Use my head alongside my heart [Closed]

[matadorable]

WHO: Manolo Sanchez, Joaquin Mondragon, Hermann Gottlieb, Newton Geiszler
WHERE: Heropa and De Chima
WHEN: January 2nd
WHAT: In response to the strange happenings in Heropa, Joaquin decides he needs to leave Manolo elsewhere before attending to his Hero duties, and Hermann and Newton seem like the best choice. Once Manolo discovers the cost of Peter Pan's curse over Heropa, though, he'll feel compelled to help a friend settle the score.
WARNINGS: None at the moment.

Comments

Leaving with Joaquin

[matadorable]

[medalsome]

As a Registered Hero and a resident of Heropa Joaquin was one of the first alerted to the dangerous incident going down in their town. It flashed across his communicator and he immediately cancelled all his appointments and let the firm he was contracted under know that he was taking the day off to help the situation. They couldn't say no when it came to hero work so he immediately set off for home. Getting there, he rushed in hoping Manolo hadn't left for the day to do... whatever he did now that he was no longer employed at the Community College. At the moment, it didn't really matter.

"Manolo!" He started yelling as soon as he opened the door, leaving it open as he rushed towards the staircase so he could get to his friend's bedroom. "Manolo, are you here?"

[matadorable]

He'd been dozing in his room when Joaquin's sudden shouting woke him up. The urgency in his voice prompted Manolo to throw off the blankets and stumble out of bed before his brain even had a chance to process what was happening.

"Woah, hey!" he hoarsely called as he opened the bedroom door, eyes searching the hall for his friend. "Where's the fire, amigo?!"

[medalsome]

Seeing Manolo stick his face out of his room and call to him was enough to slow Joaquin down. He released a pent up breath, but the urgency never left his voice.

"There's been an incident. I need you to get dressed, we're heading out!"

[matadorable]

"An incident?" he echoed with raised eyebrows, but Manolo didn't question further, his expression suddenly settling into something more focused. "...Alright, hold on."

Without another word, he hastily put on his shoes and grabbed his jacket from the closet before reaching for his helmet. "Are we gonna take your bike?"

[medalsome]

Manolo could get caught up on what was going down later. For now, they needed to be at that porter!

"That's the plan! We don't want to wait around for things to get worse!" Joaquin rushed into his own room, shouting all the way. He had to change, too. Being in casual work clothes wouldn't do.

Suiting up quick he had down to an art. With his swords secured to his back, he stepped out, but he left his sombrero behind. As much as he liked wearing it into battle, he could always stop by later once he knew Manolo was secure. For now, he needed to just get them out of here.

"Ready?"

[matadorable]

"Yeah," he answered, stepping completely out of his room now. He'd summon his guitar once they reached their destination, so that would hopefully make the ride a little easier on his back.

"What's going on, exactly?" he added as they started walking for the door. Joaquin was wearing his uniform, which meant he was probably expecting some kind of fight. "I was asleep, so I haven't been looking at the news program."

[medalsome]

"Then let's go." He led the way down the stairs, speaking over his shoulder. "Basically, someone is using their magic to turn people into stone. It's already covered an entire block and it keeps getting worse."

Of course, there were other damages as well, but that was the worst part of it. Property issues went without saying.

Once they were out in the yard Joaquin wasted no time in getting set up on his bike and firing it into life. He strapped his helmet on and allowed Manolo the time he needed to get comfortable. He was probably going to break a few speeding laws to get them out of there quick.

[matadorable]

"What?" With a disturbed frown, he settled onto the bike's back seat, his arms wrapping around Joaquin's middle without a second thought. It must have been another imPort. As far as he knew, natives didn't have that kind of magic. There had to be a way to undo it, right? But more importantly...

"People probably need help evacuating," he said softly.

Once the bike started up, though, it was hard to talk over the sound of the engine. So, Manolo just held onto his friend, trusting he knew the way.

Meeting with Hermann and Newt

[matadorable]

[medalsome]

They had made it through the porter after some impassioned discussion and hailed a taxi; if Manolo dragged his feet the whole time Joaquin didn't complain. He was a man on a mission and he would see to it that his friend was set up somewhere safe until things cooled down whether he was thanked for it or not.

It was still early when they arrived at the nice complex, a fairly up-scale apartment even compared to their shared house back in Heropa. He knew their scientist friends had money to spare but he hadn't had a reason to visit before now. And right now, he didn't have time or energy to spare dwelling on the poshness of the inner lobby. Joaquin led Manolo up an elevator to the assigned apartment and rang the door bell... to no response.

And it was then that Joaquin remembered his friends had been on vacation just the night before. Damn, had they even made it back? He wasn't sure. Hastily, he started to craft a message to the two of them, hoping he would get lucky and find they were at least on their way home before Manolo got his hopes up about returning to Heropa.

