"No." Wait. "Well, yes, of course I'm checking on Laura."
She has a list. It will probably keep growing, but that's all right; that's her life.
"But first, first, Scott, I need to remind you that I've known Charles since I was twelve years old, and I met him when the entire world was bleeding into my head. I need to remind you that, not long ago, I held his mind in my own."
What she's saying, here, is that what she's about to tell him is not a guess, is not a wish, is not a consolation.
"He hated how easy it was to see the cruellest and most efficient option. He didn't gather us together just as a strategy in a war he wouldn't name out loud." Not back then, anyway, back when he still told himself he wasn't turning children into soldiers.
"Don't you see? He found a telepath who still saw the best in everyone she met. He found a genius who put people first. He found a rich boy who wanted to save everyone else. He found a kid who could freeze the world who only wanted to make people laugh."
This is worth the risk, raising her hand to rest it on Scott's chest.
"He found a lonely kid who hated himself. Who needed to mean something to other people, because otherwise it felt like he shouldn't exist. Who needed to be in control, all the time, or everyone around him would suffer."
Her hand trembles against his chest before she forces it to stop. Maybe it's for the best, that she's powerless right now.
"We weren't just pieces of a chess board. We were there to be better than him." Her eyes flash, not with fire but the emotional equivalent. "He knew he much he would love us, and how much he would use us. He needed us to grow up, one day, and tell him when it wasn't fucking acceptable. Even when he'd do it anyway, and we'd let him."
Jean steps closer still, and it's definitely too intimate, but she no longer cares. "He needs you to know that you deserved better."
She's not just talking about Dark Phoenix, anymore.
Her emotion - and passion, and love for both of them - is very clear. Not just in the shaking hand or the risk she's taking to be close and intimate. That she's risking him says more about that, than risk taking herself.
There's no great startle or realization dawning this time, at least. Oh, having it laid out is new, but. "I know." One corner of his mouth turns up, slightly. "I do that, too." And he does, though differently. Jean. Logan. Emma. Ororo. People who will hold him accountable and call him out, in various ways. People who push back.
He kisses her on the forehead and fuck it they're going to get beat for this and it's okay.
"Still not mad."
Because he... just can't get that worked up about himself. Not when it was plan that worked. At least not right now. "I'll yell at him about it, anyway. Or maybe just about Sinister and Apocalypse."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-11-02 04:00 pm (UTC)She has a list. It will probably keep growing, but that's all right; that's her life.
"But first, first, Scott, I need to remind you that I've known Charles since I was twelve years old, and I met him when the entire world was bleeding into my head. I need to remind you that, not long ago, I held his mind in my own."
What she's saying, here, is that what she's about to tell him is not a guess, is not a wish, is not a consolation.
"He hated how easy it was to see the cruellest and most efficient option. He didn't gather us together just as a strategy in a war he wouldn't name out loud." Not back then, anyway, back when he still told himself he wasn't turning children into soldiers.
"Don't you see? He found a telepath who still saw the best in everyone she met. He found a genius who put people first. He found a rich boy who wanted to save everyone else. He found a kid who could freeze the world who only wanted to make people laugh."
This is worth the risk, raising her hand to rest it on Scott's chest.
"He found a lonely kid who hated himself. Who needed to mean something to other people, because otherwise it felt like he shouldn't exist. Who needed to be in control, all the time, or everyone around him would suffer."
Her hand trembles against his chest before she forces it to stop. Maybe it's for the best, that she's powerless right now.
"We weren't just pieces of a chess board. We were there to be better than him." Her eyes flash, not with fire but the emotional equivalent. "He knew he much he would love us, and how much he would use us. He needed us to grow up, one day, and tell him when it wasn't fucking acceptable. Even when he'd do it anyway, and we'd let him."
Jean steps closer still, and it's definitely too intimate, but she no longer cares. "He needs you to know that you deserved better."
She's not just talking about Dark Phoenix, anymore.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-02 04:28 pm (UTC)There's no great startle or realization dawning this time, at least. Oh, having it laid out is new, but. "I know." One corner of his mouth turns up, slightly. "I do that, too." And he does, though differently. Jean. Logan. Emma. Ororo. People who will hold him accountable and call him out, in various ways. People who push back.
He kisses her on the forehead and fuck it they're going to get beat for this and it's okay.
"Still not mad."
Because he... just can't get that worked up about himself. Not when it was plan that worked. At least not right now. "I'll yell at him about it, anyway. Or maybe just about Sinister and Apocalypse."