xp_logs | Betsy and Jean 'run into each other' and it does not go well.

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Jean had been told about the remodeling that had been and was being done, but hearing about it and wandering through halls which had been empty and were now living quarters (and full living quarters - the mansion had never been so populated before) was very... unnerving. Although that might also have been the corner-of-the-eye glances she kept getting. News traveled fast, and while most of the older kids had come by to at least say 'hi', the new ones seemed to be uncertain what to make of Jean's presence in the hallways. She was very glad for the inhibitors' weight on her arm, uncertain if she'd been privy to the thoughts behind the hushed whispers that hovered on the edge of hearing.

Shock had kept her at bay last night, but disbelief pushed her out of her quarters this morning. Jean-fucking-Grey had decided to take her up on her challenge. Elisabeth should've been surprised that she could feel....something. But given the circumstances, and the way her thoughts were spinning in endless circles, she couldn't focus on much of anything besides the Null space traveling down the grand hallway into the entryway.

Something had flickered at the edge of Jean's vision and her head turned, trying to track the movement. For a second it had looked like Kitty, but that couldn't be. She hadn't seen the girl since she'd come back and if she was near by she'd undoubtedly have come stopped to say 'hello' or something. Shaking her head, Jean continued down the hall, wondering what classes were being held this term, and who was teaching them to whom. Everything was so different, but surely some things must be the same.

Too close. Betsy ducked into one of the vacant classrooms mere seconds before Jean turned around. She hid in there for a few moments, continually tracking Jean through the watchful eyes of the students. The lithe redhead turned left toward the lecture halls, walking carefully amongst the milling students. Betsy took a deep breath, swiped her looses tresses behind her ear, and took chase. Later on, if anyone would asked her why she was following Jean, she couldn't explain it. It was simply something she had to do.

I wonder what Scott is teaching now? His presence in her mind was gone because of the inhibitor, which was equal parts reassuring and terrifying. The link had been a constant in her mind all this time, except that it hadn't been. In Canada there had been nothing - no powers and no Scott and none of that. And thinking of Canada and Scott led automatically to thoughts of Thomas, which was not something Jean was prepared to deal with just now. Turning resolutely down an adjacent hall, she headed away from the classrooms, thinking about maybe going out to get some air.

She let the door leading to the courtyard slam in her face. Instead, her amethyst eyes remained focus on the woman, looking up at the sky, seemingly without a care. Hearing the murmings of voices behind her, Betsy quickly turned around and with one intent glare, the crowd quickly quieted. Everyone here had learned their lesson quick enough; mad telepaths were just no fun. She was sure that lesson was slightly above the other regarded words of Wisdom, 'There is no woman scorned like an alpha-level telepath.' Betsy returned her gaze back to Jean, standing off in the distance, and grunted. Pushing against the door, the purple-haired telepath entered the courtyard, and the hall exploded with the sounds of fervored voices all wondering the same thing.

It was warm out - warm and comfortingly dry. Ororo's joy at her return still aparent. Clinically, Jean knew that after the damn had burst and she'd failed to drown, the real wonder had been that she didn't freeze to death, but though she appreciated the warmth, cold had no real fear attached to it. Unlike... Her hands clenched into fists, nails digging into her palm to distract herself. Maybe she should just go back to the medical files - at least that was useful, unlike this.

Betsy came face to face with the distracted woman. She stood there staring at her, unmoving, for what seemed to feel like hours, yet didn't take up the barest of seconds. To Betsy, Jean's face remained the same, flawless and she felt that familiar irritation grow insurmountably. "Excuse me," Betsy managed, moving to the side and allowing Jean to pass. Yet, her eyes reamined intent on every move the older woman made.

Jean blinked, startled that Betsy was there. She hadn't heard her, and she hadn't felt her presence. Of course, with the inhibitor, she wouldn't have. "Elisabeth, hello," she said, smiling slightly. "It's good to see you." There was something.. subtly off about the way the other woman was looking at her... And then she realized. "Elisabeth! You're eyes! You can see!" The slight smile turned into a full grin - she hadn't made it to the staff files yet, so had no idea how this had happened. "Oh, that's wonderful! How?"

