Manuel, Morgan & Callie | Thursday Night

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Manuel wakes up Morgan in order to gain aid to fix what he did to Callie earlier in the evening.

It was the third knock on her door before Manuel pounded on it hard. He was not normally in this dire need but the frame of mind he had still swirling around in him was a fact that Callie had similar problems. Finally, the door was opened and he hurried into angry explanations, frustration at being unable to deal with this himself. "I need your assistance. I believe there is a problem and I am in no frame of mind to fix this. It is beyond any of my abilities." It was the middle of the night, hours after the incident and Manuel had walked past Callie's room, confirming her emotional state after the abrupt and unpleasant post she had to write about him.

Morgan was dead tired. She'd passed out from exhaustion earlier and it had caused her to sleep more heavily than usual. In fact, her waking at all to the noise before Laurie had was a minor miracle. Rubbing at an eye with the heel of her palm, Morgan blinked blearily at Manuel who looked, honestly, as if he may burst from contained rage any moment now. She took his hand and dragged him out of the common area and back into her room. Morgan promptly crawled back into bed, Manuel in tow. "What makes you think I'm going to be any good, then?" She yawned and curled up into a ball after wiggling under a blanket. "I mean, hi, I had empathy for less than twenty-four hours."

She was very abrupt when she was tired and all sense of any personal space had to be dropped around her in order to get where he needed them to be. He was impatient to get to that level with her, wanted it now but he had to abide by what she wanted and that would be to climb in bed with her and wait. He was practically shaking with anger, but went through the task of taking off his shoes, awkwardly getting under the sheets and into a bed that was probably fit for two people but not nearly enough space as far as he was concerned. He had simply grown to like sleeping alone now, that another body was a foreign discomfort, especially in his emotional state.

Manuel sat up instead of burying himself under the covers as she was. His mind raced, laced with fury but he managed to force out an answer to her question. "You have had a profound effect on me, especially in the morning swim. Your emotional influence is lingering and it will do well to undone what I have .... done."

"Huh? In half conscious terms?" Sure, Morgan was quicker than this typically but she was tired and reserved the right to be thick in such circumstances. "What you've done...sounds like you did it on purpose. If you say it like that." She yawned again and resisted the urge to curl up with his lap as her pillow. She might actually get thwapped for that one.

Unphased by her lethargic thinking, Manuel began explaining, though he did not simplify it because she was tired. Though the urge was there to point that out, he bit his tongue. "It was not on purpose that I did it. I walked into her and my tea burned my stomach," Manuel lifted his t-shirt, revealing a brief patchwork job from amelia, who had applied lotion beneath the wrap. "Though it is not an excuse, the tea was incredibly hot and her apologies only made it worse. I walked by her room earlier and she would not open the door to me. I can _feel_ her anger as though she is sitting beside me. I require you to do to her what you did to me. And not to change to me until we see her. She needs to open the door and will not do it if she sees two of us as me."

Morgan groaned. "So you want me to shove puppies and sunshine and rainbows down both of your throats but I need to wait until she's opened the door before I can take your mimic on?" Great. "You realize your hand is stuck with mine," she lifted their clasped hands and waved them about a bit, "the entire way to her room from here, right? Students with nightmares or who can't sleep and are looking for food? Will see us. You. Me. Rumors of love." She sounded caught between being really amused and slightly disturbed.

"Yes, I know. I _know_," he gestured, bringing his knees up and drilling the heel of his palm into his temple. "No one will believe we're 'in love' because they seem to believe that I am not capable of that." He, himself, did not feel he was capable of that. Often, he thought he was in love with Amanda but it seemed to only turn out to be an unhealthy obsession. Thankfully, that had dwindled to nothing and not spilled over into the friendship they were forming. "They are very critical of whatever I do and I ignore the rumors now. If this is a problem for you, we can go to her room, explain the situation and sit with her for an hour until the mimic is set. I am doubtful she is in a listening mood."

