Jean and Rogue: Club Med

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

While taking a look at the Medlab after hours, Jean runs into Rogue.



The first thing Jean noticed about the lower levels was how shiny they were. It was a massive contrast from the old-world grandeur of the mansion proper. She'd been here before, on the tour when she first came a few days ago but it was all in a whirlwind. There were so many things to see that didn't have time to sink in and feel real.

So that was why she liked the chance to be able to come back and look at things on her own. The medlab was one of the prime places at the top of her list. It was her domain (or rather, it would be from the way Charles talked. The mansion seemed to always be in need of doctors from the way he made it sound).

It was early in the evening when she came in next. The medlab was dark, but the lights were rigged to come on when someone walked in, almost like a spotlight.

Her footsteps echoed across the pristine floor, and Jean would've felt compelled to put on her doctor's coat if she had it with her as she studied the space. It was painstakingly cared for, clean and gleaming, evoking a retro futuristic feel, or how one might imagine the future to look. Trailing in deeper down the rabbit hole, Jean outstretched a hand, fingers trailing along the walls and the examination bays, an inch away but not touching anything.

She immediately felt at home.

Rogue was not impressed. She felt that since waking up, she'd been playing a non stop game of catch up. Not only did she have to figure out what she knew, what years she was really missing, and who she knew, but she had to navigate it not knowing what was what. It was a strange way to live. She didn't like it.

She also didn't like the fact that she was required to have regular medical visits, psych evaluations and all that jazz. It was terrible. The Logan in her head was NOT impressed, and was very vocal about it, but what could she do? She was as anxious as anyone to have her memories back and be normal again. Well. As normal as she ever was.

Rogue waltzed right in and froze. It was Jean, but it wasn't Jean. She knew that much. It sure looked like her though.

"Hey there doc," she said warily. "Are you the one doin' mah tests today?"

Turning, Jean blinked at the woman who had just came in. She looked to be about her age and seemed to share her fondness of the color green. But the expression in her eyes and her voice made it sound like she should've known something she didn't. She realized she recognized her from the journals.

"Oh. Hello Rogue. Um...I'm sorry. I don't think so," she said, tilting her head.

"I haven't started here yet," she said. She smiled. "Hopefully soon."

"Sounds 'bout right," Rogue said, shaking her hand. "If y'all are gonna eventually be the doc, well, you should know that Ah'm a frequent flyer heah. Gotta be down here at least one a week, but maybe,when ya step in, Ah won't have to!" She looked happy for a second before sighing. "Bah. Doc Reyes would still find mah ass and drag me down heah. She ain't around is she?"

Jean noticed the gloves during the exchange but didn't really think anything of it. It was winter, after all.

The place was rather large, with many people living there. It'd probably take her awhile to even get the chance to explore. It felt somewhat like living in the dorms at Columbia, except she got the entire room and a bathroom to herself.

"I like your hair, by the way. It's unique. Suits you."

Rogue raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Ah ain't too sure what that's supposed ta mean. Is it because it's peculiar? Or 'cause it makes me stand out? Y'all jus' met me. Ah could be the most borin' individual ya ever met."

"You could be," Jean said with a shrug and a smile. "But I doubt that. And it does make you stand out, but not in a bad way."

She felt self conscious all of a sudden. She didn't know why.

As quickly as Rogue got upset, just as quickly she brushed it off. "Well, Ah am pretty interstin'. Got powers unique to everyone, and got this hair that jus' won't stay dyed, no matter what Ah try. Good eye, doc!" She scrunched her lips. "Ah can't call ya doc. That's what Ah call Doc Reyes. Y'all are jus' gonna have to be Jean."

"Some of my patients call me Doc Jean. I suppose it's better than Doctor G. Makes me sounds like a rapper," Jean said, then tilted her head curiously.

"What powers do you have?"

The idea of genetics and mutation fascinated her. She learned that from Dr. MacTaggart, which wound up making her a favorite at some of the mutant friendly hospitals. They often called her in to help with the mutant patients.

Rogue shrugged and ticked off her fingers as she counted. "Absorption of powers and memories via skin-ta-skin contact, invulnerability, super strength, flight and amazin' metabolism, if this body is to be believed." This Jean didn't need to know she couldn't control any of those powers. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Jean unconsciously got a look of wonder on her face as her mind went through the possibilities of possessing that ability. She idly wondered if the other woman's blood, if separated, would have the same properties, or if it was contingent on still being in her body.

