1963-12-06 - It's All Self Defense
Summary: Emma tries to talk to Lorna after the fiasco of Hell's Kitchen
Related: Bringing down the house
Theme Song: None
emma lorna 


After several weeks of near-constant presence at the academy, Emma Frost simply disappeared for a few days. She does, after all, have other responsibilities. A life of her own. Goals of her own. Upon hearing of a certain student's distress, though, she's made the time to come back to campus, sending a student to let Lorna know that she should come and visit the Headmistress.

Inside her spotless office, Emma has a steaming pot of tea waiting while she herself is seated on the pristine white velvet couch, leaning into one corner with her legs crossed, an impeccable high heel dangling from her foot as she inspects her manicure.

*

Lorna looked more than a little ragged from her misadventures in Hell's kitchen. Shadows clung to her eyes, and a yawn escaped her as she departed for Emma's offices. A polite knock follows before she enters.

"Miss Frost? You wanted to see me?" Her voice was soft, and hesitant. Her hair dyed back to brown once more, and she chewed her lower lip.

Her gaze moves to the tea pot, and she fidgets under Emma's gaze.

*

Emma glances up at the entrance, brow arching as she takes in Lorna's appearance. "Goodness gracious, child," she says, waving her toward the couch. "You look dreadful. Come, sit. I think perhaps this isn't as finished as I might have hoped it was." She leans forward, filling a pair of cups with the tea as she gives Lorna another look.

"Settle down, you're not in any trouble," she assures. "And even if you were, you'd be better facing it with a bit more…" A pause, a flicker of a smile. "Well. You're not, so."

*

Lorna moved to the offered chair, taking up the tea with both hands. She bit at the chapped skin of her lower lip, and she settled with crossing her legs. " Miss Frost, I.. I…" She swallowed hard, mentally her memories were a torrent, a mess of chaos.

"I'm sorry, still.. I-I.. they were coming after me, and I know… I should've done better.."

*

"Could you have?" Emma adds cream and sugar to her own tea, hands steady. As Lorna sits, she reaches out with her own mind, a deft touch of telepathy applied to take the edge off of the panic. Ethical? Not particularly. But practical? Very.

"All right. Tell me what you should have done, then," she suggests, lifting her cup for a sip.

*

Lorna swallowed hard, glancing down at her tea as Emma worked on calming her. A sigh follows, her shoulders sagging as she leaned back in her seat. "I should've done more.. to.. to.. not kill those people.. I could've done more to escape without hurting them. Without using my powers like that.."

Green eyes lifted and fell, morosely looking down at her tea cup.

*

"Those are sentiments, Lorna, not solutions." Emma leans into the corner of the couch again, legs crossed as she levels a steady eye on the girl. "If you believe that you should have, that you could have, then you should be able to say exactly what you might have done differently. Feeling poorly about it does nothing to prevent it in the future. It will only make you freeze the next time, wondering what you should do, wondering what went wrong."

She takes a breath, one nail tapping against her tea cup. "So. Let us start at the beginning." With another light touch of her mind, she brings the beginning of it all to the forefront of Lorna's mind. "What might you have done differently?"

*

The teen squirmed beneath Emma's gaze, even under the mental touch.

"I shouldn't have run off from Tata and everyone. I shouldn't have gone off alone into Hell's Kitchen without anyone else just cause I was angry.."

*

"So lesson one: We are not controlled by our emotions." Emma nods once, approving. "Good. What next, then?" She keeps that steady eye on the girl, encouraging but not terribly comforting, either.

*

Another shift, and Lorna takes a deep breath. "Be better … at… knowing where I am. To not.. not get into a position that that…" She trailed off, clasping her hands on her lap tighter around the tea cup.

"I.. tripped and fell down when I tried to run.."

*

"Be better at knowing where you are?" Emma arches a brow, doubtful. "Unlikely. That isn't something you can control, not unless you're going to study the entire world, and even then, you'll know only what you've read, not the truth on the ground. Tripping is also not something in your control."

