xp_logs | Log: Jean and Marie, backdated to Tuesday

Backdated to Tuesday before this post. Marie finally gets up the nerve to seek out Jean. There is much awkwardness and Marie has a knack for bringing up the wrong things. But despite the rocky start to the conversation, things end with a hug.

There was still one person Rogue hadn’t sought out to since her return. The idea of Jean, back from the dead, had just been a little too much for her to handle. She had wanted to settle in and feel more comfortable before going to see her…or at least that’s what Marie had told herself. It wasn’t that she and Jean were particularly close before her death; in fact, she had been somewhat jealous of the striking redhead and Logan’s obvious attraction to her. Of course, that adolescent jealousy had long since faded, but there was just something spooky about the idea of seeing someone that you and everyone around you had mourned and thought unable to return.

With no more excuses at her disposal for avoiding her, Marie walked very slowly to Scott and Jean’s suite. She hesitated for a moment before knocking gently on the door.

The knock. It was so rare it took Jean a few moments to register it had happened. Someone was out there. Someone who, more than likely, wanted to talk to her. Well, maybe, if she was lucky, they'd just hit her and go away or something.

Oh, that's a great attitude, she told herself, standing and heading toward the door. "Hello?" she said as she opened it, then stopped and stared. "Marie? Good God, when did you get back?"

Even prepared as she was, seeing Jean standing in front of her was like seeing a ghost. Marie’s face turned a few shades paler as her hand flew to cover her gaping mouth.

“It really is you.”

After a few minutes of staring silently at her, Marie finally regained her senses and blushed. “Ah’m sorry, my manners seem to have abandoned me. Ah just got back a few weeks ago…” she said, her speech faltering as a thousand questions ran through her mind.

Jean was more than willing to indulge the staring, being more than a bit startled herself. "Ah..." Jean said slowly. "Well, um, I have to say I'm glad we didn't run into each other before now." Particularly not after her run in with Logan. "Oh, hell, now I'm forgetting my manners. Come in, come in."

Marie gave her a puzzled look as she entered the suite. Settling into a chair, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from Jean…it was just too strange a situation, talking to a back-from-the-dead person. “Ah’d ask why, but Ah know that can be a very dangerous question around here.

That earned her a second awkward pause. "Oh, um... you haven't heard?" Double plus hell. "I... I... I wasn't well." Jean swallowed tightly. "A man who worked for Shaw and the Hellfire Club attempted to hypnotize me when I wouldn't sleep with him. But when he locked away my conscious mind a secondary personality which developed as a result of my losing my memory in Canada emerged and wrecked havok. It was... bad."

“Oh…” Marie shifted uneasily in her seat. “Scott mentioned things had been rough for you, but he didn’t tell me the particulars.” She found it rather ironic that Jean had gained a personality in Canada while she had lost a few. “Ah’m sure you’ve been asked a hundred times, but how are you doing? Anything Ah can do to help?”

"I'm... no longer the farthest thing from 'ok', so I guess that's progress. Scott would say it had been rough for me, and leave out the bit about how really, really horrible it was for him and everybody else." She sighed.

Marie shrugged. “He wouldn’t be Scott if he didn’t.” Pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them tightly she continued, “An’ if you weren’t really you, which seems to happen a lot around here, then Ah’m sure people are just relieved to have you back.”

Jean looked away for a second, then, steeling herself, looked back. "I was me," she said, keeping her voice level by force of will. "It was complicated, and it was horrible, but it was worse because I did it all. I may have had help, but Jane was me. Is me. Sort of."

"We all have a dark side," Marie said softly. "Its what makes us human." She reached up and began twirling a lock of white hair around her gloved finger. "And if someone helped that other part of you get out...well, she may be part of you, but she isn't you."

"Denying her, denying how I felt, that's what started all of this. She is me. I have to... have to take responsibility for that, own up to it. I have to."

"Know thyself and all," Marie said, beginning to understand how important it was to Jean to incorporate the Jane situation into her own development. "Oh...before Ah forget, a belated congrats to you and Scott," she said, hoping to move their conversation to some happier territory.

Unfortunately, Marie had picked a terrible topic to switch to or, at least, a bad time and manner to do so. Jean managed not to look as though she'd just been socked in the gut, but the sudden intake of breath was more than enough to signal something was wrong. "Thank you," she said, closing her eyes. Marie didn't know, hadn't known. It was an innocent statement. She meant it. Which kind of just made it worse.

Marie was surprised that Jean seemed unnerved by her question. She had expected her to get all smiley and sentimentally silly. Things must have gotten very bad…and in hindsight, her conversation with Scott should have warned her that this would be a touchy subject. She just couldn’t seem to pick the _right_ topic with Jean. And with that thought, Marie decided to remain silent and see where Jean would take the conversation.

Jean took another, less shaky, deep breath, bowing her head slightly. "Sorry," she said. "Things are... things got complicated. You shouldn't have to deal with this. Sorry." She shook her head. "I... But how are you?" Yes, that was better. "How was Canada? Do you have any plans now that you're back?"

“Its ok,” Marie reassured her. “Things tend to get complicated ‘round here.” Relaxing as she was able to move the conversation elsewhere, Marie decided to put a positive spin on her first answer. “Canada was good. Helped me sort myself out.” And that’s enough about that. “Its good to back home. Ah’m gonna be teaching yoga and some other P.E. classes here and…well, Ah’m back on the team.”

Jean recognized somebody else avoiding a topic and was more than willing to back off of Canada. "Sounds like a good plan to me. Although I admit, it's strange to think of you in leathers."

Marie looked puzzled for a moment and then smacked her face. “Of course, me in leathers is new to you. Hmm…and dependin’ on the rumor mill, you may or may not have heard about my new powers.” Deciding that a demonstration would be easier than an explanation, Marie picked up the coffee table with one hand while levitating. “Ta da,” she said while grinning and settling back down.
Jean's eyebrows shot up, and she was curious enough to actually relax her control, just a little. Far enough to see if this was tk. "Ok," she said, smiling. "I admit, I can do that, but I'm curious about when you learned that trick..."

Rogue’s face darkened just a little. It was getting easier to explain, but it still wasn’t pleasant. “About two and a half years ago…we were up against Magneto and some of his folk. The only way Ah could stop one of them was with my hands.” She smoothed the silk of her gloves as she continued. “He didn’t make it and his power never wore off, like all the others.”
Jean's lips pressed together. "Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry."

“Its ok.” The words came out haltingly, but at least they were no longer a lie...well, not completely. “Ah mean, its not like Ah’m ever gonna forget what happened, but it doesn’t haunt me anymore and Ah’ve learned to move on.”

The words resounded in Jean's head and she nodded faintly. Learn to move on. It had to be possible. "That's... that's good to hear. I'm glad you're doing better."

“Thanks,” Marie said, despite the internal suspicion she had that she should have said more. She looked at Jean worriedly. “You look tired…Ah should go. But what about lunch sometime this week?” Standing quickly, she walked over to Jean. She wanted to give the woman a hug, but she hesitated, unsure if she should.

Jean solved the question by hugging Marie. There had to be some moments of normality, and it was good to see the girl - that was unreservedly true. "Lunch would be good. I need to work on, you know, actually going out in the mansion proper."

Marie smiled while hugging back. “Well that is something Ah can help with. Its good to have you back.”

"You too," Jean said. "Really."