xp_logs | Nathan and Jean-Paul, early Saturday morning

Nathan and Jean-Paul have their 'climbing date' in the Danger Room, and Jean-Paul opens up a little more about what brought him back to the mansion.

It was only barely light out when rapid-fire tapping sounded against the eastern-facing window of Nate's bedroom.

Jean-Paul hovered in mid-air outside the glass, arms folded over his chest, managing to somehow look both dour and hopeful as his friend stumbled over to open the window.

"Come out and play, Nate. It's technically Saturday, we're supposed to go climbing today, and if you don't distract me, then I am going to spend the day plotting ways to murder a student."

"Who managed to piss you off that much already?" Nathan grumbled as he opened the window, peering at his hovering visitor. "And you know, we were just planning to hit the Danger Room, so it's not like we have to be up this early..."

"Catseye, AKA the one on the cusp of becoming an entree at a bad Chinese buffet. She has camped outside my door every night this week demanding entry. That would be after she climbed into my room in the middle of the night and left a dead rodent in my bed." Jean-Paul settled his folded arms on the window sil and propped his chin up on one fist. "It is more fun this way and you know it. We're already climbing fake rocks, so we may as well trick our internal clocks into thinking it is the real thing."

"Yeah, yeah. Give me ten minutes - I'll meet you in there." It actually took him fifteen, in the end, to walk through the shower -just to wake himself up - grab his gear, and get up to the mansion and down to the Danger Room. Mornings were a little slow these days. He was getting old.

"I'm half-afraid of how stiff I'm going to be," he said to Jean-Paul, joining him at the doors. "I haven't climbed since before the coma."

"The last time I made the attempt was before I left here. It is probably for the best that we're not actually leaving the mansion; I'd hate to suffer the indignity of being carried back to the car." Jean-Paul's tone was light as they entered the Danger Room and were treated to the sight of a sprawling range and weather-beaten crags that Jean-Paul would have wagered didn't actually exist anywhere in the world. Still, it was an illusion he was willing to buy into. "So what happened to put you under?"

"Got on the wrong side of a couple of acquaintances," Nathan said dryly. "They threw a helicopter at me and left me to drown. It wasn't a great week." He paused just inside the door, eyeing the faux-view. "The Dolomites, huh?"

"Are they? Remind me next time that the computer and I have very different ideas of what constitutes a moderate work-out." Jean-Paul was frowning slightly as he geared up, as was his right as an overly-protective sort, even if Nate was capable of taking care of himself. "Shall I assume these acquaintances lived to regret that?"

"If by 'lived to regret that', you mean 'Walked away unscathed and are probably occasionally getting together for drinks to toast kicking my ass', yes," Nathan said, and shook his head as the joke came out a little sour. "Sorry. A while yet before that can be funny, I suppose."

"Another six months, at least. And only because you're still walking around." Jean-Paul took a deep breath and started up. The sleeve of his t-shirt rode up as he tested the first hold he found, revealing a light bandage around his right bicep.

Nathan eyed the bandage for a moment, then filed the detail away. For now. "Humor as coping mechanism is seriously overrated," he said, watching to see how Jean-Paul approached the rock face. "Sarcasm, now..."

"Sarcasm is a wonderful thing. Defense, offense, a passable substitute for humor...all things to all men." Jean-Paul pulled himself up, testing his weight against the stone. Holds were numerous and much more stable than the appearance of the rockface suggested. "Perhaps the machine isn't planning to kill us after all.

"Well, it does have safety features," Nathan said mildly, and decided that Jean-Paul was far enough up the face to allow him to come in behind. "I don't think either of us wants to wind up in a suddenly-there vat of impact gel, however. So..." He debated over a first hold, going for one that would take him slightly to the left of Jean-Paul's route. "How was your summer? I'm presuming you spent it conscious."

"Completely uneventful and spent being of no earthly use to anyone, myself included. I had to come back before I started putting down taproots." Jean-Paul kept his gaze firmly upward. "The three years preceding were a similar waste and much less pleasant. I lost a cat, gained a few scars, and Jeanne-Marie has gone again."

It took eloquence of a particular sort, that sort of summary, Nathan thought. "You catch up with your former devotees?" he said. "Shiro and Clarice have both had some drama... damn, you need to hammer home to that girl that getting nuked is not a good thing. See, you could be an object lesson."

That teased a smile out of his companion.

"I did tell Clarice that she needs to find better role models and she attacked me with her wig. Shiro..." Jean-Paul paused for a heartbeat. "I'm glad to see him looking so well. I worried about him."

Not enough to get in touch, of course.

The frown was back. He was not going to go this route this morning.

"Scott told me about the New Mutants teams. I'll approach Kane about helping out with the kids. Something like this wouldn't be out of the question, I think."

