sixwordstories | (no subject)

You didn't sleep at all, did you?

Sleep. [She laughs. There's a little less of the cold stiffness she's been feeling, and a bit more emotion there behind her eyes.] No. I haven't slept.

Too much to do.

Do tell. Want some coffee? There's a Starbucks right over there.

[She considers the offer, then nods.] Coffee is probably the best option.

[Jean heads toward the storefront] There aren't enough hours in the day, really. Time moves too quickly. People disappear into their lives and things get boring.

You can't really fault people for living, can you?

[He gets the door for her.]

Time's not linear, Jean. You know that. It's perception and the human mind. But that's all that quantum physics shit, and that's too brainy for me.

I can fault myself for not bring able to travel the time zones.

It's just the limits I have to accept and understand. It's strange. I've been imposing limits on myself for so long. You would think I'd be used to it by now. [Jean stares at the menu board like it's written in Greek.]

Everyone has limits, Jean.

[Matthew settles into line, clearly intending to get the same thing he always does.]

Parts of me never have.

[She steps to the counter and finally orders a large house blend, foregoing all the overwrought drinks that she can't decide between]

It's all something you get used to, really.

[Matthew pays, and then they go to wait at the pickup bar.]

You have limits, too.

More than I'd hoped. Physical exhaustion is hard to accept.

[She takes her coffee over and fixes it, then heads for the door. Inside feels too cooped up, too small.]

People in this city are more unobservant than you think they are.

Yes, it is.

[He follows, amiable enough.]

Please explain.

[There's always people filling the streets, and it's distracting at the same time that it's not, the buzz of noise drawing her attention away before she pulls it back]

It's easy to slip in to places unnoticed, slip out just the same. Everyone assumes they're special, and no one is.

Where have I heard that before... oh right, from me.

[She smiles briefly] I don't listen well. And it's not something I ever really believed until I saw how easy it is to destroy someone and walk away.

I feel like Obi Wan...

[He sips his coffee and glances over at her.]

Back up from the Underworld. That's what you look like, right now. With stolen stars in your eyes and a chasm for a heart.

Hmm. That leaves me as either Darth or Luke.

[She shrugs a shoulder] I just got all the dirt out from beneath my nails. It was an arduous climb.

Apparently, I've suddenly become rude and heartless. [A smirk tugs at her lips] Going from saccharine to neutral is jarring for people.

Although really I'm supposed to be Darth.

[He snorts.]

Have you? Rude I could believe - it's amazingly hard to give a shit when you realise how vastly more you are than everyone else.

Hmm. You're too neutrally evil to be Palpatine.

Well, sure. It's rude to go into someone's projection or dream uninvited. But it hasn't been a matter of rude. It's been more a matter of curiosity, seeking people out when I can feel them.

Apparently, I'm in trouble. [Her eyebrow goes up, and she sips her coffee. She focuses on the people ahead of her, coming directly at her, suggesting they shift over and out of her way with barely a thought to doing so.]

Thank you.

That does not negate rudeness.

You are? How so? [This he barely notices, since he does it often himself.]

You're welcome.

No, but rudeness was not my intention, as it was implied it might've been.

People are worried. [This is behavior highly irregular for Jean, who can hear the professor's words echoing in her head, though she ignores them. It's like a game, letting her mind switch from one to another to another while still paying attention to her conversation] The doormat has been taken up, and that's apparently not okay?

[He shrugs.] Does it matter if you were rude?

What people?

I made people cranky. Or aggravated an already cranky mood. But do I care? [She pauses to sip her coffee and contemplate] No.

Friends. They don't appreciate a complete shift in personality and motivations. Makes them suspicious.

[He has to laugh softly at that.] Mmm. I see.

Can you blame them?

It's a lesson learned, though.

[She's quiet again, splitting her focus between the question and listening to the stream of others' thoughts that zips through her mind since she stripped down the barriers] I guess not. Maybe I should make the effort to smile more.

A smile with no emotion is just creepy, Jean.

I suppose at some point, you will have to choose between friends and potential.