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Post by Jake Sheppard on Oct 15, 2006 22:50:41 GMT
Follows on from Office Hours... time to pilot the headspinning chair!4 lessons in, and Jake has to admit, Josh is making remarkable progress... though whether he’s more stunned by this, or by the fact that he’s somehow managed to morph into something like a teacher (something close enough to fool this kid who, Jake is learning, is, for all his apparent disarming naivety, remarkably canny in an oddly endearing way). Regardless, these weekly sessions seem to be *working*, whatever that means, and they’re both starting to feel less useless. Which is nice. Right now, Jake’s stood in the corner of his office (yes, definitely his now, the strange (and oddly worn, considering they belong to an *adult*) action figures, blizzards of post it notes, and general chaos covering the desk betraying its new owner’s legendary lack of organizational skills), doing his best to look serious and rapt over his specs while he swallows occasional draughts of the lukewarm orange liquid which passes for tea over here from an oversized Edward Monkton mug and his ‘protégé’ focuses on learning the fine art of sensing.
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Post by Josh Dalton Worthington on Oct 16, 2006 0:14:12 GMT
Josh eyes Jake over the pile of crap scattered across the desk.
Things are so different now. This room used to be immaculate. (When you're in a wheelchair, you don't leave junk on the floor to roll into.) Now it's a tornado zone, much like Bobby's side of their dorm room. Instead of the Professor, Jake (and it's somehow fine to call him that!) is tutoring him in telepathy. And instead of Jean, no one is helping him with his telekinesis. In fact, Josh has begun helping one of the smaller children take the first scary steps on the path to control. The other night he'd been awoken by a prodding hand whose owner couldn't sleep. Upon returning to the boy's room, he'd found the lamp bulbs all shattered on the ground. He remembers back to a couple interesting telekinetic "accidents" of his own...
He snaps out of his reverie. "Right. I've been practicing this all week, and I think I'm starting to get pretty good." Is it wrong that I barely have to concentrate to know when Warren is around, now? is something that he doesn't add. I don't feel like discussing my love life with Jake, thankyouverymuch. Warren's mental presence was much like a light touch in the back of his mind when he was nearby, but not actually with Josh. Comforting, in a way.
He raises a hand to each temple, and reaches outwards telepathically. Looks like Hank is pacing in his office next door. One of the cats is stalking a mouse outside in the corridor, and...
"I think you have visitors, Jake." He lets his astral presence collapses back down to nothing. "Bobby and... Storm?" He can't quite bring himself to call her Ororo, and Ms. Munroe is way too formal.
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Post by Jake Sheppard on Oct 16, 2006 0:29:33 GMT
Visitors?
Well, that can’t be good.
It’s not that long ago that he sent the likeable but hopelessly idealistic Mr. Drake off to talk to Ororo about those mutant camps he’s suddenly become obsessed with in the (hideous and selfish, he knows) hope that it would somehow cease to be his problem. But it looks like it’s still something he’s going to have to deal with… and while everyone likes to think that, given the chance, they’d do something to stop that sort of atrocity, here on the sharp end it’s a little more difficult.
Sigh. Not exactly circumstances he’d have liked Josh to see him in, now that the kid is sort of his apprentice and all.
He does a quick, cautious double-check, wishing he could still doubt Josh’s abilities with anything like conviction. Yeah, surprise surprise, he’s right. Bugger.
”Well, no need to let that interrupt the lesson” – he smiles, the fake half-smile of trying to act like nothing’s the matter while all hell is breaking loose, something Brits like him have downbat, his tone just a little too bright to be genuine – ”Tell ‘em to come on in.”
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Post by Ororo Munroe on Oct 16, 2006 0:51:16 GMT
<Come on in, you two. Jake is just giving me a lesson...>
Ororo catches the unmistakable whisper of Josh's voice in her ear... mind? I see that Joshua has arranged tutoring on his own. Good. She tries to convey the affirmative back to him.
"Looks like the 'Doctor' is in." Ororo keeps her face completely blank, but inclines one eyebrow in Bobby's direction. She arrives at the oak door into Jake's office and pushes it open.
The first thing that strikes her is that a good wind would likely improve Jake's filing system rather than putting it into disarray. Ororo stands in the office, giving Josh a nod.
