xp_logs | Amanda, Domino - Monday afternoon

The girls get a chance to talk about what happened at the club over coffee. It begins with Domino reassuring Amanda, then switches around.

"So," Domino asked dryly, sipping at her espresso and studying Amanda over the rims of her sunglasses. "When Nate asks you 'How was Amsterdam?', what are you going to tell him?"

"Depends on whether I want his head t' explode or not," Amanda said with a grin, but it was a subdued one, for her. The amount of power involved in what happened at the club was frightening - now she'd had time to think and process everything, what Manuel had done, by accident even, scared her more than a little. Not the act itself, but the implications of just how powerful a mutant he was. Love potions paled in comparison. She sipped at her coffee - she'd dumped half the sugarbowl in it to make it drinkable by her tea-fed standards - and frowned in thought. "T' tell the truth, I ain't sure what t' think of it meself."

"I would never have unlocked him if I thought anything like that could happen," Domino said frankly. "I mean, not that I was thinking much at the time..." She shifted in her chair, sighing. "He would be kicking my ass halfway across the continent if he were here. And hell, G.W. tried."

"Fuck, I didn't know he could do that meself, an' I've been sleepin' with him for six months." Amanda set her cup down, picking up the teaspoon and stirring the contents absently. "I mean, I've seen him unlocked, but I've never seen him at full power. If that was his full range. 'S... scary, t' think about." She shook herself out of that train of though and met Domino's eyes again. "Things all right with the team? I mean, Lien... she was projectin' hate at Manuel like nobody's business before all that. Fuck knows what she's thinkin' now."

"Sweetheart, stuff with the team was not good before you got here." Domino smirked humorously. "Just in case you missed that. But Lien'll be fine. May even wind up helping her. She had sex with something with a dick and the sky did not fall on her head." She laughed, this time with a touch of real mirth. "G.W. on the other hand... you'd think he'd been taking lessons from Nate on how to flagellate himself most efficiently for inappropriate boss-ly behavior." Eyeing Amanda thoughtfully, she leaned back in her chair. "You know, I actually do know how you feel. About what Manuel unintentionally showed us he can do."

"Things with the team were a bit hard t' miss, even for someone who's headblind. An' 'm just glad it was Lien an' not me that ended up with GW - poor bastard would probably be settin' himself on fire out of guilt or somethin'." A brief smirk crossed her face. "The boys had no complaints, far as I remember. An' I sure don't, except for the whole not bein' able t' walk later." The smirk faded, and she started fiddling with the teaspoon again. "I knew he was strong, but not that strong. It worries me - if he ever took it into his head t'..." She didn't finish the thought. "Well, I couldn't stop him, no matter how much trainin' I get. Not with the link there as well."

"I didn't have a link to worry about," Domino said, "But it did freak me right the hell out the first time I saw Nathan use his telekinesis... well, to the extent that he can actually use his telekinesis. Which he doesn't do very often." She smiled again, if faintly. "I thought I was pretty tough shit, up until then. But it made me reassess some things... oddly enough, it was an accident, just like what happened in the club."

"What happened? I mean, I've seen Nate do some pretty impressive stuff already, smashing rocks an' then putting 'em back together an' such, but he makes it seem so easy, it can't be his limit. An' he uses it t' keep the virus in check, right? That's... fuck I can't even imagine usin' the magic version on that kind of scale." The worried expression left Amanda's face as her curiosity surfaced and she picked up her coffee and leaned forward, almost eagerly.

"We were supposed to be blowing up an arms factory in China," Domino said. "Something was odd about the security system - we never figured out precisely what it was doing, but Nate got hit with something that seemed like an electrical shock." Domino paused, shaking her head. "Certainly left similar burns. But his TK went totally out of control. The whole place just started to..." She made a helpless gesture. "It was like an earthquake at first, and then the whole place just exploded. We had to dig him out afterwards."

"A whole arms factory? All by himself? Bloody hell..." Amanda sipped at her cooling coffee, lost in thought. "At least the only way for me t' get that kind of power is t' drop me in some demon dimension, an' then watch me head explode," she said wryly. "What about you? How'd you feel, after seein' that, knowin' what he could do, even by accident?"

"Scared shitless," Domino said easily. "Most I'd seen him do up until then was smack a helicopter out of the air. You've probably noticed he's pretty restrained with what he does, generally. It's because after a certain point, he really can't control what it does, and he knows that." She downed the rest of her espresso. "Manuel's not had the opportunity to learn his limits yet," she reminded Amanda. "Maybe this can be a lesson for him."

