Checking In On Nate

March 24, 2016:

X-23 learns Nate has been hurt and checks in on him.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Nate was barely conscious when he got to Xavier's, alter a hasty patch-up at Mutant Town. Femoral artery hits cause a massive amount of bleeding, although he was lucky it was hit low enough a tourniquet was easy.

He spent most of yesterday sleeping, and receiving blood transfusions. He should sleep some more today, but he never does what he should, and the nightmares have been particularly bad the whole night. Since he can't be watched 24/7, he is currently sneaking off the medlab, heading to the kitchenette with coffee in mind. In consideration of his injury he is hovering instead of walking, not that he could walk with all the bandaging around his thigh.


While Laura has been around the Mansion and throughout the city, she has been purposely scarce when it comes to those she considers friends and family. Still, eventually, word leaks back to Laura that Nate, Rose and Rachel were involved in a terrible fight. Terrible enough that Nate required blood transfusions and rest within the medlab.

She did visit him. Though each time he was asleep when she stopped by to check in. She was simply a silent shadow that watched over him and the various machines that detailed his health with silent beeps and ticks. She would stand vigil for some time, before she'd leave. Usually when his scent would reveal that he was close to waking up.

Today is no different. She's coming down to the medlabs to check in on Nate and when her silent steps take her around the corner and into the hallway Nate's floating down, she can't help but pause. She's in front of him, so he should see her easily enough. A frown is beginning to tick her lips downward as she watches him float. "What are you doing?" She asks in that flat voice, though beneath those words are concern, even if her wording is rather blunt.


So much for sneaking. Nate got out-sneaked. He should have been using his telepathy for the sneaking instead of using it to talk long-range with folks in New York. "I am going to get me some coffee and stuff," he explains, looking at Laura vaguely amused. "Than I am going to find some way to kill time without moving much," which sounds difficult to him. "How goes for you, Laura?"


That frown still dips slightly downward as she watches the floating Nate. Those green eyes of hers will flick from his hovering form to the door that leads into his room, before she turns her attention back to him. "Go. Lay down. I will obtain coffee." Are her brisk seeming words as she pivots upon heel and leaves. Yes, she expects him to go back in his room and lay down.

And whether he follows her directions, or simply follows her, Laura will quickly make her way to the small kitchen within the X-Men bunker. Efficiently now, Laura will pull down a mug, a tray, a carafe and packets of sugar. Once the small carafe is filled with coffee, Laura will pick up the tray (which holds everything else) and turn on heel again.


"Ain't happening, if I stay horizontal a minute more I will go bonkers," grumbles Nate, hovering after Laura. "Also, you have not answered my question," he notes. And since she is doing the coffee, Nate goes to raid the fridge. Lets see… why is the fridge of the bunker always half empty? Barely enough for a couple sandwiches. Ah, but there are bags of chips in the cupboard. Coffee and chips, all you need for breakfast.


He followed her. Which she expected. She may not be the best predictor of behavior for people she barely knows, but she's starting to understand Nate more and more. When she turns back to the kitchen at large, she'll just give him a look, even as he finds his prize of chips. Her brows furrow slightly as she considers the value of that food. "You need protein. Not carbohydrates." States the slim assassin, even as she turns her gaze to the door leading back to the main hallway.

She'll take a step towards the door and then look to the man. She's making sure he's going to follow her back to his room. He better, otherwise no coffee will be given to him. Again, his question is still ignored as she takes another step towards the door, before disappearing through the door and into the hallway.


"Really? I guess I will take the ham from the fridge too." It only looked a little stale, certainly well within his standards of edible from the Age of Apocalypse. Wait, his coffee! "Where are you going?"

Also, she keeps ignoring his question. He expected a laconic 'I'm fine' from the brunette and she is not delivering, which probably means she is not well, since being deliberately irritating seems way beyond her current conversational abilities. "What are you up to, girl? Has anything happened? If it is about Rachel, it wasn't your fault and no one blames you."


He'll eventually find her back in his room. Where /Nate/ belongs. The tray holding the carafe of coffe, sugar and a mug will be set upon the small table near Nate's bed. Then X-23 will simply wait for the hovering young man to make his way back into the room. When he reappears she'll simply look at the bed now. For others this wouldn't be yelling, but in Laura speak she's just about pointing and screaming for him to get back in bed.

She'll stand there until he lays back down, which means they might be at a stand-off, no pun intended. His question will be answered, /finally/, even as she waits for him to lay down. "Nothing has happened with me." She says in that emotionless voice of hers, even as she offers another question. "Who attacked you?"


Oh yes, the medbay bed is scrupulously, stubbornly avoided. Obviously Laura doesn't know Nate enough. He does grab the coffee, drowns it in sugar and proceeds to sip from it instead of waiting for it to cool enough. "Mercenaries," he replies. "They were after Rachel. Also, they have been watching us, they had pictures of the time you were with Betsy and Rachel in New York. We need to be even more watchful. I can't believe they got me like that. Maybe they used some kind of spy drone."


