Scott and Ororo | Monday morning

[x-storm.livejournal.com]

Ororo and Scott meet in the Situation Room to review training tapes. They each have a bit of a hangover, but that doesn't keep them from being productive anyway. And grumpy.

It was not surprising that after a night like the one before, Ororo and Scott would be feeling the aftereffects. Any normal person would've gotten up, felt the hangover looming over them, and gone straight back to bed. Ororo and Scott, however, weren't normal. They were COs.

The only good thing that could be said for that morning was that despite the fact that the sun had risen, it was dark. A thick layer of clouds hung in the sky, keeping the morning gray and a little more tolerable to those with light-sensitive eyes and pounding headaches. Perhaps some of the students appreciated the effort - Ororo certainly did.

"I hate the world," was Scott's greeting as he walked into the Situation Room. "And I hate fluorescent lights." Carrying a cup of coffee in one hand, he went over and adjusted the lighting level with the other. "Die, you bastards," he told the lights as they dimmed. "That's it."

"Good morning, Scott," 'Ro replied, her usually-calm voice tinged with something stiffer. She was nursing her own cup of coffee, a half-empty water bottle housed next to it on the table. "I suppose the sooner we start this, the sooner we can end."

"Why didn't we put this off? Oh, right. Because we're hopeless masochists, and it was supposed to be done yesterday. You know, when we had to plan rescuing idiot children instead." He sank down opposite Ororo at the table, rubbing at his scars for a moment.

"Right. That." With a grimace, she keyed up the first tape, turning down the volume just a bit for Scott's sake. And perhaps her own.

They watched the training tape in dead silence. On an ordinary day, one or both of them would have been scrawling notes. Today, it was taking about as much energy as was available in the room just to focus on the tape.

"Well," Scott said as it wound down, "Nathan's still favoring that leg a little. That wasn't bad, though. He and Cain follow each other's cues pretty smoothly."

'Ro nodded slightly, reaching for her water. "I do not think either of them would favor a leadership position, but they do work well enough within the team."

"We'd be treated to the sight of Nate's back as he ran away at top speed if we ever asked him, and Cain's made it abundantly clear that he's aggressively unambitious in that regard." Scott rested his hand on his chin. "You know, if you'd asked me a year ago if I thought Cain Marko would be one of our more reliable X-Men, I'd have laughed in your face. But he is, isn't he? So long as we keep him away from quicksand."

"Or cement holes. Or hexed boathouses. Or elder gods." 'Ro shuddered a bit at that recollection. "Still, you are right. He is a good addition to the team. Nathan as well."

"I still have my eye on Nathan," Scott grumbled. "He's altogether too impulsive for someone who was doing our job when we were going through puberty. And at some point, if we don't house-train him sufficiently, Moira is going to decide that it's all our fault."

"The problem is that there are worse offenders than Nathan when it comes to that," Ororo said with a shake of her head. "It should not be that way, Scott. We should trust each team member to stay to their task, no matter what."

"I suppose you're right," Scott admitted grudgingly, closing the video file. "We can trust Nate not to get himself killed. Mangled, on the other hand..." He called up another file. "The grumpy old men to the young guard. Whose bright idea was it to pair Shiro and Bobby? Oh right, mine." Fire and ice. Hah-hah. Occasionally he amused himself.

"You always were an optimist." Once again they watched in silence - 'Ro was particularly interested to evaluate Shiro's capabilities so that she would have a better idea where he fit on the team.

"Bobby doesn't look to be singed," Scott said, just as grudgingly, as the session came to an end. Pity... oh, will you listen to yourself, Summers? Shiro had done very well, too. Calm and focused. Given his personal turmoil of late, that was particularly impressive.

'Ro raised an eyebrow at him; it didn't seem like that was just the hangover talking. "He handled himself well enough, and guided Shiro when it was necessary."

"Yes, he did seem very intense about knocking the scenario out of the park, didn't he?" Scott said, a bit of a bite to his tone that wasn't at all directed at Ororo. "Maybe he's Pod-Bobby." Unfair. Still.

"Or perhaps he feels as if he has something to prove," 'Ro mused. "To himself, to the team, to his COs..."

