Amanda, Nate - Tuesday evening
Jan. 18th, 2005 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsHearing on the grapevine that Nathan's had a rough day, Amanda comes by with potions, tea and chat.
The thing about the school was that despite the complaints about not being told enough, rumours tended to Abound. And the latest one was about Haroun and Nathan and one of their usual 'beat the crap out of each other' sessions. Since Moira was away, Amanda decided she'd better check on Nathan, just to be sure. But no healing of course. Well, not unless he asked her for it - she never could say no to Nathan in pain... "Nate? You in?" she called, tapping on the door.
Nathan was on the couch. He'd made it to the couch, which, he thought, was something of an achievement. He had rapidly decided that he was not going anywhere but the couch. Ever.
But that was a very familiar voice at the door, and it was a voice that wasn't going to go away if it didn't get an answer. "Dead," he called back hoarsely, very carefully not moving. Not a single muscle. "Come back later..."
Amanda tested the doorknob, and finding the door unlocked, pushed it open. "You know that's not goin' t' work on me," she told him, sticking her head in and giving him a slightly exasperated look. "I've got a spell that lets me talk t' the dead, remember?"
"Ah, right." Nathan opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Nice ceiling. "So to what do I owe this visit?" he asked, still not moving. If his voice came out sounding a little more breathy than usual, well...
"Well, I figured since Moira was away an' all, yer'd be missin' out on yer usual bollockin'-an'-fussin' session, so I thought I'd stand in." She came in properly, closing the door behind her. "I've got some stuff for bruises, if you want it," she offered. "An' I can make you some tea, willowbark if yer head's hurtin'."
Nathan took as deep a breath as he could and then sat up slowly, clutching at his ribs. He could almost feel the color drain from his face, and turned his head half-away from Amanda, hoping she wouldn't notice. "Could we... skip the bollocking and fussing? Just go straight to the... whatever?"
"We can do that," she said, tone softening slightly at the sight of him trying so hard to hide the pain from her. Stubborn, that's what he was. "How 'bout just regular, non-fussin' tea, then? Since that's what 'whatever' usually is for me."
"That'd be nice." He looked back at her, mustering a faint smile. "I'm kind of glad Moira's away," he confessed. "That was... uh, dumb."
"'Dumb's' one way of putting it," Amanda said, grinning despite herself as she moved to put the kettle on. He really did look like hell. "I hope it was in a good cause, tho', since I think Bartlet's thinkin' of the special instruments next time yer down. The ones in the freezer."
Nathan winced. "How did she find out? Wait... no, let me guess. The gossip spread already?"
"You don't buzz the medlab askin' for a kit an' a stretcher an' then cancel it without the docs wantin' t' know what's going on," Amanda pointed out. "I think she went down t' the gym an' found that plonker Haroun tryin' t' kill himself on the gym equipment an' got the story out of him. That's when I decided t' make meself scarce - 's safer all 'round."
"Oh, fuck, she's going to kill me." Nathan groaned, closing his eyes. "I got banged up in training already today, and then I go and do that... I somehow don't think she's going to buy 'Seemed like a good idea at the time', do you?"
"Knowin' Bartlet? Not really." Amanda dug out Moira's canister of tea, popping a couple of teabags into mugs. Good, English tea. "If it helps, I think she worked most of it off yellin' at Haroun."
"It was dumb." Wait, he'd already said that. "Thought I was... well, never mind what I thought I was doing." He smiled painfully at her as she peered out at him from the kitchenette. "I seem to have this compulsion to stick my nose into things when I'd do better to keep clear."
"You do," she agreed with a chuckle. "Tho' in my case, I'm glad you did. Then again, 's not like I can actually hurt you, so I was a safe bet." Pouring in the water and letting the tea steep for a little while, she turned and leaned back against the counter, watching him. "You sure you don't want somethin' for the pain?"
"Think that might be a good idea," he said after a moment, reluctantly. "Not sure I'll sleep tonight, otherwise... nothing's broken, or more than bruised, even. Just... a fucking lot of bruises." He would have laughed if it wouldn't have hurt.
"I'll make you up a potion," she told him, shaking her head at him. "Yer timin' really sucks tho', Nate, I've got t' say."
Nathan blinked. "Why? Don't tell me there's something I need to be mobile for and I forgot..."
"No, not you, me. They've only gone an' put a ban on me healin' people, haven't they? 'Life an' death' only is what McCoy told me." There was more than a little teenage petulance in Amanda's tone. "An' you ain't the only one who doesn't want t' cross the doctors."
Nathan blinked again. "I'd forgotten..." Part of him wasn't really surprised it had happened, and part of him was definitely kind of pleased. He managed to keep both emotions more or less off his face, knowing that she definitely wouldn't appreciate the latter. "You'll have more strength for the times it's really needed, then," he offered.
