Scott and Laurie, Saturday morning

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

They run into each other on the stairs - literally - and have a talk about the various goings-on.


Laurie bolted up the stairs two at a time, a small towel slung over her shoulders and an ipod strapped firmly to her upper arm. She'd been out running, trying to think about some of the recent events and put them in perspective. She'd been thinking about Mr Summer's last e-mail to her, and the idea that she needed to treat some of her team-mates as both equals and teachers. It was...difficult to think of, since half the way she dealt with things was by putting them in neatly labeled boxes in her mind.

She might have to get a few more general ones, or work out some form of cross-filing system.

He was going to be so glad to get back to Budapest, even if there were more people shooting at him. Scott really, really thought that would be preferable. Even climbing the stairs, having fetched the paperwork he needed from his office and made an announcement about his upcoming absence, was making him tired. He hadn't slept at all well last night, and had a pounding headache even worse than the one he'd went to bed with last night. But he needed to go arrange some breakfast for Jean, and figure out what he was packing to take with him this time... suits again, most likely. He hated suits.

Laurie slowed as she saw Scott in front of her, wondering if she could avoid him at all, but then decided that maybe if she just walked past quickly he wouldn't feel the need to say anything.

Having decided on a course of action, she sped up her steps, while still attempting to not look like she was running, nope, no running here.

He'd been in enough of a mental fog that he hadn't really noticed the sound of someone coming up behind him. Worse, she came up on his blind side, and startled him so badly that he jerked away, only his sudden grab for the handrail keeping him from falling.

"Oh God, are you okay?" Laurie asked, reaching for him lest he fall. Stupid, she'd completely forgotten about the blind side.

Goddamn it, he'd totally missed the ping from his prosthesis. Wake up, Summers. "Fine," he said stiffly, straightening. "Clearly not paying proper attention to my surroundings, but fine."

"No, it's my fault, I should have been more noisy." Laurie said, stepping back now that he seemed not about to fall.

"You wouldn't have been trying to slip past me as quickly as possible, would you?" Scott asked wryly. Laurie, under normal circumstances, did tend to be the type to greet people in the hallways and the like... then again, he had kind of let her have it yesterday. He got himself pointed in the right direction and started climbing the stairs again.

She blushed, frozen for a second as she wondered if she could lie, but she wasn't about to start lying to someone who was both the headmaster of the school, and her team leader. "Maybe, just a little." she admitted, starting to walk up beside him.

"I thought maybe. Given the last time we 'talked'." He ought to feel guilty over it, but somehow, he couldn't find it in him. "You know, Laurie, comparatively speaking, Lorna and Shiro having it out in the foyer is one of the more minor explosions I've had to deal with." He wasn't about to let her in on all the complicating factors there. Some information was not his to give. "Some of the details of the damage control I've had to do over the years would curl your hair. I used to say that the thing I hated most about my job were the bi-weekly 'So and so have managed, despite the best efforts of the staff, to mangle themselves in X way.' posts."

Laurie snorted, and snuck a glance sideways before looking forward again. If it hadn't scared Yvette so badly, she doubt she'd have been particularly worried. That, coupled with the teacher she felt was the closest to a mentor here being injured, another teacher who she respected being in the infirmary and the knowledge that Forge might well have joined them, along with both Ororo, and the man walking beside her.

She'd been less then tactful, or sympathetic of whatever it was Lorna and Shiro had felt the need to tear strips off each other over. She'd been...disappointed in Miss Dane, a teacher who up to this point had earnt nothing but her respect.

"I'm sorry I chose the x-team journal to make my displeasure with the situation known. I should have taken it to Miss Dane privately, it was disrespectful of me not to do so." Laurie replied, choosing her words carefully.

"So why do you think I called you on it, and not Kyle? And why in an email, rather than on the team comm?" Let's see what her answer is to that... He wasn't above testing people, especially not trainees.

It was hard to say without going back and looking at all the things that were said on that particular thread. Maybe because she was talking about it with the fact that they were teachers, and Kyle had only gone off at them as fellow team members.

