November 12, 2017:
Lorna cooks breakfast, Laura and Nate wander in.
X-mansion kitchen
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions: Jean, Magneto
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
It was a slightly chilly November morning here at the mansion, so the out of doors was being saved by only the most adventurous of students, as well as those who liked to bundle up for their morning walks. One could expect that Laura was one of those adventurous students.
And, as it turns out, out for a walk with another one of the students, a young man with fins, who was currently bundled up extensively.
Laura just wore a light jacket, every breath out fogging the air. It was cold, but… she had been through worse. Much worse, in her life. Nodding her head to the young man as the conversation finishes, Laura turns back towards the front door of the mansion, breakfast on her mind.
*
Lorna was horribly hung over. The plan of getting black out drunk with Nate in the Danger Room and watching crap Rom Coms to try to cheer the young telepath up had ended with them being just miserably depressive drunks. Still, Nate now was sporting her signature dark green nails. The green haired mutant would take that victory.
The kitchen was her favorite place in the house for causing mayhem—something to do with all the metal flatware and pans, that made the normal drudgery of cooking just slightly more interesting. The smells of bacon, eggs and toast wafted from the room. Pans flew around, spatulas floated by and delivered food to the other few students that remained at the school.
Lorna herself sat on a counter top, legs dangling, as she read over a news paper. A mug of coffee in hand and looking more than a little frazzled. Green haired fell in a tangled mess around her shoulders. An old band-T shirt and a pair of black sweat pants made up her PJs.
*
Laura would be incoming in a few moments. Lorna could probably feel her approach with her magneto-wizardry, with the way her adamantium claws felt. If that was even a thing. Laura didn't know. But shaking off the cold by flapping her jacket a bit, Laura pulls her boots off soon after entering the place, so she had socked feet entering the kitchen, the young woman stepping through the door…
Her green eyes focusing on Lorna for a moment, her lips pursing. She had smelled the cooking food.
"Lorna," says Laura, letting her eyes drift from the green-haired dynamo to the flying pots and pans. Laura herself, beneath that leather jacket, had been wearing a dark blue halter top, held up with a thick collar of the cloth around her throat, and a pair of jeans that looked only mildly scuffed. "…are you cooking breakfast?" she asks. It was obvious that she was, but she was trying to be a little more social these days.
Another awkward beat.
"Do you want help?"
*
Lorna wasn't what one would call an extrovert by any means. New people tended to be shut out entirely, and she was slow to trust. Her leaving the Institute for three years had only made those tendancies worse. It would seem college had only made the green haired girl all the more introverted. Still, Xavier's one the rare place where by and large, she was relaxed.
It helped that she wasn't actually living there full time either. So she could afford to be a little nicer to the students. Despite Scott's scoldings.. or perhaps because of it.
She glanced up as Laura entered, a hint of a smirk playing at her lips.
"Well it was either this or I was gonna start taking over training by chucking wrenches at students. Scott said I wasn't allowed to." She sighed heavily, and glanced around at the kitchen.
"You could do the dishes if you want." Her smirk widened into a grin at that.
*
Laura was the queen of the extroverts, so she had no idea where Lorna was coming from. To be honest, though, Laura wasn't exactly an introvert persay, just kinda intense and weird sometimes. As most teenage cuisinarts tended to be. Regardless of such things, Laura tightens her jaw as Lorna teases her, her eyes flickering towards the flying utensils.
She could do the dishes? "Make me food. A lot of food, and I will do the dishes," she says, letting her eyes flicker back towards Lorna, those bright green eyes focusing in and narrowing in on Lorna. "I want eggs. And I want potatoes."
A handful of moments more, and she addresses the wrench situtation. "There are worse ways to train. Is that how you were taught? With wrenches thrown at you?" asks Laura, the teen drifting towards the island in the kitchen.
*
Lorna arched a green eyebrow upwards and she waved a hand toward the oven. A new set of pans flew over to her, and she set the newspaper aside to crack several more eggs into the pans— and another several were filled with alreday grated potatoes. Hash browns had been a thing. The burners clicked on with another wave of her hand and Lorna sent the food over with a flick of her wrist. Then calmly, she picked up her newspaper again and her coffee mug.
