1964-01-06 - Father Daughter Time
Summary: Lorna tells her father about her run in with Raven.
Related: http://marvel1963mush.wikidot.com/log:1964-01-05-supplies-on-the-wrong-side-of-town
Theme Song: None
lorna magneto 


Lorna sighed, falling back onto the couch with a woosh of breath escaping her lung. Hair dyed brown once more, hiding that lustrous green that came with her mutation. Books were settled on her lap, many for the coming semester, and yet the top one was decidedly not a school book. 'An Introduction to Polish', sat on her lap and she flipped through the thin pages with tiny font with a faint frown.

The young woman had spent considerable time at the Xavier Institute over Winter Vacation, spending time there training, or otherwise chatting with Crystal and her father. There had been an attempt at cooking traditional Jewish food and even an attempt to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas over the Holiday season (there had been an attempt light candles and other various decorations that had malfunctioned, much to Lorna's chagrin). Yet she had gone back to her adopted parent's home for the actual holiday.

Then she'd stopped in briefly and gone back to New York, supposedly to get prepared for the Spring Semster… only to come back up to the school a few hours ago. There had been a certain nervous tension to her figure, but she hadn't immediately sprung her questions on anyone. Rather keeping her solitude for a while, losing herself in books and letting night fall in the otherwise chilly, winter evening.

*

Into the library strolls Erik Lensherr, and his eyes are immediately drawn toward Lorna Dane. He carries a cup of tea in his left hand, sans saucer, and a pipe is spewing sweet smoke into the air from its perch between his teeth.

"Lorna. Back so soon?" he asks. The man has carried a certain confidence in his gait, posture, even the tone of his voice, ever since his return from Attilan. It probably has something to do with being outed as the Princess' squeeze, and neither of them chastised. At least, not to his knowledge.

"You look tense." He walks over, taking a seat next to her and setting the cup of tea down on an end table. A look toward the textbook and it makes sense. Learning another language is never easy; neither is reading such dreadfully small font.

*

A small flush crossed Lorna's cheeks at being caught with the book in question, less so over being caught returning so soon after her supposed return to the Frost Institute. "Err.. well, the Semester doesn't start 'till next week anyways. And.." She exhaled, her breath tickling her bangs before she leaned to rest her head against her father's shoulder.

"I was trying to pronounce 'father' in Polish, to surprise you, but I can't… o-gah-sik?" She wrinkled her nose, "I know it's wrong." She bit her lower lip and glanced down at the book.

"Also.. well.. I went back to volunteer in the city, and.. things got.. well.." She trailed off, and shrugged, glancing up to Erik with pinched brows.

"I dunno.. It was … okay, it was scary. I went to Mutant Town.. cause no one was willing to deliver supplies there.."

*

"Father?" answers Erik, a light smile appearing. He removes the pipe from his hand and sets it next to the cup of tea, before pronouncing the word properly. "Ojciec," he tells her. It sounds remarkably similar to 'oh jets'. "Though, that's more of an… well, how do I say it? An infantile way, something a young toddler or early teenager might use. Rodziciel (it sounds like rod-chee-CHEL, with a roll to the r) would be more apt for a young woman of your stature."

At news that she'd spent some more time in the city, Erik turns up one eyebrow, curious to hear her tale. It also explains the reversion to her dyed hair color. "Scary?" he asks, urging her to continue.

*

Lorna tries to mimic his pronunciation for both words, butchering them slightly with her own American accent, not quite able to roll the r properly. But she tried. "I wanted to try it 'cause everyone else here keeps teasing me 'cause I call you 'tata' and it doesn't really work with English.." She flushed, looking down at her book briefly before shutting it.

"And yeah.. I.." She exhaled another gusty breath, glancing away and drumming her fingers on the book top. She seemed to debate internally with herself for a long moment before she figured out exactly what to say.

