2011-08-02: Report To The Boss

Players:

Hosea_icon.jpg Emma_icon.jpg

Summary: Hosea tells Emma about his encounter with Tabitha the day before. (See The Teleporter Shuffle)

Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2011. 8:00 am.

Log Title: Report to the Boss

Rating: G


Xavier Mansion - Emma Frost's Office

Miss Frost's office is not as white as one would expect, however it does present an overall theme in the room. Using a classic den/office style structure from the building, the hardwood floor has been mostly covered from entry to desk with a white carpet that has been decorative bordered in an ivy-pattern, with the center having a delicately done floral arrangement. Two plush white leather chairs sit slightly staggered and angled facing a white marble topped desk of dark-stained oak, the Xavier Academy logo in front emblazoned in a polished steel. Atop the desk is materials for physical writing as well as a dual-monitor computer system that seems keyboardless, instead having a single mouse-like interface device. To the right are a pair of striated white marble book-cases filled from top to bottom, in the center of the pair a marble fireplace that burns sedately despite the time or season.

The left wall has a series of file cabinets sitting next to another computer desk, this one with a standard keyboard and mouse with the academy logo floating sedately on the screen. Next to those is a table where mail seems to be laid out next to a carafe of what is either coffee or tea, and a small pile of cookies, which seems to vary day by day. Behind the carafe is a small containers for sugar, fresh cream, and honey.

Behind the desk is a bank of windows facing northwards, running practically from wall to wall, bordered on both sides by silver-embroidered sheer silk cloth, so even when drawn you can make out details outside, and so long as day is present, line pours in to give the room a sense of warmth. For the times when more light is required, it comes from the vaulted office ceiling from a tasteful-looking light and fan combination. Just behind the desk and on the right side is a second door with a hand-print scanner.


First thing, Tuesday morning. Hosea isn't about to let twenty-four hours pass without reporting his encounter. So right at the dot of 8:00 am, there is a firm knock three times at the Headmistress' door. Weighty, such as someone of Hosea's size is likely to knock with. It naturally strikes at the upper part of the door, a little higher than most people would knock, but the Nigerian stands patiently outside to wait for a response.

There is a soft and deep exhale from inside the door as she touches the command to open the door, instead of waiting for her favorite little psi-tech trick to do it's magic. Emma waits for the hidden pneumatics to fully show the face of the student in question, she murmurs out softly, "Well… Mister Ikbuku… this is certainly a surprise. I do not believe you have ever graced this office. Please… come and sit."

The dark head of hair tucks as Hosea enters, to avoid knocking it on the top of the door jam. He does not bear the bright smile that he is often seen wearing, but nor does he look dismayed. A neutral expression is indeed a rare sight. Sober, even. "Ms. Frost, I hope dat I am not interrupting you, I know dat you must still be weary from your attack, and I am glad to heah dat you are making a recovery." He takes the necessary steps to the seat across from her desk, and eases himself into the chair at a pace to be expected of a man three times his age.

"Oh no… between my own abilities, and the technology for dermal regeneration in the medical bay, I am sounds as a metaphor within a simile." Emma says with a smile as she moves around from behind her desk, looking as immaculate as usual, not even a hair out of place as she leans those long legs of her's over the school symbol on the front of it. Tilting her head, one of her eyes becomes shaded in blonde as she asks, "What brings you to my doorstep?"

Hosea's gaze doesn't drift from Emma's face, though the terms she uses seem lost on him. "I am afraid dat I had an unfortunate encounter. Yestaday I was delivering some supplies to a church in da city, and I ran across a person who looked like a rat! I thought to myself, I think dat a person who looked like a rat attacked da school, yes? Der cannot be many of such people around. She called herself Patches." Hosea's gaze is piercingly direct as he tells the tale. "She accused me of something vedy silly. She thought I was a zombie! She decided dat she would attack me. I think she is da same one who helped attack da school." Hosea's hands fold in front of him as he speaks, rubbing one thumb across the knuckle of the other.

