xp_logs | Domino and Amanda, late Friday afternoon

After arriving at the mansion, checking in with Pete, talking to Moira, and checking on a sound-asleep Nathan, Domino goes to find the next person on her list. Amanda, trying to distract herself out in the stables, gets a much better distraction in the form of her 'big sister'. And Dom doesn't let her away with the avoidance-thing!

Domino stepped into the stables, smiling a little wryly at all the horses. Should have figured she'd be in here... Amanda was the first person she'd come looking for, after talking to Pete and checking in on Nate, who was sleeping the sleep of the rightfully exhausted, with Moira only a step or two behind him. She glided soundlessly down the row of stalls, stopping finally as she saw a blonde head in one.

"What the hell," she said, her voice a bit ragged with emotion, "did you do to your hair, little sis?"

Amanda yelped, dropping the brush she'd been using on Alison's cranky equine friend Gorgeous. The sound made the horse stir a little uneasily, and she murmured a few words, patting the mare's neck before coming out of the stall. She looked tired and too-thin again, looking far younger than her years without the piercings and the attitude. "Dom?" she asked, as if not sure of what she was seeing. "How... when...?" Her hand moved up to her hair. "Happened in Asgard. Haven't had a chance t' dye it back yet, what with all the dramas," she said at last, taking refuge in trivialities.

Domino shook her head. Not going to cry. Seriously. She was not a weepy woman, she really wasn't... "Doesn't look right," she said huskily and took a step forward, hugging Amanda so fiercely that she half-expected the girl to protest. Not that she was planning to let go even if she didn't, oh, no....

It was hard to breathe with Dom hugging her so hard, but Amanda wasn't about to say anything. Quite the contrary - she clung to Domino as hard as she could, glad that finally she didn't have to worry about being strong any more. "Glad someone thinks so," she said at last, her voice half-strangled with the tears she was fighting to keep back herself. She'd done enough crying this past week to last a lifetime. "Everyone else... thinks it's cute."

"You look like a little blonde doll. Something someone would dress up and take out as an arm ornament. It's not given Manny ideas, has it? Because I can kick his ass for you if it has..." No, not working. Not working at all. Domino hugged her even harder. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much. If you hadn't been there..."

It took Amanda a moment to work out what Domino was thanking her for, and it was even harder not to cry then. "I was so scared," she admitted into the other woman's shoulder. "It was like Columbia, an' all I wanted t' do was hide an' wait for it t' be over, only I couldn't, it was Nate an' Pete, I couldn't let them..." She was babbling now, skating hysteria, and she took a breath, trying to get some control back. "I didn't know it would work. Every other time I've been in a situation like that, it's been thrown back at me like it was nothin'. But it did it. I did it." Her voice took on a note of wonder. "The magic worked."

"Of course it did." Domino finally drew back a bit, ruffling the blonde hair and grinning a bit shakily at her. "Fuck, I am so proud of you," she said, her voice still wavering. "So proud. I knew damned well you had guts, Amanda, but you picked one hell of a time to show the world." She gave up and hugged her again, slightly less forcefully.

She could handle the hugging. In fact, she'd be happy if it never stopped, the way she was feeling. There'd been too much for her to deal with, and even knowing Nathan was all right didn't help the knot of anxiety in her stomach. So hugs were fine by her. "'S all in the timin'," she replied, with a kind of half-laugh, half-sob. Domino was proud of her - the knowledge thrilled her. "I couldn't let it happen, Dom. Not if there was a chance t' stop it."

"Of course you couldn't." Okay, so maybe she'd risk endangering Amanda's ribs just a little. What were a few bruises between sisters? "I just came from seeing him," she said. "He's sound asleep. You should peek in on him this afternoon. It's really very cute."

Amanda's face fell a little. "I... dunno," she said. "He needs t' rest an' I don't think I can... that is, I can't..." She ducked her head, resting her forehead against Domino's shoulder. "'M scared t' see him. What if he's angry at me?"

