xp_logs | Nathan and Alison, Wednesday night; Nathan and Amanda, in dreams (Reply)

Backdated to Wednesday night. Nathan runs down to show Alison the Certain Thing he just finished. (Fluff.)

Her door was closed. Why was her door closed? That was very inconvenient, Nathan thought huffily, leaning up against it. "Alison," he whispered conspiratorially. "Open up. Ali? I have something to show you. Open the door already, woman..."

In the bathroom, Alison blinked, staring at herself in the mirror for a moment, biting down on her toothbrush. "Mmr?" Was that someone muttering at the door? With a slight frown she wandered out of the bathroom, toothbrush still firmly in place, and paused in front of the door.

"Alison. Open the dooooooor."

Blink. He sounded funny. Taking the toothbrush out of her mouth, Alison backed away from the door, staring at it suspiciously. Was he doing the not sleeping thing again? "Juuuuust a minute." Turning around she went back to rinse her mouth quickly, wondering what in the world was going on now.

When she opened the door, he was grinning like a maniac. "Good," he pronounced as he came in. "Shut the door. Don't want anyone to see me."

Raising an eyebrow, Alison gave him a Look. He didn't seem overtired, although he had a bouncy energy about him that reminded her of Miles on a sugar high. "You're grinning like a loon. What did you do?"

"Today?" He pulled the folded square of black cloth out of his pocket and started to unfold it carefully. "Fell down the stairs. Got yelled at by Moira and Looked Sternly At by Charles. Taught class. Finished..." He went for the dramatic pause. "This," he proclaimed, lifting the ring carefully so that it caught the light.

Alison's eyes slowly grew wider and she took in a deep breath. "Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" she cried out, thankfully managing to keep it relatively low, starting to bounce in place herself. "Aaaaaaaaaaah!" It was a nice theme to go with and she grinned at him wildly in the process. "Ring! Pretty ring!"

"Didn't it turn out well?" He beamed at it for a moment, and then turned his attention to her. Yes, that had been a very satisfactory reaction. Although hopefully, Moira wouldn't shriek.

"Very!" she said, managing to not scream again. Barely. Somehow. "Ooooh, that's absolutely gorgeous," she murmured, smiling as she looked it over carefully. "Wait! So that's what the riddles are about! Of course!"

Nathan laughed at her. "I thought you knew! You didn't ask..." She just grinned at him, and he laughed again. "Her uncle and cousin are flying in tomorrow," he told her. "Friday's the big day."

"Oh sure, mock me!" She made a face at him, a touch of wistfulness flitting through her, only for the barest of instants and it was gone, replaced with a glowing joy for Nathan and Moira. "Lemme know if you need a light show, mmm?"

He carefully folded the ring back up in the cloth. "Not absolutely sure how I'm doing it yet," he confessed. "I've got a few possibilities in mind... it depends on the weather, really."

"Ha! Silly man!" Alison laughed out loud, more than pleased to get the chance to taunt him. "Talk to Ororo about the weather. I mean honestly, you think she won't give you exactly what you'd rather have, for this?"

"I just may do that." He snickered suddenly. "I have more bad poetry to write," he confessed. "I think after this, I'm off writing poetry for at least the next year."

A wicked grin greeted that comment, although Alison didn't tease him further on that. "Practice makes perfect?" she said instead, the very picture of innocence. "I'm sure Moira won't mind being the subject of more experimentation."

"She is a remarkably tolerant woman," Nathan said with a perfectly straight face. "And I am driving her absolutely insane with these riddles. She doesn't suspect, you know." And the goofy smile happened, again, seemingly of its own accord. "You'd think she would, given the whole shouting it from the mountaintops thing..."

"Well, sometimes people are dead dumb that way. You put the most obvious thing in the world under their noses for like, ever, and it's not until someone spells it out for them in great big glowing letters that they actually get the point." Alison grinned good-naturedly as she spoke. "She'll get a clue soon enough, mm? Even if it's the big one."

"I'd say I'll tease her for the next month, but I think I'll be too busy walking around on cloud nine." He blinked, gave Alison an assessing look, and then grinned ruefully. "You were getting ready for bed. I should go. Just had to show it off."

"Yes, you do that. And good thing I got rid of the toothbrush, I might have choked on it at that." Alison shooed him out without much guilt, utterly amused with his eagerness to show off the ring. She stuck her head out the door one last time however. "And Nathan? It's perfect. Really."

