The Shape of Things to Come

[Francoise Dupont]

A copy of the morning newspaper lay untouched in front of Francoise Dupont. She sat behind her broad mahogany desk in what was fast becoming the least visited office in all of the institute. Even before the incident, students had very rarely climbed the stairs to the upper levels of the mansion to find Professor Dupont, her somewhat reclusive nature being so common knowledge. In her first year as a student, Dr. Cullen had given her a study that was purposefully removed from the busy thoroughfares, knowing that her mutation required a certain amount of peace and quiet to master. Although a great deal had changed since then, her appreciation for solitude had not.

As he been the case for most of the preceding weeks, she had not arranged to teach any classes or to meet with any students for the duration of the day -and yet... she knew with absolutely certainty that in three minutes and forty nine seconds, there would be a timid knock at the door.

[Jacinda Blake]

Feeling much improved Jacinda had been up and about the school campus most of the day. She had been invited into some of the classes by teachers that had missed her, and she had caught up with some of the students who had been part of the junior crowd in the years before. Smaller children who had come into their abilities sooner than had been expected. They were not exactly ready for the advanced classes their older classmates attended, but they had needed a place with their peers to learn their mutations and continue their education. Cullen's had provided that for them, and Jacinda had been the Captain of the Saturday morning cereal and cartoon brigade.

Each place she visited she was haunted with friendly ghosts of the past. She walked down the stairs she had first met Carlos on, smiling to herself as she remembered quite literally falling for him. She peeked in on art class, smirking at the ghost of Ghost, Chris.. She missed the little ecto-booger. She had even paid a visit to her old room, one that she had shared with two roommates, Tess and Taya. So many memories.. Most of them good. Here she had said her goodbyes to childhood and had become an adult, and more, a part of something greater than herself.

Hardly knowing how she had gotten there she found herself outside an office door, hand poised to knock. She blinked in confusion, reading the name on the door placard. Professor Dupont.

Jacinda smiled. Professor Dupont had been one of the first two mutants that had come for her after she destroyed her high school gym...on accident. The Ethan incident, she called it now. But that was not the only thing she had shared with the Oracle.

Right on cue, Jacinda knocked timidly.

[Francoise Dupont]

Francoise stiffened, the sound causing her to draw in a sharp breath. It didn't matter that she had been expecting it. The fact that the knock had come precisely when she had known it would just made it all the more unsettling. She sat up straight, restlessly pushing her dark hair from her face with one hand, then called out:

“Entré.”

[Jacinda Blake]

Entering with a genuine smile, Jacinda greeted the Oracle. "Bonjour, Professor."

She was happy to see her, she was, but suddenly she felt as she had when she had woken up downstairs with Clarity looking in on her. Disoriented and slightly fuzzy. "Mind if I have a seat...?"

Jacinda didn't wait on a response, it was sit or slump against a wall.

[Francoise Dupont]

“Please,” Fran gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. She smiled a little as the girl sat down. Even in her relative isolation from the rest of the school, Fran had not needed psychic powers to learn of Jacinda's mercifully swift recovery; she'd received an update each morning from Hector 'Goggles' Wilson when he came to deliver the newspaper that she never read.

“It's good to see you, Jacinda. How are you feeling?”

[Jacinda Blake]

Leaning to one side of the chair before the mahogany desk, Jacinda crossed her feet at the ankles and rested her elbow on the arm. "Good to see you as well, Professor." One day she was going to get over the fact that she was no longer a student, really.

"I'm feeling much better..physically, thank you." Frowning, Jacinda thought on the missing time, and the fog she encountered each time she tried to sequence the events.

She figured as a counselor and someone who knew her, Francoise would be the best person to help with the hazy spots. "Actually, I think I may have hit my head harder than they originally thought. I'm having some memory issues."

[Francoise Dupont]

Folding her hands on the desk in front of her, Francoise nodded as she listened. Since the very first time she had met Jacinda Blake, it had been clear to Francoise that she was a girl with a great deal of inner-strength and a seemingly indomitable spirit. She could find the silver lining in even the darkest clouds.

“Why don't you begin by telling me what you can remember?”