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xp_logsAmanda meets Miles' new toy. Miles meets a fun application for magic. Nathan meets an ambush. It's all cute.
The flight from Europe to America wasn't that long, in the scale of things, but definitely long enough. And the planes were non-smoking. Not to mention that it had been weeks since she'd had any time to herself, what with Rom and Pete, and then Muir, and then Manuel and the Pack and the Szardos meeting... Once the initial flurry of greetings and dumping of luggage and all the rest of the homecoming stuff was over, Amanda grabbed her winter coat and went for a walk and a smoke outside, glad she'd finally replaced the hole-ridden Docs since the snow was actually quite deep in some places. It was quiet, with that specific muffled quiet that can only be achieved through a layer of snow on the ground, and she could feel the muscles in her shoulders and back starting to slowly relax...
The slight creaking sound, due only to much use on Miles' part and perhaps the slight lack of grease in the joints as a result, was Amanda's only warning before a literal flurry of snow popped into existence, covering her from head to toe in a moment, along with a fair portion of the trail she'd been slogging through. Cheerful, if muffled, giggling soon followed, the culprit not even trying to hide too much - that would ruin all the fun, after all.
Spluttering as she wiped snow off her face, her cigarette a sad and soggy mess, Amanda glanced around, trying to pinpoint the source of that giggle, trying hard to look fierce, but come on, this was Miles... She'd seen various posts about a new weapon of mass snow flinging, but she'd clean forgotten about it. "This my 'welcome home', is it squirt?" she called, finally catching a glimpse of his parka peeking out from behind a tree. She had a cunning plan, oh yes, she did. A plan so cunning you could give it legs and a tail and call it a weasel. But first she needed him to come out from behind the tree a little more...
Miles wasn't about to oblige just yet, however. He'd long figured out that within a certain distance, reload time was a possibility - that meant making sure he had the right working time to do so and since she hadn't moved just yet, that meant if he worked fast enough, he just might get her again. Grinning cheerfully he scooped up more loose snow from the prepared pile in place and reloaded the catapult slowly.
Okay, not coming out... maybe she could sneak around. Amanda moved off the trail and into the trees, not really sneaking since she knew fully well he was reloading the catapult and who was she to spoil the fun? And man, that thing had a hell of a range - the tree he was behind was half-way up the bloody trail.
It was with much delight that Miles hurriedly noted that Amanda, just like the others, seemed to be joining in the play. This was fun. Much fun. And he would be in so much trouble when people started to all get back on this, too. Though he'd already been chased about and had snow thrown back at him more than once, of course. The catapult was loaded again and once ready, Miles let fly with a whoop - there was just as much fun if not more is throwing the snow as hitting someone, and he didn't mind giving warning on the second shot. Besides, it was the last one he'd be getting in. With the catapult, anyway.
Amanda squealed in a most girlish way and half-turned - the snow splattered all over her back and side, some of it sliding its way down her collar. Clarice's hat protected her ears, at least. "My turn!" she called back, but didn't bend down to scoop up her own snowball. Instead she reached out with the TK spell and snagged the boy with infinite care, lifting him up into the air and floating him a bit closer to her (since she expected this to turn into something more up-close and personal, which evened things out) before dunking him in the fluffiest-looking snow bank she could find.
There was a very wide eyed look on Miles face as he went up, the snowball staying in his hands and the part where he was supposed to throw it at Amanda now entirely forgotten at the sensation of weightlessness as she hovered him in the air. With a low squeak he hit the snowbank, unmoving for a moment before suddenly popping back out with that same, thunderstruck look - which soon changed to a bright, delighted smile. "Again!" Scrambling up and slipping only once before scrambling over to her to fling his arms around her legs, Miles beamed up at the girl. "Amanda throw Miles in the snowbank again! Please!"
