1963-10-24 - Return of the Prodigal Student
Summary: Lorna has returned from her visit with the X-Men, and touches back with Emma.
Related: Evolutionary Advantages and Family Resemblances
Theme Song: None
emma lorna 


A phone call to the contact number given out to the special students Emma has personally recruited and shepherded into the Frost Institute is enough to engender action. The message passed immediately to Emma arrives promptly, despite the hour and whatever else she may have been doing, interrupting even the highest level meetings and negotiations in which she was embroiled. So too, her response was equally swift, arranging a meeting only an hour ahead in one of the conference rooms in the training facilities hidden beneath the Institute.

An hour later, Emma sits, still resplendent in her white business attire, knees crossed in a comfortable chair within the small conference room adjacent to one of the lounges in that secret facility, awaiting the arrival of one of her young proteges. There's no outward sign of her great tension and concern, but given that Miss Dane's message implied something significant had occurred without Emma's prior knowledge, she is definitely far more tense than she appears. Something is wrong. She must be prepared to solve that issue swiftly.

Lorna barely had time to change in her dorm after calling the number she'd been given. And she was shaken given the events of the day, though not to the point that she appeared to be in danger of losing control. A sort of nervous energy pulled at her steps and she was quick to arrive exactly on time, and not a moment later, to the meeting with Emma.

Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, and she wore a simple brown skirt and orange sweater, a jacket of the school's colors slung over her shoulders as she stepped into the conference room. She took it off as she approached, and picked a chair fairly close to the blonde. And then she was fishing out two business cards and setting them before the other woman, her hands then reaching up to fidget with her hair.

"I'd gone to the museum today a-and then /things/ happened. It wasn't me.. at least not at first. I thought it might've been me, a metal stand got knocked over and lights started flickering and metal went all over the place. And then I started to freak out, but it wasn't me Miss Frost. Someone /else/ had those powers, just like mine! But more… way more.. And like then there were these other people there.." She gestured to the cards.

"/They/ had powers too, and helped me calm down.."

Emma gestures to Lorna, indicating she should be seated, and then waits while the girl tries to get out her description of events. Emma's not the warmest or most relaxing sort of person, but her sheer charisma and some telepathic influence can't hurt, as she tries to ease Lorna back from the precipice so that the younger woman can slow down, speak more clearly, and dredge up more information to be shared without Emma having to rifle the poor girl's brain to get it.

Which is not to say that Emma hesitates to rifle her surface thoughts; she's a telepath, and this is what she was born to do. So deal!

Emma lets Lorna finish, and then scoops up the cards to look at them carefully, memorizing details for Moira MacTaggert and for the Xavier School for Gifted Children. Then Emma returns the cards; they were given to Lorna, after all, and should stay with her. "What is the state of the museum? Should I look into arranging monies to see to the repairs, to keep the response to this low-key?" she inquires first. Clearly, she is concerned for the safety of her student and her program, but she has to start with practicalities.

"I would appreciate it, Lorna, if you would describe to me, as best you can, each of the people you encountered, their abilities, and obviously what they had to say." Emma offers in a gentle repressive tone, trying to instill more calm here than tension. "I would also ask that you please let me know what you said to them about us and our program here. I have to be concerned not just for your safety, but also that of all of the other students in the program here."

A nod follows and Lorna exhales a long drawn out breath, inhales, holds it and releases the breath again before she began to speak. Carefully, she took back the cards and tucked them away into her pocket before beginning to speak. Her mind a riotous reel of jumbled up events, faces and places. "The museum didn't know I think what happened, they called it an electric malfunction. But there was uhm.." She closed her eyes in thought, "There were three ladies, Crystal, Moira.. I didn't catch the other woman's name. But the younger one, who was with Moira.. She calmed me down some. I think her powers are something to do with that.." She wrinkled up her nose in thought.

"I don't know their powers really, but I do know they are gifted too. They took me with them because they were worried that I had no idea what I'd done or what had happened." Memories of lights going out, metal ripping from the ceiling and the pull of Erik's magnetism flickered through her mind.

"So they took me to their school, the Xavier Institute. They were all really very nice, and tried to offer me help.. but I told them I had a teacher. I didn't say your name, or anything else. I told them that I thought it rather impolite for me to say anything without talking to you first. They said that I should tell you all about them though, because they wanted to support me and you." She smiled as she spoke then her thoughts became, once more, a rushing torrent of tangled emotion.

"But the man named Erik! He has my powers too! The same! They resonated! But he's so much more in control then me. They all offered to help if I needed it. But also, it was really weird, they think I might be some relation to him. I don't think I have any relatives with the last name Lensher though, I my family is rather small. So I'm not sure how he could be related.. maybe some distant cousin or something.." She shrugged.

