xp_logs | Nathan and Jean, Thursday night

While a sizeable portion of the mansion's population is at the Winter Ball, two telekinetics go flying in the snow.

He liked flying in snow. There was a very distinct crispness in the air, and seeing snow fall through the lens of the exoskeleton made it look all lit in gold. Nathan paused about the lake, the wings of the firebird beating lazily, and then smiled as he sensed a familiar psi-signature on the porch. He propelled himself at a leisurely rate towards the mansion; Cain would murder him if he ever actually crashed into the house.

There had been too many papers and files and documents, and Jean had just needed to get some fresh air for a bit. Going out to watch the snow fall had seemed like a great idea, especially when she confirmed that the so-called Smoker's Porch was free. It was quite out here and she didn't exactly miss the quiet of Tibet, but she definitely enjoyed the calmness when she found it. Not that there was anything visually calming about the giant flaming bird heading towards her, but it was pretty...

"Hi, Jean," Nathan said cheerfully, stopping a good several feet short of the porch. "How goes?"

"Well enough," she said, smiling at his obvious good cheer. "And what brings you out here? Stretching your wings?"

He grinned at her pun. "Literally, yes." He landed in the snow, the wings of the exoskeleton folding behind him. "How about you? Just getting some fresh air?"

"Mm-hm. Really, between Canada and Tibet, I've learned a serious love of cold, clean air. Not that Vancouver was all that clean, but it beat New York by miles."

"I love weather like this myself. Nice to fly in," Nathan said, then tilted his head at her, levitating into the air again. "Now, there's a question I'd never asked... do you fly?"

Jean arched an eyebrow at him. "Can," she said, smiling faintly. "I don't usually - prefer the powered kind. Something about engine humming and high speed; really couldn't say if Scott rubbed off on me or the other way around. But yes, I can."

"I used to suck at it... okay, so I'm not the most graceful flyer around even now, but Moira used to call my version of telekinetic flight 'the wobble'." Nathan grinned at her, the firebird's wings reaching outward, as if the construct was stretching. "You want to go for a flight? It really is gorgeous out."

The smile widened into a grin. "Sure, I'll join you. Mind, I'm nowhere near as flashy as all that..." A vague gesture to take in the Giant Flaming Bird. "Somehow, I can't say as that's my style." It took only a thought before she was rising up into the air. "But I do all right."

"Ororo was trying to give me flying lessons," Nathan said, noticing how easily she kept pace with him. "I tend to crash rather spectacularly at times. Usually that's not a horrible thing, given that not much seems to be able to penetrate this. Although I can't count the number of times I've woken up black and blue the next day. I mean, who ever heard of psychosomatic bruising?"

"Well, pressure bruises aren't that uncommon. If you're maintaining that thing as solidly as it feels like you are, you're not bruising against the ground, you're bruising against the bird." Jean could feel the rushing wind from the flaps of his wings, a far cry from her own neat slice through the air. "Are you actually using aerodynamics to fly?" she asked, sounding puzzled.

"Um... I think it's a little of both, actually," Nathan said, and then demonstrated with a dive towards the treetops. He saw the lines of force rippling around him, and pulled up just short of the trees, looking up at Jean for her reaction.

Jean watched closely, paying attention not just to the lines of force he was manipulating, but to the physical world they represented, and it was easy to see the treetops push forward with the force of the breeze he'd created, almost as strong as if he'd gone ahead and crashed into the woods. #At a guess,# she said telepathically, while he was still to far away to hear her, #I'd say that's what's causing the crashes. You're not actually a bird, and don't really understand how they land. So you're landing telekinetically, without burning off any of that momentum or wind sheer. When that bounces back off the ground at you... BOOM, as Rachel would put it.#

#... well, damn. There's something that no one but a fellow telekinetic would have noticed.# Nathan pushed himself back upwards to join her. #I don't see right when I'm wearing it, either. Everything's overlaid by the lines of force, and anything that's inert tends not to be noticeable right away.# And things that were in movement sometimes blinded him, but that went without saying.

#Ah.# Jean nodded. #Yes, I can see how that would be. And I'm assuming the gravity glow gets kind of subsumed into the rest of it.# She had to be really concentrating, because as forces go, gravity's not actually that strong and it was kind of everywhere if she looked at the ground, but she could make it out when she needed to.

