xp_logs | Rahne, Nathan, and a walk; Rahne, Remy, and security issues

Nathan is out walking, getting away from the mental noise about Columbia. (Horatio wasn't quite enough distraction.) A red wolf crosses his path.

It was freezing. Absolutely freezing, and Nathan shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his coat, shivering as he moved down the trail. This was not a pleasant evening for a walk, but he'd had to get out of the mansion before he ran out screaming and didn't come back.

Some distance off the trail was a roaming wolf. Her feet were on the chilly side, but not dangerously so. While in Asgard, she had discovered a peculiar feature of her mutant ability that allowed her (within limits) to choose how thickly her fur grew in, and she was taking full advantage. And running around a lot. It was a good thing she wasn't actually trying to hunt anything, as she probably would have scared it off.

She sniffed thoughtfully at chilly air and recognized Nathan's scent. He smelled... a little odd. She knew he'd been roughed up in the danger room, and wasn't surprised if he was unhappy about it, but there was more to it now.

Rahne trotted over toward the trail and slipped out onto it. She made a minor point of a little extra noise, as Nathan could certainly tell she was coming if he tried but there was a chance he wouldn't be paying attention, being preoccupied.

Nathan looked up dully as the wolf appeared on the trail in front of him. "Hi, Rahne," he greeted her, his voice much more gravelly than usual. "You warm enough out here?"

She shifted to a transitional form, concentrating on keeping the fur. "Aye, turns out I insulate well. Are you?"

"Not particularly." He sighed, and kept moving, letting her fall in beside him. "I needed the fresh air, though."

"Too much time indoors?" She hesitated. "...Listening?"

"Both of the above." Nathan swallowed. "Are you... are you going on Monday?"

"I havena decided yet." She considered. "If Clarice decides to go, I think I'll cover time in the medlab. Organising and whatnot, assuming nobody manages to do anything alarming."

Nathan gave a faint laugh. "Let's hope for that, huh?" He shivered, his shoulders hunching a little at the sudden blast of wind. "I won't trouble you with my opinion of making this a field trip. It's been pointed out to me that I'm not objective."

"I'm sure I'll hear opinions a lot more troubling to me than that one before the night's out," Rahne said, "at least if I go back in to listen."

"Really, it makes all kinds of sense for you guys to go," Nathan said restlessly. "I'm being... fearful, that's all." Fearful was a good word. That was more or less what Amanda had told him, after all.

"Ye doona look forward to someone ye care about walking back into where there was a disaster and is probably going to be a tense situation." She shook her head a little, an image flickering in her mind of opposing packs at the border of their territory. Not quite right. Disputed territory, maybe, but nobody fighting yet. ...Still not quite right. It didn't even account for everyone, and she probably had the details wrong even of the metaphor. Hrimhari didn't get a lot of challengers -- at least not wolves. Rahne shook her head harder and tried to focus. "But I see the point. Nae... ceding."

This was all too terribly ironic. Wasn't he the one who was supposed to be all about not surrendering? With your shield or on it? "I see the point too," he said stiffly. "I do."

"I wasna trying to scold," she said softly. Well, if he really thought she were scolding, he could turn around and tell her she was being presumptuous rather than being (possibly) semi-defensive, but still.

He couldn't say anything. It was what kept coming back to him today. Couldn't say anything, couldn't do anything, couldn't even go down to the gym to blow off some steam because he was supposed to be off all physical training, and God forbid that he should blow his schedule any further than he had already. And Moira was in Scotland. All he could do was try and hold it all together.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, his voice shaking a little. "Don't... pay much attention to me, Rahne. A little out of sorts today."

Rahne suppressed a sigh. She understood Ms. Blaire was good at this sort of thing. Maybe she should have taken Speech class. ...No, she couldn't quite picture Ms. Frost teaching "helpful" or "comforting," and even the attempt was rather disturbing. Maybe she should talk to Jamie more instead. Or just be blunt. "Am I making it worse?"

