15037/School Reunion

School Reunion
Date of Scene:	05 May 2023
Location:	Main Foyer - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Tabitha and Jean catch up. Tabby gets a job and might just be the Auto Shop teacher for now. There is also an update about Penance for Jean to follow up on!
Cast of Characters:	Boom-Boom, Phoenix

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Boom-Boom has posed:
Eventually it would have to happen, the word of a beat up yellow and black van parked outside near the boathouse. Owned by a blonde woman currently in the foyer and claiming to be a former student, hair pulled up in a messy set of pigtails with a bunch of her hair up front left to drape down her shoulders. A pink cropped tanktop with BOOM! in faded yellow across the front and a noticeable amount of tone to her midriff.

A pair of red tinted raybans sitting atop her head while her lower half is covered, or hugged closely by some dark blue denim jeans, the wait bound up by a red leather belt with small stainless steel spikes embedded in the leather. Matching wrist cuffs and a collar at her neck. Red chucks finishing the colour coordination if not quite the colour matching.

Currently the young woman is sitting along one of the stairs leading upstairs, back against a banister, hands holding a phone as she idly plays some brightly coloured match three puzzle game. She's not the only arrival of late but everyone else seems to be doing thir own thing for now.

At least she's not trying to break into the elevator to get down in the sublevels.

Again.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey had been forewarned of the young blonde mutant looking for her. Having studied her file, Jean knew a little of the mutant named Boom Boom, of her rather troubled past but not much else. Still, she is always willing to give people second chances and so she steps into the foyer, peering around.

It doesn't take her long to spy the woman in the colorful crop top, clicking her tongue at the clear violation of dress code - something she will definitely have to address with her soon.

"Good afternoon.." she greets, moving to join her as she climbs down the stairs. "Tabitha Smith, I presume? Welcome to Xavier's, I am Jean Grey, Deputy Headmaster of this school.."

Boom-Boom has posed:
Somethings Tabitha doesn't exactly remember but should be on her file. That she actually graduated way back when, she just can't remember if she did since she might have bailed on the graduation ceremony at the time and didn't find out about her barely passable grades. She was one of the New Mutants but being that despite the youthful look she presents she's around the same age as most of them.

The arrival of the deputy headmisstress gets the blonde looking up from her phone and setting it aise atop a motorycle jacket in black with yellow padding kept just aside.

"Ms Grey, umm,. Hi! I know it's been a while but we have met!" the blonde actually scrambled to her feet. Talking with your principal can sometimes bring out odd habitual behaviors like trying to stand up straight when your not actually ready for it which gets the woman wobbling, bouncing and flailing before she catches herself against the railing of the steps. Then stanbds like she got caught smoking but totally wasn't.

"Wow, you look great! You're running the place now? Power behind the throne, like North Korea with the Professor as Headmaster In Perpetuatuitary or something. Just less evil?"

Phoenix has posed:
Admittedly, there are a lot of names to go through. At the time, Jean was not even deputy headmistress, and Xavier played a bigger role in school admission, particularly in helping out the New Mutants while the Xmen were elsewhere. Still, the name and the face are somewhat familiar on second glance.

Tabitha, aka Boom Boom, one of the New Mutants. Of course. Welcome back. Were you just dropping by for a visit or..?"

To be fair, most of the New Mutants had moved on after graduation, but a few remained to help teach classes, or just to drop by and visit.

She shrugs and smiles. "Somewhat, now that the Professor is on an extended sabbatical, Scott and I have been mostly running things around here. And how have you been?"

Boom-Boom has posed:
Six years can make a huge diference in memory here and their. The biggest thing that might have flashed through could have been the thing where Mojo 'Interrupted' the wedding between Gambit and Rogue, gambit seemingly havinng died. Tabitha having a hole in her leg and having a verbal explossion at Scott that Jean defused.

"Umm, I was kinda hoping more than a visit. I kinda just got out of a lot of messed up stuff. Don't worry, nothing's gonna come and bite our asses. I think. Just... don't quote me on that because I'm fairly certain we all got teeth marks last time someone said that when I was here as a kid." she gets to the chase sort of.

