Mess Hall Fuckery! [OTA]

[and_intothefire]

Jean was currently positioned in the middle of the mess hall. Her mind was wide open, her eyes closed softly, and she was listening. The din of psychic voices around her was soothing, feeding her a nearly giddy energy. She wasn't honing in on any one thought, just loving that she had the ability to sit there, free to dip into any open mind that

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[hunt_the_devil]

The sudden scrape of someone in the Mess Hall moving their chair across the floor caused John to tense, one hand gripping hers a little firmer than perhaps was needed and the other clenched tightly by his side. His eyes darted to where the noise came from, the smile faltering for a moment. As quickly as his demeanor had changed John was smiling again, he released Jean's hand moving to take the coffee cups from the machine.

"Cream? Sugar?"

John managed to keep the front going, that smile and external calmness but inside he was trying to regain control of his emotions. He had heard about the death of Evan thanks to that wretched mutant murdering bastard Jack. John wasn't the type to kill without good reason but right about now he'd happily teleport himself into the Medical Room and kick seven shades of shit out of him and care little for the consequences. Memories haunting him of the people he'd so easily laid to rest lingered for a moment before subsiding.

His mind was rather akin to a lake, smooth and calm on the surface but beneath that who knew what lay.

[and_intothefire]

Jean felt his hand tense and she studied his face, opening up to eavesdrop on what had him so riled.

She released his hand as he did hers. "Both, please."

The thoughts were about the mutant who'd died were starting to leech their way into everyone's minds as rumors circulated. John, though, knew who was responsible, apparently. Someone named Jack. He wanted to inflict pain. His mind shifted quickly to older memories, flashing by slowly, each face seemingly hollowed by his memory. He'd altered them slightly to torture himself.

Damn that conscience. It was a bitch.

She didn't push into his mind, just taking what was at the surface. "You sure you need any more coffee? You seem a little jumpy. Anything I can help with?" Jean gave him a broad smile, her brows dipped slightly in mock concern.

[hunt_the_devil]

"Just been a tough few days." He offered her a steaming cup, topped up with cream and sugar.

John had Bradley who could access any file on any computer, no questions asked. All it took was John teleporting him into a room with full access to the system, Fred standing guard on the other side of the door and the boys got all the information they ever needed.
It was something that they had taken to doing as of late, the trust no longer there for their 'leader.' At least if they were going to be screwed over they wanted to know how, when and where.

When the group had returned from the mission minus one individual they had gone on an information hunt as quickly as possible. Needing to know the answers that Stryker would never give them.

"You a psychologist then Jean? Or you got a way your ability can help?"

Mutants didn't tend to offer help unless they genuinely could help. It was something that you learnt from an early age and learnt it well. Heading over to one of the tables John waited politely for Jean to sit first before joining her, coffee mug held tightly as he studied the steadily rising steam.

[and_intothefire]

"Sorry to hear that," she commented, taking the cup from him and testing the cream and sugar levels quickly. Satisfied, she followed him to a table, sitting down before he did.

"No, I'm not a psychologist. I am, however, a good listener. I have other talents that can come in handy as well." She had no issue revealing her telekinesis to anyone, since it was the less concerning of her two abilities. She turned her eyes toward the salt and pepper shakers that were on the end of the table. It didn't even take effort to draw them to her anymore. As soon as she thought about them being in her hand, there they were.

Jean set it back down, smiling at John. "So, if you need an ear to bend, or you desperately need salt in a hurry, please let me know."

[hunt_the_devil]

John smiled at the salt comment, a genuine one that reached his eyes.

"You ever get the urge to help out in the kitchen an' I'd never turn you down." For a moment John realised that his comment may have sounded a little suggestive, his mind flickering to things he hadn't thought about in a while. But John quickly brushed his inappropriate thoughts aside.

Reaching for the salt shaker John studied it for a moment, before setting it back in its rightful place.

"It ain't proper for me to bend the ear of a young lady I only just met. Not to mention burden her with my issues."

