Rictor & Amanda, backdated to July 2
Jul. 2nd, 2023 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsAmanda picks up the new arrival and gives him the lowdown on the mansion and being a mutant in general.
Rictor had traveled to America before on family vacation, though once was to Disney World in Florida and the other was to Texas to visit a cousin. He'd managed short, direct flights for those. But given the rush to get everything in order, Rictor's itinerary today ended up departing Mérida for Mexico City, then to Denver (!), and then finally to New York. With long layovers in both stops. All in all, what should have been just 4 hours turned to 14. The stress of travel was bad enough, but being in the sky and away from the ground for so long had worn his patience dangerously thin. Dragging his massive suitcase behind him into which he had packed his whole life, he nearly snapped at an old lady blocking the walkway while she stared at the arrival screen. He was thankfully stopped from making a fool of himself and possibly risking arrest by the timely arrival of his pickup contact.
"I am never again going to fly on a plane," he swore in Spanish to Amanda. "I will drive home next time if I need to."
Amanda chuckled, and held out a hand to help with his baggage. "Welcome to New York. At least you made it here okay. C'mon my car's parked out front." Which was totally down to her connection with the city - she hadn't had to pay for parking here since her powers had reset.
He followed her out into the not-so-fresh air of Queens and hurried to keep with her on the way to her car. "I have not been to New York City before," he said in English, grunting as he struggled to load his suitcase into the trunk. "I saw it from the plane. It looks a little like Ciudad de México but a lot taller. So many big buildings all next to each other. Is there any grass in the city at all?"
"Lots of it in Central Park," she replied, taking the other side of the suitcase to help him load it. "Bloody hell, that's heavy. All your worldly goods in there, yeah?" She thought of her own arrival, when she'd showed up with a small duffle bag and Pete had had to get her released from security. Things had certainly changed.
"I wasn't certain what to bring," he admitted sheepishly. "I read that it can be very hot in New York in the summer but very cold in the winter, but it never snows in Mérida. I packed everything I could. Oh, and everything I need for my altar. Crystals, photos. I didn't pack candles because they would probably break, and I assume I can buy some here, anyway. Maybe that one guy from your team who spoke Spanish has some."
"Anything you missed, we'll either have spares or someone will take you shopping," Amanda replied, closing the trunk with a thump. "As for crystals and candles and the like, I might have some spares."
Rictor laughed softly at himself as he walked around the side of the car to get into the passenger seat. "Of course you do. I should have known that. You would need those things for your spells, verdad? Is there a store you regularly go to for your equipment?" His mind and mouth were already going a mile (two kilometers?) a minute. He had Plans for this new life.
Oh fuck, he was so eager. Like a puppy. Amanda wasn't quite sure she'd ever had a student quite like this. "Well, yeah, I've been teaching magic at the mansion for a while now," she replied as she slid into the front seat and buckled her seat belt. "So plenty of supplies and a regular place to get them from. The only student I have at the moment is Pixie, and she's learned about as much as she can, to be honest, so you'll be on your own a bit. My last students are... studying elsewhere for now. But you've met Topaz. She was a student of mine, now graduated - she chips in when I'm away for work."
"So there have been several magical mutants." She had already told him as much when she first invited him to New York, but he needed to hear her confirm it again. "For how many years have you taught? If you have a lot of students, then you must have a lot of experience."
"I came to Xavier's when I was fifteen." She started the car and pulled into the traffic that was constantly around JFK without so much as a blink - it was like a space just opened up for her when she wanted it. "I was the first - and only - magical mutant there. It was - no, I was difficult. But once I'd grown up a lot and got a handle on my powers, I came back to the mansion and wound up teaching magic, since I was the only one who knew what it was like, being a magic user and a mutant." She fell quiet for a moment, thinking of her students over the years - Nico, Topaz, Billy, Pixie, Stephen, Clea and Bas. She continued, softly: "I lost three of them during M-Day."
On instinct, Rictor crossed himself and muttered a short prayer to the dead. He was barely an adolescent when it happened and as far as he knew, was not acquainted with any victim. But he had heard enough about it that he had some idea of Amanda's loss. Even if he didn't know the half of it.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he said solemnly, fixing his gaze straight ahead because he did not know how to handle a woman who might start crying. "Um, Topaz seemed nice. And powerful." There, much better conversation.
"Thanks. And yeah, she is." Amanda sounded relieved at the slight change of topic - it had been a while since she'd had such a young student and she had apparently forgotten how to talk to them. "Both nice and powerful. She's got an interesting combo of powers - her magic is fueled by empathy. So she can pull emotional energy from people and use it for spells. That's how we got to you during the ritual."
"Oh, is that why I started feeling not sca . . . uh, digo . . . I felt calm? There were probably many emotions for her to use. Hmm. How do you fuel your magic?
"Cities," was her reply as she grinned. "Have you noticed? We haven't caught a single red light or had to slow down all the way from the airport." She gave a small self-effacing shrug. "It's a little hard to explain, but it's like... cities are alive and they share their energy with me. That's what I use for magic. And why I had to use a channeling spell with you in Mexico - we weren't near enough to anything I could use."