Scott rolled his eye, then winced, wishing he hadn't done that. "Yeah, well, swell for him," he grumbled, knowing that he sounded about sixteen years old. Possibly younger.

"Scott... we must address this at some point," 'Ro said wearily.

"Must we?" Scott muttered, sipping his coffee. "'This' is so very tiresome, you know..."

"This team will not function if we do not trust everyone on it," 'Ro stated. "If you cannot put aside your personal feelings for Bobby, you must say so. I will not judge you for them, but I need your honesty if we are to make this work."

Scott looked up at her, his expression settling into lines that were more tired than aggravated. "I don't know. It's been bothering me, that I don't know."

"That is fine. Only please, do not stop thinking about it because it is too difficult. I am... worried, over the state of the team. These issues must be resolved, or I believe we will start seeing the effects - even worse than we already have."

Scott raised an eyebrow at her. "Since when am I the type to stop thinking about things because they're too difficult?" he pointed out dryly, leaving her other comments alone - for now. "Bobby... I can tell myself that I can put it all aside. In non-crisis team situations, I certainly can." Occasionally nasty internal monologue aside. "I think that in crisis situations I'm going to have too much else on my mind to remember that he slept with my wife."

"'Thinking' that is not good enough," 'Ro said, shaking her head and then frowning at the pounding that ensued. "You know as well as I that we must be more than sure before going into those situations."

"I don't know how to get there. Apart from hashing the whole thing out with my therapist, which I probably am going to do." Dr. Barnett reminded him very strongly of Moira, which was probably a good thing. "I don't think there's any point in talking to Bobby about it. I mean, what the hell would we even say to each other?"

Ororo said nothing, though her 'bad feeling' was nowhere near abating at this information. "Next is Lorna and Paige," she announced, pulling up the next video.

Ororo was looking glum. Scott sighed and focused on the video. "These two work well together," he said. "Same sort of thing as Nathan and Cain, I think... they know each other, they trust each other, hence they trust each other to watch each other's backs."

"Mm, which is important. Lorna is using her powers well, I think, and her control is impressive. She has been very reliable lately during missions and training."

"Paige is definitely pacing herself better," Scott said after a moment - and that had been a singularly unhelpful thing to say, hadn't it? "Strong unconventional thinking from her here... from both of them. But I worry about Lorna," he said, his mind wandering a little. "Her performance is strong, but I think she's more frayed than she lets on. What is it with our team and internalizing things?" Hypocrite.

"That issue brings up the question of our responsibility - when do we make the decision for them? I would never wish for the team to cause unnecessary stress for any of its members, but they are also responsible for rating themselves" 'Ro mused. "I would hate for anyone to wait until it is too late, but it seems it is a habit. Perhaps we should be more active in that capacity."

"'You! Tea!'?" Scott asked, then shook his head. "I don't mean to be flippant," he muttered. "I know. Only I think I have less than one leg to stand on in that sense, because I'm the poster child for stressing one's self out, aren't I?"

"We have always led by example," she said with a sad smile. "It is a fine line to tread, but I think we must either make it clearer to people that they are expected to watch themselves more closely, or we must begin doing it for them."

"We really ought to make the psych evaluations regular, you know. Too much of what we do makes us prone to varying degrees of post-traumatic stress. Remember the line-up outside the Professor's office after Youra?"

'Ro nodded thoughtfully. "I think that is an excellent idea. Our skills and mission are of no use if we are not well enough to perform them."

"Mandatory evaluations after every tough mission, and every six months otherwise?" Scott suggested, half-idly, but then reflected that wasn't such a bad idea. "I'm sure we can trust Charles to facilitate."

"It would certainly help my peace of mind," she remarked, now pulling out a pad of paper to write on. "Starting immediately," she added, cringing a bit as she reflected an immediate evaluation could cut the team in half, easily.

"Charles knows that you have to be a little crazy to want to do this job. He'll be able to tell whether or not he's dealing with the right kind of crazy." Had he just made a joke? Huh. His sense of humor must be coming back. He called up the next video. "Ah-hah," he said. "Solo Jamie run." It provoked a smile. "He's doing well, too."

"Yes, indeed. He is very dedicated - I was afraid he would be disheartened when we promoted the others, but it has only made him work harder."

