xp_logs | Bishop and Manny: Chess

Bishop and Manny play chess, talk about Jennie, exchange quips, and talk about relationships in general.

Neither of them had an abundance of friends and they were about on the same skill level. Since Bishop was at the mansion for the moment he set up the board ahead of time so Manny could just come into the rec room and have a seat. He looked out the window by the table some as he waited, it was good to see something usual after the recent events.

They were spending a great deal of time playing the game together and it had given Manuel the patience he needed to work through his powers. He found he could concentrate better with Bishop there, that he wasn't a whirl wind of emotional outbursts and that Manuel could focus on the darker ones behind the facade. He said nothing of them, nothing of what went on inwardly with Bishop, but he continued to focus on it and found that apart from Amanda, Bishop was the second easiest person for Manuel to find within the mansion when he concentrated hard enough on his hues. He nodded his greeting when he came in and immediately took his seat, white at his ready, waiting for Bishop to break silence. He always did.

Bishop let Manny make his move before breaking the silence. "Jennie's one of your better friends, right? I heard she's in the infirmary for the moment." He wasn't going to ask if he'd gone to see her or really more then what he already had. It was almost like chess, he made the move to the first topic, since Manny made the first move on the board.

Manuels' eyes were fixed on the board. He moved his knight as was habit and remained in waiting until Jennie's name came up. They flickered upwards, momentarily using this to his advantage, his curiousity getting the better of him as he tried to feel out Bishops mood, that wavering uncertainty in hues of greens and he turned his eyes back down to the board, waiting for the second move. "Yes, we are good friends and she is recovering. Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to know how she was doing." Bishop wasn't much concerned with hiding his interest from anyone. He openly sent her a 'get well' present and only asked about her out of the numerous people that were injured. He was very much of the mentality that an honest person has nothing to hide and no lies to get tangled in.

"She appears to be doing well in general. Tired. Healing. There is nothing more to add to it. Amused that so many are catering to her," Manuel replied. He adjusted the cane hanging off the side of the table so it would not slip off and bounce away should his arm brush it. "You're not asking out of sole interest to satisfy your random curiosity, Bishop," he said, making it a pointed remark that he could sense something from the larger man. Not exactly something he expected.

"I never claimed that it was curiosity or random." Bishop moved his next piece into position and looked back to Manny. "I heard that a number of people were hurt. I figure if any of them die from it I'd hear about that too. I specifically don't want that to be the case for Jennie. Nothing random about that."

Manuel moved another piece, opening up the left side of his board. "You're speaking to an empath. Please be slightly more honest with yourself if you want this conversation to go the direction you are hoping. At least the way I think you are hoping. On that part, I may be incorrect, which I give you full permission to correct me if I am wrong."

Bishop laughed a bit. "I might not be an empath but I know you're trying to feel me out. I figured if you just wanted me to tell you then you'd just ask." He moved his next piece.

Manuel smiled now, visibly relaxing. "Touche my friend. Very well. Typically, I have not known her to be the relationship type, though perhaps she has not met the right man. You're work would be cut out for you if you did decide to pursue. The chase can be quite the dance, I hear."

"I've got the feeling she's wary of relationships. I'm not huge into pursuits myself, I prefer to be more straight forward." Bishop moved his next piece. "She knows I'm interested. If she is then I imagine she'll say something. If not then that will be that."

Manuel considered his next move for Bishop was getting good and he already had formed a block that could be dangerous. Manuel's next few moves were crucial. "No, I do not believe she will say anything. There is a possibility she will take flight and pursuit will be vital if you ever are to catch her." He thought to warn Bishop that she was not some prize to be had, despite the metaphor though he felt the man was genuine.

"Maybe. I'd prefer to think she's a strong woman that will take it upon herself to express interest in what she'd like, just like I did. That's about what it would take to be my companion, regardless." Was Bishop realistic? Probably not. He was fairly self-aware, however. If any person couldn't make their own stands for what they wanted then he would have a hard time dealing with them. He wasn't much interested in sabotaging his own relationships by pursuing anyone that couldn't handle him.

