001 they send me away to find them a fortune

[ashandflame]

Who: Jean Grey
Broadcast: Fleet Wide
Action: N/A
When: 5 April

( Jean isn't a stranger to space. She isn't a stranger to time travel. She is, however, a stranger of being kidnapped to a space fleet, released, and kidnapped back. What's the deal? What's so special about her that the Atroma want to bring her back for another round? She's a telepath, sure, but there's other telepaths in the world. There's other mutants. She isn't any better than the rest of them. Still, there's a whisper in the back of her mind that she tamps down and locks shut - something she vacuum seals to keep it from contaminating the rest of her mind. You have the Phoenix Force. You're chosen. It's always you. Death and rebirth, cycling on. She turns on the camera and decides to just do it live. Stream of consciousness is still a thing in 2019, isn't it? )

Look, I was here before. The people were cool but the forced captivity was something I wasn't a fan of. I'm just a girl, ok? There's no reason why I need to be here over anyone else and I have shit I need to do back home. How do you get the Atroma to spring you permanently? Do you have to pay them off or something? Because I think I could swing something. I've got friends in high places.

( It's probably useless but Jean feels the need for agency. So much of her life depends on teamwork, on relying upon others to do the right thing and do their part and she's not someone who likes relinquishing control. It takes everything in her not to just take over; this is why group projects were never a good idea in school and should be permanently banned. The Atroma can stab themselves in the eye with a rusted spork for all she cares. She just wants to go home, finish her mission, grab a slice and do the same thing tomorrow. That's it. The normal desires of a twentysomething with the most dangerous job in the world, right? Right. )

Seriously, though. I'm not here for it. I just need to get back home and if anyone has left and come back before, hit me with your ideas. I'm not above telekinetically frying all the circuits on this piece of shit just to make a point. I think it might end in some consequences I don't want, though, so if you have ideas that aren't going to turn me into a vegetable, I'm all ears.

Comments

[passingthrough]

If I knew how to get them to let us go, I wouldn't have been here for over three years now. [And maybe she should feel bad about it, but she's glad to see Jean again. Would she prefer a more familiar face with a blue mark around the eye and shorter hair and definitely something in an older version? Sure. But this is a Jean who recognizes her even if it's only from an earlier brief stay and one who knows another Kitty Pryde and is an X-Man and a fellow mutant who isn't trying to end the world. There's comfort in that. She's family even if they're also strangers in a lot of ways. She can't help the smile that rests on her lips which is a nice change of pace. They didn't always come so easily.]

You owe me a birthday present, kid. [She feels absolutely ridiculous calling any version of Jean Grey a kid, and means it as a joke.]

[ashandflame]

Man, are you going to hit me with that before they even credit my account? Come on, I'm working with limited funds here.

( Jean is so grateful Kitty is still here. It's not her version of Kitty, sure, but it's a version she'd met and one she can feel a kinship with all the same. Maybe all the players look different but the names and the things that count are the same and Jean can work with that. )

How have you been?

[seeingscarlet]

At least you remember. It's...hard, when everyone else knows you and you can't remember who they are.

[ashandflame]

( Jean recognizes Wanda from last time around and remembers her being a telepath, too, and an all around nice person. She shoots her a sympathetic look. )

I guess it could always be worse. So you're still stuck here, Wanda? My condolences.

[seeingscarlet]

It's all right. I don't like that we're trapped here either, but...there are some reasons it is not so bad.

At least you missed Calibrations.

[ashandflame]

Calibrations? That sounds absolutely delightful. What kind of joys did I miss with that?

( Anything the Atroma could come up with is no picnic and Jean doesn't like the sound of it at all. )

[passingthrough]

Hey, I don't make the rules. [She absolutely made that rule just now about birthday gifts.]

You know, life of the put upon prisoner. It has its ups and downs. You missed calibrations, so you're luck is looking more up than you think it is. [Mentioning calibrations coaxes her a little back to business mode though.] Are you still on the Marsiva?

[wallcrawler]

I think figuring that out is a lot like seeing the afterlife. Anyone who finds out what the secret is can't come back and share with the rest of us.

[Then again, Peter here's from one of those weird universes where people don't die and then come back through magic/science/They-were-never-really-dead-at-all on the reg, so what's he know?]

It sucks, but for now that's kind of where we're at.

[seeingscarlet]

Every night we dreamed of being in a room that represented either our minds or someone else's. You could see memories in the room, and even having powers like ours couldn't stop it.

[logicabounds]

I do not have answers, unfortunately. Your requests are ones many here seem to share.

That said, I could not help but notice your comment on telekinetics. Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Spock. I am a race called 'Vulcan' in my universe. We are telepathic ourselves and utilize emotional control and meditation to maintain calm.

If you were interested, I could teach you the rudimentary steps? See if it helps the turbulent emotions you are experiencing.

[ashandflame]

( Jean has seen some horrible things in the landscapes of people's minds. She's seen Auschwitz in Erik's mind, she's seen other terrible things over the years. She thinks it will get easier but it never does. Not being able to control it? That's even worse. )

God, glad I missed it. You got through okay?

