Wanda, Amanda, Kurt - Romani Road Trip!
Jan. 12th, 2005 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThree scenes from a homecoming... In the first, Amanda frets on the train about the impending meeting, Kurt and Wanda are reassuring.
Watching the snow-covered German countryside flash by was almost like being in a Christmas card, Amanda reflected, looking out the window again. Not so much because there was anything of real interest out there - white expanse, dotted by white-covered trees and white-covered fences - but because she couldn't really think of anything to say to the other two people with her. Kurt was wearing his inducer, and watching her with that understanding look that tended to make her grit her teeth, and Wanda looked... amused? It was hard to tell. Possibly plotting something - she had that look Alison got sometimes.
But someone had to say something, and it looked like it was up to her. "Things settlin' back down at the school? After New Year's an' the rest?"
Wanda roused herself from her thoughts at the question. Her mind had been working during the quiet, but more along the lines of the work that needed to be done at home. And a few stray thoughts towards Dr. Strange but, really, that was no one's business but her own. "As well as they always do, from what I have seen," she replied, slowly stretching her legs out in front of her. The other two had plenty of room but she _was_ mostly leg, after all. "You are a resilient lot, I will give you that."
"We have t' be, more's the pity," Amanda replied, eyes darkening a little at the memory of just how resilient she'd had to be lately. And how it seemed Nate wasn't so much - she hadn't heard from him at all. She glanced over at Kurt, sitting on the opposite seat to her. "What did they say? When you told 'em 'bout me?"
"Not very much, for quite a few minutes", Kurt answered with a wry smile. "Then they wanted to know everything I could tell them about you, and how you were, and when I would be bringing you to meet them..."
"A million questions in one breath?" Wanda asked, lips twitching just a tad. "Would seem about right, given the situation."
Amanda shifted uncomfortably - she wasn't used to people taking that much of an interest in her and her doings. At least not people who weren't police or social workers. It was one of the reasons why she preferred Pete and Nate and Moira - they didn't push. "Did you tell them... everythin'?" she asked a little anxiously, the brash attitude dropping away to reveal a very nervous young girl. "'Bout all the trouble I've been in, an' the addiction an' all that? "
"I have told them nothing about what has happened since you came to the school, except that you are safe and doing well", he reassured her. "And something of what happened to you at Rack's hands, but not all."
"They're not gunna keel over in shock at the sight of me, are they?" she asked, but with a glimmer of a grin this time. "I've been cuttin' back on the piercin's, but I ain't exactly two years old any more."
He returned the slight smile. "That part, they know. I think it will be fine."
Wanda grinned over at Amanda. "I think you will take them by storm," she commented, lounging back a bit. "It'll be just fine."
Scene the second - the meeting.
"Wait," Amanda said as they approached the small cluster of wagons gathered in a small forest on the edge of another of those postcard-like German villages. Her hands were shaking, which was ridiculous, since she wasn't scared, she had no reason to be. After all, she was the one testing them, wasn't she. The other two halted obligingly, both with the same look of concern. Ignoring them, Amanda closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, until her heart stopped hammering in her chest. All of it was vaguely familiar, giving her a maddening sense of deja-vu, and for a minute she wondered if this had been a good idea after all - what if she couldn't handle this?
"I'll go ahead, let them know we are here, yes?" Kurt suggested gently, and Amanda nodded. It made sense, and it gave her time to pull herself back together. Kurt moved forward into the encampment, and the two women could see people emerging from their caravans to greet him, before he disappeared into the central one - his family's, clearly.
Wanda stood next to Amanda and one hand went to her shoulder and she smiled down at the younger woman. "It will be all right," she said, voice strong with conviction. "Even if it is _not_, you are among friends."
She squinted slightly as she caught sight of a man, around her age, heading towards Kurt. 'Ah, I remember that one. Stefan. And probably not far behind is Margali.'
"I'm fine," Amanda replied, but it came out as a squeak. "Okay, 'm a bit nervous," she admitted. "You know what's weird? I almost wish they had turned out t' have sold me. At least then I could write 'em off an' have nothin' else t' do with 'em. This... this changes things." She was about to say more, when Kurt re-emerged from the caravan with another man and an older woman, and waved towards them. Even from the middle-ish distance, Amanda could feel the woman's gaze on her, and despite herself, found herself reaching for Wanda's hand for a quick squeeze.
