Dani & Amanda - snark ;)

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Early yesterday afternoon Amanda mentions she wants food, so Dani makes her some :) they talk about a bit about the other night, empathy & sleeping alone & the responsibility of having sex.



So maybe food wasn't the only reason Amanda was heading down to the kitchen after Dani's reply in her journal. She had eaten not that long ago, after all, and while she was starving after the healing spell, she wasn't about to fall over. But she did want to talk to the girl, considering what Manuel had told her the previous night. Pausing in the doorway, she considered the unfamiliar dark-haired girl busy making something-or-other foodlike. "You must be Dani," she said without preamble. "I'm Amanda." She paused, just a moment, and then added. "Manuel's girlfriend."

Dani had the grace to blush when Amanda reminded her that Manuel was her boyfriend. Nothing had happened, but that probably didn't matter to her and Dani could understand that. There was one good thing about being red though, blushing wasn't so obvious. Turning around, she smiled, "Hey. I'm making quesadilla's."

"The Mexican things?" Amanda asked, curiosity perking. She'd had those with Nate on the road trip. "They look pretty good." Taking a seat on one of the kitchen stools, she gave Dani a thorough look. Pretty. Exotic. Obviously pregnant, but she wouldn't be for always. Bugger. Still, she was going to trust Manuel this time - he wasn't the same person as before, after all. And he hadn't needed to tell her about the sleeping part. "Thanks, for feeding us down in medlab yesterday. Comes in handy when people remember that."

"It's all I could do," she tried to explain. There had been a feeling of 'doing' so she did what she knew to do. "Ain't much, but I ain't used to sitting around while everyone does whatever they do. You guys seemed used to it though. What do you want in yours?"

"Everythin'?" Amanda suggested, watching Dani work. "An' yeah, you do get used t' our little dramas here. How..." She paused, not sure how the girl would react to her asking, but she'd been with an empath for a good long while now, and knew how hard it could be. "How'd you cope with things? Can't have been easy with the empathy an' a house full of worried people an' all." She'd actually missed that part, being... occupied with Manuel.

Grinning, Dani dumped a chopping board full of vegetables and things into the skillet, "Inhibitor. Between crazy hormones and everyone feeling everything, make it worse. Ain't that bad all the time, but last night I wasn't going to try to deal," may as well bite the bullet, "Thanks for loaning me Manuel the other night. I hadn't y'know...intended anything."

"He told me about it," Amanda said, her tone still casual, but her fingers nervously playing with a bread tag that had been left on the counter. "I understand he's tryin' t' help, with the empathy an' all. He may not have his powers at the moment, but he remembers a lot of his trainin'. An' he wants t' help. Just... wasn't easy, hearin' yer boyfriend ended up in someone else's bed, even if nothin' happened. We had... some trouble. Before. He slept with someone else."

Sliding the food out of the skillet, Dani sliced it in half on the plates, and brought them to the table. "I didn't know that," she replied, wishing she had. She would have made him leave if she had known that, "I don't like sleeping alone. I never really have. Never had a room to myself either, I don't know what to do with it. And at night, sometimes it helps having someone right there to kinda focus on, if they're sleeping and calm, it helps me sleep," Dani hoped that she didn't come off as pathetic as she thought she did. Needy.

Amanda grinned suddenly, but it wasn't mocking. "An' here I was thinkin' I was the only one who did that," she said. At Dani's suspicious look, she went on. "I don't like sleepin' on me own either - never have. 'S why I hate bein' in medlab so much. As a patient, that is. An' Manuel doesn't really remember that bit, so he wouldn't have thought t' say, or even realise until later. Which he did." She got off the stool and sat down at the table. "This looks good," she said, sniffing appreciatively.

"Eat," Dani ordered, handing her silverware and sitting down on the stool,"Everything, just like you said. But no raw fish," she made a face. She wasn't going to forget that incident any time soon, "At least I don't have the cravings as much as Dr. MacTaggert."

