002 🎧 always something there to remind me

[powerunleashed]

WHO: Jean Grey
WHERE: #58 The Chilton
WHEN: 6 February
OPEN TO: Logan Howlett
WARNINGS: Mention of character death
STATUS: Closed to Logan

---

Jean had helped Kira move his body but afterward, she couldn't go into the house. It was scarred with lightning, burning and smoldering still and the fact that he'd died there was just too much for her. She managed to get her things out - the things she'd arrived with along with the presents she'd gotten for the holiday and the new clothes she'd just received - but that was about it. She had all of it in the boxes she'd gotten with her presents and now she was just...aimless.

Where should she go? She knew Erik was staying in the Inn but as far as she was aware, there was no room for her there. Yeah. Unfortunately, there was no manger and no stable for her to sleep in and so she had to figure out alternative options for places to stay.

The one place she could think about that would be safe was one of the most unlikely ones. Would he want company? Would he want her company? There was no way to find out other than to just turn up and ask so Jean took as many boxes as she could in her hands and the others she pushed ahead of her using as much telekinesis as she could manage. Back home she could have moved them all easily with just a touch of her mind but here it wasn't so simple.

When she found his house, she let the boxes rest on the porch before knocking quickly - three raps in quick succession.

"Logan? Are you here?"

Comments

[notan_animal]

It was a good thing Jean came when she did. Logan had been grabbing another bundle of cut wood to continue feeding the fire that was going on in his fireplace. As he came around the side of the house, he noticed Jean and the luggage she brought along with her.

His brown pinched, concern there in his features even though it might have been hard to tell. As soon as she turned around, he'd immediately notice something was wrong.

"Jean. What happened?"

[powerunleashed]

"I can't stay in that house anymore," Jean said. Her voice was relatively calm but she was still shaken by the fact that he'd died right in front of her. She was still young. Death wasn't something she'd gotten used to yet and she didn't think she ever wanted to get used to it.

"He...Ren. He was struck by the lightning. He died."

[notan_animal]

Now, Logan was aware of Ren only insofar as that Jean was living with him. They'd never met and though death was something he saw too much of, he, at least, had some semblance of compassion for those that hadn't seen it. Like Jean.

Only it didn't show as well as it did on other people.

Logan gave a nod and stepped towards the door.

"Take the bedroom off the living room." he told her, shifting a log under his arm to free a hand to open it.

[powerunleashed]

"Kay," Jean said, floating her things into that room. She could have asked for help, she guessed, but the mental exertion leaves her too tired to think and leaves her blissfully blank; she wanted nothing more than to just not feel for a little while.

She'd cared about him. He'd been a friend and, more importantly, someone who shared the same abilities she had. No one else would be able to understand her the way Ren had.

"I'm not going to bother you," Jean said after a little while. "I'm quiet, I don't really make a mess. I just don't want to be alone."

[notan_animal]

"Jean," Logan said, turning as soon as he set down the wood by the fireplace. His tone wasn't scolding in any regard, in fact, it almost lacked the compassion she perhaps needed right at that moment.

But Logan was famous for that.

"Don't explain. You can stay as long as you need." he added and turned again to grab the box of matches on a nearby ledge.

[powerunleashed]

"I don't want to put you out," Jean said. It was stupid, she guessed, but she was concerned with interrupting his routine by inserting herself into his life. It was so difficult to navigate her feelings and emotions without being able to feel the same off others to the extent that she'd been used to and she felt like a ship tossed on the waves; when would it start to feel normal to be so blunted, so average?

"I just don't want to be alone. It's hard to go from being able to feel and hear what people think and now it's like I can't tune it in, like the radio station's too far away. I don't know how to react. Ren helped. He was like me, he could empathize. Now I don't have anyone."