xp_logs | Hope and Tandy: Friends reunite.

Tandy goes looking for Hope. They talk and end up going shopping.

Tandy had heard that Hope had returned from her three week program and had decided to go hunt her down. Hope was the one person that Tandy hadn't seen when she arrived back to this world. She wanted to see how she was doing and if Julian was treating her alright. Most of all, Hope had been a close friend to her and Tan was pleased that she had survived.

She knocked on the door to the suite, that she believed belonged to Hope. "Hope? Are you in? Decent?"

Slightly shocked as she recognized, Hope looked up from her laptop, the notes for her Comparative Government AP glaring brightly from the screen. "Tandy? Is that you? Come on in!"

"The one and only." She walked into the room and closed it behind her. "I am not disturbing you, am I? I just haven't seen you in awhile - a long time and thought I would come and see you."

"No, no. Just studying, but that can wait." Hope took a moment to study the features of her friend. They were subtly different from the friend she remembered, but still very much Tandy. "You look well."

Tandy walked over and took a seat nearby. "Thanks. I'm glad to see you made it." She smiled at Hope. She was glad Adrienne told her who had made it. "How have you been?"

How such a simple question could be so loaded... "I am doing okay." There, that seemed neutral enough. "And how about you, Tandy? It must be very strange to come back to this world... with so many things changed."

"One step at a time I suppose." Tandy said with a small nod. "A bit. It is the time change that I am still trying to be okay with. I felt like I missed everything but really I didn't miss a thing. Only really weird thing was people thinking I was dead, which was understandable. I didn't really have cell reception in Asgard."

"Can I ask what it was like?" Hope pulled up a leg to the couch and leaned her chin on it, quickly rearranging her skirt. "I mean Asgard... I have read some it's mythology, but it's hard to imagine meeting some of them for real!" Inside she has to wonder if Tandy was really this mellow about what had happened, but she didn't really want to get that. Not minutes after seeing her friend again.

"Sure. What do you want to know? The buildings? The peoples there? The different races? The languages? The day to day life? I mean the list can go on. I'll do my best to answer them." She smiled at her friend. "It was surreal when we were brought to Odin's hall."

"Hmm... maybe... what did you do there all that time? I mean, you were there for several years, right?" Hope asked after a few moments of thought.

"I was trained as a Shield Maiden, under the watch of Bald'r son of Odin and the god of light. I was taught how to fight with the sword and bow. I also learned how to control my powers at a finer level, I don't put people into a coma right away." She said, her eyes became unfocused as she recalled her life there. "I learned a bit of Asgardian' Magic, and Bald'r found my love of languages. I learned several actually, Goblin, Dwarven, Frost Giant, and Asgardian to name a few. They aren't complete but I can converse and I am able to know what they are saying."

Tandy looked over at Hope, "It was beautiful there. I felt like I was in stuck in a fantasy world and I did come to love it as my second home. If I was going to be stuck anywhere it would be there."

"So basically you became a linguistic, mutant Eowyn?" Hope referred to what was probably one of the most well known shield maidens from literature. "And you managed to add magic to that as well? Did you even have time to sleep?"

"Pretty much." Tandy smiled at the reference to The Lord of the Rings. "I woke up before dawn each day and began my training, after that it was breakfast followed by more training. Then it was lunch. Depending were we were we either went into the Great Libraries and my studies would continue or we would do scouting on the outskirts of Asgard. We would have dinner, drink and be in bed so start early again. I think I averaged about 5 or 6 hours of sleep."

"Still not a whole lot though." Hope tilted her head. "And now? Can you do magic just like Topaz can? Or does it work differently, because you were taught on Asgard."

Tandy shook her head. "It is different. When I was in service as a Thrall of Asgard, I could. When I was relieved of my duties I no longer had it. I think if I go back to Asgard it would return, but Asgard magic is way different. Anyone can be taught it, as long as you have the focus. I only learned how to make my light more powerful sort to speak. Whatever Bald'r taught me."

"I already know very little of it, but it all sounds pretty confusing to me." Hope was silent for a few moments, debating asking the question burning in her mind. "How old are you now, Tandy? How long were you in Asgard..."

"I was eighteen when I was taken from here." Tandy began and took a deep breath. "I was in Asgard for four years. I am twenty-two now."

