log; Complete
Who: Scott Summers and Jean Grey
Where: The porter building, a car, streets, and the Institute
When: Early Monday morning
Summary: Scott goes to pick up the alternate universe version of his dead wife.
Warning: Scott and Jean
Format: paragraph
fireintheflood She knew he wouldn't keep her waiting long, and yet it felt like it would be ages before he arrived. Enough time for every moment of the past months to flash through her mind along with a thousand questions. She hoped Scott had the answers, that someone could explain why she was suddenly ripped from her own universe and into another and what she was supposed to do now that she was here. Was this some sort of mirror of their own world? She stared at the comm in her hand and forced herself to calm, feeling the rising frustration in hot, red waves ripping through her.
[Please hurry...]
thing4telepaths It wasn’t his Jean. He knew that the moment she had arrived. Or rather, the moment she had posted on the network. His Jean he would have known the moment she got there. They had a connection that, even after death and divorce, he knew wouldn’t go away. There were enough members from the X-Men here from other worlds that he knew that was a possibility. Still, it was Jean, and there would always be a part of Scott that would love her, even if he wasn’t in love with her. Not only that, but she was one of the X-Men, and they took care of their own.
Thankfully, their new Institute was a lot closer to the point where people were ported into and it wouldn’t take long, even in New York traffic, to reach her. When she spoke into his mind he couldn’t help but give a bit of a shiver at the familiar but not quite familiar touch.
[I am. I promise. Everything is going to be okay, Jean.]
fireintheflood Jean could feel the difference, the tentativeness of his response, even if he was being reassuring. She wonderedwhy he would be hesitant, what had happened in this world or another that meant they weren't together. And obviously they weren't together or he would've been more shocked, more ... something. She was too tired and wet and confused to think much on it at the moment, though.
[I know it will be.]
thing4telepaths Scott parked the car as close as he could to the porter and hurried along the sidewalk to find Jean. He had grabbed a heavy coat for her just in case she had come from someplace warm and wasn’t dressed for the weather. He recognized her immediately, standing under the outcropping of one of the buildings. She looked like his Jean, just as beautiful and full of life as he remembered her and he couldn’t help but smile when he saw her.
“Jean,” he said, holding out the coat for her. “Come on, let’s get you someplace warmer.”
fireintheflood A warm relief washed over her as she saw him approach, even with the subtle differences that set him apart from the Scott she'd last seen. She let him put the coat over her shoulders, grateful for its warmth, and she resisted the urge to embrace him. It wouldn't be appropriate, she knew, even though the need to was overwhelming. Her last thought as the waters had overtaken her was of him and it was hard now to see his face without still feeling that loss.
"That's the best idea I've heard in a while," she said with a smile, wrapping the coat tighter around herself.
thing4telepaths “The best we can tell is that some sort of AI has been using the porter to pull people from different realities and times to bring them here,” he said, not wasting any time to explain the situation they all found themselves in. It was easier to talk about that now than about their relationship, or what they were to each other in their world. He remembered when she was here last time, before her death and they had been separated. God, couldn’t anything be even relatively simple with his relationship with Jean?
“There are several X-Men here, most of them from the same world I am. We’ve started a version of the Institute here as well.”
fireintheflood Jean nodded, listening intently to all he was saying and obviously, too, not saying. "At the very least we can do some good, then," she frowned a moment. "I take it that mutants aren't the only ones in this world with... gifts?"
thing4telepaths “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “Anyone that didn’t have abilities before they came through the porter develop them after. There was a doctor here, Dr. Kinney, who looked into it. Apparently it’s the result of radiation from the porter, so the people here who developed powers from the porter are technically mutates.”
fireintheflood She couldn't help but smile. "A world full of mutants," she shook her head. "I know a few people who would think this was heaven."
For a moment, she wondered if maybe it was.
thing4telepaths “It’s not that full,” he said. As they reached the car he opened the door for her, glad that it would still be relatively warm inside.
