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[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

Manuel is moping. In the music room. Marie-Ange is unamused, and entirely not helpful.  Oh, and some truths are revealed. Just a few -teeny- ones. ;)



It had been far too long since she touched either the cello or the guitar. Three months away and then no inclination to practice at all in the following weeks meant a lot of rust. Except that the Music Room wasn't empty.  Dark hair - check. Piano - check. Expensive suit all rumpled and untucked. Check.  "Manuel? Are you going to mope while  I practice, or should I take me and my guitar somewhere else?"

Manuel looked up from where he sat - on the end of the piano bench, head down between his knees. "You can practice here." he said listlessly. "I will leave."

Marie-Ange rolled her eyes. Men.  "That's not what I said. You were here first, and I certainly wouldn't want to bother you while you are so very obviously wallowing in some kind of misery. I suppose some of your stocks took a plummet?"

Manuel showed a sign of life - he got angry. "No, it's not about stocks this time." he said, his anger dying away as soon as it arrived. "I really don't want to talk about it with you."

"No, I suppose you would not want to talk about whatever it is with me."  Marie-Ange shrugged absently and opened her guitar case.  "And I could already know, but you would know that. So I will not ask you what happened, and you will not tell me when I guess correctly, yes?"

"Correct." Manuel said. "You don't need to know - I don't need to take any abuse from you." he said peevishly. "I'm doing quite a good job of beating myself up. I don't need any help from you, _woman_."

He was beating himself up. Which meant it was something Manuel cared about, which could only mean one thing.  "Oh. I should probably check in on Amanda once I am done here then."  Marie-Ange paused briefly.  "You know, you are really very sexist sometimes."

Manuel hissed in anger. "That would be a very good idea. She's probably a little busy right now with her new great love." he said, then slumped back over the end of the piano bench. "I can make a prediction for you now - you are going to mock me until you fall down laughing, and then you will tell everyone so that they can enjoy mocking me as well."

"Hew great new love?"  Marie-Ange blinked, practically audibly. "Do not be stupid, Manuel."

"I am not being stupid, despite what you think." he said sadly. "I saw it with my own two eyes plus I saw the thread between them. There is no mistake. He loves her, she loves him back. Open and shut."

"Non. I am sorry, but you are an idiot. I am not sure how you have managed to be fooled, but you and Amanda are not going to fall far away from each other anytime soon."  Marie-Ange shrugged matter-of-factly.  "I have seen it. You two are like ... one of those roller coasters. Up and down and up and down but never really apart. It is very annoying."

Manuel sneered at Marie-Ange. "And because you care so very much for my well-being, I can take everything you say on faith. Of course."

"Why would I lie?"  Marie-Ange was genuinely puzzled. She had no reason to lie about this.  "It is not as if you cannot -tell- if I am lying.."

"I am not looking. If I use my power, I doubt very much I will stop at just looking. I will fix everything, and then lose everything." he said. "One step closer to the Man in the Chair." he laughed bitterly.
A brief grimace of fear passed over Marie-Ange's face, followed by surprise.  "How do you know about that?" she asked quietly.

Manuel laughed, a very black sound indeed. "I dreamed it!" he said. "When I had your power, that was the first thing I saw. And it's all coming true."

"You .. had ... "  Marie-Ange shook her head to try to clear her thoughts.  "I am going to try very, very hard to not think about when and why you had my power, and I am definitly going to not think about how there is a part of me that thinks it was your just reward. You know, first hand, that what I see can be prevented."  She stepped forward, grabbing Manuel's wrist - the one without the dampener, with the ring of burn scars.

Manuel jerked his wrist out of her hand. "And you just disproved your own point. The futures you see can be avoided, nullified. So do not give me platitudes until you are prepared to _guarantee_ things."

"So I have seen one future where you are an insane dictator who rules the world, and another where you are a great teacher and healer. Both cannot happen. I do not give you platitudes. I have seen you and Amanda, and that is that. Nearly as many times as I have seen myself and Doug, and I know very well that there is a future that -must- be altered for some of the others to occur."  Marie-Ange said, arms crossed. Men were so stupidly stubborn sometimes.

