Sins of the Father || Dream or Reality
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xp_logsTopaz wakes up.
Consciousness returned in steps.
Step one: feel. Her fingers twitched against the soft surface under her. A bed? Not a particularly comfortable bed, but not a hard floor either.
Step two: smell. Her nose wrinkled. It was that weird, almost sterile smell, like a hospital. Or the med bay.
Step three: awareness. Empathy, to be specific. She was immediately assaulted by everyone within radius. In the brief moment before she shut her shields down, she caught everything from confusion to worry to elation to utter and breathtaking relief.
Step four: hearing. This one was a shock. Someone shuffling papers, low murmurs through a door or wall, her own breathing. She could hear. She could hear. She sucked in a sharp, shuddering breath, fingers clenching around her blanket. That had to mean…
Topaz opened her eyes.
It was bright. The lights had been turned down as low as they could go, but after being in the dark for so long, after being convinced she would never see or hear anything again, the light was nearly blinding. She a raised a slow hand to probe the skin around her eyes and ears, frowning faintly. It was smooth — no scarring. No hint there had ever been an injury. She could hear. She could see. She was…
Where was she? Was it another trick? Make her think she had been rescued, then throw her right back into the darkness? The thought sent a jolt through Topaz, and she found the strength to push herself up slightly, looking around. It took her a couple seconds to find the red-headed woman standing next to her with a clipboard.
"No no no no." Not again. Not this again. Topaz immediately scrambled up and into the corner of the bed, ignoring the tug of the IV line as she curled into herself, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to dig her nails into her arms - only to be stopped by the bandages. "Not real, it's not real, it's not..."
This was one of the hardest things about being a doctor: the aftermath. To find them broken and bleeding and in pain, in more ways than one. It was something Jean was used to. She knew someone had to do it, to be one who mended the pieces back together. Because that meant they were still alive.
Jean kept her distance at first. "It's okay," she said, quiet but with firm assurance. She could feel the chaos of pain and panic coming from her.
"You're safe. I promise. I won't hurt you. I won't come toward you, okay? Just...take a moment. It's okay," she repeated.
This wasn't fair. Making her think Alice was alive had been the lowest they had gone, until this moment. Topaz covered her ears, shaking her head vigorously and just waiting for it to end. "Go away..."
Jean sat down on her stool. "What can I do to convince you I'm real?" she said, studying her.
"Do you feel what I'm what I'm feeling right now? Like....more than you should? I think...when you saved me from the evil squid something lingered. Can you feel it? If weren't real...If I wanted to hurt you...would I be concerned?"
Despite her attempts, Topaz could still hear Jean. She shook her head, trying to shake it off, but at the same time natural curiosity forced her empathy to reach out to a small bubble in her mind. She and Jean had spent a bit of time together since the water adventure, mostly working on Topaz' expanded telepathy. It had been all about guarding and shielding. She had never paid much attention to anything else.
But there was something there. Topaz shivered slightly, finally raising her head and opening her eyes to look at Jean warily. It felt real. But the hallucinations had felt real too. She brought one hand down to flex her fingers, remembering the pain of the hammer... and then they were fine. Like nothing had ever happened.
But her empathy had never picked anything up in the hallucinations. She had never felt anything from "Smith", not from Alice, not from Amanda. She took some comfort in that, daring to whisper, "Doc Jean?"
Jean nodded, a warmth in her eyes as she gave her a soft, gentle smile.
"Yeah," she said. She still didn't move, wanting to take things slowly. There was a process.
"It's me. Welcome back."
Topaz still gave her a slightly uncertain look before turning her gaze - she could see - to herself. Her arms were wrapped up in bandages, and she frowned, picking at them. "How..." She wanted to ask how she was here, how they had found her, but reality clicked into place for a moment and her head snapped up, eyes wide and clearer than they had been moments before. "Is everyone okay? Hope and Molly and Xavin and Tandy and Amanda and all them?"
"Everyone survived," Jean confirmed, trying to be realistic when giving her the news, as she knew Topaz would appreciate it. It was best to give her reality right now, which meant sugarcoating. "There were some physical injuries that lingered but they're healing rapidly after the curse was lifted. Amanda was hurt as well, but as a separate attack. It will take a little longer for her but she should make a full recovery."
