4645/Morning Frost!

Morning Frost!
Date of Scene:	14 June 2018
Location:	Xavier's School, Westchester, New York
Synopsis:	Emma Frost has a chat with Josh about his future, then makes him an offer he can't refuse. And she almost smiles. Almost.
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Elixir

---

Emma Frost has posed:
Classes had begun for the day, and most of the students and teachers had fled to their appropriate places to tend to these very things. Emme Frost, however, has no early morning classes - by design. It's when she deals with her actual business matters, and schedules most of her business appointments, preferring to get them out of the way and to invigorate herself before settling in front of students, many of whom could care less what she's teaching.

This morning, however, no appointents. Instead, Emma is enjoying a coffee in front of her laptop, and the morning business paper.

Elixir has posed:
Josh ends up making his way to the Teacher's Lounge after asking a couple of people where to find Ms. Grey or Ms. Frost. He had tried asking a couple of students, but the rumours had gotten to them before he did and they gave him the cold shoulder. In the end it was another staff member that pointed Josh in the right direction. He walks up to the door and after a moment's hesitation, knocks firmly.

Assuming he hears the call to come in, he opens the door and steps through. It's a room, well-appointed like the rest of the mansion, but it is the Teacher's Lounge. It feels like walking onto a foreign planet or into another dimension. It feels like intruding.

He sees Ms. Frost sitting with her computer and coffee, and in the better light, and with Andrea's comment at breakfast, it clicks.

"You're /Emma/ Frost," Josh blurts out, despite himself. "Like, from the papers."

Emma Frost has posed:
Knocks on the door weren't a matter of course, which meant it was either a student, or.. Well, Emma didn't have an answer for the or, and given her low tolerance of interruptions while working, she actually goes the route of sending out feelers to see who is on the other side of that knock. It's something of a surprise to find it's Josh Foley - the young man they'd rescued from the bridge the other day.

It's a curt, "Come" that she utters, folding her newspaper neatly while Josh enters the room, and hitting the screen-saver on her laptop to hide her business affairs from any possible prying eyes. She's lifting her coffee mug to her lips when he enters, and gives him a long, appraising look - the kind that's melted man a busnessman's self-confidence in integral meetings.

"Why, yes. I am /that/ Emma Frost. And you are Josh Foley. Are we finished with introductions, or shall I wait while you impart upon me all manner of fawning blather so that we can get down to business? How may I help you?"

Elixir has posed:
Josh flushes a deep crimson and his eyes drop to his shoes, a few blond curls sliding forward when he does. "I, uh," he clears his throat. "I mean, like, I was just looking for Ms. Grey to try and get permission to stay and see about a room assignment, and was looking for you, too, because, well," Josh spews, hands stuffed in the pockets of his skinny jeans. He scuffs the ground slightly with a sneakered foot and looks up to Emma.

"I wanted to say thanks. For last night, and everything. You know."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma sips her coffee, and maintains holding her mug as she watches Josh fluster and flush. It seems his discomfort isn't a thing that bothers her. One can just imagine her in a boardroom..

"No thanks necessary, young man. Despite appearances, I take no joy when a life is wasted, and yours would have been. Come, come in and shut the door behind you. I prefer my mornings peaceful, and it will hardly be that with every Tom, Dick and Harry wandering by stopping to gawk at our conversation." She nods towards the door with her chin, then insists, "Sit. And tell me, what prompted that little display of sturm und drang of last night."

Well she knows some of the details, but it's always best to go to the source - and better if you already know most of what they're going to tell you.

Elixir has posed:
He pulls the door shut behind and walks across the room to where Emma is sitting. It really does feel like walking across the moon, especially with this imposing woman sitting there. Josh takes a seat across from Emma when she insists, knowing instinctively she is not someone you make a show of politely refusing.

At her question, Josh's eyes flit to the big windows. "I dunno," he sighs. "It seems pretty stupid, huh? I mean, sitting here. I guess you probably heard about the coffee shop thing by now, that I was with the Reavers that attacked Andrea. And then, it turns out /I'm/ a mutant and I totally healed her. I mean, I felt her dying and I fixed her, just by touching her and sort of... pushing... it was weird. I did it to Rickie, too, this other guy that was with us? But then he put the boots to me really bad, and threw me out of the van into the street. I think if he wasn't so freaked out he might've..." Josh shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair.

