2013.05.22 - The Song That Never Ends

Returned from her trip into the city, earlier today, Jean now stands on the back lawn with a small handful of young mutants. This is, effectively, an extra-credit class, though it's something she believes all the young mutants here should take. "Psychic attacks," she tells the handful of them, now, "come in all forms. There's the obvious stun blast, but there are also more subtle subversions you need to be aware of. Most people won't sense a really good telepath coming... but there are ways you can protect yourself. And that's a lot of what I'm going to be teaching you in this class."
Cessily raises her hand. "Miss Grey?" she asks, "I get that...some of them need protection, but I've already got protection. No brain." One of her classmates, a puckish brown-haied boy, says, "See, she admits it!" "Shut up!" Cessily snaps.
Jamie's lucky, he also has his own built in defense against telepaths, trying to read his mind, is like trying to read the mind of a mob. But hey he's not here for that today, he has come for something completely different. He came to the gate, and was let in by a student that new him from another visit he had to the place. Once he asked the right question he was told where to go. He gets close enough, and clears his throat a little, and yes even though it's humid in New York currently he's wearing the trench coat, detectives wear trench coats it's a rule, "I'm looking for Ms. Grey, I was told she would be around."
Yeah. Jean's not all that keen on mobs. They give her a headache. But, that doesn't mean she's not good enough to figure out who the original Madrox is and whammy him, if she absolutely has to. As it is, she gives Cessily a small smile. "You do have a mind, however, Cessily," Jean says, casting the puckish boy a bit of a stern look. "So, you're not immune." 
Trained as she is, Jean knows which buttons to push. And while she'll admit the quicksilver girl is a harder nut to crack than many, she's not beyond her power. Pushing against the girl's mind, she attempts to take gentle control of the mutant girl's arm to raise it and make it wave hello to the class. 
Just then, however, Madrox arrives and interrupts her. The telepath's green eyes rise to the be-trenched detective, a delicate brow rising. "I'm Miss Grey," she says, releasing what hold she may have on any of the students, and straightening her shoulders. "Can I help you?"
If Cessily's a tough nut, Jean is one of those big mechanical nutcrackers they use to m ake canned nuts. The amorphous girl's nature slows Jean down by a whole one, perhaps two, seconds until she gets into the motor cortex and makes Cessily's hand jump up, waving. She yelps, "Ohmygosh," and her classmates snicker. Once Jean releases her she shakes her arm out, flowing rather like tentacle until it returns to normal. "Who's that?" Cessily mutters. One of her classmates, a teal-skinned girl, says. "Madsomething? I think he's a detective." "Oh," Cessily says, nodding and immediately thinking of that movie they watched a few weeks ago in the dorms, LA Confidential. "He doesn't look anything like Russell Crowe," she says.
"I don't think we have ever met, yet. I'm Jamie Madrox, and I came to offer my services as a teacher at the school if you need them. I am a detective, on top of the a Lawyer, EMT, and a several other things." Hey Jamie has decided that he has a huge list of skills that he could share with others. Plus teacher is the thing that he hasn't checked off the list of things to do.
Jean blinks, visibly surprised at Madrox's request. "I see..." she says slowly. He's not someone she's met before now. Though, it's possible she's heard his name. Surely someone must have mentioned it before now. Though, she's been out of the loop for a while. "I really think Professor Xavier or Scott Summers would be better to speak to about that." 
She glances at the students surrounding her. A professional smile touches her lips, now. "But, that's quite a range of expertise," she notes. "Why is it you'd like to be a teacher?"
"'Cause he's hunky?" whispers the teal girl. Cessily smirks and chuckles a bit at that, nodding as she eyes Maddrox. "Miss Grey?" asks one of the other students. "Is class over?"
"Well I asked for both, and they weren't available, so I was directed to you. I have met both Scott and the Professor before, so if you want you can let them know that I am interested in a teaching position. I'm sure there are a few things that I can help your students with, my resume can be rather impressive at times." Duping power for the win! "As for why I would be interested, it's just one of those things that I haven't done yet, but it would be interesting to try." Mental note, if dealing with kids send a dupe out to study Psychology, kids be crazy these days. If he heard the girl whisper, well he's not gonna say anything.
Jean nods simply to Madrox. "I see," she says again. "Fair enough." Yes. She'll be chatting with both Scott and Charles. But, that doesn't stop her from brushing the man's mind at least enough to verify both the truthfulness of his statements and, by default, that, yes, yes, he is a mutant. 
She glances to the questioning student. "No," she tells her. "No, it's not." She gestures to Madrox, now, inviting him to join their little circle. "We were just discussing psychic defenses, Mr. Madrox. Do you know much about that subject?"
"Is Miss Grey in charge now?" asks one of the students to another. "Wasn't she always?" Cessily injects. Through a coincidence - happiness level of which to be determined - the redhead's standing towards the front of the small group of students, making her an ideal candidate for demonstrations. "She's going to make you do the arm thing again," says the teal girl. "Hope not," Cessily adds.
Jean's probe will reveal that he is truthful and he is indeed a mutant. And that he currently has about 10 trains of thought going on right now, as he is keeping in touch with a few dupes at the moment. "For Psychic defense, I know that if I tried I could give someone reading my mind a real headache. But after that I don't know much about them. My skills tend to shift towards the things one can learn from a normal college, or other out of the way teachers." He smiles at that one, "So mental defenses are not among the things I have learned yet."
