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After the crazy events in the park, she still had no idea what happened to the green rage monster, or if it actually landed in the river or not— Lorna had driven and smuggled (somewhat) Hope into her dorm. Jean wasn't sleeping there it seemed, so Lorna promptly put the redhead in the other redhead's bed. It was too late to drive all the way to the Xavier Institute, not to mention, Hope had had a very good point. Lorna had an invite, given her dad kinda sorta lived there, but Hope? Sure Hope was a mutant and definitely in need of help, but still..
So Lorna took the phone and looped the chords into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, trying not to wake the sleeping mutant in her room. She fished out the card she had with the number and carefully dialed, sandwiching the phone between her shoulder and ear as she tried to calm her breathing and /not/ mess with the electricity or other metal bits in the dorm.
She really hated being on the phone.
*
Meanwhile in the Xavier Institute, the school's namesake is getting up from his chair to answer the phone sitting on a side table near the study door. He too has never much been a fan of talking on the phone. Essential as it as a communication tool, it entirely cuts out the peripheral information of both mental and body language in one fell swoop.
Though usually it isn't also subject to the odd static he hears when he puts the receiver to his ear.
"Hello? Charles Xavier speaking." the professor says a touch uncertainly.
*
"Hey, uhm, Mister Professor Xavier? Yeah? It's Lorna. Do you have a minute?" She frowns at the static she could hear on her end too, and pulls the phone away from her ear for a moment, frowning at the receiver as if it was to blame. But given that the handle to the toilet seat handle keeps wiggling ever so faintly she figures it's likely her.
Small favors there weren't any TV's around or she'd mess those up too.
She closes her eyes, exhaling and inhaling the way that Emma taught her to, holding the breath for a moment before letting it go. The toilet seat handle stilled and she adjusted her grip on the phone.
"Is that any better? Sorry, still learning, I think that the static was me?" Her voice hesitant and unsure if she had fixed it or not.
*
Ah, and that tidily explains the static, which Lorna already seems to be addressing. "Just Professor Xavier is quite alight," Xavier responds, a touch amused. Though that static rather fills in for the lack of empathic connection at least somewhat, and leads him to respond promptly, "Yes, that's much better; nicely done. But is something the matter, Lorna?"
*
Lorna exhales a heavy sigh against the phone, shifting on her perch. "Uhm, so I found this girl in the woods at Central park, and she said that she needed to get to your school? She knows about it, and is a mutant and was really messed up, like the lost kind in the park. She was calling for her dad, but she said that her dad wasn't at the school yet? I dunno, she didn't say /who/ he was, but she's definitely a mutant. Apparently she can like, /borrow/ powers? She totally used mine and we threw this giant green rage monster thingy, all the way from Central Park to the river? I guess?" She shrugged and realized that he definitely couldn't /see/ a shrug over the phone.
"She has way more control than I do, and stuff. She dashed over to help people and I promised my dad that I wouldn't do anything reckless, but I had promised to look after her and I was gonna talk to Miss Frost, but she really wants to go to the Xavier Institute. I dunno?" Her voice rose in pitch and by the rush of her words, it was clear that the poor girl was anxious.
*
There's another small smile as Lorna seems to have adjusted to the news about her parentage well enough, but mostly Xavier is listening intently. It's certainly clear that whoever Lorna ran into, something odd is afoot. "You found her in the park upset, she wouldn't give you her name, but asked to be taken here?" he repeats, a little baffled. "Am I understanding that correctly?"
*
Another shift, "Weelll, kind of? I mean she told me her name was Hope later, when we were leaving the park, and she was really evasive about wanting help at all. I kinda was worried cause she was talking about partying and and waking up in the park. I found her though cause she was calling out for her 'dad'. I dunno. But she was really disoriented and I was worried that she might've been slipped something. You know? Like she might need medical attention or something."
Lorna glanced toward the door, hoping that the conversation was quiet enough not to wake Hope up.
"But she said she didn't, and I offered her a ride to her friends or her home or something. 'Cause you don't leave someone /that/ messed up in the park like that. Especially not a girl my age. But then she started talking about a school in Westchester and I kinda wiggled it out of her. Offered to drive her up that way later, and then she reminded me that it might be better for me to /call/ first or that she'd wait outside."
Lorna bit her lip, her brows furrowing in thought. "And that stuck out, 'cause unless she'd been there before how'd she know about that? Like that doesn't make sense to me at all. And if she'd been before then shouldn't it be okay? I dunno. It doesn't make any sense." She whispered.
*
That was very decent of you, to make sure that she was alright." Xavier replies. and if he's alarmed, it doesn't show in his voice. "And I very much appreciate your calling ahead. It's possible she's simply heard of it from someone else, but that is peculiar. Well then, let me ask you a few questions, alright?" Xavier says, stepping around the side table a step or two as he crosses one arm under the one holding the phone.
