Log [Alison, Manuel]

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Risks and Rewards
Alison & Manuel, right after the Friday morning music class. Terms are discussed and a bargain is struck.

Name your price...

Manuel purposefully dallied after Music class was complete, hoping to get a chance to talk to Alison semi-privately. He looked at the crowd of milling students and silently wished they would all leave so that he could do what he had nerved himself up to do.

Concentrating on what she was jotting down about the class' reactions, Alison didn't notice that someone had lingered until nearly everyone had filed out. Looking up she stopped writing and then tilted her head towards one of the chairs closest to her desk in a silent invitation for Manuel to stay until the others had left.

Manuel waited until the last student had cleared out before approaching Alison. "May I have a word with you?" he asked, oddly formal all of a sudden. "In private?"

"Of course," she replied, curiosity piqued. And since the moment seemed to require it, she went a step further. "Would you rather we use my office for this, or is the classroom all right?" Closing the door would offer them enough privacy to talk, if that was to his taste.

"Your office would be preferable." he said with a firm nod, then walked over into said office and took a seat unbidden. He looked - nervous. Once Alison had closed the door behind her, he started. "I have been thinking about what you said when we last talked. Name your price."

"Name my price?" Those were the first words out of her mouth and she stared at him blankly for a moment, not having a single clue what he was talking about. She circled the desk to sit down as well, trying to figure out what he meant. "I'm sorry," she said calmly, his uncharacteristic nervousness causing her to at least try and make things as smooth as possible. "I'm not sure what you mean. Would you mind explaining?"

Manuel sighed. "You offered to help me with learning how to better project. I have decided to accept your offer. Name your price." He explained slowly.

She really didn't mean to stare. "Pri- no, wait. I think I understand what you mean." It just boggled the mind completely, but Alison understood. "I'm not sure how to answer that, Manuel. In all honesty, I didn't make the offer with the intention of setting a price for my help."

"No one works for free." Manuel said curtly. "I would know the price and the terms before we enter into any agreement. I relied on Nathan's good will, and we all know where that got me. So this time I am protecting myself." he said flatly. "It's only good business."

Oooh boy. "Okay." She took a deep breath, trying to figure out a way to get the point across to him - which admittedly, with the whole Nathan angle might not be easy, considering Manuel's reaction to the 'no price' line. "What are you feeling from me now? When you ask me for a price to help you?"

Manuel looked at Alison, looked THROUGH her, and shrugged. "Fear. Puzzlement. Surprise. A few other things, but those are the dominant ones." he said. "Why?"

"I'm not feeling any fear right now that I'm aware of." She shook her head, certain on that one. "Puzzlement and surprise though? Yeah. Mostly because when I offered to help I had no intention of setting a price of any sort. I'd still have no idea what to ask for as a price, honestly. Terms, on the other hand, I'm more than willing to work with. For peace of mind on both our parts and also to make things clear if anyone decides to have a cow about the whole thing." She opened her hands and shrugged a bit. "Would that work for you?"

"Terms." he said, then smiled somewhat. He had risen in her estimation, if she was discussing terms and not prices. Put him on her level. "Perhaps not, then." he said. "The fear, that is. As far as terms go - what did you have in mind? I risk much, approaching you in this way."

Nuance. Alison blinked at the realization. He didn't even have many notions about social interactions and nuances - maybe that reflected itself in how he perceived emotions as well. Latent as well as dominant. Food for thought and she set that aside for later. "Mostly making sure that no one can start being paranoid about it," she leaned on the desk, considering. "Regular sessions, supervised by someone - Charles maybe, or someone else we both agree on and feel comfortable with. Clear listing of goals to be achieved, pre-determined work process which would be adapted as we go along, open lines of communication," she ticked items off her fingers as she spoke. "That'd be a few things I can think of which would be basically needed. You?"

Manuel was nodding until Charles was mentioned. Then he stopped. "Your terms are acceptable, if you can find someone else to supervise. Charles has not been forthcoming with the empathic training, which is why I am going through this in the first place." he explained.

Alison, still leaning at the desk, smiled a bit. "Ah. But have you asked him lately?" She waited a moment, and then leaned back, keeping herself from offering to talk to Charles for him instead - for one thing, she had no doubt the Professor had to be aware Manuel was taking these steps.

"I meet with him in a few days." Manuel said. "I have pressed him to begin my training in earnest. Instead, he favors talk and homework assignments. Which is fine as far as they go, but they don't teach me how to project better, how to better identify what I see, or how to interpret the strings." he said, indignant. "So I arrange my own training."