"Mr. Sheppard. I believe Bobby had talked to you previously about the untenable situation in the mutant containment camps. New information had led me to the conclusion that a strike will be inevitable. I need you to do a little recon work..." She refrains from putting steel in her voice, and settles for a firm tone. No need to ruffle any feathers. And though Josh was very nearly on the team himself, Sheppard was both boys' headmaster. Best to tread lightly.
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Post by Bobby Drake on Oct 16, 2006 1:58:12 GMT
> " Looks like the 'Doctor' is in. "
Bobby smirks and, keeping as straight a face as possible, asks " Who? " before walking back into Sheppard’s office and leaning casually against a wall. He tries not to look too smug as Ororo walks in after him and reads him the law… though it rather does feel like he’s just gotten the headmaster in trouble, which is totally cool.
However, he can’t resist the urge to add " Yeah. In case you’ve forgotten our previous discussion, sir, the idea is to identify the guards responsible for the worst abuses and collect some evidence on them. " The “sir” is a nice touch, he thinks, careful to keep any trace of irony out of his voice. Not that he’s going to fool anyone, but at least it keeps him from yelling.
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Post by Jake Sheppard on Oct 16, 2006 2:33:42 GMT
Oh great. Fan-bloody-tastic
Admittedly Jake’s still not sure how the whole headmaster thing works, but he’s pretty near certain it doesn’t normally involve a dressing down, especially not infront of the students, not it you want to survive. But here he is, being told off like a naughty schoolboy infront of his protégé and the Institute’s gold-standard student (or at least the kid who used to be… he vaguelly rememebers some note he should probably have paid more attention to regarding a *situation* with him, but details are not forthcoming). Brilliant.
Bobby’s comment doesn’t exactly improve matters – he’s British, for god’s sake, he was born with an inbuilt irony-detector – but he manages to take it with a carefully polite smile because see, he was right. Talking to Ororo was the best thing to do. Really… Okay, hell, not even he believes that. But it’s a semi-acceptable load of shit and he’s sticking to it.
”Right” Jake draws himself up, trying to look vaguelly authoritarian, as if to re-convince himself that yes, he really is the headmaster in this situation. ”That’d mean using the shi.. erm, Cerebro, right?”
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Post by Ororo Munroe on Oct 16, 2006 3:47:49 GMT
> ”That’d mean using the shi.. erm, Cerebro, right?”
"Correct. I'd like to impress upon you that this is of utmost importance. We have information that indicates Magneto may move on these camps at any time." And no idea on the relative strength of his telepath, either. In fact, she'd had no luck determining the location of Magneto on her own. Perhaps Mr. Sheppard would be of use in that vein, but Magneto was sure to have alerted his telepath of possible astral intrusion - even if, as of Alcatraz, Josh had likely been the strongest telepath known to Magneto, which was not saying particularly much.
"In fact." Ororo inclines her head fractionally in the direction of the elevator. "If you wouldn't mind..." She leaves the rest of her question unspoken, folding her hands gracefully across her chest, and angles a look over at Bobby.
He seems to be enjoying himself. Josh appears to want to dive under the rug, though. Is probably still linked with Jake's mind, for that matter. Oh. That would be an oversight on my part. She resists the urge to shrug. It really was extremely important to get this done.
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Post by Bobby Drake on Oct 16, 2006 16:09:10 GMT
> " We have information that indicates Magneto may move on these camps at any time."
All of Bobby’s good intentions to keep his mouth shut and let Storm deal with Sheppard suddenly fly out the window, and he adds somewhat bitterly: "Not to mention that we shouldn’t have let it go on this long in the first place… jeez, if we aren’t out there making sure mutants aren’t getting rounded up and tortured then who the hell will? We’re pretty much asking bucket-head to get involved. And I swear to God, if it gets to that point and you expect me to help stop him, you’ve got another thing… "
He trails off sheepishly, embarrassed by his outburst and realizing he doesn’t actually mean it… as much as he wants those bastards punished (and he tries hard not to think about why this has suddenly become such a personal issue for him, unsure how much snooping on his mind Sheppard is doing), he’s not going to stand by and watch Magneto kill them… or, even worse, as he makes John kill them.
