2013.06.28 - Cafeteria Catch-Up

It's late morning, and a rather nice day outside. Most of the students and staff who are still at the school have left the cafeteria, which means Jocelyn has some space to do some work. She's got her laptop out and she's typing away at some forms she apparently has to fill out. It looks to be one of those really repetitive forms, and it isn't smart enough to auto-fill some of the spaces that should already be there, like name and address, things like that. She has a bowl of oatmeal that looks like it has cooled significantly and is mostly untouched at the moment.
"Oooh, paperwork!" Cessily says, circling behind Jocelyn and then taking a seat opposite. "How's it going?" she asks, taking a bite out of the banana she holds. She's been around the Institute off and on, partly because she's stil living here, and because she's been volunteering as a chaperone for the younger students.
Having been around, but sometimes disappearing for a day or two had been Jocelyn's summer so far. She'd also kept busy with a few other things, but that was normal for her.
"Yes, paperwork. Such an exciting life," Jocelyn comments with a smirk. This particular bit of paperwork is for NYU. "How're things going with you?" she asks. She hadn't really chatted much with Cessily lately. Things had just been a little busy for her lately.
"Oh, pretty good. I've been working, actually! It's like a real honest to go summer job." Cessily pauses. "Wait," Cessily says, stretching her head over to take another look at the screen. "NYU? Did somebody's rich uncle die?" she asks.
There's a laugh. "Well, somewhere perhaps, but not mine. Don't have any family that I know of," Jocelyn says. "This is one of those applications for low-income students. I did some reading online that says a lot of these universities try to take a certain number of students on various scholarhips and government grants who otherwise can't afford it. I figure it's worth a shot," Jocelyn offers with a shrug. It probably won't work, but Jocelyn won't know unless she tries. "Where are you working?" Jocelyn asks Cessily out of curiosity.
"Ohhhhhh," Cessily says. "I just keep reading about how expensive NYU is. Like, super super expensive," she says. "Good luck to you, though," she says with a smile. "You know, Miss Grey went to Columbia. Have you tried there? I know it's an Ivy and everything....well, you've got time," she concludes. "I'm a Production Assistant? I'm...working with Heather Danielson," she says, crinkling her brow just a bit, unsure how Joce might react to that.
"The supermodel? I think I saw her out briefly once in a shop or something," Jocelyn comments, digging back into her memory. She does, however, notice the brow crinkle. "Something wrong?" she asks, raising her own eyebrow. Jocelyn didn't see anything wrong with the job. But, Jocelyn wouldn't have room to comment on the validity of a person's job anyway.
"Ehh, not so sure I have a lot of time. I don't know Doctor Grey very well, to be honest. Haven't tried Columbia yet," she admits. It just hadn't been on her radar. There were so many schools to pick from that it was hard to narrow things down.
"No, I just....right, the supermodel. It's totally not what I'd expect for me! I have no idea how people would react. She's like, super pro-mutant, actually. Even said she liked my look, lord knows what /that/ means," Cessily says, wrinkling her nose and looking skeptical. "It'll be tough," Cess warns. "But you're smart, you never know," she says. "Can't get in if you don't try, right? Heck, you could try that 'Academy of Tomorr'w place."
There is an immediate scowl that crosses Jocelyn's face at the mention of the Academy of Tomorrow. "I don't trust them," Jocelyn says simply. "Or at least those that are in charge".
There's a small smile that slips back across Jocelyn's face when she gets back to the topic of Heather. "I'm glad to hear that she's pro-mutant. And really, if she's a supermodel and she says she likes your look, that probably means she could see some sort of modeling career for you," Jocelyn points out with an easy grin.
Cessily raps a finger on the table. "I went on a tour," she says. "I didn't seem super-sketchy. I suppose it depends how you feel about Lex Corp? Leo Luthor seems pretty earnest and I think he's a big deal there. I'd guess that's where most of the money comes from," she supposes. "I asked Miss Grey about it yesterday and she said it didn't seem super bad. Maybe a little odd. Who knows?" she says with as hrug. "Have you checked it out?
Cessily pulls her heck back and looks askance at Joce. "Me? But I...." she gestures to herself emphatically.
"I don't need to, and it doesn't have a thing to do with Lex Corp, actually. I've met Emma Frost," Jocelyn says. "She's a telepath who has zero problems probing other people's minds for information. I caught her doing it at one of Thor and Sif's feasts. I won't have anything to do with them". Thor and Sif weren't terribly impressed by it either. Of course, the woman announced it at the party, so it wasn't as though this was a secret she was spilling. At least not among the X-Men.