He shook his head immediately. "No," he said raggedly. "No, you're not. I just don't know how to make it any better."

It occurred to her that Catseye might have a standard solution to propose, but Rahne couldn't manage to be quite as full of herself as a cat. "I doona mind if ye talk to me," she offered hesitantly, "and I doona mind paying attention if yui're out of sorts. I wasna trying to argue ye quiet."

"I know. No one is." It would almost be easier if they were. A good sharp smack upside the head, maybe that was what he needed... "I just wish Moira was here," he said, and then immediately wished he could take the words back. He smiled a bit wanly down at her. "That wasn't me casting aspersions on present company."

"Somehow I'm not surprised if she's a wee bit more fun than a puppy," Rahne said lightly. "I ken ye miss her."

"She thinks what Amanda's doing is a good idea." Nathan was silent for a long moment as they walked. "I'm supposed to call her a little later."

"I can see it being a good idea. I canna see it being serene. Ye have at least two hostile packs there and they're recruiting from the middle." She paused. "I've spent too long as a wolf today, apparently."

"It's an accurate image, though." He tried to smile again, failed miserably. "And I don't think it could be serene under any circumstances. Not given what they're commemorating."

"Serene was probably too strong a word." She looked up at him. "But she'll come back all right." She felt startlingly certain about this, although considering she was talking to a precog, she probably couldn't blame him if he laughed at her. ...Scoffed. Nathan didn't look much like laughing.

"I hope they all do. Even if that does just serve to prove how paranoid I've been." A cough slipped out and he winced, hand going to his side as his ribs protested.

Rahne frowned at him a little, then turned to look ahead before she spoke. "Canna blame ye for being paranoid over some things. But they're being careful, I hear."

"Careful... I was being careful, that day," Nathan muttered. "I thought I was, at least."

"Well, it doesna *always* work," Rahne said wryly, "but I think we might have a shot at having fewer injuries from there than from the danger room lately."

Nathan gave her a quick, startled look, then smiled very faintly. "Well, no worries on that score. I'm not training again until Saturday. But hey, someone has to keep you folks busy, right?"

Rahne made a show of giving this serious consideration, then shook her head. "I believe," she said, "we'd be perfectly fine if everybody stopped getting hurt. That's nae excuse to pretend yui're fine if 'tisna true, mind. Am I allowed to ask what ye've been training *for*? Being stepped on?"

"I have no idea," Nathan said with a sigh. "No idea at all. I suspect I'm going to be getting stepped on and shot at and dropped from heights until I figure it out."

"How very odd." She folded her arms, frowning. "Well, do ye want some hot cocoa? 'Tis colder walking like this than all fours, and *I* do. I can bring ye some out if ye still want more fresh air."

"I think..." Nathan sighed again. "I'll come back in," he said wearily. "It is cold out here. And I'm sore."

"Hot cocoa and aspirin?" Rahne suggested wryly. "Not mixed up with the marshmallows, of course."

"There's a disturbing thought," Nathan said with a tired, breathless-sounding laugh as he turned, starting slowly back in the direction of the mansion. "I should call Moira, anyway. Getting late over there. She'll wonder. And worry. Which I don't want her doing."

"Better avoided, aye." That would probably help more than anything else. "I suppose Dr. McCoy and Dr. Bartlet have been warned to expect ye Saturday?"

"As usual, yes." Nathan shook his head. "Hank stole my pants, yesterday."

Rahne blinked. "I... beg yuir pardon?"

"Stole my pants," Nathan said dourly. "He had to get the uniform off to see how badly I'd managed to bang myself up. So he stole the pants as a way to make me lie down and get some rest before I left. He tries that again, next time I'm walking out anyway."

"...Ye could try the resting," Rahne suggested faintly. She was fairly sure by this point that Nathan meant 'pants' in the American sense and was not actually saying Dr. McCoy had swiped his underwear, but she wouldn't have put it *past* Dr. McCoy. She wasn't entirely sure she'd put walking out without it past Nathan. "I missed this part, obviously. I did know Ms. Blaire came in -- I think she'd backed off before she wound up in quite the same condition, though."

