Domino, Manuel, and Xavier (Sunday afternoon)

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

While showing Domino around the mansion on Sunday afternoon, Nathan runs into Manuel in the library. Domino gives him an out and then has at it with the empath, mostly in play, but also giving him some good advice that he (of course) completely ignores.


"And this would be the--"

"Library, Nathan. I sort of guessed that," Domino said, smiling innocently at him as he shook his head at her. "Quite nice," she said, preceding him through the door and sizing the place up. Quite a respectable collection, from the looks of it, but she chose not to comment on that. "I imagine there's plenty of hanky-panky that goes on in these stacks," she said, glancing back over her shoulder at him with a sweet smile. "All the teenaged hormones in this place--"

"You have a one-track mind," Nathan said lightly, looking around. The library appeared all but deserted at this time of the day on a Sunday, but there was someone here. Even distracted by all the things Dom was deliberately projecting at him, he could sense a familiar presence... oh, shit. Nathan flinched, his eyes settling on a particular set of shelves just as Manuel walked out from behind it.

Manuel walked around the Psych shelves, an arm full of books on one side and a pet lizard wrapped around his other arm. "Well well well, what do we have here? Nathan, you haven't introduced me to your guest. How very rude of you." He then smiles charmingly at Domino, eyeing her up and down. "And such a vision of loveliness, too."

"Yes, Nathan, how rude of you," Domino said brightly, not missing Nathan's flinch, or the slight pallor that had followed. "And you've been so good with the introductions so far today. Don't start slacking off now." Nathan opened his mouth, the expression in his eyes unreadable, and Domino tilted her head at him, her smile growing. "Don't forget the lizard, either."

Nathan closed his mouth, unable to help glaring at her, just for a moment. She was suddenly using every shielding trick he had taught her, and she had always been very good at it. "Manuel, this is Domino," he said as neutrally as he could, his eyes barely flickering to the young empath. "Domino, Manuel de la Rocha. I'm afraid I don't know the lizard's name."

"Well, I forgive you," Domino said dismissively, patting him on the arm and then glancing at her watch. "Why don't you go arrange for my cab, Nate? I'm due to meet the Professor for tea in another ten minutes. I'm sure Manuel will show me around the library until then." She beamed at the young man.

#Oh, not transparent at all, Dom,# Nathan thought at her, but wasn't about to turn down the out. #Be careful,# he sent, then nodded curtly at Manuel and left.

Manuel set down his Psych textbooks, and extended his hand towards Domino. "Like he said - I'm Manuel de la Rocha. The lizard is Frank. Don't mind him, I'm just taking care of him while his owner is out of town. What brings you to Xavier's?" he asked charmingly, smiling his winningest smile at her, feeling the first stirrings of lust at her appealingly well-muscled form.

Domino shook his hand, well-aware of who she was talking to. Moira had been a virtual fountain of information during their conversation last night, once they'd gotten the really tricky subjects out of the way. "Checking up on Nate," she said, smiling benevolently at the young empath. "He needs a fair amount of supervision."

Before Domino let his hand drop, he brushed his lips across the back of her hand. "Charmed." he murmured. "Will you be in town long?" he asked, looking back up into her violet eyes.

Oh, a would-be Lothario. How very sweet. "Sadly, no," she said, pouting at him slightly. "I'm afraid I have a plane to catch very early tomorrow morning. The American government has a list of arrest warrants as long as your arm on me, so I'm off for safer parts."

"That is truly unfortunate." he said. "Do you have any plans for the evening, then? If you should find yourself with a few spare hours, I'd love to sit down with you over drinks. Maybe - get to know each other a little better?"

"Well," Domino said, with a thoughtful look, using the not-quite-little-girl voice that tended to drive Nate and G.W. insane. "Let's see. I have to have tea with the Professor - I'm sure that'll take a while. Then I need to head back to New York for the evening and create an embarassing personal scandal for a certain science-playboy." She tilted her head at him, still smiling. "Then I need to get back here very quickly so that Moira, Nathan, and I can try this whole threesome idea and hopefully get all this tension out of our systems. I don't think that leaves us a whole lot of time to get to know each other, Manuel."

