Two logs ~ Alison & Cain, Alison & Nathan.

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Thursday afternoon. Alison & Cain. Describing this is a challenge. But there is screaming. A lot of screaming. And then... erm. Screaming.

So! You calmed down, or are the ovaries still calling the shots?


Alison stormed out of the mansion, barely noticing that she was taking the steps two at time or that she was muttering continuously under her breath as she headed towards the lake shore. Her frame of mind was ugly to say the least after the way things had gone during the 'conversation' earlier, and the last drop had been the display of typical male chauvinism – in general, although Cain now just made the perfect target after that comment. So she walked in long, rapid strides toward the set meeting point, not in the least intending to back down.

Cain arched an eyebrow as he pulled his jacket on, heading towards the lakefront. Alison's ire was obvious from her fast pace, and Cain had half a mind to intercept her and see how many times she'd skip if he just winged her out over the water. *no,* he reminded himself, *she ain't invulnerable, but she's really pushing it...*

She came to a very abrupt halt as soon as she was about ten feet from the waterline, crossing her arms and breathing heavily, more from the pure anger than anything else. Tapping her foot absently she glared over at the water before deliberately turning away from it to look down the path leading to the boathouse. Oh. Joy. Positive glee. There he was.

A dozen more steps took Cain to the lakeshore, and he carefully made sure to place Alison out of arm's reach. As much as he wanted to throttle something right now, he'd have to answer to too many people, especially three-foot-nine green-skinned ones.

"So," he barked out, "you calmed down, or are the ovaries still calling the shots?"

"Gnn," she tried not to shriek in frustration. How did he manage to say the worst possible thing right off the bat? Oh, yes. He's a MAN. With that reminder in mind she narrowed her eyes at him, not in the least bit impressed. "You complete ass! Leave my ovaries out of this already!"

Suppressing a sneer, Cain settled for looking out over the lake and hissing out a breath of frustration. "Well," he finally said, "if you've got a better explanation for why you're acting like a spoiled little brat, much less why you decided to laser a hole in my fucking FRONT DOOR..." Cain was practically bellowing by the end of his diatribe, then settled for sputtering incoherently and gesticulating in the vicinity of his boathouse.

That was a bit harder to explain with actual words and coherent concepts, although Alison still felt entirely justified in having done that. Being a singer was a good thing, she thought, when it meant you could scream just as loud as anyone else. "All I wanted was simple a suggestion." The volume rose to match his steadily afterwards, Alison keeping her hands fisted at her sides. "That was it. That's all I was asking. For once, just once, it would have been nice to actually get a decent answer instead of the whole turning-" she stopped there, unwilling to go into what would be essentially giving him more fodder for the canon, and took a deep breath instead. And settled for unreasonable. Loudly so. "Next time ANSWER when I knock on the door!"

Cain leaned forward, snapping his fingers in front of Alison's nose with a loud 'pop'. "NEWS FLASH!" he hollered, "I ain't your damn roadie, your student, or any of the young bucks on your dance card, lady. Jesus H. Christ, what is WRONG with you lately?" Cain began ticking off points on his fingers. "You're acting like a prima donna, you fly off the handle at a simple question, you blew down my door, and you're sitting here screaming like a child! Act your fucking AGE, Alison!"

Light sparked around her briefly at the pop, fading only to gain more strength as he kept hollering at her. This was unnoticed by Alison however, reeling back not from the gesture but from his words, eyes widening with every additional comment. Bracing herself solidly she shook her head at him, fury unabated despite the sinking feeling that he was right on every count. "Oh that's rich. Act my fucking age? That's precious coming from you, Mister I Lose My Temper at the slightest little thing! You're telling me off for screaming at you? It was about time someone did!" The last words fairly echoed around them, underscored by the halo of light now steadily glowing around Alison.

"I'm an asshole!" Cain screamed right back. "What's YOUR excuse! Oh, that's right, it's because you're a huge rock star. No, wait, it's because you're an X-Man! Or maybe because you're so damn intent on trying to be both of those that you're making such a good example for that kid who looks up to his mom so much!"

The blood drained from her face at that and Alison stared at him for a moment, anger slipping completely away to be replaced by a mixture of anguish and betrayal. "Don't you dare," she whispered, staring at him – and then the anger slowly resurfaced, a reassuring presence that buffered the fear that had been ever-present of late. "Don't you dare bring Miles in this," she paused to take another breath, eyes burning with tears. "You leave my son out of this."