"Might just think we're fucking," she pointed out helpfully. "After all, made a decent living fucking people professionally. Chances are I'm still good at it. Everyone's got a libido." Morgan paused. "'Cept you, anyway." At least that was the feeling she'd gotten from his talk of not desiring people. "We can hold hands. And walk. Maybe lean," because she was tired and upright might not work that well. "Can you just wake me up in an hour? Wait, not an hour. Too soon. Hour and a half? 'Sides, you two in the same room bad idea. Whether or not she gets what's going on."

"An hour and a half it is," Manuel agreed and forced a sigh as if that would help settle his nerves and everything that went with it. He had pointedly ignored the comments about what people thought. They constantly misunderstood him and he was well beyond waiting for any of them to try. Forge stood out in his mind as not one of the sheeple who fell into that, but a glimmer of hope that he could retain his humanity through Morgan's efforts. His hand tightened around Morgan's but relaxed as he waited, watching the clock ever so patiently.

After Morgan has napped while her body soaked up the information to take on Manuel's mimic they go looking for the subject of their task.

Nearly two hours later, hand in hand, Manuel stood with Morgan at Callie's door. He flexed his fingers laced through hers before nodding to her to knock on the door. "She won't speak if she knows I am here," he said quietly, though it was an effort to keep his voice in check. His eyes shifted and he stepped to the side, hidden by the frame and pulled Morgan's hand away with him so that he would be completely out of her view should she open the door. He was nearly beside himself with the feed projected onto him and which he fed back unwillingly.

"What says she doesn't slam the door in my face when she sees you? Am I explaining to her why you accidentally did this to her?" Morgan's voice was a whisper when she spoke. She was sure her empathic shields were mostly going to be made up of sleepy when she shifted into Manuel. The woman raised a hand and knocked on the door politely. She also leaned to the side to help shield Manuel. By leaning against the door's frame she was able to hide him on the other side of her. He was shorter than her, but not by much. He was, however, a guy and built wider than she was. Morgan pulled their clasped hands behind her so that they rested at the small of her back as well as her free hand while she waited. The effect was a sleepy Morgan leaning against the door with her hands clasped behind her back.

From inside there came the sound of an exasperated groan, followed by the muffled stomping of feet as Callie pulled herself out of bed and over to the door. It wasn't as if she was sleeping already, oh no she was too mad still for that, but having to leave her nice warm bed did nothing to improve her mood. The door opened slowly, enough for Callie to stick her head out and ask a very disgruntled "What?"

Morgan arched an eyebrow as she looked at the girl. She made the odd mental note that Callie and Manuel were the same height. "Is that any way to greet a teacher who may be throwing you around a class in your very near future?" She woke up a bit from that tone Callie had. Normally the kid practically oozed sunshine out of her ears, but her being so snappy made Morgan realize how severe the effect Manuel had had on her must be. "I need to talk to you, about your...moodiness."

"I didn't know it was you," Callie mumbled. "I'm sorry." But she didn't feel sorry was the thing. She only said because it was expected. The door opened a little wider and in the space stood the abnormally moody teenager, arms crossed low across her waist. Discussing the situation, she decided, was like removing a band-aid; do it quickly and get it over with.

"I'm probably just PMSing or something," she continued, her voice flat. "Or maybe it's the fact that it's the end of term and it's high stress. Or maybe it's because I'm tired. Or maybe it's all three. I don't know. Can I go back to bed now?"

"No." The one word was spoken flatly. "It's none of that. It's because we have a lovely, moody guy wandering around who you bumped into earlier. You're bitchy because he got bitchy and you both made it worse for one another. If you can agree to not claw any eyes out I can fix you. With this, though, also is the requirement you don't repeat anything about this situation to anyone."

Manuel lingered behind Morgan and he could feel the spit fire coming off Callie, though she was not as bad as some. Her anger radiated yet it only toned towards an attitude that was worthy of any PMSing teenaged girl. He let Morgan speak and the door opened more yet he stayed where he was, waiting for his moment. He was glad she didn't say anything about him yet, hoping to cool the situation before it escalated to a damaging point for her. His fingers only tightened to encourage Morgan to go on and yet he was not looking at the entire picture. She only got angrier at the brief mention of him, no matter how nicely Morgan had put it.

