Scott and Jean, October 2
Oct. 2nd, 2017 03:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainJean asks Scott about that tour...
Jean had waited what seemed a polite amount of time for Scott to get back to her on the whole grounds thing. In retrospect, she probably should have known better. She wasn't getting so much a hint of snob off the guy, but he did seem like he was largely OK with his own company. And Sylvia. So of course she was going to have to be the one to press the issue.
In this case, pressing the issue meant low key ambushing Scott outside of English class.
"Hey. I've been looking for you."
Scott blinked in slight surprise. "Hey Jean. What's up?"
"Nothing serious. Just wondering when you might have time to give me that tour of the grounds."
He hadn't forgotten, though he also hadn't done or said anything about it. Scott was sure she was just trying to be nice which, he guessed, spoke volumes about her being a decent person, but didn't necessarily mean she actually wanted him to inflict his presence on her. He'd figured letting it go would give her an out, if she wanted one.
"Right. Uh, let me see...". He pulled a small and battered planner out of his back pocket. Each day was marked off in precise, engineer's print with his training times, his classes, and his limited other commitments. "I have some time right now, actually...
"But if you'd rather wait, that's cool." He didn't want to pressure her into something on-the-spot.
OK, it was kind of adorable and weirdly reassuring that he had things planned out in such detail. Also a little sad. Definitely worth investigating.
"It just so happens I'm free right now. Shall we?"
"Uh, sure." He tucked his planner back into his back pocket. "Where did you want to start?"
"I'm a stranger in a strange land," she teased. "Let's assume I've actually figured out where my classes are and go from there."
Right. "Well, I'm betting you know the buildings well enough." She had to, to go to class, train, eat, and go to her room each night. "Want to start with the grounds?"
He left out that the grounds were his favorite thing about the school. When he had first arrived, the house had fly oppressive. Expensive, opulent, it gave off some strong 'do not touch' and 'you do not belong here' vibes. He'd sought solace outside, on the grounds, and so he both knew them well and loved them.
"Absolutely." She looped her arm with his. "Lead on, Mr Summers."
He managed, only just, not to automatically flinch away from the unexpected contact. Old habits died hard, and even if he knew Jean wasn't going to hurt him, it was hard to retrain honed reflexes.
He led Jean outside, almost grateful for the contact now that the initial response had passed. For all that people touching him bothered him, he was touch starved, and he needed the contact more than he'd ever admit. "How're you liking the school so far?" He asked.
He hid the physical flinch, but Jean felt the mental recoil. She almost let go. Almost. Explaining why she did... she hadn't meant to eavesdrop on his thoughts, but the spike in intensity slipped through her shields. She didn't want him to think she'd picked up on it purposefully.
"It's been great so far. Everyone's been really... well, understanding."
"Good. That's...good." Scott was not good at small talk. Hopefully she wasn't bothered by his awkwardness. "I guess it's nice, since we're all here on the Island of Misfit Toys."
"Right. But, I don't know... there are some powers that have to be easier to accept than others. Having someone in your head is one of those things that skeeves people out."
As someone who intensely valued his privacy, for a whole host of reasons ranging from natural inclination to wanting to keep his classmates from knowing who he'd been and what he'd done, Scott was one of those people who was suspicious of telepathy. But, hearing that pang in Jean's voice, that feeling of being an outsider even here, it hit him right in the chest. She hadn't chosen telepathy any more than he'd chosen the gaze of death. The most either of them could do was do their best to control their powers.
"I think it's easy to mistrust something we don't understand," he said slowly, speaking as much about himself as about anyone else. "But if anyone gives you a hard time, let me know. None of us chose this, it's unfair to hold someone's mutation against them."
"Everyone's been great so far." She grinned and nudged him. "Some have even gone above and beyond to make me feel welcome. Like modeling for photos."
He felt his face warm a bit. "I doubt you have trouble finding volunteers." A friendly and pretty girl in a school full of people who seemed to think 'subtlety' meant not screaming in their YouTube videos? There was probably a line.
Jean laughed softly. "I'll tell you a secret. The secret of a great photo is usually being good at an ambush. So it's usually less finding volunteers than shoot first, then ask permission. Or beg forgiveness."
Scott raised his eyebrows. "Is that so, Miss Grey? Who have you managed to ambush so far?"
He led them partially into the hedge maze. "This is the hedge maze. I mean, obviously, I guess."
"How hard is it to get to the center?" She peered in curiously.
"Not very. We can walk it, if you want." He offered. "The cool thing about the center is that you can't see inside the heart of it from the school." He'd discovered that when he'd first arrived. The Professor hadn't said anything about him hiding in there sometimes. A way, Scott suspected, of reassuring his flight risk of a student.
