Manny/Wanda

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda tries to meditate in the sunroom but gets distracted by Manuel. They introduce each other, both surprised to find that one another is there, and settle down to talk. They actually get along rather well.



Wanda stretched and flexed in the sun before settling down Indiana style in the sun room. She had meditated in the greenhouse before but she was still not where she wanted to be mentally. The house was quiet right now and she was taking the chance to settle her mind once more. There was not conscious use of powers but she was still getting the flickering of red along her hands and the occasional string in her mind's eye that told her she still did not have the control she needed to yet.

Manuel was, in a word, bored. Amanda was hip-deep in her Eye of Newt mode, and was making it clear that Disturbing Her Would Have Consequences. Even Jubilee was too busy to hang out with him, pleading schoolwork. Kitty was cooing over her new pet. So Manuel was roaming the halls of the Mansion, hands jammed into the pockets of his slacks, whistling a very creditable version of The Barber of Seville's overture.

The sound of whistling cut through her concentration and she blinked, sighing softly as the relaxation seeped out of her again. But she really didn't mind, there would be time later for that. There were so many people here, most of whom she had yet to meet. "Hello?" she called, glancing over her shoulder but not bothering to get up. Meditation might be lost but there was no harm in sitting in a warm sunspot.

Manuel stopped dead as someone in the sunroom spoke to him. With a very familiar accent indeed. ~Hello?~ he replied back in Basque, heading straight for the sunroom. ~Are you a Rom?~ he asked in the same tongue. This could be very amusing - after he locked down his valuables.

The language was recognizable to her. It wasn't one of the ones she spoke all that much but, like so many others, she knew enough to get along. "~Yes, I am.~" She paused and shook her head. "My apologies, Basque is not one I speak well. My focus tends to be European." She stood up quickly and smoothly, standing to her full height before turning around. "Wanda Maximoff."

Manuel bowed to Wanda in the old, formal style. "Manuel Alphonso Rodrigo de la Rocha" he said, letting his Castillian accent come to the forefront with a vengeance. "I did not think I would see one of the Traveling People here of _all_ places." he said with a wide grin. "I used to love it when Alphonso would meet with your leaders. I would offer you a warm fire and bread to break your fast, but I don't think you need either one."

Wanda's eyes opened wider slightly and she suddenly returned the bow. "And I, for one, did not expect a de la Rocha here," she said, laughing softly as she straightened. "I have never met with your father, we did not travel that way often enough, but I have heard of him. The de la Rocha family has always treated my people well. Far better than anyone had any right to hope for, at times."

Manuel grinned. "A friendship that continues to this day." he said with real pride in his voice. "So what brings you to Xavier's?" he inquired politely, gesturing for her to sit before claiming a spot of his very own - at a respectable distance. The Rom were honest, in their own way, but there was no need to tempt their notoriously itchy fingers.

She smothered a smile at his reaction. Not completely unwarranted, she thought, settling herself in a chair and crossing her legs. Though it had always been her brother who did the lifting, not her. "My father, unfortunately," she said, leaning back. "Threat of him and then nearly being used as a puppet by those who would flush him out."

Manuel winced in sympathy. "I understand that completely." he said. "Although in my case my father's more than likely the one trying to be the puppeteer."

"What brings you here, though?" Wanda asked, honestly curious. "I can guess that you are a mutant, simply from the fact that you are here in the school, correct?"

Manuel nodded, but inside he winced. "A reasonable guess. I am an empath." he admitted with undertones of burning shame. "I've been having control problems with it, and I am here to learn to get my gift under my control. It is slow and painful going. What brings you to this land, so far away from your people?"

"These days it seems I am more away from my people than not," Wanda replied, shrugging. "Second time in America, though, so it is a new experience for me. I'm staying until I can be assured that the danger has passed. The thought that my family lives were in danger because someone was after me did not sit very well with me. And I understand about control, it took me a good many years to fine tune my powers so that I had them in severe control."

"You have a gift as well?" he said with amused tolerance. "Unusual for your people. May I inquire as to what it is?" he asked her, settling into his chair as best he could. The Rom usually loved to tell stories, and if she was anything like the others he had met he could be here for a while.

There was a hint of something wild in her smile when she grinned at him. "Chaos. I make things happen that, normally, should not happen. The strings are attached to everything when I activate my powers and I pull them to cause something to happen. I did not have that control when I manifested, as you can probably guess. A wrong tug, the wrong string and I find myself surrounded by chaos and pain. Not something I wished to continue doing."

"Strings, you say?" Manuel asked with some astonishment. "I see emotional ties as strings between Who-Feels and Who-Is-Felt. I do not have good words to describe it, but I see all of human emotional existence as strings. For example, you have one extending out from you towards - let's see here - Charles? Yes, I think that's the one. You feel something for him - gratitude, I think that is. Am I right?" he said with a small smirk.

Wanda nodded her head slightly, still amused. "Yes, well, I would feel gratitude for anyone who saved me and then housed the daughter of once friend, now turned enemy. My strings...I see strings of entropy, I suppose. Bright red, all of them. Well, all but one anyway."

"The strings to me are of all colors - what color is determined by the feeling involved, and the intensity. You have some very strong ones - one mostly negative, one with a fairly intense mix of the two." Manuel said, still peering at Wanda. "I do hope that my talk is not disturbing you?" he asked with a slightly worried frown. "Most people want me to do nothing with my gift at all."

