maskormenace | ( video )

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[ It's going to be the middle of the night when this video pops up on the network here. There's a redhead in bed, looking exhausted and ~~like she might have been crying~~ like she probably needs some serious sleep as she rubs a hand over her face, fingers brushing through her long red hair in some attempt to get it out of her face. The room's a little dark but it's not impossible to see her thanks to a night light being on nearby. ]

Hi...

[ So not awkward. ]

I know people leave-- get ported out, whatever you want to call, all the time.

[ There's a pause as she rests her chin in her palm and glances off to the side, thinking. ]

It kinda sucks, right? But I mean... if they go back to where they're from, then it's a good thing, right?

[ She looks back to the camera, lips pursed, trying to smile a little. ]

Are you ever happy or I guess... glad when someone goes back and isn't here anymore? I don't really mean someone you hate or whatever but... someone you're close to. It's good they go back, right?

[ She's sounding as though she needs reassurance on that and smiles a little again before she decides to shut this off. ]

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[ After closing off on the private conversation between them, Jean heads over to where Erik stays while here. It takes her a little while but nothing considered ridiculously long and it's after a bit that she stands outside his place and... pauses.

She's... never been here before and certainly not with the intention of having something to eat together, let alone seeing just what it is that the professor supposedly would want her to have left behind. It's... strange. That's a good word for it, considering her past with Erik and, while it's not strained or difficult as it might have been were either of them pulled from a different point in time, it's still... new.

Still, she decides to feel this out-- feel Erik out and gently offers him a telepathic nudge of sorts, to let him know that she's here. If there's no response? Well, she'll just have to whip out this phone and send him a text. But it's also an exercise in maintaining control of her gifts. ]

[ The door swings open for her without Erik being behind it, and when she walks in she'll see that it's a cozy interior, pretty well-decorated, and.

The counters are high up in the kitchen, while the cabinets are lower; all the counters are open underneath. There's barely anything above shoulder height save the paintings on the wall. There's plenty of room between the furniture. There's an open spot with a missing chair at the dining table. ]

Come in!

[ Erik is in the kitchen, still cooking. ]

[ For a second, she jumps, not having expected the door to swing open so suddenly like that and she wonders if that was a result of her for a moment. But, no, it's not and it's more likely Erik and his own gifts and so she breathes a sigh of relief before she wanders her way inside, looking around as she does so.

She's not really sure what she expected to see when coming here but somehow... it's not really this? It's hard to explain, to even see Erik like this is... a little strange.

So, it's to the kitchen she goes, fingers clutching at her arms as they remain crossed against her chest. ]

You can cook. [ She says softly, seeming a little surprised by that as she steps a little closer. ] And it doesn't smell too bad either.

I do.

[ He also might have something going in the oven for dessert. Looks like bread pudding, smells like cinnamon. He's maybe going to put the rest in some tupperware for Jean to take home to what he imagines is one of those austere apartments they originally had him in.

Nope, he's going to try his best to give her the this-isn't-a-funeral-but-welcome-to-the-neighborhood package. ]

It's almost ready. Charles's room is over there if you want to take a look.

[ He swings another one of the doors open. ]

[ Again, another brief jump at the door swinging open and she sighs again as she looks to Erik. Really, she needs to just be aware of his doing this. ]

You know, you could give someone a heart attack by doing that.

[ Swinging the doors open so abruptly. But, ok, she'll go towards the room that was the professor's as Erik shows with that whole door swung open. After all, she can't say that she's not the least bit curious to see what the professor would have wanted her to have, as Erik put it. ]

So you just live here by yourself then?

[ She decides to add as she wanders off towards the room to take a peek inside. ]

I do now.

[ Most of it's untouched, but there are some things on the bed like notes, letters, photographs. Erik curated it all; he doesn't think Charles knew he was leaving, and Charles never made a "will" of sorts, but he put everything together that he thought maybe Jean would want.

Whenever she's done looking, he'll start to plate and put things on the table. ]

[ Even as she enters the room, she catches that remark from Erik about how he now lives alone. But it's the room itself that still somehow holds the professor's presence and that alone causes Jean to pause. She stands there, staring, fingers gently brushing over photographs and other various things that are considered to be given to her and it causes her to smile a little albeit on the sad side of things.

This shouldn't be so difficult to really accept, what with time working so independently, as Erik put it and yet... to think that it's just the two of them here from their "world" while the others are still back home and without even realizing that they're here... because time works independently.

She comes out of the room eventually and stares to Erik and the things that have been placed on the table now. ]

What are you going to do with his room? His things?

[ He shrugs, laying out the table. He even folds the napkins. He is seriously extra, Jean, like just so dramatic about everything, including dining.

He pours her a glass of sparkling water and himself a nice tall glass of beer, and then sits down. ]

I don't know yet. Leave it, probably. People come and go. It's all yours, if you want.

There's a library too, if you want to take a look.

[ Erik just makes additions to the house sometimes, so... if she wants her 'own' room too, he can make her one. ]

[ Well, being dramatic about the presentation of dinner here as opposed to obnoxious theatrical displays of power isn't something she's really going to complain about, so.

