Outdoor Chat n' Nap (Jean)

[Alex "Havok" Summers]

[atrb=border,0,true] [style=width:370; padding:10px 25px 10px 25px; background-color:BFBFBF; text-align:justify; font-family:kozuka mincha pro; font-size:13px; color:383838; line-height:12px; letter-spacing:-1px; margin-top:10px]Don't Let It Bring YouDOWN Alex had spent a whole night in the Danger Room and was sore to the bone, so why he was still up and running and not in bed was a complete mystery to him. His muscles screamed for relief, his head swam. A nice warm bed sounded really good right now. Damn that combat simulator for making him feel like an old man when he really was only thirty-something and had an older brother who worked out in it constantly with no qualms. Maybe it was that he just was more used to the strain of combat. After all, Scott had been with the X-Men since he met the Professor, and Alex's short break from the X-Men and subsequent inactivity hadn't really been all that short. It had ended up being a stint as a teacher at the School for seven or so years.  Now that he had asked if he could reenlist with Xavier's team, though, and was putting himself through this physical strain again, he was determined to be truly committed this time. Prepping for active duty was harder than he remembered, yet easier than he had thought it would be. At first he had thought that fighting the Sentinels would be easy; after all they hadn't felt the likes of his energy blasts for years. But, much to his surprise, they had adapted quite well. Perhaps it was the fact that Scott and Alex's powers were very alike in nature. Whatever the reason, the younger Summers brother had come very close to getting stomped several times.  It had all worked out well in the end, though, and now it was time to rest a bit and take a breath of fresh air. Wandering out into the courtyard, he picked and lounged on a little bench by a clump of pine trees. It was overcast, but essentially a nice day. You didn't need a coat, however it was a bit chilly in places. The air smelled like moisture. Perhaps it would sprinkle soon, but for the moment it was clear.  Alex closed his eyes and sighed. Maybe he shouldn't have done this. He'd fall asleep here if he wasn't careful. It's Only Castles Burning [/style] TAGS: Jean Grey WORD COUNT: 362 OOC NOTES:  LYRIC CREDIT: Neil Young, Don't Let It Bring You Down Table layout by BRY, 2012

[Jean "Phoenix" Grey]

Jean walked by herself through the back end of the courtyard, students were still out playing what looked like a very intense game of basketball on the court, some were studying. It was oddly quiet but then again many of the most vigorous lovers of outdoors were currently locked away in study sessions for their exams. Like many schools, Xavier’s taught students of all ages and the college classes there were not to be taken lightly. And with so many study halls packed it meant few classes were in session, which worked for Jean just fine.

She had only opted to take one class to teach for now, Advanced Biology. The Doctor in her was pleased and the Mutant was able to try and figure out what may have happened to her all those years ago. Regardless it was a class she felt at ease in and the students enrolled were serious about their learning. She loved that.

Flipping open the cover to her iPad she began to pull open documents and files pertaining to the student records and their latest Danger Room scores. While it had nothing to do with her class per say, Jean could use the results to determine why or why not a student may have failed against a certain enemy simulation given their abilities.

Perking up as a lethargic wave hit her Jean held the iPad against her chest and glanced around, finally spying a small blip of a person in the distance. With a quick scan she determined it was Alex Summers and deemed him safe enough to approach. With her inability to stay in control Jean had broken away from her former self in the sense that she now preferred to be alone if given the choice. Whereas 10 years ago she was in constant companionship with someone.

She was less harmful to others than to herself on a good day but sometimes even her mind got the better of her which is when she sought out someone she knew. Everytime she felt that way Jean tried to find someone different than the last.

Eventually coming up behind him Jean tugged on her thin jacket, pulling it closer to herself before perching herself on the edge of the bench. “I wouldn't fall asleep out here if I were you.”