Later that night, Amanda does a little unintentional astral projection and winds up in Nathan's dream, where she meets Lusanya, argues with Galin, encounters some new Askani, and finds out that there's rather a lot more going on between them and Nate than is obvious in the waking world. (Definitely not fluff.)

She wasn't lost. She might not have the slightest clue where she was right now, but she wasn't lost. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. Amanda turned away from the low wall overlooking a truly spectacular view (and accompanying drop several hundreds of feet deep) to looked over the city her dreams had dumped her in. Nowhere she knew. Nowhere she could have possibly imagined, either - it was like something out of those fantasy books Angie sometimes read. "Don't think I'm in Kansas," she muttered to herself.

"Kansas? Oh!" said the blonde woman who had stepped out of empty air beside her. "The book," Lusanya said, her blue eyes sparkling. "The Wizard of Oz? Nathan read it for us."

Amanda jumped, squeaking a little. Yes, this was a dream, she couldn't be hurt, but still, she didn't like people popping out at her. "You know Nate?" she asked, but even as she said it, the place, the woman's clothes, her referring to Nathan reading for 'us'... it all fell into place. "Oh flonq," she sighed. "Don't tell me, I'm in his head again."

"You seem to be making a habit of it, little sister," Lusanya said with a gentle laugh. "Although it is certainly your doing, this time, as he did his meditation most scrupulously before retiring tonight." She laid her hand over her heart, then extended it to Amanda, palm-up. "I am Lusanya," she said. "Manuel might have mentioned me?"

"It's me trainin' - I'm still learnin' how t' do this astral projection thing right. Me teacher said this'd happen, but it's getting to be a right pain in the arse." She blinked at Lusanya, realising who she was speaking to. "~Well met, sister,~" she replied, echoing the other's gesture. "So yer Manny's Askani friend." Her smile was proof enough that she meant that in a good way.

"As contradictory an idea as that might seem, given his history with us," Lusanya said teasingly, but then grew more seriously again, although she continued to smile. "May I take you to Nathan? That would perhaps be the best thing..."

"Probably," Amanda agreed. "At least so I can say sorry for bargin' in unannounced again." But before she actually followed the other woman, she paused, givig her a definite Look. "You ain't one of those empaths givin' Nate a hard time 'bout Manny, are you?"

Lusanya looked startled. "Bright Lady, no," she said firmly. "I attempted to convince Manuel to accept one of our alternative methods, yes, but I did not and will not push Nathan as my father did." Her delicate features hardened as she started at a brisk walk towards a floating bridge. "We came so close to losing him this summer. Risking more damage would be foolhardy, as well as cruel and unnecessary."

"Mind your manners, girl." Galin, blinking into existence a few steps away from his daughter, glared at her.

"Seems t' me the 'girl's' got a point," Amanda said, leaning back against a nearby building with studied nonchalance, eyeing Galin with far more emnity than she'd shown any of the Askani so far. Even the Lady herself. Her clothes shifted as her mood changed, leather jacket and layers of black replacing the white shirt and jeans. "Galin, right?"

Lusanya sighed, fighting the urge to cover her eyes. "This is not the place to argue," she warned instead.

"Then perhaps you shouldn't start one, daughter," Galin snapped, then looked darkly at Amanda. "One would think you would have been pleased by our persistence," he said curtly. "You have certainly balked at taking responsibility for your linkmate's learning."

Oh-ho. One of those. "'M headblind," she said evenly, pushing the anger away the same way as she'd learned with Rack. Lock it down, until it was needed. She was horribly out of practice, but this Galin wasn't much more than a bully, in her eyes. "Magic or not, there's limits t' what I can teach him. Besides, I was the one who asked Nathan an' the Lady for help, remember? I know me limits." Well, sometimes.

Galin raised an eyebrow. "Reasonably enough put," he said, sounding like he didn't really think it had been anything of the sort. "But you forget that we see through Nathan's eyes. We saw the message you sent him and Moira and Xavier. How you felt as though he was being 'left to you'. Why would you complain about our attempts to resume training, then?"

"Because I hadn't talked t' Nate then an' didn't know the whole story - an' you know as well as I do Manny sees things his way an' his way only." Amanda ignored Lusanya's pained expression at the 'discussion'. "Manny'd told me he'd been dumped without any kind of back-up trainin'. I wanted t' make sure that wasn't the case." She shrugged slightly. "An' I ain't above usin' the odd bit of emotional blackmail t' make sure things get done. Remindin' 'em that 'm tied t' this as well... It couldn't hurt. Once I saw the state Nate was in, I knew there was no bloody way he could keep trainin' Manny. Even out of me head on the magicks, I knew that."

