Manuel and Bethany - HeliX Fundraiser

[x-empath.livejournal.com]

Who: Manuel de la Rocha, Bethany Moore
Where: HeliX Fundraiser
When: Saturday evening
What Happens: Manuel finally meets Beth! Things go tolerably well for a time, but then they get abrasive against each other as her fears come to the forefront. Manuel fans the flames.



Manuel got his first chance to step away from Xavier as Charles was speaking to a cluster of concerned parents. With the Headmaster's approval, he worked his way through the crowd, sipping their emotions through his mental shield. The mood of the crowd was basically good, with a lot of tension that music and familiarity hadn't had time to erase yet. Too many humans who couldn't shield, though, he thought with the slightest grimace on his face. He was looking for one in particular - he had wormed a physical description out of Amanda, and even compensating for her biases, this Bethany human wasn't easy to find.

There was a tiny little ball of anxiety hanging back near the stage, which belonged to the aformentioned human, but Bethany was doing a good job at keeping the butterflies in her stomach from affecting her outwards appearance. Hands stuffed into the pockets of her suit, she was eyeing the instruments set up for PCIF with a small grin, even if she was a little irked with herself for forgetting her camera at home. So much for her aspirations of photojournalism. Oh well.

Manuel finally felt her as he worked the perimeter of the crowd, and the tawdry American teen in the bad suit with the sneakers on couldn't be anyone else but her. "Hola." he said to her with his most charming smile - although he knew it'd be wasted on her. Still, he would observe the forms anyway. "You are Bethany, are you not?" he asked her with a smile, his Spanish accent strong in his words. "My name is Manuel. I believe you've been expecting me?"

Blinking in surprise, Bethany looked over her shoulder, unable to help a brief appreciative quirk of both eyebrows. Well. No wonder Amanda was attached to this guy. "Hola," she echoed, smiling nervously and turning around to face him. "Right on all counts. Nice to finally meet you. She does go on about you a bit."

Manuel smiled charmingly. "That's good to know. She's an amazing woman." he said. "Watching the band set up?" he asked her politely, careful to clamp down hard on his power. "They don't play much that I like, but they're passably talented with what they do know. Have you heard them before?"

"Only recorded. Jamie'd mentioned the band and I bugged him 'til he gave me something to listen to." Bethany managed to push the bulk of her nerves out of her smile, glancing to the drum set again. "Not my usual thing, but they're not half-bad, and they're friends, so I'm honor-bound to do the 'I'm with the band' thing whenever I can."

Manuel quirked both his eyebrows. "Honor-bound? How very interesting." he commented, clearly misinterpreting what she was saying. "I used to play the clubs of Madrid when I was younger." he confessed. "What style of music do you like?" he asked her, refraining from using his power to figure it out for himself.

Bethany tilted her head questioningly at his intial response, looking a little bit puzzled before something clicked. "Oh! Not honor-bound quite like that.. I just want to support my friends, my choice, you know?" Then the rest of what he'd said registered, and she looked - and sounded - genuinely interested. "What did you do at the clubs? And.. oh, damn near anything. Don't tell anybody, but I like Beethoven when I'm studying. Makes the mental gears turn better, for some reason."

Manuel didn't bother to hide his surprise. "I love Beethoven! I heard the Vienna Orchestra do his Fifth once - it was the closest I've ever come to a religious experience." he confided. "Mostly electronica - trance was my favorite. Some EBM, Futurepop, that kind of thing. But I'd play anything to get the crowds moving and the bodies in motion - my power's very helpful to me in that regard. I can usually tell what will get people moving. Got to help Moby set up for a show once. Also drank beer and went bowling with KMFDM, if you like industrial."

"That does sound nice," Bethany replied wistfully. Oh, orchestras. Such a guilty pleasure. "Nothing wrong with electronica," she added, smiling much more easily now. "It's good for getting people moving ... and I'm more likely to squeal fangirlishly at you over bowling with KMFDM than Moby, yeah, I'm sad to say."

