5827/Astral Flux: Checking on Jeremy

Astral Flux: Checking on Jeremy
Date of Scene:	21 November 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Phoenix, Cyclops, Shadow King
Tinyplot:	Astral Flux

---

Phoenix has posed:
Jean is dressed in a blue dress with a matching baby blue silken scarf, a black leather jacket breaking the mold, naturally the heels match with the purse. She's walking by Scott's side, if not outright dragging him towards the reserved study room in the NY Library. "So you see, this guy, Jeremy, he's with us...but I'm not sure, I sensed something disturbing...and that was before everything went dark."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott, meanwhile, is dressed in jeans, nice shoes, and a grey shirt under a jacket with a scarf. It is cold out, afterall. His usual sunglasses rest on his nose and completely conceal his eyes. His arm is hooked with Jean's as she leads him along, and he looks a bit concerned. "I...see. Well, be careful, Jean. Just...be careful. I'll be here for you, though."

Shadow King has posed:
    There's no bothering with pretending to be anything other than a mage, this time. There's a ripple in the air in the study room, after both of the X-Men arrive inside and shut the door. The young teen appears, stepping through a hazy twist of magical essence.

    Jeremy is young looking, but has a sort of exhausted edge to him, like he's been up for days. He's been through hell, maybe. He's dressed simply: a button-up dark blue shirt, black jeans, sneakers. He has a shoulder-bag that looks maybe leather, flung over one shoulder, and his shoulder length blonde hair is somewhat plastered down, but not too bad. He just looks a bit haunted. "Hi again, I...." Jeremy begins, but then looks at Scott, curious. "Hi?"

Phoenix has posed:
"So..." Jean greets, looking surprisingly calm for the manner of Jeremy's arrival. Then again, to state the X-Men been through a lot, space and aliens included, would be an understatement.

Jean is quick to break the awkwardness of the unexpected Scott presence, "Jeremy, this is Scott, he is a friend of mine. I trust him with everything..." that alone serves as a lead in to her next question, as she looks at Jeremy with concern. "You don't look your best...did that...Mexican vacation take a toll on you?"

Cyclops has posed:
Scott is surprised when the youth just...appears like that. Sure, he's used to super powers, but he wasn't exactly expecting that. He doesn't open fire or anything like that, though. His gaze -does- shift briefly to Jean, though, before he looks back to Jeremy. When Jean seems calm about the arrival, he calms and then appears unfluttered.

He nods at the introduction but stays quiet for now, the man glancing between the two.

Shadow King has posed:
    "That's putting it mildly. I saw you there. You're looking better than I feel," Jeremy says. He pulls out one of the chairs at the table, as if considering mounting it backwards but just doesn't have it in him. Instead he pulls it aside some and settles into it, setting his bag on the floor near his leg. He rakes fingers loosely back through his hair and looks over them both in a sort of way reserved for young teen boys; and this one is just past thirteen. "Hi, Scott." There isn't arrogance, it's just a quality of someone that probably thinks he's invincible in general. Ah, youth.

    "Did you see the Avengers? It was pretty badass last night," Jeremy offers.

Phoenix has posed:
"To be honest...I was a little out of it after what happened...I wanted to follow up, but..." Jean halts her entire line of questions, turning to Scott, "did you hear about any Avengers action?" She then looks over to Jeremy, "what happened? Did they succeed where we failed?" She feels a bit upset the X-Men were largely out of it, unless Psylocke joined without her knowing about it.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott stands to the side, near Jean, and he stays quiet for now. He isn't in his element, but he wanted to be here for Jean. He watches the youth, mostly, the distrust in his eyes impossible to catch due to those special sunglasses. He shakes his head at the mention of the Avengers, though. "I took a few of the kids on a camping trip yesterday and didn't get back until early this morning. What happened with the Avengers?" He slips his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

Shadow King has posed:
Jeremy shrugs a little, "It's still a war zone there now. Giant robots and mushroom things and confused people. I don't know anymore. I saw Avengers, though. They're not subtle. It was /snowing/; Thor I think," Jeremy says, but there's a funny little smirk, as if the snow in particular was something fun. "Dr. Strange too. They were after the big mushroom under the town. And it was not happy about it. I don't know if they killed it."

