30 years old pyrokinetic vision
citizen of the United States member of the X-Men
married
Go backScott's a constant presence in Westchester. He was the first of Charles Xavier's "students", and the only one whom Xavier formally adopted. He's the administrative head of the X-Men, co-leader with Ororo Monroe, and the acting head of most of Xavier's charities in the Professor's absence. Trying to steal some of his time proved nearly impossible, though it was with his permission that I started the project in the first place. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I'd never corral him for the hours it takes to shoot a person to my satisfaction, and asked permission to simply follow him for a couple of days.Most of what I know about Scott I learned from Jean Grey-Summers, or from the other original X-Men. That his inhumanly keen sense of space is not part of his mutation, but rather a side-effect of the year and a half he spent effectively blind after his mutation manifested. That his ability to find Jean on a moment's notice arises from the telepathic link they've cultivated since their mid-teens.
Scott rises early in the morning, early enough that he was frequently breakfasted and gone to his office by the time even I pulled myself out of bed, and I'm up and around long before most of the house, as a rule. When I began following him, I found myself reduced to rising in the dark or lurking around the house in my pajamas, awaiting his next move.
I came upon Scott the morning this photograph was taken only a few minutes after he got up. At the time, he and Jean Grey had converted the estate boathouse into a private residence, both for the sake of privacy and to remove themselves a little from the psychic "noise" of the mansion. I was never more conscious of invading that rare privacy than when I shot this. I offered the picture to him as a peace offering, or perhaps one to alleviate the guilt I felt, some time later, but he refused it, and insisted that I return it to the collection.
I'm struck, looking at it now, by how young Scott is. This in spite of his seniority among the X-Men and the physical abuse his body takes on a daily basis.
Scott: Did you know that we've had to rebuild the house twice?
Sinclair: No.
Scott: People -- the ones we deal with -- take a lot of pleasure in demolishing it, I think. We try to rebuild it off the same set of plans every time, but it never comes out quite the same, somehow. There's one less step in the main stairs than there was when I arrived, and the kitchen's completely different. I reach for things sometimes and they aren't where I expect them to be.
Sinclair: Do you ever think about moving?
Scott: The X-Men, or just me?
Sinclair: Either one.
Scott: The X-Men, sure. We actually did move at one point, to Australia for a couple of years. We decided collectively that it was too dangerous to stay in the States much longer. But we came back. For me . . . After we got married, Jean and I spent a year living at my family's home in Alaska. You can't imagine how quiet it is up there. Both of us got restless. [laughs] I was climbing the walls within a couple of days. I don't think I would have lasted much longer than I did, up there; if Jean hadn't agreed to come back with me, I might have tried hitch-hiking across the continent. And that was even with the distraction that came in the middle of that time.
Sinclair: Mmm?
Scott: Some family things came up. It isn't really relevant.
Sinclair: Do you miss having the school here?
Scott: Sometimes. I feel safer knowing that the kids are out of the line of fire, though. Jean and I, and Bobby and Warren and Hank, started this before we should have, I think, but there was just us, then. We've got a chance to give the younger ones something like a sense of security. If they're already set on fighting, it's hard to talk them out of it without looking like massive hypocrites, but Nate and Domino take care of them. It's Emma and Sean's job to take care of the others, and make sure they do things like go to bed on time and do their homework.
Sinclair: Is the male-female pairing at the head of each team intentional? Like a mother and a father?
Scott: God I hope not. I don't feel like anybody's father, not even Nathan's some days. It just worked out that way. And I share power with Storm rather than Jean, which I think breaks up the parents-pattern a bit. The X-Men are getting a bit old to have some kind of patriarch watching over them all the time.