5/15 Instance: Exercises in Futility

[Slarti]

Timelined the day after Part of the Job

<Jessica> Jessica hadn't wanted to be alone in the house so she asked Viper to drop her off near the school - she had to draw the line somewhere and letting the woman onto school property was that place. Thanking her again for her help, she bid her farewell before she flew the remaining distance to the campus.

<Jessica> It was showing vast improvement from the last time she'd seen it, all of the buildings had now been restored and it seemed to be largely finishing touches that remained, at least on the exterior. She managed a small smile - it was actually a nice place to be, after all. After getting directions from a wandering SHIELD agent, Jess headed for Bobby's last known location on the grounds.

<Bobby> His last known location was down by one of the old gazebo structures, catching bugs with his daughter and dog. Currently, Bobby was halfway under the wooden deck, trying to reach Ripley's ball since Yoda was refusing to fetch it. He was considering the merits of icing up for this job, since there had to be spiders in here.

<Jessica> "Hey, shortie," Jess bent down to pet Yoda when he ran up to say hi, "Where's your bossman?"

<Bobby> Hearing a voice, and Ripley's happy squeal, Bobby sat up and cracked his head on the decking, showering himself in dust. "Fu-" He barely stopped himself, but shook his head and reversed his crawl. Another quarter averted.

<Jessica> "Oh, there he is... Hey Ripley," she managed a smile for the little girl, going to sit down with her and give her a cuddle.

<Bobby> Feeling a headache coming on from the brain damage he'd inflicted on himself, Bobby did a quick shift as he dragged himself to his feet. "Jessie! Hey! Don't mind me... just killing myself." Laughing, he brushed himself off. "Yoda won't go in to get the ball. Chicken."

<Bobby> He moseyed toward Jess and Ripley, then barely hid his start when Jess looked up at him. "You okay, babe?"

<Jessica> "My dogthing is better trained than yours," she offered the ghost of a smile before dropping her gaze to her lap and hiding in another cuddle with Ripley.

<Bobby> "Yeah, well my dogthing has a pulse, too." He poked out his tongue at her and dropped cross-legged into the grass as well. He looked her over. Obviously, she'd been crying, but then her shawthing was missing, so that wasn't surprising. "Jessie... you okay?"

<Jessica> She shook her head, shifting to sit closer to him so she could lean against him and pulling Ripley into her lap. "He's gone..."

<Bobby> "Gone..." He didn't need to ask who, and even though he still wasn't crazy about the man, he knew how that felt. "Oh God, Jess... I'm so sorry," he said, moving to slide his arm around her. His throat closed. "So, so sorry."

<Jessica> She shook her head, sniffing and trying not to break down again. "No... no, it's worse... I found him... he's in New York... doesn't remember anything..."

<Bobby> "Oh." He blinked. "Well... that's not worse than dead, babe... if he's alive then... well, you know, the mind is a wonky thing." Bobby's nose wrinkled. "You saw him? You're sure?"

<Jessica> She was shaking again and thinking that, if he wasn't going to remember, it'd be less painful if he was dead than living somewhere else with no memory of their feelings for each other.

<Jessica> She nodded, "He thinks I'm crazy... I went to the apartment and there's no sign I ever lived there. His ring is gone, he doesn't remember any of the last year and a half, Boston, any of it... he suggested I try talking to a telepath as though someone was messing with my head."

<Bobby> "Oh," he said again, not sure what else to say at the moment. "Um... so who did this to him? He doesn't remember being, like, kidnapped or whatever?"

<Jessica> "I asked him where he was... he never answered." She shook her head, "Why would he? We're practically strangers now...."

<Bobby> Bobby sighed and squeezed her tighter, untangling Ripley's fingers from her hair. "So... would the Hellfire Club do this to him? Like, to their own?" Chewing his lip, he went on carefully. "Or, um, that Viper chick?"

<Jessica> She shook her head, "It wasn't Viper... I already asked her..." she frowned, "Hellfire Club... I don't know... maybe... But I don't know why they would..."

<Bobby> He made a disbelieving sound. "Because Viper would never lie, after she blew up our whole fucking school." He stopped himself, wincing at Ripley, but she was still occupied with tangling Jess' shiny black hair. Quarter.