Topaz nodded slowly, taking a deep breath and looking around again. Everything felt very surreal at that moment. She dared to unball from her corner a bit, eyes settling on Jean. She was there, in the moment, aware, but still very confused. "How.... long... was I gone?" She finally asked.
From the way Topaz asked the question, uncertain and bewildered, with the same emotions seeping through their link, Jean had a feeling things had felt a lot longer than what time had passed.
"Two days," Jean said.
Two days. Topaz opened her mouth as if to respond, then closed it, frowning deeply. Two days. She looked at her hands - unmarred, no infection, no broken fingers. She looked at her arms - she remembered Jasmine healing them. Had she really done that much damage in so little time? It didn't make sense. Uncertainty set in again, and her left hand went for her right, nails digging into the skin. Pain. Pain kept her anchored. Pain was real.
Except for when it wasn't.
"Do you remember when I taught you those focusing methods?" Jean said, watching her carefully, her voice steady.
"I know this is a lot to take in, but if you can, I'd like you to remember that. It may not feel like two days because the mind can play tricks. Focus on the sound of my voice, to try to count backwards from ten. You're safe, Topaz. You're safe. I promise you. Feel what I'm feeling."
Topaz closed her eyes, trying to focus on Jean, on her voice, on her presence, on the comfort she was trying to give. Ten... hands grasping her head, fingers on her eyelids, thumbs up in her ears. Nine... The smell of burning flesh before the pain hits her. Eight... she screams, writhing and struggling under the hands, sobbing...
Her eyes flew open again, heart racing, someone screaming. Wait. That was her.
Jean couldn't help it. She was across the room in moments when Topaz started to scream. The raw emotion coming from the woman made Jean flinch. She reached out her hand but caught herself, letting her scream it out.
"Topaz. It's okay. It's okay...." she said, repeated like a mantra, firm and never wavering.
"Focus on me. Focus on me."
Finally she couldn't take it anymore and gently put her hand on her shoulder.
Topaz jolted, trying to pull away from the touch, and for a moment magic spun wildly in the air, like electricity, like the feeling before a storm. Nothing came of it - she didn't have the energy to do more than make the air crackle a little - but she quieted, gasping, eyes wide and out of focus once more even as she leaned into the touch.
Jean let them sit there in silence for a long while. Sometimes touch was a good way to ground a person. Especially when they were dissociating. She'd found it helped her after her first telepathic episode.
Finally, she spoke.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" she said. It was the Charles Xavier way of things, but it was another way of introducing more senses: smell, touch, and taste.
Tea. Topaz nearly laughed. It was such a British way of solving problems. "As long as it's not Earl Gray," she said weakly, rubbing her eyes and trying to refocus. In the mansion. Safe. She was okay.
Jean smiled, reminded of sitting on the other side of the bed herself. "It's my own private stash. You name it, I probably have it."
Living in the UK had rubbed off on her a bit, especially her love for tea.
That almost got her a smile in return. "Whatever you think is best," Topaz said. She looked at her hand again, noting the little crescent mood marks from her nails. Jean had stopped her before she had drawn blood.
"I'm thinking peppermint and chamomile," Jean said. She nodded to her hand.
"I'm going to pull out my phone, okay? I'll see if someone can bring us some. And maybe something to eat if you're hungry."
Topaz nodded silently, trying the focusing thing again. Concentrate on the sounds, on the presence of another person. This was real. Jasmine had been real. The hallucinations hadn't been real. Smith wasn't real. She shivered again and started counting slowly, this time out loud to hear her voice. "Ten... nine... eight..."
Jean waited, to see if she'd get to one. If she did, she gave her arm a squeeze. "What would you like to eat?" she said, trying to catch her eye so she'd have something to look at.
She did, but it was slow, and her voice was shaking by the end, but finally she looked up, eyes clear and exhausted but still meeting Jean's. "I don't... think I'm hungry right now," she said quietly. Which was odd. But she'd worry about it later.
Jean nodded. "That's okay," she said. She held up her hand, then slipped it into her pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing someone's number. After a short conversation, she slipped it back into her pocket.
"Alright, tea's on it's way," Jean said with a smile.
"Do you take any sugar or honey with it, or just straight?"
"Straight's fine." Topaz looked around, taking in the small room, the sounds. Her attention snapped back to Jean. "Was... was anything wrong with my eyes and ears when I came back?"