Manuel blinked, but covered his surprise very smoothly. "That's a shame, really. But it does sound like you have a very busy schedule lined up." he said with a grin. "Perhaps some other time, if you can smuggle yourself back into the country. It's a shame, though, that you're contemplating a threesome with Nathan and Moira. A shrill harridan and a middle-aged mental defective. You don't really seem like the type. I'd have thought you'd have preferred something - younger. More vital."

Domino had been charming men successfully for years now, generally as a prelude to either stealing from them, kidnapping them, or leaving them with a bullet in the head. She was usually very good at it, which made it ironic that four little words threw her back out of role so easily. As the words 'middle-aged mental defective' came out of Manuel's mouth, the smile fell off her face, and she pulled her hand away.

"It really is a shame," she said, her eyes narrowing. "I think I could teach you a lot."

"I look forward to the opportunity to learn at the feet of a master. Or should that be 'mistress'?" he asked, still smiling, but with a cruel cast to his eyes.

"Oh," Domino said innocently. "Was that a question as to whether I've played the dominatrix in the past, Manuel?" She took a step closer, sizing him up with one casual, dismissive sweep of her eyes. Not much of a threat, she judged, without full access to his powers. Nate, why the hell haven't you broken this little boy in half yet? she wondered idly, then summoned up a more dangerous sort of smile as she met Manuel's eyes again. "Frequently," she said pleasantly. "Both on the job and during my off-time."

Manuel tilted his head slightly and _looked_ at Domino, seeing her emotional patterns to the best of his rather sadly limited ability. "I cast no aspersions on your preference for tops or bottoms, my dear." he replied smoothly. "And what you do, either on the job or off, is your own business. All _I_ was wondering is why you've got it so bad for someone like him. And, in all honesty, I was wondering if you might be amenable to a little ... extracurricular activity. Could definitely be a good time. Empaths have ... advantages ... that way."

"Kiddo," Domino said with profound amusement, "if I want extracurricular activity, I can walk into any bar in the world and pick out something either a whole lot prettier or a whole lot more robust than you." She hesitated, then shrugged, deciding that an honest answer to his question probably wouldn't hurt. Her, that was. The more she acknowledged what was going on in her mind, the easier it would be to get past it. "He saved my life," she said. "When I was younger than you and an indentured fighter in the combat pits in Asia. He got me out, gave me a life. So to be perfectly honest, while I would love to be in Moira's place, I'll be satisfied with the fact that she'll never be in mine."

"There isn't much on this planet prettier than me." he smirked with a good-looking man's self-absorption. "And that's a very nice story. Presents a lovely mental image. So the big bad mercenary has a soft spot for - exotic teenaged Asian pit-fighters? I never would have guessed. Interesting. I could help you, if you're any good with electronics. Give you exactly what you want."

"Let me guess," Domino said, more briskly. "You'd like me to take your dampener off." She looked down at it, smiling slightly. "I could, you know. My powers affect probability, and we could probably come up with some sort of scenario that would trigger them. Failing that, I can pick just about any lock on the planet."

Manuel just smiled and nodded his head fractionally. "You can even put it back on once you have what you want, if you'd like. I am not terribly fussy that way." he said with some amusement. "Come on, what better chance will you ever get? He'll never touch you, not while he has that Scot bitch draped all over him. And I don't think you like that thought very much - what your savior Nathan does with that _doctor_ behind closed doors."

"Mmm," Domino said. She reached out, taking Manuel's hand to examine the dampener a little more closely. "Wouldn't be hard at all," she murmured.

Manuel watched Domino inspect the dampener, controlling and schooling his expressions very, very tightly. "You know what I'm offering you. Won't take me more than five minutes - I know his mind, I know the twitches of his feelings, the course of his thoughts. I can give you what you really want."

Still smiling faintly, Domino fingered the lock thoughtfully. "Child's play," she said, turning his hand over again, still pretending to examine the dampener even though she's already figured out several different ways to get it off. "You know, it's very funny," she continued in a conversational tone.

"What is?" he said, still keeping his smile pasted on.

"I got to spend some time alone with the last empath that hurt him, too. Odd how things work out like that." Still smiling, she let his hand drop, taking a step back and folding her arms across her chest. "He was much scarier than you. Until I shot him in both knees, at which point he screamed and whined like most men do at that point."

