Wanda, Amanda - Tuesday evening
Nov. 9th, 2004 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsAs arranged in these emails, Amanda has a chat to Wanda about the name-dropping of a certain demon on Halloween night. Wanda offers her anthropological services, and Amanda takes her up on them, albeit with some nervousness about the implications.
Wanda stretched her legs out in front of her and took a deep breath. The night air felt deliciously good, especially after the several hour weight lifting stint she had found herself in that day. She smirked softly.
Who was she kidding? She had spent nearly every waking hour in the gym since Alison had been brought back, taking out her anger and frustration on the weights. But with things settling, there were a few things she wanted to get done. Talking to Scott and Amanda were
at the top of her lists.
Amanda stumbled out onto the back porch, enormous sandwich in one hand, two mugs of tea in the other. She'd just finished Healing Alison, and the tingle on her face was telling her the shielding spell hadn't been entirely effective. Yep, she'd have a sunburn tomorrow. The spell casting had drained her, but not to the point of exhaustion - a side effect of the unbinding seemed to be a lot of the blocks on her magic were unravelling. She was, however, starving - she had already taken a huge bite out of the sandwich and consequently couldn't do more than wave the tea mug slightly at Wanda and make muffled noises indicating she should take it.
Gratefully, she accepted the mug and waited until Amanda had settled herself down on the porch with a sigh before grinning at her. "All of you in the MedLab deserve a great deal of time off," she murmured, sipping at the tea. It was starting to get colder and as much as she enjoyed the cold, warming up was even better. "How are you faring?"
Amanda swallowed the mouthful of bread and venison and various other things before answering. "Not bad," she said. "Tired, but that's t' be expected - I've been doin' a lot of healin' since Halloween. But Moira's been keepin' an eye on me, makin' sure I don't wear meself out." She took a sip of tea and went on. "Alison's startin' t' get better - I managed t' get close enough t' heal some of the damage tonight."
"_Good_." There was a flash of anger and viciousness as Wanda speculated on what exactly she wanted to do to her absent father and his cronies. But that soon passed as she did not wish to have a powers episode. "This week has not been the most... stellar. Especially for you." She glanced over at the younger woman. "Not with that demon attack on Halloween."
"Swings an' roundabouts, really," Amanda replied, with a small shrug. "I mean, I wish it hadn't happened, that people hadn't got hurt on my account, but it got me off me arse an' doin' somethin' about the whole bindin' spell. Besides, that was last week. Whole new week, whole new bunch of shite t' deal with."
A great deal had come about because of the incident, she mused to herself. Her invitation to train with the X-Men, Amanda finally dealing with that binding spell she talked about. And something else. "I do not know if anyone else heard but I thought you should know I did." Shifting slightly, Wanda turned herself to face Amanda on the porch. "I didn't understand anything the monster was saying...except one thing. Perhaps."
Amanda looked startled, and then a panicked look crossed her face. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure there was no-one within hearing range, she turned back to the older woman with an anguished expression. "It wasn't a name, was it?"
"...it was, actually." Wanda watched as Amanda's expression grew more wild and reached over, placing a calm, firm hand on her knee. "Amanda. Listen to me. I grew up with a witch, remember? I don't understand why but I've heard the saying that names hold power. I won't utter it unless you wish me to. I just wanted to talk about it."
Amanda relaxed slightly, but still watched the woman warily. "It was why I couldn't do anythin'," she admitted. "It knew... that name, an' used it t' take me power from me." She laid her food aside, appetite gone. "Thanks for tellin' me that yer'd heard. I was hopin' no-one understood what it was. Well, Manny did, but I would've told him eventually any way." She was babbling, she realised, and she took a breath to calm herself. "What did you want t' talk about?"
"What...do you know of your family?" she asked slowly. "Before the man who took you, I mean?"
"Nothin', " Amanda said, voice hardening a little. "Just that they sold me t' Rack because of me power." She looked down at her boots, noting she really needed new laces. "Flashes of stuff, sometimes. Smells, mostly. Horses. Woodsmoke." Shrugging, she looked up again. "'Cept I don't know if that's a memory, or just somethin' I made up. A little kid wan't somethin' safe."
"The name that I heard that night...it is not a very usual name but it is very Rom sounding." She thought about it for a second. "Older, a little bit, but it still...sounds like something from our language."