Jean paused. "No," she said, thought the description brought forth a sense of curiosity and a note of confusion that she kept in check. She didn't like the implication.
"Everything was normal."
Another spell, then. What the hell kind of spell could cause that? Topaz made a note to ask Amanda about it. If Amanda was still speaking to her. If everyone didn't hate her for bringing this crap down on them. She pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment, taking a deep breath. Low lights or not, they were starting to cause a headache. She wasn't looking forward to going back into the main population. "Right. Good. Bastard didn't kill me, at least he didn't leave me with any permanent damage."
"No, thankfully not," Jean said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Your injuries should heal in about a week, maybe less." The physical ones, anyway.
"You're welcome to go back to your room in a couple of days but I'd like someone to stay with you for a bit, when I'm not around. I think it'll help."
"Yeah," Topaz murmured. "I'm sure people will be tripping over themselves to help the person who caused all of this." The self loathing was clear in her voice as she finally slumped back against the pillows. Too many emotions in too short of a time period.
Jean tilted her head. "You mean Adam Destine? Pretty sure they want him to rot in hell."
She knew who she was talking about.
"But the person he hurt, and the person who wanted to help others? Yeah, they'll probably be camping out outside her door, wanting to hang out."
She smiled softly.
"Library's still there, by the way."
Topaz wasn't so sure about that. How much more of her baggage was going to effect the mansion? Who else was going to get hurt because of her? "That library's going to be my legacy," she said with a faint edge humor in her tone. "Twenty years from now no one will remember my name but they'll remember the scary librarian who put the fear of god in everyone."
Jean's smile lingered, though it softened to that of one of recognition. "You're too hard on yourself. Takes one to know one," she said. She paused, as if hearing a sound. Which, she had.
"The tea's here. I asked them not to knock so you wouldn't be scared."
She rose from her stool.
"I'm going to go grab it, but I'm not leaving the room. Keep your eyes on me and if you start to feel anxious tell me, okay?"
Topaz nodded slowly, resisting the urge to look down. Her hands were shaking slightly, and she laced her fingers together to try and control it. She was okay. She was back at the mansion. She was home. Everything was okay.
The room wasn't very big, so it was easy for Jean to take the tray given to her and make it back relatively quickly. Well, as quickly as one holding a tray full of steaming hot tea.
She pulled the bed table over and set the tray down. The smell of peppermint and chamomile wafted up, filling the room. Picking up a mug, Jean offered it to her.
"Here you go," Jean said.
The mug was a tiny bit oversized, and looked to be handmade, with gradient colors, like a sunrise, with purples and pinks and oranges.
"Ta," Topaz murmured, taking the mug and holding it tight. She didn't sip right away, instead just absorbing the warmth and breathing in the scent. And admiring the mug. "This is cute," she said honestly before taking a sip.
Jean smiled. "Thanks," she said, picking up her own, which looked like a sunset that gave way to stars. The stars themselves were hand painted on to look like a galaxy.
"I got them as a present awhile ago from one of the mutants in the underground. She's a very talented ceramicist. I helped her escape a bad situation."
"Aren't all situations bad for mutants?" Topaz asked, dryly and rhetorically, looking the mug over. It really was very well done.
"Sometimes," Jean admitted. "But not all the time. Every now and then I do see some good things. And...it reminds me why I do what I do."
Topaz focused hard on the tea. She had lost sight of the good things. Of her friends, of her... of the people who cared about her. Of the people she cared about.
And yet they were all exactly why she hadn't hesitated when Adam had given her the ultimatum. Surrender, or more people get hurt. It was no-brainer. What was the entire mansion compared to her? "Yeah," she finally sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. Everything felt so muddled, and she had no idea how to begin sorting it out. Nor did she have the energy. Not right then.
Jean took a sip from her mug.
"Since I'd like to watch over you for a couple of days, I'd be happy to see about getting some books, music, whatever you need. Or....we can just talk," she said. After an experience such as this Jean knew it took a long time to recover.
Topaz traced the rim of her own mug. "Um, my Kindle should be in my suite. I think I left it on the coffee table." She'd be talking plenty later she was sure. Someone was going to put her on Skype with the professor. Even if everyone hated her, they weren't going to want her walking around half crazy.
Jean nodded. "I'll get someone to pick it up," she said. She took another sip.
"So what are you reading?"
"Actually I haven't read anything in a while, haven't had time, but I did download this urban fantasy series that sounds really good..."