"Pah! His capability is not the issue," Galin said scornfully. "His inability to see beyond his own fear is."

"Father!" Lusanya's eyes flashed as she jumped into the confrontation. "And are you not punishing him for that fear because it offends you?" she asked in a calmer, if still tight voice.

"Seems t' me that havin' his conditionin' reactivated an' nearly killin' the people who were tryin' t' help him is a good enough excuse t' be a bit off his game," Amanda said mildly, although there was a glint in her eyes that belied her tone. She didn't know if either empath could read her just then, but if they could, well, they'd get a brainful of just how angry she was. "An' considerin' it was empaths that helped turn his brain inside-out, Nate'd have a good reason t' be afraid. But I forgot - he's just flesh t' you, ain't he? Nothin' more 'n a place t' crash."

"He is much more than a place to 'crash'," Galin snapped. "Which is why I hold him to the standards that I do."

"Impossible standards," Lusanya murmured, her blue eyes sharp as they lingered on her face. "We are not on a war footing, Father. There were and are other options."

"Standards is one thing - drivin' the man t' the point of goni' insane is another," Amanda shot back. "What bloody use is he t' you if he's doped up in the corner somewhere? An' Lusanya's right, there are other options. The X geezer for one. They ain't about t' let Manny go off on his own again, not when they know what he can do."

"This is not," a new voice said, "an appropriate time or place to be having this sort of discussion." All three of them turned towards the tall, dark-haired man in armor who'd just appeared. He was frowning at them, his blue eyes cold and disapproving.

"Rawn," Lusanya said, with a gesture that was almost a bow. "Forgive us. We were merely--"

"Listening to your father carp," Rawn said with a thin smile. "Yes. I know."

Amanda raised her eyebrow at the newcomer, and Lusanya's reaction to him. Someone higher up in the scheme of things, by the look of it. "And who're you?" she asked, skating the edge of rudeness but not quite crossing it. She was technically a guest here, after all...

"Rawn Galheris," the man said with a smile that was just as slight, but less cold. "And you are Amanda Sefton. You're welcome to come with me to Nathan if you wish. You as well, Speaker," he directed at Lusanya, then looked hard at Galin. "You, on the other hand, are not welcome. Have we not made that abundantly clear?"

Galin flushed. "There are other priorities here," he growled.

"Not to us." Rawn's voice was utterly level. Utterly implacable. He looked away from Galin, as if dismissing him, and extended a hand to Amanda. "Come, little sister. You may find this interesting."

It was difficult not to stick out her tongue at Galin as she advanced cautiously towards Rawn, but she managed it. A slight smirk did slip through, however, not unnoticed by the empath - she was probably radiating dislike and smugness like a beacon any way. "So, what exactly did you want me t' see?" she asked.

"Nathan's using his time dreaming rather productively of late," Rawn said, and the city blurred around them. It solidified again and they were standing in a long hallway lined with stained-glass windows. "I think he would like you to see this, truthfully. You are Clan, by his assessment."

Blinking at the sudden shift, Amanda looked curiously at the Askani pair. Lusanya's deferring attitude, the sense she was... not afraid, but certainly not comfortable with the warrior type was strange, considering how she'd been standing up to her father. And the term she used for him, 'Lord'... There was definitely something interesting going on here. "He is. Clan, that is. And if he wants me t' see this, I'm happy t' watch," she replied politely, before falling silent to watch what came of the apology.

Rawn nodded at her and then regarded Lusanya levelly. "You are not your father," he said. "You have no need to apologize for him."

"He should show more respect," Lusanya murmured, looking down at the polished marble floor, but not before Amanda caught a glimpse of how suspiciously bright her blue eyes were, as if she were fighting to hold back tears.

Rawn smiled again. Still faintly, but more warmly. "This way," he said, and turned, blurring. He was halfway down the hall in an instant, leaving them to follow.

The blurring was disconcerting - everything else was solid, almost hard-edged. 'Superspeed?' she asked herself as she followed, trying hard not to trot after him like a puppy.

"He's telepathic," Lusanya murmured under her breath. "Very, very strongly telepathic. So he can controls the mindscape much more easily than the rest of us can." She gave Amanda a cautioning look. "Carefully, with him," she said, even more softly. "He was the last of our warlords. He died with the Lady on the field before Anikia."

