9893/You Can Go Home Again

You Can Go Home Again
Date of Scene:	03 November 2019
Location:	Grey residence, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Synopsis:	Jean takes Vi to her parent's home to get a glimpse of what normal life is like outside of the school. Sara gets glared at. Sisters do that.
Cast of Characters:	Phoenix, Vi

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Phoenix has posed:
As an exercise in experience over lecture, Jean reaches out to Vi over the weekend, extending an offer to come home with her. The idea was to let Vi see a relatively normative family. Sure, the Greys had their issues over Jean emerging powers and how they choose to handle it, but even that was better than what Vi had. Which is to say, a more or less inhumane assassin boarding school for slave kids. What's more, after being sent to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Jean and her parents had worked out some of their differences, and the relationship wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"Now remember, Vi," Jean instructed the girl during their road trip, "my parents, and my sister, they don't know anything about the less ordinary things in the world. So best not discuss abilities and such, all they know is that Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is a prestegious private school, with many well respected programs. We should keep like that, I introduced you as a girl with similar background to mine, I told them you were committed to an asylum and are now adjusting to regular life. Okay...?"

Jean expects Vi not to be overly inquisitive and take things at face value, so isn't overly concerned about having to deal deeper on a personal level than she'd care to. But suffice to say, with the reasoning she gave, her parents and sister are much more likely to not be jarred by any potential odd behaviour from Vi.

Almost as an after thought she adds, "that's why they were very cool with me bringing home a student, they see it as a sign of the good progress I made, that I can now help other girls with similar issues..." for all of her restrained and skill at keeping a warm and welcoming visage, Jean does look a bit hurt for a moment as she speaks of that matter.

Vi has posed:
It's been easy for anyone to pick up on how unfamiliar Vi is with the normal world, and Jean's psychic abilities give her innumerable insights that others probably wouldn't pick up on. The totality of how different everything is around her. So this chance to get some perspective on the 'normal' world, plus how the school differs from it, seems like it will be an invaluable opportunity for Vi.

She dressed in jeans and boots and a Henley shirt, with a hand-me-down jacket that she'd acquired after being told to ask around the school about clothing. One of the girls in the hall came by with a curling iron to help Vi look nice for the trip. She still is reaching up now and then to feel the bit of unusual bit of curl that resulted from the device, even as they are pulling up to the house.

Vi nods along at Jean's instructions. The telepath will realize the word 'asylum' went over her head but she seems to have got the gist of what Jean wishes from her.

Vi spent a lot of time looking out the windows as they drive to Annandale-on-Hudson. Occasionally she'd ask questions about what this was (smoke stacks from a factory) or that was (a city's elevated water tank). By the time they make it into the suburban area she's looking at the homes, and asking how many families fit in each home, surprised to find only a single family inhabit most of them.

Vi looks over to the beautiful red-haired woman. "I appreciate this a lot," Vi says softly. And Jean will sense the girl picked up on the emotions that leak into Jean's expression. "It sounds like you've been through a lot too. But I just see someone who seems to be in control of her life. I hope others will look at me someday and see that," she says.

Phoenix has posed:
As Jean figures Vi understands the request, she doesn't go in depth into what it means, after all, it's not likely a topic her parents would like to discuss in depth. Least of all with Jean present.

Jean is actually quite pleased with the distraction, answering Vi's question, which makes it feel like she's travelling with a younger child. She wonders if Vi ever has to deal with people treating her a certain way, just because she doesn't appear to know trivial things, but she figures the girl may not necessarily feel comfortable asking questions of just about anyone. Still, it might be something to discuss with her at some point.

"And here we are...as you can tell, this is nowhere near as heavily populated as a place like New York City," Jean grins at Vi as they pull into the driveway. Counting the vehicles outside, she notes, "looks like Sara's home too, she's my older sister. Well then, ready to meet my family?"

With that question, Jean opens the door and motions for Vi to follow her, as she walks towards the house.

