xp_logs | LOG: [Jeanne-Marie/Haller] There are too many people in this conversation

Jeanne-Marie and Haller meet by the lake. Unfortunately, of the many available Hallers, Jeanne-Marie doesn't exactly draw a winner.

Okay, it was definitely harder to hold water stable than keep it in motion. God, Jack had that problem too, didn't he? That was embarrassing. Figured, though. It wasn't like either of them were very good at keeping still.

Wiping the sweat from her upper lip, Cyndi let the pillar she'd been attempting collapse. Fire was infinitely cooler, there was no doubt, but water she could actually control, and that was new; once you started a fire it was pretty much making its own calls. Still, the entire process felt weirdly disloyal, and it was in part because of this Cyndi let her mind pattern its directions after its most familiar creation: flame.

The illusion was almost flawless. Her influence affected a relatively small amount of water, mostly the surface nearest the shore, really, but there was something about the tongues of water flickering in the sunlight. Instead of smoke rose mist that caught the light in rainbows. Cyndi knelt by the edge of the water, thinking, a little grudgingly, Pretty..

She was so entranced she missed the fact company was approaching the lake until it was practically on top of her. Well, maybe it was a forgivable. The flyer was moving so fast it could only be Jean-Paul. It had been a long time since any of them had seen him, so that was actually kind of reassuring. Jumping back to her feet, Cyndi sent a tendril of water spiraling towards the speedster and cupped her hand to her mouth.

"Hey! Head's up, Beaubier--uh . . ."

There was no real excuse for how close the liquid coil came to swallowing up the speedster, not between her natural abilities and her years of training and the sound of her name (though it was not meant for her) reaching her ears a moment before the strike came. But Jeanne-Marie was distracted, her mind far from anything but her own uncertain thoughts and the section of sky in front of her. "Calisse!" Her light eyes grew large and she managed a quick, twisting maneuver and a burst of speed that brought her back to open air with only a moderate amount of moisture dripping from her hair and fraying uniform.

She spied her still-stunned, and pointedly unfamiliar, attacker and rushed downward, shooting past the coast and tearing apart the tenuously held false flames to toss a small wave up at the unfortunate Cyndi before touching down in the grass. "Perhaps you would like to explain yourself?"

"Oh my god, I am so sorry. I totally thought you were Jean-Paul!" The telekinetic did a double-take as the newcomer came to a halt. Dude, I think I know this chick. "Hey," Cyndi said, wiping at the spray on her jeans, "you're his sister, right?"

The mistake in identity did not seem to appease or incense her, but only left Jeanne-Marie to wonder whether to count this young man among her brother's mischievous friends or spiteful aggravations. Their days with Alpha Flight would suggest a greater chance for the latter, but things were different here. She pushed returning thoughts of their former team away and focused on Cyndi again. Perhaps not quite so unfamiliar after all. "Oui," she replied at last, "And you are...Monsieur Haller? I would not expect a counselor to provide such a bad example, but I suppose we all have our vices."

Cyndi waved a negligent hand. "Nah, I can't do that kind of stuff around the kids. Which sucks, because it means if I want to show off I can only do it in front of like 25% of the people here. Sorry. He's so fast I was kind of counting on a dodge. Anyway," the alter said with a clap of her hands, "hi! Yeah, it's David Haller. Jean-Paul told us about you. The dork's totally curious about you 'cause you got a split brain but he's been waiting for you to be less stress, but really more because he's a wuss." Totally misinterpreting Jeanne-Marie's expression she added blithely, "It's cool, Jean-Paul's not telling the world or anything, he just told us because he figured out Haller's got it too. Hey, where'd you get those shoes?"

The moment of indignity and wanting to protest that she was, in fact, fast enough to dodge just as well when not distracted was brief and unspoken, a passing twist upon Jeanne-Marie's features before Cyndi blindsided the speedster a second time with her change of topic. Jean-Paul told us about you. She almost stepped back, but her worn training boots felt rooted. Split brain. "And who am I speaking with, if not the curious Monsieur Haller?" she managed at last, dryly, feeling disoriented and unsettled. It felt like being back in the hospital.

"Cyndi. You can tell 'cause I'm the one with social skills. Normally I'd be tagged out, but like I said, the dork's totally nervous." The alter added, a little defensively, "Besides, we almost never meet someone who I don't got to explain myself to, you know? I wanted to just talk to somebody for once." Cyndi stole a glance at Jeanne-Marie, then sighed gustily. "Okay, I'm getting radio chatter that I'm probably freaking you out. Sorry."

"Cyndi, then. It is nice to meet you." The Quebecois considered offering her gloved hand or forcing a smile at that comment on social skills (which should have been a joke but seemed unlikely to be), but she did neither. She just allowed the stranger, now more familiar to her in a most unwelcome way, to continue. "Oui, I know," Jeanne-Marie relented, "It is not an easy thing for people to understand, even at its surface, and no more simple to explain." Though, that task had been left to Jean-Paul more often than to Jeanne-Marie or Aurora. One more burden to add to a list that had to go on for miles.

The speedster met Cyndi's eyes as they turned to her and she wondered silently how many there were. For many years, it had been solely two in her own head, but in the worst days it had started to become more raucous. The possibility of more, of further splintering, almost made her shudder. But it had never come to anything. Not that she was aware of. She looked out on the water again. "I am fine. You owe me no apologies. Though I feel obligated to tell you I am working hard to keep my head...quiet. I may not be the kindred spirit you are hoping for."