Emma replies after a few moments, "I am well aware of who she is… and thank you for bringing this to my attention. Do you mind if I see the event from your eyes? To get a better perspective. Surprisingly… the human mind perceives much more than we consciously assume."

Hosea already had a pretty complete report to deliver, or so he thought, but the prospect does seem very practical. He brings his hands up to his face, and his right index finger stretches out to tap the end of his nose as he considers his response. "You may, but do not let yourself wander, for your own safety." Certainly Emma is aware of the events that led up to the trip to Africa, giving good cause for caution. Some instincts die hard.

An amused chuckle emits from the woman's nose and mouth, the spread of a grin on her lips as she then motions to one of the chairs, and proceeds to seat herself in the second, "Oh, I will still want that report… leave it on the desk. But there are things that you can miss. And do not worry about what has happened. I have seen horrors to make you wonder about my own stability, Mister Ikbuku. Now… if you will?"

"It is not your mental safety I would be concerned for," Hosea notes, an unspoken implication that it is the physical his burden of thought bears. It's his own response if a mental nerve was struck. It would be awful if he attacked his headmistress reactively. He stands to his feet, and approaches the chair Emma indicates, pulling the report from his back pocket as he does. It isn't fancy looking, but it is ten pages long, complete with every detail that one would expect from a special forces debrief, and then some. Once seated, the Nigerian lets in his own deep breath and sigh as he tries to relax. "I do not know what to expect from dis," he admits.

"Of course you don't… but that is why I am the telepath of more than your entire lifetime's experience… and you my dear young man… are a student.", Emma's demure little grin never leaving her lips as suddenly you're back in the scene, but now she's standing beside you. Touching your arm… 'you' are pulled out of yourself… your conscious mind now aware of the unfolding memory in it's full detail. Right now it is frozen, no one and nothing moving… just at the moment where you spotted Tabitha, "Better than cinema."

Hosea arches his brow, examining the scene. "Except da cinema does not have da weight of reality," he observes grimly. "She is down der," he points over the edge of the steps at the rat girl peering in the windows of the church. "She said she was heah to go to church, but dat I was stopping her. I stepped to da side to let her by, but she did not seem interested in going inside any longer." Hosea's image at this moment is holding a large box full of canned foods, and a priest is just starting to open the door to the church.

Emma snaps her fingers, and it begins to start showing the scene, not just from your perspective, but using your own expanded perceptions to show you from the side and behind, little details that blur at first, but become sharper as Tabitha begins to talk. Then as if hitting a remote, it all pauses again, and she walks over to the girl, who is in the middle of saying '…Run!'. Moving her way around the young woman, then looks at you, peering at you, before saying, "Think about… her eyes. I need more detail."

Hosea recalls the event, thinking specifically about Tabitha's eyes as she was accusing him of the many strange things to the Nigerian's ears. "Hmm…" he emits vocally. "I am thinking closely on it, yes? Is it helping?" he asks. He walks over to Tabitha's form, standing in front of it as he pictures the event in his mind.

There is a moment where the entire memory seems to blur around Tabitha, and then it clarifies, "Interesting… her pupils are not dilated… your hearing tells me her breathing is normal… she even smells clean… clean as I would suspect anyways…" And then Emma comes back to you, standing with you, and snaps her fingers, as the scene continues, "This is the first time I have had a chance to see Mindbender's work from a perspective I can use to some advantage. Thank you."

"A better advantage if I had not allowed her to escape," Hosea frowns as he recalls the end of the fight. "I think dat with one more blow I could have taken her down. She set a fire, I could not let da building burn, der were people inside." He huffs. The Nigerian seems rather upset with himself. His objective in the fight was not simply to survive. He had a goal in mind, and he failed to achieve it.

Suddenly you're both back in your chairs, and she leans away from your forehead, having had the touch of a gloved finger there the entire time, Emma still smiling the whole time. As she sits back in the chair, she reaches up and brings over a glass of water for you, nicely chilled to the touch, she says, "Hosea… I know you were a soldier before your time… and I know that you are capable. But you cannot expect to win every time. We do not… but that does not stop us from trying. She was sent there… possibly to cause trouble. In that you saved lives, and that is much more laudable than capturing her. Bringing her back to anyone might have ended up with Mindbender learning more about us than we cared to let her." And for a moment, mentioning the name makes the woman rub the sore spot on her back.

