xp_logs | Nathan and Catseye, Thursday morning

Catseye stops in at the infirmary to visit her boss. The conversation goes interesting places.

Feeling sheepish about her absence for not taking better care of her boss when he was hurt due to her preoccupation with her own issues, Catseye knocked quietly on the door now, shifting a carton of ice cream from her tail to one hand. "Mister Nathan? Catseye brought ice cream; can Catseye come say hi?"

"Ice cream? What kind?" Nathan said, smiling at the sight of her juggling the carton. "Something chocolate, I hope..." He wasn't sure if he was really up to eating much ice cream - the painkillers were unsettling his stomach - but he could probably manage a spoonful or two. Especially since he knew it was a social sort of thing with Catseye.

Catseye bounded over to the chair next to the bed and put the ice cream down on the bedside table gratefully, laying two spoons next to it. "It is chocolate with marshmallows and chocolate chips inside! But no bugs. Catseye did not know if Mister Nathan would like chocolate covered bugs so Catseye did not bring any." She scrutinized Nathan's prone form. "Mister Nathan hurt his brain again?"

"Why is that always the first guess?" The smile came back, tired but warm. "Everything but my brain. I'm very talented."

The purple-haired girl grinned widely. "Catseye thinks Mister Nathan is very talented," she agreed with a nod, "but Catseye is sorry Mister Nathan hurt everything anyway." She'd been planning on patting his arm, but hearing that he'd hurt everything but his brain had her folding her hands back in her lap. "Mister Nathan, Catseye is sorry she did not come before but Catseye was hiding in the woods and then Catseye was at BigBrother's for her birthday." She hated it when the people she cared about most got hurt and she wasn't able to stop it from happening. "Catseye wishes she could have gone with Mister Nathan to help because Catseye would not let anyone hurt Mister Nathan's everything."

"It's okay, kiddo. But I appreciate the thought." There was a gleam of something close to mischief in his eyes, and he extended one hand. One of the spoons floated over to him, wobbling a little in the air - his focus could be better, really, and an ache throbbed briefly at his temples at the effort. "I'm sure Doctor Voght would not approve of the ice cream."

“If Catseye was an X-Man Catseye thinks she could help keep Mister Nathan and all her friends safe,” she muttered. The young woman took the ice cream container and pulled the top off. “Does Mister Nathan think Doctor Voght would approve of the ice cream if Catseye had put chocolate covered bugs in it?”

"She might. I probably wouldn't." Nathan took a spoonful as Catseye extended the carton. Her muttered comment stuck with him, though. "You could," he said slowly. "But being an X-Man is about a lot more than that."

"It is about keeping everybody safe, not just friends, yes?" she inquired, taking some ice cream for herself by using her tail to hold the spoon, holding the carton in her hands halfway between herself and Nathan. "Stopping bad people from hurting everybody?"

"That's what we try to do," Nathan said. "Sometimes it does mean getting hurt. Ideally, not as often as I did." He offered her a smile that was supposed to be ironic, but came out rather wan, both for the topic of conversation and for how the past tense had slipped out there.

Catseye was glad she was holding the ice cream, because she desperately wanted to give Nathan a hug. "Catseye does not mind if she gets hurt. Catseye just doesn't like when her friends get hurt. And Catseye does not so much mind when her friends get hurt in a fight where Catseye is helping but it is verybad when friends get hurt and Catseye did not try to help because she was not there. Mister Nathan, Catseye thinks she would like to learn French," she said suddenly, recognizing that she'd been dwelling on the topic of the X-Men a lot and it might not be something Nathan wanted to talk about constantly. "Because then Catseye could read a lot more books and help more at Elpis." She'd been thinking of it since she'd seen Monet's stack of papers at the pool.

Nathan ate the spoonful of ice cream before he went on. "French is a good language," he said. "Lots of good stuff to read. Not just work stuff. If you want.." He paused, then went on. "Well. Even when I get out of here, I'm likely to have quite a bit of time on my hands. It's going to be a while before I'm up and around. We could work on it together?"

The catgirl nodded emphatically. "Catseye would like that veryverymuch! Catseye thinks she will not be very good because Catseye still needs lots of help with English but Catseye would like to try. At least until school starts and Catseye sees how much homework she will have?" She didn't want to overload herself, but she enjoyed reading English and studying the dictionary with Jean-Paul a great deal more than she enjoyed learning any other subject, and thought she might enjoy French as well. "And if Catseye comes to visit to learn French Catseye can play with FlyingKitten sometimes so Mister Nathan can get rest and feel better before he is up and around?"

"You can play with Rachel anytime you like," Nathan said softly. "She loves you. I hope you know that."

Beaming, Catseye preened a little. "Catseye loves FlyingKitten too, and Mister Nathan, and next time he goes away to hurt his everything Catseye is going to come and make sure he does not!"

"I'm going to try and not... hurt my everything anymore, Catseye," Nathan said, just as quietly. The little rueful smile came back. "I'm getting old. Time to be the one who stays behind and helps younger people go out and fight the good fight."

"Younger people like Catseye?" she inquired, taking some more ice cream. "Catseye wants to fight the good fight so Mister Nathan does not have to go and get hurt and make FlyingKitten sad!"

"If you're serious about wanting to be an X-Man, you need to talk to Scott or Ororo," Nathan said after a moment, remembering just how effective she had been when they'd been attacked in Morocco. There would be far, far more unlikely trainees. "They'll give you a lot to read, and ask you to talk to the Professor. I think you could do it." He smiled at her, then took another half-spoonful of ice cream. "I think you could be really good at it. They'd be lucky to have you."

Catseye set the ice cream down on the table next to Nathan's bed, her hands quite chilled. "Catseye likes reading, and Catseye is not scared to talk to the Professor," she said with a nod, beaming at Nathan's praise and his confidence in her. "Catseye will keep thinking about it but Catseye needs to know how much work for school she will have to do first. But only if Mister Nathan is at the mansion to help and doesn't break his brain or his everything anymore," she amended. "It will be sad that Mister Nathan stays behind but it is good that Mister Nathan will be safe. Can Catseye nap with Mister Nathan in catform on his pillow, since his brain is not hurt?" she inquired hopefully.

Only if Mister Nathan is at the mansion to help. Nathan blinked, considering that idea for a moment, then gave Catseye a quick smile as she continued to gaze inquisitively at him. "So long as you find someplace to stick the ice cream where it won't melt, sure."