"Anyway, I finally got home and I guess Rickie told my parents I was a muti-, ah, mutant. There was a backpack on the porch with my clothes in it and a note saying if I ever came back," Josh clears his throat and blinks quickly. "If I ever came back they'd turn me over to the Reavers. So just like that, I was a, a freak, with no family, no home, nowhere to go, nothing. And probably Pierce looking for me, I dunno. It just seemed like there was nothing."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma listens. She's a patient listener. She finds that the longer you sit quietly, the more someone else wants to tell you things, if only to fill in that void. And any number of secrets spill. More, if, like Emma, you're a telepath, and can pluck them from someone's mind.

So she sits and waits for Josh to finish his initial blather of all that had happened in the past 24-48 hours. Her face a patient and still mask.

"So," she says finally, setting her mug down and cupping it with a single hand, long tapered fingernails tapping lightly against the ceramic thing. "You discover after anti-mutant sentiment that you are the thing you feared and now your world has been sent upon its edge and you're at a loss as to how to proceed. Have I got that correct?"

Of course she does, with minor details fleshing the matter out and making it more complicated and uniquely Josh's own story. But that's mostly the right of it.

"I suppose a good place to start would be has the Wellness Centre cleared you? And if so, you speak of talking to Ms. Grey about your future here. While we at Xavier's" - she says that like she's a longtime faculty member, much in the tones of Legacy faculty at the most upstanding and self-rigtheous of learning institutions - "make it a policy to admit and foster any mutant who so wishes assuming they are not disruptive or a menace to the other students here, I am curious where you stand on matters, or if this is merely default given you've nowhere else to go. And do believe me when I say this, young man, I will know if you are lying."

As would Jean.

Elixir has posed:
Josh seems taken aback at first. A couple seconds pass and then he cracks a broad smile. "I kinda feel skewered," he says lightly. It was clear he was used to a smile and an offhand remark getting him through just about anything. He had been a popular kid, was used to it, and it showed. It also, no doubt, fell absolutely flat.

He clears his throat and sits up straighter. "Uh, the Wellness Centre said I'm totally healthy, not a scratch left," he says, his mind racing, searching for the /right/ answer, the /right/ thing to say. But Emma is like an ice wall, implacable, and he has no idea what she wants to hear.

"I... don't know," he finally admits. "Everyone's saying this is what I'm supposed to do, that I'd learn about what I am here. And I really don't have anywhere else to go," he admits and stops. "That sounds really stupid, doesn't it?" he asks. "Truth is, Ms. Frost, I don't know where I stand. On anything, anymore."

Emma Frost has posed:
There's a slow, considered nod from Emma. "Well, that's a good enough start - realizing how little you know, and not bothering to try lying about it. While lying outside these walls may be a thing of survival, within these walls, young man, lying will not help you any. At least not with faculty. Our job here is to help you to become what may survive in the world outside Xavier's. We, as you may have already noticed, do not function under the same rules as most places."

She regards him again. "As for the Wellness Centre, I'm more interested in what they had to say about your mental state. You are obviously hale and hearty or you wouldn't be walking around. The other, though, will play a role in your placement here."

When he admits, finally, that he isn't sure about his future, Emma allows the memory of a smile to touch upon her lips. "Ah, now see, there we have the most truthful statements of all. Let's begin with the anywhere else to go. Supposing you could be anywhere you wished, with some obvious exceptions that is, would you prefer to take that offer? No judgement. It's perfectly acceptable to admit that this isn't where you wish to be. In fact, it's better for us all if you admit it now, before we waste resources and valuable time upon you."

"Despite what is said, we aren't about brainwashing. And yes, it is possible to make it so that you do not remember who or what you are, and to be unable to access your abilities. In short, you can become someone new and put this all behind you should you wish. Or.."

And here she pauses for dramatic effect, no doubt, "..or you can become one of us and explore what it means to be Josh Foley, healer. The choice is, ultimately, yours. Do take your time. I have some coffee left."

Elixir has posed:
"Uh, they didn't say I was crazy or anything," he insists when she questions his mental health, a little offended somehow, despite nearly jumping from a bridge the night before. "I mean, I feel better than I did last night. It's just a lot once, okay?"

Josh chews his lip when she asks where he would like to be. Images of home come to mind immediately, but so too does the note, and it taints them all. "What do you want me to say? That I didn't ask for this? That I wish my parents didn't threaten to have me killed? I want my life back, but we both know that's not happening, not unless you're gonna do mind stuff to everyone I know. It doesn't matter what I want now," he finishes, quietly after having heated up initially.

"And..." Josh looks down at his hands, considering them as if he had never truly looked at them before. "I don't wanna be a freak, but I saved two people's asses and it felt /good/. Felt right. More right than anything. Does that make sense?"