"Don't have t' tell me twice..." Amanda dug in, and was silent for a while, mouth busy with food. "How far gone are you?" she asked after a while, nodding at the bulge in Dani's midriff.

"Nearly six months," she answered, finishing her food. It was a good snack, "'Cept I was so skinny before I got pregnant, it's really obvious now. Ain't got any natural fat to hide anything."

Amanda nodded, finishing a mouthful. "Makes sense," she said with a shrug. "Seventeen's bloody young t' be a mum."

It was Danielle's turn to shrug, "Not where I come from," she'd known girls with two kids by 17 back home. Even if it was becoming 'home' less and less. Shaking her head to get rid of the thought, Dani turned to Amanda, "So how was whereever you went?"

"Sounds like they need a crash course in birth control an' how not t' get caught where you're from," Amanda said, not unkindly but without a lot of sympathy either. It wasn't _difficult_. "New Orleans. Spent two weeks in a swamp with a voodoo witch givin' me the Yoda treatment."

"Yoda teach you about different cultures?" Dani asked bluntly, "Just 'cause I live in America don't make me American like everyone else. I'm from a place most American's don't believe quite exist."

Amanda couldn't help snort at that. "An' I've got a power most _people_ don't believe exists," she pointed out. "Don't try an' pull that minority shite with me. An' birth control ain't that hard, even in the middle of nowhere - unless they've never heard of rubbers where you're from?" She shook her head. "Fuck, even when I was livin' on the streets I still was able t' look after meself that way. Even on the game."

Dani shook her head in sadness, "Their fault for refusing to believe too. Magic exists if you are willing to see it. But condoms? Nah. A couple stores sold them, but I never knew anyone who used one. Had to be 18 to buy them. Ain't ever had the money for birth control," she tried to defend herself, even though she was unsure why. She hadn't been trying to get pregnant, but she wasn't against it either. It was life, even if it was unexpected.

Amanda had a certain amount of sympathy, but not a lot. "If you're gunna do it, you should at least try an' make sure it's safe, 'less you're lookin' t' get up the duff. Mind you, accidents can happen..." She smiled wryly. "Word of warnin' - never fuck in a fertility site. Pagan gods have a horrible sense of humour." She finished eating and pushed the plate away. "That was good. Thanks."

"Anytime," Dani took the plates to the sink, putting them away. Amanda didn't understand. "You ever hear of 'abstinence only education?'"

"Load of bollocks if you ask me," Amanda said. "People fuck. Doesn't matter if you slap an age limit on it, or make it impossible t' get birth control - people're still gunna do it, an' it's stupid t' think otherwise. So unless you want t' be knee-deep in single mums, they shouldn't make it so bloody hard." She looked at Dani, realising. "Oh, this is one of those stupid American law things, ain't it? Like drinkin' at 21?" She shook her head. "This country is so fucked up."

"Yeah," Dani agreed, "Knee-deep in single mums," her attempt at a British accent was pathetic, although for a girl who'd never heard an accent like Amanda's it wasn't completely incomprehensible as long as you didn't compare the two.

Amanda tried hard not to wince at the imitation - it was worse than Spike's, definitely. "Makes me wonder why I left Brighton... oh yeah, I was livin' on the street an' had no future." She gave Dani a not entirely unsympathetic smile. "Look, sorry t' get on yer case like that. I still think it's stupid, but 's as much the law's fault as yers. Somethin' t' keep in mind next time you get into it tho', eh?"

"Never said it wasn't my fault. Takes two to tango and all that," Dani retorted, annoyed and not. "And I'm doing my best, sorry it ain't good enough, but y'know, I didn't get 'street cred' or whatever living in a town of less than 5000 people, like you did." Satisfied that the dishes were done and the kitchen clean again, Dani headded off to the rec-room.

Amanda blinked, startled by the sudden exit. "Well, Manny, you sure as know how t' pick 'em," she muttered to herself, satisfied there was nothing to worry about - Manuel's tastes didn't run to the barking insane, after all.