Summary:Jean and Scott go for a swim and talk about her blocks before welcoming someone else to the pool. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's the middle of summer, and even in New York, it's hot. In the city, the buildings all seem to press down, compacting the heat into millions of cranky people. So with a few days off, Jean asked for a ride back up to the school, to enjoy the relative peace of the place for a but. And since it's hot, she also decided to avail herself of the pool.
She has a towel over one shoulder as she heads for the pool. It's the most fabric on her though, given the dark green halter-top bikini she's wearing. Flip flops and a pair of sunglasses on top of her head finish off the outfit, along with a liberal coating of SPF 100. The sun is one thing no redhead - no matter how powerful - can escape.
Even though the pair of them are official, they don't spend every moment together. Scott was needing a cool off, and Jean can easily pick up on his surface grumbling. « Having a grasp of spatial geometrics is not using my powers to /cheat/ at pool. » A different type of pool was apparently going on earlier, and Scott was politely asked not to come with them to Harry's sense he cleans house at the pool table.
It's not like he /hustles/ his friends.
Just people that mock his eyewear.
So he needed to cool off, as he was already in the water, wearing a dark blue pair of board-style swim trunks with gold piping on the side. He had just finished a lap when he notices a pair of feet approaching the pool. Even with his tinted goggles pulled on tight, as he follows them up, he pauses as he realizes that they belong to Jean. « Whoa. » Sometimes, he needs these moments to realize how much she has grown up. Not just in capabilities. "Hey." he finally manages to croak out. "I'd invited you…" But he wasn't sure if she'd accepted. New relationship is new.
"Hey, sailor," Jean greets with a crooked smile, slipping off her shoes and setting the towel down on a chair by the pool before coming over to dip her toes in the water. "Got kicked off the pool tables again, huh?" she teases. She can't help but pick up on those things, especially when they're close.
"Don't they know that's how you get by on a teacher's salary?" With a teasing waggle of her brows, she pulls her own sunglasses down over her eyes, matching his.
"A guy's gotta be able to afford taking his girl out. And my motorcycle habit." Scott gives a little smirk though there's some other thoughts he has of his girlfriend in her swimsuit that aren't exactly innocent.
"So out here for five minutes, then back inside before you burn?" he asks in return as he uses the moment to swim over to the edge of the pool and lounge in the water so they can talk without having to get too deep into each other's thoughts.
"Very funny," Jean chuckles, glancing up toward the sky. "Sunscreen's good for an hour before I have to reapply." She lowers herself to the edge of the pool then, dangling her legs into the water with her hands on the edge.
"What about you? Just out here making use of your frustration by working out and swimming laps?" It would be teasing, but she knows him too well not to know it's true.
Giving Jean's knee a tap, Scott's lips are a thin smile. "Got it in one, Red." he admits to her as he rests his head on his arms and looks askance to her. "Just going over the last few days in my head. Trying to figure out the whole thing with those cyborgs. Isis brought me a mystery metal I need to get Hank to look at.. and.." There's them. He's still getting used to the whole idea that they finally took that step.
"Well, when the hour's up, if you need help reapplying?" Apparently not getting any other subtle hints that she may have been inviting him back inside. "How about you?"
"That's the nice thing about the spray stuff," Jean grins. "Easy to get wherever you need it. But I wont's say no to some help." Once she's gotten used to the temperature of the water, she slides the rest of the way into the pool, letting out a relieved sigh.
"Man, that's nice," she murmurs, sinking down so that only her head it above the water, the rest of her beneath the surface. "I've been thinking about talking to the professor," she admits. "About the blocks. I think…I think it might be time to remove them. I'm old enough, stable enough, to handle it now. Probably."
He's taller than her, so he's easily over her in the water, sinking slightly into the water so they are more on eye-level. "Taking the blocks off?" he asks, Scott's brow furrowing behind the goggles. "You have been doing really well with your powers. Though…" And she should have seen that one coming.
"A couple of weeks ago, when we were visiting the Rasputins, you weren't having any issues?" They did have an argument on it. "Did you ever follow up with them?"