"Don't you start an' all," she grumbled at him, turning back to the tea and fishing out the teabags. "I've heard it all from McCoy - 'it's about saving your energies for when they're needed most, you're too valuable to waste on minor injuries', blah, blah, blah. Too bad if I've got the power t' spare an' I dont' like seein' someone I love in pain, ain't it?"
"Hey," Nathan said firmly. "Nothing's broken, like I said. It's bruises, and they're pretty much entirely self-inflicted. Why shouldn't I suck it up and wait for them to heal normally?"
"Because you don't have to?" Amanda replied uncertainly. "I mean, if there's a way to make the pain go away and speed things up, then why not take it if it's offered?"
"If there was no cost to you? In a heartbeat," Nathan said freely. "But doing too much healing hurts you, Amanda. Don't think I don't remember last May. Sure, you recover too, but isn't that just passing the cost along?" He smiled very faintly. "Why should you have to bear it, when you're not the one who got hurt in the first place?
Bringing the tea over, Amanda set both mugs down on the coffee table and took a seat on the floor by his elbow. "'S not just last May," she admitted reluctantly. "Last physical Moira did, she found some... stuff. Nothin' permanent, but enough t' worry her. 'S all that healin' I was doin' after Halloween, an' then the stuff at the Hellfire Club. An' I understand why, Nate, 's just... I feel useless. Like I've done somethin' wrong an' now I'm bein' punished for it. All I ever wanted t' do was help."
"I know how important the healing is to you." Nathan leaned forward very carefully, taking the cup and then leaning back, not letting on that the movement hurt as much as it did. "And that's a good thing, you know. That it's that important to you, to help people. But you can't if you hurt yourself." He met her eyes levelly. "If you push too hard, you won't be able to do it again. If you heal my bruises, and that winds up contributing to you not being able to heal one of the team if we race back here on the jet with someone at death's door..."
Bugger, he was making sense at her, the same as everyone else. "Fine," she sighed heavily. "But do me a favour, yeah? Don't do anythin' this dumb again? There is such a thing as too much temptation, an' I'd hate t' have McCoy give me one of those lectures with the big words for breaking me word."
"I can swear up and down that I will not be sparring with Haroun again anytime soon," Nathan said, a faint, sad smile tugging at his lips. "At least not when he's in that kind of mood. Can't make the promise about training, though."
"Trainin's all monitored an' stuff, yeah?" she asked. "They wouldn't let you get hurt - wouldn't make sense if they need you on a job."
"Haroun hit me once, down in the gym," Nathan said dryly. "The rest of the bruises are all from training. I don't think Scott or Ororo or Alison would ever let it go to the point where I actually do get hurt, but it's been pretty intense. Even by my standards."
"That's stupid," Amanda said, frowning as she picked up her tea. "What's the point of puttin' you in this state?"
"There's the question of the hour." He sipped his tea gingerly. "I've been trying to figure that out for the last week without much luck."
"They're wankers?" Amanda suggested, scowling just a little. Bad enough that Nate get banged up sparring, but this didn't make sense.
"They have a reason. I just can't see it. Meant to teach me something, I'm sure of it..." He stared down into his tea, his expression going bleak for a moment. "It's so damned frustrating, though."
The girl chuckled wryly. "You an' me both, then." She looked up at him speculatively from her seat on the floor. "How's yer TK? Workin' all right?"
"Working just fine. Working beautifully, actually." Even if he hadn't been able to put it to use quite effectively as he should have in that scenario. His focus was... a little shaky, still, at the narrower margins. "Charles has been drilling me like... a mad drilling thing." He smiled a bit. "It's even picked up a permanent tactile sense," he said, and something like a breath of wind ruffled Amanda's hair. "The different dyes result in different textures, you know," he said idly.
She blinked at him. "That's really somethin'," she said, meaning it. Her magical version was nowhere near that precise. "I was thinkin'... we could play some chess? If yer TK's workin' all right, you wouldn't have t' get up, an' yer brain seems t' be workin' all right." She paused a moment and then added, cheekily. "As well as it does, any way."
"Hah! You'd think me beating the pants off you three games in a row on Muir would have turned you off the game," Nathan said, his eyes twinkling. "Set up the board, brat. At least this time you don't have to put up with my victory dance."
"What can I say, 'm stubborn," she replied innocently as she got up to clear a space on the coffee table and get the board out. And make some of that pain medication. "Then again, 'm told it's cute." She batted her eyelashes at him.
"Who ever told you that?" Nathan said, widening his eyes just a little. "Some crazy man, most likely..."
"Somethin' like that," Amanda told him, floating the chess board over to the coffee table as she headed for the kitchenette. "An' be nice, or I'll make this taste even worse than usual - I'll leave the honey out."
"Anything but that."