"Well. You could suggest to him that your sessions continue like that, and then ask that he add an extra one - for each session where you talk, there'd be one where you train as well. A compromise." Alison tapped the desk idly as she thought. "I'll want him to know when we work on your training. I expect he'd know anyway, but I'd just feel better knowing he was told about it first. That's another term." And she was more than willing to ask Charles to agree to it, at that. She grinned a bit. "What do you sense now?"

Manuel leaned back in his chair and hrmmed. "I am not sure we will be able to reach an accommodation, then." he said after a long pause. "I am not blind for your desire for security and safety, but this intervention you require is unacceptable." he said. "As for what you feel - curious, very determined about this deal going through, some thoughtfulness."

She nodded at the last - he'd caught the nuance, this time. "Is your objection to Charles being the immediate supervisor of the sessions, or him knowing about them at all?" Secrecy, she knew, would be the worse way to do this - as soon as someone found out, the whole mansion would be in an uproar.

"Yes." he said with a smirk. "Charles has his own pace that he wants me to progress at. I find it too slow - I have more pressing concerns, concerns that require me to get far more practice than I am far more quickly. I doubt greatly that he would consent to what I am doing."

"We have an impasse." The words were slowly spoken, Alison frowning a bit as she thought matters over. "Would you be willing to let me approach him on the matter and plead our case?" She couldn't help a touch of amusement at the turn of the sentence, although it passed quickly.

"It would seem so." he said, straightening his chair. "Our case? I think not. My case. Assuming you keep it in those terms, then yes, at this point it cannot hurt. I should have known better than to put my faith in my fellow students." he said with a slight sigh. "Even those who were willing cannot or will not aid me."

"I'll talk to him when we're done here." She ignored his complaints about the other students, other than noting that he'd clearly asked others for this as well. Alison wondered if any might have told Charles already, even as she drew out a few sheets of paper and started noting down what they'd previously agreed on. "We'll still need to agree on someone to supervise, if Charles himself doesn't decide to do it. Unless you'd rather he didn't. Anyone you'd prefer?" Going on the assumption that they'd get the all clear worked for her, well enough.

Manuel shrugged. "As long as it is not Nathan, I am flexible in that requirement." he said with a generous flourish of his hand. "I have little trust for him. Lorna, too, is a poor supervisor - for obvious reasons."

Nathan. Would. Howl. She didn't worry about it all that much though, knowing only too well how to placate him on that front. The mention of her roommate's name brought her to a very dead standstill however. She remembered only too well the state she'd found Lorna in, that time. "Yes. She would be." She was going to either get the silent treatment over this, or get many metallic things thrown at her. Gah.

"I thought you might agree." he said, picking up on the surging change in Alison's emotions easily. "So who would you propose as your advocate in this matter?" he said, honestly curious to see who she would select. "Your choices among the psionic contingent are slender indeed." And anyone she would pick out of the few remaining choices was someone he could dominate, if it came down to that.

With Charles out, there was really only one person left she'd choose - Nathan not even being part of it since the start due to his own reactions to Manuel, of course. "Well, since you're flexible in the matter and all," she thought about it, smiling a bit at the thought of the link she shared with the telepath. "Would you let me get in contact with the person first, pending Charles' approval, to se if they're willing?"

Manuel waved that off with a dismissive gesture. "Be my guest." He said. "Judging by that smug satisfaction I'm feeling, I think you think you have something up your sleeve." he said. "But I will permit this, in the spirit of understanding and this alliance we are forging."

She laughed at that. "It's not smugness about my potential choice. I was just thinking about someone who is doing better on some levels right now. I'm pleased with that." Alison tilted her head to the side at his words. "Actually... another basic ground rule. For both of us. Ask. Never assume." She gave him a sober look. "In the spirit of understanding." Which meant she would have to ask him precisely what he meant by alliance and what his expectations towards that would be.

Manuel blinked. "Explain what you mean by that? I am not your ward, to be ordered about like a servant." he said, voice growing hard with arrogance and breeding. "Part of this entire project in projection is learning to better identify what I do see. So your request, unless you elaborate upon it in more depth, is denied."

She'd had arrogant shoved in her face more than enough to not be phased in the least by this. "All I mean is that due to the nature of what we'll be doing, neither of us will be in a position to assume something based on incomplete data." Heavens, that was a dry way to put things. "It's just an extension on the open communication thing from earlier, which you agreed to." She smiled crookedly. "And which you just did as well, so I don't think it'll be a major issue, no?"