The impact of Miles flinging himself at her legs nearly sent them both tumbling into the snow, but Amanda managed to keep upright, grinning broadly at the boy's reaction. Still, she'd been like that the first time Nathan had used his powers to levitate her... "As much as you like, squirt," she said. "'Least 'til I get tired." That wouldn't be for a little while, at least, since Miles wasn't heavy at all. Lifting him again, she chose another snowbank and dropped him in, lifting him out and dunking him again for good measure.
The resounding shrieks and giggles of approval at this left no doubt as to Miles' enthusiasm for the game. There was no such thing as too much snow, or too much being floated about from snow pile to snow pile, and now some of it was making its way back towards Amanda with sometimes very accurate firing indeed, though Miles was careful enough to only aim to hit when he was already in a snowbank. This new version of the game was fun, similar to when Hank would leap out of windows to land in a snow bank.
Amanda was no less enthusiastic, enjoying Miles' reaction as much as the fun of dunking him in various snow piles, although she was careful to make sure there were no tree branches or similar hiding. Eventually she started getting tired, and used the excuse of one particularly-well aimed snowball to turn the dunking into a tackle which then turned into piling as much snow as possible on each other. Then she paused, hearing a familiar voice muttering to itself in a rather grumpy way, and a flash of movement through the trees, and she grinned. Well, she grinned after squealing as Miles took advantage of her sudden lack of movement to put snow down her collar. "Hey, squirt, what d'you say t' an attack on two fronts?" she suggested as she dug out the offending cold wet stuff as much as she could. "Nate's just over there."
Now, Miles was still a little bit new to being an kid around adults that didn't mind being ambushed, for the most part - having Hank with him when the adults were targeted had been reassuring and most of the kids he knew enough to feel good about snowing down. But Nathan, either way, was most certainly on the list of safe to tease all the time adults, and with a grin of glee, he nodded conspiratorially. "Miles thinks Amanda's idea sounds like a lot of fun!"
Nathan's mind was very definitely elsewhere. He was doing his best to pace through the heavy snow, his mind running over and over that damned Danger Room session, stopping occasionally for an uncharitable thought in Alison's direction. His little tumble had brought the session to an untimely close, not that he was sure how it would have been concluded properly - what the hell had that been, anyway? He still couldn't figure out a solution. And his pride hurt.
Buttoning up her mind tightly, although she could see he was already distracted, Amanda helped Miles shift the catapult into the best position, and then snuck off through the trees while he loaded it. She knew Nathan would probably pick up Miles' gleeful thoughts a mile off, and if he didn't, well, he'd probably shield the first barrage. The second, however? In place behind a large pine, two or three snowballs hurriedly scooped up and waiting, she nodded at Miles, who was just visible up ahead of Nathan, if you knew where to look.
It didn't take long for the catapult to be steadied properly - it was to be given extra care, as Hank had instructed - and soon Nathan came into view, walking directly into the line of sight that had been prepared, no less. With a fully loaded and ready to fire catapult just waiting to be triggered. It was more, of course, than any small boy could resist and with a grin, Miles triggered the lever, watching the smooth arc of the snow as it headed for it's unsuspecting target.
Nathan would reflect, afterwards, that it was a good thing Amanda and Miles were both fond of him, or they'd gossip about this all over the mansion and he'd never live it down. Though he registered the snow coming at him, it wasn't fast enough to throw up a shield - so much for the speed of thought! - and he yelped as he was splattered very nearly head-to-toe with snow.
"Gettin' slow, old man," Amanda snickered to herself, following up Miles' front attack with a couple of snowballs from behind, smacking him nicely once in the back of the head where the bits would end up down his neck, and another in the middle of his back. Okay, she cheated and used a bit of magic to make sure they hit, but she really did throw like a girl.
Amanda's flurry of snowballs allowed Miles some time to reach for ammunition of his own, and soon he'd joined her in the attack, setting up a crossfire that was bound to be majorly negated any moment now. It didn't matter though - Nathan tended to indulge people in situations like this and whatever happened, it would be fun. And covered in snow as he already was, Miles had no doubt there was hardly any more snow that could stick to him anyway. And maybe the wild giggling spoiled him aim once or twice, but who would be able to tell anyway?