"So. I was delivering relief supplies from the main shelter, 'cause there are a lot of poorer places in the city that haven't been rebuilt yet from the giants. I went to mutant town, but I got lost. And when I tried to find the community center, I stumbled upon a big party of mutants and.. I-I stared. I couldn't help it. I.. I mean at the Frost Institute and here.. the mutants can hide their appearances. Besides Kurt, the blue guy that I met at the diner, I've never met a mutant that couldn't hide as a normal person. You know? But then like.." She bit her lower lip, hands rising as she gestured as she spoke.

"These other mutants came out and surrounded me because I didn't look mutant enough for them. And this blue skinned lady, she threatened to serve me to this minion of her's… and erm.." She glanced at Erik, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"Tata, she said she knew you. I mean.. after I almost threw a car at her cause she was threatening me.. and uhm.. Tata.. how is it that you know the blue skinned lady that's the leader of the Brotherhood of mutants? 'Cause she's done some pretty terrible things, I've read the news. And like…. uhm.."

*

"Well, Polish is a Balto-Slavic language," Erik explains, "whereas English has roots primarily in the West Germanic family. They may share the same origin, but the two families couldn't be more different." Thought of the two brings a small laugh to his face. "Though there are similarities if you hear them, rather than look for them."

Erik drinks from his tea while Lorna tells her tale, but when she brings up that person, his expression pales. Erik turns aside to set the cup of tea down, and decidedly lifts the pipe instead. A few long drags from the pipe and fresh, clean smoke is billowing out around his head, causing the room to smell quite nice; like plum mixed with freshly scalded wood.

"She calls herself Mystique, does she not?" he asks carefully, after pulling the pipe to rest it upon his knee. "Yes," he admits quietly. "I know her." He gestures around with his free hand. "She was here, actually. At the beginning."

*

Lorna gaped, she couldn't help it, as her father shifts from language to talking about the blue-skinned frightening woman that had confronted her in mutant town. "You knew her? Here? What?" She blinked, pushing her hair back from her face.

"That's.. oh.." She bit her lower lip, leaning back and drawing her legs up onto her couch and wrapping her arms around them.

"Tata.. she.. she said 'to tell Erik hello.. and that I'm watching..' Tata, should.. uhm.. should I be worried? How was she here?" She tilted her head to the side, propping her chin up against her knees as books were set aside.

The smoke filled the room in a scent that she'd come to find comforting, as it meant his presence. The clock on the far wall continued ticking away merrily and the wind outside whispered against the window panes. Yet Lorna only had eyes for her father, watching him curiously with wide green eyes.

*

Erik turns to meet Lorna's gaze. Much like what his might have been, had he been granted the nurturing that her foster parents provided. Instead, at her age, he was… reckless and angry.

"She's known Charles longer than I have," he explains. "She wasn't always… the way she is now." He breathes in deeply, and perches the pipe between his teeth again. "Now… she's dangerous."

After another long drag, he sets the pipe down and turns face Lorna more directly. "Mystique believes that there can be no future for humans and mutants. She believes it'll be one… or the other. I know you follow the civil rights movement, Lorna, but, imagine if the negro community wasn't allowed in public schools anymore, or to vote anymore… that's the future she pictures for us, I believe. Either we're oppressed… or we oppress."

He takes a drink of tea again, a sadness coming over him. "She's upset because she believes that… I should see things her way."

*

Lorna leaned forward as she listened, blinking up at her father as she kept her silence for a long moment. Then she shifted, letting her legs drop as she settled beside her father, leaning her head back against his shoulder. "Do you think she'd have fed me to her .. I dunno henchmen? I didn't even understand that she was threatening me at first. I mean.. longpig, that took a bit.. and then well, yeah it got obvious." She bit her lower lip, "If I hadn't almost lost control of my powers I think she'd have hurt me.. I dunno. She was really angry Tata."

She picked at her sleeve, her gaze angled low to her lap and she bit her lower lip, chewing on the dried skin there.

