xp_logs | Nathan and Crystal, early Sunday afternoon

Nathan meets one of the school's newest additions when he runs into Crystal in the hallway. There's a bit of tension in the conversation, but it gets smoothed over as Crystal impresses Nathan with her thoughtful approach to things.

They really rather badly needed a new secretary. Nathan knew this was the case, when he had to come in and borrow - swipe, be honest, Nathan - photocopy paper. Adjusting the package under his arm, he headed through the halls towards the back door. He needed to get back to the boathouse, get the copying done and then try a more physical way of organizing the information. He'd had Rahne clear off the large bulletin board the other day for this very reason.

Still distracted by the previous day's events, Crystal turned a corner, floating two inches off the ground. For a moment, her mind didn't register the fact that she was now sharing a hall with someone else. She had never actually met the man, but knew his name from the journals. His first name, that was. "Greetings," she said, purposely leaving out the rest of the formal introduction.

Nathan paused, and then couldn't help a grin as he realized who this was. "You would be Crystal. Hello." The not-quite-pointed way she'd made her point tickled him in an odd way.

Crystal nodded and landed. She wasn't quite sure what else to say. She didn't want to be rude, but she was unfamiliar with the man or his function at the school and was at a loss for small talk.

Nathan tilted his head at her for a moment, then extended a hand. Proprieties were proprieties, and he suspected the presence of them might put her a bit more at her easy. "Nathan Dayspring," he said. "I teach languages - or will be teaching languages again, in the fall. I also run an NGO out of the boathouse."

Crystal reached out to shake his hand. "Which languages do you teach?" she inquired. She wasn't sure about this teaching langauges in general concept. She knew several languages but had learned them from different teachers.

"Well, this fall it'll be Russian, Arabic, and a very small reading class in Hindi," Nathan said amiably. "In the spring, probably a different three altogether. I'm doing short, intensive courses. Crash courses, you could call them."

"Oh, I don't speak those, so I may end up in one of your classes." He teaches and he wants me to call him by his first name? I can't call a teacher by just his first name! It wasn't that Crystal had never called an adult by the first name alone, but never with a teacher.

"You'd be more than welcome," Nathan said with a smile. "We generally have a good time in my language courses. I like to look at the culture as much as the language - it's the only way to really understand the language properly, I think. I've had enough experience in various parts of the world that I can speak with some authority, too."

Crystal nodded, noticing the package Nathan was holding. "I'm sure that will be fun. You look like you're heading somewhere, I'm sorry for keeping you from that."

"Why don't you come along part of the way?" Nathan invited her, his lips twitching slightly. "I don't know if you've been down by the boathouse yet, but if you haven't, you can consider this a tour of a new part of the grounds. We can talk about which of my courses you might prefer in the fall, too, if you'd like."

Crystal couldn't possibly refuse a polite request like that. Nodding, she replied, "Yes, I should familiarize myself with the surrounding area."

"The boathouse isn't far," Nathan said as they headed together towards the back door. "My family and I haven't been living out there for very long. We moved when I realized I was going to need more office space for Elpis - that would be the NGO I mentioned." The door opened as they approached, courtesy of a flicker of telekinesis. "As well, it's better for my daughter not to be in the house itself. She's a telepath, and not quite a year old yet."

"Oh, is she the flying baby I've heard about?" Crystal tried to recall whether or not she had known that the baby was telepathic as well. She found the idea a bit disturbing. It was a baby. How could a baby control power?

"She does fly, yes. It's the way she generally chooses to manifest her telekinesis," Nathan said, as if commenting on what a lovely afternoon it was. "The Professor works quite a bit with her, making sure that her powers don't grow too fast until she's ready to handle them. Telepathically speaking, she's close to her mother and to me, but for most people, the most she can do is hum or giggle in your mind."

Crystal raised an eyebrow and nodded. "I see." Crystal was not a fan of the idea of anyone being able to go into her head without her permission. And... this was a baby. How could you nicely tell a baby to please stop laughing in your mind?

The only visible reaction from Nathan was a faint, momentary grimace. "I shield her," he said a bit wearily, "if she's telepathically vocal around anyone who's not comfortable with that."

"How do you know when she's in someone else's head? Would she be in yours at the same time?" Crystal's voice was curious, not accusatory.

Nathan blinked, then reminded himself that she might not realize. "I'm a telepath too, actually. She gets it - and the telekinesis - from me."

"Well, yes, I assumed that from the fact that you said you could shield her,? Crystal responded. ?But can you always know exactly what she's doing?"

Nathan looked a little startled at the question. "Well, yes," he said, "when I'm there with her. Of course. I would have to be actively working to not pay attention to not realize it if she's projecting. A telepath can't not know if another telepath's actively using their powers around them. There are non-psionic minds, and then there are psionic minds. The psionic minds create a disturbance in the astral that's unmistakable."

"You mean to say that a telepath can't prevent another telepath from knowing that he or she is using telepathic powers on someone else? If you can shield someone else, can't someone else shield what they are doing from you?"