Kurt led the others towards Amanda and Wanda, smiling a little nervously himself. He wanted this to go well, so very much... A moment later, they had reached the two, and he stood aside without a word to let his mother get a proper look at Amanda.
"~So long I have dreamed of this...~" Margali murmured in Romany, her breath catching as she looked the girl up and down. She wasn't a large woman, Margali, but like Romany she managed to convey a sense of presence that overwhelmed the physical, and Amanda found herself stepping back a little under the weight of that piercing dark-eyed stare, before her pride surfaced and she straightened her shoulders and returned the stare almost defiantly. The response made a smile break out on Margali's face and she nodded. "~She has the family spirit,~" she said, pleased. "~Not even that beast could crush that.~"
"~Her eyes are the same,~" was the reply from Stefan, as he stopped near her side. "~It was always the eyes that told me about her... never mind what else she is wearing.~" It was obvious he was trying not to jump to any conclusions, as much as he would have wanted to hope.
At that point, a teenage girl emerged from the caravan. She walked, more slowly than the others had, over to the group and gave Amanda the once-over, in such a way as to earn herself a sharp look from Margali.
Okay, everyone was staring at her. It was what she'd expected, but it was more than a bit unnerving. And the girl was downright rude about it, not to mention the fact she looked exactly as Amanda had in Asgard, blonde hair, smooth pale complexion unmarked by any adornment save a simple pair of ear-rings, blue eyes somehow imperious... More to break the tension than anything else, Amanda cleared her throat nervously, and said in halting Romany: "~Um, hello.~" Nathan had taught her that a handshake was almost as good as using powers to figure someone out, and she held out her hand to Margali. "~I'm Amanda.~" Best to get that straight now, before they started throwing her real name around.
"~I welcome you to our camp, Amanda,~" Margali replied, taking Amanda's hand in both her own. A shiver seemed to go through her, and she closed her eyes, concentrating. When she opened them again, they were bright with tears. "~It is her,~" she said, her voice trembling with emotion barely-suppressed. "~She has walked dark paths, but at last our child has returned home to us.~"
Scene the third - needing a break from all the Understanding Looks, Amanda goes for a brief walk and encounters Jimaine, her little sister. Sibling rivalry abounds.
It was all getting a bit much, so Amanda excused herself (which meant another round of Understanding Looks) and went for a brief walk around the camp. It was all too much, after all these years, to find out she was wanted, loved... Then she heard a footstep crunching in the snow behind her, and she turned to see that young girl, Jimaine. Her... sister, she thought, trying out the concept in her head. It was still weird.
Jimaine gave Amanda a distinctly sulky look but, mindful of what her mother would say if she found out, put on a forced smile and chirped, "Hi!"
"Um, hi," Amanda said, slightly uncomfortable. It was like looking at herself in Asgard, it really was. Without the poofy dresses, tho'. "Just gettin' some air - 's all a bit overwhelmin', yeah?"
"Must be", Jimaine answered, still keeping up the false cheer.
Okay, definite hostility here, in that wonderful passive-aggressive way people got when they'd been told to be nice. "Yeah, well, 's all been a bit of a shock for all of us, I s'pose. I mean, back before October, I wasn't givin' you lot a second thought, an' now 's the whole family reunion made-for-TV special..."
Jimaine scowled fleetingly at the mention of not giving them a second thought - she might not want the prodigal back much, but that didn't mean she got to say things like that - then shrugged. "Well, they've never stopped talking about you for as long as I can remember. So I'd say they gave you a second thought."
"They did?" Amanda supposed she shouldn't be surprised by that, but she was. "Look, kid, I didn't mean anythin' insultin' by that - hell, up to a couple of months ago I was convinced Margali had sold me off for me power. At least I'm still not in the whole bloody revenge frame of mind, eh?" she joked lamely, really not sure how to deal with sulky little sisters. And just what was the girl's beef with her anyway?
"'m not a kid", Jimaine muttered. "And I guess that's better than bloody revenge, yeah."
"Sorry, I've got this thing 'bout usin' names - names're important in magic, you'd know that. So I tend t' either use nicknames, or things like 'kid' or 'mate'." She gave the girl an apologetic look. "I don't mean anything bad by it."
Jimaine sniffed slightly, but couldn't help softening very slightly. "Jimi, then. If you want a nickname."
Amanda chuckled a little. "Jimi it is." She offered another of those abashed looks. "I'm afraid I don't remember you at all. You must've turned up not long after I... left, yeah ?"
Jimaine nodded. "Yeah. I was born a few months after that."
