xp_logs | Alison, Nathan, and Amanda, Sunday afternoon

After making his somewhat panicked post, Nathan starts wandering the mansion, not really knowing what he's doing. Alison, being the only other person currently in the mansion who can read exactly what he's saying, tracks him down and marches him off to Amanda for a sleep potion. Using her aura trick, Amanda starts to realize what the problem is.

He ought to be sitting down somewhere, waiting for someone to find him and explain why everyone was talking in gibberish and he couldn't read anything, but he couldn't. Just like he hadn't been able to sleep. His body was acting like his mind had been, walking around in circles, and he had the bizarre, but whole-hearted conviction that if he stopped, something would catch up with him. Nathan wasn't sure what, but there was something, and it wasn't good.

"~Stop it,~" he muttered, shaking his head doggedly at the ceaseless, agitated buzzing in the back of his mind. "~Shut up, why won't you shut up...~"

He turned a corner and nearly walked right over the person waiting for him there, Alison leaning on her cane idly and not even considering moving as he stopped just in time. He'd been muttering in Askani, to her complete lack of surprise. Just as he'd been seemingly stuck in it yesterday, just as his post today to the journal system had been.

"~Hello brother~," she said midly, seeing far more today than she'd had yesterday and not liking it in the least.

Nathan reached out, laying a hand on the wall to brace himself. He was shivering slightly, couldn't seem to stop. "~Something's wrong,~" he said hoarsely, his knees going a little weak with relief as Alison spoke to him and he understood her. "~I can't understand anything anyone says. Can't read, either... the books were all gibberish...~

She couldn't reach out to steady him and that was highly frustrating, but she could step closer at least, and the relief at understanding her was so very tangible she was wondering if he was projecting of all things. "~How long has it been since you've slept?~" All the signs were there, among others. "~You look horrible. Something the Canaanites dragged in.~"

Nathan swallowed. "~Days,~" he said hoarsely. "~I think... I might I have gotten some, but I'm not certain...~" Alison was gazing at him steadily, measuringly, and his shoulders slumped. "~It was too.. much.~" He waved exhaustedly with his free hand. "~Couldn't stop thinking, and it just went on and on...~"

Thinking, Alison knew well enough, although she idly wondered what other factors were bearing in on this. Still, there was an immediate solution to this, and her mind skipped to something that had been offered to her once, something simple. "~You need sleep.~" She started with that, because that's what was important just now.

"~I don't... no more drugs,~" Nathan protested weakly, trailing along after her as she started to limp down the hall, leaning heavily on her cane. He didn't know where she was going, but she was the only thing that was making any sense and he wasn't letting her get away. "~Something will happen and I'll be slow... like at Muir, and people will die. People always die because of me...~"

"~No drugs~," she agreed easily enough, because part of what she had in mind wasn't related to drugs at all. "~Walk with me~," she said, reaching out for him, briefly amused at the thought of the two of them hobbling down the hallway with their canes. It seemed like a lovely time to go see a certain witch, about a certain sleeping potion. All natural, no magic. And a lightshow nudge to finish him off, if needed.

"~I keep thinking they're going to start the bombardment,~" Nathan said dazedly, following her obediently, barely registering their surroundings. "~That was the last time I was awake for this long. When they attacked Bigraia none of us slept...~"

It was so sleepy time. Only his evident confusion and the way he let himself be led like a small child kept Alison from scolding him outright. They ended up in front of Amanda's door after far too long a walk in Alison's estimate, who was leaning heavily on her cane and hating having taken the steps to find Nathan earlier.

For once Amanda wasn't studying the magic books - after her session with Doctor Strange the day before, she had done quite enough study, and so she was lying on her bed with her headphones on, listening to a punk compilation she'd picked up in New York the day before. The knock on her door went unheard, but she was quick to notice it opening, framing an obviously-tired and in pain Alison, and a Nathan who looked like he'd come from the wrong side of Hell.

"Bloody fuckin' hellfire!" she said, sitting up and nearly forcibly removing several ear piercings with the forgotten headphones. "What's happened now?"

Nathan gave Amanda a miserable look as she said something unintelligible, looking concerned. "~This isn't right,~" he said in exhausted protest. "~I don't know what happened but I want it to stop.~"

"He says he wants this to stop. He'd be referring to the no sleep and driving himself nuts, I think," Alison added dryly, prodding him in the ribs to urge him inside the room. "Tell me you have somewhere I can sit on in there that isn't covered in dirty socks? And a sleep potion for Mr. 'Don't need no sleep' here would be good." She prodded lightly once more, wincing at how biddable Nathan was being. "~Inside, there's a good brother.~"

"Um, yeah, take Paige's chair. She keeps her desk clear, at least. Wouldn't be able t' do all that study otherwise..." Amanda waved a hand in the direction of the chair, not really aware of what she was saying, concentrating more on Nathan. He was muttering in Askani, and not really aware of where he was, that much was clear - she took his arm and half-led, half-dragged him to her bed, pushing his chest gently so that he sat down. "I've got some sleepin' potion ready from the other night, just needs some boilin' water," she said, glancing over at Alison. "What's with the Askani?"

