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Post by emmafrost on Aug 29, 2006 20:29:38 GMT -5
(ooc: I don't really care how many days after John is let out that this occurs, if you have a preference, let me know)
A knock sounded on Pyro's door, a slow and calm rapping followed by a woman's voice. "Pyro?" It was all formalities; Emma knew that Pyro was in his office and wasn't busy with anything terribly urgent. It was simply customary to give him the opportunity to tell her he was busy if he wanted to.
She shifted her weight, lowering her arm to rest a hand on her hip. As usual, she was clad in head-to-toe white, in a white blouse which she had unbuttoned to one button above what could easily be called 'dangerously low', and a white skirt which fell nearly to her knees. Her blonde hair was swept back, into a half-ponytail to keep it away from her face.
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Post by Pyro on Aug 30, 2006 9:34:07 GMT -5
"Yeah, I'm here."
He left a deliberately long pause before he answered. He'd been typing away on his keyboard, but saved the file and closed down as she entered.
It had been several days since she had 'fixed' him enough to leave the cell and resume some sort of normality and in that time he had been quietly calm, pretty much keeping himself to himself. He'd been eating sensibly, sleeping well and had done minimal 'work'. He took regular long walks outside and had developed a penchant for simply sitting on the shore and throwing stones into the ocean.
He'd tried his hand at writing again.
In short, he was healing.
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Post by emmafrost on Aug 30, 2006 17:39:53 GMT -5
Emma paused after entering to shut the door with a soft 'click'. She let her hand slip from the handle and took a few steps into the room. "This won't take long," she said off-handedly, a polite alternative to 'do you have a minute?' which left no room for refusal.
She took a cleansing breath, and tilted her head to the side an inch as she dove in. "Our work together is far from over. You know that. My plan was originally to return to Genosha every few days to continue, because I have a business, a school, and an public front to uphold."
"But my involvement with Baltimore cannot stay a secret. It's only a matter of time before the X-Man codenamed Iceman is detained for the murder of the Sentinel pilot the two of you took down. And he won't hesitate to give my name in order to deflect the blame from himself, as would any human being."
"So when I leave, I can't say for sure how long I'll be gone, nor if and when I do return, how long I'll need to stay."
For the first time, Emma paused, her eyes never leaving John as she thought. The look she gave him then was the closest to an honest reflection of her feelings as she'd shown to him so far, or any member of The Brotherhood save for Mystique. There was a dull look to her blue eyes, as though she were going to certain death.
"Let me be clear, John: I'm going to do everything I can to keep my mutantcy and my actions involving Baltimore a secret. But if I can't do that, then I'm going to take whatever measures I need to to evade the government's desperate grasp. That may lead me here, if I will be welcome. It may lead me somewhere completely at odds."
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Post by Pyro on Aug 30, 2006 18:11:00 GMT -5
"But my involvement with Baltimore cannot stay a secret. It's only a matter of time before the X-Man codenamed Iceman is detained for the murder of the Sentinel pilot the two of you took down."
At the mention of both the situation in the Baltimore warehouse AND Bobby, John cringed visibly. He'd gone over his friendship with Bobby during one of the earliest conversations he'd had with Emma. He'd actually even toyed with the feasibility of contacting his one-time friend, but had been promptly talked out of it.
"I understand," he acknowledged, leaning back on his chair and watching her carefully. "You're leaving, then."
"...that may lead me here, if I will be welcome. It may lead me somewhere completely at odds."
He scrutinised her carefully. "I am exceptionally grateful for all you've done for me," he said, after a pause. He got to his feet and crossed to the coffee machine, pouring both of them a cup each. "But I appreciate you have your own needs, both business and personal to attend to. You go do what you have to do. You will be welcome back here, but I can't guarantee your safety, you know that."
He sipped at his coffee and considered her.
"If you betray the whereabouts of this base, I won't be held responsible for my actions, either."