"Fine. Whatever." Callie rolled her eyes. At this point she really didn't care what was done as long as it caused her teacher to just leave her in peace. "I promise."

Morgan nearly narrowed her eyes and told Callie to not make her slap the sass out of her. She managed to hold the words in. "Look, Manuel doesn't have the best control of his powers right now. He got angry, because it's what he does, and he forced the emotion onto you, which you then projected back to him and it became this sort of loop, like positive feedback. I can use his powers to break your anger." Did she want to do this in the hall? Not really. Did she want to have to show her hand, namely the one holding Manuel's? Definitely not. Not overruled not really so Morgan decided the hall wasn't so bad after all.

It's what he does. Those words struck him and in his angry state, he wanted to tighten his fingers for that remark. But he didn't. He needed her help and Callie was not in a very listening mood, which was completely his fault. Taking this sort of blame was new for Manuel, especially when he sought the help of someone he trusted. He prepared to move, to be revealed but then, he wasn't entirely sure Morgan was going to do that. The hallway was not a very good place to do this however he did not glance over his shoulder. He would feel someone there before he ever saw them.

"I said it was fine," came Callie's reply. She didn't quite believe the professor who resembled an overgrown smurf, but it was better than nothing. "Look do want you need to, you're the teacher right?"

"I like you so much better when you haven't been near Manuel," Morgan muttered to herself. She mentally gave her body the okay for the mimic, essentially flipping what she thought of as a switch in her brain. Her body began to change all at once and her hand tightened in Manuel's. She was already pulling memories to build an emotional shield out of. She was once again building it around both Manuel and herself so he didn't just feed more anger into the poor kid. Tired was certainly a theme in the shield but so was her usual calm and contentment.

When the shield was built enough that the emotions of the mansion's residents were at a dull roar instead of a throbbing, pounding screech Morgan opened Manuel's eyes and let go of the actual Manuel's hand. "I've only attempted this with Manuel so the technique isn't perfect," she warned, stepping a little closer to Callie so she could focus on the girl. Morgan reached for the happiest memory she could think of. Baseball with her dad in the middle of the summer. She found that happiness with him and she shoved it at Callie. She took all that elated joy and excitement and tried to push it not just at her but into her. She worried that she might end up putting too much force behind it but making the student delighted wasn't really a huge issue all things considered.

Callie's eyes threatened to pop out of her head as she observed the metamorph shrink and change until she was staring directly at the face of Manuel. If she hadn't been so amazed at the sight, her reaction probably would have been filled with more disgust. As it stood, however, Callie's body gave an involuntary flinch in anger. On the one hand it was really cool, but on the other hand he was the last person she wanted to see. The sound of Manuel's voice caused the moment of awe to dissolve; no matter how much she tried not to it reminded her of the angry words the real Manuel had said to her earlier.

Then as soon as the feeling of anger began to well up once more it was replaced with something else. Callie felt happy. Not just happy, but loved and full of joie de vivre. But how? A moment earlier she had been seeing red. Eyes that had been flashing with anger were muddled with confusion. Her pink fingers pushed back her red hair in frustration, it made her head hurt to think about it. "What are you doing?"

Manuel visibly relaxed against the wall. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself a sigh of faint relief at being protected from Callie's angry circles and it doused a portion of her emotions on him like fire being cut off from oxygen. He didn't nearly get the push from Morgan as powerful as Callie did, however it applied to him and set him down another notch until he felt his exhaustion for the first time. His spine ached and his neck cracked when he turned his head, pushing off the wall and emerging out from behind Morgan.

"She is undoing what I have done to you," he said, attempting to keep his tone level. He glanced at himself, like a mirror image and nodded. "You may want to stop pushing, She could be sent into an episode that would relentlessly please other people, despite concerns for her safety. Undoing that is not as easy." He knew first hand from experience.

His words felt heavy on his tongue and he was thirsty as well as hungry, as though all of his vital organs came back online and functioned at a normal rate now. One day, these episodes were going to give him a heart attack. Leaving Morgan's side, he knelt down in front of the younger girl and took her hand with an apology lined in his features. "I wronged you and I did not intend for any of that to happen. That is why Morgan is here. Because she can fix this. I cannot. I have no control."