Frown. That slight expression is still on her features when Nate avoids the bed. If she were a normal person she'd probably tell him to 'stop being stupid and stubborn', but this is Laura. So, silence just reigns on that particular front.

Either way, if he's going to stand, apparently so will she as she avoids the chair that's close to his bed.

"Where?" She asks, possibly meaning where were the three of them attacked. "I will go there and see what I can find." She could probably have worded her request differently, but all Laura knows is straight forward right now.


"It was a park in Bronx, damn if I know the name," replies Nate. "You are not going alone, though. Go there with Rachel or Betsy. And double check for tails, spy cameras or mutant powers. I think Rachel can always know when another mutant is around." He almost said 'wait for me' but he would only slow her down, which adds to his irritation.


A park in the Bronx. That information is swiftly filed away. While there are many parks in the Bronx, that won't deter X-23. She'll simply go to everyone and look for the obvious and not so obvious signs of a pitched battle, as well as familiar and not-so familiar scents. His mention of not going alone and who she should take earns a simple flat-eyed stare from X-23.

"I will be careful." Is all she will say to his 'directions', which means she's likely not going to follow them, since she's somewhat avoiding that missive of his.

"You should rest now." She says, still in that monotone voice of hers.


Nate is pretty fluent in stubbornesse and notices right away what Laura is going to try to do. "You are not going alone," he states. "If you do I will tell Scott and Jean and convince you to ground you until you are twenty one. Something is eating you, I can see it. So spill it or I am going to go into your pretty head and find out."


Those green eyes of X-23's narrow slightly at Nate's rather aggressive words. "You will not go into my head unwanted." She states, voice dropping in tone; the vaguest of growls underlying what she's said. While others might take that 'threat' of Nate's not so seriously, Laura does. She can't help it. Her read of the situation or really any situation at all will always lean towards taking everything everyone has said as verbatim.

As fact.

And while there is definitely something wrong, X-23 can't quite bridge what she feels currently (for this whole situation) to begin to even address just what she's feeling. So, after that initial statement of hers, she simply falls silent her hands fisted lightly at her sides as she waits to see what Nate's going to do. She's not too worried about a fight, if it comes down to it. He's weak right now and she's not.


Being injured doesn't make Nate weak. He is well-rested and his leg only hurts a little. Easy to ignore, he has a high pain threshold. "Okay, fine. Come into my parlour then, little mouse," and instead of going into her head, he drags her into his own. Overwhelming force, really. Maybe if Laura had serious anti-psychic training she could resist him.

There is a park in Bronx, Spring is just around the corner and the weather is pretty decent. But instead of Rachel and Rose, only Laura and Nate are there, with the Thai food. "It was here. Nice place, I remember it different in my world, though."


"I am not a mouse." She says flatly in that precies tone of hers, as she keeps her gaze focused completely on Nate still. And while she was expecting /something/, she wasn't quite expecting Nate to pull her into his own mentalscape.

Surprise, anger (because there's always anger with Laura) and uncertainity quickly war within the slant of her mouth, as she's actually 'overcome' with these emotions; as she's so easily pulled into Nate's head. Before she's pulled completely down the rabbit's hole, as it were, there's enough time in that split-second for Laura to release the claws held within her hands. That movement of hers is almost semi-automatic, when the other woman realizes the 'danger' coming for her. So, isn't it an odd little picture they present? Standing and hovering there, with X-23's claws out.

When she's able to get her mental feet beneath her (which only takes a handful of seconds) Laura will immediately look around. Everything within the mental image of the park is memorized, even as she glances towards the Thai Food, to see if the containers reads the name of the place.


And the park fades, changes. Only the table with the food remains there. Most of the trees are gone, replaced by charred stumps or sickly-looking scrub. The buildings around are older, and they are all broken, some burned down, some standing but obviously empty and unsuitable for human habitation.

There is a pile of human skulls about twenty yards from the table. Huge. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of human skulls. A grisly monument for a massacre that must have happened around ten years ago given the state of the bones.

More recently some more humans, or maybe mutants, have been hanged from one of the few standing trees. They are still rotting. "And this is why I don't sleep much," comments Nate, picking one of the food boxes and matching chopsticks.


The change of scenery is watched with very little emotion from X-23. Perhaps curiousness from the dark-haired assassin as she's had so little dealings with telepathy.

Her bright green eyes easily roam around the area again, noting the buildings in shambles, the burnt vegetation and even the piles of skulls. If this was supposed to evoke some sort of emotion from the girl, it seems to have fail, as she turns that gaze back to Nate.

Destruction, death, she's aware of just how easy the world can go to Hell in a handbasket, as it were. "I understand." She states, when he reveals why he doesn't sleep much at night. And with his powers it should be easy for him to pick up on the true understanding she has of how the horrors he (and she) have seen causes nightmares.


