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Attilan. Lorna wakes up in what is /almost/ a foreign world. Except that it technically IS on Earth, just full of aliens. She is comfortable in bed, in a room in the palace, near to where Crystal and Magneto bunked for the night in Crystal's old room. The sun is shining through the thin, clear, gorgeous atmosphere. This air is so pure…so wonderful, she might occasionally get euphoric from the purity. The room is styled a bit alien, itself, a combination of Chinese, where they can get a lot of their supplies, and cut in the style of the French from 100 years ago.
*
It was likely a very good thing that Xavier had used telepathy to send Lorna to sleep. The time change from New York to Attilan would've wrecked her sleeping schedule otherwise. Which is likely why Lorna is up and awake without that awkward jet-lagged feeling that others might be suffering from. Still, walking around the city in the borrowed X-men leather suit and armor was less than high on her to do list.
Even if the clothing options in the room made her either wince or wrinkle up her nose in confusion. Still, the more flowy dress, maybe it was Chinese inspired? Ended up what Lorna picked, the hues of greens and blues complimented her now thoroughly green hair. There wasn't even a hint of brown dye left. A sudden change for anyone that hadn't seen her in the past few days leading up to the 'invasion'.
And while the young woman could sense her father's magnetic presence, she could also put together the idea that he was likely with Crystal and likely did not want his daughter poking around. She understood the concept that they were going steady and that was enough for her. Still, it made her time incredibly dull with no one to talk to. So she took to wandering around the castle… and getting hopelessly lost.
*
It is easy to get lost because normal sense has been abandoned here. The mountain dictates what rooms there are, and where they are. Sometimes stairs go down, and up, before they come to another set of rooms. She finds herself somewhere that is supposed to be private. There is that isolated feeling, here. The walls have little decoration, and it leads to a room from which there is a glow of sunlight, and the sound of clanking. Then a shattering glass. "Uhhhhhhhh!" A sound of deep complaint, rife with drama, comes down that hallway.
"They said you could take /some/." Comes a different voice.
"You're /useless/, just go." Then swinging out into the hallway is a man that Lorna would recognize. he was one of Max's guards, except he's in Attilan attire, instead of the tan suit. He spots her and stops. "You have a guest, Maximus." And Max replies, "By alllll meaaannnss…any company is better than yours." The brunette man does not appear to be insulted. He makes a little face, and gives a crooked grin to Lorna. "It'll actually do him good to have someone keeping an eye on him. He hates the rest of the guards, and I could use a break."
*
Lorna leaned forward, pausing in the hall at the sounds. Her eyes wide as she blinked in surprise as the guard entered and she took a step back. "Uh, sorry.. I-I.. wasn't.. uhm.." She flushed, biting her lower lip and curling a lock of green hair back behind an ear.
But then the guard was waving her in practically, with an invitation and she bunched her hands into the flowing skirts at her side, biting back further protest on her lips. A weak shrug and half a nod followed as she stepped around the guard on slippered feet and made her way toward the open door cautiously.
She glanced back at the departing guard briefly, before poking her head into the room once more. Green eyes wide and steps hesitant. "Uhm.. sorry.. I-I.. I didn't mean to intrude.. I.. I just got lost.." She mumbled, rubbing the back of her head as she cocked her head to one side, carefully remaining half outside of the room.
*
The inside of this room is some sort of study. There are mechanical things in here, but they don't really seem like they belong here, and none are finished. Perhaps this is where he tinkered on smaller designs before he bothered to build the big ones in the lab. There are also books, and beautiful, complicated glass objects, for chemistry. A couch sits in the middle of the room and it is worn, and comfortable looking. There is a sense that…this was the place where, perhaps, the King didn't need to be the King. A secret space, away from everything else. And there is a small balcony on the other side of a sliding pane of glass. He looks the girl over when she arrives to the room, shy and full of apology. He is wearing his white outfit, still, but not the fur-collared coat. His feet, however, are bare. His makeup is worn off, mostly, though the stain of it is still there. Its a vaguely…hooker-in-the-morning sort of look thing that's going on now. "Ah…the prodigy of Magneto. I like your hair." He wets his lips. "Do you know how many /years/ I spent on that device you crushed?" But, oddly enough, he does not seem angry or even unwelcoming. Its like…two race car drivers after a race.
*
A shy step follows as she steps further inside, though a blush crosses her cheeks and she fidgets with her sleeves, her hair and looks anywhere but at him for a long moment. Still, the remark about her hair has her gaze turning back to him and she rocks her weight back on her heels. "Uhm.. thank you." Another pause and she glanced around at the various little trinkets and a small wince follows at the mention of crushing his machine. Her lips pursed together and she crosses her arms.
"You were gonna use it to hurt people, so.. uhm.. yeah.." Not sorry rang out between them and she bit her lower lip again. Something Miss Frost was constantly warning her /not/ to do.