"Well no, but my powers are more inclined to chucking metal tools. And really, it won't kill them to get hit with a flying one. It'll teach them how to dodge." She mused, "It's not like I'm throwing a saw blade at them. Though really that could work too." She shrugged and sipped at her coffee.
*
Laura pauses a long moment, staring at Lorna with those brilliantly green eyes of hers then. Hash browns, eggs - what else could a woman want in the morning?
Laura suddenly twists to one side - a smooth, fluid movement. Towards a kitchen thing full of knives. Selecting one, Laura twists back around in the space of a second, and flings the knife with a smooth throw - the utensil-turned weapon tumbling end over end… straight towards Lorna.
Well, not /straight/ at her. In actuality, it would strike the kitchen cabinets about two inches from the left side of her head. Laura wasn't /trying/ to kill Lorna. Just train her. Right? Besides, she would catch the knife with her powers, right?
*
The green haired mutant continued to calmly sip at coffee, even as Laura moved to grab a knife and fling it straight at her. The magnetic fields that were a constant around Lornaespecially now as the whole of the kitchen danced to her tune of hand movementswas strong. As soon as the knife so much as brushed that invisible field around her, it stopped mid-air, frozen as if it had hit something solid.
Green eyes flickered toward Laura, and Lorna carefully set the mug she'd been sipping from aside.
Unlike her father, Lorna certainly didn't deflect weapons, she caught them.
"If you want hot sauce it's in the fridge." She reached out a hand, and the knife floated over to it, and she glanced over it for a brief moment. As if contemplating what to do with it. Before she set it aside and shrugged.
*
Laura nods her head towards Lorna. "Training," she explains, in one word. Her green eyes narrow, settling on Lorna's own greens. Laura moves to the fridge itself, her nose crinkling with her sniffery. "There's cookie dough in there," she says, reaching for the handle of the fridge door to pull it open.
There was, indeed, cookie dough in there. Laura glances back over her shoulder, with a surprisingly accusatory look towards Lorna. "And milk. And…" All sorts of breakfast things, really. Laura sniffs again, dropping down into a squat. When she rises again, she had a package in her hand. It was buried beneath a lot of veggietables.
Bacon. Laura stares at Lorna.
*
Lorna's lips twitched slightly at what passed as an explanation for why Laura had chucked a knife at her. "Yeah, sure." She drawled sarcasm dripping from every word. The green haired mutant turned, slipping off the counter to get herself more coffee. The hang over demanded it.
A glance was spared for Laura and the fridge over the rim of her mug. "If you want cookies, you can separate the dough out and I'll throw 'em into the oven." The moment Laura found the bacon, or rather what was the remaining bacon in the fridge at this point. Lorna rolled her eyes and approached, holding out her hand for the pack. "Alright, alright, pass it here."
*
Laura steps forward, keeping her gaze intensely on Lorna's own. Once the pack of bacon was handed over, she would take a step back. "No, I don't want cookies for breakfast," states Laura. "Did you make that dough?" she asks. A beat. "It smells too sweet."
A handful of moments more.
"Did you… have a good night last night?" That was Laura trying to make small talk, the young woman taking a sideways step to one side, to make space for Lorna. "I have been… away for a month or two." Which was her way of saying she had no idea what was going on in the mansion recently.
*
Lorna opened up the bacon, plopping it into another levitating pan that zoomed over to her. The first of the eggs being dumped onto a plate after. "Yeah, I made the dough last night. If it's cold, it's easier to scoop. I was thinking about making it up later. I dunno." Lorna cooked when she was worried, and it would seem that the magnokinetic was worried about something.
"I don't remember much beyond painting Nate's fingernails. I woke up in the Danger Room with blankets and pillows. So hey, everything else is still standing. So I guess it was a good night." She shrugged, but there wasn't so much of a hint of a smile in her voice. She held back a sigh as she went to wash her hands of bacon that was now frying happily, the water turning on with a wave of her hand.
"Yeah, well, I only got in around then. So I can kind of fill you in. I dunno exactly, as Scott and I haven't had a chat yet." Her lips twisted. "I wasn't here for what happened in Genosha, but apparently people died. Nate diedhe got betterand Magneto is once more active over there. We all took a trip to Nate's home worldwhich sucked by the way and we were there for weeks, but it was actually only a few hours here. Which is beyond trippy." She shook her head. It was the most talkative Lorna had been all day.