"Hmm, maybe. At least better than most others. I think Rachel understands better," despite the horror around them, Nate seems to have no problem with the food. "See, I never knew when I would be eating next, so one learns to ignore the landscape. Sometimes you are too hungry to pay attention, anyway." He says, although actually he is just reminiscing. This is internal monologue at its best. "Now, since you think you understand. Maybe you will also admit I might understand you."


Again X-23 listens to what Nate has to say. True, she may not understand as well as Rachel does, but there's a depth of understanding within Laura. More than what your average person would be able to feel, to say the least.

The mention of food causes the girl to automatically look to the table that still holds said last meal, before her attention is back on Nate when he states that last line of his.

A faint frown tugs at the corner of her lips again, as she considers him. It may take a few minutes, or even longer, but eventually Laura says, "Possibly." Perhaps he'll understand some of it yes, but not all of it. And it's that not all of it and her own internal struggles with connecting her own emotional dots that causes her to fall silent after that one word of hers.


Nate looks at Laura for a minute, trying to encourage her to talk. Around them the park clears up, returning to the green and brown of the Bronx. Even the sky clears up from the low-hanging dull grey and red clouds of ash into spare white spring clouds and the bright mid-day sun. "Sit," beat, "please. Y'know, almost every time I see a park, or a busy street, my mind goes and compares with the ruins of my Earth. It is… like I don't want to remember, but I don't want to forget either."


At first it might seem like Laura might not sit, but eventually, after Nate reveals how he cross compares this Earth to his Earth, Laura finally manages to sit down. Her body isn't very relaxed, even as she sits, instead she sits with her back ramrod straight.

Her gaze will rove around the area for a moment, now much nicer looking than before. Finally though, she speaks. It's still in that ever present emotionless voice, but, at least, she's talking. "I cannot say I compare like you do." She begins, her gaze dropping to her hands for a few seconds, "But I can say when I look at people it is always first with an eye on how to kill them efficiently."

And while this isn't necessarily what's bothering her, she's sharing something more personal with Nate than ever before.


Nate hmms at the admission, wondering if that is some predatory instinct of hers or the vicious training of the Facility. Whatever it is, it must color her worldview and not in a nice way. "Would you like to learn how to avoid doing that?" He asks.


It's probably a bit of both, though more heavily influenced by The Facility and their special way of training. Special. Really.

Still, Nate's question causes Laura to pause a moment. Her brows will knit together as she considers what he has to teach her. On one hand, yes, it would be nicer to see the world as normal people do, but on the other …

There's still so much danger out in the world, for X-23 that is, does she want to get out of practice with that? Her indecision is mirrored in her hands as she unconsciously fists them in her lap. "I .." Starts the dark haired woman, "… do not know." Her green eyes will focus back upon Nate now, as Laura offers those incredibly hard to say words.


Nate nods. "That I understand. It is useful in our line of work, but it also kind of… cripples us, right? Make one feel we are missing something, or that we are even weirder we are. Is this something we got because the crappy lives we had or it is our powers laying tricks? I am psychometric. I don't use it much actively because is sends me to shitland most of the time, but it sure affects how I see and I remember the world."


His understanding earns a single nod from X-23 as she adds "Yes, that is it. Perhaps when the danger is over - " The current danger with The Facility she means, "- You can tell me how to be better handle situations." Her dark eyebrows are still knitted tightly together, as she struggles with saying those words. It's second nature for her to determine what's the best/easiest way to take a mark down.

Rising from her seated position, Laura will turn her gaze back to Nate. "Will you return us to our bodies?" She's likely not using the best verbiage in that request, but it's clear what she means. Take them back to the real world, please.


Nate nods hesitantly. Maybe he can help. He better ask a more skilled telepath for advice. And he is pretty sure this is not what is eating Laura right now. Still, there might have been some progress made somewhere in her psyche.

He sighs, and they are back to the madbay, standing pretty much where they were. Except while they were in the mindscape he was standing, not hovering, and now his leg is aching real bad. Grumbling, he sits down on the bed. "Well, now you know the place. But take someone with you, willya. Cover your back."


No, it's not what was bothering her, but something within her psyche seems a tiny bit better. Either way, when she pops back into her body, her claws will be sheathed quickly enough. Especially when Nate settles on the bed with that grumble of his. "You should rest." She states again and then, "I will leave you to your rest."

His last remark is heard and while it doesn't seem like she's going to respond to it, she does add lastly, "I will consider it." So, while not a YES I'll take someone with me, she at least, will consider it. It's probably the best Nate is going to get from X-23 on this particular topic.

"Do you require anything before I leave?"


Nate hears her, and immediately starts scanning for people to recruit to keep an eye on Laura. Where is Rachel right now? "Require? How about a working leg? No? Then I'd settle for the food I left in the kitchen table and a tablet to… dunno, I'll go read some of Scott's mission reports. If that doesn't put me to sleep, nothing will."


"I will gather food and a tablet for you." Laura says simply enough, as she gives him one last look. Then she's out the door and a few minutes later, she'll reappear with said tablet and said food. Once he's as comfortable as he can be, Laura will say, "I will see you soon."

Then she's gone.

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