Lu and Jeanne-Marie, backdated to Nov 1

[om_aurora]

When they hear that the New Jamie has disappeared, Luornu and Jeanne-Marie head out to help search--and decompress with a rant or two.

It wasn't often that all of Lu, when divided, were feeling the same thing at the same time, but this was definitely one of those occasions. All three of her were pissed beyond belief.

They didn't all show it the same way. Orange was leaning against the wall, her jaw set and her arms crossed over her chest, occasionally peering out the open door in case the missing Jamie wandered into view. Purple was pacing, hands fisted and eyes narrowed, muttering to herself under her breath. And Neutral...

Neutral was quietly standing and watching for Jeanne-Marie, her hands clenching and unclenching as she reminded herself of the very, very good reasons why finding Jamie Prime and punching him would be a bad thing. It was a short list.

Jeanne-Marie appeared a moment later, moving far faster than usual by utilizing the speed she still thought of as her brother's. Her long hair was caught up in a high ponytail, and she had a headband earwarmer and a warm fleece on, though cold weather hardly touched her anymore, these days. She paused before the three girls, frowning. "I am sorry, Lu. I can only imagine what this makes you think of."

Neutral Lu shook her head before either of the others could jump in. "It's okay. Right now, it mostly just makes me think I want to smack Jamie."

"Except then there'd be more of the idiot," Purple muttered under her breath.

Orange looked from one to the other of her sisters before looking over at Jeanne-Marie apologetically. "W..we should go look, r..right? Before something worse h..happens?"

Jeanne-Marie held out one hand to her, wanting to be reassuring. "We'll find him." Then she looked to the other two. "And worry about smacking him--the other hims--later."

Orange pushed herself away from the wall and came over to take Jeanne-Marie's hand with a grateful if tentative smile, but Purple just snorted. "Oh, I can multi-task, don't worry."

Neutral offered a crooked smile, then shrugged as she went over to open the door and held it for the others to go out. "I'm not sure it's something we're going to be able to stop thinking about right now," she admitted. "Honestly, he's got to be in the running for some kind of Biggest Idiot award."

"I agree," Jeanne-Marie admitted, squeezing Orange's hand gently as she passed through the door, throwing--well, middle-Lu a smile of thanks. "I know I shouldn't--I am sort of a teacher, but not really. It just makes it worse though, because I feel more protective.

"And I can only imagine what you must be thinking."

"Really? I'm having a hard time understanding how he can just write himself off," Neutral admitted. "I mean, I know he's not quite the same as we are-"

"B..but he's not all that different, either. And I h..heard the fight, before he got on the forums." Orange gave Jeanne-Marie's hand one last squeeze before letting it go. "Jamie knew he was...in a really, really bad situation. And he just left him there. How c..could he even d..do that?"

"Oh please," Purple disputed. "You heard him yourself when we met him. They're all the same, interchangeable. One's broken? Write him off. Can't have individuality or anything." She shook her head. "He's as bad as the psychs."

"We need psychologists and doctors who can understand the mutant perspective so badly." Jeanne-Marie frowned, then shook it off. "I hope he will talk to Doc Sampson about it, anyhow. I don't know how he could leave one of his own in such a situation" --she gave orange a sympathetic look-- "but I think he will regret it, and God only knows what it must've done to that part of him."

"And he just doesn't care!" Orange blurted, while the other two turned to look at her, surprised. "It's all about him, and he's not even acknowledging that that's him, too."

"That's the hardest thing to understand," Neutral admitted as Purple, in a rare display of empathy, went over to wrap her arm around Orange's shoulders. "I mean, I realize he doesn't see it the same way, but...I'm not even sure we could do that. Even if we wanted to." She frowned, trying to find the right words. "It'd be like...getting a telepath to erase part of your memory, because you didn't like what you did. It's still him, like it or not. You can't just get rid of the parts of you that you don't like."

Jeanne-Marie hummed thoughtfully, starting for the hedge maze. A faint but chilly breeze blew back her hair, but she hardly seemed to notice. "I see what you mean, yes. That is sort of what I was wondering: Could he really just ignore it, and what would happen to him if he did? That sort of thing."

"Jamie's not like us," Purple pointed out with a shrug. "If he was, he couldn't have ignored himself this long."

"He probably can?" Orange offered tentatively. "He's got a link, but it doesn't...well, it doesn't sound like it's all that strong, and he doesn't...lose anything, when he's not altogether. If he could ignore everything that's happened to his other self so far? He can probably just keep doing it without hurting himself or anything."

Neutral looked at Jeanne-Marie and shrugged crookedly, her eyes still hard. "Except for the part where he knows that part of him is out there, living like that because he sent him to do it. And honestly? How could anyone live with that."