Nathan opened his mouth and then closed it again, frowning. "Ah," he said after a moment, a bit uncertainly, but filing it away. "And resting... I don't need the rest. Nothing's broken. Just a lot of bruises."

"That would be broken blood vessels, technically," she pointed out. "Anyway, do ye usually only rest if something's broken?"

He managed to give her an innocent look. "Generally?"

"Hmph. I think ye have the concept wrong, then. 'Tis supposed to be for when ye get tired, ye ken."

"Rest is for the weak," Nathan joked, and promptly tripped over a tree root buried in the snow. He managed not to fall flat on his face - quite - but it was a near thing.

Rahne had half-reached for his arm, but let her own fall when he got his balance back. "Who probably got that way by refusing to rest," she shot back.

"I can't sleep, Rahne," Nathan sighed, straightening and wondering if she could hear his bones creaking. "That's part of the problem. I keep dreaming..."

She looked up sympathetically, dropping the teasing. "That would make it hard." And if she remembered right, that was only likely to get worse, since losing REM sleep out of proportion to the rest made it start sooner. "I... doona suppose Professor Xavier could do anything?"

"I'll ask. If it happens again tonight." They exited the woods, the lights of the mansion shining ahead of them. The volume of the noise seemed to jump upwards several notches almost immediately, and he winced, swaying a little.

Rahne frowned at him again. "...Can I do anything?"

"I... no, I'm okay..." But there was his hand reaching out in front of him, making a feeble gesture as if he could somehow push the noise away, back from his shields.

Rahne clamped down hard on the worry -- she couldn't see Ms. Frost teaching "helpful," but she'd managed "quiet" reasonably well. "Nathan...."

Control, damn it. He was not flaking out here. Not being weak, again. Nathan gritted his teeth and the flash of anger let him firm up his shields, make them walls of stone rather than of crumbling sand. It wasn't tempered steel, but it would do.

"I'm okay," he said again, and managed to sound a little more convincing this time as he straightened, letting his hand fall back to his side. "Shall we go in and get that hot chocolate?"

Rahne was staring at him. "Er... yes." A pause as they started walking again, then a sidelong look. "I doona ken what you did, but it smelled strange."

"Strange how?" Nathan asked as they headed up the well-trodden path towards the mansion.

"I'm not sure. It just did. Angry and then... odd."

"You should talk to Ani. Have I given you her email?" He took a deep, steadying breath. "About what smells can tell you about emotions."

"...The way she describes them doesna make sense to me. Kyle said something about fruit smells going with positive emotions...." Rahne shrugged. "I think I'm not a proper feral-type." And she still didn't know what that had been. He seemed to be calmer now... she considered the possibility that shielding could change one's scent, then decided it made more sense for being able to block things out to make one calmer and therefore smell that way.

"You are what you are," Nathan said. "And Ani has an unusual take on pheremones. We had a lot of ferals at... at Mistra, but she was unique."

"It seems to make sense to Kyle. Well... as far as I know."

They were at the door finally. Nathan opened it for her, letting her precede him in. "Shall I go start the hot chocolate?" he asked, noticing that she was still in her transitional form.

"I can do it," she said automatically, then looked down. "Er.. if ye doona want to wait for me to change and wash up, though, go ahead. I'll be quick, but...."

Nathan smiled a little. "I can start the hot chocolate," he said, quietly but firmly. "You go change."

Rahne gave him a quick smile back. "Thanks."

Nathan nodded and headed a bit unsteadily to the kitchen, where he set about making real hot chocolate. He somehow thought Rahne would give him the 'this is not me being disdainful, but really' look at hot chocolate made from a mix.

Rahne hurried up to her room to "change," putting on clothes in place of fur and washing her hands quickly before trotting back down, following the warm chocolate odor into the kitchen and mostly resisting the temptation to skip because of it. "Thank ye for that. ...Do ye want me to fix a sandwich or something? Did ye eat anything before ye went out?"