Before Jean can even get theere the door opens and her mother comes rushing out to give her a huge bear hug, "Jean!!!" She calls out happilly, "so good to see you!"

Jean's father on the other hand, is lingering by the door, offering a mild wave at Jean and Vi, before calling out to his wife, "Elaine, dear, we have more than the one guest..." he gestures for Vi to step inside.

Jean looks a bit uncomfortable, returning her mother's embrace, but quickly trying to point attention at Vi, "hi mom, good to see you too, this is Vi, the student I was telling you about."

"Vi?" Elaine repeats the name as she finally lets go of Jean, turning to look at Vi, "is Victoria too 'old' sounding these days?" She shakes her head, "nice to meet you, Vi, please, do come in...I hope you like pancakes!"

Vi has posed:
Vi climbs out of the car, closing the door behind her. Giving it a little test to see if she got it closed. The number of times she's ridden in such a vehicle is only just nearing needing a second hand to start counting.

Vi hangs back a little bit as Jean's mother comes rushing out. The display of motherly love and emotion can't help but be a little heart-warming to Vi. She slips her hands into her jacket pockets, watching quietly until attention is drawn to her.

Vi steps forward, pulling a hand out of her pocket, not sure whether to offer it or not, so she finally decides on giving a little wave with it. "Hello. Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Grey," she says quietly, the socialization simulations she's just started running helping there. Vi pauses at the question to the name. "I'm... not sure. I have never met a Victoria," she says quietly. "I've always just been Vi," she says.

Vi glances to Jean, noticing the unease. She seems to see a lot more than she lets on. "I don't think I've had pancakes. I had white cake. And chocolate cake. Those were very good, but only small amounts," she says. Oh the stomachache that resulted after that first day of finding out she could eat anything in the kitchen she wanted!

Phoenix has posed:
"Never met a Victoria?" Elaine starts laughing, taking Vi's most serious reply as a joke, "don't be silly. You'd find 10 Victorias for one Vi, I'm sure, I thought Vi was short for Victoria because you wanted to sound more 'groovy', right?" She still laughs, despite being off on the 'cool' term of the decade. She then leans towards Jean and whispers, "is it because she can't handle too many syllables?" But Jean kills that question with a rather stern glance, before snapping softly, "mom, don't ask offensive questions, she can handle everything like any of us."

"Come on in," John says loudly, forcing attention on him, "I had to ward off Sara so you'll have pancakes, come on in," and with that he steps inside.

"Oh you poor darling!" Elaine gasps when Vi admits to never having had pancakes, she walks up to the girl and gives her a warm hug as well, before turning to lead her by the hand, "come right in with me, and prepare to meet your new favorite food. It was the only thing Jean would have for breakfast over weekends..."

Jean follows behind them, grumbling a quiet, "mom, she doesn't need to hear stories about what I liked as a kid, okay?"

Vi has posed:
Vi's reply to Elaine about wanting to sound more groovy is a soft, "Yes ma'am," it seems like a safe thing to say. Jean might gain a little more insight, likely sensing Vi's reaction noting Elaine thinks she might be simple. Though rather than be offended, there is almost a sense of comfort in it. As if Vi prefers to be overlooked. As if for Vi there is a sense of safety in not being noticed or thought of.

The hug comes as a bit of a shock then. There's a moment of hesitation and then Vi gives herself into the warm gesture, hugging Jean's mother back, letting her go when the woman does. "I'm sure I will like it then," Vi says softly as they head into the house.

Vi looks around the house that is extremely spacious by her standards, which have only slightly started to adjust from her time and exposure to the School's immense structures. Everything is so neat and clean. Not a hint of ash or dirt. "You have a very beautiful home," Vi says softly, glad that she asked to do a simulation about visiting someone's home when she found out that Jean wanted to bring her here. Vi peeks over at Jean, checking to see if she's doing well.

