xp_logs | Ororo and John | Friday afternoon

Ororo is paid a visit by one John Allerdyce, who has an interesting favor to ask of her.

It was late in the afternoon when John Allerdyce arrived at the school grounds. It had been close to three years since he had last been back at Xavier's. John lit himself a cigarette as he passed through the gates. He sucked in a deep inhale before slipping the trusty Zippo back into the pocket of his jeans. The gas-fueled lighter had found itself a new purpose two weeks ago when he had started smoking. It was going to turn out to be a nasty habit of course.

Fifteen minutes later and almost half a pack of cigarettes gone, John made his way to Storm's office. He was a little late for the scheduled meet up but that was to be expected.

He knocked twice on the door before entering the room.

John was greeted by a smiling face, as Ororo looked up from her paperwork and greeted him with a warm "Hello, John." She had been expecting him, of course, though luckily there hadn't been anything pressing on her schedule that would've been affected by his tardiness. She motioned for him to sit, repressing the urge to wrinkle her nose at the smell of cigarette smoke that clung to him. That was new.

"I am glad you could make it here today. Can I offer you anything? Something to drink, perhaps?" She stood and made her way over to the mini-fridge next to her desk, removing a bottle of water for herself as she waited for his reply.

"Got any beer?" Nada. Zilch. John already knew the answer to that one. He let his upper lip curl into a smirk. "Water's fine," he said and he took a seat on the opposite side of her desk. He had called Ororo up a couple of days ago, requesting to see her. He hadn't wanted to deal with Scott. End of story.

John cleared his throat once and then shifted slightly in his seat. "I was hoping we could discuss the possibilities of me moving back in here?"

Ororo raised her eyebrows, looking slightly shocked before she was able to cover it with a more neutral expression. "I see," she said, handing John his water and then taking a seat back behind her desk. "Back to the mansion? Well, that is a possibility, of course... I thought you were living near the college, though?" Please do not say you have dropped out.

The look on her face for that one split second had been priceless. "Yeah, so?" John realized of course that he wasn't helping his situation any. But he liked being difficult. He leaned forward and busied himself with twisting the bottle cap open.

It took him a while before he spoke again. "...sort of having a minor issue with...people," he finally offered as an explanation. "...and money."

"Ah." The one syllable said quite enough, and Ororo took a sip of her water before nodding at the young man. "I see," she said again. "Well. It is not unheard of for graduates to move back here. We have several under the roof right now, as a matter of fact. I am sure we can come to an arrangement that would be beneficial to everyone."

"Beneficial?" He quirked an eyebrow at hearing that. "You don't mean like, work here, right?" John had been hoping that he could put whatever he'd learned theoretically about teaching to practical use someday. But he wasn't up for being given an actual job in the department just yet. Too much responsibility, he thought. He wanted things to be flexible. Easy even. In other words, he was just downright lazy.

"You did say something about money, yes?" Ororo asked briskly. "It seems like one way to address that would be for you to help in some capacity here." There was nothing like making people feel useful to keep them happy and involved - and Ororo had a sneaking suspicion that John could use that, very much. "As a matter of fact..." She made a show of shuffling through a few of the papers on her desk. "I think there are several students who could benefit from having a tutor to work with them on both academic and powers-related homework. What would you think of doing that?"

"Homework?" John repeated as he stared down at the papers on her desk. He had enough trouble dealing with matters of his own and here she was expecting him to help a bunch of kids do their thing? He eyed her for a moment, half wondering if she was just kidding but that wasn't the case.

"So where do I sign?" It wasn't as if he had much of a choice.

"I am sure we can forgo formalities in this case, John." Despite the young man's attitude, Ororo was genuinely glad to see him, and it showed in the warmth of her tone and the smile she gave him then. "We will need a day or two to get a room ready for you... will that be all right? And do you need any help moving your things? I am sure we could arrange someone to help you, if need be."

"I don't need any help moving in." John fiddled with a pen before replacing it back on her desk. "Don't have much anyways." He looked up at her just then. "But thanks," he added before turning his gaze away. He hoped his return to Xavier's wasn't going to be announced or anything like that. He wanted to settle back in as quietly as possible. "Well, I guess that's it." He stood up before she could say anything. "Let me know if you change your mind then," he joked, letting out a bit of a laugh at his own expense.

"I'll see you soon, Ms. Munroe."