| James Comes to Visit |
| Summary: | Amanda is making potions when James comes to visit. He expresses concerns about Amanda's activities of late. |
| Date: | 2016-08-25 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
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Amanda's apartment smells strange as she has been spending the day re-stocking her various potions by brewing new ones. The smells do not entirely get on together but are not unpleasant per se. Amanda is herself still in the kitchen monitoring one such brewing potion.
It's been a few days since their date, which in James opinion was highly successful overall even if it didn't nail down his social life any for the time being. Happening to be in the city James decides to stop by Amanda's place and right as he is knocking on the door it occurs to him that this might be construed as stalker behavior and he grimaces, wincing and hesitating before knocking again so it's a thump, pause, then thump thump thump. Almost like a code, but really just a touch of nervousness on James' part.
At least he'd remembered to get a flower, a single long stemmed rose with which James will present when the door is opened, should it be opened. The smells which do make it into the hall are probably ones that wouldn't be noticed by most. James notices them of course and he wrinkles his nose, trying to puzzle out the combinations of scents as he waits.
Amanda Sefton picks up the mirror laying on the counter near her and quickly scries the area just outside her door before calling out, "It's not locked, James! Please do come in." The majority of the scents are various herbals.
Opening the door and stepping in when he hears Amanda's invitation through the door, and the wall for that matter (He must really hate it when he is in a hotel and anyone on the floor is frisky), James steps into the apartment and takes a look around to get his bearings before he starts further into the apartment and over towards where he heard Amanda's voice come from, and the source of those smells. "I hope you don't mind the unannounced visit." James rumbles, "But a phone call seemed so cliche… I'm not a stalker, honest."
Amanda Sefton laughs softly, "I don't mind, James. Kurt would sometimes just be here when I came home." She's standing in the kitchen surrounded by a bit of a mess and whatever she's stirring is bubbling. She lifts her free hand and gestures to the rose. "I assume that's for me? It's beautiful."
"Of course." James says with a bit of a hesitation as Amanda brings up Kurt, again, and it catches him a bit off guard. Showing up with a rose and then being reminded of the ex… James doesn't comment on that further and instead walks over to hand the rose over towards Amanda when she's not busy stirring or whichever. "I assume that you're not making soap?" He asks, glancing into the pot of boiling potions.
Amanda Sefton takes the rose with a warm smile, "No. I used my last sleep potion so I decided I needed to spend some time making more potions. If I'd known you were coming, I would have waited until tomorrow." She turns and opens a cabinet then goes up onto her toes to try and grab a vase from the top shelf.
James probably should have given it some thought before he steps over and reaches to help get the Vase down, you know overreaching in someone else's kitchen, acting like someone can't take care of things themselves, etc, but in reality James doesn't think that politically correct. Someone was having trouble so he helped, it's what he does. "Sleeping potion? Having trouble sleeping?" He asks, concerned and giving Amanda a closer look.
Amanda Sefton smiles, "Thank you." She takes the vase and puts the rose in it then adds a little water. "The potions aren't for me. I like to keep various helpful potions on hand. The sleeping potion got used on the guy in the other room."
"Guy in the other room?" James asks, focusing on his hearing to try and detect where a person might be sleeping, other signs of life in the apartment other than this room. "Dare I ask why you have a guy in the other room that you've been forcing to sleep with potions?" Apparently he dares to ask even as he says it. Once the vase is retrieved he gets out of the way though so Amanda can do what she's doing without obstruction by the big Apache.
Amanda Sefton puts the rose on the far side of the counter then hurries back to the stove to pull the potion off. She puts it in an ice bath to cool it down so she can put it into vials sooner. "A cajun helped me capture him last night. I'm keeping him unconscious until I can turn him over to someone with more authority than me."
"Remy or another one?" James asks curiously, still focusing his attention on the other room where the mystery man is kept unconscious by the sleeping potion. "I guess the more appropriate question is why did you capture him, and why are you turning him over to the authorities?"
Amanda Sefton gives James a surprised look, "You know Remy? I don't even know why that surprises me." She picks up the pan and carefully transfers the contents into several vials and corks them up. "It's probably going to be Pete. He has no real authority but I suspect he can get him to talk about what's going on. He was at Grand Central the other day trying to pick up a case Pete intercepted."
"We spoke about him at dinner briefly." James reminds Amanda, "I guess my dinner talk wasn't very memorable." A wry smile and a bit of a shake of his head follows that. "So Pete is still working here in the states… that's going to generate some waves eventually. Especially if he's doing his spy stuff."
Amanda Sefton stops for a second then nods, "Oh. Gambit right. I completely forgot you called him Remy. I'd never heard Gambit's real name and he didn't look like the Gambit I remember." She frowns thoughtfully, "And while the Gambit I remember used cards, he definitely did not tell fortunes with them or read them like tarots, accurately." She turns to look at him. "I didn't forget what you said, just that one word."
