xp_logs | Manuel, Valentia & Jake

Manuel and Valentia make a stop by at the brownstone to see Jake.

Manuel briefly exchanged a glance down at Valentia whom looked up at
him, signing Amanda's name in question, with a flower in her hand.
She'd picked it for Amanda.

"~No, Jake today~" he replied in Spanish, signing that was slow to follow.

"Give to Amanda?" she signed.

"~Jake.~"

"Okay," and the disappointment to follow made him vaguely aware that
bringing her was a possible mistake, though technically, she was a
peace between the two. Jake would not slam the door in his face
knowing Manuel's sister was there. Then again, he may because he'd
expect a punch in the face.

The door opened to reveal a very irritated-looking shapeshifter. "What?"

"That is not the way to greet a lady that brings you a rose," Manuel
said drily, clearly waiting for Jake to revise.

Jake blinked, then realized Valentia was standing next to her brother.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again.
"Thank you," he said somewhat awkwardly to the girl before glancing
back at Manuel. "You stopped by so that a small child could give me a
flower," he said flatly.

"I stopped by--" he paused, glancing down at his sister as she offered
the flower. "-- to see that you are okay and not beaten down."

"I'm fine," Jake said shortly, although it wasn't convincing. He
looked at the flower in Valentia's hand as though he had no idea what
to do with it, then slowly extended a hand to take it, as if he were
afraid she'd yank it back away from him. "Thanks."

She dutifully gave it to him and smiled briefly, before taking her
place back next to her brother, years older than what she was.

Manuel, however, had not moved and he looked over Jake thoughtfully,
taken in more than just the expression on his face. "I am not here
against you. I am neutral in all this," he gestured to the visial
saturated mess in Jake's emotional signature that had been caused.

Jake scowled. "Look, I've already had Cammie here meddling in things
that had nothing to do with her. I don't need more people getting
involved only so they can set me up to make me feel like even more of
an ass."

"You are misinterperting why I am here," Manuel replied evenly, if not
a bit awkwardly. "Should you need additional help for sleep--" he
gestured again, lost for words and left it. Instead, his hand closed
around his sister's.

"After Cammie's stunt yesterday, I'm not sure I really want anyone
else's help right now, thanks." Jake shot back, although it was more
tired than angry. "It hasn't seemed to make anything better."

"Suit yourself." Manuel turned and Valentia followed but as an
afterthought, he paused.

"You should realize something and I understand this may be hard to
concieve after what went on, however, Carmilla has extensive trust
issues. Revealing that you are human, can make faults and hurt others
imbalances her trust in you."

Jake leaned against the doorway. I am so tired of this shit.
"Well, dragging me down to the mansion only to humiliate me and then
ignore me imbalances my trust in her, so, we're even."

"Thankfully I did not completely waste my time coming down here,
otherwise, this humility I am showing would be humiliating in itself,"
Manuel reflected and began to make his way down the steps.

Goddammit. The urge to bang his head into the doorjamb until he
knocked himself out was almost overwhelming. "She's the one who woke
me up with a punch to the face in the middle of the night," he called
after the retreating Spaniard. "I don't even understand why she's as
upset as she is."

"Come for indian - that is where we are going - and I will explain it
over dinner," Manuel said over his shoulder and he paused at the
bottom of the steps, turning around purposefully as his sister did the
same. Both empaths looked up at Jake with an eerie likeness that
near-mimicked twins but vast in age differences.

"Are you just going to tell me what an asshole I am and that I screwed
up? Because I know that already." As much as he wanted to accept the
olive branch, the last couple of days had made him incredibly wary.

"No. I am going to tell you that you are incredibly dense and we have
been over this," Manuel countered and raised both brows, shifting his
hold on Valentia. He checked his watch. "And we have reservations for
three in ten minutes. It is not like me to be late."

"I know that too," Jake retorted, then relented. "Fine. Let me get my shoes."

---------

Manuel, Valentia and Jake sit and talk over dinner and discuss Cammie's reasons for melding.

