12548/The Aftermath....

The Aftermath....
Date of Scene:	12 December 2020
Location:	Megan's Room (East Halls), Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Megan and Shannon patch things up and clear the air over a lot of matters. Some stories are set straight.
Cast of Characters:	Nightingale, Pixie

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Nightingale has posed:
     The opening of the free clinic had started out well, but turned into barely controlled chaos very quickly. Heat of the moment never went well, and so it was that Shannon found herself knocking on Megan's door, balancing a wooden tray of cocoa and other goodies on her hip. "Megan? You in there?" Her voice sounded a bit thin and small, her wings drooping behind her. With it being the weekend, she's in her red tartan sweatpants, baggy grey tank top, and floofy sheepdog slippers. Her hair is still damp from the shower, and her little blue braid hasn't been made up for the day yet.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn had got back late last night after an impromptu visit to see Andrea and Nevada and drop off gifts. She had planned on sleeping in and while it's already lunchtime, she groans and rolls over, pulling the covers over her head when she hears Shannon's voice. Of course Megan knows she should nip this in the bid but...,Sleep. Maybe if she stays real still, Shannon won't hear her.

Oops the bed creaked! Oops! She forgot to lock her door last night!

Nightingale has posed:
     Outside the door is a soft sigh. Shannon had a feeling she wasn't exactly wanted here, and somehow it didn't seem to surprise her. But she had to at least try. Tiptoeing into the room, she finds a clear spot on the bedside table where she sets down the tray. There's a thermos full of what smells like cocoa, two cups, and some candy-cane shaped sugar cookies. It did appear as if Megan was asleep, or at least trying to, so she simply turned around and started to make her way back towards the door again, as silently as she could....

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn doesn't stir for a moment or two, but just before Shannon leaves, her eyes snap open and she sits up in bed, rubbing her eyes. "Shannon? Leaving so soon?" she smirks, then glances to the bedside table noting the tray full of hot chocolate and, ooh, peppermint t cookies, "Wow, you've been busy. Are those for me?" Shes caught off-guard, having expected Shan to be all guns blazing and it shows on her face. "Hmm.."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon pauses at the door, simply nodding, and not turning around. "Yeah. They are. I'm sorry for waking you. The thermos should keep the cocoa warm for you, for whenever you want it. The cookies didn't take that long, just made the dough last night and let it chill. Easier to work with that way the next day." She smiles faintly, shrugging, but still not turning around. "Might make some gingerbread later if you wanted to join in."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn frowns a bit, climbing out of bed, stretching and yawning again as she slips into her fuzzy pink bunny slippers that match her pink night shirt with 'winx club!' emblazoned across the front. "Wow, that's really generous of you. Thank you..Soo what's the special occasion?" she can't help but smile a bit, albeit awkwardly. As if she doesn't know.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Two occasions. One, I miss my friend. A lot. Two, I fucked up and I know it." Shannon just shrugs, staying near the door, though she turns her head slightly towards Megan. One hand is held up to forestall any major recriminations, at least for the moment. "Trust me, I've replayed that whole thing over in my mind about a dozen different ways from Sunday. So no matter how hard you or miss Grey or Andrea could be on me, I've probably already been at least ten times as hard on myself. There are no excuses."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn frowns a bit, regarding Shannon for a minute or two, nodding slowly. "Shannon, you know I was t planning on lashing at you or something right? Especially when you drop by with..Sweet treats." she smirks, "I mean, I guess I can have a temper, but clearly you realize you made a mistake, I hope? And I know I'm not as old and experienced as the other Xmen, but I hope you realize I only have your best interests at heart. Being a teleporter means my primary objective is to get people to safety as soon and as quickly as possible, even if it means my fellow teammates."

Nightingale has posed:
     "That's just it. I'm not your teammate anymore, and I wish I was. Just... if you have to pull me out of somewhere, would you guys mind not treating me like a stupid little kid sometimes?"

     Shannon turns towards the door, resting her forehead on the frame for a few moments. "I don't go looking for this shit to happen, and I wasn't rushing into the thick of things. God knows I wanted to. There were people hurt, and I could have helped. Yeah, I get it. I get miss Grey did what she had to do, and it was right. Hardest thing I've ever had to do was turning away and running to hide, when I could see and hear people who needed help. It's all good. But goddamn it, I miss my friend."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn shrugs, "Well I know you have a penchant for getting into...Unusual situations and frankly you've got more experience than most of the other students. Heck you've dealt with stuff that I've never even heard of, I mean walking with gods? Battling Frost giants?" she laughs, "Heck, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to a bit of jealousy. I mean while the rest of us were locked up here..I'm not even sure how you pulled that stuff off."

Megan moves to the table to try a cookie, sipping thoughtfully on the hot cocoa, "Thing is, when I'm out on the field, I'm the awkward newbie and even if I know you can take care of yourself, Jean and Scott are the field leaders and I gotta answer to her. Besides.." Megan frowns a bit, "Running around in the middle of a fire fight is pretty darn dangerous. Letting me port you out would have been far safer. And to be fair, she wanted me to port to safety too."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon laughs a little bit, and shakes her head. "The frost giants were wild as heck. I never even went to Asgard or anything. I was going on a tour of a LexCorp chocolate factory with Bean and a few of them showed up there. That... got pretty messy." She wrinkles her nose a little bit. "Bean took a pretty bad hit. There was someone flying around in a metal suit that was definitely NOT Iron Man, and Thor actually wound up bringing us back here via the Bifrost. That was pretty trippy. It might almost have been beautiful if I wasn't scared out of my mind for Bean at the time." She shrugs, and finally reaches for a cookie, nibbling on the edge of it a little bit. "I've never trained with any of those guys on that side of things. Not Thor, not Cap, not Mr. Stark, none of them. There is so much more to learn right here at school first. But nobody ever asks me what I -actually- get up to. I can only imagine some of the stories floating around by now."