“Only several hundred of us. And unfortunately it’s not by choice anyone got these abilities.”
fireintheflood It wasn't their choice to have the abilities they had, either, but she didn't say that aloud, instead staring ahead out of the car's windshield as she waited for Scott to get in the other side. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be here, alone, with no one else you knew around you. Even if the people she knew weren't the people from her world, they would at least be familiar.
thing4telepaths “There are quite a few of the X-Men though,” he said as he stepped into the car, shutting the door before he started it up. He wondered how long they could keep this topic of conversation up before they had to talk about them. Of course, there might not even be a them in their world.
“Hank McCoy just got here. Alex, Sam, Warren, Roberto, Amara, Suzi, Alison, Sooraya, and Jay are here too,” he said, pausing a bit. “Our... children are also here…”
fireintheflood A few names she recognized, but the others were a mystery to her. She could feel his determination that she should know them.
"Our children?" She gave him an inquiring look.
thing4telepaths He paused for a moment before continuing. Was this really a conversation he wanted to have right now? Unfortunately, it was too late.
“My son is from my first wife, a clone of my world’s Jean Grey. She… turned evil though and Jean and I raised him in the future. He’s actually older than I am. My daughter is the daughter of myself and Jean Grey in an alternate future of my world. She came back in time to my time though to prevent her future.”
fireintheflood Jean tried to mask her expression but failed miserably, panic and fear suddenly gripping her. "We..." she paused, taking a breath before correcting herself.
"You have children here? From your futures, but here?"
thing4telepaths “A brother and two kids, actually,” he said. Apparently this Jean wasn’t aware of Rachel or Cable, but since she didn’t look young enough to be from before them, they must not have existed in her world. “Our son is… well, he’s older than me. And our daughter is a teenager, although she’s been through more than most people three times her age.”
fireintheflood The thought of having children, children that would know her, recognize her, when she had no knowledge of them was both exciting and terrifying. Jean shivered, suddenly ice cold again even within the warmth of the car. "I can't even imagine who would want to do this to people," she murmured, mostly to herself. Who would want to rip people from their lives and thrust them into some alternate reality where they could be face to face with their past or their future. Futures that might never eventuate.
thing4telepaths “I don’t really know,” Scott said with a shake of his head. That was perhaps the most frustrating part. No one really believed the hero line, but if they didn’t know their purpose it made it that much harder to get out of there. “And so far any attempts to disable the porter or take control of it have failed.”
fireintheflood Jean sighed, staring out of the window as he drove. It was some crazy twist of fate that she should be here, but at least she wasn't dead. Which, considering the moments before she appeared here, should she be ported back to the moment she left, she certainly would be. "So, what happens now?"
thing4telepaths “What do you mean?” he asked, even though he was certain he knew what she meant. He still wasn’t entirely sure though if she meant in general or about them. He hated how there were so many expectations hanging in the air of a situation like this.
fireintheflood "Well, I assume that there are things to be done, if this world is like my own. I would hope that I could fill a position at the Institute, though I understand if that's not possible." She looked at him for a brief moment before continuing. "And there is obviously the question of where we stand, as it seems apparent you have been through a bit more of our relationship than I have in my time."
thing4telepaths Scott sighed, he should have known that this was coming. Maybe it was best if they got it all out of the way upfront instead of having it hang over their heads. He had done the avoidance thing before and it wasn’t fun.
“We’d love to have you at the Institute,” he told her. “You’ll have to let me know what your skills are so I don’t just… assume anything. As for us…” he paused, letting out another sigh.
“Jean, in my world you died. You died and then you came back to life and we got married. Then you died again. Then you came back to life. Then you died again and now you may be resurrected as the only new mutants birth in months and are currently being taken care of by our son sometime in the future.”
fireintheflood Jean blinked, her hand covering her mouth as she struggled not to give in to the hysterical laughter that threatened to spill forth. It was all too much, being transported to some alternate dimension, children, so many deaths and resurrections, and it had been a long enough day before any of that. "Oh, Scott," she managed on a shaky breath, her voice tinged with the type of amusement that only comes with sheer exhaustion and a ludicrous situation. "The last time I saw you in my world, you were begging me not to sacrifice my own life for yours - and for the others. Suffice it to say that I don't think we were ever meant to have an uncomplicated life."
thing4telepaths Scott couldn’t help but crack a smile at that. It was good to hear her laugh. It sounded so much like his Jean, when they were both a lot happier and laughed more. That was in the past though, unfortunately. Or at least in his past.