Besides which, he was already getting what he wanted before he opened his damned mouth. It’s like what Logan’s always getting after him about during combat sessions, taking stupid chances when he’s already winning, playing for style points instead of victory. And this is too important for Bobby to screw it up just to score points off Sheppard, so he takes a deep breath and swallows his pride.
" I’m sorry… that was uncalled for. Of course you two already know how important this is… sorry. " He tries to project as much sincerity as he can. He vaguely remembers he used to be good at that, at playing the respectful and properly submissive student entreating whichever teacher was in authority at the time. Of course, at the time, he wasn’t playing, which made it much easier… but still, he remembers what it sounds like.
He gestures towards the elevator, far more blatantly than Ororo’s subtle head-tilt. " Anyway… shall we? The shiny hat’s awaiting."
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Post by Josh Dalton Worthington on Oct 16, 2006 18:47:59 GMT
Josh looks, slightly uncomfortably, from Jake to Storm, and then over to Bobby. Maybe he should leave the room...? He really wasn't part of the X-Men, and this conversation had that awkward meanings-within-meanings feel to it.
As he looks over at Bobby, he can't help but smile - Bobby can be a bit of a goof sometimes. And it's clear he's enjoying putting the headmaster in the hot seat. Josh gives him a small mental poke from across the room, and then the conversation topic turns quickly to Cerebro.
Cerebro! Josh quivers a little at the word. He'd been in Cerebro exactly once before, and that was when he could barely filter other minds out, way back when he'd first arrived at the Institute. The machine's power was enough to splatter his own brains against the wall, but he was curious what sort of sensations he'd pick up inside the chamber while a trained user ran it.
So he listens on, eagerly, and tries not to look too interested.
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Post by Bobby Drake on Oct 27, 2006 20:42:02 GMT
Bobby jumps a bit at Josh’s telepathic poke, looks up to see him smiling, and glares. This isn’t a joke, dammit. Then he stews a bit in the subsequent awkward silence, shaking his head in frustration without quite realizing it. Damn… I blew it again. Smooth, Drake. Better hope nobody’s life depends on you actually making this happen, or you’re gonna have plenty more chances to wear that new black suit.
For a moment he considers walking back out of the office, looking for someone else to hand this off to who can actually do something, but looking around the office makes it clear how stupid a plan that is… he’s already got two out of three head honchos and the two top Institute telepaths in the room, who else is he gonna recruit? Hell, maybe the Brotherhood knows a telepath we can – he squelches that thought before it’s fully formed. Nothing’s ever so bad that a dumb idea can’t make it worse... his dad used to say that.
Finally, out of sheer frustration, he storms over to the elevator and pokes the call button. Not that he expects it to respond, since there’s presumably all kinds of security protocols and stuff on the shiny-hat room and there's no reason he'd be authorized for entry, but at least it’s something. He pokes it a few more times, just for good measure, and waits.
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Post by Jake Sheppard on Oct 28, 2006 19:21:23 GMT
The diplomatic thing to do is to ignore Bobby’s outburst, of course, and carry on as if it’s merely a calm, businesslike discussion (yes, diplomatic. Right. Nothing at all to do with not wanting to look at what his reluctance to get involved says about him as a human being. For someone used to looking in other people’s minds, Jake’s remarkably good at refusing to explore his own). Jake nods as he knows what the hell is going on and is merely contemplating, because again that seems like a headmasterly thing to do (shit, hope Josh isn’t tuned in right now... because having his *protege* (and yes, dammit, it feels cool saying that) know what a git he’s been with regard to the DMCD atrocities would definitely not be good).
”So, are we powering this up to spy on Bucket-head, or to get camp intel?” He’s careful to direct his question to Ororo, both because she’s the one with the obvious power and in order to freeze (hehe! Okay, cheap pun, but whatever) Bobby out. Sure, he’s basically a decent guy (an annoyingly, perfectly decent one... the sort Jake feels he should really be in order to keep this seat over people like Drake, and knows he’ll never quite be even vaguely like), and hell, it looks like in time he’ll be the one leading the next generation, but right now the last thing Sheppard needs is a kid (because in the grand scheme of things Bobby still is one) exposing just how inept he is.
