xp_logs | LOG: [Wanda, Haller] Sorting things out (Reply)

After returning from Iran and a conversation with the professor, Haller needs to readjust his worldview. Luckily, Wanda has a nicely grounding effect.

Okay, who wanted to come in here? Did somebody need a book? I think I was looking for something. And? I forgot. Look, you want to talk, or you want to space? Make a decision. I don't know what we can think of that Charles didn't already talk about. So you're saying we should space. Fine by me, but can we go somewhere less boring now? I say we pillage the Rec Room for a first person shooter or something, mindless carnage totally clears the brain. Except other people use the Rec Room. . .

Jim reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose and managed to clip the edge of one of the stacks with his elbow as he walked, and was so preoccupied by the internal conversation he didn't even notice enough to grunt. It was beginning to occur to him there wasn't much point seeking out someplace quiet when most of the noise was inside of your skull.

A shock of wild hair suddenly peeked around the corner of a bookshelf and it was quickly followed by tired, if amused, eyes. "Are you having an internal argument or an internal argument?" Wanda asked, taking in the look on Jim's face. She reached over and snatched the forgotten book from his hand and blinked. "It does not matter which one, I just hope you really were not arguing about The Pokey Puppy book, Jim. Because that alone frightens me."

She'd come to the mansion under the pretense of visiting but, really, she'd needed to escape Agatha. Despite everything she'd seen in her life, nothing quite put the fear of God into her like the anthropologist. The library had been a nice, save haven.

Jim blinked at Wanda, then the book, and then rounded it all off by covering his face with one hand. This was the problem with the desire to escape adult problems: it gave his inner child the power to mock him for it. And Cyndi, if you don't stop laughing I swear to god I'm going to find out if you can self-administer a lobotomy with a coathanger.

"Um, hi Wanda," Jim managed from somewhere behind his palm. "Sorry. Weird day."

She grinned at him and leaned a hip against the edge of the bookcase. "It is Xavier's and potentially your brain is involved, what else is new?" she teased lightly and then sobered up a little. "Is everything all right? It has been a while since I have seen you that spaced out before – granted, I have been avoiding old busybodies and visiting people who have been shot in the back, so it's been a while…"

"Um. It's nothing big. There was a mission and it went okay . . . basically." Jim rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "But when I used TK Marie and Kurt saw Jack. And I'm not talking about in my face or voice, I mean instead of me. Which is, um. Not . . . right."

Wanda stared for a second. "Ooh, yes, that really is not right at all. Did Jack see them back or was it a one way kind of weird head trip?" The last time anyone had actually, physically seen the alters, they'd split and run in different directions. She and Cain had to fetch Cyndi from Silver, even, but this sounded different than the last episode.

Episode. It made it sound like "As the Mutant Turns".

"Um. Well, Jack always sees who I sees, but he couldn't tell we'd changed, if that's what you're asking. We were a little busy. There was . . ." Jim held his hands up, fingers cocked like pistols, and made vague firing gestures.

"Ahh, no wonder. Do you want to talk about it? I've some free time and, I do remember that sometimes as the counselor it is hard to get someone to counsel for you. Or if you want some beautiful company while you beat your head against the table in order to make everything straight in there, I have a few free hours."

That actually made Jim crack a smile. "I'm not sure there is actually anything to talk about. I'm not getting very far past 'wait, what?'. But, um . . . actually, if you wouldn't mind . . . could just help me check?" He realized he probably needed to supply more information and hastily added, "To see if it happens whenever I switch, or just whenever I use my powers. I was going to see with the professor earlier but we were a little too, um. Weirded out just then."

Wanda thought about that for a second and then nodded. "Sure, I cannot see why that would be a problem. In fact, I am more than a little intrigued by this now. Let's grab a back table, though, away from prying eyes. Or minds, the case might be." She led the way, grabbing the purse she'd dropped on the floor when she'd spotted Jim in the stack of books.

"Um, I think this is a bad place for Cyndi," Jim said as they located an isolated spot, looking at the shelves of flammable paper. "I need something for Jack to lift. Can we use your bag?"

"Lift away," she told him, scooting the bag to the middle of the table.

"All right." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then paused and glanced over at her. "Um, can you look away for a minute? I've got some performance anxiety."