Manuel relaxed just a little bit - she liked industrial. Maybe she wasn't totally hopeless. "I've met KMFDM and Rammstein both - although my German really stinks, so the lads from Rammstein didn't have much to say. But they paid well for my unique services, so I can't complain." he smirked. "Not much call for it at Xavier's - Marie-Ange is a fan, but that's about it. So I usually don't have anyone to share my taste in music with. Amanda prefers her dreadful punk - at least she did." He didn't explain that last part of his comment, and his
mood visibly changed for a second before recovering. "You've picked a very interesting choice of outfit tonight." he said, checking her out from head to toe.

Bethany wanted to ask about the correction, but she didn't need any mutant powers to see the change in his mood, so she didn't - wasn't really a big deal, anyway. "You can always hit me with an e-mail or something if our musical taste meshes well enough for it," she suggested, smiling. Then, she looked down at herself, briefly making a little bit of a face. "I don't look too bad, do I?" she asked self-consciously, rubbing at the nape of her neck. "We didn't have the cash for anything really nice, or anything."

"I can get your address from Amanda." he said, then looked her back over again. "It's ... a different approach, that's for sure." he said. "Somewhat outre, even. I wouldn't have guessed poverty - I thought you might be trying to make a statement about gender politics." he said, in an attempt to keep from saying what he really felt. "I should
really take you and Amanda clothes-shopping sometime. Get you some nice things, no obligation or debt incurred. Just because every girl should have some pretty things in her closet."

"Not poverty-stricken. Just not swimming in gold dubloons or anything." She shrugged, stuffing her hands back into her pockets. "And it isn't so much a statement about gender politics, so much as it is me being a horribly tomboyish dyke, really." And it was so much fun to say that without quieting her voice - it was a party on tolerance, she felt safe (and a little entitled to) doing it. "I wouldn't say no to a shopping trip sometime. Maybe once she's un-grounded?"

Manuel smiled tolerantly. She was a dyke because he felt like allowing it. He felt guilty for thinking it, though, and covered it with another brilliant smile. "Capital idea. I've already convinced Amanda to allow me to try to dress her, so if you'd like to attend us I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be OK. But I have to ask - do horribly tomboyish dykes dance with mutants?" he asked with a nod towards the dancefloor.

"We dance with whoever doesn't mind running the risk of getting their toes broken," Bethany grinned, looking towards the dancefloor with a thoughtful tilt of her head. "I'm not a very graceful dancer."

"I've been dancing since I was three. I don't think we'll have any problems with mashed toes." He escorted her into the dancefloor and toned down his usual graceful moves to something she could handle. Mentally gritting his teeth, he smiled at her charmingly. "You're really quite talented for an amateur." he complimented her.

"You're just trying to be polite," Bethany chuckled, giving Manuel a sheepishly amused smile as she tried to keep up. "And doing a wonderful job at it, for the record. You don't need to, though - I'm here to meet you, not your best behaviour, Manuel. If you think I'm a shitty dancer and look ridiculous in the suit, you're allowed to tell me so. I won't clock you in the nose for it or anything."

Manuel didn't lose his smile one inch. "Nonsense." he said, waving off her protestations. "I am not so ill-bred that I would insult a lady's choice of costume or her skills on the dancefloor in public." he said with a little of the de la Rocha steel arrogance. "I would not have chosen to make the statement you are making - let me leave it at that." he added. "But you're right about one thing - you won't be clocking me in the nose."

"Suppose it's enough for me to know you're better whether it's said or not," Bethany murmured, casting a brief look back towards the stage before giving herself a firm mental shake. Not here to brood, Bethany, snap out of it. "Sorry. Just nervous."

"I can tell even without my power." he admitted. "I am trying to be gracious and accomodating. I am apparently doing a poor job, and for that, I apologize. But if it would make you feel better, your choice of attire is absolutely hideous. It does nothing for you, and it's so very, very American. There, do you feel better now?"

"A little bit, actually," Bethany admitted, looking up with a small grin. "I prefer honesty to politeness. Thank you. And you're being very gracious and accomodating, Manuel, I'm just not very good at being accomodated for."

Maneul nodded. "I thought that might be it, but I took the other assumption to let you save some face." he said. "Anyway - so the dancefloor is a bad idea. Want to get something to drink?"