"I'd like to see." Jean stepped into the maze, tugging his arm playfully. "Is there a gazebo?"
"It's almost like you're psychic," Scott teased, letting her pull him further into the maze. "Yeah, there's a gazebo. It's actually one of my favorite places on the grounds."
"Because it's private?" Jean unconsciously tightened her grip on his arm as the green walls rose over them, casting shadow all around. "I can imagine that's in short supply around here sometimes."
"Yeah." With all the other students now there, solitude was harder and harder to get. And before that, when solitude had been easier to come by, because it was a place he knew he wouldn't be watched. They wound their way through the maze, Scott navigating it as though he had all the paths memorized (because, in fact, he did). "I don't really understand why anyone would build a maze on their own property; I mean, it's only going to be an actual challenge the once. But I do still like the center gazebo."
"For other people to enjoy, probably. And the aesthetic. I mean, it's got to be worth some level of bragging rights to be able to say you have your own hedge maze."
Scott couldn't say he'd ever been near rich people long enough to really figure out what they bragged about (nor did he care to be, honestly). "I guess. 'Yes, I have two horses that do that...horse dancing shit, three Aston Martins, and my own hedge maze.'"
Jean laughed. "OK, maybe you do it for the private gazebo, then."
"Could be," Scott mused. As the gazebo came into view, he gestured towards it with a small 'ta da.'
"Oh!"
Scott Summers was a master of understatement, it seemed. The structure at the center of the maze was hardly a gazebo, more a pavilion, ringed by stone columns and topped with a lattice of wisteria. Jean released Scott's arm and stepped forward to examine the scene more closely.
He smirked, pleased with himself for having managed to surprise a telepath, even if she seemed not to be reading his mind in any event. Scott watched her as she explored, taking in the grandiose gazebo. It was a little over-the-top, but in this case, Scott was inclined to partially forgive the ostentatiousness of the place. He took a his favorite seat and watched Jean take it all in. "What do you think?"
"I think I may ask for a change of room assignments." Jean looked torn between taking a seat and exploring, and in the end, exploring won out. "This was so worth braving the hedge."
"High praise. I think the Professor might be in trouble if he starts housing us in tents in the yard though," Scott said, sounding mildly amused.
"Like that's the most ridiculous thing that could happen here?" A laugh curled around the last word like a cat settling on it own tail. "This is beautiful!" She vanished behind a pillar to examine a low-hanging drape of woody vines.
"Ridiculous, no probably not. But it would probably still be the thing that gets us on the news," Scott said dryly. Still, he was glad she liked it, and pleased that he'd managed to get his little tour right so far.
There was a quiet click off to Scott's left. Jean had appeared with her camera.
"Mutant boarding school expose?" She laughed. "Maybe the Professor should hire a PR team."
"Better that our PR be you over me." Scott mused, watching her with some measure of curiosity.
She snapped one more picture of Scott in the dreamy, half-light filtering down between the vines, then restrained herself and plunked down next to him on the bench.
"Well, I want to be a teacher. I think that's pretty far off from PR."
He raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. He didn't know what he'd expected Jean to want to be, but he wouldn't have guessed teacher in at least his first 25 tries. "Teacher, huh? What subject?"
"I'm not sure yet." She tucked her legs under her. "Sometimes I would think general education, like for grade school. Other times, maybe focus on special needs kids." She half-smiled. "Lately, I felt like maybe I could be a teacher for mutant children. It's not like we're all there will ever be, right?"
Did all teachers start out this way? She sounded like she genuinely wanted to help people, kids. Scott hadn't personally seen many teachers who have much thought to their charges. A few, sure, but not the majority he'd had, at least. If they all started out like this, he guessed the lack of funding and support must have been what burned them out and turned them into the teachers he'd had. One more he could pin on an uncaring government, he supposed.
"I guess not," he agreed. "So why teaching?"
"I always wanted to help people. Kids, especially." She propped her chin up on her fist. "Maybe that was an aspect of my powers. My dad always said I had a lot of empathy for my age."
Scott supposed that made a sort of sense, that a telepath might be more empathetic. "Sounds like teaching would be a good choice then. I mean, not that you need to pick your life path right now or anything."
"No," she agreed. "Right now, I'm concentrating on my powers. And finding new and exciting gazebos."
"I'm afraid I only know about this one," Scott said, an edge of humor to his voice. "So if you want to see new gazebos you might need to befriend someone who gets off campus more often."
