xp_logs | Yvette and Jan - Changing of the Guard

At Jan's request, Yvette comes to see her and receives an unexpected job offer. (Takes place yesterday.)

At her birthday party Jan had spoken about wanting to talk to her, and so Yvette had taken herself to the RA's room and knocked on the door. She had taken care to dress nicely and make sure her hair was neat - the whole thing had sounded rather important, and Yvette wanted to make a good impression. "Hello, Mis... er, Jan?" she called, trying to remember not to be quite so formal as everyone kept asking her to use their first names.

"Hey, come on in!" Jan said, opening the door and greeting Yvette with a big smile. "That was a great party! How does it feel to be 18?" Jan began to say something about her own 18th birthday, then decided against it. There was nothing to hide; actually, Yvette had been there, thinking they were going swimming in a pool on top of their hotel in Las Vegas, but instead they'd wound up spending the rest of the day drugged out of their minds. Still, it wasn't a very pleasant memory, and she'd rather focus on Yvette's future than unpleasant past events.

"It was a lot of fun. Did you enjoy it also?" Yvette asked, coming in as she was bid. She had to admit, she was curious about why Jan wanted to speak to her. "And 18 does not feel so different to 17 yet, but I am sure I will notice the change once I start at the university in September."

"Yeah, college is a lot different than high school," Jan said closing the door. "It always is no matter where you go to high school, but compared to here? It's totally different, but I'm sure you know that. Are you still going to live at the mansion or are you moving someplace else?"

"I thought about moving, after my powers..." Yvette gestured at herself, to encompass the whole change in her appearance. "But I still know so little about America and about living in the world, plus I do not have the means to live anywhere else just yet. The Professor said it would all right to stay, even if I am not the mutant any more."

Jan nodded. "I wondered about that, if you'd want to stay here or go somewhere else now that you don't have powers anymore." She'd wondered that about more than one of the former Untouchables, and with Yvette she'd wondered if her mother would think differently of her now that she wasn't a mutant with hair and skin that could slice somebody open. That was between Yvette and her mother, though. "Of course you have friends, here, right? And a job, if you want it."

"Yes," Yvette agreed. "And even if my mother wanted to see me again, I would not be able to go to university in Kosovo. We do not have the money. But here, I have many more opportunities." She tilted her head at Jan. "Which job do you mean, though? The Red X work does not pay, so I cannot live on that."

That answered one question. Now for the other... "Well, this is going to be my last year of college, assuming I do OK in my classes and don't flunk out, that is," Jan said. "But I've done well the past couple of years, so I should be OK there, but I'm also going to be doing an internship and it starts really soon. It's going to take up a lot of my time, and I figured it's better to do a couple of things really well than do more things and not be able to devote the right attention to any one thing. So I talked to Professor Xavier and told him I thought maybe it was time for somebody else to have a turn at being an RA. I've been one since I was 18 and I'm 21 now... I really think you'd be great for the job, Yvette. You've just graduated, you're closer in age to all of the students than I am, and everybody likes you. You're easy to talk to, very welcoming, and people seem to cheer up when you're around. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have take my place."

"Take your..." Yvette's eyes went wide. "Become the RA and take care of the students? I.. I do not know what to say." A pleased smile appeared. "Except, perhaps, thank you, for thinking I would be the good person for the job."

Jan grinned back at Yvette. "So that's a yes, I take it?"

"It is." Yvette beamed and clapped her hands together. "Thank you so much. Now I have the even better reason to stay here, and not feel like the, how you say? Free loader?"

"Freeloader, yeah." Yvette definitely wasn't someone who came to mind for that word; until recently, she'd been both a student and a member of the X-Men. Jan could see her concern, though, as Yvette had graduated and was also temporarily off the team, and if her powers were truly gone for good it was hard to think that she'd be active on the team again. Still, Yvette was Yvette, not at all the freeloader type in Jan's mind. "Which, you know, you're not, and wouldn't have been even without this. But yes, this is a real job, with real responsibilities and a real paycheck. Xavier will have the paperwork ready for you whenever you have the time."

"A real job." Yvette savoured the expression. "I will go see him first thing, then, to make it official." A thought crossed her mind. "And I should talk to Meggan, my roommate. I will have to move out of the student suites, yes?"

"You should get a new room," Jan agreed. "Could have this one if you want, it's a good location for the job. Marie lived here when she was an RA, she'd shared it with Dani and then I did, too. It's kind of like it's been passed down from RA to RA, right? Of course you don't have to have this one, it's not like the job requires it, but it's yours if you want it."

"But where would you go?" Yvette asked, looking around the room. It looked as lived-in as only a place someone had stayed in continuously for years can. "It seems like more trouble for two people to move, yes?"

"There are plenty of empty rooms," Jan said. "I guess I feel like making a change." She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe that's silly."

"Not so much, if you think it is time for the change," Yvette replied with a wry smile. "After all, to be a mutant is all about the changing." She beamed at Jan again, clasping her hands together in glee. "And speaking of the changes, I should go about making mine, such as seeing the Professor."

Jan grinned, glad to see how eager and excited Yvette was. "No time like the present, right?"