xp_logs | Amanda and Topaz - afternoon of October 10

Topaz drops by to talk to Amanda about the Dark Dimension. She only avoided it for a day, she must be progressing.

Topaz had run out of reasons to avoid doing this. She had done all her homework (for the next two weeks), had cleaned her suite twice, and had reorganized her desk in the library and put away all the new books that had arrived. She had even brushed Midnight, much to the cat's distress. She had the claw marks on her arm to prove that.

She sighed, knocking on Amanda's suite door.

"'S open!" came Amanda's voice. The witch was curled up in her easy chair, laptop balanced on her lap and a fresh pot of tea and two mugs on the table. She looked up with a smile as Topaz came in. "Hey, you. Thought you might be dropping by. Cuppa?"

Topaz raised an eyebrow. "You were so sure you've been sitting here with a pot of tea and two mugs?"

Amanda grinned. "Pretty sure. Besides, I'm on enforced rest for a day or so while my ribs heal up - New York did not like the taste of Dark Dimension energy and spat me back out. There's been a lot of tea."

"New York has good taste." Topaz finally relaxed slightly, going to sit on the couch. She did pour herself tea, because conversations with Amanda always required tea. "How are you feeling?"

"Eh, so-so." Amanda waggled her hand in a see-saw gesture. "Ribs and shoulder hurt like hell, but I have the ice pack and the drugs for that. And I purged most of the dark shite from my system feeding that tosser at the end, so it's just residual. Spots in front of my eyes sometimes, occasional urge to go forth and pillage, you know how it is." She grinned to show she was mostly joking. "You?"

"Please don't turn evil," Topaz said dryly. "I don't think anyone can handle that right now." She poured her own mug, then Amanda's to buy herself a little extra time. "Well I don't have any broken bones and I'm alive."

"And? C'mon, Topaz, you know better than that. I'll just keep poking."

Topaz sighed, sipping her drink. "I don't know," she finally said. "Something happened, when we were fighting those.... things. Not the old man turned demon, his minions."

"When you froze up?" Amanda remembered the incident clearly. "Did you pick up something from them?"

Topaz ducked her head, cheeks heating up slightly. She didn't remember much of it, but she knew she had frozen in the middle of a fight and that was bloody stupid. "Yeah. But it wasn't just feelings. I heard thoughts."

Amanda's eyebrows went up. "Thoughts? But I thought... you're an empath, not a teep..." She trailled off, remembering Manuel and how their link would sometimes share more than just emotions. "Unless you're both?"

“I don’t know.” Tops shrugged in return. “I thought that would have come up before now, but.... I know what I heard.”

"Brains are weird," was Amanda's sage reply. "And so are mutant powers. Combine the two and anything might happen." She leaned over and patted Topaz' knee encouragingly. "You know what I'm going to suggest next, don't you? Bald, wheelchair, likes Earl Grey?"

"Only if you bring him some chocolate Hob Nobs as an alternative." Amanda winked. "They're some of his favourite biscuits and I just happen to have a supply."

Topaz half laughed, grateful to be shaken out of her thoughts for a minute. “Brilliant, then.” She sipped her tea, pursing her lips. “There’s... one other thing. About those things we were fighting. I’m not sure how important it is, but o don’t think I should sit on it either.”

"You said before you heard thoughts from them?" Amanda's expression turned shrewd. "As in, people type thoughts?"

Topaz nodded. “I thought maybe they were like Slendermen - you know, basic emotions, nothing that stands out. But these things were vivid. I think what I heard might’ve been... the last thoughts they had as humans.” She had been trying very hard not to think about that.

The older witch winced. "Ugh, that's horrible." Then a thought occurred to her. "Emotions too?" she asked, a note of concern entering her expression and voice.

Another nod, slower this time. “Yeah. Those too. I didn’t drain them, though. Don’t really know what would have happened if I had.” She didn’t want to think about it.

"Probably for the best, yeah." The concern didn't leave Amanda's expression. "No wonder you froze up like that. You okay now? Feeling something like that... can't have been good for you."

“It wasn’t pleasant,” was Topaz’ immediate, flippant response. Her next answer was a bit quieter. “Never felt anyone die before, but I imagine that was pretty close to what it’s like.”

"Yeah." Amanda sounded subdued. And worried. "Those poor bastards. And probably no way to reverse what was done to them, either."

“Probably not.” Her tone was bitter now. “Even if there was, His High and Mighty Pain in the Arse doesn’t seem to mind leaving people to rot there.” Topaz was possibly more bitter about that than she has originally let on.

"Yeah, I need to do a lot of homework on this 'Ancient One'," Amanda agreed. "Fucker doesn't get to mess with my kids, especially when the whole thing could have been avoided if we'd known the truth about Clea. If I'd known she had an evil entity for an uncle, there would have been a lot more warding on her room, for a start." She grimaced. "And now he's interested in Steve."

"Noticed that." Topaz smiled grimly. "Let me know if you need help digging up dirt on him."

Amanda grinned, a predatory sort of grin. "I knew I could count on you to help make him squirm."