Betsy hesitated, in shock, of the woman standing in front of her, still with that ruddy smile. The thought that this Jean could be some sort of apparition crossed her mind and without the ability to push against the psychic buffer between them it made this line of thinking plausible. She could even be the mental projection of a teacher's once prized student. Xavier loved Jean like a daughter, would it be beyond his subconscious to create a facsimile for his own selfish needs?

"Why now?" Betsy blurted out under the intensity of Jean's relentless stare of happiness. Stop smiling, she wanted to scream at her. Taking a step back from the redhead, Betsy shook visibly, furious at herself for allowing such an outburst. "I didn't have....I shouldn't have said anything. Excuse me."

Betsy got her unvoiced wish as surprise and confusion wiped the smile from Jean's face. "Why now what?" she asked, doubly confused as the other woman backpeddaled.

"Two years," Betsy said, feeling the passing of time, it was not a pleasant feeling. She stopped midstep, meeting Jean's expression with a steady one of her own. "It's not my story to tell."

Jean blinked, even more confused. "I don't understand, Elisabeth. Are you... are you asking why I was gone for so long?" That was, at least, a new reaction. Albeit a very confusing one. After all, why wouldn't she have been gone? She had been, for most intents and purposes and certainly as far as anyone had known, dead.

"He thought you were still alive for so long and we beat it out of him. Do you understand me? We forced him to forget you because he couldn't move past it himself." Her words were clipped and stilted. "If you were still alive, amnesia or not, two years is still a damn long time to be sightseeing across the country. No, I'm not asking anything, Jean. Not anymore. It's none of my concern."

"Sightseeing across the country?" Jean gasped, her confusion erased in seconds by a flash of rage. "I was living a miserable life - plauged by telekenetic fits I couldn't understand and voices in my head which made no sense to me, living hand to mouth just trying to get by, with no memory of anything and no understanding of why that should be!" Her voice was growing shriller as she went on, her distress increased by the voice in her head which said that life in Canada had most decideldy not been miserable. "If I hadn't come here I still wouldn't know anything but I was so terrified of my powers that I had to be forced to seek help. You think I was on some sort of sightseeing tour!" The last was practically a shriek and, beneath the fury, Jean was glad for the inhibitor's presence since it meant the scenery wasn't being destroyed.

Betsy's face remained impassive throughout the outburst.

Standing there, she couldn't grasp why she felt so gratified at watching Jean throw a tantrum. She was about to respond, when she a sensed a soft, but subtle voice cutting through her thoughts. The message was clear. This is not the time. Betsy closed her mouth, pressing her lips firmly together.

Her head moved to the side, as if listening in on a conversation. She looked over at Jean from the corner of her eye, her gaze mostly on the Professor's office. "I have some packing to do," she said with some effort. "The school will be better off having you back, I'm sure."

The lack of response from Betsy just made Jean angrier and when she saw her eyes take on the slightly unfocused look of a telepathic communication she wanted to rip the inhibitor off and scream at her and Charles or whoever she was talking to. Instead, she clenched her fists, fingernails digging into her palms, and nodded jerkily, unwilling to say anything else lest she start screaming again.

"Well, see you." Betsy nodded curtly at Jean, ending their conversation, and venturing to the otherside of the courtyard. She disappeared through the Manor's side entrance without garnering Jean another look. There were too many things to bother with before she left the Xavier's. And her sanity depended on how fast she could make arrangements.

As soon as the door to the school closed behind Betsy, Jean let out a shriek of frustration and anger. She didn't understand what was going on, she didn't understand why Elisabeth had been so cruel and cold. She didn't like not knowing what was going on, she didn't like not being able to control her own temper, and she really didn't like the little voice in her head that was telling her that coming here had been a bad idea and that things were simpler when she just didn't remember anything. A clenched fist swung through the air and slamned into a small tree. The shock of pain racing up her arm helped her to focus, but she was still simmering with anger. Now would not be a good time to go back into the school. Shooting a last glare at the door Betsy had gone through, Jean turned and headed out onto the grounds. They, at least, hadn't changed and didn't ask her unfathomable questions with no good answers.