The girl blinked at that. It hadn't occurred to her that her real name would actually give away its origins like that, even though it should have. "So yer sayin'... I might be Rom?" she asked, hostility forgotten for the moment as curiosity won out.
"There is a strong posibility, yes. England is fraught with my people, actually. A good number have moved there and eventually settled down in the country side. So it is not so far-fetched to think that you are Rom."
Hmm. The idea wasn't entirely distasteful. If she thought about it in general terms, not specific, child-selling bastard terms. "If... if I was t' want t' find out for sure... How would I go about it?"
Wanda smiled encouragingly at Amanda. "I could help, a great deal actually. Do some research on the name itself, ask with my family back home. Any leads I could bring back to you and you can decide where to go from there. Having an anthropologist on hand is rather useful."
That didn't sound too painful... Amanda's thoughts still skittered away from what might happen if she actually found the people who had made her, but the idea of knowing where she came from wasn't unappealing. Especially when she'd cast off the last of Rack's influence - she was completely without past ties, now. "Why're doin' this?" she asked abruptly. "'S not like you really know me or anythin'. Why bother with all that?"
"Because I think history, especially personal history, is important. And family is even more important." Wanda closed her eyes for a second, a pleasant memory of her mother playing through her mind and she smiled. "My blood family is either dead, someone I never want to deal with, or away from me. I know how it feels, in that regard. Besides, even if you are not full-blooded Rom, you were still taken in by one of ours. And that makes you a type of family, in a sense."
"'S funny - for the longest time no-one wanted me, an' now I've got people adoptin' me left, right an' centre," Amanda said with a snort, but her expression had softened somewhat. "Could you? Look, I mean. I don't know what I'll do if you do find anythin', but... I'd like t' have the option." She wrapped her hands around the tea mug to stop the trembling. "I'll give you as much as I know - it ain't a lot, but it might help. Birthdate, all the rest of it."
She nodded, mind already figuring out where she would need to look. Wanda mourned her equipment and her resources back in London for a second. "That will help a great deal. Anything you can remember would be helpful as well. Especially if it's a place because that gives me a point of reference to work off of."
"Maybe I should get one of the 'paths t' go diggin', only they've all gone boom, pretty much." Amanda gave a nervous-sounding laugh. "~I thank you for your help,~" she added in Romany.
"~My pleasure, my friend,~" she replied, leaning back against the porch as they both finished up their tea.
Wanda stretched her legs out in front of her and took a deep breath. The night air felt deliciously good, especially after the several hour weight lifting stint she had found herself in that day. She smirked softly.
Who was she kidding? She had spent nearly every waking hour in the gym since Alison had been brought back, taking out her anger and frustration on the weights. But with things settling, there were a few things she wanted to get done. Talking to Scott and Amanda were
at the top of her lists.
Amanda stumbled out onto the back porch, enormous sandwich in one hand, two mugs of tea in the other. She'd just finished Healing Alison, and the tingle on her face was telling her the shielding spell hadn't been entirely effective. Yep, she'd have a sunburn tomorrow. The spell casting had drained her, but not to the point of exhaustion - a side effect of the unbinding seemed to be a lot of the blocks on her magic were unravelling. She was, however, starving - she had already taken a huge bite out of the sandwich and consequently couldn't do more than wave the tea mug slightly at Wanda and make muffled noises indicating she should take it.
Gratefully, she accepted the mug and waited until Amanda had settled herself down on the porch with a sigh before grinning at her. "All of you in the MedLab deserve a great deal of time off," she murmured, sipping at the tea. It was starting to get colder and as much as she enjoyed the cold, warming up was even better. "How are you faring?"
Amanda swallowed the mouthful of bread and venison and various other things before answering. "Not bad," she said. "Tired, but that's t' be expected - I've been doin' a lot of healin' since Halloween. But Moira's been keepin' an eye on me, makin' sure I don't wear meself out." She took a sip of tea and went on. "Alison's startin' t' get better - I managed t' get close enough t' heal some of the damage tonight."
"_Good_." There was a flash of anger and viciousness as Wanda speculated on what exactly she wanted to do to her absent father and his cronies. But that soon passed as she did not wish to have a powers episode. "This week has not been the most... stellar. Especially for you." She glanced over at the younger woman. "Not with that demon attack on Halloween."
