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Lorna was bored. Again. As she had been for the majority of her stay in the Sanctum. Besides Tommy's visit, she really hadn't had much company her own age. Sure, there was her father and now and then Strange.. But..
For a college freshman just learning to be on her own, it felt noxiously like moving back in with her parents.
Down to the sneaking out, or trying to anyways. She'd tied her hair back, slipped into the black leather outfit that Jean had once loaned her. With the addition of metal plates of armor that her father had created. She had, of course, added her own sense of style to it. Bursts of green peaked out from under her winter coat as she made her way toward the door.
"Please, please, please… let me out.." She whispered, tip toeing along with a creak of wooden boards beneath her feet.
*
As mentioned before, Tommy? Tommy's mostly been out. He trusts the Sanctum to be a safe place for Lorna to be, in general. That means /he/ can do Tommy things. Like hunting down the Absorbing Man (work in progress), causing trouble (mischief managed), and hanging out with his girlfriend. The latter was what he was doing most recently, and during the process an idea struck the speedster.
Poor, poor cousin Lorna was stuck inside and if /he/ were stuck inside, he wouldn't care much for that fact either. …mainly because it's not nearly enough room to run.
Granted, there's also a point to her being inside. Lorna's more or less an innocent, this Absorbing Man? Far from it. So it was time to bring the pleasures of outside, /inside./ Hope was consulted on the issue, but Tommy's there first — although, it might be quite the surprise when the door suddenly opens and reveals Tommy standing inside, only a few feet from where the girl's trying to sneak out. "Oh, hi! Going somewhere?"
*
"Wouldn't it be easier to just melt the cheese through the patty from the bottom? Then it won't stick to the pan and you can still put lettuce and a tomato on the top," asks the redheaded speedster. The swingy coat she's wearing most decidedly isn't hers. It belongs to 1964 which is precisely why she picks at the sleeves and clearly looks uncomfortable in something fitted with more precision than the Coat of Holding and its ninety-eight pockets. At least the knit sweater underneath is mildly more comfortable, also a light bargain from wherever she got it. "I don't get why it's flipped upside down and they waste so much food. Like… yes, there are seven billion less people, but that's good cheese."
This conversation happens at a rate most other people aren't bothering with. She frowns a little as they get into Greenwich Village. This is not a place, likely, that she thinks much about. Hope has a funny way of disappearing in busy social scenes, one of those moments when her discomfort surges over being friendly and normal. "Are you sure these are gonna be reheated?" She peers at the crumpled bag in hand. "I hope so. They don't even have plasma rays in there."
There being the imposing mansion, one of two, in the Village. Unless NYU is included; it shouldn't be. "Um. Hi. Here's for your pocket plasma oven." She holds out the bag in Lorna's direction, further impeding an outward escape.
*
Between one blink and the next the door was suddenly occupied and Lorna flushed, taking a hurried step back as first Tommy then Hope arrive in between heart beats. She bit her lower lip, shifting to button up the rest of her coat as she glanced between them.
"Yeeeees?" Her voice soft and drawn out. She arched a brow, and glanced back over her shoulder in the direction that she'd just come from, hoping that her father wouldn't notice her attempts to leave too.
"Out.. I need.. I need air." She fidgeted, metal clicking beneath her coat as she rocked her weight back onto her heels.
*
Fortunately, the wards that keep people out of the Sanctum? Have exceptions made for the two speedsters. …because bouncing off the door is not something he'd want to do. …and he would keep trying to get in, out of sheer stubbornness and determination.
The question is, do they work in /reverse?/ It's a thought that crosses his mind when Lorna makes her comment. Brows arching juuust a bit. "But… but… we brought you delicious food!" A pause. A look over to Hope. "…I forgot to grab shakes, didn't I? I was going to." …but his hands are empty. Whoops!
Then green eyes turn to focus on Lorna. Watching for a moment's thought. "Well, you can /try/ it. If you can make it out the doors, we're coming with you." A look is offered over to Hope to gauge her acceptance to that. "…if not, I'll be back in a tick with shakes." Tommy tells her, taking a step back to regroup with the redhead and watch the brunette attempt her escape.
*
A quirk of those intensely red eyebrows lifting mildly upwards gives Hope the pitch-perfect image of a girl in serious doubt. Disarming to find a skeptic who isn't much past twenty right there, or a late teen, since gauging her age is one of those next to impossible scenarios.