“Same old Jean then,” he said, smiling over at her. “Even before you died the latest time though… things were just… I fell in love with my Jean when I was 16. I’m not the same person I was back then and I felt with her I couldn’t be who I really was. I’m not the naïve, unsure boy scout I was back then.”
fireintheflood She sighed, warming somewhat at his smile. "I don't think it would be right to assume you were, or that you are anything like the man in my world." Jean shrugged, not sure if she should touch him but deciding it couldn't hurt, resting a hand on his arm in gentle reassurance. "I'd like to get to know the man that you are now, regardless of anything else. I guess that's all I can really ask for."
thing4telepaths It was a relief to hear her say that, although it didn’t really surprise him. Jean had always been understanding, even when he had been beyond difficult to deal with. When she touched him, he knew that he shouldn’t think anything of it. It was difficult not to though, this was Jean. Even if it wasn’t his Jean, Scott had a history of falling into things far too fast with her.
“I think that’s fair enough,” he said, giving her another smile.
fireintheflood She pulled her hand away, closing her eyes a moment. "I think I might need to sleep for a couple of days before I'll be ready to face any of this. The past couple of days have been pretty harrowing."
thing4telepaths “I’m sure no one will begrudge you your sleep for a while,” he said with a nod. Glancing over he saw that she really did look exhausted. He wondered what they had gone up against that meant she had to sacrifice her life.
fireintheflood She could tell they were nearing the Institute by the way she felt him tense, a sort of apprehension shimmering through her mind from his and she wondered at it but didn't pry. It was what she would usually do, search his mind for whatever was troubling him but she knew that she didn't have the right. "Are we far from the Institute?"
thing4telepaths “We’re just about there,” he said, making a turn to the area in Brooklyn that would lead them to their new building. He was glad that they were closer to the heart of the city now, it made things like this a lot easier. “It’s not like just back home, but it’s better than the facility we had before the new year.”
fireintheflood "How many students are there?" She was asking random questions, ones that would provoke as little emotional response as possible. He obviously needed time and had been through so much whereas in her own world there hadn't been that much drama between them - Logan's advances aside. Her Scott had always known where her loyalties were, even if he didn't appreciate Wolverine's intrusions. But this wasn't her Scott and until she could tell otherwise, things were better off this way regardless of how much she wanted to seek his comfort.
thing4telepaths “It fluxuates pretty regularly,” Scott said, comfortable with talking about this sort of thing. “With new people coming and going at any time. We’ve opened it up to non-mutants as well, including the mutates that have been ported in as well as any children native to this world. Not that we’ve had any of the natives take us up on the offer.”
fireintheflood "I can't imagine it's easy on those left behind, people disappearing without any sense of reason," she frowned. What kind of world was this, anyway, that apparently needed to rip people from their own realities only to throw them back without warning. "It's not really easy on anyone involved, though, I have to say that at least I'm here and not dead, which I surely will be if I'm sent back to where I came from."
thing4telepaths “What’s worse is that we really have no way of knowing if someone disappears because they’re ported out or for some other reason,” he said, shaking his head. That was one of his greatest fears, that someone would be kidnapped and they’d think they were ported out. “Sometimes their device is left behind or someone sees them go, but if that’s not the case we can only assume.”
fireintheflood "What about you? How long have you been here?" She could feel the energy of the Institute, of familiar mutants, as they approached the building and she took a steadying breath, her fingers unsteady as they gripped the edge of the seat.
thing4telepaths “I’ve been here since July 8th” he told her, only now really realizing how long it had been. It was probably the longest he had spent in another reality, possibly off of his own Earth as well. “I’d have to check, but I don’t know if any other X-Men have been here longer without leaving. Warren was here when I got here, but he left and came back at one point.”
fireintheflood At this point, Jean couldn't imagine being here more than a few days, or even hours, imagining that she'd go to bed and wake up the next morning where she should be. Then again, she should be dead, so the thought of living in some alternate reality wasn't so terrible. "At least it seems easy to acclimate. Except for the porter, everything seems to be in a similar technological era as where I'm from. I can imagine it might be difficult for some, though."
thing4telepaths “It also helps that for a lot of us, this isn’t our first trip to another dimension or reality,” he added. Most recently his entire world had been plunged into an alternate reality, trying to give everyone what they wanted. In the end though, it had all fallen apart.