Manuel sighed deeply. "I could fix this with a thought - that what is so frustrating about this entire thing. I have been so unbelievably _stupid_. She had me fooled for _months_ - I should not be surprised that she could not..." he let his voice trail off, realizing that he was babbling.

"You could, but you do not."  Marie-Ange shook her head.  "And you should really not say that sort of thing aloud if you do not want someone to know you -can- make those changes again."  She snorted lightly.  "The Man in the Chair would have just fixed it already, you know."

Manuel looked at Marie-Ange. "I have been arguing with myself as to why I should not just go ahead and do it. Make it all go away, fix all the problems. It would be so _easy_..." he said, clenching his hands into fists. "You should be pleased - I am not so far gone that I will compel love lightly." There. He said it, and didn't expire immediately from the ripping pain that came from the general vicinity of his heart.

"It would cause more problems than it would solve, Manuel. Someone would know. The Professor would know, or Nathan, or ..  " A very faint expression of distaste crossed Marie-Ange's face.  "Or Ms. Braddock. Someone would know."  She was not going to comment on the other thing he said. Some vunerabilities were not to be exploited.
Manuel shook his head, clearly fighting back some _strong_ emotions. "I know." he said quietly. "I _know_, and I am not sure that I _care_!"

"So what is stopping you then?"  Marie-Ange flopped down on the floor with a complete lack of her usual grace.  This line of conversation could possibly get very, very ugly in a very short time if she was not careful.

Manuel stopped to think about that for a second. "Because I want something in my fucked-up sad excuse of a life to be _real_, okay? That I can have something not because I'm an empath, or that I'm rich, or that I'm from an old family, but because of WHO I AM! Is that so hard to understand? And why am I telling _YOU_ this? You don't give a fuck about me. You've got your perfect happy little life already. You know don't shit."

Marie-Ange winced. "If I did not ''give a fuck'' as you say, then I would have taken my guitar and gone to practice in Doug's room, and had a nice little part of what you call my perfect happy little life."  And possibly gotten Jamie and Miles and Artie to Go Away, but she wasn't telling Manuel that.  "It is not at all hard to understand. You have just never told anyone."  She paused.  "Not that I blame you."

Manuel glared at Marie-Ange. "Just do me a favor and shut up before I do something really unpleasant to your brain." he said. "And why would I tell any of you? So that you could mock me even more than you already do?" he seethed.

"Too late."  Really, she should definitly watch that tendency to mouth off without thinking. It never ended well.  "Why would I mock you for loving Amanda?"  What a stupid thing for Manuel to think.

Manuel ground his teeth together. "Because you mock me for existing, let alone doing anything that might be construed as a good thing."

"I do?"  Marie-Ange tilted her head to the side and blinked.  "I really should talk to one of the doctors about this memory problem I am having."

"See?" he said, gesturing extravagantly at Marie-Ange. "You're doing it now!"

Rolling her eyes, Marie-Ange let out a short snort.  "Yes, because you are being an idiot. I make fun of Doug too, when he is stupid. And Jamie, and Angelo, and Jubilee." She paused.  "Espically Jubilee."

"And according to you I am always an idiot." he snapped back. "You are not helping. Just take your guitar and go."

"No, sometimes you are not at all an idiot. It is not stupid or worthy of mocking for you to love Amanda."

Manuel's logic was obviously not functioning. Though, it rarely did, in Marie-Ange's opinion.  "I am not going to make fun of you for that. Love is not something to mock."

Manuel, if it was possible, looked even glummer at this. He slumped back over the edge of the piano bench, letting his arms and head dangle. "Her love she reserves for another." he admitted quietly, to Hell with the consequences. He probably deserved the howls of derisive laughter that were sure to follow.

"I take it back. You are an idiot about this too."  Marie-Ange stood and picked up her guitar case and stalked towards the door.  "There is this wonderful invention called communication. You could try it some time and let me know how it works." 

"Sure." Manuel shot at her back as she walked away. "I was there when she _communicated_ her feelings to that grey assbiter." he spit out. "I saw it, heard it, and felt it."