Consciousness returned in steps.
Step one: feel. Her fingers twitched against the soft surface under her. A bed? Not a particularly comfortable bed, but not a hard floor either.
Step two: smell. Her nose wrinkled. It was that weird, almost sterile smell, like a hospital. Or the med bay.
Step three: awareness. Empathy, to be specific. She was immediately assaulted by everyone within radius. In the brief moment before she shut her shields down, she caught everything from confusion to worry to elation to utter and breathtaking relief.
Step four: hearing. This one was a shock. Someone shuffling papers, low murmurs through a door or wall, her own breathing. She could hear. She could hear. She sucked in a sharp, shuddering breath, fingers clenching around her blanket. That had to mean…
Topaz opened her eyes.
It was bright. The lights had been turned down as low as they could go, but after being in the dark for so long, after being convinced she would never see or hear anything again, the light was nearly blinding. She a raised a slow hand to probe the skin around her eyes and ears, frowning faintly. It was smooth — no scarring. No hint there had ever been an injury. She could hear. She could see. She was…
Where was she? Was it another trick? Make her think she had been rescued, then throw her right back into the darkness? The thought sent a jolt through Topaz, and she found the strength to push herself up slightly, looking around. It took her a couple seconds to find the red-headed woman standing next to her with a clipboard.
"No no no no." Not again. Not this again. Topaz immediately scrambled up and into the corner of the bed, ignoring the tug of the IV line as she curled into herself, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to dig her nails into her arms - only to be stopped by the bandages. "Not real, it's not real, it's not..."
This was one of the hardest things about being a doctor: the aftermath. To find them broken and bleeding and in pain, in more ways than one. It was something Jean was used to. She knew someone had to do it, to be one who mended the pieces back together. Because that meant they were still alive.
Jean kept her distance at first. "It's okay," she said, quiet but with firm assurance. She could feel the chaos of pain and panic coming from her.
"You're safe. I promise. I won't hurt you. I won't come toward you, okay? Just...take a moment. It's okay," she repeated.
This wasn't fair. Making her think Alice was alive had been the lowest they had gone, until this moment. Topaz covered her ears, shaking her head vigorously and just waiting for it to end. "Go away..."
Jean sat down on her stool. "What can I do to convince you I'm real?" she said, studying her.
"Do you feel what I'm what I'm feeling right now? Like....more than you should? I think...when you saved me from the evil squid something lingered. Can you feel it? If weren't real...If I wanted to hurt you...would I be concerned?"
Despite her attempts, Topaz could still hear Jean. She shook her head, trying to shake it off, but at the same time natural curiosity forced her empathy to reach out to a small bubble in her mind. She and Jean had spent a bit of time together since the water adventure, mostly working on Topaz' expanded telepathy. It had been all about guarding and shielding. She had never paid much attention to anything else.
But there was something there. Topaz shivered slightly, finally raising her head and opening her eyes to look at Jean warily. It felt real. But the hallucinations had felt real too. She brought one hand down to flex her fingers, remembering the pain of the hammer... and then they were fine. Like nothing had ever happened.
But her empathy had never picked anything up in the hallucinations. She had never felt anything from "Smith", not from Alice, not from Amanda. She took some comfort in that, daring to whisper, "Doc Jean?"
Jean nodded, a warmth in her eyes as she gave her a soft, gentle smile.
"Yeah," she said. She still didn't move, wanting to take things slowly. There was a process.
"It's me. Welcome back."
Topaz still gave her a slightly uncertain look before turning her gaze - she could see - to herself. Her arms were wrapped up in bandages, and she frowned, picking at them. "How..." She wanted to ask how she was here, how they had found her, but reality clicked into place for a moment and her head snapped up, eyes wide and clearer than they had been moments before. "Is everyone okay? Hope and Molly and Xavin and Tandy and Amanda and all them?"
"Everyone survived," Jean confirmed, trying to be realistic when giving her the news, as she knew Topaz would appreciate it. It was best to give her reality right now, which meant sugarcoating. "There were some physical injuries that lingered but they're healing rapidly after the curse was lifted. Amanda was hurt as well, but as a separate attack. It will take a little longer for her but she should make a full recovery."
Topaz nodded slowly, taking a deep breath and looking around again. Everything felt very surreal at that moment. She dared to unball from her corner a bit, eyes settling on Jean. She was there, in the moment, aware, but still very confused. "How.... long... was I gone?" She finally asked.