“And we’re used to having a bit more advanced technology than this,” Scott said as he parked his car in the garage. “At least for ourselves. The average level of the rest of the world is about the same.”
fireintheflood "I think once I'm settled I'd really like to hear about where you're from," she said, her voice softening a bit as she unfastened her seat belt and went to open the door. "I think it might help, if as you say, a lot of us are from your world."
thing4telepaths “I’d be more than happy to tell you about it,” he said, giving her a smile as he got out of the car. Now that he thought about it, it might be really nice to talk to Jean without some of the uglier history being between them. “In the meantime, we’ll get you setup here with a room and the essentials.”
fireintheflood "That would be great," Jean smiled. "I think a hot shower and sleep are definitely in order." She wanted to hug him, to have him tell her that everything would be okay, that they would get through this, but she realized quickly that this Scott couldn't do that, he wasn't hers to want those things from. It would take some getting used to. She couldn't remember the last time she hadn't been able to go to him for comfort.
thing4telepaths “If you’re interested, I have a box of things from when you, or the version of you from my world, was here before. At the very least, some of her clothes will fit you” Scott offered. He knew that it was an odd offer, but if there was an alternate world version of himself here before, he would want to know as much about them as possible.
fireintheflood "Perhaps just the clothes, for now," She answered, walking beside him. "I'm not sure I'm in quite the right headspace for looking deeper into my alternate life." Jean gave him a smile and took a breath, preparing herself for the onslaught of presence that she knew she would feel once inside the Institute. Her abilities had been somewhat stronger since finding herself here and she knew she needed some time to adjust, to build up her defenses.
Where: The porter building, a car, streets, and the Institute
When: Early Monday morning
Summary: Scott goes to pick up the alternate universe version of his dead wife.
Warning: Scott and Jean
Format: paragraph
fireintheflood She knew he wouldn't keep her waiting long, and yet it felt like it would be ages before he arrived. Enough time for every moment of the past months to flash through her mind along with a thousand questions. She hoped Scott had the answers, that someone could explain why she was suddenly ripped from her own universe and into another and what she was supposed to do now that she was here. Was this some sort of mirror of their own world? She stared at the comm in her hand and forced herself to calm, feeling the rising frustration in hot, red waves ripping through her.
[Please hurry...]
thing4telepaths It wasn’t his Jean. He knew that the moment she had arrived. Or rather, the moment she had posted on the network. His Jean he would have known the moment she got there. They had a connection that, even after death and divorce, he knew wouldn’t go away. There were enough members from the X-Men here from other worlds that he knew that was a possibility. Still, it was Jean, and there would always be a part of Scott that would love her, even if he wasn’t in love with her. Not only that, but she was one of the X-Men, and they took care of their own.
Thankfully, their new Institute was a lot closer to the point where people were ported into and it wouldn’t take long, even in New York traffic, to reach her. When she spoke into his mind he couldn’t help but give a bit of a shiver at the familiar but not quite familiar touch.
[I am. I promise. Everything is going to be okay, Jean.]
fireintheflood Jean could feel the difference, the tentativeness of his response, even if he was being reassuring. She wonderedwhy he would be hesitant, what had happened in this world or another that meant they weren't together. And obviously they weren't together or he would've been more shocked, more ... something. She was too tired and wet and confused to think much on it at the moment, though.
[I know it will be.]
thing4telepaths Scott parked the car as close as he could to the porter and hurried along the sidewalk to find Jean. He had grabbed a heavy coat for her just in case she had come from someplace warm and wasn’t dressed for the weather. He recognized her immediately, standing under the outcropping of one of the buildings. She looked like his Jean, just as beautiful and full of life as he remembered her and he couldn’t help but smile when he saw her.