<Jessica> "She's never lied to me yet," Jess offered, "And she tracked him down for me, drove me there and back again..."

<Bobby> "Ooookay," he said, still disbelieving of her trustworthiness. "So... a telepath must have messed with his head, so we just need one to undo it, right?"

<Jessica>"Do you know any that'd cooperate and not make his brain into blancmange?" She was, of course, referring to Jean with that last part.

<Bobby> "Yeah... I was going through the list. Monet, maybe? She's a bitch, but aren't her and Shaw buddies?" Their options were sort of limited these days. Hmm... ten cents.

<Jessica> "Last I checked..." she turned her head to rest her forehead against his shoulder, "I don't know what to do..."

<Bobby> "I dunno what to tell you, babe," he said with a sigh. Ripley lost interest in them and toddled off to maul Yoda and he watched them, moving to hold Jess closer. "Ask Monet? She's a step above Farouk anyways... I think." Turning his head, he kissed her through her hair. "I'll never really like the guy, but I know you love him... and it's obvious he loves you."

<Jessica> "Monet doesn't like me even a little bit... what if it's all gone, Bobby?"

<Bobby> He laughed: "She doesn't like anybody!" But cut himself off with a snort. "I know it's easy for me to say, but you shouldn't give up just yet. He's alive. Back when... after X-Force... a-and she couldn't even look at me, but things got better, because we gave it a chance. So, I guess you just gotta give it a chance... try to think of ways to fix it."

<Jessica> "Fix what? There's nothing left to fix... He doesn't remember and trying to force it... I can't make him love me again..." she choked on her words, breaking down properly again.

<Bobby> "It doesn't mean the memories are necessarily gone they could just be blocked. That much I know from hanging around with telepaths." Bobby swallowed down a lump in his own throat at seeing her like this. He moved to squeeze her tightly, rocking them.
Something occurred to him then, but he realized it wasn't the best time to bring up personnel issues.

<Jessica> Having no Ripley to hold, she wrapped her arms around Bobby instead, returning the hug. "I don't think I can do this...."

<Bobby> "Yeah, yeah you can, babe. You've been through... lots. We all have. We just... go on." He watched Ripley with the dog, thinking of Paige. If he hadn't had them... swallowing back his own emotion, he closed his eyes.

<Jessica> "But why? What's the point? What the hell is the point when, every time I find an ounce of happiness, I barely have time to enjoy it before it gets snatched away? I'm so sick of picking up and starting over, it's exhausting and I just don't know why I bother anymore...."

<Bobby> "I know..." There wasn't going to be any talking her out of her grief, but he was a sucker for punishment. "But like I said... it might not be over, this might just be a bump in the road, babe. A big one, yeah, but just giving up means for sure you lose him. He could remember, or he fell in love with you once... what's to say he wouldn't again?"

<Jessica> "He thinks I'm crazy." That was reason enough in her opinion, "I was lucky the first time... circumstances put us together... we can't get those back."

<Bobby> "Yeah, but here's the thing, he's the one who's been mindwiped." He winced as soon as he said it, since that was kind of harsh, then shook himself. "Everybody else remembers things the exact same way you do, so pretty damn quick that makes him the crazy one."

<Jessica> "That doesn't make any difference, Bobby. If he doesn't remember us, he doesn't remember... I can't force it..."

<Bobby> "Maybe, maybe not, but if he knew somebody had messed with his mind he might be more able to find somebody to fix it than we would... he is buddies with the president and shit after all." Quarter, damn.

<Jessica> "What do you suggest? That I show up at his door with a bunch of people from the school? He's in New York, Bobby." She sighed, pushing her hands through her hair.

<Bobby> "So, I'm gathering he doesn't remember he, like, teaches here? I can't taunt him at staff meetings?"

<Jessica> "He doesn't remember anything about having anything to do with the school... it's like before we started seeing each other properly when he was just this guy that was sometimes at the Hellfire Club..."

<Bobby> "Oh, so he's back to being a smarmy bastard," he said, attempting the joke. "Seems normal." Was bastard worth a quarter?

<Jessica> Jess frowned but didn't answer him, cuddling into him a little instead.

