3928/Professor Xavier is a jerk!

Professor Xavier is a jerk!
Date of Scene:	25 October 2020
Location:	Medical Lab
Synopsis:	Kitty debriefs Jimmy and finds out things.
Cast of Characters:	Kitty Pryde, Jimmy Hudson

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Kitty Pryde has posed:
It's later in the evening. Michelle called home and talked to her parents. They were understandably concerned, even frightened. Hearing from Mr. Hudson, Michelle's teacher helped. And they were able to eventually accept that she'd found some people who were helping keep the eruption of her power under control, and for the moment she was safest with them. But promising to call frequently so they know she's ok while it's worked out how to handle the incident at the school and her return home.

A mild sedative and a meal helps get Michelle to sleep eventually. Kitty checks on her, stepping away and drawing a curtain about her. She hits a stud which generates white noise around the bound, inverse sound waves to muffle other sounds in the room, and then a gentle sounding background noise to help someone in the medical bay to sleep while there might be bustle going on elsewhere in the large room.

Kitty moves over to the trays that have been brought down, picking up two of them and then walking over to where Jimmy Hudson sits. "Think you could handle some food?" she asks. "Got a roast beef wrap, and a chicken one. Also some soup and fresh fruit," she tells him.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    Settled in that med bay, sitting on one of the bench seats against the wall, James Hudson had kept to himself after much of the goings on had got on. A few words to Michelle's parents, some information shared with the others about the flow of events, but other than that he'd not made any noise about being let go or out of the seemingly underground room.
    Then Kitty crosses the distance to him, offering one of two entrees which has him quirking an eyebrow and considering. He takes whatever one is in her right hand, perhaps not looking too closely at the choice and then holds it on his knee, eyes focused for a time on the curtain where the mutant girl takes her rest. A look back to Kitty and he murmurs, "Thanks."
    He'll start to prepare the tray, unwrap what utensils there are, unfold the napkin, but he does this slowly still letting his thoughts wander.
    Until he voices them by asking her sidelong, "So you guys are... government? Private enterprise?" Something else, two words left unspoken.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty takes a seat with the remaining sandwich. She got the roast beef it looks like. "I realize you've been through a lot. And in case it got lost along the way in the plane, I'm Kitty," she offers to him. She sets her sandwich down and goes and gets two flavored seltzers for them, passing one to Jimmy and then retaking her seat.

The young woman looks like she's of college age or so. "Private group," she tells him. "We help people. Other mutants in particular, who need help learning to control their powers. Or who are being persecuted. But we believe humans and mutants can live peacefully together. And we work towards that," she says. "I know it's a lot to take in at once," Kitty tells him.

"We stay out of the public eye though. Which I know, makes it tough for someone like you to know what to think about us. Though since Hank became an Avenger, it often helps in moments like this for people to give us the benefit of the doubt if he's involved," she says. "We're careful about who knows we're here. For the safety of the kids we help. And some of us use our abilities on the team. The X-men we call ourselves. Not everyone who we help comes to join us like this, Michelle wouldn't have to. But we'll support her how we can," Kitty tells him.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "James Hudson." He offers in counterpoint to her name givenand not offering his hand, though might just be the simple matter of logistics considering she was walking away when she mentioned, getting those seltzers one of which he accepts. The top is twisted off with a slight hiss of escaping pressure then takes a few swallows before setting the plastic bottle down upon the end table near. The wrap's taken up, but he doesn't bite quite yet. Instead he looks toward the curtain then, then back to the X-Man.
    He does, however, listen to her as she tells him about themselves, about their purpose. What does stop him is when she mentions Hank being an Avenger, "The fuzzy guy?" He asks. Then punctuates it with a 'hnh' in a tone of something like 'will wonders never cease?'
    "X-Men?" Though that brings him up short for some reason. "Nah she's got a tough row to hoe."
    His expression shifts a little, placid blue eyes slipping to the side to focus on her. "I'm not one to hedge words, Miss." He holds up that wrap and looks at it for a moment, then takes a bite and chews for a time. Clearly not one to be overly effusive with them either.
    "You do right by her and I'll be grateful. I went through something similar when I was a kid."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty leans back in her chair, taking a long sip from the seltzer. Seeming to enjoy the soft burn of it more than she needs food right now. It's always a little stressful decompressing after a mission. Though she wouldn't miss doing this for the world.

She looks over at James as he mentions he went through something similar. It causes one of her eyebrows to lift just slightly. "You did? I think most people would have qualified this as an unique life experience," she tells him. "Or at least most of the people who aren't around here," she tells him.

