Summary:Evening snacks and welcome backs. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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It was good to be home. The stars this far north of the city, the warmth of the summer night. It was all wonderful. And to be around friends and… family. It made all of the things that had passed be that much easier to endure. Yet the night had wore on, and the Rasputins had wandered off to tend to their obligations. Nick went in to check on Isis, and Henrietta decided to get in some research.
But that was all fine. It gave Caden time to sit down with the last of the remaining s'mores and a bottle of soda. It gave him time to focus on the lowered crackling flames of the bonfire, now more of just a campfire really. He still pushed around a bit of ash with the tip of a long stick, perhaps trying to keep it alive. Perhaps as just something to do.
Yeah. This had been nice.
For years, Jean was a constant presence at the school. Then she graduated high school and left for the city to attend ESU. Sure, she still came by on weekends and school breaks, but for the most part, her life was in the city. She graduated in spring, but since then there's been…a lot for her to figure out. Thanks to a certain generous god, she has an apartment in the city, but she also keeps a room here at the school.
With a new semester starting and new students showing up in droves, she's been spending a little more time here, mostly helping new students to settle in. Like she always did.
She was busy with students when everyone left to pick up Caden, but now that it's closer to curfew time, she has a chance to get free and visit. Hands in the pockets of her jeans, she makes her way out toward the remnants of the bonfire. "I don't suppose you saved any for me?" she calls over, smile flashing in the dark.
For his part, however, Caden had been here the whole time. Oh he'd gotten his degree, though it was helped a bit by doing things a smidge unconventionally. But when Jean left he had stayed, though they'd stayed in touch. They'd been there almost the same amount of time, but she had always been ahead, and he had joked that she was his scout, making sure of the lay of the land before he had to deal with any of the crazy course shenanigans from the Professors.
So when she wanders out to the bonfire, and he looks up past that blaze, Caden's smile is so warm, brightening his features as he sits up. "Jean." Her name uttered with affection, "As a matter of fact, I did." And he grabs the plate at his side with the four remaining s'mores.
He pushes himself to his feet, closing the distance towards her and offers her one.
Nick's still going to be looking for Isis because she went looking for him. Which is why she's here, stalking through the dark - slitted cats eyes gleaming in the dark.
Stopping, scenting the air, the woman lets out a sigh. "Nicks not here is he?" It's a bit a resigned. "Oh, hi Jean…" she greets the redhead. "Who are you?" That's to Caden.
"And that's why you're tonight's hero," Jean grins, leaning in for a hug first. Because the s'mores can wait a minute if they need to. "Sorry I missed the pick-up run. There're so many kids starting up now. Not like when we were kids. Which is good, just…a lot to deal with. Besides, any more of a welcome party and we might've needed a bus."
She steps back just as Isis is arriving, taking the offered s'more and taking a bite just as Isis arrives. "Mmph, 'sis," she greets around the mouthful of gooey goodness. It takes another second for her to get to talking. "This is Caden. Caden, this is Isis."
Caden shifts the plate of s'mores out of the way and slips an arm around Jean when she goes in for the hug, sort of leaning in to the side to accept it. "It's good to see you, Jean. Really." And if she were scanning his thoughts she'd hear a lovely echo of,
// It's good to see you, Jean. Really. //
But then he looks up and catches sight of Isis, sparing a small wave as he steps to the side of Jean. "Hi. Isis." He motions with one hand to the side back towards the mansion, "I think he headed off that way." But he steps forwards to offer her his hand, "It's good to meet you."
"Uh hi. You're who we were going to pick up, right?" Isis murmurs, taking Cadens hand and shaking it "You know Piotr and Illyana…" She's a strange one, Isis is. Cats ears perched on her head, slitted cats eyes, feline like features but that's it - she looks mostly human.
There's a feeling too, in the air, of unease. That started not long before Isis appeared.
"Are there any … smores? I'm hungry?" That's an improvement. Normally she'd just take one.
Jean continues to munch on her s'more. That's the thing about s'mores. Once you start it, you kind of have to finish before you can do anything else. There's no safe way to set them down. "Caden's sort of been doing the study abroad thing," she offers helpfully, winking over at Caden. That's definitely one way to put it. "Is that what brought you out here, Isis?" she asks, giving the other woman a more intent look.