There's a small grin. "So? There are plenty of people who are pro-mutant out there, and don't have a problem with different looks. You're rather attractive, silver skin or not," Jocelyn points out before she takes a bite of her oatmeal. "Besides, if she was going that way, maybe you could help push public favor?" she suggests. "The news shots of you taking out some flying bubble thing were pretty good too," she adds.
Cessily frowns. "Oh. I mean I've heard of her, but...." Cessily cross her arms. "She's a mutant though, isn't she?" she asks. "Ugh, like we don't have enough trouble, we have to fight our own?" she asks. Cessily's brow darts up, "Thor and Sif? Feast? How'd you get to do /that/!?" 
"Well thanks," Cessily says, trying to be gracious without quite believing it. "Only if I do a good job. No pressure!"
"Yeah. I don't know if this is a regular thing, but she was using her power to scan some minds. I let Sif know, and let us say that the Asgardians have very strong feelings about what is appropriate guest behavior. Miss Frost admitted to it, but it was a bit of a tense situation. I don't trust her enough to consider her school," Jocelyn offers. "I'm not sure if she's a mutant or not. I never asked. I could just see her using psychic energy on various people, and it wasn't just some uncontroled energy, like when most psychics pick up random surface thoughts. It was targeted". Which is what tipped Jocelyn off.
Jocelyn shrugs easily at the question about Thor and Sif before she takes another bite of her food. "Oh. They're friends of mine and they invited me. It was a feast where they announced their upcoming wedding. They actually just got officially married. I went to their wedding ceremony in Asgard, actually". As though it was the most common thing in the world for them. "If you'd like, I can introduce you sometime," she offers.
"I have complete faith in you," Jocelyn offers to the woman easily. "And I'm sure your boss does, too. You going to keep working for her after summer?" she asks.
"That's so not okay," Cessily says with a frown. "Well crap," she says, flinging an arm and tossing her banana peel over into the trash can. "Yeahbut....how did you....I mean that'd be super neat, but how did you get to know them in the first place?" she asks. "I mean it's like 'Oh, I hang out with Norse Gods all the time!'," Cess says, putting on a faux-serious voice.
"Through Axiom. I'd ended up working with him and the Young Allies a few times, and I met them because I knew Axiom," she explains. She didn't know if Cessily knew Axiom's actual name, so she was using codenames now. "That's how it started. They're reasonably down to the earth types, though sometimes they have some misconceptions and confusion about things around here. Granted, I had a lot of confusion the couple times I've been to their place in Asgard. Place is enormous".
Cessily aaaahs and nods. "Okay, I can see how that works," she says. "I hope it's all as big and awesome as it seems," she says. "I've seen Thor on TV and he looks like he'd be a blast to party with. Or impossible to deal with. Maybe both."
"I'll say this much, he's got quite the tolerance level for meade". Jocelyn laughs before she eats a bit more oatmeal. "And to be fair, I mostly met Axiom through Vic. Of course he didn't warn me we were visiting Thor's home when we went to meet up with Axiom. I almost passed out from the energy types". Ugh. "He's definitely, of the big named heroes I've met, the most sociable and willing to chat".
Another bit of oatmeal is taken. "So, you didn't answer my question. You planning on working there past the summer, or just doing it as a summer gig?" she questions.
Cessily ohs! "Um....well just summer for now," Cessily says. "I don't want to presume and we haven't really dug into it. Juggling assistanting with classes might be impossible. I'd kind of like to. It makes me feel...." Cessily gropes for the right word, "Vaguely important. And not in a...." she makes some gestures, in which her hands appear to be fighting each other, "way."
Watching her hands, Jocelyn raises an eyebrow. "Not in a way? Describe it, since there isn't a word for it," Jocelyn offers. The girl is quieter now, giving Cessily the space to expand. She does, however, eat some more oatmeal, as she'd just realized once Cessily sat down that it was there again.
"In a fight fight hero hero way," Cessily says. "Being a...well, kind of being an X-Man is great, but it's so all-consuming! I don't want that to be the only thing in my life. So it's nice to have something...normal to go do."
"You want a bit of normalcy. That's cool," Jocelyn responds. Jocelyn was still relatively new to the whole hero and X-Men thing, so she hadn't gotten to that point yet. But she could see it. "Then see how the summer goes and see if there is somethng you can do with it when you're not in classes," Jocelyn offers. "What sorts of things do you do, anyway?" she questions. "I have to admit, I have no idea what the job entails. That isn't something I'm terribly familiar with".
