xp_logs | Amanda and Nathan, Tuesday morning (Reply)

Amanda arrives at Moira and Nathan's suite for the promised breakfast. Nathan takes the opportunity to make a training-related offer and reassure her about Remy.

"Mornin'!" Amanda called, poking her head around the door to Moira and Nate's suite. She got a cheerful "Buon giorno!" from Bella, who was bobbing up and down in her cage, pleased to see her.

"Morning!" Nathan called back cheerfully from the kitchen, where he was juggling a few different elements of breakfast at once. "Come sit down. Mind the smoke."

"Smoke?" Amanda wrinkled her nose as she came in. "Cain'll have yer head on a platter if you set fire t' his house, you know."

"Joking," Nathan said innocently, poking his head out of the kitchen. "Everything's under control. Look, orange juice." He waved at the table.

"Can't go wrong with juice," Amanda agreed, taking a seat and pouring herself a glass from the pitcher. Fresh squeezed, even. "Want one?" she asked, watching him juggling everything at once, seemingly.

"I'll be out in a minute." Bacon out of the pan, french toast flipped... what was he forgetting? Oh, right. Various pieces of fruit levitated themselves out of the fruit bowl, rinsed themselves under the running water, then landed neatly on a plate.

Amanda was entranced. It was like watching that Disney cartoon, the one with the brooms, only with less annoying cartoon mice. And she knew how difficult it was to manipulate so many objects at once with such precision. "You think I'll ever have that much control over me TK spell?" she asked, a little wistfully. The only time she'd lifted anything like that much at once was when she'd been hurling it at him and Manuel.

"Want to find out?" Nathan asked with a grin as he came out of the kitchen, breakfast dancing along behind him. The plate of fruit landed gently at the center of the table, followed by the french toast, the bacon, and the small jug of maple syrup. Whimsically, he telekinetically unfolded Amanda's napkin and dropped it lightly on her lap. "I talked to Moira. She thinks you could do a lot worse than to train with me."

A broad grin appeared. "Really? That'd be wicked." For the first time since Istanbul, Amanda looked happy and excited about something. "Strange is all right, but he tends t' focus on the stuff he's best at, the psychic mumbo jumbo. Besides, he doesn't like it when I float the stuff in his office. Gets all protective, like a mother hen on her eggs."

"We have lots of harmless stuff you can float here," Nathan said cheerfully, sitting down. He snagged a piece of French toast with his fork, indicating to Amanda to dig in. "I thought I might start you off with my coin tricks, actually."

Amanda grabbed a piece of French toast of her own, floating it to her plate along with a couple of strips of bacon, before drowning the lot in syrup. She was a growing witch, after all. "Um, 'm not really that good with metal. Can't seem t' get a grip on it," she admitted, mouth full.

Nathan grinned at her. "And what, I should be making it easy on you? Seriously, there are too many situations where you might need to grab metal. We can find something else for regular practice if the coins prove too difficult, but I am going to make you work on anything you have particular trouble with."

"It'll be a short lesson if I can't pick it up at all," she grumbled good-naturedly, but then she remembered Istanbul and managing to work metal there. "Still, 's not impossible. Did Dom give you the run down of the job in Istanbul? I managed t' do an unlockin' spell on a metal doorknob."

"Dom gave me the run-down in exquisite detail, yes," Nathan said. "She's learned over the years that I like details. Details are our friends." He tried the French toast - just as good as what he'd made for Moira the other day; he must be getting the hang of it - and then tilted his head at her, regarding her speculatively. "I wish you hadn't had to come home to a new--or should that be returned? source of stress, though."

Amanda looked down at her plate, pushing food around on it with her fork but not having another mouthful just yet, even if it was very good. The thought of Remy made her stomach churn. "I don't get a choice in the matter, an' as everyone keeps tellin' me, it wasn't him. Same as you weren't the conditionin'," she sighed. Looking up at him again, she went on: "You never played with me head an' shoved me into a wall tho'."

"I know," Nathan said gently. "But he knows just how badly he affected you, too." Amanda looked up at him, her eyes widening a little, and he nodded. "I talked to him," he said quietly. "He's going to keep his distance."

"You talked t' him? Is he..." She swallowed, tried again. "Is he, you know, safe? He's not foolin' at all?"

"I don't think he is," Nathan said quietly. "Charles doesn't think he is."

"I... that's good t' hear. Real good." A certain amount of tension eased from Amanda's shoulders - it wasn't that she didn't trust Xavier, she just wasn't sure how far that altruism of his went. She stabbed at the bacon, her appetite returning a little. "'M still havin' nightmares," she admitted. "Ever since I found out he was back."

"He's staying out in the boathouse with Cain," Nathan said softly. "You won't have to be around him. Hopefully that'll mean that the nightmares stop coming back."

"Guess that means I'll have t' find another spot t' go an' think, then. Other than the dock," she said wryly, but her eyes were still clouded. "It feels like runnin'," she added. "Like 'm bein' a coward not facin' up t' the whole thing."

"Don't feel that way. You wouldn't expect me to go running into combat against Mistra, would you? Same basic thing, if different situations. You need time to heal, Amanda, and you're not a coward for recognizing that." He transferred some of the bacon to his plate, then sipped at his orange juice.

Time to heal was a luxury they didn't seem to get at the mansion, but Amanda didn't voice the thought. Instead, she ate a few more mouthfuls, then said, apparently out of the blue: "Those details Dom was givin' you about the job... they didn't happen t' include how much we got paid, did they?"

Nathan laughed. "They did indeed," he said. "You're going to do the smart thing and save most of it, right? I have some suggestions, although Charles mentioned something about how a trust fund might be an even better idea. Accrue the interest until you're of age and all..."

Amanda nodded. "Pete said somethin' along the same lines, an' it seems the best idea - 's lot like I can ever spend that much money on me own any way..." She shook her head, still a little bemused by the whole idea. "I used some t' replace Manny's CDs after I smashed his room up, but that barely left a dint. An' I want t' use it, you know, for me future." With a chuckle, she sipped at her juice. "Fuck, never thought those two words'd ever go together - 'me' an' 'future'."

"Funny how life surprises you," Nathan said with a chuckle of his own, snagging another piece of french toast. "But you should spend a little more of it, still. Enjoy yourself." Hopefully that might let her get some of the good feelings from the Istanbul trip, even if only for a while. "Although Dom also told me that if you or Angie or Sarah starts calling her your fairy godmother or anything, she's going to come over here and horribly maim all three of you."

"What about Sugar Mummy?" Amanda asked innocently. At least Nathan wasn't actually drinking anything just then.

Nathan snickered madly. "Only if you do it when I can see her reaction."