<Bobby> "Sorry," he mumbled, then sighed. A few feet away, Yoda chased his tail while Ripley squealed happily. "It's... weird. Like it wasn't thought out too well, because you know you're not the only one who would tell him things aren't right. When Lehnsherr finds out he's not missing anymore and yet he's not showing up to teach, he'll call him."

<Jessica> "What if it's all gone? I can't keep doing this anymore, it's exhausting..." she sighed heavily, her breath hitching a little.

<Bobby> "I know." He gave her a squeeze, his voice soft. "Want me to ask Fury if he knows of tech that can do that? Or there's always Sel to take a look in his head if we get that far..."

<Jessica> "Viper said there's tech that can do it - we know there's drugs that do from when me and the others were taken for that experiment... But a telepath would be cleaner..."

<Bobby> "I'm still more than a little creeped out that you're just chilling with Viper."

<Jessica> "Well what choice do I have? I needed to find him and she's good at finding people..." she shrugged a shoulder, "She did find him and there was no kidnap attempt or anything..."

<Bobby> "Yet. Babe... I don't think you should put yourself in her debt. I mean, she's nuts, and if you turn up missing next we know where we're going knocking."

<Jessica> "Except you couldn't find me last time so good look with that," she gave him a small smile. "I know she's crazy and I'm taking precautions, don't worry... anyway, I think I'm figuring out how she works..."

<Bobby> "Dice system?" He flashed her a grin.

<Jessica> She laughed a little, "No... well not with most things... you just have to play to her ego and I've lived with a Stark so..."

<Bobby> "That's still a pretty dangerous game, though, babe."

<Jessica> "I don't have a lot to lose, do I? What's the point if I won't do whatever it takes for the things I do have?"

<Bobby> "Okay, but just a few minutes ago you were saying you were giving up." Hey, maybe he was getting somewhere after all!

<Jessica> "I asked Viper to help me find him: she did. Now there's not a lot anyone can do... And I can't force the issue, I already said that... it'd be wrong..."

<Bobby> Or, not. "Why?"

<Jessica> "Because he doesn't remember... he mightn't feel the same way now circumstances are different..."

<Bobby> "He married you, Jess... believe me, he wouldn't have done that if he couldn't live without you." Bobby sighed, looking down and lost in his own memories.

<Jessica> "But it's different now! You didn't see how he looked at me..."

<Bobby> "Believe you me, the idea that I'm kind of defending him right now makes me feel a little like barfing, but somebody fucked with his head. So, he didn't ask for this, and he... deserves some help..." That had kind of hurt, but it needed saying. Bobby wrinkled his nose. Also, quarter.

<Jessica> "How am I supposed to help without feeling like I'm forcing him into something he doesn't want?"

<Bobby> Bobby shrugged. "I dunno, but maybe we should look into it, then approach him. It could even be somebody's trying to use him to get to us, since he invests a fuckton of money in... this," he said, waving his hand at the grounds. "Speaking of, that could be a problem..." He gave up, deciding he owed Paige at least three bucks.

<Jessica> "SHIELD will handle it... but I suppose, being staff and everything, you could come with me to let the other staff know? Because I can't do that on my own..."
Bobby: "Of course, babe." He tried a smile. "Paige won't be happy either, after all."

<Jessica> "Or Hope... I'm wondering if I should try calling Tony..." she frowned, "I don't know..."

<Bobby> "Yeah, let's see what the others have to say... Erik and I suppose Carol might get a vote, too."

<Jessica> "Can we do that now? I'd rather just.... get it out of the way..."

<Bobby> "Sure." He let her disentangle herself and got up to fetch his toddler.

<Jessica> Jess took a few moments to pull herself together before straightening up and getting to her feet to follow him. "Thanks, Bobby..."

<Bobby> "That's what friends are for, yeah?" He tried a last effort at ordering Yoda under the porch to get the ball, faking a toss to get the dog good and worked up. The corgi skittered into the darkness. "And see, sometimes things work out!"

<Jessica> "We'll see..." she sighed. Sometimes things were apparently not ever supposed to work out.

[steyn]

Broo must make...

A Memory Scanner!