"I really hope he speaks to Doc Sampson," Jeanne-Marie said, frown lines furrowing her brow deeply, now. "All of him. The fights he is having and the disagreements--that is another thing I think must be so difficult, with that many of him running around. How do you three manage that, when you all want different outcomes to a situation?"

"Well, mostly we compromise," Orange admitted. She shrugged her shoulders awkwardly. "It helps that there's just three of us, though, because if worse comes to worse, we can go with majority rules."

"Or, y'know, just split off and do what I want anyway," Purple smirked a little, then rolled her eyes as the other two turned to glare at her. "Oh please, it's not like you guys didn't know."

Neutral rolled her eyes in response and turned back to Jeanne-Marie. "Let's say we've got a lot of experience with dealing with unexpected consequences?" She sighed and resumed walking. "Probably why this is so annoying. Because ultimately, he brought this on himself - he knows there are dupes out there, and he doesn't go hunt them down or make sure they're okay. But when one shows up? He's not willing to deal with it."

"It is extremely odd," Jeanne-Marie agreed, still frowning. "And what troubles me most about this, if he knew there was another out there somewhere."

Orange Lu shook her head and bit at her lip. "What's worse? If there was one...how many more might there be?"

The question obviously hadn't occurred to either of the others, who stared at first her, then each other before turning back to Jeanne-Marie. "Maybe we'd better get back to looking," Neutral suggested.

Jeanne-Marie looked positively grim at the suggestion. A muscle in her jaw worked--she was chewing the inside of her cheek thoughtfully--as she nodded. "Should we split up? Two and two, to cover more ground?"

Lu looked around at herselves, and they all nodded. "C'mon," Purple said to Neutral, gesturing towards the stables. "We'll head this way, you guys check out the maze?"

Orange gave Jeanne-Marie a questioning look. "If that's okay with you?"

Jeanne-Marie nodded; in truth, she was glad to be going with Orange, who seemed to need comfort more than just to rant. "Gladly." She started walking.

Orange Lu fell into step with Jeanne-Marie as the other two took off towards the stables. "I'm sorry," she said awkwardly. "We don't usually get this, umm, worked up over stuff." She offered a faint, hesitant smile. "It kinda strikes close to home, whether they want to admit it or not."

"I understand--as much as I can without having similar powers," Jeanne-Marie said softly, with a little smile. "And the way Jamie went about it was... alarming, to say the least." She was obviously trying very, very hard not to be judgmental... and failing.

Lu bit at her lip and nodded. "He's scared," she said. "I mean, I get that, y'know? You get hit with everything all at once, and then...it's you, whether you wanted it to be or not. And it's years of stuff at once. I'd be scared, too. But..." She shrugged.

"I completely understand--and do not judge him for it. God above knows that I have parts of myself I might like to ignore, shameful though it is." Jeanne-Marie sighed slightly. "I did--I do judge him only for his thoughtless way of publicly airing his grievances with himself, and how they've distressed you, and who knows how many others. It was badly done." She frowned hard.

"We're okay," Lu assured her, reaching over to squeeze Jeanne-Marie's arm. "But...you're right. He shouldn't have done that. There's stuff you just...don't advertise. And stuff you don't judge about." She dropped her hand from JM's arm and shrugged. "I forget who said it on the journal - I don't think I know her - but someone said something about you don't blame people for what they had to do to survive. I understand him being scared, but...I can't understand that. It'd be like blaming Sis for the stuff she did after Grandma died." Not that she was exactly happy about all of that, still, but...she could understand why she'd done it. She just couldn't have done it, herself, but...maybe that's why there were three of them.

"It was Wanda," Jeanne-Marie said softly. "She's a good friend of mine, and it hurt my heart to think of that hurting her.

"You were taken care of by your grandmother, then?"

Lu nodded awkwardly. "Mom lost custody when I was little. She's...kind of a mess?" She made a face and shrugged. "She got it back after Grandma died. Sis took over for a while." She kicked at a stone awkwardly, and asked hesitantly "Is Wanda okay? If you want to go check, I can keep looking."

"I will ask her about it later; she has her brother here." Jeanne-Marie smiled gently. "I hope you don't feel embarrassed, talking about your family, to me? Your past? Mine is what they call 'a mess', so please don't think I'll judge."

"Oh! N..no, it's fine," Lu assured her, blushing a little. "I'm not embarrassed. Just...there's parts I wasn't really there for, y'know? It was more complicated then." She smiled. "I'm fine with talking about Grandma, though. She was the best."

"Would you like to tell me about her while we look?" Jeanne-Marie suggested, hoping it would help the girl feel better and more grounded. And her, too, while they were at it.

"If you want," Lu agreed, relaxing a little more. "But I want to hear more about you, too."

"Of course, ma chere," Jeanne-Marie allowed. "It's better when there's give and take. What do you want to know?"