Him telling her to stop caused the push of emotion to cease at once. Her handle on empathy was functional but not great and the metamorph wasn't capable of multitasking. If she was pushing an emotion she wasn't great at paying attention to the emotion of that person as she gauged the response. Callie did glow a bright orangey yellow around her now and Morgan supposed that was the color of happiness for her.

Morgan watched him kneeling down in front of Callie with something akin to proud admiration in her borrowed eyes. "He ruined the bit where I was going to proclaim everything his fault because he's an enormous ass." She was glad to see him being not just civil but nice to the girl. Okay, maybe the kneeling was a bit much but that was Manuel, she supposed. Cheesy and wannabe white knight. She placed a hand on his head and looked down at him, "You might be over doing it just a bit."

With a sigh Morgan leaned against the wall and looked back at Callie. "All parties involved would appreciate it if you didn't let it be known Manuel's not got control of his powers. There are a lot of people who don't like him and might use it as a reason for a witch hunt more or less, complete with burning at the stake. But, basically, his anger got shoved into you which he then absorbed back off of you and shoved back at you, make sense? What I did was shove something happier at you until it forced the anger out of you that he had put there. Think of it like a giant smiley face eraser. Sort of." Manuel looked much more at ease with Morgan controlling his body as he leaned against the wall. If Callie really looked she'd notice the real Manuel was more stiff, more tense than the impostor was.

If she hadn't seen it happen before her own eyes, Callie would have sworn she was going insane. Her focus darted back and forth between the impostor at the wall and the original kneeling at her feet. She wasn't mad (a welcome change to be quite sure), because in a weird and not entirely dissimilar way she knew what he was feeling, even without the ability to read emotions. "I won't tell," she said earnestly, a small smile appearing once more on her face. "But when you change back to yourself Ms. Lennox, will I be angry again?"

"No you will not," Manuel stood, ignoring the hand that slipped from his head, even though it was a faint comfort. His hand released hers but not before he gave it a firm squeeze of assurance. Her lavish push of joy cooled him and he found he could breath easier though the anxious feeling lingered, dissipating the longer he stood under her shields. Exchanging a brief glance to Morgan, Manuel turned his focus back onto Callie. "You are worried, yes? Not for yourself but others, it seems. You should not be so apologetic, Callie, for things that was not your fault."

Morgan waved a dismissive hand in Manuel's general direction. "Let's not get all after school special on the poor kid, love. It's late and she has to sleep at some point, you know. We can't all be dark kings of the night or something." The Morgan version of Manuel yawned again and slouched more against the wall. She turned his eyes to Callie. "The anger's gone, don't worry. You'll work through the excessive happy I gave you and then you'll just be Callie again. No sweat, promise."

"But Ms. Lennox it was my fault!" Callie's voice was far too chipper given not only the topic of discussion but the time of night. "I mean I bumped into him, which made him spill hot tea all over himself, which made him mad, which made me mad, which perpetuated this whole big cycle of events that led us here. I mean, 'cause you can't be blamed if you can't like control your powers." This part was addressed to the real Manuel. "So I mean I can't blame you. I just need to, like, watch where I'm going."

"Technically," the Morgan version of Manuel piped up, "it's not actually anyone's fault. No, Manuel can't be blamed for not having his powers under control after coming out of a very long coma. You can't be blamed for bumping into him either because it was a simple accident. So long as everyone realizes it was an accident then we don't have a problem. Everything has been fixed as needed, yes?" The tone was one she tended to use in class when someone accidentally used their powers instinctively and someone else got a bit bumped around. The tone sounded a little too at home with Manuel's voice.

He gave Morgan a very agitated look. As thankful as he was for what she did, he did not need the third degree nor any means of defense at the moment. Though she was fully intent on helping, the coma part was a topic they could have done without. He nodded in agreement, that what they were talking about was finished, though his gaze lingered briefly over Callie. "We will discuss this later. I will email you if it suddenly becomes too busy to do so." And he stepped back, allowing Morgan a brief talk alone with Callie if she needed it, removing himself from the situation, though he was washed over in a thankful emotion that pushed a sense of graciousness over the two. He would thank Morgan on his own time.

