xp_logs | Nathan and Manuel, Friday afternoon

On the field trip to New York, Nathan, who's feeling increasingly ill, takes exception to Manuel using his library time to flirt with the pretty girl at the circulation desk. He and Manuel hiss at each other about it, then Nathan decides to play a rather petty trick that doesn't go at all as he expected. Surprisingly, this is a good thing.

Manuel was in this library to do research on his barriers-to-trade paper, but one look at the exquisite creature manning the circulation desk, and all thoughts of homework and boring old research fled his mind in an instant. Dark skin, braided hair, and the most wonderfully pouty lips were calling to him, and when it came to the fairer sex, they were far more interesting than dry dusty tarriffs and border treaties.

Nathan was not in a good mood. In fact, cranky was probably putting it mildly. He had finally gone to sleep last night, despite the fact that there had been no heat, anywhere, but he hadn't slept well, and the heat hadn't made a reappearance overnight. Damn Cain. He was probably in league with the thermostats anyway. And because he was stupid enough to willingly drive thirteen loud and obnoxious teenagers into New York and spend two hours (so far) in the library with them, he had developed a pounding headache, too.

So when he spotted Manuel flirting with the girl at the circulation desk, his temper got the better of him. He narrowed his eyes, and the girl yelped as the stack of books at her elbow toppled over. "Excuse me for a moment," she said to Manuel, ducking down to retrieve the ones that had fallen on the floor.

Manuel nodded graciously. "Of course. Do you want some help with that?" he asked the girl, keeping the mundane charm set to 'seduce'. Things were going well, and he might even convince the girl to let him take her on a one-way trip to pleasureville even without any nudges from his power. Besides, flirting with the girl kept his mind off of Amanda and her new-found wealth. Judging by the girl's attire, she was a student herself, or just barely graduated. No real wealth there.

Nathan gritted his teeth. Well, great. He'd just facilitated the flirting. Donning as neutral an expression as he could manage, he came over. "Excuse me," he said to the girl, then turned to Manuel. "Are you having trouble finding the resources you need? I'll give you a hand, them. Would hate to see you spend the afternoon searching, rather than reading."

Manuel looked over at Nathan, then turned his attention back to the girl. "If you will excuse me for just a moment..." he told her with a wink, then returned his attentions to Nathan. "I'm fine. Go away. I have everything I need." he said, voice diving about a thousand degrees in those few words.

#I didn't bring you here to check out the female scenery,# Nathan sent harshly, not particularly caring if Manuel didn't like the interruption. #Go back to work.#

#I have a stack of books already.# Manuel sent back, his mental voice clearer than normal. Clearly, he'd been practicing. #Go bother someone else, you moon-faced assassin of joy.# He liked that quote - something from one of Doug's science-fiction shows, if he wasn't mistaken. He couldn't follow what was going on very well, but the thing with the odd hair and the accent amused him greatly.

#I'm sorry, were you under the impression that was a request?# In his mind, Nathan traced the coiled spiral pattern Askani had told him was a good basic empathic defense and glared right back at Manuel. Not caring at all that the girl was beginning to wonder why the two of them were standing there staring daggers at each other.

#Yes, I was.# shot Manuel back, and then he physically turned back to the circulation desk girl. "If you will excuse me for just a moment..." he said to her with a little purr in his voice. "This won't take but a moment." #What the hell is your problem?# Manuel 'pathed to Nathan.

Hadn't they just been through this? "Go back," Nathan grated aloud, "and read. There are resources here that would be valuable for your paper that you can't take out of the library, and you're not likely to get a chance to come back and look at them again before the due date."

Manuel took a few steps away from the in-equal-parts-intrigued-and-confused circulation desk girl, then turned to look at Nathan. "I have an eidetic memory." he said flatly. "I've already committed the pages to memory. That took me the better part of the first hour."

"You don't seriously think you've looked at even a fraction of what's available on your subject." Nathan waved a hand around at the immense library.