"I think he's retreating to something that makes more sense to him. Keep in mind he's delirious from no sleep and the Askani might be boggling at this and not sure how to handle it..." She shrugged, shaking her head. "He's too wiped out to try and call Her out, I'd say. So sleep and then we'll see if he can sort it out when he wakes up. Or I sic Charles on him." She said the last calmly, but giving no doubt she'd do just that. "I'll try and soothe him after if the potion doesn't knock him out entirely and-" she paused, shaking her head as she sat down, sighing in relief.

Sitting on the bed, the room spinning slowly around him, Nathan blinked in bewilderment as the two exchanged incomprehensible words. "~I think I should go,~" he said, an edge of mild hysteria to the words. What was he doing here? Where was he? "~What's the hour? They'll call the battlegroups out to the wall in a little while and I ought to be there.~"

"~Sit.~" Alison snapped flatly, giving him a narrowed eyed look. Then forced herself to calm down, calling up light and decided that soothing him now was a good idea. "Amanda? Potion in tea. No more talking, not understanding makes him edgy, I think. ~Brother, you need to rest. There are others to watch the walls, now.~"

Amanda nodded and disappeared into the hallway, heading for the student kitchen. Normally she wouldn't take that commanding tone from anyone except Pete and Nathan and maybe Moira if there was a good enough reason, but Alison was right, questions and comments weren't needed here. Five minutes later she reappeared, holding a steaming mug - the smell wafting off it was heavy with camomile and rosemary, much better than the willowbark tea. "Here, drink this," she said softly, handing Nathan the mug and wrapping his hands around it when he seemed unsure of what he was doing.

Nathan stared blankly down at the mug for a moment and then raised it to his lips, sipping at it tentatively. The lights in the room were flickering softly, strange colors and patterns. "~I don't know what I did,~" he murmured almost despairingly before he took another sip. "~I can feel them but they won't talk to me...~"

"~They'll talk to you when the time is right, brother,~" Alison answered soothingly, half closed and concentrating on keeping herself as calm as possible, reflecting that at him through her power. "~They are safe and sound, and you protect them. And you need sleep," she breathed in slowly, calm and steady, "to hold to thy duty.~"

Blinking at the lightshow - and finding it was soothing her as well - Amanda pulled her desk chair over to the bed (tossing a pile of dirty clothes in a handy corner) and sat opposite Nathan, ready to nudge him if he stopped his careful sipping of the potion. "What're they doin' t' you, Nate?" she murmured, mostly to herself, not even realising that Alison's flickering lights were blending with her own powers, the light shifting and refracting so that she was looking at his aura without even noticing. Then she blinked at what she saw - the brilliance of the Askani was still there, although a little muted, and Nate's aura, his energy... It was merging into the Askani, becoming lost in the multitude of lives he was carrying. She frowned, not liking what she was seeing at all, and cursing the fact she couldn't actually talk to Nathan about it, not while her own knowledge of the language only extended as far as basic greetings and a couple of profanities.

He was supposed to be drinking this, Nathan reminded himself, sipping at the hot... what was it? It was warm, at least, and between it and the lights he wasn't shivering as much. "~I don't know how to make it right,~" he said weakly, then took another sip. "~None of it... the path isn't clear, and I'm so tired...~"

"~Sleep,~" Alison murmured softly, soothingly. "~Sleep and we'll mend things when you wake, brother.~" And she kept the calming patterns going just as they were, the tea clearly slowly taking effect on him.

Amanda pinched herself to stay awake - Alison's lightshow was bloody effective - and watched as Nathan worked his way through the potion, listening to his broken Askani and understanding the pain and confusion in his voice, if not the actual content, and coming to a decision. She looked across at Ali again. "What's he sayin'?" she asked when he seemed affected enough to not be disturbed by her use of English.

"He's lost." Alison concentrated on her breathing, on keeping herself calm most of all, as that's what would slip into the emotional effects of the light patterns. "Can't find himself. He hasn't been sleeping, for way too long." Another slow breath, which then escaped her in a soft sigh. "I'm telling Charles about this after he's tucked in."

And then, for Nathan's benefit. "~Safe and sound, brother mine. All are safe and sound.~" Because it seemed that it might help him to let go, to finally give in to sleep.

Heavy, he felt heavy... lifting the cup was too much, and he just held, until someone reached out and took it out of his hands. Then he was being pushed backwards gently, and a noise that was half-moan, half-sigh escaped him as he relaxed against the bed, the dull, gnawing ache that gripped every muscle in his body finally starting to ease.

Jane wouldn't mind if she borrowed a blanket... Amanda grabbed one of her roomie's bed and draped it over Nathan, briefly laying her hand against his cheek before straightening almost guiltily and turning to face Alison. "I'll watch him, while you go talk t' the Prof," she said, the tone of her voice making it clear it was a statement, not an offer.