"I've eaten," Nathan said a bit vaguely. He did remember breakfast - or had that just been coffee?

Rahne reviewed his scent in her mind. "Well, do ye want to do it again?"

"I... I suppose?" Nathan grimaced a bit at how unenthusiastic he sounded, yet if he hadn't actually eaten today, he needed to. Hungry or not. Moira would not be happy with him if she caught him skipping large numbers of meals again.

"I'll try to make it appetizing." Something reasonably bland, and something that smelled good. It was sometimes a tossup which of these was most likely to work when someone needed to eat but didn't really feel like it. She glanced over at him. "Do ye think it would help to go somewhere else? I canna offer to drive -- I should learn, I suppose -- but maybe get out and about," away from here, "only somewhere warm?"

Nathan thought about it for a second. "Actually... it might," he said, and then surprised himself with a real, if tired smile. "Anything in the theatres you'd like to see?" he asked, focusing on the hot chocolate. A movie. Someplace where everyone's attention would be what was happening on screen, not on the current news of the day...

"Aah... maybe that one, the Lemony Snicket movie?" It crossed her mind that a series of unfortunate events might not be entirely entertaining under the circumstances -- but then, the Baudelaires' version and the school's version were rather different. "I havena checked all the listings."

Nathan filled a mug and handed it to her. "Sounds like a plan," he said. "We should be able to catch the early show. I'd hate to nod off on you halfway through the movie."

Rahne finished making him a sandwich with all four food groups and passed it over, taking the mug and sniffing it with relish. "After ye've finished your snack and called Lady Moira, then?"

Nathan smiled, raising his own mug almost in salute. "Yes, ma'am. And I'll let her know that her small, cute henchwoman has been filling in with the high-maintenance fiance during her absence."

Rahne chuckled a bit. "I think I'm supposed to be conspiring with each of ye to make sure the other eats, now, maybe."

"Fighting a war on two fronts. Brave girl."

And, sometime during the night, Remy suggests that Rahne could help calibrate the sensors.

***

Well, this was uncomfortable, Remy thought as he stood in the little clearing, hands stuffed deep in his pockets. The little Scots wasn't in her room, and her roommate had mentioned that she was normally out prowling around at this time. How did you get the attention of a mutant wolf girl, he considered. She'd likely be offended by waving around a rare steak, and the dog whistle was right out, he figured.

It might have taken longer if she'd gone in a different direction, but as it happened, standing around in the woods waiting for something to happen wasn't a particularly bad way to get Rahne's attention. She puzzled for a moment over the scent before placing it as Remy Lebeau, with lower tobacco smoke levels than usual, and decided to go and investigate.

She hesitated over approaching once she'd located him, though. She wasn't entirely sure what he might be likely to wait for in the middle of the woods, and it was entirely possible that she didn't want to meet it.

Remy caught the flicker of movement at the edge of his vision, and his spatial awareness suddenly picked up and placed the red furred wolf in his mind. He pulled his hands from his pockets, turning to face her as she crept forward. Remy noticed the wariness in her motions, something that he was sure likely came from the lupine instincts than from any concern by the girl herself. At least, he hoped.

All right, he knew she was there and had reacted, so there wasn't much point lurking. If he was expecting something or someone else to show up, he could always say so. She walked up to the clearing, tail level, and then shifted up to a transitional form. "Yui're more alert than the deer around here."

Remy's stomach flip-flopped as Rahne changed, although he didn't so it. It wasn't disgusted, but her shape-shifting had this terrible moment of 'inbetweenness' was the only way he could describe it, that made it seeming like she turned inside out.

"Remy been hunted by more den a few people, chere. Pays to be alert."

"Aye, the deer havena got the message yet."