“Jean,” he said, holding out the coat for her. “Come on, let’s get you someplace warmer.”
fireintheflood A warm relief washed over her as she saw him approach, even with the subtle differences that set him apart from the Scott she'd last seen. She let him put the coat over her shoulders, grateful for its warmth, and she resisted the urge to embrace him. It wouldn't be appropriate, she knew, even though the need to was overwhelming. Her last thought as the waters had overtaken her was of him and it was hard now to see his face without still feeling that loss.
"That's the best idea I've heard in a while," she said with a smile, wrapping the coat tighter around herself.
thing4telepaths “The best we can tell is that some sort of AI has been using the porter to pull people from different realities and times to bring them here,” he said, not wasting any time to explain the situation they all found themselves in. It was easier to talk about that now than about their relationship, or what they were to each other in their world. He remembered when she was here last time, before her death and they had been separated. God, couldn’t anything be even relatively simple with his relationship with Jean?
“There are several X-Men here, most of them from the same world I am. We’ve started a version of the Institute here as well.”
fireintheflood Jean nodded, listening intently to all he was saying and obviously, too, not saying. "At the very least we can do some good, then," she frowned a moment. "I take it that mutants aren't the only ones in this world with... gifts?"
thing4telepaths “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “Anyone that didn’t have abilities before they came through the porter develop them after. There was a doctor here, Dr. Kinney, who looked into it. Apparently it’s the result of radiation from the porter, so the people here who developed powers from the porter are technically mutates.”
fireintheflood She couldn't help but smile. "A world full of mutants," she shook her head. "I know a few people who would think this was heaven."
For a moment, she wondered if maybe it was.
thing4telepaths “It’s not that full,” he said. As they reached the car he opened the door for her, glad that it would still be relatively warm inside.
“Only several hundred of us. And unfortunately it’s not by choice anyone got these abilities.”
fireintheflood It wasn't their choice to have the abilities they had, either, but she didn't say that aloud, instead staring ahead out of the car's windshield as she waited for Scott to get in the other side. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be here, alone, with no one else you knew around you. Even if the people she knew weren't the people from her world, they would at least be familiar.
thing4telepaths “There are quite a few of the X-Men though,” he said as he stepped into the car, shutting the door before he started it up. He wondered how long they could keep this topic of conversation up before they had to talk about them. Of course, there might not even be a them in their world.
“Hank McCoy just got here. Alex, Sam, Warren, Roberto, Amara, Suzi, Alison, Sooraya, and Jay are here too,” he said, pausing a bit. “Our... children are also here…”
fireintheflood A few names she recognized, but the others were a mystery to her. She could feel his determination that she should know them.
"Our children?" She gave him an inquiring look.
thing4telepaths He paused for a moment before continuing. Was this really a conversation he wanted to have right now? Unfortunately, it was too late.
“My son is from my first wife, a clone of my world’s Jean Grey. She… turned evil though and Jean and I raised him in the future. He’s actually older than I am. My daughter is the daughter of myself and Jean Grey in an alternate future of my world. She came back in time to my time though to prevent her future.”
fireintheflood Jean tried to mask her expression but failed miserably, panic and fear suddenly gripping her. "We..." she paused, taking a breath before correcting herself.
"You have children here? From your futures, but here?"
thing4telepaths “A brother and two kids, actually,” he said. Apparently this Jean wasn’t aware of Rachel or Cable, but since she didn’t look young enough to be from before them, they must not have existed in her world. “Our son is… well, he’s older than me. And our daughter is a teenager, although she’s been through more than most people three times her age.”
fireintheflood The thought of having children, children that would know her, recognize her, when she had no knowledge of them was both exciting and terrifying. Jean shivered, suddenly ice cold again even within the warmth of the car. "I can't even imagine who would want to do this to people," she murmured, mostly to herself. Who would want to rip people from their lives and thrust them into some alternate reality where they could be face to face with their past or their future. Futures that might never eventuate.