Callie nodded slowly in accord. A part of her still felt as if this whole situation could have been prevented had she been more attentive and aware of her surroundings. But as her teacher said, no one could really be blamed, that's why they call it an accident. "I mean there's no harm done right," she asked both the Manuels, smiling sweetly. "I'm not hurt. You guys aren't hurt. I guess it's fine. I'll just have to watch where I'm going and try to prevent something like this from happening again." This last sentence was punctuated with a yawn, which she was quick to cover up so as not to be rude. Now that the anger had subsided, it seemed as if her body's natural desire for sleep was finally kicking in.

The Morgan version of Manuel smiled at the teenager. "Precisely." She gave Callie a wink and hooked an arm through one of the real Manuel's. She paid no mind to how it may potentially creep him out to be arm-in-arm with himself. "Get some sleep, ladybug. I'm going to go de-whatever this one." She jerked her head to the side to indicate the real Manuel. "Buenos noches," she bowed her head at Callie then looked at Manuel-who-was-Manuel. "Say goodnight, gloomy."

Why did he think he could possibly retreat as fast with Morgan around? His swift retreat was slowed and called to a halt when that arm looped through his and he found himself glaring at Morgan. But his glare was only face value because he was practically shining underneath. "You complete me," he grinned and it probably felt as weird as it looked. "Goodnight Callie, " he said, nodding to her and his smile fell as they started walk away.

Morgan escorts Manuel home and decides to mess with him.

Morgan patted him on the head as if he were a well behaving dog as they left the student's suite. Grinning at him, Morgan gently pushed warm, cuddly feelings toward Manuel. She tried to not giggle while she did it because there was just no way for Manuel to look dignified while giggling. "I complete you, huh?"

"Sarcasm," he said. "It sounded better than I hate you." Manuel resisted the warm fuzzy feelings because he knew where she was going with this. "I am going to my own bed, if that is the decision you are trying to change, you have failed miserably." He wanted to shake her off because two Manuels' walking arm in arm would be a very odd thing to see for any of the residents, asleep or awake.

The Morgan-Manuel pouted at the Manuel-Manuel. "You are incapable of hating me. Besides, I can both see and feel that you don't." She waved a hand in his general direction. It was true, she'd built the shield around the both of them which meant she had no buffer between herself and his emotions any more than he had one between himself and hers. She actually stuck her tongue out at him because it was just that time of night. "But I can feel this twitchy, sort of anxious and slightly angry thing you've got going on under that push of giddy I did and I'd rather let you go to sleep happy than angry. Right now cuddly's what I got so it's what you get." She grinned at him again. "I promise to escort you to your room and leave you there unviolated, Señor Has-No-Desire-For-Anyone-Ever, because what fun would that make you to cuddle?" After a moment she added, "Though I might reserve it as punishment if you don't behave in the future."

Of course he couldn't resist her push. It was strong and he was hopelessly wrapped up in a shield that revolved around the pair of them and no one else. It was relieving to have a shield around them but he was exhausted more for the push on him and he tired easily now that he could feel the two emotions and only those two. "You may chip away at me woman, however, I can rebuild. You may reserve your punishments for others who need your cuddling. I would like to maintain my lack of desire and position as a respective gentleman." He would not be swayed on his decision, but she would have felt that she had broken him down already. Manuel submitted to her emotions finally without realizing until it surged a second wind. "You need to stop pushing."

"Gentleman, my ass." She made a pfft sound. "A real gentleman curls up with a hot woman and just doesn't grope her uninvited." She grinned at him, then laughed. One day he really was going to smack her. She stopped her pushing, which she hadn't even realized she'd kept on doing, and squinted at Manuel with one eye. She was scrutinizing the colors of his emotions because sometimes it was easier for her to pick out his emotions, especially the more quiet ones, by looking at them instead of relying on feeling them. Satisfied, she let him alone empathically except to keep the shield around them. "I think you could use some cuddling, but your denial and refusal may indicate you really are the devil."

