| Wisdom brings news of a "stray" to the X-Men |
| Summary: | Pete Wisdom comes to Xavier's to talk to Jean Grey about a girl who may be a mutant he encountered in NYC. Douglock and Lorna Summers are present. Douglock volunteers to try to find out more about her and make a report to the team about this. |
| Date: | 2016-08-10 |
| Related: | Where is Marie? |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
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LOCATION: Xavier Estate outside of North Salem, NY
Following a phone call from Pete Wisdom, Jean Grey has set to meet him at the Grand Foyer of the Xavier Mansion, and she's walking down the stairs to meet him. Something about a stray always took her interest, if there was a mutant she could offer assistance to, she was only too happy to learn about it. As it is the Grand Foyer, just about anyone might pass by, but this meeting wasn't exactly about any classified material. At least to Jean's understanding, she waits for Pete to arrive by the door.
Pete knew the way. He knew the route. He knew where to park. So… he did all that. After ensuring his hair was neatly parted in the rear-view mirror, he'd step out of his car, adjust his tie, then his sunglasses. After all, it was a recently back-from-the-dead Jean Grey he'd be talking to.
Making his way from the guest garage across the lawn, up the stairs and into the main foyer, he'd stop to greet her with a professional, extended handshake. "Ms. Grey," he intoned, his Essex accent cutting clear with his baritone voice, the redhead reflected in the lenses of his sunglasses.
Having been alerted by the school security system, Doug leaves the garage just in time to see Pete crossing the courtyard for the main entrance and follows him into the foyer as the Brit and Jean are shaking hands. Not wanting to interrupt he simply stands near the door, waiting to see if he should move on or not.
Leaning against the railing, Lorna watches from the top of the stairs, curiosity peaked as she sees Pete. She's fairly certain Jean at least knows she's there, a pleasant smile as she watches them and Doug standing nearby as well. The occasional X-Man is still off duty, relaxed unlike Havok lately, poor fella.
"Mr. Wisdom," Jean offers in turn as she reaches to shake his hand, "hope you had a comfortable drive? No traffic or anything?" Her green eyes shift foor a moment towards Douglock, "Doug, have you met Pete Wisdom?" She offers an introduction just because Doug is standing there and she doesn't want him to feel uncomfortable.
When she senses Polaris' arrival, she turns to look her way and waves her over, "Lorna! Good to see you," before she adds telepathically just to Lorna <did you have a chance to talk to Alex?>
To Pete she adds, "so tell me about the stray."
Glancing over his shoulder just a bit, Wisdom regarded Doug with a courteous nod. "There's always traffic from Manhattan heading up into Westchester," he smiled at Jean, "but visiting this place is always rather nice." He wasn't lying, either. There were many friends and acquaintances of his, here. Once Lorna was brought attention to, he looked up to where she was at the railing, giving her a nod, as well.
"Ah, yes, the stray. I don't have much, she's good at being evasive." But he gave a rather accurate description of the woman, from her physique to her features to her mode of dress, even the make and model of her guitar. "Mr. LeBeau has met her, as well, so she tells me. But from the powers she's exhibited, she's sort of… an audio manipulator? She can throw her own voice and mimic voices excellently well, even taking on the qualities of a recording, from what I've heard. Her name is Marie, and she claims she's an undocumented and homeless citizen, recently having turned eighteen."
After a pause for breath, Wisdom added, "A young mutant like that I'd rather have in your hospitality than with the INS, as she's undocumented. And now a legal adult, all the worse for her."
Doug nods in Lorna's direction to acknowledge her before replying to Jean, ":Pete and I know each other, yes. Sage put me in touch with him a few weeks ago.:"
As Pete relays his information to Jean, Doug begins creating a fork to send out on an internet search. ":Any chance I could be given an image of her to work with?:"
"Sounds troubling." Lorna comments and trots down the stairs as she looks over at Jean. <Once, slow and steady, you know how stubborn he is.> She thinks for Jean to pick up before stopping at the bottom of the stairs and smiling. "So, got ourselves a girl in need of some shelter?" She wonders, making sure she eavesdropped it right.
