Thread: Assistance Needed Characters: Jean Grey and Emma Frost NPCs: --- Location: Xavier's School - Emma's Office Timeline: 2/18 Description: With everything going on at Xavier's School, Jean goes to Emma for assistance. Rating: PG
Jean was tired. She felt worn down right to the depths of her soul, and she knew that this was going to be the status quo for awhile. Classes had resumed, and she was hellbent on keeping counseling services working like clockwork so that the students felt like they had an outlet for whatever the were feeling. Still, it made her feel like a bit of a hypocrite to tell them all to talk through their emotions when she was bottling every one of hers up. After everything happened, she'd come home from the capitol building, washed away all the blood and resolved to wash away that piece of her that had frozen up on stage. She knew the continuation of her mentor's legacy relied upon a strong voice to say the hard things that he had always seemed so easily able to.
Maybe it had never been so easy...taking back students after Asteroid M fell, suffering the indignity of an arrest during the MRA debacle, worrying that your friends and the people entrusted to your care were safe. She had never been more impressed with Charles's unflappable poise than now, when he was no longer there to be the one keeping everyone calm. Mutantkind was angry and hurting, and it was easy to jump to assumptions that this was a hate crime. The truth was more difficult than that—no one really had answers at this moment, but Xavier's absence gave rise to old tensions. The community of North Salem and other supporters from farther away had made a makeshift shrine outside of the school gates, but the whole thing had been vandalized a few days later. Jean had to make the call to remove the memorials all together and keep removing mementos as they were placed there.
She suspected it was only a matter of time until the Brotherhood reacted, and she couldn't begin to imagine what extraordinary plan Magneto had in mind to avenge the death of his longtime friend. It could be as bad as the Brooklyn Bridge all over again. They were putting a lot of resources into trying to get ahead of an incident and figure out what the terrorist group was up to. It brought up a lot of bad feelings about a certain defector who joined Magneto's group (she could only imagine the 'I told you so's he would have given her in this moment), but it was only one of the many things weighing on Jean's mind.
She kept a calm face as she walked down the hall, trying to act out the confidence she wasn't feeling inside of herself. She smiled at students and faculty as she passed them and even managed quick small talk, but internally, she felt hollowed out and dazed, like she was just going through the motions of her life. She made her way to the office that Emma was currently using, checking to see how engrossed the blond was in her activities. "I hope I'm not interrupting. I have some updates..."