xp_logs | Backdated Massively to Saturday, August 21st

Marie-Ange goes to visit Nathan while he's recovering. They talk, Marie-Ange stumbles over her words a lot, and is a lot more awkward than she'd like to tihnk she is. Nathan takes a nap.

Marie-Ange had gone through the usual polite-greeting-ask-for-permission pleasantries with Dr. MacTaggart with only a faint hint of impatience. She certainly wasn't fidgeting, and definitely not with her hair, as it was pulled back into a tight braid. One braid, not two, and she was leaving it that way. .. Possibly. Knocking lightly on the door, she barely waited for Nathan to make any kind of 'come in' noise before poking her head in.

Nathan turned his head towards the door, feeling a trace of hesitancy again. "Come in?" he called, his voice still hoarse.

Pulling her hand away from the braid she'd already started to undo, Marie-Ange opened the door the rest of the way and entered the room. "There needs to be a word for deja vu, only in reverse, because I think that I should possibly hug you for about half an hour. Except that I think maybe you have too many bruises..."

Nathan pushed himself up into a semi-sitting position, relaxing back against the pillows with a sigh. "Yeah," he murmured. "And I'm a little iffy with the whole hugging thing again... guess in terms of relics of the week, that's not such a surprising thing."

"When you are better with the 'hugging thing' and not so bruised up, I intend to hug you. Possibly for more than half an hour. I think hugs get interest like money in the bank." Sitting down on a nearby chair, she pulled her legs up underneath her. "You are going to be okay.. " It wasn't a question.

"So they tell me." He mustered a tired smile. "Could do without the falling asleep at the drop of a hat, but apparently I'm supposed to be..." Nathan paused, then half-shrugged. "Out of it. For lack of a better description..."

"Everyone tells me sleep is healthy and good for healing." Marie-Ange ran a hand through her hair, dislodging bits of the braid. "I suppose I should have to be a hypocrite now and tell you that you should probably sleep." With a half-smile, she added. "Maybe we should just see if the Professor will let people schedule naptime."

"I've been sleeping enough. Still keep thinking I'm going to wake up back there..." The stab of anxiety brought with it a simultaneous wave of drowsiness, and Nathan struggled to keep his eyes open. Oh, this was really getting so very irritating.

Marie-Ange watched Nathan carefully for a few seconds. If he was going to nod off, she'd just creep away quietly. As it seemed that he was managing to stay at least somewhat awake, she decided staying for a while wouldn't hurt. "The Professor said that they cannot get you back anymore." she said. "At least not the same way and maybe if we know.. now, we can prevent it?" Maybe she really should get moving on testing to see if her precognition still worked the same way it had a few months.. er.. days? ago.

"I'm not much good to them anymore," Nathan said, forcing himself to focus. "All my conditioning's gone." She was giving him a look he thought he recognized, and he frowned at her. "Don't be... doing anything, okay? Especially not when your precognition got screwed with..."

"I am not going to do anything until I have talked to the Professor or you about it." Marie-Ange said, trying not to roll her eyes. Really. It was a headache and maybe some not-sleeping. "All your conditioning.. but not .. all the things you knew? And not your powers or ..."

He could tell what she hadn't asked. "Just the conditioning," he murmured. "My memory's a bit fuzzy in places, but it's getting better. And the Askani..." He stopped for a moment. "When they repaired my conditioning, it drove them out. They're back, though. Most of them."

"Most?" The question slipped out before Marie-Ange had a chance to stop it. Not that it really did much good trying to stop asking questions around a telepath.

"Lost some of them," Nathan said with a heavy sigh, trying not to give in to the sadness. He'd just be asleep again if he did. "Not sure how many. Askani chased them out onto the astral plane, but when my mind... broke, it happened so fast." He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "And some weren't strong enough to survive on the astral plane for more than a couple of days..."

Marie-Ange let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry. I did not want to make you upset.." She knew it wasn't Nathan's fault, and she was fairly certain everyone else had told him that - and it just felt odd to try to reassure her teacher. Ms. Frost certainly hadn't covered that in Speech class.

"It's okay... not, really. Or I'd be asleep." Nathan smiled a little wanly. "This thing Charles did... I suppose it's good for me."

"You fall asleep whenever you get upset?" Marie-Ange returned the smile. "That is going to make talking to Manuel -very- difficult, is it not?"