Trembling she took a step closer to him, voice low and intent. "I'm not a rock star anymore and I never will be and we both know it and the day you put one of those damn suits you can take whatever potshots at me you want about my being an X-Man." The tears were streaming down steadily now, unnoticed by her and she took another breath that was a half-sob more than anything else. "I may fuck up everything else in my life but Miles is the one good thing I have and you do not touch that. EVER!"

"Then act like a goddamn MOTHER and not one of these punk kids around here." Cain's voice was low and controlled. "Jesus, Alison, everyone else around here has got a free ride. They fuck up left and right, and it's always smiles and forgiveness. You don't HAVE that luxury, don't you get it? You and the kid have been through a hell of a lot, but what's going to happen when Charles decides it's you who's the expendable one the next time there's some big world-saving mission?"

"I had a will made up the day I adopted him, Cain." She laughed breathlessly for a heartbeat, not at all a humorous sound. "You think saving the world is my big concern? I don't even know whether I'm going to get a bullet in the head each time I step out of the mansion without my image inducer. I'm terrified of taking  Miles out in town with me even when I have one, just in case the damn maniac that took a shot at me may just figure out it's me this time around. And get him instead!"

Cain shook his head. "Jesus, of all the people..." He gestured to the mansion as he continued. "Then what the hell's up with the whole 'let's train the kids to be fighters' schtick on the staff journal? Because it worked so well when that fucking Canadian psycho started his little death squad training in the gym! I said it once, if the grownups want to volunteer to pull a Grey and throw their lives away on Chuck's say-so, fine. But as much as I loathe these fucking kids - you've got NO right to start pushing them that way. Ain't a one of them has what it takes." Cain paused, narrowing his eyes and mulling over his next words, "You sure YOU do?"

"It wasn't about pushing them, that was the point! That's why I got angry!" She closed her eyes for a moment, holding herself back until she could talk in a calmer tone of voice again. "Tai Chi, Cain. My god, how do you end up with ripping someone's arm off when you're talking about Tai Chi!? The kids were thrilled with the idea. Meditation to help with power control. Where do you get to killing people from that?" The next answer burned but she gave it to him anyway. "And no, I'm not. But it's the only way I have left to try and make a future better for Miles, so I'm taking it."

Cain rolled his eyes at Alison's first statement. "Point one - that's all well and good when you're dealing with stable folks. Ain't a one of these kids qualifies. And two," he announced, then shoved his hands into his pockets and had the decency to look somewhat bemused. "I, well, look, if someone's gonna make the world a better place for the little guy, it don't gotta be you putting yourself in harm's way, y'know? There's folks here that do shit like that for a living. Wisdom, Summers, al Rashid - and have you read his dossier, woman?" Cain shook his head, "Besides the point - any of them can risk their lives, it's what they're for. But ain't a one of us - them -" Cain quickly corrected himself, "can raise that boy of yours."

"You're second in line for custody after Charles if anything ever happens to me." She hadn't exactly meant to let him know while having a discussion quite like this, but the words just slipped out of her. And she wasn't taking them back, nor did she want to. She didn't feel like arguing anymore about why she was an X-Man, something which was hard to do when you were loosing track of the arguments about why you should be doing something, beyond that someone had to. "So now you know."

Moments passed while Cain's mouth flapped soundlessly, brain trying to catch up with Alison's sudden announcement. "I...you, but the- Chuck, I see - ME? I mean, I guess I - er... sure, yeah." Finally, brain and mouth caught up to each other and Cain took a step away from Alison.

"Okay, I take back what I said before, now you're DEFINITELY insane. I mean - I'm old enough to be his... well, uh... I ain't got much healthy family experience to speak of."

"You do fine now." Which he did, and there had been a reason she'd sent Miles to him when Kwannon had first manifested, not that she'd known at the time. She absently brushed away at her tears, which had nearly dried away. "Never thought I'd make a decent mother of any kind and people are telling me I'm doing okay." The smile she offered him was frail, but real. "I can't just stand there and not do anything. That's why I'm doing this. Sometimes I think I'm doing well and sometimes I don't. And I'm scared to death most times. But that's not what matters." She took a deep breath, looking over the lake. "And if anything ever happened to me, I know Miles would be safe with Charles. Or yourself."

"Well, nothing's going to happen to you." Cain declared with finality. "If you're all fired up to be an X-Man, then..." Cain clenched and unclenched his jaw before speaking, turning to look Alison in the eyes, "then so long as you're making sure you're the one coming home in one piece, I won't give you shit about it, scout's honor."