Manuel couldn't help but shiver once at the sheer joy coming off of Domino's brain. "So - I can see where this is going. Suit yourself. Hope you enjoy your pining from a distance."

"Yeah, well, here's the thing, dear. I'm not really made for sexual fidelity, if you know what I mean." She tilted her head, rather tickled at the direction of her own thoughts. "In a way, I think I like him better as my savior. Besides, I did have him once." She laughed suddenly, almost mischievously. "And before you think you can store that up for ammunition, Moira already knows."

Manuel shrugged. "I try really, really hard to not think about his sex life. Even when he insists on making it difficult. But he seems to take an unhealthy interest in mine, that's for damned sure. So - you don't do the fidelity thing. That's good to hear. But you seem to have some sort of aversion to gorgeous Spanish empaths, which is an onus I will just have to bear. A pity - you haven't lived until you've had all your brain's pleasure-receptors stimulated simultaneously."

"Oh--oh, my," Domino said, putting a hand over her heart and batting her eyelashes at him. It was really not all that kind to be enjoying herself this hugely, her conscience tried to inform her. She ignored it. "Getting wet just thinking about it, Manuel. Have you ever considered a phone sex job to earn some extra spending money? You could be the next big thing."

"I prefer a more - direct - encounter." he smirked, playing along with her amusements. "Ask me very nicely, and maybe I'll demonstrate."

"If I was going to ask you for something," Domino said pleasantly, never breaking eye contact, "that wouldn't be it."

Manuel ran a fingertip down Frank's back absently, never breaking eye contact with Domino. "Your loss. You'll just have to die unfulfilled."

"And I'm just desolate at the idea," Domino said, glancing down at her watch. "Time for tea," she said cheerfully, turning her dazzling smile back on Manuel. "Do me a favor, sweetheart, and try not to bruise the old man too badly in future? You're cute, in an adolescent sort of way, and I'd hate to have to lure you into New York and kill you messily."

Manuel just smirked. "And if you decide that you need to be ... stimulated ... feel free to swing by and see me anytime. And the "old man" can take care of himself. If he doesn't stop taking an unhealthy interest in my ... affairs ... then I won't be responsible for whatever happens to him. Sad, but there you are."

"Oh, you're very good at this," Domino said mirthfully, arching an eyebrow at him. "I'm have to remember to come find you when you're all grown up and no longer wearing a leash. You might be a challenge." She half-turned, then stopped, turning back to him. "A friendly word of warning, though," she said, still smiling, and was a little surprised at herself that she meant both the 'friendly' and the 'warning'. "I talk a good game, but I'm not the one you really need to worry about. Oh, I'll do my best to complicate your life if I find out you've hurt him again, that goes without saying, but I tend to be in control of myself, even when I'm taking a knife to someone's choice bits." She let the smile drop, meeting Manuel's eyes and hoping there was enough sense in that obviously slightly-addled head to know that she wasn't playing this time. "But I would watch out for how hard you poke the wolf in the cage. Don't give him reason to stop caring about the audience." She spread her hands wide, a fainter, more natural smile flickering across her face. "Take it for what it's worth."

Manuel just kept on smiling. "The wolf in the cage had just better hope that he does not wake the dragon. But your warning is ... unnecessary. Amusing, but unnecessary. The wolf has some very glaring weaknesses, ones easily exploited."

Domino shook her head with a sigh. Was I ever that young? She waved a hand at him. "Good luck, kid," she said, giving up. You couldn't help those who wouldn't be helped. She just hoped he didn't push Nate too far. The mess that would result would be such a pain in the ass to clean up. "You're very cute," she said, turning and heading for the door. "Not too bright, but very cute."

"Have fun storming the castle." he called after her with a cheery wave. "And let me know how the not-threesome works out for you, OK?"

Domino merely smiled and left the library, letting him have the last word. It was a cheap way to give him a little satisfaction, which he probably got precious little of in his current circumstances. Besides, she had always had a soft spot for the terminally stupid.


Afterwards, she takes Charles up on his offer of tea. The two of them get along rather well: Domino discovers that ulterior motives can be good things, and confesses to a new, non-'business'-related interest in life.


