| Magic Gone Awry |
| Summary: | Pete rescues Amanda from some dimensional magic gone awry. They have a very private conversation over dinner. |
| Date: | 2016-08-09 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
 .. .. |
Coming home from a long trip aboard an airline is a time when one just wants to sit back and relax. Amanda comes home thinking nostalgically about the time Kurt surprised her with a romantic dinner when she came home. Her roommates have been home and then left again in the time she was gone.
This turns out to be a very fortunate thing since Amanda feels something's off in the apartment as soon as she arrives home. She leaves her suitcase by the door and goes to fetch her crystal ball immediately. The door doesn't completely catch shut when she pushes it to with her foot along the way.
Pete Wisdom heard tell that a certain friend of his was going to be home this evening. Surely, the smart play would be to let her rest after goodness knows how many flights. But here he was all the same, waiting in the elevator. A white plastic bag in one hand that contained a number of white boxes. Chinese food! In the other hand, a brown paper bag that held something else. Likely wine! Few better ways to be greeted back in New York than to enjoy some of the local fare with a friend.
Little did he know…
Thus the door is partly open when Pete gets out of the elevator with no apparent lights on inside the apartment since Amanda hasn't gotten around to that yet.
Amanda grabs the crystal ball and goes to stand in the open space between the television and the new sofa as she peers into her crystal ball and attempts to process the oddness to discover what it is.
Pete Wisdom saw the door ajar. Saw that there was no light inside. He switched the bottle of wine into the hand that also held the food - he was surely strong enough to carry them both in one hand!
His other hand lifted, and his fingertips glowed orange. Thin hot-knives sprouted from each fingertip. Just to be safe… he reached over with a very nice toe of a shoe, to push the door back open. Very slowly. "Hello…?"
Startling a sorceress is a good way to make a spell go wrong, especially when her magic is interacting with some random unknown magic that just happened to crop up.
Amanda twists the energies she is manipulating the wrong way as she turns toward the door at Pete's Hello. A rift slashes open behind Amanda and a long tentacle begins to reach through said rift toward the sorceress.
"Ewww," Wisdom said. "I don't judge what you do in your spare time, but a Rabbit is a much more affordable option!" Clearly he thought this was intentional. Women and tentacles, goodness. Of course, he was the only one giving off light here - besides the dimensional rift with the tentacle, there was Pete's hand glowing like a torch.
Amanda Sefton frowns, "Pete? What are you — ?" She doesn't finish getting it out before the tentacle wraps around her and starts dragging her toward the rift. The gypsy lady is very clearly startled by this since she was distracted from noticing the rift by her noticing of Pete.
The gypsy sorceress is lifted off her feet, thus losing all ability to control her speed toward the rift. It may not be obvious to Pete, but Amanda cannot attack something holding her without attacking herself. She also has difficulty with working magic against something she cannot see. She attempts to twist around enough to properly see the rift even as another tentacle snakes out and wraps around her legs.
Immediately deciding this didn't seem right, the hot-knives from Wisdom's fingertips extended about an extra foot, to about a foot and a half in length know. They blazed brightly as he took a step forward - bag of wine and Chinese food in one hand - to strike at the grasping tendrils with the other, heavily-armed hand. "Knock that off, she hasn't given her consent!" he threatened.
As Pete strikes the upper tentacle with his hot knives they slash straight through it. This results in the other one being violently thrashed about. Unfortunately, it is still wrapped around Amanda's calves. This results in an Amanda who is hanging upside down as she gets jerked around in the air.
To her credit, she does not shriek at this treatment, or at the smell of cooked tentacle wafting up from her floor. (Could be worse right? It could be bloody goo everywhere.) She attempts to point her hands at the rift so she can attempt to close it.
A swift slash at the other tentacle ought to do it. "Augh! What were you trying to do?!" he asked Amanda, perhaps in a not-so-nice tone, but all the same. The important thing was to get her free.
Amanda Sefton drops unceremoniously and without any control over her trajectory onto the waiting Pete Wisdom. She's an acrobat but she definitely wasn't in control of her trajectory before Pete slashed the tentacle. Nor was she focusing enough on that to control is afterward. Her eldritch bolt goes rift of the rift which forces her to focus on the rift instead of Pete. She definitely doesn't want any more of those things coming through before she seals it.
With an Amanda falling down on him, Wisdom toppled to the floor, the hand with the hot-knives splaying out, far away. The food and bottle hit the floor - the bottle was sturdy, but the boxes of food? Who's to say?
