xp_logs | Amanda, Nathan - Saturday afternoon

Another TK lesson, which ends in a shopping trip and food. There's banter, lots of it, and they skate round the edge of a few serious topics, but there's not angst. Really.

Nathan knocked on the door of Amanda's suite, shifting the box he was carrying under one arm. "Anyone home?" he called humorously. "I know I'm earlier, but I brought new toys..."

The door opened, apparently by itself, revealing Amanda on the couch, grinning broadly. Take that, metal doorknob! "Hey, old man," she said, shuffling over to make some room. "What's in the box?"

Nathan grinned at her feat. "A surprise," he said brightly, coming over and sitting down beside her on the couch, setting the box on the coffee table. "Did you ever do puzzles?"

"You mean like jigsaws?" she asked, curious now. "Sometimes - Rack had this puzzle box he used t' let me play with t' keep me quiet when he was workin'. An' the social workers had a whole bunch they used t' test me memory an' learnin' ability." Her grin got just a little smug. "Used t' be quite good at them."

Nathan pulled the wrapping off the box, revealing that it was a three-dimensional architectural puzzle of Westminster Abbey. "Figured a small nod to your home and native land might be appropriate," he teased.

"Oooh." Amanda scooted closer, intrigued. Three dimensional jigsaws were a new thing. She winkled her nose at him for the dig about her homeland. "Apparently that's still up for debate," she said, with a wry grin. "Whether it is me native land an' all." Reaching for the box, she went on: "Can I?"

"Mmm," Nathan said thoughtfully. "I thought this might be something new. To practice the whole tactile thing - you gave some indication that your spell might stretch that far, so I'd like to test it."

Amanda considered this. "Usin' the spell t' put this together, you mean?" she said, wanting to make sure she was clear.

Nathan nodded. "By touch - telekinetic touch, rather than by looking at the pieces. If you can, I mean." He smiled. "It's something I've been experimenting with myself lately, TK-wise."

"No lookin'?" Amanda looked doubtful. "I mean, I can tell the difference between what stuff's made off, an' how big it is an' all, but I'm not sure..." Giving the box a decisive look, she nodded. "Let's give it a shot - won't know unless I try."

"No pressure," Nathan said, pulling the lid off the box. "Hence why we're doing this in privacy." He paused, then handed the lid of the box with the picture of the puzzle on it to her. "Remember what I said about visualization?" he asked, levitating all the puzzle pieces out of the box and floating them in the air. "That's the key. You have to get the image set in your head, right from the start."

Visualising she could do. Hell, most of her work with Strange involved picturing things in her mind. Studying the picture, memorising it, she closed her eyes and reached out with the spell. Picking the pieces up was easy. Making them look like the image in her mind was harder. For a long moment, they hung there in midair, not doing much of anything. Amanda's brow furrowed. "I can see it, but I can't make it fit."

Nathan watched her expression change, the frustration flash across her face. "Don't concentrate on the image for a moment," he suggested. "Concentrate on the touch, instead. Imagine that your spell is your hand, that you can feel the texture of the pieces..."

The pieces separated, spread out as if being brushed across a table by a hand searching for the right one... Obviously Amanda found that one, because it was quickly joined by a second piece, the two slotting together. "I think... I'm gettin' it," she murmured, the frown smoothing out. Two more pieces joined the two already there, and then another.

Nathan grinned, shaking his head as he watched one of the towers start to assemble itself. "I think that's a yes," he said. "Your spell clearly has a tactile element. You're getting the hang of this too quickly for it to be otherwise." He leaned forward, chin resting in his hand as he watched her work, his gaze flickering back to her face every so often. No real sign or 'feel' of stress, either.

"'S odd... It's like I'm callin' the pieces I need, an' they're comin' t' me," she said, her tone a little distracted. Her eyes were still firmly closed - opening them would only confuse matters. The amulet, always an indication of her power usage, was glowing a little, certainly not the blue brilliance of a major spell.

Nathan noticed that, too. He always kept an eye on the amulet when they were training. "You know," he said idly, "you're getting to the point where you almost might as well be a telekinetic. I should know, I trained enough of them at Mistra."