"It's just been…" Jean pauses, reaching up to push a hand through her hair. "I haven't really had an episode in a while. And I've been living in the city, with millions of people around. Which is good. It's just, I feel like we need the telepathy more and more. And keeping everything under wraps, keeping the blocks in place, is just making that harder. Aside from the fact that I'm just tired of being afraid of myself, you know?" Of course he knows.
After a moment's though, Scott reaches, and touches Jean's shoulder. "Hey." Inadvertant shoulder touch move? Totally. "..I'm on your side in all of this. I know you want to start to get more mastery over your powers. I also know that you don't want to be the go-to girl to check everyone and everything before we make a move." He knows that she has that fear. And he's trying to help with that.
"If you want the Professor to start easing up the blocks, if he's sure you're ready, I'm sure he will." Teacher's pet much? "And Jean Grey.. it took me years to stop being afraid of myself enough to know my feelings for you - so if anyone gets being afraid of yourself, or totally screwing something up?"
"Yeah, I know," Jean smiles faintly, reaching a hand for his cheek. "And, I mean…I don't know. I don't mind checking people, not…really? I just. It's hard with the blocks. I never know if I'm doing it right, if I'm getting everything. It's like trying to do a project with an unreliable power supply, you know?"
"Noone wants to be a one-trick pony, Jean." Scott leans against Jean's touch when she offers it to him. "I mean, all I am is one-eyed eye-beams guy. Even your landlord thinks I'm lame." he points out with a smirk to at her, before he settles back against the wall, mainly to set his hands on her sides to maintain their contact. "Tell me about the blocks. I mean, I know they're like governors on an engine, made to keep you from reaching out too much."
Then he considers, and there's a glance towards the school, and then back to Jean. She may be surprised by the words that come out of his mouth next. "…have you considered trying to remove them yourself?"
"Hod thinks everyone is lame," Jean rolls her eyes. "He wasn't even impressed with me until I put the smack-down on some Egyptian gods, and you know where I stand."
She rests her arms around his neck, on his shoulders, as she floats a bit. "Governors on an engine sounds about right," she nods. "Like a throttle. Keeping things from coming through faster and harder than I can handle them." At his last, she shakes her head. "Not a great idea. I could, but because of them I don't really have the finesse I'd need to do it right. It'd be like…taking out a garden fence with dynamite."
"Maybe that's what he wants you to do, though." Scott points out. "Yeah, he put them there because you were getting overwhelmed. Like way overwhelmed." He remembers those days. It as a luxury when it was just the six of them at the school. "Like one of those dissolving pills. As you get better and more used to your powers, you can start picking away at the barrier."
"Not exactly a garden fence with dynamite. But maybe a stone wall with a pickaxe?" he suggests to her - "Not having the Professor remove them means that you mastered them yourself. And no, I'm not going to make a blatant video game level up reference." Though there is a smile. « You are totally a Misty. »
"That's not how minds work, Scott," Jean shakes her head. "I get where you're coming from, but there's more to it than just the flow of power. And the way things were when they first came…Anything meant to wear down would have had a catastrophic failure long before I had a chance to learn to control it. Besides, it's not like he's going to say no," she points out. "They were never meant to be permanent."
"Well, there you go." Scott shrugs his shoulders. "You're outside my league anyway, you already know that." There's a smirk at that, his hands dropping to his sides as he considers her. "So, when do you want to do this? We could maybe use the Danger Room to simulate what you'd be facing and see how it goes?" He's worried - that much is clear.
"I don't think the danger room has a 'grown up discussion with the professor' program," Jean laughs, leaning in to brush a quick kiss against his lips. "Relax. I shuold probably do it soon, so I've got time to adjust before the school year starts back up and things are busier. Take some time off work. And maybe it'll help with the whole Reaver issue too, you never know."
"I meant more when the restrictions are removed, before you know, dropping you in the middle of Mut—" Anything else he was about to say is paused when Scott is cut off by Jean's kiss and he gives a light coloring of his cheeks. "Not quite enough of a distraction." he offers with a tease of a smile.
