she accepted the tea, taking a long sip. The drink Kurt had given her earlier had gone untouched after the bad news, and quickly grown cold while more than few tears were shed, so this tea was welcome and delicious right now. At the question, she had to stop and think. “Right now? I think…it’s leftover worry mixed in with some mental tired, and a lot of other stuff. Still…slowly coming down from the insanity of everything going on at the same time, I guess.” She felt like she might be waking up and looking in on certain people for a few more days to be certain everybody was where they should be and definitely back home, or just staying close to certain people. It was more one great big ball of stuff to sort through, the primary feeling at the top of the list being an overwhelming ‘please, no more kidnappings ever again.’

Also, the general feeling of disgust at the nasty piece of work Moreau was. Even on the astral plane, he’d felt like an old puddle of grease—or maybe just a large, filthy oil slick in general. She also hoped Amanda already knew the news of little Rachel, because she didn’t think she could be the one to break it without more crying. She probably did.

"There's a lot to process," Amanda agreed. "Just make sure you let yourself do that when it comes time. A lot of folks at the mansion... they do the stoic thing a bit too much. And they're not empaths paddling around in a psycho's forebrain." She frowned at the thought of Moreau. "Did... did Kurt tell you what happened? With Rachel?" She really hoped he had, since telling Angelo had been hard enough.

“I'll try," she promised, meaning more talking and not stoic. She didn't think she could pull off stoic. "There was more emotional ooze out there than ice,” Meggan said, referring to differences between him and the lady she’d help catch. Technically, three different types of ooze, since he’d been all over the place out in the landscape. She really didn’t think she could pull off stoic. But then, she gave a tiny, shaky nod at the question of what she’d been told, gradually saying, “He did.” She was almost grateful she didn’t need to tell her sister what Kurt had told her, while simultaneously waiting for tears to pounce on her again.

Amanda bit her own lip, grateful she didn't have to break the news and feeling guilty that she was. More guilt on top of that she carried already. "They made us watch," she said softly. "It was horrible, but I hope... I hope she knew she wasn't alone. That there were people there who wanted to help her."

Meggan had been told about the watching part. She didn’t know just how many were forced to see it unfold, but it was just adding on to an already sick and cruel situation. “I really hope she knew, too.” She was trying not to think about how much pain little girl must have been in there at the end. She'd heard enough now to know just how overwhelming it would have been.

"I don't know how Moira and Nate're gunna cope. They've both lost a kid already, to have it happen again..." Amanda breathed in sharply through her nose, trying to get a grip back on herself. "I was going to head over to Muir, once everyone's settled back home. I told Angelo he was coming with me. Nate'll need him."

“Yeah,” Meggan agreed, almost managing to hold back a lone sniffle. There would be more tears soon, just thinking of what they were going through, she knew it. “They shouldn’t be alone, no matter what. Not right now.” It was going to be awful for them, losing one, much less two—especially the nasty circumstances surrounding it.

Amanda set aside her tea and gestured for her sister to join her on the bed. "C'mere, Monkey Girl," she said, using the old nickname from Meggan's early days. "I don't know about you, but I need more hugs." Her voice wobbled as she said it.

Oh, did Meggan ever need more of those right now. She had the feeling everyone was going to be needing more than a few hugs after the last week, even if they refused to admit it. Once she was certain the tea wasn’t too close to the edge of the table, she practically dove over to the bed, going in for the proffered hug. “So do I,” she whispered shakily, even if she was partially muffled by Amanda’s shirt by this point.