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xp_logsWho: Romany Wisdom, Alphonso de la Rocha
Where: Rose Garden
When: Sometime Monday afternoon-ish.
What Happens: The parents meet. They don't get along. At all.
---
Alphonso de la Rocha was currently craving some fresh air. The atmosphere in the Mansion had grown positively toxic with worry and fear, and it was beginning to grate on Alphonso's nerves. So he found the rose garden, lit a cigarette, and was enjoying what passed for fresh air outside. His cellphone rang, and Alphonso flipped it open and began talking into it in Castillian Spanish. After a short conversation, he flipped the phone charged and sat among the flowers, only half-seeing them.
"You wouldn't happen to have a spare cigarette, would you?" asked a woman's voice from behind him, marked by what could be called a generic English accent. The owner of the voice was a small woman in her late forties, dark hair sprinkled with hints of silver, blue eyes keen and sharp.
Alphonso reached inside of his suit jacket pocket, and withdrew a slightly battered pack of cigarettes. "I believe that I can." he said smoothly, his rich Castillian accent coming to the forefront. "I do not believe we have been formally introduced. You are ... Romany Wisdom, yes?" he said with a smile as he extended the pack to the woman.
"My reputation preceeds me. And you are Alphonso de la Rocha." Romany took the offered cigarette and allowed him to light it for her. Her tone was as calm as always, but she looked tired and worn. She coughed a little as she exhaled. "It's been a while since I last smoked, but sometimes you just need it, don't you find?"
Alphonso nodded. "I have never been one to deny myself a pleasure when it becomes available." he said with a pleasant smile. "You're Amanda's guardian." he said flatly. "Your brother is tied in deep to British Intelligence, and also resides here when he's not off killing people for Queen and Country." he said, enjoying his smoke around his words. "I have heard some strange things about you."
"Really? Do tell." Romany took a seat on the bench next to Alphonso, not too close, but not so far that it was clear she was avoiding contact with him. Alphonso's bluntness did little to ruffle her calm expression - she knew when she was being tested, and was intended to give as good as she got. "And yes, I am Amanda's guardian. I take it you met her when she accompanied your son to Spain?"
Alphonso quirked his lips into a smirk. "I did. We did not have the chance to get quite as well acquainted as I would have liked. A pity, that." he said with a mournful look that came nowhere near his eyes. "It is fairly strange that a de la Rocha would take up with a girl such as her. She must be truly gifted." he said with great amusement, making in-and-out gestures with his cigarette for a second.
Romany's eyes flickered, but that was all. "Amanda is indeed gifted. A pity you'll never find out how much, but it's good to know her good taste hasn't entirely deserted her since she took up with your son," she replied blandly.
"Of course it hasn't. She's clearly taking the prize in the gold-digging competition. A shame my idiot son had to fall prey to it - and with him being an empath and all." he said with amusement, stretching out his legs and crossing them at the ankles. "Children." he said with a tone of amused disgust. "Who knows what they think?"
"Indeed." Romany made no effort to disabuse him of his opinion of Amanda's motivation in being with Manuel - it was safer for the girl if that was all she was. "I doubt it will last beyond the year, if this current calamity hasn't separted them already. I wouldn't worry about it."
Alphonso took another drag on his cigarette, and nodded. "He's in no position to be settling down with anyone." he agreed. "A foolish move, even for him." he elaborated, then took another drag on his cigarette. "So, Ms Wisdom, what can you tell me about this fascinating character named - what was it? Oh yes, I remember now. Rack? Tell me of him - I understand you have a good deal of personal history tied up with him. I am curious."
"Rack? I don't believe I know the name," Romany said coolly, hiding her alarm. De la Rocha wasn't a magic user, and as far as she knew, he had no connections with the occult, so how the blue blazes would he know about Rack?
"Don't play coy with me, my dearest Romany. The name is fairly well known, if you know who to ask." he said, lighting a fresh smoke off the dying embers of his last. "That name cost me a very pretty penny indeed, but I think it was worth it. I know now why you took the girl in - atoning for past sins, it would seem." he said.
Romany had a pretty good idea who Alphonso had asked for that information. Damn little weasel Patches was getting to be a bigger pest than his reputation warranted. "Why I took Amanda in is of no concern to you, or to anyone else," she said smoothly. "Besides, I could hardly leave her where I found her. She was too much at risk of being taken advantage off by the unscrupulous."
