xp_logs | CHARLIE: Charlie/Manuel

Obviously backdated to Charlie's visit to the school.

He and Manuel meet. You knew it had to happen.

Yup, off to check on Meggan. Again.

Charlie sat at the counter in the massive kitchen, halfway between bemused and concerned by Amanda's attachment to the younger girl. It was like new mother syndrome, something that was not healthy to be getting from 'big sister' at the best of times. Still, she had a house full of people who could likely help her, and who likely had a better handle on it than him.

Didn't stop him worrying, though.

He took a sip of his coffee when he noticed the other person enter the kitchen; a seemingly endless crowd in and around this mansion.

Manuel, hair still damp from his recent shower, walked into the kitchen to get something to eat. He was _starving_, and his recent fencing workout hadn't exactly helped there either.

He felt the newcomer before he saw him - apparently this was Amanda's new human friend. And given how her human friends had affected their relationship last time, he owed it to the both of them to check this kid out. "Hola." he said cheerfully to Charles as he walked into the kitchen. "Enjoying your stay so far?"

"Hey. Uh, well, it's a little overwhelming." Charlie said cautiously to the new arrival. Everyone seemed to know who he was, and he made a mental note to get Amanda to pass along more information before he came up here the next time.

Apparently the mutation-looks connection was not solely confined to the women, and Manuel's 'boy model' looks fit him in with Remy and most of the other guys Charlie had met or seen in the mansion. Only Forge seemed to have escaped it, but he also had cybernetic parts, according to Amanda. Christ.

"I know exactly how you feel." he said with a reassuring smile.

"It's a bit much to take in all at once, isn't it?" he added as he made a beeline for the fridge. The boy was definitely out of his depth, and feeling a goodly bit of resentment on top of that.

Interesting. "You hungry? I was going to make myself a sandwich - it's easy enough to make two since I'm getting everything out anyway."

"I'll pass, but thanks." Charlie shuffled a bit on the counter, making room as Manuel started to put out items from the fridge. "I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and assume you're a student?"

His tone was slightly cautionary, since he'd already met two teachers who seemed young enough to be students themselves, and a girl who was both drop dead gorgeous, and according to Amanda, actually six years old. If he hadn't already seen pictures, Manuel could have ended up being Professor Xavier, for the tone of this place.

"Fair enough." he said, examing his sandwich-makings, then putting some items back and pulling out others. Just trying to decide what he was in the mood for was occasionally a trial, him being who he was and all. "I'm a student, si." he told Charlie without looking at him. "But how rude of me! I have not yet introduced myself." he said, turning around to offer Charlie his hand.

"I'm Manuel Alphonso Rodrigo de la Rocha de Guzeman." he named himself, offering his hand to Charlie to take if he wanted it. And the physical contact would sharpen his already keen insight into the boy's mind. He had no defense, no shields, and no will to speak of.

Breaking him would be simple if things came down to that.

Charlie took Manuel's hand, politeness schooled into him a dozen ways since a child. "Charlie Plunder. Suddenly feeling a little inadequate in the name department." He said wryly. Something clicked, and he suddenly realized this was _the_ Manuel; Amanda's boyfriend.

"Right, that's you!" He blurted out. Forge's description (more caustic observations aside) had been correct. There was something aristocratic looking about Manuel, and the soft hint of his accent would have caused a stir with the Southcrest female population.

Manuel smiled. "That's me." he agreed pleasantly. "And as far as the names go - I'm from Spain. It's not uncommon there." he said, and let the subject drop. Turning back around, he started making his sandwich.

"So how long will you be visiting for?" he asked.

"Just until tomorrow. My mother tends to be a little stingy with visiting hours." Charlie mentioned, taking another sip of coffee. "I live in the city, so usually it's catching up with Remy or Amanda down there."

Manuel likely already had that information, but Charlie was trying to cover up a bit of nervousness. Manuel had the looks and manner of one of the upperclass members of Southcrest; a group that particularly enjoyed occasionally grinding him and the other misfits down. On top of that, he was Amanda's boyfriend, which meant finding a reason to crush Charlie like a bug wasn't all that difficult.

Manuel had to fight a smile off his face. He could sense every twitch of the boy's emotions, and he had a Thing for Amanda.

And a good bit of class resentment, but that was nothing unusual.

"You live at home with your mother, then?" he said, just making conversation and fixing himself a sandwich. The latter was almost done, which meant that his excuse to stay and talk to the boy was rapidly running out.

"Not a lot of other options. I've got another semester at Southcrest, and then Harvard." It was obviously not Charlie's first choice, as he said the name of one of the premiere American schools in a bored tone. "You moving on to college too, or...?" He let the sentence hang, the disquieting feeling that Manuel was looking right through him when he talked.

What if he was a telepath, like the purple haired woman? Surely Amanda would have warned him about that at least, wouldn't she? He couldn't remember what she said he was.

"I am giving it some serious consideration. University holds a great deal of appeal, unfortunately so does picking up the family import-export business." he said. "And there's a great deal of civil rights work to be done." he added in a slightly bored tone. "But right now I think that going to university to learn the ins and outs of business fits in with my plans the best."

