xp_logs | Nathan and Alison, Saturday

Alison finds Nathan at work in the gym, and asks him whether he feels up to a definitely non-standard sort of X-Men mission this weekend. Nathan is more than amenable.

Nathan stared at the wall of the gym as he lifted the weight with what was still a not-quite-healed arm, if the growing ache as he ran through the exercise was any judge. "Eight, nine, ten," he counted in a mutter, and then set the weight down, looking up with a raised eyebrow as Alison strode into the gym. "I don't need a spotter," he joked half-heartedly. "Really."

"Mmm? Oh, I know. Haven't heard Moira grumbling about bopping you on the head with a barbell for months now," she waved one hand dismissively, unconcerned about that particular matter. "Mm. No, I just wanted to ask you how you feel right now, about your status on the team." She paused, the grinned lopsidedly. "As in, feeling up to going out this weekend?"

Nathan rubbed at his arm for a minute, and then picked up the weight again. "Is 'ambivalent' an acceptable response?" he asked, then cracked a smile. "Quite seriously. I'm properly medicated and the headaches are actually tolerable-" The COs had received medical updates on him regularly over the last month, of course, and this past week would have been no exception. "-but I'm still a little slow. Mostly because of the ribs. The arm's better, and the burns healed more quickly than I had any right to expect, but even with the leathers on, if someone pokes me in the chest I'm liable to cry like a little girl."

She smiled serenely at that, though the mental image his last words conjured was likely more than sharp enough for Nathan to pick up on it, along with the amusement it generated. "Cute. Here, read up on this." She handed him the printout she'd carried in, then found a convenient workout machine to lean on. "Eval and let me know what you think might be required of you for this and how you feel about it."

Nathan took the printout with his free hand, counting off the repetitions of the exercise as he skimmed it. "Four... oh, interesting, I've heard of this guy. Five. Six. FoH? I'm gathering the intent is to make sure the exhibit isn't disrupted?" At Alison's nod, he completed the last four repetitions and then set the weight down again. "Subtle use of powers, I'm up for. There's nothing wrong with either my telepathy or my telekinesis."

A slight, satisfied grin greeted that comment. "Pretty much what I figured, too. Be a good way to ease you back into things and hey... have you seen his work up close before? He's good!" Alison did not quite, but almost bounced at that, grinning enthusiastically.

"Only in pictures," Nathan murmured, passing her back the printout. "Telepathic switchboard time for me?"

"Yeah. We'll be in a fair crowd so I figure the odds are high we'll have a fun time weeding out the bad seeds and all, and comms may be a bit hard to balance out with evening wear. Oh yeah - you still have a tux to wear?" she added, innocently enough.

"Joy," Nathan murmured wryly. "Yes, oh blondest of bosses, I do have a tux to wear." He picked up the weight again. "So what you're telling me is that I have to sort through all kinds of banal mental chatter to weed out the bigoted morons?"

"Golly gumbucks, mister! Are you making, like, disparaging comments about my hair?" Alison mock scowled at him for all of two seconds before snickering. "Well, partly. I figure on keeping you close to our guy, really. You're ideal to shield at the last moment if anyone does get through to get that close - or if we let one through, anyway."

"Sounds like a plan," Nathan said. "Let me know when and where, and I'll show up properly garbed." He snorted softly, moving through another set of exercises. "Rachel won't know what to make of me in the penguin suit."

"Think penguin at her and you'll be set," Alison advised wisely, before standing up straight once more, reaching out to claim the file she'd handed him. "And now, I'm back off to recruiting myself a team for this. Hrm. Yeah, Wanda..." she murmured to herself, looking down at her notes once more even as she turned around and headed towards the door - entirely forgetting about Nathan between that moment and the next.