xp_logs | Somewhere I Belong

Amanda and Haller tag-team to get Topaz to talk. She refuses. Of course.

Sleep hadn't exactly been forthcoming, and Topaz was dragging just a bit as she made her way down to Mr. Haller's office. She just needed to get through this meeting and she'd be fine. Right?

She sighed as she stopped in front of the door. And after a moment of seriously considering just walking away, she knocked.

"Come in, please." He kept the tone mild, but Jim hadn't been looking forward to this anymore than Topaz had been. He took a deep breath and cycled into professional detachment; his emotional states were still slightly muddied after the encounter with Gambit, and at the moment "detached" was the best alternative.

Topaz slipped into the room, closing the door behind her before shoving her hands into her pockets, watching Haller for a brief moment before her eyes slid to the second person in the room. Oh.

"Hey, kiddo." Amanda turned from the window and gave Topaz a slight nod. The anger of the night before was gone, leaving her feeling flat and depressed. Guilty. "Have a seat."

She was pretty sure she would have rather had the anger. Topaz settled down in the chair across from Haller's desk, slumping down just a bit, focusing her gaze on the wall just above the man's head.

"I'm sorry we have to do this," Jim said, and meant it. "I know you're tired. But we do need to talk about what happened. You owe people that much, at least." He didn't look at Amanda, but it was clear who he was referring to. He sighed. "Topaz, why didn't you tell anyone about your father?"

Yes. Yes it was. Topaz slid down a little further, a hand coming up to tug at a strand of hair. "I wanted to see him." Same answer she'd given the night before.

Jim shook his head. "I understand that. What I'm asking is why you kept it a secret."

Topaz was quiet, her gaze shifting to Amanda for the briefest moment before going back to the wall. "Just did." They wouldn't have understood if she tried to explain it.

Amanda shook her head. "Not this time, Topaz," she said, as firmly as she could. "You said the same thing last night and we let it go. But now... We need a reason why. Why you didn't trust us. Why you didn't trust me."

Now would have been a wonderful time for the ground to open up and swallow her. "I just didn't think you'd let me see him." It would have been entirely justified, after what had happened in England. He'd had that much right.

The blond witch sighed. "I thought we understood each other better than that," she said. "I know I've been distracted with things lately, but I hoped you knew you could talk to me, no matter what it was."

"And we get a little alarmed when a student just up and disappears," Jim pointed out. "Because . . . well, because of exactly what happened to you. Looking out for you is our job. We take it seriously."

Her hand moved to the back of her head, rubbing lightly. She had a headache. "Yeah." It was more resigned than anything else. She didn't know what else to say. She screwed up. She got that.

This was a carbon copy of the night before with Scott. Amanda had hoped Topaz would have better insight into things after a night's rest, but apparently not. And that lack of insight was going to get her - and possibly others - into serious trouble one day. "Look, Topaz, we're not angry at you. We're just trying to understand."

"There's nothing to understand." She hadn't actually meant to say that, but the words came out before she could stop them. She'd trusted the wrong person and made a mistake. That was it. Time to move on.

Amanda winced slightly before she could hide the expression. That one hurt.

Jim pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd known Topaz long enough to recognize the signs of full lockdown. Whatever she was thinking, they weren't getting access to it anytime soon. Maybe later, when she wasn't feeling cornered and wrapping on on herself, but not now. The counselor spread his hands. "All right," he said. "Will you at least tell us what happened before the team got there?"

Topaz shrugged, sliding down just a bit more in her seat, hunching up the smallest bit. "One of the blokes grabbed me outside, shoved me into the room. They tied me up." She didn't really want to talk about what Taboo had said. It wasn't worth it.

"That's all?" The question was somewhat unnecessary, because it clearly wasn't.

"Yeah." Everything of importance, at least.

"What about Taboo?" Amanda wasn't going to let it rest so easily. "What did he say to you?"

A shrug. "Stopped paying attention." She didn't want to talk about this. Who cared what he'd said to her? It didn't matter.

Amanda gave Haller a helpless look. Even at her worst, she hadn't been this sullen, had she?

Jim wished he could offer the witch more support, but frankly he was out of ideas. They weren't getting anything out of her this way -- not now, not in this setting. Pushing Topaz was a bad idea under any circumstances, and in this case he suspected one of the factors behind her silence was that disclosing certain details would force her to acknowledge them. Maybe she would be more forthcoming after enough time and certain atmospheric unlikelihoods such as a rain of frogs.

"If you remember anything," the counselor said at last, "please tell us. If there's a threat to you or the school, we need to know. We've had things like this come back on us before." He rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. "The professor would like a word with you about your actions, but that can wait. For now just get some rest."

"There were no threats," Topaz said at once. Well, none Amanda hadn't heard anyways, and she'd pretty much put the fear of god in Taboo. He was many things but he wasn't stupid. He wouldn't come back. "I can go?"

"Yes, you can. Let us know if you need anything." There was really no use playing Twenty Questions at this point. You couldn't get blood from a stone, but you could definitely get a headache.

As the girl closed the door, Haller turned to Amanda with a resigned look on his face.

"Well, that could have gone better."