xp_logs | Nathan and Jake, Saturday morning

Nathan makes a brief and none-too-successful escape from Moira's rooms and happens to run into Jake in the hall. The two of them find out that they're not quite total strangers to each other after all.

"Nein, Ich sagst..." Jake broke off, listening to Heinrich for a moment, rubbing the side of his nose absently. "Ja, aber schnell, bitte." Sometimes he thought Heinrich was being stubborn solely to get on his nerves. Jake rolled his eyes heaven -- or ceiling wards, actually, and walked into the rec room, phone glued to his ear even all he could hear at the moment was keyboard clicking. He looked around the rec room, then walked out again, headed down the corridor. "Ich habe nicht keine anung," Jake sighed, before switching to english. "Look, if all you're going to do is ask me dumbass questions, could you call me back later? I'm really, really busy right now. Really." He hit the red end call button with considerable amounts of satisfaction.

The presence coming towards him was unfamiliar, and Nathan stopped, resting one hand against the wall for support as he tilted his head, trying to analyze the impressions he was getting. Hard, when there were so many voices in his head again this morning. The young man that came around the corner as he stood there was a total stranger, and Nathan blinked at him, trying and failing to muster a hello.

Waking up from the 'one cookie away from whistling' daze of all is right with the world he'd fallen into after hanging up on Heinrich, Jake slowed down as he spotted a man, who was practically clinging to the wall, and blinked back at him. Jake had a feeling he should know who this was. Which was a bit odd since he was sure he hadn't seen the other man around the mansion before. "Hey," he said amiably. "You look like shit."

He'd had worse greetings, Nathan thought dimly. More inaccurate ones, at least. "Feel like it, too," he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes. "You're not... I don't know you, do I?"

Jake shrugged, tilting his head curiously. "I'm Jake Gavin. Junior." He paused. There was still something... "Who are you?"

"Nathan." Gavin? That twigged something, but he was too out of it to follow it up at the moment. "Nathan Dayspring," he amended, and tried to straighten up. It didn't work, and he grabbed at the wall again.

Right! He knew the guy looked familiar. Mercenary, wasn't it? Yes. Wild Bunch? No, that was a western. Wild Pack? Jake gave a mental shrug. Nathan Dayspring didn't look like he was a threat at the moment. In fact, he looked like he was about to fall flat on his face. Oh-uh. "Um. Should you be wandering around like this? Because you look like you belong in the medlab... But the rec room is closer... Um. Do you need a hand?"

"No... I'm good," Nathan lied, and tried to straighten again, holding onto the wall this time. It worked a little better, but not much. "Although sitting down would be good, I think." Rec room, rec room, which way was the rec room... It struck him that he didn't really know where he was.

"Uh-huh." Jake gave him a doubting look, then sighed, and reached for the closest of Nathan's arms. "I'm stronger than I look, and I can assure you that the rec room is _not_ in the direction you're looking right now. Just let me help, all right? It's not something I do a whole lot of. I feel like a true humanitarian. All mushy inside. And Alison would probably throw me out another window if you fell down the stairs or something. That would be bad," he added, after a moments consideration.

Nathan stiffened, pushing himself back against the wall and almost losing his grip on his telekinesis. He felt it shiver through the air around him, heard the wall creak ominously, but he wrestled it back under control. "Sorry," he said, breathing heavily. "I'm sorry... I just..." Was not going to explain his problems with physical contact to a stranger, he thought a bit wildly. "I'm trying to walk it off," he said, knowing he wasn't making much sense. "Walking. To clear my head."

Jake took a step back, eyebrow arched. "Well, I hate to break it to you, man, but it doesn't look like it's working very well." This was getting kind of weird. Which was normal for the mansion, come to think of it.

"Doesn't usually," Nathan said, a weak laugh slipping out before he could stop it. Pull yourself together, he told himself, and pushed away from the wall. "If you could point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful..."

"How about me walking alongside with you to the rec room, instead? It's not that far." And I'll keep my hands to myself, he nearly said, but figured it wasn't necessary, and he'd probably not be able to say it without bursting into laughter anyway.

"Okay," Nathan muttered, giving Jake a quizzical look. And people said he had a strange sense of humor. "I'm not actually supposed to be up and around," he said, starting in the direction Jake indicated. One foot in front of the other, he told himself. "Moira's probably going to kill me..." He just hadn't been able to stand the room anymore, and when she had dozed off, he had seized the opportunity.

"You shouldn't upset Moira," Jake commented. "Scary lady, scary, scary lady. With great taste in desserts, even if her coffee is a bit... Dodgy." They walked, slowly. "What are you doing here, anyway?" Jake asked abruptly. "I thought you guys were toiling about in Serbia and thereabouts?"

Nathan stopped short, blinking at him a little more warily this time. "You... know who I am," he said slowly, even as the first stirrings of panic started. But no, Moira or Pete would have told him if there was anyone here that he needed to worry about. Surely they would have.

Jake gave him a blank look. "Well, yeah. Nathan Dayspring, Wild Bunch -- No, Wild Pack, sorry, too many late night movies. You work with.. what's her name? I like her." He grinned wryly. "She didn't like me." Some sort of game... cards, chess, tic-tac-toe. "Domino, that's her name. You're him, right?"

"You know Dom?" Nathan hesitated for a moment, his mind finally making the connection. "Wait. Gavin. Infonet, right?" He relaxed a little, starting in the direction of the rec room again. "Dom doesn't like a lot of people," he said, managing a faint smile at the memory-image that Jake let slip. "Especially if they beat her at cards."

"Is it my fault I'm so good at poker faces?" Jake grinned. He stopped. "And, here I leave you. You'll make it to the couch right?"

"Yeah. Thanks," Nathan said, but lingered at the door for a moment, watching Jake go. Infonet, he thought, grimacing slightly. He hoped to hell that he hadn't provoked the other man's curiosity. Last thing he needed was for word of his presence on American soil to get out into wider circulation. Profoundly disturbed by the idea, he focused on getting to the couch before his legs decided they were through holding him.