[Alex "Havok" Summers]

[atrb=border,0,true] [style=width:370; padding:10px 25px 10px 25px; background-color:BFBFBF; text-align:justify; font-family:kozuka mincha pro; font-size:13px; color:383838; line-height:12px; letter-spacing:-1px; margin-top:10px]Don't Let It Bring YouDOWN Detecting footsteps approaching, Alex sat up a little and forced his eyes open, forcing his brain to work despite his low level of alertness. Someone to talk to, hallelujah! He could definitely work out of this tired, nonchalant mood with some company. The world suddenly was about nine shades brighter- but perhaps that was because of the fact that his eyes were actually fully open. "I wouldn't fall asleep out here if I were you." He hadn't bothered to see who his company was before now. It came as a surprise: Jean. That made him smile even more. She had been so distant lately, almost refusing to talk to anyone, and harder to catch than a black mamba. Alex wasn't exactly sure why, and there had been several times he had thought about it and worried about her. Even though she had been possessed by that Phoenix spirit, and caused all that chaos, she was still an important authority figure and leader to the school, if not the team as well. If anyone knew that, it was her. Why did she estrange herself from her fellow X-men then? "I know, but it's a wonderful day, and so tempting. I spent all night in the Danger Room, and I'm tired to the bone." A momentary cramp seized Alex's leg and he cringed. "And it's not like I'm going to miss anything, right? Unless we get taken over again. But that's pretty unlikely." He scooted over a little to give Jean a bit more room, and smiled at her. She was quite pretty still, despite the turmoil that she had been thrown into as of late. That red hair was just as red as ever. Her straight white teeth were not in the least yellowed. The only thing different was the haunted and fearful look in her eyes, and the iPad she held in her hand. Yet, that was to be expected. Technology was ever-changing, even he himself had an iPhone, and as long as it was available to the public the school would use it. "How have you been? I heard that you started teaching again. It's good to have you back." It's Only Castles Burning [/style] TAGS: Jean Grey WORD COUNT: 362 OOC NOTES:  LYRIC CREDIT: Neil Young, Don't Let It Bring You Down Table layout by BRY, 2012

[Jean "Phoenix" Grey]

Jean immediately noted that Alex had to have been exhausted, his sluggish response to her approaching was odd, even for him. If a student wanted to play a prank on the pair of them at that exact moment, Alex would be the perfect target. Smiling she brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, trying to ease out of how awkward she was feeling. There was absolutely no need with Alex, he was Scott’s brother and Scott was her.. something. They were all very close, always had been and although Alex was younger he was easier to talk to than Scott sometimes.

“You’re right. That does seem very unlikely. But it looks like it might rain, wouldn't want it to ruin your hair.” Jean grinned and nudged him gently with her elbow. Alex took pride in his appearance and was incredibly confident young man, something Scott wasn't at that age. Almost cocky but unlike some of her students, Alex didn't let their looks get the better of him. If she had one more student male or female attempt to hit on her... She nodded her head in thanks as he scooted over and Jean sat next to him, finally closing her iPad and placing it down next to her.

She could sense Alex’s concern for her in abundance. Not new as she had been getting a lot of that lately but still something she had yet to get used to. She got more attention to her mental health lately than to all of the changes her body had gone through. Blue eyes instead of green, her hair was darker, she had a slight accent, and then all of the changes her physiology had undergone.

Shrugging her shoulders in response to his question Jean’s now blue eyes glanced around before landing back on Alex. “I’m as to be expected I suppose. Death isn’t new to me anymore.. almost a regular occurrence really. I was ready for that to be it. To die. Erik’s magnetic pulse seemed rather final. I was finally at peace Now I’m here, not sure what to do with myself.

Sighing Jean ran her hands along her skirt before resting them on her knees. "I like teaching, we know I love this place. But I don't know if I belong her anymore Alex. Something doesn't feel right. I can't relate to anyone anymore. I don't feel human. And then there's Scott..Charles won't tell me where he is, if he's alive. They told me I killed him.." Jean said quietly in disbelief and glanced up at Alex with wet eyes. "Did I do that Alex? Did I kill Scott?"

[Alex "Havok" Summers]