Kitty finally turns to the sandwich, taking a small bite of it and sighing. Maybe she did need food as well. "So am I prying if ask what happened? Your own experience I mean?" she asks him.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "Mmm." Just a small sound deep in his chest, like disapproving but not condemning. He chews a bit longer and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and affecting a posture that this medbay has seen before many times, likely even from another particular X-Man. He looks down at his wrap, eyeballing it as if it somehow said something about his mother, then shakes his head slightly.
    "Similar revelation as a teenager. Car wreck, got up and walked away from it after a bit. Learned I probably shouldn't have." Those words delivered with that slow laconic pace of his, his eyes however rest on the chicken wrap as he ponders it again, then takes another bite.
    He chews again for a fair amount of time, at ease with quiet in a conversation and definitely not seeming rushed. "Figured best to keep it to myself, my folks figured likewise."
    Then he lifts his chin as if to indicate the girl behind the curtain. "Somethin' like that happened in the middle of class I would be in her situation. Though." His lip curves slightly, "Hers was more spectacular to be fair. Still." He chews a bit more then swallows.
    "People are going to remember maybe that she got me good. So that might be a thing."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde's head tilts to the side a little bit as she listens. "I wondered how you came through that much debris on top of you in the shape you did," she comments to him. The takes a bite of her roast beef wrap and chews it, looking thoughtful. "It's hard to say. A moment like that, people's memories become a funny thing. Some might not be surprised if you don't have a scratch while others might think you're dead," she tells him. "Adrenaline messes with the brain something awful when it comes to details like that, even if it seems to slow everything down."

Kitty picks up the seltzer, fingers brushing over a bead of condensation on the frosty glass bottle. "Did you ever get it checked out? Mutant gene, or something else causing it?" she asks him. "Hank is a bit of an expert in the field, if you would like to find out a little more about yourself in that regard," she tells him.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    A variety of sour expressions filter through James' features, eyes still off somewhere past the medbay and beyond the kid recovering there in the nearby bed. He seems to ponder the curtain, then shakes his head as he looks back at her. "Nothin' formal." He finally decides on saying. Then lifts a hand, "My parents told me it was mutation, gave me some good words of advice and I've stuck to them."
    Another bite is taken of his chicken wrap, his features clearly showing that he's not exactly considering it a gourmet experience, but food is food and he needs to refuel. "Figure I'm one of the lucky ones, poor Michelle over there." He shakes his head, "She did surprisingly well considering what she had to go through."
    A glance is given sidelong as he looks at Kitty then, brow furrowed and likely a hundred questions going through his mind. Yet, to his credit or discredit, he doesn't voice them. Not yet at least.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty listens quietly, taking small bites from her wrap. Her gaze follows over to the sheet giving privacy to the area where the high school student sleeps. "She did do well. Not everyone does handle it so well. Even when they don't have something nearly as traumatic as what she went through," Kitty agrees.

She takes a sip of her seltzer. It's mountain blackberry, but then with just enough flavor you could sort of guess at what it is. "My own was... well. A different kind of traumatic," she says quietly, likely responding to what she senses from Jimmy by offering rather than making him ask.

Kitty eyes her sandwich and says, "Some of the people here, came to see if they could help. They knew I was a mutant before I did. I had headaches, and I'd wake up downstairs once or twice but figured I had sleep walked. But someone else had come to keep an eye on me too. And attacked and kidnapped the others from this group. I ended up stowing away to where they were taken. Then got a number from them and called others, including Hank, to come rescue them," she says. "It was kind of eye opening for a girl of thirteen, seeing that kind of evil firsthand. It made me glad I could come here and become a positive force to oppose that," she tells him.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "Thirteen." James repeats, his eyebrows rising, nodding slowly as if that impressed him. He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, then took the last bite of his wrap while he considered her words. One sign though that he might be getting more at ease is when he sort of digs into the side of his mouth with his tongue without thought to how that might make him look. A touch comical, but at some suspension of wariness.
    "I was seventeen." He tells her, "Before it became obvious." Shaking his head, "I mean, when I was..." He holds up a hand maybe four feet tall and says, "Yea high. Got sick a lot, couldn't take me to the grocery store I'd get the sniffles. Then after a bit, nothin'."
    The napkin is taken off his tray and he wipes at his lips, then crumples it up and sets it aside. "Think I was about that age, thirteen or so when was like a switch flipped. Never got sick again, never came home with bruises. I for a time figured it was just normal."
    He makes a face for a brief second, one eye squinting. "Just how puberty went." He smirks then.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty sits in a relaxed posture, just like two people chatting over lunch as James starts to open up a little bit more. "It's kind of cool. And kind of scary," Kitty says with a slow nod. "Helps when you look like everyone else out there. There's a number of people, like Hank, who don't have that luxury. But, hey, not getting hurt, or sick? Kind of a nice thing to have I figure," she tells him.