     There is silence for a few moments, and about half the cookie is sent to its final resting place down her gullet before she speaks again. "As for walking with gods? Yeah. Done that. Did you know Hercules was actually working down at Evolution for a little while as one of the barkeeps? Can't blame him, it's good honest work. But that's just it, too. Sure, the ones we traditionally see as gods, they're more like us than you think. In another day and age, we ourselves might have been perceived as gods, simply for having different gifts. You and me with our wings, me with healing and you with your pixie dust. Who knows what ancient people would've made of us. But in the end? The 'gods' are a bit more like us. They have hopes and dreams and feelings the same as we do."

     She smiles a little bit and shrugs. "I tried telling Sam about Poseidon, and I told Triage, too. Managed to introduce them. I /wanted/ them to know who I was talking to. I /wanted/ them to be able to tell me if something was fishy or not. Bad pun there."

     Shannon runs her fingers through her hair and sighs deeply. "One of the things that stung the most of all wasn't having to stand down, or you being asked to port me out. And yeah, I thought about that, too, it would've been safer for us both. It was knowing that because of bullshit like those shooters and all the bigots out there, people like us might never get a chance to really have a life outside of places like this. So I want to make this count for something. I might never be allowed to even go for my EMT exam, because of bigotry like we saw at the clinic. And if I can't, you can bet there will be a lot of other mutants who might want the same thing that may not be able to, either."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn nods slowly, "Yeaaah, I mean, I once helped Thor and Wonderwoman battle a giant, Interdimensional monster from breaking through a portal and into this world. Though that, and meeting Blurr were probably the craziest things I've ever been involved in. Even as an Xman, I feel I'm often old to stay back somewhere safe but Iguess it comes with the territory. I have mostly defensive powers so I guess that's okay.."

She shrugs, "You'd make a good EMT, or even a doctor, although I could see you joining the Xmen someday too. I mean, you have sooo many talents. Me? I dunno.." Megan sighs, munching slowly on another cookie. "I mean, sure I'm a professional superhero but I'd like to have a normal job on the side too you know? Maybe be a drama teacher or an actress or a dancer. I dunno, Soo much pressure, Dazzler and Andrea keep trying to talk me out of singing, which frankly, is harder when your band broke up.."

She nods, "I know, it's pretty scary, knowing there's something out there that can neutralize us all..I'm scared too, but that's why we gotta keep calm or we'll be easy victims."

Nightingale has posed:
     "My powers are defensive, too. I have flight, but hell, Warren was an X-man and flight's pretty much what he had going for him for the most part. So if he could do it, there's no reason I couldn't. I've... just got to get my shit together, no matter what I do."

     Shannon smiles a little bit, and shrugs. "I see myself starting as an EMT, so I have something to work with while I go to med school. I'd like to come back here and help out with that. Even if I wind up an X-man or who knows, there are other groups out there, I want to have that to back me up."

     There's a thoughtful look on her face, and she smiles faintly. "Sure, I mean, I soak up people's injuries. But right when I first started here, Josh showed me a way to partially hold back my gifts. Not to stop a healing in progress, but to hold it back halfway at the starting point. At that point, it's actually a pretty effective diagnostic tool. That could be a huge help for people who react badly to traditional medicine, like in your case. Also, I talked to Dr. McCoy at one point about possibly working with him to help compile what's known about mutants and medicine, and what treatments could be helpful for them where traditional medicine might fail."

     She purses her lips a little bit. "What scares me about that, though, is if knowledge like that was published, it could be abused VERY easily. Hell, we see a 'cure' out there as it is. What would folks do with knowledge like that? It's made me real hesitant to even begin a project like that, and I wonder if I ought to field the idea to Dr. McCoy and miss Grey both all over again, see what they think."

     A wry half-grin tugs the corners of her lips upwards briefly, and she reaches out to rest a hand on Megan's shoulder. "Don't let /anyone/ discourage you from your dreams. Hell, ask Andrea what she's got me going through. Gives me a whole new appreciation for the work she does. I believe she terms it... 'popstar boot camp'. It's intense. But yeah. If you want to be a drama teacher, or an actress, or a singer, then /do it/. Don't let yourself stand in your own way."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn nods, taking another slow sup of tea, "Yeah, but I think we're both pretty useful in battle, I mean you always need a cleric and a sorceress in the party right?" she grins and winks, "By the way, we gotta finish that D&as session soon. And that's really cool how you're learning to expand your powers. I was pretty worried seeing you take on the wounds of others. Must hurt. I hope I can learn more magic from Illy too."

She sighs and nods, "The doctor who made the cure seemed to genuinely want to help mutants but you're right, I suspect those white coats are already doing that, using his drugs and abusing them. First criminals but what's next?"

She shrugs, "Well it's true, show biz is highly competitive and super stressful, but I'd like to teach here maybe, or do a few acting gigs. Anyhoo, I should get up, fit an Xmen training session to go to. Thanks for stopping by, I really I appreciated getting this out in the open.."