It took a lot of willpower not to laugh at him but she managed it as she turned around to stare at the wall. It took even more willpower to keep herself from telling him that he really was way too adorable and if it weren't for a killer ninja best friend and a fuzzy blue devil, she'd eat him up. But while Wanda may not have said that, she thought it very loudly, on purpose, just in case.

There was a few moments filled with nothing but a slight shift of fabric. Then a voice, deeper and with a light dusting of southern accent, said, "All set."

The younger man was still sitting in the chair, physically just the same as he'd been a few moments ago -- except for his eyes, now bleached to grey.

Wanda spun around and immediately, and noted the eye color and the slight drawl. "Hello, Jack," she said, feeling it was...well, rude not to say hello. Being friends with Haller was sometimes a very odd thing. She'd met Cyndi before, in the flesh, but, again, different scenario. She wiggled her fingers at her purse. "Do your magic, then."

Jack smirked. "Well, you do get right to the point," he said, pushing back in the chair with a relaxed slouch. He rolled his neck a few times before bringing it to a stop, grey eyes fixed on the bag. It was a mild stalling tactic; Jim was unsettled enough that his focus was a little scrambled. Still, what was required didn't take any special skill. Jack cracked his knuckles and raised a hand.

"All right. Way Charlie-boy tells it, seems like some kind of telepathic hallucination kicks in whenever Haller pulls out the TK. You tell me how accurate that is." Jack flexed his fingers once, and the purse began to raise.

Her eyes strayed to the purse for a moment and then back to Haller...Wanda straightened. No, back to Jack. No longer was it just Haller with a different voice and eyes, but she was looking at a much more muscled man with stubble. The same kind of hair amused her, though. "Well, I have to say it is pretty damned accurate," she said after a moment, giving him a good once over.

A slow smile spread across her face. "Good grief, he never told me you were hot."

The alter tilted an eyebrow at her, still winging the purse in lazy figure eights. "Somehow I don't think that features much in his mental image of me. And me, can't exactly check." Being careful to maintain his hold on the purse, Jack examined his outstretched right hand. "No scars," he noted. The purse dipped a little as he rolled his sleeve up to examine his arm. "Will you look at that. Muscle tone. Don't usually see that outside the skull."

Curiosity might have killed the cat but it had only managed to maim Wanda in the past. Still, she wasn't just going to grab. Grabbing without warning a sometimes highly violate telekinetic was just plain stupid. "Has anyone poked or touched you when you're like this the last time it happened?" she asked, curiously.

Jack smirked. "General consensus is that if I come out, touching is not the first thing that comes to mind. But should the spirit move, please yourself. Last time weirdness of this caliber happened, by all accounts I came off pretty solid. Here, not a clue."

Leaning forward, Wanda laid a hand on Jack's upper arm. She felt muscle, warm and solid, underneath her palm. It wasn't like Jim's arm -- she remembered, vaguely, him stumbling around Harry's with her on her back, both giggling like fools -- and it was as real feeling as she was. "Huh...wonder what would happen if I were to close my eyes," she muttered, and did so.

There was no sense that the flesh beneath her hand had physically shifted, and yet it was different. With no visual input the illusion of mass was revealed to be just that: illusion. Though still firm, it was the firmness of tendons devoid of bodyfat.

And somehow, even unseen, Jack's next words managed to convey a smirk.

"Anything interesting, or just savoring the moment?"

"Oh baby."

Wanda opened her eyes and winked at him before telling him, "Hold onto your hat, handsome, I have no idea what this is going to do." She took her hand off him first, just in case she accidentally did something to something important. And then her powers flickered on, a red glow casting across the table and the two of them.

Immediately, she jerked back, clapping a hand over her eyes as if that would help. "Ow! It was like looking at a distortion but up close, all fuzzy lines and weird angles," she grated out.

Jack gave her an odd look, then snorted. "Right, probability powers fuck with the head-types. Guess it would be telepathy after all, then." He looked back at where the purse was still making a shaky orbit above the table. "Funny thing. Supposedly the kid's TK and telepathy aren't divided the normal way, whatever normal's worth for people like us, but far as I know Jimmy-boy handles brains and the brat and I handle brawn. Why there's cross now I don't know. It's been known, but I think we'd notice a nervous breakdown."