Rictor nodded as pieces slowly fell into place. What a puzzle mutants were. "Do all cities work the same? Mérida, my home, is so much smaller than New York, or even Ciudad de México. And very different cities. They feel different to me, too. I feel more en la capital than Mérida, sabes? Even through all the pavement, the earth is louder there."
Amanda's eyebrows rose. "Huh, I hadn't realised your powers worked like that," she replied. "But yeah, it's very much the same - my mutant power only works in certain cities. They have to be over a certain size and age, but that also changes with the country and the importance of the city to that area - and they do have different feels. Mexico City is a bit of a rush, since it's so big. A bit like eating really spicy food." She laughed a little. "How do you translate how your power senses things? Is it a taste sort of thing, or touch, or some sort of combination you can't describe?"
"I don't know," Rictor admitted. "It . . . I feel stronger or maybe healthier en la capital than anywhere I have been before, even though it's not my home, ¿sabes? I don't know if it's because of the size, or the history, or the environment, or something else. But it's not restricted to the city. Como, it feels the same at home in Mérida and out where Chiichi and Tata live, and there is no big city nearby. And it took me some few weeks for la capital to feel that way for me. The more time I spent there while in university, the more connected I felt."
"Hmm. Maybe it's something to do with the earth itself? Tectonic plates, types of rock, that sort of thing? It's something to look into, any way. And there's plenty of people who will help you with that at the mansion."
"Thank you again for bringing me here. I did not know how to train myself. Too many prayers. I guess those were a waste of time if it's coming from me and not Heaven," he said wryly. So much lost time.
"My brother might be able to explain that better than me," Amanda replied wryly. "He's the religious one. But it wasn't a waste of time - a lot of techniques you use for magic, with the breathing and focus and calming the mind? Those work with controlling mutant powers too."
Rictor lay his head against the cool glass of the window, observing the city fly past them, all the street signs in English. Despite Amanda's reassurances, he still mourned the loss of time he could have had if he had learned the truth sooner. Where could he have been if he'd had one, two, five years of proper education?
"How many other students are there?" he asked, not noticing he had switched back to Spanish in his reverie.
She replied in the same language, with that strange lisping accent she'd picked up from Manuel: "Right now? Three, that could be called students. They've all turned up in the last few months."
"So many so soon together? Is it a sign, do you think? I hope an auspicious one and not a bad omen."
"Maybe not a sign, but that's the other thing about living at the mansion - things tend to run in patterns. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not." She shrugged one shoulder. "It just is."
Rictor had traveled to America before on family vacation, though once was to Disney World in Florida and the other was to Texas to visit a cousin. He'd managed short, direct flights for those. But given the rush to get everything in order, Rictor's itinerary today ended up departing Mérida for Mexico City, then to Denver (!), and then finally to New York. With long layovers in both stops. All in all, what should have been just 4 hours turned to 14. The stress of travel was bad enough, but being in the sky and away from the ground for so long had worn his patience dangerously thin. Dragging his massive suitcase behind him into which he had packed his whole life, he nearly snapped at an old lady blocking the walkway while she stared at the arrival screen. He was thankfully stopped from making a fool of himself and possibly risking arrest by the timely arrival of his pickup contact.
"I am never again going to fly on a plane," he swore in Spanish to Amanda. "I will drive home next time if I need to."
Amanda chuckled, and held out a hand to help with his baggage. "Welcome to New York. At least you made it here okay. C'mon my car's parked out front." Which was totally down to her connection with the city - she hadn't had to pay for parking here since her powers had reset.
He followed her out into the not-so-fresh air of Queens and hurried to keep with her on the way to her car. "I have not been to New York City before," he said in English, grunting as he struggled to load his suitcase into the trunk. "I saw it from the plane. It looks a little like Ciudad de México but a lot taller. So many big buildings all next to each other. Is there any grass in the city at all?"
"Lots of it in Central Park," she replied, taking the other side of the suitcase to help him load it. "Bloody hell, that's heavy. All your worldly goods in there, yeah?" She thought of her own arrival, when she'd showed up with a small duffle bag and Pete had had to get her released from security. Things had certainly changed.
"I wasn't certain what to bring," he admitted sheepishly. "I read that it can be very hot in New York in the summer but very cold in the winter, but it never snows in Mérida. I packed everything I could. Oh, and everything I need for my altar. Crystals, photos. I didn't pack candles because they would probably break, and I assume I can buy some here, anyway. Maybe that one guy from your team who spoke Spanish has some."
"Anything you missed, we'll either have spares or someone will take you shopping," Amanda replied, closing the trunk with a thump. "As for crystals and candles and the like, I might have some spares."
Rictor laughed softly at himself as he walked around the side of the car to get into the passenger seat. "Of course you do. I should have known that. You would need those things for your spells, verdad? Is there a store you regularly go to for your equipment?" His mind and mouth were already going a mile (two kilometers?) a minute. He had Plans for this new life.
