You asked for it. [Log; Open to Logan for eavesdropping purposes]
[[OOC: Backdated to right after this.]]
Jean:
She brushed out her hair after her shower, taking the time to dry it extra. She hated Russia. She missed being able to blow dry her damned hair when she felt like it. Jean was cranky, ready to get the fuck out of Siberia and onto the next place. As she hit another knot, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and worked on it with a comb.
Logan was in the mess hall, but Jean wasn't hungry. It was getting late, and she hadn't heard agonizing cries of emotional torment from Rictor yet. She'd expected Manuel to do it, quickly, and relentlessly. She'd made that expectation clear.
And she'd readied Allison's memories to be returned to her, along with a couple extra Easter eggs to go along with it.
She sensed him as he charged toward her room, and when he shoved it open, she stared at him. "Have you done as you're told, Manuel, or are we going to have problems here?"
Manuel:
Manuel was in no mood for Jean and he needed to let her know that. He'd told Allison about his betrayal. He had nothing to fear from the red headed bitch. Arrogance had always been his true weakness.
His hand pounded on the door before he pushed it open. He didn't care who was inside of the room, he just needed Jean.
Glaring at her, looking worse for the wear with the bruise on the side of his face, he shook his head. "Go fuck yourself, puta."
Jean:
Her head cocked to the side, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Excuse me?" She stepped in closer to him, noting the bruise, noting that his demeanor had shifted dramatically. Her brow twitched up, and Jean let her mind move into his. Fucking idiot.
"You think that worked? You think she believed you? You can't even see for yourself what you did to her, do you?" She chuckled lightly, twitching a finger to close the door over. "I really don't think you get it, empath. You owe me." Her voice shook a little, the anger in her palpable. She'd done something huge for him, something personality altering, something that took a lot of work, skill, and control on her part. And he was just going to tell her to fuck herself because his 'favor' was someone he liked?
No. That was not going to fly.
"You think that because you come clean to your girl that you've fucked up my plans? Awww, that's cute. No. You have no idea what making that girl remember will do to you. You think you hurt right now? Because you remember her hatred of you? Guess what? You don't have to feel it right now." She cocked her head at him the other direction. "I also know what happened in that year you were apart. I know what she did. Wanna know?"
Jean's eyes were lively with anger and amusement.
Manuel:
He flinched back from her physically, even though he knew that it wouldn't help. He sent a feeling of warning into her, narrowing his eyes. "Get out of my fucking head. Right now." he snarled, his fists clenching. He wasn't going to touch her, no matter how much he wanted to. He knew what she could do.
"I don't care if I owe you. The damage is done." he murmured, shaking his head. He truly thought that he might have her here. Drawing in a deep breath, his eyes moved over her face. God she was ugly. It was on the inside, not the outside, but that evil just transformed her. "I'll take what I deserve. Do your worst." he snapped.
He swallowed at her second threat, his eyes widening a little. God. Did he really want to know? "It doesn't matter."
Jean:
She laughed, the sound hollow and chilling. Her arms folded over her chest and she smirked, raising a brow. "I can show you, if you want. I can play it for you, the way she cried, the way she let herself be pulled into bed, the way she shut her eyes and pretended it was you..." Jean grinned and let her brows go up a little more. "You want to know all her little secrets? You want to know exactly what happened and when, know just how much you demolished that girl when you did that to her?"
Jean sighed. "You have absolutely no idea what you had me take out of her head, Manuel. If you did, you wouldn't be playing with fire right now." She stepped into him again, loving that he was flinching away from her. "Do you really want your life to fall apart completely? Do you really want to be sticking your cock in whatever moves and can be manipulated by you, or do you want to make love to your little blonde?" She stepped again. "It's your decision, empath. Do what I ask, or you get to watch her shatter all over again. And you get to watch it in person."
Manuel:
He didn't like her laugh. He towered over her, staring down at her, but it didn't make him feel powerful. She was damned scary. It made him wonder if this was how people felt in the old times, staring down those they thought were witches.
Course, he would have replaced the first letter of that word and come up with a much more accurate title.
He paled, his jaw setting as her words filtered in, and he glared harder. "Fuck you. I don't want to know anything. Just leave us alone. What you did didn't help. And now? Now you want me to ruin Rictor's life and for what? So you can have your vengeance?"
