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xp_logsWednesday evening, Manuel upholds his end of the deal, and scans Doug. What he finds is... unpleasant
After what Marie-Ange was calling the second-most difficult argument of her life, and coming up rapidly on the half-hour mark she and Manuel agreed to, she finally managed to lead Doug down to the student lounge, which was thankfully, empty. She gently pushed Doug down in front of the large television, and pulled out the Playstation. "All right, explain this to me again? The button with the square does .. what exactly?"
Doug looked at Marie-Ange a bit skeptically. "You've never played on the Playstation before? What the button does depends on which game you're playing."
Manuel, for his part, is lurking on the other side of the Student Lounge. He's got his dark sunglasses on, and when he sees Doug and Angie sitting at the Playstation he smiles to himself.
~Right on time.~ he thinks to himself, as he begins the empathic scan.
Marie-Ange blinked, and pulled out a case she'd seen Doug fiddling with earlier. "Oh. I .. thought it was.. the same for each one. Show me this one?"
Doug chuckled as Angie passed him the copy of "007: Agent Under Fire". "The Bond game. My favorite." He placed the game in and began a game, pausing to explain various actions and button-uses to Marie-Ange.
Manuel picks up Doug's surface emotions easily, and winces at what he senses there. ~Not good, but I need to know more.~ he thinks.
Pushing harder, he peers deeper into Doug's emotions, looking to feel what he feels, see his emotional ties. The violation is as about as intimate as they come.
Marie-Ange caught a brief movement in the dark corner of the room, and forced herself to absolutely not look at it. ~Manuel. Merci Dieu.~ She turned her attention to the game, and Doug. "So, if I press this, then he . shoots a gun?"
Doug nodded. His emotional state at the surface reflected his amusement at Angie's positive ineptitude with video games, as well as curiosity as to why she had a sudden desire to
He definitely did not sense her subterfuge, or Manuel's presence in the darkness. Below, Doug's emotional state was a roiling mass of darker emotions.
Manuel smirked to himself, and pushed his power further, looking deeper. His eyes, behind the glasses, begun to glow red from the effort.
~How do I tell if he's done? Gah. That was stupid of me not to think of.~ Marie-Ange peered at the television in concentration, seemingly at the game. "I do not understand how this works.. why does he keep dying?"
"Because I'm distracted by trying to explain everything to you. But it's okay. I'm not playing my saved game. Just going around showing you how it works." Doug smiled gently at Marie-Ange. Deeper in Doug's emotional landscape was a maelstrom. Self-pity, self-loathing, and a deep abiding sadness at the chaos he had caused. There was an especially deep sadness connected to Marie. And under all of it, buried very deep, was a very tentative and new emotional tie to Marie-Ange.
Manuel scowled at the maelstrom he was sensing. He ached to reach out and change it, to take the darkness away, but that wasn't a part of the deal. Instead, he pushed in deeper, heading for Doug's primal emotions, the core of his feeling self. His eyes glowed red at the talent, the glow bright enough to begin to leak around the edges of his dark glasses.
Marie-Ange tilted her head at Doug, questioning look on her face. "And.. this here?" She tapped the screen. "What does that mean?" The very slight reddish light from the corner caught her eye, and she silently prayed Doug would not turn around.
Doug nodded at the various indicators on the screen. "Ammo count, health level, how much body armor I have...all kinds of information so I know what's going on."
Manuel was in so deep that he could not help but mirror what the other man felt. The despair wracked him, the emptiness. But he had weapons to defend himself, and he broke off the scan before it overwhelmed him. Glancing over to Marie-Ange, he sent her an emotional pulse of one feeling only - completeness.
~Thank you~ Marie-Ange leaned back, resting her weight on her palms. "There is so much going on here... how do you manage to pay attention to it all?"
"Practice." Doug smiled. "You have to have a good tactical sense of everything at once. I bet Mr. Summers would be good at these sorts of games."
Manuel shook his head to clear it from the aftereffects of such a deep scan, and then stepped backwards to head out of the Lounge.
The game was actually somewhat interesting, from a certain perspective, and Marie-Ange settled back to watch Doug play, hoping the distraction would help his mood, if only for a short time. "And, this game works in any of the game machines we have?" She asked, fairly sure of the answer, but needing conversation to keep Doug distracted.
The game was actually somewhat interesting, from a certain perspective, and Marie-Ange settled back to watch Doug play, hoping the distraction would help his mood, if only for a short time. "And, this game works in any of the game machines we have?" She asked, fairly sure of the answer, but needing conversation to keep Doug distracted.
"Nope. Different game systems have different code to their games, so you can't play them on different platforms. However, popular games like this are usually released for several different systems. So we probably have this for the other ones as well." Doug shrugged and smiled. "It's great to have a lot of money to put together such a cool video game library as this."
A small group of the younger students entered the room, giggling, and at the flash of tension in Doug's face, Marie-Ange stood, ready to help him up. "Do we need to go back?
Doug looked sad. "Sorry, Angie. I just...don't know that I'm ready. You and Jamie and Ali are hard enough in some ways." He sighed.
"Then we'll go back. This was a good start." Marie-Ange smiled gently. "Come on, we'll get chocolate ice-cream from the minifridge. It has Oreos in it, and I labeled it "Spinach" so I know its there still."