"Well, I might decide to keep up our acquaintance anyway. Someone who knows his way around a maze can come in handy."
Jean had waited what seemed a polite amount of time for Scott to get back to her on the whole grounds thing. In retrospect, she probably should have known better. She wasn't getting so much a hint of snob off the guy, but he did seem like he was largely OK with his own company. And Sylvia. So of course she was going to have to be the one to press the issue.
In this case, pressing the issue meant low key ambushing Scott outside of English class.
"Hey. I've been looking for you."
Scott blinked in slight surprise. "Hey Jean. What's up?"
"Nothing serious. Just wondering when you might have time to give me that tour of the grounds."
He hadn't forgotten, though he also hadn't done or said anything about it. Scott was sure she was just trying to be nice which, he guessed, spoke volumes about her being a decent person, but didn't necessarily mean she actually wanted him to inflict his presence on her. He'd figured letting it go would give her an out, if she wanted one.
"Right. Uh, let me see...". He pulled a small and battered planner out of his back pocket. Each day was marked off in precise, engineer's print with his training times, his classes, and his limited other commitments. "I have some time right now, actually...
"But if you'd rather wait, that's cool." He didn't want to pressure her into something on-the-spot.
OK, it was kind of adorable and weirdly reassuring that he had things planned out in such detail. Also a little sad. Definitely worth investigating.
"It just so happens I'm free right now. Shall we?"
"Uh, sure." He tucked his planner back into his back pocket. "Where did you want to start?"
"I'm a stranger in a strange land," she teased. "Let's assume I've actually figured out where my classes are and go from there."
Right. "Well, I'm betting you know the buildings well enough." She had to, to go to class, train, eat, and go to her room each night. "Want to start with the grounds?"
He left out that the grounds were his favorite thing about the school. When he had first arrived, the house had fly oppressive. Expensive, opulent, it gave off some strong 'do not touch' and 'you do not belong here' vibes. He'd sought solace outside, on the grounds, and so he both knew them well and loved them.
"Absolutely." She looped her arm with his. "Lead on, Mr Summers."
He managed, only just, not to automatically flinch away from the unexpected contact. Old habits died hard, and even if he knew Jean wasn't going to hurt him, it was hard to retrain honed reflexes.
He led Jean outside, almost grateful for the contact now that the initial response had passed. For all that people touching him bothered him, he was touch starved, and he needed the contact more than he'd ever admit. "How're you liking the school so far?" He asked.
He hid the physical flinch, but Jean felt the mental recoil. She almost let go. Almost. Explaining why she did... she hadn't meant to eavesdrop on his thoughts, but the spike in intensity slipped through her shields. She didn't want him to think she'd picked up on it purposefully.
"It's been great so far. Everyone's been really... well, understanding."
"Good. That's...good." Scott was not good at small talk. Hopefully she wasn't bothered by his awkwardness. "I guess it's nice, since we're all here on the Island of Misfit Toys."
"Right. But, I don't know... there are some powers that have to be easier to accept than others. Having someone in your head is one of those things that skeeves people out."
As someone who intensely valued his privacy, for a whole host of reasons ranging from natural inclination to wanting to keep his classmates from knowing who he'd been and what he'd done, Scott was one of those people who was suspicious of telepathy. But, hearing that pang in Jean's voice, that feeling of being an outsider even here, it hit him right in the chest. She hadn't chosen telepathy any more than he'd chosen the gaze of death. The most either of them could do was do their best to control their powers.
"I think it's easy to mistrust something we don't understand," he said slowly, speaking as much about himself as about anyone else. "But if anyone gives you a hard time, let me know. None of us chose this, it's unfair to hold someone's mutation against them."
"Everyone's been great so far." She grinned and nudged him. "Some have even gone above and beyond to make me feel welcome. Like modeling for photos."
He felt his face warm a bit. "I doubt you have trouble finding volunteers." A friendly and pretty girl in a school full of people who seemed to think 'subtlety' meant not screaming in their YouTube videos? There was probably a line.
Jean laughed softly. "I'll tell you a secret. The secret of a great photo is usually being good at an ambush. So it's usually less finding volunteers than shoot first, then ask permission. Or beg forgiveness."
Scott raised his eyebrows. "Is that so, Miss Grey? Who have you managed to ambush so far?"
He led them partially into the hedge maze. "This is the hedge maze. I mean, obviously, I guess."
"How hard is it to get to the center?" She peered in curiously.
"Not very. We can walk it, if you want." He offered. "The cool thing about the center is that you can't see inside the heart of it from the school." He'd discovered that when he'd first arrived. The Professor hadn't said anything about him hiding in there sometimes. A way, Scott suspected, of reassuring his flight risk of a student.