"Oh, death," Nathan sputtered, laughing helplessly as he finally shielded and started to deflect the snowballs. "Both of you. Messy, messy snowy death..." A bit more concentration, and suddenly there was a miniature blizzard in the immediate vicinity, snow flying in wild spirals, chasing the two ambushers.
"Hey, that's cheatin'!" Amanda protested, although she was laughing too hard for it to be taken terribly seriously. And laughing too much to run that well - she was pretty much covered in snow. It was getting in the strangest places too, like in her ears, despite Clarice's hat. But the expression on his face had been well worth the retaliation, as was the fact he was laughing, and that was smoothing out the perpetually brooding look on his face.
Miles, far from protesting, was busy laughing while running about, until he decided that if the snow was going to follow him around, then running straight for the origin of the mini blizzard had to be a good plan. With a whoop, Miles reached out to grasp Amanda's hand and - dampening aura firmly pulled in and not affecting anyone at all - made a beeline for Nathan.
"Incoming!" Nathan yelled gleefully at no one in particular and, reaching out with his telekinesis, ensured that they ran up and into the air, as if gravity had just turned itself off.
The boost helped, since neither of them had the mass or the height to tackle Nathan normally. Nudging them both just a little with the magical version, Amanda pulled Miles along with her as they both piled into Nathan's front, sending all three of them tumbling into the snow.
Which meant snow should be loosely packed on anyone within reach, which Miles gleefully proceeded to do as once the opponent was down, all bets were off. Besides, he was getting as much snow down his winter jacket as anyone and it wasn't too cold or wet yet and he was having fun! "Ha! Miles and Amanda got Nathan good!"
"You sure did," Nathan said a bit breathlessly, his ribs protesting. "Now, easy on the old man, guys - got dropped on my head and stuff this afternoon." He couldn't stop grinning, though.
"Sh... sugar," Amanda amended, remembering Miles. She slid off Nathan's legs, where she'd been happily pinning Nate down for the Munchkin Attack, and helped Nathan sit up. "Did I miss somethin'?"
Miles shot Amanda a knowing look, though he joined
without the familiar calling out of 'Amanda is being a potty
mouth!' even though it was tempting. Very tempting. "Why did Nathan get dropped on his head?"
"Well, not on my head. Uh... exercising a little too hard," Nathan said, reaching out to brush snow off Miles' clothing. "Not watching where I was going. That sort of thing." He was still smiling, though, and his mood was stubbornly refusing to be un-lightened. Darn.
"The usual, you mean?" Amanda said with a grin, poking her tongue out at Miles for the look. She was swearing a lot less than she used to, but old habits died very hard. She took off Clarice's knit hat to brush the snow off it, revealing hair that was no longer uniform black but streaked with blonde and red and tied into two short braids, given she hadn't cut it since after Asgard. She was down to only one eyebrow piercing, the nose and the one below her bottom lip as well, although her ears were still a mass of metal. Obviously there had been some changes while she'd been away. "You know, snow's not so bad. I like this throwin' it at people - 's somethin' I could really get into. An' droppin' certain people into piles of it - that was fun."
With a perfectly angelic expression, Miles lifted up hands full of snow and thwapped her in the thigh with it, patting it into place and watching the improvised snow pack stick to her for a while with a pleased expression. "Miles thinks being dumped in piles of snow is fun." He patted the still compact snow sticking to Amanda's leg smugly, then looked up at both her and Nathan as though he'd done nothing at all.
"We're all going to catch a terrible chill," Nathan said mock-reprovingly. "Your mother and Doctor Moira will fuss. At us, possibly over us..." He grinned suddenly. "This might not be such a bad thing after all."
Amanda grinned at him. "I like the way you think, old man," she said, a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Shall we go wheedle our way into hot chocolate an' fussin' then?" she suggested, glancing at Miles and flicking snow at him. "Use the cute looks shamelessly?"
