xp_logs | Amanda and Nathan, Friday afternoon

Amanda stops by to pick up the language texts. She and Nathan wind up having a relaxed conversation about the courses, religion, her foster families, using mutant powers unconsciously, why Nathan attracts the stubborn type, what Manuel shouldn't do when he meets the Pack in Amsterdam, and sex.

He had never liked packing, not even when he was looking forward to the trip. Nathan peered at the bookshelves thoughtfully, trying to decide precisely what he wanted to bring. There was probably going to be a lot of sitting around by the pool, given that he wouldn't be swimming. The only problem was that more than a couple of books was going to make for damned heavy baggage, and there was no way he could get away with using his telekinesis to cart bags through the airport.

Distraction arrived, perhaps thankfully, in the form of Amanda bouncing in the door at him, forgetting to knock in her haste to catch him before they left. "Hey," she said, grinning broadly at him.

Nathan smiled at her, glad to see that she looked even more rested and happy. The job was definitely agreeing with her. "Hey yourself," he said, his tone mock-scolding. "What if Moira and I had been in the middle of something?"

"I would've cheered you on an' waited 'til you finished," she replied, unrepentantly. She plopped herself down in one of the new chairs and looked around. "Nice handiwork. See you beat the wallpaper into submission eventually."

"I take instruction well," Nathan said dryly, hobbing back over to the chair opposite hers and sitting down with a sigh. "So," he said, glancing towards the two boxes of textbooks. "You want one, or both...?"

"Gimme both. At least that way I can see what they're like, an' drop one if they're too hard. Th' Strange got that happy egghead look on his face when I told him I was goin' t' try the Mandarin. He keeps nudgin' me towards Eastern practices. Professional bias - if I didn't know better I'd say he was fittin' me up as his research assistant." She glanced at his new air cast. "You know, I was jokin' 'bout the plastic bubble business," she said with a grin.

Nathan floated a copy of each out of the boxes and over to land gently in Amanda's lap, wondering if she'd told Strange who was teaching the Mandarin or not. "It's a lot lighter," he said, his eyes flickering down to the cast. "You have no idea how much of a relief it is not to be dragging that much plaster around."

"I think I got an idea from yer last post 'bout caperin' if you could." Amanda opened the top book, which was the Mandarin, her curiosity clear. "You said this was tonal, right?"

"Mmm," Nathan said, slouching in the chair a little. "Part of what makes it so hard." He watched her leaf through the book, smiling again. "There are exercises," he said with a casual wave. "Keys to them in the back... I doubt we'd get any farther than the first couple of chapters during the week you're going to miss. Possibly a little more with the Arabic, but that one's even better for self-study."

"Well, I can't sing worth shit, 'cording t' Manny, but I've done a tonal language before." She flipped through the second book, the Arabic. "Ooh, nifty writin'. Too bad Rack couldn't've used some of this on me - 's almost pretty."

Nathan couldn't help a blink, but he covered it fairly well. "I'm wondering if I'll get any flack for picking that particular text," he said. "But there's not much better way to learn Arabic than read the Koran."

Amanda grinned. "Well, holy books tend t' have the best examples of the language - the people who wrote 'em wanted t' make sure they were as good as they could make 'em, I s'pose." She chuckled at Nate's surprised look. "What? Just 'cause I'm pagan don't mean I ain't read this stuff. Knowin' the enemy an' all that."

Nathan laughed aloud, but then gave her a curious look. "So you do... have religious beliefs," he said. "We've never really talked about that, I don't think..."

She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. "Well, sort of. Rack was never one for doin' things proper, so he taught me the bare minimum of what I needed t' know, an' then left me t' me own study. But there's stuff you need t' know, rites an' stuff you need t' perform, that keeps things on an even keel. I ain't a good pagan, but I s'pose that's what I am, if I had t' say." She shrugged a little. "Me power makes me tend t' think of it all as nothin' more 'n an energy source - sacred places an' objects, even Christian ones sometimes, have a charge for me. So I probably don't think 'bout it the right way. Homily was teachin' me some when I was there."

Nathan chuckled wryly. "The pragmatic approach - I love it. I tend to get a little... what's the word Jamie would use... wiggy? Wiggy about true believers."

"Pragmatic works. Stops you from gettin' all tangled up emotionally." Amanda thought of the events after the pool party and Manuel's slip, and gave a wry grin. "An' I can understand, you bein' wiggy 'bout that. Me last foster family were hardline Christians - I think me social worker was takin' the mick, or somethin' - an' they were... scary. They were convinced I was demonspawn or somethin', between the magic an' the scars an' all."

Nathan's expression darkened, but he forced a faint smile. "Maybe there were pluses to getting shanghaied into a black ops program rather than getting dumped in foster care," he quipped dryly. "I can't imagine what some nice American foster family would have done with a kid who made the furniture fly around the room when he had nightmares."

"Nope, I think you win the 'who had the shittiest childhood' contest," she said, but she smiled as she did to let him know she wasn't being huffy about it. "An' for all the Bible lessons an' draggin' me t' church t' get exorcised, I think I'd rather them than what happened t' you."

Exorcised? Nathan thought, pained. "You might say it's a wonder neither of us are raving psychotics," he said, trying to hold onto the dry tone. "I think we're doing fairly well, don't you?"

