Manuel, Emma and Valentia
Nov. 3rd, 2009 11:18 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsOver dinner, Emma questions Manuel's loyalty to the white court due to his conduct at the halloween party, creating a rift between them.
"Where there is potential, there is damnation," Manuel said, surveying Emma's food selection from where he sat. His sister sat in her own chair but it was up against his, crowding him. She'd be insistant on sitting in his lap and he'd been equally resistant to the idea until there was a truce of some sort formed. He could tell she was still not happy but under Emma's scrutinizing gaze, Valentia settled into a discomfort she periodically let her brother know of.
"There is damnation everywhere, Manny darling," said Emma. "Ask the..." she cut herself short, shook her head. "Innocence is no protection," she added, glancing at Valentia. "Money, information, power are the only things that save us and those we care for." She neatly stabbed an asparus spear with her fork, adding on a sliver each of prosciutto and quail's egg and touched it to the truffle oil. The tastes on her tongue were simple, but exquisitely rich.
"I may argue that in light of recent events. The Black court is leering over my shoulder and you weave words like a prism of colours, as much as you do power and money. There is appeal in both, however one pulls stronger than the other. I do not have the patience of my father and yet I wait. For what?" he asked, clearly with an undercurrent of discomfort resonating from his sister.
Emma shrugged. "What you do desire?" she asked. "I doubt it is money or fame or emotional fulfillment or belonging or whatever it is that the lonely children want to call it these days. The reports I am getting back from your directors duties are that you are doing well and learning what is required to run a business in a more legitimate sense than your father taught you. I have my suspicions around Shaw's activities but the only thing I can pin on him at the moment is attempting to seduce you from my side. Is what he offers you so very exciting?"
I desire nothing, everything, Manuel thought to himself and shifted very little in his seat, contemplating where the grass seemed always greener. "Sometimes--" he started. "--the desire to be good has little to do with myself and more towards what is around me." He gestured to Valentia who was listening now but comprehension was something she could not quite grasp yet. "His offers become sweeter and sweeter everytime I see him. You tell me."
"Perhaps you desire relevance," said Emma, her eyes lifting from the food set out before her. "Centrality. To be something more than a tool of someone else's desires. Or perhaps you wish to be the bad boy and you feel that I have strayed too far from the path that will take you there. Sebastian can be most," the corner of Emma's lips curled upwards in fond memory for a moment as she remembered what seemed now a far-distant past, "enticing." Emma's gaze hardened again. "I owe you a great deal, Manny. You have more leeway than most in what actions I will accept from you. But I do not deal with betrayal - gently."
"Nor I with underlying threats and assumptions," he replied evenly. "I bid my loyalty to you. Is that not enough or do you require everything within my being to rest assured that I wear the white blindly like a good dog?"
"I'm sorry, Manny. I didn't think my threats were underlying. I was aiming for outright." Emma laughed suddenly, a complete change of mood. "I can't threaten you, Manny, not seriously, much as I should place my role of Queen above personal loyalties. Nor do I ask you blindly to wear the white. I want you to challenge and question me, keep me on my toes. I want you to do what you think is necessary as Bishop; find me information, test loyalties, ask questions, find the boundaries of what Shaw seeks to do with his own power. And outside the Club I want to tap the potential you treat so lightly. In some important ways, you are your father's son, as I am my father's daughter. What matters is what we choose to do with the legacy that gives us; let it overwhelm us or use it to our advantage." She looked down at her hand momentarily, toying with the flute of champagne she held. "I am just pleased to have the choice."
"For those of us, choices are not as easy as one would wear a specific colour. It is not always black or white but somewhere in the middle, hues of gray I simply did not know before. Or possible I was ignorant to the fact of that. Regardless," Manuel continued, thoughtfully turning the neck of his glass. "Shaw beckons and the closer I step to him, it seems from their angle, the farther I turn from you. It made me realize something - they know nothing of our history. Tit for tat, is that what they say, yes?" He mused and lifted the glass to his lips.