"I don't need to." Manuel shot back. "There's this really nifty webpage called Google. It lets you search for just about any topic imaginable. Maybe you've heard of it?" he asked, not bothering to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "I know what I am going to say, I have the documents to back up my points. Get off my case!"

"And less than a fraction of the material available is actually online for Google to find."

"He's right, actually," the circulation girl volunteered suddenly. "Most of our government documents collection is only available here, in paper copies. We've started to digitize it but it'll take years."

Manuel looked over at the circulations girl, then back over to Nathan. "I _know_ that." he said as pleasantly as he could. "Which is why I started my research there. Grade me by what I turn in, not by what I do on this little field trip." he said, still trying to be pleasant. "I have what I feel are enough sources - the treaties themselves, articles about them from both sides, corporate balance sheets, a few other things. I can make my point quite nicely with the data I have.

A pair of older men were standing at one end of the circulation desk, looking inquisitively at the girl, who shook herself, giving Nathan and Manuel both an apologetic smile. "If either of you need anything else, let me know," she said, moving away to find out what her next two 'customers' needed.

Nathan gazed down at Manuel darkly as the girl began a sotto voce, if animated conversation with the two men about some particular esoteric documents collection. "You shouldn't have been researching with your point already in mind," he pointed out. Hadn't he told Manuel this before? "You read the sources, find out what they have to tell you, and then decide what you're going to argue."

"That's insane." Manuel said. "I decided the tack I wanted to take, then I sat down and read the documents. From there, I could either build up my point, attack it, or discard in favor of a better one. I know what I'm doing, you know. Don't let your dislike of me cloud your thinking."

"You don't--" Nathan stopped, his jaw clenching at the brief wave of dizziness that hit him. "Going into research with preconceived notions is never a good thing," he said finally. Fuck, he felt lousy today. "And I would venture to suggest that I've had a little more experience researching than you have. But we've got another two hours at least, here, so I suggest you go do some reading, or something else productive."

"I was doing something productive." Manuel countered. Hopefully _re_productive, if things went well. "I was getting to know the wonderful girl at the circulations desk. And the whole _point_ of research is to prove or disprove the thoughts that you have coming in!"

"No, it's to create an informed opinion from what you read," Nathan said, and this time, had to reach out and brace himself against the circulation desk for a moment. "Never mind," he muttered, squeezing his eyes shut. "And she's about to take those two gentlemen upstairs and help them find the documents they need. Which she's thinking will take her a while because that collection hasn't been catalogued..." Whoa, what was he doing? Nathan shook his head, ignoring the way the dizziness increased when he did that, and tried to reinforce his shields.

Manuel blinked at Nathan. "Well, if that's the way it is going to be..." he said, and then shielded his eyes with one hand. After a second, he lowered his hand with a smile. "Seems those two gentlemen may just lose their taste for, what did you call them? Ah yes. Esoteric document collections."

Nathan opened his eyes and stared at him in disbelief. "You didn't just... you did." He shook his head slowly. "I ought to take you out and lock you in the bus."

"Might I point out that the initial breach was yours?" Manuel said sweetly.

"I overheard! I didn't force anyone to change their plans for the afternoon."

"You give me too much credit." said Manuel demurely. "What one thought gives away, another can restore. No harm done. They're not leaving, they're just looking at other things for a time."

Nathan tried not to grind his teeth. "Go back to the table where your books are," he said under his breath, "and sit down."

"No." said Manuel. "I think that I shall walk for a time. Perhaps I will get someone to accompany me." he said with a poisoned smile. "My research here is complete. Alert me when the time comes to depart."

Nathan smiled right back at him, if the expression could be called that. "We're going to go over and sit down at your table," he said, not backing off an inch, "and you're going to take me through the sources you picked and how they're going to fit into your argument."

"I do not think so." said Manuel. "Your time for evaluating my argument will come when I hand in my paper. Unless you plan to compel me to join you, this discussion is finished." he said, and then quite delibrately turned his back of Nathan. A risk, but a calculated one. He wouldn't cause too much of a scene in the middle of a library. He hoped.

