Office #2 at the school, Thursday mid-morning.

[biotic_psychotic]

[CW/TW: Jono's thread goes some dark places. Torture/etc.]

Jack had decided on office hours so once she hit the coffee shop for the largest to-go cup they had she went and camped out in her spartan school office. After about twenty minutes she became bored and out of coffee. Examining the lock on her door, she pulled a multi-tool from her pocket and began disassembling it. Once it was off the door she took pictures of the whole rig and reassembled it. It was tossed carelessly into the bottom desk drawer.

The door was propped open with the wastecan. From another pocket came a tennis ball. Leaning back in her desk chair, she began doing a slow bounce with it from floor to wall and back to her hand.

The teacher is in.

[Open office hours!]

Comments

[biotic_psychotic]

"Are you fuckin' kidding me?" Jack laughed, "Holy shit yes. Her idea of raging fun is watching a TV show and skipping the commercials."

Not really.

"She's boring as hell."

Also not really.

[furnaceface]

Yeah, Jono wasn't completely buying that one, either.

//Mmm, but at least she's got a level head about things,// he offered. //... Possibly the most level head I've ever seen.//

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack blinked at him, "Wait.. when the fuck did you meet Liara?!"

.. Oh. Right.

"You mean the kid here. That's not Liara. I mean sure, it's probably a version of her but that one ain't been through what Liara's been through. You think she'd learn some fucking fun by now but no."

[furnaceface]

//People go through some interesting things here, as well,// Jono offered, hiking up a shoulder. //Met this one on the wrong side of the bars in a dungeon that never existed. Was a hell of a thing, watching her tear the place apart when we found our opening to get out.//

[biotic_psychotic]

"That.. sounds more like my Liara," Jack smirked, "but that's what she's like now. She didn't get interesting until she came onboard the fucking Normandy from what I hear so this's gotta be a different one."

She frowned at the hallway. "Funny I haven't bumped into her yet. Met Peebee."

[furnaceface]

Jono tilted his head a little, considering. How long ago had Liara been here? He'd still been... blue... at the time. But however long that was kind of chewed at his head when he tried to pick it apart.

Time was a messy thing for somebody who remembered entire extra lifetimes.

//I haven't seen her in a while,// he settled on, instead. //Peebee seems like good people, though. I've got her in my class this semester.//

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack scrubbed a hand over her scalp. "I should probably avoid her anyway," she admitted, "It'd just be a matter of time before I said some fucking thing I shouldn't cuz I forgot she's not my damn Liara."

A soft chuckle. "Peebee is hell on wheels and I wouldn't have her any other fuckin' way. She's a baby Asari for all she's probably in her sixties."

[furnaceface]

//Always a little surprising when I remember just how long they live relative to us,// Jono admitted, after a pause. //I do know she tends to throw herself into any new experience with a gusto. It's interesting seeing what manner of trouble she tries to get herself into every week.//

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack smirked, "Maiden-stage Asari. This is completely fucking normal for her for the next century at least. It's why Liara's sort of a damn weirdo. It's like she skipped this stage."

She loved Liara all the same and anyone else who called her weird would be spitting teeth.

[furnaceface]

//Takes all sorts,// Jono decided with a shrug. //I mean, hell, I've done 'insufferable teenager' three times. In my own head, anyway.//

[biotic_psychotic]

"I was a joy and a delight as a teenager," Jack deadpanned.

She'd been killing her way out of a slave pen as a teenager.

[furnaceface]

//Teenage years are overrated anyway.//

He'd been wearing red and yellow spandex.

Really, he'd just like to write the nineties off entirely.

[biotic_psychotic]

"So I'm fucking told," Jack agreed. She didn't really know anyone who'd had a great time then. Wrex, maybe, but he didn't really talk about shit a thousand years in the past.

"Guess that's one reason I teach the little shits. Make sure their teenage years don't go the way mine did."

[furnaceface]

//Make sure they're a little more equipped for their adult years while we're at it,// Jono agreed with a nod. //Hell, make sure they make it that far.//

[biotic_psychotic]

"That's the goal for the little shits back home," Jack agreed. "Here I got less control. They're gonna go back through a fuckin' portal at some point and not come back. While they're here?"

She smiled. It was bright and glittery and showed an awful lot of teeth. "Anyone comes for my kids, they better fuckin' hope there's a god and even then? My fucking money's on me."

[furnaceface]

//Oh, I've made people die very bloody ugly for messing with my kids before.//

And even with the shadows carved out, he regretted nothing.

[biotic_psychotic]

"I usually go for fast and messy," Jack said calmly, "but anyone fucks with my kids and I'll make a goddamn exception."

She'd take her time. Get creative.

"So New York should be fun."

Those weren't her kids.

Jack didn't really care.

[furnaceface]

//You are definitely coming home to meet th'family,// Jono decided. //They'll like you.//

Or be horrified by her. Or both in equal measures.

But really, with that sort of psychological damage, she'd fit right in among the X-Men.

[biotic_psychotic]

Most people were horrified by her. Jack didn't care.

She laughed a little, "I'd be real fuckin' surprised if that were true but sure. Give me a call whenever."

[furnaceface]

//I absolutely will,// Jono replied. And then shook his head a little. //Shame Logan's not around,// because he died, //anymore.//

Sure, he'd also gotten better, as tended to happen a lot among the X-Men. But he wasn't just hanging out around the school, either.

//He was Weapon X's poster boy. Ran th'school for a bit, too. I think you'd have gotten along.//

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack couldn't track that. "I thought Weapon X were the assholes? He was a poster boy for the assholes and ran a school for kids the assholes wanted to kill? How's that fuckin' work?"

[furnaceface]

//They get in your head,// Jono reminded her, tapping the side of his head with one finger. //Logan I know isn't who that person was. Logan I know isn't entirely feral rage and unbreakable claws.//

No small part of him was, still. But even so...

[biotic_psychotic]

She laughed a little, "Other than the damn claws, yeah sure we'd get along great. That's all I am."

Not so much anymore.

Still more than a little.

Still mostly.

[furnaceface]

Jono nodded.

//He was the only one who came looking for me.// A beat. //When Weapon X took me. The rest of the ones with the power to make that decision wrote me off. Another casualty. Logan didn't. Logan understands what it is to look after his own.//

There were many reasons why Jonothon had gone with Logan to raise a school, instead of with Scott to raise an army.

[biotic_psychotic]

A muscle in her jaw twitched. "People wonder sometimes," always, "why Kaidan and me are friends. The how of it, cuz fuck knows we're not alike most other ways."

In more ways than showed. In more ways than she'd ever admit.

"Commander died and I fucked right off. Did what wounded animals do and found a nice dark hole to crawl into by myself. The rest, they thought I needed space cuz even I thought that I wanted to be left alone. Kaidan's the guy who showed up and wouldn't take 'get the fuck out' for an answer."

He'd seen it. The thing she didn't want anyone to see. That she was afraid that without Shepard the rest of the crew would cut her loose and so she'd done it first. Under her control so it wouldn't hurt so much. Jack didn't fit. They'd only put up with her for Shepard and now that asshole had died.

"He's the guy who was there. The one who fought with me and made me understand that I was their crew. We were a crew. And we don't ever leave ours behind." Jack's voice softened a little. Grew a little quieter. "Drove me fucking crazy when he was stuck here for four months without a goddamn word. Those fucking gnomes.. "

She took a breath. "Ain't the same as yours but yeah. I probably would like that Logan guy."