"Swings an' roundabouts, really," Amanda replied, with a small shrug. "I mean, I wish it hadn't happened, that people hadn't got hurt on my account, but it got me off me arse an' doin' somethin' about the whole bindin' spell. Besides, that was last week. Whole new week, whole new bunch of shite t' deal with."
A great deal had come about because of the incident, she mused to herself. Her invitation to train with the X-Men, Amanda finally dealing with that binding spell she talked about. And something else. "I do not know if anyone else heard but I thought you should know I did." Shifting slightly, Wanda turned herself to face Amanda on the porch. "I didn't understand anything the monster was saying...except one thing. Perhaps."
Amanda looked startled, and then a panicked look crossed her face. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure there was no-one within hearing range, she turned back to the older woman with an anguished expression. "It wasn't a name, was it?"
"...it was, actually." Wanda watched as Amanda's expression grew more wild and reached over, placing a calm, firm hand on her knee. "Amanda. Listen to me. I grew up with a witch, remember? I don't understand why but I've heard the saying that names hold power. I won't utter it unless you wish me to. I just wanted to talk about it."
Amanda relaxed slightly, but still watched the woman warily. "It was why I couldn't do anythin'," she admitted. "It knew... that name, an' used it t' take me power from me." She laid her food aside, appetite gone. "Thanks for tellin' me that yer'd heard. I was hopin' no-one understood what it was. Well, Manny did, but I would've told him eventually any way." She was babbling, she realised, and she took a breath to calm herself. "What did you want t' talk about?"
"What...do you know of your family?" she asked slowly. "Before the man who took you, I mean?"
"Nothin', " Amanda said, voice hardening a little. "Just that they sold me t' Rack because of me power." She looked down at her boots, noting she really needed new laces. "Flashes of stuff, sometimes. Smells, mostly. Horses. Woodsmoke." Shrugging, she looked up again. "'Cept I don't know if that's a memory, or just somethin' I made up. A little kid wan't somethin' safe."
"The name that I heard that night...it is not a very usual name but it is very Rom sounding." She thought about it for a second. "Older, a little bit, but it still...sounds like something from our language."
The girl blinked at that. It hadn't occurred to her that her real name would actually give away its origins like that, even though it should have. "So yer sayin'... I might be Rom?" she asked, hostility forgotten for the moment as curiosity won out.
"There is a strong posibility, yes. England is fraught with my people, actually. A good number have moved there and eventually settled down in the country side. So it is not so far-fetched to think that you are Rom."
Hmm. The idea wasn't entirely distasteful. If she thought about it in general terms, not specific, child-selling bastard terms. "If... if I was t' want t' find out for sure... How would I go about it?"
Wanda smiled encouragingly at Amanda. "I could help, a great deal actually. Do some research on the name itself, ask with my family back home. Any leads I could bring back to you and you can decide where to go from there. Having an anthropologist on hand is rather useful."
That didn't sound too painful... Amanda's thoughts still skittered away from what might happen if she actually found the people who had made her, but the idea of knowing where she came from wasn't unappealing. Especially when she'd cast off the last of Rack's influence - she was completely without past ties, now. "Why're doin' this?" she asked abruptly. "'S not like you really know me or anythin'. Why bother with all that?"
"Because I think history, especially personal history, is important. And family is even more important." Wanda closed her eyes for a second, a pleasant memory of her mother playing through her mind and she smiled. "My blood family is either dead, someone I never want to deal with, or away from me. I know how it feels, in that regard. Besides, even if you are not full-blooded Rom, you were still taken in by one of ours. And that makes you a type of family, in a sense."
"'S funny - for the longest time no-one wanted me, an' now I've got people adoptin' me left, right an' centre," Amanda said with a snort, but her expression had softened somewhat. "Could you? Look, I mean. I don't know what I'll do if you do find anythin', but... I'd like t' have the option." She wrapped her hands around the tea mug to stop the trembling. "I'll give you as much as I know - it ain't a lot, but it might help. Birthdate, all the rest of it."
She nodded, mind already figuring out where she would need to look. Wanda mourned her equipment and her resources back in London for a second. "That will help a great deal. Anything you can remember would be helpful as well. Especially if it's a place because that gives me a point of reference to work off of."
"Maybe I should get one of the 'paths t' go diggin', only they've all gone boom, pretty much." Amanda gave a nervous-sounding laugh. "~I thank you for your help,~" she added in Romany.
"~My pleasure, my friend,~" she replied, leaning back against the porch as they both finished up their tea.