"This place kinda helped me get my head together the first time. I'm kinda hoping being here and helping out..." she states and beams a big goofy if almost kind of pleading smile to the redheaded telepath.

"I don't wanna be a mooch. Well I do, but no point lying about that but I... I can help out. I'm not bad with tech stuff. Not Kitty Pryde levels of stuff, but I know my way around campus and corporate networks. I'm okay behind the wheel too. Just probably not teaching and doing grading and stuff. I umm, never did go to college." she explains her current abilities

Just not any detail about how she got them.

Mostly the same sort of troubles that she was in before her time as a student.

Phoenix has posed:
Oh, but there are so many stories to reminisce about on the school grounds. Some more memorable than others. Having the burden of Deputy Headmistress suddenly tossed at her means Jean is not always privy to little details. All the same, Tabitha did have a tendency to stand out with her various antics.

Jean smiles at some amusing memory, shaking her head.

"Hmm, well, lately we have been rather short of students. It seems a lot of graduates and former Xmen have gone their separate ways, dealing with their own private lives. We don't currently have a mechanics teacher, or a computer teacher. Do you have much experience in either of those areas and did you bring a resume?" she is not going to just hand over a job afterall but, Jean does need to know some of her skills afterall.

Boom-Boom has posed:
"Uhh, well my dad was a mechanic, and he did actually teach me a little, like how to keep a car running, or at least limping along. That old ass van of mine outside is like nearly forty years old it'd be vintage if it wasn't a barely moving PoS. I know bikes too." she admits ands miles. "Live out of the Van, trailer style just toot around on the bike." which probably does sound like an admission of homelessness.

"As for computers. Umm, well I can well. Most of what I've had to do there hasn't exactly been legal, straight haxxors. Well it's the sort of thing that doesn't go on resumes. You can totally scan my brain if you want to double check. But I'm pretty certain I could get Cerebro running as best it can for not being a telepath and stuff. Something might explode if I put the bucket on my head though." she explains.

"I can definitely do X-Men stuff. But I guess that's a Scott thing. Resume would be pretty well scarse. Never did time at least! So you wouldn't be like hiring an ex-con, and really, it's not like we never had people with records." there's that hopeful tone in her voice to match that big smile of hers.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey hmms, studying Tabitha thoughtfully. She really prefers not to get into peoples' heads if she can help it, but on such short notice and without a resume on hand, it looks like it's her only way of verifying Tabitha's abilities.

With a nod, Jean brings her fingers to her temples and does a quick scan of Tabitha's mind, searching for mechanical related abilities, although she frowns slightly at some of the things she learns.

"Hmm, well that's..Interesting. Perhaps we can focus on the more..Legal aspects, hmm? I say we can put you in Mechanics to start with, just incase Kitty comes back. Let's see how things go. It looks like you are quite talented in that department."

As for Xmen stuff, Jean nods and chuckles, "That is indeed Scott's department. He handles all things Xmen and team related. You will need to talk to him if you wish to join the Xmen. He may put you through some tests, although as a New Mutant, it shoudln't be a big deal. Welcome aboard, Tabitha. I trust you already know your way around the school?"

Boom-Boom has posed:
The mind scan might just show that while Tabitha is good at the things she says she is, and the memories that aren't jumbled up prove it.

It's just clear that there have been people at the school that have been objectively way better at everything. Like Kitty and computers as an example. And there's a lot of scrambling in there like a a hard drive that needs defragmenting.

There's skills she has that definitely should not be passed along to the students. Probably some staff too. A little more very bad than good. It actuallly starts blurring the fun with the abuse.

The acceptane though gets a huge happy smile out of Tabby as she bounces on the spot! And learly falls off the bottom step again with an awkward whoop.

"Oh My god, that's awesome Ms Grey Boss! Did I say how awesome and wise and gorgeous and great a boss you are?" that excited sucking up probably doesn't need to happen but she just got a job.

