xp_logs | Nathan and Medusa, Thursday evening

Medusa comes across Nathan searching for an icepack. The week's beginning to catch up with him finally.

The villa's enormous kitchen - retrofitted to near-professional standards, of course; he wouldn't have expected anything less from Mina - was empty right this second, which was... rather nice, all things considered. Nathan didn't want to have to explain why he was rooting around for an icepack.

His side throbbed, and the side of his head throbbed, and he was feeling frayed and upset in a way he hadn't been for days. He didn't know if he'd gotten through to Angelo at all, whether it had done more harm than good, and he still had yet to figure out what the hell he was going to say to Alexey.

Unfortunately, it didn't stay empty long. "What did you do now?" Medusa asked as she watched him pull an icepack from the freezer. "And will it cause an international incident or only a local one?" Her tone was gently teasing.

"Had a disagreement. Or an accident. Both, actually." Head or ribs? The ribs hurt more, and Nathan sat down on one of the stools around the kitchen's central island, pushing the icepack against his side and trying not to wince. His jaw actually hurt quite a bit, too. Alexey hit like the proverbial truck.

"I see," Medusa said. "And just how did this 'disagreement' begin?" she asked, her hair providing the necessary air quotes.

"Vasily's brother wanting to hit something. And my desk being inconveniently placed." He wasn't going to tell her about Angelo. That had been an accident, and was just between them.

"Of course, the desk was at fault. We shall have to have a chat with it in the morning," Medusa said, arching an eyebrow. "As for Vasily's brother...this is a difficult time for many people, though someone should probably speak with him as well."

"I will. In the morning," Nathan said tiredly, trying not to slump on the stool. "Once we make those phone calls, and I go to the hospital... then I'll talk to Alexey." The list of things to do reordered itself in his head, automatically. He'd been relying very heavily on that list as the week wore on.

"Are you sure you are the best person to do that? After your...accident with his fist?" Medusa said, eyebrow quirking up again. "You should probably go rest. You look about ready to fall over."

Nathan looked up at her with red-rimmed gray eyes, muscles along his jaw twitching as he fought to keep control of his expression. "Actually," he said hoarsely, "I should go see Alexey now and get him to club me over the head, I think. It would help his mood, and right now I'm thinking a nice coma would be just swell."

Medusa extended a strand of hair to hover near Nathan, ready to support him if needed. "A nice coma would make your wife rather upset and also lose several people money in various betting pools."

"I've avoided spectacular meltdowns for entirely too many months," Nathan said raggedly. "They're going to start thinking I'm a pod person." He leaned forward a little, resting his head in his free hand and his elbow on the counter. The ice was finally beginning to numb his side. "... not even a little coma? Just a few days..."

"Perhaps we can make an exception for an arranged coma." Serious green eyes looked him up and down appraisingly. "Nathan, you cannot keep up this pace. You do need a break. Perhaps a prolonged one. Things are starting to settle into place here."

"... they really are, aren't they?" he asked, looking up at her again with a wan smile. "We've done a good job. All of us, and your clerks..." It was too easy to let his head sink into his hand again, as if it were the only way to properly brace himself on the stool. "And David and some of the others who weren't badly hurt are starting to want to get back to work... I guess we have to let them."

"It will probably be good for them, to feel useful and busy again." Just as it will be good for you to rest. Medusa hesitated briefly, but when she spoke again her voice was firm. "And unless you want me calling your wife, you will go to your room immediately and rest." A strand of hair extended to wrap around Nathan's arm and pulled slightly.

Nathan managed not to fall off the stool. Although he supposed Medusa probably wouldn't have let him faceplant... mind you, that was as good an argument as he could think of for not falling. Just because she could probably pick him up with her hair and cart him off to bed didn't mean he actually wanted her to get the idea to do so.

"I can take the icepack, right?