2014.03.03 - A Little Swim

Emma was pleased to receive a phone call from Jean Grey the previous day about meeting up. And something about her tone seemed nervous, and even she can't read minds through the phone but she was always a good judge of character. So she invited Jean to meet at her luxury apartment heated pool.

At the top floor of her high rise is a heated pool, and only a few other tenants and guests joined them. Emma herself was sitting at the edge of the pool, wearing a small silver bikini and a white seashell necklace, with an unusual gold charm in the center. "If you need privacy I could dismiss everyone again, but on this chilly night I figure I should be nice for once."

Jean Grey is not a person who goes out much, and she is not used to gatherings when she schedules things with other people. Especially not when she is with Emma. As such, as she looks around, the redhead has a distinct feel that she shouldn't be this surprised: she and the Headmistress of Tomorrow are unlike each other in almost every possible way.

And that reflects on their everyday attires, which includes swimsuits. Jean had come with a trenchcoat, her hair done up in a messy bun, she had her glasses on and looked every bit the New Yorker Jean sometimes subconsciously wished she was. All that clothing did nothing to dismiss the notion of nudity when taken to the heated pools, so much so the redhead asked for a bathroom to simply take off her layers of clothing, since she was wearing her swimsuit the whole time.

As she gets into the water, Jean looks at Emma's attire with a smirk, just waiting for hte other woman's comment on her one-piece dark grey swimsuit. Of course that, being a X-Woman, Jean is impossibly fit, even given her scientific inclinations, so she has that going for her, but otherwise... it's a shy girl's choice.

"No, no. Of course not. It's your place and... I wouldn't dare.", and she smiles at Emma, getting inside, neck down inside the water, sighing softly at the warmth.

Emma looked around the area, "It's not like I own the pool or anything. However...I have been contemplating the idea of purchasing a home for myself. I do love my Apartment here, but it would be nice to have a place a bit away?"

She looked to Jean's swimsuit and smirked, crossing her legs. Sure, it was conservative. But it was obvious the X-men are quite the active bunch. She quirks a brow, "And how is Ms. Grey?"

Jean gives Emma a knowing, easy smile. She is not going to start theraphy. Not now. But still, she enjoys the woman's open question, her eyes lingering to the blonde's for a moment.

"Well, Ms. Frost, things have been hectic, but fine, but I am sure that describes most days. I have been getting to know more about some... people - members of her alternate future families, but she is not saying that! - that have made the days ever since we've last met very intense. I am also aware one of our students is going over to your academy. And... I believe I might have missed talking to you. What about yourself?", asks Jean, hugging herself under the water, not always looking at Emma, the eye contact giving away too much information about her.

Jean's body language was interesting enough, and if her companion for the evening wasn't a very strong telepath she'd probably just yank what she was hiding from her mind. But thankfully Emma was still a good conversationalist, "Yes, Ms. Gwynn. I'm quite pleased at the exchange, I know my students will adore her."

She slid into the water, and kept it to just above her waist. Emma was always careful to keep chlorine away from her hear, she let out a soft sigh at the warm water, "And I understand how you feel. My life is constantly hectic, it's so important to make time for yourself now and then. How do you generally like to relax, Jean?"

Jean lowers slightly into the pool, so she hopes that, with her lips now underwater, her smirk at Emma's question goes unnoticed. But not really. She likes how the blonde pushes things. In fact, the woman before her is the only person Jean knows that doesn't seem to take her for granted, who seems interested in getting to know her.

Looking up at the blonde, Jean stands up a bit aswell, as keeping her gaze upwards at Emma feels strange, somehow. Of course, Phoenix hugs herself again, and looks around, mindful of any glances she gets her way.

"I talk to you? I guess.", she mentions, not desiring to lie to Emma, especially since she would just look silly, feeling like the blonde would see right through it. "Rachel used to be relaxing, aswell. But... yes. Not very much. No time.", and that's a lie, but Jean doesn't mean it. It's just a convenient, familiar excuse.

Emma took a glance at the other patrons about they all felt mentally urged to stay away at least twenty feet, unless of course she summoned one of the staff. Clearly the woman needed her privacy.

Her eyebrows lowered in concern when Jean began to get slightly upset, but then smiled warmly and placed a hand gently on the side of her bicep, "That is nothing to be ashamed about. And I assure you, I am /excellent/ at letting off steam."

She carefully lowered herself into the pool and swam about in place, "Parties, clubs, spas, impromptu vacations, or hell just drinking in my apartment. I know all sorts of ways to help you de-stress."

She really didn't think that Jean was silly in the slightest. Really so far she came across as a woman with perhaps too many responsibilities, on top of the pressing concerns of being a telepathic hero. Sometimes too much is too much, how could most people handle it?

Jean smiles at Emma's touch, even if she shakes her head. "You don't need to be so reassuring all the time, Emma. I... KNOW I come across this... lousy, serious, housewife, good girl suzie. I know that. But... I am more than that. I feel that, and I just feel like I could be more than that, with the perfect storm.".

Jean checks her bun of scarlet locks, worried about letting her hair down, as literally as she is figuratively, before going into the pool per se, with Emma. "I don't know you get time for all that. Or how I would do that. There is so much I would want to know how to do. Surfing. I think I would have loved surfing. I have barely ever travelled abroad, too. And I don't feel like that's okay. Like it's enough.".

And then Jean blinks, scowling at herself, before turning to Emma and grinning, shaking her head.

