Amanda Sefton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
xp_daytripper) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
xp_logs2025-05-10 04:10 pm
xp_daytripper) wrote in xp_logs2025-05-10 04:10 pm
Entry tags:
Amanda and Emily - The Winding Road
Following her post about receiving a mysterious rock, Amanda tracks down Emily to the stables to explain the situation.
When she hadn't been able to find Emily in her room or in the magic library or in the common areas frequented by the high school aged residents or even in the kitchen, Amanda had ranged wider in her search. Instinct - and remembering Emily's talk about Mel's horses - led her to the stables, which she hadn't frequented in a very long time. But the smell of hay and manure and Horse set off a score of memories and she paused in the doorway to collect herself. At last she raised her voice slightly above conversational level - one did not yell in a stable, it spooked the horses - and called:
"Em? You in here?"
Emily didn’t immediately answer but the tinny sound of what vaguely sounded like Nightwish's ‘Wish I Had An Angel’ could be heard further in. It didn’t take long for the owner of the music to come humming happily from one of the stalls, a rake held tightly in one hand as she played air guitar.
Amanda smothered a chuckle and waved to get Emily's attention. "Got a minute, padawan?"
Caught mid epic guitar solo Emily blushed and pulled her headphones off. She gave Amanda a wry smile as she ducked away from the horse that had decided he really wanted to nibble on her ponytail.
“Got lots of minutes,” Emily replied, pressing pause on her Spotify playlist before tucking her phone away. “What’s up?”
"I wanted to talk to you about this whole Winding Way thing. But if you're busy, I can talk and work at the same time." Amanda nodded towards the rows of currying brushes on the wall. "I like horses and I usually haven't got time to spend with them."
“Nah, s’all good, you can take the stall next to me if you like. ‘Diva’ there’s usually pretty good with almost anyone giving her a brush, the hussie.”
Emily left the rake against the side of the stable before she picked up a feed bag and headed back inside the stall. There was the sound of rustling and the odd swear before she popped her head over the side with a grin.
“What’s this whole Winding Way thing anyway? Sounds important to bring you all the way down here.”
Armed with a couple of brushes, Amanda approached Diva, pitching her voice to low and soothing. ~"Hello there, pretty girl. I'm Amanda and I'm going to give you a nice brushing, get all that dust out of her coat. You like that idea, don't you?"~ She'd dropped into speaking Rom reflexively, and she rubbed the horse's soft nose and let her sniff her over before moving to her side and beginning to work. Brushing methodically, she fell into a long-forgotten rhythm, recalling the days she'd worked at a local stables as a teenager. Emily's question recalled her to the present.
"The Way? Right, that's what I wanted to explain to you, since they've deigned to pay attention to you now." She wrinkled her nose. "Basically? It's a philosophy. Dark versus Light, Chaos versus Order, England versus Australia... no, wait, that's the cricket." She chuckled at her own bad joke.
“That make England the dark then?” Emily replied, continuing the joke as she moved to the next stall to start mucking it out. “Why the weird multicolor rocks then?”
"Depends if you like cricket or not." Amanda moved in long strokes over Diva's side, grinning as the mare shifted closer to her to get more from the brush. "The rocks are a kind of an invitation. We never know who actually sends them, but they represent a choice about which side you're on, Dark or Light."
“Who doesn't like cricket? But I prefer footie.” Emily replied, voice slightly strained as she set about cleaning out the old flooring. “Why isn’t it only me getting them then? And what exactly is light and dark? We talking Jedi style choice?”
"A bit. Except instead of Jedi and Sith, there's a whole bunch of different groups: Kamar-Taj, Clan Akkaba, the Society of Thule... All locked in eternal combat with each other, since their goals are determined by the Way and so they're completely opposite." Amanda paused in her brushing to straighten and meet Emily's eyes. "As for us, none of us have actually chosen a side yet. Which is why we're still getting rocks."
“We can do that? Not pick a side, I mean.” Emily asked after a moment of thought. “They don’t get more insistent?”
"It comes and goes. What's happening now is them getting insistent, but it's one of those "ignore it and it will go away" sort of things. I don't know how it is in the wider magic community, but in our little enclave here, we're big on personal choice and informed decisions. You might have noticed I'm a fan of free will."
“Maybe just a little,” Emily joked with a grin. If there was one thing she currently liked about America it was that she hadn’t had to hide any of herself since she’d arrived. After a lifetime of always having to be careful, it was a relief to just be able to live. “It’s a good thing though.”