"Oh." There was something like a flicker of disappointment, then an almost physical rebound. "It's okay, Jimmy totally knows the feeling. Jim's the walking-around-guy. He's kind of a buzzkill but I bet he'll want to talk to you, 'cause he's the one who got the dork down to four instead of the kajillion we started at." Cyndi wasn't entirely sure why she was trying to sell Jim all of a sudden, since it was usually at the very bottom of her list of concerns. Then again, it made sense, considering this chick had almost immediately slid into self-loathing mode. Well okay, not really, but she was totally reminding Cyndi of a certain type of multiple David had met in group. All quiet and not looking anybody in the eye and crap. Issues for sure.

. . . Actually, she was totally reminding Cyndi of Jim in the days immediately following the integration. Oh yeah, they were totally gonna get along.

"Annnnyway," Cyndi continued brightly, setting her hands on her hips, "either way it's a good thing we met while I was out, 'cause can you imagine, like, finding out all at random months later? Mostly we keep it kinda low-key because, you know, working with kids and all, but it's a hell of a thing to just spring on somebody, so the dork tries real hard to be good about telling people if it could mess with them."

Part of Haller seemed to understand, even with the displeasure of this particular sliver. That, at least, was a good thing. Jeanne-Marie offered her most convincing and personable smile, "Buzz kills attract, I am afraid. But I will do my best not to bore you." She watched Cyndi shift, a posture of contemplation, then settle her hands energetically upon her hips in decision before she began anew. The Quebecois wondered if it was a conversation or a monologue she was missing.

"I think you are right. There is no point in allowing such matters to linger and I appreciate your...promptness." She recalled the students she had encountered so far, a short list, and the ones her brother had told her about. Some of them had seen stranger things, and there was something almost pathetic about that, but there was no reason to divulge such details in a position such as Haller's. She nodded, then added pensively, "...Though, I imagine it is a different strategy with your teammates, non? As a matter of necessity, if nothing else."

"Tell me about it. Dude, we submitted the psych assessment in writing before Haller even joined the team. I think we were going on a ride-along to save Nate from one of his many kidnappings." The alter clasped her hands behind her head, looking curiously at Jeanne-Marie. "You were in Aphid Flight or whatever, right? You get hassled?"

Jeanne-Marie smiled thinly at Cyndi's story, though there was nothing particularly amusing about it, then fell into a brief and impassive consideration. "Alpha Flight," she corrected simply, then continued. "...Non. Not hassled. They were almost strangely at ease with my presence there, even though my...base had no access to any of our powers. My powers. As you can imagine, there were difficulties." She hesitated and a tucked a dark curl behind her ear. "The only one who opposed my place on the team was my brother."

Cyndi grinned. "What, Mr. Overprotective? No way. But wow. Not that I'm complaining, but is it weird how, like, no team seems to think that kind of thing's a dealbreaker? I don't know if they really don't think it's a big deal or everyone's just so totally jaded it doesn't even register. 'Oh, you're crazy? That's cool. You can either share a bunk with the dude who was possessed by a demon god last month or the chick who we pried out of that super-soldier brainwashing program, we're pretty sure she's got all the stabbing out of her system now.'" The alter paused, and while the next question was said with Cyndi's intonations, the facial expression was subtly different. More sober, and the green in Haller's eyes were edged with blue. "Did you oppose it?"

This earned a brief, bittersweet smile from Jeanne-Marie. "Shocking, I know....I suppose they have their reasons. Perhaps they just cannot afford to be fastidious, given the job description and their initial recruitment pool." The change in Cyndi's face, a sudden depth and difference in her eyes, gave the woman pause. Her expression sobered gradually. It was not a simple question. "Jeanne-Marie and Aurora were always at odds. What one adored, the other despised. It...is hard to say what I genuinely wanted."

"Oh yeah, it's how we do ambivalence. But when you're split it still means somebody's getting screwed." Cyndi's expression darkened. "Shrinks are all about how really we're one person, right? So how come's it okay for everybody else to pick the one they like best and ignore the rest of us? Grrr, hang on, I gotta burn something." The alter grabbed a stick from the ground and hurled it into the lake. Halfway into its arc it burst into flame, then hit the water.

Straightening, Cyndi turned back to Jeanne-Marie and said brightly, "Sorry, totally my bias."

The small outburst caused the Quebecois' posture to stiffen and as she watched the slender twig ignite over the water and disappear beneath the surface in a rush of steam and charred, brittle skin, she reached for the cross she no longer wore. Her fingers found nothing to grip and she dropped her hand abruptly. "I...do not think I want to speak on such topics. I have no desire to fight with you or myself."

"Yourself's got a different opinion? Ack, sorry, never mind." Cyndi waved her hands hurriedly, as if she could erase the words from the air. "Sorry, man. I'm sort of the one that just blurts this stuff out, so the filter doesn't really engage."

Jeanne-Marie had no intention of answering the question and wasn't certain what answer might come even if she tried. It was becoming a greater and greater challenge not to simply escape the sky once more and leave her mental likeness standing on the shore with her bright eyes and her piercing questions. She shook her head. "...It is all right. But perhaps we might speak on simpler matters."

Cyndi paused for a moment, scrunching her face in thought. "Actually maybe we better not. I mean, at this rate anything we talk about is probably going to go off the rails, right? How about we break for now and you can talk to Jimmy later. He's way better about not freaking people out." He would have to uncurl from his mental fetal position eventually.

Jeanne-Marie turned her pale eyes on Cyndi again. They had tried, but courteous civility only went so far and her nerves were wearing under the unpleasant topics their commonalities seemed to draw them to. Or perhaps it was the alter's take on them that left her so unsettled. "It is probably for the best," the speedster admitted as she lifted from the ground, hovering just above the grass and the imprint her boots had left. "...Until next time?"

"Sure thing," Cyndi said confidently as Jeanne-Marie rose into the air.

I'll just let Jim fix it.