Discussable
In my head this one is Jean Grey & Scott, but the idea can be explored with OCs (obviously with different mutations etc. so it's original all through; one could be non-mutant)

In the Utopia Era of the comics, there was "Proposition X - an initiative that would require mandatory chemical birth control for all mutants". While we don't need to replicate that, consider what minds like that would think of a mutant already in-utero? Or do we explore "Proposition X" - what new pressures and persecution Jean Grey and Cyclops might face. Do they meet others in their same predicament - already in the throes of what "Proposition X" would seek to prevent?

Note: I wrote the "Scenes" before coming across this, so they don't reflect that xploration, but easily could be intensified.
They are, after all, just example scenes to set minds going. Not set in stone.

Jean's at the obvious point of her second trimester.
She and Scott are trying to enjoy a walk through a park, when Jean becomes inundated with the thoughts of the nosy minds around them:



'Well I'd be interested in dating one, but I wouldn't go that far.'




'Sorry life that kid's gonna' have.'




'Better hope it doesn't have his eyes.'

Scott takes notice of Jean, now paused with a strained look on her face. After all the times they've been through, he recognizes psychic interference in his partner when he sees it. He looks out across the park.

When most expectant women were experiencing morning sickness, Jean seemed to bypass that, instead experiencing recurring lack of telepathic control. It was worse in crowded areas -they'd thought the park was open enough- but it could happen any time. Interestingly, Scott's thoughts weren't often grabbed unintended, though Jean could occasionally transmit to him when not meaning to; either her own or the ones she was experiencing.

On this occasion he was deaf to the thoughts, but could guess by where everyone's attention's was that they weren't simply wayward. These were directed at them, because of what he and Jean were.

This gave him a pretty good idea of the type of the thoughts going around.
He reverted attention: "Just focus on us."

Scott was a reliable ground for her; he could often "relieve these symptoms" just by being actively present.

The trouble in this case was, the thoughts Jean was receiving were tainting the suggested focus.
Her eyes have shut as she tries to block them out.

Scott changes tact quickly: "Let's go," laying his hand on her arm and gently pushing, he starts guiding her away.

They barely get a few steps: "Stop."

Scott does, but he's puzzled.

Suddenly a psychic pulse goes out --even Scott is affected; everyone reacting as though suddenly hit by a staggering headache.

Jean has gone to her knees, Scott as well, one hand on his head, the other concernedly returned to Jean.

Already the pain is subsiding. But now there's a palpable change to the air of the park.
Most behave as if Jean and Scott aren't even there.

One person does come up to them, however: "Is your wife okay? Should I call an ambulance?"

Scott is helping Jean back up. "We're alright. Thank you."
The stranger gives a kind nod. "Strange, wasn't that?" She looks up at the sky. "Probably some radio wave test or something," she adds absently while she begins walking away.

Two other people can be heard in the distance:
"Drone emissions."
"Is that even a thing?"

Scott: "Are you okay?"
Jean: "....let's just get home."

They don't discuss it on the way there, but once back.

Jean: "How could I have done that?"

"There was no helping it, no different than somebody not minding their own business with me and knocking my glasses off," but his tone betrays his attempts to calm her; he'd still feel responsible in that situation.

Scott sighs, going for a concrete reassurance: "Everyone was alright."

"But what will this mean for us, now?"

"Since we went down too, I don't think anyone realized what actually happened."

Jean shakes her head - he doesn't realize either: "After the outburst, if you could've heard the difference --I wiped their minds of anything to do with our mutantcy! I thought we'd gotten a handle on this, but this is worse than anything. . .I altered people's minds without meaning to."

A look of disturbed comprehension gives way as Scott takes her into his arms: "We'll figure this out. . .it might only take making some more choices."

FFwrding>>

They hadn't thought the choice would be like this.


She was still on active duty. Actually, none of the other X-Men even knew.
Then. . . .

They of course had known Jean would have to take a back seat at some point, but they hadn't expected it to be like this. Hadn't expected that it wouldn't be from the need to safeguard her and the young life inside until it no longer was. Instead, it was from having to safeguard everyone else from the side effects of her carrying one.

Her powers were seriously off.

At first it only seemed to be in response to times of danger. Stop being an X-Man for the duration of the pregnancy and they'd have nothing to worry about, barring any trouble coming to their door.

But as things went on, it became apparent these times could occur under other circumstances. Jean's own version of pregnancy symptoms; some times requiring avoidance of the trigger, sometimes requiring patience in the apparent absence of one.