"I don't know how common a name it might be, it could be someone else, or possibly an alternate reality version… or maybe he just never showed those skills before but he's always had them." James smiles wryly, "I would put nothing past him. So… you have a man who was going to pick up a brief case unconscious in the other room." He frowns, "And this Remy just left him with you… and none of this strikes you as odd?"
Amanda Sefton puts away the vials in the case that was waiting for them then takes James' hand and draws him back out of the kitchen, "Why wouldn't I find that odd? I find everything about what's been going on odd, but then magical things are often odd."
"So you often have strange men who could be terrorists or just a poor guy that Pete wanted to take something from magically slept in the spare room?" James asks, frowning and shaking his head but he allows himself to be drawn out of the kitchen at least. "What happens if you have to go an emergency flight, and the guy wakes up and nobody is here? It just strikes me as a severely unsafe position for you to be placed in." He holds up a hand, palm forwards, "I know you can take care of yourself Amanda, but this is a civilian apartment building. If he needs to be handed over to the authorities, you should do so immediately."
Amanda Sefton says quietly, "There's a magical trace on him. He was trying to get something with a magical trace on it. I need to know what is going on. Twice now rifts have opened in my presence." She frowns a bit, "Are you being disapproving or just worrying?"
"A bit of both honestly." James answers Amanda honestly, "If he has a magical trace on him, then someone could be tracking that magical trace and you could be exposing your home to who knows what sort of enemy. I think it's a foolish risk bringing him here, when there are plenty of safer places he could have been stored until whomever you decide to turn him over could pick him up." He frowns as well, folding his arms across his massive chest as he looks sternly down at her. "I would hate to see you come to harm Amanda, but it is your life to live. I just wish you would have thought about your neighbors. If you are having magical rifts open up around you all the time… you might consider putting the day job on hold until that's taken care of."
Amanda Sefton folds her arms across her chest in return, "I did think about them. That's why I haven't left and won't until the matter is taken care of. I already told the airline I cannot be on call for a few days."
James hmphs and then shrugs, "Ok, said my peace." He rakes his hands through his hair and then moves to sit down on the ground beside the sofa in a comfortable position, legs crossed and his arms resting on his knees. It'll put them about the same height should she sit on the couch. "So other than mysterious cajun's who may or may not be someone I know, men with magical trace's going after briefcases with magical traces that Pete Wisdom also desire… how have you been?" He asks conversationally, his deep rumble holding no tone of disapproval or worry.
Amanda Sefton asks, "You didn't see the footage of what happened at Grand Central on youtube like everyone else? I spent a night in SHIELD's medbay after getting dragged over the railing at Grand Central Terminal. Other than that I've been fine."
"I've been out away from civilization for a few days and… I am not a big computer guy, I can't honestly think of a single time I wanted to spend on the computer other than doing research for a mission." James frowns, "So no, I didn't see anything on youtube." Now he is concerned again, "What happened?"
Amanda Sefton sighs softly, "I mentioned the rifts opening. Something tried to pull me into the last one which happened to be out in the air above the terminal."
"Really Amanda." James says softly, "You mentioning a rift opening is not the same thing as mentioning you were pulled over the railing in grand central station by something and spending a night in a medbay. A rift is just a portal, it doesn't mean anything other than as a means of transportation. For all I know there could have been a sunny day and cherry blossoms on the other side. You never told me something was attacking you out of these portals."
Amanda Sefton nods, "I don't end up near rifts that open into nice places. I suppose in theory it could happen but it never has before. Only twice have I gotten attacked. Once here in the apartment and once in Grand Central. I couldn't get the rift to seal before it opened."
"You should talk to Magik." James says after a moments thought, "She is really good at dimensional portals and dimensional magic. I bet she could help you figure out where these things are coming from, why they are happening, and how to stop them." He frowns, "The only thing I could do, is go through the rift and deal with whatever's on the other side."
Amanda Sefton blinks once, "Illyana is alive? I wasn't aware of that…." She pauses to think about the things she's heard about the her from this universe then pushes out of her seat, "I've worked with Illyana before. That's a good idea."
"Last I knew she was alive, and nobody's spoken to me like that has changed anytime recently. Things are kind of out of whack due to what's been going on but… as far as I know, it's the same Magik I'm used to." James says with a bit of a shrug, "For whatever that's worth." He doesn't get up when Amanda does, perhaps not sure what her intentions are with the move just yet, instead he remains seated on the floor because it's better than looming.
Amanda Sefton closes the distance between their positions and kisses his cheek. "Look. I appreciate your concern. I do. I'm sorry you don't approve."