She did open her eyes at that, and the half-assembled puzzle wobbled, before she managed to stabilise it. "Remember what I said, 'bout spells I use the most leavin' grooves in me head?" she asked, closing her eyes again and focussing on the task. It was getting easier, with less pieces - less permutations. "The werelight was the first spell I got taught. This was second. An' it's useful, too - I've done it so often over the years I don't even have t' think about the easy stuff any more. 'S why it was that one, when I was havin' those nightmares 'bout Rack." A slight grin crossed her face. "Lucky it wasn't me callin' Fire. That's third."

Nathan couldn't help a rueful answering grin. "Yes, let's all be very glad for that..." Westminster Abbey was rapidly approaching completion. He was quite blown away by just how quickly she had managed to do this. "Groove or no groove," he murmured, "it's good to see you doing so well at this. Makes me think I might be a half-decent teacher."

She paused in her construction to flip one of the kids' action figures at him with the same spell. "Oh course you are," she said. "You have this way of explainin' things... it sinks in. Makes sense." She cracked open one eye and her grin broadened. "An' you don't throw chalk at me head when I fuck up."

"Multitasking seems to be coming along just fine, too," he said with a grin, 'catching' the action figure. "I wonder sometimes if I get too preachy, with the explanations," he said thoughtfully. "Preachiness is a problem for me, I'm told. But anyway. The only time I'd throw chalk at your head was if I was trying to see whether or not you could catch it. Promise."

"One of me old teachers in London used t' do it every chance he got. Back when I was tryin' t' be 'normal' - that lasted all of a week. Got sick of bein' pelted with chalk at full speed, so one day I threw it back at him. Along with every other piece in the room. Ended up back at the Children's Home the next day." She scrunched up her nose. "Yer average Comprehensive in London? Not exactly a breedin' ground for scholastic excellence." She returned her attention to the puzzle, the last few pieces hesitating, rotating slowly in the air as if looking for where they belonged. "You preach a little, but not that often. Of course, 's hard t' preach in language classes, an' these sessions are more practical."

"I used to preach at Manuel all the time," Nathan said calmly, not missing the look he got for actually having willingly brought Manuel up in conversation. "I think that was part of the problem. I couldn't stop myself, and it didn't sit well with him..." Almost there. She just had a couple of pieces left. "Your lines of force are still odd," Nathan said, closing his eyes and feeling them out. "Not bad-odd. Just odd. I can still tell that yours isn't standard TK."

"He's not good at listenin' either," she pointed out. "One of the reasons we work well together - we both have this thing where it's not what's said, it's how it's said, an' the actions that go along with it. Him, bein' an empath, bein' lied to all the time... He got so he relied on his power more than his ears. Or his brain." Nathan snorted at that, and she poked her tongue out at him. "Then there's words that're more important than any action, any feelin', words that have t' be said. That's where we ran into trouble. I couldn't say 'em, when he could." The last couple of pieces slotted into place, and she opened her eyes to carefully lower the whole thing to the table surface. There was a faint wave of dizziness, more like a sense of dislocation, as she disengaged the spell. "Woah, headrush."

"Gold star for you," Nathan said whimsically. "No headache?" She shook her head. "Good," he said, making a mental note for the report for her file. He reached out, poking Westminster Abbey lightly. "One of the more complex ones, and you did it that fast," he said appreciatively. "Definitely a gold star. Maybe even a present."

She grinned. "Not worried I'm gettin' too big for me boots?" she asked, lacing her fingers together and stretching her arms above her head, unkinking her back - she'd been sitting in the same position too long. "'Cause, I still flunk with the coins, so there's balance. The natural order of things is maintained." She was obviously quoting Strange with the last.

"I have faith in you that you'll progress through the natural order at the rate you should," Nathan said peacefully. "You don't need me making decisions for you to hold you back."

"Well, accordin' t' the natural order of magic I still should be floatin' pencils at my age. An' possibly experimentin' with henna tattoos an' incense," Amanda said with an impish grin. "So, this gold star, present thing... Couldn't take the shape of gettin' out of here for an afternoon?" she asked, looking at him soulfully.

