xp_logs | Medusa and Nathan, early Saturday morning

Medusa goes to drop something off at the Elpis office before heading home for Easter weekend. She finds Nathan squinting on the porch.

He really was getting old. He could remember times he'd been on week-long benders, both during his time with the Pack and during off-time at Mistra, and bounced back at least part of the way within the day. This is what happens when you do this when you're over the hill, Nathan told himself with grim amusement, letting the boathouse door swing shut behind him as he stepped out onto the deck.

The sun was entirely too bright

Medusa had been on her way to drop something off at the Elpis office before heading home for the holiday when she saw Nate squinting on the deck. "You look as though you could use a pair of sunglasses. I would offer mine, but I doubt they would suit your facial structure."

"I'm doing penance," he said, with his best impression of a martyred look. "No sunglasses for me. Rachel was helping me out there, serenading me this morning... someone taught her 'Pop Goes The Weasel', although of course she can't manage anything but the 'Pop!' and a lot of lalalaing."

Medusa smiled at him, despite her internal feelings on Nathan's flying, telepathic daughter. "Well, I would imagine that learning to torture you is a skill she will continue to develop well into her adolescence." Her hair moved gently, though there was no wind. "So what precisely caused you to drink to the point of hangover while still needing to complete more penance? Your fortieth birthday that depressing?"

"Forty-first," Nathan said gravely, "which makes it even worse. But no," he said, a bit more distantly, gazing out across the lake. "Other things were at work, this week. More damned death-anniversaries. I feel sometimes like I define my life by them."

"Yes, you are positively ancient now. One more full year has passed and you are still alive to celebrate," Medusa said, one eyebrow arching up gracefully. "How long are you going to allow people's deaths to drag you down? When will you start to celebrate what they brought to your life, keeping the good and discarding the bad?"

The look he shot her was close to hostile for a moment, before he remembered that she didn't have any idea, and mustered an apologetic shrug, looking back out at the lake. "Sometimes there's not much good to keep. My father died a year ago Thursday."

Nathan's hostile look earned nothing more than a slightly higher arch to her eyebrow. "Perhaps not much good, but there is always something. Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to find it."

"And sometimes the bad is so... overwhelming and horrific that if there was any good there, ever, it just doesn't matter anymore." Nathan sighed, tugging at his sling. "I suppose there is a bright side," he said. "I have this whole long mental list of things that I should not do as a parent. Of course, some of the items on that list are absolute no-brainers, but I'm trying to look on the bright side here." He mustered a crooked smile.

"It always matters," she said, green eyes meeting gray ones. "But yes, even if all you took from your experiences is how to be a better parent to your child, I would say that your experiences had purpose. And also be grateful that your daughter will not have to learn the same lesson as you did - instead, she will learn to model what you have done."

"I just don't want to overcompensate with Rachel. She needs to grow, as much as I need to protect her..." Nathan shook his head. "Will you listen to me? She's not even two. I have plenty of time to figure out how not to be a smothering father."

"It is not easy to find balance," Medusa said, her tone implying that it wasn't just balance as a father she was referring to. "But I have faith that you will figure it out in time."

"Maybe by the time I hit puberty." Nathan was grinning crookedly as he said it, however. "An old joke," he said. "And no, you don't want the explanation." He rubbed at his eyes, yawning a bit. "So. How's your week been? You still had classes, right?"

She again raised an eyebrow, but didn't push the issue. "My spring break occurred almost a month ago. So yes, I still had classes. The week has been boring, but you will not hear me complaining. Things have been quieter around here than I would have expected for a spring break. Well, apart from the night where there was a lot of raucous noise in the early morning hours."

Nathan coughed, to hide the snicker. "Yes, well. Really, when you think of it, it's a miracle we find less raucous ways to blow off steam as often as we do. It's not as if our, uh, second jobs are particularly low-stress."

"No, running around in black leather actually seems to be quite stress inducing. But it is your choice to do it and I hope that you carefully consider whether the benefits you gain from it outweigh the less appealing aspects of the work," Medusa said.

"I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I wasn't fighting with everything I have," Nathan said, more seriously, then smiled again, mischievously. "But check back with me in a few years and I'm sure I'll bow to advancing age. It hurts enough to get out of bed most mornings these days, I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I'm forty-five."