"Who doesn't?" Cessily asks, "I mean, I guess you don't wear it all on your sleeve the way I do," Cessily says. "That's basically my plan. It's a lot of organizational stuff," Cessily explains, "Getting coffee, making appointments and reservations, keeping her on schedule, knowing where to go, all that."
"Well, normalcy would be kind of weird for me. I mean, I haven't exactly had a normal upbringing. I've been poor, I've been trained as an athlete, and now I'm fighting crime and part of a secret organization. I find my bits of what people consider normal here and there though. Dinner with a friend or heading out shopping or whatever. It works out," Jocelyn offers with a shrug. She never really had normal, so it isn't something she misses.
A nod is given. "Sounds like a pretty hectic job at times, especially with keeping her on schedule and that sort of thing. Keeping someone as busy and swamped with commitments like her can't be easy".
"Good point, " Cessily says, her tone somewhat concilatory. She should have remember, after all, all of that, and yet somehow she just presumes that everybody's shared her own experiences. "You seem happy with it," she says. "That's what counts in the end, I think." Cessily shifts and nods. "Lots of things get planned out far in advance. She's booked months in advance, but sometimes there's last minute changes, especially if there's a location issue or stuff like that. Mostly it's a matter of being so tightly booked that if you're off five minutes, it wrecks the day. So a lot of what I do is trying to stay a step ahead to make sure we can pick up time if we need to.
"It's a good change for me, and I figure that there isn't a lot of point dwelling on my past. Parts of it sucked, I had to do things I'm not proud of, and I've moved on," Jocelyn offers. She just couldn't always relate to people when they talk about normal lives. "I like to think I'm making a difference somewhere, even if it's just that I happen to be out in Mutant Town and keep some thugs off someone or something like that, you know?"
A nod is given as Cessily describes Heather's usual day. "That sounds way more complicated and stressful than a lot of our missions, actually," she points out with a laugh.
"A little reflection can be good, I suppose," Cessily says. "Understanding history's important. "It' might help that history is Cessily's best subject. "You're doing street sweeps? Really?" Cessily asks, sounding distinctly surprised.
"I'm wandering around the city half the time, so if I notice something, I take action. I wouldn't say I'm doing sweeps exactly, but the fact that I see people through walls makes it kind of hard for me not to notice if something seems wrong," Jocelyn offers. So it was sort of a sweep, but Jocelyn didn't have any pattern to it or anything. It was just her usual wanderings. "My usual excursions out into the city have this tendency to get more complicated than I planned for, so there's a part of me that now just expects something to happen when I head out".
Cessily smiles at that. "Well stay safe. Not that you can't handle a lot, just....you know, you're a friend and I wouldn't want you to get hurt, if you happened to get in over your head," Cessily suggests. "I know, right? That happened to me earlier this week, some stupid bigots..." Cessily huffs. She's already vented at Miss Grey, but it's clearly still bothering her.
A nod is given at the request to keep safe. "What happened?" Jocelyn asks. There were bigots around, but Jocelyn was usually in the role of the one stepping in, not the target of the bigotry, at least not immediately. She was lucky in that her appearance didn't mark her as a mutant right away. She takes another bite of her oatmeal, and is about half done with it at this point.
"I wanted dumplings," Cessily says with a roll of her eyes. "Just some stupid people. Scared, really. Somehow thought mutants were taking their jobs. It's all like, look guys, if you're going to be blockading stores there won't be any jobs for anybody!"
"Doesn't sound like they were making much sense. Fear of the unknown and all that," Jocelyn offers. "I'm sorry you had to deal with it though," the woman says. It didn't sound like it had escalated too much beyond the blockade, from what Cessily had said so far. "Though that's the first I've heard of people thinking mutants are taking people's jobs," she admits.
Cessily mmm-hummms. "Didn't you cover civil rights in class?" she asks. "It's easier to be angry at people who aren't like you because, you know, back in the day it was always the other tribe coming to kill you and steal your women and your goats and wahtever. As much as we wish it weren't true, humans are still pretty tribal," Cessily shifts and waggles her fingers behind her head, "back int he hind brain."
"True enough," Jocelyn agrees. There was a tribal element to it. She's about to say more when her phone rings. She glances down at it. "Sorry. It's one of the schools I applied to. I'll chat with you later," Jocelyn offers to Cessily before she goes to take the call, bringing her laptop with her.
Category:Log