Jean Grey (omegajean) wrote in freedomtownic, @ 2014-08-07 21:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, jean grey (omegajean), peter parker (_peter_parker) |
Who: Jean and Peter
Where: Gamiel lobby, then out for a walk
When: Sunday, July 27th
What: Exploring!
Rating: Fairly low
Status: Log, Closed, Complete
After swapping a few messages on the network with Jean Peter went to his bedroom to change his shirt (he sniff-tested the new one to make sure that it was wearable before pulling it over his head), then grabbed his skateboard before heading toward the elevator and making his way down to the lobby. He was worried about his Aunt May he wasn't gonna lie. She was recently widowed and needed him, but until he figured a way home (or the people here figured a way home for him), he was going to do his best to be the teenager that he was until he was able to go home.
And so, when the elevator opened up into the lobby, he set his skateboard on the ground and pushed off, figuring that he'd waste some time until Jean was able to join him. Why not, right?
Jean got changed quickly, throwing on a pair of denim shorts, black leather boots, and a silver long-sleeved top before heading to the lobby to meet Peter. She felt a smirk come over her when she got there... and saw him messing around on his skateboard. How cute. "Ahem! Sorry if I'm interrupting anything...."
When she spoke she startled him and Peter fumbled a trick, although instead of stumbling around like a normal person would, he, with remarkable agility landed on his feet and gave her a goofy grin. "What? No. I was just goofing around." He bent down to pick up his board and tucked it under one arm before moving over to her. "You look nice. Er, I mean. You know. You seemed nice on the network, so it's nice to see that you look nice in real life." He made a face, then wiped his palm on his jeans (to rid it of any sweat) before offering it to her. "Peter Parker."
She shook his hand, smiling, before grumbling to herself and sighing. "Ok, crap... I should be straight with you here... I'm a telepath, and I have a LOT of trouble right now with... NOT overhearing things going on in people's heads. So, I'm apologizing now for 'hearing' some of the things you're thinking." She felt like a total jerk here, like she was invading the privacy of everyone she spoke to. She didn't WANT to be nosy, she just couldn't help how her powers were right now!
Peter laughed. "Telepath, huh?" He moved his mouth to one side. He'd fought a man who had turned into a lizard. A telepath was definitely in the realm of possibility. "Okay, so what am I thinking?"
Jean barely had to concentrate (which was kinda bad, really), before blurting out "You miss your aunt's cooking. Much to your surprise, you even miss her meat loaf." She smirked then, an eyebrow going up. "And you're trying your best to not picture me naked. Aaaaaaaand you just failed."
He actually wasn't thinking that at all. She was just being cute. "I guess that would be useful if you wanted to know if someone was lying or hiding something."
D'UH. Of course she was. She'd be kind of skeeved out if he actually WAS, at least this early on. "Yeah... but I wish I could control it more. People tend to get mad when you know what they're thinking. It's... a total invasion of privacy, you know? But I'm trying to get better at it..."
Peter nodded. "Well as long as you're upfront about it I don't see why people should be pissy. Plus, it's not like people can't guard their thoughts with some practice."
"Then maybe my teammates just like to complain." Jean laughed lightly, thinking of all the times recently that Scott had gotten irritated with her for accidentily knowing what he was thinking. "I like how laid back you are. It's nice to be around someone who's not just.... completely high-strung all the time."
Peter tugged at one of his earlobes. "Well there's no use stressing over things that I can't change, you know? Gotta make the most of it here."
"You're all really brave. All of you. The fact that you were just... snatched from your homeworlds and thrown here? I can't even imagine what that's like." Jean commented, shaking her head. "It's got to be one hell of a shock to the system."
"I think it helps that the majority of people here had strange lives before," he started to say as he led her toward he exit, opening the door to let her out first, "or so it seems to me anyway."
"God, you have no IDEA how strange my life has been." Jean laughed, eyes widening. "I mean, when this stuff is honestly not even all that shocking to me? That should say a LOT about my life prior to it."
Peter laughed. "Is there anything about your life that you'd change, or are you happy with the way that things are?" He couldn't help it but be curious.
"I want to say yes, but... if I'm being honest? No. I think everything happens for a reason, and if my teammates and I coming here from the past can somehow change people's lives, or improve the world in any way? I'm all for it." She smirked, giving a light giggle then. "I mean, if I could avoid being kidnapped by the Shi'ar and put on trial anymore, I'd LOVE that... but otherwise? I kinda like where my life's taking me."
Peter smiled briefly and nodded. "I think that I needed this." He dare not think of why that was, though. The pain was still too fresh. "I guess a scientific mind just can't help it but be amazed."
