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There are benefits to being the not entirely official founder of a university. One of those benefits is that no one questions you when you walk through the hallways of the women's dormitories. After all, it's not just a building with one's name, but the whole damned school. Hence how Emma Grace Frost is able to saunter up to the door of the room shared by Miss Lorna Dane and Miss Jean Grey, currently housing - as Emma has discovered - a young woman named Hope.
And then? Well, then Emma kocks. She could unlock the door in less than a minute. She has a key. She could order the door opened if she didn't feel like fetching the key. But she knocks. Because there is nothing so precious nor powerful in Emma's life as etiquette. And a lady knocks first.
Before kicking the damned door to splinters, if necessary. She will not be denied. Which is why Emma is here less than forty minutes after Lorna left to head to her training class.
*
This isn't where Hope meant to go. But after the incident in the park, she didn't exactly feel right pressing Lorna about getting where she wanted to go. And last time it took Nathan two years to meet up with her, so one night or a few hours…probably isn't going to be the end of her.
The problem is, she can't go anywhere without at least getting some normal clothes, and she's having some trouble justifying stealing them from Lorna when the girl's helped her out. Which is why she's still inside when Emma knocks, freezing with her hands inside a dresser drawer.
Slowly, quietly, she pushes the drawer closed, padding across the room to take shelter in the space where the door will open. It's a tactical move, meant to buy her an extra second of time, even if she's unarmed. But she doesn't answer. Who knows who that is?
*
"Open the door, Hope. I know you are there. And unlike Miss Dane, I have a helicopter. And enough money to buy a whole new wardrobe." Emma's words are cold and calculating. She doesn't try mincing around the edges; she just bulls her way right through.
"For the record, I'm giving you ten seconds. Then I am coming in regardless." Emma offers.
At least she doesn't start counting down aloud.
*
Well that's not particularly reassuring. Hope glances to the door, glances to the window. She could probably make it out. And then have to run through this woman's entire small kingdom of a campus. Impractical.
It takes a good seven seconds to work through it. But seven she has her hand on the doorknob.
She absolutely counts the last three seconds before she turns it.
The door cracks open then, revealing exactly no view of the girl herself. She's staying behind it, out of view of the hallway.
*
"Better, child. Still not good. But better." Emma offers when the door opens. She steps inside and turns unerringly and unhesitatingly towards Hope, pinning the young woman with those ice blue eyes and her regal demeanor, as she takes in her attire and state.
"Miss Dane has explained that she brought you here to help you. And that you wish to reach Charles Xavier." Emma leads, sharply. She doesn't hesitate. "I can and will assist you. But first, young lady, I think we should talk. Don't you?" The silent treatment isn't going to work here. not with a telepath of Emma's skill.
*
Hope is, well. Like a wild animal. She hasn't had a chance to get a shower or even really brush her hair, so there are still bits of leaves caught in the tangles and in the fabric around her neck and shoulders like some sort of cowl. "I…don't," she says after a moment of hesitation, starting to step around the doorway.
"Look, Lorna's been really great, but I can't stay here, and you probably don't want me here anyhow. So really, I just need to get into something that stands out a little less here and I'll be on my way and out of your hair."
*
Emma eyes Hope, and the shakes her head. "Sit down, young lady." Her tone is the sort that doesn't brook disagreement. This is a woman who is used to getting her way, to everyone obeying her.
"I can provide you with clothing, and a ride to Charles Xavier." Emma offers, honestly. "But first, I will point out that you do not know me. You do not know what I want. And so, it behooves you to wait and find out, before making assumptions."
"Please. Sit down."
*
"That's kind of been the opposite of my life experience, actually." Hope is not a pliable young person. Here and now, so many young mutants are afraid, or angry, or uncertain. Hope? Doesn't seem to have any of that. She's wary, but it's the kind of wary that soldiers have, absolutely certain of how she'll react if things go south.
"I'll stand, thanks." She crosses her arms over her chest, looking around the room again as she takes the measure of the other woman with something other than her eyes, checking for the still unfamiliar feel of other powers.
*
"I have asked you, twice, to sit. I will not ask nicely again." Yes, Emma is treating Hope like a recalcitrant teen, which she is, however much she may view herself as a soldier. Solders also obey orders from relevant authority, and take the opportunity of resources to accomplish their missions when they are offered. So Emma is not at all moved by the defensive posturing or attitude. As for powers? Emma's would be an incandescent brilliance of pure and crystalline purity, impossible to miss if looking.
*
"And I don't work for you," Hope retorts. "I don't even know who you are or why you care, or why you're storming in here making demands. I didn't ask to be brought here, but if you don't want me here, then I'll go. Problem solved." Whoever this woman is, she doesn't act like a friend. And she can feel enough power to know she doesn't want to have to get into a fight. Flight is sounding like a good idea.
*
"I am Emma Grace Frost. This is my school, which I helped found. Miss Dane and Miss Grey are my students, whom I helped to get the scholarships that have given them the opportunity for their education here. And I am tutoring them with their powers, helping them to achieve their potential." Emma answers. Because that is who she is.
