xp_logs | Manuel & Amanda

Manuel goes to see Amanda and she keeps him distracted.

"If he is wrong," Manuel murmured, clutching his phone and pocketing it. He got up from the computer desk and grabbed his jacket, shifting the cane from his left to his right. He turned off the TV and just as he was heading for the door, his phone beeped. Checking the message while he locked his door, Amanda had replied and he was surprised that she was within the mansion and immediately headed for Kurt's suite.

His knock was brief and he waited, one hand on the cane, his other clutching the phone, pressing it to his lips.

"Come in!" came the reply. Amanda looked up as the door opened; face pale and dark circles under her eyes. She was tucked up on Kurt's couch with a blanket over her knees and his laptop open in front of her on the coffee table, her phone beside. The TV was on, volume turned down and the remote within reach - it was tuned to the news channel, showing scenes of the George Washington Bridge crashing down over and over. She hit 'mute' as she realised it was Manuel, but left it on - she needed to keep track of things as best she could from here. "Hey. You all right?"

"I am well, are you?" he asked, closing the door behind him. His eyes fell to the TV immediately and he had some sincere hope that he could see Jennie and confirm or deny that she was not there. At least Marius was well and Amanda was accounted for. Only Jennie remained and he was sure Emma was as solid as she ever was, mentally and physically. He took a seat beside her, yet his eyes remained on the TV. until it dawned on him that she was here at all. "Why are you here?" Yes, he saw the message, but no, he hadn't put two and two together up until now. Jennie was very much dominating his thoughts.

"Sarah brought me. When all this started, it kind of knocked me for a loop. Powers thing," she replied, deliberately downplaying it in the face of Manuel's obvious disturbed state. He had so few friends, the thought of losing one must be terrifying. "Ange and Sarah scooped me up and got me out so my head didn't explode." She grimaced as the image changed to the Citadel, towering above the city. "Fucking squatters," she grumbled under her breath.

"You are obviously not that well," he pulled his eyes from the repeated scene and fixed them on her. "--if you are here on the couch. Do you need anything? Tea, perhaps?" He was useless here and considered leaving, yet would remain for as long as she was here.

"Tea'd be great, actually." She knew the frustration of being useless - there was a reason why she had been doing as much as she could from Kurt's couch through their networks. Manuel needed to feel he could do something, she knew that as well as she knew herself. "I'll be all right. Just a headache still. Kurt made me promise to rest in exchange for breaking me out of the infirmary."

"And where is Angelo?" he asked purposely, shedding his coat and standing to make her tea. There was much going through his mind, concerns projecting and overlapping his need to do something. He wanted to know, needed to know if Jennie was alive and well. If she wasn't, then everything in his life would mean very little and it surprised him how much she meant to him. And yet, he said so very little to her lately. All this time wasted on powers and concentration, he had neglected the very little things that meant anything to him anymore.

"Getting his mother out - 's not safe for her there." She was worried about him and Juanita, and Meggan and the other girls, the rest of her team, but there was too much going on and they needed her sharp, on the ball. As much as she could be, anyway. "I haven't heard from him, with this fucking comms blackout."

"I'm sure Angelo will be fine and those with him will be safe," he said dismissively. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, but generally in situations dealing with Angelo, he was only concerned for the man as long as he was dealing with Amanda. With the tea laid out and boiling, Manuel returned to sit in a nearby chair, flipping his phone open to check his messages. He was pissed about Forge's comment and it grated on his nerves that he put up with it at all.

"Yeah, you're probably right." She shifted around on the couch to look at him more closely, feeling the pressure of an anger and concern she knew wasn't hers. "Jennie'll be all right, Manny. Her power's luck - if anyone can pull through something like this, it'll be her."

"Yes, well, one can only hope." He was more than hopeful. His phone snapped shut and he set it down on the coffee table, watching it. Waiting for it to ring though he knew it would not. His friends were few and far in-between. One was here, the other was comforting Jennie's sister. "I should be with Jennie's sister, but I cannot shield well enough. Her emotional state of mind would be too much." He could feel it in the back of his mind, feel everyone's distress, concerns, fears and more. If he went out, he would feel more of it. "The emotional range I am getting is much already." It strained him and he could feel a headache creeping its way in.

"You can stay here as long as you like, if it helps, that is?" she offered. "'S gunna be a long few days - and hard on you." It was easier to shift her concern to him, where she could potentially do something to help. Besides wait for word.

"It is me to be looking after you," he said in strained English. "You require some color to return to your cheeks, lest you look more and more like you would be on your deathbed." Hearing the kettle click, Manuel got up and immediately went to pour her tea, returning it to hand to to her a moment later. He set his cane to the side, out of sight. "Turn the volume up and tell me what of this you know.”