"I want to get him training more regularly with Clarice and Terry, once we bring them fully into the training rotation. I think the three of them will be good for each other." Scott nodded as the tape of the session continued to roll. "And possibly some more regular training with me. He needs to be more aware of his surroundings, I think."

'Ro nodded, jotting down a few more notes on the paper in between glances at the tape. "Clarice has not approached me again about redesigning the trainee uniforms. Perhaps she has forgotten," she said hopefully.

"More likely, she's got a whole sketchpad full of potential designs. Midriff-baring and all," Scott said with a certain amount of weary amusement.

"We could just program an acid-spewing bot and hope she changes her mind," 'Ro suggested. "Or else tell her that Logan is her first model."

Scott stared at her, wide-eyed, then covered his mouth with a hand. "Not laughing," he mumbled. "Bursting into hysterical laughter would hurt my head."

Biting her lip, 'Ro nodded her silent agreement, pulling up the next tape as Jamie's rolled to an end. "Jubilee and Kurt," she managed to say with a relatively straight face, indicating the screen with one finger.

Scott covered his eyes, this time. "That would be the session that drove Kurt to Harry's, yes?"

"Jubilee was a bit... unfocused," she said tactfully, though her expression was comically grim. "But very enthusiastic."

"I think she just had her head elsewhere that day," Scott said. "I mean, we all have bad DR sessions. Remember that time you dropped me when we were doing the medevac scenario? On my head?" he asked a bit balefully, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, that was no mistake," Ororo replied, smirking. "But yes, I know what you mean. And I know that Jubilee has proven herself quite ably in the past."

"We need to do one of those group critiques of a DR scenario again. That was interesting - got all kinds of discussion when we invited people to have at Nate and Lorna that time."

"Yes... I'd like to do more rotations of the partners as well. It is fine to work best with one person, but we need to be sure that everyone will be able to cope no matter who they are with."

Scott got an evil look. "Swapping partners. I like that. We could make it a very comprehensive sort of swapping. Make everyone work with the person they're least comfortable with."

"That includes us, you know," 'Ro reminded him gently. "It is only fair."

Scott leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. "So," he asked dryly, "who's going to be your lucky victim? Since mine is obvious."

"That is a good question..." Tilting her head, 'Ro thought for a moment, wanting to make as informed a decision as she could. "Cain, perhaps," she decided.

Scott tilted his head right back at her. "Cain? Huh."

"I have always preferred a more... subtle approach," she explained. "Cain is anything but."

Scott gave her a long, very slightly amused look. "He's loud. You don't like him because he's loud. Right?"

"I never claimed not to like him... you are twisting my words."

"Mmm." Scott picked his coffee cup back up and took a gulp of it. It was getting cold. Ah, well. It was still coffee. "Sounds like a plan, in any case. We could all do to operate out of our comfort zones more often. Ruts are bad things."

"Yes, it is when we get too comfortable that accidents start to happen." Though 'Ro wouldn't exactly describe the state of things as 'too comfortable'.

"So..." Scott set the coffee back down, and stared pensively at the table. "We're gotten nicely off-track and caught up in specific details. But you raised a more germane general point. We, the team, are a little... scattered. Between the people who've taken justifiable time off and the people who've left and the new X-Men who aren't properly incorporated into things yet..."

"We have never been in this situation before. And I am a bit lost on how to deal with it," 'Ro admitted. "We have always been lucky to have familiarity with those joining the team - as well as comradery. But the new members are so young, many of us have taught them."

"We still see them as students. They're still a little intimidated - or worse, determined not to be intimidated by interacting with us as equals." Scott sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "It's a strange problem."

"And one not easily solved by a few partner-swaps," 'Ro said with a pensive look. "Perhaps all it will take is time... but in the meanwhile, that leaves an awkward problem."

"And not our only one, obviously." Scott got a pensive look of his own. "Trust exercises," he said after a moment.

"I hope you are not suggesting a ropes course and minefield," Ororo said, making a face. "I can only imagine how difficult it would be to get anyone to agree to that."

"Something more subtle, maybe. I'll have to think some more about that when I'm not hungover." He mustered up a smile for Ororo again. "I do have an evil mind, you know."

"Very well. But if you decide to have us fall back into each other's arms, I am not partnering with Cain."