thing4telepaths “I don’t really know,” Scott said with a shake of his head. That was perhaps the most frustrating part. No one really believed the hero line, but if they didn’t know their purpose it made it that much harder to get out of there. “And so far any attempts to disable the porter or take control of it have failed.”
fireintheflood Jean sighed, staring out of the window as he drove. It was some crazy twist of fate that she should be here, but at least she wasn't dead. Which, considering the moments before she appeared here, should she be ported back to the moment she left, she certainly would be. "So, what happens now?"
thing4telepaths “What do you mean?” he asked, even though he was certain he knew what she meant. He still wasn’t entirely sure though if she meant in general or about them. He hated how there were so many expectations hanging in the air of a situation like this.
fireintheflood "Well, I assume that there are things to be done, if this world is like my own. I would hope that I could fill a position at the Institute, though I understand if that's not possible." She looked at him for a brief moment before continuing. "And there is obviously the question of where we stand, as it seems apparent you have been through a bit more of our relationship than I have in my time."
thing4telepaths Scott sighed, he should have known that this was coming. Maybe it was best if they got it all out of the way upfront instead of having it hang over their heads. He had done the avoidance thing before and it wasn’t fun.
“We’d love to have you at the Institute,” he told her. “You’ll have to let me know what your skills are so I don’t just… assume anything. As for us…” he paused, letting out another sigh.
“Jean, in my world you died. You died and then you came back to life and we got married. Then you died again. Then you came back to life. Then you died again and now you may be resurrected as the only new mutants birth in months and are currently being taken care of by our son sometime in the future.”
fireintheflood Jean blinked, her hand covering her mouth as she struggled not to give in to the hysterical laughter that threatened to spill forth. It was all too much, being transported to some alternate dimension, children, so many deaths and resurrections, and it had been a long enough day before any of that. "Oh, Scott," she managed on a shaky breath, her voice tinged with the type of amusement that only comes with sheer exhaustion and a ludicrous situation. "The last time I saw you in my world, you were begging me not to sacrifice my own life for yours - and for the others. Suffice it to say that I don't think we were ever meant to have an uncomplicated life."
thing4telepaths Scott couldn’t help but crack a smile at that. It was good to hear her laugh. It sounded so much like his Jean, when they were both a lot happier and laughed more. That was in the past though, unfortunately. Or at least in his past.
“Same old Jean then,” he said, smiling over at her. “Even before you died the latest time though… things were just… I fell in love with my Jean when I was 16. I’m not the same person I was back then and I felt with her I couldn’t be who I really was. I’m not the naïve, unsure boy scout I was back then.”
fireintheflood She sighed, warming somewhat at his smile. "I don't think it would be right to assume you were, or that you are anything like the man in my world." Jean shrugged, not sure if she should touch him but deciding it couldn't hurt, resting a hand on his arm in gentle reassurance. "I'd like to get to know the man that you are now, regardless of anything else. I guess that's all I can really ask for."
thing4telepaths It was a relief to hear her say that, although it didn’t really surprise him. Jean had always been understanding, even when he had been beyond difficult to deal with. When she touched him, he knew that he shouldn’t think anything of it. It was difficult not to though, this was Jean. Even if it wasn’t his Jean, Scott had a history of falling into things far too fast with her.
“I think that’s fair enough,” he said, giving her another smile.
fireintheflood She pulled her hand away, closing her eyes a moment. "I think I might need to sleep for a couple of days before I'll be ready to face any of this. The past couple of days have been pretty harrowing."
thing4telepaths “I’m sure no one will begrudge you your sleep for a while,” he said with a nod. Glancing over he saw that she really did look exhausted. He wondered what they had gone up against that meant she had to sacrifice her life.
fireintheflood She could tell they were nearing the Institute by the way she felt him tense, a sort of apprehension shimmering through her mind from his and she wondered at it but didn't pry. It was what she would usually do, search his mind for whatever was troubling him but she knew that she didn't have the right. "Are we far from the Institute?"
thing4telepaths “We’re just about there,” he said, making a turn to the area in Brooklyn that would lead them to their new building. He was glad that they were closer to the heart of the city now, it made things like this a lot easier. “It’s not like just back home, but it’s better than the facility we had before the new year.”