He snarled, taking a step forward. He felt how damned smug she was. He hated it. "I'm not going to do that to Rictor. I won't." he shot back at her, his shoulders and back straightening. He prepared to lash out at her with his powers, the entire line of his body tensing. "If my life falls apart, it's no one's fault but my own."
Jean:
"Leave you alone? You came to me, empath. Once you knew I could do it, you came running not once, but TWICE. I made it abundantly clear that I was not doing this out of the kindness of my heart, and NOW you're questioning my scruples?" She snorted a laugh. "You're either retarded, or scrambling. I didn't specify you had to LIKE what you were going to have to do. You just have to do it. And like I said, you do a good job, I'll clean up the mess you made for free."
She squared up to him, just as he tensed. "My reasons are none of your fucking business, and it would do you well to keep the fuck out of it. You will do it, unless you want to actually see the product of your selfish insecurities, Manuel. This is your last warning." She stared at him, absolutely no fear of him whatsoever. He was a damned powerful empath, she'd give him that.
But she was stronger, and she held all the cards.
Manuel:
She had a point, but he wasn't thinking about that. No, his mind was coming up with rather creative ways to solve her as a problem once and for all. Luckily, he didn't act on things like that. Or rather, he didn't act on them often. Wanting nothing more than to wrap his hands around her throat and choke the life out of her, his anger flared and he grit his teeth. "I'm not questioning your scruples. I knew when I made this deal, I knew... tu eres la diabla en la carne."
He sensed weakness. She got angry, though he felt no fear. It was only fair to go rummaging around in her emotions, though. He started sifting through and his eyes widened, his lips curling in a smirk. Well well, maybe she did feel something after all.
"So. You do have a reason for going after Rictor. What did he do to you...or rather, what did he do to him?" Manuel asked. He didn't know who Jean might have cared for, but she cared about someone and it was a weakness he could exploit.
Jean:
He thought in Spanish, so everything projected at her was useless. It was his memory bank that served her, and the visual centers of his brain. When things were remembered, or turned into mental pictures, he was quite descriptive. The quick mental picture of her as a demon, the devil... That drew an honest laugh. "Then what's the problem here?"
She felt him pushing in on her, reading her in his own way. His smirk, his question... Logan was the weakness she'd predicted him to be. "Rictor is in this shit because he can't keep his fucking mouth shut. This has nothing to do with anyone other than me and him," she snapped, doing her best to shuffle over her love for Logan with any myriad of other emotions she could find.
Her jaw clenched hard and she glared up at him. "Last chance, Manuel. Are you going to do it?"
Manuel:
"The problem is that for once in my life I'm going to do the right thing. Why, I have no fucking idea save that it might make me feel a little more human. If that concerns you in any way, then please, lash out. Do your worst to me." His eyes flared with power and he took a step forward, this time completely in Jean's space. "But if you do any more to Allison than just return her memories, I will find a way to make your life miserable, do you understand?"
His eyes narrowed, the power dying down, and he lifted his chin. "No." He didn't really know what he was thinking. Throwing away everything for a man he barely knew but considered a friend. It was what he had said, though. He was tired of being the bastard. Tired of being unworthy of being loved. He wanted to be a good man.
Not this parody of a hero he'd become.
Jean:
There was almost a static around her as her rage flared. The ends of her hair shifted as though a light breeze were in the room, but nothing else shifted. The room nearly sparked with her anger. "Fine." Her mind shifted quickly from his to the sleeping blonde a few rooms down. Jean forced her awake before she pushed the memories she'd taken from the girl back into her head.
Plus, an added extra bonus; Jean pushed in memories of the two time she and Manuel had fucked, the handjob she'd given him the first time they met, how he'd asked, begged her to remove Allison's memories. All of it would be like it had been for Manuel, raw, fresh, a barrage of memories that would filter back to their appropriate places but stand out. All of it would make sense instantaneously, and it would be like ripping away the veil.
She smiled deviously at Manuel. "You can't make my life miserable, empath. You can try, but you'll fail." She chuckled a little. "I think your girlfriend is awake. Might want to go check on her?"