Amanda grinned and went back to brushing Diva. "You say that now. Just wait until I give you ALL the reading so you have the "informed" part of deciding."
When she hadn't been able to find Emily in her room or in the magic library or in the common areas frequented by the high school aged residents or even in the kitchen, Amanda had ranged wider in her search. Instinct - and remembering Emily's talk about Mel's horses - led her to the stables, which she hadn't frequented in a very long time. But the smell of hay and manure and Horse set off a score of memories and she paused in the doorway to collect herself. At last she raised her voice slightly above conversational level - one did not yell in a stable, it spooked the horses - and called:
"Em? You in here?"
Emily didn’t immediately answer but the tinny sound of what vaguely sounded like Nightwish's ‘Wish I Had An Angel’ could be heard further in. It didn’t take long for the owner of the music to come humming happily from one of the stalls, a rake held tightly in one hand as she played air guitar.
Amanda smothered a chuckle and waved to get Emily's attention. "Got a minute, padawan?"
Caught mid epic guitar solo Emily blushed and pulled her headphones off. She gave Amanda a wry smile as she ducked away from the horse that had decided he really wanted to nibble on her ponytail.
“Got lots of minutes,” Emily replied, pressing pause on her Spotify playlist before tucking her phone away. “What’s up?”
"I wanted to talk to you about this whole Winding Way thing. But if you're busy, I can talk and work at the same time." Amanda nodded towards the rows of currying brushes on the wall. "I like horses and I usually haven't got time to spend with them."
“Nah, s’all good, you can take the stall next to me if you like. ‘Diva’ there’s usually pretty good with almost anyone giving her a brush, the hussie.”
Emily left the rake against the side of the stable before she picked up a feed bag and headed back inside the stall. There was the sound of rustling and the odd swear before she popped her head over the side with a grin.
“What’s this whole Winding Way thing anyway? Sounds important to bring you all the way down here.”
Armed with a couple of brushes, Amanda approached Diva, pitching her voice to low and soothing. ~"Hello there, pretty girl. I'm Amanda and I'm going to give you a nice brushing, get all that dust out of her coat. You like that idea, don't you?"~ She'd dropped into speaking Rom reflexively, and she rubbed the horse's soft nose and let her sniff her over before moving to her side and beginning to work. Brushing methodically, she fell into a long-forgotten rhythm, recalling the days she'd worked at a local stables as a teenager. Emily's question recalled her to the present.
"The Way? Right, that's what I wanted to explain to you, since they've deigned to pay attention to you now." She wrinkled her nose. "Basically? It's a philosophy. Dark versus Light, Chaos versus Order, England versus Australia... no, wait, that's the cricket." She chuckled at her own bad joke.
“That make England the dark then?” Emily replied, continuing the joke as she moved to the next stall to start mucking it out. “Why the weird multicolor rocks then?”
"Depends if you like cricket or not." Amanda moved in long strokes over Diva's side, grinning as the mare shifted closer to her to get more from the brush. "The rocks are a kind of an invitation. We never know who actually sends them, but they represent a choice about which side you're on, Dark or Light."
“Who doesn't like cricket? But I prefer footie.” Emily replied, voice slightly strained as she set about cleaning out the old flooring. “Why isn’t it only me getting them then? And what exactly is light and dark? We talking Jedi style choice?”
"A bit. Except instead of Jedi and Sith, there's a whole bunch of different groups: Kamar-Taj, Clan Akkaba, the Society of Thule... All locked in eternal combat with each other, since their goals are determined by the Way and so they're completely opposite." Amanda paused in her brushing to straighten and meet Emily's eyes. "As for us, none of us have actually chosen a side yet. Which is why we're still getting rocks."
“We can do that? Not pick a side, I mean.” Emily asked after a moment of thought. “They don’t get more insistent?”
"It comes and goes. What's happening now is them getting insistent, but it's one of those "ignore it and it will go away" sort of things. I don't know how it is in the wider magic community, but in our little enclave here, we're big on personal choice and informed decisions. You might have noticed I'm a fan of free will."
“Maybe just a little,” Emily joked with a grin. If there was one thing she currently liked about America it was that she hadn’t had to hide any of herself since she’d arrived. After a lifetime of always having to be careful, it was a relief to just be able to live. “It’s a good thing though.”
Amanda grinned and went back to brushing Diva. "You say that now. Just wait until I give you ALL the reading so you have the "informed" part of deciding."