"Sadly, this kind of thing is getting to be old hat now. But you should have seen us when we first saw aliens and spaceships. I thought my friend Hank's eyes were gonna pop out of his head. It was like a kid on Christmas morning." Jean laughed, walking beside him. She thought about his other statement, and just silently nodded, before finally adding, "I needed this too. Maybe it's because I'm *technically* not from here either, but I feel more at home among you all here than I do elsewhere. And ok, I admit that hanging out with a cute boy isn't exactly a chore either..."
"Well, thanks for that," Peter chuckled as he rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, glancing at her briefly. It really was kind of funny how naturally they'd started talking. Kids their age really were open to new things, weren't they? "I hope that there are still some things out there to surprise you, though. You're far too young to sound so jaded."
"I don't mean to be jaded... it's just..." Hell. He seemed trustworthy enough, and with her teammates all back on earth, she really didn't HAVE anyone else to confide in other than Jill, who was having her own problems just BEING here. "When we got here... I found out a lot of things that hurt. Apparently, the older version of me was possessed and destroyed an entire planet, eventually married a boy I'd been... sort of crushing on in my time, split up after he cheated on me/her, and was killed. Basically? I know everything that happens to me in the future. And none of it is good."
"But... by being here, doesn't that alter that?" Peter asked, scratching his temple with his index finger. "And, you know, I like to think that people chose their own fates."
"It definitely does. I mean... I've already developed new versions of my powers that the "other me" never HAD." Jean said, clasping her hands behind her back as they walked. "I guess it's more that... I worry about these things finding a way to happen to me eventually. Like fate or something."
Peter nodded mutely as they walked along, rocking his skateboard in his hand for something to do (he was admittedly slightly ADHD). "Maybe you need to remind yourself of that sometimes to spare yourself in the future?"
"Apparently ANY version of me is uptight and tends to worry too much." Jean admitted, blushing brightly. "How the heck does someone your age get to be so mature?" She asked with a laugh.
"By having the best aunt and uncle a kid could ask for," he replied. He didn't need to say why he was raised by his aunt and uncle, he thought. "They are, well... decent people. You don't get that much anymore."
Jean couldn't help but smile there. There was something about a boy who loved his family that was very impressive and attractive to her. "Hopefully you'll get to see them again soon then. I feel SO bad for everyone here with families someplace else..."
Well, Uncle Ben was dead. But... Peter still saw him sometimes, in dreams, or heard his voice in waking moments. Uncle Ben had and would always be the stabilizing thing in his life. He nodded. "Being away from someone you love... isn't easy. But remembering them and what they stood for helps. Well, I mean," he tugged at his earlobe again and gave her a smile, "it helps me." Annnnnd let's change the topic, he thought. "Anyway. Wanna see me fall down a bunch of times?"
"Wow. That sounded more heroic than anything I've heard 'superheroes' say." Jean commented, before bursting out laughing again. "Granted, I mostly hang around with a moody grump, a self-styled playboy, and a an utter goofball who can turn himself to ice.... really, Hank is the only other person our age that I even know who's anything like you."
"I don't see anything wrong with acting our age, don't get me wrong. Circumstances have just made me grow up faster than most."
"I'm the same way. But with me... sometimes I think it's a guilt thing. Like... how can I have fun and be a kid when I feel like I should be doing everything in my power to make sure I don't become the person who killed an entire planet, you know? It's like I'm being given a chance to change my destiny, and I feel bad wasting any time I could be using to DO that." She explained, realizing she'd never actually opened up like that to anyone before.
"Well you have to be careful there too. You'd still be thinking about power and that has a funny way of twisting people. Well, not funny ha-ha, but... even in trying not to do something, we inadvertently do it anyway... if that makes sense?" He had a brief mental flash of Gwen's face and immediately pushed it away.
"Oh. Oh no..." Jean winced, having caught that thought of Gwen. She hated feeling like she'd invaded his privacy, but it was sucha potent, vivid image that it was like looking at a picture on the wall to her. "Peter... I'm sorry.... I kinda did it again. Just... just wanted you to know I didn't mean it."Wow... whoever the girl was she glimpsed, she was gorgeous. If that was Peter's girlfriend, Jean felt like she suddenly had ZERO chance here.
"No. No. It's okay," he replied, shaking his head a few times. "You don't have to--sometimes my thoughts are too loud for me too." He gave her a smile and looked away briefly, trying to control his emotions. Gwen's death was still too fresh, but he was trying to soldier on for her. And for Uncle Ben. He still had so much to do (and sometimes he wondered how Atlas did it, with the world resting on his shoulders). "But I don't want to talk about that. Okay?" He hoped that it wasn't short of him to say.
