Afternoon. It was relatively quiet. Raven was still in the garb of The Countess, (Read: http://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/80/51/63/805163255a41a51d288e51c0935f20c2.jpg) though her hair was a bit more refined and the current outfit she wears is a lot more black. Heels clacked along the kitchen as she slowly begins to round her way along the island, fingers tip-tapping atop of it as she stares towards the conglomerate of food that was left upon the table. It was like a ritual. The deep inhale of breaths that sound like hisses, ruby red lips spreading to bear brilliant white choppers as her fingers lace, stretch out in front of her, then snaps off to the side with a slap to both eyes.
"Got it."
The smooth voice does not match the hard steps with purpose, the heavy click clacks as she snatches her apron from the hooks and begins to make like betty crocker. Flour was dashed along the counter. A mad woman was at work, there was an insidious grin as eggs and milk were beaten into the bowl and whipped around with percision.
*
Cain doesn't need to eat, doesn't much care how things are cooked anymore. He used to be particular about that sort of shit, back when he was just a pathetic human. But, well, he's not anymore and he had no interest in pretending he was. Still, he could enjoy the taste a bit, even if it could be fun to eat disgusting or impossible things just to get a reaction.
He cracks a beer from where he sits not far away, not a particular care in the world at the moment. Hell had been raised, enemies had been eliminated. It was a quiet bit of respite in the war. Might as well sit on his ass.
*
Lorna had been quiet. The young mutant had discarded her armor that she'd donned when she'd snuck out. A small pile of it sat tucked into a compact pat beneath her chair as she sat in the corner and watched. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them as she set her chin against them. Green eyes followed Raven's movements, and every so often she would shift in her chair, a soft creak following the movement.
Besides being sick outside the warehouse, she hadn't gone far from the older mutant's vicinity. As flour flew along side eggs and milk, Lorna's eyebrows furrowed and she perked up slightly. "What are you making?" She asked, her voice barely louder than a mumble.
*
Jamie arrives at the apartment they called their sometime home, the safehouse at which the various members of the Brotherhood most often met. He steps inside, and removes his hat and coat, hanging them unceremoniously on the rack before bee-lining for the kitchen. Cain is given a curt nod in passing, and Lorna's presence is largely uncommented on for now, besides regarding the girl with a glance before moving along. Even Raven doesn't get more than a look, and the barest of nods as she goes about her work of cooking whatever it is she has in mind. Fridge open, beer grabbed, cap popped without so much as a thought as to where it might land, and Jamie is back out of the kitchen again as quickly as he went inside, moving to sit not far from Cain. "The fuck is going on in here? Are we suddenly an ad for the All-American family?" His usual devil-may-care, cheerful demeanour is nowhere to be found. This is bitter, petulant Jamie at his finest. And drinking again. That always ends well.
*
It was a majestic sight. More flour poured into the bowl and mixed until everything started to slowly thicken, the board soon laid out upon it's surface as the lump of dough was smacked healthily to check it's worth. The rolling pin was soon gathered, gripped by both edges, laid upon the middle of the dough as she begins to rock and roll it into flattening. The only sound was the rolling pin rattling against wood and the sounds of Cain sipping. The squeak of Lorna's chair. And then her voice.
"When we were children.." She glances up towards Cain then, "..for the lack of a better word for myself, our Mother used to make Shepards Pie from scratch. Though I never really had her touch in the kitchen, I tried. But that was only when there wasn't a cook for us who'd prepare our meals while Mother and Father were out."
She smiles at the little memory then, and continues on. "Yet even though we've had cooks, I made it a point to stay in the kitchen and watch. I believe I could have been assumed for ten then, but there was a slight stunt to my growth. To adjust back then with such refinement was difficult." She sniffs then, Jamie's words catching her to off guard, one hand soon rolled from the rolling pin as a large mixing spoon was gathered.. drawn back.. and..
*THWIP!*
That show of anger allowed her eyes to shift to a pure yellow, leaving the rest of her visage behind.
*
Cain snorts, "Charles' mother, you mean," he says. "I never made the mistake of thinking I belonged to her and she certainly never made the mistake of thinkin' I was hers," he says. His own hostility, of course, might've been part of that equation, but Cain didn't see any reason to blame himself too much. Other people were always eager enough to do that for him, why should he help?
"Still, the pie -was- good," he says, watching amusement as Jamie's about to take a shot from the spoon. He glances over at Lorna and gives her a gruff bark, "What the hell are you mopin' about?"