[atrb=border,0,true] [style=width:370; padding:10px 25px 10px 25px; background-color:BFBFBF; text-align:justify; font-family:kozuka mincha pro; font-size:13px; color:383838; line-height:12px; letter-spacing:-1px; margin-top:10px]Don't Let It Bring YouDOWN "My hair? Oh, yeah, right." He had been so intent on the way he was feeling and how warm it was that he completely forgot about the impending rainstorm. Glancing up, he surveyed the sky and clouds. The wind suggested that it was coming their way. Instinctively, he reached up and rubbed his hair. There was a small cowlick on his left temple; with a deft hand he smoothed it back into agreement. "Well, then, I suppose that I'll stay out here for as long as possible until it starts to pour." Jean seemed to be in quite a friendly mood today. Her smile, though reserved, was genuine. She nudged him; he grinned and looked down. Now that she was right there, perhaps his vision of the old Jean was just an illusion. Now it was an older, blue-eyed Jean Grey that sat in front of him. That's right, she had come back from the dead after the Phoenix had left her body. That had been a scary thing for all involved, even the kids at the school. Most of his students had nowhere to go when it closed, so Alex kept them in a secret wing until the matter was resolved. He nodded at her reply. "Well, at least you're not anything too dramatically different." He pointed out. "When I first saw you just now I thought you still were like you were- before everything." He wasn't sure wether to say something along the lines of "Phoenix incident" or not. He wasn't sure how she'd take it. "I like teaching, we know I love this place. But I don't know if I belong her anymore Alex. Something doesn't feel right. I can't relate to anyone anymore." "You don't know if you belong? Jean, you belong more than any of us do. You are foundational to everything here- everything we can see." He gestured to the buildings, and the grounds. "I've been asking myself the same question lately, actually. I've felt really guilty that I'm never out on the battlefield, helping all of you fight. But eventually, I came to realize that half the battle is here, teaching the kids how to use their power for a good cause and helping them on a path to a higher education. If you can still do that, then you still belong." Alex cared for his friends, yet he wasn't going to water anything down for their sake. The hard truth was better than soft lies now and hard truth later. "Yes, you did kill Scott." He had been on the expedition to recover the body. "He's alive though, I'm sure of it. On the day you killed him I could feel it. Then one fine morning that part of me that left was back again." It's Only Castles Burning [/style] TAGS: Jean Grey WORD COUNT: OOC NOTES:  LYRIC CREDIT: Neil Young, Don't Let It Bring You Down Table layout by BRY, 2012

[Jean "Phoenix" Grey]

“Nothing overly dramatic that I've noticed, yet..” Jean knew that deep down people may not ever stop seeing her as she was before and that was just something she was going to have to live with. Though, there may be multiple pieces of her fighting against each other in essence she was probably still her. Probably. Not really.

Then again, they could see her the other way too. Powerful, in charge and out of control. Jean had lost focus, fell off her path and pushed everyone who had every wanted to help her aside. The need to hurt someone had been so clear to her, dangling in front of her face. And she did.

Jean kept her smile on and nodded, shrugging her shoulders. “I think a lot of people still think that actually.. It’s okay. People can’t believe that someone like me could.. do that. But that’s Jean Grey for you. Always being underestimated.”

It was true. For as long as Jean could remember she’d always been the good girl, the girl next door, the girl who could do no wrong. The one who was always left behind because of her abilities, who could have someday become something. All it took was for Jean to sacrifice herself to become something. First a martyr, then something else entirely.

And then one day Jean was suddenly alive again and something far beyond what anyone could have imagined she’d become and look what that got her. She had gone from being completely right to being completely wrong. "You're wrong Alex. Just because I was one of Charles' first students.. Scott and the others, they were the foundation. I was just there because my parents were scared.

"In the end it doesn't matter if you're here in the classroom or in the battlefield, the battles don't change. It's not about what we can do anymore Alex. Everybody's trying to find a balance between right and wrong. The things we learned here.. they don't apply anymore." Jean said bitterly.

And then the topic changed.. Scott.. Alex's blunt confirmation hit Jean like a ton of bricks, sucked the wind right out of her. Her hands clenched together and she squeezed her eyes as tightly closed as she could for a few moments before throwing her arms around his neck. Jean couldn't even remember doing it. "I didn't mean to Alex.. I'm so sorry. You know how I felt about him. I'm not me without him. If you can feel him than you're so lucky, because I can't."

[Alex "Havok" Summers]