James actually has to look up at Amanda for once, since he's sitting on the floor and she is standing and he smiles faintly, "I'm sorry too Amanda. I've just seen enough bloodshed and death that I don't like the idea of not doing something that could lessen the risk to innocent people who have no part in things. I guess that's why I've never been a street hero like Spider-Man or Daredevil… that and if I screw up I can kill a lot of people on accident I guess." He wrinkles his nose briefly, "Throw one bus just a little bit wrong and…" He shudders a bit at the thought.
Amanda Sefton moves to sit on his knees so she's close but not as high up. "That is what I am doing. Trying to prevent innocents from being lost. It that rift had opened without me there, a lot of people could have died or disappeared."
Warpath wets his lips, "Have you considered the possibility that it is you that the rifts are drawn to, and that your being there is what is making the rifts open up in places with so many innocents around? Unless these rifts are opening up all over the place and it's somehow not made the news in any fashion?" He shifts his arms when she moves to sit of course, so they're not in the way and he wraps them loosely around her waist leaving a hand on her back and the other on her hip. "You did tell me magical things sort of happen around you right?"
Amanda Sefton frowns faintly, "Well that would be troubling. How am I supposed to find out whether or not that is true without just staying home and endangering my roommates?"
"Maybe you should consider spending some time in a remote location away from civilization. There would be no reason for a magical portal to open up there, and if one does then you know that it's someone focussing on you." James looks at her seriously, "Honestly, the fact that it's happened twice around you, and nowhere else that I've heard of… I think it's a very strong possibility that whatever is causing these, is focused on you."
Amanda Sefton hmms softly, "Well on both occasions I was scrying out something odd so it could just be a coincidence. Then again maybe you're right." The notion that she's the problem seems to take something out of Amanda. She leans forward to rest her elbows on her knees.
"Well… there's one way to try and verify it. You could try to scry out whatever odd thing it was you were trying to scry when the last rift opened." James rumbles, absently moving to draw her in close to his large frame in a protective gesture, nothing really sexual about it. "I will be here, to ensure that nothing drags you anywhere and to deal with any nastyness that might occur… if it's large enough I'll go through it and deal with whatevers on the other side for you."
Amanda Sefton allows herself to be pulled in against him. She whispers, "I don't think I want to do that tonight, but this is nice."
James doesn't really have anything to say to that other than to nod at her decision since he can't exactly force her to scry anything and nor would he try to do so anyway. Instead he just cradles her against his massive frame and leans down to breathe in the scent of her there. Strong arms hold her tenderly but securely and he doesn't even try to cop a feel. If anything he'll lightly (extremely lightly for him) rub on the back of her shoulders and down her spine with one hand. "To bad you've got a sleeping man in the other room, we could, what do the kids call it these days… netflix and chill?"
Amanda Sefton takes a long breath, "Well we could do that in spite of his presences if you…" She doesn't get the finish that sentence before a key rattles in the door and said door opens. A redhead dragging a wheeled carry-on comes in and closes the door before looking out across the room and going, "Oh. I didn't know you were going to be busy 'Manda. You want me to go out and come back later?" Amanda whispers, "Angie." She turns her head to smile at the redhead, "It's your apartment too Angie. You pay just as much rent as I do."
James chuckles at the initial comment, or the fact that they are interrupted by Amanda's roomate but he doesn't move from where he's still holding Amanda because he is her chair at the moment. Looking over towards Angie James lifts his free hand from Amanda's hip and offers it in a wave. "The mysterious roomate. It's nice to meet you Angie, I'm James." Maybe remaining seated on the floor like this will help hide just how tall he is too because to most people… he's an unreal sort of man.
Angie grins at James, "Don't mind me. I'm just going to commandeer the bathroom for a few hours. You two enjoy yourselves. I'll be so quiet you won't know I'm here." She doesn't seem to notice how big he is, but perhaps she's just not paying attention as much as trying not to pay attention to her roommate's male rendezvous. Amanda calls out, "Betsy already left on her next run so you won't have competition. Just don't go in her room, okay?" Does she sound a little guilty at that last bit?
When Angie goes to take care of her bathroom needs, James looks towards Amanda and raises an eyebrow, "In Betsy's room hmm?" He smiles a little, "I should go and stop distracting you from dealing with what you need to get done Amanda. If I recall, you left a /cauldron/ in the kitchen too." He says playfully. "So you deal with that, get that man to where he's got to be, and then call me when you have time to spend uninterrupted, or you want to handle that other thing." He reaches up with his free hand to cup her cheek gently and leans down to kiss her forehead. "Be careful Amanda. Let me know what you decide to do alright?"
Amanda Sefton nods, "I was expecting Angie to be a bit later coming back. I guess they caught some favorable winds. You take care too, James. I'll give you a call."