"I wasn't aware buildings came without oxygen," she remarks, elbowing Tommy lightly in the side. The flashy platinum blonde speedster gets a remarkably quick flicker of tickle fingers to move him back slightly, if only because she seems to anticipate something coming out from under that coat. "What, you're pulling a diving tank around or wearing metal exo-armour? Cause that is awfully ringy." Call it a sense of humour they mirror, even without trying. It's not like she has a choice about that, not entirely. A snicker might even be found, warm as the day is long. "Is this a run as fast as we can scenario? Because I've got a good direction of running."
*
Lorna winced as she came under the pointed jests of both relation and friend. A grimace twisting her lips as she sheepishly scratched the back her head, "Uhhmm.. Okay… well…" She moved to try to edge passed the two, "And yeah, it's armor actually. Tata built it, I refined it." She grinned, flashing her teeth briefly.
"And I have some where to be. So I should start heading out.." She pressed for the door, handle jingling slightly as she pressed it open.
*
"Blame mag—h-h-hey!" …it seems that someone found someone else's ticklish spot. Or knew where it was. Because he's flailing arms around trying to stop her — and successfully moved away just where Hope wanted him to be. There's a brief look of curiosity offered to the redhead, and then Lorna confirms the fact of wearing armor which is a new kind of surprise. She's /not/ the kind that he expected to be carrying armor around with her. Maybe there's more to her than he thought?
"If you can get out the door? Sure." Tommy offers to Lorna, arms swinging around behind his back. "But, you'll be coming back eventually, and we're coming with you. Any arguments? Think about how quickly I can rat you out to Magneto and the Doc."
Because he would, and he'll allow her to figure out what horrible things would happen then, because /her/ imagination of punishment is probably far worse. …it always works on Billy after all.
*
"Armour under your coat? You are armed for bear." Hope wheels on Tommy slightly and she applies tickle fingers fearlessly to keep corralling here. "Are we going bear hunting? Are you serious? Because if we're hunting bear I have the totally wrong calibre, you know, and there's no way in hell that I'm prepared wearing this whole getup." Cue swinging fancy coat of 1964. "I want my leather jacket and my jeans. That way I don't feel so bad getting the blood out. Or the claw marks."
Her eyebrows lift and the essential question begs to be said: who the hell is this girl? And why wouldn't Tommy tell her he's taking his aunt-cousin-person bear hunting too?
"You have somewhere to be. Reeeally. And this is the BS meter going ping, ping, ping." Her eyes narrow slightly and the smile that marks her as young doesn't match the rest of her knowing expression, aged far, far too much by experience. "Before anyone's going anywhere, you wanna tell me what's really up? Because I am not the fun police and sure, all this can be kosher, but if you're pulling me into some BS, I wanna know what exactly I'm getting into."
*
The threat of telling her father or Strange has Lorna pausing on the thresh hold of the door. Her eyes scanning the outside world briefly before she looks back toward her kinda nephew. Did he even know that yet? She shrugged, even as a wince pulled at her lips. "Yes, I plan to." She groaned, and pulled at her bangs with a grimace.
"And no, not bear hunting. But Raven said to meet her this weekend at Saint Michael's Church. Professor Xavier read my mind and I know he wants to see his sister and all, but ugh. I messed up everything, okay? So I want to go fix something." She grimaced again.
"Don't tell my tata."
*
Why wouldn't Tommy tell Hope that he's taking his strange relation bear hunting? …because he honestly had no idea they were going bear hunting. Otherwise he would've brought pots full of honey. Because bears are rendered harmless by those. Just ask the silly old bear himself.
…wild Hopes, however, are not so easily corralled. Instead, he's left laughing and flailing, initially trying to bat her hands away before trying to turn the tables on her and tickle her /back./ "I… haha— I don't know ab-haha… about any bear exc—hehehe… except you dad!" Tommy replies to the redhead, laughter breaking up his words.
…and then she's asking the questions that he was planning to ask if he /wasn't/ under assault at the moment and if she was able to make it out the door. Well. At least there's that. Lorna's /answer/ is the kind that makes Tommy's eyes flicker over towards Hope again. Unsure about how to proceed for a moment, and then..
"Still coming with you," he declares, crinkling his nose. "You can try to fix things, but you can try to fix them with me around — otherwise I'll /definitely/ be telling." Because now he found her weakness just like he did Billy's. Victory!