#Flying issues aside, it's still damned useful,# Nathan said, not at all defensively. #The shields are as close to impenetrable as I can get, and it concentrates my lifting power marvelously...# He flexed the firebird's claws, grinning rather wickedly. #I keep trying to convince your husband to let me bench-press the Blackbird. He makes appalling faces at me.#

#You admit to crashing repeatedly, and yet you wonder why...# she teased him. #I can see how it would be really useful to have shields up all the time, although you must admit it's more than a bit unsubtle. Isn't it a bit of an energy burn, though? It seems... inefficient.#

Nathan shook his head. #Moira tested me thoroughly, back when I started using it,# he said as they headed together towards the lake. #The construct is self-sustaining. Askani was something of a genius -not that we didn't both know that already. The only downside is that I can't use any independent TK while I'm wearing it, but that's not an issue anymore.#

#How strange...# Jean trailed off, lagging slightly behind him as they flew while she considered the exoskeleton. #It's definitely a work of genius.#

#And imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,# Nathan deadpanned, then dove towards the surface of the lake, pulling up inches above the water, skimming over it. He managed not to clip a wing this time, amazingly enough. #I've never admitted this to anyone, but it kind of tickles when I do this. The friction between the exoskeleton and the water, I guess.#

Jean followed him down in the tight maneuver, sweeping her hair back behind her shoulders to keep it from dangling in the lake. She wasn't as fast to make adjusments as he was, lacking some of the practice and finesse, but her smaller size meant she could be less precise with fewer over all errors than the giant bird. #Yes, well, that's weird...# She grinned unrepentantly. #And so I should be flattered that your daughter decided to learn to fly the way I do, and not the way you do?#

#Oh, you watch. One of these days, she's going to light up with a little fiery hummingbird of her own. And I will burst with pride. Burst, I say.# Nathan propelled himself skyward before he could make friends with the shoreline (again). #I've taken her flying a couple of times. She loves it.#

Jean continued skimming a little above ground level long enough to collect a handful of snow. #See, the problem with the great flaming bird is I can't throw this at you. Not effectively.# Instead, rising up in the air after him, she launched the snowball telekinetically across the lake, watching it spin through the air.

#Yes, I do have something of an edge in snowfights these days. I was sorry I missed the snow war, being in Oman... I could have been the redheads' secret weapon. Since two of them own my soul and all...#

#If Rachel had been about it would have been a landslide victory. Distract the enemy with the cute and then destroy!#

#I should be more disturbed by the fact that she has as many people wrapped around her little finger as she does. Then again, there's also a healthy complement of folk who believe she's a megalomaniac in the making. Why do I have this image of Cain going 'I told you so.' when I'm sixty and she's ruling the world?# Nathan looped around almost gracefully in the air, floating back down towards her.

#Yes, well, with Billy off in Scotland full time, Rachel's got no competition for the Cutest Ever title short of Des, and the cat's more evil than the baby.#

#Oh-ho. A little possessive, is she?# Nathan hovered, grinning at Jean - mostly to show that he could hover, without needing to actually have the exoskeleton's wings beating. #Hey, if my bird can make peace with Ray, you can win over the demon feline.#

#Just a tad.# After the first time, Jean had acquired no more scratches by the simple expedient of keeping a TK shield along her skin whenever Des was nearby and in a Mood. #And there is no question that I will win. It's just a matter of when.#

Nathan drifted backwards, looking skyward. The snow was still falling - lightly, though, like the last moments of a snowglobe settling after being shaken. #Seems strange, that it's almost Christmas again,# he sent a bit diffidently, but didn't quite manage to hide the depth of feeling behind the projection. #I wish... I wish I could think about being on Muir, with everyone, and not focus on the faces that won't be at the table.#

#Our anniversary,# Jean added, shifting to cross her legs, as though she were sitting on the air. #We haven't talked about doing anything. I don't even know if it really counts, given how much of this year I missed.# Didn't really feel like it had been a year. A decade, maybe...

#Funny thing about anniversaries. They're just sort of there, no matter what happens in the interim.# He tilted his head at her. #The two of you should do something,# he said, somewhat impulsively. #You really should.#

#I don't know. It kind of feels like not doing anything, with our lives, is doing something. Idle calmness is not something we come by that often.#

Nathan stared at her, slightly wide-eyed, and then started to laugh -aloud, and with a very slightly hysterical edge. #What,# he sent telepathically, #just... sit back and enjoy the peace and quiet? Whoa, what a concept.#

Jean gave him a flat eyed look. #Yes, it's very funny that we're all incapable of leading normal lives. If you laugh so hard you fall out of the sky, I'm not catching you.# There was a touch of annoyance in her mental tone, but not much. Jean recognized the pathos induced humor of it all. And the fact that Nate was just as subject to the crazy as they were.

It took him a moment to wrestle the laughter back under control, but he did, and just smiled at her, warmly, even affectionately. "Just promise me that whatever you do and don't do, you'll try to have a good Christmas," he said aloud, simply. "You both deserve it."

Jean's answering smile wasn't as bright, but it was affectionate. "I think we can manage that, yes. And you as well. Give my love to Moira."

"Will do. See you in a few days, Jean," Nathan said, and turned to fly off towards the boathouse.

He was maybe a hundred meters or so away when he clipped a wing on the trees and crashed, snow flying upwards as the firebird fell down through the branches. There was a brief silence, and then:

#I'm all right!#