the hardest thing is to live richly in the present

[ashandflame]

WHO: (Who is making the post)
WHERE: fountain; Inn; around the village
WHEN: 5 July - 7 July
OPEN TO: all
WARNINGS: TBD

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the fountain

The first thing she feels is burning and for a moment, a brief moment, Jean's afraid it's the Phoenix again coming to collect its debts. Great. The last thing she needs is a cosmic entity cashing in its chips right now when she isn't even sure where she is. It takes her a few seconds to realize she's actually under water and there's a push from beneath her, a swell of water that seems to be moving her toward the surface.

Boy, she's glad she took those swimming lessons as a kid. Otherwise, this would be a pretty ignoble end to Marvel Girl. She can just imagine the obituary now: Rest in Peace, Marvel Girl, Died in a Horrible Swimming Incident. When her head breaks water, she clutches at the edge of the pool and opens her eyes.

Huh. This isn't Klyntar and it's not New York - at least not a part that she's been to recently. She hauls herself out, coughing and sputtering, and looks back at where she came from. It's not a pool, it's a fountain, and there's not even any change at the bottom to justify the trip.

"Where am I?"

the inn

It doesn't take long for Jean to find the Inn. The fountain park isn't far from it and the old adage about all roads leading to Rome seems to hold true in this place. She's still dripping wet and wearing scrubs like she's a doctor or nurse instead of a member of the X-Men and she wonders what kind of place this actually is. How did they get her uniform off? It takes her a good thirty minutes on a good day and wet? Forget about it. Still, she can't dwell on that right now. Right now, she needs to figure out how the heck to get back home and what she's going to do in the meantime.

The strangest thing is the quiet. It hadn't hit her at first, breaking free of the water in the fountain, but now in the Inn with people around she's noticed it acutely. She can't pick up any thoughts, not even the low murmur that she gets when she's not actively tuning into something. Weird. Beyond weird. It's like waking up and feeling like she's lost a limb or something and Jean hasn't decided how she feels about it.

There's food in the kitchen but Jean doesn't have any money so she awkwardly hangs around the fireplace, trying to dry off enough that she can sit down in one of the chairs without soaking it clean through.

the village

It takes a day or so but Jean finally feels comfortable enough exploring the village and the surroundings. There's some woods just outside the outcropping of buildings and while she's never really been comfortable in the woods, she's not afraid of them or anything like that. She takes the pack she has with her and fills it with some fruit (it's the only thing she can think to pack that won't go bad and is easily replaced) and decides to head out. She doesn't want to just sit idly by and wait for a rescue when she's capable of staging her own rescue, thank you very much.

Of course, said rescue sure would be easier if she had her telekinesis. She can't summon up a psi-weapon, a shield or anything to keep herself safe out here. She's picked up a likely looking stick, yes, but that's not going to help her if she comes up against a bear or something. She can just imagine what Logan would say about this (what the hell do you think you're doing, Jeannie, going out without supplies?) or Storm or any of the other X-Men who run the school but she's not a kid anymore. She's grown and while she's not the other her, she can handle herself.

She can do this.