Now this, Domino thought as she stepped into the sunroom, was really very nice. Not that the rest of the house wasn't, but she had a particular thing for places with lots of natural light and a generally cheery atmosphere. They came second only to bars and clubs with no natural light at all on her list of 'Places I Like To Spend My Time'.

"Good afternoon, Professor," she said with her best 'look at me, aren't I being all mannerly?' smile as she saw Xavier there waiting for her. At the sight of tea all laid out, she was tempted to throw in a curtsey, just to be perverse, but decided that would be a little over the top. "Sorry I'm late." She was; only two minutes, but late was late. "Was crossing swords with Mr. de la Rocha in the library."

"Were you now?" Charles held out his hand to her in greeting, a warm, amused smile on his face. "We usually hold duels out in the rose garden. It's easier on the carpets."

She hesitated a moment, natural caution kicking in, but then told herself not to be silly. This was the man that was helping Nate. Not shaking his hand would be rude. "Verbal sparring only, I promise," she said cheerfully, taking his hand for a moment and then sitting down across from him. "I wouldn't abuse your hospitality to the point of actually bruising any of your students. Even if a little bruising would do them a terrible amount of good."

Charles noted the hesitation and filed it away. "Well, in that case, the library was a most appropriate venue, Domino. Thank you for coming to tea, by the way. I was hoping to meet you while you were in the area." He gestured for one of the staff, an older man, to pour the tea. "While, officially, I must take a stand against corporal punishment, I concur with your assessment at times when my patience wears thin." The tea was poured and then the staff members faded away, one of them opening the french doors to the outside enough to let a little spring air into the room before she left with the others.

Domino took one of the cups of tea, sipping at it. "G.W. would have liked this," she said, a more natural smile flickering across her features. "He's something of a tea connoisseur." She laughed softly. "We tease him about it endlessly, of course." Her eyes flickered around the sunroom, taking in every detail and filing it away, just as she had everywhere else she had been so far today.

Charles watched her, reading the lines of tension ingrained in her posture, the constant assessments churning away behind her violet eyes. "I'll have to include him in the invitation next time," he said, reaching for his own tea. "Coffee seems to be the standard in this house, if one discounts the gallons of caffienated sodas that the students consume, so another tea lover is always welcome company. How has your visit been so far? Enjoying New York?" he asked pleasantly.

"Oh, yes," Domino said, focusing on him. He had the most remarkable eyes, she thought, intrigued. "I've only been to New York twice, quick in-and-out both times. It was nice to get a chance to look around a little." She grinned, sipping at the tea again. "I got to go shopping," she said brightly. "And had coffee with one of yours and Moira's colleagues."

"That's good to hear. I hope it's been interesting enough to bring you back again in future." Charles couldn't help smiling at the way the young woman brightened at the mention of shopping. It seemed to be a curative for many ills for the young women he'd known over the years and the spark of normalcy was reassuring. "One of my colleagues," he said, puzzling a little. "Who would that have been?"

"Doctor Pym," Domino said with a shrug. "I let him buy me a cappuccino so he'd leave Moira alone." She looked over at the plate of biscuits, picking one up and nibbling at it curiously. "Mm, lemon."

"Ah." Charles' expression clouded and his eyes got dark. Still, he managed to smile at Domino's exploration of the cookies on hand. "Pym is a character, to put it mildly. He amuses to a point." His tone indicated clearly that the point was, for him, well past.

"I toyed with the idea of breaking his arm," Domino said, feeling a brief flash of anger as she remembered coming upon him grabbing Moira. Men did not get to behave like that anywhere in her vicinity. She shrugged, then oohed as she spotted a biscuit that looked very much like it was chocolate. "But I figured distraction would be simpler. So I let him buy me a coffee and stare at my chest for a while." Pushing Pym out of her mind, she took the chocolate biscuit and tried it. Even better than the lemon, she decided. "So this is quite the place," she said, turning her thoughts to happier subjects. "Nate gave me the grand tour."

"It's certainly an interesting house," Charles admitted wryly. "Though it's the people who make it a challenge. The house itself behaves perfectly well. I think it's a little afraid of the groundskeeper." He gave Domino a smile. "So what do you think of it so far?"

