Log: Cyclops and Storm Who; Scott Summers and Ororo Monroe When; May 26th, evening, after Ororo and Hank. Where; Charles' office What; Ororo knows that Scooter's off his rocker and goes to do that thing that Ororo does and reaffirm my belief that everyone is Ororo's bitch. Especially Scott, who folds like tissue paper and lets Ororo relieve him of his headmaster-type duties until he's fit enough not to drive himself off a cliff.
Ororo was regretting not smacking Scott earlier.
After she’d talked to Hank, all she wanted to do was hit Scott. He wasn’t being smart or responsible, he was being selfish, and damn his work if he got himself killed. Ororo saw the situation simply: Scott couldn’t handle it. He needed to get his life back in order, and working nonstop wasn’t going to solve his problems. And if that meant she needed to chain him up somewhere and take over, so be it.
Ororo might be a little drastic sometimes.
Of course, she had to find him first, and he wasn’t in his room, or the teacher’s lounge, and so eventually she tried one last place: Charles’ office. And there he was, sitting and working.
She slammed the door shut after opening it without as much as a knock. Walking up to the desk, she leaned over it, placing a hand over his paperwork. And she was really trying not to loose control and start a hurricane. “What are you doing?”
After his talk with Hank, Scott had gone back to work. Like he always did. That was just how it happened; Scott worked. The world went to hell all around him and Scott could still work. It was the only thing he was good at, even after nearly driving off a cliff and getting yelled at.
So when Ororo showed up, he wasn't exactly expecting it. Looking up at her when she practically blew into his office (Charles' office, really), he raised an eyebrow.
"Finances."
Finances? Finances? Oh, hell no.
“You need to stop, Scott. Stop it right now.” Her firm tone demanded for him to sit up and listen, even if he didn’t obey her. Although he should, because otherwise she wasn’t going to be nice to him. She was worried, about him and about the school. Even if he did a good job with his work, that wasn’t enough. Sanity was a good thing.
Scott wasn't stupid. He knew what this was about, and he set his pen down, standing. He could bullshit Hank, mess around with Logan, lie to everyone, but not to Ororo. No one in their right mind played cat-and-mouse with Ororo Monroe.
"What do you want?"
“What do you think I want?” She shook her head at him. “I want you to take care of yourself, because until you can, like hell I’m going to trust you to take care of this school.” Which..wasn’t really fair, since he had been doing fine with the school. But he looked thin and haggard, like he hadn’t slept or eaten in months. And rumor was that that was about true.
She calmed down enough to really look at him, and she looked almost scared. “Scott. You need help.”
Scott frowned. "I am taking care of the school." Oh God, Ororo, don't look at him like that. He shifted uncomfortably, feeling properly guilty. Ororo was never scared.
"...Don't look at me like that."
“But you’re not taking care of yourself,” she continued. He couldn’t get out of that. And if looking at him like this worked, by the goddess, she would. “Like what, Scott? Like you’re going to kill yourself?” And that really scared her. Scott was...well, Scott. If he lost it, what hope did any of them have? What would the school do without him?
“I want you to sleep and eat and nothing else until I tell you to.”
Scott recoiled, actually taking a step back. "What? I didn't try to kill myself, I have a job, I can't just stop. You know I can't do that, Ororo." He'd go mad if he had nothing to do but sleep and eat. He needed to work.
Yeah. Like he wasn’t already mad. Ororo raised her eyebrows at him, not wanting to hear excuses right now. “If you don’t eat or sleep you’re going to kill yourself soon enough. I will do your job for you for a while. You relax and get yourself together.”
She probably sounded a bit blunt and harsh at the moment, and she felt herself getting angry all over again. Rubbing her face with her hands for a moment to lessen the frustration, she managed to ask a bit softer, “Is this about what we talked about last time? Charles...?”
Scott just stared at her at first. He didn't like to argue with Ororo. Ever. Especially not when she was right, and he was tired. He lowered himself back into the chair, either too fatigued to stand up -- or maybe thinking about Charles was making him shake a bit. Or, hey, maybe the lack of food made it a pain in the ass to stand up to stare Ororo down.
"That's part of it," he admitted reluctantly.
Of course if you asked her, she was always right. And she’d heard all about his behavior in the past few days, and that just wasn’t on. But now that the fight seemed to be out of him, she walked to the other side of the desk. “You need to talk to him.” It wouldn’t be easy, and that? That she felt bad about. Feeling betrayed by your mentor, whom you trusted more than anyone, was going to shake a person. But the way he was acting wasn’t going to solve that.
“Come on, let’s get something to eat.” And yes, she would be telling Fred to make sure Scott got food on a regular basis.
Now Scott wasn't looking at her, leaning on the desk, propping up an elbow and covering his mouth. "He's busy," he muttered. The fight was definitely out of him; that it was Ororo only made that more obvious. He didn't seem like he'd heard her suggest food, like his brain was stuck on Charles and wouldn't go much further.
Kneeling down beside his chair so they’d be on a more equal level, Ororo placed a hand on the elbow on the desk. “Scott? After all that Charles has done for us, for you, he’d want to know.” At least she thought so. Charles was, after all, too good for his own good. And if Scott didn’t talk to him, Ororo was going to give him a call herself. She wasn’t going to just let Scott fade without a fight.
“Now, come on. You can get up, can’t you?”
"What? ---Oh. Right." As if he had just heard her, Scott took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. When Ororo said it, getting dinner sounded like a pretty good idea, if she was going to ban him from work. Pushing himself to a stand, he ran a hand through his hair, moving the pen on the desk like he wanted to pick it up and work some more before pulling Ororo back up to his level. "I'll go grab something."
Scott better not pick up that pen, because Ororo would smack it out and toss it across the room. No no no. “Yes, you will, and I’m coming with you.” She sighed, shaking her head a little. He was like a brother, not that she had one for comparison, but she was going to hit him if he didn’t listen to her. “There are some delicious leftovers from the BBQ. C’mon.” She stood, placing her hand on his elbow again. Yes, she would drag him.
With anyone else, he'd have pulled away, but Ororo could be scary and he was in no state to argue with her. So Scott let her pull him away. He looked back once, but hell, he didn't want Ororo to smack him. "All right, all right, I'm coming."