"I deem that fair. Ask her, be more direct and see if she says anything. I can only assume that she would show termendous amounts of discomfort and possibly flight in her eyes." He had seen it when he had kissed her, felt it and had resisted the impulse to sooth those nervous tendancies, so she would feel less threatened.

"I've been direct. She knows." Bishop nodded. He handled any sort of rejection just like anything else, by quietly keeping it to himself. He didn't expect anyone to change if they didn't want to; he didn't plan to press anything on her. He didn't have much else to say about the topic, either.

"I apologize. I am merely not the waiting type in that sort of situation, unless it serves me well to wait." He said nothing more on that, because anything more and it would be naturally taken the wrong way if repeated to anyone else. "If you feel waiting her out is the best course of action, then that is what you will do. But know that I do not believe she will act on it. She is a woman. A part of them wants to be romanticized and embellished with ridiculous things that they know you cannot afford. It is their nature to make us broke."

Bishop laughed and nodded. "I've bought her little things here and there. I still follow the cultural rules of clearly expressing interest. I can't make any claims on how romantic I am but I wonder if that over-serious nature is part of what scares her." It seemed this topic wasn't over and he didn't particularly have a problem with sticking with it since something about Jennie appeared to be on Manny's mind.

"I cannot speak for her. Only that romance generally works overall with them." Maybe not all of them but most. His advice was bad, at best. "Perhaps I should not be giving you advice as my own previous relationship was a nightmare."

Bishop smiled at Manny. "I've had a few bad ones." He made a move. "Want to tell me about it? That might be more insightful."

"We - Amanda and I - use to share an empathic link. To put it mildly, it was torn out when she was having a bad... day. It's very hard to share such a link with someone and have it torn out abruptly from your very being. I did not recover well and I was mixed up in plenty of things. There is too much history to go into detail but that is the short version. We have trouble talking because she is with Angelo and they crossed a line that should not have been crossed at the time."

Bishop listened quietly and nodded, making his moves when appropriate. "That sounds like it would be rough. A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to not get even half as close as it sounds like you two did for exactly that reason. Sorry it happened." There wasn't much else to say but he was good at delivering sincere empathy with a person. With his past he had done it a lot and he always made sure that he honestly connected with the person before he did. Anything less was insulting.

Manuel nodded only in response to Bishops empathy. He wouldn't condemn his friend for it - he was an outsider of that story - but he did not feel the need to rehash old and very hard memories. He merely took a pawn, replacing it with his knight. Knights were always his favourite, a symbol of his position in the hellfire club. "What of you? What of your past relationships?"

"Mostly like any other cop. Date for a while, the other person can't handle the... darkness; then relationship over. I don't think it would be any different then if someone here tried to date someone that didn't have to deal with this kind of reality." He shrugged, taking the trade of pieces their games tend to turn into.

Manuel rolled that in his head for a moment, deciding to corner a rook with his knight before he rested his head in his hand, leaning against the table. He was not quite as tired as he use to be, but merely thinking about old relationships dropped a notch in his energy levels. "I am afraid you are incorrect. Many date without realizing what the other is going through, especially here, I am sure of that. Though they go through trials that test their relationship more than to say someone who was ignorant of that."

"I suppose it might be a case of the grass being greener on my part, then. Either way, I don't really have the history of your average person. I've never stayed with one woman for long. It just didn't tend to work out with me being in law enforcement." Bishop had honestly grown used to it. It didn't bother him too much because he didn't have much in the way of plans for his future.

"I cannot help you with that. The extent of my knowledge ends at the chase. Making it work is another obsticle I have yet to scale and I have desire to do it in this month or the next. I am afraid my New Years Resolution will be disappointing in two thousand and nine and does not involve a woman."

"I cannot help you with that. The extent of my knowledge ends at the chase. Making it work is another obstacle I have yet to scale and I do not have the desire to do it in this month or the next. I am afraid my New Years Resolution will be disappointing in two thousand and nine and does not involve a woman."