Log : Ororo, Alison

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

With a faint sigh, Alison pushes the door to Ororo's office open and enters, giving an oddly calm look to the woman behind the desk. She crosses over to sit in the chair facing her, wrapping her arms around herself and managing not to bring her legs up on the chair at the last minute. For Ororo, the contrast with Alison's usual demeanour is fairly obvious - a withdrawn expression as well as several signs pointing to lack of sleep are easy to discern, and Alison sits in silence without even fidgeting, as she usually would have.

The only hint of surprise she shows is one quirked up white eyebrow, in her classic gesture. "All right. Give me the low down, here."

Alison collects her thoughts for a moment, closing her eyes briefly and then nods. "Jamie mentioned wanting to play a prank on Warren earlier this week - I forget when. Long and short of it is, I suggested he talk to Kitty about it. I'm sorry. I'm fuzzy on details right now. But - it just never occurred to me to worry about it any more than I would have any other prank..." she trails off, and then shakes her head, not willing to try and excuse her actions. "I should have - I guess I just wasn't really thinking of myself as staff yet since my classes aren't officially started. My bad. I should have known better."

"Yes. You should have." Ororo sighs, then waves that aside. "But you didn't, and what is done is done. But...." She quirks up an eyebrow. "Did you think Kitty would use her powers? Is that why you suggested it?"

Alison nods calmly. "Yes. It just made sense - I wasn't thinking in terms of..." She pauses, searching for the right words. "I've always used my powers - ever since I found out about them. The field I was in and what I did - made it easy to pass it off as just the regular lightworks. Though I've never pushed myself beyond what I needed to do, figured out my limits," she winces faintly at that, but forges on. "I was looking at things from my perspective, and not hers. It's not the same thing. As I said - very much my bad." Her eyes darken slightly as her thoughts turn inward. "I'm learning a lot about myself lately, it seems." She shrugs, unable to continue on that particular topic.

"I owe Warren an apology," she adds after a pause. "I think - I may need to talk to Jamie and Kitty as well. I'm just not sure what I can say to them though."

"As long as you /know/ it's your bad - I won't harp on it. I think you have the idea, now." Ororo sighs and rubs at the back of her neck. "Tell them you're sorry, for starts. Look, I -- I am completely at a loss for why Kitty did this. She's been here longer than almost anyone; if /anyone/ knows the rules about powers, it's her. Do you have any idea what's going on? This worries me, very much."

"I'll have a shot at just plain apologizing to them, then," Alison nods quietly, reflecting that pride really isn't much of an issue with her these days, all things considered. She looks out the window, reflecting on Ororo's question about Kitty - and being unable to even try to be evasive these days, she still can't tell what she thinks the issue might be. "I have an idea. I could be wrong of course. And I can't just... spill it like that, Ororo. I'm sorry," Alison sighs. "If it's any help, I would tell if I thought it'd put anyone in danger. But even though nothing was confided to me, it would feel like I'd be betraying something I wasn't supposed to tell." Not like I haven't done that already this week. "Not that I'm even sure anyway." She sighs again, almost chuckling, and runs a hand through her hair. "Did that make any sense at all?"

For a very tense, almost electric moment, Ororo /almost/ thinks about pushing it. Almost. This may will be something very much Need To Know... but if there's one thing she has learned in her career as an educator, it's Don't Pry. Letting out a breath, she nods. "Yes. It does, and - actually, I'm relieved to hear it, I think. I can't expect you to have morals if I won't let you listen to them when it is inconvenient for me, right? Just as long as you aren't trying to protect her, because if it's that sort of thing, it will come out eventually."

Alison tilts her head, thinking it over. "I don't know enough to tell if I'm doing that or not. I don't think I am. And eventually, /if/ it was related - Kitty will owe up to it, I'd say. And if it wasn't, well... there you go."

Ororo nods and sighs, slumping a little in her chair. "There we /all/ go. ... I hate this. I hate having to do this."

Alison blinks and looks at her carefully, focusing on her truly for the first time since she'd entered the room. She opens her mouth, then closes it, almost reconsidering what she is about to say. Almost. "I'll go with bluntness and point out that you... ah.. do present yourself as a mother figure rather well, for lack of a better expression?"

Ororo /scowls/, primarily because she was really thinking just that. "... it wasn't this bad before Jean died. I /used/ to get to be the bad cop." She sighs and stares down at her desk. "I /liked/ being the bad cop. Because Jean was so much better at being the good cop than I was."

"I sincerely hope so." Ororo sighs, but manages to smile back, albeit very wearily. "You'd better scoot. They'll be here soon."