Log: Sarah and Nate

[x-network.livejournal.com]

Sarah spies the Doom Chicken out her window and goes to investigate.


When the others had warned her about 'Weird Things' and what to expect at the mansion, what she was looking at now certainly wasn't at all what her mind had conjured up.

A giant fire bird. Circling the lake.

Shoving her feet into her shoes, the young technopath hurried from her room and down to the kitchen - one of the few paths she's concurred so far in the mansion - then out, sprinting across the grounds to get a better look. Fireworks, Sarah had seen plenty of living in Washington, DC on holidays but nothing, nothing had ever come close to the display she was observing now. "Wow."

The firebird banked to the left as Nathan noticed that he had an audience. New girl, I think- He swooped downwards in lazy circles, to make sure he didn't give her the impression he was divebombing her, and made a neat landing on the grass not far away from where she stood. He let go of the exoskeleton and then offered her a grin, crossing the distance between them.

"Hey there," he said. "Hope I didn't distract you from getting settled in. I suppose no one thought to warn you about the light show - I think they're all used to me by now."

"How could someone get used to that?" the younger mutant asked with a delighted laugh and a little clap of her hands. "That was awesome! I didn't know there were mutants who could do stuff like that!" And since there were, why did she have to get stuck with powers that let her talk to the toaster instead of something cool like she'd just witnessed.

"It's a telekinetic exoskeleton," Nathan said, still smiling, and shrugged. "Big and flashy, occasionally useful. My teammates call it the Doom Chicken." Before she could ask about the 'teammates' comment, he extended a hand. "I'm Nathan," he said. "Sarah, right? I noticed your post - just didn't have a chance to reply yet."

"It's really sweet. Must be cool to be able to fly around like that, too." A little nod and Sarah took his hand with her own. "Yeah, Sarah. It's nice to meet you, Nathan." After years of smiling and playing the perfect daughter in front of all her father's colleagues, manners were practically burned into her brain as a first response. "Are you one of the teachers here?"

"Yes indeed," Nathan said, "although I tend to work only one-on-one these days. I spent most of my time down there." He waved a hand at the boathouse. "I run an NGO associated with the Institute."

"An NGO? Oh, a non-governmental organization, you mean?" she asked. "My dad's in politics so I kind of picked up some of the lingo here and there," Sarah explained with a sheepish grin. "What do you guys do? I'm guessing mutant-related stuff, yeah?"

Nathan nodded. "We work in the developing world, mostly," he said amiably. "Getting mutants specialty medical care when they need it, providing education and job training, tackling some of these other issues that crop up with more frequency than they do here... it's generally a lot of meetings and paperwork. Like tonight," he said with a chuckle. "I was out here flying to wind down."

"That's pretty cool, too. I mean, like, helping mutants like that. It can be hard enough here, I can't imagine what it's like in other places," the student said honestly, her expression becoming much more serious as she channeled her father. "And if I could fly, I'd totally do it as often as I could, winding down or not but I bet it's a fun way to do it. I usually just zone out with video games."

"Video games, huh? You should be able to find some like-minded fellow students on that score, I think." Nathan folded his arms across his chest, grinning down at her. "You know, my one-on-one teaching leans strongly towards the international relations side of things... that and exotic languages. But if you were interested..."

The brunette nodded. "Yeah, some of the people on the journal mentioned playing. I don't know their names yet, though, sorry. But um, thanks for the offer. I'm not great with languages, well, other than binary and I can speak a little Hungarian but not a lot at all because of my grandparents. The international relations thing seems pretty cool though. I like traveling... when I'm not scared that I'm going to cause the plane to fall out of the sky," Sarah admitted, biting her bottom lip afterward.

"I'm trying to pick up some Hungarian myself," Nathan said with another relaxed smile, hoping to ease her past the moment of worry there. Platitudes about how she'd get her powers sorted out and under control would probably ring a little hollow this early in the process. "I should pick your brain. At some point my turn will come for powers-teaching so you and I will get a chance to know each other a little better."

"Like I said, I'm not that good at it. Just what my grandfather taught me... which I'm pretty sure are all curses," Sarah said with another little laugh and grin. It was the most relaxed she'd felt since arriving at the mansion even though she hadn't dealt with teachers in half a year. Fortunately, this particular one didn't seem bad at all. "I'm looking forward to learning to do more with my powers and how to control them. Forge said he'd help me with the technical stuff, too."

"You'll get a range of different perspectives on your powers, training here - it's one of the great strengths of the Institute," Nathan said. "Although you will be our first technopath." He grinned. "Psis like me are a dime a dozen around here. I envy you your uniqueness."

Her lip twitched again, her smile growing brighter. "I'm a twin. Uniqueness isn't something I'm used to having." There had always been Jessie. Always. Her sister; her other half. It was still boggling to the girls how one could be a mutant and one not. "And I can't really do much yet so there isn't really anything to envy."

"I'll check back with you in a few months, see if you've changed your mind about that," Nathan said with a chuckle, then glanced at his watch. "Well, I should be heading back - I have to be up ridiculously early tomorrow to make a phone call to Kazakhstan."

"Oh... okay," she said, seeming a bit dejected but business was business. "It was very nice to meet you, Nathan. Thank you for talking to me about the stuff here. I really appreciate it. And I really like your fire bird exoskeleton," Sarah added again with a grin.

"If you need any help as you get settled in, just let me know," Nathan offered, spur of the moment. "And if you want to swing by the boathouse some day to see what we do, feel free." He grinned. "I'll even introduce you to my daughter. She's almost four. She flies, too."

"Oh, that's so not fair."