"I'm Lorna, so you.. uhm.. don't have to call me that.. er.. I…" She trailed off awkwardly, green eyes returning back to him, dropping away from the smeared make up that covered his features to settle somewhere near his shoulder.
*
"Lorna. At last a name. Mm." Maximus drifts to the couch and sags into it, draping an arm along the back and stretching his legs out in front of him, heels against the floor. "It is no different a machine than any leader makes for their people. Was." He tilts his head again. "Do you want to sit down? I am not going to harm you. I am being watched, very carefully. And honestly, I generally gain no pleasure in harming people." He pauses again, then smiles faintly. "Did you know there was a button that I put on that machine that I was not even sure what it did? I was so eager to find out…but perhaps it would have destroyed the whole thing. I must have done it in my sleep."
*
Lorna glanced around as he invited her to sit, her gaze landed on the couch only briefly before she moved to tug a stool up into the air with a curl of her hand, flexing her powers and settling it down across from him. A small, if not entirely surprised sound escaped her as it actually worked as well as she'd intended and she settled down on the edge of the chair, a faint dusting of pink still on her cheeks.
"Well.. most leaders don't hook up kidnapped people to machines like that.. and uh.. I'm pretty sure the President of the United States doesn't put random buttons on things either.." She bit her lower lip again, her voice soft and hesitant, and every so often she sent him a wide eyed look, as if expecting him to snap at her.
"..Uhh.. do you do things in your sleep a lot..?"
*
Maximus seems to be in a more subdued mood at the moment. But he IS unpredictable. When she sits further away, he kicks his legs up onto the couch. "I suppose not, but that was only a deterrent to stop me from being simply targeted from afar. As long as no one /else/ killed them, I was not going to. And they were only humans. The people that hate YOUR people…remember? /War/ is always terrible and ugly. There is no such thing as an honorable war. And no, I am not in the habit of doing things in my sleep. But, it happens now and then. The machining. I am a machinist. And what are you? You sit over there blushing. Is it because you are attracted to me, or because you aren't used to any attention?"
*
If Lorna could sink deeper into a stool and slouch she did, her gaze falling as she pursed her lips together. "They're still people, they still have hopes and dreams and fears and loves. They still feel pain and think. Just because some of them don't like.. mutants doesn't make it okay to kill them or use them as shields." She mumbled, her gaze low as she toed the floor.
"And .. I'm a student. I'm going to school for science." She glanced at him, looking faintly irritated and yet some how wary. "And I can't help blushing, it happens, I have fair skin…" And the mention of it only made her cheeks hotter. "And ew, no you're like as old as my tata.."
*
"That is a very disturbing name you have for him, though I cannot exactly place why. Father, then. I thought so. School for /science/. Ahhh…" Maximus suddenly propels himself off the couch and goes to scoop up a beautiful glass ball, with three tubes sticking up out of it, and one down low. "So, then I suppose you know what this is?"
*
Her nose wrinkled and Lorna sat up, "It's Polish, my father is Polish. I have a dad, alright? I just.. I was adopted so I have a dad and a my tata." To be fair it sounded more like 'papa'. "It's to keep them straight, okay?" Defensive, definitely, but as he rose and reached for a glass ball, her brows furrowed.
Green eyes narrowed and she leaned forward, looking over the object curiously and then slowly shook her head. "No, more like.. uhm.. well, I want to study more about the earth and its magnetic fields.." She bit her lower lip. "But I'm just a freshman so it's generally just science.. I guess. But uhmm.. er.. No I dunno what that is. What is it?"
*
Maximus rubs his fingers against the smooth glass. "It is a round-bottom flask. Simple. Sometimes when things seem complicated…they are not." Maximus cuts his eyes towards her and smiles over broadly, for a flash of a moment. "Do you believe that knowing what scientists know about magnetic fields…will help you control your own powers?"
*
Lorna bit her lower lip, chewing it before she caught herself and stopped. A blink, her green eyes wide and open to show every emotion that flickered through her. If Maximus paid any sort of attention, given how he'd stared at Wanda through a scrying mirror, he'd find the same curvature of her chin and cheek bones. The same jaw line. Simply lighter, softer, more open and less given to darker tones.
"Oh." Another blink and Lorna tilted her head to the side to eye it. As he mentioned the reason behind her field of study she fidgeted, pushing her hair back from her face.
"Well, I kind of wanted to try science before because everyone told me that girls couldn't do science. I sort.. of didn't actually use my powers much at all before I entered college." She dropped her gaze, "I was a bit in denial." She whispered, and there was that faint flush again. She hadn't actually spoken about that to anyone recently. "But now I kind of want to yeah. I dunno.."
