2013.05.24 - Shades of Grey

A few days after falling into Helspont psy-trap, Nate is mostly recovered, and came to the school looking for advice. Xavier is not available, but he has some friends here and has been catching up. It got late, and still not wise old bald guy to talk to, so he is going to return to New York and try again later in the week, maybe even calling beforehand for once. He is not a student or a teacher, and although he Scott offered him a room here, he has used it maybe six times in a year. And his scarce and scattered visits mean he has missed some of the most important inhabitants of the school.

Like one Jean Grey, perhaps? Not, mind, that she's been all that present, lately. As it is, the woman trips down the stairs with a light, quick step, hitting the atrium floor at a good clip that slows only as it occurs to her she might have left something important back upstairs. She turns, for just a moment, laying her hand back on the wooden rail as if to go back up, but then decides against it, moving at a much more sedate pace as she starts across the foyer proper.

Nate's psychic presence flares like a beacon for other telepaths and psi-sensitives, so it is likely Jean feels him before the young man notices she is in the atrium. He comes from the back of the school, checking the room briefly before heading to the door. He spots Jean quickly, and freezes, just staring for a few seconds.

The strength of the psi's presence certainly catches Jean's attention, yes. There are very few that truly rival her own abilities, so it's not necessarily hard to spot those that do have that potential. She pauses as well, her head turning to seek out that presence as Nate freezes in the doorway, staring at her in return. His stare is intense and it causes her to straighten some, her own expression clouding a little. He's not likely to be a threat, after all. And yet, that intensity... "Everything okay?" she asks carefully, turning to face him square on. "Are you new here? I don't think we've met..."

"No," replies Nate, his expression going from maybe surprise to maybe curiosity. "No to both," he adds. It is not they are both strong psions, there is more. Something Nate already felt once, back to the fateful day he crossed dimensions. Their powers are very similar, almost as if they both used the same psychic-wavelength. And he is clearly reinforcing his mental shields. "But hello, Jean."

Naturally, Jean finds she must do the same around the young man. That's a new experience. Even the Professor doesn't make her react that way. This is... unsettling. Especially since he knows her name. "Uh... Hi," she say slowly. A beat. Then, "I'm sorry. You have me at a disadvantage. I don't know your name." But, when she finds out Scott knew and didn't tell her, she might have to smack him around a little bit.

"Scott didn't tell you," Nate scowls. She should smack him around, yes. "I am Nathaniel. Nate," beat, "Nate Grey." He sighs. "But you might want to sit down and have a stiff drink around before hearing my story, I hear it helps." He smirks, but only fainly.

Nate Grey?

Scott's lucky he's currently away from the mansion. Because, as the boy mentions his name, the woman's brow rises and she suppresses the urge to send him a mental smack -- Leroy Gibbs style. "No..." she say slowly. "Scott didn't tell me." A beat. Her shields as well as her caution are now sky high. "Tell me what?"

This is a woman who does not like surprises.

And the kid's asking her to sit down. That does not bode well.

She looks around for a moment, and then gestures toward the direction of the library. "Perhaps we should find someplace a little less... public?"

"Perhaps," replies Nate, not particularly caring one way or the other. He has told several people already, it is surprising Jean does not know. Then he realizes why and smirks. Cowards, haha. The library is mostly empty, it is getting late, after all. He lets Jean lead the way but remains standing for now. "Have you met Rachel, or Hope?"

The look on Jean's face must be enough to clue him in. "No?" she says, a delicate brow arching. "Should I have? Are they students here?" A beat. "Are they as strong as you are?" Because, yeah, that's kind of beating a tattoo between them, the psi-vibe. She doesn't sit. Not at this moment. Instead, she moves to lean against a latticed window, arms over her chest, unconsciously telegraphing how unsettled she is.

"I thought Rachel would be here," mentions Nate. "She is a strong psion too. Hope is... different." He doesn't seem unsettled, perhaps a little nervous. "I am not from this... Earth. I was born in America, but in what they call a parallel reality. I cam here only last summer. My world... wasn't much like this. Things pretty much went to hell years before I was born, and then it got worse." Pause, "but that is not important now. I am Nate Grey, the name is not a coincidence, or the powers, I am the son of the Jean Grey of my world."

"I'm sorry, you're what, I mean, who?"