"I'd like to see." Jean stepped into the maze, tugging his arm playfully. "Is there a gazebo?"
"It's almost like you're psychic," Scott teased, letting her pull him further into the maze. "Yeah, there's a gazebo. It's actually one of my favorite places on the grounds."
"Because it's private?" Jean unconsciously tightened her grip on his arm as the green walls rose over them, casting shadow all around. "I can imagine that's in short supply around here sometimes."
"Yeah." With all the other students now there, solitude was harder and harder to get. And before that, when solitude had been easier to come by, because it was a place he knew he wouldn't be watched. They wound their way through the maze, Scott navigating it as though he had all the paths memorized (because, in fact, he did). "I don't really understand why anyone would build a maze on their own property; I mean, it's only going to be an actual challenge the once. But I do still like the center gazebo."
"For other people to enjoy, probably. And the aesthetic. I mean, it's got to be worth some level of bragging rights to be able to say you have your own hedge maze."
Scott couldn't say he'd ever been near rich people long enough to really figure out what they bragged about (nor did he care to be, honestly). "I guess. 'Yes, I have two horses that do that...horse dancing shit, three Aston Martins, and my own hedge maze.'"
Jean laughed. "OK, maybe you do it for the private gazebo, then."
"Could be," Scott mused. As the gazebo came into view, he gestured towards it with a small 'ta da.'
"Oh!"
Scott Summers was a master of understatement, it seemed. The structure at the center of the maze was hardly a gazebo, more a pavilion, ringed by stone columns and topped with a lattice of wisteria. Jean released Scott's arm and stepped forward to examine the scene more closely.
He smirked, pleased with himself for having managed to surprise a telepath, even if she seemed not to be reading his mind in any event. Scott watched her as she explored, taking in the grandiose gazebo. It was a little over-the-top, but in this case, Scott was inclined to partially forgive the ostentatiousness of the place. He took a his favorite seat and watched Jean take it all in. "What do you think?"
"I think I may ask for a change of room assignments." Jean looked torn between taking a seat and exploring, and in the end, exploring won out. "This was so worth braving the hedge."
"High praise. I think the Professor might be in trouble if he starts housing us in tents in the yard though," Scott said, sounding mildly amused.
"Like that's the most ridiculous thing that could happen here?" A laugh curled around the last word like a cat settling on it own tail. "This is beautiful!" She vanished behind a pillar to examine a low-hanging drape of woody vines.
"Ridiculous, no probably not. But it would probably still be the thing that gets us on the news," Scott said dryly. Still, he was glad she liked it, and pleased that he'd managed to get his little tour right so far.
There was a quiet click off to Scott's left. Jean had appeared with her camera.
"Mutant boarding school expose?" She laughed. "Maybe the Professor should hire a PR team."
"Better that our PR be you over me." Scott mused, watching her with some measure of curiosity.
She snapped one more picture of Scott in the dreamy, half-light filtering down between the vines, then restrained herself and plunked down next to him on the bench.
"Well, I want to be a teacher. I think that's pretty far off from PR."
He raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. He didn't know what he'd expected Jean to want to be, but he wouldn't have guessed teacher in at least his first 25 tries. "Teacher, huh? What subject?"
"I'm not sure yet." She tucked her legs under her. "Sometimes I would think general education, like for grade school. Other times, maybe focus on special needs kids." She half-smiled. "Lately, I felt like maybe I could be a teacher for mutant children. It's not like we're all there will ever be, right?"
Did all teachers start out this way? She sounded like she genuinely wanted to help people, kids. Scott hadn't personally seen many teachers who have much thought to their charges. A few, sure, but not the majority he'd had, at least. If they all started out like this, he guessed the lack of funding and support must have been what burned them out and turned them into the teachers he'd had. One more he could pin on an uncaring government, he supposed.
"I guess not," he agreed. "So why teaching?"
"I always wanted to help people. Kids, especially." She propped her chin up on her fist. "Maybe that was an aspect of my powers. My dad always said I had a lot of empathy for my age."
Scott supposed that made a sort of sense, that a telepath might be more empathetic. "Sounds like teaching would be a good choice then. I mean, not that you need to pick your life path right now or anything."
"No," she agreed. "Right now, I'm concentrating on my powers. And finding new and exciting gazebos."
"I'm afraid I only know about this one," Scott said, an edge of humor to his voice. "So if you want to see new gazebos you might need to befriend someone who gets off campus more often."
"Well, I might decide to keep up our acquaintance anyway. Someone who knows his way around a maze can come in handy."
