xp_logs | Nathan and Manuel (Reply)

Set before this log. Nathan comes across Zombie-Manuel swimming. Nathan comes to some realizations. Manuel looks blank.

Passing by, Nathan noticed that there was someone in the pool. He lingered for a moment, out of curiosity more than anything else - he knew he hadn't matched all the faces to names yet around here - but as the swimmer stopped at the end of the pool, he saw that it was Manuel. Nathan blinked, and found himself walking through the door and into the pool area before he quite realized what he was doing. It was a pull he couldn't seem to resist.

Manuel seemed to notice him as he approached, and Nathan stopped, startled by the fact that the kid's eyes were glowing. For a moment he nearly turned around and went back out, but then it sank in that nothing was happening to his emotional state. Whatever Manuel was doing, he wasn't actually projecting.

"Hello, Manuel," he said, and stiffened again at the blank, yet oddly piercing stare that was all the response he got. It was a look very similar to what he had seen in the mirror those first several months after Aliya's death.

Manuel stopped swimming and stared back at Nathan, eyes glowing red. He didn't say a word, but his expression was blank and vacant as he tread water.

Nathan sighed, his eyes lingering on the young man. "It would be so much easier if any of this was your fault," he murmured. "I always did like pointing fingers." He came closer, slowly, not surprised when Manuel didn't move. "But you saved her, which is what really gets me. This dangerous, stupid link of yours... it's the only thing that kept her from following Rack."

Manuel blinked once, but otherwise did not react to anything Nathan said. Instead, he shook his head, tread water, and stared at Nathan blankly - like he was looking through the older man.

Nathan crouched down at the edge of the pool, never breaking eye contact. "Someone needs to get in there with you," he said quietly. "Straighten things out... make you see that she's still there." He smiled humorlessly. "And I wish to hell I didn't know exactly what needs to be done. But I do."

Manuel quirked an eyebrow at Nathan, and continued to tread water. After a few very long moments, he slowly shook his head from side to side in negation. His face never lost that blank, vacant expression, and his eyes never once lost the red glow.

Nathan snorted softly. "Yeah, well, I'm not all that crazy about the idea either, boy. But I keep having these inconvenient outbursts of ethics." He watched Manuel tread water, very carefully not allowing himself to reach out to the boy telepathically. If what he thought would have to happen was going to, there would be plenty of time for that later. No need to put himself through it now. "Salv'anai lu vohaya," he said in Askani. "'Heal what can be healed'. It's a novel thought, really."

Manuel tilted his head at Nathan, as if wondering something. After a few seconds of staring like that, he straightened his head back out and resumed his staring, still treading water in the pool.

Nathan straightened, still smiling faintly. "You don't get to take the easy way out," he said, turning to go. "And neither do I."

Manuel nodded slowly, then got up out of the pool to stand before Nathan. Seems that yes, Virginia, Manuel is a European, with the accompanying taste in swimwear.

Nathan sighed, shaking his head. "Oh, for the love of... Manuel, go and put some clothes on," he growled, and stalked back out to the hall.

Manuel turned on his heel and walked right back into the locker room to do what he was told.