Log: Maya and Amanda
Apr. 1st, 2017 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBackdated to 1st April 2017
Maya tries to get in to see Warren but ends up having to be rescued by Amanda. It goes as well as one might expect.
Warren's office wasn't far from the Snow Valley Research Center, but Amanda cursed her bad luck with every step. Of course, she could have just teleported, but New York had been particularly cranky since November, and she was trying to avoid getting too enmeshed in it. Plus it would do to strangle one of the mansion's teens in a fit of city-and-personal irritation. She arrived at the security desk, smoothed down her wind-blown hair and her winter coat, and smiled as nicely as she could at the guard. "Hi there. Amanda Sefton. I'm here to pick up a Maya Lincoln-Lopez?"
Maya looked up from the chair she’d been occupying for the past thirty minutes with a defiant gleam to her eyes. She didn’t think she’d done anything wrong, just because security happened to think so. It wasn’t her fault that ‘I’m Warren Worthington’s illegitimate daughter, let me in’ hadn’t worked as well as she’d hoped.
The security officer, Tom from what she’d heard the others call him, although he’d told her to call him Mr Harris, pointedly spoke softly to Amanda for a moment before leading her over to Maya.
“Um, hi?”
"Hi," was Amanda's dry response. "Come on, let's get out of here so you can tell me exactly what possessed you to pull a stunt like this."
Maya's shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly but she stood and followed the older woman meekly from the security office and out onto the pavement beyond before speaking.
"You're not my mother, or Wade," Maya noted, glaring at Amanda. "You might be forced to be responsible for me, but that doesn't mean I owe you an explanation of anything. You've done your good deed of the day, so you can just go away now."
Her family, as always, would be horrified at the way Maya was acting, had been acting for a while now but being told what to do by people who would probably not spit on her if she was on fire was just a bit much.
"Well, considering Wade would want to know why I abandoned his kid in the middle of Manhattan, I won't be going away any time soon. Sorry to disappoint you there, kid." Amanda pulled out her cigarettes and lit one up - she was going to need the nicotine for this. "Let's walk you to the station, at least, so I can make sure you're on the way back to the mansion."
“Fine,” Maya replied, giving Amanda another defiant look before turning to walk toward the nearest station. “Don’t think this means I’m telling you what happened though.”
"Fine," was Amanda's reply. Now she'd regained her calm and knew Maya was safe, she realised she'd erred in her earlier approach. "Warren's probably going to find out from his security guards. 'S not as if anyone's going to give you the benefit of the doubt as to why you were trying to get into his private office. 'Specially without hearing your side."
Maya continued walking, worrying at her lip with her teeth as she glanced at Amanda every so often. “Don’t think I care about what anyone else thinks, because I don’t, but I was just trying to get into see him cause he owes me a job.”
"Owes you, huh? How does that work?" Amanda asked casually.
“Because he said he’d give me one, and then he goes and disappears and I can’t find him to call due on the whole thing,” Maya muttered, continuing her stomp/walk toward the station. “You don’t go saying you’ll give someone a job and then book it.”
"Have you emailed him?" Amanda asked. "Or pinged him on the journals? He was around not that long ago."
Maya kept walking, her shoulders hunched slightly as if holding herself in against the world around her.
“Do you need me to tell you how stupid that question was, or would you just like me to assume you know how stupid that question was? Of course, we could just both ignore the fact that you just asked someone from my generation if I’d thought about e-mailing or texting him before trying to find him in person.”
"Not as stupid as almost getting myself arrested by crashing his office," was Amanda's unruffled reply. "So you emailed and texted and Twittered and fuck knows what else, and he didn't reply. Did it occur to you that he is avoiding you on purpose?"
“No,” Maya replied, turning around to walk backwards so she could look Amanda in the eye. “Through everything I’ve done, I never once had the thought that he might be avoiding me. That’s why I was trying to pretend to be his illegitimate daughter so that he wouldn’t know it was me, because I just like to lie to random people and pretend to be things I’m not. It’s my favourite hobby in the whole entire world.”