And then she realized she probably thought about these things far too much and out of context it would have creeped some peopled out. So she quickly snapped out of her momentary reverie.

"Absolutely," she said with an agreeable nod, then probably let her being bitten by the science bug show a little too much.

"I've heard of secondary and tertiary abilities but...Often they manifest as complimentary. Are your additional abilities as a result of your primary power?"

Rogue hesitated, her confidence slipping. "Ah'm not really sure." She crossed her arms in front of her, almost hugging herself. "From what Ah've been told, Ah absorbed a mutant until he died, and Ah permanently got his powers." Rogue gave a rueful.smile. "Only thing that's mine is mah skin, and mah metabolism."

"But! Enough about me. Who is this Doc J?". It was better to get the topic off herself. "Where'd ya come from? What's your story? Bonus points if it involves unicorns," she added.

Seeing Rogue's clear discomfort made Jean soften considerably and she immediately regretted asking.

"Oh...I'm really sorry," she said. There was more to what she said that had her curious, such as her being told about it and seemingly not knowing, but she knew when to drop a subject.

Drawing in a breath, she slowly nodded. "Well. I did date a unicorn in college. It ended badly. He was too horny," she said, slipping her hands in her pockets with a grin, then continued before she could groan. Lame old person joke. Good job.

"I was...born in New York...a few hours away. My friend had an accident and...my powers manifested because of it. Ch--The Professor, found me, and convinced my parents to let him tutor me. My dad got a job at Oxford when I was 16, so I stayed in Europe for a couple of years...came back here for college. Became a doctor. In my spare time I save mutants from bad situations. Or I did." The future of X-Corps was pretty uncertain at the moment.

Since they were at the school she figured she could reveal her secret. Charles had been the one who got her into it, after all.

That didn't sound surprising. This Jean reminded her of other Jean, which, Rogue concluded, was to be expected. "That's cool. Ya got passion and ya help people. Mutants. Anyways. Ya get props for the unicorn joke, by the way. A sense o' humour is the only way to get by these days."

Rogue gave her a curious look "So you're officially living here now?"

"I try to help everyone if I can. Equal opportunity life saver. The actual rescuing usually is reserved for mutants, though. But it's more of a...secret underground operation than Superman," Jean said. She paused for a few moments thoughtfully at her question, then nodded.

"I guess I'm officially a resident, yeah. Charles convinced me stay, since X-Corps and some of the other teams will be operating out of here now. It's...different." She'd noticed people called him Professor more often than not since she'd been here so she tried to use that language. But she'd always called him Charles, since he'd asked her to. He'd been the only constant in her life since before she was teenager.

"You can say that again," she murmured, looking around the med bay. It was strange. Obviously this woman was Jean, but she wasn't. Close enough though. Rogue wasn't gonna sweat it. "Ya didn't mention your powers. Do they suck too?"

Jean laughed. "It's nice, though. I've only been here a couple of times since I was younger. My dad didn't want me staying because he was convinced the FOH would swoop in and try to burn the place down. Everyone's kind of...reserved, though. I know they lost some people during M-Day. So I've been trying to give them their space."

Glancing over toward one of the cabinets, the pen that was on it floated up and came to land in her hand.

"I have telekinesis, which I...sort of love but...I'm also a telepath." she said, speaking like it were an admission of guilt. She held up her hands and quickly added. "I don't...I haven't read your mind, though. I would never do that without your permission. Your thoughts are private."

She fell silent a moment. "And that's the sucky part. They come in handy sometimes, when I'm working with X-Corps but..."

Most of the time being a telepath around people meant becoming a pariah. People usually distrusted her the moment she told them, at the very least. She never told a human what she could do. That was like asking to be arrested.

Rogue gave a snort. "Wouldn't matter if ya read mah mind or not. Ah ain't gettin' any info in there, so Ah highly doubt you would." Now how to explain this without revealing it all..

"Everytime Ah absorb someone, a little shadow gets made of them, and then they live in mah head. Ah got Logan, Magneto....a few others. Ah heard it's like white noise in theah, unless ya know what y'all are lookin' for."

"Magneto? The...terrorist?" Jean said, blinking.

Oh, he was a terrorist in this world. Good to know. Rogue reached up and twirled her white strand with her finger. "That's the one....he's kinda responsible for mah hair bein' this way." She hoped. This new world was strange.

Jean knew Charles knew Magneto from a ways back and that his team was involved in a few skirmishes with him but that was about it. She slowly nodded. "You said you had echoes of him in your head. From touching him, right? So your hair was a bi-product of that exchange?"

