xp_logs | Amanda and Topaz || Road Trip

Amanda decides she needs company on her way to meet Maya's grandfather and drags Topaz along for the ride. Whether or not this is a good idea remains to be seen.

"So, are you going to make that grumpy face all the way to Oregon?" Amanda asked, more teasing her apprentice than actually serious. Seated in the driver's seat of her "Broomstick" - it had survived the end of the world, it seemed, albeit without the 'improvements' Forge had made, since her Forge didn't exist in this universe - her hair braided back loosely and wearing an Xavier's hoodie, Amanda looked more like a grad student than an actual "teacher". She glanced over at Topaz again. "You can't deny you needed a break."

"I'm not making grumpy faces, I'm reading," Topaz corrected Amanda without looking up from her book. In all honesty she was making a bit of a grumpy face -- but only because she didn't understand why Amanda couldn't have taken anyone else on this road trip. She would've been just as happy to bury herself in the library and not resurface for a few weeks. Or months.

"A break from what? Not exactly doing much right now."

"Not right now, but you just did do a hell of a lot. Including, well, you know." Amanda let the rest of the sentence hang, focusing on the road ahead to give Topaz some thinking space. "It's not an easy thing."

Topaz looked back down at her book, but the words suddenly didn't make any sense in her head. Leave it to Amanda to bring that up. "I'm not sorry," she said, a little too fiercely for it to be the full truth. "I'd rather be driving across the country with you than dead because I let him walk away."

"You had to. It was you or him, and when that happens, you have to do what you have to." The older witch sounded regretful, however. "I wish you hadn't been in that position, tho'. At least, not yet, any way. 'S why I never suggested the Trenchcoats for you."

"Yeah I don't think I really belong on any of the teams." She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the thought of that.

"You're not really a team player, no," came the wry reply. "I do what I do 'cause someone needs to do it, and I'd rather me than you, or Billy or Megan. So you three have a choice. About joining a team, going to college, getting a job... all that stuff."

"What if we don't know what we want to do?" It was meant to sound a lot more casual than it came out.

"There's no rush. But perhaps, if you're at a loss at what to do with yourself, maybe it might help for you to try doing some different things. Help out with the Gen X kids, perhaps, or take some classes with the community college. Talk to some of the other grad types and see if anything they're doing interests you. Expand your horizons past the library, maybe?" This last was said in Amanda's slightly teasing tone, the one she used to be affectionate with Topaz.

"I think the kids are good without my particular brand of help," Topaz replied dryly. "I've already accidentally given Strange Jr. enough ideas to turn half your head grey." Not on purpose, of course. But it just went to show she couldn't be trusted with anyone under eighteen. "I actually applied to a few colleges for the fall semester...got an acceptance letter for one a few weeks back."

"You're more useful to them than you think, but I'll let that one go. What college did you get?" Amanda looked pleased at this new information.

"New York University. I wasn't really expectin' that one to be honest." She shrugged, fiddling with the book. "Dunno how I'd pay for it though."

"You do realise the Professor still runs that scholarship thing? Or, if you've got issues with that, I can arrange a loan for you. Paying it forward, all that jazz." Amanda glanced at her former student again. "And before you start with the "I couldn't possiblys", it's an investment for me. Making sure you have as much chance to do your thing as you can."

"And I can't get into too much trouble if I'm in school, right?" Topaz asked dryly. "I'll think about it. I'm not even sure what I wanna study, to be honest."

"There's time. New school year doesn't start for a while and you'll have time to pick something. Maybe do a few different things in the first year to figure out where you want to go with it."

"Yeah...I dunno." She shrugged, fiddling with her hair. "I don't have to let them know until next month if I want to go. All seems kind of mad, though."

"What does? You mean, thinking about school and the future and all that like normal people?"

"Well when you put it like that it seems kind of silly to think it's mad," Topaz said dryly, a bit of humor slipping into her voice.

"Oh it's totally mad. Mad as a boxful of badgers." Amanda flashed a grin. "But then again, we've never been sane."