xp_logs | (no subject)

Jake goes looking for Amanda and encounters Meggan for the first time. She makes him very nervous, as little girls tend to do to those who aren't comfortable with children, but does her best to put him at his ease. They find out that they have something fairly major in common.

Jake had decided that today was a day perfect for elaborate, slightly mish-mashed dinner. With beer and cookies for dessert. Obviously this meant Amanda had to be involved, otherwise she'd be giving him wounded looks when she found out. Which she would. So now he had to find her and tell her about his plan. He decided to start with her room. He knocked on the door, and entered without waiting for a reply. "Amanda? I have a suggestion...for...you..."

That wasn´t Amanda. That was the Little One. Jake blinked.

Meggan jumped, looking around nervously. Manda wasn't here, and someone else was... but it was all right, she realized. It was one of the People Manda had shown her, one she liked. Manda wouldn't have shown her to anyone who'd hurt her. (Except HIM, of course, but that wasn't Manda's fault) She relaxed, a little, and pointed to the door to the bathroom-place. "Manda," she explained. She didn't mind too much Manda going in there without her, as long as she could sit right by the door and watch it until Manda came back out.

Jake nodded, understanding perfectly. Of course, Amanda was in the bathroom. Now he just had to wait for her to come out, and then he could ask her, and then... he wouldn´t have to stand her, trying desperately to come up with something to say. "She been in there long?" Was the best he could come up with. Wow.

Meggan cocked her head at him. He was talking that language that everyone around here spoke, and she didn't. She really had to learn some words in it. She padded over to him, reaching out to take hold of his hand with her paw. It was easier to work out what people were feeling - and probably trying to say - if she touched them. Then she blinked. He was nervous. Of Meggan. That was just... weird. That had never happened before. "~Manda say wait,~"she hazarded in Romany.

Jake gave her a helpless look. He had no idea what she'd just said, and she appeared to have no idea what anyone was saying really. This could get complicated. And she was still holding his hand. Why was she holding his hand? Wait. He remembered something. "-Has she been in there a while?-" he tried again, in German this time.

Meggan brightened. That sounded much more familiar. "-Wait Manda,-" she explained, in German. "-Soon.-" Manda would come out soon, and then she could translate properly. Meanwhile, she stood on tiptoe to sniff the Person's sleeve.... and then his fingers. He smelled a little different to most People, and she wondered why.

Oh thank god, Jake thought. At least she understood that. And it seemed like Amanda would be coming out soon (and rescue him). He relaxed minutely. ...Untill he realised that Meggan was sniffing his fingers. He jerked back reflexively, staring at her. Was she going to eat him or something? In other words, what the hell?

Meggan wasn't quite sure what to do about this. The Person - despite being twice her size - was apparently afraid of her. Nobody had ever been afraid of her before... even Bella-the-bird, who was smaller than Meg, hadn't been afraid of her. Tentatively, she reached out to pat his arm soothingly, as if he were Bella. "-Stay,-" she told him in German.

Alright. By the way she was giving him a surprised look and patting his arm carefully, she wasn't planning to eat anyone. Right now, anyway. He glanced down at her. She didn´t really look like she´d eat anyone, he had to admit. "-We could sit down?-" he suggested, hesitantly.

Meggan nodded, recognizing 'sit', and padded over to the couch, curling up on one end and patting the cushion next to her invitingly. It kind of made her feel better, that he was nervous... after all, if he was afraid of her, she didn't have to be afraid of HIM.

Jake sat down next to her, noting that she was careful to keep the bathroom door within her line of sight. He wasn't sure how to deal with little kids, but she seemed to know how to deal with him, so that was okay. ...Amanda was going to laugh and laugh, oh yes she was.

Meggan beamed, having remembered something useful. "Jake!" she said proudly, pointing to him. There, she'd remembered his name - maybe that would make him feel better.

He laughed in surprise. "-You know my name!-" Jake hadn´t expected her to, and he was ridiculously flattered that she remembered. He searched for a way to show her how pleased he was. Oh! Okay, adults found it amusing, so maybe... "-Look-," he said to her, pointing at his eyes, which were slowly changing from blue into big yellow smiley-faces. He waited for her reaction.

He promptly found himself with a lapful of furry child, as Meggan all but climbed up his nose trying to get a better look at his eyes. He was changing! Right in front of her, he was going from a People to a Monster! She made an excited little noise, bouncing a bit. Someone else who changed how they looked! She'd never seen anyone else do that!

That was a reaction, all right. Jake jerked his head back, staring wide eyed at the very, very happy girl in his lap. No one had ever done that before! The shock had his eyes flickering back into blue. "-Feeling a little crowded here,-" he tried hinting, wondering if he´d have to pick her up and put her down himself.

