Veins like a roadmap.

[hostage]

WHO: Jesse Pinkman & Emma Frost
WHERE: Emma's office at Xavier School for imPorts
WHEN: March 24, a few hours after this & this
WHAT: Jesse's updating the headmistress on his situation.
WARNINGS: Talk of nonconsensual use of psychoactive chemicals.

[As soon as Jesse's sure Walt won't be waking up for a few hours at least, he creeps out of his dorm room and locks the door. It's well into morning now, and getting close to the time Jesse ought to be reporting for duty in the infirmary. Whether he will or he won't will depend on Emma, so he makes his way straight to her office. He's so overwhelmed by everything that's going on, his head feels like it's buzzing. Can she even read his thoughts if he can't seem to organize them himself? Well, they'll find out.

He taps quietly at her door once he's reached it. Please be in.]

Comments

[myownbestfriend]

[Emma catches Jesse's jumbled mess of thought long before he makes it to her door, and she's opening it almost as soon as his knuckles touch the wood, steaming mug of coffee in one hand and a concerned expression on her face. She knows Jesse tends to overreact because his own world is so dull, but this is unusual even for him.]

What's this about White?

[hostage]

[Jesse should really expect this sort of thing by now, but he jumps in surprise when the door opens.]

I was gonna ask for the day off. He's upstairs right now, but he needs a safehouse like yesterday.

[Which means emergency house-hunting. He should probably have made this a priority earlier, but he foolishly didn't expect Mr. White to get himself into trouble this goddamn fast.]

[myownbestfriend]

[The corridor outside is empty, but she still quickly shuts the door behind him. Talking about safe houses is not something she wants overheard.]

You don't already have one?

[Jesse, really.]

[hostage]

I did, and then somebody got all up in my shit and I had to -

[It's a long story and he waves it off impatiently. Basically, he couldn't tell where Skye was getting all her information so he played it safe and got rid of everything but the money.]

It doesn't matter. We're outta here as soon as he wakes up. Chilton kicked his ass last night. Can you believe that? Fucking Chilton. I guess he wants to dissect Mr. White's brain or something. Whatever the hell... If he comes by, we ain't here.

[myownbestfriend]

The psychiatrist? I can handle him.

[She barely knows Chilton, but clever little men are never as clever as they they think they are.]

Do you think he's likely to come by?

[She's not overly worried about her students--what little she knows of Chilton suggests he's circumspect enough to cut his losses, but she is going to be listening to the minds around the school more intently than usual.]

[hostage]

I dunno. Mr. White can't remember too much of what happened. The guy drugged him. For all we know, it was Chilton who dropped him off here. I'm thinking he's waiting to see what happens next, like this is all one big experiment. I'm just guessing here, but I don't think he'll make a move until we do.

[myownbestfriend]

Memory problems?

[It's a reflexive echo as Emma buys herself a second to think. Unconcerned about whatever drug-dealing lowlifes Jesse might attract, she's left him to his unlawful occasions until now, but this is different. Powers are involved.

Emma decides she should probably be involved, too.]

Would White accept my help?

[hostage]

Like digging around in his head? I dunno. It'd probably freak him out.

[But if she can uncover lost memories, that makes Jesse wonder if she can help him figure out just what Mr. White did to him the other night. But that's probably not how she wants to spent her morning. It's not important, anyway. Please forget he thought about it.]

[myownbestfriend]

[Oh, for pity's sake. Emma sighs and gives Jesse an unimpressed look. She heard that.]

More freaked out than by not knowing what happened? Besides, if he erased your memories, I might be able to teach him to restore his own.

[hostage]

[Goddammit.]

He didn't - He didn't erase my memories. He just...

[Poison. It was some kind of drug. I sedated you, Mr. White had said. Got you to relax as though you drank a little too much. But it wasn't just "a little". Jesse had blacked out completely. He couldn't even remember Mr. White coming over that night. Missing time just like the worst of his drug binges, back when he was still capable of having those.]

It's not important. What I was saying is, he doesn't like people knowing too much about him. He gets really nervous, you know? And Mr. White's not good with being nervous.

[To put it mildly.]

[myownbestfriend]

[Emma doesn't point out that she could do what she's proposing from here and no one would be the wiser. People don't like to be reminded about what a powerful telepath is truly capable of.

Besides, she's a good guy now. Ahem.]

Fine, fine. The offer is open if either of you changes your mind.

[She waves it off with a flick of her fingers.]

Regardless, once you've finished picking out curtains, I do want to know what he remembers of Chilton's little soiree. I doubt White's been his only guest.

[hostage]

[He's fully aware she could be doing it as they speak, but he'd never approve without Walt's consent. The guy might be okay with digging answers out of Jesse's head, but Jesse would never do the same. He feels violated by what happened the other night.]

I'm thinking we'll find out from Chilton himself, if it goes like Mr. White's talking.

[Not that he's saying they're going to kidnap and torture Chilton, but they're almost definitely going to kidnap and torture Chilton.]

[myownbestfriend]

Oh, for the love of--

[She doesn't really disapprove on principle; Emma's moral scruples are slight and don't generally encompass people who have it coming, but it's too early in the morning to be an accessory before the fact.]

Do try to keep it civilized.

[She means "don't leave any marks."]

[hostage]

[Of course they won't leave marks. That's what Jesse's for.]

It ain't really up to me.

[myownbestfriend]

[Another sigh.]

Yes, well, I'm sure everyone's quite capable of behaving like decent adults.

[Long practice lets her say that with a straight face. It's mostly a cover for speaking directly into Jesse's mind, anyway.]

Let me know if you need any real estate agents [or whoever, she's only familiar with the high-class style of property-acquisition shenanigans] to misremember something.

[hostage]

[Emma, it's so weird when you do that. Jesse looks slightly alarmed, but he nods. Yes, that's definitely going to be a big help. He'd been a little worried about doing all of this without having Saul around to make arrangements and cover his tracks.]

Yeah, we're all regular diplomats.

[myownbestfriend]

[Look, Jesse, Tony Stark installed the security here and she's only mostly certain he's not recording. Emma is not going on even probably-imaginary record offering to commit crimes.]

I've [slept with] met diplomats. That's not something you want to be advertising.

[Emma remembers her coffee and takes a bigger swig than is really consistent with her ladylike persona.]

Take the day off. The students can probably manage not to inflict any mortal wounds on themselves for that long.

[She's not actually convinced of that but she's willing to play the odds.]

[hostage]

If they do, gimme a call and I'll get back here.

[Cleaning up Mr. White's mess isn't as important as the kids.]

[myownbestfriend]

They won't. Go.

[She makes a shooing motion, the bangles on her wrist clinking.]]

Call if you need help. If you're loud enough I'll pick it up telepathically even if I'm not paying attention.

[Emma knows Jesse well enough at this point that she can listen for him without having to concentrate on it, the sort of subconscious awareness that lets someone tune out a noisy room until someone they know speaks.]