Before she took her hand over her eyes, she stopped the powers. It was just going to give her a headache anyway. Wanda tilted her head at him. "Can you feel him in there the way he normally does for you?" she asked.

"You mean Jimmy-boy? Oh, sure. We're all one big happy family up here. He watches. Makes the occasional comment. But if I've made it to the driver's seat he knows better than to jerk the wheel." Jack lowered his hand and let the purse thump back onto the table. With no transition whatsoever, Haller's appearance suddenly reverted to normal -- a blink, and he was himself again. His posture, however, remained Jack's. He made a circling motion around his face. "Anything now?"

"Well, you're back to Jim-face again," Wanda said uncertainly, "but you're still Jack, yes?" With a sigh, she reached for her purse and dug out the aspirin and proceeded to pop two.

"For the moment. Kid's still doing some processing." He laced his fingers behind his head. "This should be interesting. He never was too happy about putting the crazy on display. Imagine it'll be less so now that it's literal." Noting the woman's pill-popping he added, "That bad, huh?"

"I was possessed by an elder god while wearing practically nothing," she retorted, "so he should know by now that crazy does not bother me as much as someone else. And I will be -- keeping track is a bit hard and the view through the powers really rather screwed with my head. That probably should not happen to everyone else." Wanda really rather liked Jim and hoped he wouldn't be too upset with everything that had just happened.

Jack's smile slanted towards the sly, though he made a rare concession to Jim's sanity and refrained from a verbal reminiscence about Wanda's qualifications. The core personality still tried its very best to block the memory of a former coworker clad only in chaotic energy in the interest of maintaining a professional relationship. Somehow, Jack thought he'd survive carrying the burden of that memory just fine.

"You he's not worried about. The kids, on the other hand, might be a little put off." He shrugged. "Then again, not as if we make a habit of flashing the TK around the student body as it stands. If we're all very lucky, the kid'll bear that in mind before the paranoid collapse."

She nodded. Even if Jim hadn't been the counselor, she knew he would still feel bad about messing with anyone of the student bodies heads, be it on purpose or not. "Has anyone considered a vacation yet?" Wanda asked dryly. "Maybe if he took Betsy, she'd stop setting fire to our weekly dinner."

There was a pause, its texture different than that of simply considering an option, and then the younger man laughed. Though shaky, it was a warmer sound than anything that came out of Jack's mouth.

Jim looked up and smiled at her weakly, his posture slowly relaxing.

"That might be nice. Um, the vacation. I've had the cooking."

"Welcome back," Wanda responded, letting him get his head back in one piece. "You feeling all right there?" She kept a sharp eye on him, unsure as to what the reaction to this fading back and forth business would be.

"Yeah, it's just a little more erratic when I'm tense. Some of us process at different speeds." Jim's fingers found the bridge of his nose again as he gave Wanda a crooked smile. "Thanks for helping me out here. When something starts going weird I kind of prefer to inform the team rather than asking them to help me figure out what's going on. It's an appearance thing."

She nodded, understanding completely. It was one thing to inform those you worked with what was going on and entirely different trying to figure it out with them. "I was serious about that vacation, Jim," she replied. "You have been under a great deal of stress and maybe getting away for a weekend might help with that."

He chuckled. "I would, but there's some problems. Like the fact I've never been that great at figuring out free time, and that all vacations and personal trips seem to have a three in four chance of ending in some sort of kidnapping or assault situation."

"You have a ninja for a girlfriend. Would it sit right with the world if she was the one to do the kidnapping?" Wanda winked at him. "If not, at least take some time for yourself. Have a cup of tea that isn't in Charles' presence, go fishing or something. And before you say anything, yes, I know how hypocritical it is for me to be giving you this speech. The world is a funny place sometimes."

"Do as I say, not as I do. Why do I get the feeling that's a saying everyone in the counselor's job got extremely comfortable with." Jim gave Wanda a half smile. "Thanks. It is good advice. Although, um, do me a favor and don't mention that theory to Betsy. If by some miracle we do end up taking a vacation together I'd rather it not start by waking up in the trunk of her car."