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Lorna stepped off the bus with a look of irritation at the bus station. She had taken the wrong bus to get back to the Frost Institute, and as a result was now forced to get off this bus and take a different one entirely. She wore the school's jacket, a light blue turtleneck and matching pants. A backpack slung over her shoulder as she sidestepped several other passengers getting off the bus in question.
The brunette made her way to the map that showed the various bus lines, and she stared, flabbergasted and overwhelmed as she struggled to figure out what line she needed to take to get back to her college. A groan slipping from lips.
"Ugh…"
*
After her shift at the O'Rourke's Kitty made her way towards Mutant Town. The supposed ruckus was enough to get her on the move to check if there was anything she could do to help. Still dressed in her yellow dress that is just an inch too short (which she continues to insist is just for tips!), Kitty shifts down the block from O'Rourkes towards the edges of madness.
Her hands are tucked into her pockets, and her bag is slung over her shoulder as she increases her paces. It's then, however that a familiar figure enters her gaze.
Kitty's head cants to the side as she catches Lorna in her gaze, "Hey…" her eyes narrow. "I know you… right?" Even as the words escape her lips, Kitty's cheeks hue pink. "Wait. Macy's! Ohmygosh I am so embarrassed!"
*
Lorna turned at the familiar voice, and her brows shot upwards. "And.. uhm.. outside the library that one time.." She mumbled, her cheeks turning to a mirror hue. "It's .. it's Kat.. err right? Kitty?.." She trailed off, looking awkward as she shifted the books in her arms.
"I got into a different school, going to the Frost Institute. I'm Lorna.. if you forgot.." She added, chewing her lower lip.
"How's your head now? Better? You fell rather.. hard last I remember.." She glanced around the crowded bus depot and shifted her weight upon her toes.
*
Kitty flushes further. "Yeah, it was pretty bad," she rubs the back of her head absently as she rolls her eyes. "Pete was pretty worried. Keith thought it was hilarious though." She manages a flicker of a smile. "And yes. Lorna! It would've come to me. Probably." She shoots Lorna a half-smile that actually causes her eyebrows to draw together. "I don't think I'm familiar with the Frost Institute, but school changes can be good."
"I'm just glad to be vertical and fully functioning again. Mind, that seems like a lifetime ago. I hate it when I fall through the floor."
*
Lorna fidgets and her gaze sank down to Kitty's feet as the young woman talks about falling through the floor and she grimaces. "And I thought I had it bad with paper clips and forks sticking to me.." She mumbled, chewing at her lower lip, a hand reaching up to scratch at the side of her cheek.
"Also you don't have to worry about me freaking out anymore.. I'm not exactly in denial anymore about /that/.." She rolled her eyes as she gestured to herself. "I've got a teacher and everything." A smile pulled at her lips. "Granted I'm not exactly good at it yet.. but yeah.. I'm getting better at stuff.." Vague, very vague, but given the chaos that was the news recently it was a small wonder that Lorna had come to terms with having powers at all.
*
Kitty's chin lifts at the remark. "Oh. I don't… I haven't…" again her face flushes. "I don't often fall through the floor. Not anymore. When I was younger," her head waffles ambiguously, "but not anymore. Not really." Her eyebrows lift. "There are exceptions. Like Macy's. But it's rare." She manages another quirk of a smile.
But the notion of denial sees Kitty's expression subduing. She emits a soft sigh. "Sooooo," the word is elongated, "you are one of us then?" her head cants to the side and then she lifts a hand defensively, "I'm not… it's not…" again her lips quirk into a self-deprecating grin, "… if you aren't, that's okay. I'm not one of those people. Like honestly." Her smile gains some momentum, "So, if you are, what is it that you can do?"
*
A flush crossed her cheeks even deeper and Lorna nodded faintly, "Yeah, I mean, yeah.." She glanced around and back, and bit her lower lip briefly.
"I guess I can.. err.. well, it's a lot like a magnet. Metal things.. I guess. But then there's supposedly other things that are involved with that.. that are, way over my understanding." She exhaled a long sigh and glanced down at her feet, rocking her weight back on her heels.
