xp_logs | Nathan at the boathouse, Thursday evening

The actual noise level wasn't as bad as it could have been with this many scared kids packed into the boathouse, but they were more than making up for it on the telepathic level. Nathan winced, rubbing at his temples for a moment, but then levered himself up out of the chair he'd half-fallen into once he and Marie had shepherded the last of the kids inside. If trouble came this way from the mansion (he wasn't sure what the alarm had been about, but he doubted it was good) he wasn't going to be of much help. But maybe he could do something else useful, especially since Marie was engrossed in whipping together something for the kids to snack on while they waited for news.

He studied the room for a moment, his gaze stopping on a little girl huddled with two others against the wall. She was holding a purple felt bag that provoked a dim memory of Tyler with something similar, and Nathan smiled faintly. Stepping carefully around several of the other children, he went over and knelt down beside her.

"Hey there," he said gently. She blinked up at him, not replying. One of her friends looked terrified at this stranger who'd taken an interest in them, and Nathan winked at her before turning his attention back to the first girl. "Are those marbles?" he asked conversationally.

She nodded. "I was playing with them," she said in a very small voice. "In the hall. So I picked them up so no one would trip."

Nathan let his smile widen and become approving. "That was some very good thinking," he complimented her, and felt a small flicker of triumph as she relaxed a little, offering him a tentative smile in return. "Mind if I borrow those for a minute?"

"Sure," she said, noticeably bolder as she handed them over. Her friends still looked wary, but Nathan was confident that he could change that.

"Let's see," he said, opening the drawstring on the bag and dumping the marbles out on the floor. The sound drew the attention of some of the other children, some of whom moved closer, to see what was going on. There were a couple of dozen marbles here, Nathan estimated, which was more than enough. "It's been a while since I did this," he said and levitated the marbles one by one, arranging them into a rough circle in the air. The three girls were looking intrigued at this point, and more of the other children were coming over, or at least watching.

It was a fairly simple exercise. He'd done things very much like this to practice his telekinesis in the program, as a new trainee. Concentrating, he made the circle revolve for a few moments, then flipped it ninety degrees and turned it into an oval. Then into a rectangle - the corners took a little bit more precision - before he compacted it back down into a square and then drew it out into a spiral. All the while, he kept each shape turning, revolving so that the marbles caught the overhead light and glittered.

"Is it hard?" one of the little boys asked curiously.

"Not really," Nathan said easily, grinning at him. "This is a bit harder," he said, unwinding the marbles from the spiral and moved them like a long beaded snake through the air towards the boy. He stopped them several inches away, manipulating the marbles into a credible stick-figure person. He made it wave at the boy, who giggled, and Nathan took a great deal of satisfaction as he sensed the tension level start to ebb a little. "There aren't enough marbles to do much with," he said regretfully, and couldn't help grinning again as a number of the kids started to push forward, emptying their pockets and coming up with stuff he could 'juggle'. Paperclips, candy, the beads off a broken handmade bracelet, other small toys--yeah, this was going to work, he told himself.

"All right," he said, smiling around at them all. "Anyone got any requests?"