xp_logs | Crystal and Nathan

Now that it's February, Crystal visits Nathan again. This time, the conversation goes better, and an offer and invitation are extended.

It was February. The first week of February, only a few days into the month, and already misfortune had found its way to the residents of Xavier's, and on more than once occasion, too. The infamous Xavier's field trip curse had struck again, and as if Nathan needed anything else to bother him, one of his employees had been injured and had to spend time at the hospital. Small gusts of wind hit the door of the boathouse, and Crystal wondered how she would be received this week. Would Nathan be over some of whatever it was that had been bothering him the previous week, or would he act in a worse manner than before?

Nathan was, in fact working (or trying to, at least). His focus was shot yet again, and the material he was reading was not the most compelling in the office. Innocuous, though. There was nothing about plans for another traveling medical support team that would trigger bad thoughts. Juliette was working quietly at her desk, making much more progress than he was, although she did pause to go answer the door.

"Hello, Juliette," Crystal greeted her. "Is Nathan available or should I come back at another time?"

"He's here, Crystal," Juliette said with a brief smile. "I'll let you two talk," she went on, heading back briefly to her desk. "I believe I'm due for lunch."

"See you later," Nathan said absently, closing the file he'd been looking at. "Hello, Crystal."

"Hello, Nathan," Crystal said with a smile. Unless he brought it up or started acting in an un-Nathanlike way again, Crystal intended to act in the same way towards him that she would have had he not seemed so off on their previous encounter only a week ago. "I was sorry to hear about Jane's accident, but I am glad that she will be all right. I am unsure as to the extent of her injuries and the time she will need to recover, and I thought that perhaps I would offer my help to you if it is needed or wanted."

"She'll be fine," Nathan murmured, setting the file neatly on the stack to his left. "Needs a little time to rest and recover, that's all." He paused, then looked at her. "That's kind of you to offer. We probably could use some help for a few days."

Crystal nodded. "I will be more than happy to offer my assistance. Just let me know when I am needed and what it is you wish for me to do." Nathan had said that he had no great hopes for February, and while the start had not been so wonderful, hopefully the rest of the month would go well. Crystal wished she could say that out loud, but she was unsure as to whether or not that might lead to more doom-and-gloom for Nathan, and the last thing she wanted to do right now was to upset him and possibly make things worse for him.

"Also, I will be turning twenty-one this Saturday. I am planning on inviting people to join me at Harry's, and I hope that you will be there." Given the cancellation of her bigger plans for her birthday last year, this year Crystal had decided to wait until almost the last moment to invite people to her birthday celebration, and also to keep the plans on a smaller scale.

Nathan's eyebrows went up, and he smiled faintly. "Twenty-one, huh? I suppose I'm still making that mental adjustment sometimes, with your age... "

"I have grown accustomed to the change, for the most part," Crystal told Nathan. "Perhaps it is easier to return somewhere and find that although you had expected many changes those changes are few or not there at all, instead of finding many changes where you did expect to find any at all? Still, there are times when I think of the current date and know that, in a way, I have already lived through that day. For me, I can almost feel that I have traveled back in time, and I can only imagine what it is like for those people for whom I was a girl of fifteen less than three years ago."

Nathan stared at her for a moment as if he was having trouble parsing her words. "... huh. Well. I can't make any promises regarding Saturday," he said, "but I'll try and stop in." Surely he could manage a few minutes to pass on good wishes, or whatever. This was Medusa's sister, after all.

"I hope to see you there," Crystal replied. "Also, what time would you like for me to start helping tomorrow, or is there anything that I can start working on now?"

"I'll need to ask Juliette when she gets back," Nathan said, looking oddly disoriented for a moment. "I'm not... absolutely sure what needs doing."

"Check with her and have her contact me when she knows, yes?" Perhaps it was just the recent change in Elpis staff that was confusing Nathan, but Crystal was not sure of that. However, he was acting in a much calmer manner than he had been the week before, and Crystal was glad for that. Something was still on his mind, Crystal guessed, but as Jean had said, all they could do at the moment was to be there for him when he was ready.

Nathan nodded and reached back for the file that he'd just set down. "I'll do that. Thank you."