Manuel and Angel

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Manuel finds Angel at the pool - he's slightly insufferable, she's slightly stubborn but in the end, it's a win - win - win situation. At least it is according to Angel.



Normally, Angel spent her early, early mornings in the pool and the rest of the day running around doing things like classes, training with her powers or training down at the station. But it was summer now and with classes out, she had a ton of time on her hands. That's why she found herself down at the pool, floating around and generally being a giant bum. Relaxing meant she could ignore all the bad things that had happened within the last few weeks and that, right now, was a good thing.

Manuel didn't normally swim. He didn't enjoy it, but difficulties with his mobility forced him to seek out less obviously straining practices. It was easier to take the weight off his legs this way, adjust to his current imperfections and do it without anyone wondering when they would have to intervene to break his fall. He slowly made his way towards the pool, topless, with his waist wrapped in a black towel. He stopped by the stairs, leaning on the cane while regarding Angel. "Good morning."

For all that Angel had been swimming for nearly as long a she had been walking, staring up at a shirtless Manuel very nearly made her drown on the spot. Luckily, she managed to avoid either death by drowning or death by embarrassment and instead swam towards the edge of the pool. And Manuel's rather sexy looking ankles - 'Focus!' she chided. "Morning yourself," she replied, peering up at him with a shy smile. "We haven't actually met, yet, right? Not really, anyway?"

"No, we have not," he said formally. "I am Manuel and you are?" Hooking his free hand at the front of the towel, he removed it in a whirl of black like a bullfighter, dropping it to the ground revealing a black speedo. Always an introduction, no matter how insignificant, needed to be made significant. He was sure he achieved that by just standing here alone.

"Sweet Jesus," she muttered, dipping down into the water up to the bridge of her nose before bobbing back up with a slight sputter. "Angel. And slightly dead right now because, really, you should totally warn people before you do...do..." She twirled her fingers at him for a second. "That. Not that I'd say no to a repeat, mind you, with some warning." Angel tilted her head at him as she gave him a mock glare for the near heart attack she'd nearly suffered.

"You're easily amused," he commented before switching the cane to his other hand and holding the railing. This was were his grace flattered, stepping down slowly, step by step and he felt a tremble through his thigh. He decided to sit before he was made to sit by his legs and set the cane aside. "Do you live up to your name?"

Angel shook her head a she watched him with an air of the curious but not too curious. "Not if I can help it," she responded, grinning brightly. She lifted a hand out of the water and it caught fire but not for long since she was still having some power issues. Some. She nearly snorted. "I'm a water rat that catches on fire. Sometimes, the world is just a funny place, you know."

"I didn't think so." He didn't know many women by the name of Angel, but he was sure that if he did know any, none of them would be the angels they pretended to be. He turned his interest onto the revelation of her power. "Are you able to control it well?"

For a second, Angel's friendly smile wavered and then she was gone, a gentle whirl of water and a flash of red hair as she swam the length of the pool and back. The strokes were powerful and she was back before Manuel could blink, looking more put together than when she had left. "For the most part," she explained, pushing wet strands of hair out of her face. "Got a bit of a power boost from an unwanted source and now I'm, eh with the bigger stuff."

_Touchy_. Was there anyone within the mansion anymore that could control their powers, other than the figure heads? Even they were questionable. Evasive worked well for him and he stood up, pushing off the steps. It felt good to stand on his own without the cane, despite that he wasn't truly standing up. "I'm sure you'll adapt as everyone else does. You haven't set anything on fire recently, have you?"

She swam in a large circle around Manuel, giving him room to find his balance. "Not lately," Angel replied and it was said with a bit of slyness and she laughed. "Dude, my dad owns stock in the fire extinguishers I carry around. But yeah, I'm okay at keeping things from going poof."

"It's more of an inconvenience, is it?" he asked, mimicking her circling around him so it seemed they were more in a stand off than swimming.

Angel grinned and juked in the water, effortlessly shifting the circling to go in the other direction now. "My powers? Sometimes, yeah, but I can't imagine doing without it. Especially the flying. I love the flying. It's almost as good as swimming." She tilted her head at him. "Do you actually like to swim?"

