xp_logs | New Year's Resolutions (Reply)

Terry meets with Scott to discuss a career opportunity involving black leather and codenames. Her first assignment is grueling--talk to her father.

One advantage of having been at the school for six years was that Terry didn't have quite the same perspective on the staff as most. For her, Mr. Summers was mentor, teacher, even a little bit big brother. She'd grown up knowing that the line between right and wrong was quite incongruously dressed in black leather though even she didn't remember which of the students had dubbed them X-men. That didn't mean that she hadn't been nervous when she asked for this meeting or that her nerves were any less as she knocked on the office door, leaving aside her customary lock picking for a different day.

"Come in," Scott called, smiling briefly as he saw that it was Terry. "Hey," he said as she came in. "Sit down. What's up?"

She sat easily, her posture relaxed without being slack and rested her hands on the arms of the chair. "I'll try to be quick. I know you have a great deal of work to do." Terry smiled. "I wanted to ask you…well, let me say this first. I've been here for years and you already know that I wanted to do work with the police except that they wouldn't let me. I think most of my perspective on what's right…what's just comes from you." Her smile quirked to a slightly self-conscious grin, "Ah, you as in Ms. Munroe and Dr. Grey and all, not just you personally." Well, that too. That mostly even. "Lord knows that my uncle never had much use for the law except as he could get around it."

Scott blinked, then smiled again, a smile that turned a bit wry at her last words. "Thank you," he said after a moment, a flash of regret crossing his face as he thought about Terry's hopes for a police internship. Not that their refusal to take her own didn't make more sense in retrospect, after everything that had happened with Tommy. "That's quite a compliment, Terry."

She shrugged, "It's just truth is all. For the most part, I was raised by two very different philosophies. My uncle…he did as best he knew and I wouldn't change my childhood. But what I am--I think is largely due to the school and to the people who were my role models." She took a breath, coming to her point. "All the universities I've applied to are local, well, with one exception, but the rest are within commuting distance. I'll be 18 in August. I want to join the team." Her voice didn't shake only because she'd trained for years to control it. Her hands did and she gripped the chair arms to hide it.

The first thought that went through his mind was along the lines of So not surprised. The second had something to do with Sean, and he wisely didn't let that one translate into words, at least not just yet. He noticed her suddenly tighter grip on her chair. "This is something you've thought a lot about, I'm guessing," he said, his voice light yet serious at the same time.

"For a couple of years, aye." Terry nodded. "You asked Kitty on a mission. Before now I haven't had the control. I do now. At least enough to start team training. I'm not thinking that it will be easy or that I can dazzle you. But it's something I want to do. I'd like to make a difference."

"Kitty helping us out after Alkali Lake... it was a desperate situation," Scott said, grimacing a little at the memory. "And you can't officially start training until you're of age, although there's quite a bit you can do until then," he pointed out, more encouragingly. "Clarice is doing some of that preparatory work, too."

Terry nodded, "I know that. I've been looking at Clarice's schedule and how it differs from Bobby's. I don't expect to be observing missions tomorrow. But I would like Danger Room time. Even if it's not trainee level, well...there's only so much Alison is able to teach me seeing as our powers aren't the same and practicing with her absorbing everything isn't the ideal either." Terry adored her teacher but Alison herself had said that they were coming to the point where Terry needed to start working with her powers at full voice.

"The Danger Room's about the one place you could explore... how do we put this, the outer limits of your powers?" Scott asked with a flash of a smile that turned abruptly serious again. "Although you know who's best to help you do that."

Terry didn't smile back, just nodded solemnly. "I do. As a personal preference, I'd rather not. But I don't suppose that my personal preferences mean terribly much when it comes to training." She looked down for a moment, taking a breath. "Alison is of the opinion that I should be exposed to greater training styles and viewpoints. I imagine that it would have been inevitable in any case."

She was so very serious. Scott very carefully didn't smile. "Training's not meant to be enjoyable, no," he said. "You need, if nothing else, to learn to work with people who might make you personally uncomfortable. Just because the person standing beside you is wearing leathers doesn't make them your best friend, but you need to trust them, to be comfortable with them. Which usually means that Alison and Ororo and I make sure that anyone who's not comfortable with a fellow trainee or team member gets over that as quickly as humanly possible."