"Well, let's see," Nathan said very gravely. "It's Saturday afternoon. I have no classes. You have no classes. Moira is still..." He stopped, biting back a sigh. "Out of here sounds like a brilliant idea," he said a bit wistfully. "You want to go shopping?"

"Shoppin' sounds brilliant - I ain't been out of here 'cept for Strange's classes since Halloween. An' shoppin's fun, when you have actual cash t' spend." Another of those impish grins. "We could stop by the music place an' I can find more scary punk t' torment Manny with. Since he seems convinced that's all I listen to."

---

Flipping idly through the rows of CDs, Nathan looked up in time to see Amanda headed in his direction, enough of a bounce in her step that he didn't need to see the CDs she was holding to know she'd found what she wanted. "They had your scary punk, I gather?" he asked dryly and pulled out one of the CDs in front of him, hmming thoughtfully. Armenian liturgical chant... might be worth getting for class...

She grinned and waved a CD at him. The band proclaimed themselves to be "Screeching Weasel", and they looked suitably screechy. And possibly weasely. "I've never heard of this lot, but I figure they'll be loud an' obnoxious enough," she said with an evil grin. "'Sides, they might actually be all right." The other CDs were less aggressively punk - Blur, Live, A Perfect Circle... As Nathan raised his eyebrow, she shrugged. "Expanding me horizons - been listenin' t' some of the stuff Manny's collected on the servers, decided they weren't that bad." She peered curiously at what he had pulled out, wrinkling her nose a little. "Armenian? Never heard of them."

Nathan snorted at her. "Armenia," he said with an affectionate grin. "It's a country. In Eastern Europe. Pretty interesting place, actually... I thought this might possibly be good for class." He flipped the CD over, regarding the back thoughtfully. "Or, you know, just something soothing for yours truly. Isabel Bayrakdarian has an amazing voice. Like crystal."

It was an indication of how comfortable Amanda felt with Nathan that she didn't get all defensive at her mistake. Ears going the slightest bit pink, she peered over his arm at the CD, looking doubtful. "Chanting? Isn't that like those monks a while back? An' the dance tracks? Gets played a lot In the retro clubs - Enigma or somethin'. Dead borin'."

"Ah, you just haven't listened to the right kind of chant," Nathan said firmly, deciding that the CD was indeed a keeper. "You know, if you're really interested in expanding your horizons, you ought to listen to some classical stuff." He gave her a sideways look, trying to think what she might like.

"I have been a bit," came the surprisingly reply. "Since Columbia..." She looked up at him anxiously, not sure if she should be saying this, given that Nathan had been there as well and she didn't want to spoil the outing with angst. "When he did that mind jump thing, he left the whole music thing behind. Still can't sing worth shite, but I can play piano now, a bit, if I practice. An' I quite like some of the stuff he left in there."

Nathan let his hand drift along the rows of CDs as they walked, until... "Here," he said quietly, pulling one out. "Rachmaninoff's piano concertos. You might like these." He smiled, turning over the CD to look at the back. "I like Rachmaninoff," he murmured. "I like most of the Russian composers, actually. Probably because I'm inordinately fond of Russia."

"Oh, Manny had some of this on his iPod. His angry music, he calls it," she said, glad to focus on something else. "'S not bad, 'specially when you turn it up nice an' loud. Tho' 's better t' use the headphones for that, otherwise Angie sends in Blinky t' attack me until I turn it down."

Nathan stopped, grinning. "Now, here we go," he said, pulling out another CD. "Aram Khachaturian. Russian composer, but of Armenian descent. Little more dramatic than the chant..." He trailed off, his eyes drifting around the music store for a moment before he looked back at Amanda, smiling. "You know," he said more quietly, "this is just... entirely too much fun. It really is. And alarmingly normal."

She nodded, chuckling a little. "I know what you mean. Tho', if it helps, there's nothin' normal 'bout us agreein' on music," she teased. Abruptly her stomach growled and she gave him another of those little-girl looks. "Think we can stretch the normal t' get somethin' t' eat? All that work before's made me hungry."