---
After what Marie-Ange was calling the second-most difficult argument of her life, and coming up rapidly on the half-hour mark she and Manuel agreed to, she finally managed to lead Doug down to the student lounge, which was thankfully, empty. She gently pushed Doug down in front of the large television, and pulled out the Playstation. "All right, explain this to me again? The button with the square does .. what exactly?"
Doug looked at Marie-Ange a bit skeptically. "You've never played on the Playstation before? What the button does depends on which game you're playing."
Manuel, for his part, is lurking on the other side of the Student Lounge. He's got his dark sunglasses on, and when he sees Doug and Angie sitting at the Playstation he smiles to himself.
~Right on time.~ he thinks to himself, as he begins the empathic scan.
Marie-Ange blinked, and pulled out a case she'd seen Doug fiddling with earlier. "Oh. I .. thought it was.. the same for each one. Show me this one?"
Doug chuckled as Angie passed him the copy of "007: Agent Under Fire". "The Bond game. My favorite." He placed the game in and began a game, pausing to explain various actions and button-uses to Marie-Ange.
Manuel picks up Doug's surface emotions easily, and winces at what he senses there. ~Not good, but I need to know more.~ he thinks.
Pushing harder, he peers deeper into Doug's emotions, looking to feel what he feels, see his emotional ties. The violation is as about as intimate as they come.
Marie-Ange caught a brief movement in the dark corner of the room, and forced herself to absolutely not look at it. ~Manuel. Merci Dieu.~ She turned her attention to the game, and Doug. "So, if I press this, then he . shoots a gun?"
Doug nodded. His emotional state at the surface reflected his amusement at Angie's positive ineptitude with video games, as well as curiosity as to why she had a sudden desire to
He definitely did not sense her subterfuge, or Manuel's presence in the darkness. Below, Doug's emotional state was a roiling mass of darker emotions.
Manuel smirked to himself, and pushed his power further, looking deeper. His eyes, behind the glasses, begun to glow red from the effort.
~How do I tell if he's done? Gah. That was stupid of me not to think of.~ Marie-Ange peered at the television in concentration, seemingly at the game. "I do not understand how this works.. why does he keep dying?"
"Because I'm distracted by trying to explain everything to you. But it's okay. I'm not playing my saved game. Just going around showing you how it works." Doug smiled gently at Marie-Ange. Deeper in Doug's emotional landscape was a maelstrom. Self-pity, self-loathing, and a deep abiding sadness at the chaos he had caused. There was an especially deep sadness connected to Marie. And under all of it, buried very deep, was a very tentative and new emotional tie to Marie-Ange.
Manuel scowled at the maelstrom he was sensing. He ached to reach out and change it, to take the darkness away, but that wasn't a part of the deal. Instead, he pushed in deeper, heading for Doug's primal emotions, the core of his feeling self. His eyes glowed red at the talent, the glow bright enough to begin to leak around the edges of his dark glasses.
Marie-Ange tilted her head at Doug, questioning look on her face. "And.. this here?" She tapped the screen. "What does that mean?" The very slight reddish light from the corner caught her eye, and she silently prayed Doug would not turn around.
Doug nodded at the various indicators on the screen. "Ammo count, health level, how much body armor I have...all kinds of information so I know what's going on."
Manuel was in so deep that he could not help but mirror what the other man felt. The despair wracked him, the emptiness. But he had weapons to defend himself, and he broke off the scan before it overwhelmed him. Glancing over to Marie-Ange, he sent her an emotional pulse of one feeling only - completeness.
~Thank you~ Marie-Ange leaned back, resting her weight on her palms. "There is so much going on here... how do you manage to pay attention to it all?"
"Practice." Doug smiled. "You have to have a good tactical sense of everything at once. I bet Mr. Summers would be good at these sorts of games."
Manuel shook his head to clear it from the aftereffects of such a deep scan, and then stepped backwards to head out of the Lounge.
The game was actually somewhat interesting, from a certain perspective, and Marie-Ange settled back to watch Doug play, hoping the distraction would help his mood, if only for a short time. "And, this game works in any of the game machines we have?" She asked, fairly sure of the answer, but needing conversation to keep Doug distracted.
The game was actually somewhat interesting, from a certain perspective, and Marie-Ange settled back to watch Doug play, hoping the distraction would help his mood, if only for a short time. "And, this game works in any of the game machines we have?" She asked, fairly sure of the answer, but needing conversation to keep Doug distracted.
"Nope. Different game systems have different code to their games, so you can't play them on different platforms. However, popular games like this are usually released for several different systems. So we probably have this for the other ones as well." Doug shrugged and smiled. "It's great to have a lot of money to put together such a cool video game library as this."
A small group of the younger students entered the room, giggling, and at the flash of tension in Doug's face, Marie-Ange stood, ready to help him up. "Do we need to go back?
Doug looked sad. "Sorry, Angie. I just...don't know that I'm ready. You and Jamie and Ali are hard enough in some ways." He sighed.
"Then we'll go back. This was a good start." Marie-Ange smiled gently. "Come on, we'll get chocolate ice-cream from the minifridge. It has Oreos in it, and I labeled it "Spinach" so I know its there still."
---
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