Jennie and Scott (Backdated to Tuesday)

[x-roulette.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Tuesday: Jennie seeks out Scott to ask about some things regarding a teammate. And finds out what happens when you try to drag personal baggage into team buisness



Jennie paused, the hangar spreading out before her. The person in question was hovering near the blackbird, and Jennie wondered if she should call out to him or not. And if she were to call out to him, what would she call him? Scott? Mr. Summers? Fearless Leader? No, no, and probably not. She sighed. Instead she approached, and hoped that he would notice her as she walked up. And she could always drop something loudly if that didn't work.

Scott wasn't literally hovering. In fact, he was crouched beside the front landing gear, doing some routine maintenance. He'd heard the door open, of course, but waited until the footsteps grew closer before he looked back over his shoulder. "Jennie," he said idly. "Hand me that rag?"

Jennie started and then scooped up the rag he had gestured to. She turned it over in her hands before handing it over to Scott. She then nervously wiped her fingers on her jeans, (old and holey, so a little grease wouldn't hurt them). "Um," Jennie said, trying to figure out how to say what she came to say, and found that she was at a loss. She sighed.

Scott rose, wiping his hands. Her loss for words wasn't lost on him. "Just take a deep breath and spit it out," he advised patiently. "You're walking and not covered in anyone else's blood, so I'm assuming that whatever it is can't be too bad."

She shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and took a deep breath. "Can I make a weird request?" Jennie said, "Can I ask that I not be scheduled to work with Marius for a little while?"

Scott stared at her. Flatly. "Can I ask why?" The question was level, his tone almost conversational. If it hadn't been for him glaring a hole through her head, it might have come off as mildly curious.

Ah yes, the Look Of Doom, she'd been expecting this. Buck it up Stavros, don't sound like a moron,

"Um, he and I. Well, Manuel's kind of been a punch in the stomach. For ...for both of us and..." Jennie trailed off and mentally rolled her eyes at herself. "Look, I'm pissed at him. I don't want to see or talk to him right now if I can help it. If there was a mission or something I'd work with him, no problem, but I'd like to avoid the gut-clenching awkwardness until I'm less pissed off at him." Or until he removes his head from his butt. Whichever comes first.

"Oh, you would." Scott tossed the rag aside lightly, his attention straying only briefly from Jennie. "I'm sure that would avoid all kinds of potential unpleasantness."

Jennie sighed. "This so sounded better in my head," she muttered. "He's playing the 'avoidy' game right now, and I am not going to stand around and wait for him to get over himself."

Scott rolled his eye. "By all means, don't put up with whatever your friend is doing or not doing. I won't say a word. But," he went on more fiercely, turning towards his tool bench, "the minute you let it interfere with team business, don't expect me to give a rat's ass about social awkwardness."

"I--" what? What was she doing? Jennie looked down, flushing slightly. "It's not, I just... Look," she tugged on her bangs and then blew them out of her face. "He's avoiding me, sir. It's how we got in trouble two years ago, his avoiding things. And ...he does that still. And that's one thing but--" here she looked Scott in the eye. "He took me down with him. I mean, for the most part we can play at being okay with things, but underneath it all I'm not sure how much has changed. But--" she wiped her hands on her jeans again. "I want him to stop with the avoiding. And I don't know how."

Scott took a few steps towards her, his eye locked on hers. "There's a man upstairs," he said slowly, very precisely. "Wheelchair-bound, likes tea. Is pretty much there to help you sort out things like that, at least inasmuch as they touch on the team."

"God, okay, look I don't want mandatory tea-time with the professor. I have a problem with my teammate. If I can't get my roster reshuffled then consider this a complaint and that he needs to be checked on. To which, I will help you out here, he will say that everything is okay and we all will believe him and things will be hugs and puppies." Jennie threw her hands up in the air. "Actually forget I said I damn thing. Forget this."

"Oh, no," Scott said. "You don't bring up something like this and drop it. Let's analyze your logic here? First you ask me to shuffle you out of the training rotation with Marius - but say that you're just fine to work with him on a mission if it comes to that. Then you tell me that deep down, you're not sure if you're okay with your teammate... that you have trust issues. Guess what?" There was only the faintest edge of a snarl to his voice. "That, to me, classes as 'not fine to work with him on a mission'. So make up your mind, Roulette. What are the limits of your professionalism here?"

Dammit, why did she have to catch him on a bitchy day? "What do you want me to say here?" Jennie said. "You've have to have had people in my boat. So what do I do?" She couldn't say it out loud. Not yet anyway.

"You work it out. Can you honestly tell me that you think Marius's upset about a non-team-related matter is going to lead to him being unreliable in the field?" He was going to be good and let her voice her opinion. He had his own, of course. He'd done very little that first night but assess what impact Manuel's presence in the mansion was likely to have (or not) on his X-Men.

Jennie put her hands behind her head and looked skyward for a minute. "No," she said after a minute. "He's a team player," she dropped her hands. "You can depend on him. And me." I just don't look forward to the training sessions of awkward..

Scott's smile was humorless, but still somehow approving. "So you just did one better than some of your much older teammates - you took a step back and saw the big picture. I can imagine it's hard," he went on more quietly, in a more natural tone, "but, you've got to compartmentalize. If personal problems start bleeding over and causing an issue, yes, I want to hear about it. But you don't meet avoidance with avoidance."

"Well, you can't meet it head on either," there was a wry twist to Jennie's mouth. "But, yeah. Some things are more important," she said. Whatever her issues were, she'd made a promise. Unfortunately just because she was realizing this, didn't guarantee that it would get solved in a timely manner.

"Hurray for priorities," Scott said, and headed back to his tools. "Now, unless you want to help me with maintenance, I'd suggest departing." He paused, looked over his shoulder at her. His expression was almost guileless. "Do you want to help me with maintenance?"

Jennie's shoulders slumped. "What do you need?" she said.