"As opposed to being taken advantage of by the fully scrupled?" he shot back nastily. "I hardly think you're in much of a position to be offering ethical or moral advice, considering your own rather questionable accomplishments in that era, my dear. So let's cut the crap, shall we?"
"Very well." Romany stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette and folded her hands in her lap. "What precisely is your interest in all this? None of Amanda's history - or mine - is of any threat to your son."
"Incorrect." Alphonso said, taking a long drag off of his cigarette. "My son and your foundling are tied together. And I understand that Amanda has quite the crippling magic habit to contend with. There are people who would pay a great deal for access to _all_ of her gifts." he said plainly.
"Amanda and her gifts are not for sale," Romany said bluntly, for the first time real emotion entering her _expression. "And if you know of Rack, you know what happened to him. Neither my brother nor I - and I'd say a large percentage of the school faculty and students - will allow her to be taken advantage of again. The same goes for Manuel. I don't profess to like your son, but I will not allow anything to happen to him."
"Some of her gifts are very much for sale - her mutant gift, apparently, is not." Alphonso mused, taking another draft off his cigarette. "I will admit that I'm surprised that he let you not like him - I've seen firsthand what happens to people who take it upon themselves to stand between my son and what he wants." Alphonso sounded almost - jealous - at this last bit. "It is truly unpleasant."
"Manuel has changed much from the boy you knew and cast off," Romany told him. "And I am not without resources myself. We have an understanding. As for Amanda... if she chooses to sell her talents, that is up to her. I believe she has come far enough to realise she has that choice now."
"I didn't cast him off." said Alphonso with a pleasant smile. "He was in the throes of madness when he left my home. And for better or for worse, right now he has decided that what he wants the most is your ward." he said as he leaned back to stretch himself out a bit. "I believe that I should have been more hospitable towards the children - after all, I have far more to offer them than you or your precious coven ever could. Love is one thing, but security and wealth and influence are something else completely."
"Indeed they are, but they aren't everything. And all your wealth and influence did little to help your son. Amanda gets what she needs from me and the school - if she chooses to accept more, that's up to her, but I sincerely doubt she would lower herself to seek your 'help'." Romany shifted, preparing to leave - she'd had quite enough of this odious little man, and the sheer arrogant possessiveness emanating from him. "In the meantime, I would ask that you keep your offers to yourself, at least as far as she is concerned. Manuel is your son, I accept there is some obligation there, but Amanda is _mine_."
"No, she isn't. That's the beauty of it. Unless that's your name written across her lovely flesh with a branding iron? She is not yours any more than she is mine. And I will _make_ her mine, if that is what I decide that I want. She's a trifle old, for one, and I have no real use for the sorcery - but I know people who do. People who would pay handsomely for her services. Just because you sit in your hut in England and your sibling is a hired killer does not mean that you are immune to the vagaries of fate or from the machinations of the powerful. They used to _burn_ witches where I come from." he said with a cold gleam in his eye.
"And we used to sacrifice pigs where I come from. On an altar, with a very sharp knife." Romany's voice was cold as she stood, but she felt a tremor of real fear, not for herself, but for Amanda. The girl certainly had a way of making trouble for herself - not for the first time Romany found herself cursing Amanda's taste in boyfriends. "There will be no 'making', Mr de la Rocha. And if you come near my daughter, I'll strip the flesh from your bones and send you to the handiest demon dimension for eternal torment, powerful or not."
Alphonso stood as well and bowed to Romany. "We are people of action. Lies do not become us. I've been reading up on your particular brand of magic. So long as I do no actual wrong, you cannot touch me. The three-fold rule, I believe they call it? So make your threats, please. You reap what you sow threefold over. I will enjoy watching you burn."
"There are ways and means, Alphonso", Romany said. "Just don't give me a reason to use them."
Alphonso straightened up and smirked at Romany. "A shame there is no music in this rose garden. I would ask you to dance, if there were." he said with the charming smile of the cobra.
"Oh, I think we've danced enough, don't you? And if you will excuse me, I feel the need for some fresh air." With a cold smile, Romany turned and headed back towards the house. Tea. Tea would help calm her down again. And possibly having that revolting Spanish pig's head on a pike.
"We haven't even started yet." he said courteously as Romany stalked off back to the Mansion proper. "A charming woman." he said to the rosebushes. "I will enjoy destroying her."
