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xp_logs2004-10-18 11:09 am
x-empath.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2004-10-18 11:09 am
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Manuel and Amanda - Almost Kinda Sorta Like Regular Folks
Manuel and Amanda go out on a date. Of course, being who they are, it doesn't necessarily go smoothly. They make plans to do it again. Backdated to Saturday, October 16th.
"Grab yer coat, we're goin' out," Amanda said briskly, coming into Manuel's room with no more announcement than a "I'm planning something" feeling down the link. She was dressed relatively nicely, for her - the jeans were clean and not ripped anywhere and were actually close to their original colour of dark blue, and she had on one of the shirts Manuel had bought for her, white Egyptian cotton, with a leather vest over the top. Of course, the biker jacket over the top wasn't exactly matching, but it gave her a certain... attitude. "The Purple Pixie's givin' us a lift into New York, an' I don't want t' hold her up too much."
"Wait. We're going out? No, I can't. I've got too much to do - I've got reports to compile for Ms Frost, I've got an Econ test on Tuesday ... why do you want to go out, anyway?" he asked suspiciously, studying her emotions. The White Queen's words came to mind, and he dropped all hostility from his voice. "You know what, it doesn't matter. What should I wear? Where are we going?"
Amanda raised her eyebrow at the sudden shift, but let it go. At least she didn't have to argue. "Shoppin', dinner an' a movie," she said, grinning briefly. "Thought I'd try this normal life thing. An' you need more CDs t'replace the ones I broke. I'm payin'," she added, before he could protest.
Manuel bit back what he was about to say, and then nodded. "Well, let me see here..." he said, throwing open his closet and pondering his options. Finally he decided on a simple pair of black slacks and a thick, warm blood-red button-down shirt. Unashamedly, he shucked his current apparel, kicking them over to the Mount Dirty Clothes, and put the new things on. Fishing out his wallet and his keys, he nodded to Amanda. "You said that Clarice will be transporting us? Are you
_sure_?"
"Trust me," she said. "Arranged it all with her this mornin', an' she's waitin'. I'm helpin' her with Arabic, so she owes me a favour." Before he could quibble with that, or raise any honour-bound objections, or whatever the hell else he was going to do to try and make an issue, she grabbed his hand and practically dragged him to her suite - Clarice had been sleeping on their couch occasionally since the mess with Illyana. "You need t' get out of here," she said as they went. "An' you said you wanted kidnappin', so that's exactly what I'm doin'. Can't quite manage Istanbul or somewhere like that at short notice, but this should do for a bit."
Manuel stumbled along, hands jammed into his pockets. "Can I least grab a jacket?" he asked before he got dragged along _too_ far. "It's probably cold outside." he said sensibly. "You won't like me if I get a cold."
"Fine, all right, grab yer coat," Amanda replied with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, excitement bubbling through the link despite her best efforts. If he didn't enjoy this, she was going to strangle him, simple as that. She waited for him, bouncing a little on her toes, humming to herself. A few days away, a bit of public service to the archelogical world, and quite a lot of money sitting in the bank account Nathan and Domino had set up for her... it had really done wonders for her mood. Now to pass the favour on. "Ready?" she asked when he reappeared.
Manuel nodded. "Ready." he said, now with his hands thrust into the pockets of his light leather jacket. "I'm still not sure Clarice will be doing me any favors, but I'll leave that to you." he said with a patently false smile. ~You are going to enjoy this, Manuel.~ he thought to himself. ~Put your obligations aside and just take pleasure in being like normal folks.~
Unfortunately, the other part of his brain - the part riled up by Emma's caustic words spit back with a ~But you're not _like_ other folks. You're a de la Rocha. We stand for something better, remember?~ he thought to himself.
"I told you, trust me. All right?" Reaching up on tiptoe Amanda kissed his cheek lightly, before tucking her arm through his. "Just relax an' let me take of things. It's my turn, after all."
---
Manuel looked around at the trash-strewn alley that Clarice's blink had deposited them into. "Is this her idea of a joke?" he inquired, sarcasm dripping from his words. "If so, I think that our next fencing class is going to be quite interesting indeed." He crammed his hands back into his jacket's pockets and waited for Amanda to indicate which way to go. New York City was hard on his shielding, but so far he had it under control. ~Just another test.~ he thought to himself snidely.
~A de la Rocha should be able to block out a few million emotions.~
"Well, it wouldn't be clever for her t' drop us in the middle of Times Square or somethin', would it?" Amanda pointed out reasonably, blinking a few times to clear her head of the usual teleportation dizziness. "I don't really feel up t' a game of 'Lynch the Mutie' today." She peered around the end of the alley, getting her bearings - Clarice had dropped them off right around the corner from one of New York's biggest and widest-range music stores, as requested. "C'mon," she said, the link practically vibrating with glee. "You'll love this place. Really."
"You're with me. Being lynched is not an option." he said arrogantly, but followed her around the corner into the record store. The place lived up to the glee she was projecting at him - it was absolutely huge. "Oh my." he said, voice as flat as he could make it. "I could be here a while."
"Knock yerself out," Amanda said, unable to repress the urge to skip a little at his reaction. All the weirdness, the stand-offishness, was forgotten in the slightly-stunned expression on his face. "Anythin' you want, you can have. On me. An' I mean _anythin'_." She giggled a little. "You might want t' get them t' deliver, tho'."
Manuel made a beeline straight for the electronica section. He began pulling out selections, and his eyes flashed red for a second before an employee came rushing over, obviously impressed with _something_ about Manuel, and falling all over himself to be as helpful as possible. Manuel used the employee like a pack-mule, handing him things to carry as he roamed the aisles. Finally, after about a half-hour of hardcore music shopping, Manuel had perhaps a hundred or so CDs ready to be purchased.
"They'll deliver to the Mansion." Manuel said, as if it were the most normal and natural thing in the world. "Myron here will make absolutely sure of it, won't you Myron?" he said with a cruel smile to the record-store clerk.
"Of course, sir. Anything for such a valued customer," Myron replied with a smile that was a little too obsequious, even for a store clerk. Amanda frowned a little, but let it go. It could be just a clerk bowled over by the sheer amount of money being spent at once. She added a few selections of her own to the top of the boxful Manuel had amassed - some punk, but surprisingly a couple of classical-type CDs and a dance club mix purporting to be the Best Of The Brighton Scene.
"Well, then lets get this settled up, an' then we can eat. Found this place in the Village the other week, after me session with Strange," she said, covering her disquiet with chatter. Over at the counter, she handed over the debit card attached to her suddenly-inflated bank account, and waited for Myron to process it. "Anythin' else you wanted t' replace? While we're out here?"
"You've already replaced my iPod, so I'm good that way. You didn't damage my keyboards, my drum machine, or my swords, so those are all good. Mostly, you threw my schoolwork into disarray, broke every CD I own, trashed my work phone, and generally gave a good accounting of your desire to be left alone." he said. "I am no longer angry about the destruction and the disorganization."
"I'm still tryin' t' work out how I did that, but yeah, I wasn't exactly backwards about lettin' you know how I felt," Amanda said, biting her lip a little. Myron completed the transaction and handed her back her card and her receipt, his attention still largely focussed on Manuel. It was a little disturbing, the way he was staring almost worshipfully at the
Spaniard. She gave him the address for delivery, signed the invoice and stuffed the receipts in her jacket pocket, shivering a little. "Shall we?" she said, nodding her head in the direction of the door. In a lower voice, she added "An' I think you overdid it with the whammy. Man's practically in love with you. Ease off, all right? 'S bloody creepy, is what it is."
Manuel shrugged, and his eyes flashed red again. Myron jerked like a puppet with its strings cut, shrugged, and went about his duties. "Good help is so hard to find these days." Manuel smirked as they left the store. "Where next?" he inquired haughtily.
"Wouldn't know about that - I tend t' be more the 'help meself' sort..." Amanda shoved her hands in her jacket pockets, hunching a little against the cool wind. "Well, since you don't need me t' replace anythin' else, you up for dinner? Found a place you might like, 's about ten minutes' walk from here. Strange took me to it once after class, an' said you might like it."
Manuel hrmmed, and then nodded. "Acceptable." he said, then nodded jerkily at Amanda. "Lead on." he said, positioning himself between her and the street, offering her his arm to take if she was so inclined. His posture, usually fairly good, was even stiffer and more correct than normal. He kept a pleasantly neutral expression on his face, but his eyes roved constantly.
