xp_logs | Revenant: Selene Makes Her Move

Adrienne Reads Meggan’s math homework, and sees something profoundly disturbing. When she confronts her on the staircase, things take a turn for the worse.

Troubled by Meggan's outburst in today's math class, when the girl had stood up suddenly during the unit test to shout "leave me alone!" even though nobody had gone anywhere near her, Adrienne sorted through yesterday's homework assignments that the students had handed in before the class to try to find Meggan's, wondering if maybe a reading of the assignment would give her some insight into the cause behind Meggan's mood, thinking maybe the student was making random angry outbursts because she was having confusing thoughts about boys and Adrienne could advise Amanda to have The Talk with her.

Grinning at that thought, Adrienne located Meggan's homework in the pile and placed a hand over it.

There were several moments seen in the reading. The first was a flash of Meggan tossing and turning in her bed as though in the grips of some violent nightmare. It was impossible to mistake it for anything else, given the evidence.

The next flash was of Meggan obviously struggling with something while alone in her room, and various places in the mansion. The increasing distress was apparent on the girl, as was something else. There was a spectral form of someone very familiar hovering nearby, taking great pleasure in her torment, and creeping closer with each passing moment...and changing Meggan’s behavior in the process.

Selene.

Adrienne disengaged from the paper, eyes wide, colour draining from her face. She recognized Selene's appearance from reading various things at the Hellfire Club mansion, and knew of her reputation from conversations with Amanda. After fighting Steven's ghost last year Adrienne didn't have any doubt it was a ghost. What she didn't know was what the hell a ghost of Selene was doing with Meggan!

Rising from her chair so fast it fell over, Adrienne tore out of the classroom, but when she got to the hallway forced herself to remain calm and slowed her pace. Panicking wouldn't do any good. She told herself she should just stop and call Amanda and Wanda, but going to the Trenchcoats to say she'd seen the ghost of Selene looking pleased that Meggan was being tormented and that Meggan looked like she was obviously fighting some sort of control by the fucking ghost might just cause an immense amount of trouble. She remembered how the Trenchcoats had reacted to Jean-Paul's return. Their tactics had been severe enough to make Morgan quit. Adrienne didn't know what the protocol was for ghost possession as far as the Trenchcoats were concerned, but what if their reaction to what she had to tell them was to hurt Meggan?

Amanda was a loyal Trenchcoat. What if she was okay with hurting her own sister for the sake of getting rid of Selene?

Adrienne was not okay with that, and she didn't want to let Amanda know what she'd seen until she actually knew what she'd seen. She had to ask Meggan what was going on first. Gather more information before informing Amanda and Wanda and LeBeau that she'd seen the ghost of Selene.

"Miss Szardos?" Adrienne called out when she caught sight of Meggan climbing the stairs towards the students' quarters, forcing herself to stay calm. "May I have a moment?"

Meggan paused where she was, toward the top of the staircase. Adrienne couldn’t possibly know it yet, but she was literally moments away from losing her fight to stay in control. With one hand gripping the banister, she remained still and took a breath. “Yes, Miss Frost?” She hadn’t turned around yet, and her voice, she noted distantly, didn’t waver in the slightest despite the terror she felt inside.

"Is everything alright, Miss Szardos?" Adrienne asked without preamble, climbing the stairs. "You shouted at someone to leave you alone earlier, but it didn't appear as if anyone around you was disturbing you. Did something happen with somebody that my hawk eyes didn't catch?"

Meggan felt like she should scream out that she wasn’t fine at all, she was in serious need of help, and she needed her brother and sister. Maybe even an exorcist at this rate. Things were slipping from her control bit by tiny bit, though, and she felt like she was being drowned or stuffed in a closet somewhere to smother. It was a terrible feeling. Instead of screaming, she felt herself give a slight shudder before responding with a sigh, “Everything’s...fine, Miss Frost. It was unimportant.” She still hadn’t turned around.

Adrienne noticed the shudder and frowned. "You don't seem as if everything's fine or that what happened was unimportant," she challenged, albeit gently. "If you would like to discuss anything with me, anything at all, that's what I'm here for. I also know your sister's phone number," she added with light tone, hoping to reassure Meggan. "Maybe you'd like me to tell her something seems to be troubling you, so you can talk to her? Or your brother?"

Meggan would have liked to scream out that she wanted her to call them, but it was out of her hands now. She heard Selene’s mocking laughter in her head again, and realized she was waiting for something. If she could have warned her away, she would have...if it had taken a slight fib to get around this, she’d have done it.

The next words to fall from her lips certainly weren’t from her, as if she’d had any doubt before. “No...they’ll be hearing from me soon enough.” She felt herself smile wickedly. With her back still turned to Adrienne, though, she couldn’t hope to see it. Maybe she was waiting for something.

Confused and a little worried by the odd answer, Adrienne frowned again. "Do you mind telling me what that means? It sounds a bit unusual," she elaborated, drumming her fingernails on the banister of the staircase.

Instead of really answering or even turning around, Meggan heard herself commenting with an odd smile, “It’s…difficult to explain.” A deliberately timed shrug of one shoulder made it seem as though she was unsure and might just welcome Adrienne coming just a little bit closer, climbing just a couple more steps, so that she could. She could really tell that Selene was amused by this whole situation, and it scared her to death.

