xp_logs | Angelo and Marie-Ange, August 30 (Reply)

Marie-Ange seeks out Angelo to tell him what she thinks is going on with Amanda. They're both very worried, but decide nothing much can be done beyond what Angie already has, except keep an eye on Amanda.

There was a very fine line between betraying a friends' privacy and possibly keeping them safe from harm. Marie-Ange had quite firmly stomped on that line, kicked it down the stairs and then left it die slowly. She hadn't exactly announced for the public what she was worried about, but emailing half a dozen people was not exactly conducive to privacy for Amanda.

Nor was going around trying to find the other person she thought she could count on to possibly confirm what she suspected, and maybe help keep Amanda from doing something stupid. If talking to Angelo also meant Marie-Ange felt less wrong about breaking privacy, all the better. Making a mental note that she was going to really have to keep a running tally of how many times she gave herself a migrane looking for people, and to keep it -under- five in a week, she poked her head into the rec room, sighing in relef when she saw Angelo flopped over the sofa.

"Angelo? Could I talk to you for a moment?"

Angelo glanced up, blinking in surprise when he saw who it was. "Angie! Sure thing, sit yourself down." He swung his legs back to the floor, making space for her to sit.

Marie-Ange dropped onto the sofa, very obviously tense about -something-. "Have you talked to Amanda in the last day or so? Did .. she seem very odd to you?"

Angelo stiffened, then forced himself to relax, with a sigh. "I... haven't seen Amanda in the last day or so, no", he answered carefully and entirely truthfully, as far as it went. "Why do you ask?"

Marie-Ange took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then clenched her hands. "I think... I think maybe she is overuseing her magic. She was very, very upset over Manuel and then very oddly calm.."

Angelo sat bolt upright, hearing that, and stared at her. "Angie. This is very important. How sure are you that that's what's goin' on?"

"As sure as I can be." Marie-Ange let out a sigh and winced. "I checked. More than once. Something is wrong with Amanda, and I can barely get a glimpse of it, but ... even without trying to see, she has been" She paused and frowned. "I do not want to say sneaky, but... sneaky."

That sounded horribly familiar. "Have you told anyone else about this?" he asked bluntly.

"I .. thought that if I was going to .. I think it is 'rat her out', that I should just dive in completly. I emailed the doctors, and Pete, and Romany.." Marie-Ange paused. "I had to get Doug to find out Romany's email address, but I did not tell Doug why. I .. suspect he read it off me, but he was not making any signs that he knew."

Angelo sighed. "You did good", he told her firmly. "If you're right, that's exactly what you should've done, and if you're wrong it won't do any harm. There's one other person who should know about this - her tutor, Doc Strange - but I'm sure one of the others'll pass it on to him."

"I did. I forgot about him, but I did. I just..." Marie-Ange let out a long sigh. "Manuel said Amanda was drinking, and using magic and I hope he was lying. I would rather be mad at Manuel than worried about Amanda.."

Angelo nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. "That... sounds more'n I'd like like what was happenin' the last time she was havin' trouble controllin' her magic use", he answered, eyes dark with worry.

"Damn." Marie-Ange smacked the arm of the sofa with a fist. "You know, maybe we should just throw Manuel into the lake. With rocks for shoes. This is nearly all his fault.. At least then Amanda would fall apart -less- often."

Angelo grinned wryly. "Attractive as that sounds, I gotta say the same as I did the last time we talked about this. It's not worth the trouble it'd bring down on us - or it won't be, if we can get Amanda some help."

Marie-Ange nodded slowly. "It is.. just.. he is so -stupid-."

Angelo nodded, choosing to drop the subject of Manuel at that point. "Well. I don't think there's really much more we can do to help that you didn't already do. Just keep an eye on her, I guess, best we can."