Manuel waited for the waitress to leave before making an attempt to
distract his sister. The crayons were pulled from their package and
she picked the red one while he picked the blue. Yellow was given to
Jake, though as an afterthought, Manuel surrendered his blue so Jake
could help.

"I find colouring with her therapeutic."

Jake took the offered crayons and started to draw. He wasn't really
sure what he was drawing just yet. "I can understand that. Can she
read and write yet?"

Manuel's crayon tapped his sisters and she mimicked him before the
pair started colouring betweenthe lines of a duck. "She cannot write
well, not yet however, she is still young enough. Schooling everyday
improves her discipline. Colouring improves mine."

He was drawing a dog, or perhaps a cow. Or maybe just a big blob. "How
old is she?" Keep the conversation away from Cammie, maybe they
wouldn't have to discuss it. Jake was very good at avoidance.

"~How old are you Valentia~" he asked her in Spanish.

She replied, signing four years old.

"She said four, if you have problems telling four from her," he said
without looking up. Their drinks were brought and Valentia took in her
milk right away.

Jake didn't respond, just kept coloring. Yeah, definitely a cow. "Has
she always been deaf? And where did you dig up a sister, anyway?"

Manuel stopped colouring and looked up at Jake. "She is mute, not deaf
Jake. There is a difference," he corrected politely yet firm. He
continued colouring. "She was in Spain when I felt her signature. She
called out to me, the way a telepath could shout in your head, I
suppose. Why ask when you can read my files. Apparently I have an
entire cabinet drawer to myself."

"I didn't know," Jake muttered, pushing away his cow-dog-blob picture.
Coloring with crayons had lost its appeal recently, anyway. "I thought
maybe she was good at reading lips or something. And it's rude to
admit you've read other people's files. Besides, I've got better
things to do than go rifling through Remy's cabinet."

"Such as being the victim when clearly, logically you are not?" Manuel
asked and nudged the crayon towards Jake with his own. "You made a
very impressionable punching bag, to Carmilla and online."

"This isn't art therapy," he said under his breath, but picked the
crayon up anyway. "Yeah. I'm easy to beat up, apparently. Not that
this comes as any surprise to anyone."

"Carmilla came to my suite the other night after she paid you a visit.
Your blood did not want to come off her skin and you gave me a
mouthful of emotions last night, one that rivals the three loudest in
the mansion." He traded colours with his sister.

"Sorry to be such a bother. I'd say it won't happen again, but frankly
I won't be surprised if she wakes me up to punch me again tonight. Is
there a point to this, or are you just trying to rub it in?"

"Your emotional state does not, however, rival Carmilla's, who is on
the very brink of what seems like a complete meltdown."

Jake scowled at his drawing. "So that's why she's going around hitting people?"

"Allow me to simplify as it could not possibly be anymore complicated
than it is. She trusts you. She trusts Jean-Paul. Your pairing brings
a comfort, a false sense of stability that I am afraid she has not
felt for sometime. This breakup is a shift in trust and she blames
you. It is not necessarily a fault of yours - I do not know the
extended details - however, she assumes it is. Carmilla's reality is
warped, a world of yes and no, nothing inbetween." He wasn't sure he
was able to explain this. It seemed more complicated the more he got
into it.

"Wait--so I need to run my relationship status by Cammie? You've got
to be kidding me." Jake set his crayon down before he broke it. "I'm
not asking her permission before I do anything."

"I feel as though I am sitting with Jubilee." Manuel set his crayon
down and his sister scooped it up.

"If you and Jean-Paul are fighting, who is it that is left for her to
trust? I believe she puts more faith into you than you are aware of."

Jake pushed his crayon towards the girl. "How is this not ridiculous?
I'm not her dad, nor have I ever tried to be. I'm just the guy she
hits a lot and makes sew her up when she's bleeding everywhere."

Valentia took the other crayon and held them tightly as she coloured
hard into the paper.

"I never claimed to understand her dynamics completely. No one enjoys
a battle between their family members and the pair of you are very
similiar to that."

"Then why did she drag me all the way to the mansion just to make it
worse?" He shook his head. "Look, I understand that I screwed things
up, but she's not making things any better."