Manuel sank back into his chair, still seething. Oh, this was not going to be fun. But the rewards ... ahh, the rewards made it all worth it. "Granted." he said with a wave of his hand and a sigh. "But the open communication works both ways. I know of you, Devil Woman. I demand the same consideration from you that you expect of me."

"Of cou-" she stopped, shaking her head a touch ruefully. "No assumptions. Consideration given and returned, on either sides. Agreed. Which means there won't be any Devil Woman. Could I ask you to not call me that while we work together, please?" Sometimes, how people used that 'nickname' could get very annoying - and it made Alison miss Jake a fair bit as time went by.

"For now." he agreed blandly. "I do not like the Devil Woman. I do not know Alison." he elaborated. "Furthermore, I do not trust the Devil Woman. I am willing to attempt working with Alison, but if I see the Devil Woman come out, then the deal is null and void."

"Or you could always call me on it if it happens and we work it out," she murmured. She was going to be exhausted the moment he walked out that door and she knew it. "I'll talk to Charles," Alison repeated, whimsically adding 'no Devil Woman' on the list of terms. "Anything else?" she glanced up from the list curiously.

"Privacy. My flaws, my strengths, and my weaknesses are my business. I am agreeing to let you help me, but I do not want what I reveal in this training to become common knowledge. What is said or revealed during practice is to remain in the strictest confidentiality. Do we understand one another?" he said, lips compressed into a thin line.

She stared for a moment, once again caught in a difference of thinking - his request wasn't astounding once she stopped to think of it, but made sense. And she knew only too well it went both ways. "You'll be learning a lot about me as well, Manuel. I'll keep what I learn to myself. Will you do the same for me?"

Manuel nodded. "Agreed, and gladly." he said, finally breaking into a smile. "I think we can do this, assuming that Charles doesn't have a coronary and that your Mystery Spotter concurs." he said. "I have a question for you, now, if you don't mind." he added. "Why? Why help me? Why expose yourself to the risk for no reward? What do you stand to gain from all of this? And what do you expect of me?"

Everyone else but Charles would have a coronary, Alison suspected. And she had better get used to hearing a lot of questions from Manuel, from now on. "Free license to ask al l the questions you want, remember?" She tapped on the paper on the desk. "And-" she paused, trying to figure out how to explain something that was still nebulous even to her in terms of specifics. "It's hard to explain. I guess the best way to express it would be simply because I can." She gave him a long look, pondering her next words carefully. "And all I would expect from you, through all of this, would be to treat me as you yourself would wish to be treated." It covered everything else she might say, in far less possibly sanctimonious sounding way.

Manuel snorted. "Quite impossible. The power dynamic will not stand for it, unless you surrender your authority." he said. "Really." he added, bemused by the whole notion. "And pardon me, but I was under the impression that doing things just because you can was highly frowned upon here. I can do lots of things. Actually doing them has landed me in quite a bit of trouble."

"Point." She wasn't going to argue with that or push things further. And there were so many headaches in wait for her in figuring out how he thought, she knew. "And in this case, I'm doing something because I can - not just because I can. And more specifically also because I think it needs to be done. The baseline of this is that I'm confirming with Charles that I'm doing it and not just hauling off on a whim. Does that help a bit?"

"Ah, now the full truth comes out." he said with a small little smile. "I just had to dig for it a little. But come now, we agreed to honesty between us, did we not?" he said with only the slightest hint of mockery. "But for now, I think that I shall depart, and leave you to honor your end of the bargain or not, as you so choose."

Many headaches forthcoming, oh yes. "It's hard to come up with the complete answer on the first shot sometimes, Manuel, when you haven't even tried to put it to words for yourself." She leaned back in the chair however, nodding. "I'll let you know what Charles says, as soon as I'm done talking to him. Hopefully you'll know where things stand by tonight."

"You know how to get a hold of me when the time comes." he said, and then stood. "For my sake, I do hope that this arrangement bears fruit. I still do not trust altruism - it makes me look for the hidden hook all that much more closely. You would have been better to claim a small less-valuable price for your labors, and kept your satisfaction as an additional reward." he said, and then left her office quickly.

She waited until the door was closed to slowly lean forward until her forehead hit the desk, groaning faintly. So. Many. Headaches. To. Come.