"What do you think she meant that she was 'watching'? Should.. do you think I shouldn't take deliveries to Mutant Town for a while?" Her brows furrowed and she frowned faintly. "Because I want to.. I mean, that I want to still bring supplies there. They need them. And … and even if I'm scared I want to help."

*

"Oh, Mystique won't hurt you," Erik assures Lorna. "If she suspects… anything, she'll know what will happen to her if any harm comes to you at her hand."

In a rather direct way, Erik did just confess that he would murder someone. Willingly. That might be chilling to consider.

"I think," he surmises, "that she saw all of those… photographs, from Brooklyn." When the X-Men, led by Magneto, stood up against the ice demons and hellions of that other world. "She's watching because she knows what is happening." He turns to face Lorna more directly now, tea in hand. "That my argument has won out against Charles'. The time of the X-Men is here."

*

Perhaps a few months ago the idea of murder on her behalf would've raised Lorna's concern, would've made her protest, or say something along the lines of 'that's wrong', but now? After so much had occurred in terms of chaos and death all around? Now she found comfort, oddly enough, in the protection that was her father's strength. She bit her lower lip again as he spoke of the news and photographs.

"Yeah, uhm.. I er.. see, she said she knew someone that had powers like me and I was just, yeah well, everyone knows.. 'cause the news.. like you said. And I said that you were my father.. Cause really, she was scary up to that point. And like Miss Crystal made a good point that some people are intimidated by you, 'cause they don't know you.." She shrugged, fiddling with her sleeve cuff again.

"So yeah, that's when she said that it was alright for me to go back there whenever, and told me to tell you that she was watching. I didn't really know about her otherwise.. I mean before. I mean.. I kinda did.. Cause I read the papers. And Josh had told me.. Okay, Soo.." She exhaled a huff of a breath.

"Josh, that mutant I met a few months ago? Pretty sure he was trying to recruit me to the Brotherhood.. and all.. he told me about her before.." She glanced at him, her brows furrowing. "But I pretty much blew him off…"

*

"Josh," Erik says, and turns to face Lorna directly, after setting his cup of tea down. "Is a member of the Brotherhood?" he asks, eyebrows rising. Then comes a long sigh. "I suppose she may have meant that she's watching out for you. If she told you it was safe…" He shakes his head. "She's vague, intentionally, because she doesn't like people knowing what exactly she's up to."

Now, there comes a soft smile at hearing that Crystal comes to his defense. "She would know," he admits, before that smile fades. "As would you," he adds. "But Lorna, sometimes there is an advantage in the way people perceive you. Perception can be a tool, even a weapon, but it can work for you or against you. Remember that."

As if remembering something just then, he looks back to his daughter abruptly. "The students are mocking you?" he asks. "For… using Polish slang?"

Apparently, Magneto is not aware how 'tata' may be taken in America.

*

Lorna fidgeted on her seat, picking her sleeve and twisting the knit of her sweater between her fingers. A gusty sigh pulled at her lips, tickling her hair about her face and she shrugged weakly. "Yeah.. I guess.. you're right? I dunno. Everyone just sees me as this harmless.. little kid. I guess. Like I can't handle myself. But I've brought down buildings and—" She paused, realizing she hadn't told her father that mess. Oops. Oh well. Moving on.

"And I stared down Maximus, even when he threw a glass flask at a wall and said I was half parrot. Which, Crystal said he was just messing with me. And told him to leave me alone, but still, staring down a former King has to mean something.." She was rambling, and turned red as her father mentioned the mockery and teasing that others had imparted on her for using 'tata'.

She sank deeper against the couch. "Yeah.. it's.. I mean, I know what it means, and I didn't think of it.. but okay, so some of the kids were laughing at me 'cause it..er.. in English, it.. uhm.." She poked her fingers together, awkwardly. "It's slang for er.. 'tatas' mean er.. breasts." She turned even redder if at all possible.

*

to be continued

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