"Fucking right we are." She gave him a firm nod. "An' hey, don't get too upset 'bout the Christian stuff - after Rack, it was a fuckin' joke." She blinked. "Um, sorry, I ain't readin' yer aura on purpose, 's just pokin' out a bit."

"If I apologized every time I picked up a stray thought from someone, I'd be doing nothing but saying I was sorry," Nathan said easily, with a shrug. "I imagine the aura-thing is pretty similar, so don't worry about it."

"Thing is, with certain spells, the more I use 'em, the easier it is, an' if I use 'em a lot, they start half castin' 'emselves. Like they're reactin' t' what I'm thinkin', not what I actually want t' do." Amanda's nervous hands figeted with the two books in her lap, shuffling them like over-large cards. "If I read you on purpose, I get mostly the Askani - yer more clear when I ain't concentratin', I dunno why. Maybe 'cause it's mostly you answerin'?"

"They're quiet today," Nathan told her, a smile playing on his lips. "And as for the spells reacting to what you think... Moira ever tell you about my barricade-thing?" Amanda blinked at him. Taking that for a no, he explained. "My telekinesis reacts unconsciously much more often than it should. A few times since I've been here, when I've been particularly upset, most of the furniture in the room has wound up blocking the door. I did it on Muir a few times too, the first time I was there... when I was sick."

Amanda chuckled a little at the mental image. "I bet Moira had somethin' t' say 'bout that." Then she sobered. "That was the virus, yeah? The one you talked about in yer journal, when you were talkin' 'bout yer friends?"

Nathan nodded, his smile turning a little rueful. "I'm still surprised I managed to make any kind of first impression on her," he said. "Delirious half the time, stubborn and unresponsive the rest of the time... it's a good thing she's more stubborn than I am, or I wouldn't be here."

"You have a knack for attractin' the stubborn types," Amanda told him. Then she realised how that sounded, and a very faint blush tinted her cheeks.

"Personality defect," Nathan said, wisely not pursuing that line of conversation any further. "So, Moira and I are going to be on Muir as of next Friday morning. You and Manuel are definitely going to come up for the night?"

She nodded. "I think after meetin' the coven an' then goin' t' Brighton, Manny'll be ready for some peace and quiet." She smirked a little. "Do him some good. So, you two all set for yer dirty week?"

"What is this persistent belief that we're going off for lots of sex?" Nathan said mock-grumpily. "We are old, you know..."

"Not that old. Rom's the same age as you, an' she ain't exactly hangin' up her bondage gear yet," Amanda replied cheekily.

Nathan blinked. "What an image," he said, then grinned at her. "Constantly trying to shock me, trouble. I'm going to start thinking you want me perpetually off-balance."

"Me?" Amanda put on her most innocent face. "Why'd I do a thing like that for?"

"I would say you spent too much time around Dom when she was here, but I don't think I can pin it all on her," Nathan said, giving her a severe look that was probably quite ruined by the quiver of mirth in his voice.

"Yep, hopelessly led astray by the evil older sister," Amanda said cheerfully. "Amsterdam's gunna be fun, is all I can say."

Nathan snorted. "Would it be inappropriate of me to tell you to keep an eye on Manuel, if the whole team descends on the two of you?"

"Not inappropriate, no. Possibly a pain in the arse, but not inappropriate. The last thing I want is him upsettin' the wrong person an' nearly gettin' himself turned into mincemeat. 'Cause the last thing I want t' do is spend me time off castin' shields around him t' avoid messy death." Amanda rolled her eyes slightly. "He's gettin' better, tho' - he's at least thinkin' before he says stuff, on the journals any way."

Nathan nodded, smiling a little. "Just watch him, if David and Mina happen to be there." Amanda raised an eyebrow, and he went on. "Our married couple, and the other two mutants on the team. Mina is... well, not to be blunt, but she's stunning. Better men than Manuel have been known to drool. Unfortunately, David is also very jealous and possessed of super-speed. Best just to keep Manuel's attention on you."

"I'll remember that." Amanda frowned a little, and then grinned wickedly. "I think Dom and I can manage t' distract Manny. An' probably anyone else around. An' there's always the link."

"And he may not want to ogle Lien either, if she's there," Nathan said suddenly, frowning. "She's decided she doesn't like men these days." He stopped himself, shaking his head and laughing. "Really, they're all perfectly pleasant people. I shouldn't be trying to scare you. Garrison and Vasily, if they're there, will just drink, and perhaps sing. Hammer's not liable to make an appearance."

With a wry grin, Amanda shrugged. "They sound more like my kind of people than Manuel's, but then again, there's Spain an' meetin' his dad, so I s'pose we're even."

"I just want you to like them, I guess," Nathan admitted a bit sheepishly. "They're testy, violence-prone people I can't take anywhere nice, but... well, they're family. And I want you to... well, never mind." He could actually feel his face reddening. "I want us all to get along?" he ventured.

"I think we will. As long as they don't think I'm stealin' you away from 'em," she joked, smiling at his blush. And she wasn't too far away from doing the same - she hadn't missed the implication that she was family now too.

Nathan smiled, still wrestling with mild embarassment. "I really do have to finish packing, Amanda," he said with a chuckle. "Or Moira will kill me when she gets back. So... uh, give me a hug or something and go find something to get into?"

He'd barely finished the words before finding his arms full of teenage witch. "Have a good time," she said, hugging him with the arm that wasn't occupied with the books. "An' fuckin' well relax, or I'll have t' beat you with somethin' when I see you at Muir, all right?"