xp_logs | Doug and Amanda (Reply)

Amanda drops by Doug's room for help translating a spell. Unfortunately, she transcribed a bit wrong, so she has to show him the original. Doug very carefully doesn't react to Amanda stripping, sensing that it's important. There's a little bit of discussion of the spell, and wishes to make sure Rack gets his. Just general plot advancement.

"Doug, you in?" Amanda called, tapping on the door. She had a book under her arm - her magic texts were unmistakable, and lately, ever-present - which had a document envelope sticking out of it.

Doug called out from his office chair, where he was sitting looking at the ceiling. "It's open, Amanda..."

"Hey," she said, opening the door and poking her head inside. "I've got that translation, if yer up for it? 'S sort of important."

Doug shrugged. "I can be up for it," he replied. He was concentrating hard at not moping and being visibly out-of-sorts over the mess with Marie and Marie-Ange, but he wasn't quite sure how well he was doing. He made a vague motion at the magic text under Amanda's arm. "What've you got for me?"

"'S a spell I've been working on decipherin', only there's a bit here I can't read - the language ain't any of the ones I know. An' of course it's the crucial bit," she said, rolling her eyes at the irony.

Doug chuckled. "Isn't that how it always works? You get stuck on that one little piece, and it holds up your understanding of the entire thing, and if you could just understand that bit, everything else would fall into place..." He grinned. "Show me what you've got."

Amanda came in, closing the door behind her and dragging Jamie's desk chair over to sit beside Doug. "'S a bindin' spell - well, 'bout four of 'em, actually - an' Doc Strange an' me have worked out most of it, there's just this last bit. An' I could wait and get him to help me, but I'm so bloody close now..." She la! y the book on the desk and pulled the envelope out, shaking out a number of loose notebook pages covered in her uneven handwriting, along with several photos, which she quickly tucked under the rest before Doug could see them. "I _think_ it's one of the demonic languages, but it ain't any of the ones I know. I've transcribed the original, so it's easier t' read..."

Doug placed the pages carefully in front of him on his desk and looked curiously at them. "Hm. What exactly am I looking for here?"

"This bit here..." She pointed out a passage written in what looked like completely random collections of letters, almost like a typewriter had exploded on the page. "I've got some of the words already, usin' a translation spell, but some of it don't make sense. I ain't sure if it's because I've transcribed it wrong, or if it just don't make sense on purpose."

Doug looked pensively. "Most of it looks like it makes sense. Ugly language, by the way." He shivered. "But this part, here..." He pointed at a specific passage. "Doesn't make any sense at all. And it doesn't look like it was on purpose. I think it's possible you transcribed it wrong. Where'd you get it from? Looking at the original might help, if you have it."

"Bugger. I was thinkin' that might be it..." Amanda cast a glance at the closed door, and then stood and without any kind of lead up, pulled her t-shirt off over her head. Today was a no-bra day - the scars frequently chafed when she wore one - and she peered down at her front, trying to remember where the passage was. "Um, here, I think," she said, pointing to a line of characters running across the soft skin just below her right breast.

Doug carefully kept his features blank, instinctively sensing, even without use of his power, that this was important to Amanda, and that this wasn't really a ploy to make him uncomfortable. He swallowed once, heavily. Standing, he crossed to where Amanda was, peering at the passage in question. "Can you...?" he trailed off, making a vague lifting motion and pointing towards the breast. He was fairly obviously slightly uncomfortable, but also visibly tamping down on it for Amanda's benefit.

"What? Oh, yeah. Bloody puberty." She lifted the offending body part as much out of the way as possible, turning slightly so Doug had more light.

Doug peered closer, concentrating on the letters etched upon Amanda's skin, rather than the fact that the ritual scarring covered her entire body, or that she was bare to the waist in front of him. "By the blood and by the fire this child is so bound. By the power of earth and hell, her soul is so bound. By the will of man and demon, her life is so bound." He whistled softly. "That sounds like some pretty serious binding to me."

"Yeah, it's a right bondage party. Can you write it down for me? 'S hard t' read upside down, an' that looks like the final component." Amanda's voice was oddly calm, as if she was talking about a science experiment. When Doug had done so, she pulled her shirt back on and gathered her things, preparing to go. "Ta, Doug. That helped, a lot," she said, still with that emotionless tone.

Doug watched her gather her things sadly. "Amanda? Is there...is there anything I can do to help?" he asked quietly, having a feeling the answer would be in the negative, but still needing to ask. He watched the tightness of Amanda's body language, wishing with all his heart that such awful things would stop happening to his friends.

"You done plenty," Amanda said, her tone softening a little. "This is one thing you can't mother hen away, Doug. An' Rack fucked me up a long time ago - I'm used to dealin' with it."

Doug shook his head. "Doesn't make it any less of a fucked-up thing for someone to do, and doesn't make me wish to be able to do something to help any less." He smiled grimly. "Wouldn't mind helping him receive some of that back threefold," he half-joked. He stood up and walked to the door with Amanda. "I...I hope your magic tutor can help you find some way to deal with that."

Amanda chuckled a little at the magic-related joke. "Oh, he'll get his one day. Hopefully sooner rather 'n later. An' yeah, Strange has been really good with this so far - an' this translation will help heaps." She reached out and gave him a soft punch on the arm. "Ta."