To add to what they hadn't expected, Scott had to take a back seat with her. His presence being the most reliable thing that grounded her in the bad moments. All the voices and psionic-tactile sensations would go away. The unintentional psi-waves she could put out would come back under her control.

He needed to be with her.
And she needed to be anywhere than in a situation which contained both pressure and other people.

If only the job of an X-Man was so conducive to taking early maternity/paternity leave.

Things of the anti-mutant variety still ran rampant --mutants that were anti-homo sapiens still enacted their plots.

With the optical-punch to back up his commands, Cyclops was the X-Men's field leader -their consistent asset as the roster otherwise changed.

Jean Grey was the most powerful one to be on that roster.

Both of them having to go inactive was a shake-up.

"Maybe if I'm not directly in it, I can keep a handle on things," Jean reasoned -it did seem to help to have some outlit for her powers- "see what I can do from a remote position via Cerebro, where I can disconnect instantly if needed."

"I'll go on reserve," Scott decided. "I can lay things down from headquarters and [Storm or OC] can make the field calls. Only when I have to, I'll go."

It wasn't as though Jean needed his centering every moment of every day, nor every day for that matter.

It all seemed settled. . . .

The year is 2030-something. The world has changed. . .Mutants are now being actively reported, hauled off the streets; what progress had been made has taken large steps backwards. Where are the X-Men in all this? Or even The Brotherhood? Nobody seems to have heard of them. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters doesn't seem to have existed. The building stands but it's never been a school. Who owns it is unknown. "Charles Xavier", "Scott Summers", "Jean Grey", "Ororo Munroe", "Erik Lehnsherr", "Raven Darkholme" et al aren't names on any registry.

But at least one individual, "Master EffeX", remembers - the school, the X-Men, those people - they had existed!
. . . .hadn't they?

Is this another universe?
A mass cover up?
An incursion?

Or was it all an illusion?

It's like a dream yet more than one, but Master EffeX remembers only up to a point. Why doesn't he know what happened? There's a blank space in his mind....and he's not sure where or to whom he can go to fill it in.

As time goes on, his memories become more muddled. The scenes change. They're at once what he remembers and not.
But he can't let them go. . . .

You ever feel tired?
Not the regular stayed-up-umpteen-hours-doing-stuff-and-now-your-body-needs-to-catch-some-Zzz kind.

The kind where you're always "getting through", or "getting over", yet never feeling like you're really getting to that other side.

No matter that you can see it.

That light at the end of the tunnel turns out just to be light let in from a gap, in the middle of a longer tunnel.

Master EffeX turned his head. His neck having every right to be stiff given where he chose to lie down last night, but he'd gotten used to sleeping in "not very comfortable" spots.

His eyes fell on a garbage can some distance away, and in his mind's eye he saw himself there with his Dad. Except the garbage can was a BBQ, and the park was some sprawling yard. He, as a kid, was standing by, observing his Dad's technique on the grill. It was nothing much beyond basic, but it was something his Dad was doing. So, he watched.

The image shifted to his Dad picking through that garbage can, himself watching him shift deftly through the true trash to find some morsel to share.

Master EffeX narrowed his eyes. No.
That image was wrong.

He'd had a home. Hadn't he? And he'd never been on the streets with his Dad.

So how come he was, now? . .

. .Alone.

Compatible for Canon/OC mix.

Roles that could be filled by OCs:
Members of the X-Men besides Cyclops & Jean Grey; Adversaries; Other.

Inspired by Wolverine and the X-Men episode #23 'Shades of Grey': what if Jean had a loss of memories (amnesia) no psychic could help her get back?

While inspired by Wolverine and the X-Men this RP would not take place in that universe. The other members of the X-Men, the present state of their world, where in their relationship Cyclops and Jean Grey are, and the events leading to Jean's amnesia will be ours to craft.

• What will it be like for her not only relearning who she is, but what it's like to be a mutant in this world?
• How will her relationships be informed - will they diverge from how they were?
  Cyclops: "You should find some place else to be for a while, Logan."
  Wolverine: "Not a chance. Look, Jean chose you before because you two were already committed. Maybe now that she doesn't have all that baggage in her head, we can see if she'd make the same choice."
  Cyclops raises his hand to his visor just as a voice speaks from behind them: "What's going on here?"
  It's Jean.
  "..nothing. Logan was just asking me for a spar."
  Jean looks between them, unsure. "Isn't there a training room here for that?"
  Wolverine: "You're right. I've got a better idea, anyway." He looks of the mind to spend some time letting Jean get to know him again.
• And how do her powers factor in....is control of them muscle memory, or does that have to be relearned from the ground up, too?