The differences weren't lost on Amanda, and she sighed to herself. Something had happened whilst she was away. Possibly _because_ she'd been away. This was Manuel as his old arrogant self, and the shameless manipulation of the store clerk was just another part of it. So much for nice, normal fun. Choosing to keep her hands in her pockets for now, she searched her brain for something to say that wouldn't result in a screaming match on the street. Or, worse still, him using that superior tone on her. "So, you end up talkin' t' Lee 'bout that problem you were havin'?" she hazarded at last.
Manuel looked at Amanda, and nodded. "I did." he replied. "She was ... unable ... to assist me in the matter, although things were left open for later." he said. He saw the spike in her suspicion and the dropping of what he was fairly sure was her pleasure in the outing, and sighed to himself. ~Damned if I do, damned if I don't, Emma.~ he swore mentally, and then forced himself to relax. "I'm sorry." he offered. "It has been a rough week, and things are not progressing well for me."
Mollified a little, and reminding herself that she wasn't the only one who'd had a rough summer, Amanda pulled her hand out of her pocket and took his arm, giving it a squeeze as they walked along. "You worried me," she said simply. "An' I wasn't there t' help. Am now, tho' - if you want t' tell me 'bout it, maybe I can help with that progressin' of yers, if you
want me to."
Manuel shook his head. "No." he said with great finality. "I don't want to get you involved. I'll settle it out on my own." he added hastily. "I'll get it under control." He thought for a few steps, then came to some sort of an internal decision. "I have something I want you to look at, when we get back to the Mansion." he said. "It may help explain some things."
Amanda had been about to protest, but his last words gave her pause. "All right," she said, and left it at that. It stung, feeling like he couldn't trust her to help him, but if there was an explanation, she could at least give him the chance to give it before getting shirty at him. And if she was being completely honest with herself, there was a certain amount of petty satisfaction that Jubilee hadn't been able to help either. She'd compromised on the Lee issue, accepted that it was hypocritical of her to object to Manuel having a bit of fun on the side when she had more than that with Bethany, but it didn't mean she had to like his choice of playmates. She cuddled up to his arm, nudging his shoulder briefly with her
head. "I want t' help," she said. "Ain't fair that you do all the work. But I'll look at what you want me to."
Manuel nuzzled Amanda's neck for a second as they walked. Before he withdrew, he whispered two words into her ear: "White Queen". He gave every outward impression of a man out for a leisurely stroll with his companion, but his emotions were another story. He let her see, the ambition driving the fear, the determination and the fear of failure all wrapped together in one very unhealthy ball. And how desperately tired he really was, despite his warm front.
The fact he'd used Emma's title and not her name didn't bode well. Hellfire Club business made Amanda a bit nervous, what with this black magic user that Alex had come across there. She slipped her arm around his waist, the implication plain: 'lean on me if you need to.' The faintest trace of her healing magicks bolstered it, and him - she felt the fatigue, and gave him some of her own energy to counter it.
Manuel felt some of the fatigue wash away, and he turned to smile at Amanda. He didn't say a word, he just walked with her - arm-in-arm, mind-in-mind.
---
"So, does the place come up to exactin' de la Rocha standards?" Amanda asked, masking a touch of nervousness with a teasing tone. The restaurant she'd taken him to was a Spanish one, run by an immigrant couple. A touch on the expensive side, but worth it for the food. And best of all, the atmosphere was comfortable enough without being too low-key, nice but not too daunting for Amanda. She preferred places where you only had one set of cutlery, for a start.
Manuel looked around the place. "No, but I don't want to talk about him right now. Right now, Manuel and Amanda are enjoying a dinner out together. We don't do this nearly often enough." he said with a grin much more reminiscient of his life before his meeting with Emma.
'Him'? It was an odd way of putting it, unless he'd thought she meant his father. Which she really didn't. "We don't," she agreed, looking through the menu again and wondering just how much she could get away with eating and not looking like a bulimic. Or a Monty Python sketch. "We should try an' do this more. Goin' out, doin' normal things... in between nervous
breakdowns, of course." She smiled a little. "I like Manuel's company for more 'n just holdin' me together."
Manuel smiled. "I was beginning to wonder, just a little." he said with a smile to take some of the sting from his words. "I haven't moved among the common people for quite some time. This has been nice so far." The waiter arrived, and Manuel ordered a bottle of wine for their table. The server asked Manuel for his ID, but a flash of red and an annoyed look sent him scurrying.
"What, I'm not common enough for you?" she teased again. "Tho' after this job of Dom's, I guess I ain't really that any more." She frowned a little at the sight of the fleeing waiter - she'd missed the flash of red from Manuel's eyes, but she knew the signs of someone who'd had their emotions tweaked by his power. "Thought you weren't projectin' any more," she said mildly, toying with her fork.
"I don't have that luxury." he said, busying his hands by playing with a dinner roll. "Too much in my life rides on my ability to successfully project, as much as I do not truly wish to." he said. It was weird, but he felt better just saying it to her out loud.
Amanda opened her mouth to ask why projection had suddenly become so important, but remembered the name he'd said to her earlier, and her disquiet grew. And she couldn't talk to Nate about this either - whenever she talked to him about Manuel, he got all stiff and offended and uncomfortable. Boys, the pair of them. Fortunately the waiter reappeared with the bottle of wine, and Manuel was distracted by the ritual of tasting and approving and then the pouring of the glasses. Once he'd taken their orders and left, Amanda had managed to lock down most of her worry. Most of it. "How're things goin' with the X
geezer?" she asked, taking a sip of her wine. It was actually pretty good, the best the restaurant had to offer.
Manuel shook his head. "Not well. He likes to talk, and give homework assignments, but we haven't done a damned thing actively with my power." he said, the frustration leaking through. To give himself time to recover, he swirled his wine and sipped at it. "So I need to look elsewhere."
"You know if you needed someone t' practice on, I could..." Amanda began, but felt the strong wave of refusal down the link even before Manuel had began to frown at her. "Or not," she went on."'S just... I don't want you gettin' yerself into shite, an' usin' yer powers on people without permission... 's what you were doin' before." So much for the nice relaxing dinner. Oh well.
"I am fast running out of alternatives." he said, and then turned his attentions once again to his wineglass. "I absolutely will not endanger you in any way. I would just as soon lose everything rather than hurt you." he assured her, with a blast of protectiveness and tender concern. "But my _future_ hinges on this. I must find a way."
She didn't say she knew all that, that he'd never hurt her - it had been said often enough before. "How..." Amanda began, but was interrupted yet again by the return of their waiter, this time with their appetisers. One thing to be said for an empathic nudge, it made for good service. "Have you talked t' Moira again?" she asked, once the man had scuttled away again. She picked up her fork - the food smelled _good_ and she could eat and still have Serious Talks About the Future.
Manuel shook his head. "I remain unconvinced that she can aid me in learning how to better project." he said. "She can help with strengthening the power, yes. But how she can teach me how to see the emotions, what they mean, and how to follow the strings? She can't see them, and I can't describe them very well."This is something I have to do alone. Xavier would rather just sit and talk and make me feel foolish and unworthy rather than teach me anything useful. All he wants to talk about is honor, and duty, and obligation."
It seemed hopeless. He needed to learn to use his power, but couldn't accept the teaching methods of those who had agreed to teach him. And to be fair, it wasn't like he had someone like Doc Strange to guide him. Amanda realised suddenly how very lucky she had been. Unique as she was, at least she still had avenues, many of them, open to her. "Sounds like Strange when he first took me on," she hazarded. "He spent the first month or so just teachin' me 'bout the threefold rule an' responsible use of magic before he'd even let me near a spellbook."
Manuel nodded. "And that's very well and good, but I don't HAVE a month or so to get a grounding in the ethics and principles of empathy! I need to start showing progress _now_. And if I can't convince, one way or another, someone to be my assistant in this, then I lose _everything_. The job, the title, the sword, all of it. I will have _nothing_." he hissed, then cradled his head in his hands for a second. "I don't know what to do." he added, muffled.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell the Hellfire Club and the White Queen to shove it up their arses, but Amanda knew that wasn't an option. Without his family, without his father, Manuel thought he was nothing. Without the Hellfire Club and its promises of power and position, he saw himself as less than nothing. "Then use _me_," she told him, reaching across the table to touch the back of his hand. "I trust you not t' hurt me, an' you need someone t' practice on. It's important enough to you t' drive you into this state, so it's important enough for me t' make the offer. Seriously. Please, love, I hate seein' you like this. At least consider it?"