Phoenix has posed:
Jean moves to lean against the study desk, just barely sitting on it, as she crosses her arms and looks to Scott, "hear that? War zone...Avengers are not subtle at all. Maybe it's good the X-Men weren't involved..." did she mention to Jeremy she was of the X-Men before? Not that it matters, if he really did see her in Mexico. "So...that's what I felt underneath the ground," she muses aloud, not hiding her concerns, "I hope they did eliminate it...but," she levels her green eyes with Jeremy, "as I entered the battleground, I made a far reaching sweep for remenants of the Shadow King's strings to identify potential targets...are you aware he holds dark tendrils on you, Jeremy?" Jean not so much accuses as she informs.

Cyclops has posed:
"Definatly good we weren't allowed. They're like a bull in a china shop but...they also are good at what they do. If they went in to handle it, you can generally assume they can handle it...even if they're kind of dumb about it." Scott shakes his head and then quiets again to listen to the two.

Shadow King has posed:
A Dark Presence leans down and fishes in his bag. He removes an apple from it, rubbing it along the edge of his sleeve, and then starting to eat it, although there was some wince as he sat back. He's hurting. "If you want to go I'll send you, to get a look," the mage says. He watches Jean comment about the Avengers and then the X-Men, and doesn't just let that go. "X-Men?" he repeats. "For real?" Curiosity is up.

    "Tendrils on me? What?" He asks, blinking at her. "Like right now?" He looks down as if he'd see them on his shirt.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean looks from Jeremy to Scott when the offer to survey the aftermath is given, <<do you think we should?>> She thinks telepathically to Scott, <<probably dangerous without preparations...we don't really know anything, besides what a vast network of control the Shadow King at least had there until last night.>>

While she telepathically communicates with Scott, she turns to look at Jeremy, moving closer to him, "you look to be in quite a bit of pain," she notes again, "were you involved in a fight while there? Or are you feeling the affects of the Avengers' actions?" Jean suggests ever so casually, "if you lower your guard, I can take a thorough examination of your mind...find the source of his influence. But if you didn't know about it before, know that he has fingers on you at the very least."

Cyclops has posed:
<<Not when we know this little about it. We'd be going in blind.>>, Scott responds to Jean through the telepathic communication. He stays quiet, still, hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket. He leans against the wall, chewing a bit on his lip.

Shadow King has posed:
If there's some truth there, Jeremy doesn't rise to the bait really. There's a slight lift of eyes about the Avenger's actions, as if that were just something kind of funny. He looks at her as if thinking it over. "I feel like you think I'm lying about something," Jeremy says, a little bit hurt sounding. "You have some crazy power. I mean, to have seen me there. I really had everything into shields," Jeremy says, turning the conversation more to her. "Is it an X-Men thing? Do you train people?" he asks, with a slight hopeful tone.

Phoenix has posed:
"You misunderstand..." Jean says ever so calmly, no longer looking aside at Scott, this is something she is very much certain of and doesn't need any reassurances about. "The Shadow King has touched you, whether of your own volition or not, with or without your knowledge, all of your actions are compromised. Can you concede that much?" She takes a confidant step towards Jeremy, and holds her hand up, as if to signal she intends to move it towards the mage. "Allow me inside, and I'll prove it to you."

Much like he was evasive about her baiting question, so she is about his.

Shadow King has posed:
    "Hey, hey. Okay, MAYBE he could have influenced some people, and it could be possible. Tell me this first. Do you sense it on me /now/?" Jeremy asks, lifting his hands a little bit, as if to still maintain a little space between them. "I don't like anybody in my head, including the other guy."