"I met someone that can do the things like I can.. it was really all too much, and it's kind of turned my life upside down. But he's been helping me, and said he'd continue to. So that's been.. a relief.." She sighed, "Kinda hard to go all your life thinking you're crazy and then have someone that /knows/ what I'm going through exactly and is way like.. waaay better than I ever thought possible. Kinda shakes things up."
*
A wave of delight passes over Kitty. "I've been there." Her smile turns comical as she notes, "I had a teacher who… figured out my headaches weren't just headaches. They were my power manifesting, and staying solid, staying corporeal was actually really challenging before I knew how to control it."
Her smile turns dimpled. "But having someone who understands — that makes a world of difference." She runs a hand through her hair, pulling her ponytail tighter as she does so. "I'm happy for you Lorna, honestly. It's important to embrace who you are. It's really hard to sometimes, but… it changes everything."
*
A small bob of her head follows Kitty's words and Lorna looks down at her feet, a sigh falling from her lips. "Yeah, don't I know it." She grumbled faintly, "I've.. well, it's affected everything in my life.. Like way more than just .. what I can do or not." She shrugged a faint grimace pulling at her lips.
"I've had to rethink /everything/ in my life. And it's just.. it's changed how I see a lot of stuff. Who I talk to and where I go and just.. so much." She closed her eyes briefly and shook her head.
"At least I haven't lost control recently, so there's that.. well, I guess.. not on purpose lost control..?"
*
"That's good," Kitty replies softly. "It seriously takes time. But it'll be worth it. It really will be worth it. And the accidents become rarer and rarer. It only happens when I'm surprised now." Like Macy's. With the perfume counter. Her eyebrows lift.
Her head cants to the side, "How has it affected other things? I mean, I get the rethinking part. When you're not who you think you are, you don't have a choice but to change everything. And adapt to everything." Her cheeks puff out with a long exhalation of breath. "And not everyone will accept the 'new' you." Her eyebrows lift. "I have supportive parents, but I'm pretty sure my mom still thinks my being mutant and a New Yorker is a phase. Like. Just a phase." She smirks at the play on words considering she phases.
*
A wince follows the mention of parents and Lorna's gaze darts away. "Yeaah… see.." She exhaled, "I found out I was adopted and yeah.." She hung her head, shifting her grip on her books.
"So it's not even like that they /cared/ either way.. I mean, naturally, they must have known.. but they kept me anyways. So I guess that's great and all.. but they never told me." She grimaced, her jaw squaring faintly.
"Which never would've been a thing if.. well, like I said, I met a guy.. quite by accident.. and someone suggested that we might be related.. and things got dug up. So yeah.. turns out I might be more related than I thought. Which, I dunno. He's nice. But like..
She glanced up to Kitty to measure her reaction, "Like I said, rethinking /everything/.."
*
"Woah. That's kind of HUGE news. I can't imagine how I'd feel if suddenly my parents told me that I'm adopted," Kitty marvels…. and then apologizes, "I mean, it's not… I'm not… sorry. That was insensitive."
Kitty inhales a slow sharp breath, "Where did you meet this fellow? It's not always easy to find mutants. I mean," her eyes turn upwards, "sometimes it is if they just fall through the floor or teleport in front of you," like the Rasputins, "or look different than other people. I mean, I can fly under the radar, but I don't want to. I'd rather people just know what I am if it's going to be a problem. I'd just rather know if it's an issue upfront. But not everyone is like that."
*
Lorna squirmed on her feet, her shoulders rising and falling as Kitty spoke and she toed the ground carefully. "I.. I don't exactly .. well I can't exactly let people know. It's kind of complicated, tied in with who's teaching me and stuff." She grimaced.
"But I was at the museum a few weeks ago, and then stuff, metal stuff just went all over and it wasn't me.. So I started to lose control in reaction, but it turned out this other man had the same abilities as me and he had other friends there that /knew/ about him and then there was chaos with wires being ripped out of the ceiling, and alarms going off and it.. well, yeah. It was totally crazy."
Another sigh pulled from her lips as she rocked her weight back and forth on her toes and back to heels. "But from there I ended up going to this school with them and someone made that comment about us possibly being related."