"Because I chose the wrong forum in which to make my displeasure at a teachers handling of things known, whereas Kyle was talking to them as fellow X-men. And as you said in your e-mail, the two things are different, and are dealt with differently. Something an X-man could be censored for would not necessarily apply to what a teacher can be censored for and vice-versa."

"Partially right. You also persisted, when Marie tried to intervene." He looked at her as they reached the top of the stairs. "Why?"

"I respect Miss Dane, she's one of my favourite teachers. Seeing her act like that, seeing it scare my roommate so badly that she needed to hide. I was...angry at her, for not being the person I wanted her to be." Laurie admittedly truthfully, feeling somewhat mixed about how that would come across. It seemed unfair, now that she said it out loud.

"A bit judgemental on your part, don't you think?" Scott asked. Ignoring the fact that he still kind of wanted to wring Lorna's neck himself. That's different. "She has to deal with having frightened one of her students, yes. Unintended consequences happen, in cases like this, and they're often more serious than the ones you expected."

"What would you have done if it were two students? I know that adults are given more leeway, that they've proven that they can act like responsible human beings and are meant to be able to look more closely at the consequences of their actions and thus know better when stick with an argument or walk away. Can you honestly tell me that how Miss Dane behaved didn't deserve some form of response? I don't know Shiro, he's not my teacher and I don't know whether he deserves my respect one way or the other." Laurie replied, pausing at a landing on the stairs, her hand on one of the railings as she looked at Scott.

"I expect things like this, from students," was Scott's curt response. "I've seen it before - seen far more destructive confrontations before, between students. Where it's different, is that I don't lose respect for kids because they can't control themselves. I do lose respect for fellow staff members and teammates. And I'm fairly sure I told you yesterday in that email that we were responding to the situation. I'm afraid 'response' doesn't always meant 'public flagellation', especially in situations where the privacy of other people uninvolved in the argument needs to be protected."

"I'm sorry, like I said I should have talked to Miss Dane privately." Laurie said, tone even although she couldn't release the tension in her shoulders. She hated these kind of conversations, especially with her elders. She was well aware she had exacting standards, and that sometimes that ideal was unfair, she just couldn't help it.

These were the people she looked up to, the people she looked to to keep them safe. She only expected from them, what she would in turn expect from herself once she became a full X-man.

Scott gazed at her for a long moment. What he'd said hadn't really penetrated, he realized. "I just want you to see that this is a more complex situation than you realized, Laurie," he said. "Yes, Lorna flew off the handle, behaved irresponsibly, and frightened Yvette. But she did more than that, and other people did other things - and are still doing them."

"So..." Laurie started and then stopped herself, biting her lip for a second as she tried to think of how to word what she wanted to say. She wasn't in the habit of getting into arguments with teachers, despite what she'd done to Haller a little while ago, she didn't want to start that sort of habit now. "What would you suggest would have been the appropriate response?"

"Just about anything that would have been productive. Talking to me, or the Professor, or Ororo. Talking to Lorna, even. Just simply letting us know there'd been a problem with Yvette. Even just recognizing that you didn't have the whole story and not opting for a knee-jerk reaction would have been better."

"I'd say I'll keep that in mind for next time, but I think I'd be jinxing things, since I'm hoping there isn't one." Laurie said, still tense and unable to stop herself from being so formal. "This is where I turn off."

She needed to get to her room, and hopefully have a long hot shower and feel better.

Scott nodded, turning towards the stairs leading up to the staff level. He paused, though, looking back at her. "One thing, Laurie," he said, a very slight, odd smile tugging at his lips. "There's a very good reason to work on cutting people a little slack. It's almost a sure thing that all of us will be in the position of needing people to do that for us, at some point... and if you can't unbend enough to do that for other people, you'll break yourself to pieces out of shame when you wind up needing it. And then, you're no good to anyone."

Laurie blushed deeply, unable to think of anything to say to that. Had Mr Haller said anything about her unfortunate confrontation with him? She already felt guilty for that, now that her anger had disappeared and she'd had time to think about it.

"I'll try." she replied finally, unable to clarify. She would try, as much as she was able to.

"All any of us can ask," was Scott's reply. "I'll see you later, Laurie. Think good thoughts for me - it would be nice to see Budapest without getting shot at or beaten up. I'm 0-2 at the moment."