So many questions. At least she could answer these ones. "You could say that." She thought for a moment on how to explain it. "Sometimes, when Ah absorb high level mutants, it's too much and .... stuff...happens...."

"Oh," Jean said, nodding again. She frowned, chiding herself inwardly. "I'm sorry. That's got to be hard. It's bad enough to get people's memories, but to get their whole being...." She let out a breath, finding it difficult to fathom.

She thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know if it'd help, or if you're already trying this but...there are some meditative techniques I use...when it's hard to tune out everyone's thoughts. I could show you? If you ever need it?"

"That's Logan's answer for everythin' too," she grumbled. "Ah don't particularly like to meditate. Leaves too much time for the voices to talk. Like, some of them, they like to meditate, but others try to make too much noise." She shook her head. "But Ah'm open to anything to help control mah powers. That's waht Ah really need help with. Ah got a 3 second window afore Ah absorb someone. Sure would like it to be longer."

"You can't control it?" Jean said with a frown. So that was why she wore the gloves. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Well, I can see what I can do, if you'd like. We could try to figure out if your ability is physical or psionic. Or both. If you can absorb someone's powers then that sounds like your cells may be able to adapt to that other person's genetic structure and bind itself to you. The more you hold on to them, the more material you absorb." She tilted her head.

"Have you ever touched someone with glasses before? Did you inherit that trait? The memories and personalities, on the other hand, is the trickier thing....some have speculated on genetic memory but it's not widely accepted. It could be that your powers do work on both levels. There's a possibility that if you do possess a psionic trait, then maybe we could find a way to lessen or stop the severity of that. However, the physical aspects...that could take some work."

Even though Rogue didn't remember it, she was fairly certain they'd had this conversation before. "Ya sure are passionate bout helpin' folks." With ease, she hopped onto the counter, and leaned down on her hands. "Ah'll save ya the trouble -- they ain't gonna be cured by nothin'. Been over 13 years, and no progress. Ah'm used to it."

Jean fell silent for a moment or two. "Oh," she said finally, then slowly nodded. That was the problem with trying to help. Sometimes she got too invested, and when things didn't work out she blamed herself.

"I....sorry. I think the crusader in me gets overly excited. Character flaw. I didn't mean to get your hopes up."

She wanted to try, but if the woman was opposed she didn't want to push her.

Rogue gave a 'whatever' shrug. "No skin off mah nose, sugar. ‎S'all good. Ah ain't got no hopes ta dash anyhow. It is what it is." She gave a smile. "Are ya gonna be helpin' the younguns then with their control? Sounds like you're full o' good ideas."

Pausing, Jean shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted. "The professor asked me to stay...I hadn't planned on doing that. I was just going to move on, back to the UK, but I have to now since X-Corps will be working out of here...or they were but now things are up in the air. I...hadn't really thought about it yet. I think I'm still on 'what am I going to do now?' mode." She laughed.

Rogue smiled back. "Well, if Ah know people, and Ah usually do‎, Ah'm sure y'all will be on your A-game in no time. In fact," she continued, adding a cryptic wink. "You'll be runnin' the show. Ya got that take charge kinda attitude and a positivity to ya. Ah like it."

"Thanks," Jean said curiously. She laughed again. "That's a lot of confidence. Everyone seems pretty close knit. I don't want to rock the boat just after I get on."

She was the outsider. Still, people were friendly enough. It was a new situation for everyone.

"Boats were meant ta be rocked. Else they wouldn't have the rudders.". Rogue was proud of herself that she was so upbeat.‎ Maybe it was the relief that she didn't need to do her tests. Who knew. Or maybe it was the relief that even though this wasn't her Jean, it was still Jean and Jean meant security to her. "You'll be fine," she repeated herself. "Ah came here with no one but Logan, and Ah stayed because that bunch in there is more family than mah own. You'll‎ see it, surely."

"'I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship,'" Jean said, then glanced away and smiled.

"Louisa May Alcott. I always liked that quote." She nodded after a moment, not sure who Logan was but at least she sounded happy talking about him.

"Maybe," she allowed. It did feel...comfortable. New, but not. A strange feeling, to be sure. She was used to being transient, even when she was somewhere for a longer period of time. To be somewhere, potentially permanently...It was different. Rogue gave her a wide grin. "C'mon doc, let's go explore then. Ah know no one heah either, but Ah do know where the food is!" ‎

Jean laughed, then extended her arm. "You had me at food. I'm starving. Lead the way."