"That'd make you what... fifteen?" Jimaine nodded, and Amanda grinned. "Y'know, if I let the dye grow out an' take out the piercin's, I look just like you?"
Jimaine tilted her head and tried to visualise it, curiosity winning over sulkiness for now. "Really?"
Amanda nodded. "Really. There was a time, a few months back, when a bunch of us got kidnapped t' Asgard... I got adopted by the local psycho sorceress who basically did the magical makeover on me, got rid of all the unnatural stuff. Looked just like you, only with some really stupid lookin' dresses."
Jimaine blinked. "Kidnapped to Asgard?"
Amanda grinned wryly. "Long story. Basically variations of a theme - big bad magic user needs a power source, I have it in spades, they decide t' kidnap me an' use it. Amora went for the brain washin' rather than the straight-out stealin', but it all boils down t' the same thing."
The scowl returned at the mention of power - there was a certain amount of bitterness there, given Jimaine's utter lack of it. "So how'd you get back?"
"A teleportation spell. Had t' channel my power into one of the others, since it was a blokes-only thing, but considerin' it was a magical realm an' all, there was plenty t' spare..." Amanda gave the girl a curious look. "So, how far along are you? With the magic?"
"I'm not", Jimaine said bluntly, not bothering to hide the bitterness. "No power to speak of."
"None?" Amanda didn't bother hiding her surprise. "But... I would have thought, with Margali an' all... This sort of thing runs in families, or at least that's what I was taught."
"It does. You're the older sister, so you were the heir."
"Oh yeah..." She'd actually forgotten for a minute. And things were starting to make sense, the hostility, the less-than-enthusiastic welcome... "Look, Jimi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean t' rub yer nose in it an' all. I didn't exactly ask for this, y'know? An' it's not like it's brought me much besides a whole lot of grief."
Jimaine nodded curtly, unwilling or unable to let go of the resentment yet. "Yeah, I get that."
"I don't think you do, but I ain't gunna argue the point. Some stuff you don't want yer little sister t' know, yeah?"
Jimaine glared at her suddenly. "I'm not your little sister. I don't know you. And you're not even staying!" she finished, turning to storm away.
"Jimi..." Amanda began, but stopped, letting the girl go. She was right, after all, and Amanda had no right to push her. With a sigh she turned and headed back for Margali's caravan. This whole family business was complicated.
Watching the snow-covered German countryside flash by was almost like being in a Christmas card, Amanda reflected, looking out the window again. Not so much because there was anything of real interest out there - white expanse, dotted by white-covered trees and white-covered fences - but because she couldn't really think of anything to say to the other two people with her. Kurt was wearing his inducer, and watching her with that understanding look that tended to make her grit her teeth, and Wanda looked... amused? It was hard to tell. Possibly plotting something - she had that look Alison got sometimes.
But someone had to say something, and it looked like it was up to her. "Things settlin' back down at the school? After New Year's an' the rest?"
Wanda roused herself from her thoughts at the question. Her mind had been working during the quiet, but more along the lines of the work that needed to be done at home. And a few stray thoughts towards Dr. Strange but, really, that was no one's business but her own. "As well as they always do, from what I have seen," she replied, slowly stretching her legs out in front of her. The other two had plenty of room but she _was_ mostly leg, after all. "You are a resilient lot, I will give you that."
"We have t' be, more's the pity," Amanda replied, eyes darkening a little at the memory of just how resilient she'd had to be lately. And how it seemed Nate wasn't so much - she hadn't heard from him at all. She glanced over at Kurt, sitting on the opposite seat to her. "What did they say? When you told 'em 'bout me?"
"Not very much, for quite a few minutes", Kurt answered with a wry smile. "Then they wanted to know everything I could tell them about you, and how you were, and when I would be bringing you to meet them..."
"A million questions in one breath?" Wanda asked, lips twitching just a tad. "Would seem about right, given the situation."
Amanda shifted uncomfortably - she wasn't used to people taking that much of an interest in her and her doings. At least not people who weren't police or social workers. It was one of the reasons why she preferred Pete and Nate and Moira - they didn't push. "Did you tell them... everythin'?" she asked a little anxiously, the brash attitude dropping away to reveal a very nervous young girl. "'Bout all the trouble I've been in, an' the addiction an' all that? "
"I have told them nothing about what has happened since you came to the school, except that you are safe and doing well", he reassured her. "And something of what happened to you at Rack's hands, but not all."
