Current Timeline
<@Lorna> Lorna, despite still being in celebration mode from their victory in rescuing...or, rather capturing Michael, was hard at work with the weights at the moment, perhaps cheating just a little but to amuse herself but that was simply going to be between her and the weights.
<Jessica> Jess headed down to the gym with the intention of hitting something for a while until she felt better. She had not slept well and was looking forward to going to work later where it would at least be quiet... ish. She paused in the doorway at the sight of Lorna and wondered if she should just turn right around and go back to bed.
<@Lorna> Lorna saw the sign of movement, however, and lifted the weights up to free her hands, waving to Jessica. "Jessica! Taking a break from festivities and merrymaking, too?" She waved the girl on in.
<Jessica> "Um... I guess so..." she hadn't really done any merrymaking to be taking a break from but she decided it would probably be better if she at least pretended she wasn't boring and anti-social. She wandered into the gym, her eyes finding the punching bag and lingering on it before she turned her gaze back to Lorna.
<@Lorna> "It's nice to have something to celebrate." Lorna flopped back on the bench, just having a moment to lounge. "Of course, it was pretty nasty and all. Pity we didn't get Clarice either but it's nice to have some good news in all of this."
<Jessica> She nodded, "Yeah... we made some progress at least... That's better than none at all..." she chewed her lip a little. "Um... about the pheromones.... I'm sorry... I really can't direct them...."
<@Lorna> Chuckling from her place on the bench, Lorna just shook her head. "That's no problem. You did brilliantly, really early for your first mission, too."
<@Lorna> She pulled herself up from the bench so she could actually see the girl she was talking to, letting the dumbell back down into it's place. "Really, it's no big and you helped save the day basically."
<Jessica> She gave a small shrug, "I'm sure the others could have managed without me... I definitely wasn't as much use anywhere else...." she frowned a little, running a hand through her hair.
<@Lorna> "Everyone does their part and you did yours. Nobody is more or less important on a mission." Lorna stated matter-of-factly. "Plus, I'd say your pheremones were pretty key in distracting Famine so the others could do their part as well."
<Jessica> "Maybe..." Jess shrugged again and fiddled with the cuff on her top. "I don't know if my powers really lend themselves to those kinds of situations.... I'm pretty sure no one had that in mind when I was being taught how to fight..."
<@Lorna> "Oh why are you saying maybe to what happened?" Lorna asked, amused at the reaction. "I'd say the worked quite well."
<Jessica> "Yeah they did... they always work... it's getting them to stop that's the problem...."
<@Lorna> "Are you still leaky? I can't tell anything."
<Jessica> She shook her head, "No not now... I mean afterwards... they stay in people's systems for a while...."
<@Lorna> "Well, I'm okay at the moment, just happy we had a win." Lorna was still pretty euphroic about it, actually.
<Jessica> She nodded, "That's good... I've never really tested to see how long they affect people for... so I'm not sure..." There was never really a right way to bring that up in conversation.
<@Lorna> "In any case, nothing you can help." Lorna waved off the concern about the topic. "How'd you feel about being all x-man-ish then?"
<Jessica> "I don't know.... I think it's still too soon to tell.... and yesterday was just... I've never seen anything like it...." and really she was trying hard not to think about it too much.
<@Lorna> "Well," Lorna stood up, rubbing her hands clean out of habit on her clothes. "You did well, I can tell you that but it does take some getting used to ."
<Jessica> She wrinkled her nose a little, "I'm not sure I even want to get to a stage where I'm used to it.... I thought I was messed up before..."
<@Lorna> Lorna couldn't help but look a bit puzzled over at her. "Hmm?"
<Jessica> She sighed, catching the look, "I've not really had a conventional upbringing... I've done a lot of things most people would probably be shocked by but this.... this is a whole other level of.... I don't even know what to call it... it's just.... crazy...."
<@Lorna> "Well, we don't do it for the crazy, we do it to help so that's something at least."
<Jessica> "Yeah... and that's great, it is.... but I don't know... it's kind of dangerous.... and I have to be careful with that stuff... I don't want to have to go through another operation wide awake ever in my life." she couldn't suppress that shudder.
<@Lorna> "Well, there aren't many safe things about being a mutant." Lorna offered up, smiling slightly. "So what was the operation?"
<Jessica> "Digging bits of car out of me...." she looked down at the floor. She didn't like thinking about that either.
<@Lorna> "Well, if Scott or Dr. McCoy ever have to do anything of the sort for you you can trust them. Definitely scary though."