Phoenix has posed:
Elaine sure seems to accept Vi's reply, so that one worked for her, as the girl is lead into the house. "You're just saying it now, it's good you have good manners, but wait till you've had a taste. What do you prefer for topping, blueberries? Strawberries? Just maple syrup?" Elaine asks, having just forget the fact Vi mentioned never having had pancakes, so the questions are likely going over her head.

"Oh, did you hear that?" Elaine calls out after John, "isn't Vi just precious?" She smiles at Vi and says, "I'm glad you noticed, I like to keep a clean house, no matter how often Jean and Sara tried to mess it up."

Speaking of Sara, Jean's sister is sat on the couch across from the door, and she says quite audibly, "well, you wouldn't let Jean stick around to make a mess for long, did you?"

That comment brings sharp looks all around from John, Elaine, and even Jean, as Sara gets up and shrugs, "I forgot, we're a perfect family when guests are around, hi Vi," she calls out at the girl with a wave of her hand, "we're just an every day American family. Come have some pancakes..." and as Sara heads to the kitchen, John steps into Vi's field of vision, "yes, pancakes will get cold if we don't sit down, after you," he motions Vi towards the kitchen.

Jean meanwhile keeps her eyes on Vi, checking if she's okay and not overwhelmed, as she heads into the kitchen herself. "So...as I was saying on the phone earlier, Vi has a similar experience to mine, and right now she's just starting to get back into the real world...so go easy on her, okay?" The question is politely stated, with a pleasant tone, but Jean is absolutely looking at Sara as if sending a message.

Sara for her part rolls her eyes at Jean, before turning on a smiling face towards Vi as she sits at the table. "I was just joking, you know, famlies tease each other sometimes..." at least she made the effort.

Vi has posed:
Vi is familiar with one of the three toppings. She had her first strawberry recently at the school. But rather than stick with the safe answer, she asks, "Could I maybe try all three? Or isn't that done?" she asks, her eyes going to Jean to make sure she's not saying something stupid without realizing it.

The exchange of looks after Sara's comment are noted by Vi, but she doesn't say anything, just keeping her eyes down. She does that a lot, mostly glancing up at people to glimpse their expressions rather than looking at them directly for very long.

She follows into the kitchen, glancing around and no doubt comparing it to the Xavier's School one. Also to little one in the Avenger's safehouse apartment she was first stashed in. As Sara tries to lighten things back up after her comment, Vi tries to help her out. "My brother used to do that a lot. He loved to tease," she says quietly. She peeks back at Jean again, checking on how she's doing.

"Miss Grey seems to be very liked by the students," Vi says quietly. "I'm hoping I can be more like her some day," she says as she moves over to take whatever seat they motion her to.

Phoenix has posed:
"Oh, a healthy appetite! Of course dear, you can have all three," Elaine coos at Vi, clearly taking the girl of a little off in the head, as she goes about serving her a rather colorful serving of a pancake stack dripping with color from the mix of strawberries, blueberries, maple syrup and a bit of whipped cream for good measure. John is served next, his with blueberries and a bit of syrup. Sara doesn't wait her turn and serve herself, opting for strawberries and whipped cream. Jean for her part asks for just the blueberries, letting her mother serve her.

"I know, would you like some hot cocoa with that?" Elaine offers Vi jovially, while Jean offers a helping thought <<it's a sweet chocolate drink, served warm.>>

Jean seems quite pleased with Vi, sneaking in a bit of a thumb's up when she thinks nobody is noticing, though Sara seems to have caught that, even though she says nothing about it.

"Is that so...?" John finally seems to take some interest, "not taking after your old man, are you, Jean? My students all absolutely hate me," he jokes, before turning to Vi, "don't tell me she gets students to like her by going easy on the homework, mmm?"

Jean for her part offers a weak smile to her father, murmuring, "I try and take after your example, making the students the focus, and trying to best teach them." Vi might note Jean has that habit, of deflecting, when she's offered praise, even if in a somewhat teasing form as just now.