"I don't want to hurt you!" he protested, the reached for the appetizers - to give himself time to think, to get himself under control. His emotions roiled, kept away from the link by sheer force of will alone. "We are linked, you and I. I wouldn't trade it for anything. But because of that link, you are a poor choice for a training partner. Don't you see? I can't use you! I would if I could but I can_not_." With his other hand he reached out and clenched hers.
"I get you," she said softly, looking down and biting her lip. It was true - she hated seeing Manuel like this, and hated it even more when there was nothing to be done about it. At least by her. She held onto his hand tightly, trying to give him at least physical comfort, even if there wasn't anything else to be done. "Fuck, 's so bloody unfair. I need someone t' help me, an' people fall over 'emselves. You need someone t' help you, an'..." She left the sentence hang. "From what you were sayin' before... Lee turned you down too? Even tho' she's let you do it before?"
"Lee - did not react well to the idea. I'll keep working on her, but I can't force it. If I force it, Xavier will step in and, again, I lose everything." he said with real bitterness. "I have grown accustomed to the notion that you are far more well-liked than me. Another thing that I was criticized for." he said bitterly. "Without my power, apparently I am not a very likable fellow."
"You are not yer fuckin' power!" Amanda's voice rose, resulting in shocked looks from people on the surrounding tables. Colouring a little (which was another sign of how much she'd changed - ten months ago she would have given them all the finger. Although ten months ago she would't even have been sitting here with Manuel.), she lowered her voice and went on. "Whoever the hell's givin' you shite don't know their arse from their elbow an' that's a fact. There's more t' the world than just that school, an' the people in it. Just 'cause you rub people up the wrong way there don't mean yer completely unlikeable. Arrogant sometimes, yeah, but yer not a complete arsehole, least not when yer with me."
Manuel's eyes flashed red again as he stole the curiousity and the concern from the restaurant-goers. "Lower your voice." he said, frost dripping from his words. "The point is that if I can't keep a group of unruly teenagers in line, how can I be expected to handle the elite? The powerful? The ruthless? I have tried. I have been nice. I have reached out, I have played the game that was expected of me." he said. "It has not played out successfully. I must find another way!"
"And what's that exactly? Usin' yer power t' change things t' yer likin'? _Makin'_ 'em fall in line?" Stung by both the rebuke and the icy tone, frightened more than she admitted by his words and the display of power, Amanda hit back. "You an' I both know where that takes you, an' if that's where you want t' go, then all I can say is I hope you find that bloody chair comfy, 'cause yer gunna be sittin' in it alone for the rest of yer fuckin' life," she hissed, keeping her voice low.
"I don't know!" he said, then clenched his fists as he fought for control. Few people could get to him, get under his skin like Amanda could. He wanted to tell her that he could just abandon his old life, mold himself completely to her. He wanted to very badly. But he just couldn't - if he couldn't provide for her, give her the best things in life, then what good was he? What kind of a man was he? "I am open to suggestions." he said reasonably, then took a long sip of his wine. Almost a gulp, really.
"I don't have any right now. Let me think 'bout it, see what I can come up with. Just in the meantime, lay off usin' the whammy on people? At least for tonight?" She gave him an almost-pleading look. "I know yer stressed, love, but we're s'posed t' be havin' fun here. Give yerself some time off, for me?"
Manuel blew out a deep breath, and nodded. "For you, I will abstain." he said, then forced himself to smile at her. "These are delicious." he said, blatantly changing the subject and grabbing another appetizer. "Almost like home." He chewed for a moment, and then swallowed it. "I know that I have not been the best company today. I apologize for my rudeness." he said. "I ... I know this is important to you. Since my phone call earlier this week, I have been trying to find a way I can improve my power and still maintain some sort of a life. I have failed, and now I have irritated you beyond all measure."
"I'm not _that_ pissed off. Scared, mostly, for you." Amanda sighed a little. "I want so bad t' help, but I can't, an' I see you walkin' this edge, an' sometimes I don't know which side yer gunna fall over." She realised she hadn't actually eaten yet, and reached for an appetiser herself, toying with it rather than actually eating, though. "It's only failure if there's no changin' things. You haven't reached the end yet, we just can't see where t' go next. Give it a couple of days, an' somethin' might come up." Like the hundred thousand dollars sitting in the bank account belonging to "Amanda Seaton".
Manuel nodded. "Very well." he said, then turned his attentions to the waiters, arriving with the evening repast. Conversation during dinner with strained but cordial. Manuel resolved to try to put aside his problems, put aside his dilemmas, and just enjoy being with his woman for a day on the town. When cast into that light, instead of a chore the day actually started to feel - fun.
---
"Nearly there," Amanda said with a giggle, as Manuel asked yet again where they were going. They were in the depths of Spanish Harlem, the pair of them garnering some rather suspicious looks, which Amanda was heartily ignoring. And pushing as much of that deliberate obliviousness down the link to Manuel. She hadn't told him where they were going, just to a movie - she'd discovered a Spanish-language cinema in this area, and was determined that for once Manuel would actually understand what was going on. And besides, it was practice for her still-fledging Spanish. At last the building appeared, and she
gestured extravagantly at the sign advertising a number of Spanish films. "Ta-daa!" Dinner had gotten better, although there were still awkward patches, and by the time dessert had arrived, they'd finished the wine and Manuel was smiling, _properly_ this time. As a result, Amanda was feeling rather playful.
Manuel blinked as he saw the sign. "Cinema in Spanish?" he said, feeding off of her playful mood. "You shouldn't have! Won't this bore you to tears?" he asked her before leaning close and tickling one of her more interesting spots on her side.
"There's subtitles in English, an' I need the practice any way, both in readin' an' Spanish," she replied with a squeal, squirming away from the tickling hand, but not moving completely out of reach. "Besides, this is about spoilin' you today, so I'll put up with the most borin' movie in the world, if you want t' see it. Without even grumbling on the link." She leaned back in and stretched up to give him a quick kiss. "Pleased?" she asked, even though she knew the answer from the link.
Manuel just grinned. "I've never really been to the cinema. Not with the plebes." he said with a delighted laugh. "Guess I finally get to find out what it's like!" He tickled her again, not caring if anyone saw or disapproved. Leaning into her ear, he whispered "I understand that the theatre is supposed to be quite dark. Do you think you can be quiet?"
"That's what the seats up the back are for," she whispered back, her smile turning wicked. Taking advantage of him leaning into her ear, she turned her head and stole another kiss, this one much more serious, the new tongue stud very much in play. "Pick a movie, any movie," she told him when she released him.
Manuel shrugged. "That one." he said, pointing to a movie poster that had a whole lot of purple prose and a gorgeous black-haired Spanish beauty with a shotgun on the poster. He shivered as the tongue-stud came back into play. "I have missed that." he said once his nerves stopped firing. "And I missed you."
With a slow, smoldering look that wouldn't have been out of place on one of the movie posters, Amanda took his hand. "Well, we'll just have t' reacquaint you with it, won't we?" she said, mischievously, before tugging him over to the ticket booth.
---
Manuel walked out of the theater with a certain manic look on his face, hand-in-hand with Amanda. "Well, that was certainly
_interesting_." he said. "The Spanish was atrocious and from what little I saw the acting was worse. But I just don't _care_."
"There was actin'?" Amanda asked innocently. "'Cause I saw the openin' credits an' from there things got a bit... fuzzy. I was distracted." She squeezed his hands. "There were these hands in interestin' places."
Manuel grinned _again_. "Yes, well, you went away for most of a week. What was I supposed to do?" he leered. "I was just making up for lost time. And I haven't even _begun_ to level the balance yet." He pulled her in for a hug, then from there launched into a little dance for a few steps before letting go and laughing.
It was hard to stop giggling - Manuel was _much_ happier, and she had to admit, so was she. More something, anyway. "I should go away more often if there's this sort of makin' up for it later," she chuckled, not meaning it at all. Pulling his arm around her shoulders, she wrapped hers around his waist and pulled him in close. "It was odd, wakin' up an' not havin' you there. Next time I get kidnapped, I'm insistin' on you bein' kidnapped to. Or I could just kidnap you meself, whisk you off t' somewhere warm, with a beach an' no-one else around for miles an' miles..."
Manuel leered. "Sounds delightful, but wouldn't the sand get _everywhere_?" he asked. "Have to admit, it sounds delightful. Get me an advanced start on my career as a penniless beach bum."
