[closed] we're headed to the dive bar we always thought was nice

[agoddessonce]

WHO: Ororo agoddessonce and others. Starters posted in the comments!
WHEN: late June and into early July, post-Mission 003
WHERE: Harry's Hideaway Pub, Up in the sky
WHAT: When you're reeling from some trauma, you gotta chase it down with a beer and some good company.
NOTES\WARNINGS: Drinking, healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms, probably some discussion of X-Men-typical bigotry.

Comments

[agoddessonce]

[ Some things appear to be same across the universe. Ororo's hair, Scott's eyes... taste in beer, apparently. She makes no effort to hide her smile; it helps them both to know that he's guessed correctly. ]

I was not aware that anyone would be looking. [ Anyone who would be looking would be... Jean, mostly, and all Jean needed to do was scan for her. She'd be easily found. ]

Ah, unless you had need for me, Scott. I'm sorry if I'd been making myself scarce. It was not intentional.

[redvisor]

( top cracked off, he brings the bottle up to his lips. pauses. then takes a swig from it. the number of drinks he's had since everything happened back home... )

No, you're good.

( it's said gently, smile still barely there on his lips as he looks to her, taking another swig after. )

There's been a lot going on. ( a shrug of a shoulder. ) Can't blame anyone for wanting to get away for a bit. Or at least as much as one can when they're stuck here.

[agoddessonce]

There's not much in the way of options, for getting away. [ She laughs, and it's a little humorless. All things considered, there isn't exactly much to be amused by. ]

I'd typically be off into the sky, but it felt... right, to stay grounded. [ Grounded and here, in this old-fashioned old bar. The mansion could have helped too, but it was so empty. The pub at least felt a little more lived in, if she looked outside. ]

And yourself? What brings you looking in here?

[redvisor]

( again, there’s a one shouldered shrug, taking a moment to lick over his lips after indulging in another sip of his beer. it’s definitely not strong enough to temporarily erase everything that he’s feeling, but. he can get there. has a number of times in the past few months. )

Just needed some air. Different bit of scenery.

( aside from the mansion, he means. )

[agoddessonce]

Hmm. And you chose this place, for a change of scenery? [ There's no shortage of pleasant views outside. They weren't in the middle of a city - there's a lot of green in between the patchwork of odd buildings cobbled together by... whoever it was, that did the construction. ]

Why this place?

[redvisor]

Isn't it obvious?

( as he holds up the beer. he's here to drink. )

[agoddessonce]

No other reason? [ She isn't fishing at all. (yes she is.) ]

[redvisor]

Should there be?

( he asks with a glance over to her, taking another swig of his drink, nearly finishing it as he does. )

[agoddessonce]

[ Well, he asked. She looks around at the place; it's some measure of modern, but still a bit old-fashioned in some aesthetics. ]

In my memory, Harry's Hideaway is a bar not too far off from the mansion. [ Her eyes land on the bar and all its drinks as she takes a little sip of her own. Scott's nearly finished his, but she wasn't even halfway through hers. ] When we were still new to the States, Logan and Kurt and Piotr would come here often. I suspect the current stock of beer reflects that. [ Hence the Canadian and German brands in the bar. Piotr, bless his gentle soul, didn't drink much to her memory. But he was in any bar fights the other two were up to.

She looks at Scott, then, once she's shake herself from the memory. ] But I know it has been around even longer than that. Scott and the others had been coming to drink here even when all they could order were milkshakes.

[redvisor]

Yeah, well. I'm not here for a milkshake.

( finishing off the rest, he sets the empty bottle down there on the tabletop. takes a moment. then gets himself up. )

I'm getting another. You want one?

[agoddessonce]

[ She rolls her eyes, trying not to smile as she shakes her head. Helpfully lifts up her current bottle, too, because she's still working on it. Obviously. ]

Hmm. Then perhaps we should ask to make milkshakes available here.

[redvisor]

( he doesn’t reply to that, simply gives her a half smile at the “suggestion” and makes his way over to fetch another beer. he doesn’t even wait until he’s seated there at the table with ororo before he’s helping himself to a swig from it. takes a second. then drops himself back down.

bottle there between his hands on the table, he drags his teeth over his bottom lip. stares to the neck of the bottle. ororo isn’t a telepath, but if she’s anything like the one he knows, she knows him well enough to know when something is on his mind, never mind bothering him. so, after a moment, )

I saw Jean here. ( a beat. ) Mine, I mean.

( fingers touching the bottle, he brings it up to his lips with a hand. presses it to his lips. pauses. )

She died. A number of months ago.