Bethany nodded, keeping her small grin. "Appreciated.. and something to drink does sound good. I didn't see where they stashed the refreshments on my way in, so.. lead on?"

Manuel lead Bethany through the crowd, careful to keep her behind him so she couldn't see him use his power to work his way through some of the larger knots of milling people. "The buffet line." he said, waving to it. "If you prefer something stronger, I can accomodate that as well."

"Tempting, but my dad would kill me," Bethany chuckled, oblivious to Manuel's use of his power as she followed along behind him. "I'll be good and stick to whatever they've got laid out over here. Thanks."

Manuel shrugged. "Your choice." He reached into his tuxedo jacket's inside pocket, and pulled out a silver flask. Uncapping it, he took a long drink from it before recapping it and putting it away. Then, and only then, he moved into the buffet line to pick out a few somethings to eat.

The butterflies in her stomach were surely hungry, but Bethany figured feeding them would only make them more rambunctious, so she forewent food in favor of something to drink. "I'm such a wild child," she grumbled unhappily, claiming herself a bottle of water and eyeing it disdainfully before moving aside and unscrewing the top.

"Apparently." Manuel commented, moving aside Bethany and snacking lightly on his vegetables. "So I know why I have fallen for our fair British rose, but what attracted you to her? You met during the Madrox Fan Club meetings, right?"

"The HeliX meetings," Bethany corrected lightly, looking up with a wry grin. "Jamie's an okay guy, but we don't worship the ground he walks on or anything." She shrugged, and took a sip of her water to give herself a moment to think. "She attracted me to her, if that makes sense," she said after a moment, stubbornly ignoring the way her cheeks burned. "Gorgeous girl, fun as hell, personalities mesh great, and she doesn't make me pretend to be someone I'm not.. she likes me for me, and I like her for her. It's like a little taste of freedom, I
guess, in a really hokily-phrased kind of way." Except that taste of freedom belonged to somebody else, but Amanda'd kill her for thinking it.

Manuel felt where that thought went, but let it pass. "Has he told you that he's barred people from attending HeliX meetings?" he said lightly. "A terrible shame, even if the person did make something of a poor impression on Mr Madrox. And that's interesting. She really is beautiful, if she'd only let herself express it more." he said wistfully.

"She's beautiful in ratty jeans and a grungey t-shirt and her hair all mussed," Bethany observed lightly, lips curving into a slightly dreamy smile. "That might just be me and my taste, though." A shrug, and she looked up with a curious tilt of her head. "As to the HeliX thing.. I don't remember, honestly, but I may have put my brain in backwards this morning in my rush to get here. You want my opinion on that one?"

Manuel shrugged. "If you wish to share it, go right ahead." he said lightly. "I just thought you should know."

"I'm glad you shared," Bethany nodded, reaching over to give him a very light, brief pat on the arm. "And I think that it isn't Jamie's fan club, so if you want to come, you should come. Can share a ride out with Amanda, or something."

Manuel smiled a cruel smile. "People keep telling me that." he smirked. "You should have seen some of the fights on the school journal system about the whole topic. I actually made Madrox blow his top. Without my power."

"He's a teenage boy," Bethany observed, grinning wryly up at Manuel. "Making a teenage boy lose his temper isn't all that hard."

"Saint Madrox lose his temper? Surely you jest!" he laughed. "Come on, there has to be a place to sit around here. Your discomfort is starting to get to me." he said, looking around the room for a place to sit. "Ah, here we go. This way, if you please?"

"He's not a saint," Bethany laughed, unable to keep from rolling her eyes. "He's just another guy. Nothing special about him." She shrugged, and offered an apologetic smile when he mentioned her discomfort before she nodded, and turned to follow him towards the indicated seats. "Sure. You having a decent time at this shindig?"

"Passable. Not really my scene, you know? I can do fundraisers in my sleep - I've been to enough of them in my time. Although I think Xavier is probably working the crowd by now. Can't tell for sure, he's invisible to me." he said distractedly as he led her to a table off the beaten path - one that was occupied by a group of older human kids. "Leave." Manuel said, his eyes flashing red for a second. The four kids scrambled out of their seats like they'd been terrified and melted back into the crowd. "Please." he said, gesturing to the chairs. "Be seated."

