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Summary: The newly returned Headmistress has until now been busy with affairs of the school, but with rising tensions around campus, she decides to look into the affairs of the students. Jinx discovers that while the White Queen is unrepetant, she is not without a heart.
Date: July 12, 2010
Log Title: Cares and Concerns
Rating: G
Miss Frost's Office
Jinx took her sweet time to get here. The message was sent and recieved, and it was a substantial time before she arrived, even accounting for any travel time from out on the campus grounds. She knocks on the door and pushes into the office, her tail swung low against the ground and her ears lowered as if she were already being called onto the carpet. "You called, Ms. Frost?"
Despite the heat and humidity of the day outside, the office of Miss Frost is wonderfully dry, and cool… a balmy sixty degrees compared to the rest of the summer world. To the side there has been a tray of cold cuts and sandwich fixing laid out, as well as a selection of juices and more adult drinks, as if the occupant was expecting more than just one person. Sitting behind her desk is Emma Frost herself… immaculate in every detail as usual. And as you stand there, she says in her soft alto, "Miss Vallon… come in. Please. It's lunch time… get yourself something to calm your stomach, and we may talk."
Jinx slinks herself into the office and eyes the cold cuts and all. It would be impolite to refuse the food, so she reaches for and assembles a small plate. "Thank you, ma'am," she grabs a drink, eyeing and hesitating for a more adult variety before settling on some juice. Apprehension ripples off of her, a guarded demeanor in her every step. She moves to sit in one of the chairs. "What do we have to talk about?"
The bell of laughter from her lips could be no less damning in it's coolness, than the look that comes afterwards as the White Queen takes a long breath and readjusts her tailored suit jacket, "Mister Larkin… Robyn… as you would know him. In our medical ward in recovery for a car accident. Security shows you've been to visit him a few times. While I might also speak to Misters Blake and Heathe… it strikes me as the singular female in this little clique that you would be far more aware of whatever the undertone of this situation is. Spoken simply…" Pausing as if considering using your real first name, "… Miss Vallon. I want the situation."
Jinx's pulse increases a notch, and she finds her breath stilled in her chest. Considering her options, she blinks slowly, concentrating on controlling her emotions and keeping herself in check. She has experience with such things. "Robyn and I were talking about our mutual friend, James, about some, ah… personal issues," she begins. "I guess he went to confront James about it later, and somehow ended up in the street. Lucas, Connor and I are all worried about him. James was making us into a special team," her claws click against the plate. "Can I ask a question of you, Ma'am?"
"The word is May, Miss Vallon… not can. Of course you can ask a question. The question was, if I will let you." One finger coming up in a gently correcting manner as she tilts her head to the side, and Emma's body moves forwards on the desk until her elbows are on it, and her hands are pressed together in a prayer-like position, "But do go ahead, child."
Jinx's nose wrinkles in annoyance. Her eyes flicker. "What's the Hellfire club, and what is your involvement in it?" She pauses a second. "Oh, I am sorry, ma'am. That was two questions. May I ask two instead?"
Emma hmphs and then arches a brow as her lips thinly take on a momentary smirk of pleasure, "I honestly cannot if that was courtesy or impertinence, Miss Vallon. Very good." The last words almost a purr before she pushes up and out of her seat, turning to face the window, "My given callsign with the X-men of White Queen was my former position within the Hellfire Club. One of the four highest seats, across from Sebastian Shaw, the Black King. The original Hellfire Club dates back to England and Ireland in the eighteenth century, but in more recent times has been usurped by the mutant elite. There are actually other member within the X-men who are members. Warren Worthington, Roberto DaCosta, the late Elizabeth Braddock… even Sage, a student of Charles Xavier directly was a member… she was actually Shaw's assistant. For all the name denotes a certain mystical bent… it's really nothing more than another layer of political play."
Jinx listens to the explaination, a more concerned look crossing her face. Consternation, perhaps, defined in the crease between her brows. "Did they do bad things?" She asks, looking up again with eyes wide and luminous, almost childlike. Her tail is curled besides her in the chair, and her feet are crossed at the ankles beneath her chair. "Hurt people?"
Emma continues to look out the window as she replies, "Of course, child." Turning around, she takes a deep breath, and her eyes carry some leaden weight to them, but no scorn, "I am potentially the least wanted person on these grounds child. Through me, most of your teachers have been hurt, manipulated, fooled… I once traded bodies with Miss Munroe… there are many who do not forgive me for the torture I subjected Robert Drake to, in order to show him his full potential. And mine was a light hand. While it is not public knowledge, the Hellfire Club attempted to manipulate the Sentinel program from it's inception." Her eyes level to fully meet Jinx's, "These are the privileged elite, my child… of course they feel it's their right to harm their lessers for their amusement. To USE people."
Jinx looks at the telepathic teacher very carefully. The skunk's ears are pulled back, dropped low against her head. The cuteness ebbs away as thoughts tumble through her head. "Would you do it again, if you had the chance?" she asks. The plate of food in her lap is forgotten, her fingers curled lightly around the edges.
Seating herself once more, the chair does not even creak under her weight as she takes up a fluted glass and drinks something from it, some frost actually spreading up and along it as she takes her sip, and settling the glass down once more, there's a slight crackling as it begins to melt, "That, my dear Miss Vallon… is a complicated question. But if it will put you at peace…" Emma says as she leans back in the chair, striking a pose worthy of a Bond villian, "Yes, I would… but only for the sake of protecting the children under my care, and this place… this dream… that has adopted me. I am not you, Imogen Vallon. I did not have a school to attend to help me learn to cope. I had the ward of an insane asylum for the rich for three summers. I had corporate boardrooms. I had the Hellfire Club. The lessons I have learned have given me powers, but left their scars…"
"And these are lessons I feel that no child should be subjected to without the kind of preparation for this bold new world that Xavier's can provide. That -WE- can provide."