( and then he’s taking another swig. )

[agoddessonce]

Ah. I'm sorry for your loss. [ Her voice catches a little, and it's impossible to hide the sympathy and grief in her expression no matter how many years of practice she's had in hiding them behind a mask of composure. Not when it's Jean. With how many times she leaves them and their lives, it can be easy to fall into humor about it, but... it wasn't for Ororo. Not for Jean.

At least it explains the drinking. She reaches out to lay a hand on Scott's free wrist, not yet stopping him from drinking, but letting him know that she's still here, and present right next to him. ]

... Did she say anything? This form of Jean that you saw?

[redvisor]

( bottle held out before him, he licks over his lips. huff just barely there on them, and he's gently setting his beer down on the tabletop, fingertips rocking it back and forth at the neck. )

That it was my fault.

( he only glances over to ororo for a second before he's looking back down. )

That we couldn't save her. That we let her die.

( the x-men, he means. )

[agoddessonce]

Then it wasn't Jean. [ She says so quietly, automatically, firmly. ]

There has never been a Jean who would have people "let" her do things. Everything she does is what she has wanted to to.

[ This is just a fact to Ororo. And also something she's had to tell herself, many times, in the long years after Jean's first death. ]

Did you say anything back to her?

[redvisor]

I said I was sorry.

( he says that as if it should be obvious. )

All I've ever been is sorry. Angry. Upset that she wouldn't let me- ( he cuts himself off there. gives just the faintest shake of his head. ) She didn't even give me a chance.

[agoddessonce]

If she didn't give you a chance, then it is not your fault.

But I understand your anger -- she saw a situation and simply made an executive decision for all of you. Is that right? [ Ororo tries to insert a little wryness to her voice. ] That sounds like Jean.

What happened then? If I may ask.

[redvisor]

( another swig, because he needs it. )

The other Jean here ( the one ororo knows. ) obliterated her. Started going on about some psionic energy and phoenix, as if that's supposed to mean something.

( because it doesn't to scott. )

[agoddessonce]

Ah. Well... That is her story to tell in full, I think. If you'll let her. [ It's very complicated. And not something she thinks she ought to say to Scott who might be on his way to tipsy, if not already there.

She takes a swig of her own drink - because talk of the Phoenix Force should always mean taking a drink - and studies him. ]

It does mean something. It doesn't make it better, or help you feel less angry or guilty, or miss her any less, but it means something. [ His feelings are valid!! And he should get to say them. ]

[redvisor]

So, what? I'm supposed to believe some cosmic bird took her over and that's why she died? Sounds a little science fiction, doesn't it?

( and they've never been out to space, so. yeah. he has a hard time swallowing that. )

[agoddessonce]

You are supposed to believe that she died for you. [ Ororo can't and won't resist the defensive tone to her voice. Not for this. She'd done this exact song and dance with her Scott the first time Jean died, and she'd do it again.

She sets her bottle down on the table, unable to keep thunder from booming in the sky outside. ]

... I don't know the circumstances of how it happened for you - so I can't truly say that in good consciousness. But Jean Grey wouldn't simply let things happen, so I would hope that you give her sacrifice more credit than calling it fiction - because it is real. Real for you and, I'm sure, for all the X-Men who were mourning with you.

[redvisor]

I’m not calling what she did fiction. I’m saying some magic bird being the reason for it sounds like fiction.

( he finishes the rest of that second drink. not wanting to relive this. he’s carried the pain of her death and sacrifice with him for so many months now. he’ll never be over it. how could he? regardless of whether or not it was The Jean Thing To Do, it doesn’t make him hurt any less.

setting the empty bottle down, he drags a hand down over his mouth. takes a second for himself before he’s looking away. )

I’m not talking about this anymore.

( because he’s liable to get upset and storm doesn’t need that. )

[agoddessonce]

[ That magic bird is your wife,--

Ororo's already a little upset, and actively trying not to let it seep further into the sky. If this were her Scott (it's not her Scott--) she would have pursued the topic anyway. But he's not, and she knows she'll need to choose her battles with him or else she'd end up chasing him away.

She sighs, crossing her arms across her chest. ]

Alright. Was there anything else, then?

[redvisor]

( scott summers, no matter the version, is going to scott summers. )

You can fly. Have you been able to make it to any other cities or places around here?

[agoddessonce]

[ This part is, at least, familiar. Even if the response probably isn't very nice to hear. ]

There are no other places around here. The city is encased in an invisible dome, and we are unable to get past it to get out.

[ Her eyes flick to the window and up to the sky. ]

... If you look out into the sky at night, however, there seems to be other enclosures just like this. But they are too far away for my own eyes and senses to really see.