*
"Oh-kaaaaaay," Kitty slows her words. The not talking about it seems awfully familiar. She rubs her eyes. "Fair enough." Her lips purse lightly and she tilts her head. "It wasn't…" her nose wrinkles. She'd lived at Xavier's for years…. almost seven years of her life. Her jaw tightens, "Was it… in Westchester?" it seems like a risky question. And one she probably shouldn't be asking, prompting her to say, "I mean, lots of things happen in Westchester. Because it's quiet. And lovely. And… I dunno. They have this really great restaurant called Harry's Hideaway that I used to work at — "
*
A pause, and Lorna tilts her head to the side and her brows furrowed faintly. She chewed her lower lip again, and slowly nodded. "Yeah.. uhm, how'd you know? I mean.. I'm not going to school there.. but that's where I went and everything kind of got.." She waved a hand and shrugged as if to say 'crazy beyond belief'.
"But yeah.. that's where I ended up after the museum. It was.. they were all very nice about, well everything. It was strange to me. I dunno." She pushed her hair back, glancing around the other customers of the bus depot continuing to go on their way without glancing at the two young women more than was common.
*
"Right. Lucky guess," Kitty offers as her eyebrows lift. "I… used to go to a school in Westchester. And… someone who can control metal sounds," her eyes cut downwards, "familiar." She manages a tight-lipped smile. "And that's great. It's good to find a place you feel like you belong."
"I'm glad that it seems to have helped you regardless though," Kitty shrugs. "Honestly, most mutants I know often struggle to find their place for a bit. It's good to have friends and support. And I mean, we're all different, but it's important for us to have people who can relate to us. Believe me," her eyes turn upwards. "Without Pete, Yana, John, and David, I think I'd be hooped. Like a real train wreck." Pause. "Especially now."
*
Lorna's brows furrowed as she leaned forward, "You went there? Then you know Mister Lensherr." She whispered, and her head tilted to the side.
"I.. actually aren't.. well I'm not supposed to go back there without my teacher's approval. She isn't from there. A different thing entirely actually.. and well, she's really just protective and all." She exhaled.
"Supposed to get a blood test done at some point and know for sure.. I guess.." She shrugged, and eyed Kitty.
"Have you been okay since I saw you last?"
*
"I do know him," Kitty confirms with another flicker of a smile. Her eyes drop to the ground a moment, pensive and full of consideration. "That's fair. Not every place is for everyone. I… recently left again." Her cheeks flush.
The question causes her body to stiffen and her expression to falter. With a slow breath she allows her gaze to turn away from Lorna. "I… " it's a question that feels so full of the weight of everything. "…I've been okay." It's not entirely wrong and not entirely right.
"I was in the paper. Well," her eyes turn upwards, "a photo of me was. My friend was attacked while he was in the hospital and I saved him. And…" her eyes narrow. "…well. It was a mess. And I was getting too much attention so my boyfriend and I moved to Brooklyn. For some quiet. And normalcy. And… the move was good. So."
*
Lorna frowned faintly, a small nod following as she studied Kitty closely for a long moment. "I saw that, I didn't think it was you.. but I guess it was.." She mumbled, "Is your friend okay?" Her head craned to eye the clock above the bus depot map and another grimace pulled at her lips.
"Looks like my bus is coming here shortly.. I should find it and get back to my dorm.." She paused, and then reached into her purse to dig out a piece of paper and a pen. Scribbling down quickly on it before holding it out in offering to the young woman.
"Hey, if you want to talk or anything you can call me. My roommate is really chill. So don't worry about the time or anything. If you need me or anything let me know? I know we're not exactly close or anything.. but.. yeah, don't be a stranger?"
*
"John will be okay. He got released last week and I even saw him at his house. I think he'll heal nicely." Kitty accepts the number and shoots Lorna an easy smile. "And of course. I'm always happy to have new friends. And it's good to know you're accepting yourself as you are. Honestly."
"I'll definitely be in touch. Maybe we can meet on purpose one of these days. I do enjoy a good cup of coffee." She winks. "It was good catching up with you, Lorna. Honestly. I'm happy you're figuring yourself out. It helps. Truly."