Now, Jean sits down -- albeit on the edge of the low bookcase that lines the wall beneath the window. She doesn't tend to drink -- not a good idea when it's important you stay clear headed enough to keep your telepathic shields in place. But, yes. She can see the appeal in just this moment.

She looks very confused for a moment, a little lost, even. Indeed, several emotions play across her features and through her psyche in quick succession: Surprise both at the news and that Scott didn't mention it (or did he... she's not sure?) mingled with maybe a little hurt that he may not have said anything; disbelief, even a little denial, of the whole idea she could have a child with Scott given how everything's turned out here -- that and the fact she's too young to have a kid his age; a suspension of disbelief because, well, they're X-Men and stranger things than parallel worlds have happened and he didn't say when on that parallel world he's from... All in all, she's a little messed up, in that moment.

Quickly, however, she begins pulling herself together. It starts with a deep inhalation as she centers herself and pushes all the emotional baggage aside. "A parallel reality," she repeats. That means he's not her son. Not directly. He's another Jean's son. Somewhere else. "I see... Well. That's...Huhn." A wry smile touches her lips, but doesn't quite reach her eyes. "That's certainly the biggest, um... bit of news I've had since I got back... Uh... Yes. Right." A beat. She looks at him, her expression uncertain again. "Hi."

Jean's brows rise again. She's still processing. "Time travel, huh?" she says. She smiles wryly, now, her mind flitting back to the fragments of memories she retains from the Phoenix Entity that masqueraded as her -- all it could do, all it has seen... all of it. That, actually, makes the young man's assertions a little easier to swallow than they might otherwise be. "I see. Okay. Sure... You know what? I think I might actually be able to buy that..." That actually surprises her, but it's true. "So. Ah... How'd you end up here?"

"I am not sure," now Nate flops down on a chair, frowning. "I was fighting in a large battle and took a strange shard of crystal, something Apoc... uh, the enemy leader was rambling about being able to take him to other places to conquer. I suppose it activated and brought me here. It vanished along the way."

Jean grimaces, now, but nods. "I see," she says, trying to wrap her head around that. Not the craziest thing she's encountered. In her life, it's plausible. "So... then, who are Rachel and Hope? Friends of yours that came along for the ride?"

"Hmm, no. They came from the future, some futures, maybe not the same one," explains Nate. "I had never seen her before, but it looks like I share parents and powers with Rachel. As for Hope Summers, she is something of an enigma. She told me not to try to guess about her or her parents. But y'know? I can't un-guess. Pretty sure she is close family, maybe very close."

At this point, Jean has collected herself fairly well. "Alright," she says simply, "good to know." Actually, that goes a long way to explaining the call notice she was given earlier -- about a girl named Hope that insists on meeting a Summers or a Grey at a cafe in Mutant Town. That, in fact, was where Jean was going -- much against her better judgment -- when she bumped into Nate. She'd have preferred to send Scott on that errand. Now, however, she's beginning to reconsider. Maybe she does need to meet the girl herself.

She gives him another smile. It still doesn't quite reach her eyes, but they're no longer forbidding, either. She just needs a little time to wrap her head around all this. "Well, I actually am glad to meet you, Nate. Though, I should apologize to you, right now: I'm not your mother. Not yet, certainly. And, depending on how my future goes here in this reality, maybe not ever. Scott and I... Well, we haven't been together in a long time."

Nate shrugs, "I know. And I was shocked with the differences when I got here. But I have managed to adapt pretty well. You don't have to apologize about anything, or feel compelled to do anything about me, or Scott, or anyone."

Jean smiles a little at that. In fact, there's probably palpable relief in any emotion he might be able to sense from her. Certainly, she seems to release the breath she was holding a little tension goes out of her frame. She nods to him, then. "Thank you." she says genuinely. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that."

She glances up at a clock on the wall. Inhaling again, a little of that tension returns. "I'm sorry, Nate," she says now, pushing off the ledge. "I was on my way to meet someone -- Hope, I think, now." A beat. "Maybe I'll bump into you again." She doesn't tell him she hopes she will. But neither does she tell she hopes not. So, you know. Probably about the best anyone could hope for.

Lots of hope going around, it seems. Go figure.

Jean tilts her head briefly and then heads to the door. She pauses briefly, her hand on the frame as she glances back at him.

"Don't be a stranger."