Not Here For Me

November 27, 2017:

Scott seeks out answers after 'All For Transparency!' Lorna has them and more.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Emma Frost, Jean Grey, Marcos Diaz, Dani Moonstar, Magneto, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

A specialized nightclub focused on clientele that enjoys the gothic, angelic to demonic cliche. It's a theme club and those go up and down in their popularity based off variable factors, the Holidays right now do great for Daniel's Inferno. Unfortunately with the current up tempo in mutant fixated violence and bad press things are not taking off like they should. At least they always have a core crowd. Tonight is a slower one all things considered dancers with bat wings, feathery appendages, powers that give the illusion of glowy nimbus like halos and horns are present.

The music is on the side of industrial, metal to dance that embraces it's glaring theme.

This is defnitely not the sort of place one would expect to find Scott Summers. Especially dressed as he normal does and is right now, standing at the entry way a head above most other patrons where hes looking left to right, those glossy red shades hiding his eyes but his lips are quirked in a downward set as a scale skinned man bumps against him roughly.

"Excuse me." The X-Man offers side stepping his fellow mutant.
A trained eye will reveal not all here are mutants, many if not most of them are 'Wannabes' people who have undergone genetic or cosmetic modification to look like mutants and metas, its a common practice anymore, more so in some locations. District X/Mutant Town hosts the largest of that circle in perhaps the world unless of course you end up overseas.

Lorna fit right in with her green hair in tangles, chain metal belts and jewerly dripping from her neck and wrists. She was out and looking a guy for a job. Something about a cheating boyfriend that goes to nightclubs. It made her life easy that she blended in, dressed in leather and steal toed boots. She held a beer in hand, she sat with her feet propped up on the bar's foot railing, green eyes watching the various patrons.

Smoky eyeliner and shadow clouded around her green eyes and she arched a brow as some guy came up beside her and offered to buy her a drink. She snorted, and pushed against the metal on his person gently, but enough to give him an idea as she held her hand up. "Not interested." She drawled. That's when her gaze settled on Scott's person wading through the crowds.

A blink and she got up, pushing off the stool to trail after him. "Never pegged you as a man to come in here."

A stiff arm works wonders in environments like this. With an apologetic smile Scott moves in to clear a spot next to Lorna, a hip against the bar and his eyebrows uplifted as if awaiting a return shove or jostle from anyone near.
"Hey Lorna! Can't say I am surprised to see you." Scott is. A little but not so much this does sort of strike him as a place he would encounter her contrary to himself. "It is definitely not. I stick out like a sore thumb." A pause and turns around to see whats slapping him in the back of the leg, a fleshy pink tail with a spade on it. Thats all that mutant apparently has on her. Ignoring it he looks back at Lorna and shrugs, "I'm not here for me."

Lorna leaned in as Scott approached, all the better to hear him, much less carry a conversation. A green eyebrow lurched upwards as she glanced back at the tail slapping up against him. She smirked and sipped at her beer. "I honestly could do without the leather extras here, but you know. The metal is great." Both the music and the iron alloy versions. Her smirk widened into a grin.

"I'm on a job. If you're not here for you, then what brings you out here?" She arched a brow, tilting her head to the side.

"It's not about that riot the other day… is it?"

"It is actually." Scott speaks a little louder, he is used to yelling between class rooms and playing team lead.
"I can appreciate the occasional metal but this is… very… loud?" More metal than hes used to he supposed. A smile and a helpless shrug follows, the hooded jacket he is wearig bouncing with the action.

"You nailed it. Jamie's place looked closed and I knocked no one was there and nobody on the team has put down any after action reports or feeds on what went down. I figured a little footwork would clear my mind… " A look at a single-horned man stomping by has Scott shaking his head, "I think that ones horn is falling off. He might need more gorilla glue."

"Where you there?"

Lorna dragged a hand through the tangled knots of green hair that hung around her shoulders and she smirked, throwing out a hand toward the speakers. There was an immediate crackle and fizzle of static temporarily, and the speakers went out and on. Much to the annoyance of everyone else in the room. She glanced back to him, tilting her head. "Yeah, it is a tad loud. I should stay here for my job, but really I've seen enough." She glanced toward one guy by the bar flirting, if one considered holding another girl with brilliant pink and red hair on his lap, flirting.

"And yeah, I was there. Marcos and I both were. Let me tell you shit went down hard." She pursed her lips and thumbed toward the door. "Did you want to get out of here?"

Scott's mouth opens at the small display of power then quickly closes, that smile tipping up to one side of his lips. "Some of you are just the worst." He teases then motions with a hand off towards the door, "Yes, lets." No need to say please. Lorna can tell the man is more than eager to make an exit from the noisy club.