"I prefer to avoid the situation all together and maintain my foul disposition, warding away the general population of the mansion. I would not want to change the overall census that I am incapable of making and maintaining friendships without playing mind games. Do you know how many people would agree with that observation you just made?" he countered, turning the corner and heading down the hall. "Perhaps I should be the one speculating why you need me to cuddle with and not a man of your own?" He seemed amused by this but blamed it on her last emotional push.

Morgan shrugged and gave him a very innocent expression. It was scarily at home on Manuel's features. "I could always go crawl into Jean-Paul's bed." She did not bother to qualify this statement whatsoever and instead just continued ahead. "Perhaps I just want you in my bed." She even put a seductive tone in his voice when she said it to Manuel just to try to freak him out a bit. "After all, I have seen you naked and really who could resist after that?" This was his punishment for disturbing her sleep.

Manuel stopped abruptly. He wasn't sure what was worse. Sleeping with someone in his body or seeing what was beneath his clothes. "You did not--" Oh but yes, she did. It was written all over her, in colours, in feeling, in that smug smile that was his and he knew he should be angry but again, that damn push had thwarted any anger he could possibly collect. "You...You... will _not_ sleep with anyone in _my_ body or do anything else that requires taking your clothes off, unless it is a bodily function you cannot control."

Without ever unlooping her arm from his, Morgan began ticking off points on her fingers. "I consider urination to be vitally important to obey as I don't appreciate water sports. I needed to spend more time in your body to try to tweak my control over your powers a bit more. This means showering becomes vitally important as well. I refuse to forgo my morning swim just because I've a penis. Even if it's yours." She sighed and stopped outside of the door to Manuel's suite but showed no signs of letting the shields down. She wasn't going to until he was safely in his room where he was protected from emotions. Especially since he seemed to be fighting all that happiness to try to grasp something else, she assumed that something else was anger. She gently pushed a little giddy at him, just enough to thwart his efforts. "Also, I don't sleep with people casually. It's a thing. So you only need to worry about me knowing the details of your bits. Which you should have considered from the outset."

He couldn't argue her points as she liked to _point_ them out. But he could stand there in his fury as she listed reasons why she got to play with herself in his body. "Is there anything you do not know about me?" he said but with that final push, he was disarmed and laughed at himself, at her, at the entire situation. "This is ridiculous. Look at me. Look at you. would you drop that mimic? I am more creepy as you playing me than I am as what people consider me to be." Now he felt drunk, intoxicated from her and he leaned on the door, his third wind sweeping him up into all this energy he didn't want. "Look what you have done. I am happy, too happy. And I am smiling. How will I go to sleep like this?" he asked and punched in the code to his suite.

"You'll go to sleep with a smile on your face, of course." Morgan grinned and held his door open for him once the code was completed. "When the mimic goes the shielding goes and you need the shielding so the mimic doesn't go until you're in your room." She stuck his tongue out at him again. "And for the record, I make a much more enjoyable you than you do. You've just never witnessed me playing de la Rocha. You only witness Morgan with a Manuel body." Morgan sauntered alongside Manuel, putting a cocky sway in her stride just to heighten differences between the two identical forms. "There's loads I don't know about you. A person is more than their emotions and their body. And thought processes. I haven't your memories, your opinions or your history."

"Do not _saunter_ in my body Morgan. It looks absurd and--" He backed up a pace and wanted to scowl, could feel those emotions underneath but it was plastered with happy thoughts and shiny bright hues in his eyes. It was too happy, too much and Manuel's hand fastened around his own wrist that was not his and he pulled Morgan towards him. "Drop the mimic, please. Or fix this. Look at me. I cannot walk around like this, laughing at myself. I look crazy." He was thrilled to be happy, thrilled about how good he looked with Morgan wearing him and she could do no wrong at this point.