"Makes a lot of sense." Charlie picked up on the change of tone involving the civil rights work. "I'm destined for law." His voice conveyed an equal lack of enthusiasm for the subject. "But I can still keep up on the thaumatergical study in the meantime. At least with Amanda, I've got about the best way to test those theories that anyone could hope for."

"You're another mage? No wonder Amanda took such a shine to you." He said with great amusement. "She doesn't have anyone she can talk to about what she does." he said. "A situation that several of us here are familiar with, I'm sorry to say. Mutation, as they say, is a real bitch sometimes."

"Oh, I'm not a mage. I'm a, well," Charlie rubbed the end of his nose. "I'm more of an academic. I know theory and history, but I don't have the talent for magic. Can't seem to focus right. Where as with Amanda, half of her ideas are out off bad movies and pop culture books, but she's got enough raw power to actually make it work. It's pretty amazing." He concluded, with a surge of surprising passion about the topic.

Manuel grinned. "I've never been much of one for the eye-of-bat set myself, but I can't deny that she's very effective at what she does. Saved my life a few times." he said with a grin. "So you're helping her refine her abilities, do what she needs to do with less nosebleeds and brain-leaking-from-ears? That's good. How's it going?" he asked pleasantly, having finished assembling his sandwich.

"Slowly. It's all pretty much theoretical, and as far as I can tell, has never been done before." Charlie shook his head, concern for Amanda obvious. "And from what she's told me, she's already suffered brain damage and trauma from excessive use. Who knows how that changes things?"

Oh, now that came across loud and clear. If nothing else, this little human boy meant her no real harm. "Who indeed?" he said with a fatalistic shrug. "Although as far as I know she's only caused herself permanent harm in one small area. Apparently reaching across into the land of the dead is now a non-starter for her." he noted with amusement. "Pity, there are a couple of people I'd love to give a piece of my mind to."

"Not necessarily. Magic is complicated, and the rules often intersect and reverse themselves. For example, her little necrocommunicative stunt might have also cost her areas that do minute stabilizations or regulate power flows in fractional ways. Little things that don't seem like anything so you don't know about it, until, of course, she gets involved in a major spell and one of those areas fail." Charlie rubbed the tip of his nose, mulling over the ideas. "The consequences could potentially be catastrophic."

Manuel hrmmed thoughtfully. "Sounds an awful like some of the other powers around here and how they work." he mused out loud. "For brighter minds than mine, I'm afraid. I've never been one for the hard sciences. I'm more of a soft-science type myself." he grinned. He then turned to look at the doorway leading out of the Kitchen, and grinned.

"I think that's my cue." he said, gathering his sandwich and a bottle of water. "It's been pleasant talking to you, Charlie." he said with a grin.

Cue? Charlie thought. "Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you." He said, as Manuel left. Now what was that all about?

It became clear as Amanda's voice was heard in the hallway, sounding pleased. "Hey, love." She paused in the doorway with Manuel, visible to Charlie's line of sight. "I was just settlin' Meg down with Dani...
Did you want t' meet my mate Charlie?"

Manuel smiled at Amanda. "We've met." he said, just before stepping in close and laying a smokingly hot kiss on his girlfriend. With amusement, he let his free hand possessively cup her rear as they
kissed. "Come see me later?" he asked the British wytch before taking his sandwich and his waterbottle and heading for his room.

Amanda came into the kitchen, a bit pinker than usual around the cheeks and a slightly smug grin on her face. "So, all people'd out yet?" she asked, and then tilted her head at him enquiringly, raising her eyebrows. His __expression looked... odd. "What?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing." Charlie blinked twice, rapidly, and got up from his stool. "So assuming that Meggan is fine, can we continue the tour?" He said politely, sidestepping the entire incident until he could process it properly.

Suppressing an eye roll, Amanda nodded. It looked like Charlie was doing a Forge. "Sure," she said. "How 'bout some of the grounds? I dunno 'bout you, but I could do with gettin' away from introductions."

"Sounds like fun." Charlie said, getting to his feet. Manuel had unnerved him, like he had looked right through him and read everything he had hidden. The thought gave him a chill, and it took effort to force a smile on his face for Amanda. "As long as there are no dunkings in the lake."

"But gettin' thrown in the lake is a school tradition!" Amanda protested with a laugh, but deciding a people break was definitely needed. Charlie was looking a tad overwhelmed. And she had no idea what had been exchanged between him and Manuel - she'd told Charlie Manuel was an empath a couple of times, but he tended to forget people stuff. Hopefully Manuel hadn't gone the whole 'stay away from my girl' route; it wasn't needed and she had said she wouldn't fool around with anyone else. "Fine, no dunking you in the lake," she continued with a melodramatic sigh before a wicked grin slipped out. "Can I splash you instead?"

"Yeah, I definitely think I should be hanging out with Remy instead." He said resigningly as Amanda pulled him down the path to the lake.

"'Cause self-loathin' is so much more fun," Amanda replied with a snort. "Tho' I think you could pull off the whole trenchcoat thing pretty good."