"I've been checking out where I can. Couldn't get downstairs. But I figure security privelages. I kinda miss the Danger Room and the chance to boom safely." she answers about locatiional familiarity.  

"Hey there'salso another girl that turned up too. Red skin, long talony claws, hair looks like it's just as sharp. Black leather. Somehow it's like super cute but I think she's not used to people actually thinking that. I call her Slice but she can't speak so she might need like telepath help for communicating." she explains about the girl that does not actually look like Monet St Croix but totally is.

Phoenix has posed:
After the mind scan, Jean seems to have some sort of headache oddly enough, frowning softly as she rubs her temples. "Hmm, thank you, I appreciate that.." she seems mildly distracted for a moment, before focusing back on Tabby.

"Well, it's always good to see such enthusiasm, I'm sure you will do well..Just promise me you won't teach the kids how to hot wire cars, or anything of the sort, hmm?"

She frowns softly at mention of the other girl, and can't keep track of them all. This one sounds interesting however. "Hmm? what's her name..?"

Boom-Boom has posed:
"I'll save the hotwiring for anyone that might want to be a Future X-Man. Hotwiring or breaking into a car is as important a skill as changing a tire or fanbelt!" she points out with a giggle escaping her.

Penance gets more serious tones however "That's the thing. I don't actually know her real name. I'm just calling her 'Slice' since it kinda fits. Sharp, slashy, but also cake. I get am abused vibe. I may have also encouraged her to scratch a name in the wall so we can Google her or something but smight not have heard me be might have ignored me. Sometimes vandalism and destruction of property is okay if it gets someone the help they need. And you're like the only one beside out esteemed Dear Professor that I know can do the thing. She needs help and right now it's outta my wheel house!" she admits and shrugs.

Gotta know where to start, and a name is a pretty good place for that.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey considers that for a moment, then nods slowly, "Yes, I suppose it CAN come in handy..However, I would save it for older students, and those who are serious about becoming Xmen. We don't need anymore pranks happening around the school, Tabitha." she accentuates the word 'prank' as she rather warily eyes Tabby when she says that.

*Ahem*

More talk of Penance has her frowning softly, "Hmm, and she just..Showed up? Is she mute then?" Jean seems concerned, shaking her head. "Tabitha, we should NOT be encouraging students to scratch their names on the wall. You didn't have any chalk or pen and paper on hand..?"

Boom-Boom has posed:
"Don't think of the bombs as pranks any more. Think of it as a long distance spanking! Don't act like you never wanted to go upside our heads or put us over a knee." Tabitha states with a more playful sounding tone again.

"Well adults only. I know how messed up that ethical quandrary can be. So if you do want to do that stuff, well, probably we need a few drinks and stuff first." she had been on the wrong side of that more than anyone should. Luckily the school was one place she didn't have to worry about the other shoe dropping. The matter of wriiting gets a shrug. "Umm, I'm probably not imparting things accurately. Well there was a portal, she got yeeted out, landed hard out in the lawn. I got her inside."

The explaination seems a little more detailed. "But like her writing. No way, claws were like too long to be practical." she states and makes a one armed air clawing and then extends her other hand from unpainted fingernails to about a foot or so away from the tips.

"She actually scratched my leg by accident too so holding stuff might get damaged. No phones or touch screens either I think. Maybe get her back out on the lawn, or the lake and let her scrawl in the dirt." she ponders. "Making sure she wasn't gonna like suddenly keel back over was more important at the time. I've taken some impacts but that looked like it hurt."

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey blinks slowly at Tabby's next comment. "Uh...we don't do that sort of thing here, Tabitha.." she says with a somewhat nervous smile..

And then more strange talk of the stranger which has her thinking. "Portal, hmm? How...Unusual. Some sort of mutant ability, perhaps? I presume you took her to the guest wing? I will have to check in on her later then..However, there is something else I must tend to right now. Welcome back, Tabitha, a lot of kids will be happy to have a mechanics teacher around.."