She peered after the scurrying kids for a moment before peering up at Manuel, her eyebrows creeping up towards her hairline. "There were empty seats, you know," Bethany said slowly, staying where she was. Yeah, definitely a good thing she hadn't fed her butterflies. "That wasn't necessary."

Manuel shrugged. "The others were too close to the party. These are fairly isolated, and you feel like you could use some quieter time. It is nothing - that was just a pulse. No harm done. Now, please, sit?" he asked her.

"You could have asked, on either count," Bethany observed, stubbornly staying where she was - it was that or run away, and she promised Amanda she'd try. "Scaring them isn't going to do much for the tolerance this thing's trying to promote."

Manuel felt exactly how Bethany felt about the entire thing. And then breathed out a deep breath. "Tolerance, Bethany." he said. "Show some - that's what tonight is all about, is it not?" He stared off into the crowd and once again his eyes glowed red for a second. "There. I've wiped away the last vestiges of the fear I put into them. I gave it, I took it away. Satisfied?" he asked her.

"Manipulation doesn't fix manipulation," Bethany said slowly, slowly reaching out to set her bottle of water on the edge of the table before she could manage to drop it, or something equally embarassing. "Fucking with peoples' heads uninvited and unnecessarily isn't something I'm all that cool with, Manuel. But I'm tolerating it. Don't see me running screaming yet, do you?"

Manuel looked at Bethany, almost looking _through_ her. But his eyes stayed dark. "That was hardly fucking with people's heads. If I wanted to fuck with some heads ... " he started to say, and then bit it off. "But I am trying my best not to." he finished. "Occasionally I lapse. I apologize. I continually forget that people prefer that I do things the slow and painful way whenever possible."

"Try harder," Bethany replied simply, her hands once again vanishing into her pockets. It was the easiest way to hide the way they were shaking. "And you don't owe me the apology, but thank you for offering it."

"I have been." Manuel said. "Look at you - I terrify you. Why is that?" he said, looking through her again. "Is it that frightening, what I did to those kids? Or are you just afraid of me personally? You're trembling."

She set her jaw, in hopes that it would steady her voice - it worked, mostly. "I'm afraid of your mutation because its.. well, for the same reason telepathy scares me. My head and my emotions are the only things I know I always control, all I know I can always trust in. But you, or a telepath, could reach in and change things. And that's scary to me. I don't have any way to defend myself against that, and I don't do well with the whole 'hopeless and helpless' schtick." She shrugged, only slightly jerky in the motion. "And I'm scared of you because she loves you, and I'm just waiting to get dumped on my ass."

"You're not going to get dumped on your ass." Manuel reassured, then took his own seat at the still-vacant table. "You do things for her that I, quite frankly, cannot. You ground her, where I let her see the world and stretch her wings. She needs us both, as galling as that is to me to admit. So your posiiton as her lover and her friend are quite secure. Now, will you please _sit down_?"

Grudgingly, Bethany ducked her head in acknowledgement, and took a moment to make sure she had her balance before stepping over to claim the nearest empty chair. "If you aren't happy sharing, she won't make you," she observed, reaching out for her water.

"Thank you. And it is not that I do not like to share - we reached an accomodation along those lines a long time ago. I ... do not like admitting that there are things I cannot do. And one of those things I cannot do is make her truly happy - not without forcing it, and then I lose everything." Manuel explained. "And I made a promise to Amanda that I would not touch your feelings, and I will make it to you here and now again. Unless you specifically ask it of me, I will not touch your emotions."

Bethany nodded slowly, chancing a quick look towards Manuel so that she could offer him a shakey but genuinely grateful smile. "Thank you. I trust you not to break your word to her." After a moment's pause, she tilted her head slightly. "Um.. can I ask a potentially insulting question, or should I just keep it to myself? I don't want to stir shit up for either of you."

"Ask." Manuel said. "I cannot promise that I will not take offense, but I am attempting to be more open and forthright with my life."