The thing about the school was that despite the complaints about not being told enough, rumours tended to Abound. And the latest one was about Haroun and Nathan and one of their usual 'beat the crap out of each other' sessions. Since Moira was away, Amanda decided she'd better check on Nathan, just to be sure. But no healing of course. Well, not unless he asked her for it - she never could say no to Nathan in pain... "Nate? You in?" she called, tapping on the door.
Nathan was on the couch. He'd made it to the couch, which, he thought, was something of an achievement. He had rapidly decided that he was not going anywhere but the couch. Ever.
But that was a very familiar voice at the door, and it was a voice that wasn't going to go away if it didn't get an answer. "Dead," he called back hoarsely, very carefully not moving. Not a single muscle. "Come back later..."
Amanda tested the doorknob, and finding the door unlocked, pushed it open. "You know that's not goin' t' work on me," she told him, sticking her head in and giving him a slightly exasperated look. "I've got a spell that lets me talk t' the dead, remember?"
"Ah, right." Nathan opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Nice ceiling. "So to what do I owe this visit?" he asked, still not moving. If his voice came out sounding a little more breathy than usual, well...
"Well, I figured since Moira was away an' all, yer'd be missin' out on yer usual bollockin'-an'-fussin' session, so I thought I'd stand in." She came in properly, closing the door behind her. "I've got some stuff for bruises, if you want it," she offered. "An' I can make you some tea, willowbark if yer head's hurtin'."
Nathan took as deep a breath as he could and then sat up slowly, clutching at his ribs. He could almost feel the color drain from his face, and turned his head half-away from Amanda, hoping she wouldn't notice. "Could we... skip the bollocking and fussing? Just go straight to the... whatever?"
"We can do that," she said, tone softening slightly at the sight of him trying so hard to hide the pain from her. Stubborn, that's what he was. "How 'bout just regular, non-fussin' tea, then? Since that's what 'whatever' usually is for me."
"That'd be nice." He looked back at her, mustering a faint smile. "I'm kind of glad Moira's away," he confessed. "That was... uh, dumb."
"'Dumb's' one way of putting it," Amanda said, grinning despite herself as she moved to put the kettle on. He really did look like hell. "I hope it was in a good cause, tho', since I think Bartlet's thinkin' of the special instruments next time yer down. The ones in the freezer."
Nathan winced. "How did she find out? Wait... no, let me guess. The gossip spread already?"
"You don't buzz the medlab askin' for a kit an' a stretcher an' then cancel it without the docs wantin' t' know what's going on," Amanda pointed out. "I think she went down t' the gym an' found that plonker Haroun tryin' t' kill himself on the gym equipment an' got the story out of him. That's when I decided t' make meself scarce - 's safer all 'round."
"Oh, fuck, she's going to kill me." Nathan groaned, closing his eyes. "I got banged up in training already today, and then I go and do that... I somehow don't think she's going to buy 'Seemed like a good idea at the time', do you?"
"Knowin' Bartlet? Not really." Amanda dug out Moira's canister of tea, popping a couple of teabags into mugs. Good, English tea. "If it helps, I think she worked most of it off yellin' at Haroun."
"It was dumb." Wait, he'd already said that. "Thought I was... well, never mind what I thought I was doing." He smiled painfully at her as she peered out at him from the kitchenette. "I seem to have this compulsion to stick my nose into things when I'd do better to keep clear."
"You do," she agreed with a chuckle. "Tho' in my case, I'm glad you did. Then again, 's not like I can actually hurt you, so I was a safe bet." Pouring in the water and letting the tea steep for a little while, she turned and leaned back against the counter, watching him. "You sure you don't want somethin' for the pain?"
"Think that might be a good idea," he said after a moment, reluctantly. "Not sure I'll sleep tonight, otherwise... nothing's broken, or more than bruised, even. Just... a fucking lot of bruises." He would have laughed if it wouldn't have hurt.
"I'll make you up a potion," she told him, shaking her head at him. "Yer timin' really sucks tho', Nate, I've got t' say."
Nathan blinked. "Why? Don't tell me there's something I need to be mobile for and I forgot..."
"No, not you, me. They've only gone an' put a ban on me healin' people, haven't they? 'Life an' death' only is what McCoy told me." There was more than a little teenage petulance in Amanda's tone. "An' you ain't the only one who doesn't want t' cross the doctors."
Nathan blinked again. "I'd forgotten..." Part of him wasn't really surprised it had happened, and part of him was definitely kind of pleased. He managed to keep both emotions more or less off his face, knowing that she definitely wouldn't appreciate the latter. "You'll have more strength for the times it's really needed, then," he offered.
"Don't you start an' all," she grumbled at him, turning back to the tea and fishing out the teabags. "I've heard it all from McCoy - 'it's about saving your energies for when they're needed most, you're too valuable to waste on minor injuries', blah, blah, blah. Too bad if I've got the power t' spare an' I dont' like seein' someone I love in pain, ain't it?"