*
Lorna uncoiled from the chair, drawn out from the chair at the story. She stood awkwardly, a hand rubbing at her upper arm as she bit her lower lip as she stood opposite of Raven, watching her work. "Can I help?" She bit her lower lip, chewing it gently.
"My adoptive mom taught me how to cook. Though mostly she just cut corners were she could…" She trailed off, and jumped slightly as the wooden mixing spoon thwacked outwards.
Her gaze lurching toward Cain and she blinked, "I-I'm er.. not.. I'm not.. err.. sorry.." She winced, her brows furrowing as she edged back toward the island and bumped into it.
*
"OW!" Madrox recoils as the spoon hits him square in the face. Rubbing where the implement struck him after it is withdrawn, his eyes shift to meet Raven's, and he almost thinks to speak again, but seeing the yellow irises causes him to reconsider. "Fine," he mutters, and picks up his beer again before rising from where he'd been sitting. "Enjoy your domestic fucking bliss," he says quietly, darkly, and makes for the door again, leaving his coat and hat where he left them. It's cold out. He's gonna freeze.
*
"There was a little glimmer there, big brother.." Raven points out, long after the spoon had left her fingers. Lorna's moping, or not moping, is largely and outwardly ignored. The person that gets her attention now is Madrox and his little hissy fit with a storming of him out of the door.
"Wonder if that was a clone." Because what if she threw a knife?
With a shrug, she gestures Lorna close with a wriggle of dough covered fingers, "Come brown the ground beef, darling. Once you set it to simmer, start shreadding the cheese."
With that said, her hands were back upon the roller again, using a knife to carefully cut the flattened dough into a large circle. Large enough for the pie pan that was set aside and soon placed onto. The rest of the scraps were taken yet again, rolled up, kneaded, lost in a touch of thought.
"This isn't the life for you, Lorna." Raven states, glancing up towards Cain with her yellow eyes. "Your cloth isn't cut for this. And perhaps it never will be."
*
Cain meets Raven's eyes when they go his way. She's telling him to be nice, but he isn't particularly in the mood to be nice. NOt that he is on a regular basis. His idea of kindness is leaving someone beaten only HALF to death.
"That's her polite way of tellin' you to grow a damn spine already," he says. "What you seen ain't the worst been done in this war and it ain't gonna be the worst by far. Things are gonna get ugly as Eleanor Roosevelt's asshole before all's said and done. An' she ain't always gonna have time to hold yer hand or wipe yer chin or tell ya what a brave, brave little squirt you are."
He wanders up to the door and grabs Madrox's coat and hat, wadding them up and throwing them down the street at the departing mutant, "Don't leave yer shit behind, dumbass!"
*
The pan lifted up toward Lorna with a gesture of her hand as she walked around the island, grabbing up the ground beef and plopping it into the pan that hovered before her. A spatula was lifted into the air as well with another gesture, breaking up the pieces as she clicked on the burner and settled the pan onto the stove without so much as a wobble.
Clearly at least, in the kitchen, her control was superb. Espeically with most everything besides the odd spoon was steel in some way.
The spatula would lift and turn under her gaze every so often, even as her attention shifted toward the cheese. This at least, she mostly did by hand, other than plucking the cheese grater over to herself with a tug of her powers.
Raven's words drew green eyes toward the older mutant and her brow creased. "Let me help save my friend. Please. I've already checked the morgues, he's not dead.." She worried her lower lip. She had spent hours combing over pictures of dead bodies.
"I.." A exhale as she broke off at Cain's words. Her nose wrinkling up at his language. "I don't need anyone to tell me I'm brave." She muttered, though she averted her gaze as she spoke.
*
Lorna has partially disconnected.
*
Cain, while brutish, understood her talk and put it into simpler terms. This gets a nod from the yellow eyed woman as she begins to slice the dough into straight lines, much like her ruby red lips, which soon curl into a little smile as the jacket and hat were tossed out into the streets below. He actually cares. A sweet gesture from a mountain of a man so angry.
"I'm not stopping you from saving your friend. What had happened last night was just for your benefit alone, even though I do pride myself on putting on a performance." She sniffs a little, then takes a slight step aside to draw the vegetables from the bag, taking the rather large knife to begin to cut them into smaller pieces that would fit into a pie. "Turn the oven on."