<Jessica> "I'm sure they'll be great but it's not a nice experience so I'd like to avoid it altogether if I can..." especially the part about how she ended up there in the first place. She bit her lip and turned away a little, taking a deep breath to try and calm down. Why in the hell did she think it would be a good idea to go on a mission involving a highway?
<@Lorna> "Yeah, injuries are never a nice experience. I can't promise you things like that would never happen...hell, every time the Marauders come back on the scene I go through weeks of not touching people in case Malice is inside them."
<Jessica> "Yeah... injuries are bad... they're awful enough on their own without adding an immunity to drugs into the mix." she scrubbed her face with her hands. Okay the wanting to hit things was back again. She crossed the gym towards the bag finally. "I think I just need time to figure it out... weigh up the options..." Not that she had a lot of those.
<@Lorna> "Yeah, like I said, that was pretty early for you to be out there but we do appreciate it. It's all up to you though, the x-men stuff." Not that not being on the team would make being a mutant and being at the school too much safer but at least it wasn't the front lines.
<Jessica> She nodded, setting her stance and throwing the first of many hits into the bag, "I know... but what else am I going to do?" she glanced over, "I have no family... no direction.... I need some kind of a focus... maybe it's being a member of the x-men or maybe it's not," she shrugged, "I don't know..."
<@Lorna> "Well, either way you're always welcome here. We're a school first, even when it doesn't seem like we are." Lorna simply watched Jessica as she took out what frustrations and stress she had on the bag. "You'll figure out what you want."
<Jessica> "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere... don't have anywhere else." And whoops. She put her fist through the bag. She pulled it out again, shaking off whatever they filled those things with, "Uh.... sorry...."
<@Lorna> "That happens all the time, don't worry about it. We've got enough people with a bit of extra strength or speed it is a wonder we don't lose a bag a day." She laughed, waving the apology away. "Anyway, you're not truly at the school until you destroy a bit of it. The first thing I broke was the sink I think..."
<Jessica> She managed a small smile, "It's really okay? I mean... I'd pay for it.... but I don't have money right now.... haven't had my first paycheque yet..."
<@Lorna> "If we had to pay for everything that's been broken half of us would have remodeled this whole place on our own by now, the kitchen and the danger room done over more often than not." Lorna did send the dustmop towards the mess, sweeping up the insides that had spilled out. It was nice to have the old metal hinge-y mops and such to tool around with.
<Jessica> Jess moved out of the way so her feet didn't get swept. "Okay.... good.... I guess I got really lucky coming here...."
<@Lorna> "Does that mean you'll let yourself quit worrying about paying things back as far as here goes?"
<Jessica> "I'll try.... I can't make any promises... I don't like feeling like I'm in debt...."
<@Lorna> "Oh, believe me, I know the feeling." Jessica had stumbled upon the reason why Lorna was so gung ho on doing everything she could for the team, after all. "But it's not something you have to worry about here. There's no real debt to be paid, here."
<Jessica> "Well... you'll forgive me if I find that hard to believe.... It's not been my experience of life... no one gives you something for nothing...."
<@Lorna> "Don't believe it all you want but plenty of people have graduted and left by now." She cracked a grin again. "Just don't dwell on it and if you want to do something to pay people back do it because you want to and not because it's expected."
<Jessica> She nodded, "I'll do that..." But now she couldn't hit things. Plan B... she eyed the beam and did a few stretches. No such thing as too much practice. "But in future.... I might try and avoid missions that involve cars on a highway... just incase that paying people back results in me joining this x-men thing... need more data."
<@Lorna> "I can't blame you. I try to not go on recuriting missiosn that might involve dead bodies in tubs since Teagan's." She joked, then frowned. "Huh, that really wasn't the best thing to say to make you feel more at ease about the whole team thing, was it? Well, guess you need the bare facts if you're to make a good decision for yourself, yeah?"
<Jessica> "There's really no point trying to sugarcoat it - I'll only be angry later about being lied to... I feel like maybe I should have asked more questions when Danny and Johnny offered me a place here... but I was so focused on everything else...."
<Lorna> "You still have a place here either way so the x-men business doesn't have a thing to do with that. And trust me, nobody's going to lie to you about it. We don't want people on the team who don't know what they're getting themselves into."
<Jessica> "I know.... everyone keeps saying it's separate but.... it's not really... I don't think I know one person that isn't on the team... I don't want to be that person, I'm already struggling...." and she'd said that outloud. She pulled herself up onto the beam and distracted herself with her routine.
<Lorna> "It is separate. Just because we all chose to be doesn't mean we're going to be making the choice for you. You'll work it out for yourself."