Manuel:
He felt his skin tingle as the ends of her hair moved and he narrowed his eyes. Quelling the fear that rose inside of him, of what she would do to Allison, of what she was doing to Allison, he stood fast and watched her, his eyes searching her face.
As she worked on Allison, he worked on her. His eyes shone with a deep red light as he searched through her emotions, trying to find something, anything to attack her with. He focused in on that thread of love he found and did what he thought was the worst he could do, given how damned weak he was.
He took that love and grew it as much as he could within her. Some detached part of his brain thought of that old Christmas cartoon, the Grinch. Let the bitch's heart grow three sizes. He'd just let her tear it down herself.
Jean:
It was like a punch in the gut, and she looked at him, her brows knit. He was doing something, but it wasn't fake... No, this wasn't like previous times he'd manipulated her, lashed out at her with something he thought might work against her. No, he was inside her, pulling this from that well of whatever it was she felt for Logan. Her heart ached with it, her hand going to her chest. It was a heady thing, a wave of sheer bliss that washed over her.
She wasn't used to it, and it was hard to not fight against it. But it was overwhelming. She took a deep breath, trying to keep her head. She threw her mind back into his, drawing up his memories. When nothing seemed like it would be enough to back him off her, she borrowed from Allison's mind.
It ran in flashes, Allison opening the door to see a somber looking Benicio on her doorstep. Flash, and they were on the couch, drinking wine he'd brought from the family vineyard, Allison pouring her heart out to him, Benicio comforting her. Flash, and Benicio is kissing her, Allison pushing him away a few times until she gives up, muttering 'fuck it' under her breath, wine lubricating her resistance. Flash, and Benicio is dragging her into her bed. Flash, and Benicio is above her, rattling on in Spanish. Flash, and Allison is sobbing. Flash, and Benicio is pulling on his clothing, hurling vicious insults at her while Allison shudders with tears, feeling used and stupid. Flash, and Benicio slams out of her apartment, and Allison murmurs Manuel's name before crying herself to sleep.
"Back the fuck off, Empath."
Manuel:
Even as she pulled at his own memories, bringing them to the fore, he fought her. He kept that feeling of what she would likely think of as weakness going, until she lashed out with one thing he wasn't expecting.
Ben? he stopped, his powers falling away, and he watched the memories with shock. Jealousy flared up as Ben kissed his woman--no, she wasn't his woman, not then--and Manuel growled under his breath as his eyes closed and he stepped back. The way his brother treated her, the way she gave in because he himself had hurt her to that point.
Disgust filled him, disgust and anger and self-blame. He didn't say a word. He knew when he'd lost and Jean had hit him below the belt, hard. He backed up until his shoulders hit the door and he shook his head, reaching for the knob.
"We're finished." he said for the second time in a day, though to this woman he meant it. He wanted nothing more to do with this bitch.
Jean:
When the overwhelming rush stopped, Jean stood up strait again, grinning at Manuel. "You're damned right we are. Keep your fucking mouth shut unless you want to really see what I'll do to you and your girl." She let her smile fade from her face, replaced with a vicious glare, a bit of a snarl.
"We're even now. You backed off your word, I undid my favor. Now get the fuck out of my room." She pulled the door open for him without touching it, wanting him away from her, before he realized just how much of an effect what he'd done to her had. She'd never been that disabled, for that long, and had she not recently had those memories at hand, known exactly how to hit him, there was a good chance she would've bent, broken, lost her upper hand.
Logan was liability now. She loved him. That was not good.
"Enjoy your life, Manuel." She glowered at him as she slammed the door in his face, turning and pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead. She had to store that away, make sure it couldn't be used against her. She was glad the Manuel shit was dealt with. She had other things to focus on.
Manuel:
He could scarcely breathe for the tightness in his chest. Being an empath wasn't really as great as it should have been in that moment. He should have been able to control the pain, but he couldn't. He drew back and grit his teeth, wanting to lash out at her. He didn't have the strength. His limbs felt like lead.
As the door opened, his hand caught it and he staggered back into the hall. He lifted his head, looking down the hall towards Allison's door.
It hadn't exploded. The world hadn't dissolved into flame. Just reaching out though, he could feel the pain.
He wanted to turn and run, but he knew that he had to face this. Steeling himself, he made his way to Allison's room, his fingertips brushing the door before his hand went to the handle.