"But it's a good start."
"Who said I was trying to distract you?" Jean quirks a brow above her sunglasses, amused. "Maybe I just like kissing you when you're being silly. I mean, I've got a lot of making up for wanting to do it, that's for sure. I feel like we could have saved a lot of time as teenagers if I'd started kissing you when you started droning on back then," she teases.
"I think we'd missed a lot of classes if we had started kissing back then, Jean." Scott admits quietly. There's a glance towards her for a moment, and it takes him long enough - he has a hard time with the subtle clues, but what else is new - and he steps closer to her to lift her up into a more proper kiss, holding her there for several moments before he releases her to slip back.
And as he does, he may just splash Jean. Just a little. Payback.
Jean makes a small sound of surprise as he lifts her up, joining in the kiss with a warm smile, her fingers tangling in the hair at his nape. "Says-" And then she laughs as he splashes her, responding in kind. "You wouldn't miss class if you life depended on it, Summers. Not even for kissing. You'd've set an alarm to make sure you didn't miss it. You're not folling me."
"Fooling? Never. Falling? Totally." Scott laughs as he gives her a splash. "Just one time, and you never would let me live it down, would you." he says with a smirk though he's considering her, and looking back towards the house. « We don't have to wait a whole hour? » It's teasing. He's trying. After years of suppressing his feelings for her, he's kinda dynamited his own blocks when it came to her.
Jean laughs, shaking her head. "It's nice in the pool!" she protests. "It's cool. As opposed to inside, where it's still hot even with the AC on. Darn old manor houses." She splashes back, with a wider spray than just her hand can account for. "Also, you have to behave out here," she grins. "Never know when we might get interrupted by some impressionable young kids. Wouldn't want to scar them for life."
"That's not what I was suggesting.." Scott lets out a breath, as he leans back against the pool wall, and glances across towards her. "…Jean Elaine, do you know how much I want to know about you? And how little I currently know. I know you're the current house champion at DDR. I know that your smile can light up a room. I know that you love books, but not what type. That you like to go to the movies, but I don't think I've ever asked you to one."
"I'm in love with you, Jean, and I'm not sure if I ever asked you on a proper date, or learned the minor, but what people say is the important stuff. Did you know people hate going with me to the movies? I knit-pick Historical Dramas. I point out plot holes in Horror, and tell people what the better tactics are as opposed to what they're doing on screen. And I never ever, believed in a romantic fall in love at first sight movie until I met you."
Jean's smile slips crooked at his words, fond. "I do know those things," she laughs softly, moving back to slip her arms around his neck once more. "Because for some earthly odd reason, I actually like them about you. They make me smile. They make me laugh. And," she adds, "They make it that much more special when you get lost enough not to think about those things."
Her thumbs brush along the back of his neck as she watches him from behind her own glasses. "I like…books with happy endings. Where everything works out. I like movies that surprise me. I like movies because they surprise me," she admits. "They still telegraph less than people do."
"It feels like you have a five year headstart on me." Scott smirks slightly at that. "And I'm playing the worst game of catchup ever. Let me try it this way. If I were to ask you out on a date, a real, not just sitting at the movies for two hours because I can't make conversation date, would you say yes? And not go poking around to let me surprise you?" he asks, though she can't see it, her touch causes him to close his eyes.
His own hands rest around her middle, touching the small of her back. "And before you tell me I don't have to do that, I know I don't. But I want to at least make an effort." Because he wants to make one. She deserves it. She deserves so much more than that.
"Of course," Jean laughs, shaking her head. "You don't even have to ask for that. The not digging part. The date part, asking is usually customary, because if you don't ask, it becomes kidnapping."
Jean and Scott are currently enjoying the pool at the school, Scott leaning against the wall with Jean's arms around his neck as they talk. So far, it all seems safe and appropriate enough for school grounds. Though Scott would probably still blush if a student caught him. But that's Scott.
"I like surprises. Just, you know. Try not to think about it too hard around me."