She takes a sip of her tea, playing the memories through in her own mind without pushing them through Lorna's. "Being aware of your surroundings is something you can control, though. And, in the vein of the first lesson, using your mind to respond appropriately to what you see and hear, rather than letting your emotions drive you into another reaction."

*

Lorna nodded weakly, her mind passing over all of the events that had occurred. "I still.. I shouldn't have brought down that building.. And.. and I didn't even stop to /think/ about what I might've done to innocent people. If that building hadn't been empty.. or if anyone had been around…"

*

"Lorna." Emma sets her cup aside, gaze cooling slightly when she looks back to the girl. "Stop. You made a mistake in wandering off alone into Hell's Kitchen. But it is not your fault that unscrupulous people attacked you. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with defending yourself from them. Could you have done it with less damage? Honestly, darling, I'm not entirely certain you could have. You're powerful, but you're still learning control. It's why we train."

"But all of this self-recrimination, the wailing, the chewing at your lip, the moping? Who is that going to help? Whose life is it going to save? The past and what might have been are nothing you can do anything about."

*

Lorna grimaced at Emma's words a flush crossing over her cheeks as she shifted uncomfortably under that gaze. "Three people died though because of me.." Her features pinched and she worried her lower lip.

"How is that okay? In self defense or not, Miss Frost… I.. I just.." Her hands thread through her hair, and she bends over her tea.

*

"If you can think of nothing else you could have done, Lorna, then what you did was not wrong," Emma shakes her head, leaning back again. "Letting them hurt you was not an option. Letting them take you away was not an option. You lack the control and the presence to have intimidated them into walking away. You owe no one an apology for standing up for yourself, Lorna. Never let anyone tell you any differently."

*

Lorna's eyes well up with tears, and she sniffles weakly. "But.. but.." She was shaking now, though at least her powers remained within her control. No metal shook or shivered around them.

"I .. Miss Frost.. I.." She rubbed her eyes with both hands, really breaking down into quiet sobs.

*

Emma sighs softly, standing up to crouch in front of the girl, reaching out to take her hands. "I know it doesn't feel good, Lorna," she says quietly. "You've done something that you told yourself was bad. That the whole world has been telling you is bad for your entire life. But you did what you had to in order to survive. If you let it tear you to pieces, then you might as well have let someone else tear you to pieces. Do you understand?"

*

A small sniffle followed, and she swallowed her tears. Her hands rub at her eyes, red rimmed and puffy now. "Yeah…" She hiccuped softly, and bit her lower lip.

"I..I just.. I.. don't know what to do… now.."

*

"What on earth do you mean, you don't know what to do now?" Emma arches a brow, sharpening the expression when Lorna bites her lip. "First, you're going to stop chewing on yourself," she drawls. "Second, you're going to wash your face and get some sleep. And third, you're going to wake up in the morning and continue living your life. The thing you fought for. You'll live it with purpose and reason. You'll remember that your actions have consequences. You'll begin to think about them before you act. What else is there?"

*

"Okay.." Her voice was small and lost sounding and nodded faintly. She had to stop herself from biting her lower lip at Emma's comment. A flush of red coloring her cheeks.

"Miss Frost..? Are.. are you going to tell my tata?"

*

"I believe that's up to you, Lorna. You're old enough to make that choice." Emma rises smoothly, turning back to her chair and retrieving her tea cup. "Remember what we've learned. Make your decisions with your mind, not your emotions. And think about the consequences. Perhaps this will be a good first decision to practice with."

*

A grimace followed that, and Lorna swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. "Okay.."

Another nod followed, as she looked back down at her tea cup. "I'll try my best Miss Frost.." She fell silent, running over all the possible ways that either way could go wrong.

*

"That is my hope, Lorna." Emma smiles faintly as she settles back down, cup in hand. "But first, the face washing and the sleeping. You'll feel better once you've had a chance to properly recover." And it probably won't hurt if she inserts just a little subconscious suggestion to the same effect, either.

*

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