"Try me?" Adrienne suggested hopefully. "Maybe we could talk about it in the sunroom?" She climbed a few more steps, intending to pass Meggan so she could look the student in the eyes and lead the way to some place they could talk more privately.

That wouldn’t do at all. The only response was dead silence as an eyebrow raised coldly in anticipation. Adrienne might read it as Meggan pondering the suggestion. The presence in Meggan's mind had seemingly finally grown bored with this game and dropped all pretense of being Adrienne’s student, callously shoving Meggan even deeper into that metaphorical closet in her mind. She simply waited for Adrienne to get to eye level with her.

"Umm... Miss Szardos?" Adrienne said when she was met with silence, not used to being ignored by her students. She climbed up to the stair just beneath the one Meggan was standing on and reached out a hand to the girl's shoulder, hoping to turn her so Adrienne could speak to her face to face.

Selene abruptly turned Meggan’s body towards Adrienne, and locked eyes with the woman as she grabbed her arm. There was no doubt at all that this wasn’t Meggan, once you saw those eyes. In the coldest tone imaginable, she hissed in her ear, “Not quite. So very meddlesome, aren't you?” In just a moment, that would be taken care of as far as she was concerned.

"Hey!" Adrienne exclaimed when Meggan grabbed her arm, shocked one of her students would reach out and grab her like that. Looking into the eyes of the person who held her, however, had her issuing a surprised squeak and then going silent in shock. When a synapse finally fired in her brain she frowned at the... thing... that stood before her. "I'll meddle your ass back to the bottom of the ocean, bitch," she spat, and shifted her weight so she could get square with the possessed body of Meggan so she could grab her and hustle her off to Kurt for help.

A single raised eyebrow and cold chuckle said it all. Selene really didn’t think Adrienne could do anything against her...the very thought amused her. And she had a much better grasp on the railing to keep her own balance, possibly giving her the advantage. She gave a single, hard shove with all her strength when Adrienne was momentarily caught off guard. Gravity could easily take care of the rest, causing enough damage to keep her out of her affairs for a while. Permanently would be preferable to her.

Adrienne's shoulder hit a stair, then her head, then her back, then her feet, and she tried to reach for the banister with a hand, but then her head hit a stair again, then everything went black.

Selene barely even glanced at Adrienne’s still body as she descended the staircase and stepped over her. Dead or unconscious, it didn’t matter to her. She had far more urgent matters to attend to. Time to leave this place.

Now that Selene is in the driver’s seat, it’s time to prepare for coming events.

Not long after the scuffle on the staircase she finally arrived on the grounds of Endymion House, the most favorable of her lodgings to date. Things were going rather smoothly so far aside from Adrienne’s trifling nuisance, but--and here she grimaced at what Meggan had been wearing when she took complete control—-she really needed more suitable attire. At that thought, Selene paused, wondering at herself. Such an...adolescent concern, to go with the teenaged body she was inhabiting. Hormones. How irksome.

"My lady." Klar inclined his head respectfully as he unlocked the doors. "I have had the house cleaned and aired for you." He had just terminated the services of the last of the cleaning staff and had arrived himself only moments before. "All of the usual amenities have been provided for you."

She nodded as she stepped inside. “You have done well.” An understatement, at best, as not a single speck of dust could be seen. She touched the dress the girl had chosen to wear with disdain, before she looked at him with a wicked smirk. “Good. Show me what you’ve prepared.”

He had intended to show her the some of the rooms first or perhaps the sleek black car he had purchased with the money he had bullied out of Mordo. But Klar was all too used to attending to his mistress's whims at just a glance. That she was residing in this ... child... did not matter. "Of course, my lady." He said with a cool smile. He had placed the garment bag in the hidden coat closet in the foyer. Presumptuous and entirely without refinement. He did not anticipate that she would find fault with it. He had gone to great lengths to find a tailor who would work with just measurements and not the woman in question, for an outfit like this, they all seemed to think he was getting this for himself, for some -girlfriend- or -wife-. He remembered a time when it was much easier in New York City to find a tailor who would stop asking questions and just make the clothes. The neutering of Times Square had ruined the city, in his opinion.

Unzipping the garment bag with relish, Selene gazed at its contents. It looked exactly as she had hoped, and she nodded her appreciation to Klar. He had proven his worth again. She didn’t waste any time shrugging off the dress. She didn’t care if Klar was still in the room or not. Why should she? It wasn’t her body.

She glanced down at her wrist, only just noticing the little bracelet as light reflected off it. With…a monkey dangling from it? A quick pilfering of her host’s memories (and her fear was truly sumptuous) showed it was associated with Amanda. How cloyingly sentimental, she thought, as she tore it off. “Mmm...a trinket from the older sibling.” She dropped it into Klar’s hand, before turning to other things. “Throw that...and the dress...into the fire. Make sure nothing remains but ashes.”

It was useful to be in the body of a shapeshifter, she mused, as she moved to the nearby mirror. She changed her hair to a color that was more preferable to her--black--and cast a minor spell so that it wouldn’t go back to its default coloring for at least a month. Just in case of any trouble. With that out of the way, she could get dressed.

"Of course, at once." Klar had other things to dispose of and the furnace would do nicely to start. The more troublesome parts would just have to be taken care of later. Efficiency was a vital part of making sure everything went smoothly. If he could clean up a mess -and- do as the mistress wished with the tacky little trinket, it would be doubly rewarding. For now, the immediate satisfaction of a job done well. And for later, perhaps other rewards.