All the while she speaks and instructs, Raven never stops moving. "What happened last night was but a taste of what the Brotherhood does, and it was a very small taste. Lives will be lost. Lives -have- been lost by my word alone and oft by accident. Everything is done with a -purpose-, which is not outrightly seen at face value. And there will be more. It could be one of them. It could be one of us. It could be me, and it could be you." Cain was left out. She knows just what he is capable of and what could and couldn't harm him. Speak to the dented pans that were tossed away like nothing.
"This is a hard, hard road to walk. You will not come out the same. And it will not end with you cradling your babies at night should you choose to have them in this world or the next. Do you understand, Lorna?"
*
Lynette has arrived.
*
Cain wouldn't dispute that. He knows he's interposing into a struggle which doesn't always have very much to do with him. Win, lose, he'll endure no matter what. He's here for his sister, simple as that. The rest of them could burn or triumph, he'd shed not a tear either way.
Still, he holds his tongue. He'd said his piece and now Raven was doing her leader thing, coaxing the quivering mutant girl into whatever piece Mystique needed, pawn or knight or bishop. She was good at that and more ruthless than they imagined.
*
The oven's dial clicked on, rotating around to a temperature in which most things baked at. 375. Unless told otherwise.
It had hardly taken more than a glance for Lorna to twist it with her powers, even as her hands were currently occupied with grating cheese. She still managed to monitor and stir the beef with her powers. Carefully, rotating the pan around to not burn the ground meat.
Her green eyed gaze however, flickered back toward Raven and she swallowed a dry lump that formed in her throat. "I think, even if I said 'yes' that it wouldn't necessarily be true. To claim that I understand.." She exhaled a gust of a breath.
"I'm fine when I'm doing something.. actively. It's when I stop moving that things get to me." She mumbled, her attention shifting back to the cheese. She had quite a pile forming.
"I just.. my father has had me basically under house arrest for my safety for the past few weeks. I'm sick of sitting around.. I.. it made me sick to think that Seth might be somewhere with something worse happening to him and those men didn't even know anything. And everything I thought I'd done to help wasn't doing anything at all."
*
The door was always open here, at least to those who knew it to be. Heaven help the random, curious type who came into this apartment, looking for trouble. With a twist of the knob, the floofy haired girl allows herself in, wrapped up in as much coverings that she owns to protect her from the cold. Shuffling, she closes the door behind herself and gives a shudder and shake once the warmth shifts and sinks into her mocha flesh.
After as sniff, she glances around, only to notice the trio playing 'family' of sorts. She blinks, eyeing Cain briefly in some silent question, then letting her vision skip from Raven, to Lorna, and back again.
*
There were still parts of the original Raven to be seen in this; her yellow eyed glare, yet she still held the visage that she carried last night, albiet that the hair, bright near white blonde itself was tied up into pin curls that were nice and neat. The black dress was worn beneath the apron, and as a handful of cheese was gripped to line the bottom of the pan to prepare itself for ground beef, a few of the veggies were added as a layer.
A glance up towards Lynette gets a little smile, and soon she was back to the business of preparing a meal for the wayward few who cross the threshold of the Six Alarm Fire.
"It's because you're young. We live fast and die hard, Lorna." Her brief explanation, "But even more so, if you cannot keep still and reflect, to find a new angle while you do not move, then this.. isn't for you."
Her head tilts a little to the side, popping an errant ligament within her neck. "Your father.." She purses her lips briefly. "..attempts to spare you from this. Have you told him about this young man, Seth? Have you told Charles?"
*
Cain nods to Lynette as she enters, but doesn't have much to add in particular to the discussion. Well, almost nothing. "Ain't you a little old t'get locked up by yer daddy? Or is he one o' them creepy types, always sniffin' around any boy gets near his little girl? Chaperones all yer dances an' shit?" he says.
He grabs his beer again and grabs a spot against the wall, sliding down to sit once more. "C'mon in, Lynette, ain't nothin' goin' on cept a bit o' jibber jabber an' some cookin'. You just missed Madrox gettin' his eye poked out."
*
A grimace as Lorna paused in grating cheese to actually peer over at the ground beef and flicker a glance over at Lynette as she entered. Then it was back to making sure that Raven had enough cheese for however much she was making. "I've been still for weeks. And nothing's been done. All I've had time for was to think." She muttered, her lips twisting.
