xp_logs | Great Rift: Long-Haul Flight

Rushing back from vacation, Angelo barely makes the flight to Tanzania. Nathan doesn't give him a hard time - about that.

Nathan checked his watch and frowned. They were getting closer and closer to take-off, and while Ororo, Rahne, and John were all settled in their seats - Ororo in the row ahead of him, Rahne and John behind - the seat beside him was still empty. The four of them had come early to New York to meet with Joel prior to the flight, but Angelo had promised he'd catch up with them at the airport. I hope he didn't get caught in traffic...

Just as he had that thought, there was a slight commotion at the door to the airplane, and the man himself hurried down the aisle, to drop with relief into the seat next to Nathan.

Nathan raised an eyebrow as he watched Angelo push his carry-on bag beneath the seat in front of him. "That was close," he said. The crew was closing the door as he spoke, as a matter of fact. "You realize the next flight to Dar es Salaam isn't until Tuesday."

"Yeah, I know", Angelo said, half-wry, half-apologetic. "We might've lost track of time a bit. But hey, I made it."

"Well, catch your breath," Nathan said, fastening his seatbelt as the light went on. "We're going to be sitting for the next thirteen hours or so, so you've got plenty of time."

"Ah, long-haul flights." He settled back in his seat, reaching for his own belt. "The one bit of travellin' I don't like."

"The hop from Dar Es Salaam to Arusha will be shorter. With decent scenery, too." Nathan rubbed at his eyes, adjusting his shields to accomodate for the peculiar psychic atmosphere of an airplane, as the jet started to taxi out towards the runway.

"Yeah, you said. What's the airfield at Arusha like?"

"Handles about forty planes a day. Brand-new terminal building, apparently, within the last few years..."

Angelo grinned. "Sounds pretty good, then. 'specially compared to some of the places we've landed at."

Nathan eyed him, then cracked a smile. "So how was the rest of the trip?" They'd spoken a couple of times, both for mutual checking-up-on and to establish that Angelo was indeed coming to Tanzania, but they had been brief conversations, each time.

"Really good", he said, the grin changing to a softer smile at the mention. "Doug an' Angie came out to join us, the last day or two. It was fun. Relaxin'."

Nathan nodded. "You probably all needed some time away."

"I think we really did." There was a faint worry in his eyes, thinking of Angie and her newfound obsession with water, but he forced it away quickly.

"Then I'm glad you took it." Nathan shook his head slightly. "Although you didn't need to come running right back to work, you know."

"Probably better that I did", he said with a shrug. "I took enough time off already, with one thing an' another." And he couldn't have stayed on vacation forever. The less time he was in the mansion, whatever the reason to take him away, the less time he had to find reasons not to be in his empty suite.

"Mmm," Nathan said, giving him a sideways look that seemed vaguely dubious, whether he'd picked up on what Angelo hadn't said, or just hadn't entirely liked what he had said.

Angelo eyed him right back. "Okay, you know I hate when you do that. What?"
"I'm not keeping score, you know. Well," Nathan amended, "I am, but only for record-keeping purposes. But I've been away for two weeks recently myself, remember." The engines roared as the plane turned onto the runway.

"I know you're not", Angelo said warily. "But that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to. An' I say, it's time I got back to work."

Nathan raised his hands, as if in surrender. "Just don't feel obligated," he said, almost crossly. "I'm not angry at you for needing time away, and you don't need to make up for it by working yourself into the ground." He cracked a smile. "All that winds up doing is making you need more time away."

"I never thought you were mad about it", Angelo said quickly. "Hell, you were encouragin' me to go. But... yeah." The issue of the suite was going steadfastly unmentioned.

"You get funny ideas at times. I wasn't sure."

"....what's that supposed to mean?" It was half-indignant, half-confused.

Nathan waved at him, reminding them that the passengers around them were listening to all of this. He didn't continue until they'd taken off and were on their way towards cruising altitude. "In case you haven't noticed, you've been a little off, on and off, this year. Totally justifiable, mind you." #But since I am a mannerly telepath, damn it, and don't go poking around in your head...# "I'm I'm never sure what's driving your reactions to the fact that the universe keeps kicking you in the teeth."

"Which reactions?" Angelo asked more quietly, mindful of the other passengers now. "I just... want to know what you're seein' here. Might help."

"I'd think something new and frightening was wrong with you if you suddenly started being over-talkative, but you've been nearly at the opposite end of the spectrum, unless someone pokes you really hard. Just for a start."

Angelo shrugged. "So I haven't felt much like talkin' over what's done an' gone, this time. What else?"

"It's not the not talking. It's the withdrawing." Nathan's expression was oddly patient. "I undertand why you did it - I've done it myself from time to time, but you don't think that it only affected your relationship with Amanda, do you?" He wouldn't be having this conversation if he didn't think Angelo was up for it, after some time away. He only hoped he was right about that. "The only reason I dumped you in the lake over that aspect of it was because it's new, and fragile. The rest of us could afford to wait a lot longer for you to decide you wanted to come out on your own."

Angelo opened his mouth to answer, then stopped, obviously thinking. "Yeah, I, uh... Amanda said she'd have to thank you for that. I was bein' dumb. But you... it really bothered you?"

"No, I enjoyed it thoroughly and think it's a fine new behavioral pattern you should nurture." Nathan's tone was wry, not sharp. "The only problem with letting withdrawal be your response to trauma is that you work where you do, Angelo. When it's one thing after the other, you risk disappearing into negative space."

"An' it's always one thing after the other", Angelo agreed quietly. "Samson an' Jack should get overtime pay."

"I'm getting too old to be provoking you into getting mad and hitting me so that you don't do this," Nathan pointed out, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "The lake's a fine alternative, but not in January."

"Maybe I should just do somethin' about limitin' the trauma in my life", Angelo muttered. "Haven't had as much... actually that's a lie. Elpis's given its share, too, an' then there's the stuff nothin' would've stopped... guess I'm screwed, huh?"

"Only if you let the trauma win," was Nathan's not-entirely-flippant response.

"I'm tryin' not to. But when you don't get any recovery time before the next thing..."

"But the next thing's going to need you, more often than not," Nathan said. "And if you're still reeling from the first.... you've got to learn to catch your balance," Nathan said, rather more gently. "That's all."

Angelo snorted. "You say that like it's the easiest lesson ever."

"No. I'm the worst person in the world to be giving this particular piece of advice, too, because my response to getting hurt is usually along the lines of 'Charge!'."

"I noticed", Angelo said dryly. "But that's... just another way of catchin' your balance, right?"

"Yeah, but it does tend to get you punched in the face a lot." Nathan gave him an innocent look.

Angelo looked at him, then started to laugh.