[atrb=border,0,true] [style=width:370; padding:10px 25px 10px 25px; background-color:BFBFBF; text-align:justify; font-family:kozuka mincha pro; font-size:13px; color:383838; line-height:12px; letter-spacing:-1px; margin-top:10px]Don't Let It Bring YouDOWN A new chapter, the fifth, of his life was beginning; Alex was sure of it. There had been that first chapter, with his biological parents, that first short three years; the second, with his adoptive family, ending with the killing of his sister's kidnapper and the short stint in jail; the third being Xavier taking him in and everything that went on back then; and the fourth being his years teaching the kids. He could not imagine having lived as many times as Jean had, being the Phoenix for as long as she had, having unlimited power. When he took all of this into consideration, he realized that perhaps he was wrong. If she was burnt out of being here, she didn't have to stay. Alex leaned his head back. He could feel that cowlick spring back up again, but he ignored it. "I was one of his first students too, don't you remember? I was here even before you and Scott. Almost no one does, since while you were training in the danger room I devoted my time wholly to textbooks and chalkboards." Despite Jean's reproach and the weight of the truth of what she was saying, Alex smiled. He had always liked to think that the space-time continuinum had gotten messed up majorly, and that was the real reason why no one thought of him as a founding member. But that was not the case. He had just hidden himself away too well. He may love the school but that didn't mean that Alex wouldn't listen to Jean, and see the light and truth in her point. "You may be right." He nodded simply in reply, sitting up closer to the front edge of the bench. "The world changes faster than one wants to think. My life has taken on a new meaning ever since becoming an X-Man again, and so I'm determined to stay here, but if you think that it's in your best interest to leave the School permanently, I know of someone that won't try to stop you and will always wave and say a cheery hello when he sees you." Alex winked. The news about Scott hit her like a lightning bolt or a ton of bricks. Well, at least she had the truth now. It lifted a burden off of Alex's shoulders, too. He didn't have to worry about letting it slip anymore. Her eyes slammed shut, fists clenched. And then she threw her arms around him. Alexander didn't mind at all. He returned the embrace, lightly folding his hands on her back. He tried to stay calm, hide his sadness and stay strong, giving off the feeling that it was going to be alright. It was. Alex was sure that she was entering a new chapter in her life, too, and it would take her to places she wouldn't have even dreamed of. It would do no good to demoralize her now. "It's perfectly fine. Not the first time that's happened, and it won't be the last." Very true, that was. He didn't know what else to say, so just sat there and let her cope for the moment. It's Only Castles Burning [/style] TAGS: Jean Grey WORD COUNT: OOC NOTES:  LYRIC CREDIT: Neil Young, Don't Let It Bring You Down Table layout by BRY, 2012

[Jean "Phoenix" Grey]

Pulling back from Alex, Jean nodded and brushed at her eyes with one by one with the tip of her thumb before brushing them against her shirt. “Yes you did. You were so young back then Alex, so much younger than us. You weren't ready.. we weren't ready either but you had so much anger built up back then, Charles wasn't sure..It was nothing personal.” Jean took his hand in hers and squeezed gently. Both Scott and Alex were angry young men and nobody could deny that. Scott often confided that he felt abandoned and angry at his parents for dying and then when they found Christopher.. he exploded.

She could count on one hand the number of times she’d ever seen Scott lose it like that, and she hadn't known how to help him back then. Being a telepath couldn't give her that life experience. Jean had a stable home, two wonderful parents and a sibling who adored her. Yes, her transition was difficult and the loss of her friend Annie was what triggered her abilities but Jean couldn't imagine what it would have been like had her Father not contacted Charles when he did.

Had Annie not died and Jean naturally fell into her powers as a teenager.. it could have been disastrous. Her parents had been scared of her and with good reason... and in the end she got them killed. Her whole family. Scott at least still had Alex and sometimes Christopher, and her, before he died.

But Jean kept forgetting her children. Hers and Scott’s and Madelyne’s. She had children out there, somewhere in the universe, another timeline. And as sad and guilty she felt about her families death Jean could take a small comfort in the fact that she had those children to look forward to seeing again someday. Hopefully. Then maybe she wouldn't be as alone as she felt sometimes. Not that one every felt alone with Madelyne around in their head..

"I just feel like there's something I still have to do but I don't know what it is. But I'm so glad you'll still be here if I do go.. I wouldn't have blamed you if you wanted nothing to do with me after Scott. Whether he's alive or not Alex, I still killed him. I did that. We did that. It's not fine."

[Alex "Havok" Summers]