"And that was a lot of stuff that I just dumped on your lap. I'm so sorry.". But at least Emma listens. Unlike Scott, unlike Logan, unlike Rachel. They all 'known' her. But they don't GET Jean.

"I feel like I having a midlife crisis at my twenties. How terribly pathetic.", she says, half frowning, half-smirking.

Emma gave a look to the woman with a certain wicked sheen in her eyes. She stood up straight, letting the water trickle back down her body, "Without reading your mind, I can tell you are much more then some 'housewife', that's insulting. There is a quiet intensity about you, I find it intriguing."

She moves to lean her back against the edge of the pool, and a waiter arrives with a martini for Emma and a glass of red wine for Jean, and places it along the edge before quickly scurrying off. She peers at Jean over her glass while she sips, then speaks, "Pick a country, we'll go to it together as soon as you have time. And darling, /never/ apologize for expressing yourself. At least around me."

Jean looks at the waiter as he shows up and leaves, silently, before swimming to the edge close to Emma to take her wine, looking at the glass for a bit before she speaks.

"Intensity, huh?", she smiles wryly. Back in the mansion people would look at Jean terrified and worried at the mention of intensity and her in the same phrase. The contempt the redhead feels for the role this expression plays in her life can be felt by Emma, even though none of that is directed towards the blonde.

"You are way too gentle, Emma. I don't know why you do it, maybe it's the same thing that makes you a great headmistress, your love for teaching, but thanks for listening to me.", Jean whispers before taking a healthy sip from her wine, before smiling and giving the other woman a long, smart smirk, looking over at Emma now directly "I can't just travel abroad, Emma. I have... many, many things left unresolved here. But... I would have liked that. A lot.".

Emma will feel Jean is being sincere. In fact, there are some powerful, warm vibrations from the redhead. She is very pleased to be here.

Emma rolled her eyes and laughed, "Gentle, I suppose but hard as diamond when the situation calls for it. I save gentle for the people I like."

There is a silence for a moment as the woman moves in front of Jean, a bit closer this time, "What, they can't let go of you for a /day/? Two days? I now know for a fact your lot has /plenty/ of telepaths. I know Charles would agree and give his blessing. He worries."

Mentally, Jean can hear Emma but she doesn't seem to be reading anything in her thoughts, |"Plus I'd /love/ to see what you'd look like in a string bikini."|

Jean looks to the other side, hiding an amused smile, before looking back at Emma with the same satisfied expression "Wouldn't taking a plane to where we would go take two days by itself!?", she says, not really debating the whole telephatic surplus at the Academy. Rachel seems to be a better version of her, even!

The other comment, the one that is only in her head, has those green eyes shooting wide open as Jean coughs, the wine going places it shouldn't inside of her. When it's all said and one the redhead looks at Emma, aaaaalmost smirking, but blushing furiously. For quite sometime she just stares at Emma, but the blonde can feel that Jean has wondered that about herself before. She can feel Phoenix even enjoys the idea of Emma being with her during these moments of discovery, of adventure. But outside? Jean just has that surprised, blushing face.

"W-Well...", she stutters before looking at her wine and then, willing herself to be daring, back to Emma's eyes. |"I... wouldn't mind it."|

Emma slipped an olive into her mouth and swallowed a bit of her martini before placing it aside again on the edge. She moves to place her hand on the edge of the pool, just next to Jean, "You are making things /much/ too complicated, on my private plane we can make it to my island in the Caribbean in 3 hours. It's a small island but very remote and charming."

She silently mused that the blush matched well with her fiery red hair. Emma always did like the shy ones, at least those didn't exactly /want/ to be shy.

Mentally she hears Emma whisper, 

Not unlike herself, Emma can switch between her many aspects, and right now she is starting to go into a place that gets Jean very wary of being: on Emma Grace Frost's ironsight. The mental whisper has the redhead mind's reeling, and it's a testament to Phoenix's control that the blonde cannot hear anything that goes behind her shields.

Still, Jean glances at that hand near her, the promises of a Caribbean vacation, it is all so perfect, and all to easy to deny, to find a reason not to. And yet, the redhead doesn't. She likes Emma. This woman actually listens to her. But...


 * "I... I just need to say something..."|, she almost gasps in the other woman's mind. |"I... know you find me attractive. But if you do this frequently... I... please don't try it with me."|. Surprisingly, it is not a threat, it isn't a promise she will even know if Emma does. It is, however, a very honest plead. She doesn't want Emma to be just hounding her for whatever perverse inclinations the Frost heir oozes. The blonde will feel Jean is deciding to trust her, instead of going with her judgement that Emma is danger and trouble.

For now, Emma physically and mentally backs off. She taps at the side of her own forehead, "Your privacy is your own. I'm not about to barge in. Pardon the intrusion.

And Emma might be danger and trouble, but more importantly she is /fun/. She makes her way to the edge again and lifts herself to sit on the side of the pool, "But I still didn't hear a no. So what do you say?"

Jean watches Emma for a moment, taking a bit of time to ponder what she has just said. She knows the blonde listened to it, and although she doesn't know this woman all that well, Phoenix is not a vulnerable little girl anymore. She would just hate to lose Emma to, well, Emma.

"There was not a 'no' at all.", the redhead grins, turning to look up at the blonde. "So I guess we are going out of town. For a few days.". Jean tries to say without looking too excited, but she is. This woman she likes.

Jean turns her back to Emma, still with her back against the edge of the pool, to finish her wine, trying to avoid Emma's knowing smirk or expression after she accepts to travel with Emma. That face might haunt her nightmares and grace her dreams until then.