Medusa turned slightly, her hair billowing around her face. "What do you imagine when you are forty-five?" was the quiet question.

"Honestly?" He gave the question some serious thought. It deserved it. "Well. I'll either have retired voluntarily from the black leather gig, or I'll have been injured in a way that makes running around with the team no longer an option - I've certainly come close enough a number of times already. Four years," he said more thoughtfully. "Elpis will hopefully be a lot bigger by then."

"It should be," she agreed, watching the wheels turn in his head as he thought about what lay ahead for him. If Medusa had been asked the same question, she wouldn't have had to think. She could report in an instant what she would be doing in four years, on the carefully mapped out plan that was her life. "It has been amazing to watch the office in Tel Aviv recover, stronger than they were before."

"They're terribly stubborn people," Nathan said, more lightly than he really felt. "Life's been kicking most of them so hard for so long that they don't know how to do anything but keep getting up and looking it right in the eye."

"I cannot imagine where they may have gotten the idea to approach life in such a manner," Medusa said, her voice deadpan despite the twinkle in her eye as she turned her attention to Nathan.

"All I have to say to the concept of myself as a role model is 'bad'. And possibly 'feh'."

"And I would be the last to argue," Medusa replied. Afterall, there had already been a lake dunking in the past week. She had to be safe.

Medusa runs into Kurt as she finishes waiting for her ride home.

Kurt was completely over the hangover now, as you'd expect two days after the drinking session that caused it, and had decided to vary his usual routine a little this weekend. So, instead of practising acrobatics in the gym as normal, he was using the banisters in the front hall as a rail.

Medusa made her way back from the boathouse. She'd sent several locks of hair ahead to gather a few things from her room and arranged for the teleporter to meet her in the front hall, as she'd seen that part of the mansion before. Her parents were not going to be pleased if she kept using her services, but things had been too busy of late and she was eager to make it home for the remainder of the weekend. She paused in the foyer as she watched the blue skinned man go through a series of acrobatics. She brought her hands together in light applause. "Bravo."

Kurt grinned at her, letting go of the banister to land lightly on his feet. "Good morning, Medusa. Thank you."

"You are quite welcome," she said as scarlet tendrils descended down the stairs carrying an overnight bag and her purse. "What brings you to the banisters for such a performance this early in the morning?"

"I am always an early riser", he told her with an intrigued glance at the independently-moving tendrils of hair. "And the rails here provided a little more of a challenge than the ones in the gym - I know them too well by now."

"If you ever have the opportunity to visit Attilan, I wonder what you would think of the palace banisters. They are quite intricate in parts of the building," she said.

He brightened at that idea, smiling over at her. "I would certainly welcome the chance to find out, if it were ever to come up."

"You are always more than welcome to come visit," Medusa said with a smile. "After all, you did save my sister's life." She paused, her hair flaring out slightly. "I would just request that you not mention that to our parents."

"I think I can promise it will go unmentioned", he said solemnly. "No harm was done, after all, and it will not happen again, so there is no reason to get Crystal in that trouble."

Medusa nodded. "My thoughts exactly. They worry enough about both of us as it is, there is no point in enhancing their concerns. Soon enough we will both be back under their watchful eyes and they can continue worrying in full force."

"Your plans still stand to leave us at the end of the school year, then?" There was just a little regret there - he liked both the Amaquelin sisters well enough and he'd be sorry to see them go, even if it had always been planned.

"Yes," she said, surprised by the tinge of regret she picked up in his voice. "I am sure we will both visit. But...this is not home. Attilan is and always will be." The smile on her face was soft and as close to a true one as anyone outside her family would ever see.

"Of course", he said with a nod. "And that is as it should be." He didn't see any point raising the issue of what had happened to his own home away from the mansion. It was hardly likely to ever be the same situation for Medusa and Crystal, or anything like it.

"So what are your plans for the weekend? Spending time with your sister for the holiday?" Medusa asked after she had glanced at her watch.

"At least some time", he said with a nod. "Other than that... much the same as usual, really."

"Sometimes 'usual' is not a bad thing," she replied right before there was a bright flash of green and a woman appeared in the foyer, curtsying at Medusa. "Well, I suppose my ride is here. It was a pleasure speaking with you Kurt."

"And you", Kurt replied, smiling. "Enjoy your weekend, Medusa."