From the way Topaz asked the question, uncertain and bewildered, with the same emotions seeping through their link, Jean had a feeling things had felt a lot longer than what time had passed.
"Two days," Jean said.
Two days. Topaz opened her mouth as if to respond, then closed it, frowning deeply. Two days. She looked at her hands - unmarred, no infection, no broken fingers. She looked at her arms - she remembered Jasmine healing them. Had she really done that much damage in so little time? It didn't make sense. Uncertainty set in again, and her left hand went for her right, nails digging into the skin. Pain. Pain kept her anchored. Pain was real.
Except for when it wasn't.
"Do you remember when I taught you those focusing methods?" Jean said, watching her carefully, her voice steady.
"I know this is a lot to take in, but if you can, I'd like you to remember that. It may not feel like two days because the mind can play tricks. Focus on the sound of my voice, to try to count backwards from ten. You're safe, Topaz. You're safe. I promise you. Feel what I'm feeling."
Topaz closed her eyes, trying to focus on Jean, on her voice, on her presence, on the comfort she was trying to give. Ten... hands grasping her head, fingers on her eyelids, thumbs up in her ears. Nine... The smell of burning flesh before the pain hits her. Eight... she screams, writhing and struggling under the hands, sobbing...
Her eyes flew open again, heart racing, someone screaming. Wait. That was her.
Jean couldn't help it. She was across the room in moments when Topaz started to scream. The raw emotion coming from the woman made Jean flinch. She reached out her hand but caught herself, letting her scream it out.
"Topaz. It's okay. It's okay...." she said, repeated like a mantra, firm and never wavering.
"Focus on me. Focus on me."
Finally she couldn't take it anymore and gently put her hand on her shoulder.
Topaz jolted, trying to pull away from the touch, and for a moment magic spun wildly in the air, like electricity, like the feeling before a storm. Nothing came of it - she didn't have the energy to do more than make the air crackle a little - but she quieted, gasping, eyes wide and out of focus once more even as she leaned into the touch.
Jean let them sit there in silence for a long while. Sometimes touch was a good way to ground a person. Especially when they were dissociating. She'd found it helped her after her first telepathic episode.
Finally, she spoke.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" she said. It was the Charles Xavier way of things, but it was another way of introducing more senses: smell, touch, and taste.
Tea. Topaz nearly laughed. It was such a British way of solving problems. "As long as it's not Earl Gray," she said weakly, rubbing her eyes and trying to refocus. In the mansion. Safe. She was okay.
Jean smiled, reminded of sitting on the other side of the bed herself. "It's my own private stash. You name it, I probably have it."
Living in the UK had rubbed off on her a bit, especially her love for tea.
That almost got her a smile in return. "Whatever you think is best," Topaz said. She looked at her hand again, noting the little crescent mood marks from her nails. Jean had stopped her before she had drawn blood.
"I'm thinking peppermint and chamomile," Jean said. She nodded to her hand.
"I'm going to pull out my phone, okay? I'll see if someone can bring us some. And maybe something to eat if you're hungry."
Topaz nodded silently, trying the focusing thing again. Concentrate on the sounds, on the presence of another person. This was real. Jasmine had been real. The hallucinations hadn't been real. Smith wasn't real. She shivered again and started counting slowly, this time out loud to hear her voice. "Ten... nine... eight..."
Jean waited, to see if she'd get to one. If she did, she gave her arm a squeeze. "What would you like to eat?" she said, trying to catch her eye so she'd have something to look at.
She did, but it was slow, and her voice was shaking by the end, but finally she looked up, eyes clear and exhausted but still meeting Jean's. "I don't... think I'm hungry right now," she said quietly. Which was odd. But she'd worry about it later.
Jean nodded. "That's okay," she said. She held up her hand, then slipped it into her pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing someone's number. After a short conversation, she slipped it back into her pocket.
"Alright, tea's on it's way," Jean said with a smile.
"Do you take any sugar or honey with it, or just straight?"
"Straight's fine." Topaz looked around, taking in the small room, the sounds. Her attention snapped back to Jean. "Was... was anything wrong with my eyes and ears when I came back?"
Jean paused. "No," she said, thought the description brought forth a sense of curiosity and a note of confusion that she kept in check. She didn't like the implication.