"I'd like that actually especially after the charity. It's good to know what we're up against." There he is with the 'we' again, one might start to think it is intentional on the man's behalf. The chill air outside is welcome once past those doors the noise gone now and the nighttime street sounds of New York take over.

Lorna pulled her leather jacket back on as they stepped outside of the thumping, loud, club as she followed Scott back out. Her lips twitched as she shot him a grin. "Yeah well, you think it's funny too." She murmured, her breath ghosting in the chill air outside. She shoved her hands into her pockets and her lips twisted into a grimace as the quiet of the city continued.

"Well.. lets see.." She exhaled a breath and kicked at the side walk. "Marcos and I were coming back from a job. Ran into a bunch of PTA moms trying to get signatures for a pro-registration law. Community out reach that shit." Her lips curled in a sour look.

"And then Pietro and Wanda showed up. I don't know Wanda's powers, but.." Her lips thinned together. "She had the lady on the stage gouging out her face with a pen till I took it.. Then she turned her attention on me.."

Drawing his hood up over his head Scott proceeds to thrust his hands in to his pockets as they begin to walk, he is listening as she begins quiet until mention of Wanda's powers, "Sounds close to what was done first encounter. Close I suppose. A lot happened very fast but people lost control of themselves."

Pro-Registration acts, again with it. This will be the fourth perhaps, it has been repealed several times in the past and almost gained traction last time. This time things are far more real. Apocalypse unleashing the Terrigen Bombs, Genosha being overthrown by a single team of mutants and now widespread terror in the form of Brotherhood? Is that what they're calling themselves again. Its been years since this much 'fear' has been displayed. People are genuinely scared again and despite all past efforts its a pressure he cannot ignore, this time, the registry might just gain the upperhand and become reality. It's a terrifying concept.
"Go on. If you have more I'd like to hear it all." Scott's frowning, she doesn't even have to look at him past that hood to know s much.

Lorna's frown deepened and she kept her glower on the sidewalk in front of her rather than glancing side long at him. She looked lost a little in her thoughts before she spoke again. "She went through my head. It hurt.. so badly.." She swallowed hard, "She dragged out memories. Everything I knew about them. Everything from Nate's world. My suspcions. My talk with you about them before. Where my father is."

Her jaw squared, never before had she had to deal with people going through her head so much. Now it had been Dani messing with her fears, and now Wanda, with all the kindness of a pickaxe to the temple…

"I lost control of my powers. Another minute of her focus on me and the block would've been levled.." She whispered. "As is stands I fried all the electronics, telephone lines, cars.." She exhaled a breath and pursed her lips together.

"Marcos broke her focus by shooting a beam at her. Pietro picked her up and got her out of there. Spiderman showed up. Tony Stark and company showed up. Pietro and Wanda escaped. I couldn't .. I was out of it.."

Scott pauses on the street corner under a flickering lamp. It's zzt noises making it sound like an oversized bug zapper. A thoughtful noise escapes him as he looks up at the smog riddled skyline.

"She fished through your mind? Your memories? Like a telepath… " An exhale, the glow of hot breath meeting cold air different to a man who sees nothing but crimson inflected hues.

"Good they showed and well done on Marcos part. Do you think they recognized you?" The sympathy he is feeling for her pain in the situation not really showing through. Scott sounds monotone as usual. Robotic and near emotionless in delivery.

Lorna nodded, "They know. She made some remark about 'sister', or Pietro did at least. At the very least they know now. I don't know if it was.. telepathic per say. It didn't feel like that. It was rough, painful.. And it was chaotic. Like she was rummaging through for bits that she wasn't sure about." Her lips twisted and she rubbed her temple.

"Marcos had to carry me out. It was bad. The migraine didn't let up on its own. It was nasty." She shook her head slowly and grimaced, glancing back at Scott.

"It might have had something to do with the fact that she was my sister?" It had happened before, supposed siblings and powers and all kinds of messy business. "I don't know. She still manipulated that woman too." She cursed and dragged a hand through her hair.

"I need to head to Genosha this week. I can't put it off any longer. Bear attacks or no.."

"I guess we cannot rule out anything in regards to what is possible. I hate going in to anything blind." Scott studies Lorna and the grimace, "We will get you there and safely. What about Marcos, I haven't been able to check the Danger Room readouts and see how he has been doing I intended to do that tonight but this is a more pressing concern."

Lorna exhaled a breath, her shoulders rising and falling. "I dunno. Maybe she's a telepath. If so, she's violent and it hurt. I know why the professor always came down so hard on those that are when they skirted the edges of reasonable uses of their power." Her lips thinned into a white line, and her hands curled in her pockets.

"Especially now.." She muttered and glanced back to Scott.