"Padre nuestro, que estás en el cielo..."
Jean:
She brushed out her hair after her shower, taking the time to dry it extra. She hated Russia. She missed being able to blow dry her damned hair when she felt like it. Jean was cranky, ready to get the fuck out of Siberia and onto the next place. As she hit another knot, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and worked on it with a comb.
Logan was in the mess hall, but Jean wasn't hungry. It was getting late, and she hadn't heard agonizing cries of emotional torment from Rictor yet. She'd expected Manuel to do it, quickly, and relentlessly. She'd made that expectation clear.
And she'd readied Allison's memories to be returned to her, along with a couple extra Easter eggs to go along with it.
She sensed him as he charged toward her room, and when he shoved it open, she stared at him. "Have you done as you're told, Manuel, or are we going to have problems here?"
Manuel:
Manuel was in no mood for Jean and he needed to let her know that. He'd told Allison about his betrayal. He had nothing to fear from the red headed bitch. Arrogance had always been his true weakness.
His hand pounded on the door before he pushed it open. He didn't care who was inside of the room, he just needed Jean.
Glaring at her, looking worse for the wear with the bruise on the side of his face, he shook his head. "Go fuck yourself, puta."
Jean:
Her head cocked to the side, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Excuse me?" She stepped in closer to him, noting the bruise, noting that his demeanor had shifted dramatically. Her brow twitched up, and Jean let her mind move into his. Fucking idiot.
"You think that worked? You think she believed you? You can't even see for yourself what you did to her, do you?" She chuckled lightly, twitching a finger to close the door over. "I really don't think you get it, empath. You owe me." Her voice shook a little, the anger in her palpable. She'd done something huge for him, something personality altering, something that took a lot of work, skill, and control on her part. And he was just going to tell her to fuck herself because his 'favor' was someone he liked?
No. That was not going to fly.
"You think that because you come clean to your girl that you've fucked up my plans? Awww, that's cute. No. You have no idea what making that girl remember will do to you. You think you hurt right now? Because you remember her hatred of you? Guess what? You don't have to feel it right now." She cocked her head at him the other direction. "I also know what happened in that year you were apart. I know what she did. Wanna know?"
Jean's eyes were lively with anger and amusement.
Manuel:
He flinched back from her physically, even though he knew that it wouldn't help. He sent a feeling of warning into her, narrowing his eyes. "Get out of my fucking head. Right now." he snarled, his fists clenching. He wasn't going to touch her, no matter how much he wanted to. He knew what she could do.
"I don't care if I owe you. The damage is done." he murmured, shaking his head. He truly thought that he might have her here. Drawing in a deep breath, his eyes moved over her face. God she was ugly. It was on the inside, not the outside, but that evil just transformed her. "I'll take what I deserve. Do your worst." he snapped.
He swallowed at her second threat, his eyes widening a little. God. Did he really want to know? "It doesn't matter."
Jean:
She laughed, the sound hollow and chilling. Her arms folded over her chest and she smirked, raising a brow. "I can show you, if you want. I can play it for you, the way she cried, the way she let herself be pulled into bed, the way she shut her eyes and pretended it was you..." Jean grinned and let her brows go up a little more. "You want to know all her little secrets? You want to know exactly what happened and when, know just how much you demolished that girl when you did that to her?"
Jean sighed. "You have absolutely no idea what you had me take out of her head, Manuel. If you did, you wouldn't be playing with fire right now." She stepped into him again, loving that he was flinching away from her. "Do you really want your life to fall apart completely? Do you really want to be sticking your cock in whatever moves and can be manipulated by you, or do you want to make love to your little blonde?" She stepped again. "It's your decision, empath. Do what I ask, or you get to watch her shatter all over again. And you get to watch it in person."
Manuel:
He didn't like her laugh. He towered over her, staring down at her, but it didn't make him feel powerful. She was damned scary. It made him wonder if this was how people felt in the old times, staring down those they thought were witches.
Course, he would have replaced the first letter of that word and come up with a much more accurate title.
He paled, his jaw setting as her words filtered in, and he glared harder. "Fuck you. I don't want to know anything. Just leave us alone. What you did didn't help. And now? Now you want me to ruin Rictor's life and for what? So you can have your vengeance?"