But he'd keep it in mind for certain, it was reassuring to think that there was someone who'd offer something so generously but still John didn't know if she had ulterior motives and until he trusted her he'd be keeping fairly tight lipped.

"Enough about my problems, what brought a lady like you to a place an' a team like this then Jean?"

[and_intothefire]

"I can burn water, so I wouldn't necessarily want me anywhere near a kitchen. Happy to come get things from high shelves for you, though," she quipped, her mind picking up the sudden shift to thoughts of a more sensitive nature. Jean's brow shifted slightly, but she didn't react beyond that. It seemed he was a fairly friendly guy with a bit of a darker streak.

It was that darker streak that seemed to run through everyone in this compound. It made her feel sort of like she was at home. Then again, she was all dark with the tiniest pinpoint of light. Light she didn't want anyone to see.

"The offer is on the table, should you chose to take it." People tended to reveal a lot while they were talking to someone they trusted, and unearthed even more than that in their brains. Jean had learned this early. There was a reason the professor kept her away from the general populace of the mansion.

That's funny; he called her a lady. "I'm here to learn a bit more about what I can do," she said honestly. "Plus, there were some... incapability issues where I was before. Things were kind of messy when it ended." She stifled the twitch of a smirk that wanted to curl her lips. "And you?"

[hunt_the_devil]

Trust was a gift you earnt, that was something John had learnt from an early age but he smiled acknowledging her offer with a slight tilt of his head. He then listened to why she was here, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

"Me? I got made an offer that at the time I just couldn't refuse an' I haven't looked back since really." John had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting himself caught by an anti-mutant group. He'd been keeping out of their way, moving from place to place until Stryker had shown up on his doorstep and offered him a chance to prove to the rest of the world just how decent mutants could be.

The job had proved to be quite different to the shpeel Stryker had given him but the pay was good, they travelled and at least with Stryker you knew where you stood. It was also thanks to the boss man that John had met the likes of Bradley, Fred and Laura so really as much as there were downsides to a life as a mutant soldier, there were plenty of perks too.

[and_intothefire]

"The good old 'offer you can't refuse' thing. I know how that goes." She didn't, actually. Jean took Stryker up on his offer simply for her own amusement. He hadn't offered her anything other than a place where she could expand her ability, and even that had come with ties that Jean had skimmed right over. Those ties meant nothing to her. If Stryker thought he could really control her, he was definitely mistaken.

Then again, watching the weak try to reign in the strong was always kind of fun to watch. Like a train wreck- it's already awful but it just keeps going.

Jean caught a few mental pictures from John, faces of people he considered friends on the team. She hadn't met most of them, but she filed the faces away. She was starting a diagram in her head of who was intertwined with one another, and it was making a fairly large web already. When she was ready to start causing chaos, she'd start tugging on the strings of that web.

"And before all of this," Jean motioned around her, "what were your plans for yourself?"

[hunt_the_devil]

John thoughts flickered to his family, to the gang of anti-mutant vigilantes and finally to his plans of running his own business, a working men's club for mutants and non-mutants. A classy business with a gym, bar and maybe spaces which people could rent out for their own sport classes.

"Me? Nothin' much really. Maybe runnin' my own business but nothin' all that fancy."

Not to mention he had once thought about settling down, maybe and having a family of his own but the last girl he had ever loved had been non-mutant. She'd left him for another 'normal' person and gotten married whilst he was away in Africa. John still wondered what if things had been different though.

"When I'm done with the team I might even look into setting my own business up with the money I've earnt. Heck whilst I'm at it I could try an' get Fred into shape." The thought of his friend conjured images of the rather large man who looked rather like the michelin man of late.

[and_intothefire]

She was enjoying her chat with John, since he projected so clearly. Sure, it was everything he ever thought, but it was enough that she kept catching glimpses. She saw quick mental pictures of his family, his friends, a woman he once loved.

"I haven't met Fred yet," she said, but saw the picture of him clearly in John's head. "I think I might have seen him though." She smirked as she started to create a 'John' folder in her mind. She tucked everything away that he was showing her. "Good luck on starting your own business, John. That seems like a decent goal for once you get away from here."