xp_logs | Medusa and Nathan: Stop and smell the roses (Reply)

Medusa and Nathan meet for lunch. After she makes sure he eats, they go for a walk on the grounds. When they make it to a certain hilltop, Medusa learns more about Nathan's past and finally starts to understand his drive to save the world...and then surprises her by asking her a difficult question.

Medusa was glad that Nathan had rescheduled their lunch. He was one of the few people at the mansion whom she felt comfortable with and it meant a lot to her that he took time out of his schedule to meet with her. She sat at a table in the dining hall, a stack of papers arranged neatly on her right, waiting for him to arrive for their arranged meeting. She was studiously reviewing the sheet in front of her, her Chinese delivery almost forgotten in the center of the table.

He'd slept for three, maybe four hours. Not nearly enough, and when he'd gotten a look at himself in the bathroom mirror, Nathan had been forced to concede that he looked moderately awful. But he hadn't felt like trying to sleep, and it had dawned on him that he was supposed to be meeting Medusa for lunch. He got dubious looks from a few students as he walked into the dining hall, but he merely smiled blandly, and went over to join the redhead sitting alone at a table.

"Afternoon."

The smile on Medusa's face as she looked up was quickly overcome with concern. Nathan did not appear to be doing well and she suddenly felt guilty that she had pressed him for a meeting. Her training kept her from expressing her concern with her first thought of 'Look what the cat dragged in,' but she couldn't quite keep the edge of worry off her face. "Greetings. Would you care for some low mein?" she asked, pushing the bag of food over towards him. Perhaps he would look better if he ate something…

Food? His stomach growled, as if on cue, and Nathan smiled somewhat sheepishly as he sank down in the chair opposite hers. "I might take you up on that. No breakfast. No dinner last night, either, except an MRE on the plane." He paused, then shook his head quizzically. Well, Medusa would have seen the Blackbird taking off yesterday.

"Not eating is not healthy," she said, a slight crinkle appearing in her forehead. "And whatever an MRE is, it does not sound like food. "Where were you off to in such a hurry that you could not have a real meal?" Crystal had told Medusa about the extracurriculars some of the teachers engaged in, but she still didn't realize quite how pressing some of the matters were that the X-Men involved themselves with.

"There was a... delicate situation," Nathan said, his mouth twitching as he remembered the euphemism he'd used in one of their very first conversations. "Rather urgent, as a matter of fact, and we were there until just before dawn today."

Medusa arched an eyebrow but didn't ask a question. He would tell her what he could and there was no point in pressing for more details. If she desired, there were other ways to find them out, after all. "First eat," she said firmly. "Then we can talk. You must remain strong to keep up with that daughter of yours."

Nathan gave her a crooked smile and helped himself to her low mein. "It's just been a busy couple of weeks," he said, demonstrating yet again that he had a talent for understatement. "My life is not always this hectic... okay, that's a lie, it's usually several different varieties of hectic at once. I think I'm just feeling it more as I get older."

With a satisfied nod as he started to eat, Medusa was silent for a moment. "I have been informed that you have a tendency to...get very involved in a variety of situations." She took a sip of her water, keeping her hand wrapped around the cup when she set it down.

Nathan tried not to choke on the low mein. "Oh? Ummm... now, who's been telling tales?" He gave her a look that was equal parts sheepishness and amusement. "I have a long and bad history of running myself into the ground trying to be involved in too much. My therapist claims it's an avoidance mechanism."

"I would never reveal my source. How could I expect to continue recieving information if I so willingly gave up their identity?" She smiled and released the glass, previous almost unnoticeable tension suddenly released. "I know someone with a very similar habit who would not remember to eat unless food was put in front of him on a daily basis."

Nathan smiled a bit nostalgically, remembering his months with the Askani active in his system, and all the effort numerous people had put into reminding him to eat. "I've been there. I'm better than I was on that score, at least." He paused, trying to think of how to explain, without getting into unnecessary details... "What I do, what I can do with my life lately... it's very important to me," he said slowly. "These last couple of years, for all that's happened, have been the first time in my life that I was truly happy. I do overwork. I regularly wish there was an additional six hours in every day, or that I didn't need sleep... but it all matters so much to me." He smiled a bit helplessly. "It's hard to know when to let go."

"You are passionate," Medusa responded. "An admirable trait so long as you do not let your passion overrun your life and drive you to misery."

"I try to stay balanced. I have a small redhaired reminder of why I need to do that." Nathan's smile was almost wistful for a moment, but then he reminded himself that Moira and Rachel would be back tonight. They'd have the weekend, and Ray was staying here next week.

The smile on Medusa's face grew a little wistful, but the change was fleeting and she quickly resumed her general public face. "Well, it looks like we have both finished our meals. Would you care to continue our conversation outside? The weather was quite lovely when I was out earlier today." She had taken to exploring more and more of the grounds ever since her dicussion with Cain and had been pleasantly surprised by most of her findings.

"... that would be good, actually." If nothing else, the fresh air would probably wear him out sufficiently that he would be able to sleep, afterwards. "It was a shame to be in San Francisco under such circumstances," he said as they picked up after themselves and then headed out of the dining hall. "It's a lovely city." Looked much better without people dying of radiation poisoning, too.

"So San Francisco was the location of the latest delicate situation?" she said, her hair flaring outwards slightly as they exited the mansion. "I have never been there myself. In truth, I have not
traveled to many places in America."

"You should change that, while you're here. You'll have school breaks and so forth," Nathan said, "and you have the resources to travel freely." He glanced sideways at her, smiling. "I can recommend New Mexico. It's beautiful."

She shrugged. Medusa had a feeling she'd be returning to Attilan for most of her school breaks. "Have you been to many places then?"