*
"Raven." Repeat, mix, process. The redhead slowly adjusts her position and slides her hands into her pockets, seeing as how she's not holding a grilled cheese sandwich or a burger for anyone, and has no real need. "A girl named Raven has a brother named Xavier or you have a brother named Xavier who reads minds. Or some other person who reads minds has a sister. How did you mess things up?"
This does not compute and she's reeling in the details, spinning it backwards to get to a point that makes sense.
*
Lorna groaned again, dragging her hands over her features. "Professor Xavier is apparently related to Raven, leader of the Brotherhood? He's her brother. Not mine." She wrinkled her nose up.
"That's twice in a week that someone's thought I was related to him. Granted last time it was Tony Stark thinking the Professor was my father, but still." She shrugged and stepped outside, head tilting to the side.
"Looks like I can go?"
*
Either Hope hasn't connected the dots, or she's playing innocent about her knowledge of who Raven is and the associations that go along with this. Either way? He'll back her up on her story; the open book requirement only extended to him, not the rest of the family.
Of course, this /also/ lends to the possibility that he'll have to run in the near future /also,/ so a hand dips into the bag that Hope had carried and he grabs a sandwich to start chowing down on. He might need the energy.
"Man. It'd be weird if this Xavier guy were her brother…. I'd have to wonder how many /other/ members of the family are hiding out in the woodworks." There's a crinkle of his nose to that. Is /everyone/ related to him? "Looks like. Lead the way, we'll follow."
*
"I'm making sure I got this straight. So Xavier is Raven's brother, he read your mind, and you somehow messed up something between them. Since 'everything' implies, like, the world, and as far as I can see the world is still standing." Hope fishes out a chocolate bar from her pocket, a Kitkat by the looks of it. She rips into the red wrapper and peels it open, then snaps off one of the long sticks to hand over to Tommy. See? She's a good girlfriend, or a very good person at keeping people fed. One for herself gets snapped off, only halfway. "So how did you get involved with the guardian of Mutant Town? Cause you don't look the typical sort of girl to be down there. I mean… you're kind of too well dressed, you know?"
This on the other hand does not preclude her from marching along with Tommy or Lorna, though she still has an edgy quality to her, a hint of expecting trouble to jump out of the Sanctum or the street at any time. Everyone passing by on the cool street warrants a look, a once over to check they're not immediately a threat or the sort of person who reads trouble.
*
Lorna grimaced, "No, instead I have the joy of having the vampire that bit me on Halloween be my brother if Wanda is right about things." She smirked, glancing back toward Tommy with a hint of amusement in her gaze.
"Which makes you my nephew. I should have you call me Auntie Lorna." She laughed, and started forward.
Then her gaze swung toward Hope and she arched a brow, some of her amusement fading. "I volunteered there, delivering supplies that no one else would after the giant attack. It's how I met her. She threatened to feed me to someone. And she knew my tata as Magneto, he apparently used to be friends with her when she lived at the Institute in Westchester." She shrugged, and looked ahead, starting forward once more.
"And I likely got her really angry with me because like an idiot, I couldn't keep my thoughts to myself and the Professor over heard them. And as a result, he knows that I was supposed to meet up with her this weekend. And where. She didn't ever give me an exact time though, so maybe that'll salvage this." She grimaced.
"Like I said before, I wanted to help find the kidnapped mutants. One of my friends might be one of them.."
*
"Welcome to my life. Weird people are /weird./ Mind readers and, like, supervolcanoes under the earth's crust getting ready to explode and doom us all or something like that. That's why it /looks/ like the world is still standing, but it's seriously about to get super messed up." Tommy quips to Hope, grinning cheerfully.
…and then she's presenting him with chocolate? Eyes light up a bit and he takes the stick of chocolate happily, taking a bite almost immediately. If that's not love? He doesn't know what is. Granted, he very well might not. It's not like he's had a lot of exposure to /that/ particular emotion, after all!
He stays quiet on the subject of the Brotherhood, though — letting Hope navigate that particular web with Lorna, while he just listens and fills in more of the blanks. Especially since Lorna's pretty forthcoming with information.
Walking along with the two women, he leans in to peck Hope briefly on the cheek — a thanks for the previously offered chocolate — before blinking at Lorna. "…so you're my /Aunt?/" Blink. "Which makes Magneto my Grandfather." Pause. "…does he know he's a grandfather yet, Lorna?" He can't help but snicker. He /looks/ about as old as the Doc, but has to deal with being a /grand/father instead of just a father? Oh, that'll go over REAL well, he's sure.