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xp_logsFollowing this exchange, Marie-Ange has questions about Amanda's last-minute job. Which Amanda neatly avoids providing details about.
New Jersey was exhausting. By all reason it should not have been any worse than anywhere else in the United States, but it was somehow was just terrible and exhausting. Which is why Marie-Ange was laying on the couch with an ice pack on her face, the eyepatch discarded on the floor and her feet draped over the side of the sofa.
She heard the door open and waved a hand. "If that is not either Amanda or someone with good tea, I am too tired to do murder, and the ding in the car was not my fault. I got cut off on the Turnpike."
"How about Amanda, good tea and those pastries from that place you like?" Amanda came into the room carrying a large takeout cup and a paper bag. "Don't worry about the car - dings add character."
"I like all of those things." Marie-Ange did not get up, but did wave with her free hand. "Was there magic in Paris? I did not see anything on the calendar. Anything we should be concerned with?"
"Not really. Just something that needed taking care of." Amanda's tone was casual as she set the tea and paper bag down on the table. "You look wiped."
"Kevin did a favour for Christian Kane, and needed extra time, so I took a meeting in New Jersey off his hands. Five hours of ... " She moved, and the ice pack fell to the floor. "Five hours of listening to property developers in New Jersey, there are biotech firms buying office space, plus the commute. I hate the Turnpike." Marie-Ange finally sat up, and pulled the paper cup of tea off the table and to her face to smell. "Oh, this is the good tea. You did not go to Paris just for tea, yes? Because I do not know if I have energy to properly say thank you."
"Kevin knows Gar's dad?" Amanda didn't respond to the question about the tea and sat down next to Marie-Ange, bending to retrieve the ice pack. "What kind of favour?"
Marie-Ange did more inhaling of tea than sipping, but eventually took a drink from the steaming cup. "He calls him Chris. I think they go back from when Kevin was CIA. He is helping Christian with revenge on the Maggia. It is ugly, and rather a little cathartic to see it done."
“Sounds a bit much for a personal favour. I thought we didn’t do those?” Even for Garrison.
“We do not. He did it all on his own, we had a row about it. I probably would have signed off, if I am being honest - the Maggia on the west coast getting magical weapons is a nightmare.” The more tea she drank the less shatteringly weary Marie-Ange looked. “For a bit today I thought he had roped you into things, but he promised to keep me in the loop about it.”
"No, nothing like that. Just research. The usual." Amanda brushed Marie-Ange's hair back from her face. "You look all in. Want me to run a bath for you once you're done with the tea?" She mock-leered. "I could wash your back?"
The offer was ignored for as long as it took Marie-Ange to break into the bag of pastries. She pulled the smaller bulb of pastry off the top of the religieuse, and popped it in her mouth. "We need a bigger bathtub if you keep offering that sort of thing. We both do not fit, and I am going to have to return the favour, and then it is water all over the floor." She dragged a finger through the chocolate on the pastry and then licked it off.
“If you keep it up with the sexy chocolate eating, we won’t even make it to the bathroom,” replied the witch, leaning forward to do the same. “How tired were you again?”
"Not so tired." Marie-Ange said. "Plus I have tea and chocolate. Restoratives." She pulled the rest of her pastry apart, eating one half neatly, somehow not getting the coffee custard on her fingers. "You did a lot of teleporting around, should I ask if you are tired? You went all the way to Paris and back." She paused oddly, glanced at Amanda and then finished the other half of the pastry in a bite. "Just to get me tea and pastry and do a bit of magic."
Amanda dropped her gaze. "Not so bad," she replied. "You know teleporting doesn't take much out of me - 's the city doing most of the work. And New York gave me a boost when I got back. The worst part was rush hour traffic back here - too bad I can't teleport straight home, eh?" She hefted the ice pack in her hands. "You done with this? I can put it back in the freezer for next time..." She got up, heading for the kitchen to do just that without waiting for a reply.
"I still think it is funny, all this power and New York's traffic is such a part of the city that it prevents you from not having a terrible commute." Marie-Ange said. "So much strangeness in our powers."
"What's the saying? It's not what you know but who you know?" Amanda closed the freezer door and returned to sit next to Marie-Ange. "New York likes me - saving its proverbial arse a couple of times does that. Now you and the pre-cog? That's strange. It's something magic users train forever to try and do, and you get the visions without even asking for it."
"My brain connects to quantum nonsense." Marie-Ange said with a firm nod. "I got an explanation once, or at least a theory. None of it made a lick of sense, and it makes less sense now. How does having one fewer eye mean my powers are better?" She leaned into Amanda's side. "How does it makes sense that I can see some things and not others. This, you and me, I never saw until it was on top of me." She twisted to lean her head into Amanda's lap. "Literally, sometimes.”
Amanda giggled a little and ran her hand through Marie-Ange’s hair, enjoying the softness of it, occasionally winding a curl around her fingers. “I’m kind of glad,” she replied after a while. “Some things are better without getting a warning.”
"Agree. Also if you keep doing that I will fall asleep in your lap, and all the chocolate eating will be wasted." Marie-Ange's nose wrinkled up in her usual amused way.
A nose boop was the response. "I thought you were too tired?" the witch asked in the same tone.