The flight from Europe to America wasn't that long, in the scale of things, but definitely long enough. And the planes were non-smoking. Not to mention that it had been weeks since she'd had any time to herself, what with Rom and Pete, and then Muir, and then Manuel and the Pack and the Szardos meeting... Once the initial flurry of greetings and dumping of luggage and all the rest of the homecoming stuff was over, Amanda grabbed her winter coat and went for a walk and a smoke outside, glad she'd finally replaced the hole-ridden Docs since the snow was actually quite deep in some places. It was quiet, with that specific muffled quiet that can only be achieved through a layer of snow on the ground, and she could feel the muscles in her shoulders and back starting to slowly relax...
The slight creaking sound, due only to much use on Miles' part and perhaps the slight lack of grease in the joints as a result, was Amanda's only warning before a literal flurry of snow popped into existence, covering her from head to toe in a moment, along with a fair portion of the trail she'd been slogging through. Cheerful, if muffled, giggling soon followed, the culprit not even trying to hide too much - that would ruin all the fun, after all.
Spluttering as she wiped snow off her face, her cigarette a sad and soggy mess, Amanda glanced around, trying to pinpoint the source of that giggle, trying hard to look fierce, but come on, this was Miles... She'd seen various posts about a new weapon of mass snow flinging, but she'd clean forgotten about it. "This my 'welcome home', is it squirt?" she called, finally catching a glimpse of his parka peeking out from behind a tree. She had a cunning plan, oh yes, she did. A plan so cunning you could give it legs and a tail and call it a weasel. But first she needed him to come out from behind the tree a little more...
Miles wasn't about to oblige just yet, however. He'd long figured out that within a certain distance, reload time was a possibility - that meant making sure he had the right working time to do so and since she hadn't moved just yet, that meant if he worked fast enough, he just might get her again. Grinning cheerfully he scooped up more loose snow from the prepared pile in place and reloaded the catapult slowly.
Okay, not coming out... maybe she could sneak around. Amanda moved off the trail and into the trees, not really sneaking since she knew fully well he was reloading the catapult and who was she to spoil the fun? And man, that thing had a hell of a range - the tree he was behind was half-way up the bloody trail.
It was with much delight that Miles hurriedly noted that Amanda, just like the others, seemed to be joining in the play. This was fun. Much fun. And he would be in so much trouble when people started to all get back on this, too. Though he'd already been chased about and had snow thrown back at him more than once, of course. The catapult was loaded again and once ready, Miles let fly with a whoop - there was just as much fun if not more is throwing the snow as hitting someone, and he didn't mind giving warning on the second shot. Besides, it was the last one he'd be getting in. With the catapult, anyway.
Amanda squealed in a most girlish way and half-turned - the snow splattered all over her back and side, some of it sliding its way down her collar. Clarice's hat protected her ears, at least. "My turn!" she called back, but didn't bend down to scoop up her own snowball. Instead she reached out with the TK spell and snagged the boy with infinite care, lifting him up into the air and floating him a bit closer to her (since she expected this to turn into something more up-close and personal, which evened things out) before dunking him in the fluffiest-looking snow bank she could find.
There was a very wide eyed look on Miles face as he went up, the snowball staying in his hands and the part where he was supposed to throw it at Amanda now entirely forgotten at the sensation of weightlessness as she hovered him in the air. With a low squeak he hit the snowbank, unmoving for a moment before suddenly popping back out with that same, thunderstruck look - which soon changed to a bright, delighted smile. "Again!" Scrambling up and slipping only once before scrambling over to her to fling his arms around her legs, Miles beamed up at the girl. "Amanda throw Miles in the snowbank again! Please!"