"No, no... I understand." She said, as while she didn't know anything as fact... she was smart enough to know that the intensity of that image, combined with the grief that permeated from him when she brought it up... obviously something had happened. Whether she'd been hurt, or had broken up with him.... one way or the other, things weren't good. "So tell me about yourself!" She said, trying to change the subject for his benefit. "I mean, I already told you my LITERAL life story... gimme something here!"
Peter laughed, grateful for the change in subject. "Well there's not much to say! I'm a proud New Yorker. I like skateboarding and photography. I have this secret hope that I can make a career out of taking photos, but I guess that's kind of on the back burner for now," he laughed again.
Jean thought about it for a moment, before grinning. "Do you happen to have your camera here? I have an idea."
"No!" He laughed again, throwing his arms in the air (and accidentally whacking himself in the back of the head with his skateboard). "It's one of the few things that I can't live without and I wasn't transported with it." He thought of those horrible Jason Statham movies and laughed again.
"We'll have to see if we can get you one." She said, closing her eyes for a moment to concentrate, as the two of them began to slowly levitate, higher and higher, until they were roughly 50 feet above the park. "Because imagine the shots you could get THIS way."
Peter wasn't unaccustomed to heights, but he was rubbing the back of his head distractedly and was completely unprepared for the levitation, so forgive him for shrieking, okay? "Holymotherlovinghell. You might prepare a guy for that next time!" Still, what a trip! "You can seriously do this stuff at will whenever you want?"
Considering she had no idea who he really was, his surprise here was more or less what she was expecting. "I can. Apparently the older-me had grown into her powers enough to move huge things like airplanes and such. But... I thought as someone who likes to take pictures, maybe it'd be nice to get you some views you can't normally get."
Oh she really didn't have a clue, did she? Peter grinned and shimmied his ass a few times to spin around and take in the rest of the view. "As soon as I get a camera I'm taking you up on that. You'll unleashed a monster of kraken-like proportions here."
"Mmm. Because wow. The horrible burden of having to hang out with a cute boy a lot? I may buckle under the pressure." Jean said with a smirk, being a little smart-ass.
Peter may have blushed there (although he'd never admit it). "Many a girl have done it before," he joked, trying to nod and keep a straight face as if it was a serious issue.
She turned and looked at him, as though, for a moment contemplating kissing him. It would have been a rash, impulsive thing to do, and one thing Jean tried not to be was rash. Sighing, she gave a smile and began to lower them back to the ground. "Thanks for coming out with me. This is honestly the most fun I've had in a long time."
He might not be a mind reader, but even so he could sense a shift in her mood. "Anytime, Jean. Plus, it's not like you don't know where I live now."
"Well.... I really like you. You're a nice boy, and you actually know how to have fun while also treating me like a lady. Believe it or not? I don't get much of that." Hell, Scott treated her with respect but barely knew what fun WAS, Hank had no game whatsoever, and Bobby and Warren were both too immature to be even a passing interest to her. And the less said about the new students, the better. Either way too cocky or way too bashful.
"Well, I don't believe it. I don't." He gave her a disbelieving expression and shook his head. "Someone as kind and compassionate and intelligent as you are? Nope. Not possible." He was being playful, but he also meant every word.
"You're really sweet..." Jean said with a blush, as really... this was just fanning the flames of the crush she was quickly developing on him. "Are you.... I mean.... I don't know how to ask this without sounding ridiculous... am I out of line feeling a little crushy on you right now?"
Well, that was surprising! Peter blushed. "No, no. I don't think you are. I am kind of amazing, you know." Oh, the cheek on this one!
Hah! Luckily, his little pun went RIGHT over Jean's head. "I just... didn't want to assume that you were a) single, or b) even remotely interested in me. I just really enjoy talking to you. No idea why, but... I feel like you understand me."
He actually kind of did understand her. They both had the burden of responsibility, they both had to grow up faster than most kids their age... "I think that I do understand you." But, if he was going to be completely honest... "D'you think we could start out as friends?"
"Oh, god... of course!" Jean laughed, leaning over to give him a sweet hug. "We're teenagers. And we JUST MET. Trust me, I'm not one of those clingy types who just expects every boy she likes to dedicate their lives to me... I'm TOTALLY fine with starting as friends, and just... seeing where it naturally takes us."
Although considering what she was capable of, she could have an army of men at her feet if she really wanted. He hugged her back with one arm. "I didn't think you were. I just don't want any confusion between us."
"Never. Way I look at it? If anything comes of this, I'll be thrilled. But if not? As long as I have a good new friend out of this, I consider it a win." Wow. Jean was really almost too good to be true, huh?