"How about you be my cabana boy? Yer'd make a much better one of those than a beach bum..." Amanda was about to go on, but movement caught her eye. Behind them. Someone was following them. Up ahead, more movement, as two youths, obviously gang members to judge by the clothes and the attitude, pushed themselves off the wall they'd been holding up and approached the pair. "Fuck," she muttered, amulet beginning to glow slightly as she drew on the power to bring up a shielding spell. It wouldn't help if there were knives, but perhaps it would put them off attacking a pair of obvious mutants. Or totally encourage them - it was something of a gamble.
"Your cabana boy? How do you plan on keeping up in beer and skittles?" he said, and then glanced around at the gangbangers who were approaching them. "Oh good." he said softly to Amanda. "Want me to take care of this?"
"You'd be surprised..." she replied, grinning briefly before returning her attention to the gang surrounding them by now. One of them said something in Spanish, most of which she missed, but the implication was clear - Manuel was obviously wealthy and they wanted his wallet. And possibly a case of wax fruit, but that was probably her shaky grip on the language slipping. "Better you than me - if they pull knives on us, there's squat me shieldin' can do. I really need t' work on that
metal problem, don't I?" Regardless she cast the spell; it made her feel slightly better about being jumped from behind, at least. The air crackled blue around them, and the gangbangers took a step back, startled, before fronting up again.
"So one of you is a mutie," sneered one in heavily accented English. "You think those fancy powers are enough to take us all on?"
"No," Amanda admitted blandly. "But ain't seen half of it, yet."
"Gonna mess you up, mutie bitch," sniggered another. "Think we'll make the prettyboy boyfriend watch while we do it. Free porn show."
Manuel smiled thinly. ~Oh really?~ he said in Castillian. ~You have picked the _wrong_ girl to mess with. See, she's not the only mutie bitch here.~ His eyes glowed red as he stared holes into the first gangbanger. After a few seconds, the gangbanger who had promised the free porn show crumpled into a little ball, sobbing. The one next to him starting clawing at his face, his fingernails coming away bloody. The third turned and ran as if the Hordes of Hell chased him, tearing at his soul. The fourth? He stood in place, mumbling nonsense words, and a yellow puddle spread out from his pants leg as he pissed himself.
~No one threatens a de la Rocha. Nobody.~ he said with great finality.
All right, a certain amount of overkill here... Amanda winced at the one clawing at his face, and turned away, letting go of the shielding spell. "Lets get out of here," she said briefly, not trusting her voice to stay steady. The gang had intended something a lot worse for her, but it was hard not to be a little shaken by the degree of cruelty Manuel had shown. And the feeling of satisfaction coming down the link. Perhaps it was different for him - if she started enjoying using her powers to do harm, she was lost. As simple as that.
Manuel walked past the gang members, a small satisfied smile on his face. "Less than they deserve." he commented once the two of them were past. "Much less."
"I dunno, they seem pretty fucked up, an' it's not like they actually got a chance t' do anythin'..." Amanda shivered from more than the breeze that had blown up. The screams had reminded her of an alley in Salem back in March, and for a second she could almost smell burning flesh. She shoved the memory - and the feeling - away. Manuel had gotten them out of the situation without anyone being hurt - well, not exactly. It was a good result.
"That's right, they didn't. You didn't feel them, you didn't know what they were anticipating. I somehow doubt that you really wanted to spend the rest of this fine evening as their personal joytoy." he said with a smirk. "Now, no one else will have to either. Where did you say that Clarice was going to pick us up from again?"
"Same place as before - I just need t' call her an' ask for a lift." Her phone was in her jacket pocket - Amanda busied herself with it, trying not to feel Manuel's almost unholy glee at what he'd done. He definitely had enjoyed doing that way too much, and it wasn't as if he didn't have a point. What they'd planned - she didn't have to be an empath to know what
they'd been going to do. The fact it was nothing that hadn't been done before didn't change things. Speaking briefly with Clarice, she flipped it closed. "She'll have a portal waiting for us in five minutes. Plenty of time t' get there."
Manuel nodded. "With time and therapy, they'll recover. But for a few days, they won't come anywhere _near_ a situation where they could hurt another person. I call it justice." he said with great finality. "I protect what is mine. Shall we?" he asked, crooking his arm for Amanda to take, if she so chose to.
She took it, telling herself she was over-reacting. What Manuel had done was easier to heal than what she'd done to that boy's hands. And she _had_ told him to take care of the situation, knowing full well what he was capable of. It was just... "Doesn't mean you had t' enjoy it so much," she whispered, mostly to herself as she let him steer her towards the alley
near the music store.
"Why shouldn't I?" he asked coldly. "Those men were going to kill me and fuck you to death. What I did was _mild_." he retorted, full of venom. He then fell silent for a time, to realign his worldview away from the ruthless man of business that he was being urged to be by some parties and towards the caring fun young man that Amanda wanted him to be. "Despite all of it, I think I enjoyed today. We should do it again sometime."
"'M not sayin' you shouldn've have done it, just that... oh forget it. 'M lookin' at it from the rules I have t' stick to, an' that ain't fair." Amanda made a frustrated noise - she wasn't even sure _why_ it bothered her so much. Like he said, the gang had planned far worse for the pair of them. Except that she kept seeing the glee in Gambit's eyes at the fear he'd
aroused in her, the satisfaction in Rack's as he backhanded her into a wall for talking back. To enjoy the pain you inflicted... well, that was a slippery slope, with a certain Chair at the end of it, for Manuel. "We should, do this again. A nice bit of normal in all the crazy shite the world throws at us. Or as normal as we get, any way." She offered him a
half-smile, although the expression failed to clear the troubled shadows in her eyes.
Manuel felt her discomfort, but was content to let it pass on its own. He was fairly sure it would. "I'd like that." he said. "Another day out, to ourselves. I must get out more among the regular people. I am too cloistered at the Mansion."
" Yer turn t' choose, then," she said, concentrating on the normal aspects of the conversation. Perhaps she was over-reacting. And she didn't want to wreck things, not when they'd been having quite a good time. "Maybe you could start meetin' me after me classes with Strange - they only go for the mornin', an' then I have the rest of the day off. You, me, an' all New York has t' offer?" she suggested.
Manuel smiled. "Sounds like a good time." he agreed. "If I can get a ride into the city, then I would be _delighted_ to escort you throughout the town. Or perhaps I could get a ride in with you, amuse myself whilst you study at the feet of your Master, and then meet up with you once the lessons are done?"
Amanda snorted at the idea of her sitting at anyone's feet, let alone calling them 'Master'. "I like that idea," she admitted, relaxing a little and holding onto his arm a bit less stiffly. "Tho' I think stayin' out of Spanish Harlem at night might be a good idea." As would telling someone about this when they got back. Someone official-ish.
Manuel nodded in agreement with that pronouncement. "Probably wise." he said with a smile. "I know you think I was too cruel, but believe me, you didn't feel what I felt. If anything, I was too lenient."
"That's not what's botherin' me," she replied, sighing a little. Okay, deal with it. At least ask and let him tell her she was wrong, or over-reacting, or something. "Did you... did you like doin' that? It felt like you did."
Manuel shook his head. "Not in the way you are thinking of." he said. "I enjoyed delivering a little justice. I enjoy using my power, yes. Is that wrong? I enjoyed holding you together and making you feel good as much as I enjoyed altering those men back there so as to leave us alone."
"But not the pain part?" Amanda persisted. It was important that she get this straight in her head, settle the disquiet, although his words were beginning to do that.
Manuel shrugged. "They were not innocents." he said simply, and then fell silent.
Did that make a difference? Amanda was torn between her instincts and the training she'd been getting at Strange's hands. They'd deserved it, more than, and Manuel was right, there was justice in making them unable to to hurt anyone else, in making them feel the pain they inflicted on others. But how many times had Strange emphasised to her that pain was pain, no
matter how well deserved, and that enjoying the inflicting of it was dangerous? That she risked losing everything? He'd been so angry about the fight with Jubilee, in that restrained, academic way of his.
"I suppose yer right..." she said at last, lamely, even though she was far from convinced. Relieved, she saw they were back at the pick up point, and even as they walked into the alley, Clarice's portal appeared. Perfect timing. "Lets just go home?" she said, the tiniest note of pleading entering her voice. She didn't want to think about this any more.
