ax_main | Jean and Wanda

Wanda decides to check out Scott's love interest. It goes better than one might expect!

And there she was.

Wanda's eyes glistened with amusement as she crossed the classroom, her books tucked into one arm, and slipped into the seat next to Jean. She hadn't followed through on her plan to tak to the other girl before the holidays - things had come up, and then they'd needed to head out - but she was assuming a lack of texts from Scott meant that things hadn't gone to hell, at least.

Which meant a conversation was still in order. Because much as she liked Scott, she had the definite feeling he was an idiot where girls were concerned. Not her - she wasn't even entirely sure, most days, that Scott realized she was a girl, and didn't really care whether he did or not. Good dance partners were hard to come by, and good dance partners who gave awesome books for Christmas (and were prepared to discuss them) were even harder. Which gave her the obligation to check out this Jean Grey, and make sure Scott's ruby colored glasses weren't casting their own rose tinted glow.

"Hey. Did you get the homework done over break?" Wanda used as an icebreaker.

Jean's mind was a million miles away... mostly back in the woods with Scott and Ororo, feeling sick and more furious than she ever had in her life. It took her a moment to realize anyone was speaking to her.

"Sorry, what?"

Well, that wasn't promising, was it? "Homework. Over break," Wanda repeated. "Any luck with it? I got stuck on page 2; it's referring to something I wasn't here for, but I couldn't find it."

"Oh. Yeah, I got the homework done." Jean leaned over. "Let me see your notes?"

Wanda pulled out her notebook with its two weeks' worth of notes and handed it over. "You're Jean, right?"

Jean nodded as she accepted the notebook. "And you're Wanda, right? Pietro's sister?" And right now, Jean was soooo tempted just to read her mind and see what she wanted. She hadn't exactly avoided any of the school's guests, but between the holidays and everything that had happened during the holidays, circumstances kept making distance.

"Yeah. Sometimes I even admit that part." Wanda smirked a little. So, Pietro'd met the redhead. She'd have to get his opinion of her later. "Also, apparently, Tommy and Billy's mom at some point in the future," she left off TJ, considering the girl had made it clear she wasn't acknowledging any relationship, "and seeing as Scott's promised to play sperm donor for that if I don't have any other offers? I figure I should probably check out the girl he's been stammering and blushing over."

Jean soothed the prickle of jealously that ran over the back of her mind at and pretended to consider instead.

"Well, I'm going to guess you'll wind up with a different donor. Billy's adorkable, and but I don't think he and Scott share quite the same strain of dork. And you run more toward 'badass action chick' than 'adorable', so he probably doesn't get it from you."

Wanda let out a snort of amusement. "No, probably not. I've got my geek moments, but adorable? Definitely not me." She smiled crookedly. At least the other girl hadn't immediately gotten her nose out of joint. It was a good sign, so she decided to relent. "Anyway, it was just something we cooked up to mess with my brother. He was being a total shit about the future kids thing. Or at least, about the future father of the future kids thing."

"You could point out that the lack of future kids claiming to be his doesn't say much about his love life down the line," Jean mused.

"I could, but considering he's very definitely involved with another guy just now, and would probably rather die than have kids anyway? I'm not sure how much he'd buy into that." Wanda smirked. "Though it might be worth saying regardless."

"The trolling of siblings is a sacred duty," Jean agreed. "So you and Scott are friends?" Not that it was exactly a huge secret, and Jean knew Scott had good reason to try and build positive ties with the Brotherhood.

"Friends," Wanda confirmed. Her eyebrows rose, just a little. "And you and Scott are...?" Friends, according to Scott. With at least one date, and two trips home to meet the parents. But hearing what Jean called it would tell her a lot.

Right. OK, so this was definitely a fact-finding mission, not necessarily a hand across the aisle. Which didn't mean that was all it had to be, but a lot of that would depend on how this conversation went.

"Friends," Jean said. "And dating." It was more complicated than that, with their mutual boundary issues that somehow never quite seemed to apply to each other, but Jean was sure of those two things.

Wanda's lips twitched up just a touch. "You might want to smack him over the head with that second one a few dozen times, until he stops coming up with reasons why each date is an isolated occurrence and not part of a trend," she observed. "He's kinda slow on the uptake."

"Not really." Because she did have to defend Scott on that point. "I think he's just been disappointed too often."

"Maybe." Wanda shrugged and smiled a little. "Same end result, though.

