Etraya Inbox

[heartofthedream]

INBOX Call | Text | Video | Letter | Telepathy | Surprise Me "This is Jean. Leave a message and I'll call back as soon as I can."

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[redvisor]

[ Right. The mansion. A place that’s both familiar and not. Storm had brought it in, he’s pretty sure she had. Back when his first trip to Etraya had been a bumpy one. Back when there were more of them. Or at least those he knew. To some extent anyway. ]

Like the last time and the time before that. It’s as if Aurora or Echo or whoever won’t let me take more than a few steps there before I find myself back here. Or in the middle of some mission.

[ There’s a touch of frustration that can be felt through that. Understandable, really. To be pulled back and forth between worlds as if he were a yo-yo of sorts. It’s disorienting and annoying, especially for someone like Scott Summers. Is he actually needed here and they can’t make up their minds about it? Are they trying to spare him seeing or experiencing something back home for whatever reason? He doesn’t know and doubts he’ll get much of an answer from either. Point is though, Scott Summers seems to be a presence this place can’t be without for too long.

Which… ]

Ran into a younger version of myself. Have to ask if I was always so….

[ Moody? Rough around the edges? Difficult? Emotional? He’ll let her pick which descriptors to use there. ]

Thought that was new for a change.

[heartofthedream]

[ There's understanding and sympathy for his frustration; far more feeling than it is words. When has there ever been a time she didn't want to help, want to make things better for him, if she could? For all she's become—all she is—it's not one she can give anyone here. It's been a humbling addition to everything else.



Jean isn't expecting the flip, and there's a flicker of flash-bright amusement, warm and fond and almost life laughter. Even in person, she can't keep herself from smiling. ]

{ Very new. And yes, as much as no.

At least for the Scott I grew up with. I feel like one here—he's a little freer, a little more willing to run off and have fun. But there's a lion's share of that, which comes down to the simple fact that at this age, he's not running the X-Men, here or there. }

[redvisor]

Yeah. He made that loud and clear.

[ Had shouted it at him, but. He’s used to that. To the pushback, to the disagreements, to the questioning and resisting the words he offers. Both from kids and from peers. Yeah, he means you, Logan. It’s why he hadn’t taken it to heart — the countless times he called him an asshole or jerk. Just a little different when it’s coming from… yourself.

There’s a sigh that can be heard and he’s pinching the bridge of his nose after removing his glasses for a second. ].

He seems to be under the impression I’m the one everyone’s been waiting for. Little hard to believe there given how strong of a reaction my presence has always had.

[ The legacy that comes with the names Scott Summers and Cyclops is one he figures he can handle or brush off enough, but. This… younger him… not so much, he thinks. ]

Didn’t think I’d be parenting myself here this time around.

[heartofthedream]

{ Heavy hangs the crown. }

[ It's as soft as it is almost somber; maybe in a way only they can truly share. The Head and the Heart of the X-Men; Eternal Team Leader and Xavier's Heir. Columns so long ago entrenched into the ground, grown bigger than either of them. Sometimes easily carried, sometimes suffocating—always asking things of them.

It sounds, from what she can tell, like an interesting dust-up.

(She thinks, absently, Illyana will be grateful he's here.
Even if he isn't the one who made her a Captain of Krakoa.) ]

{ What happened? }

[redvisor]

[ He's... trying. Not entirely sure just yet whether or not he's still as capable of being a Leader as he once was, but. The time he's spent here before, regardless of how fleeting the last time had been, he's not as submerged within his own guilt and depression as he had been for... however long it had been. Will it still pull him under from time to time? Of course. Even before everything, he always carried the weight — the burdens — of the others on his shoulders. That's what a leader does.

That's what Scott Summers does.

But having a younger and alternate version of himself here who's yet to experience that weight and those burdens... it stirs a feeling within him he can't quite name just yet, even if he has an idea of what it is. ]

Wasn't exactly happy to see me. Especially after he put two and two together with who I was.

[ The kid has only just made it to Xavier's he figures. There's still so much anger and pent up emotion he knows he's probably been dealing with because... that's what he dealt with when his powers first manifested as they did and... if they were anything like this, well. Yeah. He gets The Mood. ]

I think he's going need some time. Not sure about staying at the school for the moment. I figure the less of me being around at the moment, the better for him. At least until he's not as conflicted about himself.

[heartofthedream]

{ You never know.

Maybe for now. But not long-term. }

[ The drastic separation isn't a necessity, and might build itself oddly. ]

{ Different circumstances, but we went through something like this back home—the original five of us. } [ It's still a little strange to think there are version where they are the original core, first team. ] { We got blown into the future for a goodwhile, still in our teens. You were there, all grown up and— } [ Murdering Charles. Having an Affair, then Relationship™️ with Emma. Living on past her death ] { —doing what you always do: continuing, striving forward, holding everything together no matter how precarious the circumstances might look.

Not all that excited to suddenly have a pack of problematic teen us. }

[redvisor]

[ He considers her words — her thoughts. He always does. So often Jean is able to show him sides he maybe can't see in the moment especially when locked in as Cyclops. That's why she's the heart. That's why she's his heart ]

It was a bit different having Laura and Logan here. From where I'm from, I mean.

[ There's a bit of that trademark Scott Summers Contemplative Sigh there. Now it's just him. ]

That's a thing he and I have in common... neither of us are the Scott Summers so many here have been looking for or dreading to have show up here.

[ Because, you know. He's Heard Things and all. ]

[heartofthedream]

{ You will never need to be more than who you already are. }

[ It's simple. It's definitive.

More important than any other answer to the other things. ]

[redvisor]

Still figuring that out some days.

[ If he's being honest. Which? Smart to do with a telepath. ]

I'll talk to him. Soon as I can figure out when.

[ But, on another slightly related note: ]

Wouldn't happen to know if those visors you got me the last time around are still here, would you?

[heartofthedream]

{ Of course.



When you figure out where you're going to land,
I can have one of the bots deliver them there. }

[redvisor]

You think I shouldn't?

[ He figures he doesn't need to clarify, but. ]

That it'll make things worse?

[heartofthedream]

{ I think giving him a little space, or a little time, while he adjusts to the knowledge of you here, won't hurt. But not like the time or space of say ... the grand canon. }

[ The smallest beat. ]


{ That aside?

I will always hope you'll still choose to call the Mansion home. }

[ She can't help that she'll always want him near, no matter that she can reach out across the islands—the planet, the universe—to brush his thoughts. It's not the same. None of it is. But this is, just as much, too. ]

[redvisor]

[ She’s not wrong and he knows it. It’s why he’d asked — why he’d wanted to make sure he was making the right call here with this given how different of a situation this is for him and with everything that’s happened back home, he’s not always so sure he makes the right calls. Again, easier for him to carry those weights and burdens of that sort of legacy here than his younger alternate self who barely has one foot in the world of the X-Men. But he’s still wanting to make it right.

The thought of calling the mansion here home gets him to think about that time when they’d both arrived at their room here without so much as a second thought. He can smile a little back on that now, even if at the time they’d both sort of stood there in their awkwardness.

It is a big school and has lots of rooms, that much is true. Easy enough to keep to yourself. Not always from a telepath, but. ]

Got to get my visor some way, don’t I?

[ He knows she said a companion bot could deliver it, but. Getting it in person sounds a lot better. ]

[heartofthedream]

[ There's faintest flush of a pleased flutter somewhere in the ocean of the connection between them. ]

{ That's definitely one way to look at it. }

[redvisor]

[ He feels it. Might even make him smile a little. ]

Guess I’ll have to stop by to get it then.