A small laugh escaped her at the expression, although there was a definite presence to her smile now. "Thank you. I appreciate that a lot." More than he knew – or perhaps not, now that she thought about it. "I fully intend to do my best to get back in one piece. I promise you that. I like being in one piece. A lot." The thought that she'd rather prefer her teammates come back in one piece as well, even if she had to take risks, was not one she voiced out loud.

Cain pondered a quick moment, as the dull stereo roar of two low-altitude flyers became audible in the distance. "So," he quipped, "you still want a dip in the lake? Be a shame to waste all this cold water. I mean, I threw the Big Russian Fruitcake halfway across it, I think you might have better aerodynamics..."

"Haroun dumped me in a few days ago. I think I've got my quota for the week. Rain check?" she slid him a sidelong look and grinned a bit. There was a lot rolling in the back of her mind, but now was okay and that was all she was focusing on. "Of course I'd have better aerodynamics. That's because I - what are they doing here?" She blinked, staring at the two men coming down the path. Fast.

Cain took a few quick steps backwards to the cobblestone path that led along the edge of the lake to the boathouse. "Probably deciding to play Arthur and Lancelot on your behalf, I'd guess. That bein' the case, I'll let you and them argue out who's who." Cain gave a sarcastic grin and headed back up the path to his sanctum.

"Ok, talk to you later," she replied absently. Arthur and Lancelot? What's he going on about? Oh, for crying out loud, I'm hardly a damsel in distress here! "What, did they really think they needed to save me from Cain?" she grumbled to herself, crossing her arms and waiting for them with a frown.

~*~

Thursday, late evening. Nathan & Alison, mansion grounds. Much later in the evening, after Alison stopped hiding out in the MedLab downstairs with Madelyn (and tries to avoid people by staying out of the mansion).

I recommend startling people on a regular basis. Keeps them from getting complacent.

The anger had fled a long time ago, leaving behind mostly a sensation of numbness. She had spoken to Miles for a while after tucking him in bed for the night, the little boy offering absolution from everything with a simple hug. Staying out of the mansion afterwards had been the right thing to do, she told herself, and not at all her fleeing anyone who might wish to talk to her. Not that it was very likely, after the spectacle she had made of herself. Oh, was that ever sinking in now.

"~You never know,~" Nathan said, appearing soundlessly from around a tree. He could move without noise when he had to, or wanted to. It wasn't a skill he'd practiced much this year, but that didn't meant he'd lost it. "~Some of us might be just perverse enough to come seek you out, little sister.~"

Her only reaction at the words was to draw her arms tighter around her knees, taking a deep breath and then another. "Hey." She took another, far less steady breath and kept looking steadily ahead, without a word.

Nathan knelt down, several feet away, watching her silently. He had noticed, yesterday night and today, that his vision actually wasn't quite back to normal. There was light out here where there shouldn't be, a soft glow coming from Alison and illuminating her as if it were early evening, rather than late. "Would you prefer I go?" he asked quietly, in English.

Being miserable alone was just that. And Alison had never liked being alone, really. She sighed a bit but shook her head, chewing on her lower lip and not really knowing what to say. Then again, turning into a screaming lunatic did that to people, she supposed. At least Madelyn had agreed with her earlier, although now Alison couldn't even try to pretend she'd had any right – and things were coming back to haunt her now, painfully so.

Nathan relaxed a bit, content to let the silence linger for a few minutes. He wasn't here to be pushy, after all. "I've noticed how easily things tend to get out of hand here," he said finally, calmly. "For all kinds of reasons."

"Yeah." She stilled the bleak laughter however. No use for that. "For all sorts of reasons," was the whisper instead, shaking her head. "Today was not a good day after all. Started good, but didn't stay that way. Tomorrow's another day. That's all." It worked most of the time, after all.

Nathan looked around, at the trees pressing in around them, and shook his head suddenly, getting to his feet. "Come on," he said, reaching out a hand. "Change of scenery? Trust me?"

She took a deep breath and reached up, taking his hand with a small nod. "Okay."

Nathan squeezed her hand gently and then started to levitate them. "And before you ask," he said, "this is perfectly allowable." Up to the top branches of the tree, and he landed them there lightly, remembering his game of tag with Angelo. "Better?" he asked, keeping a firm grip on her hand just in case she needed the reassurance - although he wasn't about to let her fall. "Look. Stars."

She kept one hand on the branch, leaning on it, the other still holding Nathan's although not at all out of fear. The word caused a brief, bitter pang of longing. "Shining bright." She took yet another of those deep, cleansing breaths and nodded. "Cain and I worked it out."

"That's good," Nathan said quietly. "I don't like to see my friends arguing. I suppose it's my inner fourteen year-old." He smiled a little at her.