The impact of Miles flinging himself at her legs nearly sent them both tumbling into the snow, but Amanda managed to keep upright, grinning broadly at the boy's reaction. Still, she'd been like that the first time Nathan had used his powers to levitate her... "As much as you like, squirt," she said. "'Least 'til I get tired." That wouldn't be for a little while, at least, since Miles wasn't heavy at all. Lifting him again, she chose another snowbank and dropped him in, lifting him out and dunking him again for good measure.
The resounding shrieks and giggles of approval at this left no doubt as to Miles' enthusiasm for the game. There was no such thing as too much snow, or too much being floated about from snow pile to snow pile, and now some of it was making its way back towards Amanda with sometimes very accurate firing indeed, though Miles was careful enough to only aim to hit when he was already in a snowbank. This new version of the game was fun, similar to when Hank would leap out of windows to land in a snow bank.
Amanda was no less enthusiastic, enjoying Miles' reaction as much as the fun of dunking him in various snow piles, although she was careful to make sure there were no tree branches or similar hiding. Eventually she started getting tired, and used the excuse of one particularly-well aimed snowball to turn the dunking into a tackle which then turned into piling as much snow as possible on each other. Then she paused, hearing a familiar voice muttering to itself in a rather grumpy way, and a flash of movement through the trees, and she grinned. Well, she grinned after squealing as Miles took advantage of her sudden lack of movement to put snow down her collar. "Hey, squirt, what d'you say t' an attack on two fronts?" she suggested as she dug out the offending cold wet stuff as much as she could. "Nate's just over there."
Now, Miles was still a little bit new to being an kid around adults that didn't mind being ambushed, for the most part - having Hank with him when the adults were targeted had been reassuring and most of the kids he knew enough to feel good about snowing down. But Nathan, either way, was most certainly on the list of safe to tease all the time adults, and with a grin of glee, he nodded conspiratorially. "Miles thinks Amanda's idea sounds like a lot of fun!"
Nathan's mind was very definitely elsewhere. He was doing his best to pace through the heavy snow, his mind running over and over that damned Danger Room session, stopping occasionally for an uncharitable thought in Alison's direction. His little tumble had brought the session to an untimely close, not that he was sure how it would have been concluded properly - what the hell had that been, anyway? He still couldn't figure out a solution. And his pride hurt.
Buttoning up her mind tightly, although she could see he was already distracted, Amanda helped Miles shift the catapult into the best position, and then snuck off through the trees while he loaded it. She knew Nathan would probably pick up Miles' gleeful thoughts a mile off, and if he didn't, well, he'd probably shield the first barrage. The second, however? In place behind a large pine, two or three snowballs hurriedly scooped up and waiting, she nodded at Miles, who was just visible up ahead of Nathan, if you knew where to look.
It didn't take long for the catapult to be steadied properly - it was to be given extra care, as Hank had instructed - and soon Nathan came into view, walking directly into the line of sight that had been prepared, no less. With a fully loaded and ready to fire catapult just waiting to be triggered. It was more, of course, than any small boy could resist and with a grin, Miles triggered the lever, watching the smooth arc of the snow as it headed for it's unsuspecting target.
Nathan would reflect, afterwards, that it was a good thing Amanda and Miles were both fond of him, or they'd gossip about this all over the mansion and he'd never live it down. Though he registered the snow coming at him, it wasn't fast enough to throw up a shield - so much for the speed of thought! - and he yelped as he was splattered very nearly head-to-toe with snow.
"Gettin' slow, old man," Amanda snickered to herself, following up Miles' front attack with a couple of snowballs from behind, smacking him nicely once in the back of the head where the bits would end up down his neck, and another in the middle of his back. Okay, she cheated and used a bit of magic to make sure they hit, but she really did throw like a girl.
Amanda's flurry of snowballs allowed Miles some time to reach for ammunition of his own, and soon he'd joined her in the attack, setting up a crossfire that was bound to be majorly negated any moment now. It didn't matter though - Nathan tended to indulge people in situations like this and whatever happened, it would be fun. And covered in snow as he already was, Miles had no doubt there was hardly any more snow that could stick to him anyway. And maybe the wild giggling spoiled him aim once or twice, but who would be able to tell anyway?