Ah. That explained things a lot. Amanda made a mental note not to get too cheeky with the imposing man as they followed in his wake. What he and Nathan were up to was something to be wondered at, though...

The hallway opened up into a huge, domed room. Sunlight poured down from a skylight high above, and the walls were covered in vividly colored frescos depicting various battle scenes. Out in the middle of the room, on a slightly raised circle, Nathan was fighting, or at least sparring with another towering man in armor with what looked like spears of some sort. Several other people in armor were sitting or standing around watching.

"Now why doesn't this surprise me?" Amanda said, mostly to herself but loud enough to be heard. Lusanya gave a sort of muffled snort, and pulled Amanda to where they could watch the contest without being trampled on. Amanda felt out of place amongst the armoured Askani, the dark colours of her clothes blatantly obvious in the bright, airy room.

Rawn folded his arms across his chest, smiling a bit at them before he turned his attention back to the two in the circle. Some of the others started to notice Lusanya and Amanda, and regarded them briefly, with the same sort of cool, assessing look from men and women both, before looking back at the duel.

"I had wondered," Lusanya murmured to Amanda. "How long it would be before they decided it was time for this." She waved a hand at the audience. "All of our warlords - our generals, I suppose you would call them, little sister."

Amanda returned the assessment with one of her own, arms folded across her chest and a stubborn jut to her chin. She might not be a psi of any description, but she wasn't a pushover was the attitude she radiated, the old streetbrat front. "What're they doin'?" she asked, watching the contest. "Besides the obvious trainin' in the art of kickin' arse."

"Teaching him the basic physical patterns of the psimitar," Lusanya said, looking suddenly intrigued. "I wonder if they think he could create one in the waking world. I doubt that your technology would be up to that, though..."

In the circle, the man Nathan was fighting took a step back, giving him a fierce smile as he lowered his weapon. "Very good," he complimented. "You learn quickly."

Nathan laughed a bit breathlessly, lowering his. "I try," he said, giving the same almost-bow Lusanya had to Rawn. He looked around at the audience - and his eyes widened as he spotted Lusanya and Amanda.

"I found them arguing with her father outside," Rawn said, almost wryly.

Raising her hand in a sheepish wave, Amanda added: "Um, hi, Nate. Guess who went walkin' in their sleep again?"

Nathan grinned suddenly. "A break?" he asked Rawn, who nodded and reached out to take his psimitar from him as he walked by. "And here I thought I was safe because I'd done my meditation tonight," he teased Amanda gently as he came over. "Lusanya," he greeted the empath. "So the two of you have met, finally."

Lusanya smiled. "Only fitting," she said, and then offered him the same almost-bow she had Rawn. "I see the training continues apace."

"My fault, not yers. Strange's trainin' is still openin' up the wrong doors - ended up in Ange's head the other night." Amanda sounded irritated, at herself rather than the fact she was in Nate's dream. "Lusanya came t' the rescue. Well, before I picked a fight with Galin, any way." She shrugged that off. "What're you up to? Lusanya says yer learnin' a new weapon?"

"A lot more than that, actually," Nathan said, trying very hard to hide his enthusiasm. "Weapons, tactics and strategy, philosophy..." He waved a hand at the gathered Askani, who were conferring quietly. "Rawn showed up out of the blue in a dream a few nights ago and asked me if I was finished letting the empaths push me around." He stopped, blinking at Lusanya. "Present company excluded, I mean." She merely smiled.

"I wondered why yer'd been in such a good mood lately," teased Amanda. "Havin' someone t' work with on that sort of stuff... 'S right up yer alley."

Nathan grinned, and then looked back at Rawn for a moment. "Rawn? I'll be right back," he said, then reached out to take Amanda's arm. The mindscape changed around them, and when it settled back down again they were standing on the walkway on the roof, around the edge of the dome. "I love this view," Nathan said, letting go of her and leaning against the railing, smiling out at the mountains.

He was happier, calmer. Amanda's heart lifted to see it - he'd seemed so beaten the last time they'd really talked. "'S brilliant," she agreed, joining him. A part of her itched to see if she could fly in a dreamscape, but she decided throwing herself over the drop probably wouldn't be a good idea. "It seems like yer learnin' a lot with these new people," she ventured after a while.