"A shield, in and of itself, is often more of a tell-tale than... trying to alter someone's mind, let's say. With the latter, you can see the power being used. With the former, in most cases, even if someone's particularly good at shielding, you can see the blank spot," Nathan said as they headed down the path to the boathouse. This was turning into an odd conversation. "Some extremely skilled telepaths, like the Professor, can... melt into the background noise, use it to hide the fact that they're shielding. That's well beyond anyone who hasn't studied for decades, however."

Crystal's tone was calm and collected. "I can't imagine what that must be like. I have to say that I like the fact that I'm the only one in my own head. Of course, there have been times when I thought it would be helpful to know what someone else was thinking, but I wouldn't really want to know. Some thoughts should stay inside the mind, where they belong."

"Unfortunately," Nathan said almost lightly, "some of us don't get that luxury. And most non-telepaths don't do us the courtesy of actually keeping their thoughts inside the mind where they belong... hence why we appreciate it so much when the students and staff here take shielding classes."

"I don't broadcast my thoughts and I don't like it when people try to access them," Crystal replied coolly. "Neither one is polite."

Nathan didn't miss the cool tone. "The Professor," he said calmly, "teaches a very rigorous and challenging model of discipline for telepaths. I've benefited a great deal from it over the past two years, but it's not easy. Especially when psionics are the one type of mutants that even other mutants feel perfectly justified in fearing. There's an implicit division at times," he said, slipping right into the amiable lecture-mode he so often used at the head of the class. "'Normal' mutants, and those frightening ones who can read your mind. If you read anti-mutant propaganda, psis very often get singled out for a special level of venom. It's a very natural, very human reaction," Nathan said, then smiled faintly, "but occasionally misplaced. For example, people have been known to be afraid of me, even though I'm a primarily communications-oriented telepath who had a psychological inhibition against active use of my power for most of my life. They fear the telepathy, when I could also close my eyes and turn the house into a glass crater with a thought. There's a strange sort of irony to that, really."

"I'm not frightened of the possibility of having my mind read. If I was, I should also be afraid of any mutant with any type of active power. Even some powers that most people would consider to be harmless can actually be quite powerful if used in certain ways," Crystal replied. "I also do not live in fear that someone will suddenly decide to use his or her power against me. If that happens, it happens. However, there is a difference between a possibility and an actuality. It isn't the possibility I don't like, it's the actual action of someone reading my thoughts that I dislike."

Nathan's gray eyes flickered sideways to rest on her for a moment, and then he smiled again, still faintly. "It's not a distinction the majority of people make. I'm more sensitive than I used to be to the way that line gets blurred - I look at my daughter, and wonder what kind of childhood she's going to have. How much socializing she'll be able to do. It's a difficult balance to strike when you're dealing with a telepath too young to understand what she's sensing. Where's the boundary between protecting her and overprotecting her?" His smile was a bit more natural. "She's sort of the ultimate special-needs child. This is about the best place in the world imaginable for her, here or her mother's research center on Muir Island."

"I suppose I can understand what you're saying," Crystal admitted. "It can be easier to unleash powers than to use them in a controlled manner. It's easier for me to just let loose and let the wind fly free than it is to actually control them and direct them.

"I have to be very controlled. Telekinesis, especially telekinesis on my level, can be enormously dangerous. When I first came here, two years ago," Nathan said thoughtfully, "I'd been... well, without getting into details you don't need to know, fairly badly mistreated for most of my life. There were times I lost control of my telekinesis during emotional outbursts - Mr. Marko, the groundskeeper, still reminds me of the damage I used to do from time to time. But this isn't just a place to learn for young mutants," Nathan said with a soft chuckle. "Sometimes the staff are students too. Two years later and my control over my TK is as steady as I could ever want it to be."

"I think I have the air and wind part pretty much under control," Crystal replied. "I know I can always continue to work on that part, but it is the rain part that I find hard to control. Right now, it sort of acts out according to my emotions. I try to make sure that I don't lash out with a rather large wind, wind may not be telekinesis but it can be just as damaging in certain situations, and I end up making it rain." Looking embarrassed, Crystal added, "I don't know whether or not you noticed, but some of the floors in the hallways were rained on yesterday."

"No, I hadn't," Nathan said kindly. "Wasn't in the main house much yesterday. But that's not unnatural at all, Crystal, for your powers to be tied to your emotions. Especially a power that's new to you. When I'm in a bad mood, even now, the furniture still sometimes rattles."

I came this close to rearranging the furniture in Marius's room in the Medlab. "Yes, I know, and rain seems to be a better option than smashing things into wall. Water dries. Broken pieces of furniture do not repair themselves."

"Rain's an awfully productive sort of ability, too," Nathan pointed out. "Something you could do good with, if you want."

"Once I can make it happen when I want it to, yes," Crystal responded. "Right now, it's not in a very productive stage."

"Patience," Nathan said with a smile. "It takes time."

Crystal nodded in agreement. "It takes time and practice. A lot of practice."