Taking the man's measure telepathically, Jean nods. She turns back to the class. "So, where were we?" 
"You were making Cessily do stuff!" one of the other kids gloats. Jean pins him with A Look, and swallows her smile. 
"Right. I was demonstrating how easily a fully trained telepath can breach even strong natural defenses." She regards each of them, now. "For now, however, we'll start with the basics. Most telepaths have to keep their own minds tightly shielded in order to keep foreign thoughts out. Thus, probing into the thoughts of another person requires them to adjust their shields to allow that sort of contact. It's easier to read higher level thoughts, harder to read deeper thoughts because of the level of modulation required. So, quite frankly, most times, when you know you're facing a telepath, your best defense is as simple as a nursery rhyme or a song."
Cessily tries to give the guy THE LOOK as well, but hers can't compare to Jean's. She's not an Omega class telepath, after all. Nope, not at all. "Kareoke pays off, Cess!" the teal girl exclaims, getting a slump of her shoulders and a roll of her eyes from Cessily. "Alright," she says, stepping forward to volunteer. "I'll go first, Miss Grey. Rhymes. I can do that," she says, and narrows her eyes, thinking of a song, which in this case is...a classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAQXg0IdfI
Jamie chuckles at that one, so that's why telepaths have trouble with him, but he has to ask, "What if you have a natural thing going for you for that? My power is to make copies of myself that I'm in contact with if they're close enough, would that work to help prevent someone from reading my mind?"
Jean actually chuckles aloud as she hears the song rock through the telepathic aether. "Bad reputation?" she arches her brow at Cessily. "Really?" She pushes gently against the girl's mind, then, however, testing her, seeing how long the girl can keep up the song against the infuriatingly benign 'This is the Song that Never Ends' she floats at her. Earworm hell. 
Not particularly requiring all of her concentration to push against the girl, not wanting to hurt her, after all, she glances to Madrox. "Your multiples can make it exceedingly more difficult, yes. But you're the overmind for all of them. Once the telepath figures out who to ignore, you could be in danger." 
At first, just fine. The others can even see Cessily bobbing her head and tapping her foot. Girl likes her rock, no doubt. There's only so long that can last, however. As Jean assaults her the earworm gets closer and closer in a way that would make Khan proud. Cessily's jaw sets and her hands tense into fists. Finally, she shrieks, grabbing at her temples. "No! No, make it stop!"
"Kinda. Some of them have developed their own personalities and gone off to do their own thing. Like there is one out the midwest who is a preacher, he even has a wife of his own. He has become very independent of me. But then I never visit him so he's outside of my hive mind range." He watches as the girl starts to tap her foot, "Oh whatever you are doing to her must be cruel."
Jean lets the earworm drop, clearing it out of her own head with Cessily's chosen melody, giving the girl a sympathetic smile as she's finally forced to give up. "That was actually an excellent effort," she tells her. "Truly." 
She nods to Jamie. "I would suggest you tell them each to come up with a different earworm and use that to muddy the waters. Add in a couple of recitations of a breakfast menu or the phone book, and you may have the seconds you need to get away." 
She looks at the students, now. "And that's what this is about, incidentally," she tells them. "Like with basic self-defence, your goal should be to put enough distance between yourself and your opponent to get away. If you are able to stop them physically, before they hurt someone, fine. But your priority should always be to get yourselves to safety first... and then find a stronger telepath that can help you." 
She lays a hand on Cessily's shoulder. "You okay? Can you tell them what it was like?" Not, mind, that she won't give them all a chance to find out before the course, if not the class, is finished. "You may find that choosing something simpler -- like the song I sent to you -- will be more effective." She chuckles. "Because no one likes that song. And it'll repeat in your head even when you need to put your own concentration elsewhere."
"Thank you," Cessily says, clearly not having the same opinion of her performance. "Do they still have phone books?" she asks. She turns and steps back to join her fellow students, stopped by Jean's hand. She looks at it curiously, but then nods. "I'll be okay. I'll have ot flush myself out later," she says. "Simpler. Got it. Because it's...more primal?" she asks, trying to connect the dots with all of this complicated telepathy stuff.
Awww too bad Jamie isn't gonna get the answer to what she did to the little girl, "I'll have to remember that one. Some of those dupes just don't want to learn things." And then there are the fun dupes, but we don't talk about those ones that much, "So I will say the lesson was interesting to watch. Now you will tell Mr. Summers that I asked about a job?"
"Primal's perhaps not the word I'd use," Jean replies to Cessily, "But the sentiment's right. 'Basic' is, perhaps, a way to look at it." 
As Cessily hasn't told the others what happened, she does. "Cessily chose the song 'Bad Reputation,'" she tells them. "She sang it very loudly for a remarkable length of time," given Jean's strength over hers. "I countered with 'The Song That Never Ends'... because it's an earworm that can disrupt all but the strongest concentration. That's the sort of song or rhyme you want to use as your shield." 
Now, she addresses Jamie, giving him a nod. "I certainly will," she says. "I suggest you also call them and leave a message, just in case." 
Bringing her hands together in front of her, now, she laces her fingers. "Okay. That's it for this session. Your homework is to find a song or a rhyme you can use as an earworm and practice reciting it until you can do so without having to think about it." Which means she expects to hear a lot of them in the minds of people at the school over the next few days. Oh, joy. The things she does for these kids... 
"Class dismissed."
Category:Log