"Maybe." Jean didn't feel like arguing that particular point. "So how do you know Scott?"

Wanda smirked. "Oh, Scott and I go waaaaaay back." Or, y'know, about two months. Same thing. "Gotta keep in touch with guys who can dance and play a mean game of pool-with-powers, y'know?"

Jean laughed. "Pool hustler, huh? I can almost see it. He's got a great poker face."

"No shit, right?" Wanda laughed and shook her head. "I can't get him to hustle, though. Sucks, because we could make some decent money at it."

"I guess it's all part of setting a good example for the impressionable students." Jean considered dropping the banter and just asking if she passed muster. It wasn't that Wanda had done anything untoward, or even unfriendly. There was just the whole business of ulterior motives possibly hanging overhead. Still, Jean reminded herself, that went both ways, and it wasn't fair to expect Wanda to make all the friendly gestures.

"How's your dad doing, by the way? Healed up all right?"

The question took Wanda by surprise, and her smile disappeared in favor of a blank expression as she studied the other girl's face, trying to figure out why she'd asked. "He hasn't been in touch," she said finally. "Any particular reason you're asking?"

"If I was fishing for information, I probably wouldn't have to ask," Jean pointed out gently. "We don't know a lot about each other, and part of what I do know is that your dad -- and your team, by extension -- have had a really rough time lately." And had given the students here a lot of trouble that they hadn't gone looking for as a result, but that was definitely a different topic. "So I asked."

Wanda continued eyeing her for a moment, then nodded, the corner of her mouth quirking a touch in acknowledgement. "Sorry. You're the only one who has, and I get that my father isn't exactly Mr. Popularity around here. Anyway, he took off once your doctors released him. We haven't heard anything from him since, but based on what he'd said when he left, we didn't expect to for a while." She paused for a moment, then offered a faint, slightly embarassed smile. "Sorry about fishing. I just didn't want to see Scott actually open up and then get screwed over for it, and it's impossible to get a decent read for what's going on from him. He overthinks it all too much."

"Yeah," Jean agreed quietly. "He'll make himself miserable in a good cause if given a chance. But he's got good friends to help him with that - Warren, me, Jean-Paul, and you, it sounds like."

"When he lets me." Wanda shrugged and smiled. "So, you're not one of those girls who's got issues with your boyfriend having a friend who's a girl, I take it? Because it's hard to find decent full powers pool players."

Jean huffed a laugh. "Nah. Scott has enough issues of his own without me tossing anything of mine on top of them. Plus, my roommate wouldn't be too pleased with me if I started getting stupid territorial."

"That'd be...'Ro?" Wanda asked, trying to remember what Scott had called her. "I don't think I've met her."

"You'd remember her," Jean said. "She's the best. Kind and gorgeous and she flies. I can introduce you, if you'll be around later."

Wanda considered that, and nodded. "Sure, I can stick around. Fatale's gotta open a portal later anyway; Eileen's got a late class." She smiled and shrugged. "I may have met her when we were here last month, but fuck. Gotta admit, I don't remember half the names. There was too much going on."

"It's like that here half the time too," Jean admitted. "Lots of people coming and going, or coming and just deciding to fade into the woodwork."

"Yeah, I don't get that," Wanda admitted. "I mean, a lot of it's probably just because we have a lot fewer people? But you join the Brotherhood, you're part of something. From what I've seen, a lot of people here seem like they're just kinda camping out for a while. It's weird to me."

Even Jean could tell this was a place to tread delicately. She didn't know how much Wanda had been told about X-Force, and besides, she didn't want to sound too critical of the people who were literally her family in some cases.

"Well. It kind of seems like you guys are all each other have, for the most part. And it's not the same case with everyone here."

"Mmmm, yeah, I guess." If Wanda still sounded skeptical, it was because she was - but then, it was a school, not just a team. Maybe that team they were putting together acted differently amongst themselves. Hard to say, seeing as she had no idea who was on it. "Anyway, if they're happy fading, I guess it's all good."

"Right? A lot of the kids here just need an adjustment period." Some longer than others. And speaking of which...

"So." She held up Wanda's notebook with a smile. "Do you still want help with your homework before class starts? Or was this all a clever plan to gather ammo next time you need to distract Scott at pool?"

"Well, I wouldn't object to the answer to #6, but other than that..." Wanda smirked and shrugged. Fishing expedition over, information obtained. The redhead wasn't half bad and genuinely seemed to like Scott. It was all good.