"That's me," Caden says to Isis' question, though he looks over towards Jean as if seeking verification with that smile, as if maybe another group of X-ers ran off to find another errant X-Person off at the bus depot.
But then Isis seems to take an interest in the s'mores on the plate in his hand so he closes the distance and extends the plate to her to take one of the remaining three. Once she does he steps back and waves to one of the logs brought up to the bonfire, "Have a seat, fire's still warm."
He settles back over on the log he'd been at and looks to them both. "Studying abroad, yeah. I need to tell you that story, Jean."
"Uh Illyana asked Nick to pick him up." Isis answers "I … went for a walk and said I'd meet him but I uh … got distracted." That shouldn't surprise Jean. Isis is sort of known for scatterbrained - the Institute counsellors and Nick are convinced it's a protection mechanism for her.
Her upbringing was far from nice.
"So I came looking for him. I wasn't getting into trouble, really Jean. I didn't think you were a teacher here?" Canting her head in a feline way, Isis gives Jean a look - the redhead can almost feel how the feline like mutant tries to judge her mood from her emotions.
"Oh, thankyou. Nick says I need to ask before taking other peoples food." That doesn't stop her stealing the werewolfs food though.
Munching happily on a s'more, she perches on a log - not sits - "What story?" that's all muffled and stuff as she eats.
"You know I'm always up for a story," Jean grins to Caden, working on the s'more still. "And it's okay, Isis. You're allowed to be here. I'm not a teacher," she adds. "It just never really sat with me. But I've been helping out with getting some of the new students settled," she explains. "Showing them the ropes, where the rooms are, how everything works. I've been doing that since I was twelve, so it's kind of habit."
She gives the other woman a closer look, picking up on the nervousness around her without even trying. "Everything okay, Isis?"
Twisting to the side to catch Jean's eye as Isis asks him that question, she might feel a subtle telepathic tremor from the youth as if not entirely sure if it's ok to trust Isis, but then again she's here… and Jean seems to be at ease with her. So he gets a small crooked smile and says, "Well.."
He sets the plate over near Jean and Isis, in case either of them what the last remaining one. "It's a long story, but I'll try to make it short."
A hand opens with a gesture to them as he explains, "About six months ago I got word from my mom that something was up with my dad. I went and tried to talk to him but he was acting… very strange. On his business trips to Japan he'd come back home very out of it, tired, almost drained."
"So I uhh," He rubs at the back of his neck, "Sort of stowed away and followed him to Japan."
As he says that he then looks over at Isis, his expression mirroring Jean's one of concern.
It takes Isis a while to answer as she perches on the log and looks at the two. Her fingers are sticky when she finishes that s'more, which has her looking at her jeans in dismay - then wiping her hands on them. "What? Oh. I don't like being here, at The Institute, that's all. Normally Nicks with me when I'm here."
"Sorry, am I broadcasting again? I'm working on that. I … forget sometimes." broadcasting. An empath and a fairly potent one at that.
"Was your Dad being fed on by Vampires?" It's hard to tell if Isis is serious. But it's possible she's just watched too many late night horror stories.
"Hey, if anyone understands, I do," Jean reassures Isis, rueful. "Nothing to apologize for." She finishes off her own s'more, though her method of mess removal is a little more complicated. But it's great fine control practice for telekinesis, carefully separating it from her fingertips.
She doesn't seem to jump to vampires as the explanation, but she quirks a brow at Caden, adding her own implied '…or?' to the question.
Looking at her steadily, Caden sort of smiles at Isis then he says in a long steady tone, "Noooooo, but kinda close maybe?" Another look is given over toward Jean as if to make sure that Isis is for real and hey… she apparently is. So he looks back toward her and says, "They were ninjas." He says, though they might be able to sense his dismay and some small tendrils of pain connected to it, though he puts on a brave face.
"And Yakuza. And they were brainwashing my dad. So I tried to stop them, but I got caught. And… I'd probably still be there today if I hadn't gotten help in getting out of there."
