Log [Alison, Mick] - Daily visits...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Monday, late morning. Alison drops by for her daily visit to talk to Mick. The poor dear is a bit jumpy (ok, a lot) and keeps a very watchful eye on the door.

Not unless you wanted his job.

He had slept for a bit - without pharmaceutical assistance, which was kind of nice - but there was noise outside in the hall again. People talking. Not about him, but there was an edge of stress to their voices anyway, and it made him uneasy. More uneasy. Mick turned on his side, curling up more tightly and trying not to shiver. He felt almost nauseous.

The door was unlocked now. He should be happy about that, but he wasn't. In fact, he was fairly sure that was what was making him feel sick to his stomach.

There was a light knock at the door, the same pattern which always meant one person in particular was there - and second afterwards Alison's head peeked through the doorway, short blond hair sticking at odd angles. "Heya... can I come in?"

"S-Sure." Oh, that damned stutter. "L-Look," Mick said, raising a hand without sitting up. "No restraints t-today."

It was, perhaps, the first time Mick saw her smile quite that way - a small, warm and happy smile, the glow in her eyes saying more than words could. She slipped inside, closing the door behind her firmly and leaning on it for a moment. "Looks a lot more comfortable that way. I'm glad they're off."

"Xavier was d-down this morning. Does the man n-not sleep?" Mick finally pushed himself up to a sitting position, shifting back to lean against the wall behind the bed. "The stuff last night... I h-heard." He waved a hand at the door. "Not soundproof in h-here. And I hear w-well."

"Yeah, I know what that's like," she said softly, lips quirking just a bit. Better than yesterday, she decided, looking him over carefully. Alison smiled a touch and eyed the chair contemplatively, letting him invite her closer or not as he would. "Kids went out to a club last night. Things rarely tend to be simple even for that kind of stuff, around here."

Mick concentrated for a second, on making the words come out without the stutter. "Want to sit down?" he asked, the tentativeness slipping through despite the careful way he spoke.

"I'd like that." Alison walked slowly towards the chair, moving it as silently as possible before sitting down on it. She drew her knees up, shifting a bit so she was curled up on the chair, before speaking again. "Anything I can help with for today?"

"No, I'm--well, not okay," Mick said with an unsteady smile. "I m-made Nate go teach."

"Good for you." A low chuckle, Alison reaching up to run a hand through her hair absently. "He was hovering again, wasn't he?" Which was not what she did at all, not one bit.

"Hovering... yeah. Was s-strange, though. I asked him about last n-night and he seemed angry..." Mick shook his head a bit quizzically. "Not in the w-way I would've expected. Kind of impatient? R-Resentful... not like him." He ran a hair through his rumpled hair, unconsciously mimicking Alison's gesture. "He t-told me he'd come back with his marking and we could laugh at the b-bloopers."

"Amanda got hurt last night." She made a mental note of the comment though, perhaps to ask Nathan about later on. Maybe. "That would make him a bit irked, yeah." Pulling at the sleeve of her blouse, Alison toyed with the edge of the fabric a bit. "You should see the kind of bloopers I get in music class sometimes."

"He told me she d-did. That she'd be okay, though..." Mick trailed off, his eyes flickering nervously back to the door as he heard someone walk by in the hall outside. "People aren't g-going to just walk in, are they? Now that the d-door's not locked..."

"Doubt Madelyn or Moira would let anyone just waltz in, but if you like I can put up a note on the door. It's not a problem at all." Leaning her chin on her knees, Alison gave him a reassuring smile. "People don't tend to barge in without warning."

"That'd probably be a g-good idea," Mick said and then squeezed his eyes shut, a frustrated noise escaping him. "This d-damned st-stutter!"

She reached out, very lightly resting her hand on the edge of the bed. "Hey... it'll pass. Give yourself a little time, Mick. You don't have to do it all at once."

"No r-rush?" Mick shifted, swallowing convulsively. "N-Nate keeps saying that too. But how r-realistic is that?" He rubbed at his chafed wrists, shaking his head.

The urge to tell him he had all the time in the world was there, but Alison ignored it easily enough, turning her hand upwards instead in a silent offer. "What do you mean by that?"

"I can't s-stay here. Have to--pull it t-together and get away from these k-kids. Away from him. Two of us in one place? It's l-like an invitation."

"When you're ready there's somewhere he's thinking of sending you. If you want to go there, that is. As for the rest - it's something the Professor is well aware of. But you're here anyway and until you're steady enough to go, no one is kicking you out of here." Alison shook her head, sighing. "The lot of us are already an invitation. You're just one more."

