xp_logs | (no subject)

Sunday morning, after Amanda's night out with Remy, Meggan goes looking for her Manda. Like most small children, she sees no reason why a grownup should stay asleep when she's awake, especially a grownup who went away and left her ALL NIGHT. Fluffy relationship-establishment.

Meggan had crept out of Kurt's room as soon as the sun came up. Kurt was nice to snuggle up with, and she'd known she was safe with him, but he just wasn't Manda. And Manda had said she'd be back in the morning, and when the sun came up it was morning, so she was going to go check.

And there she was! Still asleep, too. Hmp. Meggan looked around. No sign of Marie-Ange - maybe she'd gotten up early too. So nobody was here but Manda, who had unkindly gone away and left her ALL NIGHT. Meggan grinned, and scampered over to jump up onto the bed, making Manda bounce a bit. "~Morning!~" she chirped, climbing onto Manda and leaning down to peer into her face. Pfoo, she smelled nasty.

It was perhaps a sign of how well Meggan had already bonded with Amanda that the witch didn't react as she customarially did to sudden surprises, with the shielding spell. Cracking open her eyes with a groan, she peered at the small furry face looking so intently into hers. "Ufmergafxl," she managed to say. Or mumble. She hadn't had that much to drink, just a couple of vodkas, but it had been very late when Remy had brought her back. Or perhaps very early - there had been the first few streaks of dawn in the sky as she'd fallen into bed. At least she'd managed to change into a t-shirt first, instead of her usual habit of sleeping naked after a late night. She reeked of cigarette smoke, she noticed, shifting enough to wrap an arm around Meggan's waist before trying again. "Mornin', love."

"~Manda GONE,~" Meggan said reproachfully, cuddling up close despite Manda's terrible smell. ~Gone NIGHT. Stinky!~" she added, with a martyred air.

"~Sometimes I have to go away, love. I explained, remember?~" It was hard to think clearly enough to explain, and the temptation to drop off again, especially with Meggan cuddled up against her, was a big one. "~But I'll always come back, I promise. I'm here now, aren't I? Stink and all.~"

Meggan sighed, nestling close. "~Yes,~" she said, reluctantly, to show that she understood. "~Still bad.~"

"~I know, love.~" Amanda smoothed the tousled hair tickling her chin. "~How did it go with Kurt? Did you have a good time?~" she asked, a little sleepily.

"Yes." Meggan smiled. "~Food! Stor-ee!" She hadn't understood a lot of what Kurt had read to her, but the pictures had been pretty, and she'd been able to curl up on his lap to listen.

"~He read you a story?~" Amanda smiled. "~I think I remember him doing that with me, when I was little.~" It sounded right, the memory not much more than a flicker of impressions.

Meggan nodded, snuggling up. "~Pictures. Good.~" She gave Amanda a hopeful look. ~Manda stor-ee? Later?~"

"~That sounds like a good idea to me,~" Amanda said. She'd meant to read to Meggan earlier, but everything had been so hectic... "~We can go to the library today and find some good stories, if you like. There's all sorts of stories there.~"

Meggan nodded enthusiastically. Then she wrinkled her nose. "~Bath,~" she told Manda, very firmly. "~Bath first. STINKY." She wiggled a little, in what would have been a wag if she'd been possessed of a tail. She'd had one for a while yesterday, after playing with Joyita. "Bubbles!"

"Okay, bath first," Amanda said in English, as she was doing often, switching between the two. She was beginning to realise there was going to be no more sleep for her today. At least not until Meggan took her usual nap. Mmm, nap. "~I was in a place where there was a lot of smoking last night, that's why I'm stinky,~" she elaborated, with a yawn that ended in a cough - it had been a while since she'd smoked that much.

"~Smoking bad and stinky,~" Meggan said, with great conviction. She sat up, and tickled Manda's tummy gently with nimble paws. "~Up~"

"Everyone's a health nut," Amanda muttered, squeaking a little as Meggan hit the extra ticklish bit. "Oh, is that how you're gunna play it, is it?" she declared, sitting up as well and and grabbing Meggan gently. She then proceeded to tickle her thoroughly, the grin on her face far more playful (and young) than most had seen on her face.

Meggan shrieked happily, flailing and squirming and tickling back. Playing tickles with Manda was FUN, and she liked how Manda felt when they did it.... happier, and less mixed up inside. Sneakily, she got in a good tickle by licking Manda's face and then going for the ticklish tummy-spot while Manda was distracted.