"To fix it perhaps?" Manuel stopped talking as their food was
delivered and he waited until the waittress departed before passing
Valentia a fork.

"Some good that did. Jean-Paul already didn't want anything to do with
me. Now he doesn't even want to acknowledge that I exist." Jake
stabbed at his food with his fork, uncomfortable with the unfamiliar
ache in his chest.

"Forgiveness does not happen over night," he replied and slipped a
napkin over his lap. He gestured for Valentia to do the same.

Jake sighed. "I realize that." He busied himself scooping up rice for
a moment, trying to figure out what he wanted to say; insisting that
Cammie had probably made things worse wasn't going to help. "I didn't
realize it bothered her so much."

"She may seem like she is siding with Jean-Paul, but it is only
because she does not know what to do with you. She runs purely on
emotions and less so on thought, that one." Jake was beyond pathetic
and he was sure it didn't help the situation.

"If it helps, sometimes I don't know what to do with myself." He
shrugged. "Do you think I should talk to her, or give her a while to
stop being pissed at me?"

"Give her awhile, then speak to her. If you see her too soon, it is
likely to get you punched in the face again," Manuel replied easily.

"Right," Jake muttered. "Because another ruined shirt is all I need."
He took a few bites of his dinner--the food was quite good, as he'd
expected. "I just don't have any idea what to say. Especially if she
'doesn't know what to do with me,' as you say."

"I cannot tell you what to say because I do not know all the details.
Understand that this is all very vague to me, but clear concerning
your emotions." Manuel paused to eat, if only because it was starting
to cool too fast.

"Okay." Jake followed Manuel's cue and paid attention to his food for
a few minutes. It was easier than thinking about Manuel reading his
emotions, and what they might say about him.

After a few minutes in silence, Manuel wiped his hands from the napkin
and Valentia continued to eat, much slower than him, if only a bit
skeptical of what was before her.

"If you ask Carmilla about anything personal, she will deny it. She is
not someone you can force to speak to. Her own terms, her own time. In
fact, I believe she may come to you."

"Fair enough. Except that she probably shouldn't come to the
Brownstone right now. Things are a little tense there." Which was the
understatement of the century, but whatever.

"Everything is always tense there however, yes, they will not
welcome one of their own getting hit in the face. A pack mentality, I
believe."

He lowered his head and spoke to Valentia very quietly, as for her to
finish up if she wanted dessert. His attention settled back down on
Jake, who was under the fascinating eye of the four year old.

"My offer stands and it will put you in the mansion in a good frame of
mind after a long sleep. However, you will have to aquire one of the
guest suites. I believe it is unfair of me to ask Kyle to suffer
another person on our couch."

Jake shook his head with a slight smirk. "Thanks, but I think I'm
okay, really. Besides, there are still people at the mansion who might
bludgeon me in my sleep if they found out I was there." Not to mention
he didn't want to become too dependent on Manuel or anyone else for
help. He raised one eyebrow at Valentia, then moved one hand to cradle
his plate protectively. "Don't go getting any ideas about my tandoori,
kiddo."

Manuel looked appauled. "She would never. Aside from her glass,
Senor, Valentia would never eat off another's plate. That is
below her stature." He said nothing of the offer, but mentally, it was
the last time he would offer. Manuel de la Rocha did not put himself
out there very often.

Jake raised an eyebrow, then pushed his plate towards Valentia with a
smirk. "Chicken?"

Valentia leaned over, hands outstretched, with Manuel ready to bark in
Spanish. Her little hand closed over the edge of the plate and she
pushed it back towards Jake, giving it a good shove that any fouryear
old would who didn't know their own strength.

The shapeshifter laughed even as he reached to catch his plate before
it tipped off the edge of the table. "Not that I think there was any
doubt, but she is definitely related to you."

Manuel praised his sister silenty, empathetically while he held Jake's
gaze. "You work for Snowvalley, it is in your very nature to doubt."

Jake shrugged, still smiling. "And here I thought it was because I was
an ornery bastard."