"Good thing you're not a spy, because you suck at cover identities. His illegitimate daughter? Yeah, right, like that's not going to raise suspicions at security. You would have done better buying a bunch of flowers and saying you were the delivery girl." Amanda faced down Maya's sarcasm with a slightly amused expression. "Why on earth is a job from him so important? You can't be that hard up for work. Or did you just want in on the gravy train?"
“Excuse me for being a fifteen year old,” Maya responded hotly. “Because white boys with more money than sense don’t get to offer jobs and then treat me like I don’t even matter enough to remember my name. Don’t expect you to understand why that’s important.”
The noise of the city, now that they were in the thick of the crowd, made it hard to hear Amanda’s responses. If she hadn’t been good at reading lips, she might have missed most of her words completely. Still, walking backwards wasn’t exactly the best of solutions, she’d already slammed into at least three separate people.
Amanda winced as Maya almost took out an old lady. ~This better?~ she signed, her movements slow and awkward but understandable. All of X-Force had learned ASL to some degree - it was helpful for the job, and made Artie's life much easier when he was undercover with a partner and couldn't use his powers. ~Don't you get tired? Being so righteous all the time? It must be exhausting.~
~A lot, thanks.~ Maya responded in kind, making sure to keep her own sign careful and slow so that Amanda could follow. She turned around and fell back to walk beside Amanda. ~It’s more exhausting living in a world that sees you as less than human. If I had the luxury of just living without being reminded every time I walk out the door that nobody will ever just give me anything, then I might be a little less intense about it.~
~Believe it or not, kid, I know all about it. Being seen as less than human. And not just because of the m-word.~ Amanda shrugged. ~More people at the mansion than you realise have had to fight for everything they have.~
~Yeah, I can see how not knowing which castle to buy is truly a struggle for the ages,~ Maya responded, her hands implying a rich vein of sarcasm. She continued to walk, her steps speeding up as if she just wanted this conversation over with. ~I’m not completely blind, I know there’s people who’ve seen stuff. But I’m not going to stop pushing people just because they might have one or two intersections in common with me. They’ve got to earn that respect, same as me.~
~Gotta tell you, kid, if you're trying to earn respect, you're buggering it up completely,~ Amanda signed with a snort. ~Do you think barging in on Warren demanding a job he probably doesn't remember offering was actually going to get him to respect you? Or give you the job, for that matter?~
~Maybe I don’t want respect from the people who don’t accept me as I am,~ Maya countered, giving Amanda a smug look. ~If I have to change everything about myself just to make someone feel better, then they’re not really worth knowing, are they? Just because I don’t do it the way you think it should be done, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done that way. ~
~I didn't say change everything. But then, if all you are is pig-headedness and aggression and self-righteousness, go right ahead. I'm pretty sure stomping your foot and acting like a brat will get you far in life.~ Amanda was definitely wondering how Wade managed this handful. ~I just hope not too many people get hurt bailing you out when you fuck up.~
~Now who’s being self-righteous,~ Maya responded, lips quirking upward. ~Love the assumption there that what I’m doing will ever hurt anyone but myself but okay, let’s go there. Say I fuck up big time, say you all have to come rescue poor little me from the big bad world. Isn’t that what you’re meant to be doing? Or was all that peace and love Xavier spouts just a gimmick to get parents to give him money so their little darlings don’t have to deal with the world outside?~
"You selfish little shit," snapped Amanda aloud, not caring if Maya could read her lips or not. In her mind's eye, she was seeing Billy combusting from overload, Nico watching the First kill her parents... and she realised she couldn't do this. Her students, past and present been reckless and prone to get into trouble... but they never assumed it was her job to risk her life to save them regardless. Hell, even at her own worst points, she hadn't expected that. ~You're right. This is none of my business, and you know what you're doing,~ she retorted. ~The station's a couple more blocks that way. I'll call Wade and let him know to expect you on the train.~ And with that she ducked into the shadow of a deep doorway and vanished.