"What," Nathan asked dryly. "You think I'd make you work, then take you shopping, and not feed you? No faith in me at all." They made their way up to the front of the store, where he paid for the CDs and manfully took on the whole beast-of-burden role yet again. "How about something a little different?" he asked as they headed out of the store. "There's a good Middle Eastern restaurant just down the street..."

"Well, some people get tired of feedin' the Bottomless Pit..." she replied with a grin. "An' I'll try anythin' once, you know that. As long as it's not raw fish." She pulled a face at that thought.

"No sushi for you, then. I'll keep that in mind." He led the way to the restaurant, which he'd noticed on the way in, and was pleased to find it midscale, quiet, and reasonably authentic to judge by the menu. "This looks good," he said. "You see anything that appeals?"

"Um, translatin' help might be good here..." Not a lot on the menu was making sense. "You order for both of us? Nothin' weird like sheep's eyeballs - those're for spells, not eatin'."

Nathan grinned. "No sheep's eyeballs, I promise," he said, and decided to order a few different dishes, just to give her the chance to sample a bit more widely. "I have a thing for Middle Eastern dips," he confessed after the waiter had taken their order and departed. "Hummus, mohomara, baba ghanooj... well, I like the bread, too." He tilted his head at her. "It's mostly healthy food, too," he said wryly. "A minimum of grease and so forth, I'm sorry to say..."

Amanda poked her tongue out at him. "Contrary to popular belief, I do eat healthy sometimes. Better 'n Clarice, with her 'chocolate is a food group' thing, any way. 'Sides, grease is good for you sometimes. Helps soak up the lager, just ask Pete." Taking a sip of water, she grinned. "Not that he encourages the drinkin' of lager by minors at all."

"Oh, of course not. Not your fine and upstanding 'uncle'," Nathan said with a deadpan look. It was good to see her so relaxed, he reflected. Definitely an improvement. She needs to do things like this more often. Funny how getting out of the mansion contributed to one's sanity level. "Oh," he said, remembering suddenly, "I was supposed to say hello. Dom called me last night at three in the morning - she'd just gotten in from Cambodia and wanted to tell me all about the fun she's been having the last couple of weeks."

Amanda's face brightened noticeably at the mention of Domino. "The sort of fun that comes with explosions?" she asked, grinning. "I miss her - 's been ages since we talked."

"Lots and lots of explosions, apparently," Nathan said, his smile a bit wry as he thought of some of the details Dom had given him. "She's fine. Not a scratch. But I gather it got a little hairy. Especially given that she told me she's heading to Amsterdam for a week and nothing short of the apocalypse is getting her out of there before the seven days are up. She only does that when she really needs to blow off some steam."

"So I gather." Amanda looked a little wistful. "Wish I could go join her, but there's a limit t' how far behind I can get with the schoolwork, an' I'm there after the month of medlab madness."

"She promised she'd try to stop by within the next few weeks," Nathan told her. "Apparently she wants to talk to Pete anyway. Turned up something out in Cambodia that she thinks he might be interested in..." He shrugged cheerfully. "Or, you know, that could just be an excuse. I really couldn't tell. She has this bad habit of sounding perfectly serious when she's actually not."

"You should've seen 'em in Istanbul," Amanda snickered, perking up a lot at the thought of Domino coming for a visit. She was about to say more, as the dips arrived. "Ooh, that looks good."

"She yelled at me for not having let her know to expect Ani and Mick," Nathan said with a snort. "Well, mostly for Ani... she's met Mick before, but under less friendly circumstances." He paused, then smiled at Amanda. "They're settling in well, by the way," he said more quietly. "And Ani shouted hello to you from somewhere else in the room while Dom was talking..."

"Is that where they ended up?" Amanda considered it, and grinned. "Of course that's where they ended up. Best place for 'em." She snickered abruptly. "Fuck, Dom an' Ani in Amsterdam together..."