"Cain is a horribly sane person. Even if he's a jerk sometimes." Alison was only too aware that most people considered Cain a jerk all the time. "I like him." She swung her legs, as a five year old might. "I think we may have startled a few people though. Ok. A lot."

"I recommend startling people on a regular basis. Keeps them from getting complacent." Nathan stared out at the clear night sky. "~What's weighing on your heart, little sister?~" he asked, switching back to Askani. "~If the question is unwelcome, I'll withdraw it. But it needed to be asked.~"

"~Everything?~" The stars were bright and the sky was clear, and only the barest of winds blew in the night. "~I need to ask Haroun for a rematch.~" She paused, surprised at her own words for a second time that day. "~I keep saying things I didn't know I was going to say today. It's an odd feeling.~"

"~Then they needed to be said,~" Nathan told her. "~Sometimes there's no holding these things in.~"

A faint snort answered that. "~Even if it gets you accused of having...~" she paused, then grinned slowly. "Damn. No slang for PMS in Askani. Matriarchal societies are just cool that way," she chuckled tiredly.

"PMS is the accusation of a man with insufficient imagination," Nathan said with an impish grin. "I prefer to look deeper."

"You got beat up once already for using it didn't you?" she asked teasingly, starting to relax. Able to not think of all the things the talk (ok, shouting match) with Cain had stirred up. And maybe she'd found her third for the custody list, now that she thought of it. Nathan and Moira would do nicely.

"I was twenty-three," he said with a smile. "I asked Aliya the same question Cain asked you. She not only beat me up, she gave me nightmares for a week running."

"You got off easy," she nodded wisely at that, lips still quirking with amusement. Being that angry and then thinking so much made someone's head feel very light, she thought.

"Aliya was very... emphatic. My curse, I suppose, to fall in love with two such frightening women." Nathan was gazing at her, now, instead of the stars. "You haven't been sleeping very well lately, have you?" Another smile tugged at his lips. "And isn't that your line?"

She grinned a bit at that, sticking her tongue out at him. "My sleep patterns changed ever since my power manifested. Sometimes I sleep a lot less and it doesn't really seem to affect me, and sometimes I'll crash and sleep for a day straight if not two. I'm still not sure what affects it, really."

"Does anyone sleep normally in this house?" Nathan muttered a bit irritably, turning his attention back to the stars. "But you still seem more tired than you should. Or am I just being an ~aggravating elder brother~?"

"Miles hasn't had any nightmares in a month?" she offered, leaning a bit. "You're not an ~aggravating elder brother~ silly man. And I'm tired but it's not from lack of sleep. Well okay, maybe a little. There's just... too much. It catches up sometimes." She looked sheepish. "And then I go boom at people and it gets a bit better? Even if I feel utterly lousy about it and go hide away somewhere?"

"Alison," Nathan said with a gentle laugh, "you're talking to the man who goes boom on a regular basis, remember? No need to explain to me how things catch up to you."

"Oh, right. Captain Sprains-his-brain," she answered, with a bit of a silly grin. "Heh. Me having a temper tantrum is pretty mundane as things go around here, isn't it?"

"Captain--" Nathan stopped, snorting softly. "Well. It is fitting, isn't it?" He shook his head slowly, looking up at the stars. "They really are pretty," he said more softly. "Don't look quite right, still. Brighter than they should be."

"Are you seeing things normally or brighter than usual still?" she asked curiously, although she was looking up as well.

"A little brighter than usual," he said. "Well, depend on what it is... it seems to be fading pretty steadily, though."

"Well, so long as you don't go boom anymore because of me, we're all good," she murmured. A yawn escaped her and she hid her face for a moment – the day crashing in on her, leaving her almost dizzy. "Tired now."

"Want to go back in, then?" he asked, rising and floating up into the air, offering her a hand again - and another teasing smile. "I could drop you off at your window. Spare you running into anyone you don't want to talk to."

"Yes, please. I'd like that." Because sleeping on a tree top was a risky proposition and it was late, really. "I think I need to sleep off all the ice cream Madelyn gave me." And she didn't really want to run into anyone she might have to apologize, either.

"Door to door service, then," he said, floating them upwards towards the mansion. "Never let it be said that I'm not accommodating."

Comments

[x-foliate.livejournal.com]

I tried to read these, but about halfway through the Cain one I started sobbing uncontrollably so I'll just assume they're reallyreally good, okay?

WAH.

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PS! Before you all fret I just meant that it's so good it's painful to read. I'm okay, I swear.