Emma Frost has posed:
"Of course it matters what you want now, young man. I'm not in the habit of asking rhetorical questions. I've plenty of other things to occupy my time that don't involve playing twenty questions with the student body to amuse myself. If you truly don't wish to be here, we can set you up in a new life and you cn go blythely on your way."

Emma shrugs, a sip of coffee being enjoyed at a liesurely pace. While she's said he has till she's done her coffee, she isn't rushing him. Or so it would seem.

When he speaks of 'feeling right', Emma nods, and allows a small, cool smile to touch upon her lips. "Ah yes. That. There is always that. For as much as most of us did not ask for what we are, or were not treated to about the recepton you got from your parents, there is always that. That feeling of things being *right*. As much as your left hand and your right both seem to belong to your body, there is always that."

She gives what might be a soft chuckle. "Would it help to know my parents reacted much the same as yours? Only I'd already been deemed a failure by them. It was just one more indication that they had been right about me all along."

Emma Frost. Business mogul. A failure. And deemed unworthy by her parents.

Elixir has posed:
Josh looks confused, and he turns his gaze from the window to consider Emma, almost brazenly. Clearly, her being a failure just does not compute.

He opens his mouth to speak and then closes it, deciding to try and not say anything else too stupid in front of Emma. Not that it would change her opinion of him after all she had seen and heard, but he had some pride left.

"Sorry, Ms. Frost," he settles on and sits a little taller. "And yes, that does help, thanks for telling me that. I shouldn't, won't complain. I'm probably luckier than a lot of the kids that are here." Josh takes a breath. "The idea of just wiping it all away feels wrong, like really wrong. So yeah, if I can learn how to do whatever that was better, and make something of myself, then I want to stay."

Emma Frost has posed:
There's a negligent chuckle from Emma. "I know. hard to believe, isn't it? Emma Frost. Once where you are now. Almost completely down to the being handed a wad of cash and asked not to come back. I was a little more arrogant than you are at the time and refused the offer."

She shrugs and sips at her coffee again. "You can complain all you wish, Josh. Dwelling upon the matter is a rather different story. If you've no intention of moving past your past, then there's really little we can do for you here at Xavier's short of making sure you graduate from High School, pat you on the back, and send you upon your way with a smile upon your face."

Short form for: we'll make certain you don't remember some of the more mutant salient details of your experience here.

"It's a lot easier the other way, though. And much more productive. We aim, here at Xavier's, to create functioning and contributing members of society - members for whom being a mutant is not a detriment, but a positive. And I must say, your abilities do have the potential to offer something rather unique amongst our kind if I follow what happened correctly."

Elixir has posed:
Josh chuckles and shakes his head at the thought of Emma being down and out at any point. It just does not mesh with the image of the woman in front of him, or her demeanour.

"Unique? Is healing not a very common mutation? I can see how it would be useful," he says and thinks of Andrea on the floor of the coffee shop, and of not doing anything. A little color comes out of his face at the thought and Emma can feel the penny drop.

"It'd be really selfish not to use this mutation, wouldn't it. Like, epic selfish."

Emma Frost has posed:
"Self-healing abounds. Healing of others? A very different sort of application. It invovles an understanding of how another's body works. Frankly, it's one of the lesser known gifts."

Emma shrugs.

"As for selfish, that's something only you can tell yourself. But if you're asking me should your gift be shared? I would say, yes. I would say we all have an obligation to share our gifts, not only with one another, but with those for whom such things are impossible. And before you ask, the obligation isn't to others, but to ourselves. Much along the lines of any gift, intellect included, our worth is measured by how we use it."

Elixir has posed:
"Huh, didn't think of it like that, either. Not using our mut-, gifts, would be like Andrea not singing or something."

Josh considers that for a few moments. "Is it rude to ask what your gifts are? And how you use them?"

Emma Frost has posed:
"I'm sure Andrea has a perfectly acceptable voice," Emma murmurs with something of a smile. "It's been rather a long while since I was part of that scene."

She's quiet a moment while reminiscing... or perhaps she is only in thought over what to answer of Josh's question.

"Not rude, young man. But there are those at the school who are not gifted in the ways we are. Many are quite unaware that I'm a mutant. I prefer to keep it that way. It allows me to function as I need to in the outside world. However, to be blunt, I'm a telepath. A rather powerful one."

The way she says it, ever so casually, leaves no doubt that there is no false pride or puffing up of skills there.

"There are some few other skills I have along with that, but that's the one others will know, should they know of any."

Elixir has posed:
Josh cannot help but wonder how much of the mess going on in his she has been aware of, or how much Ms. Braddock was aware of, for that matter. What were the odds that there would be two hot telepaths on staff? Or that he would ever meet one?