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Post by emmafrost on Aug 30, 2006 18:47:22 GMT -5
"If you betray the whereabouts of this base, I won't be held responsible for my actions, either."
Emma accepted her coffee and returned Pyro's ground rule with a hint of a smile. She was pleased that Pyro had thought to say what he did; it was such small things that showed that his ability as a leader was often underestimated. "I may seek sanctuary among your enemies at some point in time, but your enemies will never be my allies. Who am I to betray one side or another of this war?"
Emma pursed her lips and took a silent sip of her coffee, her tongue running over her lips to catch any stray droplets before she continued, her tone much more conversational, and yet with an underlying meaning that only John would understand. "How are you feeling?"
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Post by Pyro on Aug 31, 2006 1:43:27 GMT -5
"How are you feeling?"
The tone in Emma's voice didn't go unnoticed and John ran his hands through his hair. "Comes and goes," he said, easily. "Most goes at the moment, though, which is good. Still getting the occasional headache, still feel faintly nauseous some of the time, but I feel a lot..." He hesitated to find the right word. "I feel a lot clearer."
A brief touch on his mind revealed that was, in fact the case. Where before there had been doubt, uncertainty, self-loathing and fear, there was now definite clarity of thought. But something had changed. He seemed...harder, somehow. Cooler. More in control than he had been before.
The madness was still there, but buried deeply once again. John Allerdyce would, one day, lose his sanity altogether, but with careful management, that day would be a long way off.
"Yeah. Clearer."
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Post by emmafrost on Aug 31, 2006 18:48:56 GMT -5
Emma nodded slowly, closing herself out of his mind after only moments. Though most would find it difficult to believe, she kept herself out of the minds of others, only intruding to gain information or in cases where she needed to alter them, either to help as in John's case, or to hinder as in Bobby Drake's.
"Your cooperation has made things much easier," she said, acknowledging his part in the healing process while at the same time saying in a way which would very easily be glossed over that his choice in this had been merely whether or not he would do it willingly, and that Emma would have done it regardless of his wishes. It wasn't tough love from Emma, but was vicarious tough love, with Emma as the messenger.
"When I do leave, is there anything you'd like me to bring back? Supplies? Groceries?" A hint of joking was laid on the last suggestion, and her lips slid into a faint smile before dipping right back out again. It wasn't that she felt that John and herself were friends, but that she was comfortable enough in her own skin to be casual around most anyone.
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Post by Pyro on Sept 1, 2006 3:59:38 GMT -5
"When I do leave, is there anything you'd like me to bring back? Supplies? Groceries?"
He caught the faint smile and returned it with one of his own. "There's a couple of messages I'd like delivered, but maybe I should deal with those myself. In terms of things I'd like brought back...I keep getting a real craving for instant chocolate milk and I have no idea why. Hate the stuff."
Pyro ran his hands through his hair and turned his attention briefly to the screen in front of him. "I've been writing," he said, easily. "You know, just as a way to focus my attentions and my energies. And reading a few reports and stuff. Seems that I've replaced Magneto at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list. I wonder if that'd make him proud?"
Pyro had actually been faintly alarmed to discover that it made him proud of himself. If he'd wanted the world's attention, then he'd certainly succeeded. And that had to be a good thing. His only real regret was that he'd unfortunately dragged Bobby Drake into something he suspected was going to turn a lot nastier before it went away.
Regret?
Why the hell did he care about what happened to goody-two-shoes Drake anyway? Kitty, yes, he could understand why he worried about her, but Bobby?
He rapped vaguely at the side of his head, a nervous habit he'd picked up during sessions with Emma, and a very visible outward sign that he was struggling with inner thoughts.
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Post by emmafrost on Sept 1, 2006 14:12:58 GMT -5
Instant chocolate milk? Emma slid into a truly amused smile, which held no mocking. Perfectly straight white teeth were revealed behind the glossy red lips. "I'll be sure to bring some back with me." Little did John know that 'some' when Emma Frost was signing the check meant that he would have the best instant chocolate milk that money could buy, and the supply could very well out-live him.