"Oof!" Reaching over Amanda with his free, glowing hand, those five hot-knives launched from his fingertips straight into the rift.
Just in case anything else might get any ideas to peek through!
A ghastly sound comes through the rift from whatever Pete hit with the hot knives as Amanda finally manages to seal the rift. She sags back against Pete and says, "Welcome to my world."
"You say that like I don't deal with this regularly, myself," Wisdom said. With the position, both of Pete's hands tried to push Amanda off of him. No harm would come to her - those hot-knives were gone. The only problem was both hands were pushing on her backside, with how she fell on him. "Necessities first. You hurt? Missing anything?"
Amanda Sefton attempts to rub at her neck as she leans forward to let Pete push her off him. "Nothing a good soak won't fix. At least I think so. I've definitely felt worse before."
Once Pete sat up, he found his hands were still on Sefton's posterior. He didn't pull them away. "A bath? Want me to go?" he asked. One hand left her rump and he gestured. "I brought, uh, dinner. And wine."
Amanda Sefton slowly turns to arch a brow at Pete without actually telling him to get his hand off her bottom. "And just what are you calling dinner?"
"Pork fried rice, sesame chicken, and jumbo shrimp in a coconut curry sauce," Wisdom said. "Not to your taste?" he asked. As she arched her brow at him, he looked to where his hand was. Then he looked back at her, and his brows rose just so and he smiled a sort of devil-may-care smile. "Do you mind?" he asked.
Amanda Sefton smiles a little, "I told you. My favorite cuisine is whatever I'm eating." She draws away from him a little as she asks, "Would you mind putting those tentacles out on the balcony for now? I can get rid of them later. I'll have everything set out by the time you're done."
As she pulled away, he lifted his hand and then rolled, to get to his feet and gather up the tendrils. Grimacing, he made his way to the windowed balcony, where he opened it up and set them out. "Hopefully neighbors will think they're movie props or somethin'. Maybe you could break the material down and use it for sommat." He found himself staring at her after, still sort of hanging by the balcony.
Amanda Sefton gathers everything up from where it got dropped and carefully arranges all on the table in front of her new sofa. Her shoes are then pulled off so she can curl up on the sofa. "If my neighbors are looking at my balcony, they deserve to see odd things." A gesture of her hands transforms her clothing into something more comfortable. In this case, a short red dress.
As he saw her transmute her outfit into such a short red dress, Wisdom was wishing he had that bottle, so he could pour her a glass. He even chewed his lip. "You sure know how to show a man a good time," he teased, as he got back up, walked to the door, and… shut it.
Then off went his coat, and his shoes. Hanging up the coat as necessary, he made his way into her kitchen to produce some wine glasses. It was a red wine, an earthy blend with some definite fruity aromas. Very full-bodied, not at all a dry wine. He poured a glass for himself, and one for her, which he handed over.
"There you are, luv."
Amanda Sefton smiles, "Oh you joke, but I do, Pete Wisdom. I really do." She takes the wine from him and sips before leaning forward to open up the Chinese. You really shouldn't lean in a v-neck, 'Manda.
Wisdom did look. Who wouldn't. He settled in beside her, one hand sliding around her waist. He nosed his own glass of wine, before taking a light sip. "I'll get my serving after you get yours," he told her. He took the moment to really look around and get a bead on her refurbished digs. He also, of course, looked to see if her bedroom door was open.
The bedroom wasn't damaged but it also isn't open at the moment since Amanda just got back. She curls her legs around to one side which tilts her weight just slightly toward Pete, resulting in a subtle lean. Other than the items which are missing because of being broken, the apartment looked much the same as it had pre-Banner. "So what trouble did you get in while I was flying around?"
"None," Wisdom said. "Well, that's a lie. Did I tell you I was mugged? And a Spider-Girl saved me? Yes, I say saved, because it was five on one. And she saved me the trouble of killing street thugs. I'm good, but I'm not so good as to take on five men without seriously hurting them. She also saved me from getting shot. So there's that. She seems…" he paused, grimacing, "very young." Then he shrugged. "Also came across a nice, homeless mutant girl. Street performer. Minor vocal powers. With training she could probably be on bar with the Banshee." His fingers gently slid along the curve of her waist and hip. "Heard tell of Gambit. Which always turns my stomach."
Amanda Sefton balances her dinner in her lap then sips her wine again. She looks up at him and teases softly, "So… discovering all the ladies in town as usual." She's not going near the thing about Gambit and he had mentioned the mugging before so no surprise there.