Nathan opened his mouth, then closed it again, grinning suddenly, almost maniacally. Oh, yes. Manuel could walk out if he liked. He knew precisely what he was going to do in response. Charles might scold him for it, but on the other hand, it might actually teach Manuel something of a lesson...

Manuel walked back over to the circulations desk, where the girl was just returning from her trip upstairs. "I'm sorry about that. He's the professor for the course, and he's a little obsessive at times. But enough about him. Do you think you could show me those Japanese woodcuts you had mentioned earlier?" he asked her with a patented de la Rocha smouldering grin.

The girl chuckled. "Give me a few minutes just to finish up a couple of things here," she said, "and then I'll take you downstairs if you like." Her eyes moved over Manuel's shoulder for a minute, and she made a thoughtful noise. "Well, he might be obsessive, but he seems determined to be helpful. Looks like he's reshelving your materials for you."

Manuel blinked. "That's unusually helpful of him. I've already got all the materials I need." he said reassuringly, not looking at Nathan at all. "I've got an excellent memory plus my notes. He's doing me a favor, I should go thank him. Excuse me for just a moment." he said, then walked back over to where Nathan was reshelving. "Thanks for putting those back for me. I appreciate it." he said with a smile.

"Oh, no worries," Nathan said, still giving him the maniacal grin. "No worries at all. Enjoy your time downstairs."

Manuel double-checked his mental shielding, and then nodded. He was being too helpful, and Manuel couldn't help but wonder what in the world his ulterior goal was. "I plan to." he said with a simple smile. "I have notes as well as my memories, so don't even think about using your gift on me." he hissed under his breath before leaving to go rejoin the Circulation Desk Girl.

Nathan reached out very delicately with his telekinesis and picked Manuel's pocket, relieving him of his cell phone. There was no phone in the room where the Japanese woodcuts were. There was, however, a nice, sturdy lock on the outside of the door. He spared a brief glance for the girl, judging that she was the type to stay calm and focus on getting out rather than take the opportunity to be amorous. Although Manuel could of course change that. But if he did, Nathan reasoned, he could always step in.

Manuel never even noticed, being too focused on chatting up the circulations desk girl as they headed downstairs - walking closer together than was strictly warranted by the circumstances.

"I'm Rebecca, by the way," the girl offered as they headed downstairs. "Are you at Columbia, or NYU?"

"Private school upstate." Manuel told Rebecca with a charming smile. "My name is Manuel. Now, about these woodcuts. Is it true that they're really quite erotic?" he asked with with a grin.

She laughed softly, her dark eyes sparking with mischief for a moment. "Some of them. All of them are historically interesting."

Manuel laughed along with her. "They're fascinating, aren't they?" he said with a flirtatious grin and a brush against her body as they entered the actual downstairs area where the woodcuts were kept.

"Let me pull out a couple of the best," she said as they entered the small archive room. The door swung shut behind them with an audible click, and she stopped abruptly, turning. "That... didn't sound quite right," she said with a little frown and went back to the door, trying to open it. "Oh, damn."

Manuel looked at the girl, then at the lock, and then he knew, he just knew, what the deal was. "I believe someone has played a cruel trick on us." He reached into his pocket for his cellphone, and then swore when he discovered that it was not there. "OK, we do have a problem. Do you have a phone on you?"

"No, I don't carry mine when I'm at work," Rebecca said with a sigh, looking around. "And there's no phone in here." She shook her head, trying the door again. "Those locks are not supposed to engage spontaneously like that."

"They didn't." Manuel said. "Like I said, someone is playing a very cruel joke." He then wandered further into the stacks, and just to be safe shielded his eyes with his hand. #NATHAN!# he hollered telepathically as he projected a strong desire to come downstairs into the room he and Rebecca were currently in.

