xp_logs | Backdated to 23rd, friday. Manuel & Nathan

Manuel seeks advice from Nathan about what he should expect, except he can see that something is going on with the telepath.

Manuel left Valentia with Amanda for an hour
while he went to see how Nathan was doing. It had been sometime since
they'd seen one another and he was sure that rumours had hit him as
well. He'd wanted to see how his friend was doing and had other
motivations for knocking at the boathouse, other than the fact that he
could now shield from outer emotions. It made for a much more pleasant
visit and he felt he was in a better frame of mind to consult the only
person who seemed to suffer worse than Amanda when being around him.

"Nathan?" he called out, knocking again.

"Come in," came the curt-sounding reply from inside. When Manuel
opened the door into the 'family' side of the boathouse, he found
Nathan washing some dishes in the sink. There were only the shadows of
fading bruises on his face, but the burns - none of which had been
overly serious - were fading more slowly. "I hear you brought someone
home with you," Nathan went on, without further ado.

"I have heard you were sick. You are not contagious?" he asked before
slipping inside. He studied Nathan from where he stood, the bruises,
the fact that Nathan did not look well. "What happened to you?"

"It's been an eventful month." Nathan rinsed out a bowl, setting it
into the drying rack. His words were clipped, his tone neutral. Oddly,
however, the look in his eyes was distant, as if he wasn't quite
focused on the conversation.

"Vague, I see. You did not say whether or not you were over your
sickness. Are you?" he asked, surrendering his shields so that he
could sense what Nathan was feeling. He did not do it for long though.
Just long enough to feel that there was something very wrong, that
Nathan was distant, detached before everyone else's emotions flooded
in on him. Manuel grasped his own emotion, built on it like wall and
eased out everything that was not his.

"I wasn't contagious. What can I do for you, Manuel?" The bowl was
joined in the rack by a glass, and Nathan turned away from the sink,
wiping his hands on the dish towel.

"I am looking for parenting advice from a brother position. It has not
been a transition that I find comfortable. Considering you have
Rachel, perhaps you could explain what I should be looking for
concerning her progress." He stepped in closer, his eyes critically
taking in Nathan's posture, the smallest details. After all, it was
Nathan who helped Manuel look past what he read in emotions and deeper
into body language concerning communication.

"Sadly, I have absolutely no parenting experience as an older brother.
My mother was kind and spared any potential siblings the ordeal of
being born into our family." Nathan tossed the dish towel aside. "That
said," Nathan went on, meeting Manuel's eyes (but still not really
focusing on him), "from the sounds of it this situation is rather more
complex even than Rachel's first few years of life. She doesn't
speak?"

"As far as I know, no, she does not. Whether it is by choice or a
physical flaw has yet to be seen. She can communicate by means of
empathy, however do not ask me to explain it. I am still working that
out as communicating back is not as easy as I would have thought. She
does make it very easy for me to shield myself now." He felt it odd
that they were talking like this, the fact that Nathan wasn't really
focused but more so distract and Manuel seated himself at the
table, chalking it up to the possibility that perhaps Nathan was just
simply overtired. "You should sit."

"Mmm." Nathan did, but didn't seem to relax. His posture was curiously
tense. "I'm assuming you've consulted with Charles already, and he's
done something to restrain her powers. The circuit-breaker is a...
blessing, I suppose you'd call it. I'm guessing there's some sort of
connection between the two of you, if she's helping you shield. You
can use that to her advantage. Requires you being something of a role
model, though."

"Yes, there is a link, similar to what Amanda and I had. There is a
comfort I can draw from it, sharing a link again." Resting a hand on
the smooth surface of the table, Manuel tapped it twice in thought
before taking a long moment, considering Nathan's reactions. He spoke
well, sat up straight, but he ignored the nagging suspicion that
something wasn't quite right. Nothing was ever quite right with
any of them. "She has me very tired lately. she isn't busy
physically however, emotionally, she charges through everything as
though it was her first time, every time. Rachel never struck me as a
child that did that."

Nathan's smile actually reached his eyes, if briefly. "You've never
really spent enough time around her in her more hyperactive moods.
It's natural - I wouldn't be worried about that, at least." Plenty
of other concerns to keep you fretting, I think...

"No I have not. However I do recall having the pleasure of watching
her work out the Rubik’s cube. Tell me--" he tapped his finger again.
"You have lost your luster for snark today. I do not normally pry
Nathan, however--" Manuel waved his hand, gesturing to Nathan's
posture. "Rather than looking like someone ran over you with a truck,
you appear to be wishing for it."

Nathan's smile faded and he looked away. "I'm going to do you the
courtesy of not lying," he said finally, "but I don't want to talk
about it. Can't, really," he said, more brusquely.

"Very well. It will be one of the many times I will be thankful I am
capable of drawing on my own emotions and shielding against yours."
Manuel got up out of his chair, switching his cane from one hand to
the next. "And I will give you the luxury of sparing you my curiosity
and concern. I understand how much those can be annoying."

Nathan just nodded. It might have been thanks, or acknowledgement.
"When Rachel's back," he said, returning to the previous subject of
conversation as if the digression had never happened, "we should
introduce the two of them. They could probably both do with some
socialization with someone of their own age."

"Agreed. I will wait for that email." Manuel would have said something
else but he felt there was nothing more to be said. Nathan looked
terrible though he had kept most of those thoughts to himself. He was
sure that if Nathan were reading his mind, he'd know exactly what was
going through his mind.

"Manuel..." Nathan wasn't looking at him. "Just... be sure. And if you
can't be sure, be ready to say you can't do it, if it comes to that.
Her stability is going to depend on your stability. And kids are..."
His voice wavered a bit. "So fragile."

"It will not come to that," he spoke in a very strong tone. "She is family and therefore pulls her strength from that." It didn't matter what anyone said to him at this point, he would not abandon her to a childhood that he had. He did hesitate though, half way out the door, at being polite. "Thank you for your advice. I will see you when you are in a better frame of mind."