xp_logs | Moira and Nathan, Saturday afternoon

Set before and after this log. Nathan and Moira almost have a fight about his fight with Haroun, but Nate choose a very good time to demonstrate that yes, he actually is an adult. At times.

He really had meant to go to bed. But that little telekinetic shiver that had slipped out down in the hangar had, after ten minutes or so, resulted in a substantial increase in the Migraine-From-Hell. It was bad enough that he had taken more of the painkillers Madelyn had given him as soon as he'd made it back up to the new suite, but they hadn't kicked in yet, and he was fairly sure that lying down would hurt just as much as sitting up. And lying down would require moving. Moving was bad.

There was also the little matter of still being angry enough to put his fist, or something more substantial, through the wall. Nathan closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on breathing.

Moira found him sitting on the couch and shut the door behind her, crossing her arms over her chest. "So." She raised an eyebrow. "I 'eard 'bout yer spat wit' 'aroun, Scott was more than willin' ta fill me in." Especially after she had explained that Nathan had not bothered to shield the link and she had wanted to find out just what that had been about. Thankfully, this entire thing had pushed aside her exhaustion pretty easily.

Two Moiras, crossing their arms at him. Rather a scary sight. "Scott has a big mouth," he muttered, then recalled that he hadn't precisely been shielding the link. Just the idea of expending that much telepathic effort made his head hurt more. Guess I really am a whiner...

"Stop tha' right now," she snapped, rolling her eyes when Nathan failed to shield the link again. Really, she wanted to dunk both the men in the lake. "I swear, ye bot' are two."

"And?" Even the flash of her irritated thoughts down the link hurt. It would be really very nice, Nathan thought, closing his eyes for a moment, if the damned painkillers would kick in. "I can't speak for Haroun, but I thought you'd know perfectly well by now that I have my juvenile moments."

"An' I can still get annoyed at ye for some o' them," Moira reminded him, gritting her teeth. She was trying not to let his mood affect her. It wouldn't actually _affect_ her emotions but with the link unshielded, it was hard to ignore.

"Yes, you can still get annoyed. Feel free. I'm annoyed, Haroun's annoyed, Scott's annoyed, Charles is probably annoyed at the repair bill and the telepathic atmosphere, so why shouldn't you be annoyed?"

"Nathan, 'tis been a lon' couple o' days. I love ye but right now ye can take yer snarky attitude an' shove it up yer arse."

Nathan glared at her, his eyes watering, as she stomped into the kitchenette and started rummaging around in the cupboards. It felt like she was blocking the link from her end, now. Fine. He'd have done that when he went down to the hangar, if he could have.

Grimacing, she started up a pot of water to make some tea. Some nice, calming, tea. Fingers beat out an irritated rythm on on the counter top as she fought to control her irritation. Part of it was everything hitting the link, part of it was towards Nathan and Haroun and some of it was just bent up frustration from the entire weekend. Her stomach protested and she rubbed it, the grimace of irritation turning to one of pain. "Damn it."

His anger guttered out like a candleflame as the flash of pain did come across the link. Shit. Taking a deep breath, he instinctively tried to push his own anger and frustration down and away--

--and it didn't work. He stared at the opposite wall of the living room as it sank in just why it hadn't worked. Charles had warned him. The compartmentalization had been part of the conditioning. Fuck.

He still had to get it off the link, though. Closing his eyes again, he tried to concentrate on breathing. One of the meditative patterns the Askani had showed him came to mind, and he focused on it.

Moira blinked as she felt the link...cool down slightly. She was still blocking as best she could on her end but there was a change, or at least an attempt at one, coming from Nathan. With a sigh, she dug through the drawers, trying to find where she'd put her blasted medicine for the ulcer. They still weren't completely unpacked yet and, besides, if she looked for something, it would keep her mind off of her irritation.

Askani was murmuring at the back of his mind, encouragingly on the subject of the meditation pattern, reprovingly on the subject of everything else. Nathan drew in a deeper breath, then let it out on a sigh. What is, is, he thought. Funny how that was the closest English translation for one of the Askani's proverbs, too.

What is, is. The plane was broken, and he'd done most if not all of the damage. Whether or not he could have avoided doing some of it was immaterial. It was done. He'd just have to do what he could to help fix it. Everything else was peripheral.

And certainly no excuse to be a bastard to Moira. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, not opening his eyes.

The words were almost impossible to hear as the water came to a boil, but she managed to. She waited until she got the pot off the stove before turning back into the living room area. Silently, she leaned against the wall and watched him. "Wha' 'appened?" she asked, after a minute, her voice much softer than it had been before.

He thought about it for a moment. "I'd like to say I shouldn't have been up there yesterday," he said after a moment, "but I think it's probably a good thing I was, objectively speaking." He managed a very pained smile in her direction. "But I don't take having my mistakes pointed out well under the best of circumstances. Haroun did and I lost it."