She takes a seat after sliding the chair back with her mind, looking the food over that's been prepared for her-- them, while listening to Erik's words. ]

I don't suppose you have Cyndi Lauper or Michael Jackson records around here, do you?

[ She's... sort of joking but also curious, smiling a little to him before she looks back to her drink and food. ]

The professor suggested once that I could stay here... if I'm really worried about... my powers. [ Melting the walls, shaking the house, you know... the usual. ] But without him here now, that's probably the last thing you'd want t put up with.

...Remind me to teach you about Spotify.

[ With a flick of the wrist, he puts on a playlist of I Love the 80s and guess who's on first but the King of Pop himself?

He sits down and he's about to eat when she makes that second comment, and he puts down his fork. ]

Jean, I might not be a telepath, but if you want my help, you can stay as long as you wish.

[ He picks up his fork again. ]

Did I tell you, all four of my children are mutants? There's a lot I could 'put up' with.

[ It's... comforting to hear- a relief of sorts to know that he isn't against having her around here. No, he's not a telepath but if she were to somehow hurt him without even meaning to... it's one of her personal fears, even around the professor. But the fact that she's not a freak, that he's not scared or even all that apprehensive of her... it's nice to have and she does appreciate it.

She even appreciates the fact that he has Michael Jackson on for her right now.

But then he mentions four children and she glances up wide-eyed. That's... not what she had been expecting to hear? Then again, it's not as though she and Erik are best friends or anything... she's Peter's age after all. ]

You... four children? They're not... here, are they?

Only one is left. But I've seen two others.

[ One of them, he's never even personally met, he just knows that she exists somewhere and he'll have her... someday. Soon, probably. ]

For one it was 1973, and for another it's 2015. So... you can see I'm not too worried about the timelines.

Or universes. There are plenty of alternate Earths with us, where the events aren't quite the same.

[ A pause. ]

You might have children or grandchildren who come around someday. Don't be too shocked.

[ Don't be too shocked, he says... and yet that alone causes Jean to almost choke on her water since she had been helping herself to a sip of it just as he said that. Perfect timing? Maybe not so much. ]

How can that- [ A pause for a short cough. ] how can that not shock a person?

[ Especially considering she's still a teenager and all and... meeting future children or grandchildren would just be really shocking and weird and... let's just hope that never happens for her? Yeah. ]

But, thanks. I'll keep that in mind. [ Or try not to, as she takes a careful sip this time with no choking. ] Why don't they live here with you?

My grandson was already here when I arrived. He's twenty. He never thought to come live with me, I think. It was... a little bit of a hurdle for him to even confess to me who he was; he was nineteen at the time. And I was thirty two.

[ Yeah talk about skipping part of your life, Jean... ]

And my daughter... she's been without me a long time. On her world, I died when she was young.

[ Right, did he mention the alternate universes thing? ]

It's very complicated here.

[ Right. Complicated. Very complicated. She can't even begin to imagine what it would be like if some future or alternate version of a child of hers ever ended up... and was older than her or relatively close in age. That's a bit of a... conundrum? Definitely a lot to trap and wrap the mind around, that's for sure. ]

Sure sounds like it.

[ She says that before helping herself to some of Erik's cooking, honestly hungry and not finding his food to be all that bad, really. ]

Are you fine being like this? [ She asks then, glancing up to him before she adds with telepathy, it entirely up to Erik if he receives it or not. ] Being alone here?

[ Erik projects: ]

It's fine.

[ But there's a sadness to his words. He's a little lonely to be sure, after all, it's about the 1 year anniversary of Nina and Magda. So... ]

I get by.

[ it's a subtle change in answer. ]

There is room for you.

[ There's something about the way Erik says that that has Jean feeling a little uncertain with his answers but, she's not about to push it nor attempt to look into his mind further and see if he's really just trying to make it seem like it's all fine.

Her attention drifts down to the food that's been prepared for a moment then before the hint of a smile tugs at her lips and she glances back up to him. ]

Well, if you really don't mind having a weird girl who can hear your thoughts and shake the walls sometimes, then I guess you'll have a housemate.

[ Erik laughs. It's a real laugh, the kind that he hasn't had in awhile.

He thinks, just like the other housemate.

And then softly he thinks, and just like Wanda.

The thoughts are fond. ]

If you don't want Charles's bedroom, it'll take a week to build a new one. I can put it next to the library, if you'd like.

[ She pauses to consider that offer for a moment. Does she want the professor's bedroom and to move everything around in there that he's placed in whatever places they've been "settled in"? He might come back after all, right? ]

Yeah, that sounds ok to me. The professor might be back after all, right?

[ She gives a rather hopeful smile. ]

Would kind of suck to have stolen his room and get kicked out.

[ Not that he ever would but, you know. ]

He'd sleep on the couch first.

[ Erik looks at Jean and smiles fondly, though it's not at her.

He wipes the look off his face, but not in an aggressive way. ]

Take his room for now. If he comes back before I'm finished, he can have my bed. I'll sleep on the couch.

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