He snarled, taking a step forward. He felt how damned smug she was. He hated it. "I'm not going to do that to Rictor. I won't." he shot back at her, his shoulders and back straightening. He prepared to lash out at her with his powers, the entire line of his body tensing. "If my life falls apart, it's no one's fault but my own."
Jean:
"Leave you alone? You came to me, empath. Once you knew I could do it, you came running not once, but TWICE. I made it abundantly clear that I was not doing this out of the kindness of my heart, and NOW you're questioning my scruples?" She snorted a laugh. "You're either retarded, or scrambling. I didn't specify you had to LIKE what you were going to have to do. You just have to do it. And like I said, you do a good job, I'll clean up the mess you made for free."
She squared up to him, just as he tensed. "My reasons are none of your fucking business, and it would do you well to keep the fuck out of it. You will do it, unless you want to actually see the product of your selfish insecurities, Manuel. This is your last warning." She stared at him, absolutely no fear of him whatsoever. He was a damned powerful empath, she'd give him that.
But she was stronger, and she held all the cards.
Manuel:
She had a point, but he wasn't thinking about that. No, his mind was coming up with rather creative ways to solve her as a problem once and for all. Luckily, he didn't act on things like that. Or rather, he didn't act on them often. Wanting nothing more than to wrap his hands around her throat and choke the life out of her, his anger flared and he grit his teeth. "I'm not questioning your scruples. I knew when I made this deal, I knew... tu eres la diabla en la carne."
He sensed weakness. She got angry, though he felt no fear. It was only fair to go rummaging around in her emotions, though. He started sifting through and his eyes widened, his lips curling in a smirk. Well well, maybe she did feel something after all.
"So. You do have a reason for going after Rictor. What did he do to you...or rather, what did he do to him?" Manuel asked. He didn't know who Jean might have cared for, but she cared about someone and it was a weakness he could exploit.
Jean:
He thought in Spanish, so everything projected at her was useless. It was his memory bank that served her, and the visual centers of his brain. When things were remembered, or turned into mental pictures, he was quite descriptive. The quick mental picture of her as a demon, the devil... That drew an honest laugh. "Then what's the problem here?"
She felt him pushing in on her, reading her in his own way. His smirk, his question... Logan was the weakness she'd predicted him to be. "Rictor is in this shit because he can't keep his fucking mouth shut. This has nothing to do with anyone other than me and him," she snapped, doing her best to shuffle over her love for Logan with any myriad of other emotions she could find.
Her jaw clenched hard and she glared up at him. "Last chance, Manuel. Are you going to do it?"
Manuel:
"The problem is that for once in my life I'm going to do the right thing. Why, I have no fucking idea save that it might make me feel a little more human. If that concerns you in any way, then please, lash out. Do your worst to me." His eyes flared with power and he took a step forward, this time completely in Jean's space. "But if you do any more to Allison than just return her memories, I will find a way to make your life miserable, do you understand?"
His eyes narrowed, the power dying down, and he lifted his chin. "No." He didn't really know what he was thinking. Throwing away everything for a man he barely knew but considered a friend. It was what he had said, though. He was tired of being the bastard. Tired of being unworthy of being loved. He wanted to be a good man.
Not this parody of a hero he'd become.
Jean:
There was almost a static around her as her rage flared. The ends of her hair shifted as though a light breeze were in the room, but nothing else shifted. The room nearly sparked with her anger. "Fine." Her mind shifted quickly from his to the sleeping blonde a few rooms down. Jean forced her awake before she pushed the memories she'd taken from the girl back into her head.
Plus, an added extra bonus; Jean pushed in memories of the two time she and Manuel had fucked, the handjob she'd given him the first time they met, how he'd asked, begged her to remove Allison's memories. All of it would be like it had been for Manuel, raw, fresh, a barrage of memories that would filter back to their appropriate places but stand out. All of it would make sense instantaneously, and it would be like ripping away the veil.
She smiled deviously at Manuel. "You can't make my life miserable, empath. You can try, but you'll fail." She chuckled a little. "I think your girlfriend is awake. Might want to go check on her?"
Manuel:
He felt his skin tingle as the ends of her hair moved and he narrowed his eyes. Quelling the fear that rose inside of him, of what she would do to Allison, of what she was doing to Allison, he stood fast and watched her, his eyes searching her face.