Another bite of the roast beef is taken. A little dab of sauce ends up on the corner of Kitty's lips. She wipes it up with a finger and cleans it with her lips, not seeming to mind the informality in eating. "Well, if you'd like to know for sure, that's it a mutant gene and not something else? We could do a test. Simple enough, just draw some blood to sequence your genome and check for the gene. If it's not there... well, there's plenty of other things that could be at work. If not and you wanted to try to figure it out, we could try to help investigate that too," she tells him. Kitty's voice is casual, and she adds a shrug at the end, helping impart there's no pressure on Jimmy either way.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "Maybe," James says as his lip turns up a little, something found amusing perhaps as his smile reaches his eyes. But then he just lifts up a hand as if to try to stave off any offense his neutral answer might give. "I've sort of gotten into the habit of ducking out when people try and get med stuff on me. Just a piece of advice from my folks. So maybe later." After he's had a chance to get a vibe for them probably.
    That part of the conversation resolved, at least for now, James looks away and considers. "Right now I'm turning things over in my head, going to need to see what is what. Staff back at Horizons are gonna think something is up. Will give them a call in the morning. The principal seems to think I'm ok. Hopefully he'll listen."
    With that he leans over and liberates the fruit cup from the tray and tears open the top of it, peeling back the wrapper and digging in with the plastic fork.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty takes another bite of her wrap, finishing it and swallowing before replying, "It's pretty solid advice. And a smart thing to do. It's tough to know who to trust on things like this." She glances over towards the area where Misha is sleeping, and says, "She seems like a really good kid. How was her report going. You know, before all of that happened?" she asks.

Another sip of the seltzer is taken and then she says, "We can maybe help some if you need it, with the school. We don't really act too openly so don't have direct influence. But we know enough people who can put in a good word. Or even if you need to move on from there and need a good reference?" Kitty offers.

She gets her own fruit as well. Slice up strawberries, mixed in with blueberries and blackberries, and the occasional raspberry. Yum.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "That," The reference, "Might be a good idea." Since he seems the sort not to put down ties too easily. He stabs a few strawberries with one spear of his fork and sort of gestures with it as he speaks, as if trying to make a point. "Usually best not to expose yourself to questions. Never been a good one about keeping untruths straight in my head."
    But then his thoughts shift back toward Misha and her report as he tilted his head and he smiles, "Yeah, she was nervous. Was getting the information out there but public speaking..." His smile curves up a little more, "Not her forte. And then Brendon asked her to speak up, and I think she sort of likes him so."
    A hand lifts as if to wave off the whole thing. "That's when it all started, and I remembered tasting ozone and copper, and then you guys were there."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty digs out a blackberry and seems to sigh and savor the taste a bit after eating it. "Stress can be one of the things to cause an ability to emerge for the first time," she says with a small nod. "Just glad that no one was hurt. Or, no one who couldn't recover from it," she says. "How badly were you hit? It looked from your clothing like it was pretty bad," she comments. So she did notice that, but didn't say anything about it until now.

The young woman seems comfortable enough talking about these matters, despite looking only about the age of a high school senior or maybe college freshman. And the way Kitty move about the lab suggested a familiarity that would seem to back up her comment about having been at this since she was thirteen.

Kitty motions at the room. "Obviously we'd like for you to continue to keep this all a secret, for everyone's safety. Things like Genosha happen," she says. Her gaze drops to her cup, and someone paying attention might notice a somber note enter the young woman's demeanor at that mention.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "Who would I tell?" James says sidelong to her, not exactly answering her question or taking an oath of secrecy, but also perhaps coming at it from a more practical outlook. "But no, you guys seem to be doing right. Or as best as you think is right." Something about that phrasing drifting overtly philosophical.
    He eats the slices of strawberry and looks across the room, perhaps letting Kitty have that instant of solemnity to herself, noting it, but not pressing. One to let people have their secrets. Instead he lets the time pass slowly, and then shifts the focus of the conversation to her earlier question as he only then replies. "Not that bad, all told. Burns. I think. She had no control over it as far as I could tell. Wasn't even looking at me."
    The tall man takes a deep breath and puts the fruit cup to the side. "You gonna keep me under lock and key I should probably have a place to bed down." He says as he looks across at her, eyebrow quirking.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The young woman gives a nod at the question of a bed. "Not exactly under lock and key, but best to make sure the situation around you before you're back out there where people will be asking questions possibly," she tells him. "But we have some guest rooms, I'll get you set up with one. Please don't wander around without someone. But when you're wanting to go, we'll take you home. Not like you're a prisoner. But I think it helps Misha having a familiar face around until she's settled on what to do."

Kitty rises and carries her plate over to set it on a counter near the door, her plate clean and her fruit eaten. "Are you still hungry? We can get something else if so," she offers, turning back to Jimmy.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "You're probably right," He says giving a nod in her direction at the mention of not wandering about or sticking his nose into things... and about the kid being better off with a familiar face. He takes a deep breath and holds it for a time as he ponders the remains of his tray beside him.
    "Nah, that was good for now." He gathers up his detritus and sets it all together as he rises up, looking around for a waste receptacle. Once spotted he heads over and tosses it in before setting the tray itself with Kitty's own dirty dishes.
    "It's the weekend, figure I can stay around the next few days until things are settled." Another nod, "Lead on."