Manuel smiled and nodded. He knew she was hiding from him, her concern, her doubts. It didn't matter, in the long term. She would see things his way eventually. He'd done nothing wrong - he'd even done good, by removing a threat to the neighborhood, removing a set of predators from the streets. Something he could take pride in.
"Grab yer coat, we're goin' out," Amanda said briskly, coming into Manuel's room with no more announcement than a "I'm planning something" feeling down the link. She was dressed relatively nicely, for her - the jeans were clean and not ripped anywhere and were actually close to their original colour of dark blue, and she had on one of the shirts Manuel had bought for her, white Egyptian cotton, with a leather vest over the top. Of course, the biker jacket over the top wasn't exactly matching, but it gave her a certain... attitude. "The Purple Pixie's givin' us a lift into New York, an' I don't want t' hold her up too much."
"Wait. We're going out? No, I can't. I've got too much to do - I've got reports to compile for Ms Frost, I've got an Econ test on Tuesday ... why do you want to go out, anyway?" he asked suspiciously, studying her emotions. The White Queen's words came to mind, and he dropped all hostility from his voice. "You know what, it doesn't matter. What should I wear? Where are we going?"
Amanda raised her eyebrow at the sudden shift, but let it go. At least she didn't have to argue. "Shoppin', dinner an' a movie," she said, grinning briefly. "Thought I'd try this normal life thing. An' you need more CDs t'replace the ones I broke. I'm payin'," she added, before he could protest.
Manuel bit back what he was about to say, and then nodded. "Well, let me see here..." he said, throwing open his closet and pondering his options. Finally he decided on a simple pair of black slacks and a thick, warm blood-red button-down shirt. Unashamedly, he shucked his current apparel, kicking them over to the Mount Dirty Clothes, and put the new things on. Fishing out his wallet and his keys, he nodded to Amanda. "You said that Clarice will be transporting us? Are you
_sure_?"
"Trust me," she said. "Arranged it all with her this mornin', an' she's waitin'. I'm helpin' her with Arabic, so she owes me a favour." Before he could quibble with that, or raise any honour-bound objections, or whatever the hell else he was going to do to try and make an issue, she grabbed his hand and practically dragged him to her suite - Clarice had been sleeping on their couch occasionally since the mess with Illyana. "You need t' get out of here," she said as they went. "An' you said you wanted kidnappin', so that's exactly what I'm doin'. Can't quite manage Istanbul or somewhere like that at short notice, but this should do for a bit."
Manuel stumbled along, hands jammed into his pockets. "Can I least grab a jacket?" he asked before he got dragged along _too_ far. "It's probably cold outside." he said sensibly. "You won't like me if I get a cold."
"Fine, all right, grab yer coat," Amanda replied with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, excitement bubbling through the link despite her best efforts. If he didn't enjoy this, she was going to strangle him, simple as that. She waited for him, bouncing a little on her toes, humming to herself. A few days away, a bit of public service to the archelogical world, and quite a lot of money sitting in the bank account Nathan and Domino had set up for her... it had really done wonders for her mood. Now to pass the favour on. "Ready?" she asked when he reappeared.
Manuel nodded. "Ready." he said, now with his hands thrust into the pockets of his light leather jacket. "I'm still not sure Clarice will be doing me any favors, but I'll leave that to you." he said with a patently false smile. ~You are going to enjoy this, Manuel.~ he thought to himself. ~Put your obligations aside and just take pleasure in being like normal folks.~
Unfortunately, the other part of his brain - the part riled up by Emma's caustic words spit back with a ~But you're not _like_ other folks. You're a de la Rocha. We stand for something better, remember?~ he thought to himself.
"I told you, trust me. All right?" Reaching up on tiptoe Amanda kissed his cheek lightly, before tucking her arm through his. "Just relax an' let me take of things. It's my turn, after all."
---
Manuel looked around at the trash-strewn alley that Clarice's blink had deposited them into. "Is this her idea of a joke?" he inquired, sarcasm dripping from his words. "If so, I think that our next fencing class is going to be quite interesting indeed." He crammed his hands back into his jacket's pockets and waited for Amanda to indicate which way to go. New York City was hard on his shielding, but so far he had it under control. ~Just another test.~ he thought to himself snidely.
~A de la Rocha should be able to block out a few million emotions.~
"Well, it wouldn't be clever for her t' drop us in the middle of Times Square or somethin', would it?" Amanda pointed out reasonably, blinking a few times to clear her head of the usual teleportation dizziness. "I don't really feel up t' a game of 'Lynch the Mutie' today." She peered around the end of the alley, getting her bearings - Clarice had dropped them off right around the corner from one of New York's biggest and widest-range music stores, as requested. "C'mon," she said, the link practically vibrating with glee. "You'll love this place. Really."
"You're with me. Being lynched is not an option." he said arrogantly, but followed her around the corner into the record store. The place lived up to the glee she was projecting at him - it was absolutely huge. "Oh my." he said, voice as flat as he could make it. "I could be here a while."
"Knock yerself out," Amanda said, unable to repress the urge to skip a little at his reaction. All the weirdness, the stand-offishness, was forgotten in the slightly-stunned expression on his face. "Anythin' you want, you can have. On me. An' I mean _anythin'_." She giggled a little. "You might want t' get them t' deliver, tho'."
Manuel made a beeline straight for the electronica section. He began pulling out selections, and his eyes flashed red for a second before an employee came rushing over, obviously impressed with _something_ about Manuel, and falling all over himself to be as helpful as possible. Manuel used the employee like a pack-mule, handing him things to carry as he roamed the aisles. Finally, after about a half-hour of hardcore music shopping, Manuel had perhaps a hundred or so CDs ready to be purchased.
"They'll deliver to the Mansion." Manuel said, as if it were the most normal and natural thing in the world. "Myron here will make absolutely sure of it, won't you Myron?" he said with a cruel smile to the record-store clerk.
"Of course, sir. Anything for such a valued customer," Myron replied with a smile that was a little too obsequious, even for a store clerk. Amanda frowned a little, but let it go. It could be just a clerk bowled over by the sheer amount of money being spent at once. She added a few selections of her own to the top of the boxful Manuel had amassed - some punk, but surprisingly a couple of classical-type CDs and a dance club mix purporting to be the Best Of The Brighton Scene.
"Well, then lets get this settled up, an' then we can eat. Found this place in the Village the other week, after me session with Strange," she said, covering her disquiet with chatter. Over at the counter, she handed over the debit card attached to her suddenly-inflated bank account, and waited for Myron to process it. "Anythin' else you wanted t' replace? While we're out here?"
"You've already replaced my iPod, so I'm good that way. You didn't damage my keyboards, my drum machine, or my swords, so those are all good. Mostly, you threw my schoolwork into disarray, broke every CD I own, trashed my work phone, and generally gave a good accounting of your desire to be left alone." he said. "I am no longer angry about the destruction and the disorganization."
"I'm still tryin' t' work out how I did that, but yeah, I wasn't exactly backwards about lettin' you know how I felt," Amanda said, biting her lip a little. Myron completed the transaction and handed her back her card and her receipt, his attention still largely focussed on Manuel. It was a little disturbing, the way he was staring almost worshipfully at the
Spaniard. She gave him the address for delivery, signed the invoice and stuffed the receipts in her jacket pocket, shivering a little. "Shall we?" she said, nodding her head in the direction of the door. In a lower voice, she added "An' I think you overdid it with the whammy. Man's practically in love with you. Ease off, all right? 'S bloody creepy, is what it is."
Manuel shrugged, and his eyes flashed red again. Myron jerked like a puppet with its strings cut, shrugged, and went about his duties. "Good help is so hard to find these days." Manuel smirked as they left the store. "Where next?" he inquired haughtily.
"Wouldn't know about that - I tend t' be more the 'help meself' sort..." Amanda shoved her hands in her jacket pockets, hunching a little against the cool wind. "Well, since you don't need me t' replace anythin' else, you up for dinner? Found a place you might like, 's about ten minutes' walk from here. Strange took me to it once after class, an' said you might like it."
Manuel hrmmed, and then nodded. "Acceptable." he said, then nodded jerkily at Amanda. "Lead on." he said, positioning himself between her and the street, offering her his arm to take if she was so inclined. His posture, usually fairly good, was even stiffer and more correct than normal. He kept a pleasantly neutral expression on his face, but his eyes roved constantly.