"Angry at you?" Domino blinked, but didn't release the girl for an instant. "Amanda, no." Her voice softened. "Not for an instant. Moira told me..." Well. There had been a great deal that Moira had told her, some of which Amanda really didn't need to hear. "He knew what was happening. He knew, but he couldn't do anything about it." Her jaw trembled a little. "Moira said he told her that he was trying to fight. That he just wanted to come home."

"He knew? Oh gods, how could they...?" The sheer cruelty of it floored Amanda. "I thought he was like the Cable I met, in his head. He..." She shivered. "He was so cold. Like he didn't care at all. When they said he'd been conditioned again, I thought he'd become that again, an' it scared me, t' think he'd left us like that." 'Left me' - she didn't voice the thought. "I thought he'd be angry that'd I'd stopped him."

"He knew." Domino was silent for a long moment, then decided that one of the other things Moira had told her would be safe to tell Amanda. Given the girl's own experiences with such things. The other, though, she had no intention of telling Amanda ever, and really hoped she wouldn't find out. "You know they broke the psi-link?" Amanda nodded jerkily, clinging a bit harder. "They... did something to it, afterwards. Turned it back on him, so that he couldn't get away from it..." She smiled a bit bitterly. "Think they shot themselves in the foot with that one, little sis. He couldn't be cold, like they wanted him to be. Not with that."

Amanda paled further, if that was possible "Fuck," she whispered, imaging the pain, the torment, he must have been in. Not being able to avoid it... "Did you find them? They can't get away with this. We have to find 'em, make 'em pay, stop 'em from doin' it ever again..."

"Have some leads that led to more leads," Domino said as crisply as she could. "We'll track the bastards down, Amanda, don't worry." She smiled suddenly, drawing back a little, but only to frame the girl's face in her hands for a moment. "But didn't you hear? They can't do it again." The sudden smile that broke over her face was the most purely joyous expression that had been there for weeks. "His conditioning is gone. For good. All of it. There's no way they can put it back."

"Gone?" Amanda's eyes widened as she realised what Domino was saying. She'd been told, she'd read it on the journals, but it had seemed so far-fetched... "He's free? They won't come after him again?"

"When they can't control him?" Domino grinned almost wickedly. "I'd like to see them try. Well, no, I wouldn't, but you know what I mean." She put an arm around Amanda's shoulders again, drawing her close. "No more triggers, no more compulsions, no more leash," she said, fiercely. "All the shit they shoved into his mind from the time he was fourteen years old... all gone."

Free. Another rush of tears came to her eyes, but happy ones this time. She still didn't let them fall, 'though. "It's... fuck, I can't even start t' think what that means. All that, gone..." She smiled up at Domino. "'S gunna be weird. Whole new Nate, almost. But in a good way."

"I'm a little nervous about what he'll be like when he wakes up," Domino confessed. "What it'll all mean..." She grinned a bit ruefully. "Going to be very, very weird, I think."

"He'll still be our Nate, tho'," Amanda said, convincing herself as much as Domino.

"The conditioning was never our Nate," Domino said firmly. "It was all the stuff that made our Nate so fucking miserable at times. So, I'm thinking he'll be a lot more our Nate than he's ever been." She laughed suddenly, unsteadily. "Imagine. A Nate who can be happy for more than a few minutes at a time without deciding he's tempting fate because he's not suffering."

Amanda blinked. Happy Nate. It boggled the mind. "This is gunna take some gettin' used to," she said faintly, but the smile still on her face. Nate without the guilt, without the pain... she could very much get used to that idea.

Domino grinned at her, wiping her eyes surreptitiously. "Yeah." She took a deep, shaky breath. "Anyhow. Are you still busy? Can I help? Moira said to come back in a couple of hours and he might be awake again."

"Nearly done. You can help me with Gorgeous, if you like. Careful, tho', she's a cranky bitch, likes t' bite. I'll have t' introduce you proper." Amanda took a deep breath, glad for the change in topic. "Alison brought her back from Asgard, says she's a bit of a feminist horse. Takes chunks out of blokes."

"Oh?" Domino waggled her eyebrows, struggling for a more normal expression. "I like her already."