[driftsintobuffetline]

Now with sushi and boba tea, the pair made their way back to the apartments. Newt stole a few kisses in the lift and suggested they enjoy their sushi and then keep riding the wave of this New Year's 'Honeymoon' by spending the rest of the day together. Hopefully the residual honeymoon feeling would last until well into their trip to Hong Kong, make the already great drift-anniversary an even greater high.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened just as Newt heard Hermann's phone go off. He put his hand in the way of the door to hold it for his boyfriend and then stepped out in to the hallway after him. Aside from the occasional roar from Claire's Ripley, and their own shouting matches, their hall had a history of being largely quiet with few visitors. What visitors did come, generally made plans in advance. Like Qubit (And that was where the list stopped. Really, there was no one else).

...Somehow, he didn't think the two men standing at their door were making a casual house-call and all Newt could think was What went wrong, who died, who disappeared, who attacked what (there wasn't a Swear-In today, was there?...no). The last time Joaquin showed up without phoning first, he had a breakdown in front of Starktech. At least, Newt figured, it was probably a good sign this time that Manolo was WITH him, but the visit in general was probably a BAD sign for the honeymoon.

"Hey! Didn't expect to see the two of you anywhere for a while--thought you made it through a whole bottle of tequila the other night. What brings you two all the way to De Chima? If we'd have known you were coming by, we'd have come back sooner."

[matadorable]

Honestly, Manolo wasn't surprised when no one initially answered the doorbell. Doctors Gottlieb and Geiszler were incredibly busy men who also happened to be incredibly in love with each other. Of course they were going to take their much-needed vacation time together. Manolo would have done the same. In fact, he may have been just a touch envious, although he was still very happy for them.

Instead of voicing that out loud, though, he was trying to convince Joaquin to just leave the poor guys alone, that they really shouldn't have come here without at least sending a text first -- but then a familiar voice called out to them, making his protests neatly implode on themselves.

Manolo couldn't help but cringe, but he managed to mask it with a wide grin by the time he turned to properly face the two.

"And delicious tequila, it was!" he answered with a laugh that might have been just a bit too cheerful. "Buenos días, good doctors!"

[mathemagier]

Hermann frowned down at his pocket, hoping no one was trying to call him because his hands were currently full and he'd have to hand everything off to Newton.. But it only chirped once; a text message that could wait until they were inside at least. Perhaps longer, depending on....

Or not.

His frown transferred to the men standing outside their apartment door as he stepped into the hallway, and he experienced the same pangs of concern. Unusual for anyone to visit without forewarning, and he guessed that perhaps the message was from Joaquin. If his phone hadn't been a brand new Starkphone he knew was better than a delayed text message, he might have thought that was the case.

"Yes, good evening. Can we help you, gentlemen?"

[medalsome]

There were pleasantries being handed left and right but Joaquin wasn't patient enough to deal with them. He couldn't help it; the situation had left him feeling antsy and he really, really didn't want to drag this out in case Manolo changed his mind about being compliant for once.

"Yeah, good day and everything," he said in a rush, letting Manolo handle the thank yous while he moved them on to more important matters. "I'm guessing you haven't seen the news. There's been an incident in Heropa. I know it's sudden notice, but do you two mind if Manolo hangs out here until things cool down?"

He didn't say anything about staying himself; obviously he was going to go help with the situation. Already he could feel his communicator buzzing with more news breaks about the incident. Maybe they'd be lucky and it would already be over. Or maybe it just got a whole lot worse...

[driftsintobuffetline]

Howdy do to you, too, Joaquin.

Why couldn't it have been something else? Anything else! Manolo wanted to know how rockets work, so we came to see resident space nerd. I found a weird lizard in the back yard, can you please tell me about it. Joaquin wants a fight to the death for Hermann's affection. Hell, yes, even that. Newt was awfully tired of attacks on cities that he could not prevent. He was so done feeling powerless. Wasn't cancelling the apocalypse their ticket out of this kind of crap?

And why Heropa again? Was Hiro okay? Or his aunt? Or Qubit, who really needed to take a break, although Newt could appreciate the being-a-hero thing...?

"Uh." Newt didn't really MEAN to hesitate. It wasn't that he didn't want Manolo to crash with them (okay, maybe he did, but it wasn't anything against Manolo, or even the situation. It had been him and Hermann in the damn lab for so long, Newt forgot what it was like to live with other people in direct proximity); the point was, it wasn't you, Manolo, it was him. "Well," he looked at Hermann, even though he really didn't have to look at Hermann to know what he was thinking. "Sure, I mean, we didn't EXPECT company, so it might be kind of messy and we JUST got back from New York, and I think we're out of MILK," he babbled, crossing the hall to work on unlocking the door, "and we have plane tickets to Hong Kong in two days, but...okay. And hey. I mean, if necessary, you can take my room, I guess?"