"Well, the kids I've met so far have been pretty nice, most of them." She couldn't help another real smile. "The little Scottish girl -- Rahne? Not hard to see why Nate's so fond of her." Taking another sip of her tea and then another bite of the chocolate cookie, she caught herself feeling oddly wistful, suddenly. "Lucky kids," she said, thinking of how relaxed most of them had seemed. Running back and forth to classes, their books under their arms... "I wish..." She bit her lip, deciding not to finish that thought. "Look at me," she said with a little laugh. "Getting all maudlin."

"It's not maudlin to be sorry that you missed out on your childhood," Charles said in mild, pragmatic tones, reaching for a lemon biscuit. "You'd be far from the first person who's sat across from me felt that way when they looked around." He set the biscuit down on his saucer and looked out the doors to the garden beyond. "One of the things I've learned over the years is that there's no turning time back, but there's always a chance to catch up, if you want it. Unfinished business nags at one and there's nothing silly about wanting to tie up the loose ends of the heart so they won't trip you up later."

"Nate keeps trying to convince me to go to school," Domino said with a sigh. "Made me do... oh, hell, I don't know what they call it here. High-school equivalency? But he and G.W. both keep telling me I ought to take a year off and at least try college." She smiled again, tightly this time. Nate had tried again today, actually, as if the fact that she was in a school and not climbing the walls somehow made it the perfect time to argue the merits of the idea. "I think they have this misbegotten idea that if they manage to kick me back into the 'real world' for a year or so, I might decide I like it there." All right, so maybe the idea of college did appeal, just a little - she enjoyed reading the books Nathan and G.W. pushed on her at every opportunity and the idea of relaxing a little, doing nothing but satisfying her curiosity had its attractions - but the two of them were really entirely too transparent.

"The real world, eh?" Charles smiled at her and shook his head. "I think you live in a perfectly real world. Going to school would be like visiting a foreign country. I know what it's like for my students and staff who come from backgrounds like yours to adjust to being in this place and it's extremely difficult. It's almost physically painful for them to be caught between what they know or expect and what's actually around them. It would be a very difficult thing to do, to leave your life and take up a different one." He sipped at his tea, looking thoughtful. "The key is to find a balance between the worlds so that you are taking best advantage of both."

Domino paused, then filed the words away very carefully for ammunition in future 'discussions' on the subject with Nate and G.W. "I like my life with the Pack," she said, almost casually. "I mean, it's had its nasty bits, but I think the... freedom makes up for it." But that brought her back around to thinking about how that life was going to change, with Nathan gone, and she grimaced, fingers clenching around the handle of her teacup. "Funny," she said, more lightly than she felt. "I like freedom but I don't like change. That's kind of perverse, isn't it?"

"If it is, then we're all perverse, Domino." Charles reached for the teapot to refill her cup. "Unfortunately, the two of them seem to be inextricable. And there's nothing that says that your life with the Pack needs to interfere with your education. An education is simply part of another skillset, one you'll find useful when your physical skills begin to decline." He tapped his legs. "Obviously, my limitations make me particularly aware of the need for a range of skills. If you wish to learn, then there are ways to learn. What would you study, if you could?"

Domino thought about it for a moment. "Nothing particularly practical," she confessed a bit sheepishly. "You know, I've been sort of interested in archaeology lately?" She smiled, aware of the color rising in her cheeks. "I took a solo job a while ago, retrieving some stuff that had been stolen from a museum. The curator was nice. Told me about all of the artifacts after I brought them back, gave me some books..."

"Since when is practicality a requirement in all things?" Charles asked her. His smile was affectionate and amused, the blush was particularly endearing. "Archaeology is a noble pursuit with plenty of opportunity for travel and excitement. I think it's an excellent diversion and it can be an enlightening field of study. What kind of artifacts? Was it the civilization that intrigued you or the artifacts themselves?"

"Well, the artifacts were pretty--" She had particularly liked the jewelry, especially that little ruby ring. "--but I liked hearing and reading about where they came from more, I think." She leaned back in her chair, sipping at the tea. "They were Byzantine, and the curator was telling me all about how so much from that period's been lost because archaeologists in the past would dig down through the layers to get to the classical stuff. Seemed awful short-sighted to me." She picked another biscuit, trying it. Almond, she thought.