The differences weren't lost on Amanda, and she sighed to herself. Something had happened whilst she was away. Possibly _because_ she'd been away. This was Manuel as his old arrogant self, and the shameless manipulation of the store clerk was just another part of it. So much for nice, normal fun. Choosing to keep her hands in her pockets for now, she searched her brain for something to say that wouldn't result in a screaming match on the street. Or, worse still, him using that superior tone on her. "So, you end up talkin' t' Lee 'bout that problem you were havin'?" she hazarded at last.
Manuel looked at Amanda, and nodded. "I did." he replied. "She was ... unable ... to assist me in the matter, although things were left open for later." he said. He saw the spike in her suspicion and the dropping of what he was fairly sure was her pleasure in the outing, and sighed to himself. ~Damned if I do, damned if I don't, Emma.~ he swore mentally, and then forced himself to relax. "I'm sorry." he offered. "It has been a rough week, and things are not progressing well for me."
Mollified a little, and reminding herself that she wasn't the only one who'd had a rough summer, Amanda pulled her hand out of her pocket and took his arm, giving it a squeeze as they walked along. "You worried me," she said simply. "An' I wasn't there t' help. Am now, tho' - if you want t' tell me 'bout it, maybe I can help with that progressin' of yers, if you
want me to."
Manuel shook his head. "No." he said with great finality. "I don't want to get you involved. I'll settle it out on my own." he added hastily. "I'll get it under control." He thought for a few steps, then came to some sort of an internal decision. "I have something I want you to look at, when we get back to the Mansion." he said. "It may help explain some things."
Amanda had been about to protest, but his last words gave her pause. "All right," she said, and left it at that. It stung, feeling like he couldn't trust her to help him, but if there was an explanation, she could at least give him the chance to give it before getting shirty at him. And if she was being completely honest with herself, there was a certain amount of petty satisfaction that Jubilee hadn't been able to help either. She'd compromised on the Lee issue, accepted that it was hypocritical of her to object to Manuel having a bit of fun on the side when she had more than that with Bethany, but it didn't mean she had to like his choice of playmates. She cuddled up to his arm, nudging his shoulder briefly with her
head. "I want t' help," she said. "Ain't fair that you do all the work. But I'll look at what you want me to."
Manuel nuzzled Amanda's neck for a second as they walked. Before he withdrew, he whispered two words into her ear: "White Queen". He gave every outward impression of a man out for a leisurely stroll with his companion, but his emotions were another story. He let her see, the ambition driving the fear, the determination and the fear of failure all wrapped together in one very unhealthy ball. And how desperately tired he really was, despite his warm front.
The fact he'd used Emma's title and not her name didn't bode well. Hellfire Club business made Amanda a bit nervous, what with this black magic user that Alex had come across there. She slipped her arm around his waist, the implication plain: 'lean on me if you need to.' The faintest trace of her healing magicks bolstered it, and him - she felt the fatigue, and gave him some of her own energy to counter it.
Manuel felt some of the fatigue wash away, and he turned to smile at Amanda. He didn't say a word, he just walked with her - arm-in-arm, mind-in-mind.
---
"So, does the place come up to exactin' de la Rocha standards?" Amanda asked, masking a touch of nervousness with a teasing tone. The restaurant she'd taken him to was a Spanish one, run by an immigrant couple. A touch on the expensive side, but worth it for the food. And best of all, the atmosphere was comfortable enough without being too low-key, nice but not too daunting for Amanda. She preferred places where you only had one set of cutlery, for a start.
Manuel looked around the place. "No, but I don't want to talk about him right now. Right now, Manuel and Amanda are enjoying a dinner out together. We don't do this nearly often enough." he said with a grin much more reminiscient of his life before his meeting with Emma.
'Him'? It was an odd way of putting it, unless he'd thought she meant his father. Which she really didn't. "We don't," she agreed, looking through the menu again and wondering just how much she could get away with eating and not looking like a bulimic. Or a Monty Python sketch. "We should try an' do this more. Goin' out, doin' normal things... in between nervous
breakdowns, of course." She smiled a little. "I like Manuel's company for more 'n just holdin' me together."
Manuel smiled. "I was beginning to wonder, just a little." he said with a smile to take some of the sting from his words. "I haven't moved among the common people for quite some time. This has been nice so far." The waiter arrived, and Manuel ordered a bottle of wine for their table. The server asked Manuel for his ID, but a flash of red and an annoyed look sent him scurrying.
"What, I'm not common enough for you?" she teased again. "Tho' after this job of Dom's, I guess I ain't really that any more." She frowned a little at the sight of the fleeing waiter - she'd missed the flash of red from Manuel's eyes, but she knew the signs of someone who'd had their emotions tweaked by his power. "Thought you weren't projectin' any more," she said mildly, toying with her fork.
"I don't have that luxury." he said, busying his hands by playing with a dinner roll. "Too much in my life rides on my ability to successfully project, as much as I do not truly wish to." he said. It was weird, but he felt better just saying it to her out loud.
Amanda opened her mouth to ask why projection had suddenly become so important, but remembered the name he'd said to her earlier, and her disquiet grew. And she couldn't talk to Nate about this either - whenever she talked to him about Manuel, he got all stiff and offended and uncomfortable. Boys, the pair of them. Fortunately the waiter reappeared with the bottle of wine, and Manuel was distracted by the ritual of tasting and approving and then the pouring of the glasses. Once he'd taken their orders and left, Amanda had managed to lock down most of her worry. Most of it. "How're things goin' with the X
geezer?" she asked, taking a sip of her wine. It was actually pretty good, the best the restaurant had to offer.
Manuel shook his head. "Not well. He likes to talk, and give homework assignments, but we haven't done a damned thing actively with my power." he said, the frustration leaking through. To give himself time to recover, he swirled his wine and sipped at it. "So I need to look elsewhere."
"You know if you needed someone t' practice on, I could..." Amanda began, but felt the strong wave of refusal down the link even before Manuel had began to frown at her. "Or not," she went on."'S just... I don't want you gettin' yerself into shite, an' usin' yer powers on people without permission... 's what you were doin' before." So much for the nice relaxing dinner. Oh well.
"I am fast running out of alternatives." he said, and then turned his attentions once again to his wineglass. "I absolutely will not endanger you in any way. I would just as soon lose everything rather than hurt you." he assured her, with a blast of protectiveness and tender concern. "But my _future_ hinges on this. I must find a way."
She didn't say she knew all that, that he'd never hurt her - it had been said often enough before. "How..." Amanda began, but was interrupted yet again by the return of their waiter, this time with their appetisers. One thing to be said for an empathic nudge, it made for good service. "Have you talked t' Moira again?" she asked, once the man had scuttled away again. She picked up her fork - the food smelled _good_ and she could eat and still have Serious Talks About the Future.
Manuel shook his head. "I remain unconvinced that she can aid me in learning how to better project." he said. "She can help with strengthening the power, yes. But how she can teach me how to see the emotions, what they mean, and how to follow the strings? She can't see them, and I can't describe them very well."This is something I have to do alone. Xavier would rather just sit and talk and make me feel foolish and unworthy rather than teach me anything useful. All he wants to talk about is honor, and duty, and obligation."
It seemed hopeless. He needed to learn to use his power, but couldn't accept the teaching methods of those who had agreed to teach him. And to be fair, it wasn't like he had someone like Doc Strange to guide him. Amanda realised suddenly how very lucky she had been. Unique as she was, at least she still had avenues, many of them, open to her. "Sounds like Strange when he first took me on," she hazarded. "He spent the first month or so just teachin' me 'bout the threefold rule an' responsible use of magic before he'd even let me near a spellbook."
Manuel nodded. "And that's very well and good, but I don't HAVE a month or so to get a grounding in the ethics and principles of empathy! I need to start showing progress _now_. And if I can't convince, one way or another, someone to be my assistant in this, then I lose _everything_. The job, the title, the sword, all of it. I will have _nothing_." he hissed, then cradled his head in his hands for a second. "I don't know what to do." he added, muffled.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell the Hellfire Club and the White Queen to shove it up their arses, but Amanda knew that wasn't an option. Without his family, without his father, Manuel thought he was nothing. Without the Hellfire Club and its promises of power and position, he saw himself as less than nothing. "Then use _me_," she told him, reaching across the table to touch the back of his hand. "I trust you not t' hurt me, an' you need someone t' practice on. It's important enough to you t' drive you into this state, so it's important enough for me t' make the offer. Seriously. Please, love, I hate seein' you like this. At least consider it?"