Maya tries to get in to see Warren but ends up having to be rescued by Amanda. It goes as well as one might expect.
Warren's office wasn't far from the Snow Valley Research Center, but Amanda cursed her bad luck with every step. Of course, she could have just teleported, but New York had been particularly cranky since November, and she was trying to avoid getting too enmeshed in it. Plus it would do to strangle one of the mansion's teens in a fit of city-and-personal irritation. She arrived at the security desk, smoothed down her wind-blown hair and her winter coat, and smiled as nicely as she could at the guard. "Hi there. Amanda Sefton. I'm here to pick up a Maya Lincoln-Lopez?"
Maya looked up from the chair she’d been occupying for the past thirty minutes with a defiant gleam to her eyes. She didn’t think she’d done anything wrong, just because security happened to think so. It wasn’t her fault that ‘I’m Warren Worthington’s illegitimate daughter, let me in’ hadn’t worked as well as she’d hoped.
The security officer, Tom from what she’d heard the others call him, although he’d told her to call him Mr Harris, pointedly spoke softly to Amanda for a moment before leading her over to Maya.
“Um, hi?”
"Hi," was Amanda's dry response. "Come on, let's get out of here so you can tell me exactly what possessed you to pull a stunt like this."
Maya's shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly but she stood and followed the older woman meekly from the security office and out onto the pavement beyond before speaking.
"You're not my mother, or Wade," Maya noted, glaring at Amanda. "You might be forced to be responsible for me, but that doesn't mean I owe you an explanation of anything. You've done your good deed of the day, so you can just go away now."
Her family, as always, would be horrified at the way Maya was acting, had been acting for a while now but being told what to do by people who would probably not spit on her if she was on fire was just a bit much.
"Well, considering Wade would want to know why I abandoned his kid in the middle of Manhattan, I won't be going away any time soon. Sorry to disappoint you there, kid." Amanda pulled out her cigarettes and lit one up - she was going to need the nicotine for this. "Let's walk you to the station, at least, so I can make sure you're on the way back to the mansion."
“Fine,” Maya replied, giving Amanda another defiant look before turning to walk toward the nearest station. “Don’t think this means I’m telling you what happened though.”
"Fine," was Amanda's reply. Now she'd regained her calm and knew Maya was safe, she realised she'd erred in her earlier approach. "Warren's probably going to find out from his security guards. 'S not as if anyone's going to give you the benefit of the doubt as to why you were trying to get into his private office. 'Specially without hearing your side."
Maya continued walking, worrying at her lip with her teeth as she glanced at Amanda every so often. “Don’t think I care about what anyone else thinks, because I don’t, but I was just trying to get into see him cause he owes me a job.”
"Owes you, huh? How does that work?" Amanda asked casually.
“Because he said he’d give me one, and then he goes and disappears and I can’t find him to call due on the whole thing,” Maya muttered, continuing her stomp/walk toward the station. “You don’t go saying you’ll give someone a job and then book it.”
"Have you emailed him?" Amanda asked. "Or pinged him on the journals? He was around not that long ago."
Maya kept walking, her shoulders hunched slightly as if holding herself in against the world around her.
“Do you need me to tell you how stupid that question was, or would you just like me to assume you know how stupid that question was? Of course, we could just both ignore the fact that you just asked someone from my generation if I’d thought about e-mailing or texting him before trying to find him in person.”
"Not as stupid as almost getting myself arrested by crashing his office," was Amanda's unruffled reply. "So you emailed and texted and Twittered and fuck knows what else, and he didn't reply. Did it occur to you that he is avoiding you on purpose?"
“No,” Maya replied, turning around to walk backwards so she could look Amanda in the eye. “Through everything I’ve done, I never once had the thought that he might be avoiding me. That’s why I was trying to pretend to be his illegitimate daughter so that he wouldn’t know it was me, because I just like to lie to random people and pretend to be things I’m not. It’s my favourite hobby in the whole entire world.”