She nodded and looked down again. Her voice was soft as she asked the next question, less the confident young woman and more the child, "Do I have to ask him myself?"

Scott gave her a long, steady look. "I would prefer you did," he said,
almost gently. "Consider it a first test."

Terry winced. She'd known he was going to say that but had hoped... "Okay." She glanced up at him. "When?"

"As soon as you can," Scott said straightforwardly. "Clarice had to clear it with her father before she began the preparatory work she's doing. For consistency's sake, you ought to do the same. And honestly, Terry, in some ways it's going to be easier for you. At least Sean knows what's involved - this isn't going to come as some shocking surprise to him."

"But what if he says no?" Terry blurted before she could stop herself. She winced but continued on, "I don't see why I have to ask his permission to do this. He might be my guardian but he's not the one who has raised me. I don't...well, I don't want to ask him for his help but I will. I don't see that I need his permission though."

Scott gave her a level look, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law'? You need his permission, Theresa. That's the letter of the law. You could probably make an argument based on the spirit of the law that you don't." He folded his arms on the desk in front of him, leaning forward a little. "I could make as convincing an argument that you do. But that's not really the point. If this is something you're going to do, you're going to need to learn to put your emotional reactions aside, completely. Asking Sean's permission, based on the
letter of the law, is a way for you to show me that you do have sufficient self-discipline to be embarking on this course."

Terry wanted to argue the point but really, there wasn't an argument to make. She didn't agree that she needed Sean's permission but it wasn't about needing his permission really. It was about the fact that she'd been ordered to get it. She nodded sullenly, "All right, I'll ask him. Do you want him to give you his answer in person or is there a release he should sign or anything?"

Scott smiled again, just a little. "Terry? I shared a suite with your father for months. If he's got any concerns about this, he can and will come to me without needing to be told to do that."

She smiled politely, "That wasn't what I was asking, Mr. Summers. If he has concerns, of course he'll talk to you. I wanted to know how you wanted his consent." Better to assume that he would consent. Even if she didn't have much faith that he would.

Scott raised an eyebrow. "Why," he asked, "are you under the impression that I need to hear it from him? If I tell one of the X-Men to do something, they do it and they report back to me. I don't run around checking up on them to make sure they told me the
truth. If there's a problem, I'll hear about it from Sean, like I said - and I'm going to presume that will be after I hear about it from you."

Must. Not. Roll. Eyes. At. Superiors. Her hands gripped the arms of the chair again, her smile no less polite. "That's what I needed to know then. Thank you." She glanced aside for a moment, not really looking at anything just running through her mental file on Sean's whereabouts this time of day. It was much easier to avoid him that way. She looked back. "I should let you get back to work."

The very determined politeness was noted and filed away for later contemplation. "I'll draw up a reading list for you," Scott said amiably. "Extra powers work and physical training will take a while longer to organize."

"I was going to ask Kylun if he would mind stepping up my hand to hand and Bobby and I already spar regularly. I can always drop some of my music classes in order to accommodate more training." But, oh, that would hurt. Piano would be easiest to cut. Harp would save the most time.

Scott shook his head. "No, that's not an acceptable solution," he said. "Terry, I'm not sure you're understanding what I meant by preparatory work. This is not something that's going to take huge chunks out of your day, at least not until you turn eighteen." He offered her another brief smile. "We'll consult on your schedule, all right? And I'll talk to Kylun."

Terry opened her mouth then changed her mind, shut it again and nodded. "Yes, Mr. Summers." She sat silently for a moment then stood. "I'll come back once I've talked to Sean. Thanks for meeting with me."

"You're quite welcome," Scott said with a chuckle. "But you might want
to save the thanks until after you see your reading list."

Terry smiled at him, quite genuinely this time. "I'm actually looking forward to it."

"I'm looking forward to seeing your reaction to it, actually. And once you've officially starting doing this, by the way, you're free to ask any of the team members or the trainees about the sort of thing we do. You won't get mission details, obviously, but there's a lot that we can tell you that you'll want to know, I think."

Terry's smile broadened. That had been part of her own informal plan anyway. "All right. I'll see you later, Mr. Summers."