Finally she came to the part about Marcos. "..Nate already wants to corner me about that actually.. I… got distracted. And let it impact how I reacted. A medium level scenario almost went south because I couldn't get my head in it."

"Clumsy or untrained or just doesn't care who is hurt in the process. Given enough time and more exposure we will figure this out. With everything going on right now we're facing some serious odds." Cyclops can at least be glad Colossus and Psylocke have returned. They will be great assets in what is no doubt soon to come.

"Nate huh? He isn't exactly mister calculated and together himself. More often than not he is a wildcard I have to add special consideration for in scenarios and if he's the on coming down on you two… either hes learning or it is something serious." A click sound. Possibly Scott's tongue hitting the back of his teeth. Oddly it comes across dissaproving even though it was one singular noise.

"You want to hear something slightly demented?" He questions Lorna, "Some part of me is almost eager to deal with JUST the Brotherhood again. I know I am only deluding myself here but some small part of me feels like this is like old times again. It is familiar and familiar is something I have missed. Strange, right? Maybe even morbid."

Lorna shrugged wordlessly at the mention of why her sister's mental torment had hurt so much. Still as they continued to walk, her boots scuffed against the sidewalk and she kept her gaze on the cold, frozen ground. "I.. might've gone after the simulation men that attacked Marcos. I wasn't thinking. I was angry and I just.. reacted. I knew it was just a simulation, Scott. I was just pissed at myself. I let my fears of Marcos getting hurt get in the way." Her lips twisted together and she exhaled a harsh breath.

"… I'm not ready to see him go into combat, Scott. Marcos has only ever done street stuff before." She trailed off and closed her eyes together briefly. "He was the strong arm for the Cartel down in Florida. When I met him. Their muscle."

"So a big part of the issue was your involvement?" Scott questions, he isn't done with the Brotherhood or her siblings or its effect on her. No he is just changing beat a bit to ease up the conversation, not overwhelm her. This is a lot to take on.

"You know he will probably insist on going with you no matter what. You likely cannot keep him behind unless you ditch him and even then… that won't bode well for your relationship. You cannot coddle him."

Scott grins now, at his own words. It is all too familiar. "You have to push him hard, Jean and I were there once, it was a weakness for a time. Take one of us down and the other fell right away. Over the years its something we've had to work around, something you have to harden yourself for. It does get easier once you start to learn one anothers limits and develop more faith, being a Cartel bruiser says he can take a hit, hes ready to deal and dish and you have to let him show this to you."

A hand rubs over his jaw, feeling the smooth and lack of stubble, "If we had more time we couuld work on this but we don't. A week isn't enough and I doubt at this point I can talk you in to a delay. You're going to have to let him jump in both feet and be prepared. I think Marcos has the heart of a warrior in there, just like you and any prospective X-Man. This is what we do, Lorna. This is survival for us mutants." She knows this. Scott has learned shes quite intelligent and insightful over their time knowing eachother, he figures she knows all of what he is saying. He is just being encouraging, a reminder and trying to help with her own clarity. Sometimes it helps just to hear someone else say it.

Lorna exhaled a breath, "Part of me wanted to throw him in the deep end. On his own. I knew if he could handle that, he'd be better. That coddling him doesn't help.. but.." She swallowed hard, "Dani got into my head.. I can't stomach it. I thought I could handle it, but I can't. Dani showed me the worst fears I have Scott and those images won't get out of my head." She shivered and it wasn't just from the cold.

"She showed me killing him, Scott. Okay? I've had two people in my head in the last two weeks and I'm on edge already. And now I'm going into Genosha, to face my father and I know for damn sure that Marcos would never let me go on my own. I know realistically, he can take a hit. He can survive just fine when push comes to shove.. I just.. he can't … he's never faced anyone or anything like what Nate described there.."

Dani Moonstar… Scott can sympathize on that one as memory of the red death filters through his minds eye, Lorna's dead body on the ground mangled and torn apart, the rest of the X-Men all being severed and blasted to pieces in crimson hellfire their sceaming faces as they are blasted in to nothingness….
Scott lingers in silence a breath longer than intended. "That entire scenario did a number on all of us, Lorna. Each one of us was exposed to our worst nightmares. If you're not ready for this, not ready for Genosha you need to consider not going. If you're fragile right now you have the time, Magneto is entrenched and won't be leaving without force. No force that I can comprehend right now can move him from his current course."

Scott reaches over and his hand touches Polaris' own, giving it a squeeze. "Stay strong. Whatever path you choose the X-Men will be with you and Marcos. We have to stand together… we are all in this together."

A vibration-buzz and hes looking down, hand patting in a hunt for his phone. "I have to go, I need to meet with Emma Frost. I'll be in touch, okay? If you need an ear call."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License