"I must be cursed," Wisdom joked. "To discover, but not explore," he said. Once she had her food ready, he got his own set up. Not too much, some chicken, some shrimp, and a decent helping of rice. Wine was sipped again before he said, "Tuck in," and began to eat… giving the occasional glance to her V-neck, her actual neck.
Oh yeah, when he pulled his hand from her waist, he slid it under just so, to lightly touch her backside again.
Amanda Sefton twists her wrist and produces chopsticks from somewhere to eat with. That brow arches slowly again when he touches her bottom again. She still doesn't say anything about it though.
Having produced chopsticks of his own, Wisdom began to eat. "Apologies if I've come off a little forward, Amanda," he said. "I know we spoke at length, and… Well. You've said you can be jealous. So can I." He took a bite of shrimp before continuing. "But I must make my intentions clear." He set his chopsticks down, another sip of wine, and said, "Missed you a bit while you were gone. Thought about when you'd stayed. Thought about the things I thought about when you stayed. And I wanted to ask if - even as a one time thing - if you'd be averse to going to bed with me."
Amanda Sefton eats in silence a little while longer before moving her food to the table out of her way. Her wine is slowly sipped. "What kind of things did you think about?"
"Well…" he started, before giving her a look. "Do you want details, or a general gist?" he asked her, before picking up another piece of chicken to eat.
Amanda Sefton smiles wryly, "Whatever you're comfortable sharing of course."
"I'm not sure what you're comfortable hearing. So generalities." Better safe than stupid. "I'd thought of you beckoning me back to my room. After all, both of us rather dislike what the Hulk can do, and trauma can bring people together. I imagined us spending the night there, having a lot of sex to help get stress out. In the morning we'd likely shower… with more sex. No insignificant amount of oral, from or for either of us." He sipped his wine. "Bending you over the island in my kitchen in a rather playful manner during, or after, coffee." Another sip. "Tying your wrists to my bedposts and letting me work you over with my hands and tongue. And the rest of me, too."
Amanda Sefton seems to be onboard until he gets to the part about tying her wrists. Her eyes widen slightly at him, "And how long did you spend thinking about these things? Because it's got to be said, you are obviously in love with Sage." Her wine is settled onto the table beside her food.
"I'm allowed to think," Wisdom said. "And love? No. Maybe. Dearly fond of, yes. But…" He shrugged. "You reacted when I mentioned tying up. Kitty never shared that with you?" He smirked a little. "Anyway, she and I both have an understanding."
Amanda Sefton reminds him gently, "My Kitty wasn't dating you. She was off somewhere with Excalibur last I knew while I was getting possessed by the Shadow King at Muir Island." She turns a little more toward him, "I don't often play second string, Pete."
"And I'm not asking you to," Wisdom responded. "Sorry… you're just… getting familiar, here." He cleared his throat. "And I'm not asking you to. It was only an offer. One that I'd thought about. I know you've thought about me, too, if it isn't too arrogant of me to say."
Amanda Sefton lays her left palm on his chest now, "That is pretty arrogant of you actually. What makes you think I was thinking of you?"
"Mostly it's a mutual thing. I know I'm not… unattractive. Abraisive, certainly. But I'd thought about you. And I'd hoped you'd thought about me, too." With her palm on his chest, he looked down, then over at her, giving a small smile. "Perhaps not as graphic as I imagined. But in your short time here, we'd been through a lot, no?"
Amanda Sefton laughs softly for a moment, "Not unattractive, no." She slowly begins tracing a finger against his chest. "I really had no idea you were having fantasies about me, Pete."
"Really? Cor," Wisdom said. "It's hard not to. You're brilliant. Talented. Magical. Beautiful doesn't begin to cut it." He noted her finger sliding over his chest and his tie, as he finished off his first glass of wine. "So. Have you thought about me?" he asked.
Amanda Sefton asks softly, "You really want me to answer that? Or maybe I should keep you guessing?" Is that some sort of sigil she's tracing on his chest?
If it were, Pete might just recognize it. He may not be a master mage, but MI-13 requires academic, if not practical knowledge of magic. Magic 101, so to speak. "I'd really like you to answer that."
It seems to be the mystic representation of an extra-dimensional signature. Amanda smiles, "I hope no one ever gave you the impression that I do something just because someone asked me to."
"You're Roma," Wisdom said. "Far be it from me to ever suggest your obedience to the gadje." He meant it in an entirely complimentary manner. "But you asked if I'd like you to answer, or keep me guessing. I answered." He looked down. "What did you inscribe?" he wondered. "This I *need* to know. Otherwise getting to work might prove troublesome. Wards of our own, there."