Isis might be. She doesn't really seem to think about what she said. "Ninjas were making your Dad tired?" That gets a frown and almost reflexively, Caden can feel gentle emotion - calming, reassuring - wash over him.
"Yakuza." The feline like mutant says slowly, committing the word to memory. It should be apparent that means nothing to her but she's probably going to ask Nick about it. "Why were doing that? Brainwashing? Were they going to give him reverbium implants too?"
Because in Isis world, anyone who gets brainwashed or experimented on ends up with Reverbium implants.
Jean arches a brow at Caden's explanation. "That's a bit more than I remember you anticipating," she murmurs, shaking off her hands once they're clean. It still just feels weird to remove the mess telekinetically. Doesn't quite give you that fresh and clean feeling.
"I didn't realize your dad was into that much business," she admits, rubbing a hand at the back of her neck as she tries to remember what Caden had ever said about his parents. It's hard. Most of what any of the students ever said was along the lines of 'they're normal, I'm not.'
"I think it was… a side effect?" The words seem to come a little easier now and Jean might well be able to tell that he's being subtly influenced by Isis' gentle mental touch. "They were holding him under their control. With either drugs or some form of magic. And then they did the same to me, so it was… not a good thing."
"But I don't think it had anything to do with Reverbium. Though they did want me to do their dirty work for them."
Jean's question however draws his attention to her and he gives a small shrug, "Honestly I didn't either. Apparently he got promoted, started making the trips and…" He lifts a hand gesturing to the side helplessly.
"But, I'm back now." And there is palpable relief in the young chestnut-haired young man as he adds, "And it's all over."
"I was tired after they experimented on me." Isis shares quietly. "I remember that at least." And the pain and fear they inflicted on her. "So maybe it was a side effect." There's a high possibility it had nothing to with Reverbium, it's just where the younger mutant is focussed.
"You're free now though, right? And all checked out? I mean they let you in here, so you must be." Isis sighs. "I don't remember much from when they rescued me. But I couldn't come here for a long time."
Her blue eyes track to Jeans hands seeing them clean themselves. "You staying here tonight, Jean?"
"Yeah, I've still got a room here," Jean nods to Isis with a small smile. "Usually I'm just up here on weekends or after missions, but it's easier to have a place to crash than it is to fix up a room every time there's a situation like that."
She lets out a breath as Caden explains, nodding along. "Well it's good to have you back, Caden. And if you ever want to talk about it, you know we're here for you." Meaning she is. Jean's particular gifts make her an ideal confidante for the uncomfortable things that people may not want to say.
Settled there in his seat, legs stretched out toward the dwindling fire, Caden smiles across the way to Isis and gives a small nod, "I am, yes. All clear, clean bill of health." He even goes so far as to lightly rap his knuckles on his chest though a small grin blossoms on his features.
He shoots a look over at Jean and then decides to reach over for the last s'more himself, which is totally unfair since he had several before they even showed up! And yet he feels no remorse. For he is ninja. As he has that thought, however, his grin broadens.
A bite is taken of the S'more and he smiles around it at Jean, giving a nod. He does take a few moments to, you know, chew however. And then he rests a hand on her shoulder lightly just to give a small squeeze. "Thanks, Jean. I uhh." A brief cloud over his thoughts and feelings, then he finishes. "I may actually take you up on that at some point."
"What are you going to do now you're back?" Isis asks. "You're not a student, right? Are you going to get a job?"
There's a mournful look as the last s'more is taken. Nick would be pleased though, she's sure, that she didn't leap for it. She wonders about the Yakuza though and why there's a feeling of elation coming from the young man.
"I could tell Piotr and Illyana were happy to have you back … " she finally says.
Jean leans back a bit now that she's finished with her s'more, folding her hands over her stomach and letting her head fall back. Eyes closed, she stretches her legs out in front of herself. "Whenever you're ready, Caden," she promises, smile faint. "You know how to reach me."
She doesn't interrupt as Isis starts to ask questions, but eventually the others may realize that she's drifting off. Busy day for Jean, it seems…
"I was really glad to see them," Caden tells Isis with a smile, and at that recollection there's a twinge of guilt connected to them, as well as a touch of sadness at what they've had to go through lately. What they've had to deal with and overcome. And he wasn't there. "But I thought I'd help as best I could here."