As she worked on Allison, he worked on her. His eyes shone with a deep red light as he searched through her emotions, trying to find something, anything to attack her with. He focused in on that thread of love he found and did what he thought was the worst he could do, given how damned weak he was.
He took that love and grew it as much as he could within her. Some detached part of his brain thought of that old Christmas cartoon, the Grinch. Let the bitch's heart grow three sizes. He'd just let her tear it down herself.
Jean:
It was like a punch in the gut, and she looked at him, her brows knit. He was doing something, but it wasn't fake... No, this wasn't like previous times he'd manipulated her, lashed out at her with something he thought might work against her. No, he was inside her, pulling this from that well of whatever it was she felt for Logan. Her heart ached with it, her hand going to her chest. It was a heady thing, a wave of sheer bliss that washed over her.
She wasn't used to it, and it was hard to not fight against it. But it was overwhelming. She took a deep breath, trying to keep her head. She threw her mind back into his, drawing up his memories. When nothing seemed like it would be enough to back him off her, she borrowed from Allison's mind.
It ran in flashes, Allison opening the door to see a somber looking Benicio on her doorstep. Flash, and they were on the couch, drinking wine he'd brought from the family vineyard, Allison pouring her heart out to him, Benicio comforting her. Flash, and Benicio is kissing her, Allison pushing him away a few times until she gives up, muttering 'fuck it' under her breath, wine lubricating her resistance. Flash, and Benicio is dragging her into her bed. Flash, and Benicio is above her, rattling on in Spanish. Flash, and Allison is sobbing. Flash, and Benicio is pulling on his clothing, hurling vicious insults at her while Allison shudders with tears, feeling used and stupid. Flash, and Benicio slams out of her apartment, and Allison murmurs Manuel's name before crying herself to sleep.
"Back the fuck off, Empath."
Manuel:
Even as she pulled at his own memories, bringing them to the fore, he fought her. He kept that feeling of what she would likely think of as weakness going, until she lashed out with one thing he wasn't expecting.
Ben? he stopped, his powers falling away, and he watched the memories with shock. Jealousy flared up as Ben kissed his woman--no, she wasn't his woman, not then--and Manuel growled under his breath as his eyes closed and he stepped back. The way his brother treated her, the way she gave in because he himself had hurt her to that point.
Disgust filled him, disgust and anger and self-blame. He didn't say a word. He knew when he'd lost and Jean had hit him below the belt, hard. He backed up until his shoulders hit the door and he shook his head, reaching for the knob.
"We're finished." he said for the second time in a day, though to this woman he meant it. He wanted nothing more to do with this bitch.
Jean:
When the overwhelming rush stopped, Jean stood up strait again, grinning at Manuel. "You're damned right we are. Keep your fucking mouth shut unless you want to really see what I'll do to you and your girl." She let her smile fade from her face, replaced with a vicious glare, a bit of a snarl.
"We're even now. You backed off your word, I undid my favor. Now get the fuck out of my room." She pulled the door open for him without touching it, wanting him away from her, before he realized just how much of an effect what he'd done to her had. She'd never been that disabled, for that long, and had she not recently had those memories at hand, known exactly how to hit him, there was a good chance she would've bent, broken, lost her upper hand.
Logan was liability now. She loved him. That was not good.
"Enjoy your life, Manuel." She glowered at him as she slammed the door in his face, turning and pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead. She had to store that away, make sure it couldn't be used against her. She was glad the Manuel shit was dealt with. She had other things to focus on.
Manuel:
He could scarcely breathe for the tightness in his chest. Being an empath wasn't really as great as it should have been in that moment. He should have been able to control the pain, but he couldn't. He drew back and grit his teeth, wanting to lash out at her. He didn't have the strength. His limbs felt like lead.
As the door opened, his hand caught it and he staggered back into the hall. He lifted his head, looking down the hall towards Allison's door.
It hadn't exploded. The world hadn't dissolved into flame. Just reaching out though, he could feel the pain.
He wanted to turn and run, but he knew that he had to face this. Steeling himself, he made his way to Allison's room, his fingertips brushing the door before his hand went to the handle.
"Padre nuestro, que estás en el cielo..."