"Yeah... he'll probably get six kinds of delight out of being able to goad me into a nap." The smile growing a little as he saw the wicked sparkle in her eyes, Nathan very carefully pushed himself upright. "Think we could try that hugging thing?" he asked a bit tentatively. "Carefully?"

Somewhere, a lawsuit happy School Certification official was probably having that feeling that someone had just walked on his grave. Teenage girl hugging reasonably attractive older male teacher. Marie-Ange scooted her chair closer, and -very- carefully hugged Nathan, just a touch awkwardly. Trying to hug someone who was bruised while staying half-seated in a chair was not easy.

"Didn't think I was ever going to see you again," Nathan murmured, his voice unsteady. "Bugged me."

Marie-Ange sniffled a little and hugged Nathan just a bit tighter. Not too much, she was still aware of the bruises. Sometimes she really wished for Doug's power, because there were just no words.

"I'm sorry you were at the art exhibit. That you had to see all of that..." He pulled back a little, wincing. "And I'm going to fall on you, snoring, if I don't stop thinking about that..."

All Marie-Ange could do was laugh. It was that or start crying. "The Professor is really very mean. You would think he could just do that to Magneto. Make him have a nice nap whenever he thinks about doing something evil.."

"Now, there's a thought," Nathan said with a faint smile, relaxing back against the pillows again but not letting go of Angie's hand. "I'll be glad when I stop doing it. Know he's doing it for my own good, but I've had so many people in my head this week..." He sighed heavily, raising a hand to rub his eyes.

It would probably be really inappropriate to point out that Nathan usually had a lot of people in his head. Actually, on further thought, it would definitely be completely inappropriate. "Should I let you sleep?" Marie-Ange asked.

"No--don't, please?" he asked, his voice catching a bit. "I'm so tired of sleeping and not knowing where I'm going to be when I wake up."

She could do that. Marie-Ange wasn't sure how good she could be at keeping Nathan awake - so far, she had done a truly spectacular job of saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time. Not at all sure what to say, she ducked her head slightly and sighed.

"I'm sorry," Nathan said with a sigh of his own, seeing her reaction. Pull yourself together, Dayspring. He let go of her hand reluctantly. "You don't... need to stay." He managed a very wobbly smile. "I know I'm not going to wake up somewhere else... I know that. Just having trouble remembering it. I mentioned I was a bit loopy, yes?"

The idle thought that one of the telepaths needed to invent mental Post-it notes was pushed away as also possibly inappropriate. Also as really absurd, because it came with the mental image of Professor Xavier with yellow sticky paper stuck to his head, and before Marie-Ange could stop herself, she snickered.

Nathan blinked as he picked up on the mental image. "That's... very disturbing, Angie." Funny, though. He sighed again, smiling a little at her. "What's with the braid...?"

"I cannot help it. It just popped into my head. I am not going to be able to look the Professor in the eye for a few days.." Oh. The -braid-. "It.. I think I developed a really bad habit in Asgard. I keep playing with it. Better, I suppose, than biting my nails."

"Nervous mannerisms," Nathan said, raising his more heavily bandaged wrist. "Keep rubbing this one all the time..."

"The braids remind me of Sif, and I do not want to think about it, but I keep finding my hair in the braids anyway. It is -really- very vexing." Marie-Ange watched Nathan closely. If things that made him upset made him go to sleep, then she suspected he was probably due for another huge yawn again. Maybe she should change the subject.

His eyes were feeling heavy again. "How's Doug?" he asked after a moment. "You two okay?"

"He is running around like a crazy man trying not to worry about you, worry about -everyone-, and help Manuel plan this party and pick his classes." She rolled her eyes a little. "He says he ran out of computer classes he can take here, and now he is trying to coordinate his classes here and ones at the university and I think he is going mad a little."

"Classes..." Nathan frowned a little. "Summer's almost over," he murmured. "Haven't been thinking about that..." He'd had so many plans for the fall...

"None of us were until we knew you were home and safe." Marie-Ange frowned slightly. "It was a little more important to know you were safe than to worry about classes..."

She meant it, he thought. "So now things can go back to normal, right?" he murmured. "Normal as it gets, at least..." At the very least they were due a few months with no homicidal teachers...