"They're good people. I really like them," Nathan said, still smiling at the view. "Rawn especially. I saw through his eyes, you know. That very last vision... it was him."

"Oh." What did you say to something like that? She forgot sometimes that the Askani in his head were all dead, ghosts of a future that might not come to pass. They all seemed so alive - she thought of Lusanya's bright face and kind eyes and winced a little at the thought of that being extinguished. "'S good t' know they ain't all bad," she remarked. "An' Rawn seems all right. Imposin' ain't he?"

"Probably looks a little more so to you than to me," Nathan said with a chuckle. "But he's imposing on more that the physical level, too." He sighed, rather contentedly, and straightened. "Learning the psimitar is... well, a whole lot of fun, actually. But I have to say I'm finding their tactics and philosophy just as interesting. Whole different way of looking at the world... rather appealing, actually."

"'Cause it gives you some sense that maybe you can change things if you see 'em differently?" asked Amanda, cautiously, not sure if she was saying what she meant.

"That," Nathan said, his smile fading a bit as he looked at her, "and it just... appeals." He wasn't sure how to explain it to her, but he needed to try. "It feels right," he said a bit helplessly. "All of it. It just does..."

"Like it's what you were meant t' do?" she asked, her expression going unreadable.

Nathan straightened, gazing down at her for a long moment as the change in her tone and expression registered. "Yes," he finally said, simply. "Like it's something I was meant to do. Does that bother you?"

"Only if you don't get all evangelical on me." She tried to laugh it off, but it was rather brittle-sounding.

Nathan's eyebrows went up, his eyes widening a little as he leaned back from her, instinctively. "You sound like Manuel," he finally said, his voice a bit tighter.

"Do I?" Amanda frowned. "I didn't mean it like that, more..." She shrugged. "It reminded me, of those God botherin' types. Tryin' t' tell me what t' do, so I can be saved."

"You don't understand." No one really did. Except Moira. And that should be enough, but it wasn't. "They lived... they lived life so fully. Because they were always on the edge of losing it. They knew what they wanted and they didn't hold back, because there might not be a tomorrow and they knew that." Nathan looked back towards the dome, as if he could see through the white marble to the floor far below. "And those people down there? Are the ones who allowed them to do that. I can't think of anyone better to learn from than Rawn and the others... any better model to follow."

"I'm sorry." It seemed like she was always saying that. "I didn't mean t'... take away from that. 'S just sometimes it seems like the Askani want too much. A corner of yer head, teachin' Manny no matter what it does t' you, trainin' you... for somethin', fuck knows what. 'M scared of losin' you." Again. She pulled her leather jacket tighter around herself. "I should go. If I can figure out how."

Nathan smiled a little and reached out, laying a hand carefully on her shoulder. "I never said they were the kindest people in the world," he said with a trace of real humor. "In fact, they're scary as hell at times. Even the ones I get along with. But you're not going to lose me," he told her gently. "This is just giving me... answers."

"As long as they ain't askin' for too much in payment." Amanda spared a glance down at the gathered warriors, positive they could probably 'hear' her.

"Rawn and the others haven't said a thing about what they expect me to do with what they're teaching me," Nathan said. "Well, Rawn said he expects me to do 'as seems right'..." He shook his head slowly. "They're so different from the empaths, or even Her..."

"Considerin' all I've seen of 'em involves 'em hurtin' you somehow, you can forgive me bein' a bit suspicious of 'em." Amanda sighed. "The Lady, that git Galin... sometimes it seems like they have somethin' in mind for you beyond bein' a teacher an' settlin' down at the school."

"I think they probably do," Nathan said forthrightly, then grinned. "But have a little faith in me, mi'caehla. I may do it, but I'll do it my way."

"'S good enough for me." She moved closer, leaning against him slightly. "You should get back t' whatever it is you were doin'."

He put an arm around her, hugging her briefly. "Can you get back out?"

"I dunno. Give me a sec." Concentrating, Amanda pictured an exit, as Strange had been teaching her to. A plain wooden door, unsupported by anything, appeared next to them. "S'pose that's a yes, then," she said with a brief grin, opening the door to reveal her beachscape.

"Nifty," Nathan said with a deadpan look. "Well, off with you, then. I'll see you at class tomorrow."

"Don't stay up too late playin' with yer friends," Amanda said with a mock-severe wagging of her finger at him.

Nathan laughed. "Yes, ma'am," he said, smiling as he watched her go through the door.