"Oh no, only too tired for murder."
New Jersey was exhausting. By all reason it should not have been any worse than anywhere else in the United States, but it was somehow was just terrible and exhausting. Which is why Marie-Ange was laying on the couch with an ice pack on her face, the eyepatch discarded on the floor and her feet draped over the side of the sofa.
She heard the door open and waved a hand. "If that is not either Amanda or someone with good tea, I am too tired to do murder, and the ding in the car was not my fault. I got cut off on the Turnpike."
"How about Amanda, good tea and those pastries from that place you like?" Amanda came into the room carrying a large takeout cup and a paper bag. "Don't worry about the car - dings add character."
"I like all of those things." Marie-Ange did not get up, but did wave with her free hand. "Was there magic in Paris? I did not see anything on the calendar. Anything we should be concerned with?"
"Not really. Just something that needed taking care of." Amanda's tone was casual as she set the tea and paper bag down on the table. "You look wiped."
"Kevin did a favour for Christian Kane, and needed extra time, so I took a meeting in New Jersey off his hands. Five hours of ... " She moved, and the ice pack fell to the floor. "Five hours of listening to property developers in New Jersey, there are biotech firms buying office space, plus the commute. I hate the Turnpike." Marie-Ange finally sat up, and pulled the paper cup of tea off the table and to her face to smell. "Oh, this is the good tea. You did not go to Paris just for tea, yes? Because I do not know if I have energy to properly say thank you."
"Kevin knows Gar's dad?" Amanda didn't respond to the question about the tea and sat down next to Marie-Ange, bending to retrieve the ice pack. "What kind of favour?"
Marie-Ange did more inhaling of tea than sipping, but eventually took a drink from the steaming cup. "He calls him Chris. I think they go back from when Kevin was CIA. He is helping Christian with revenge on the Maggia. It is ugly, and rather a little cathartic to see it done."
“Sounds a bit much for a personal favour. I thought we didn’t do those?” Even for Garrison.
“We do not. He did it all on his own, we had a row about it. I probably would have signed off, if I am being honest - the Maggia on the west coast getting magical weapons is a nightmare.” The more tea she drank the less shatteringly weary Marie-Ange looked. “For a bit today I thought he had roped you into things, but he promised to keep me in the loop about it.”
"No, nothing like that. Just research. The usual." Amanda brushed Marie-Ange's hair back from her face. "You look all in. Want me to run a bath for you once you're done with the tea?" She mock-leered. "I could wash your back?"
The offer was ignored for as long as it took Marie-Ange to break into the bag of pastries. She pulled the smaller bulb of pastry off the top of the religieuse, and popped it in her mouth. "We need a bigger bathtub if you keep offering that sort of thing. We both do not fit, and I am going to have to return the favour, and then it is water all over the floor." She dragged a finger through the chocolate on the pastry and then licked it off.
“If you keep it up with the sexy chocolate eating, we won’t even make it to the bathroom,” replied the witch, leaning forward to do the same. “How tired were you again?”
"Not so tired." Marie-Ange said. "Plus I have tea and chocolate. Restoratives." She pulled the rest of her pastry apart, eating one half neatly, somehow not getting the coffee custard on her fingers. "You did a lot of teleporting around, should I ask if you are tired? You went all the way to Paris and back." She paused oddly, glanced at Amanda and then finished the other half of the pastry in a bite. "Just to get me tea and pastry and do a bit of magic."
Amanda dropped her gaze. "Not so bad," she replied. "You know teleporting doesn't take much out of me - 's the city doing most of the work. And New York gave me a boost when I got back. The worst part was rush hour traffic back here - too bad I can't teleport straight home, eh?" She hefted the ice pack in her hands. "You done with this? I can put it back in the freezer for next time..." She got up, heading for the kitchen to do just that without waiting for a reply.
"I still think it is funny, all this power and New York's traffic is such a part of the city that it prevents you from not having a terrible commute." Marie-Ange said. "So much strangeness in our powers."
"What's the saying? It's not what you know but who you know?" Amanda closed the freezer door and returned to sit next to Marie-Ange. "New York likes me - saving its proverbial arse a couple of times does that. Now you and the pre-cog? That's strange. It's something magic users train forever to try and do, and you get the visions without even asking for it."
"My brain connects to quantum nonsense." Marie-Ange said with a firm nod. "I got an explanation once, or at least a theory. None of it made a lick of sense, and it makes less sense now. How does having one fewer eye mean my powers are better?" She leaned into Amanda's side. "How does it makes sense that I can see some things and not others. This, you and me, I never saw until it was on top of me." She twisted to lean her head into Amanda's lap. "Literally, sometimes.”
Amanda giggled a little and ran her hand through Marie-Ange’s hair, enjoying the softness of it, occasionally winding a curl around her fingers. “I’m kind of glad,” she replied after a while. “Some things are better without getting a warning.”
"Agree. Also if you keep doing that I will fall asleep in your lap, and all the chocolate eating will be wasted." Marie-Ange's nose wrinkled up in her usual amused way.
A nose boop was the response. "I thought you were too tired?" the witch asked in the same tone.
"Oh no, only too tired for murder."