"Ani will fit right in. She almost stayed in the first place, when we first got her out." Nathan dipped a piece of bread into the hummus. "Mick's doing okay. GW's keeping a close eye on him - he saw me through the worst of my adjustment, so he knows what to look out for." He grinned suddenly. "And you're right," he said. "There really isn't any better, safer place for them. They need a pack, and the Pack will do."

Cautiously, Amanda tore off a piece of the flat bread, dipped it into the hummus. Having tasted it, the next helping was a lot less tentative. "Mmm, this is good," she said with her mouth full. "An' of course I'm right, I am, usually." At Nathan's look, she grinned. "Tryin' somethin' new. No more puttin' meself down. Manny insisted."

"Novel idea indeed," Nathan teased lightly. "Also a rather good one. You could definitely stand to be a little cockier."

"I used t' be," she said seriously. "Then... a whole bunch of shite happened, an' I started realisin' I'd done some pretty fucked up things. Forgot for a while there that there's good as well." She gave him a rueful grin. "Seems I never do things by halves."

"That elusive middle ground," Nathan murmured, and then smiled at the look she gave him. "Something Cain and I were talking about, a while back... of course, in that conversation it was all about identity, not about confidence." He gave a chuckle that was almost a sigh, dipping another piece of bread in one of the other dips. "You know, all these damned existential questions are designed to drive us nuts. The unexamined life might not be worth living, but there's something to be said for ignorance."

Amanda grinned and nodded, before reaching for more bread. One of the other dips this time... that eggplanty one called baba-something. "'S silly of me, but sometimes I wish I was back on the streets in Brighton. It was a shite way t' live, yeah, but it wasn't half as complicated as me life is now. Then I remember I didn't give a rat's 'bout anyone but meself, an' how lonely that was, an' I know where I'd rather be, complications an' all." Ooh, the eggplanty one was good. She had another helping, already feeling much better for food and relaxing time and one of her favourite people all to herself.

"There is a sort of balance to it all," Nathan conceded. "Or there should be, ideally. I know things have been... more than hectic lately." He took a sip of his water, then picked up another piece of bread. "Are you doing okay?" he asked her seriously, giving her an intent look. "Really? You don't look quite so much like you're running yourself into the ground, but I still worry."

"No healin' since Thursday - I was s'posed t' do somethin' for Lee's stitches, but Bartlet took one look at me on Wednesday an' banned me from the medlab just about." She shrugged a little. "An' normally I'd be up in arms 'bout it, but I'm too bloody tired t' care. An' not feelin' exactly charitable towards Lee." She paused, and then said, carefully, since the hurt was still raw. "I got a call from Beth Wednesday night. Her folks're movin' her down t' Atlanta. 'Cause of what happened on Halloween."

Nathan bit back a sigh. "I'm sorry," he said gently. "I really am." One more reminder of how normal their lives weren't. He gazed across at the table, trying to gauge her expression. But neither platitudes nor changing the subject seemed like an appropriate response, so he reached out telepathically instead, tentatively extending a wordless tendril of comfort.

"'S... well, 's not all right, but I'm dealin'. Manny's helpin'." Her mind accepted the telepathic touch almost eagerly, the jumble of thoughts behind her shields calming a little with the contact. "'S hard, but there's nothin' I can do about it. An' she was right - she did come second best. With manny, an' the link..." She gave him another of those rueful smiles. "I think you might have a point 'bout that whole open relationship thing. Least with tryin' t' love two people at once, an' one not bein' in on the link."

"Don't worry," he murmured. "Not about to start with the 'I told you so's' or anything." The waiter came then with their main course, and he smiled at Amanda's fascinated look. "Do you want me to tell you what all this is, or would you like to sample blindly?"

"I'm doin' a good job of tellin' meself that already, so yeah, 's appreciated." She looked at the food in front of them and decided. "Samplin's good. I trust you not t' have gotten anythin' weird."

"Make sure you try the lamb," he advised, pointing out the right dish. "And one of the stuffed peppers, too." He took some of both and the rice dish he'd ordered, and dug in. "You liked Istanbul, didn't you?" he asked lightly. "You ought to do some more traveling in that part of the world."