"I'm not asking it to offend or anything," Bethany nodded, absently picking at the label on her bottle of water as she watched him thoughtfully. "I'm just tryin' to figure you two out better, since I don't really know.. anything, really, 'cept that she's crazy about you. But.." She trailed off for a moment, and drew in a deep breath. Just ask. It won't kill anyone. "You said you can't make her truly happy.. so.. what.. do you do for her, exactly?"

"What do I do for her?" Manuel echoed with surprise. "To sum it all up - I complete her, as she does me. Physically, emotionally, even spiritually. I've never met anyone with the depth of passion, of humanity - if you'll pardon the phrase - as she has. She's been through so much, and come through it all with her head held high. I give her the love she never thought she could ever feel about anyone. I can share her world."

Rather than giving voice to any of the self-conscious, bitter replies that leapt readily to mind.. Bethany opted for something else, giving Manuel a faintly perplexed, dubious look. "And that doesn't make you both truly happy?"

"It makes me happy. But she needs more than what I can give her. Which is where you come in. We're from different worlds, Amanda and I. You can be her friend in ways that I am incapable. You are from the same sort of class that she is, you can let her express the other side of her sexuality. That sort of a thing." he explained patiently. "So - now that I have laid myself bare before you - why do you feel the way you do?"

"Because I do," Bethany replied simply, lifting her shoulers in a shrug. "There's no one or two reasons why I l.." She paused, closing her eyes and setting her jaw. "..like her as much as I do. It's the whole package deal. We mesh."

"Like?" Manuel said, spotting a familiar emotional change in Bethany's aura. "Admit it to yourself - you love her, and you are jealous of me." he smirked. "I am truly sorry that you feel that way, but there's nothing to be done about it."

"I've admitted it to me already, but not to her, and she has dibs on being told in plain english before you do," Bethany said quickly, likely a little more harsh than neccessary, but she wasn't precisely at her best. "And I'm not jealous of you. I'm jealous of your position. There's a big fuckin' difference."

Manuel just leaned back and smiled. "And there we are." he said simply. "So what now? You're jealous of my position as first in her affections. I am not willing to step aside for you, and I will not. I begrudge you nothing. Love her as strongly and as well as you are able."

"Nobody said you were first," Bethany pointed out stonily. "And nobody said I was, either."

"I said I was first. I have _seen_ it. Empath, remember?" he teased her. "But, really there is no first, and there is no last. There is just male and female. She wants you for different things that she wants me for. It's just that simple."

"If you complete her like you say you do, she'd have no reason to want me," Bethany pointed out, aiming for 'reasonable' and hitting 'challenging' instead. She seemed to realize it, though, and closed her eyes and drew in several deep, calming breaths. "I think she's a better authority on her own feelings than you are, empathy be damned, is all I'm saying. As for the 'what now', I think I pick up my drink, and I go back to watching the band set up before I do anything stupider than I already have."

"You're not listening, but that's not surprising. You're not thinking, you're feeling. Go on, take your water and watch the band set up. I need to look Katherine up - she owes me a dance." he said. "There is no need for us to be rivals or enemies. We should be friends - we have something in common that we care for deeply."

"Common ground isn't the basis of a friendship," Bethany replied with a shake of her head, shifting to rise to her feet. "Trust is. And you remind me of too many people I've known before for me to be comfortable trusting you, and I'd be sayin' this no matter who you were or were not fucking."

"I could fix that, but I will not." he said, all pretense at friendliness gone now. "Go on, enjoy the rest of the party."

"And that's part of why I won't. You keep parading around what you can do, even if you won't. It's like waving a gun at someone and sayin' 'I could shoot you in the head, but I won't'. Doesn't make you superior, Manuel, it just makes you a bully, and an asshole." Bethany shrugged, scooping up her water and taking a small step back from the table, then another. "You just remind me of the abusive boyfriends an' girlfriends I've known, Manny, and that makes me a little uncomfortable with trusting you just for her. So. You go get
your dance, and I'll go back to hangin' with the other poverty-stricken kids by the stage."

Manuel looked at Bethany, and the words of a promise he'd made came back to mind. Biting off his anger, he stood up as well and looked at Bethany. "Good day." he said, and then with as much dignity as he could muster stalked off into the crowd.