shatterverse | (no subject)

Entry tags:

jean grey,
tumnus

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Her eyes were closed and she was prepared for the peace that would follow.

Unexpected there was a gentle breeze, which riffled through her hair until it tickled her cheeks. Brushing it from her face, she opened her eyes; bright brilliant--troubled--emerald. The White Hot Room, unless it had changed greatly in the few days she'd been awakened, did not look like the wide expanse of thick, flush trees before her.

Also, important--

It was not in Northern Texas.

Where she was now.

Jean closed her eyes again (willing herself to place where all her pieces would come together) but the trees were still there when she opened her eyes.

She reached up to pull her hair over one shoulder, as the wind continued to blow, and said wryly.

"Texas it is then."

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This new place is quite large and he keeps being amazed at seeing good weather that Tumnus has actually walked through a few states over the past few days.

When he sees the woman, he stops and tries to find someplace to stop, she reminds him of the White Witch a bit.

That's probably not surprising, since she's standing perfectly still in the middle of nowhere, not looking shocked. If anything it's only the faintest crinkles at the edges of her eyes that would betray to the people that know her that she's closer to amused than annoyed.

But it is the presence of another mind that distracts her, and she turns slowly, in a manner that could be read as both safe and predatory, to look over her shoulder at him.

She doesn't look like the White Witch but perhaps she's her sister so Tumnus comes out on cautious hooves and bows.

His eyes are searching for her wand, he knows the power of the White Witch's.

Jean, luckily, has none of that on the outside. There are no wands, or weapons, which can be seen.

Letting go of her hair and shading her eyes, she called out, "Hello there."

"H..h..hello. Are you lost?"

Her face softened, and her posture along with. He was shy and it made her grateful she hadn't come to this place in the center of the sky in a large burst of flames.

At least this way, she could just smile simply and nod.

"I do think so. I didn't mean to come here and yet here I am."

"This place seems to do that. I..i..i was in Narnia and then here. There are other people around, I've never seen so many Men."

The capital letter is hard to miss, because he was running from the Witch and he keeps expecting her to appear.

"Where are they?" Jean rubbed her arms, cross them low and loose, as she glanced from him to the surrounding trees and slowly back again. "And why are we here?"

There was a discernible lack of impatient or worry in her voice. As though, this sort of happenstance wasn't all that impractical or impossible to her.

(Given her tenure as an X-Men it was easier to predict this than Sunday breakfast.)

"In Kansas, they called it. A man who flies brought me there from a strange road. There are many there, but none like me yet a few know of Narnia. I.i.i'm afraid I don't know. I know so little."

He keeps twisting at his scarf, wishing he still had Lucy's kerchief but better for the Beaver's to have it in case he was caught, when he was caught.

"Thank you. You've been very helpful."

Jean studied his nervous movement, as it was the only movement that held a mind to it, even with all the living breathing, moving things around them.

"Why are you so far out, if they are all there?"

"I keep hoping to find others like me perhaps they're hiding. But the trees haven't spoken or the animals. Also I wish to find Lucy, to know she's safe."

"A valiant mission," she said quietly. "Even if this does not seem to be your world or mine. Alike, but not exact."

She was looking up at the tree when she said that, which caused her to smile finally when she looked down at him again. "My name is Jean."

"Are you a Daughter of Eve, Jean?"

Her smile is comforting and makes him think of Lucy and Mrs. Beaver at times.

If anything the question seemed to amuse her. One corner of her mouth puckered softly.

(I created the universe. I am fire and life incarnate.)

"How do mean?"

A bit of color is in his cheeks as he gives a shy smile,

"Well, you see, for all I know you, you might be a naiad or a dryad perhaps."

"I am neither." The she added, thoughtfully, her voice dulcet with amusement. "But I would chose sylph or undine first if I could be what I am not."

"They have such joy in how they dance, been too long since they danced in Narnia. Why would you be what you are not?"

"I never would," Jean said, with a wider smile. "Could and would are vastly different. And all that I am is wide enough already."

She walked slightly closer to him, making for a smaller gap, since he didn't not seem dangerous.

Not that there were a lack of ways to defend herself if he changed his mind.

"What makes one a Daughter of Eve?"

No one's ever asked that before and he smiles as he thinks,

"To be of mankind instead of one of the other races. Its been many a long year since there were Men in Narnia."

He carries no weapons other than his hooves and his music if used properly.

"Then your answer is yes," Jean posited, as her feet stopped and she found the features with her eyes that her mind had already collected. "As well as it is no."

She smiled, as if this made her quite happy, and without pausing for his reaction, added. "And what is your name?"

"I'm Tumnus."

He gives her another small bow and offers his hand, that seems something done here and it makes him think of Lucy.

"Please to meet you." Jean inclined her head, without losing her smile, which was more polite than amused for this moment.

"Are there others out here?"

"Not here but farther north in Kansas. I'm afraid I walked a bit more than I realized."

Her green eye studied him, considering the little she had so far.

"Why Kansas? What is there?"

"Safety of a sort from the dangers of this world."

Jean's gaze narrowed. Safety in the world was always a relative term. And only invoked when needed.

"What dangers?"

"I'm not sure exactly, they've mentioned monsters and a Snow Queen."

A Snow Queen? The images of melting someone did flicker in her mind, causing the briefest quirk of her smile at the corners.

"How many are they? Did they all arrive this way?"

Beat.

She pushed more windblown locks from her cheeks to behind her ear.

"Is there a plan?"

"A goodly number and I'm afraid to say I'm rather shy so I don't know about any plans."

She supposed, with limited resources at her disposal, that checking it out was a risk she would have to take. Her green eyes looked him over thoughtfully.

"How long did it take you to get here?"

"A few days I think. I stayed away from where Men were, I didn't wish to be thought a monster."

Her expression was sympathetic, but still thoughtful. She knew what it was like to be thought a monster, even if she didn't have an outward mutation.

"Will you be staying out here?"

"No, perhaps would be best to return there. There's a farm with beds and food and good Men trying to rebuild."

It would take days to walk it.

Or...

"I might be lacking in Ruby slippers, but I think I could offer you a shorter route to our destination."

"How?"

Jean considered it for the briefness of a moment. She could walk it. The walk would not kill her, nor would the patience, or the concealing of her powers. But it was also a show of good faith, and just a tiny show would not reveal the depth of her secret depths.

Her green eyes never left him, facial expression calm, as she rose five feet into the air, straight off the ground without effort or action, a soft yellow-orange corona illuminating her skin only about half an inch from it.

Oddly its the corona that reassures him more than anything and he smiles,

"You're warm where she is cold."

Jean wasn't sure what that meant, but it felt like a compliment the way he smiled. She held out a hand in his direction--even though the motion wasn't needed--and moved it up very slowly.

At the same moment so did his body. Which was why she only moved him an inch above the ground first.

That just makes him laugh and he twitches his tail, feeling much younger,

"You are a wonder. Too bad you can't go back to Narnia and melt the White Witch."

Jean's expression is soft, if saddened. There is little she can say without a twist some part of an untruth into it. A touch of every universe's birth and death in her wake.

And so she chooses saying nothing.

They both rose off the ground and high above the trees. The ground spreading outward forever before them, fading only into the endless sky. She started northerly, with him trailing closely behind.

He says nothing but enjoys the voyage, its much nicer than flying on Nathan's back.

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