Morgan paused and looked at him closely. The look in his eyes she wore was all hers and she knew he'd be able to both see and feel the abrupt shift in her emotions to something calm and still. She wondered what his intense issue with happiness was because she was sure his complaint was not merely that it was artificially induced. It was a curious reaction and she was quite obviously studying him. Even her posture had changed to the rimrod straightness of her own. Normally she would unconsciously take on things she knew well enough, such as his posture, but now it was Morgan wearing a suit, not at all Manuel. Even someone who wasn't Doug would know something was off if they saw her in this mimic right now.

After staring for what likely seemed an eternity to Manuel Morgan pushed some of her stillness at him. She did not erase his happiness but she pushed in increments. Morgan would push, then stop and look at his empathic pattern, then push a little more. She kept on until she had parred him back from deliriously giddy to something that was still happy enough to easily induce a smile in him. "You should stop and think about what you've against being happy, Manuel," she told him quite seriously. Then she pulled him through his door and into his bedroom so he'd have the room's buffer between him and the mansion's many emotions. It was her personal requirement for dropping her shields around him so he didn't get thrown back into having all that pouring down on him.

He stepped inside and forced her to release him from her touch, letting the door close behind him. He was sure that looked badly to anyone who had noticed, though he wouldn't know because he couldn't sense them. Not with her shields around him and especially not now that he was in his room surrounded by a haven of shielding.

"I am not against being happy. I am simply not a happy person to begin with right now. Oh yes, I walk around with as little of a smile as possible but perhaps it did not occur to you that I have very little to be happy about." He casually strolled to his room, gesturing to her as he spoke. "Oh yes, I have very little but few things that I walk around with, clutching to my chest so that I may not lose them. I enjoy chess. _That_ makes me happy. Chess with Bishop is enjoyable, dinning out in lavish restaurants and spending money on a whim; _that_ is enjoyable. Constantly fighting an inward, losing battle. _That_ is not enjoyable. It is like muck," Manuel sat on the bed, laying down on his back and waving his cane animatedly in the air. "The psychic excreta of the animal kingdom. I wade through your faeces." He broke into a grin and it slowly turned over into a laugh that shook in his chest but made no other sound. He was sound, peace of emotions but pleasantly happy and sarcastic.

Once he'd closed the door Morgan let the mimic drop. Manuel's form bled back into her white-haired, blue-skinned body with liquid ease. She watched him, still studying him, cataloging his body language and reactions. Her eyes were intent, the glowing red unwavering. "The smile looks more natural on you than the scowl does, you know. When you don't fake it." It was a casual statement, one said with the air of it being a fact rather than an opinion. "You could have more things to be happy about if you wanted, but you're a bit single-minded, my little doom cloud." Morgan yawned and walked over to him. He may have felt the sudden surge of mischief come from her. Or the spike in her playfulness. One hand stilled his waving cane as she leaned over him. "You have a nice night now that you're out of the feces. Some of us want to go back to their warm, happy beds to sleep." There was only a moment of Morgan's mischievous smirk on her lips before she bent down and left an entirely playful kiss on his. Without a word she sashayed out of the room, giggling silently to herself. Man, if only she could have still had his powers to feel his reaction to that one. That, truly, was her punishment for dragging her out of bed. A kiss for the guy who wanted nothing to do with anyone. She found it suiting.


The kiss seemed like the thing within her nature to do and he smiled after her, waving it off with a dismissive gesture. "We are not all what we seem, yet we play directly in the hands of their fate," he commented airly to her, to himself and to no one in particular. Stretching, Manuel set his cane down on the floor and removed his shirt. He was far too happy and exhausted as he was, Manuel concluded that tonight was a major sensory overload. Several layers of emotions swam beneath the surface of Morgan's controlled, but uncontrolled push. She had pushed too much, he mused, rubbing his eyes at the mess of colours around him. He was not simply a rainbow but a slew of varying hues all mashed in together and blackened out. He had to close his eyes and remind himself that leaving his room at all was not a good idea right now. Not until it had calmed to a point where he felt in his false sense of control. He wasn't sure when that would be and yet where he thought sleep would come easily, it was only robbed of him in the next few hours to come.