She nodded, her mouth full. The food was good. "Maybe next summer, durin' the hols," she said, swallowing. "Once the Arabic's up t' scratch, an' I've got the time free." She grinned. "Maybe see if Dom'll take me on another job of two."

"Summer's a good time for people in our--her line of work," Nathan said, smiling a bit at his self-correction. "Lots of potential jobs. If she can't find anything she'd like to take you, I'd be terribly surprised."

"You don't mind, me workin' with her?" Amanda asked, sampling the lamb. Nice and spicy, yum. She wasn't too keen on the tomatoey stuff 'though, but that was because she had a Thing about tomatoes. "Not that it's dangerous, well, not on purpose..."

"It's hardly much more dangerous than the mansion is," Nathan said dryly. "In fact, less so. At least out running around with Dom you're a moving target. Besides," he said, cutting into one of the stuffed peppers, "I trust her judgement, more or less, and I know she's not about to take you into any kind of potentially lethal situation deliberately."

"Good point." Amanda's tone matched his exactly and he snorted, amused. "'S more than just the money, tho' that's somethin' I could get used to. It's... not fun exactly, more rewardin'? I'm doin' somethin' with the magic I never thought of before, an' I'm doin' it well, and that makes me feel good." She smiled at him. "Like our classes."

Nathan smiled back, but grew sober again almost immediately. "You know that jobs like the one in Istanbul aren't ... usual, right?" he asked, unable to help a sigh. "That most of the jobs Dom would take, or the ones I took, involved lots of violence, at best?"

"You mean people shot at you 'cause they didn't like yer faces?" Amanda asked ironically. "I'm not that much of an innocent Nate. I know it's not all steal the stolen artefact and skip out before the rent a goons find you. Dom an' I talked 'bout this already." She rested her elbows on the table, leaned her chin on her hands. "I won't get involved in anythin' that means I have t' hurt someone first, without reason other than it's what I'm bein' paid t' do - even without the threefold rule on me arse, I don't think I could do that. But I'm learnin' t' look after meself, an' the people with me, an' I'll do what it takes t' not get hurt."

"It's a good attitude," Nathan said, mangling the poor pepper. "Also something of a slippery slope, though." He paused, then grinned ruefully. "And now I'm having deja vu. I feel like it's six years ago and I'm trying to talk to Dom about this stuff."

Amanda laughed. "Well, you'll have Pete helpin' you out this time - I expect him t' be bending me ear 'bout this sometime soon." She was a little pleased by the comparison - she hero-worshipped Domino badly. "But point taken on the slope thing. I ain't about t' go testin' any boundaries, not with magical karma hangin' over me head." The word 'karma' made her pull a face. "Fuck, 'm soundin' like bloody Lee."

Nathan groaned. "Could we not?" he pleaded, stabbing a piece of lamb with his fork. "I'm meeting with her tomorrow. We were supposed to see each other last Sunday, but... well, head, wall, and my week sort of got odd from there."

"Subject changed." Although Amanda couldn't help broadcasting a certain sense of satisfaction that Jubilee and Manuel weren't sleeping together any more. "How is the head? Askani still hard t' hear?"

"Getting better. Still not back to normal, yet - I'm getting individual voices again when I concentrate, but still lots of buzzing." Nathan snorted and took a sip of his water. "It's been... odd," he confessed. "This past week. Kind of unsettling, really. I don't think I'm meant to be alone in my mind anymore."

"You know, that should be a worry..." Amanda made a wry face. "Missin' the voices in yer head. Our lives are just really fuckin' weird, you know that, don't you?"

"Oh, come on," Nathan said with a chuckle. "If there wasn't the weird shit, you'd be bored. Variety is the spice of life." He grinned. "Which means that we should be seeking out new kinds of weird shit, as opposed to revisiting the same old, same old over and over..."

"So, after lunch, wanna go lookin' for aliens?" Amanda asked, mischief dancing in her eyes. "We ain't had any of them yet."

"Lead on, Scully," Nathan said, saluting her with his water glass. "The truth is out there, you know."