xp_logs | Angelo and Nathan sometime today

Angelo was bored. Very, very bored. He felt fine - well, except for the bruising and the cracked ribs and so on - but the doctor wouldn't let him out until that night. So he was prowling around the medlab looking for something to do.

Sensing someone approaching, Nathan pondered for a moment, and then reached out with his telekinesis to open the door, in invitation. Before scurrying off to whatever errand had called her away this time, Moira had strongly suggested that he rest, but he was getting a bad case of cabin fever. He didn't like sitting in here alone with the door shut. Reminded him of other rooms, where he hadn't had the option of opening the door.

Angelo blinked on seeing the door open apparently all by itself, then headed over there to have a look. Seeing the guy sitting in the room, he raised a hand in greeting. "Hey."

Nathan frowned at the boy before he could stop himself. Someone had worked the kid over but good; he looked bruised from head to toe, and the way he was carrying himself suggested that he was in some pain. "Hey," he said, wiping the frown off his face as the kid shrank back a little. He replaced it with an expression as close to a reassuring smile as he could muster. "Probably not my place to be mentioning this, but are you sure you should be up and wandering around?" He gave a wry laugh. "I'd offer you my bed, but I'm afraid of Moira's reaction if she comes back and finds me not in it."

Angelo hung back by the door, still slightly wary. "Got one of my own, over there", he said with a gesture in the right general direction. "Doc says I can go back upstairs tonight, though. An' I was bored."

"I sympathize." Nathan watched him for a moment longer, and then decided he was going to have to make the first move. "Want to come in and sit down? Conversation is a good cure for boredom." The boy still lingered in the doorway, looking cautious, and Nathan was surprised by how much he did want him to come in. Surely the solitude wasn't getting to him that badly already. "I'm Nathan, by the way. The old friend of Moira's she dragged back from Europe with her."

Angelo apparently decided, on hearing that, that this guy could be trusted. Friend of Moira's was probably kosher, anyway. So he moved further into the room and perched on the nearest chair. "Angelo."

Progress. "Should I ask what happened," Nathan said calmly, still trying to size up the kid, "or just pretend you've told me I'm a nosy bastard already and move on to the next piece of small talk?"

Angelo blinked, then sighed. "Just ran into some trouble in town last night. Bigoted bastards on two levels, an' some of them had a personal score to settle, too..."

"Mmm." The school must not be universally loved in the community, Nathan reflected. That made a certain amount of sense. "Situations like that are difficult when the odds are against you," he said, assuming that had been the case by Angelo's use of the plural. Could this be the friend that Marie had mentioned sitting up with? "Even when you've got something like my telekinesis, numbers still matter a lot."

Angelo nodded. "Think there was... eight? First they didn't like me bein' out with Marie, an' then there was a little revenge issue. Which is also how they knew I was a mutant - somethin' else they didn't like."

"A friend of mine had a saying," Nathan said, rubbing at his temples. His head was starting to ache again. Probably not a good sign. "Wolves and cowards travel in packs."

Angelo nodded. "True enough. The revenge part came 'cause a couple of months back, I tried to stop 'em beatin' up the most harmless guy - with the most harmless power - in this house." He eyed Nathan cautiously, a little worried. "You okay?"

"Fine," Nathan said, trying to smile. Judging from the look Angelo gave him, it wasn't convincing. "Seriously. Just a headache. A precognitive hangover, I suppose you'd call it." Or the first warnings of another episode, and damn it, here he had been hoping for a full twenty-four hours without one.

"You're a precog?" Angelo asked, curious. "You should talk to Marie-Ange, when you're feelin' better. She's just manifested that part of her power..."

Nathan nodded, and then wished he hadn't. "Part of the plan," he said. "Anyhow. Sounds like you should be traveling in large groups when you go to town, if it boasts such persistently stupid people."

Angelo shrugged. "Might be an idea. We already don't go out alone, much. 'Course, the only reason Doug got in trouble last time was 'cause he was tryin' to protect Artie. Artie's ten", he finished in disgust.

Nathan was silent for a moment. He was all too well aware of the human tendency to lash out at unwary mutants for being different, but it took a special kind of cruelty to do that to a child of ten. "Very stupid people," he said, a chill creeping into his voice almost of its own accord. He saw Angelo straighten, the wary look coming back.

Angelo didn't move from his chair, but was clearly ready to bolt at the first warning. "Yeah. They are."

*You're scaring the kid, Dayspring.* Nathan took a deep breath, determinedly donning a less forbidding expression. "Sorry," he said as lightly as he could. "Stupid people irritate me."

Angelo nodded, still a little wary, but forced himself to smile. "Well, should probably get back to my room 'fore the doc decides to keep me here another night for not followin' orders. Let you sleep off that headache, too."

Nathan snorted. "Not a bad idea," he said. "Feel free to look me up once I'm up and around, Angelo." Angelo gave some combination of a nod and a shrug as he got up and left. Nathan concentrated for a moment, closing the door behind him, and stretched back out on the bed. The headache was definitely coming back.