"Evasive? Either shy or smart," Jean observes as she learns more of the woman, "Marie? I shall make a note of it, perhaps we can send a greeting party to introduce her to our school." She nods in perfect concurrence with Pete, "you have a sound opinion on the matter, Mr. Wisdom."
But as Doug already seems to be on the case, Jean chuckles, "as you can see, sometimes there are faster ways, do you have a picture for Doug?" She asks of Pete. Turning to Lorna she nods, "perhaps some schooling as well, as much as I acknowledge the value of street smarts, a life without education loses some opportunities."
"No, no pictures from me, Doug," Wisdom said. "Didn't have a good opportunity. However she lingered for some time at," and he gave the street corner where she performed, and the date and time that he met her. "We walked up along Broadway into Central Park, so if you could jack into the security cameras along those routes and check footage throughout the day and into early evening, you might see me with her."
Wisdom cleared his throat. "I didn't get particularly good looks at her. Her hair was often over her face, and she kept her head down. Seems to have suffered some trauma, too, as… erm. Yes, this is important. She seems troubled. Addled. I watched her perform a bit, and after a time she set her guitar aside and placed her fists to her head like she was remembering a past trauma. I tried to get her attention and she screamed at me, but it was silent. So, best to approach her with a gentle hand and much caution."
":Well, I can work with that Pete. I assume I should keep you both in the loop on that, Jean?:" Douglock asks the redhead before adding, ":And… yeah, that sounds pretty bad,:" about the described behavior as he trims all of d0ugl@s' non-computer related skills and memories from the Gamma fork he is crafting in his mind.
"So it's a tough case? Ok, we've got good people people." Lorna nods and looks mostly at Jean. "So you're jumping on the case Doug?" She asks after a moment, studying him with her usual interest.
"Don't worry, Mr. Wisdom, we're experienced in dealing with all kinds of situations, we won't come at her like a SWAT team, or, you know, intelligence retrieval squad?" Jean winks playfully at Pete, before looking over at Doug, pleased that he's already on the case. "Yes, we do, as Lorna said, and if Doug can't find her I will make sure to get on it with Rachel. Thanks for coming to us with this information," Jean says to Pete before turning to face Lorna, "but why didn't Mr. LeBeau bother to update us on meeting the girl in the first place? Looks like we need to have a talk. See to it if you happen by him first, Lorna?"
"The answer to that, Ms. Grey, is he's Mr. LeBeau," Wisdom said with a wink in turn. "She also claims to have recently been rescued by one of the Spider-Folk. If that's true, then the young woman's leading an exciting life for a street musician." He made no response to Jean's quip about the intelligence community.
After all, Pete can get Captain Britain to meet people if he had to. Now there's a people-person.
"I'm glad you're on this, Doug. Just be careful. She seems a nice girl. But she seemed to know what she was doing a little well. That, or I'm always, always suspicious." He gave a smile. "Now then. Business aside, time for pleasantries. I didn't drive all the way here just to leave, again…"
":I'll definitely see what I can about her by checking New York's CCTV network, Lorna,:" Doug says, ":Maybe figure out where she sleeps and things like that. So Jean can find a good time to cross paths with the young woman.:" He doesn't push the update question on Jean when she didn't actually answer him, instead he decides to interpret the pleased look as an answer since his world's Jean would have been subtle that way.
Inside Doug's mind, d0ugl@s awakens and queries for data. Doug feeds him Pete's description and the location of the Englishman's encounter with Marie.
When Pete mentions the girl's interaction with one of the arachnid heroes of the street his expression becomes less introspective and he asks, ":Do you know when, where and which one? That could lead to more data to work with?:" having missed the 'business aside' comments at first.
("Sir, he'd rather change subjects,") urRamsey says and then replay's Pete's last comment to his primary inside their shared mentalspace.
The admonition from his assistant causes Doug to says, ":Oh, never mind, I'll check back with you on that later if I actually need that, Pete.:"
"Of course, Jean. We used to roll together on a team in the day. I could look him up. It's been a while since Serval and X-Factor." Lorna nods and rubs her cheek. "I'll see about touching bases with him, find out what he's heard." She offers and pushes off the railing. "To the mission." she tells the group with a wry smile before trotting back up the stairs.