*
"Mmm." Maximus hums and then takes a step and launches the flask at the wall, where there does indeed reside the remains of another one. He does this with a totally even tone, as if he is merely throwing away an empty can. SMASH. "You could also attempt to discover what precisely is causing you to create green hair. Perhaps you are part /parrot/…and you leave this fascinating aspect undiscovered. After all, it is /birds/ that are the masters of magnetic fields."
*
Lorna jumped, a squeak of surprise escaping her and she clamped her hands over her mouth as he threw the flask against the wall suddenly. Eyes wide as she stared, aghast from the broken glass and back to Maximus. She shivered, hunching her shoulders foward as she stared for a long time in stunned silence.
Several moments of silence filled the space between them as he compared her to a bird, specifically a parrot and she swallowed a dry lump that twisted in her throat.
"I-I don't know.." She whispered, shoulders already held high in tenseness rose and fell minutely in a terse shrug. "I.. I should.. go.."
*
"Probably. I am, after all, of no use to you. Maximus the Mad. I knooooow that's what the council calllls me." His eyes squint and his lips press into a line. "But, you cannot escape me. I will be there…around your /ta-ta/, seeing as my cousin weaves her powers around him. She has used her powers of charm /very well/. He is a much stronger choice than Thor." His eyes sparkle.
*
Lorna stood up carefully, but as he spoke she wrapped her arms around her middle. "Listen, I don't /care/ what the Counsil here calls you or not. I don't make friends with people because they're 'useful' or not. Who does that? Geeze louise! But if you're supposed to be making friends with the outside world and learning about it? Being creepy and throwing things around isn't a good way to do it, you know?" She'd heard that much about what had happened after she'd awakened and her lips pursed together as she eyed him.
"And Miss Crystal is nice because she's a good person. Not because it'll get her something. She chose my father over a Norse God! Which I know doesn't likely mean much to you, but it kinda does to everyone else out on planet Earth. Which you kinda have to play nice with now…." So yeah kind of lingered on the tip of her tongue and she met his gaze evenly, green eyes flashing with open irritation.
*
"Oh she didn't /tell you/. Of course, why would she. And /I/ am completely within my rights to be sour for at least…what do you think?" Maximus taps his chin, "Ohhhh my brother was sour for 10 years. I get at least 1 year before I should be expected to be over being /deposed/." Max gestures wildly, a flurry of movement. And then suddenly he's calm again.
*
Lorna arched a green eyebrow upwards, skeptically staring at Maximus. "What? What hasn't she told me?" Her nose wrinkled up as he gestured wildly and she stared him, arms still crossed.
"Listen, my country doesn't even have a king. So I really don't see the big deal?" She gestured to the trinkets all around him. "Why don't you invent things instead that could help people? You seem pretty good at that kind of thing and the world /needs/ more people like that. Don't you like doing those things? You don't have to have a silly crown for that.."
*
Maximus tilts his head and turns around to look out the window. He gets closer to it, step by step, and away from her. "I /do/ invent things that help people. I love my people…but you cannot dismiss a Kingship as something of little worth. How do you think the last King, the last Emperor, the /last/ ruler of any country has felt. I am the /last/ Boltagon King." He takes a deep, sad breath, well aware of what it means. To be so tired of rule that they'd nix the whole system entirely. "My cousin, Crystal…she has the power to influence emotions, like love."
*
A snort at that, "No she doesn't! She controls the elements!" Came the prompt retort to Crystal controlling how people feel. "They're like two very different things. Emotions are like.. like telepathic stuff. Like what Professor Xavier can do, or my former roommate.. or .." She trailed off, counting on her fingers just how many telepaths she knew. Including his mental powers? She knew quite a few.
"Not elements.." She muttered, crossing her arms as she was self assured that he was making it up.
"And so… what if you want the best for your people, and your people no longer want a monarchy, maybe that's what's best for them? I mean, really.. we vote for our president. It's not perfect, but hardly anyone actually has /kings/ anymore.." She arched a brow. "It's pretty outdated. This is the 60s afterall."
*
"Oh yes, people like your president so much that they killed him. At least my people had the decency to let me walk away from the position. Many Inhumans have two powers. You do also. Green hair. Magnetic control. If you do not wish to believe me though, it is your right." Maximus gives up on his attempts to convince her there's something awry in that relationship…bored with being a little shit, for the moment, apparently. "I imagine I will see you soon enough…"
*
A huff of a breath escaped Lorna at that, "Yeah well, it wasn't even one of our own people that killed him. So, no, you're wrong. Our country mourned, and still does…" She trailed off, blinking at him and fidgeting on her toes. Her father certainly didn't have a second mutation. Nor did anyone else she knew, at least.. she didn't think so.
"Green hair is so not a power.." She grumbled, turning away from him and making to leave, and then she paused in the doorway, awkwardly.
"..how do I get back to the guest chambers?" Her voice was soft, and she dropped her gaze as her cheeks flushed pink again.
*
"Oh…just sense for my destroyed machine. I think you can find it." Maximus snarks back to her.