Jean awakes in a bed in the medical bay, hearing voices. They sound so close they could be her own thoughts.
Looking around, she's alone.

With a blink the voices are gone. She gets up, studying this room for a few moments before moving on, in pursuit of figuring out where she is.

It's like the scene from the first X-Men movie; Logan's first experience with the place, only not frantic. To Jean, this place feels foreign, yet harmless.

She's not long coming out of the advanced area of the mansion into the regular halls, passing by groups of mutant youth, when she's met by an older gentleman in a wheelchair and the younger one she remembers from when she woke up before; the red-tinted visor he wore then replaced with sunglasses of the same shade, despite their being indoors.

After an exchange, the older gentleman suggests a small tour.

As they're going along -Jean: "So you built this place?"

"Yes. So young mutants with powers may learn to control and develop them, and those without may simply learn, in an environment which welcomes them."

To a certain confused look of Jean's, he explains: "Many in this world are not like us."

"Many just don't like us," the shaded one adds, or clarifies, though there's a certain sympathy in his expression that seems directed towards her.


Cyclops and Xavier are discussing Jean in Xavier's office. Like a progress report at the start of the day. Xavier gives Cyclops the news that his attempts to restore Jean's memories by a kind of telepathic memory therapy is not yielding results.

Afterward, Scott finds Jean standing by a window with an easel in front of her, brush in hand.
Despite the view, her painting is abstract.

He comes towards her, unsure what to say. He focuses on the painting. "What's that?"

"I don't know. It felt like I was remembering something. But," a frustrated sound escapes through her teeth, "but it's nothing."

"It's only abstract right now. Maybe with more time-"
She turns to him: "What if it's never anything more?" She adds softer, almost like she doesn't want to say the thought aloud, "what if I never get my life back."

"..You will, though maybe the hard way," he's forced to admit -relearning instead of remembering.

She looks up at him: "But that will never be the same. How we live is informed by our life experiences. I have none, now," her gaze lowers; eyes closing.

Scott's brow creases. He takes her hand. "Some things are ingrained within you. Your body, or subconscious, will remember things even if you don't have the events and the reasons."

She looks again to him; a stranger still, yet...there's something she at least trusts about him she can't otherwise explain.

The Professor, the others she's "met", this "home" itself...there's something innate here; peace at least, in the meantime.


Jean: "You seem upset?"

Scott: "...It's nothing." He starts to go.

"I have nothing. I can tell something's bothering you and if we were together, we must've helped each other through things. Don't keep this from me as well."

Scott hesitates, this time for finding his words. "You're trying to remember by walking roads you did before, but like you said things are different. You might make different choices and I don't want to steer you towards old ones just because..." He doesn't have the closing words.

He goes.

That evening, Jean is having a moment with Logan.

"Logan. Was there....anything between us before?" She's feeling something now.

"Yeah there was. Scott."

Jean seems unsure now how she wants to proceed.

Logan: "Look, Scott gets it -I know he does. You might find others parts of yourself this time around," he traces her jawline with the back of his finger. "Sooner...while you still have the space to see how they fit."

She pauses his hand by taking it in hers..
..then leans in.

They're sitting on a bench on the grounds, and from a window, Scott sees them.
The scene clearly leaves him uncomfortable even as it doesn't last.

The following day, Scott and Jean are setting something up in one of the classrooms.

Upon finishing, Jean looks around at the room as though trying to remember being in here before, doing something like this.

Scott watches her.
She kissed him.
I should kiss her.

Jean notices him. "What?"

For whatever reason she asks this with a smile, one so familiar to him it alights his heart and he can't help a smile crossing his own face -until he closes himself off a half-moment later.

He opens his mouth then, on the cusp of answering "nothing". But she hadn't accepted that answer before...
What am I holding back for? Not to put pressure on her? He isn't worried about that.
Not that Logan is an example of anything to go by. Not to Scott. Even still....

He raises his gaze, looking into her eyes from across the room.
"I miss you."
He wishes she could look into his.

Jean's quiet a moment, then: "What do you miss?"

Scott takes another to find the words. "Counting on turning around and you being there. The person I need and the one I can be that person for."

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