One second everything's normal. The next second there's a tear in space and in the third second it's filled by a Rasputin. Mikhail steps forward and the tear shuts behind him. Half turning, he looks behind him as he hears voices and spots the two in the pool. Two he happens to know so he walks over, lifting a hand in greeting. "Privyet."
"Is it considered kidnapping if the other party is willing? I mean, we're getting into some real gritty legal technacalities here." Scott points out with a smirk of amusement as he considers what she's offering here. "I'll just uh, think about other things? Like, I don't know, pi to the 100th place? Maybe thousandth." He knows that the pair of them are in an almost always 'on' mental connection.
Then as the sudden tear, Scott's eyes glow brightly behind the visor as he suddenly releases Jean and is stepping to protect her — against a friendly Russian.
"As bad as your sister." he mutters to himself. "We may have to start belling Rasputins around here."
"I thought gritty technicalities were your favorite," Jean grins, much less jumpy than Scott when the portal opens. After all, she at least has a sense of who it is. She raises her hand from behind him, smile easy. "Hey, Mikhail," she greets. "Water's great if you want to jump in. Be a nice change from Piotr jumping in," she adds with a wry smile. "That's a cannonball that takes out half the pool."
"I have no…" That word in English they never bothered to teach him since swimsuit doesn't come up in military briefings. "Nothing to wear." he finishes, coming to a halt at the edge fo the pool and looking down at them. "That energy from your eyes." Mikhail says to Scott. "I have never felt anything like it. What is it? I am wondering if I can stop it."
It takes a few moments for Scott to slow his roll with his powers. And then Mikhail's asking about them, and the lanky mutant reaches up to rub the back of his head as he goes back to lounging next to Jean. "Swimsuit?" he asks, thinking he may have found the word. "Have you seen about getting a wardrobe yet?" comes the question, before he considers his eyebeams.
"It's from.. roundabout through my eyes, yeah." Hank tried to explain it to him once, and it even bored /him/. "I don't think we'd seen your powers yet." That admission is made as he considers the idea. "Probably not something to try in the pool. Mainly because I don't have my visor on to control the strength of them." Apparently the powersurge was a momentary widening of his eyes.
"The short version is that it's basically concussive force, right?" Jean says to Scott. Eventually, he might begin to find it slightly creepy just how much she knows about him through the years. "So everything sort of stops it. It just trasfers all that energy into getting blown across the room." Thank you, professor Jean. "You could always jump in in your underwear," she adds. "Though no pressure of course."
"I have been given money. We have gone shopping." Mikhail informs Scott. 'We' probably doesn't include Illyana. "I did not buy a swimsuit." Though as hot as it's been, it's obviously needed. He's just been avoiding that by staying inside as much as possible where the air conditioning brings the temperature down to Moscow's equivalent of warm. "The red glasses, they block the energy? Energy is mine to command. I could stop it. Maybe." Jean gets a raised eyebrow. "This is allowable?"
"Yes, ruby keeps it in check." Scott responds with a shrug of his shoulders. « I bet you know my jean size too. » is thought towards.. and then he realizes he made a jean joke to Jean. A groan is audible, before he returns his attention to the conversation. "As long as it isn't like.. see through or something? I mean, we do have younger students on campus."
"Good, I'm glad you're getting settled. Are you staying with your brother and sister still?"
"The wearing of underwear is even encouraged," Jean adds cheekily. She's amused at herself at least. The joke is probably less funny to Mikhail. Scott's sense of humor is a mystery though.
"My theory is that Scott could keep it in check, but we've had some…rough experiments with that," she admits. "The glasses work, though."
"They are not." Mikhail reaches up to pull his shirt off over his head showing that it's not just Piotr who's ripped. It must be genetic, that and growing up working a farm. "I am. Though I am thinking that coming here might be a good idea. We are strangers to each other in many ways so some distance would be good as we adjust." He's wearing black boxer briefs and once everything else is taken off, he slips into the pool. "It would be interesting to discover if I could keep the energy from being emitted."