Emma listens intently, momentary frowns crossing her features as she lets the facts - spoken and telepathic - flow over her and find purchase in her own mind and memory, then tries to order that information and determine what needs to be done. "Another school, then, geared towards young people with powers. Good, at least, that they wanted to help." Emma doesn't seem thrilled, but not immediately antagonistic, either. It is rather telling to her that the name on the card was the same school young Jean and Illyana attend.

"You say that this man has magnetic powers similar to your own, but much stronger, and under greater control. And his name is Erik? Erik Lensherr? Did you get a chance to speak with this man? Or is it that one of the young women knew who this man was?" Emma inquires, seeking clarification. She has her own thoughts and theories about this 'relative' and how that could have worked - she knows what adoption is, after all - but she's making no assumptions. They will follow up; safety and security demand it, after all.

"So, this Moira was the adult in charge. You did not meet with the Xavier mentioned by the school, but did meet with students of the school. This Crystal, and the other young woman with these calming powers?" Emma clarifies, nailing things down.

Lorna's lips pursed together in thought, and the gathering in the room solidifies in her mind. Logan reclined on a seat, drinking and foul mouthed, Moira with tea, Psyche the young teen that blurted out the possibility of relation between Erik and her… and Erik Lensherr, who stands and practically looms over Lorna before apologizing and smiling. Crystal another adult, of a calming presence but not necessarily power, that gentled the magnetically gift man and questioned her about who her teacher was.

"Yes, well he was in the museum too. It was a field trip for the students, and there were teachers there, I guess. He was the one that caused the whole power thing.. and well he was rather upset that he could have tore the museum apart and that people might've been hurt. He said he's normally under much better control too.. So.." She chewed her lower lip, her brows furrowing in thought. A tumble of thoughts and feelings regarding how the man might possibly be related to her. It was clear that if there was an adoption there, Lorna had no knowledge of it and the concept didn't even appear in her thoughts.

"I guess most of them were teachers that spoke to me? I don't know really. I didn't meet with the man named for the school, or any of the students really. I guess the young woman that pointed out we might be related, the one with the calming powers.. might have been a student? She said she was learning her powers too."

Emma nods a few times, still actively listening, fully engaged with the younger woman. "So, this Erik was the elder adult present, along with Miss MacTaggert. Also present were this unnamed young woman with the calming powers, and Crystal, who was so reassuring." Clarified, Emma nods again. "Now, let us address this a tad more directly. They wanted you to get in touch with me, and to reveal their existence to me. Did they mention what they wanted to see as a result of such contact?" Emma tries not to pester Lorna with her own thoughts and concerns about what any of this might mean, right now, and instead merely quizzes her on what she saw, what she heard, and her own impressions. The rest will be up to Emma, when she's ready. Which is not just yet. "How did you leave things with them? What are they expecting?"

A nod and Loran sits up in her seat, "They just said that they wanted me, and you to be supported. Especially because they assumed that you were gifted too. And they wanted to offer what they had as a resource I guess.." She bit her lower lip in thought, tilting her head.

"They were very nice about it, and I left on good terms I think, considering how strange everything was. They gave me a ride back to my dorm and let me call my roommate so I could give her a heads up that I'd be home later than I intended and not to worry. But otherwise they didn't push or anything."

Emma listens carefully and nods, even as thoughts start to trickle through. If they let her use their phone to call the roommate, then the school itself is potentially exposed, as is the roommate. They drive her back, which further compromises things there. She cannot know, yet, what danger that might pose. But it is Emma's job to think of such things, and then evaluate and take remedial action. The safety and security of the program and the students is her responsibility, and she knew taking in young mutants with less control would offer threats to such matters; she is not unprepared.

"Very well." Emma offers. "I thank you for making contact promptly, and for sharing all of this with me." Emma considers for a moment, and then continues. "I do not want you to worry about this. I know it was stressful and upsetting, but I need you to do your best to put it out of your mind for a bit. I will look into matters. Once I know more, once I know what we and the program will need to do about this, I will let you know." She is foreseeing some pointed conversations with those she knows are associated with the school, and probably a visit to Lorna's parents. "Until I speak to you, I would appreciate it if you did not reach out to those you met. If you run into them again, please let me know promptly. But do not initiate contact, until I know more. I promise not to take any longer at this than is absolutely necessary."

A blink and Lorna paused for a moment's thought, turning over Emma's request to not speak with them or worry about what had happened. Then slowly she nodded and rose, "Alright.. I promise I'll be careful Miss Frost. I tried really hard to not let anything get out, I know it's not something to share about." She mumbled, chewing her lower lip. A flicker of worry and guilt that she might have messed up bled into her thoughts before the young woman pressed the thought away mentally.

"I need to get back to my dorm and work on my studies some more… Please excuse me."

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