He’s waiting intently when Bobby shows just how much of a kid he is... and gives Jake, who can hardly claim to be much more mature, the perfect chance to score back a point or two by heading calmly over to the elevator and pressing the call button once. Fingers crossed they’ve finally sorted out his security clearance; for the first few days he had to have one of the other two heads accompany him to work the checks, which felt annoyingly like having a babysitter. ”All right if Josh comes with?” he asks, casting a quick glance in his pupil’s direction
< Time for the big test, mate... for you n’me both. Up for a spin? > It can’t hurt to have both telepaths in on it, because he’s only ever used the chair twice before and still isn’t entirely sure he can pilot it all that well, having got the job by a process of elimination as his head didn’t explode within 5 seconds of powering the thing up. Besides, the boyish enthusiasm he expects from Josh should help lighten the situation.
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Post by Ororo Munroe on Nov 2, 2006 2:12:35 GMT
>”So, are we powering this up to spy on Bucket-head, or to get camp intel?”
Ororo looks across the desk at Jake. "We need camp intel. What I was hoping for you to find is some kind of evidence on who's been abusing the interned at the camp itself, wherever it is. Perhaps then, we can give the information to Hank, who might be able to do something with it. We'll be launching a strike team if it becomes necessary." She says camp, but for all they know there could be more than one. She suppresses a shudder.
Suddenly, Bobby stalks out of the office. Smooth, Mr. Drake. She gives an apologetic incline of her head to Sheppard, as if to say, Kids!
>”All right if Josh comes with?”
She looks over at Joshua. Perhaps this will be instructional. Technically, Josh wasn't a member of the X-Men, and therefore probably shouldn't be in Cerebro when they were obtaining classified information. Next to Jake, however, he likely had the strongest mental defenses in the school...
"It is your choice, Mr. Sheppard. After all, you are the one teaching him to control his telepathy." With that, she turns to join Bobby at the elevator. Silently, she watches his reaction.
You have to learn how to control frustration, Robert.
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Post by Josh Dalton Worthington on Nov 2, 2006 2:48:05 GMT
> <Time for the big test, mate... for you n’me both. Up for a spin?>
Josh nods solemnly. <I can handle it, Jake. I'll help you however I can.> Not the least of which was defending his mentor (how cool was that to be able to say again?) against angsty Bobby out there in the foyer.
Sure. Jake wasn't Jean (and would never be) but he was definitely a great person in his own way. Professor Xavier got you to open up because he was so nice, but Jake was accessible mainly because he was a down-to-earth guy, and didn't put up any fronts. Simple as that.
He gives a bit of a smile to Jake as he makes his way into the foyer, and resists the urge to tell Bobby the two of them had heard most of his interior monologue. It's hard to not hear when you're shouting like that, Bobbs.
In any case, his telepathy was still a little tuned up from their lesson, and thoughts tended to get through more easily immediately after.
Cerebro, here I come! He fervently hopes the big boy doesn't chew him up and spit him out.
And, frankly, spending time in the medlab while Jake reconstructed his mental pathways would not be a good way to spend November.
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Post by Bobby Drake on Nov 2, 2006 17:33:15 GMT
Bobby doesn’t even need to look to know that Ororo is frowning at him… he’s become rather familiar with her disappointed frown over the last several months. It doesn’t matter, he tells himself. What matters is that they’ve stopped sitting around and are actually moving.
He stops himself from poking the elevator button a seventh time and gets out of Jake’s way as he presses it and the little happy-light comes on. Then he forces himself to turn around and face the rest of the crowd. Sure enough, that’s Ororo’s disappointed frown… he doesn’t even need to be a telepath to know what she’s thinking. Josh is probably just thrilled to be getting to visit Cerebro. As for Jake... well, he has no idea what Jake is all about. He seems like a nice enough guy, but as a new school headmaster? Bobby’ll believe that when he sees it.
I probably ought to apologize for that outburst, he thinks to himself. But there isn’t much point to it, they’ll just end up telling him how they’re all concerned and everyone’s on the same team and everything, and he’ll probably end up by shooting his mouth off again because they sure as hell aren’t showing it, now are they? (A calmer voice in the back of his mind points out that, actually, they are, and they were probably working on the DMCD problem back when Bobby was still desperately pretending not to know about it. He doesn’t listen.)
His best bet, he figures, is to keep his damned mouth shut now that he’s guilted them into actually doing something.
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