He flushes slightly as he realizes the train of thought he is on and hopes nobody was listening.

"Yeah, I didn't think anybody knew you were a mutant - I won't say anything," he promises. "I've seen you in my dad's papers and, Time, I think? And it was all about your business. If they knew, it would be all about that, instead. Sort of like, you can't be gay or black and be just a 'singer' or 'doctor'. You're a 'gay doctor' or 'black doctor' in the papers."

Emma Frost has posed:
As if in answer to his question, there's decided arch of brow from Emma at the 'hot staff' comment.. even if it's equally clear that she could have masked that reaction should she have chosen to.

The look is held, then released, Emma commenting mildly, "Exactly. I preferred to make my way in business on the back of my own skills, not leaving behind questions as to the other. And before you ask, what do you think, do I seem the sort of person who would use my abilities to get ahead in business?"

There is likely no good answer to this one, as she doubtlessly has.. within certain bounds and reason.. and quite likely has taken pride not to in all the ways that have counted.

But as with so many things Emma Frost, it would seem his answer is more important than the correctness of it.

Elixir has posed:
Josh flushes a bit more and laughs when he realizes Emma /did/ hear that.

He cocks his head at the question and considers Emma for a moment. "Probably," he decides. "Sometimes, I bet. Probably not to cheat, but maybe to make things go easier. Grease the wheels."

Emma Frost has posed:
"Perhaps," Emma allows without confirming or denying. "But you can see the questions someone with my abilities gives rise to in others, yes?"

Her mug is set down, the remaining inch within slowly growing cold.

"And how someone with your abilities could be much more easily received, and certainly a larger benefit to mutantkind in general, yes?" She doesn't give much space for an answer to that. "Regardless, this isn't about that yet. You're hardly ready for those decisions and responsibilities. It's enough that you're aware such questions exist. What does matter is whether or not you're ready to commit to the responsibility of being a student here at Xavier's."

Elixir has posed:
Josh nods, he can definitely see the questions it would raise. He would feel like Emma could see right through him normally. Knowing she really could was unsettling.

"Yeah, I am. If they teach college here, I'm already graduated," he adds. "I'd like to stay."

Emma Frost has posed:
"Relax, Josh," Emma says quietly, using his name instead of the perfunctory 'young man' she's been using. "I don't make it a policy to go reading everyone's mind as a matter of course. It's exhausting in it's own way, much the way a crowded train terminal or concert might be. However, in this case, yes, your surface thoughts have been regarded."

She makes no apology for that.

"The wellbeing and welfare of too many depend upon certain secrets being held, and a willingness to work towards a common goal. You may consider your thoughts your own for the remainder of this conversation, and as a general rule. However you would be wise to remember that there are ways and means for you to be monitored even by those without our talents, so it is always expedient to take care. We do not all have the luxury of Andrea, and even then, you have seen what her public outting of herself has led to."

There's a succinct nod from the woman. "There are college courses taught here. And, of course, the ever more important schooling in how to use and control your abilities. Those, I think, will be the more useful for you. Consider Xavier's something of a haven until such a time as you are comfortable in leaving us."

There's another moment of consideration. "Now, while I can not formally admit you into the school, I can assure that your costs are covered. Should Ms. Grey find you to not meet scholarship requirements, then I will personally cover your costs."

Elixir has posed:
Given what someone like Pierce would do if Xavier's was found, Josh does not object to Emma having been reading his thoughts. In fact, given the circumstances, it's comforting to know the staff are so cautious. He was just relaxing when Emma said she would cover the costs of time at Xavier's. His mouth nearly falls open.

"I, uh, thank you," Josh says and smiles, unable to hide either his relief or bewilderment. "That's... That's huge. Thank you, Ms. Frost."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma makes a deflecting sound under her breath. "Hardly huge. The investment I expect to be paid back in kind. That is, I expect that should this be done that you be a credit to your training."

She shakes her head and almost smiles. "Besides, what good is money if you can't do good with it? I have enough that this won't bankrupt me, and you seem a fair enough investment."

Elixir has posed:
Josh smiles brightly, easily, at the /almost/ lightening of her features and chuckles.

"Yeah, I guess. I'll make sure it's worth it," he assures her. "You won't regret your investment, Ms. Frost."

Emma Frost has posed:
"Indeed," Emma remarks almost casually. "I wont. Now, shoo. My coffee had grown cold, and I tire of this conversation. I'll make certain Ms. Grey is brought up to date on matters."

Elixir has posed:
Josh smiles and gets up. "I'm gone, thanks again, Ms. Frost," he says and makes his way out of the Teacher's Lounge, feeling considerably lighter than he had on the way in.