"Oh, death," Nathan sputtered, laughing helplessly as he finally shielded and started to deflect the snowballs. "Both of you. Messy, messy snowy death..." A bit more concentration, and suddenly there was a miniature blizzard in the immediate vicinity, snow flying in wild spirals, chasing the two ambushers.
"Hey, that's cheatin'!" Amanda protested, although she was laughing too hard for it to be taken terribly seriously. And laughing too much to run that well - she was pretty much covered in snow. It was getting in the strangest places too, like in her ears, despite Clarice's hat. But the expression on his face had been well worth the retaliation, as was the fact he was laughing, and that was smoothing out the perpetually brooding look on his face.
Miles, far from protesting, was busy laughing while running about, until he decided that if the snow was going to follow him around, then running straight for the origin of the mini blizzard had to be a good plan. With a whoop, Miles reached out to grasp Amanda's hand and - dampening aura firmly pulled in and not affecting anyone at all - made a beeline for Nathan.
"Incoming!" Nathan yelled gleefully at no one in particular and, reaching out with his telekinesis, ensured that they ran up and into the air, as if gravity had just turned itself off.
The boost helped, since neither of them had the mass or the height to tackle Nathan normally. Nudging them both just a little with the magical version, Amanda pulled Miles along with her as they both piled into Nathan's front, sending all three of them tumbling into the snow.
Which meant snow should be loosely packed on anyone within reach, which Miles gleefully proceeded to do as once the opponent was down, all bets were off. Besides, he was getting as much snow down his winter jacket as anyone and it wasn't too cold or wet yet and he was having fun! "Ha! Miles and Amanda got Nathan good!"
"You sure did," Nathan said a bit breathlessly, his ribs protesting. "Now, easy on the old man, guys - got dropped on my head and stuff this afternoon." He couldn't stop grinning, though.
"Sh... sugar," Amanda amended, remembering Miles. She slid off Nathan's legs, where she'd been happily pinning Nate down for the Munchkin Attack, and helped Nathan sit up. "Did I miss somethin'?"
Miles shot Amanda a knowing look, though he joined
without the familiar calling out of 'Amanda is being a potty
mouth!' even though it was tempting. Very tempting. "Why did Nathan get dropped on his head?"
"Well, not on my head. Uh... exercising a little too hard," Nathan said, reaching out to brush snow off Miles' clothing. "Not watching where I was going. That sort of thing." He was still smiling, though, and his mood was stubbornly refusing to be un-lightened. Darn.
"The usual, you mean?" Amanda said with a grin, poking her tongue out at Miles for the look. She was swearing a lot less than she used to, but old habits died very hard. She took off Clarice's knit hat to brush the snow off it, revealing hair that was no longer uniform black but streaked with blonde and red and tied into two short braids, given she hadn't cut it since after Asgard. She was down to only one eyebrow piercing, the nose and the one below her bottom lip as well, although her ears were still a mass of metal. Obviously there had been some changes while she'd been away. "You know, snow's not so bad. I like this throwin' it at people - 's somethin' I could really get into. An' droppin' certain people into piles of it - that was fun."
With a perfectly angelic expression, Miles lifted up hands full of snow and thwapped her in the thigh with it, patting it into place and watching the improvised snow pack stick to her for a while with a pleased expression. "Miles thinks being dumped in piles of snow is fun." He patted the still compact snow sticking to Amanda's leg smugly, then looked up at both her and Nathan as though he'd done nothing at all.
"We're all going to catch a terrible chill," Nathan said mock-reprovingly. "Your mother and Doctor Moira will fuss. At us, possibly over us..." He grinned suddenly. "This might not be such a bad thing after all."
Amanda grinned at him. "I like the way you think, old man," she said, a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Shall we go wheedle our way into hot chocolate an' fussin' then?" she suggested, glancing at Miles and flicking snow at him. "Use the cute looks shamelessly?"