Meggan plopped down to sit on his lap, huffing out a little sigh. She didn't know ANY words for this.... she'd just have to show him. Fortunately, one of the cushions on the couch was fluffy AND a pretty colour. She picked it up - still sitting on his lap - and concentrated on it, running her fingers through the pretend fur. Slowly, threads of green started to appear in her brown fur, and she beamed, holding up one be-greened paw. "~See!~"

Jake saw, and stopped willing her to move with the power of his mind. "You´re a shapeshifter too?" At her blank look, "-You can change how you look?-" He held his hand out towards her, too fascinated to be freaked out. His hand slowly turned a sickly shade of green.

Meggan squealed delightedly, grabbing his hand and holding hers against it, comparing the greens. Hers was prettier, but he'd made his hand go green without even having to touch anything that was green! She gave his hand a cautious lick, just to be sure.... yes, still definitely skin. He hadn't just put green stuff on his hand, somehow, it really WAS green. "~Real!~"

She was licking him. She was... okay, he was going to think about that later, and possibly interrogate Amanda, but for now, he was just going to go with it. "-Yes. I have complete control over every molec...-" he trailed off. "-I can change if I think about it hard enough. How do you change?-" She seemed so_happy_. It was a little weird.

At that moment the bathroom door opened, and Amanda came out, towelling her hair. "~Well, I think we've worked out jam doesn't work as face paint...~" she began in Romany, and then blinked at the sight of Meggan sitting in Jake's lap. And snickered at the look of utter relief on his face at her return. "Looks like you've made a new friend," she teased him.

"Manda!" Meggan slid off Jake's lap, running over to throw her arms around Manda's waist. She missed her when they were apart, even if it was only for a few minutes. "~Manda, green!~" she added, pointing excitedly at Jake.

Jake tried to look less like Amanda had just saved his life. He had a suspicion he was failing magnificently, so he shrugged and focused on the interesting part. "You never told me she was a shapeshifter! Or that she liked licking people!"

"Yeah, well, she's got this whole usin' all her senses t' explore stuff thing," Amanda said with a chuckle, letting Meggan drag her back to the couch beside Jake. The furry girl sat between them, making excited little noises. "As for the shapeshiftin'... I forgot, I s'pose. An' most of the time it's reaction t' stuff - I didn't realise she could do it on purpose, or how much." She examined the hand Meggan had grabbed and was pointing at. "I'd forgotten you could do that too, t' tell the truth. Y'know, once she's got a bit more settled, an' has learnt some more English... you couldn't help teach her 'bout that, could you?"

Meggan didn't understand a word, but she could sense Amanda's happy amusement, and Jake's relief and interest, so she let them talk, still examining Jake's hand. It was green all over, instead of being lighter or darker on the palm like it would be if the green were natural. She bent one of his fingers gently - a big joint and a little one, like most people, and five fingers. She had four, and three joints to each.

"On my own?" Jake blinked. Had Amanda lost her mind? "I don´t even know how she shifts, but I´m betting it´s no where near how I do it." The Little One was still playing with his hand. Just to amuse her, he slowly turned it yellow.

"Well, what you do is a lot closer t' her than Rahne or Catseye," Amanda pointed out, reaching for her hairbrush and starting to brush the tangles out of her hair. "'Sides, she likes you. ~Don't you, love? Jake's good, yes?~" she added in Romany to Meggan, who was exploring Jake's colour-changing hand with fascination.

"~Jake good!~" Meggan agreed, giggling delightedly as the hand turned a pretty sunshiny yellow. She sniffed it again. The changing was definitely the source of the odd smell he had. "-Good,-" she added, in German, smiling at Jake and showing a lot of tiny, pointed teeth.

"She didn´t mean tasty, did she?" Jake asked suspiciously, looking down at his captive hand.

"She doesn't bite, Jake. Well, not most of the time," Amanda amended. "Not unless you're Manuel, any way." To make sure, she asked in Romany: "~You aren't going to bite Jake, are you Meggan?~"

Meggan shook her head. "-Jake GOOD,-" she said firmly in German, so he'd understand. She'd heard another familiar name in there, and wrinkled her little button nose. "-Manuel BAD,-" she added, making a smelling-bad-things face.

Grinning at that, Jake nodded. "That´s okay, then. I´ll think about the teaching thing, okay?" That was all he could -- and would -- promise for now. "But what I was actually here for, was to invite you two to dinner. Cookies and beer for dessert," he tempted. "Well, Meggan can have milk, I suppose."

"Juice'll work better - she doesn't seem to like milk. Makes funny faces when I give it to her." Amanda shook her head, smiling. "But food'd be good. ~Hungry, love?~" she added in Romany to Meggan. "~Jake has food.~"

"~Food!~" Meggan bounced, still holding Jake's hand gently. "~Food good!~" She beamed up at Jake. "-Good,-" she said again, in German, so he'd understand. The othershapechanging person was definitely on the Good People list.