#What's wrong, Manuel? I was just assuring your privacy.#

#This is very petty of you.# he thought at the ex-merc. #I should have expected it. Lock me in if you wish, but don't do this to Rebecca. She has a job to do.#

#How very odd. That you have respect for the job Rebecca is supposed to do, and not at all for the job I'm supposed to be doing. Selective, Manny. Very selective.#

#You've done your job, and me giving you grief can't get you fired. She could lose her job if she stays down here too long.# he thought back. #But anything to put Manuel in his place, is that it?#

#You were planning to keep her down there for a while anyway, weren't you? Should I just estimate how much time it would have taken?#

Manuel went back over to where Rebecca was playing with the lock. "I am very sorry." he said. "But it appears that Professor Dayspring is quite upset with me, and he's taking it out on you as well. There is nothing I can do. I can't reason with him from in here, and he apparently took my phone."

Rebecca blinked, then looked interested. "It's your professor? And you know that from in here..." Interest turned to intrigue. "I thought I noticed a couple members of your group doing some odd things when they thought no one was looking. Are you mutants?"

Manuel ignored that aspect of her question. "I think he's the one who locked us in here." he said. "I could be wrong, but it's possible. And I had my phone as of when I was talking to him before we came down here."

Rebecca chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes, then," she said, her dark eyes lingering on him keenly, nothing but relaxation and a certain curiosity in her demeanor. "Don't worry, Manuel," she said, going over to the cases where the woodcuts were kept. "I've been involved in a mutant/human activist group all the time I've been at grad school. My ex-boyfriend still stops by my apartment every so often to whisper sweet nothings to my plants so that they'll grow happily."

"That's very interesting." Manuel said. "And you guessed correctly - both Professor Dayspring and I are mutants. You will forgive me, please, for being a little suspect? I did not wish to cause a scene or give you a fright."

Rebecca waved a hand. "Understandable, given how many people would probably react badly. I've heard plenty of very unpleasant stories." She gave a little frown, then shook her head. "It's never made any sense to me. I suppose because my parents were a mixed marriage, racially speaking, so I grew up thinking differences were a good thing."

Manuel grinned. "Well then, since there's not much we can do to get out of here right now - want to show me those woodcuts?" And maybe a little more?

"The woodcuts, yes," Rebecca said with a charming, oddly knowing smile. "Your Professor will be down to let us out in about fifteen minutes, he says."

"Sure you can't convince him to give us a little more time?" he said, charm-engines running full-bore. "I would hate to miss the more interesting woodcuts." he insinuated.

"Fifteen minutes is about as long as I can be away from my desk, realistically," Rebecca said, with maybe a trace of regret as she started to pull out one of the woodcuts. "Are you a telepath as well? Our current group president - not that it's a very formal sort of position - is." Rebecca gave a little laugh. "She claims that she can't do much beyond overhear things she really wished she didn't, though."

Manuel shook his head. "No, I'm not a telepath." he said with a smile. "And I don't want to get you in trouble in your job - perhaps we could meet up later, look at those woodcuts when you're not on the job? Maybe dinner as well?"

Rebecca raised her head from the woodcut cases, her gaze distant for a moment. "Sure," she said, and there was a clicking noise from the door. "Well then. Your prof changed his mind. But yeah, sure. We could do that and then maybe meet up with some of those friends I mentioned, if you like."

"Sure." he said. "That sounds like a very pleasant evening out. And just so you know - I'm an empath." he said, before walking towards the clicking noise.

"That's rare, isn't it?" Rebecca asked, following him to the door. She smiled. "I'm sort of the go-to research girl for our group," she explained. "Means I've done a lot of reading on the subject of mutation."

"Extremely. And I am sane, which is rarer still. We can talk more about it later, OK?" he said, and then opened the door.

There was no one in the hall outside, and Rebecca giggled. "I think he's annoyed with you," she confessed, starting for the stairs. "He's still telling me to make sure I give you my phone number, though."

"You have no idea." Manuel said. "And I think that's an excellent idea." He dug a pen and a scrap of paper out of his pocket, and handed it to Rebecca. "If you would be so kind..." he asked.