Hope's eyes widened. "Four years!?!?" Again she debated asking what she wanted to ask, but finally decided to be direct. "Wasn't it lonely... a completely different world and so.. so many people to mourn."

Tandy wasn't surprised by Hope's surprise. She nodded, "It was. I will admit I cried for the first couple of months. I wasn't sure if anyone else had made it. Or if there was even a home to go back too. Still there was Molly and Tyrone but for the most part we were separated. Every year on the day I was brought to Asgard I would light a candle and just remember. I had time to heal, but when I came back and realized I was only gone for what two months here - you guys didn't. It is still messing with my head."

"I cannot even begin to imagine." And being confronted with their old friends, but with new faces and sometimes entirely different personalities... No, that was not one she was going to ask, the wound still too fresh for herself. "I..."

"Mind explosions." Tandy mimicked her head exploding with her hands. "I am glad you are okay too. I hear you are working for Julian now? Let me know if he is treating you okay."

"I am. And generally he is." The gloom lifted a little as she smiled and continued: "Just wrangling him to go certain appointments for the event planning can be challenging. The caterers strangely never are an issue, but don't get me started about the florist or the decorators."

"I do believe he was ready to pull out his own hair when you were gone to Switzerland. Are florist and decorators a hassle? You could always threaten to go somewhere else. I hear threatening people may be a good motivation."

"They can be in some ways. But no threatening to go somewhere else is not on the agenda for now..." She smiled a little mischievously. "Maybe I might be able to take over various bits and pieces and gain some very valuable experience. But who knows..."

"The world is your oyster. And if you are working for Julian, he'll make sure you'll get the experience. If not, you can always come work for me and Adrienne."

"Working as PA in the fashion world? I think that must be a whole lot more hectic then what I am currently doing for Mr. Keller. Though that is still quite part time around my school work." Hope tilted her head a little again. "But what are you on planning on doing now? Work with Ms. Frost?"

"All the fashion shows you could ever dream about going." Tandy smirked. "About a week ago, MC Designs, my late mother's company merged with Adrienne's company. I was more or less given the role of CMO position. Chief Media Officer or Chief Social Media Officer. So I am doing that just to occupy my time. I still want to do more languages, so I will probably go back to college. I have several books that I am borrowing from Doug. You know, trying to be a grown up." She winked at her friend.

"The fashion shows I would not mind. Though to be honest, I think if I would work for Mr. Keller full time it would be a lot more intensive." Hope winked back "So you'll basically be part of the public relations... I'd call that quite different from being a shield maiden if I am honest."

"I wish you luck." Tandy sighed and nodded. "If I don't like someone I can't take out my sword and beat them with it."

"I can already see it before me. You chasing your people around." Suddenly Hope sobered a little as she realized something and she didn't want her friend caught unaware. "Do you plan on keeping up your skills with your sword and bow?" The new versions of their old friends whom she was so likely to encounter...

Tandy couldn't help but laugh as she also imagined that scenario. "Yup. I still get up pretty early and train. It is a habit that I don't plan on kicking any time soon. Want to learn?"

"No, I am sometimes hard pressed to find time for my violin. But I mentioned it for another reason. I don't know if you have met them yet, but you'll probably meet Clint and Matt there... And they are... different..."

Tandy nodded again. "Adrienne said as much. I already met Matt. I think the freakest one was Sue..." Her eyes lowered slightly. "I saw her...back when the evil versions of us...under all the rubble. And now she is here.."

A shudder ran down Hope's back, somewhat grateful she did not have to see that. "I think they were already trying to evacuate some of us by then... I cannot imagine seeing... that..." Sleep might have become impossible, even with the wine.

Tandy looked over at Hope and offered the best piece of advise she had "It does get better with time. Trust me." Her hand went to her necklace that held the only thing left from her best friend. "Say, why don't we go shopping. Get us out of the mansion for a couple of hours."

Giving her text book a quick glance, she considered it for only a minute. "That sounds like a good idea. I could use some fresh air so to speak." Studying could come later. "You might have to get caught up there again as well?"

"Excellent." Tandy stood up and looked over at Hope. "Meh. I'll just go with the flow."

"We can take your car?" Hope stood up, putting her things neatly to the side. "If you still have one?" She had no idea what Ms. Frost would have done with Tandy's car.

"We'll take Adriennes'." Tandy smiled as she stood up. "And don't worry, I think I still know how to drive."