fireintheflood "How many students are there?" She was asking random questions, ones that would provoke as little emotional response as possible. He obviously needed time and had been through so much whereas in her own world there hadn't been that much drama between them - Logan's advances aside. Her Scott had always known where her loyalties were, even if he didn't appreciate Wolverine's intrusions. But this wasn't her Scott and until she could tell otherwise, things were better off this way regardless of how much she wanted to seek his comfort.
thing4telepaths “It fluxuates pretty regularly,” Scott said, comfortable with talking about this sort of thing. “With new people coming and going at any time. We’ve opened it up to non-mutants as well, including the mutates that have been ported in as well as any children native to this world. Not that we’ve had any of the natives take us up on the offer.”
fireintheflood "I can't imagine it's easy on those left behind, people disappearing without any sense of reason," she frowned. What kind of world was this, anyway, that apparently needed to rip people from their own realities only to throw them back without warning. "It's not really easy on anyone involved, though, I have to say that at least I'm here and not dead, which I surely will be if I'm sent back to where I came from."
thing4telepaths “What’s worse is that we really have no way of knowing if someone disappears because they’re ported out or for some other reason,” he said, shaking his head. That was one of his greatest fears, that someone would be kidnapped and they’d think they were ported out. “Sometimes their device is left behind or someone sees them go, but if that’s not the case we can only assume.”
fireintheflood "What about you? How long have you been here?" She could feel the energy of the Institute, of familiar mutants, as they approached the building and she took a steadying breath, her fingers unsteady as they gripped the edge of the seat.
thing4telepaths “I’ve been here since July 8th” he told her, only now really realizing how long it had been. It was probably the longest he had spent in another reality, possibly off of his own Earth as well. “I’d have to check, but I don’t know if any other X-Men have been here longer without leaving. Warren was here when I got here, but he left and came back at one point.”
fireintheflood At this point, Jean couldn't imagine being here more than a few days, or even hours, imagining that she'd go to bed and wake up the next morning where she should be. Then again, she should be dead, so the thought of living in some alternate reality wasn't so terrible. "At least it seems easy to acclimate. Except for the porter, everything seems to be in a similar technological era as where I'm from. I can imagine it might be difficult for some, though."
thing4telepaths “It also helps that for a lot of us, this isn’t our first trip to another dimension or reality,” he added. Most recently his entire world had been plunged into an alternate reality, trying to give everyone what they wanted. In the end though, it had all fallen apart.
“And we’re used to having a bit more advanced technology than this,” Scott said as he parked his car in the garage. “At least for ourselves. The average level of the rest of the world is about the same.”
fireintheflood "I think once I'm settled I'd really like to hear about where you're from," she said, her voice softening a bit as she unfastened her seat belt and went to open the door. "I think it might help, if as you say, a lot of us are from your world."
thing4telepaths “I’d be more than happy to tell you about it,” he said, giving her a smile as he got out of the car. Now that he thought about it, it might be really nice to talk to Jean without some of the uglier history being between them. “In the meantime, we’ll get you setup here with a room and the essentials.”
fireintheflood "That would be great," Jean smiled. "I think a hot shower and sleep are definitely in order." She wanted to hug him, to have him tell her that everything would be okay, that they would get through this, but she realized quickly that this Scott couldn't do that, he wasn't hers to want those things from. It would take some getting used to. She couldn't remember the last time she hadn't been able to go to him for comfort.
thing4telepaths “If you’re interested, I have a box of things from when you, or the version of you from my world, was here before. At the very least, some of her clothes will fit you” Scott offered. He knew that it was an odd offer, but if there was an alternate world version of himself here before, he would want to know as much about them as possible.
fireintheflood "Perhaps just the clothes, for now," She answered, walking beside him. "I'm not sure I'm in quite the right headspace for looking deeper into my alternate life." Jean gave him a smile and took a breath, preparing herself for the onslaught of presence that she knew she would feel once inside the Institute. Her abilities had been somewhat stronger since finding herself here and she knew she needed some time to adjust, to build up her defenses.