"Sneaky rat!" Amanda squealed breathlessly between laughter, her tone entirely approving. Meggan was going to need some sneakiness if she was going to deal with life in the mansion - she'd protect her, sure, but she knew there were going to be times she couldn't. She made a mental note to have a game of "Hide and let Manda Seek" sometime very soon, showing her where the bunkers were. Maybe today. "~I think you win this one, Meg. Guess that means Stinky Manda has a bath, yes?~"

"~Meggan Manda bath?~" Meggan asked hopefully. It was fun, when Manda shared her bath, or she shared Manda's. There was splashing and bubbles and afterwards they brushed each other. It was nice.

"~Only if you brush my hair after,~" Amanda said, knowing how much Meggan liked doing that. She threw aside the covers and crawled out of the nice, soft, comfy bed - no rest for the wicked, and she had no doubt she'd get absolutely no sympathy if she said anything to anyone. Object lesson in the responsibilities of child rearing, she supposed. Still, it had been a good night, and she'd needed it. "~If I start the bath running, do you want to choose what sort of bubble smell you want?~" she continued, grinning to see she'd 'accidentally' covered Meggan with the sheet.

Meggan giggled, rolling herself up in the sheet and peeking out at Manda. "Boo!"

"Eek!" Amanda pretended to be startled, before swooping on the giggling child and scooping her up, sheet and all, and carrying her into the bathroom. "~Time to make Stinky Mandas clean, yes?~" she asked. "~And then we can go down to the kitchen and get breakfast for hungry little monkeys.~"

"Bath, brush, breakfast!" Meggan sing-songed, giggling to find that all the words started with the same sound. She wiggled happily in Manda's arms, managing to nose her cheek gently. "~Manda stay, day.~"

"~As long as you want me to, love,~" she agreed, nuzzling Meggan's soft furry neck. "~Today is Meggan's day.~"

Meggan snuggled happily. "Manda MINE," she said firmly. She didn't mind Manda going away sometimes, just as long as it was understood that she had to come back.

Was the possessive thing an empath trait? Amanda wondered, thinking of the times Manuel had said pretty much the same thing, with a slight pang. "~Manda belongs to Manda,~" she corrected gently. "~But Meggan can borrow her when she wants.~" It probably wouldn't make sense, but she had to say something. Not setting Meggan down, she reached over and turned on the taps of the bath, nudging the plug into place with the TK spell since her hands were full. "~Now, what sort of bubbles? Strawberry or mint or the purple one?~"

"~Purple.~" Meggan thought about it. "~Manda MY Manda,~" she said thoughtfully, English mixed with Romany this time. "~Meggan Manda's Meggan." She patted Manda's cheek gently. "Familee."

"Family, yes." _That_ she could agree with. Sitting on the edge of the bath, sheet-wrapped Meggan in her lap, Amanda reached for the lavender-and-rosemary bubble bath, tipping a good measure in. "~But Meggan is Meggan's Meggan first. No-one owns anyone else, okay?~" No matter how much money changed hands - Amanda wasn't going to have Meggan growing up thinking that she owed Amanda everything because money had changed hands.

Meggan snuggled, trying to work out what Manda was trying to tell her. "Manda Manda's," she said, after a minute or two of ferocious thought. "Manda Meggan's TOO."

Amanda chuckled. "Okay, I'll give you that one," she said ruefully - she was discovering child-logic was sneaky and hard to argue against, especially when it came with a piping voice and a scrunched up button nose. "~Sneaky clever monkey,~" she teased. "~Smarter than sleepy Mandas.~"

"Megganmonkey," Meggan agreed, giggling and rubbing her nose gently against Manda's. "Mandastinky."

So you keep tellin' me. Manda'll be all clean soon." To demonstrate, Amanda dipped her hand in the rising bathwater and flicked a few droplets at Meggan. "Bath soon."

Meggan giggled, climbing off Manda's lap and trying to disentangle herself from the sheet. It was a lot more difficult than getting IN had been. "Argh," she grumbled, trying to get her feet out. "Manda?" She gave Manda a pleading look, needing help.

"~Hold still,~" the witch instructed, unwinding the tangled sheet eventually. "~Put this back on the bed?~" she asked once it was free, bundling it up and holding it out to Meggan. "~I'll make sure the water's right.~" The bath was in fact nearly full, with a mass of bubbles. Perhaps a tad too much bubble bath.

"Bed!" Meggan trotted off importantly, taking the sheet back to the bed and pulling the blanket up over the crumpled ball before going back to the bathroom. "Bubbles!" she said gleefully. Lots of bubbles... they were starting to fall out on the floor, even. Yay!

It looked like she was going to be cleaning the bathroom again after this, Amanda thought wryly. "Lots of bubbles," she agreed. But they'd helped Meggan get over the bath phobia, and that was a good thing. "C'mon munchkin, let's get Stinky Manda cleaned up," she continued, turning off the taps.