xp_logs | Angelo and Nathan, Wednesday morning

After working some more on Moira's ring, Nathan heads downstairs, only to have his depth perception desert him yet again. Angelo happens upon him and badgers him into admitting that yes, it is turning into a problem.

It was a blessing that he hadn't been trying to navigate the main staircase, Nathan figured. At least, coming down from the third floor to the second, there were a minimum of people who would happen by and notice him sprawled at the foot of the stairs trying to figure out precisely what had happened to his depth perception.

Well, he knew the answer to that question. At least it wasn't as bad as it had been yesterday in the gym with Haroun. Wincing, he pushed himself up to a sitting position, catching his breath in pain. His vision blurred, but the dancing patterns of colored light were still there. "Fuck," he muttered, a hand going to his temple. "Stop doing that..."

A minimum of people, but not none at all. Angelo froze for an instant as he came up the stairs, seeing Nathan on the floor, then dashed forward. "Nathan? What happened?"

Nathan managed a laugh. "I decided to go down the stairs face-first? Don't worry, I don't think anything's broken..." Although he was probably going to be black and blue. Damn it. Today of all days... he was just lucky he'd been shielding the link so that Moira didn't 'see' him playing with the ring, or she'd have come rampaging up here in a panic.

Angelo raised an eyebrow. "You fell down the stairs. You, the one person in the house who really can catch himself... fell down the stairs?"

"Hey, there are plenty of other people who could catch themselves," Nathan said with a too-bright smile. He hauled himself to his feet, wincing again, and reached out a bit hesitantly to figure out precisely where the wall was. He could sort of see Angelo, although his form was blurred, glowing dull gold like most people's did.

"Not with telekinesis," Angelo answered, watching Nathan carefully. He was behaving like he was blind... "Is there somethin' wrong with your eyes, Nathan?"

"With my eyes? No, nothing wrong with my eyes," Nathan said with perfect honesty. He was fairly sure that the problem had nothing to do with his eyes. "I'm fine, Angelo," he went on, focusing on the young man's glowing form. "Don't you have class or something?"

"Not right now", Angelo answered honestly. "Is there somethin' wrong with your TK, then?"

"Nope," Nathan said as cheerfully as he could, limping a little as he headed down the hall. His shoulder was hitting the wall suddenly and he grimaced. Okay, surely he could manage to walk in a straight line.

Angelo followed him, concerned. "Don't believe you", he answered bluntly. "What's goin' on?"

"Nothing's going on, Angelo, I'm fine. Just missed a step." It struck him that he was probably going to have to walk around the second floor until Angelo got tired of nagging and went away. The idea of trying the next set of stairs with him watching... no, he wouldn't be doing that.

"Then why didn't you catch yourself with the TK before you fell all the way?" Angelo asked stubbornly.

"I'm a little scatterbrained this morning?"

Angelo folded his arms, not buying it. "A little scatterbrained?"

"My concentration is not infallible," Nathan said a bit defensively. Damn it, he really was going to have to walk in circles around the halls until Angelo gave up.

"Never said it was. But if you can do that stuff in the trees, it's good enough to stop yourself fallin'." Yes, he really was if he wasn't going to admit what was wrong.

Nathan sighed, stopping. "Fine. Stubborn brat." Angelo didn't respond to the bait, so Nathan went on reluctantly. "Working on Moira's ring. Got stuck in TK-vision, whatever the hell you want to call it. My depth perception tends to vanish at some levels."

Angelo paused, taking that in. "Have you told Moira? Or the Professor, or anyone who could help?"

"Moira... knows I see things a little oddly these days," Nathan temporized.

"Does she know it's makin' you fall down the stairs?"

"Well, no, given that this would be the first time I've done that..." Nathan shook his head. "It's not a big deal, Angelo," he said, trying to be reassuring. "I just need to be more careful."

Angelo was Not Convinced, but could see he wasn't getting anywhere with that part of the argument. "You're goin' to tell someone it's causin' problems - right?"

That hadn't really sounded like a question. "Moira will undoubtedly notice the bruises," Nathan said with a sigh, "and I'm not going to lie to her." He closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head again before he opened them. The colors faded in and out, and he let out a relieved breath as Angelo's face came back into focus.

Angelo nodded, watching him carefully. "Well. Good. Is it better now?"

"Getting there. It doesn't usually stay this way for very long - I shouldn't have been moving around until it cleared."

"How often does it happen?"

"Whenever I concentrate too hard on that level for too long," Nathan said. "It really is as if I get stuck." He sighed, rubbing at his eyes. The last of the colors were fading now.

"That really doesn't sound so good, you know", Angelo told him quietly. "Should get it seen to."

"Could be a pain in the ass in the field," Nathan said wryly.

Angelo laughed a little. "Yeah, an' it could make you fall down the stairs", he said pointedly.

Nathan gave him a baleful look. "You are occasionally a mouthy young man," he said, and then spoiled the rebuke with a wry smile.

Angelo grinned unrepentantly, since Nathan didn't appear to be really angry. "I say what I think needs sayin' - except when I've lost my temper, an' then I sometimes say what doesn't. But not now."

"Brat," Nathan accused again. "Anyway, I think I'm okay to try the stairs down to the ground floor. You could always come along and make sure I don't take a second tumble." His words to Angelo aside, he supposed he really did need to let the medical staff know about this. He wasn't sure what was causing it, but it was starting to happen more often than not and that probably wasn't a good thing.

Angelo, still grinning, went along with him. "Will do. Where're you headed?"

"Down to the library," Nathan said. "I need to check something for a lecture." He glanced sideways at Angelo as they walked, wondering whether or not he'd take it on faith that Moira would find out about this, or make sure of it himself.

Angelo wasn't actually sure of that himself. He wanted to trust that Nathan would tell Moira, but... well, there was precedent.

Gah. Nathan pursed his lips, but decided not to let on that he'd 'heard' that. "You should see the ring," he said after a moment. "Turning out really well."

Angelo grinned. "Yeah? Where've you got it hidden?"

"Behind some books. History books, so she won't look there." Nathan snickered. "I know her too well."

Angelo chuckled. "She doesn't read history ever?"

"Not generally, no. Now, if I'd hid it behind her genetics books, that would have been inviting her to find it..."