"I didn't tell my father. Mostly because I got attacked by some guy wanting to send a message. Apparently I got someone angry enough they wanted to kill me. Some guy with a giant ball an' chain. My father sort of sent me with other family while he went to hunt down the guy. But it's been a few weeks and I'm sick of waiting." She muttered, and a glance was spared for Cain and she shrugged.
"I dunno. He's only been in my life for less than six months. Still, he manages to scare off every guy that's met him." She grumbled.
*
"Hmm." Lyn sounds, without saying a word. She at least waves to Raven's smile and offers one in return. Nodding to Cain, the girl shuffles over toward the icebox and picks up a beer for herself. Eyeing it, she brushes over its label before shrugging. Honestly, this wasn't the first, or worse, law she's broken with these people. She moves toward where Cain is, sitting next to him and creating a vast contrast of size, height, weight; well, everything.
Opening the bottle with a light flick of her wrist, she at least smiles at the tiny proof that her abilities are growing. She sips at the drink before her faces twists up from its bitter flavor. "Merde." She mutters, but being the former street kid she was, waste not…
"What y'doin' here, Lorna?" She questions, much like she had the night before, but at least her voice is softer and with less shock. "N'who's y'daddy?"
*
Well, Cain had a point. If you take Raven for example, her kids have been flying off bridges since they popped right out of their momma's..
(False story, not in this canon).
"That guy that attacked you, did you kill him?" Then, with her words, she was certain that it was not the case. She lets out a little sigh, turning away from the sink to run her hands beneath the water that she had just turned on, washing them completely. "While I'm sure Erik has the best of intentions, he clearly sucks at getting the job done. Grab paper. Write his description down, give it to Cain." See how easy it is to get Raven to react? Tell someone that they stepped on your blue suede shoes and she'd jap out as if it was her own foot that was assaulted. But no.. the plan itself that she had in mind was even worse..
With that said, the beef was pulled from the fire and carefully scooped into the pan sans grease, "That sounds like a clear and present complaint, Lorna. Shall I set Erik down and explain to him that you're old enough to have sex.. as he clearly was at his age?" She was teasing, in a sense. There was much more she wanted to say to him, but now wouldn't be the time to bring it up.
While Raven would allow Lorna to answer the question as to why she's there, Raven goes ahead to explain. "Her father is Magneto. You know, odd looking mutherfucker who was on television fighting some giants or some shit.." Imagine the Countess with -that- mouth! "..I think the asshole even had the nerve to wear a fucking cape." The last of the groundbeef was slammed into the baking pan, the rest of the meat clattered upon the stove as she snatches open the fridge, retrieving the already beaten and whipped potatoes from the shelf.
Attitude, much?
*
Cain snorts, "Oh, my darling brother's best friend, eh? The one who's also floating around behind him with his nose up in the air? That's your Daddy," he says, raising an eyebrow as he takes a sip of his beer. "Maybe I won't be so hard on ya. I mean, don't get me wrong, my pop was a rat son of a bitch who treated me like something he found on his shoe. But he didn't wear a fucking cape," he says.
He crumples his can, then looks down at Lynette, "Wanna get me another? You can have one, if ya want."
*
A flush crossed over Lorna's cheeks as she stepped back out of the way of Raven's path to the frying pan. Her teeth worrying away at her lower lip as a glance was spared toward Lynette. "I asked Raven if I could help find my friend. He's a homeless mutant that.. he's been missing for weeks. Last I saw him he was in Hell's Kitchen. Right around the time that Vigor apparently hit the streets.." She crossed her arms, leaning back against the counter.
"I've checked everywhere and can't find him.." Her expression crumbled slightly. "I tried to get him to come to the Mansion with me.. but.." She sighed, "Seth doesn't see himself as fitting in there at all.." She glanced down at her toes, falling silent as Raven picked up the tale of who her father was.
And then a blush crossed her cheeks rapidly as Raven shifted the conversation to having a chat with her father in regards to her dating. "No! I.. er.. no thank you. I already talked to Miss Crystal, uhm.. who's going steady with him. It's fine.." Never mind the fact that her other family was more likely to pick on her, but Raven had yet to meet that chaos.
"Yeah.. that's my father.." She mumbled, glancing toward Cain, then back to Raven.
*
"Don' blame'm. I didn'." Lyn mutters with a soft shrug. To Cain, she looks at her own drink and then offers it to him, completely full with one swallow gone. "Ain't gonna finish it." She explains, then her eyes move toward the blonde and youth that shared her age.