Jinx's eyes narrow, watching the teacher round the desk and take her seat. During the monologue, Jinx considers the options. So far, Ms. Frost is not providing a compelling case for the sharing of certain privledge information. "Would you hurt one of the students if it meant furthering your dream, Ms. Frost? You already admitted to hurting one before…. what about now?"
Despite her verbosity from before, the answer comes from Emma as a simple, and powerful, "No."
Jinx's eyes flicker again. "In that case, I need to tell you something," her eyes drop to the floor and she takes a deep breath. Holding it for a long moment, her gaze turns to the glass on the table, unfocused and soft. "We think one of our friends is possessed," she begins, her voice soft and almost cracking as her eyes grow large and moist. "I don't know what happened. I think it was the strain of that Ahab thing… but Connor is just not himself anymore."
One hand comes to rest on her desk, and one immaculate white gloved finger begins to tap upon it, the nail underneath too short to provide that clean 'tik' sound it should. Emma watches the girl for a moment, and then tilts her head a bit, "Please… elaborate."
"He was really upset by not being there for James when James got hit by that… thing," her fingers fly up to indicate the spear. "He wasn't fast enough, he wasn't smart enough, maybe he crossed his shoelaces right instead of left…it really upset him. Since then, he hasn't been right. And last night when we were visiting Robyn, he was all military and knew things he shouldn't. Like he was the second coming or something," Jinx's eyes are wide, deep purple and moist with tears that threaten to rise. "I don't know how these things work, Ms. Frost, but we are wicked worried about him right now. A kid like him could make the world stop or turn inside out. Imagine what would happen if a demon got him!" She chokes back a sob and covers her mouth with her hand.
Coming up from behind her fortress of the desk, Emma walks softly around and brings with her a cloth handkerchief. She somehow even makes a squat look elegant as she dabs at the tears beginning to fall, "Unfortunately, all I know of Mister Blake is his file, and his medical records. But I can tell you something… Doctor McCoy has noted a similiar personality change in him during his Danger Room session, Miss… Jinx." Dropping the proper titles for a moment, "Until I meet him, I can only speculate what paper tells me… but what this tells me is he has people who are scared for him. I know about the Inferno incidents, child… but why would you be worried a demon would come and take him?"
Jinx allows the tears to be dabbed from her cheeks, her eyes rolling upwards. Jinx is telling the truth, and it ripples off her in waves simple enough for the most mundane of psychics. She swallows a lump in her throat, her pheromones echoing her aggitation when she is touched. "A demon took James before. It can happen again… right?" her voice is a small squeak, squeezed in her throat. "Connor's brave but he's not taking time to see himself right. Like a house of cards or something. It wouldn't take nothing for something to squeak inside, and *I think it did*." She responds the last in a whisper, glancing about at the corners of the room as if someone would hear.
Emma makes a small shushing sound, and then murmurs, "Dear child… the mind of one who is not psychic will always be vulnerable to those things… even those of us as well trained and honed as myself could fall victim to a subtle predator. There are beings of the psychic plains even we fear." Dabbing once more as she blocks the responses to the agitation internally, centering her mind on calmness while holding back the rising anger in her, "There is… however… a problem. I cannot scan Connor Blake on your behalf, as much as I would want to. Events have conspired against me it seems. I've been so focused on dealing with matters of improving the school… as an apology for my leaving… that apparently I missed my chance to help you properly. Addison has contacted me in regards to Mister Blake. He has explained that the young man has been usurped. But not by a demon. By himself… apparently from ten years from now."
Surprise, relief. It rises through her as her eyes flash wider. "The future? Really?" she gasps. "How is that even possible that you can …possess yourself?" She considers the implications, and feels oftly vulnerable all of a sudden. "He's going to be mad at himself a long time. Poor Connor!"
That chuckle bubbles up again, this time rich and warm as Emma stands up and goes to the bar, coming back with a fruit punch in a chilled glass that she settles in the girl's hands, "Here… take a drink… and honestly? Being a mutant means that occasionally you must accept the strange as a matter of course. Did you know that Scott has a son? A son who was taken and raised in the future, and came back older than his father. Things like this you learn to accept and absorb… otherwise they will overwhelm you."
Jinx's eyes widen as she takes the punch and drinks from the glass. "Really? Woah," she breathes, licking off the droplets of punch from her furry lips. "Strange sure does happen around here. I met a girl yesterday who thought counterfitting was a perfectly acceptable idea," she shakes her head, then breathes a sigh. "I am sure glad that Connor is alright. Or will be. Or something." She reaches up to brush the remains of her tears from her eyes. "It's just all so much to absorb. It makes me tired just thinking about it all."
There's a demure grin as Emma replies, "If you want to see tired, you should see some of the ourfits we wore back in the late 80s… it would be worth more than a few giggles on the part of the young." Standing back up, she walks back to her desk and sits down, "You're still holding things back from me, Jinx… however… I understand that there is little in me to prove trust. But thank you for coming and talking to me. This is a part of what I wish to do. To help. Now… you look like you wish a little alone time. Just make sure the glass gets back to the kitchen later, please?"
Jinx nods and slips from her chair. "Yes, Ms. Frost," she nods her head, her eyes averted. The glass in hand, she moves to slip out of the room, moving carefully slow to keep herself from running away like a… thing possessed.