He would have never guessed she could fly. "Interesting. You don't seem like a flier. How appearances are deceiving." His especially, he was sure. He couldn't keep up with the pace she set for circling around him and slowed to a pace that was well for him. "No," he said in a flat tone. "I hate swimming. It's not on my top ten."

Now she copied his speed, using it so she could just laze around on her back. "Really?" Angel asked, trying to juggle that in her head. "Why don't you care for it?" It would be like not liking...air or something for her.

"I don't enjoy being wet." Silly, he knew. It was the truth of it, at least now, where he was concerned. "Consider me like a cat with similar desires." He loathed to compare himself to a feline, however, the analogy fit well.

"Huh." Angel disappeared beneath the water and then popped up again, hair soaked through - for a moment. She concentrated and within moments it was dry again. "What if...you were able to get dry like immediately after you got out of the pool?" Angel offered thoughtfully. "Would that help? Because, dude, water exercise probably would be awesome for you."

"That depends entirely on the means for acquiring such drying conditions." He wasn't excited about water exercise and it was plain to see on his face. "And why would water exercise be _awesome_ for me?" He could barely keep the offense from his tone.

She waved her hand towards his head. "Consider me your own personal hairdryer." And then Angel rolled her eyes at him before holding up her fingers. "First, giant duh towards that one. Second, another giant duh - you get to hang around the pool, do exercise and watch us total babes play in the water. And third, us total babes get to watch you play in the water." She pointed downwards. "In THAT. It's a win, win, win situation."

He laughed. Hard. She was certainly outspoken and it lightened the rod up his ass considerably. "You must acquire your personality traits from your mother. Somehow, I couldn't see your father being this direct."

"Oh, you'd be surprised but yeah, in that regard, I'm totally a momma's girl." Angel grinned, completely pleased with herself that she managed the situation as well as she had. Her mom would have been proud. "Daddy's direct just not...in the same way." She giggled and floated a way a little bit, bobbing cheerfully in the water.

"Surprising, yes, I would have taken you for daddy's girl at first glance. You're deceiving in your appearance. Very deceiving. I would expect the devil to emerge out of you at any given time now." Distant frustration filtered into him and as much as he would have liked to be able to suppress it, he was only able to grin and bare it. His jaw tightened and he inhaled sharply as it took on a more angry angle. "What would you have me do for exercise?" he could only imagine some ridiculous posture she'd think of, purely for her own entertainment.

At that, Angel shot him a confused look as she ended up on her back again. "Just...swim?" she suggested with a shrug. "I'm really good at swimming and being around people who swim and that alone is fantastic exercise. I've been doing it for yeeeeaaars now and look at me, I'm in great shape." She grinned lazily. "Did you think I was going to make you stand on your head or something in the water? I'm just offering to be a swim buddy."

"I don't enjoy swimming at all," Manuel said and turned around, heading towards the deep end, despite what he confessed. It was the only time he could walk and he'd take advantage of that with as little exertion as possible. "I prefer being in water on a boat."

"That's all fine and good," Angel sang out, "until the boat sinks. And, dude, you've seen this place right? Nine times out of ten, your boat is going to sink. Or catch on fire. Or transport itself to another dimension entirely. Being a good swimmer is just good common sense. Being a good swimmer, having a handy supply of fire extinguishers and...well. You're totally out of luck if your boat gets transported, I think. Two out of three ain't bad, though."

"I meant on a cruise ship," he said, turning around in the deep end and treading water. "You will not find me on any other boat, but an exotic cruise. It would be a waste of time with anything else and for that, you'd only need a life vest."

There was a long pause. "Any more sass out of you," Angel informed him quite primly, "and I'll totally tell the rest of the girls to start wearing those old bathing suits from now on. Then that win-win-win situation becomes less so." She grinned at him. "Come on, let me show you how to have fun in the water."

Manuel moved to the side before he drowned himself. He was having trouble staying afloat and his arms ached with the little exercise he was doing. He moved along the side until he was within the safety of the shallow end and passed her, heading towards the stairs. "Tempting as your offer may be, another time perhaps."

"Thhhbt."

Mature - but then again, now she could check out his butt as he left the pool...