[ashandflame]

For right now, yeah. They haven't sprung me from my least favorite prison. Well, I take that back. The white hot room is my least favorite but I don't like putting that in the Atroma's heads. They might just call up the Phoenix Force to ruin my day.

( And if she's not here for impromptu birthday gift giving, she sure as hell isn't here for encountering cosmic death forces. )

[ashandflame]

Why do you have to come here speaking logic? That completely ruins my angsty video log.

( Jean actually doesn't mind, though. She props her device up so she can record hands free and sits cross-legged on the floor, maintaining the appearance of zen even if she is far from it. )

You do have a point, though. It's an exclusive club, leaving and not coming back.

[ashandflame]

( Jean knows about emotional control and meditation. Charles has worked with her on that before and she's done some work with Psylocke recently. It's not a strong suit for her, not like the other her that is older and seemingly perfect, and that's something she chafes against a lot. )

I've done some work with meditating before. You know us telepaths, always with the busy minds. I'm better at it than I used to be but I could use some practice if you're offering it.

[passingthrough]

White hot room? [Some kind of room of torture?] The Phoenix Force? Is that a team of people you fight against? [Sorry, Jean. The Phoenix Force doesn't present itself in Kitty's universe until after she's already dead.]

voice;

[straightouttacarbonite]

If I could find someone to bribe and something to bribe them with, I'd be in a dive bar in the Outer Rim right now.

[ashandflame]

Ohh, your Jean must have kept it to herself. It's...well, there's this cosmic space thing that wants to take up residence in my brain and you know how it is. Not enough room for everything so Jeannie has to go.

( It's a very flippant answer but Jean has complicated feelings on the Phoenix Force, especially since she managed to talk it out of inhabiting her recently, and she doesn't want to run into it again. )

[ashandflame]

Bribes aren't usually my style but I am saddened to hear that they're not an option after I put it out there.

How long have you been stuck here?

[passingthrough]

I think if my Jean had a cosmic space thing inside her I'd know about it. [How dare? But also, kind of worried about this Jean now. Are you okay?] Do you...? Is it here?

[ashandflame]

Well, I talked it into leaving me alone recently, so I think we're good for now. I just don't know how long that particular negotiation is going to last. It's like a temporary truce, I think.

( Now that her older, better self is back from the dead, though, maybe the Phoenix Force will go pester her instead. It's a terrible thing to wish on a future version of herself, Jean thinks, but she just can't deal with it right now. )

[passingthrough]

It probably can't get here without an invitation from the Atroma. [But that's always possible if it can take form on it's own or one day Jean wakes up with more memories, but she just got back. That problem can wait until at least tomorrow.]

Jean, there's something I need you to do while you're still on the Marsiva. [Then quietly she tries to center her mind and make thoughts stand out clearly the way another Jean taught her a long time ago. Kitty is not psi sensitive in any way, but she was taught techniques for blocking and projecting her thoughts as much as possible for someone without any powers of that nature. Still, she doesn't expect it to work given the way Xavier's powers had been hampered during his stay. She's not sure any telepath's range reaches from one ship to another in the fleet. But it's worth a shot to keep this quiet. And if anyone's going to be the exception, she believes it would be Jean. Well, Jean or the Shadow King, but let's not get into all that.

Can you hear me from there?]

(OOC: Totally fine if she can't! Fine if she can too! I don't know what kind of limitations if any you put on her!)

[ashandflame]

( Jean isn't a stranger to hearing people's thoughts but hearing someone deliberately in her head is a little different than the norm. Charles did it, of course, but she isn't around enough telepaths on a regular basis for her to be used to it anymore. When people aren't telepaths, though, they're not good at figuring out how to project and while she can hear Kitty, it's just loud and she can't make out the words exactly. She knows it's Kitty but that's about it. )

I hear you screaming - you've got to think really hard when you're not a telepath. Use pictures.

[passingthrough]

[Audibly.] But I'm so bad at Pictionary. [Give her trivial pursuit any day. Can she even do this in pictures? If she thinks of the memory that was implanted in her mind by Castiel of the creature then is she going to be subjecting Jean to the unbridled sense of dread and hallucinations that come with it? She can't do that without warning her and how do you warn someone of that in pictures?

She tries to picture the memory of Wanda telling her about her sensing a lifeform on the Marsiva. She's guessing that will be too complicated to convey especially over this distance. Especially since she's trying to picture words ultimately, but it's worth a shot.]

[wallcrawler]

Force of habit. If it helps, there are some people who claim they found a way to leave the fleet, just not get home. Kind of tight lipped about how though. You might be able to find out more if you ask around.

[Because Peter here knew of the Interceptor fleet, but he had yet to interact with anyone from it himself. So his information on them was very limited.]

Though I do wonder if the only reason nobody's come back after figuring out how to leave is something else. Like because they can't figure out how, because the tech needed to do it is something that only exists here. That sort of thing.

[Or they never actually went home at all, and the Atroma are just keeping them locked up someplace. But he'll be considerate and not actually share that possibile explanation. Definitely not the time or the place, and it wasn't exactly great to think about on top of that.]

[straightouttacarbonite]

If they get the job done, why be picky?

Twelve or thirteen standard months, I think. Long time to be stuck in one place.