"Good thing you're not a spy, because you suck at cover identities. His illegitimate daughter? Yeah, right, like that's not going to raise suspicions at security. You would have done better buying a bunch of flowers and saying you were the delivery girl." Amanda faced down Maya's sarcasm with a slightly amused expression. "Why on earth is a job from him so important? You can't be that hard up for work. Or did you just want in on the gravy train?"
“Excuse me for being a fifteen year old,” Maya responded hotly. “Because white boys with more money than sense don’t get to offer jobs and then treat me like I don’t even matter enough to remember my name. Don’t expect you to understand why that’s important.”
The noise of the city, now that they were in the thick of the crowd, made it hard to hear Amanda’s responses. If she hadn’t been good at reading lips, she might have missed most of her words completely. Still, walking backwards wasn’t exactly the best of solutions, she’d already slammed into at least three separate people.
Amanda winced as Maya almost took out an old lady. ~This better?~ she signed, her movements slow and awkward but understandable. All of X-Force had learned ASL to some degree - it was helpful for the job, and made Artie's life much easier when he was undercover with a partner and couldn't use his powers. ~Don't you get tired? Being so righteous all the time? It must be exhausting.~
~A lot, thanks.~ Maya responded in kind, making sure to keep her own sign careful and slow so that Amanda could follow. She turned around and fell back to walk beside Amanda. ~It’s more exhausting living in a world that sees you as less than human. If I had the luxury of just living without being reminded every time I walk out the door that nobody will ever just give me anything, then I might be a little less intense about it.~
~Believe it or not, kid, I know all about it. Being seen as less than human. And not just because of the m-word.~ Amanda shrugged. ~More people at the mansion than you realise have had to fight for everything they have.~
~Yeah, I can see how not knowing which castle to buy is truly a struggle for the ages,~ Maya responded, her hands implying a rich vein of sarcasm. She continued to walk, her steps speeding up as if she just wanted this conversation over with. ~I’m not completely blind, I know there’s people who’ve seen stuff. But I’m not going to stop pushing people just because they might have one or two intersections in common with me. They’ve got to earn that respect, same as me.~
~Gotta tell you, kid, if you're trying to earn respect, you're buggering it up completely,~ Amanda signed with a snort. ~Do you think barging in on Warren demanding a job he probably doesn't remember offering was actually going to get him to respect you? Or give you the job, for that matter?~
~Maybe I don’t want respect from the people who don’t accept me as I am,~ Maya countered, giving Amanda a smug look. ~If I have to change everything about myself just to make someone feel better, then they’re not really worth knowing, are they? Just because I don’t do it the way you think it should be done, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done that way. ~
~I didn't say change everything. But then, if all you are is pig-headedness and aggression and self-righteousness, go right ahead. I'm pretty sure stomping your foot and acting like a brat will get you far in life.~ Amanda was definitely wondering how Wade managed this handful. ~I just hope not too many people get hurt bailing you out when you fuck up.~
~Now who’s being self-righteous,~ Maya responded, lips quirking upward. ~Love the assumption there that what I’m doing will ever hurt anyone but myself but okay, let’s go there. Say I fuck up big time, say you all have to come rescue poor little me from the big bad world. Isn’t that what you’re meant to be doing? Or was all that peace and love Xavier spouts just a gimmick to get parents to give him money so their little darlings don’t have to deal with the world outside?~
"You selfish little shit," snapped Amanda aloud, not caring if Maya could read her lips or not. In her mind's eye, she was seeing Billy combusting from overload, Nico watching the First kill her parents... and she realised she couldn't do this. Her students, past and present been reckless and prone to get into trouble... but they never assumed it was her job to risk her life to save them regardless. Hell, even at her own worst points, she hadn't expected that. ~You're right. This is none of my business, and you know what you're doing,~ she retorted. ~The station's a couple more blocks that way. I'll call Wade and let him know to expect you on the train.~ And with that she ducked into the shadow of a deep doorway and vanished.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-24 03:37 pm (UTC)And poor Amanda. Why do I feel that Warren should be expecting some sort of cab bill or something? Maybe a receipt for a purse that he now 'owes' Amanda? :p