"Everything was normal."
Another spell, then. What the hell kind of spell could cause that? Topaz made a note to ask Amanda about it. If Amanda was still speaking to her. If everyone didn't hate her for bringing this crap down on them. She pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment, taking a deep breath. Low lights or not, they were starting to cause a headache. She wasn't looking forward to going back into the main population. "Right. Good. Bastard didn't kill me, at least he didn't leave me with any permanent damage."
"No, thankfully not," Jean said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Your injuries should heal in about a week, maybe less." The physical ones, anyway.
"You're welcome to go back to your room in a couple of days but I'd like someone to stay with you for a bit, when I'm not around. I think it'll help."
"Yeah," Topaz murmured. "I'm sure people will be tripping over themselves to help the person who caused all of this." The self loathing was clear in her voice as she finally slumped back against the pillows. Too many emotions in too short of a time period.
Jean tilted her head. "You mean Adam Destine? Pretty sure they want him to rot in hell."
She knew who she was talking about.
"But the person he hurt, and the person who wanted to help others? Yeah, they'll probably be camping out outside her door, wanting to hang out."
She smiled softly.
"Library's still there, by the way."
Topaz wasn't so sure about that. How much more of her baggage was going to effect the mansion? Who else was going to get hurt because of her? "That library's going to be my legacy," she said with a faint edge humor in her tone. "Twenty years from now no one will remember my name but they'll remember the scary librarian who put the fear of god in everyone."
Jean's smile lingered, though it softened to that of one of recognition. "You're too hard on yourself. Takes one to know one," she said. She paused, as if hearing a sound. Which, she had.
"The tea's here. I asked them not to knock so you wouldn't be scared."
She rose from her stool.
"I'm going to go grab it, but I'm not leaving the room. Keep your eyes on me and if you start to feel anxious tell me, okay?"
Topaz nodded slowly, resisting the urge to look down. Her hands were shaking slightly, and she laced her fingers together to try and control it. She was okay. She was back at the mansion. She was home. Everything was okay.
The room wasn't very big, so it was easy for Jean to take the tray given to her and make it back relatively quickly. Well, as quickly as one holding a tray full of steaming hot tea.
She pulled the bed table over and set the tray down. The smell of peppermint and chamomile wafted up, filling the room. Picking up a mug, Jean offered it to her.
"Here you go," Jean said.
The mug was a tiny bit oversized, and looked to be handmade, with gradient colors, like a sunrise, with purples and pinks and oranges.
"Ta," Topaz murmured, taking the mug and holding it tight. She didn't sip right away, instead just absorbing the warmth and breathing in the scent. And admiring the mug. "This is cute," she said honestly before taking a sip.
Jean smiled. "Thanks," she said, picking up her own, which looked like a sunset that gave way to stars. The stars themselves were hand painted on to look like a galaxy.
"I got them as a present awhile ago from one of the mutants in the underground. She's a very talented ceramicist. I helped her escape a bad situation."
"Aren't all situations bad for mutants?" Topaz asked, dryly and rhetorically, looking the mug over. It really was very well done.
"Sometimes," Jean admitted. "But not all the time. Every now and then I do see some good things. And...it reminds me why I do what I do."
Topaz focused hard on the tea. She had lost sight of the good things. Of her friends, of her... of the people who cared about her. Of the people she cared about.
And yet they were all exactly why she hadn't hesitated when Adam had given her the ultimatum. Surrender, or more people get hurt. It was no-brainer. What was the entire mansion compared to her? "Yeah," she finally sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. Everything felt so muddled, and she had no idea how to begin sorting it out. Nor did she have the energy. Not right then.
Jean took a sip from her mug.
"Since I'd like to watch over you for a couple of days, I'd be happy to see about getting some books, music, whatever you need. Or....we can just talk," she said. After an experience such as this Jean knew it took a long time to recover.
Topaz traced the rim of her own mug. "Um, my Kindle should be in my suite. I think I left it on the coffee table." She'd be talking plenty later she was sure. Someone was going to put her on Skype with the professor. Even if everyone hated her, they weren't going to want her walking around half crazy.
Jean nodded. "I'll get someone to pick it up," she said. She took another sip.
"So what are you reading?"
"Actually I haven't read anything in a while, haven't had time, but I did download this urban fantasy series that sounds really good..."