"They're not gunna keel over in shock at the sight of me, are they?" she asked, but with a glimmer of a grin this time. "I've been cuttin' back on the piercin's, but I ain't exactly two years old any more."
He returned the slight smile. "That part, they know. I think it will be fine."
Wanda grinned over at Amanda. "I think you will take them by storm," she commented, lounging back a bit. "It'll be just fine."
Scene the second - the meeting.
"Wait," Amanda said as they approached the small cluster of wagons gathered in a small forest on the edge of another of those postcard-like German villages. Her hands were shaking, which was ridiculous, since she wasn't scared, she had no reason to be. After all, she was the one testing them, wasn't she. The other two halted obligingly, both with the same look of concern. Ignoring them, Amanda closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, until her heart stopped hammering in her chest. All of it was vaguely familiar, giving her a maddening sense of deja-vu, and for a minute she wondered if this had been a good idea after all - what if she couldn't handle this?
"I'll go ahead, let them know we are here, yes?" Kurt suggested gently, and Amanda nodded. It made sense, and it gave her time to pull herself back together. Kurt moved forward into the encampment, and the two women could see people emerging from their caravans to greet him, before he disappeared into the central one - his family's, clearly.
Wanda stood next to Amanda and one hand went to her shoulder and she smiled down at the younger woman. "It will be all right," she said, voice strong with conviction. "Even if it is _not_, you are among friends."
She squinted slightly as she caught sight of a man, around her age, heading towards Kurt. 'Ah, I remember that one. Stefan. And probably not far behind is Margali.'
"I'm fine," Amanda replied, but it came out as a squeak. "Okay, 'm a bit nervous," she admitted. "You know what's weird? I almost wish they had turned out t' have sold me. At least then I could write 'em off an' have nothin' else t' do with 'em. This... this changes things." She was about to say more, when Kurt re-emerged from the caravan with another man and an older woman, and waved towards them. Even from the middle-ish distance, Amanda could feel the woman's gaze on her, and despite herself, found herself reaching for Wanda's hand for a quick squeeze.
Kurt led the others towards Amanda and Wanda, smiling a little nervously himself. He wanted this to go well, so very much... A moment later, they had reached the two, and he stood aside without a word to let his mother get a proper look at Amanda.
"~So long I have dreamed of this...~" Margali murmured in Romany, her breath catching as she looked the girl up and down. She wasn't a large woman, Margali, but like Romany she managed to convey a sense of presence that overwhelmed the physical, and Amanda found herself stepping back a little under the weight of that piercing dark-eyed stare, before her pride surfaced and she straightened her shoulders and returned the stare almost defiantly. The response made a smile break out on Margali's face and she nodded. "~She has the family spirit,~" she said, pleased. "~Not even that beast could crush that.~"
"~Her eyes are the same,~" was the reply from Stefan, as he stopped near her side. "~It was always the eyes that told me about her... never mind what else she is wearing.~" It was obvious he was trying not to jump to any conclusions, as much as he would have wanted to hope.
At that point, a teenage girl emerged from the caravan. She walked, more slowly than the others had, over to the group and gave Amanda the once-over, in such a way as to earn herself a sharp look from Margali.
Okay, everyone was staring at her. It was what she'd expected, but it was more than a bit unnerving. And the girl was downright rude about it, not to mention the fact she looked exactly as Amanda had in Asgard, blonde hair, smooth pale complexion unmarked by any adornment save a simple pair of ear-rings, blue eyes somehow imperious... More to break the tension than anything else, Amanda cleared her throat nervously, and said in halting Romany: "~Um, hello.~" Nathan had taught her that a handshake was almost as good as using powers to figure someone out, and she held out her hand to Margali. "~I'm Amanda.~" Best to get that straight now, before they started throwing her real name around.
"~I welcome you to our camp, Amanda,~" Margali replied, taking Amanda's hand in both her own. A shiver seemed to go through her, and she closed her eyes, concentrating. When she opened them again, they were bright with tears. "~It is her,~" she said, her voice trembling with emotion barely-suppressed. "~She has walked dark paths, but at last our child has returned home to us.~"
Scene the third - needing a break from all the Understanding Looks, Amanda goes for a brief walk and encounters Jimaine, her little sister. Sibling rivalry abounds.
It was all getting a bit much, so Amanda excused herself (which meant another round of Understanding Looks) and went for a brief walk around the camp. It was all too much, after all these years, to find out she was wanted, loved... Then she heard a footstep crunching in the snow behind her, and she turned to see that young girl, Jimaine. Her... sister, she thought, trying out the concept in her head. It was still weird.