*
[Nate Grey returns from OOC Land.]
*
Laura was watchful, among all things. Not necesarrily one of the more talkative students in the group, she tended to watch, and wait. And while she hadn't known Lorna long enough to link the cooking and anxiety, Laura could kinda pick up little tells of that worry, here and there. And Lorna could probably see when she does, what with the way Laura would hunch and widen her eyes a little bit.
"Cookies are good. Not for breakfast. Unless they are bad cookies." A beat. "You cook a lot, Lorna. I do not think your cookies will be bad."
Another beat. "Unless you have bad taste."
The rest of that, Laura nods a little here and there. "Are you certain you just didn't eat bad cookie dough?" she asks, tilting her head to the side and levelling her stare on Lorna. Probably her idea of humor. Probably.
*
Lorna shrugged, dragging a hand through her tangled hair, as she turned to grab her coffee mug again. Sweet, sweet coffee. "They're just butter, chocolate, flour, sugar.. you know basic.. cookie dough." She settled back on the counter top, keeping an eye on the bacon that popped and snapped as it cooked. As well as the potatoes that were taking longer than the eggs.
"And yeah I know it wasn't bad cookie dough. The others ended up with me there.. so not just my own mental trip." She offered dryly.
*
A couple hours ago Nate woke up with hangover and painted (green) nails. In the middle of the Danger Room. Vaguely remembering he went there when the alcohol made his telepathy uncontrollable. Lorna was there too, still completely out of it. Awkward.
At least he can't remember his dreams. Usually a good thing. He took a shower, had a gallon of coffee and went out to outrun the headache. Hangover headache is actually waaay better than technovirus headache. He didn't even need painkillers to vanish it.
Now he is back, heading to the kitchen for a real breakfast. Still wearing just jeans and a pullover because his combat uniform was lost back in the Age of Apocalypse. The new one should be ready in a couple days.
Step in. Pause. "Laura! Good to see you, I was starting to worry," last time he saw her she was still recovering from being fried to crisp in Genosha. Slightly less fried than Nate was, but bad enough it took her more than a day to recover. "Hi, Lorna," smile. No, I don't remember either what exactly happened last night.
*
Laura's eyes drift down to the painted fingernails on Nate. Green. Then back up towards Lorna. Her lips purse tightly.
"It's good to see you too, Nate. Green." she says, gesturing down towards the nails. "Lorna is making us breakfast," she pauses a moment more, kinda setting her hip out to one side. "I would be happy to share the portion that she is cooking for me, if you will do the dishes for us," she adds.
"As I am helping to cook." By giving Lorna a thing of bacon.
*
Lorna glanced up as Nate entered and she shot him a flat look at the volume of his voice. She was still very groggy and very much hungover. She winced, rubbing her temple as she took another gulp of the coffee. "The deal was that I was cooking her breakfast if she did the dishes." She muttered under her breath, waving her hands as the metal tongs pinched out pieces of bacon onto a plate she'd set aside with paper towels.
And then helped herself to a strip of the greasy meat, she sighed happily, and settled to sit on the edge of the counter top. "Hash brown are gonna be done soon."
*
"Cookies, uh?" Notices Nate, "sure, I'll help." And this is the moment where those who know Nate better prevent him from getting anywhere close to the food. Because Nate trying to help in the kitchen rarely ends up well. But maybe dishes will be safe.
Getting the glance, he peers at his painted nails. Totally Lorna's fault. "Yeah, not really my color, is it?" Rhetoric, laconic question. So he concentrates a moment, studying his hands, and removes the polish telekinetically. Only takes a couple seconds.
*
"It is a good col…" Oop. There goes the polish. Laura purses her lips. But see? Laura had the best intentions of everyone in mind, keeping Nate away from the cooking. The easiest place to plug him in was the dishes! Laura looks at Lorna with no small amount of hope in her eyes.
"He took your nail polish off," she says, her tone of voice two steps up from a monotone. It sounded vaguely accusatory.
"I think green is a good color. Perhaps you can paint my nails with it later?"