Pushing herself off the wall, Moira walked over to the couch and sat on the end. "Ye were bot' actin' stupid," she said. "Tired, stressed an' ye pushed each others buttons verra well."

"I know." He kept concentrating on the steady breathing, keeping the meditative pattern at the forefront of the mind. Askani's whispering sounded almost pleased now. "I'll pitch in when he needs me to. Won't be for a while, I gather."

"Nay. Th' bot' o' ye should be smacked for goin' back ta work so early." Moira rolled her eyes, it felt like they had been stuck in that position for most of the day. "Ye bot' should 'ave been takin' it easy, ye pushed yer powers an' 'e nearly pulled his back out o' place."

He really hadn't stopped to think about what Haroun had managed to do yesterday. A stab of guilt broke through the growing calm, and he sighed heavily. "I really do have my head stuck up my own ass at times," he said without heat. Too tired for heat. "Should've just told him I'd help when I could and left it at that."

"But yer bot' stubborn." She paused. "So, 'ave ye two apologized an' 'as th' 'atchet truely been buried?"

"Scott made us apologize," Nathan muttered. She raised an eyebrow, and he sighed again. "Moira, I won't go picking another fight with him or anything, but my head hurts too damned much right now to go find him and hash the rest of it out."

"Tha's fine, I understand." Moira reached out and touched his knee with a brush of her hand. "Ye need ta rest an' stop thinkin' so bloody much."

Nathan reached out and covered her hand with his. "I am sorry," he said after a moment, a tired little smile tugging at his lips. "I'm an ass."

"Well, ye were but yer better," she said, smiling at him. "I wasnae much better, I let everythin' get ta me an' I got bitchy."

"Heck of a weekend," Nathan muttered, not removing his hands. "How's Shiro?"

"'oneslty, I'm nay sure." Moira frowned. "'Tis goin' ta take so much ta get 'im stable--emotionally, I mean. I feel so bad for th' lad."

"Having had my own 'Please make it all stop' moment this month... yeah," Nathan said, his voice lowering, turning a bit hoarse. "He's going to have a lot to deal with when he wakes up."

She nodded. "We'll be there for 'im. I dinnae know 'im all tha' well but I'll offer 'im whatever 'elp 'e needs."

Nathan sat in silence for a few moments, his thoughts calmer... idling, almost. "Tomorrow," he said finally, and Moira raised an eyebrow at him. "I'll go through everything I did yesterday and sort out where exactly I went wrong tomorrow. Tonight, though, I think I'll visit Paul if he's up for company and then come back and sleep." He tried to smile again. "Sound like a plan?"

Smiling, she leaned over and kissed him. "A verra good one at tha'. An' once ye've gone over wha' ye think is wron', we can work out 'ow ta deal wit' tha' in yer trainin'."

"Always thinking again," he said, as wryly as he could manage. "At least I didn't say anything really unforgiveable to Haroun." The smile came back, sudden and whimsical. "Although I did tell him to bite me."

"...ye've been listenin' ta th' kids ta much," Moira said, lips twitching in an effort to not smile.

"Probably." He couldn't help another sigh, though, and as he leaned back into the couch, wincing, his self-control wavered again. "This really does hurt," he said unsteadily.

"Pain killers nay workin'?" Scooting up, she leaned over to press a hand to his forehead. "Feel a wee bit warm, as well."

"I feel cold," he murmured, shivering a bit at the touch of her hand. "Figured that probably meant I was warm, yeah."

Nodding, she grimaced. "Virus probably got a wee bit out o' line wit' all the stress ye've been puttin' on yer powers," Moira murmured, looking concerned. "I want ye ta take an extra dose o' yer medicine tonight, ta counteract th' effects this might 'ave on ye. If 'tis worse, or th' same, tomorrow, I'm goin' ta run some more tests."

"Okay." Her hand traced down the side of his face in a caress, and he closed his eyes for a moment. "I am kind of a wimp, aren't I?"

"Mmm, nay. Yer jus' tired, beaten up an' feelin' yer age."

Tired. He nearly broke right then and there, as if her saying it had given him permission to be as tired as he actually was, to give in to the hollow, aching fatigue that had been his constant companion even since Charles had stopped making him fall asleep every two minutes. But no, he told himself, keeping his eyes closed - he was supposed to be pulling himself together. That was the idea these days. No backsliding.

"Well," he said aloud, opening his eyes and mustering another very faint smile, "this old man is going to go down to the medlab to see Paul and then come right back here. You're going to get some rest too, right?" It wasn't precisely a question.

Moira frowned at him as the link, now unshielded again from both sides, wobbled a bit. "Ye sure ye dinnae want ta rest first?" she asked, concerned. "Ye look exhausted, love."