Oh fuck, he was so eager. Like a puppy. Amanda wasn't quite sure she'd ever had a student quite like this. "Well, yeah, I've been teaching magic at the mansion for a while now," she replied as she slid into the front seat and buckled her seat belt. "So plenty of supplies and a regular place to get them from. The only student I have at the moment is Pixie, and she's learned about as much as she can, to be honest, so you'll be on your own a bit. My last students are... studying elsewhere for now. But you've met Topaz. She was a student of mine, now graduated - she chips in when I'm away for work."
"So there have been several magical mutants." She had already told him as much when she first invited him to New York, but he needed to hear her confirm it again. "For how many years have you taught? If you have a lot of students, then you must have a lot of experience."
"I came to Xavier's when I was fifteen." She started the car and pulled into the traffic that was constantly around JFK without so much as a blink - it was like a space just opened up for her when she wanted it. "I was the first - and only - magical mutant there. It was - no, I was difficult. But once I'd grown up a lot and got a handle on my powers, I came back to the mansion and wound up teaching magic, since I was the only one who knew what it was like, being a magic user and a mutant." She fell quiet for a moment, thinking of her students over the years - Nico, Topaz, Billy, Pixie, Stephen, Clea and Bas. She continued, softly: "I lost three of them during M-Day."
On instinct, Rictor crossed himself and muttered a short prayer to the dead. He was barely an adolescent when it happened and as far as he knew, was not acquainted with any victim. But he had heard enough about it that he had some idea of Amanda's loss. Even if he didn't know the half of it.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he said solemnly, fixing his gaze straight ahead because he did not know how to handle a woman who might start crying. "Um, Topaz seemed nice. And powerful." There, much better conversation.
"Thanks. And yeah, she is." Amanda sounded relieved at the slight change of topic - it had been a while since she'd had such a young student and she had apparently forgotten how to talk to them. "Both nice and powerful. She's got an interesting combo of powers - her magic is fueled by empathy. So she can pull emotional energy from people and use it for spells. That's how we got to you during the ritual."
"Oh, is that why I started feeling not sca . . . uh, digo . . . I felt calm? There were probably many emotions for her to use. Hmm. How do you fuel your magic?
"Cities," was her reply as she grinned. "Have you noticed? We haven't caught a single red light or had to slow down all the way from the airport." She gave a small self-effacing shrug. "It's a little hard to explain, but it's like... cities are alive and they share their energy with me. That's what I use for magic. And why I had to use a channeling spell with you in Mexico - we weren't near enough to anything I could use."
Rictor nodded as pieces slowly fell into place. What a puzzle mutants were. "Do all cities work the same? Mérida, my home, is so much smaller than New York, or even Ciudad de México. And very different cities. They feel different to me, too. I feel more en la capital than Mérida, sabes? Even through all the pavement, the earth is louder there."
Amanda's eyebrows rose. "Huh, I hadn't realised your powers worked like that," she replied. "But yeah, it's very much the same - my mutant power only works in certain cities. They have to be over a certain size and age, but that also changes with the country and the importance of the city to that area - and they do have different feels. Mexico City is a bit of a rush, since it's so big. A bit like eating really spicy food." She laughed a little. "How do you translate how your power senses things? Is it a taste sort of thing, or touch, or some sort of combination you can't describe?"
"I don't know," Rictor admitted. "It . . . I feel stronger or maybe healthier en la capital than anywhere I have been before, even though it's not my home, ¿sabes? I don't know if it's because of the size, or the history, or the environment, or something else. But it's not restricted to the city. Como, it feels the same at home in Mérida and out where Chiichi and Tata live, and there is no big city nearby. And it took me some few weeks for la capital to feel that way for me. The more time I spent there while in university, the more connected I felt."
"Hmm. Maybe it's something to do with the earth itself? Tectonic plates, types of rock, that sort of thing? It's something to look into, any way. And there's plenty of people who will help you with that at the mansion."
"Thank you again for bringing me here. I did not know how to train myself. Too many prayers. I guess those were a waste of time if it's coming from me and not Heaven," he said wryly. So much lost time.
"My brother might be able to explain that better than me," Amanda replied wryly. "He's the religious one. But it wasn't a waste of time - a lot of techniques you use for magic, with the breathing and focus and calming the mind? Those work with controlling mutant powers too."
Rictor lay his head against the cool glass of the window, observing the city fly past them, all the street signs in English. Despite Amanda's reassurances, he still mourned the loss of time he could have had if he had learned the truth sooner. Where could he have been if he'd had one, two, five years of proper education?
"How many other students are there?" he asked, not noticing he had switched back to Spanish in his reverie.
She replied in the same language, with that strange lisping accent she'd picked up from Manuel: "Right now? Three, that could be called students. They've all turned up in the last few months."
"So many so soon together? Is it a sign, do you think? I hope an auspicious one and not a bad omen."
"Maybe not a sign, but that's the other thing about living at the mansion - things tend to run in patterns. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not." She shrugged one shoulder. "It just is."