As they climbed the stairs, she scrawled down a couple of phone numbers on the piece of paper. "My home number, and my cell," she said as they came back out onto the main level of the library. "Feel free to use either."

Nathan was sitting over at one of the tables, skimming through a folio-sized volume of some sort. Rebecca smiled and waved at him, and he nodded back, then returned his attention to the book.

Manuel tried his best to ignore that little exchange. "Well, I'll catch up with you later, Rebecca." he said, and then dug another scrap of paper out of his pocket. Jotting something down on it, he passed it to her with a grin. "Assuming I ever get my phone back, that's my number." he said. "You can call me, if you're so inclined."

"I just might," Rebecca said with a wink. "Anyhow, Manuel, have a good afternoon. I really ought to get back to work. Tell your prof for me that he's a very funny man." And she went back to her desk, tossing Manuel a bright smile over her shoulder.

Nathan, still sitting at the table, freed one hand and raised Manuel's cell phone, waggling it at him without looking in his direction.

Manuel stopped at the table where Nathan was taunting him with his cellphone, and grabbed it back from him. "Not funny." he growled at Nathan. "Not funny at _all_."

"I thought that turned out rather well, actually. Rebecca's a lovely girl," Nathan said lightly, his eyes still skimming the book. "Open-minded, easy-going, quite happy to introduce you to those friends of hers she mentioned. Hell, if you like them, you might even find yourself without reason to bitch at Jamie over HeliX. Her group apparently does a lot of interesting things."

Manuel stiffened as a thought came to him. "Did you arrange this?" he asked suspiciously. "Any of it?"

"No, I was just going to lock you in there and see what came of it," Nathan said. "I was as surprised as you were to find out she was interested in mutant activism."

Manuel glared at Nathan. "If you are lying to me, I will be _angry_." he threatened.

Nathan looked at him levelly, letting the coil-pattern drop in his mind. He had entirely too much of a headache to be arguing with Manuel any further. Let him see for himself. "Why would I bother lying to you?" he asked curtly.

"Because you are setting me up to fail?" he said acidically. "Because you are always so angry with me, even when I have done nothing?”

"What happened with you and Rebecca was an interesting and unexpected outgrowth that came from an admittedly petty trick on my part," Nathan said without breaking eye contact. "What happens with you and Rebecca, or her friends, from this point on is up to you. I have no particular interest with what you do with your personal life. As for why I'm angry with you..." He paused, unable to help a glare. "Right now, it has a lot to do with the fact that you were prepared to walk out on a school-approved field trip."

"Walking out? Are you MAD? My research here is _done_. Has been for a while. I wasn't leaving the library. I even checked in with you first. I fulfilled my obligations." he said heatedly.

"I'm not arguing with you, Manuel," Nathan said, looking away at last. "Do whatever the hell you want. You've made it very clear that you're only prepared to do the bare minimum of work, rather than take full advantage of the opportunity you have here this afternoon. Just make sure you're in the lobby at five-thirty. Wouldn't want to leave you behind."

"I will be. And when I turn that paper in, it will be a good one. Well-reasoned, well-researched. Don't get pissy with me because I finished my research before you wanted me to." Manuel warned.

"There's no such thing as finishing your research. There's just running out of time to do anything further," Nathan said dismissively, rubbing at his eyes as his vision briefly doubled. "Now go away. Since you have no intention of utilizing my services as your teacher this afternoon."

"You're so weird." Manuel complained as he walked away. Now he needed to find something to do to kill the time before they were to leave.

#There's a very nice-looking blonde at the special collection desk,# Nathan sent after him, a bit snarkily.

Manuel looked over to the aforementioned girl, and shrugged. #Not that great.# he thought back.

#Pity. She's been admiring you.#

#Lots of girls admire me.# he thought back. #She's not doing much for me, but as they say, any port in a storm.# He got up to go make conversation with the blonde, perhaps see if she was inclined towards any more interesting things.