"I won't stay long." He took her hand, squeezing it, and then heaved himself to his feet, ignoring the way the room spun. "Don't want to tire him out, after all..." He moved across the room to Bella's cage. "I think I'll take someone over to play with Delphine before I head down, though," he said, opening the door. "Come on, feathers. Let's go find your buddy."

A tired giggle escaped as she watched Bella hop and screech in joy. "Someone's 'appey," she murmured. "An' 'tis more like wearin' bot' o' ye out. I'll make ye a cup o' tea an' get some pills ready while yer down there."

Nathan couldn't help a wince at Bella's joyous squawk. "Quietly," he said reprovingly, holding out his arm for her. She hopped on, and he gave Moira a crooked smile as he turned away from the cage. "If I'm not back in a half-hour, feel free to send out a search party."

"I'll come get you myself," she called.

After his visit with Paul and his telekinetic pillow-catching attempt, Nathan finds out just why a sprained brain really ought to be rested.

He had almost made it back. Had gotten all the way up to the third floor before the backlash from his extremely stupid little pillow-catching move had kicked in, but when it did, it had kicked in with a vengeance.

Walls were for holding yourself up when the floor wouldn't stay put, Nathan thought feebly, moving slowly, haltingly, towards his and Moira's door. He was giving new meaning to the 'can't see straight' cliche, and the nosebleed just wouldn't stop. The less said about the headache the better.

Moira blinked and looked up from the book she had been idly flipping through. The link had been steadily growing stronger, back to what it was before the break, and so she had gotten used to the sometimes odd things it threw off. This was different. #Nathan?# she sent, standing up and heading towards the door. A frown crossed her face when all she got back was a faint #...ow...#

His legs were rubbery, and he gritted his teeth. Not falling down in the hall, he told himself feebly. Really, he had what, two little shreds of pride left to his name, maybe? Was keeping them that much to ask?

Throwing open the door, she blinked, startled at the sight of Nathan tottering in the hallway, a few feet away from the door. "Nathan?" Reaching out, she wrapped her arms around him, giving him a stable base on which to lean. "Wha' th' bloody 'ell 'appened?" Nose bleed, she noticed. Virus, perhaps?

"Stupid," he whispered faintly, leaning on her. "Stupid... just caught a pillow. Instinct... I didn't even think..." She helped him inside, back to the couch, and he collapsed onto it, the noise that escaped him something between a whimper and a moan. Blood ran down the back of his throat and he nearly choked.

"Up, keep yer 'ead up," Moira ordered calmly, bracing his neck long enough to slide a pillow under his head. It was a good thing she never emptied her pockets, she thought, digging through them and pulling out a small pen light. Gently, she cracked his eyes and flashed the light in them. Not horrific but better than she had first thought. "Still bleedin' from th' nose..."

A weak laugh slipped out. "Yeah.. noticed that..." He swallowed, wincing at the taste of blood, and squeezed his eyes shut. "Ten minutes," he muttered faintly. "Maybe fifteen. Why doesn't it hurt like this right away?"

"I'm nay sure." Reaching over, she grabbed the tea towel and held it up against Nathan's bleeding nose. "Charles might know, though, I can call 'im...?"

He would have laughed again, but managed to restrain himself this time. "Think that was a rhetorical question... not really sure I want to know." His voice was wavering, and he swallowed again.

"Might be a good idea ta find out, but later." Frowning, she felt his forehead. It was still warm. "Right. As o' right now, yer ta lay off usin' yer powers for a few days. At least telekinesis."

"Wouldn't use anything right now if you paid me," he replied shakily, but with as much vehemence as he could muster. "I just want to sleep..."

Pulling back the cloth, she was relieved to find that the blood was slowing down. "Damn it, ye could 'ave called for 'elp when this started an' nay tried ta make yer way up 'ere by yerself."

"Was okay until I got up to this floor," Nathan muttered. "Thought I could at least make it to the door all right." He sighed raggedly. "Not being macho," he said, trying to smile and failing. "Really."

"Mmm" was the only thing she could say to that. "Think ye can make it ta th' bed wit' me 'elp or do ye want ta nap on th' couch?"

"Bed," he said feebly. "So I don't have to move again for a while."

"All right." The cloth was put to the side as Moira braced herself, helping Nathan pull himself up off the couch. He swayed but she managed to brace his weight with her body and made sure he was stable on his feet. "Nay tha' far, love, an' I'll lay down wit' ye, 'ow does tha' sound?"

"G-Good." His voice broke again as he went on. "I'm sorry... I'm not supposed to be worrying you."

"Stop tha'. As lon' as I've got brain cells, I'll worry 'bout ye. 'Tis wha' I do best."