"Yes, Doug, keep us updated, all of us. This is a concern of the X-Men." Jean answers Doug, before nodding at Lorna, "I figure you might get into his thick skull," before she gestures further inside as she turns to Pete, "you're certainly welcome to rest awhile here, we have guest rooms, there's food in the kitchen, and if you feel like a swim…the pool is free at the moment."
"I should stress," Pete piped up, "that I'm not sure if she's quite an X-Men concern, but definitely an Xavier Institute of Higher Learning concern. She needs a safe place, not a super hero team. And from what I've experienced directly, her powers are amusing, not dangerous." There was a difference between the school and the costumed heroes. At least, there was, to Pete. "And I dunno, Doug. She didn't know for sure, either."
When welcomed by Jean, Pete smiled brightly. "A thousand thanks, petal. I think I'll meander to the kitchen for some ice cream, and… oh, the pool's free?" Maybe he'd catch Betsy out there sunbathing, and then she'd be asking him a thousand questions about her brother… maybe he'd find Sage, instead…
As Jean refers to the pool being free, urRamsey asks his primary, ("Remember when Warlock first heard that phrase? He'd already come to understand money and asked how much we had to pay when what ever it was that was unoccupied wasn't free?") Yeah, Doug remembers but treats the question as a rhetorical one and simply shares a mental chuckle with the fork.
Speaking out loud Doug says, ":I'll see what I can find tonight then and get back with you both… either in person or through email,:" to Jean and Pete.
You paged Pete Wisdom with 'Right, he's read that, retains the information and took a blip of energy from it while it turned to dust. ;)'
"Mr. Wisdom," Jean says quietly when he questions her words to Doug, "are you aware of the different responsibilities? The Xavier Insitute of Higher Learning only sees to its students. While Marie is not a student, she is not a concern of the Institute. The X-Men may get her there, but it remains to be seen…" she frowns further when he gives her his impression of the X-Men, "just because you come from a fancy super secret intelligence agency, doesn't mean you know everything, Mr. Wisdom, the X-Men are not costumed heroes…the X-Men are a means towards Xavier's Dream."
To Douglock she adds, "feel free to update the faculty, Doug."
Doug nods to Jean and says, "I'll update with a summary of this conversation and the results of my preliminary investigation sometime early tomorrow then if that's alright… unless you prefer to report on this conversation first yourself, Jean?" Doug wasn't going to comment on Pete's expressed opinion… at this time. He makes a mental note to address it with his friend later though.
"You claim at least two Avengers in your roster, wear occasionally silly and often revealing outfits and save the world semi-regularly," Wisdom chided playfully. "I'm just saying that she is, so far, not dangerous. Costumes and powers tend to attract the wrong attention, or bring the wrong reaction. Come to her as a safe haven for mutants, as a school and living space. Less as the bright red X's and flashy displays of world-shattering might." He smiled all the same. "I apologize if you misinterpreted my meaning. I'm a mutant, too, and I know what it's like to have to hide, just like so many others."
He was referencing, of course, his time having to hide his abilities from his own government. Which, after they discovered, they used him as a weapon to great effect.
"Now then. Ice cream?"
"You may make the initial report, Doug, I think it's good that everyone hear from more people, please report of Mr. Wisdom's information about Marie." Jean seems quite pleased that Doug is taking an initiative here, if only Gambit was more inclined to realize how things work day to day.
But then Pete goes through his routine of making himself a pain, causing Jean to turn and look at him with an arched brow, "is that so…? Avengers taking X-Men on their roster now make them Avengers first? I'll thank you for that lesson, Mr. Wisdom." She sounds a bit more amused than upset, but it seems he is grating a bit in playing this little game. "And why would we go in costumes? Mr. Wisdom, your low opinion of the X-Men and what it means to be an X-Men is truly offensive, I would expect better manners from a Brit."
Jean starts to walk away when he lectures her on proper operation after her years as an X-Men, with trials and tribulations beyond the scope of space and time. "Maybe you should be succeeding Professor Xavier, seeing how you you know so much better than us already," Jean chirps as she makes her way up the stairs, looking back and reiterating, "feel at home while you're our guest, but maybe, give us more credit then you care to."
The scene fades as Jean continues upstairs, Pete goes to investigate the ice cream situation and Doug returns to the work he'd stepped away from in the garage.