"He does feel like shite 'bout it," Amanda admitted. "That ain't hard t' pick up - the link's full of it. The losin' control part, at least - he an' you were havin' a fine old time otherwise." She snickered a little. "Near blew the top of me head off. I just hope he learns from it, same as I did with the potion."

Another smile tugged at her lips, and Domino stared down into her empty cup. "You two going to compare notes on me on the plane?" she joked. "And I don't know what got into me last night. Apart from too much alcohol."

"Manny's already comparin' - you made quite the impression." Amanda couldn't hold back the trace of bitterness. "But, yeah, 's like that sometimes. He's like that sometimes. When you need t' forget everythin' stop thinkin' an' feelin', he's there. An' he's very good at it." She drained the rest of her coffee, made a face at the temperature. "He used t' do the same for me, when I was withdrawin' from the magic. Nate might've said, I've got a problem with it."

Domino rather delicately let Amanda's first comment pass. There wasn't much that could be said to that. "Nate did mention, yeah," she said slowly, running her finger around the rim of the empty cup. "You know, though, I've got to wonder about how feasible this whole open relationship of yours is going to be, when you've got a link."

"It works for Rom," Amanda replied, almost defensively. Then, thinking about it, she added. "The link makes it hard. Him bein' an insensitive git makes it harder. But if I had t' choose, t' settle down with one person... I couldn't do it, link or no link. 'S enough me admittin' I have feelin's for him. An' I really don't care what he does an' who he does it with, or even feelin' him doin' it. 'S just comin' out second best an' bein' told about it that hurt." She shrugged. "'S nothin' - I'll get over it."

"He's linked to you," Domino pointed out. "Would tend to suggest that he regards you a little more highly than the other women he might hop into bed with." She sighed, resting her chin on her hand and grinning helplessly. "In a way, you know, women are so much easier. We don't have the natural handicaps that the guys do."

"Yeah, well, that was mostly by accident an' then later it was so either of us didn't go bonkers. An' I dunno why I'm even bothered in the first place. If this is developin' as a person, I think I'd rather stay the way I was. 'S less complicated." Disgusted with herself, Amanda shook her head and then smiled at Domino's last. "Why d'you think I keep me options open? Least with Beth I know what I'm gettin' - 'friends with benefits' she calls it, an' that suits me down t' the ground. Sometimes I think Lien might have a point."

"We're not all cut out for passionate monogamy," Domino murmured, thinking about Nathan. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"I'm happier without it," Amanda agreed. Then she gave Domino a sharp look. "I forgot t' ask, in all the selfish whinin' - how're you pullin' up? You all right with Manny? 'Cause some of the stuff comin' down the link was... well, you didn't hold back."

"Yeah. Gave everyone quite a headful, I guess." Domino smirked, shrugging. "Don't know what to tell you, little sis. I'm not generally a bitter drunk, but I sure was last night. Just... everything got a little too much." She shifted a little in her chair, her eyes roaming the coffeeshop. "Doesn't help that the team's coming apart at the seams."

Amanda looked down, started shredding her napkin. "You need Nate," she said in a low voice. "'S easy t' see, he's the one that kept things together."

"Well, we're not getting Nate, are we?" Domino asked as amiably as she could. She sighed, batting her cup back and forth between her hands. "I don't begrudge him what he's got now, or what he's doing. I just wish G.W. and I could find a way to do this properly without him."

"If anyone can, you two will," Amanda offered hesitantly - she really didn't know what to say to make things better. "'S what Samson calls an adjustment period," she added, wryly. "Things're changin', an' you ain't the ones doin' the changes. 'S gotta be hard for you lot, especially."

"It's hard to fill his shoes," Domino mused, then laughed softly, ruefully. "But I guess Nate's a perfect example of what happens to someone when they put all their time and attention into other people and forget to look after themselves."

Amanda echoed her chuckle, squirming a little guiltily. "Doesn't help when some of us are high maintenance, neither," she said wryly. "But yer'll sort it out, Dom, you an' GW. An' if you don't, well, 's a big old world out there, maybe you could find somethin' else t' do. Wouldn't be as excitin' or profitable as merc work, but you never know..." There was a tickle in the back of her head from the link, a feeling of impatience and boredom, and she chuckled a little. "An' I think Manny's done as much shoppin' as he can - we'd better go find him before he gets himself into more bother."

Domino grinned a bit wickedly. "And we wouldn't want the poor dear all hot and bothered, now, would we?"