"Tit for tat?" asked Emma, lazily. "Does that mean I will have to rescue you at some point in the future? I was kidnapped so many times, it began to be positively boring." She looked down at her food and then up again. "It is all shades of gray, Manny darling. Shaw and I," she paused for a moment, ordering her thoughts. "When it began; when we took over the Club and divided the Courts, we had a common purpose. I like to think that I still adhere to that purpose; to further the cause of mutants and to protect those that I can from the foes they find in the world. Shaw - has drifted. His heart froze a long time ago and he does not care for others any more. He seeks power and money and influence, but they are an ends to themselves now, not necessary to further the cause of mutantkind." Her tone softened, almost grieving. "I would turn him away from that path, but I fear that my influence over Sebastian is entirely lost. And if I cannot turn him back, then I will oppose him in all that he does." She raised her champagne to her lips, drank it down in full. "But perhaps, if he seeks to subvert you to his dark path, my influence is not entirely lost." She smiled suddenly. "At the very least, I've made him pay attention again."
"I see you have not lost your luster for the hunt - baiting him using me. Typical." He would have noted she was a blond, just as all the other plotters in the mansion that were often using him for bait, but it was a poor joke that had long since died on his tongue since he was teach Amara to ride his horse. "Show me a man that will stop paying attention to you and I will crawl on my needs and beg for forgiveness," he mused though a finger rose, nodding to her once. "Remy does not count."
"Monsieur LeBeau pays attention to me, Manny. More perhaps than I appreciate. Although he has not been well lately; perhaps I should do something extravagant to annoy him and make him focus." She caught Manny's look and shrugged. "Sometimes I require - amusement. I am not a nice person, as you are well aware. But I do not lie about who I am and what I need, and if I have to use people to achieve my aims, then use them I will. Even you. I care for you a great deal, Manny, but not enough that I will not use you if I consider it necessary." She looked at Valentia, huddled close to Manny's side. "I do not think your sister likes me," she observed.
"Clearly," Manuel said and pushed away from the table. "I believe dinner is finished here," he said somewhat formally, guarding his emotions from his sister, from Emma. She had unknowingly driven a wedge between them. "I am sure I can annoy Senor LeBeau for you by simply visiting him without cause, considering it would be beneficial to you. I am sure he will ask questions once I do." Taking his sister's hand, Manuel made no offer to help Emma clean up but clearly made his way to the door without further word.
"Where there is potential, there is damnation," Manuel said, surveying Emma's food selection from where he sat. His sister sat in her own chair but it was up against his, crowding him. She'd be insistant on sitting in his lap and he'd been equally resistant to the idea until there was a truce of some sort formed. He could tell she was still not happy but under Emma's scrutinizing gaze, Valentia settled into a discomfort she periodically let her brother know of.
"There is damnation everywhere, Manny darling," said Emma. "Ask the..." she cut herself short, shook her head. "Innocence is no protection," she added, glancing at Valentia. "Money, information, power are the only things that save us and those we care for." She neatly stabbed an asparus spear with her fork, adding on a sliver each of prosciutto and quail's egg and touched it to the truffle oil. The tastes on her tongue were simple, but exquisitely rich.
"I may argue that in light of recent events. The Black court is leering over my shoulder and you weave words like a prism of colours, as much as you do power and money. There is appeal in both, however one pulls stronger than the other. I do not have the patience of my father and yet I wait. For what?" he asked, clearly with an undercurrent of discomfort resonating from his sister.
Emma shrugged. "What you do desire?" she asked. "I doubt it is money or fame or emotional fulfillment or belonging or whatever it is that the lonely children want to call it these days. The reports I am getting back from your directors duties are that you are doing well and learning what is required to run a business in a more legitimate sense than your father taught you. I have my suspicions around Shaw's activities but the only thing I can pin on him at the moment is attempting to seduce you from my side. Is what he offers you so very exciting?"
I desire nothing, everything, Manuel thought to himself and shifted very little in his seat, contemplating where the grass seemed always greener. "Sometimes--" he started. "--the desire to be good has little to do with myself and more towards what is around me." He gestured to Valentia who was listening now but comprehension was something she could not quite grasp yet. "His offers become sweeter and sweeter everytime I see him. You tell me."