"I know. But I still wish dat I had caught her," Hosea acknowledges. He thinks a moment, staring at nothing in specific. "I do not think dat she was der to cause trouble," he concludes, and alights his feet. "You may be able to see many things as a telepath, and I respect dat, do not misunderstand me," he front loads the apology. "But dat girl, I think her soul was hurting. She was afraid, and trying to find truth. She may have a prison in her mind, but it was her soul dat was trying to break free." He walks across to the bookshelf and draws his finger across the many tomes which he has never read.

"You're right in that. I was raised a Catholic… but I never paid it any mind. God is in what you choose to believe. Some believe God is in power. Others in words on a paper. I have long since learned that faith is far too personal, and there are too many strange things beyond our understanding to neither fully discount… nor acknowledge an Ineffable Plan.", Emma replies in a tone that lacks her usual amusement. The books on her shelves are law, sciences, electronics, literatures of authors great and old… and more modern texts, including ones written by Xavier, Dr. McCoy, Moira Taggart, and even an unofficial biography of Magnus Lensherr.

"It would do you well to pay mind," Hosea solemnly answers. "God is only in what is real, Americans seem to think dat reality can be changed to a person's preference. If you believe a lie it remains a lie. I suppose it is too many movies dat make dem think dis, I do not know." He shrugs. "Dis girl, I worry. What will happen to da Mindbenda's puppets when dey have finished der use? I do not imagine dat he will let dem live. We must find dem before he is finished." He lets one corner of his mouth curl up. "I think I am much bettah at dis part of your school den my studies, though I do not think dat is why you sent for me."

"Mindbender would be nowhere the problem he is without his wife… she is what makes him truly dangerous… but together they are something to be reckoned with.", Emma replies, "And do not think to quote philosophy at me, my young student… I am quite aware of what you speak of. I just have a very stark and practical view of life… and I am content with it. Every one who was taken will receive the best of help." She then adds as she moves back to her desk, "I wanted to be sure you were well, and I wanted your report. You think you could simply go out and I would not know about it? You are still a student here, and my responsibility.:

Hosea doesn't argue her point, but he remains quite certain that Emma is not aware. "Yes, you did not call me heah to be a warrior, I know." he says. "I also appreciate dat you are concerned for my safety, it is not a feeling dat many in my life have shared for me." He shrugs his shoulders forward casually. "All da same, maybe for times like dese is why I have been called heah beyond our understanding. I do not love violence, but dis type of situation, I feel much more comfortable to fight evil like Nero or Mindbenda and Upgrade den I do in a classroom."

Moving to pick up one of the books Emma has on her shelf, she runs her fingers gently along the spine, and then put it back up, moving along to the next one, "That is because you understand conflict better than most. But in learning one thing, you lacked understanding in another. That is part of why we created this school. Not everyone can understand themselves, and it is best to be around those with whom you can share understanding to grow both personally and as a whole. Each one of us enriched the totality."

"You speak da truth, Ms. Frost," Hosea agrees. "I am grateful dat I will be able to finish studies heah, even though dey are hard, and I am now considered a man…" he chuckles at the thought. "Again." Since he was counted an adult back in Africa before he came to America. "If der is anything dat I can do to give back to da school, let me know, yes?"

Emma replies softly, "You already give back much more than some, Mister Ikbuku… never ask someone else if what you do is enough. Ask yourself. Only when you can answer that question for yourself will you know."

With a mock frown, Hosea nods, and puts a finger aside his nose. "You like da fancy sayings, yes?" he prods lightly. "But it is a good one," he quickly adds with a wink. "In my mind: I shall nevah have done enough, and happy for it to be dat way, so I do not become lazy and self-centered." Not an issue where he thinks there is a debt to be repaid, instead he looks at serving others as a purpose in itself. "It was good to talk to you Ms. Frost, and I thank you for da time," he appreciates.

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