xp_logs | Nathan and Alison, Wednesday early afternoon

After he wakes up from his little nap in the medlab (and retrieves his pants - bad Hank!) Nathan flees. To the staff room, where he happens to find Alison. Thankfully, he's a little too tired still to be confrontational. As is Alison, having just run through one of the scenarios she'd made for him.

Hank had suggested very strongly that he lie down and get some more rest, but he really didn't like how empty the suite was without Moira. One alternative that had presented itself was the staff room, especially when he'd hobbled by and realized that it was dark and quiet, as well as being considerably closer to the medlab than his suite. A definite plus. That, added to the fact that it had a decent-sized couch...

Said couch had been what had lured Alison to the staff room in the first place, and though she'd used a faint glow to dispel the darkness until she'd found said couch and availed herself of it, it had faded since. It was odd, she realized, how some things weren't quite so scary when you could hear everything going on around you anyway. Latent childhood fears of the dark notwithstanding, she was entirely content with not moving or thinking much, for today. Tomorrow it would be right back on schedule however.

Nathan was ragged enough mentally that he didn't realize Alison was on the couch until he'd already opened the door. "Oh," he muttered, standing in the doorway and feeling rather foolish. "Didn't... I'll go, I..." He stopped, blinking at her. "Hank tell you?" he asked wearily. "No sessions for me for a couple of days. Guess I get my 'F' now, huh?"

Alison cracked an eye open to look at him, taking a few seconds to get her brain to go from the "ooh, comfy and not so sore if I don't move here" track to "Nathan is being a great big doofus again" track. "Huh?" Apparently, she hadn't quite managed the shift before talking. Moving meant ratting herself out in a big way though, but maybe that wasn't a bad thing after all, she decided, and with a small groan she pushed herself up to a sitting position. "Make the world clear for me, Nathan. What are you talking about?"

"Hank says I have to stop training for a couple of days." He leaned heavily against the doorframe. Nice doorframe, propping him up like that. "Apparently I'm not hacking it. Can't keep up the pace. Was that what the three of you were trying to figure out?" No accusation in the question, and thankfully no petulance, either. He was just so damned exhausted, and not just on the physical level. "I don't know what the consequences are," he went on, not really knowing what he was saying. "I mean, I know what the consequences aren't, and that's kind of nice, but..." He trailed off, losing his train of thought completely.

Oh yes. Going through the scenario herself had been a stroke of genius, Alison decided blandly. She made less effort to hide her own creakiness now, the pancake sympathy still very much present. Poor misunderstood pancakes, she thought whimsically. "Hank did not say you were not hacking it or keeping the pace." She allowed herself a wince and considered the possibility of leaning back. Slowly. "Would you mind sitting down?" she asked a bit plaintively, trying to look up at him without actually tilting her head back. "You're too tall."

Nathan stepped in, just far enough to close the door behind him and slide down the wall, wincing exhaustedly. "I have class," he muttered. "I have class and I can't remember what... humanities? I think humanities... isn't that kind of funny? Me teaching humanities."

She curled slowly on the couch, sighing at how comfortable the old thing was. "Or you could play hooky like I am," she suggested, then blinked and looked a bit sheepish, eyes widening at ratting herself out quite that thoroughly. "Erm." And blinked, frowning a bit at what he'd just said. "What's so funny about it?"

"Humanities? Me? All the... values, and stuff, and how to be a well-rounded human being. Being taught by me." He laughed a bit hollowly, letting his head fall forward to rest on his knees. "Irony. Lots and lots of irony. I can't even jump through hoops well anymore."

So many things all jumbling up at once. If the human mind had been as simple to unravel as a bundle of wires, simply by pulling on the right wire, Alison would have done it without a second thought. She pushed herself to her feet, wincing at the creaking going on as she made her way next to him, leaning on the wall to slide down to sit by him with a wince. "What does being a human being and jumping through hoops have to do with that?"

"What, you want logic?" He shifted restlessly, half-fighting the impulse to move away from her. "Okay. I pretend to be one thing, when I'm not. And then I can't even be what I am properly. So I'm wondering just what the fuck I'm doing, and whether you're all just laughing at me when I can't see it."

She was careful not to touch him, the restless shifting more than enough indication not to even try, Alison surprising herself by not even taking it personally though there was some sadness at the reaction. She'd already prepared herself for 'being the bad guy' until he sorted things out, after all. "I'm not laughing at you," she offered, giving him an entirely serious look.

"Well, I'm laughing at myself." Nathan lowered his head back onto his arms, closing his eyes. "Don't worry," he muttered, renewed fatigue sweeping over him and driving out the frustrated anger. "I'll do as I'm told, take a couple of days off. I'm not going to quit." Can't quit. "Just... don't expect me to like it. I don't know what you and Scott and Ororo are doing, but maybe I shouldn't know anyway. Focus on the hoops instead."

"Mmm. Well, it's not like I can say anything, considering I'm off today at the very least too." Maybe it was because of the previous day and Madelyn needing to offload, maybe it was because she was tired and sore and probably because it was she knew that explaining what she was up to wasn't going to happen, but Alison didn't have the energy or the desire to fight with him on this. She didn't even check for his reaction before going on. "What? I'm in training too, y'know."

He breathed out. "Had to tell Hank to give my pants back," he grumbled a bit. "Remind me to steal his sometime... run them up the flagpole or something. Isn't that one of those juvenile things one does?"

"He pulled the pantsing trick on you, mmm?" Alison wrinkled her nose. "Never let him on you plan to do that. He'll make sure to wear the most outrageous pants just so you look silly attaching them to the flagpole."

"I bet he's had to do that to Scott lots of times," Nathan muttered. "I can just see it..." He leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. "Just tell me I'm not fucking this all up irretrievably... please?" he murmured, his voice breaking a little.

She turned to look at him slowly, the small smile on her lips suddenly eclipsed entirely by the glow in her eyes. "You're not fucking up anything at all." She wasn't thinking about why he was going through all of that, but the faith that he would see it through was easy to tap into life, the certainly blossoming in her mind for him to see, bright and strong.

"Okay." It didn't come out as certain-sounding as it maybe should have. In fact, his voice wavered just a little bit too much for the comfort of what was left of his pride. It was just that he wanted this, wanted it so badly, and yet there was something wrong, he could tell that much. Something he wasn't doing, or wasn't doing right. And even if they were willing to be patient with him, they wouldn't be patient forever.

Still as calm, Alison reached out, slowly again and pressed two fingertips to the top of his hand. Safe ground, no danger ahead. "You'll get there." Her lips quirked, and she offered him a choice to believe, be reassured - or simply lighten his spirits and laugh a bit. "I've got it all planned out."