passingthruKITTY PRYDEDate: 2025-03-04 05:02 am (UTC)
"Yeah, are you ok, after that drive? Did you even eat?"
It's a question to stall for time more than anything while her brain, craving sleep, tries to think of a way to say this that doesn't make her sound like a massive conspiracy theorist. None of what she'd uncovered is good news. She sits back in her chair and pulls up the corresponding evidence so he can see, anyway.
"Weird shit, Scoot." She admits, pointing at a personnel file that she is deeply not supposed to have. "Look, this is her job file at North Star Airways. She just stopped showing up. Exactly at the same time as her social media and phone disappeared. There weren't any corresponding crimes or villain activity either around here or anywhere she landed her planes. Foul play unlikely. She's just...not around." She wrinkles her nose at him, apologetic. "I'm still looking."
seeingredscott summers ⊗ cyclopsDate: 2025-03-04 06:04 am (UTC)
Scott doesn't answer questions about his trip. He's still reading the screen, and thinking back on everything he knows about Madelyne. Not much, when it comes down to it. Is it like her to quit her job out of nowhere? He doesn't know. They'd been together for a year and change, and she'd shared pilot stories in exchange for details of his X-Men exploits. She was fearless and outspoken and surprisingly introverted. She didn't speak much about her childhood. Neither had Scott.
He'd once caught himself thinking Maddie just stepped out of a dream. It would be egotistically male to think her disappearance has anything to do with him, but Scott can't stop the horrible guilt settling in his stomach. "Right," he says, quieter than his usual monotone. "Thank you."
He has to say more than that about the woman he loved. But all Scott can think of is "Are you going to bed soon?"
Kitty rests her chin on her knees, and shifts her attention from her computer screen to her friend. It sometimes takes all her faculties to assess what Scott is feeling. She clocks the volume drop, the way he strays from the subject immediately and feels her own immediate guilt. She’d made the mistake of going right to mission mode with this. Maddie isn’t just a random disappearance. Her voice shifts too, she regulates it a little gentler.
“I’m going to find something. I promise. People don’t just vanish.”
She minimizes some of the windows, so they’re not just up and staring. “Yeah, pretty soon.” She lies, which is stupid since they’re still next door neighbors. “Are you going to bed? There’s pizza leftovers.” She stubbornly presses the dinner thing, just in case.
"I ate," Scott says mildly. Not technically a lie, although he knows Kitty wouldn't think a single gas station beef jerky constitutes a full meal. His head's been elsewhere, and he honestly didn't felt hungry until Kitty reminded him of how he skipped dinner. (Later. He'll deal with that later.)
Scott squares his shoulders, and finds his authoritative leader voice. "You did good work. Keep on it, and let me know if you find anything new." A pause. He needs to stop enabling Kitty's workaholic tendencies. "Tomorrow. You should sleep." He glances back at the exit again. "I have to... see Emma."
passingthruKITTY PRYDEDate: 2025-03-05 01:54 am (UTC)
Kitty's a little too tired to be impressed by the leader voice, tonight. She gives him a bare little smile, nodding. She does respect his need to be in control of this situation, and whatever emotions are coming up around it. At least enough not to question that part. There's another part that just begs one.
seeingredscott summers ⊗ cyclopsDate: 2025-03-05 03:03 am (UTC)
Scott's mouth flattens. "I think we might be dating?" The uncertain rise at the end obliterates his attempt at stoic detachment. He seems nervous, even. It's never easy to tell with Scott, but his face is still turned away, avoiding eye contact with Kitty.
They might all be family, but there's few people in this world he'd call his best friend. Who's also best friends with Jean, and close with Emma, and not one to hold back if she thinks he's being an idiot. This could still be a disaster in the making. If Kitty said so, he'd have a hard time disagreeing.
passingthruKITTY PRYDEDate: 2025-03-05 03:41 am (UTC)
Kitty first just blinks. All the terrible ways this could possibly go do in fact rush through her head at once. What will Jean think? Does it go like this in any other universe? When Emma and Scoot break up, whose side does she have to be on? How could she possibly choose that? Also, shit. Her first thought probably shouldn't have been about a breakup.
"You think." She says, voice flat and betraying very little while she untangles this new development in her brain. It doesn't take long. She was always a very quick study. Ultimately, she has to be supportive. She can tell him how he's messing up along the way. Starting now, actually. She smiles, trying to catch his eye. "I mean, to me that sounds like something you should probably have a solid answer on."
Edited (why was there so much bottom room) Date: 2025-03-05 03:41 am (UTC)
seeingredscott summers ⊗ cyclopsDate: 2025-03-05 05:12 am (UTC)
Scott sighs. "Yeah."
Part of him wants to take a seat and lay out every thing said and done in chronological order, for Kitty's objective perspective on things, while another part of him is fairly certain doing that would just underline how idiotic he's been. It's wonder that any woman wants anything to do with him.
(Does Emma even want him still? How long can this even last before he fucks it up? What will Jean think of this? Where is Madelyne?)
