xp_logs | Kurt and Artie, Saturday Afternoon

There was a tricky bit when you came down the hill beside the quarry. Over and then swerve left to miss the tree. After that, it was straight down till you hit the rocks a TK had piled there and it was around them and then dog! Artie swerved again to miss it, back wheel skidding out in the mud before he came to a stop, inches from it. Climbing off his bike, he knelt, giving it a hand to sniff, making a clicking noise in his throat as he did so.

Triscuit needed no more encouragement than that, bouncing over to sniff and then enthusiastically lick Artie's hand, front paws going to brace on the boy's leg as his tail wagged furiously.

He pushed the dog off and forced it to sit before giving in and patting it. Kurt was nowhere to be seen right then but most people didn't come this far up the hill. Artie stood, patted his thighs before whistling at Triscuit and setting off down the hill again, this time on foot.

The little dog gallumphed after him readily, covered in mud all over his legs and belly and quite happy with it. Kurt could be heard calling him from the edge of the woods, and then stepped into view.

"Ah, there you are! Hello, Artie."

He waved, hi, and walked over, shooing Triscuit away when he threatened to come back and cover Artie's already grubby pants with more mud. "How are you?" he asked, glad to see him - Kurt had, largely, Artie suspected through sheer length of tenure at the mansion, become more fluent in ASL than most of the others. It was a valid question right now - it seemed that every mansion resident, even those not on the X-Men's roster, the ones he could reasonably expect to see hurt, were injured right now.

Triscuit, undeterred, went over to cover Kurt in mud instead. "Fine", Kurt told him easily. "I seem to have come out better than many. And you? How were things while we were in India?"

"Mostly I just lay around in bed and played Halo waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. And then I just played Halo once I was actually not dying of tonsillitis again." He pointed at Triscuit. "You should make her sit. She's got no manners, when she keeps doing things like that."

"He does tend to get overexcited", Kurt agreed ruefully. "Down, Triscuit. Sit." The dog, reluctantly, obeyed. "And I think many of us would wish our time there had been less exciting. I am glad you are feeling better."

"Thanks," Artie replied, grimacing. He was so over tonsillitis these days. How's Meggan going?"

Kurt smiled slightly at that. "She is recovering well. Dehydration was the worst of her injuries."

"Good, since she was on Hank's people who are completely fuxored list, last I heard."

Kurt couldn't help a quiet laugh at that terminology. "Not as badly as a few of the others. And everyone will recover."

"Yeah, this time," he replied, scowling. He couldn't help it: he still remembered Jean's not-death and Mark's, the times various X-men had been missing in action, presumed dead.

Kurt studied him for a moment, smile fading. "We will all run out of luck or time sooner or later, it is true. But some things are worthwhile."

He knew what he was supposed to say. He didn't say it. "Not as worthwhile as you all still being alive." Artie stooped and picked up a stick, waving it for the dog before throwing it. "And like, not crazy. I got an email from Miles last night and last time he spoke to his mom, she was still all... He's got to visit her this summer."

The dog scampered off, as Kurt kept half an eye on him and the rest of his attention on the boy. "Oh, Artie. What happened to Alison is very hard, I know, and I cannot promise she will ever again be the person she was. But I believe that she still loves Miles, and that she can be helped."

"She's completely gaga. Still." Unspoken was the statement that if she was still like that around Miles, she'd be even worse around him.

"I know. I am sorry, but no one knew she had been taken."

He shrugged fatalistically. "s'okay. Shit happens, you know? I know how things are around here these days and all."

"We do our best to make it not so", Kurt offered. "When we can. Now, tell me how your studies are going?"

Artie held out one hand, waving it equivocally. "I still hate my new aide that I've got this quarter. I want a different one next year. I didn't fail that history test and I aced my last math test. So, okay, I guess."

"I will talk to the Professor about your aide", he promised. "And I understand you did better than "not fail" your history test."

"Thanks. I really hate her. She flinches, every time she sees my tongue." Artie took the stick from Triscuit and threw it again. "I got a C-. It's bullshit."

"Perhaps I will talk to her myself, in that case", Kurt suggested with a slightly evil grin. "If she has a distaste for visible mutants and cannot hide it better than that, she has no place working in this school."

"Yeah, but I still need someone till the end of term. It's not like all my teachers and everyone else can understand enough sign or anything for me to manage without one."

"True", Kurt allowed. "Can you put up with her that long, or would you like me to try and find an alternative straight away?"

He kicked at a rock, hurled the stick for Triscuit again. "I can live with it. She's just crap."

"Well, perhaps I will look into it anyway." He reached over to pat the boy's shoulder. "There may be someone available on short notice, and it would be doing you a disservice to do nothing."

Artie shrugged away. "It's okay."

"I think not", he said simply.

"She does her job. She's just shit at it. Anyway, I should probably get going. I've got to do my stuff for speech class on Monday."

"All right", Kurt agreed, and whistled Triscuit back to his side. "Good luck, Artie."

"Thanks. Later, Kurt," he replied, waving before climbing back up the hill to his bike.