Amanda Sefton looks down at his chest then back up. "That was the symbolic way of representing my personal pocket dimension. I can cleanse you of any traces of it before you leave if it's important."
"And why did you write it on my chest?" Wisdom asked. "Are you suggesting we go somewhere?" he wondered. "Mm… no. Don't erase it, yet. I'll call you if it needs erasing."
Amanda Sefton asks softly, "How much do you know about pocket dimensions, Pete?" There's something oddly intense about the way she's looking at him now.
"I've only been in a few. They can be small. No bigger than a closet or a large room. Or, on a true extreme, a small reality in its own right. Whoever owns it rules it. You control the laws in yours. You shape it to your desires. Its geography matches your vision, and likely changes at your whim. Right?" Wisdom guessed.
Amanda Sefton nods slowly, "Exactly. My mother once made one shaped after Dante's Inferno for Kurt. I don't know if you ever heard that story." She traces her fingers across his chest randomly now.
"No, he never regaled me with that particular tale. His mind was often on more positive things," he said, as his hand reached up to try to take hers, lacing his fingers through hers. "You never did answer my question…s." For her to tell him her fantasies, and to explain why she inscribed a signature of her pocket dimension on his chest.
Amanda Sefton licks her lips once as though they were dry, "So I didn't, my dear gaje friend." She lowers her gaze now, "I dreamed about taking you there. It woke me up early in the morning, so I made you cinnamon rolls."
"You look ashamed," he said as she cast her gaze downward. "Don't be. And the cinnamon rolls were a stellar gift," he told her. A pause, and he said, "I do miss them." He set his glass aside, and then his food. A moment later, he had his arms around her, holding her tenderly and close.
Amanda Sefton shakes her head, "You don't understand. It is …" She sighs, "There is something very dark inside me Kurt. When the shadow king possessed me, I didn't fight him. Part of me liked it, being so powerful." As if she's not powerful now?
"There's a darkness in all of us," Wisdom said. "And… did you just call me Kurt?" he asked, giving a smirk. "Though do beware the Shadow King. That kind of evil can't end well for anyone, especially you."
Amanda Sefton looks up at him and flushes crimson, "Did I? Oh god. I'm so sorry Pete." She looks truly embarrassed now. "Most of us don't gleefully summon and command armies of demons when our dark side gets free."
"When the Shadow King was possessing an alternate-universe Xavier… he got into my head," Wisdom said. "I attacked Sage. A number of us were overcome. Captain Britain intercepted my attack. I was… just completely under him. A speck in the shadow in my brain."
Amanda Sefton strokes his chest lightly again, "It's not a competition. We agree he's horrible." She lays her head against his chest.
"I'm just saying I know how evil he is, too," Wisdom said, as he lowered his head to kiss her hair, softly. He held her close, giving a soft, but non-emotive sigh, merely an exhale.
Amanda Sefton asks softly, "Do you want to stay? I think I may want you to."
"I'd love to," he said at length. "We don't have to sleep together." He smiled. "I wouldn't want to sour what we have, anyway."
Amanda Sefton whispers, "Shut up, Gaje." Then she lifts her head and turns her face toward him, looking very deeply into his eyes.
<LATER>
Amanda Sefton whispers softly against his neck, "This is a really dangerous way to spend our time you know?"
"Why do you say that?" Wisdom asked, with one hand on her butt, squeezing softly.
Amanda Sefton draws a deep breath. "As previously noted, I become quite jealous when I get attached."
Pete Wisdom kissed her cheek. "Are you attached?" he asked. Their current pelvic situation notwithstanding.
Amanda Sefton slowly turns her head to kiss his neck. Then she sits up. "I don't think of you as mine, no."
Pete Wisdom gave a little shudder as she kissed his neck. She felt him throb once inside her, as a reaction to it. "Okay, good."
Amanda Sefton admits softly, "I've only thought of one person that way really." She pushes up to her feet and bends over to collect her clothing from the floor.
Pete Wisdom nodded. He watched her gather her things… but he was not yet ready to dress, himself. "Are you all right?" he asked her.
Amanda Sefton nods, "Of course. I'm ready for that soak. Bring the wine and the glasses. The tub fills quicker than you'd expect."
"Ah, gotcha," he said, as he moved to stand up and gather the bottle and glasses, still bare as can be. Maybe he was still wearing socks. Pete seemed all to happy to have a bath with her.
Amanda Sefton's clothing is deposited into a hamper before she sets the tub to filling then steps inside. "And how about you? How are you feeling?"
