xp_logs | Amanda and Nathan, Monday night

Backdated to Monday night. Nathan and Amanda cross paths in the kitchen scrounging for food, and talk about the drawbacks of this whole school thing.

Sandwich. He just needed a sandwich or something, Nathan told himself, rummaging in the fridge for meat and cheese of some variety. His appetite had been a little on the light side since Friday, and that at least wasn't improving with the speed of his English.

It had taken three tries and promises to return with food, but Amanda had finally escaped Manuel's room for a kitchen raid. She was just padding into the kitchen in her bare feet, hair mussed and wearing one of Manuel's shirts over her jeans, when she realised that her quiet midnight raid wasn't about to go unremarked. A grin crossed her face as she realised it was Nate.

Nathan looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. "You've been noticeably absent all day," he said dryly, straightening and taking the container of cold cuts over to where he had already laid out the bread. "Just to be clear; that was small talk, and I don't actually want to know."

She pulled a face at him. "Stick in the mud," she said with a mischievous grin as she levered herself up onto the counter to watch his sandwich-constructing efforts. "We were just sortin' some stuff out, is all. See yer gettin' yer English back, then?"

Nathan cracked open the container. Ham, salami, and what looked like turkey. Philosophically, he added a slice of each to one piece of the bread, then went back to the fridge to look for the cheese. "Seem to be," he said easily, oohing as he spotted a block of what looked like cheddar. "Which is good, because I was beginning to get irritated."

"Irritated would have been less unnervin' than blissfully cheerful," she told him, far more cheerful than she usually was herself. Then she sobered a little. "So, all those people in yer head, all that knowledge. Must be... strange."

Nathan grinned at her. "You're going to make me bliss out again," he warned her, finding a knife and deftly slicing a few paper-thin pieces of cheese. "It is strange," he confessed as he put the sandwich together. "Amazing, but strange. And my concentration's not worth shit at the moment."

"If you start blissin' out on me I'm sure I could find a way t' irritate you back t' normal," Amanda promised, stealing his knife and the cheese and hacking off a piece to nibble on. "Yeah, I figured when I managed t' sneak up on you without yer noticin' you were off yer game a bit. Guess yer a bit distracted."

"That would be one way to put it," Nathan said, watching her maul the defenseless block of cheese. "I'm going to keep working with the Professor, though, so hopefully I'll adjust sooner rather than later." He finished putting the sandwich together and found a plate. "So," he went on, giving her a sideways look. "You are going to be in classes tomorrow, right? The whole 'unexplained absence' thing is really going to mess with your catching-up efforts if it goes on for too long."

Amanda looked just a little guilty. "I know," she said, finally managing to get enough cheese off the block without slicing her fingers. "Ain't like I meant t' skip class, but we sort of lost track of time." The wicked grin returned. "'Sides, if you had the choice between sittin' in a classroom bein' bored t' death an' havin' fun with Moira, which would you choose?"

"It's not an either/or choice, mi'savra," Nathan said dryly. "Going to classes doesn't exclude indulging yourself. What did I say about time management?" She made a face at him, and he got a bottle of water out of the fridge, then decided he was satisfied with his impromptu late dinner. "But don't listen to me," he said with a shrug, going over and sitting down at the kitchen table. "I never had any fun when I was your age, so I'm probably just resentful."

"But yer've more than made up for it in the meantime, if the stories Dom an' Pete let slip are anythin' t' go by," she replied, unrepentantly cheerful. She slid off the bench and poked around in the fridge until she found some leftover lasagne Lorna had made and left for the less culinary-inclined. Spooning a large chunk onto a plate and tossing in in the microwave, she leant against the counter and looked at Nate again. "An' I know the study's important. 'S just I've been at it solid pretty much since the start of March, an' that's sayin' somethin' for me. Last time I cracked a book before coming here was..." She wrinkled her nose, trying to remember. "Me last foster family, the Christian types. They managed t' get me t' school for all of about four weeks, 'fore I packed it in. After that I was on the streets in Brighton, for about a year." She shrugged. "Ain't makin' excuses, just sayin' it's hard gettin' back into it."

"Think how I felt," Nathan quipped, unscrewing the lid on the water bottle. "'Nathan, we need you to go blow up Factory X in Whatthehellstan.' 'But I have a paper due on Monday!' 'Do we look like we care?'"

"This ain't gunna turn into one of those conversations where you tell me how you had t' 'live in shoebox in middle of road...'" and here Amanda's accent switched to broad Yorkshire before changing back again as she went on: "...is it? 'Cause I so ain't gunna win that one." The microwave beeped and she pulled out the plate, grabbing a fork from the drawer and joining Nate at the table.

Nathan took a bite of the sandwich, chewed, swallowed, and then laid it back on the plate as his appetite deserted him, again. "Eyes bigger than my stomach," he murmured, trying not to think of how little he had eaten today. Not to mention the not sleeping. That was really getting a little odd. He took a sip of his water instead, then looked up at Amanda and smiled. "I don't begrudge you the occasional bout of slacking off," he confessed. "Just don't draw it out too much, not at this time of year, at least."

Amanda paused in her wolfing down of Lorna's lasagne (which was very, very good), to look at his barely-touched sandwich curiously. "I'll get back t' it tomorrow," she said, meaning the study. "Gotta go t' Art, any way, since Logan'll have me guts for garters if I don't." Then she added, her tone casual: "No wonder you don't feel like eatin' or sleepin'. Yer runnin' off enough psychic energy t' light up a city."

Nathan blinked. "Figured it was something like that," he said just as casually. "If it keeps up I'll talk to Moira. Promise." He forced himself to take another bite, then smiled at her again. "Things will calm down soon," he said, meaning her classes. "You'll have more time over the summer. And I'll make sure I'm back right after the weekend to help you with studying. I doubt Moira will want to hang around Muir for all that long." Rory was going to make things awkward, he could almost guarantee it.

"If you don't want her dopin' you up again, there's still Homily's potions," Amanda said with a wicked grin, finishing her food much quicker than Nate would have thought possible. For such a small girl she certainly could eat. "An' I'd appreciate the help - this whole exam thing... Well, I don't want t' let Pete an' Rom down by failin' miserably. Be nice t' pass somethin' more 'n Art."

"You'll be fine," Nathan said gently. "I'll teach you a meditation exercise to help with exam stress."

"Ta. Rom's taught me some stuff already that helps me concentrate..." Amanda paused, her eyes unfocussing briefly as she paid attention to the sensations coming down the link. "An' I'd best be goin'," she said with a grin that could have passed for one of Manuel's leers. "Distraction calls."