Charles' eyes sparkled as he listened to her. "You're absolutely correct in that assertion. Much of that kind of reckless disregard is in the past, but the damage has been done. There are a number of ethical associations governing various areas of the field of archaeology. Ethics and archaeology are quite the pairing, there's always something to argue." He sipped at his tea, looking at her over the rim of the cup with bright, inquisitive eyes. "So it would interest you to read more on archaeology?"

"Yeah," Domino said, a smile teasing at her lips again. "I think it would." She leaned back in her chair, examining the delicate pattern on the teacup. "Just a question of making the time," she murmured. "Or making the decision to make the time, I guess."

"Balance," Charles said lightly. "Everyone needs it. If you'd like, you can take a look through my library while you're here, up on the third floor. Anything there you'd like to read, you're welcome to take with you when you go. And, if you continue to be interested, I have a friend at the university of Reading, Anthea Harris, who studies Byzantine artifacts. And Demetrios Triantaphyllopoulos is in Cyprus and is still going strong with his work there. Just as with anything else, anything is possible if you know the right people." He smiled at her warmly.

Domino's eyes widened a little, and she sipped at her tea to try and cover her reaction. "Thank you," she said a bit hesitantly, and then couldn't help another tentative smile. "I promise if I borrow anything, I'll take good care of it." She eyed him for a moment, pondering what to say next. "You're not what I expected, you know," slipped out, and she colored again, cursing her too-pale complexion.

"Oh?" Charles said, setting down his tea. "What did you expect, then?" His expression was purely curious and non-judgemental. He was sure he could guess, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"Not someone I could sit around having tea and feeling scarily comfortable with," Domino said with a little laugh. "I mean, Nate was saying all kinds of good things about you, but I just..." She fell silent for a moment, staring down into her teacup. "Guess I'm just overly suspicious," she said, more lightly than she really felt. "Not used to people who do things for other people without having ulterior motives."

"Oh, but I do have an ulterior motive," Charles confessed.

Domino blinked at him. "You do?"

"Of course I do," he said seriously. "It would enrich my life to see you learn something new and have an alternative to your life with the Pack to turn to if you decided to leave. I would be deeply gratified to get to have a hand in that. I'm a terribly selfish old man," he pointed out. "Thinking only of my own happiness."

A nervous giggle slipped out before Domino could help herself. "Oh, I see. Well, I'm not used to that sort of selfishness, either." She sipped at her tea, relaxing a little. Really, she'd been entirely too jumpy there. "Um, actually," she said suddenly, looking up at him as she remembered the thing she'd had in her mind to say to this man as soon as Nathan had passed along his invitation to tea. "Just so that we don't totally disappoint Nate, who's probably pacing around out there somewhere thinking we're in here talking about him... he can be so totally self-absorbed at times... um, anyhow. Thank you. For helping him."

"My pleasure, genuinely," Charles said. "He's important to a number of people, not just here and now, and it matters a great deal that he be able to cope with his burdens. I have a great deal of hope for him. He's stubborn, and that goes a long way toward keeping him alive and well. On an intellectual level, the whole thing has been purely fascinating."

Moira's reassurances had been convincing, but to hear it from someone a little more objective eased the last of her lingering fear, and Domino relaxed, nodding to herself. She would still worry, but all in all, things with Nate were looking a lot better than she had expected. Something she could tell the others, when she got back.

"I'm really glad I came," she said abruptly, smiling at Charles. "Not just because it let me check up on Nate, either."

"I'm glad you did too." Charles returned her smile, pleased to see her becoming more comfortable by the minute. "I hope you realize that you don't need to be checking up on him to come back any time."

Domino grinned, raising her teacup as if in salute. "Thank you kindly," she said primly. "I just may take you up on that."

Comments

[xp_daytripper]

Archeology? *grins* Now I'm getting an image of Dom in the Indiana Jones get up, because you know that's the sort of archeologist she'd be...

Lizard Boy. *snorts* Oh, Manny, you are so amusing when you're trying to get yourself killed...