[atrb=border,0,true] [style=width:370; padding:10px 25px 10px 25px; background-color:BFBFBF; text-align:justify; font-family:kozuka mincha pro; font-size:13px; color:383838; line-height:12px; letter-spacing:-1px; margin-top:10px]Don't Let It Bring YouDOWN Jean relaxed and calmed down, and Alex patted the wet place on his shirt from his tears. He didn't mind that much, he understood the need to cry as well. More than once he had done it in his life, especially after he first went to prison. “Yes you did. You were so young back then Alex, so much younger than us. You weren't ready.. we weren't ready either but you had so much anger built up back then, Charles wasn't sure..It was nothing personal.” For a moment Alex maintained silence, pondering that through. "I wasn't ready, was I? Yet, I suppose there was no way to be." He sighed. Who would have imagined that he had powers, and that they would come to the surface at the sight of Haley's kidnapper? Then, that he would be carted off to federal prison, and found there by Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, who would take him and help him use his powers for a good cause. That whole adventure had been a little shenanigan in itself. So much happened in so short a time that now, who-knows-how-many-years-later, Alex couldn't get all the events straight in his head. It was doubtful that even in any parallel universe, he would be ready when the time came. Also, Jean was right about the anger. "The arrest sort of started all that for me." He wasn't sure if he had told her about all that, back before he had gone to prison: he and Scott's separation after the plane crash, how he had almost died in the medical ward, and that if it hadn't been for one determined nurse, he wouldn't be alive today; how the Blandings had adopted him and life before the knowledge that he had mutant powers. The discovery that Christopher Summers was alive had affected Alex, too, but in a much different way than it had Scott. Alex had always thought that it was his fault, the plane attack, everything. Seeing his father again lifted a huge burden off his shoulders. During the elder Summers's brief stay on Earth, Alex had been by his side 24/7. Alex had always wondered where the Blandings were now, and wether they had been brainwashed to forget him. Did Haley still remember, in fragments, the kidnapping and that a young blonde man who shot pink energy through his chest saved her? Did she recollect them cuddling each other until the police came, that she felt great sadness when they carted him away in the maximum security jail car? "I just feel like there's something I still have to do but I don't know what it is. But I'm so glad you'll still be here if I do go.. I wouldn't have blamed you if you wanted nothing to do with me after Scott. Whether he's alive or not Alex, I still killed him. I did that. We did that. It's not fine." Something she had to do? Alex hated that feeling. It was terrible, knowing that there was one thing you overlooked, you forgot, you knew you should have done but didn't. Or something that you felt like was waiting for you somewhere in the great universe yonder."We'll be here, as long as there are mutants that hate mankind, and mankind that hate mutants." The only way that the School would shut down would be if the world came to this great peace and harmony, and no one roamed the streets with dastardly intentions. Then, heroes wouldn't be needed anymore, either, and everyone could live normal lives. All that would take a miracle beyond miracles, though. "I can't just abandon a friend, no matter if they murdered my brother, or if they committed some serious crime against me." When he had gone to Church with the Blandings, he had learned to be gracious and forgiving. Perhaps some of that still stuck with him even now. "It may not be fine, but you aren't the same person that you used to be." Call him naive, call him childish, but that's what he really thought. It's Only Castles Burning [/style] TAGS: Jean Grey WORD COUNT: 681 OOC NOTES: None LYRIC CREDIT: Neil Young, Don't Let It Bring You Down Table layout by BRY, 2012

[Jean "Phoenix" Grey]

Jean felt a little bad for crying all over Alex’s shirt. She’d been able to keep up appearances with almost everyone else since she’d woken up, kept her crying to herself late at night. Nobody ever saw Jean Grey weak anymore; it would ruin the illusion that was painted of the Phoenix. Strong, powerful, infinite. But Jean proved time and time again that it wasn’t always the case. She couldn’t keep up with the illusion all of the time, Jean was still only human after all. Sort of.

Shaking her head she took a deep breath before continuing, “No Alex. You weren’t ready. And no one could have made you ready to take on the responsibility, you had to come into it on your own...and you did, with flying colors. And no, maybe not under the best circumstances, but when you proved yourself, you really did it. Better than any of us did..” Jean looked away as Alex spoke of his arrest, she hadn’t known that. Scott never said anything.. ”What happened?”

The school. The place she’d spent more than half of her life, how differently things might have turned out for her if Charles Xavier had never found her as a child.. “I know this will all still be here, mutants are the way of the future and as long as Xavier’s stands there will always be a place for mutants of all ages. But we can’t be students forever, can we? I think Charles stopped thinking of me as one of his students a long time ago..”

Finishing her sentence Jean glanced down at her hands, one had wrapped itself around Alex’s arm and she smiled briefly before glancing up at him. Alex was still so young in her eyes and maybe he always would be but there was so much of Scott and Christopher in him, so much wisdom he hadn’t even known he had. She squeezed his arm gently at the realization.

“The fact that you can forgive me Alex, for doing something so heinous speaks volumes about you. I couldn’t do the same if our situations were reversed, not anymore. If you can do that for me then maybe someday I can do the same for myself, whether Scott’s gone or not. If Scott was alive then maybe he could forgive her too. That's all she wanted from him.

