Shinobi and Manuel

[x-shinobi.livejournal.com]

Manuel comes to visit Shinobi in medlab. Plans are made for having a bit of fun with the press once Shinobi's all healed up.



Manuel stopped at the doorway to Shinobi's recovery room. "Hey, omae." he said with a friendly wave. "Up for some distraction?"

Shinobi brightened, lifting his head to look towards the door, and was quietly pleased at how little it made his head hurt. Progress! "Very much so," he replied, his voice a bit hoarse. "..sounds like I'm due more water. But, yes, please come in."

Manuel stepped into the room, and sat in the convenient chair next to the bed. "I talked to Amanda." he said with a grin. "Made some progress on my little problem. You really do look like shit, man."

"In my own defense, I did have a building dropped on my head," Shinobi grinned, reaching for the glass of water on his bedside table. "You seem happy.. very good progress, then, I take it?"

"Could have been better - we were just getting to the really good parts when some reprobate got a building dropped on his head, and she needed to go Heal people." Manuel said with a grin. "Don't you turn into a ghost or something? Wanna explain how you got a building dropped on your head if you were doing your thing?"

He couldn't help but smile in apology, swallowing down a mouthful of water before he spoke up again. "Sorry about that.. and I do, yes, when I can think." He made a bit of a face, lightly rubbing one of his ears. "There was a sound manipulator.. it was too loud. I could barely see straight."

"Ahhh, you're lucky you outrank me. I forgive you." he said with a mockingly arrogant wave of his hand. "But you need to get yourself unbent because I want my woman back and we need to go out, spend far too much money, and give the papparozzi something new and fun to do."

"I'm doing the best I can, I promise," Shinobi grinned, eyeing his drink a moment longer before setting it aside again. "If you want to invite her out to go play taunt the media, though, go right ahead. Tell her you've got my blessing to go enjoy yourselves. I'm not on death's door or anything."

Manuel blinked, and then shook his head. "Naaah." he said. "Papparozzi don't care about me - you're the draw, remember? Besides, if I'm gonna shock the cameras, just bringing Amanda won't do it. She covers up too much."

Shinobi made a thoughtful noise. "I suppose that's true," he agreed, leaning back against his pillow. "Did you have something a little more scandalous in mind?"

Manuel hrmmed. "Well, you've done the Girlfriend From The Wrong Side Of The Tracks thing already. About all you really need now is a gay affair to really get 'em talking." he said with a huge grin. "Could be fun..."

Shinobi choked back a laugh, mostly since he doubted his ribs would appreciate the movement. "Why Manny, I didn't know you cared," he sputtered, clearly amused. "I suppose that could be fun, couldn't it? Especially if we got Sarah and Amanda to look all scandalized where people could see it."

"Scandalized, hell! They should join in!" he said with a truly evil grin. "Ahh, it'll be too much fun pissing off the commoners. I won't even have to cheat." he said with a grin. "But in order to really get their tongues wagging, you need to get better. And just think of what Sebastian will think..." he hinted.

"I do so enjoy ruffling his feathers," he agreed thoughtfully, casting an amused look towards his laptop. "I think Doctor McCoy said I'd be in decent shape in a week or so.. especially if we could con Amanda into helping my ribs along."

"For a night out being Bad in Public, I think I can possibly persuade her." he said. "Leave that to me."

"Good point," Shinobi nodded, smiling lopsidedly. "Consider it left to you, then. Where and how should we do this, do you suppose?"

"Let's see how long it takes before you can dance and be social without reinjuring yourself. Figure a week or so, if we get Amanda down here to tape you up right." he said thoughtfully. "As for where, I'm thinking New York City. Times Square, Fifth Avenue, whatever's hot in the clubs? Studio 54, if they're still going?"

"I'm ashamed to say that I have no idea if 54 is still going. A general city crawl with the occasional stop in at places that catch our eye sounds fun, though." Shinobi gingerly rubbed at his forehead in thought. "Wonder if there are any decent movies or plays going right now that we could drag those two to, while we're at it.. this calls for research."

Manuel hrmmed. "I'll see if I can find where the hotspots are. After all, this doesn't do any good if we're not seen. Maybe wrap it up at the HFC mansion on Fifth?"

Shinobi paused, frowning in thought. "Maybe.. though we should probably make sure Charles wouldn't think that an undue risk, first. If he thinks it wouldn't be too dangerous for us, though, I'm all for it."

Manuel waved that objection off. "As they're so fond of telling me, this isn't a prison and we can leave any time we want."

"It's not a prison, no.. but Sebastian *has* tried to have me brought home before," Shinobi murmured thoughtfully. "I'm still sad I didn't get to hear Marko tell him off."

"Empath, remember? He won't dare mess with the White Court if we're together, and under Emma's protection. So we get a limo from the Club, and have them send along some muscle. He won't make a move, not publically. Not after Columbia."

