Nathaniel Mordue
November 28, 2019 12:09 PM
Asking for a favor (Professor Xavier). by Nathaniel Mordue
Nathaniel did not feel better after his rest cure, and he wasn't sure if he was disappointed or not. On one hand, as he had told Sylvia, he wasn't sure feeling better was something he was going to be able to do for a very long time. On the other, well...it was hard to stop hoping that something would help, especially when that something was such a major interruption to his routine. Weren't shocks supposed to be capable of inducing sudden and dramatic changes to a person's mind as well? Wasn't that what had happened to him in the first place?He did, however, feel clearer-headed than he had in months, and that was something. He could think straight. He didn't expect it to last, though. He expected that by the time he left school, he would be right to being as much of a sleep-deprived shell as he had been earlier in the week. Which meant he had to use this window of clarity to the fullest effect possible.
Three days after the last time a Mordue had entered it, Nathaniel walked up to Professor Xavier's door and tapped on it politely and waited to be asked in. He ducked his head apologetically as he entered, aware that he was quite possibly the last person Professor Xavier wanted to see darken his door again, short of Sylvia screaming curse words again. He was still somewhat sunken-looking - eating had been only slightly less of an effort than sleeping for the past few months, as everything had tasted like ashes, and sometimes he had gotten sick on whatever he did manage to get down - but his color was better, and he looked visibly more rested and less disoriented. He cleared his throat before he started to speak, and made a false start, but finally, with his hands moving as though he were washing them without his noticing, he managed to get past banalities and to the reason why he was again burdening the office with his luckless presence.
"I wanted to thank you, Professor, for the - time off," he said in a low voice. "It was...very helpful." The fact he didn't feel better didn't mean it had been a failure, after all. He had needed sleep, and space. He had gotten them. It had helped, even if it hadn't fixed anything other than his ability to complete a conversation without getting confused, and that probably temporarily. "And I - I wanted to ask you for one more favor."
He grimaced. "I know I have no right to, after all the inconvenience my family's put you through," he said apologetically. "But..." he shrugged helplessly. Life wasn't fair. Life didn't operate according to principles of right and wrong, at least not with any regularity. "I'm not sure there's really anyone else to ask under the circumstances, and it's important." His hand-washing grew more rapid, then stopped when he scratched himself slightly with his thumbnail and noticed what he was doing. "I need to make a Floo call, if there's any way at all to do that. To my mother. I promise we'll only use our indoor voices," he added. "I'm not going to shout at her. I just...need to discuss something with her, and the post is too slow. Please?"
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Nathaniel Mordue
Asking for a favor (Professor Xavier).
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