xp_logs | Manuel, Valentia & Amanda

Someone makes a grab for Manuel and it sparks a final decision to leave the mansion.

Manuel could sense his sister's anxiety from where he was and he anxiously sat in the back of the cab, one hand clutching his knee, the other on the cane, waiting impatiently to arrive at his destination. Money was practically thrown at the man and Manuel was out of the cab faster than he'd ever moved, eyes searching for Amanda. The anxiety increased and it took nothing but instinct to drive him forward and find his sister through her emotional sobs that had no voice but what she could physically show.
She hadn't been able to get them back to either the brownstone or the Snow Valley offices, not without leaving them wide open to another attempt. So she'd done as she'd been trained - find a public place, somewhere with security, call for back up and wait.

Normally a McDonalds would be the last place she'd set foot in, given the memories of her time on the streets, eating cold, half-eaten cheeseburgers - the smell made her twitch. But it had what she needed - bright lights, plenty of people and a couple of security guards hanging around out the front. They wouldn't dream of trying again here.

"~Shhh, love,~" she murmured in Spanish to the shaking girl in her arms, despite the fact Valentia wasn't making a sound. She didn't have to - Amanda could feel the girl's fear and panic battering at her mental shields. "~It's all right, you're safe, I won't let them hurt you.~"

Manuel practically shook with an urgency and a curse slipped from him at his own inability to go any faster than his legs took him. A tremor coursed through him, a fury that would have wrapped McDonalds up in compete emotional insanity had he not layered his shields so thickly that he could barely feel his sister's fear.

"~Where are they?~" Manuel fell into his old language right away, without realizing though he could not pull his sister away from Amanda, she only seemed to clutch tighter at his hand falling to her shoulder. That was when he momentarily dropped his shielding, long enough to slip her emotions in with his and link them to reassure her that he was there.

"~Long gone,~" she replied in the same, as much for Valentia's benefit as anything. "~They tried to grab her, I stopped them and came here. It's safer around people.~" She looked up from the dark head buried against her shoulder to look up at the frantic Manuel and switch to English. "She doesn't need vengence right now, Manny, she needs calm. I can't manage it, but you can."

Amanda knew him too well, as he would have torned through emotions within his radius to do so, but instead, the Empath crouched down -as was difficult to do and emotionally opened up to his sister. He coaxed her slowly away from Amanda and she slipped into his grasp, sobbing renewed.

Murmuring in Spanish, he could not nearly control the fierce hold he had on her and brushed a hand through her hair for comfort, repeating the gesture for ten minutes before she calmed and looked significantly exhausted from the scare.

"She may not sleep well tonight," he said quietly, maintaining his hold on his sister. It was remarkable how well he could tune everything else out, as though they hadn't been in McDonalds at all and split his focus on his sister's rampant emotions and search mindlessly through the crowds, emotionally looking for something to nail six feet under.
Amanda looked tired herself, but there was a simmering rage lurking beneath the shields Manuel himself had helped her learn to build during their relationship together - he knew her well enough to see it. "Back up's coming - once they're here, we should get her home. She'll need familiar surroundings," she replied, reaching over to brush a strand of hair out of the little girl's face. "It was four of them, in a car. They tried to grab her while we were looking in the window of a toystore." She frowned. "Which means they must have been following us. Fuck."

It was only at this point that Manuel admitted to himself how scared he was to lose her, that had she been taken, he would have never forgiven himself. Even if he wasn't there. His hold on her tightened and there was a distance look in his eyes for a minute before Amanda's emotions pulled him from that. "Several guesses lead--"

It was only their long association that let Amanda understand what he was trying to say. "I recognised one. From Selene's retinue, back when I was almost her Knight," she replied tightly. "Black Court." Her fist clenched unconsciously. "I'd say it's some kind of power play against you. Either one of the head honchos, or someone getting ambitious and trying to curry favour."

"Someone specifically," Manuel said as he rose and lifted his sister with him. It was a struggle to hold up a four year old and he silently thanked Bishop for his routinely core work out that helped him with it, although he had to rely more heavily on his cane, using it for full support as he carried her out of the restaurant. "I do not want her staying here any longer than she has to. I will take her back to the mansion."

"I'll come with you." It was a statement, not an offer and Amanda was already pulling out her phone to let her co-workers know the change of plans. "Just in case."

No response came from the empath, his silence and empathetic focus was only an argeement that Amanda was accustomed to as the three headed out of the store, very much aware of their surroundings.