Jimaine gave Amanda a distinctly sulky look but, mindful of what her mother would say if she found out, put on a forced smile and chirped, "Hi!"
"Um, hi," Amanda said, slightly uncomfortable. It was like looking at herself in Asgard, it really was. Without the poofy dresses, tho'. "Just gettin' some air - 's all a bit overwhelmin', yeah?"
"Must be", Jimaine answered, still keeping up the false cheer.
Okay, definite hostility here, in that wonderful passive-aggressive way people got when they'd been told to be nice. "Yeah, well, 's all been a bit of a shock for all of us, I s'pose. I mean, back before October, I wasn't givin' you lot a second thought, an' now 's the whole family reunion made-for-TV special..."
Jimaine scowled fleetingly at the mention of not giving them a second thought - she might not want the prodigal back much, but that didn't mean she got to say things like that - then shrugged. "Well, they've never stopped talking about you for as long as I can remember. So I'd say they gave you a second thought."
"They did?" Amanda supposed she shouldn't be surprised by that, but she was. "Look, kid, I didn't mean anythin' insultin' by that - hell, up to a couple of months ago I was convinced Margali had sold me off for me power. At least I'm still not in the whole bloody revenge frame of mind, eh?" she joked lamely, really not sure how to deal with sulky little sisters. And just what was the girl's beef with her anyway?
"'m not a kid", Jimaine muttered. "And I guess that's better than bloody revenge, yeah."
"Sorry, I've got this thing 'bout usin' names - names're important in magic, you'd know that. So I tend t' either use nicknames, or things like 'kid' or 'mate'." She gave the girl an apologetic look. "I don't mean anything bad by it."
Jimaine sniffed slightly, but couldn't help softening very slightly. "Jimi, then. If you want a nickname."
Amanda chuckled a little. "Jimi it is." She offered another of those abashed looks. "I'm afraid I don't remember you at all. You must've turned up not long after I... left, yeah ?"
Jimaine nodded. "Yeah. I was born a few months after that."
"That'd make you what... fifteen?" Jimaine nodded, and Amanda grinned. "Y'know, if I let the dye grow out an' take out the piercin's, I look just like you?"
Jimaine tilted her head and tried to visualise it, curiosity winning over sulkiness for now. "Really?"
Amanda nodded. "Really. There was a time, a few months back, when a bunch of us got kidnapped t' Asgard... I got adopted by the local psycho sorceress who basically did the magical makeover on me, got rid of all the unnatural stuff. Looked just like you, only with some really stupid lookin' dresses."
Jimaine blinked. "Kidnapped to Asgard?"
Amanda grinned wryly. "Long story. Basically variations of a theme - big bad magic user needs a power source, I have it in spades, they decide t' kidnap me an' use it. Amora went for the brain washin' rather than the straight-out stealin', but it all boils down t' the same thing."
The scowl returned at the mention of power - there was a certain amount of bitterness there, given Jimaine's utter lack of it. "So how'd you get back?"
"A teleportation spell. Had t' channel my power into one of the others, since it was a blokes-only thing, but considerin' it was a magical realm an' all, there was plenty t' spare..." Amanda gave the girl a curious look. "So, how far along are you? With the magic?"
"I'm not", Jimaine said bluntly, not bothering to hide the bitterness. "No power to speak of."
"None?" Amanda didn't bother hiding her surprise. "But... I would have thought, with Margali an' all... This sort of thing runs in families, or at least that's what I was taught."
"It does. You're the older sister, so you were the heir."
"Oh yeah..." She'd actually forgotten for a minute. And things were starting to make sense, the hostility, the less-than-enthusiastic welcome... "Look, Jimi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean t' rub yer nose in it an' all. I didn't exactly ask for this, y'know? An' it's not like it's brought me much besides a whole lot of grief."
Jimaine nodded curtly, unwilling or unable to let go of the resentment yet. "Yeah, I get that."
"I don't think you do, but I ain't gunna argue the point. Some stuff you don't want yer little sister t' know, yeah?"
Jimaine glared at her suddenly. "I'm not your little sister. I don't know you. And you're not even staying!" she finished, turning to storm away.
"Jimi..." Amanda began, but stopped, letting the girl go. She was right, after all, and Amanda had no right to push her. With a sigh she turned and headed back for Margali's caravan. This whole family business was complicated.
