xp_logs | Crystal and Nathan - Run-ins with Telekinetics

After Nathan returns from his check-in with Angelo, he surprises Crystal, who had been looking for him anyway but hadn't quite expected to find him like this. A rather unusual conversation later, an even more unusual offer is made... unusual coming from Crystal, that is.

Where was Nathan? After she'd finished her delightful and engaging conversation with Lorna on Nathan's journal, she'd attempted to find him, but to no avail. Oh well, it was late; she could send him an e-mail and try to find him tomorrow.

Nathan was in the process of walking away from Charles's office, having let the Professor sift through the memories he'd gotten from Devlin to his heart's content. He was still wearing the all-black rooftop-lurking clothing, and without thinking, he'd carried the psimitar into the heart of the mansion. Fortunately there were few students about at this hour to notice the man walking around with a spear.

Crystal halted in mid-air as she saw Nathan round the corner into the hallway where she was. At least she hadn't nearly soared into him. Crystal's eyes widened slightly as she noticed Nathan's unusual outfit. I'm going to take the car she's flinging around away from her and spank her with it. Her eyes wideneded even more at the psimitar. May they all drown in the East River, bigots and would be gene-Nazis alike. You have no idea how badly I was tempted to drown them in the East River myself.

His brain had finally broken far too much, hadn't it?

Nathan stopped, seeing Crystal, and some of the tension drained from his posture. "Evening," he said mildly, then realized he was carrying the psimitar. Whoops...

"That is a very nice, ah, what is that?" Crystal inquired politely. I will not run away from the crazy angry man with a sharp object who wants to hit people with cars and violently drown them in rivers.

Nathan looked from her, to the psimitar, then cracked a slight smile as he looked back at her. "It's called a psimitar," he said, holding it horizontally and extending it to her so that she could take a look at it if she wanted. "It's a tool for focusing and amplifying psionic energy. Specifically telepathy and telekinesis."

"It focuses the energy and then what?" Crystal asked, warily examining the psimitar.

"If I want to pick up a car," Nathan explained patiently, "I can do it without the psimitar fairly easily. But if I wanted to pick up six and manipulate them on individual trajectories... well, honestly, I could still do it without the psimitar. The psimitar just makes it easier."

"So it is just an object for focus, then, and is not used as an actual weapon?" Crystal questioned, seeing that Nathan apparently missed her real question.

"If you're asking whether I hit people with it - no, I don't. I don't know that it would actually break it, but I don't want to risk it." Having broken it twice already. "But I can't say it's not a weapon. I can manage a psi-bolt from it that's sometimes a little too impressive."

Crystal managed a small grin at that. "Well, I am glad to discover that you only hit people with cars, not psionic energy amplifying weapons."

"I've had another telekinetic hit me with a bridge?" Nathan offered, with a rather strange glint in his gray eyes. "Much more impressive than a car."

Crystal blinked. "A bridge. I see. How interesting. You seem to have an uncanny knack for running into others telekinetics who do things to annoy you."

"Oh, today's was a child who bit off more than she could chew." The comment was casual, almost unnervingly so. Nathan leaned the psimitar against his shoulder. "I'm glad she didn't push things any further and start flinging people. That would have ended very badly for her."

At least Nathan was more concerned about people flinging than he was about squirrel flinging. Hopefully Rachel recognized the difference, too, although her obvious lack of sympathy for small furry creatures was quite unsettling. Rachel was never getting near Little Jennie and Little Marius, never. "Yes," Crystal agreed, slightly amused, "it is good that she only threw large, extremely heavy objects around in an area full of people and did not actually decide to toss the people themselves."

"Very good, actually," Nathan said, not sounding like he found it amusing at all. "Playing tug-of-war with a car is one thing. With a screaming human being, another thing entirely."

"If you stop the car from hitting people, yes," Crystal told Nathan, nodding. "Since this was, apparently, an untrained child, you were able to do so. If it had been the telekintetic who hit you with the bridge, it would have been a different matter as one thrown car or bridge could cause a great amount of damage and injuries or loss of life with one throw."

"I don't have to worry about keeping a bridge intact, if it gets thrown at me," Nathan said, a bit irritably. It had been an exceptionally long day, and he wasn't sure why Crystal was feeling the need to lecture him about tactics. "Crystal, do you really want to talk about telekinetic combat?" he asked. "It's not a pleasant subject. It's deadly dangerous to everyone around you, and very often potentially lethal to you. A very good telekinetic can explode someone's heart with a thought. Even for another telekinetic, that's very difficult to counter."

And now she was majorly ticking off the irritated man who had just pointed out to her that he could cause her heart to explode. Oops. "I apologize, Nathan; I was not attempting to get into a conversation that causes you discomfort. I looked for you earlier, actually, to see how you were functioning after today's events. You seemed rather angry on your journal, not that I do not understand why you feel that way."

Some of Nathan's visible tension eased again. "I'm sorry," he said, his tone more normal. "It's just not a great topic for polite conversation. But today could have been a lot worse, and I've not quite had time to stop and process that yet." He took another deep breath. "I'm fine. Tired. I was out on an errand. Hence the get-up."

Crystal had to stop herself from making another "I see" comment. She'd already done that enough tonight. "it is a rather interesting outfit. yes. I did wonder why you were walking around the mansion dressed like that while holding such an unusual object. I am glad to hear that you are returning from your mission and not about to embark upon it. May I ask how it, whatever "it" is, went?"

The wintry little smile wasn't directed at her. "Surprisingly well. Sometimes luck goes your way." He went on before she could answer. "I ought to get out of the get-up and put the big stick away, though. Before I run into someone whose inclination is to scream and run the other way." This smile was for her, and was more crooked, an edge of real warmth behind it.

"I am glad that your covert mission went well, then." She had to keep herself from looking horrified at realizing what she was about to do. "Have you had dinner? For that matter, have you eaten at all today or have you been too busy saving people to take the time to eat something?

Nathan managed to keep an entirely straight face. "I may have skipped dinner, yes."

"I am certain that there is some manner of leftovers in the kitchen," Crystal said, "and I believe that is your safest bet given the late hour and the fact that I do not wish to subject you to my cooking skills, or lack thereof. Now, given the fact that you should not be running around the mansion dressed as you currently are and wielding a large sharp weapon with the potential to frighten unwary mansion residents, it is my opinion that it would be best for you to put the big scary psimitar away. I will find something suitable for you to eat, heat it, and bring it to you."