"When I give orders, young lady, you will know it. I never said you work for me. But you are here, in my school, in one of my student's rooms. You are in need of help. And I am offering it. Yet you seem determined to abuse my goodwill and insult me at every turn. I do not know what makes you believe such churlish behavior is appropriate or acceptable, but you are mistaken. Now. I did not say I do not want you here. I asked: Please sit down." Emma really is on her last nerve, at this point. What is it with teenagers?
*
There's something slightly familiar about those powers. Just a little bit. Not in the personal sense, not that Emma's powers feel familiar, but Hope has brushed with telepathy before. Briefly. Enough, at least, to risk testing them herself with an unsophisticated probe at Emma's mind, just enough to try to get a feel for her intentions.
"Where I come from," she says quietly, "You ask people to sit down so it takes them longer when they try to run. Okay?" It's something of an olive branch, at least. She's not sitting, but at least she's not out the door yet either.
*
Emma's mind is … resolute. A towering fortress of unyielding will. She doesn't offer up much. She's not just hard to read in the normal sense, sadly. There's a reason she unnerves even Xavier.
"Well, I do not know where you come from, child. I only know where I come from, and where we are. And where we are, I ask you to sit because two women who have much to say to one another sit, and make themselves comfortable, because it is the polite and proper thing. And by offering you a seat in a place that is mine, I am pledging your safety and security in that place, by my authority and by my power, against any and all that might dare endanger you." Because Emma takes this stuff very, very seriously. "Where I come from, refusing to take a seat offered is an insult, tantamount to a declaration of violent intent."
Emma waits, gesturing towards the chair on Lorna's side of the room. "Now. Will you please sit? So that I may sit, and we may talk about who you are, where you are from, and figure out together how I may be able to help you, as a child under my care and protection has asked me?"
*
Hope hesitates for another moment, but finally takes a few slow steps over to the chair, sitting awkwardly. She's still tense. Still alert. But at least she's sitting down. "There's not a lot you can do," says once she's settled. "Not that- Look, I'm not saying you don't have resources, just, I'm pretty sure you don't have them here. Now."
There's a pause, and then she asks the important question. "What year is it?"
*
OK. Not a question Emma was expecting. "Nineteen-sixty-three." She pauses. "As for resources, I have over ten thousand dollars in cash, as well as credit cards and cheques equal to several million. I have a lomousine outside, and a helicopter on the landing pad. I also have a bunker full of resources available just beneath this building, if necessary, and several operatives capable of physical intervention, if necessary." And all of that is just her personal resources, not including her company, or the Hellfire Club. "I also know Charles Xavier personally." Not well. But personally. They have met. "And if I call him and he says it is acceptable, I can get you to him in a matter of an hour or so, if not sooner. Now. Is that sufficient to convince you to stop fighting me and start working with me?"
*
"That's great, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any time machines in 1963," Hope grimaces. "And I don't need to get to Xavier's to get anything from them, I just-" She looks away, expression pained. "That's where we were going. Nathan- My Dad and me. We were supposed to go back to Xavier's. Something must've broken on the slide, though, because we weren't aiming for 1963. I don't know where or when he must have ended up, but since Xavier's is where we were supposed to end up, it's the best place I can expect to meet him."
*
And Emma only frowns momentarily, then shakes her head. "No. I do not have a time machine. However, I may know of two possibilities, maybe three, where you could actually find someone capable of building a time machine." Because Emma is that damned smart. And she has connections the like of which this poor child has no idea.
"Now. For the moment, I suggest that we get you a shower, and proper clothing. I will leave a message with Charles, informing him of your location, in case your father gets there before we get you there. Once you are cleaned up and dressed, we can get you there, and if he gets there before you, they can inform him you are safe and give us a call." Emma offers as soothingly as she can. Isn't it interesting how she just accepted the whole time travel thing?
*
"But we have to-" Hope cuts herself off, closing her eyes tightly as she forces herself to take a deep breath. Eventually they'll have a time machine. It doesn't really matter how long they're stuck here, to a point. They can still get to when they need to be. Just hopefully before she's too old to do whatever it is she has to do.
Opening her eyes, she looks back to Emma. "We might be pursued," she says, glancing out the window again. "There's- Someone's been after me for a long time. If he finds me, it won't be safe around me."
*
"You let me take care of that. Protecting the children under my care is rather something I take seriously." Yep. That simple. Hope is now under Emma's care. That's just the way it is. "Now. How about that shower?"
*
Hope's brows furrow as she looks back. "I don't think you understand," she says slowly. "There have been people trying to kill me my entire life. Since I was a baby. When I was born, they killed hundreds of people trying to get to me. If they come here, this place won't be safe. They'll cut through all these people, all these kids. They won't even hesitate."
She stands up, turning a circle as she looks around the room, entirely too lost for someone in such an ordinary place. "A shower would be great. Changing's going to have to happen to move around without drawing attention. I just- No one else needs to die because of me, okay?"
*
And Emma turns to living diamond right there in the chair. "No one is going to die, child. I will not allow that. As I said, you are under my protection, as are the other children." Emma shifts back to normal and stands. "The bathroom is through that door. Use Miss Grey's toiletries; they are suitable to your coloration. I will replace them. While you are cleaning up, I will get you some new clothes and call Xavier."
*