Which, given his profession, might not be a very long time.
"Seems that I've replaced Magneto at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list. I wonder if that'd make him proud?"
Emma closed her lips, looking past John for a moment as she considered what he'd said. "It's been a long time since I've met him...But I think that he would see the Most Wanted list as a way for mere homo sapiens to proclaim who they ought to fear the most. He always saw your potential, Pyro. He didn't need a list's gratification."
Emma seemed to remember something, and she crossed the room to his desk, her eyes searching it. Finding what she was looking for--a pad of paper--she picked up a pen and leaned over the paper to write. "I'll leave you my contact information..."
When she was done, she capped the pen and slid the pad of paper toward him. "If you happen to leave Genosha while I'm gone, please let me know. I can't say for sure when I'll be back, and I'd rather not find myself alone here."
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Post by Pyro on Sept 2, 2006 3:44:41 GMT -5
"It's been a long time since I've met him...But I think that he would see the Most Wanted list as a way for mere homo sapiens to proclaim who they ought to fear the most. He always saw your potential, Pyro. He didn't need a list's gratification."
Imagine that, Pyro thought to himself (something which was fairly pointless with Emma around). I'm the most feared. Not bad for the skinny runt from the streets around Brooklyn, eh? He held his head up proudly and gave Emma one of his rare genuine smiles. "I'm not really THAT proud of the fact, but if it aids the cause against the humans, then so much the better."
"I'll leave you my contact information..."
She slid the details towards him and he glanced only briefly down at them before putting the paper into the top drawer of his desk, then sitting back in the chair and lifting his feet up on to the desk surface to watch her with interest. So she was definitely planning on leaving. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because quite frankly he didn't trust the woman as far as he could have thrown the Juggernaut and bad because her sessions with him had genuinely helped - and for that at least, he was grateful.
"If you happen to leave Genosha while I'm gone, please let me know. I can't say for sure when I'll be back, and I'd rather not find myself alone here."
Pyro pealed with laughter.
"Trust me, you'd NEVER be alone here. Gill lives here, remember? In the event of a nuclear holocaust, they say that ants will carry on as they were before. Count Gill in on that number, eh?"
He swung his feet off the desk and stood up. "You've never answered the question I asked you days ago. Is Mystique alright? I know it's hard to believe after what I did, but I do actually care."
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Post by emmafrost on Sept 2, 2006 9:22:09 GMT -5
"You've never answered the question I asked you days ago. Is Mystique alright? I know it's hard to believe after what I did, but I do actually care."
Emma's eyebrows rose slightly to form a plaintive look. "It's not hard to believe at all," she said smoothly. "No one treates everyone around them with the respect they deserve all the time. People get angry, they feel hurt."
"When Mystique and I parted, she was healing very well." Emma paused, then added simply, "In many ways."
She gave Pyro a comforting knowledge that what she was saying was true, and even went so far as to take the knowledge that she had, the confidence in Mystique's recovery that she had gotten at their last meeting, and let Pyro feel that. It was rare that she let others feel things that she had felt. But John was a special case, and anything that Emma could do to keep him in a sound mind, she would do.
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Post by Pyro on Sept 2, 2006 9:44:57 GMT -5
He smiled at the touch of Emma's thoughts and feelings regarding Mystique and nodded his thanks. "You've done a lot for me Emma, and though you might not believe it now, I appreciate it. If you could get the message to Mystique for me..." He didn't finish the sentence, but shook his head. She could pick the surface thought up out of his head, anyway. Surprisingly, she leaned over and touched her hand to his forearm, giving him an encouraging smile before she left the room. John watched her go and stood there for a few minutes before he sat back down at the computer again, letting his fingers fly at top speed over the keyboard. He stayed that way for some time, until with a nod of total satisfaction, he finished. This is what he had written. ((OOC note - it was like WAY too big to fit into an entry, so I hope you enjoy. JP'd by Ravery & myself.)) |
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