"So dats where de venison stew came from. Wondered where Lorna was picking up fresh deer." Remy said, smiling thinly. He scuffed the snow a bit with his foot before he spoke again. "You been spending a lot of time on de grounds, chere?"

"Some, aye. 'Tis nice out." And she could chase things.

"Hmm..." Remy muttered. He reached for a cigarette automatically and stopped with a muted curse. Smoke was definitely going to get into the way of what he wanted to find out. "You just been tracking deer, or anything else in dese woods?"

"I ken a lot of the scents. Not all yet." She tilted her head, ears flicking once. "Why? Want a rabbit?"

"Not exactly." Remy said, and his grin spread. Now that was what he wanted to hear from the girl. "Been helping out Cain wit' ideas on how to secure de mansion. One of de problems is de size of de grounds. It's difficult to monitor or secure dem without all sorts of restrictions day would make dis place look more like an army base den a school."

Rahne puzzled over this for a moment. "So... yui're looking into scent-based sensors?" she asked uncertainly. "Or what?" She'd never heard of such a thing, not electronically anyway, but it wasn't as if she were an expert. Then again, smoke detectors... hm.

"Not dat. Kuk has de perimeter seeded wit noise, motion and laser sensors. Anything dat passes over or near shows up. But de technology is hardly Star Trek, oui? Blown leaves, little animals, even de wind sets up what we call background feed dat de computers monitoring it are supposed to filter out. You following me so far?"

"Aye."

"Bein. How you take advantage of it is by moving past under de filter level, so dat de sensors are blind. A little like flying under de rader. But Remy figure, wit' your nose, you should be able to point out all de points of high activity by animals around de egress points at de edge of de grounds."

"So ye can adjust the... filter level lower elsewhere?" Rahne stopped to think about that. "Some things ye can find running just about anywhere, but aye, I could tell how it varies. At least, right now -- it should change a bit with the seasons."

"Vrai. But you absolutely right. If we know de areas, we can fine tune de sensors to anticipate for animal type, frequency and even size, so dat false alarms are minimized." Remy grinned. "And dat means de security team doesn't have to run out in dere underwear to face off against a woodchuck again."

Rahne eyed him suspiciously. "Ye have to be kidding."

"About de sensors or de underwear, because I know dat Braddock femme likes de black lacy--" Remy coughed and changed track. "It would be perfect, but it could help improve de overall system by a small margin. I'm up for taking all de advantages Remy can get."

"I could let someone know when they start shifting."

"Dat works. Especially if dere is a seasonal profile. I'm assuming dat de runs and nesting grounds don't change all dat much, oui?"

"I havena been here *that* long, but I think some are pretty regular, anyhow."

"Are you willing to start scouting it out den, chere? It's going to be a lot of work to set dis up." Remy stuffed his hands back in his pockets, really wishing he had a cigarette.

"I can start now, aye." She frowned slightly. "Too bad ye canna get Mr. Logan instead, I suppose. I doona know how precise I can be with the traffic levels, but I can tell ye relatively, and maybe guess at numbers. And most of the types." If she couldn't figure out a type of scent, she could probably go find a source, anyway.

"Remy go and tell Kuk den. De two of you can get together and start getting de whole thing set up." Remy smirked. "Besides, de idea of Kuk running around outside trying to get sensors good enough to stop Remy is amusing."

"Oh, are ye the test case, then?"

"Dat and de reason Kuk has ulcers." Remy said with a grin. "Figure dat I owe him a shot. Speaking of, we owe you one for dis, chere."

Rahne grinned. "Does that mean I can ask ye not to run out in yuir underwear and scare the deer?"

"If you see Remy in his underwear out here, chere, dat means someone is chasing him at de time." Remy finally gave up and reached for his cigarettes. "Bon soir, Rahne."

"Well, in that case we have more to worry about than the deer." She eyed the cigarettes and decided she might go upwind. "Good night." She dropped back down to all fours, shifting back to full wolf as she went. Maybe she could go ahead and see what was right around some of the boundaries -- and whether she could translate the scents into maths.