... she had him there. "More places elsewhere in the world than places here. But parts of this country are very beautiful." He fell into something of a pensive silence as they walked out into the sunlight, thinking about the last time he'd been in San Francisco. "My father used to live in San Francisco. My first wife and son are buried in California, as well."

"I am sorry for your losses," she said in a somber tone. "Losing loved ones is always tragic, even more so when it is before their time."

"I have a bad habit of losing the people I love," Nathan said as they reached the top of the hill. That hill, of course, and he went over to the gravestone, kneeling down in front of it and clearing away a few stray blades of grass. He glanced up at Medusa, a brief flicker of an smile crossing his face. "You speak Greek," he said, and gestured at the stone.

She obediently turned her gaze to the gravestone, reading aloud in Greek. "'~Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by; that here, obedient to their laws, we lie~." She thought for a moment, then
turned her attention back to Nathan, tilting her head slightly. "I understand what it means, but what does it mean?" she asked.

"It's a memorial stone," Nathan said quietly, drawing a hand across the inscription. "Two friends... two very, very dear friends of mine, died last year. In a... delicate situation." He thought of them, and then of GW, falling to the floor in New York, and suddenly he was blinking rather rapidly. David's predicament had been too close, entirely too close. "We were trying to save children," he said, almost under his breath. "Mutant children, who were going to be...mistreated, badly. We were defending them, some of us. Tim died, right in front of me. I watched Mick get hit, and I knew he wasn't going to make it. I nearly didn't, myself. That was when I broke my back."

Medusa bowed her head for a moment in silence, mouthing the words to a simple prayer. Looking into Nathan's gray eyes, she found herself at a loss for words. What did you say to a man who had been through so much? The loss of a wife and child were already heavy burdens for a soul without the addition of witnessing the death of friends and almost dying yourself. Medusa suddenly found herself feeling guilty for the pampered life she had led. She had been through comparatively little and had been given so much. "Perhaps I am now able to better understand why you are driven to take on so much."

"It's a way of honoring them. Helping to give others the chances they never had... this place is special," Nathan said softly. "They loved it. It was like a dream for them... and for me, when I first came here. I would do anything I could to protect it, and anything I could to take what it stands for out into the world. That's what Elpis is about, too."

"I am sure it would make them proud, to know you serve in their honor." Medusa fell silent again, her gaze returning to the grave and her face remaining solemn.

"I wouldn't want you thinking I was a crazed workaholic just because I don't like staying still," Nathan said, almost whimsically. He reached out and touched the memorial stone again before he rose. "I miss them," he said, as he and Medusa continued walking. "I miss all of the people that I've lost. But the best thing I can do is make my life have value - every moment of it. So," he said, spreading his hands wide. "That's me. I am very definitely the 'will sleep when I'm dead' type. But I think I'm learning to stop and smell the roses occasionally, too."

Medusa nodded, still processing all the new information she had suddenly learned about Nathan. "If you do not take the time to enjoy your own life, fighting for others to have a chance to have one serves little purpose."

"Do you?" he asked, then shook his head a little. "I'm sorry, that sounds like an odd question, and more confrontational than I meant. I'm just wondering. You clearly have a strong sense of duty, and grew up with a life of service in mind... do you feel like you have enough time for yourself, with all of that to do?"

Medusa had halted at Nathan's words, her brow crinkling in thought and mild frustration. "I...It's different..." she said, her voice defensive. She stopped speaking, a very faint blush appearing on her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, she began speaking again, this time her voice steady and neutral. "What I mean to say is that yes, I do find time to do things for myself. I steal an afternoon for shopping or a weekend to travel." Or a night for dancing. "Then there are the things I do that sometimes serve a dual purpose, like watching over Crystal."

Nathan stopped and turned towards her, raising an eyebrow at the blush. "Sometimes the odd afternoon or weekend is all you really need," he said candidly. "Ask me how long it's been since I had an actual vacation - or don't, really, because it's a little alarming to think about." He smiled, briefly if warmly. "You can find ways to recharge your batteries that don't involve lying on beaches for a week. I sometimes go rock climbing."

Medusa straightened, flicking her hair over her shoulder, and resumed walking. "In my family even actual vacations are rarely that simple. For me, though, just being with my family in enough to 'recharge' as you put it."

"You should come rock climbing with me sometime," Nathan offered, almost whimsically. "I occasionally take some of the students, and fall's a good time to do it. It's excellent exercise for the body and the mind."

"Perhaps," she said, a little cautiously. She had never been rock climbing before and likely would not go unless she had an opportunity to practice in private first. "Crystal may enjoy something like that as well." And it would give the girl the opportunity to socialize with some of the other students. Her sister had perked up since Jennie's return, but she still was not quite the happy cheerful little Crystal from home.

"There's a climbing wall in the gym if you'd like to try it out here first," Nathan said cheerfully. "And you'd both be welcome. I can teach climbing, too. I used to climb mountains regularly... I said that in my post, didn't I? Everest, K2, the Eiger..."

"Thank you for the invitation Nathan." Medusa had a smile on her face again as the pair strolled past the lake, though it was impossible to tell if it was false or genuine.

Well, they'd see, he supposed. Nathan covered his mouth as he yawned. "Gah... pardon me." Then he sneezed, and almost immediately laughed. "Crap, if I caught a cold just because I got dumped in the Pacific, I'm going to be cross."

Medusa couldn't stop herself from taking an automatic step backwards. "Perhaps you should return your room and rest. I can even send soup if you are still not feeling well when it is time for dinner." There had to be someplace that would deliver soup.

"Well, we're almost to the boathouse," Nathan said, then smiled again at her. "We'll do a proper lunch in a couple of days, I promise," he said. "I do want to see how you got on with those Arabic exercises."