*
Lorna glanced toward Nate, "Cookies are for later." She rolled her eyes and then promptly winced. "Remind me not to drink that much again without extensive amounts of water." A pause, "Think if I ask for an IV that I could get one?" She was joking, mostly. Maybe not?
The green haired mutant instead chose to sip at her coffee, watching as Nate removed the polish. "Pfft, next time I get gel on my nails, you are taking it off." She drawled lightly, and leaned back against the cabinets.
Of course, then Laura was talking about green being a good color and she shrugged, "Yeah, sure. I've got my bag some where around here. I'll be around today, I think."
*
"Green will match your eyes," comments Nate with a faint green. He is always encouraging Laura to try new things, even though about half of the times he really, really shouldn't. Good thing the small girl is nearly indestructible.
Then again he will always try everything at least once. At least he is practices what he preaches.
"Was this the first time you got really drunk, Lorna? It was a bit disappointing Rogue and Scott refused to join us. Didn't expect it from Rogue - that girl needed it more than us. Something happened back in Genosha. And again in Washington. I think she killed Horseman War."
*
So Laura had Nate to blame for her being so pernicious. At least, that worked for her. "Green matches Lorna's everything," retorts Laura to Nate, her eyes flickering back towards the other woman. "If you think it will help, I can go to the medical bay?" she asks, quirking her head owlishly to one side.
Another few moments. Nate and Lorna were talking about something a bit outside her experiences. Needing to get drunk - something she couldn't do anyways, although Logan had shot her a beer or two in his time. "Is she feeling bad about killing War?"
*
Lorna shook her head, "No, I've been getting shitfaced since I went to college. It's sort of a really horrible security blanket. I get emotional. I cry. Marcos picks me up off the floor and everyone is good." She grimaced, "I just hate getting a hang over in the morning. Why can't I have a healing factor? Totally unfair.." She muttered.
Then the hashbrowns were done and the pan was floating off the stove with a wave of her hand to dump them on a plate. The mention about War has her features twisting. "Yeah well, I would've killed him if I could." She muttered, "She was already off since Genosha. Jean should have a talk with her. I suck at talking, so can't be me." She shrugged and grabbed herself a plate to snag her own share of food.
"But what bugs me? It means that that guy, Gabriel Summers? He might exist here. In our reality.."
*
Nate tsk. "You also have nice green eyes, Laura," then to Lorna, "regeneration is the best power, yes, but it has the drawback you can't ever get drunk." He has set the dishes and broken nothing, so he flops down on a chair to impatiently wait for the foodstuff.
As for Gabriel Summers, Nate frowns. He half remembers someone called Gabriel with golden eyes, three years ago. But reality shifted and he resisted the change. Now many of his memories are a little off. "Yes. Another mystery, I guess. I know he really believed he was Scott youngest brother. Sinister seemed sure he was," he frowns. "But Sinister is a liar." And Rogue was already acting odd after Genosha. Nate was too wrapped in his own problems to notice, but it seems obvious now. "You gotta try, Lorna. She is your friend."
*
"You can find other things to do, though, besides get drunk." A beat. "As it does not seem that getting drunk is so nice a thing," says Laura, letting her eyes flicker across Lorna - a wide, discerning sort of look. "Do not worry - we have faced many like him before - and it might be terrible, but… we have faced worse," she says.
Another long moment. Laura works her jaw at the compliment, looking back up towards Nate. Like the other, she moves to sit into a seat, choosing one that lets Lorna and nate look to each other.
"But if he is Scott's younger brother, maybe he can be reasoned with."
Another moment. "I can talk to Rogue, too. If you do not want to." It was probably debatable who the better choice would be to actually talk to someone.
*
Lorna levitated the huge amounts of bacon, hash browns, toast, and eggs over to the table and through the kitchen. Cookie trays had become serving trays and hey, those were easy enough to move. They settled on the table as she carried her own coffee mug and plate over and plopped down.
"Yeah, okay, that's fair.. Then a very, very light healing factor. Like the kind that can heal paper cuts and cure hangovers. That would be sweet." She murmured and popped a piece of bacon into her mouth. She pursed her lips together and eyed Nate from over her coffee mug.
"I tried to talk to her, several times. She doesn't want to talk to me about it. I asked. I don't push people when they don't want to answer shit. I certainly don't like talking about my problems." She muttered and wrinkled her nose.
