Jean and Manuel

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

The pleasant day takes a very unpleasant turn at lunch time.



Manuel came down the stairs and turned right, heading straight for the kitchen. He could feel who was in there, and the only other people around were a gaggle of underclassmen. Easily ignorable. He walked into the kitchen and sat himself down on a chair, watching Doctor Grey sip orange juice and nibble on a croissant.

...Easily ignorable... The boy who had come in radiated pure confidence and self possession - quite a change from the rest of the students. It was restful, in a way, but also rather unnerving, coming from a boy a full decade younger than herself. Jean didn't think she had ever had the self assurance he had. If she had, she certainly didn't have it now. "Hello," she said, arching an eyebrow at him. "May I help you?"

Manuel smiled at Jean. "Certainly." he said, letting his Castillian accent spill out into his voice. "A glass of orange juice would be love. You are ... Doctor Jean Grey, are you not? BS and MD both from Columbia University?" he said with a grin. "It is truly a pleasure to meet you." he said, holding out his hand for her to take if she was so inclined.

"Close," she said. "The MD is from GW in Washington. And you are?"

Jean hesisitated for a second before accepting his hand and the consequences - with no shields of her own, it would be impossible to shut out anything she would get from the skin contact, but she couldn't deny that she was curious about this young man.

Manuel's shields were walls of icy indifference, but he could See through them just fine. And he looked deep into Doctor Grey's mindscape, into her emotions and the core of who she was as a feeling being as he bent his lips over the back of her hand before letting it go. "Manuel de la Rocha, at your service." he said with a grin, backing off on his accent.

The strength of his shields should have been relaxing - Charles was the only other person in the mansion who was controlled enough to keep from leaking something that Jean couldn't help but pick up, a respite that the woman frequently availed herself of - but it most decidedly was not. Manuel de la Rocha - an empath of great strength and unfortunate history according to his medical file. She had felt his probing of her own emotions and been able to do nothing about it, while he sat smugly behind his shileds. He knew who she was, obviously knew enough about her to have strengthened them before taking her hand. The well of frustration deep inside overflowed, coming periliously close to the anger she was holding onto.

No, she would not do this. Not to a student. Her other hand clenching tightly she forced the emotions back.

"Nice to meet you, Manuel" she managed, although it was apparently anything but.

Manuel could easily see the by-play of emotions, and they amused him greatly. She had a passion to her, a fire. It was threatening to spill out, he could see that clearly now. Especially when he touched her - he could even almost sense the Professor if the two of them were touching. "The pleasure is all mine." he reiterated, letting her hand go and straightening up. "How are you settling in?" he asked pleasantly.

"Very well," she said, trying to regain her mental feet through the verbal pleasantries. "And you? How are you finding life at Xavier's?" ...a passion to her, a fire... Jean managed not to flinch at the image - it was not an unusual one at all, given her hair and temper when she lost control, but that did not make it a comfortable one. "What have you been studying here?" Putting the metaphorical 'ball' of the conversation back in his court would give her a chance to ballence, surely.

"Business, music, and psychology." he replied promptly with a smile. She was off-balance, he could feel it, and reeling for control. For stability. "Life here has been very, very interesting." he said. "Alien dimensions, soldiers coming in to kill us all, having my life sucked away twice, love potions ... far more excitement then even the streets of Madrid." he said with an easy smile. "Not anything like your life, if the scuttlebutt is true. No holding back walls of water, no giving of my life for my team-mates, no psionic dumpshock. So, if I may be so bold, how are things between you and Scott, hrm?"

There was a crash as the cup and plate which had been sitting on the table slammed into the wall and shattered. In another second it would be Manuel being thrown into the wall and he was a student and she would. not. hurt a student. Without a word she stood up, her chair thudding back into the wall behind her as her telekinesis lashed out again at the pain inside her mind, and she turned and strode from the room, heading straight for the labs and the Box.

Manny watched Jean stalk away. He could stop her - shutting that fury down cold and negating the fear would do quite nicely - but it would be unethical of him to do so. Simple, but unethical. "So, I take it that means things are not going well?" he called after her, then looked about the kitchen. Oh, good.

She'd left the orange juice out.

Smiling, he poured himself a glass and drank it slowly. Alex would have been pleased with today's conversation.


Jean goes storming through the halls straight for the medlab and the box, items rattling as she passes although nothing breaks. She makes it to the box and gets the door shut before she starts screaming and her telekinesis lashes out, throwing everything about and even bending the bolts on the bed. A few minutes after she starts her powers overload and she collapses again, remaining unconsious for several hours.