"Hey," Nathan said firmly. "Nothing's broken, like I said. It's bruises, and they're pretty much entirely self-inflicted. Why shouldn't I suck it up and wait for them to heal normally?"
"Because you don't have to?" Amanda replied uncertainly. "I mean, if there's a way to make the pain go away and speed things up, then why not take it if it's offered?"
"If there was no cost to you? In a heartbeat," Nathan said freely. "But doing too much healing hurts you, Amanda. Don't think I don't remember last May. Sure, you recover too, but isn't that just passing the cost along?" He smiled very faintly. "Why should you have to bear it, when you're not the one who got hurt in the first place?
Bringing the tea over, Amanda set both mugs down on the coffee table and took a seat on the floor by his elbow. "'S not just last May," she admitted reluctantly. "Last physical Moira did, she found some... stuff. Nothin' permanent, but enough t' worry her. 'S all that healin' I was doin' after Halloween, an' then the stuff at the Hellfire Club. An' I understand why, Nate, 's just... I feel useless. Like I've done somethin' wrong an' now I'm bein' punished for it. All I ever wanted t' do was help."
"I know how important the healing is to you." Nathan leaned forward very carefully, taking the cup and then leaning back, not letting on that the movement hurt as much as it did. "And that's a good thing, you know. That it's that important to you, to help people. But you can't if you hurt yourself." He met her eyes levelly. "If you push too hard, you won't be able to do it again. If you heal my bruises, and that winds up contributing to you not being able to heal one of the team if we race back here on the jet with someone at death's door..."
Bugger, he was making sense at her, the same as everyone else. "Fine," she sighed heavily. "But do me a favour, yeah? Don't do anythin' this dumb again? There is such a thing as too much temptation, an' I'd hate t' have McCoy give me one of those lectures with the big words for breaking me word."
"I can swear up and down that I will not be sparring with Haroun again anytime soon," Nathan said, a faint, sad smile tugging at his lips. "At least not when he's in that kind of mood. Can't make the promise about training, though."
"Trainin's all monitored an' stuff, yeah?" she asked. "They wouldn't let you get hurt - wouldn't make sense if they need you on a job."
"Haroun hit me once, down in the gym," Nathan said dryly. "The rest of the bruises are all from training. I don't think Scott or Ororo or Alison would ever let it go to the point where I actually do get hurt, but it's been pretty intense. Even by my standards."
"That's stupid," Amanda said, frowning as she picked up her tea. "What's the point of puttin' you in this state?"
"There's the question of the hour." He sipped his tea gingerly. "I've been trying to figure that out for the last week without much luck."
"They're wankers?" Amanda suggested, scowling just a little. Bad enough that Nate get banged up sparring, but this didn't make sense.
"They have a reason. I just can't see it. Meant to teach me something, I'm sure of it..." He stared down into his tea, his expression going bleak for a moment. "It's so damned frustrating, though."
The girl chuckled wryly. "You an' me both, then." She looked up at him speculatively from her seat on the floor. "How's yer TK? Workin' all right?"
"Working just fine. Working beautifully, actually." Even if he hadn't been able to put it to use quite effectively as he should have in that scenario. His focus was... a little shaky, still, at the narrower margins. "Charles has been drilling me like... a mad drilling thing." He smiled a bit. "It's even picked up a permanent tactile sense," he said, and something like a breath of wind ruffled Amanda's hair. "The different dyes result in different textures, you know," he said idly.
She blinked at him. "That's really somethin'," she said, meaning it. Her magical version was nowhere near that precise. "I was thinkin'... we could play some chess? If yer TK's workin' all right, you wouldn't have t' get up, an' yer brain seems t' be workin' all right." She paused a moment and then added, cheekily. "As well as it does, any way."
"Hah! You'd think me beating the pants off you three games in a row on Muir would have turned you off the game," Nathan said, his eyes twinkling. "Set up the board, brat. At least this time you don't have to put up with my victory dance."
"What can I say, 'm stubborn," she replied innocently as she got up to clear a space on the coffee table and get the board out. And make some of that pain medication. "Then again, 'm told it's cute." She batted her eyelashes at him.
"Who ever told you that?" Nathan said, widening his eyes just a little. "Some crazy man, most likely..."
"Somethin' like that," Amanda told him, floating the chess board over to the coffee table as she headed for the kitchenette. "An' be nice, or I'll make this taste even worse than usual - I'll leave the honey out."
"Anything but that."
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-19 12:33 pm (UTC)Pete says: "Clearly, you're getting hit on the head too often, because it's bloody obvious to everyone else. Perhaps some kind of cunning neon sign arrangement might help?"
no subject
Date: 2005-01-19 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-19 01:59 pm (UTC)