Nathan and Alison, early Monday morning

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

First thing Monday morning, Alison gives Nathan some good news.


When he ate breakfast in the dining hall, which wasn't often - he much-preferred making breakfast for Moira in their own suite, although obviously that hadn't been an option for the last week and probably wouldn't be for several days yet - he liked to get here as early as possible. That way, he didn't have to put quite so much effort into pretending to be social until the coffee kicked in. He sipped at it, then pushed his bacon and scrambled eggs rather pensively around his plate.

There actually were a few ways to creep up on Nathan, though Alison preferred not to - usually. However, this particular morning was different and didn't quite mean to creep up on him too much. Just enough to maybe do a 'poof, I'm there' appearing trick while fetching some fruit for breakfast. This trick had usually worked on Betsy, though Alison wasn't thinking about that, or anything at all, when she entered the dining hall from the kitchen.

Why was he eating bacon and eggs? He wasn't all that hungry. Some orange juice and maybe a piece of fruit would have done him just fine. Nathan grumbled under his breath and stabbed the eggs with his fork. Maybe he had subconsciously absorbed Hank's insistence that he needed to gain a little weight? Moira had been nagging him about it this weekend, too.

The basket of fruit on the table usually always had something she liked (which merely involved being fruity and fresh, hence a sure bet). Her thoughts slowly settled on the color red, even as she leaned forward to claim the apple, finally entering Nathan's sight in the process. The 'ready to duck' was percolating deep in there somewhere, the memory of a thrown cane bringing a small smile to her lips.

Nathan looked up from his plate, blinking at her. "What?" he asked a bit suspiciously, spotting the tiny smile. Astonishingly, he wasn't overhearing her - well, he was hearing her, but only as part of the wash of thoughts against his shields. That was an improvement.

The tiny smile, which had been all about happy memories, change to something else - smug. "I know something you don't," Alison nodded wisely, leaning on the table to grin at him cheerfully, using the sleeve of her wool sweater to buff the apple further, even if it wasn't needed. "You want to know what I know."

"Hmmrph." Nathan's eyes narrowed. "I could find out, but that would be all unethical, and so on. So do I guess, or are you going to just tell me?" It had to be good news. She had that 'I have a happy secret!' face on.

"Mmm." She had two good bits of news to give him, really. Tapping her chin lightly, she made a show of thinking her options over. "Well." She rested a thin metal plate on the table and flicked it his way, making it turn so that it ended up just a certain way in front of him. Name clearly visible for him to see. "Thought you'd enjoy fusing that to your locker telekinetically, instead of using the old rivet system."

The early-morning pre-caffeine growliness started to fade with surprising speed, and Nathan couldn't help smiling down at the nameplate. He had made the decision to keep using 'Cable' a while ago, of course, but still... "Well," he said dryly, "rivets are for the uncreative, yes..."

"Hey! If it weren't for the whole, you know, metal conducting heat thing, I'd have lased mine to the locker myself!" But the rivets were cute, and she was vaguely tempted to ask Clarice to glue some of those fake glitter gems to the plate to cover them, if only because of how incongruous it would look in the othewise austere locker room. "Congratulations." The last was offered softly, Alison smiling at him yes, but a hint of seriousness present as well.

"Thank you." His reply was quiet, his expression thoughtful as he stared down at the nameplate, rubbing at an imaginary smudge on the metal. "You as well?" he finally asked, looking up at her.

"Yeah." She looked down at the table, the memory of the tabs still bright in her mind, there for Nathan to see if he wanted to. "Yesterday. Scott mocked me too."

"Of course he did. We need the humor; if we don't have it, we forget what a basically insane thing we're all doing." The Askani chuckled softly in the back of his mind and he smiled. "We are, you know. An insane, foolhardy, beautiful thing. However it turns out, they'll remember us, or what we stood for, at least. For centuries." He had proof of that, after all.

Alison stared at him, for a long time. "I never thought of it that way, you know. Being remembered, I mean. Just saw it... giving a chance to those who can make change not to have to fight." She'd have been one of those, if not for events dictating otherwise. And she was commited to this now. How odd, things turning out that way - even though she wished otherise, she wasn't sure she'd let herself stop this, now. "A path to travel."

"You've heard me go on before about how it's a clash of ideas, in the end. It's important to do it, but it's also important to have what we do remembered. ~For others to find the path in times to come.~"

"I'd be out there doing the social change thing, if it hadn't been for-" She stopped, shaking her head. "But this is what I'm doing now. ~Choices and consequences go hand in hand.~" She pulled a chair and sat down, stretching out her legs on another under the table, and took a bite of the apple. Askani proverb slinging was an art form, really.

"Different kinds of battles," Nathan told her, and tried a bite of the scrambled eggs. Not bad, but his appetite was very definitely absent this morning. "All of them are worth it." He smiled at her suddenly, aware of a deep, all-encompassing contentment that he really shouldn't be feeling, not when Moira was an ocean away. But this felt so right. The patterns shivered in his mind, a strangely pleasant sensation.

"I know." She wasn't too wistful, at missing out on the one she'd chosen first. At least - the realization that she'd chosen this one, and not just been forced into it, was comforting somehow. You did what you could. And hoped it would matter, in the end. "You're looking pleased about something."

Nathan chuckled softly. "I am pleased. Very pleased, actually." He reached out with his free hand, fingers brushing over the nameplate. "You've made my day, actually." Both pieces of news had, really. He had thought for a while now that she needed to be out in the field, doing rather than contemplating. "So, let me guess... you and Haroun are the on-call pair this week?"

She laughed lowly at that, waving her hand, the bright red apple still held within. "However did you guess? We went out to celebrate last night but came back at a reasonable hour. Being resposible and all," she winked. And not taking any chances at all, since they'd both worked for this, after all. "We've got some command team training this week, still, too."

"Mmm. The training doesn't ever stop - that much I know." He smiled. "I'm looking forward to it," he said firmly. "I'm feeling... very ready." The Askani murmured approvingly, and he grinned suddenly, buoyed even further by that. "I suppose this means I ought to schedule that switchboard-test with Charles for fairly soon?"

"Ooh." Alison straightened a bit at that, no longer quite slouching in her chair as she'd somehow managed to do since sitting down. "If you need a third or just someone else in general for that, count me in?" She paused, then grinned a bit sheepishly. "Ok, it'll be someone used to that sort of thing to a certain extent, but it might be best to start that way..."

He chuckled. "I'm going to need a lot more than a third, I think. The idea is to be able to facilitate multiple simultaneous telepathic conversations. Charles talked to me about the technique. It's not hard to grasp, although it'll be energy-intensive to do."

A serene nod answered him, Alison not about to go on and tell him what to do on that one. "Well, offering self up as guinea pig here, as needed." Another bite of the apple, Alison chewing on it pensively, pointedly not asking about when that would be integrated to scenario practices and the like.

Another chuckle slipped out. "I do so love it when people say that," he teased, but despite the smile, his eyes were serious. "~Soon,~" he went on in Askani. "~I'm more than ready to be this to the fullest.~"

Her own expression sobered in response, and she looked down for a moment, the next Askani proverb to come to mind feeling rather pointed. "~Something done with half a heart...~"

"~...is best not done at all.~" Nathan picked up the nameplate, his hand closing gently but firmly around it. "That one always sat very well with me."