"Ah, friend 'f Charles? S'prised he doin' 'nyt'ing at all den. Oh! I seen dat fella de otha day, wit Charles n' Jeanie-Bean." Nodding, now she has a name to connect to a face. "M'sorry t'hear 'bout y'friend. Y'talk t'Remy 'bout dat, dough? I t'ink 'm n' 's woman doin' s'mt'ing 'bout de whole Vig'r mess." Giving a brief pass of her tongue across her lips, the girl's eyes widen, almost lighting up. "Dem spuds, Raven? I won' like…extra."
*
"Your father treated us all like crap, Cain.." Raven snarks, putting the potatoes down upon the table. She gets another clean spoon and begins to stir, carefully drawing out a healthy dollup of the mixture, spreading it along the pan in a thin film that would allow the dough to connect and blend nicely. That's.. after she adds the cheese of course. But quiet as she begins to work, smoothing it along the surface, her hand lifts to reach for the spoon again until Lynette expresses her interest in having more and.. with a shrug of a slender shoulder, drags out a heaping slop of potatoes which were soon smacked atop of the pie, creating a mound of a mess that looked almost too good to be true.
"Rest is yours. Heat it up first, it's cold." She tells Lynette. There was nothing said about Remy, for that part of her brain just wasn't connected. The part that put Jessica and her crew upon the case to find those missing mutants.. there was just no memory of her doing it at all. So it was met with indifference, though she does encourage the girl. "If you need anything found, Remy is your man. In fact, I'd rather you run with him than the majority of us. You could learn a thing or two from him if you ever get into a pinch, the man makes thieving look beautiful." Then.. another pause.
"You know, when your father didn't have his knee deep in snatch he was actually pretty effective." She pauses, turning towards Lorna as if she were to teach her a thing or two about the thought processes of men. "Though I do think perhaps he is more clear headed. Have you ever heard a man say that he'll need a minute before making a difficult decision?" Her yellow eyes light briefly. "If they leave, they went to masturbate." The spoon was twirled around as she watches Lorna with a cold detachment. "You know, the ol' pull and tug. I hear it works wonders. Want to buy a high priced car? Man masturbates. He'll figure out his finances in five minutes afterwards and will realize what a frivolous purchase it is." She even points the spoon towards Lorna. "Sometimes if they come out right after, you could practically smell it on them."
What a bitch.
*
Cain pushes up from his spot, taking a fresh beer from Lynette, "Sounds like the hen party's gettin' started. I'll see myself out. If there's a sock on my bedroom door, don't come knockin'. Or do, if that' syour thing, I don't really give a fuck," he says.
*
Lorna's focus returns to Lynette and she smiles, "You know Jean? She was my roommate for a while at the Frost Institute. How's she doing? I'm kinda surprised she was around my father.. She didn't get along with him really last I saw.." She bit her lower lip and shrugged, considering the other part of what the woman said.
"Who's Remy? Where can I find him? I'll talk to him if you think it'll help…"
Then her gaze shifted back to Raven, and a blush spread over her cheeks, her eyebrows climbing higher. "Uhm.. n-no.. I didn't uhm notice.." She bit her lower lip, shifting her weight upon her toes and looking down at her toes.
*
"I c'm tuck y'in lat'r, chere, non?" Lynette jokes after Cain, watching the massive figure exit away from the talk of 'men' and 'wanking'. Slipping off her seat, she happily moves to claim the mashed spuds, plopping down at the table and beginning to scoop them up and into her face. Cheeks puffing out, she chews and swallows, then blinks and stands; she needed a drink now.
"De Frost inst'tute? Jesus, guess dat girl moves 'round, too. She ok, far s'I know. I don' keep up wit'r much." She shrugs, sitting back down with a small glass of milk. Back to chomping, she eyes Raven and can't help rolling her eyes. Blunt and beautiful, she was, and the fact that someone else was blushing their head off was a nice change.
"Dunno where t'find Remy. S'mtimes here, maybe at dat room close t'here. De…Alias Invest'gations? I t'ink dat what I seen afta touchin' 'm." She shrugs once more, more content with eating than anything else.
"Raven, dis 's nice. Next time we have dinna, m'brin' de dessert." Then she pause. "Huh, got m'cheeks full 'f strin'gy white stuff. Least it keepin' wit de conv'sation."
*