"I don't want to hurt you!" he protested, the reached for the appetizers - to give himself time to think, to get himself under control. His emotions roiled, kept away from the link by sheer force of will alone. "We are linked, you and I. I wouldn't trade it for anything. But because of that link, you are a poor choice for a training partner. Don't you see? I can't use you! I would if I could but I can_not_." With his other hand he reached out and clenched hers.
"I get you," she said softly, looking down and biting her lip. It was true - she hated seeing Manuel like this, and hated it even more when there was nothing to be done about it. At least by her. She held onto his hand tightly, trying to give him at least physical comfort, even if there wasn't anything else to be done. "Fuck, 's so bloody unfair. I need someone t' help me, an' people fall over 'emselves. You need someone t' help you, an'..." She left the sentence hang. "From what you were sayin' before... Lee turned you down too? Even tho' she's let you do it before?"
"Lee - did not react well to the idea. I'll keep working on her, but I can't force it. If I force it, Xavier will step in and, again, I lose everything." he said with real bitterness. "I have grown accustomed to the notion that you are far more well-liked than me. Another thing that I was criticized for." he said bitterly. "Without my power, apparently I am not a very likable fellow."
"You are not yer fuckin' power!" Amanda's voice rose, resulting in shocked looks from people on the surrounding tables. Colouring a little (which was another sign of how much she'd changed - ten months ago she would have given them all the finger. Although ten months ago she would't even have been sitting here with Manuel.), she lowered her voice and went on. "Whoever the hell's givin' you shite don't know their arse from their elbow an' that's a fact. There's more t' the world than just that school, an' the people in it. Just 'cause you rub people up the wrong way there don't mean yer completely unlikeable. Arrogant sometimes, yeah, but yer not a complete arsehole, least not when yer with me."
Manuel's eyes flashed red again as he stole the curiousity and the concern from the restaurant-goers. "Lower your voice." he said, frost dripping from his words. "The point is that if I can't keep a group of unruly teenagers in line, how can I be expected to handle the elite? The powerful? The ruthless? I have tried. I have been nice. I have reached out, I have played the game that was expected of me." he said. "It has not played out successfully. I must find another way!"
"And what's that exactly? Usin' yer power t' change things t' yer likin'? _Makin'_ 'em fall in line?" Stung by both the rebuke and the icy tone, frightened more than she admitted by his words and the display of power, Amanda hit back. "You an' I both know where that takes you, an' if that's where you want t' go, then all I can say is I hope you find that bloody chair comfy, 'cause yer gunna be sittin' in it alone for the rest of yer fuckin' life," she hissed, keeping her voice low.
"I don't know!" he said, then clenched his fists as he fought for control. Few people could get to him, get under his skin like Amanda could. He wanted to tell her that he could just abandon his old life, mold himself completely to her. He wanted to very badly. But he just couldn't - if he couldn't provide for her, give her the best things in life, then what good was he? What kind of a man was he? "I am open to suggestions." he said reasonably, then took a long sip of his wine. Almost a gulp, really.
"I don't have any right now. Let me think 'bout it, see what I can come up with. Just in the meantime, lay off usin' the whammy on people? At least for tonight?" She gave him an almost-pleading look. "I know yer stressed, love, but we're s'posed t' be havin' fun here. Give yerself some time off, for me?"
Manuel blew out a deep breath, and nodded. "For you, I will abstain." he said, then forced himself to smile at her. "These are delicious." he said, blatantly changing the subject and grabbing another appetizer. "Almost like home." He chewed for a moment, and then swallowed it. "I know that I have not been the best company today. I apologize for my rudeness." he said. "I ... I know this is important to you. Since my phone call earlier this week, I have been trying to find a way I can improve my power and still maintain some sort of a life. I have failed, and now I have irritated you beyond all measure."
"I'm not _that_ pissed off. Scared, mostly, for you." Amanda sighed a little. "I want so bad t' help, but I can't, an' I see you walkin' this edge, an' sometimes I don't know which side yer gunna fall over." She realised she hadn't actually eaten yet, and reached for an appetiser herself, toying with it rather than actually eating, though. "It's only failure if there's no changin' things. You haven't reached the end yet, we just can't see where t' go next. Give it a couple of days, an' somethin' might come up." Like the hundred thousand dollars sitting in the bank account belonging to "Amanda Seaton".
Manuel nodded. "Very well." he said, then turned his attentions to the waiters, arriving with the evening repast. Conversation during dinner with strained but cordial. Manuel resolved to try to put aside his problems, put aside his dilemmas, and just enjoy being with his woman for a day on the town. When cast into that light, instead of a chore the day actually started to feel - fun.
---
"Nearly there," Amanda said with a giggle, as Manuel asked yet again where they were going. They were in the depths of Spanish Harlem, the pair of them garnering some rather suspicious looks, which Amanda was heartily ignoring. And pushing as much of that deliberate obliviousness down the link to Manuel. She hadn't told him where they were going, just to a movie - she'd discovered a Spanish-language cinema in this area, and was determined that for once Manuel would actually understand what was going on. And besides, it was practice for her still-fledging Spanish. At last the building appeared, and she
gestured extravagantly at the sign advertising a number of Spanish films. "Ta-daa!" Dinner had gotten better, although there were still awkward patches, and by the time dessert had arrived, they'd finished the wine and Manuel was smiling, _properly_ this time. As a result, Amanda was feeling rather playful.
Manuel blinked as he saw the sign. "Cinema in Spanish?" he said, feeding off of her playful mood. "You shouldn't have! Won't this bore you to tears?" he asked her before leaning close and tickling one of her more interesting spots on her side.
"There's subtitles in English, an' I need the practice any way, both in readin' an' Spanish," she replied with a squeal, squirming away from the tickling hand, but not moving completely out of reach. "Besides, this is about spoilin' you today, so I'll put up with the most borin' movie in the world, if you want t' see it. Without even grumbling on the link." She leaned back in and stretched up to give him a quick kiss. "Pleased?" she asked, even though she knew the answer from the link.
Manuel just grinned. "I've never really been to the cinema. Not with the plebes." he said with a delighted laugh. "Guess I finally get to find out what it's like!" He tickled her again, not caring if anyone saw or disapproved. Leaning into her ear, he whispered "I understand that the theatre is supposed to be quite dark. Do you think you can be quiet?"
"That's what the seats up the back are for," she whispered back, her smile turning wicked. Taking advantage of him leaning into her ear, she turned her head and stole another kiss, this one much more serious, the new tongue stud very much in play. "Pick a movie, any movie," she told him when she released him.
Manuel shrugged. "That one." he said, pointing to a movie poster that had a whole lot of purple prose and a gorgeous black-haired Spanish beauty with a shotgun on the poster. He shivered as the tongue-stud came back into play. "I have missed that." he said once his nerves stopped firing. "And I missed you."
With a slow, smoldering look that wouldn't have been out of place on one of the movie posters, Amanda took his hand. "Well, we'll just have t' reacquaint you with it, won't we?" she said, mischievously, before tugging him over to the ticket booth.
---
Manuel walked out of the theater with a certain manic look on his face, hand-in-hand with Amanda. "Well, that was certainly
_interesting_." he said. "The Spanish was atrocious and from what little I saw the acting was worse. But I just don't _care_."
"There was actin'?" Amanda asked innocently. "'Cause I saw the openin' credits an' from there things got a bit... fuzzy. I was distracted." She squeezed his hands. "There were these hands in interestin' places."
Manuel grinned _again_. "Yes, well, you went away for most of a week. What was I supposed to do?" he leered. "I was just making up for lost time. And I haven't even _begun_ to level the balance yet." He pulled her in for a hug, then from there launched into a little dance for a few steps before letting go and laughing.
It was hard to stop giggling - Manuel was _much_ happier, and she had to admit, so was she. More something, anyway. "I should go away more often if there's this sort of makin' up for it later," she chuckled, not meaning it at all. Pulling his arm around her shoulders, she wrapped hers around his waist and pulled him in close. "It was odd, wakin' up an' not havin' you there. Next time I get kidnapped, I'm insistin' on you bein' kidnapped to. Or I could just kidnap you meself, whisk you off t' somewhere warm, with a beach an' no-one else around for miles an' miles..."
Manuel leered. "Sounds delightful, but wouldn't the sand get _everywhere_?" he asked. "Have to admit, it sounds delightful. Get me an advanced start on my career as a penniless beach bum."