"When you said she borrows powers, was that something she did through touch or simple proximity?" perhaps she absorbed information in the same way, rather like Scarlett. "And you mentioned miss Frost; are the both of you at her Academy at the moment?"
*
A nod, and Lorna cleared her throat, "Uhm yeah, sure." She wiggled on her perch in the bathroom, twisting the chord between her fingers before she stopped and realized that with her powers, that could just bring more static to the line again.
She played with the buttons on her sweater instead.
"She was just standing near me, and she was able to lift a lamp post up and off the ground and wrap it around the green thing. And she had the idea of tossing it into the river, but she needed my help. I guess? But my control isn't that good, so I was really just mimicking her. It helps when I can feel what someone else is doing, 'cause my powers don't really show up all the time when I need them." She bit her lower lip.
"And yeah, we're in my dorm. Jean isn't sleeping here tonight, I dunno where she went. But I put her in Jean's bed.. Figure that Jean won't mind if I do the laundry."
*
"Ah.. I believe Jean is staying in the city for a few days. I saw her recently though, I don't think there's cause to worry. As to your new friend.." Xavier lets out a breath, leaning on the side table and idly looking over a bookshelf across the room without really seeing it. It's a risk if she can absorb powers just from being near. His own gift would be one of the easiest ways to glean information if she did mean any harm with it, but. He has a feeling her range may be rather less than his own, and it really does sound as if she is in need of help.
"There's a coffee shop in Greenwich, if I give you directions, would the both of you be able to meet me there?"
*
Lorna bit her lower lip at the news that Jean wasn't going to be home anytime soon. "Wish she'd told me.." She mumbled, and Lorna shifted the phone to her other ear as she pulled her knees up close and rested her chin atop them.
"And yeah, I can do that, give me a second and I can get some paper. It'll have to be when I don't have classes though. I don't think Miss Frost would be pleased if I skipped class. I think she'll be upset enough about me bringing Hope over. Just a second, hold on.." She chewed her lower lip again.
Before she rose and set the phone down, tip toeing into her room and sliding out a notebook and a pen from her desk, before creeping back into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.
"Okay, I've got some paper."
*
"It was a fairly hastily made decision, I would guess she hadn't settled enough to consider that yet." Xavier replies, wanting to avert any miscommunication between the young friends he is able to. "Quite alright, let me know when you're ready." While Lorna is finding pen and paper, Xavier fetches a rolodex from the cabinet under the table, locating the actual address and telephone number for the shop in question.
Once she returns, he gives directions from the freeway to the coffee shop in question, along with the number and address should she get lost. He adds wryly, "Well, I wouldn't want to have miss Frost cross with you, and besides I suspect your schedule might overlap more than a little with my own classroom obligations. Perhaps in the evening?"
*
An exhale follows and Lorna pushes her hair back as she adjusts her grip on the phone to jot down the various directions, phone number and address for the shop carefully, reading it back once and double checking her notes. "I know she likely didn't mean anything by it, but I was kinda worried. I mean she always kinda goes off and all, but like.. there's been a /lot/ going down in the city. Aliens, myths and crazy things? Geeze, I mean I ran into a scary green monster in the park and a shop of electronic stuff attacked the customers and there was some crazy floating lady, and I mean, /I/ got attacked by a vampire back on Halloween?"
She muttered in regards to Jean and then she paused, "Don't tell my tata about those last few things, could you? I don't want him driving down worried about stuff, I'm totally okay and Miss Frost made sure everything's cool." Mostly the truth.
"But yeah, evenings are totally fine with me. I should be able to beat the traffic if I leave right after my last in the afternoon." Lorna bit her lower lip, shifting on her seat.
*
"Yes," Xavier remarks with a bit of a troubled frown. "It's been a hectic month on all fronts, it would seem, though—" he breaks off partway through remarking that he's glad she's alright to laugh at her request. "I'll… make no promises on that, but at the least I won't trip over myself to volunteer. Fair enough? If you're satisfied with the directions, then I shall see you in person this evening."
*
A pout follows and Lorna squirms on her seat. "He already said he'd drive down whenever he felt like it 'cause he wasn't a professor and could whatever he wanted. I know he'd come down if he heard about that stuff. He wouldn't even let me drive when I was upset and that was /before/ he knew I was his." She bit her lower lip, chewing away dried skin. It was a bad habit.
"But yeah, I'm cool with the directions. Thanks Professor. I'll see you later and I'll bring Hope along."
*
There's another chuckle from Xavier over the line. "Erik can be a tad on the protective side, but he really does mean well, you know." something he's believed since he first met the man. "Take care Lorna, and I'll see you at seven."
*
"I know he does, I'm really okay with it." She smiled, adjusting her grip on the phone. "And thank you again Professor. I'll see you then. Bye." And just like that Lorna lowered the phone into the cradle and slumped in her seat, a sigh pulling from her lips as she goes to check the time on her wooden and plastic alarm clock.
It was late. Miss Frost was gonna kill her if she fell asleep during training.