"Yeah, last time we tried that, Jean…" Scott frowns. "It took a week to repair that wing of the mansion." He adores that Jean has all that confidence that he can simply /not/ fire eyebeams all the time, but he has yet to not be able to not to. "I am not sure if I don't want to test that idea in an environment without the proper dangers and controls set up to keep it from happening."
But then he's changing the subject - perhaps to Jean's chagrin, as his hand moves to settle into hers. "When the Reavers attacked - you said that you were able to track them to where they went?" he asks curiously.
"This place is all about people figuring out who they are," Jean agrees with Mikhail, smile faint. And then Scott has to go and bring up the Reavers again and she groans, dropping her head to his shoulder. "No, no shop talk!" she protests. "We're going to talk about nice, fun things. Not weird cyborg people with guns for arms."
"Portals connect two points in space. I could feel where the other point was. Once I know a place, I can open a portal there." Mikhail explains then after a moment adds "Approximately. Accuracy is…" He shrugs lightly. "It is not an exact science." Looking from Scott to Jean, he trails off into silence.
"But.." Jean's going to not give any ground, and Scott gives a sigh. "Fine." he surrenders as she leans against him and the two of them get comfortable again. « But that also means no discussing /my/ business. » he reminds her on the eyebeams. See, that works both ways. "What have you discovered that you like so far, Mikhail?"
"Sorry," Jean says as she looks back up, mostly to Mikhail. "It's just…It's a me thing, I promise. Yeah," she adds after Scott. "Tell us about how you're settling in. Made any new friends? The school's a little on the empty side right now since it's summer, but in a couple of months it'll be a madhouse up in here."
"That I like?" Mikhail repeats blankly, needing to think a moment as he runs through the possibilities. "Bagels are very good. And Russian food here, some is very good too. Tastes different but is like difference between food in Siberia and food in Moscow. And you can get in supermarket. Surprising. No kvass though. I will need to make some." Friends? He hasn't been trying so just skips that.
"Kvass?" Scott's never heard of it, clearly. "Yeah. There's probably a lot of stuff you will get to discover here - and that well.. there's a lot of liberties taken with culture and such." he admits with a shrug of his shoulders. "Not that I know anything on Russian culture, except what I picked up from others." And Illyana doesn't share much on it, and then Piotr went off to Limbo too. And he doesn't know any other Russians, he realizes.
"Well, you're in New York," Jean grins to Mikhail. "So the bagels are extra good here. In the city, they like to claim it's got something to do with the water. I think it's probably got just as much to do with being New Yorkers, but who am I to argue when the bagels are still pretty good?" She looks up toward the sky, shading her eyes with one hand even though she's wearing sunglasses. "You've got to be practically melting though, yeah?"
"Kvass. Is drink made of bread." Mikhail thinks a moment then adds "Fermented. Very good. Made all over Russia." He can't help but grimace at Jean's question. "Is very, very hot. Hotter than in Moscow, much hotter than in Siberia. Can move heat away but there is always more. Losing battle." He shrugs. "So I stop trying."
"Wow. You guys are dedicated to the alcohol thing." Jean's lips twitch against an amused smile. "You could eat bread, or you could make booze out of it. And the answer was booze." She sinks deeper in the water, so that only her head is above the surface. "It's definitely hot. But we'll get snow eventually. We get into some crazy snow fights around here too."
"Or do both." Mikhail corrects. "Not very strong booze. Much weaker than vodka, weaker than beer. Very easy to make. Some flavor with fruit, some mint, lots of things." Taking a moment, he studies Jean and Scott. "Other day, I meet Hank. We talk about this, we talk about that. We talk about danger room. He says I need security clearance."
"Really?" Jean quirks a brow, then shakes her head. "I don't know, I'm not really in charge of the danger room schedule. Scott would know better than I do. Speaking of which, though." She reaches the edge of the pool, pushing up and out. "I've officially reached as much time as I can spend in the sun before I start turning into a lobster. I should go inside."
"I stay here a bit. Is pleasant. We speak again late, maybe." Mikhail says, slumping down into the water till it's just below his nose.