Her gaze swung back toward Laura and she sighed. "Gabriel isn't what I'm worried about facing, Laura." Her voice was tired, and worn and she looked down at her plate. Her stomach roiled and she sipped at her coffee instead.
"And who his sibling is doesn't mean jack when it comes to who he is.. if he exists in this reality.." And by her tone, it was obvious she wasn't just talking about the Summers siblings.
*
"My family is kinda complicated," comments Nate in the understatement of the century. Not many can say that in the presence of Magneto's daughter and the new Wolverine, clone of the old Wolverine.
"Which basically means if a Gabriel is around he is neck deep in trouble for sure," he adds with pessimistic certainly. And he would add more but doesn't. Because Lorna brought the food and he attacks it like a starving wolf. As usual.
*
Laura likewise enjoyed food, and lots of it. A healing factor took far more calories than one might expect. "If I could give you some of mine, I would, Lorna," says Laura, giving herself quite the serving as Lorna serves them in a breakfast straight outta Hogwarts.
Lorna's return to what she said causes her lips to purse, though.
Laura might push, but they had just spoken about how much talking about their problems was enjoyed by those around.
"The food is good, Lorna - thank you."
*
Lorna's gaze lingered on Nate as he mentioned family complications and Pietro and Wanda were bright in her mind's eye. The two had attacked that gala. And she was determined to handle it on her own. Without the X-men. There was something that had changed in regards to how she viewed her family after visiting Nate's home world and she hadn't yet spoken of it to anyone besides Marcos.
Of course, in regards to family complications Nate's family most assuredly took home first prize.
"We have to assume that since Scott had never heard—much less considered that he might have another brother.. well, that either the guy doesn't exist.. or he exists and is exactly as Nate said. Trouble. Either in it, or the cause of it." She grimaced, but the look faded as both of the others tucked into their breakfast.
"You're welcome Laura." She offered, her lips twitching faintly with good humor. "Let me know if you need more, yeah?"
*
In general Nate has no qualms talking about his problems, but listners need to be able to handle levels of strangeness unusual even for an X-Man. Few can offer useful advice. Not that they don't try the usual generic stuff. Never works.
"Yeah, food is great," like he is taking time to savor it.
"Anyway. I will try to talk to Rogue myself," because Laura. Hmm. Not to discourage her, but… "Soon. I'd like to be in Genosha before next weekend. Uh… and Scott will want to meet with us, for sure. Tell us to be 'diplomatic' there."
*
Laura was savoring it - some part of her, at least. For the most part, she was eating eggs and hashbrowns with the same intensity that she approached everything with. Laura tolerated most levels of strangeness as a rule, so everything was safe with her.
"This is complicated," she states, and soon settles down to focus on eating, although she does look up at Nate when he says that whole 'he'll talk to Rogue, not her' thing.
And it was in that moment that Laura decided that she would talk to Rogue anyways.
*
Lorna nodded as she stabbed a piece of bacon with her fork and finished off an egg yolk. "I dunno how diplomatic I can be. But I have a few things to wrap up here. I still have to tell Jamie I'll be taking a break from the detective agency." And tell Marcos that they were going to Genosha.. where her father was. Oh boy, if the guy hadn't run away yet, he still had time.
The mental play of 'Here Marcos, meet my genocidal maniac father, he likely doesn't care enough about me to kill you'. Had her features clouding up with the complicated set of emotions her father usually brought to mind.
"Well, complicated is our lives. It's not like we have a manual on how to deal with the crazy crap we get into." She muttered, and reached out to snag a lone piece of bacon still on the plate.
"Good news is, that dishes aren't complicated?"
*
Dishes aren't complicated. That sounds like a crack at him. Nate's reputation as the worst cook in the X-Men is probably spreading.
And Laura gets that expression of quiet stubbornness she gets when she decides to do something that everyone else could tell her it won't work. Nate gives himself a pat in his own back. She needs to try new things, of course. Rogue is the adult one, anyway.
"Right," he stands up. "I hardly believe I was complaining nothing happened here early this year. Well, with a bit of luck we will have a quiet week." Famous. Last. Words. "See you soon, ladies," he walks out.