He takes a deep breath, tamping down on the chaos in his brain. "I might be a little out of my depth," he admits. "Emma is so... you know."
passingthruKITTY PRYDEDate: 2025-03-05 06:03 am (UTC)
"Oh, you're absolutely out of your depth." Kitty confirms, with a grin that is not unkind. Emma is a lot of things, but she doesn't actually think she'll break Scott's heart on purpose, or she'd be responding quite differently right now. When she cares about someone, she does, all the way. Maybe he needs that.
"But maybe that's for the best, right? Can't overthink too much when you're just trying to swim. She'll understand."
seeingredscott summers ⊗ cyclopsDate: 2025-03-06 09:28 am (UTC)
Kitty's familiar grin eases something in his chest, and there's a flicker like a smile on Scott's face as he looks away again. "You might be right."
Scott thinks of himself as a practical person, but Kitty has a way of cutting right to the heart of things when he's off twisting himself into mental knots. Stop overthinking, Summers. Emma will understand. All of this is just noise.
"Keep this between us, please?" He realizes this could sound like he's asking for something else, and nods at Kitty's screen, even though she's minimized the windows. "Madelyne. At least until we've found something more concrete."
passingthruKITTY PRYDEDate: 2025-03-07 04:39 am (UTC)
"I know I'm right." Kitty says, as though perhaps being more of a brat means more reassurance. Maybe then he'd keep smiling all the way to Emma's, and she'll feel like she did a good deed.
But that's maybe impossible, with the other things on their plate. Her forehead furrows halfway through his request, all set to lecture him about the perils of not telling anyone about a new relationship, especially a friend you just gave a mixed-signals birthday necklace, for instance. But that's not what he's asking.
"I won't tell," becomes much more important to say right now. "It's my midnight project right now for a reason." But damn. Now he knows about her habit of keeping secret midnight projects.
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SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
It's a question to stall for time more than anything while her brain, craving sleep, tries to think of a way to say this that doesn't make her sound like a massive conspiracy theorist. None of what she'd uncovered is good news. She sits back in her chair and pulls up the corresponding evidence so he can see, anyway.
"Weird shit, Scoot." She admits, pointing at a personnel file that she is deeply not supposed to have. "Look, this is her job file at North Star Airways. She just stopped showing up. Exactly at the same time as her social media and phone disappeared. There weren't any corresponding crimes or villain activity either around here or anywhere she landed her planes. Foul play unlikely. She's just...not around." She wrinkles her nose at him, apologetic. "I'm still looking."
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
He'd once caught himself thinking Maddie just stepped out of a dream. It would be egotistically male to think her disappearance has anything to do with him, but Scott can't stop the horrible guilt settling in his stomach. "Right," he says, quieter than his usual monotone. "Thank you."
He has to say more than that about the woman he loved. But all Scott can think of is "Are you going to bed soon?"
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
“I’m going to find something. I promise. People don’t just vanish.”
She minimizes some of the windows, so they’re not just up and staring. “Yeah, pretty soon.” She lies, which is stupid since they’re still next door neighbors. “Are you going to bed? There’s pizza leftovers.” She stubbornly presses the dinner thing, just in case.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
Scott squares his shoulders, and finds his authoritative leader voice. "You did good work. Keep on it, and let me know if you find anything new." A pause. He needs to stop enabling Kitty's workaholic tendencies. "Tomorrow. You should sleep." He glances back at the exit again. "I have to... see Emma."
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
"Why do you have to see Emma now?"
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
They might all be family, but there's few people in this world he'd call his best friend. Who's also best friends with Jean, and close with Emma, and not one to hold back if she thinks he's being an idiot. This could still be a disaster in the making. If Kitty said so, he'd have a hard time disagreeing.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
"You think." She says, voice flat and betraying very little while she untangles this new development in her brain. It doesn't take long. She was always a very quick study. Ultimately, she has to be supportive. She can tell him how he's messing up along the way. Starting now, actually. She smiles, trying to catch his eye. "I mean, to me that sounds like something you should probably have a solid answer on."
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
Part of him wants to take a seat and lay out every thing said and done in chronological order, for Kitty's objective perspective on things, while another part of him is fairly certain doing that would just underline how idiotic he's been. It's wonder that any woman wants anything to do with him.
(Does Emma even want him still? How long can this even last before he fucks it up? What will Jean think of this? Where is Madelyne?)
He takes a deep breath, tamping down on the chaos in his brain. "I might be a little out of my depth," he admits. "Emma is so... you know."
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
"But maybe that's for the best, right? Can't overthink too much when you're just trying to swim. She'll understand."
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
Scott thinks of himself as a practical person, but Kitty has a way of cutting right to the heart of things when he's off twisting himself into mental knots. Stop overthinking, Summers. Emma will understand. All of this is just noise.
"Keep this between us, please?" He realizes this could sound like he's asking for something else, and nods at Kitty's screen, even though she's minimized the windows. "Madelyne. At least until we've found something more concrete."
SUNDAY NIGHT: Scott & Kitty
But that's maybe impossible, with the other things on their plate. Her forehead furrows halfway through his request, all set to lecture him about the perils of not telling anyone about a new relationship, especially a friend you just gave a mixed-signals birthday necklace, for instance. But that's not what he's asking.
"I won't tell," becomes much more important to say right now. "It's my midnight project right now for a reason." But damn. Now he knows about her habit of keeping secret midnight projects.