And then, as an afterthought as the door swung open, "You're not allergic to cats, are you?"

[matadorable]

When Joaquin laid out the real reason for their visit, Manolo's expression grew steadily more somber and withdrawn, the good cheer he'd been displaying moments ago seemingly getting sucked right out of him the more his friend spoke. He felt bad enough for intruding, but it was worse knowing that Joaquin was just going to leave him behind so he could try fighting something neither of them knew much about, alone.

Dr. Geiszler's hesitation wasn't lost on him, though, and Manolo visibly winced. He moved out of the way and made room for the two men to enter the apartment first, an apology on the tip of his tongue before he got derailed by the mention of cats.

"Oh...no, I love them," he said, giving a soft smile in spite of everything.

[mathemagier]

Clearly Joaquin hadn't cleared the plan with Manolo, if the man's expression was any indication. But that was an argument better saved for somewhere not in the middle of the hall, and Hermann stubbornly ushered their guests inside after Newton. He closed and locked the door behind them, movements agitated as he shrugged out of his parka and hung it up on their coat rack.

"We call her Liebling," he huffed, though it wasn't exactly a name, and Newton was actually more fond of rather discourteous nicknames.

Hermann strode into the middle of their living room, then turned on both of them with the uncanny grace of a man with a cane. "I don't have any problems with Mr. Sanchez staying here for a bit, but what are you doing, Mr. Mondragon?"

Heading for Heropa. A wild Hermann appears!

[matadorable]

[mathemagier]

It was perhaps the first time he'd teleported intentionally without Newton. All told, he didn't use the ability much for how taxing it was, and he rarely went anywhere without his partner anyway. But he left him standing in their apartment, while Hermann opened his eyes in a bright terminal milling with what he guessed were some amount of refugees. Those that saw him appear startled, but Hermann had little time for them.

He scanned the crowd for Manolo's short frame, heart racing because if they lost Joaquin's best friend.. But surely the man had to be heading here. Couldn't have gotten here before him- right?

He asked the officials if they'd seen a man of his description and settled somewhat in light of the negative answers he received. So he'd most likely gotten here before him. All he had to do was wait and head him off.

The drift prickled with unease, as it always did when they were apart, and Hermann spared a moment to send a brief text to Newton, then shoved his phone away. They'd talk later. Right now he couldn't afford to be distracted.

[matadorable]

Truth be told, leaving Newton and Hermann behind didn't feel much better than staying put. But witnessing the murder on the network, hearing Kaneda's message, and knowing that he was going to charge into what was left of Heropa to settle the score and put things right, whether anyone helped him or not, had all left their mark on Manolo. He knew what he had to do.

Now that he'd arrived at the municipal building, the path to the porter was in plain sight. Manolo moved as fast as his legs would allow while still managing to avoid bumping into any passersby.

But then he saw him -- one of the last people he expected to find here, and Manolo's feet were suddenly glued to the ground. "Doctor...Gottlieb?"

[mathemagier]

Hermann drew himself to his full height, eyes narrowed and both hands planted firmly on the grip of his cane. Admittedly, it was just as much for show as it was for support while the fatigue began to catch up with him. He wouldn't be able to teleport again tonight. The stunned expression on Manolo's face was worth it, at least.

"Mr. Sanchez. Rather discourteous to take advantage of our hospitality for an opportunity to slip away. Mr. Mondragon has asked that we look after you. While you are not a child in need of supervision, I must say this decision is rather hasty and unwise."

[matadorable]

The man made for an intimidating sight, like a stern father or school teacher who was about to lay down the law. Manolo wasn't easily intimidated, he'd faced off against much more frightening creatures and people during his short life. But Hermann's words twisted the knife of guilt deeper into his chest, and Manolo seemed to wilt a little.

"I appreciate your kindness," he said, growing more soft-spoken. "You and Doctor Geiszler have done so much for Joaquin, and now me. I'll do what I have to, to make it up to you. But sitting back and doing nothing while other people are suffering...if there's something I can do to help, then that's what I need to be doing."

[mathemagier]

Hermann couldn't say they've actually done all that much for either of them, but he let the point stand. The set of his shoulders eased somewhat as the shorter man seemed to shrink back.

Of course the man also managed to make them look terrible in comparison, though he rather thought them sensible. Neither of them had any combat capability, and he was particularly ill-equipped to venture into a cursed forest.

"And what can you do for them, Mr. Sanchez? I don't believe I've heard the extent of your abilities."

[matadorable]

"I can sing and play music for them," Manolo explained, squaring his shoulders with confidence. "My songs heal wounds, soothe the spirit, revive those who are tired, ease symptoms of chronic illnesses...and those are just the things I do know about."

For all he knew, there were other benefits he hadn't discovered yet. There was no way to know for sure except by using them.