asongwithin | Duplicity Inbox

...Yeah.

[ The words come more slowly, now, because she's up and pacing around. ]

He told us it was bad. I knew it would be an understatement.

Do you know if there are - dammit, of course there are more, he's been here over a year.

[ Should she look for them?

She's going to look for them. ]

Don't go looking for things if knowing doesn't serve a purpose.

I guess I need to decide if it does or not.

...I want to know what they've done to him, Scott, him and the people he cares about. I want to take it out of their hides.

That's not...

[ That's not who she prefers to be, but is it any different than what she did to Apocalypse? ]

How capable are you of backing that up?

Hard to say, without testing their limits.

1-) Try the beach. It's a decent low risk testing ground. 2-) Is Phoenix just not here or somehow shackled?

[ It takes her a few minutes to answer that one. ]

She's here.

But it's like - it feels like our wings are clipped. I can already tell I'm not...what I was just before I died.

[ Which might be for the best, all things considered. ]

What did you learn on the beach?

Then you might want to consider holding off on giving yourself more reason to want to make people violently pay until there's a plan to do that.

There's nothing wrong with my power level, but I can't consistently shoot in a straight line. Which is impressive but not necessarily related to the City.

Edited 2022-01-26 12:07 (UTC)

Well if I have to be all sensible about it.

Do you think that's the city, or something else? Do you want to see if I can fix it?

I don't have a guess; too many variables changed at once.

I don't want you to fix it.

Do you want to come over or want me to come there?

I'll come over.

[ A brisk walk can't hurt. ]

I'm in 1A. Door's unlocked.

And here I was hoping to brush up on my lock picking skills.

[ It's not long before that door is creaking open. She swapped most of her uniform for a green sweater and black pants, but she's kept the trench coat. Leather is warm, okay? ]

Scott?

[ Scott's done a similar thing - changed into jeans and a t-shirt, with a very beaten up leather motorcycle jacket hanging by the door. ]

No, Kurt.

[ He rolls his eyes behind his glasses but he immediately just hugs her. Got a little lost in their initial (with Jean drugged) meeting. Wasn't able to be what it should be which is just - a tight, warm, hug.

He missed her.

A lot.

Fuck his awkwardness its Jean. ]

Hilarious.

[ She's rolling her eyes, too, even as she fiercely returns that embrace.

Funny how much she's missed him when she isn't the one living with years of absence. Even when her arms relax, she doesn't pull away, just rests her head on his shoulder.

It feels incomplete, without a deeper connection. She doesn't mention it. ]

Are you eating all right?

[ She knows it takes time, to build yourself back up after being imprisoned in those conditions. She doesn't know if Scott's prioritising that or not. ]

[ It doesn't just feel incomplete to Scott. It feels familiar in bad ways - times they were together, both alive and not just in the same place but the same bed and still missing each other.

That's eventually going to win out - the need for more intimacy and to be closer to Jean in particular - over his discomfort with the idea of sharing his mind with her (and Phoenix) again. It probably won't even take all that long.

for now he runs his fingers through her hair, slowly, separating strands that might want to catch.

He laughs, softly at the question. ]

I am eating an obscene amount of food and hitting the beach and Logan's gym. Have you eaten recently?

Edited 2022-01-26 16:49 (UTC)

[ It's a relief, hearing that he's taking care of himself at least physically. Granted, she's sure that the moment he's able he'll be running himself ragged at that gym -

Or maybe not. Maybe not here, not yet. ]

I've been grabbing my three squares.

[ Not enthusiastically - she's still feeling a bit too wrung out for that, truth be told - but she won't let her health suffer for it. For the exact same reasons as Scott, probably.

They've been trained too well. ]

What's the gym like?

[ The source of why they're doing it may not be the greatest thing in the world, but it's better than it not being done.

And he does recognize what 'three squares' being eaten means. That'stay in fighting shape/return to that state' ingrained in them.]

Good, then we can ignore that entire line of distraction and managing.

[ Dry because some part of them might be glad for the straight forward leverage. He lets her go and nudges her toward the sofa. Just so they can sit. ]

It's a gym. It's clearly owned by Logan. The hours are terrible. Probably because of the hours Dick and Jason seem to keep.

Until we find another one.

[ Just as wry. She's still smiling as she sits, sinking back into the couch. Slowly - far more slowly than normal, actually - her boots begin to untie themselves. ]

Let's be honest, our hours will end up terrible too. [ They're so used to having lives bursting with activity, juggling the school and the X-Men and at least three distinct threats on a regular basis. It won't be long until they're finding new exciting ways to fill that absence.

Like prison. ]

I met Dick. He's very sweet.

I think it's probably more likely that we'll just stop sleeping than turn nocturnal.

[ Not that the other is impossible, given how much easier it is to get into trouble that will land them in prison at night, but. Nocturnal does imply they're... getting sleep.

He has his doubts.

He settles down beside her, head tilted to the side and shelves discussion about Dick for now. ]

Is your TK not working well because of Phoenix' clipped wings, or is something else going on?

[ That gets a laugh, and a slight nod. Even now, trying to acclimate herself before diving into anything, she's not exactly getting an overabundance of sleep. ]

There's still a lot of raw power there. Being delicate with it, that feels harder. I don't think that part's Duplicity, at least not directly.

[ She falls silent, for a few moments. When she speaks again, more to her boots than to Scott, her voice is soft. ]

Did Logan ever talk about what happened, on the station?

[ He truly doesn't understand how, after all this time, he can feel so... comfortable with her, in so many ways. Even the distance, the not wanting her in his mind, the way they ended, missing Emma (and he misses Emma)--

That fucking question--

It's not perfect but it's still Jean and he still loves her and she still feels like home.

It's why, though there's a pause, he answers the question. ]

Logan and I don't talk. [ He sounds frustrated by that, a little. ] We fight and growl and snarl and push. We use each other as battering rams and punching bags. Sometimes we have A Moment where we acknowledge we can stand each other, but we don't really talk.

[ Ask a stupid question.

She huffs something like a laugh, and her shoelaces still, quivering in the air like charmed snakes, as she tilts her head up again. ]

Maybe you should start trying.

[ They get there eventually, it seems. Maybe she just yanked them both into her head and wouldn't let them out until they made an effort.

For now...for now she just looks into his eyes and tells him the truth. ]

One of the last things he said to me, before we crashed into the sun, was that you still loved me.

[ They probably should, but fuck if he knows how. Maybe he relies too much on telepathy. Maybe if he wants to convey anything of meaning even to Jean he should get willing to let her into his head, too, instead of shutting down the best line of communication he has.

Meanwhile - he probably should, he doesn't know how or even what to say.

So he focuses on the... not at all easier but at least more know aspect of things.

While watching her bootlaces.]

He's not stupid. I never stopped loving you. Neither did he.

[ The fact that it was even a question really speaks to how thoroughly they'd fallen apart. ]

You know, I was angrier at Emma than I was at you. [ It seems like a steep conversational swerve, but give it a minute. ] There were a few reasons for that, but one of them -

[ She's back at staring at her shoelaces, too. ]

A few days after Cassandra Nova outted the school, I took a hike into the woods and poured my heart out to Logan. All the things I wouldn't say to you because I didn't know how.

And we kissed, and I don't...I don't know if it would have stopped there if he hadn't walked away. If he hadn't believed in us, in you and me, more than I did.

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