--
Where: Rose Garden
When: Sometime Monday afternoon-ish.
What Happens: The parents meet. They don't get along. At all.
---
Alphonso de la Rocha was currently craving some fresh air. The atmosphere in the Mansion had grown positively toxic with worry and fear, and it was beginning to grate on Alphonso's nerves. So he found the rose garden, lit a cigarette, and was enjoying what passed for fresh air outside. His cellphone rang, and Alphonso flipped it open and began talking into it in Castillian Spanish. After a short conversation, he flipped the phone charged and sat among the flowers, only half-seeing them.
"You wouldn't happen to have a spare cigarette, would you?" asked a woman's voice from behind him, marked by what could be called a generic English accent. The owner of the voice was a small woman in her late forties, dark hair sprinkled with hints of silver, blue eyes keen and sharp.
Alphonso reached inside of his suit jacket pocket, and withdrew a slightly battered pack of cigarettes. "I believe that I can." he said smoothly, his rich Castillian accent coming to the forefront. "I do not believe we have been formally introduced. You are ... Romany Wisdom, yes?" he said with a smile as he extended the pack to the woman.
"My reputation preceeds me. And you are Alphonso de la Rocha." Romany took the offered cigarette and allowed him to light it for her. Her tone was as calm as always, but she looked tired and worn. She coughed a little as she exhaled. "It's been a while since I last smoked, but sometimes you just need it, don't you find?"
Alphonso nodded. "I have never been one to deny myself a pleasure when it becomes available." he said with a pleasant smile. "You're Amanda's guardian." he said flatly. "Your brother is tied in deep to British Intelligence, and also resides here when he's not off killing people for Queen and Country." he said, enjoying his smoke around his words. "I have heard some strange things about you."
"Really? Do tell." Romany took a seat on the bench next to Alphonso, not too close, but not so far that it was clear she was avoiding contact with him. Alphonso's bluntness did little to ruffle her calm expression - she knew when she was being tested, and was intended to give as good as she got. "And yes, I am Amanda's guardian. I take it you met her when she accompanied your son to Spain?"
Alphonso quirked his lips into a smirk. "I did. We did not have the chance to get quite as well acquainted as I would have liked. A pity, that." he said with a mournful look that came nowhere near his eyes. "It is fairly strange that a de la Rocha would take up with a girl such as her. She must be truly gifted." he said with great amusement, making in-and-out gestures with his cigarette for a second.
Romany's eyes flickered, but that was all. "Amanda is indeed gifted. A pity you'll never find out how much, but it's good to know her good taste hasn't entirely deserted her since she took up with your son," she replied blandly.
"Of course it hasn't. She's clearly taking the prize in the gold-digging competition. A shame my idiot son had to fall prey to it - and with him being an empath and all." he said with amusement, stretching out his legs and crossing them at the ankles. "Children." he said with a tone of amused disgust. "Who knows what they think?"
"Indeed." Romany made no effort to disabuse him of his opinion of Amanda's motivation in being with Manuel - it was safer for the girl if that was all she was. "I doubt it will last beyond the year, if this current calamity hasn't separted them already. I wouldn't worry about it."
Alphonso took another drag on his cigarette, and nodded. "He's in no position to be settling down with anyone." he agreed. "A foolish move, even for him." he elaborated, then took another drag on his cigarette. "So, Ms Wisdom, what can you tell me about this fascinating character named - what was it? Oh yes, I remember now. Rack? Tell me of him - I understand you have a good deal of personal history tied up with him. I am curious."
"Rack? I don't believe I know the name," Romany said coolly, hiding her alarm. De la Rocha wasn't a magic user, and as far as she knew, he had no connections with the occult, so how the blue blazes would he know about Rack?
"Don't play coy with me, my dearest Romany. The name is fairly well known, if you know who to ask." he said, lighting a fresh smoke off the dying embers of his last. "That name cost me a very pretty penny indeed, but I think it was worth it. I know now why you took the girl in - atoning for past sins, it would seem." he said.
Romany had a pretty good idea who Alphonso had asked for that information. Damn little weasel Patches was getting to be a bigger pest than his reputation warranted. "Why I took Amanda in is of no concern to you, or to anyone else," she said smoothly. "Besides, I could hardly leave her where I found her. She was too much at risk of being taken advantage off by the unscrupulous."