"Mmm.. excellent point." Shinobi brightened, regaining his smile. "You're sure your father would be similarly restrained, I hope?"

"He's in Europe now." he said. "And he's never made a move against me here in America." he said. "We'll get the girls all dolled up, we'll go for the Eurotrash look, and we'll just leave their tongues wagging."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Shinobi beamed. "Do me a favour? Check my closet, make sure I have suitable clothes for this? If not, you've got my blessing to find me something. You're much more experienced in the make-people-drool department than I am, after all. It would be silly of me not to trust your judgement."

Manuel grinned. "When you can type without your brain exploding, send me your measurements. I think I'm going to need something new for this. We both will."

"I should be able to get them to you by morning," Shinobi mused, idly wiggling his fingers. "Head's been getting steadily better. I'll just need to remember what my measurements actually are, that's all."

"Get your woman to take them for you - assuming that she can actually count that high." he said dismissively.

Shinobi gave Manuel an only half-serious dirty look, that was replaced by his smile again quickly enough. "Sarah's an expert counter, I assure you."

Manuel shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I'm actually surprised she's sentient at all. I thought she was much more about the grr grr arrgh thing, but I'm fairly happy to be wrong this time." he said with a smile. "Anyway - get me those measurements, and I'll see if we can get something _truly_ outrageous."

"She's very grr grr arrgh, but that's not all she is. We ought to get you two better acquainted.. maybe a poker game is in order?" Shinobi smiled, then nodded, absently reaching for his water again. "I'll get them to you as soon as I have them."

Manuel smirked, remembering his own adventures in poker. "A _poker_ game, eh?" he said with a grin. "How far does her grr grr arrgh extend? This could be a lot of fun, bilking her out of everything she has. She must have something worth having, as you seem to be fond of it."

"I wouldn't advise taking her for what she's got - she's very grr grr argh because of the things she's lost in her life. What things she still has are very important to her." Shinobi grinned, almost apologetic. "I'm sure you two could negotiate something, though."

Manuel shook his head. "I wasn't think about the intangibles. I was thinking of the very, very tangibles." he said with a grin. "Come _on_, she's gotta have _something_ under all that baggy crap."

"She does, but I'm not the sharing sort," Shinobi smirked, very carefully shrugging his shoulders. "Sorry, Manny."

"It had better be very, very good." he said with a smirk. "Then again, you've got the dense thing going, so I guess worrying about getting impaled, as opposed to doing the impaling, isn't that big a deal, eh?" he grinned.

Shinobi rolled his eyes, but nodded just the same. "It does have its benefits," he admitted. "You should probably go find Amanda, though. See what she thinks about this little scheme of ours. Make sure there aren't any problems from the respective girlfriend camps before we go make fools of ourselves."

"From what I hear, the girls have already done the public bump-and-grind thing." Manuel leered. "So it'd be fairly hypocritical of them to complain _now_."

"Oh, are we going to be bumping and grinding?" Shinobi grinned, deciding the lingering effects of the concussion are to blame for why he's finding this so amusing. "Just be gentle with me. I'm a very straight man."

"That's OK. I'm not." he said. "Well, not entirely. I think. Stupid power. And we have to make it look good for the cameras, remember?" he said, not at all embarrassed.

"I shall endure," Shinobi replied decisively, flashing a smile. "Besides, as we've mentioned before, you are a damned handsome man. There are infinitely more off-putting ideas out there than *that*."

Manuel grinned. "Good answer." he said. "Well, I'll leave you to contemplate your fate. You sell it to your woman, I'll sell it to mine. Once you get all fixed up, we'll go out and paint the town red."

Shinobi beamed, offering a thumbs-up of approval. "Sounds like a plan to me. I think Sarah will find it too funny a mindfuck for the public to pass up."

Comments

[x-marrow.livejournal.com]

First off: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, YES.

Secondly, "baggy crap"? Manuel obviously hasn't been paying much attention to Sarah's wardrobe.

True.

[x-empath.livejournal.com]

Usually, when he sees her at all, she's usually in the throes of some depressive crisis.

Hence, the baggy crap.

Redhawk

[xp_daytripper]

Y'know, Manny is damn lucky Amanda never hears half the things he says about her. Never mind that they're true, he's such a rude bastard.

And yes, sounds like a devious plan. I think the girls could very well have some fun of their own, especially if any of the above conversation makes it way to their ears. ;)

And there's never a need to con Amanda into healing - the issue is trying to get her to stop before she falls over.

[x-marrow.livejournal.com]

Hell, I think they'd play it up even if the above conversation didn't reach their ears. :)

[xp_daytripper]

Which is why I said "especially". *eg* I figured there'd be something anyway, just all the more evil if they knew what had gone on before...