She waved a hand at him and shrugged. "What is it to me what you can do, besides that it is rather interesting?" she asked. "I do not know you and all I can do is hope that you do not use it on me. You are here, so I assume that you won't." Wanda smiled at a look he gave her. "I trust easily--the first time. If the trust is broken, then it is _much_ harder for me to return back to it."

Manuel sighed. "I have already done so - I looked at your emotions, followed a tie of yours back to who it was attached to. I will try not to do such things in the future." He bowed again from his chair, this one more of an atonement-for-a-wrong bow rather than one of respect.

"Ah, no, my apologies, I did not make myself clear. You must forgive me, English is not my first, or even my fourth, language. I meant that if you can read and gauge, then you can affect, correct? Read all you want, it does me no harm. I am open about my feelings anyway."

Manuel nodded. "I can, easily." he said. "I am quite strong in my own gift. Makes controlling it very difficult sometimes." he admitted. "But I will attempt to never use it upon you without your permission." he offered. "Does that set your mind at ease, Speaker?" he asked with a grin, having finally recalled her most likely title to his mind.

Wanda laughed, delighted. "I see you are well informed! And yes, it does at that. You probably know that we Rom are head strong and enjoy living our lives the way we please, so thank you for that." There was a teasing tone on her voice, she understood her own personality very well.

Manuel grinned again. It was uncanny - normally, he'd be all in a tailspin right about now, but he was finding it difficult to be depressed around this woman. "I never would have guessed." he deadpanned. "Which reminds me - would you like to have dinner sometime?" he asked with a devilish grin. "I know some people who can get some things from back home. Wine, cheeses, a few other things. Interested?"

"Foods from home, something I cannot pass up. And I enjoy making new friends." There was a subtle pressure on the word 'friends'. She had heard his name, not his last though, tied into Amanda's, the delightful young witch she had met in the stables. From some of the rumors, it was an open relationship but still, open or not, there was a relationship. "And wine is even harder to pass up."

Manuel grinned. He knew how she felt - how she didn't want any entanglements. And while Manuel wouldn't mind an entanglement - the Romany woman was quite well-built for an Amazon - he was prepared to respect her wishes. "I will do my humble best to arrange things." he said with a self-effacing gesture with his hands.

"My thanks. It's not often that I get back home, too much traveling for work, and my latest trip was cut short because of this mess." She shook her head. "Life, it seems, does not wish to stand still. Especially here, I've noticed."

"My thanks. It's not often that I get back home, too much traveling for work, and my latest trip was cut short because of this mess." She shook her head. "Life, it seems, does not wish to stand still. Especially here, I've noticed."

Manuel nodded. "Around here, there is always some new crisis to disturb things. As a chaos-witch, I figure you should feel right at home." he said with a small laugh. "Do you want to talk about your latest difficulties?"

"Not much to talk about but gladly." Wanda frowned slightly. "I left because I was afraid that those close to Magneto would feel that in order to get a hand up in the world, they would bring him something that would not come willingly. He does not know my mother is dead, so they would have the choice of her or I. I can handle myself but I doubt I could keep my people save from the likes that work for him."

Manuel hrmmed and then nodded as he thought it through. "So it is for a good reason that you hide yourself here under the watchful eye of Senor Xavier." he mused. "He can protect you. He protects all of us."

"Yes, that is it pretty much in a nutshell. Dangerous men and woman flock to my father, apparently, and if they come after me, I wish to have support behind me."

"We have a few dangerous men and women of our own around here. Spies, mercenaries, former Interpol cops..." he said, and then stopped dead. "Interpol. You might want to stay away from him for a time - it is my understanding that the law does not understand the Travelers, and I would hate for things to spiral out of control so quickly." he said smoothly.

She tilted her head, grateful. "Thank you. Yes, the law tends to frown on our travelings and wanderings. My group does not steal." Wanda paused. "When not necessary. Food to feed a crying child’s belly is not something one should be tossed in jail for. Not when a village kicks you out." She shrugged. "Times change though, it is much easier to find work now. At least in the bigger cities."

Manuel nodded. "I know that we always offered a safe place to rest and food, if we could not also offer honest work." he said as he remembered. "It was important to my family not to grow too disconnected from the downtrodden."

"We are grateful for whatever was, and still is, offered. Now, with temping agencies popping up, it is easier to find day to day work while traveling. The outward villages--well, they'll forever be a thorn, sometimes." Wanda grinned. "But what is life without a little annoyance and getting around that?"

Manuel grimaced, but nodded gracefully at her verbal point. "Perhaps." he said. "I've never much cared for impediments in any aspect of my life." he said with a wave of his hand.

"It all depends on what you are used to," she replied. "Trust me, there are times I wish I had never dealt with some of the things that I have. But I can't change it, so I don't dwell. How do you like it here, if I may ask?"

"I find it trying, with few exceptions." he said after a moment's reflection. "But the exceptions make the rest worthwhile in the end."

Wanda thought about that for a few seconds, gaze going to the windows before answering. "Well, it seems as if I will enjoy it here, no matter how long my stay may go."

"I certainly hope so." he said with an inclination of his head. "I will not take up any more of your time, Seeker." he said, then stood. "Good journey." he said, then casually strolled out of the sunroom.

Thoughtfully, she watched him leave before shaking her head. A de la Rocha, here. She knew the rumors of his father, a dangerous man to be certain. But as far as the Rom were concerned, they were allies. Rising, she walked back to the sunspot and settled herself back down to meditate.