"Perhaps you desire relevance," said Emma, her eyes lifting from the food set out before her. "Centrality. To be something more than a tool of someone else's desires. Or perhaps you wish to be the bad boy and you feel that I have strayed too far from the path that will take you there. Sebastian can be most," the corner of Emma's lips curled upwards in fond memory for a moment as she remembered what seemed now a far-distant past, "enticing." Emma's gaze hardened again. "I owe you a great deal, Manny. You have more leeway than most in what actions I will accept from you. But I do not deal with betrayal - gently."
"Nor I with underlying threats and assumptions," he replied evenly. "I bid my loyalty to you. Is that not enough or do you require everything within my being to rest assured that I wear the white blindly like a good dog?"
"I'm sorry, Manny. I didn't think my threats were underlying. I was aiming for outright." Emma laughed suddenly, a complete change of mood. "I can't threaten you, Manny, not seriously, much as I should place my role of Queen above personal loyalties. Nor do I ask you blindly to wear the white. I want you to challenge and question me, keep me on my toes. I want you to do what you think is necessary as Bishop; find me information, test loyalties, ask questions, find the boundaries of what Shaw seeks to do with his own power. And outside the Club I want to tap the potential you treat so lightly. In some important ways, you are your father's son, as I am my father's daughter. What matters is what we choose to do with the legacy that gives us; let it overwhelm us or use it to our advantage." She looked down at her hand momentarily, toying with the flute of champagne she held. "I am just pleased to have the choice."
"For those of us, choices are not as easy as one would wear a specific colour. It is not always black or white but somewhere in the middle, hues of gray I simply did not know before. Or possible I was ignorant to the fact of that. Regardless," Manuel continued, thoughtfully turning the neck of his glass. "Shaw beckons and the closer I step to him, it seems from their angle, the farther I turn from you. It made me realize something - they know nothing of our history. Tit for tat, is that what they say, yes?" He mused and lifted the glass to his lips.
"Tit for tat?" asked Emma, lazily. "Does that mean I will have to rescue you at some point in the future? I was kidnapped so many times, it began to be positively boring." She looked down at her food and then up again. "It is all shades of gray, Manny darling. Shaw and I," she paused for a moment, ordering her thoughts. "When it began; when we took over the Club and divided the Courts, we had a common purpose. I like to think that I still adhere to that purpose; to further the cause of mutants and to protect those that I can from the foes they find in the world. Shaw - has drifted. His heart froze a long time ago and he does not care for others any more. He seeks power and money and influence, but they are an ends to themselves now, not necessary to further the cause of mutantkind." Her tone softened, almost grieving. "I would turn him away from that path, but I fear that my influence over Sebastian is entirely lost. And if I cannot turn him back, then I will oppose him in all that he does." She raised her champagne to her lips, drank it down in full. "But perhaps, if he seeks to subvert you to his dark path, my influence is not entirely lost." She smiled suddenly. "At the very least, I've made him pay attention again."
"I see you have not lost your luster for the hunt - baiting him using me. Typical." He would have noted she was a blond, just as all the other plotters in the mansion that were often using him for bait, but it was a poor joke that had long since died on his tongue since he was teach Amara to ride his horse. "Show me a man that will stop paying attention to you and I will crawl on my needs and beg for forgiveness," he mused though a finger rose, nodding to her once. "Remy does not count."
"Monsieur LeBeau pays attention to me, Manny. More perhaps than I appreciate. Although he has not been well lately; perhaps I should do something extravagant to annoy him and make him focus." She caught Manny's look and shrugged. "Sometimes I require - amusement. I am not a nice person, as you are well aware. But I do not lie about who I am and what I need, and if I have to use people to achieve my aims, then use them I will. Even you. I care for you a great deal, Manny, but not enough that I will not use you if I consider it necessary." She looked at Valentia, huddled close to Manny's side. "I do not think your sister likes me," she observed.
"Clearly," Manuel said and pushed away from the table. "I believe dinner is finished here," he said somewhat formally, guarding his emotions from his sister, from Emma. She had unknowingly driven a wedge between them. "I am sure I can annoy Senor LeBeau for you by simply visiting him without cause, considering it would be beneficial to you. I am sure he will ask questions once I do." Taking his sister's hand, Manuel made no offer to help Emma clean up but clearly made his way to the door without further word.
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