"I took the kids ice climbing last winter... wait, I told you that already, didn't I?" Nathan paused, shaking his head before he reached up for the next hold. "I'm out of it these days. I blame the latest head injury. It's probably a good thing we're not climbing for real, I'll forget which way is up any moment now."

"We're old men. We're allowed to confuse ourselves and everyone around us." Jean-Paul glanced down, waiting until Nathan's hold was sure before hauling himself up again. "Micheal tells me I need to stop shepherding people -- says that I'm just a border collie who throws his vote to the Bloc."

Nathan's eyes narrowed slightly. "Might as well tell the wind not to blow..." The reply was just loud enough to be audible.

"It was a terrible blow to my self-esteem, I will have you know. Here I have spent most of my adult life playing up to the notion that I am a self-absorbed son-of-a-bitch, only to be told that I have not not fooled anyone who matters."

"Heart of pure marshmallow," was the rejoinder. "Clarice had you pegged from the moment you walked in the door. I'm going to keep track of just how long it takes my daughter to wrap you around her little finger. Maybe I'll make a bet with Moira."

"Empathy is the bane of my existence. I had much better luck when I was younger and it rolled over into disdain so easily. This is what I get for living long enough to mellow. Maybe that is what I should be teaching the kids: die young and stupid for it is less confusing."

Nathan paused, biting back a laugh as he looked up at Jean-Paul. "You're not convincing me at all. There's a definite ring of insincerity there."

"Ha!" Jean-Paul met Nate's gaze. "But if anyone else needs to know, that is what I am doing back here -- staving off boredom and telling Micheal Twoyoungmen to fuck himself."

"Oh, I'm all for the front, don't get me wrong. I have half the people I encounter regularly while working with Elpis convinced I'm completely unsubtle and occasionally thuggish," Nathan said, stretching for the next hold. "I love using people's misconceptions against them. I mean, all right, so I frequently am unsubtle but I always know when I'm doing it..."

"And you wear 'thuggish' so well besides. It would be a shame to let a natural talent go to waste." The speedster's gaze turned upward again, focusing on a small shelf a twenty feet or so above their heads. "There should be just enough room on that for both our butts."

It took them a few minutes to get up there; the key was not to rush, even on faux-rock. Nathan pulled himself up onto the ledge, staring out at the admittedly-impressive holographic view.

"Haven't done this enough lately," he said. "No wonder my head's been noisy."

Jean-Paul handed him a water bottle and a protein bar.

"I'd say that the peace of the great outdoors -- or a reasonable facsimile -- just needed a chance to seep into your head, but then you've been stuck listening to me since the sun came up." The Canadian took a swallow of his own water. "I think she tried to kill me before she left." He tapped the scar wrapped around his throat. "I got this about a year in. There are some others lower down...one too low for comfort. We had a fight and she..." An odd smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Well, I woke up in Micheal's infirmary and she was gone again. To find peace or die trying she was what she said in the note."

Nathan took a minute to think about what he wanted to say, before he spoke again. "Does it help at all?" he asked. "That she chose to go, to try and find her way? It sounds to me like she recognized that it was hurting both of you."

"Not really, no. She's my sister and...I honestly would have rathered she finished the job than to have her just vanish. My being a selfish shit isn't all a front. For all that I've tried to help her ever since we met, I only make things worse. Every time. And I still can't back off, I still have to try and fix her one more time, to be her shield for good or bad. Narcissism, desperation...I just cannot tell what it is anymore, just compulsion." Jean-Paul sighed. "It is good for her that she went. My head knows that, at least. I hope she's all right."

Nathan's eyes had narrowed at the 'finishing the job' comment, but apparently he was learning patience in his old age, because he let it go. For now. "I hope she is, too," he said, instead. "Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but it does sound like she made a choice for a number of reasons."

A nod. "The man she loved couldn't help her. Her brother couldn't help her. The doctors never have, and the God those plotte..." Jean-Paul bit off the start of a bitter tirade. "After all of that, what else was left but for her to help herself? But I still hate it."

"If you're still kicking yourself this hard about it in a few more months," Nathan said quite calmly, "I reserve the right to throw you in the lake." He smiled slightly. "I'm not about to tell you not to hate it - I'd be a hypocrite, telling anyone not to brood - but like it or not, she very likely did this for you, too. And you need to take this opportunity she gave you."

"She shouldn't have needed to give me anything. Of the two of us, I was the lucky one. But message received."

Nathan's smile twisted. "Sometimes family does give us these gifts we'd rather not have had," he said, his gaze moving back to the holographic rocks around them. "Just because they love us... well, it all depends on your definition of love, I suppose."

"'Completely fucked up, but with better intentions than most' serves on most days." Jean-Paul took another swallow of water. "Shall we move on?"

"Let's. First one to the top buys the beer."