But then Sara has to keep annoying her parents by quipping, "are a lot of the students, well, 'special'? Like Jean? I heard that what that school fixes, makes you guys more normal..." but that last bit earns a sharp glare from Jean, but before she can even give her sister a piece of her mind, John does the trick for her.

"Sara," his tone is scolding, even if he keeps his volume even, "I won't have this kind of talk at the table. Jean turned out very well, taking after her father and teaching the younger generation, and I'm sure Vi is a charming young lady with a bright future ahead of her. There's no need for labels."

Somehow, Jean doesn't seem any more eased up by that, as instead of saying anything she digs into her pancake and asks Vi, "do you like it?" Trying to distract her from the 'family' moment.

Vi has posed:
Vi tries the pancakes with each interest. Each different component is tasted separately, though the syrup covers up the berries to some degree. It's pretty clear she likes each of them. "The blueberries are good," she comments softly. "A lot of food is named after colors, I notice," Vi says quietly. She still feels bad for thinking Lara Croft was not being helpful just telling her the juice was orange. She could already see it was orange!

Vi glances up, stealing glances at each person as the Grey family dynamic plays out. "Yes. Um, thank you," Vi says at the offer of hot chocolate, and she looks back to Jean to give her a small, grateful smile.

The talk of Jean following her father is noted it seems as Vi asks John Grey, "So you are a teacher also? I don't know about homework. But people are always comfortable going to Jean with their problems. They can tell she cares about them. I've seen several times students seemed happier after speaking to her," she comments, before glancing about the table, wondering if she'd said too much.

Vi nods to Jean. "The pancakes are very good. Soft. We made something that looks like them, but they weren't light. They were like... really hard bread but they didn't spoil," she says softly. Vi has a noticeable accent, sort of a mix of Eastern European, British, and a few other accents thrown in as well to make it rather unique.

Phoenix has posed:
"Blueberries are healthy too," John offers, albeit it's questionable how much health they offer in part of the pancake assembly. "That's right! Many of them are named with colors, but not all, a banana is yellow after all," Elaine practically beams at Vi, even though she talks to her like she's in kindergarten. Having said that, she goes to make Vi a cup of hot cocoa, but not before offering to everyone in the table as well. Jean and her sister apparently are takers.

"I'm a Professor of History at Bard's College, you must have seen it on the way in, it's a lovely place, isn't it? Do you think you might want to become a teacher one day, Vi? If so, Jean could be someone good to learn from."

John does turn to look at his red haired daughter at Vi's input, before inclining his head and asking, "so you leaned on to psychology, Jean? Isn't that ironic, though to be fair, I think it makes sense you'd want to help others like you." Jean smiles uncomfortably and just nods at her father, flatly murmuring, "Professor Xavier is a great teacher, I picked up a lot from him. Helping others, helps all of us."

Sara is the one to pick on Vi's accent, when she pops into the conversation to ask, "Vi, just where are you from? I can't quite pick your accent, are you German, or Russian or something?"

Vi has posed:
Vi started out eating very quickly once she'd tasted everything. The first third of the pancake is consumed at her normal eating speed. One influenced by the fact that food is only safe from being stolen away once it is in your stomach. But as she notices how slowly others are eating, she makes herself slow down as well.

"I have a lot to learn. I haven't really thought about what I'll do," the petite teen says. She's small, but one can see in her face that she's at the end of her teenage years, and according to SHIELD they placed her as being nineteen though Vi had no idea of her own age. Old enough to be graduated, but taking remedial classes so far, like learning to read.

Vi looks over to Sara, and pauses just a moment. Rather than say she's from Echo, she recalls what Samuel had said of the work camp's location. "I think you call it Sokovia," she says softly with a nod towards Sara.

Vi returns to eating slowly and listening to the family conversation. Jean will sense a bit of comfort coming over Vi. Even though it's very different for her, even with the bits of tension that Jean might feel, there is something here that is very appealing to Vi. The sense of family that others can take for granted, will be very prominently noticed in Vi's thoughts and emotions.