Phoenix has posed:
"Will you openly invite me to check...? I can force it, but it is not my way, I don't want to if you do not consent," Jean makes sure before daring to scan Jeremy now, in peaceful circumstance, far away from the field of battle where such actions were paramount with no time to play nice.

Shadow King has posed:
    Jeremy really doesn't like it, and isn't hiding this. "I don't want anyone in my head. I don't. Even if you can't trust me any more. I'll leave if you're going to attack me," Jeremy says, starting to get to his feet, upset, probably, but muted. "I've helped you. But I'm not just open for anybody to poke at. I don't trust you're not on his side either, to trick me now, to learn what else I know."

Phoenix has posed:
"I thought you wanted to know for yourself, beyond doubt, that you are free of his influence," Jean sighs and steps back from Jeremy, "I can't tell you if I sense his presence on you without your permission. Keep in mind that what you see, he may well see as well, if not more...I just want you to be safe." She says all the right words, by judging by her earlier phrashing before getting to this subject, Jeremy might have a sense that Jean suspects there's more to him that he's not telling. Fair enough, that other day he found just about the same about her. Although to be fair, she doesn't seem aware of it.

Shadow King has posed:
    Jeremy watches her carefully. "Would you let me inspect /you/ for influence, though?" Jeremy wonders. He seems very honestly curious about that. "I have some spells that can pick up on lots of things like that. I mean. I'm not an X-Man," he says, allowing a little natural smile.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean nods at Jeremy's question, "I may have agreed if I wasn't aware he has hold on you. As it were I am not uncertain about it, I know he is in your head, even if you don't." She smiles, "I guess we're at an impasse in that regard. I promise I will try to gain you back your freedom should he consume you." She's not making ultimatums, rather she turns to leave, her words not a threat so much as an inevitability she perceives. Her walking away is her only way to show she cares little for access to Jeremy's mind. Leaving him to do with it as he wills.

Shadow King has posed:
Jeremy caves a little. He probably was having fun talking to her. Maybe he's lonely, or something else. "Okay /fine/," he says. "I'll tell you a little more. But I still don't want brain invaders," Jeremy says, sitting back down in his own chair. If she goes, she goes, but he eats his apple more slowly now.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean turns at the offer of telling her more, pulling a seat, and joining at Jeremy's side, "very well...I'm all ears." Funny, but when she says it, there's a sense she truly is giving her full, undivided, and unbiased attention to Jeremy. Whether experience, power, or personality isn't a sure thing.

Shadow King has posed:
     "Say you want to watch, like, a rat," he says, using the table as a prop, with his hands some. "So you put a little camera in there, and make sure there's a reason to not touch the camera. Like you zap the rat or something." Jeremy has finished his apple, and puts it on the table, aims it like a camera. "Fine. But because it's a /rat/ you don't like, expect the rat to grab some other rat and put it in front of the camera."

    Jeremy shrugs a little. "So I know he was watching. But he's not watching much that matters. Certainly not this. And I removed it before I came here." He palmed the apple core at some point; it's gone. He tosses it into the trash bin across the way. And looks at her. "Does he still have influence? He has other problems. Check on the astral and you'll see what I mean."

Phoenix has posed:
"I think I understand," Jean comments while processing Jeremy's demonstration, going about checking for influence or remanent of the Shadow King's dark presence within Jeremy. Having taken his question as permission to do so.

"I will do so after some rest," Jean agrees, although not eager to revisit the Astral Plane quite yet. She feels quite exhausted herself, from something she's not quite sure she even remembers.

She'll answer positive or negative to Jeremy, honestly, before making her way out, "until next time."

Shadow King has posed:
    The question was rhetorical, and Jeremy gets offended. There isn't a scent of Shadow King, though. Perhaps that story wasn't for nothing?

    "Don't poke at me again," Jeremy says, annoyed, but lets her go. He'll make his own path, without doors, after she's gone.