Hearing him say what she’d already known made Jean laugh softly, “No, I’m really not the same anymore, am I?”

[Alex "Havok" Summers]

[atrb=border,0,true] [style=width:370; padding:10px 25px 10px 25px; background-color:BFBFBF; text-align:justify; font-family:kozuka mincha pro; font-size:13px; color:383838; line-height:12px; letter-spacing:-1px; margin-top:10px]Don't Let It Bring YouDOWN Honestly, Alex didn't mind the tears. They were water; they'd wash right out of his shirt. Plus, his ducts were getting full himself. Oh, he was such a sob! Whenever he saw someone else cry, wether he identified with them or not, automatically he would want to as well, his eyes reddening and salty drops wanting to spill down his face. He'd cried many times from his own sympathy- or perhaps from a reflex reaction. No matter, the point was that he had made many new friends, just by crying with them. Funny how that works. "Thank you. But really, I don't deserve such praise." The main difference between Alex's basic training and the other X-Men's, was the fact that it was all pretty much in the field. He had learned the most from the Cuban Missile Crisis, while Jean and the others learned from the Danger Room, or what their power tutor, often another student, taught them, a simulation and training, rather than in true combat. That's why it had seemed that Alex "Came into his own with flying colors", and they hadn't when it really all was the same. Yeah, he had helped to devise the power training programs still used today, and been a core influential first X-Man, but all that didn't matter now that he was back with Xavier's team. As a teacher, he sometimes felt like he had achieved happiness and success, but almost always as that feeling was manifesting itself, Ororo, Jean, Logan, or Scott would walk into the room and spoil that illusion. Active X-Men reminded him of the regret he harbored over quitting the team many moons ago. "Even before you all came to the school, my selfishness was undeniable. I was such a wimp back then, and then I let myself become intimidated by Scott's control— you remember. You were there when I snapped at him." That was the main reason Alex had quit the X-Men: he was jealous over the advantage Scott had over him ability-wise, and the fact that the team was opting to take the older of them more, have a "safer option" with them. Or, that's how it had seemed to him. The fact that he was recovering from a torn ACL at the same time didn't help. Oh, no wonder she gave him that puzzled look. He hadn't even told Scott about his life before training with Xavier and the crisis. "Back before being picked up by Xavier, and after the plane crash that separated Scott and me, I was adopted by a family. They were so nice to me- and I had a little sister that I adored. One night, when I was seventeen and she sixteen, a man broke into the house and kidnapped her. Our rooms were right next to each other, so I heard the muffled screams. I went after them in pursuit, but ended up being caught too, and we were both taken to a warehouse, where our kidnapper threatened to kill my sister right before my eyes. I became enraged and terrified, and it was then that my powers first chose to manifest themselves. I cut the kidnapper literally in half, and the warehouse roof was sheared off. When Police came, they handcuffed me and threw me in an armored car, no explanation, no reading of rights, nothing. I never saw any of my family again, and was carted off to prison." “I know this will all still be here, mutants are the way of the future and as long as Xavier’s stands there will always be a place for mutants of all ages. But we can’t be students forever, can we? I think Charles stopped thinking of me as one of his students a long time ago.” "You're right. Ever since I finished training and became a teacher, I haven't been thought of, or thought of myself, as a student..." He felt that it had been hard for Xavier to let go of thinking of some of his starting crowd as students and promoting them in his mind as teachers, but once that initial challenge was over it was easy to make the transition. It had also been hard on Alex, making the distinction between his old, childish self and the new man that was, compassionate and loving toward students not in the way he used to be, as a close friend, but as a guardian. "I hope, too, that you someday could." Alex couldn't imagine being a person who would hold a grudge for a long time. He hated the stereotype, though it was true, that women were more likely to carry on conflict for a long time and men just duked it out. He didn't like to end things violently, it was just a waste of time. Dealing with Erik Lensherr a lot over the years had taught him that. He had also learned from Magneto that some men were so thick headed it was impossible to turn their visions of others even if your argument was more logical than theirs. Dumb people, he liked to say. Good for nothing except chaos and destruction. "No, you're not the same. Yet, no one I have ever met has stayed the same through their whole lives." It's Only Castles Burning [/style] TAGS: Jean Grey WORD COUNT: 879 OOC NOTES: None LYRIC CREDIT: Neil Young, Don't Let It Bring You Down Table layout by BRY, 2012