"As Normal as here ever is." Marie-Ange spread her hands a bit. "If we -ever- have a normal month, the world will end, you know. I think that we take the entire globe's strangeness so that no one else has to deal with these things. "

"Mmm... not sure I like that idea. Sounds like a vicious circle to me." He raised a hand and rubbed at his eyes again, unable to help a yawn. "Moira said I could get up and move around tomorrow if I want... outside the suite, I mean."

"I think, that if we are talking about vicious circles, that you going back to falling asleep in random places is a bad enough example, no?" Marie-Ange frowned a little, thinking. "Maybe this time someone should keep you company? We could take turns.. Well, maybe not Monet."

"It's all right. Just falling asleep, this time. No cardiac arrest or anything..." He tried to give her a reassuring smile. She didn't look convinced. "I don't need a minder, Angie, really."

She didn't look convinced because she wasn't. "If you fall asleep and Clarice paints your toenails, do not blame me. Especially do not blame me if pictures end up on the journal system." Marie-Ange did realize that, of course, now she would be the first to be blamed, but it was better than being despondent about it. Hopefully.

"Might not be such a bad idea. It'd show people they don't have to be afraid of me..." Okay, definitely a bad place for the thoughts to go. He was getting very sleepy again.

"Who is afraid of you besides stupid people?" Marie-Ange scowled. "I am not afraid, Doug and Jamie are not afraid, Dr. MacTaggart is not afraid. Anyone - " and she certainly wasn't thinking of Manuel here, no sir "else is just ... dumb."

"I just... wasn't sure," he said dimly. "After the art exhibit..." Definitely a bad place, he thought, his eyes fluttering closed.

"No one is afraid of you." Marie-Ange said, quite firmly. "We were worried, and angry, but not -scared of you-. If you had done something, it would not have been you. It would have been .. not-Nathan." Her logic didn't even make quite sense to her, but it -sounded- good.

"Knew what was happening," Nathan murmured faintly, his eyelids far too heavy to force open. "They made sure I did... I tried to fight it, but it hurt..."

Marie-Ange frowned. Talking about this was just making Nathan fall asleep, and he had said he didn't want to sleep anymore. But what to talk about to keep him awake and -not- thinking about the badness-that-was-the-week-before. She scrunched up her nose, thinking hard. "I am going to try to get my drivers' license Monday..."

"Yeah?" He didn't manage to open his eyes, but a smile tugged at his lips. "You on wheels... what a thought..."

"It would not be -that- bad. I am not a bad driver, I am told." She smiled back. "A little nervous, but not -bad-. I am just not looking forward to the paperwork. My learning permit was bad enough. So many papers..."

"Driving can be fun. I've driven in some weird places before..."

"I think I will just stick to New York for now. Morning traffic to go to my art class is going to be bad enough." Marie-Ange pouted slightly. "I had to take an art class in the morning. I do not know where my head was when I enrolled.."

Her calm, matter of fact voice was... damn it... lulling him right to sleep. Which she probably wouldn't consider a compliment. "Mornings are good," he muttered, the words coming out slurred. "Your brain's sharper..."

"Not my brain. Mine is only sharp in the morning if I have slept." Of course, that implied that she might still have insomnia. It hadn't come up in a while. Marie-Ange frowned for a moment. "I am -not- a morning person. I leave that to Paige. She can go for runs at dawn and be wide awake. I will grumble through them."

"Need to get back on a regular schedule, Angie," Nathan murmured, not really aware of what he was saying at this point. "Early to bed..." There was a second half to that saying, he was sure of it...

"Early to bed means that I miss time with my night-owl of a boyfriend." Marie-Ange grinned. "Doug is more of a not a morning person than I am. You should've seen us trying to wake him up in Asgard. "'m a bard. need to sleep in so I can sing at night.'. Her impression of Doug's sleepy mumble was actually very accurate.

Nathan heard her say something about Doug, but beyond that... Any worries about waking up somewhere else were very distant, and he listened to Angie's unintelligible words for a few moments longer before her voice faded entirely into silence.

Marie-Ange talked for a few more moments, then backed out of the room slowly after realizing Nathan had drifted off. Hopefully the sleep would be helpful instead of making him nervous and not know where he was.. Though, he seemed to have fallen asleep somewhat naturally. She closed the door quietly behind her, and after saying goodbye to Dr. MacTaggart - and letting her know that Nathan was napping, headed out.