Pete Wisdom shrugged, as he set the glasses and bottle on her bathroom sink, as he peeled off his socks. "Post-coital," he said. "Stretched. I hope you didn't mind that I paid so much attention to your bum, luv."
Amanda Sefton laughs softly, "I assure you if I had minded I would have stopped you from doing it." She closes her eyes. "You still owe me a week in the Shangrila at some point for helping you with Banner you know."
"There's also my own flat," he said, as he slipped into the tub to join her, bringing the glasses and bottle with him. Both were filled with a small amount of wine for the time being. "But yes, a full week's experience at the Shangri-La would be wonderful, yeah?" Pete relaxed, sort of stretching out as much as the tub, and the extra body, would allow him.
It's a large round jacuzzi style tub with more than enough room for both of them to stretch out as they like. "It's beautiful there which you know of course since you work in the building." Amanda stretches out a hand to touch his leg. "You know… Kurt wasn't wrong that I can use my magic to make people feel emotions they aren't feeling. You sure you want to take the risk of hanging about with me?"
Pete Wisdom shrugged. "I took the risk in approaching you in the first place, and by sticking with you after I learned you aren't from here," he explained. As she touched his leg, he looked down at her hand, then handed her a glass of wine. "I'm a lying, callous, manipulative, and hard-hearted bastard who cares more about ensuring the safety and stability of my country, if not the planet, over individual people, my attachments to them, or their very lives. Are you sure you want to hang about with me?"
Amanda Sefton asks softly, "You aren't saying anything I haven't already figured out. Kurt considers you a friend. That makes you mine as well."
"And you're my friend fully of my own experience with you. You're from another reality; you have no one to vouch your validity with me. And of course, I consider you a friend no matter what others may say," Wisdom responded and reached out to rub her thigh and knee.
Amanda Sefton closes her eyes, "I feel like a bit of a coward sometimes. Do you ever feel that way?"
"Not quite a coward. But I often feel powerless," he said, looking at her while she shuts her eyes.
Amanda Sefton murmurs, "I rarely feel powerless. I have a great deal of power. I have for as long as I can remember. My mother raised me to know that I had a magical destiny and now I'm in an entirely different universe happily pretending that magic destiny does not matter."
"Maybe it doesn't, as far as the universe is concerned," Wisdom explained. He moved a little to scoot, so he could sit beside her, instead of across from her.
Amanda Sefton murmurs, "I have to find Margali. If Margali is no longer guarding the Winding Way, I will have no choice but to take on that burden. And yet, I haven't stared scrying yet. I am continuing my life as if Margali didn't matter any more."
"It… would behoove you to give it a good look, some day," Wisdom admitted as he leaned against her, even daring to rest his head on her shoulder. "How long's it been, by the way? Since you were with someone? I hope I satisfied."
Amanda Sefton lays her head against his casually. She's obviously done this before. "Are you fishing for compliments, Pete?"
"Of course I am," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"
Amanda Sefton laughs, "You were quite good and you know it. You're a very attractive man Pete."
"I could be a fucking Adonis, if I didn't perform well that would be a waste of potential," he joked, as he splashed at her - very lightly.
Amanda Sefton smiles, "You will notice how I am not fishing for compliments. If you don't think I performed well you have unreasonable standards." Well she's not insecure about some things at least."
"In a straight comparison, you're also a hell of a lot more talented and trained in the use of your body than I am," Wisdom pointed out. "I felt a little inadequate with how… amazing you are."
Amanda Sefton opens her eyes now, "Well you can't feel in adequate because I am more flexible. I only know one person more flexible than me. He was my partner."
Pete Wisdom nodded, and he kissed her shoulder softly. "Yeah."
Amanda Sefton turns to hug him. "Thank you for making me feel so welcomed. You did not have to do that."
"No problem at all," Wisdom said as he hugged her in turn, before pulling back to get another sip of his wine.
Amanda Sefton stays there against him until she is ready to get out then slips in her terry robe. She goes to her bed and crooks a finger at him. "Come sleep. It's late. I have tomorrow off."
Pete Wisdom nodded before rising. As he stepped out, an odd thing happened. Wisdom began to steam. Rapidly. He was drying himself off, without the aid of towels. The only issue was it made his hair sort of unrully, and it floofed out in a sort of wavy mess, as he stepped to join her, trailing a cloud of steam behind him.
Amanda Sefton laughs very softly, "Nice trick but it cannot be good for your hair?"
Pete Wisdom shrugged. "It just turns it… floofy," he said as he stepped in to join her, cooling down to a safe-to-touch level. "But you're right, we ought to sleep," he said softly.