"How about you be my cabana boy? Yer'd make a much better one of those than a beach bum..." Amanda was about to go on, but movement caught her eye. Behind them. Someone was following them. Up ahead, more movement, as two youths, obviously gang members to judge by the clothes and the attitude, pushed themselves off the wall they'd been holding up and approached the pair. "Fuck," she muttered, amulet beginning to glow slightly as she drew on the power to bring up a shielding spell. It wouldn't help if there were knives, but perhaps it would put them off attacking a pair of obvious mutants. Or totally encourage them - it was something of a gamble.
"Your cabana boy? How do you plan on keeping up in beer and skittles?" he said, and then glanced around at the gangbangers who were approaching them. "Oh good." he said softly to Amanda. "Want me to take care of this?"
"You'd be surprised..." she replied, grinning briefly before returning her attention to the gang surrounding them by now. One of them said something in Spanish, most of which she missed, but the implication was clear - Manuel was obviously wealthy and they wanted his wallet. And possibly a case of wax fruit, but that was probably her shaky grip on the language slipping. "Better you than me - if they pull knives on us, there's squat me shieldin' can do. I really need t' work on that
metal problem, don't I?" Regardless she cast the spell; it made her feel slightly better about being jumped from behind, at least. The air crackled blue around them, and the gangbangers took a step back, startled, before fronting up again.
"So one of you is a mutie," sneered one in heavily accented English. "You think those fancy powers are enough to take us all on?"
"No," Amanda admitted blandly. "But ain't seen half of it, yet."
"Gonna mess you up, mutie bitch," sniggered another. "Think we'll make the prettyboy boyfriend watch while we do it. Free porn show."
Manuel smiled thinly. ~Oh really?~ he said in Castillian. ~You have picked the _wrong_ girl to mess with. See, she's not the only mutie bitch here.~ His eyes glowed red as he stared holes into the first gangbanger. After a few seconds, the gangbanger who had promised the free porn show crumpled into a little ball, sobbing. The one next to him starting clawing at his face, his fingernails coming away bloody. The third turned and ran as if the Hordes of Hell chased him, tearing at his soul. The fourth? He stood in place, mumbling nonsense words, and a yellow puddle spread out from his pants leg as he pissed himself.
~No one threatens a de la Rocha. Nobody.~ he said with great finality.
All right, a certain amount of overkill here... Amanda winced at the one clawing at his face, and turned away, letting go of the shielding spell. "Lets get out of here," she said briefly, not trusting her voice to stay steady. The gang had intended something a lot worse for her, but it was hard not to be a little shaken by the degree of cruelty Manuel had shown. And the feeling of satisfaction coming down the link. Perhaps it was different for him - if she started enjoying using her powers to do harm, she was lost. As simple as that.
Manuel walked past the gang members, a small satisfied smile on his face. "Less than they deserve." he commented once the two of them were past. "Much less."
"I dunno, they seem pretty fucked up, an' it's not like they actually got a chance t' do anythin'..." Amanda shivered from more than the breeze that had blown up. The screams had reminded her of an alley in Salem back in March, and for a second she could almost smell burning flesh. She shoved the memory - and the feeling - away. Manuel had gotten them out of the situation without anyone being hurt - well, not exactly. It was a good result.
"That's right, they didn't. You didn't feel them, you didn't know what they were anticipating. I somehow doubt that you really wanted to spend the rest of this fine evening as their personal joytoy." he said with a smirk. "Now, no one else will have to either. Where did you say that Clarice was going to pick us up from again?"
"Same place as before - I just need t' call her an' ask for a lift." Her phone was in her jacket pocket - Amanda busied herself with it, trying not to feel Manuel's almost unholy glee at what he'd done. He definitely had enjoyed doing that way too much, and it wasn't as if he didn't have a point. What they'd planned - she didn't have to be an empath to know what
they'd been going to do. The fact it was nothing that hadn't been done before didn't change things. Speaking briefly with Clarice, she flipped it closed. "She'll have a portal waiting for us in five minutes. Plenty of time t' get there."
Manuel nodded. "With time and therapy, they'll recover. But for a few days, they won't come anywhere _near_ a situation where they could hurt another person. I call it justice." he said with great finality. "I protect what is mine. Shall we?" he asked, crooking his arm for Amanda to take, if she so chose to.
She took it, telling herself she was over-reacting. What Manuel had done was easier to heal than what she'd done to that boy's hands. And she _had_ told him to take care of the situation, knowing full well what he was capable of. It was just... "Doesn't mean you had t' enjoy it so much," she whispered, mostly to herself as she let him steer her towards the alley
near the music store.
"Why shouldn't I?" he asked coldly. "Those men were going to kill me and fuck you to death. What I did was _mild_." he retorted, full of venom. He then fell silent for a time, to realign his worldview away from the ruthless man of business that he was being urged to be by some parties and towards the caring fun young man that Amanda wanted him to be. "Despite all of it, I think I enjoyed today. We should do it again sometime."
"'M not sayin' you shouldn've have done it, just that... oh forget it. 'M lookin' at it from the rules I have t' stick to, an' that ain't fair." Amanda made a frustrated noise - she wasn't even sure _why_ it bothered her so much. Like he said, the gang had planned far worse for the pair of them. Except that she kept seeing the glee in Gambit's eyes at the fear he'd
aroused in her, the satisfaction in Rack's as he backhanded her into a wall for talking back. To enjoy the pain you inflicted... well, that was a slippery slope, with a certain Chair at the end of it, for Manuel. "We should, do this again. A nice bit of normal in all the crazy shite the world throws at us. Or as normal as we get, any way." She offered him a
half-smile, although the expression failed to clear the troubled shadows in her eyes.
Manuel felt her discomfort, but was content to let it pass on its own. He was fairly sure it would. "I'd like that." he said. "Another day out, to ourselves. I must get out more among the regular people. I am too cloistered at the Mansion."
" Yer turn t' choose, then," she said, concentrating on the normal aspects of the conversation. Perhaps she was over-reacting. And she didn't want to wreck things, not when they'd been having quite a good time. "Maybe you could start meetin' me after me classes with Strange - they only go for the mornin', an' then I have the rest of the day off. You, me, an' all New York has t' offer?" she suggested.
Manuel smiled. "Sounds like a good time." he agreed. "If I can get a ride into the city, then I would be _delighted_ to escort you throughout the town. Or perhaps I could get a ride in with you, amuse myself whilst you study at the feet of your Master, and then meet up with you once the lessons are done?"
Amanda snorted at the idea of her sitting at anyone's feet, let alone calling them 'Master'. "I like that idea," she admitted, relaxing a little and holding onto his arm a bit less stiffly. "Tho' I think stayin' out of Spanish Harlem at night might be a good idea." As would telling someone about this when they got back. Someone official-ish.
Manuel nodded in agreement with that pronouncement. "Probably wise." he said with a smile. "I know you think I was too cruel, but believe me, you didn't feel what I felt. If anything, I was too lenient."
"That's not what's botherin' me," she replied, sighing a little. Okay, deal with it. At least ask and let him tell her she was wrong, or over-reacting, or something. "Did you... did you like doin' that? It felt like you did."
Manuel shook his head. "Not in the way you are thinking of." he said. "I enjoyed delivering a little justice. I enjoy using my power, yes. Is that wrong? I enjoyed holding you together and making you feel good as much as I enjoyed altering those men back there so as to leave us alone."
"But not the pain part?" Amanda persisted. It was important that she get this straight in her head, settle the disquiet, although his words were beginning to do that.
Manuel shrugged. "They were not innocents." he said simply, and then fell silent.
Did that make a difference? Amanda was torn between her instincts and the training she'd been getting at Strange's hands. They'd deserved it, more than, and Manuel was right, there was justice in making them unable to to hurt anyone else, in making them feel the pain they inflicted on others. But how many times had Strange emphasised to her that pain was pain, no
matter how well deserved, and that enjoying the inflicting of it was dangerous? That she risked losing everything? He'd been so angry about the fight with Jubilee, in that restrained, academic way of his.
"I suppose yer right..." she said at last, lamely, even though she was far from convinced. Relieved, she saw they were back at the pick up point, and even as they walked into the alley, Clarice's portal appeared. Perfect timing. "Lets just go home?" she said, the tiniest note of pleading entering her voice. She didn't want to think about this any more.
Manuel smiled and nodded. He knew she was hiding from him, her concern, her doubts. It didn't matter, in the long term. She would see things his way eventually. He'd done nothing wrong - he'd even done good, by removing a threat to the neighborhood, removing a set of predators from the streets. Something he could take pride in.