He grins and looks between them both, "I mean, until they kick me out." His smile broadens as he nods to Jean, agreeing to meet with her some time soon.
"You going to stay here?" Isis asks, still crouched on that log like a cat would. "Take care Jean and thank you for your help with the refugees yesterday …" Hey! Isis is learning some manner.
"So you're going to teach? Like Piotr? Nick does sometimes too and he lets me help."
The last time she'd trick his students in the wilderness and got them lost. It was a good lesson for them to learn.
"I don't know," The brown-haired youth shoots a smile across the way to the quizzical felinian. His smile slips towards the wry as his hazel eyes meet hers then he looks a little away. "I might? I think I need to figure out how best I can help our friends." He sits up again and then looks at the last bit of the s'more he had in his hand.
He had seen how she had perked at him stealing the last one so he holds the last bite out and offers it to her without saying anything.
"I might teach, I might just help people deal with the things that are going on." Then his smile broadens, "Or heck, maybe I'll take dancing back up."
"I'm sure there's work here if you were to ask for it. There's work in the city as well." Isis answers, eyes focussing on that last piece of s'more. She doesn't have to be offered twice, reaching out quickly to take it. No thank you … that's not very catlike at all.
"If you want to help in general, Nick and me are helping people from the Disaster Zone. There's safe houses that Maria Stark Foundation has set up for us. The people there need help and understanding. They were being hunted."
Maybe Nicks already mentioned that.
"Dancing? You danced for money?" Isis really doesn't realised how bad that sounds.
"I may end up doing that, Isis." Caden draws his hand back and looks at it, perhaps glad that he didn't pull back a stump. But his soft hazel gaze returns to her as he lets the corner of his mouth remain just a lil up, features warm as he's clearly amused by her. "It'd be nice to help people, you know." Since he hasn't been able to do that for a while.
But then she asks her other question and he barks a short laugh and his cheeks actually color, the flush spreading over his features as he looks away, one hand lifting to rub at the back of his neck. "Well, I mean. Not like that?" He bites his lower lip again to stop from laughing and turns back, though features still flushed.
"I studied dance for a while, I always thought it might be… something nice to do if I ever had to settle down." From the high life of adventuring.
"Not like what?" There's something very … young… about Isis. Even if she is young, her experience of life seems to be lacking. Almost like she grew up in a cave or something.
And she wouldn't have scratched or hurt the young man when she took the food.
"If you want to do that when you're settled, I'll check with Nick and take you there. It was my idea to speak to Miss Potts about getting her foundation to help us." Maybe Caden will want to help with the recovery in the Disaster Zone as well.
"Nevermind, Isis. Sorry, I thought you said something else." But then he's rising to his feet, leaning over to pick up one of the water buckets they have on hand just in case the bonfire becomes a little too wild. He pours it over the ashes and the remaining few flames, causing the fire to sizzle out with a low hisssssssss.
"But that might be a good thing to do." He looks over at her and then gestures with a nod toward the house. "Are you staying there tonight? Want me to help you get to your room?" As he asks that he swaps buckets and pours another several gallons of water on the fire's remains.
Then he steps onto the pit, making sure it's well and truly out before he steps back out. "I think I may turn in, I had a long trip today."
"I don't stay here. The students don't like me much." Isis murmurs. "I stay at Paragon Investigations or in M-Town."
Rising and stretching, Isis looks towards the Institute. "Nick will be looking for me so we can go home." It's surprising he hasn't found her yet, he probably got waylaid by one of his students or another graduate he knows. Nicks popular at least.
"I'll see you later, Caden. I'm glad you're home." If only for Illyana and Piotrs sake. She's gracious like that.
"Ok," Caden smiles at her openly and lifts a hand to wave as he picks up some of the trash, starting to gather what he can to carry inside. He may have to make two trips, but he doesn't begrudge this. As really… it's good to be home.
"Take care, Isis. I'm glad to be home too. And it was really nice to meet you." Another wave and then he heads inside.