xp_logs | Nathan and Kyle, backdated to Monday night

Backdated to Monday night. Something of an exception is made to the 'limited visitors' rule for Nathan.

His shields were still patchy enough that the undisciplined thoughts of the person sitting beside the bed were more than enough to wake him up, breaking into a dream of standing by the ocean with Tim in Galicia, talking about what might come after. He'd been crying, he realized when he opened his eyes. Which was maybe why Kyle seemed upset.

Crying always smelled different depending on who did it. Some people just smelled like saltwater, and sometimes people smelled like that and copper, or tin, because they were angry, or really scared. Nate smelled like most of that, and hospital smells, and blood. Probably from the bruises, Kyle thought. He wasn't going to go and check. "Um. I, kinda wanted to make sure you were okay, I mean, they said you were, but there's okay, and then there's "okay, but really not." and I was worried, because everyone seems like they're hurt, Mr. Summers, and Wanda, and Jay's brother and Ani, and everyone, so I needed to make sure." He hadn't meant to talk quite so much, he'd promised to be quiet and not bother Nate, but it all came out at once.

Kyle. Nathan closed his eyes again for a moment, fighting the dizziness. "It's okay..." he murmured, his voice rough. "We'll all be okay, Kyle..." Needed reassurance. Kyle needed to know... had anyone told him?

"The doctors said." All of them had said at one point or another. "Mostly while I was giving blood." Kyle paused. "I don't think you have any of mine. Mostly Ani does, but maybe some other people. Dr. Hank had a really long explanation for why not everyone can use my blood even if they have the same type, because of the feral thing. But I think he said maybe it was energy people so maybe you do have some of mine." He ran a hand through his already messy hair, trying to keep from fidgeting too much and slumped in the chair. "You're really okay? I mean, honest?"

"I'll heal up... Amanda's helping. Takes a lot to do me in, you know..." Kyle had donated blood to Ani? That made sense. "Don't know that I was all that low on blood..." The half-dead, half-painful weight that was his tightly bound left arm reminded him that might not have been the case. Moira had muttered something about 'an ungodly number of stitches, Nathan'.

Amanda. Magic. Maybe that explained the weird undersmells, because the medlab shouldn't smell like that really good italian bread with the herbs on it, Kyle thought. And it'd bugged him a little. "I kinda think most people were low on blood. I wasn't the only one donating.." And God, he'd thought that sitting still for that long was going to drive him nuts. Not knowing much of anything except that people were hurt and he had to sit -still- with a big needle in his arm. "Did, um.. you guys... " he started, startling himself, because he had decided he wasn't to go out there and ask. "Um, you know, do the thing you were going to do?"

"Yeah... it's all done, champ..." His eyes stung at the hesitant hope in Kyle's question. "They're gone. For good. All the kids they had are safe... what happened to you and me and Ani and..." His throat tried to close before he said Mick or Tim's names. "It won't happen anymore. Ever."

Kyle couldn't answer. It was too big to think about, too big to comprehend. Not ever. He stared down, looking at his fingers because he needed something to look at besides the floor. "How many kids?.." He needed something, because this didn't feel real.

"Fifty... fifty three, I think, was the final count..." It was hard to concentrate on the numbers, especially since there were other numbers that his mind shied away from violently.

Fifty-three. God, that was like, more than his old homeroom. Maybe more than every single one of his classmates here. And it didn't help, because it -still- didn't feel real. And if it wasn't real for him, what must it be like for Ani or Nate, Kyle wondered. Especially since... He had to think very hard about everything that wasn't Tim or Mick, because he really didn't want to think about anyone at all dying for kids like him. That was another thing that was -way- too big to think about.

"It's going to be okay..." Nathan's throat tightened as he picked up on Kyle's thoughts. "It's all done," he went on, his voice roughening even more. Do not break down in front of the boy. Breaking down in front of the boy is bad.

"Its too ... much, I guess." Kyle mumbled. "Hard to imagine." If he didn't talk too much, then he wouldn't get all tight in his throat, and he wouldn't try to not cry. He was -not- -going- to -cry-, at least not in front of anyone. "What's gonna happen to the kids?" he asked, because he had to say something, sitting there silently just made him fidget even more than he already was.

"The ones that have homes... they'll go back. The others'll be looked after..." Nathan closed his eyes, sheer exhaustion catching up with him. "Don't need... to get it all at once, Kyle. Needs time to sink in..."

"That's probably what Doc Samson's gonna tell me too." Kyle said. He half wondered when the Doc was gonna get sick of seeing him, but so far, he hadn't been told to go away yet, even after the big stupid fight with Jay. "And I guess I kinda have it now, I mean, without having to worry or anything." He glanced at the clock outside Nate's room and shrugged. "I should probably, um, let you sleep or something before one of the doctors yells at me, or you, or both of us.." Not that he wanted to leave, but Nate looked, and smelled, and sounded exhausted.

"Can always come back, you know..." Nathan managed a faint smile, not opening his eyes. "Think... I'm going to get pretty bored by the time they let me out of here..."

"I'd offer you a squirrel, but I think they kinda frown on that." Kyle said, grinning. "With the not sterile and the little claws and the not being toilet trained." He shrugged. "Or, you know, I could just visit. I can do that. With gossip. Or at least, you know, stories about Forge being a big dork..." Because Forge was, really, a big dork.