"He's being c-cagey about it. Nate, I mean. I k-know he's got plans, but he keeps t-telling me to focus on getting better and he'll t-take care of the rest." Mick smiled a bit wanly. "I still t-trust him, you know. Old h-habits die hard."

Alison understood why Nathan might want to not give out too much information about the pack, but at the same time... "If you need to know I'll talk to him. If you're ok with him just telling you it's all good, then I'll leave it alone. Sometimes it's easier to focus on getting better if you know where the road is taking you after - I can appreciate that."

"I... could you?" Mick asked, then shook his head. "That s-sounds pitiful. But I was n-never used to pushing, with him... we didn't do that."

There was an odd sound, Alison slowly hiding her face in her hands. "Sorry." The word squeaked through and she desperately tried not to let the laughter out - a touch on the edge, maybe. She'd pushed Nathan all right. And look what it had gotten her. Still, the dynamics the Mistra agents had wouldn't allow for what she'd done while they'd gone to get Foley, however - that much was obvious. "Sorry," she added, with a greater measure of control. "Not pitiful. The team just pulled a fast one on me this weekend and that caught up with me now for some reason. And I'll ask him. I may just end up getting back to you with a 'he's got a good reason' reply but at least it'll be that much, right?"

Okay, there was a lot he was missing here, clearly. That was all right, though. Mick folded his still unsteady hands together in his lap. "I d-don't mean that he didn't like q-questions or anything," he ventured, not really sure what she was trying so hard not to laugh at. "Well. Not in the f-field. You just didn't challenge him... p-pack structure. Not unless you wanted his job."

Alison couldn't help it - she stared at him for a moment, then buried her face in her hands one more, shoulders shaking a bit. "Oh god." She was going to bewilder the poor man senseless if she kept this up. "I'm sorry." Muffled laughter once more, not quite entirely amused however. "Let's just say I got a very clear demonstration of that a few days ago - not with Nathan, mind you. But yeah." She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and a touch shakily.

He was getting more than a little confused. Mick blinked at her, repeatedly. "I'm m-missing something. Lots. This has s-something to do with the X-Men? Wait--" He paused awkwardly. "You p-probably don't want to t-tell me. Just in case."

"Oh, it'll get out soon enough. One mission and that'll be that." This was hardly intel of the super secret kind. She was running her hand in her hair again, making it stand out on end even more than usual. "Scott and 'ro decided they wanted a third command team and set it up to a vote." Waggling her fingers at him she smiled weakly. "Guess who the newest team leader is."

"Oh." He offered a tentative smile. "Congratulations? We--M-Mistra never knew much about the X-Men's c-command structure."

"It scares the living daylights out of me. I think they're nuts for having come up with me for this." She smiled somewhat blandly, although there was a latent terror in the background at the thought. Gah. Get a grip. "It's not like the way Mistra does things. I can tell you that much. Someone'd probably have a cow if I said more though," she offered candidly. 

"That's okay. I g-get it." And he did. He shifted on the bed again, jumping as he heard someone else walk by in the hallway outside, pause at the door, and then move on.

"I thought you would." Alison glanced a the door and voice softened a bit. "We have sound dampeners, if that would help, although I'm not sure if wondering about someone being there wouldn't be worse than just hearing them all the time."

"Need to get over this," Mick muttered, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I'll d-deal." His eyes flickered around the room nervously, and then he mustered a smile. "You h-hit pretty hard, did I mention that?"

Startled laughter answered that, Alison more than a little surprised by the out of the blue comment. And compliment, by the look of things. "Thanks." And to think that a year ago that would so not have been compliment material to her. "I prefer to let people hit themselves on stuff usually, but every now and then the option's not there. And you were fast."

"I was n-never as good as some of the others, hand to hand. My powers aren't directly applicable. I remember..." His gaze went distant. "Used to s-spar with Anika, before she died... she was always t-telling me I was too slow."

Well. And Anika wasn't dead and was in fact coming here to help Mick - which might have been why Nathan was being cagey earlier. She'd have to ask him about that. "I'm not a soldier." Alison shrugged, rolling her eyes with a somewhat self-deprecating look on her face. "If you'd told me a year ago I'd be doing this, I'd have... either had a snit fit about it or laughed you out of the room"

"They say change is g-good," Mick said after a moment, his voice softer. "I d-don't know if I buy that. But maybe good can come of it all in the end. One w-way or the other."