"As opposed to being taken advantage of by the fully scrupled?" he shot back nastily. "I hardly think you're in much of a position to be offering ethical or moral advice, considering your own rather questionable accomplishments in that era, my dear. So let's cut the crap, shall we?"
"Very well." Romany stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette and folded her hands in her lap. "What precisely is your interest in all this? None of Amanda's history - or mine - is of any threat to your son."
"Incorrect." Alphonso said, taking a long drag off of his cigarette. "My son and your foundling are tied together. And I understand that Amanda has quite the crippling magic habit to contend with. There are people who would pay a great deal for access to _all_ of her gifts." he said plainly.
"Amanda and her gifts are not for sale," Romany said bluntly, for the first time real emotion entering her _expression. "And if you know of Rack, you know what happened to him. Neither my brother nor I - and I'd say a large percentage of the school faculty and students - will allow her to be taken advantage of again. The same goes for Manuel. I don't profess to like your son, but I will not allow anything to happen to him."
"Some of her gifts are very much for sale - her mutant gift, apparently, is not." Alphonso mused, taking another draft off his cigarette. "I will admit that I'm surprised that he let you not like him - I've seen firsthand what happens to people who take it upon themselves to stand between my son and what he wants." Alphonso sounded almost - jealous - at this last bit. "It is truly unpleasant."
"Manuel has changed much from the boy you knew and cast off," Romany told him. "And I am not without resources myself. We have an understanding. As for Amanda... if she chooses to sell her talents, that is up to her. I believe she has come far enough to realise she has that choice now."
"I didn't cast him off." said Alphonso with a pleasant smile. "He was in the throes of madness when he left my home. And for better or for worse, right now he has decided that what he wants the most is your ward." he said as he leaned back to stretch himself out a bit. "I believe that I should have been more hospitable towards the children - after all, I have far more to offer them than you or your precious coven ever could. Love is one thing, but security and wealth and influence are something else completely."
"Indeed they are, but they aren't everything. And all your wealth and influence did little to help your son. Amanda gets what she needs from me and the school - if she chooses to accept more, that's up to her, but I sincerely doubt she would lower herself to seek your 'help'." Romany shifted, preparing to leave - she'd had quite enough of this odious little man, and the sheer arrogant possessiveness emanating from him. "In the meantime, I would ask that you keep your offers to yourself, at least as far as she is concerned. Manuel is your son, I accept there is some obligation there, but Amanda is _mine_."
"No, she isn't. That's the beauty of it. Unless that's your name written across her lovely flesh with a branding iron? She is not yours any more than she is mine. And I will _make_ her mine, if that is what I decide that I want. She's a trifle old, for one, and I have no real use for the sorcery - but I know people who do. People who would pay handsomely for her services. Just because you sit in your hut in England and your sibling is a hired killer does not mean that you are immune to the vagaries of fate or from the machinations of the powerful. They used to _burn_ witches where I come from." he said with a cold gleam in his eye.
"And we used to sacrifice pigs where I come from. On an altar, with a very sharp knife." Romany's voice was cold as she stood, but she felt a tremor of real fear, not for herself, but for Amanda. The girl certainly had a way of making trouble for herself - not for the first time Romany found herself cursing Amanda's taste in boyfriends. "There will be no 'making', Mr de la Rocha. And if you come near my daughter, I'll strip the flesh from your bones and send you to the handiest demon dimension for eternal torment, powerful or not."
Alphonso stood as well and bowed to Romany. "We are people of action. Lies do not become us. I've been reading up on your particular brand of magic. So long as I do no actual wrong, you cannot touch me. The three-fold rule, I believe they call it? So make your threats, please. You reap what you sow threefold over. I will enjoy watching you burn."
"There are ways and means, Alphonso", Romany said. "Just don't give me a reason to use them."
Alphonso straightened up and smirked at Romany. "A shame there is no music in this rose garden. I would ask you to dance, if there were." he said with the charming smile of the cobra.
"Oh, I think we've danced enough, don't you? And if you will excuse me, I feel the need for some fresh air." With a cold smile, Romany turned and headed back towards the house. Tea. Tea would help calm her down again. And possibly having that revolting Spanish pig's head on a pike.
"We haven't even started yet." he said courteously as Romany stalked off back to the Mansion proper. "A charming woman." he said to the rosebushes. "I will enjoy destroying her."
--
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