|
  |
*
Well, if an angry rich boy wants to go somewhere alone, there's not a lot of options. A streaking green meteor into the upscale New York landing on his house is not really the attention he wants to draw right now. Instead he heads to the train yard, descending to land on top of one of the empty abandoned cargo cars. He crosses his legs, flexing his fingers as emotions boil, the occasional flicker of green electricity or pops of energy still surrounding him. Not safe to be anywhere with something breakable.
*
It had taken Lorna sometime to calm down and chase after the young mutant. Still, it took far less time for her to calm down and realize that she had to go after him, or allow the misunderstanding to fester and rot. So, within a short time span, she'd cleaned herself up and went about searching for Julian. It had taken quite a bit of effort to find him.
Even after putting a phone call to her nephew about looking around for Julian, she'd turned up short.
It was luck that she found him at all, a glance a spike of green power and she went after the signs of where Julian was. A step around the train cars and she approached, hands held out at her sides. "Julian?" Her voice soft and hesitant.
*
There's not a lot of places Julian could have gone to. Heading to his home is the most difficult. It's well defended, and without overtly using her powers they would just turn Lorna away. As such, the list is somewhat shorter to begin checking, and she got somewhat lucky in it being common. Lots of people hang out in the trainyard late at night, after all. "Mmm." he repeats, back still to her as he reaches out his hands. Pieces of debris float up unsteadily, but seem to always explode and disintegrate before getting very high. This doesn't seem intentional.
*
On careful toes, Lorna approached him, coming up along side of him in a slow and cautious manner. She, at least, seemed in control of herself and her emotions. She bit her lower lip, tucking back her hair from her face as the breeze whipped around the trainyard and sent her hair about. She grimaced, and as she came up beside him, slowly reached out a hand.
"Julian.. I'm.." She sighed, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you like that. But.. I .. I just I was upset and I didn't mean what I said that way.." She stopped and held her breath, glancing his way.
*
Another item is lifted up, quivering and trembling beneath his concentration. It gets almost three meters before imploding. "I think you meant it." he mumbles, lowly. There's no fight in his voice. No anger. Something else, perhaps closest to sadness. "I just think you regret saying it. You're not wrong. Everything you said that man is, I wanted to be. I thought, or hoped, I was. I wasn't."
*
Lorna shifted to sit down beside him, reaching out to slide her arm around his shoulders. "I didn't know you then." She started, and exhaled a slow breath. "Just because he was there for me, when I needed someone.. doesn't make you any less. I'm not a pie, Julian." She made to lean her chin against his shoulder.
"I can have more than one person be there for me at different times in my life. It doesn't make you mean any less to me.." She chewed her lower lip. "And I have a right to call people friends when I decide to. Not when you or my father, or my sister.. or anyone tells me to. I just.. I have that right. It .. it was frustrating to me that.. that's what I heard.. when you said those things."
*
There's some tension to Julian when touched, but Lorna might notice the crackling and buzz around him appears to have lowered afterwards, gradually vanishing. Must mean his emotions are calmed down to some degree. "I'm fine with you having friends. And family. But I think you are seeing something in him that isn't there. Trying to redeem a person who will take advantage of you. You're… too sweet, Lorna. Too caring. That's what I like about you. Seeing someone… someone ADMIT they were doing that…" Teeth grit, eyes flash green, and a nearby hunk of metal crumples into a ball.
*
Lorna didn't move from her perch beside Julian as his powers flared, she merely sat for a long time in silence. Before, slowly, she reached out to try to touch his hand with both of her own. A gentle touch.
"One time, my roommate, Jean and I had a fight in Hell's Kitchen. It was bad. My father was there too and things got out of hand." She exhaled a breath. "I ran off. I got lost. A couple of guys started to try to chase me down." A glance was aimed his way. "I hardly had any idea of how to use my powers, much less than I do now. This was gosh.. months ago.." She bit her lower lip and continued her story.
"Seth grabbed me and tried to help me hide from these guys but they wouldn't let us go. He tried to protect me but I got so angry and scared.. I brought the building down around us. I killed those men, Julian.." She whispered, her voice tight.
"Seth stayed with me until I could call Miss Frost to get me."
A shift followed as she leaned forward to meet his gaze. "I'm not saying that he doesn't have flaws. That he's perfect. No one is.. I just.. He was there. And when Mojo caught me.. he was all I had.. for weeks. The only person I had to talk to… He matters to me Julian.."
*
"Mmm." Julian mumbles, scratching the side of his cheek in thought. A mild blink of surprise follows on hearing her assaulters died, but quickly fades away to ambivalence. "It was an accident." he offers. "And they probably deserved it." World's a better place. "One good deed doesn't mean someone has a good heart or soul, Lorna. I saw on the news video that, uh, once that Absorbing Man lifted a car of people in a fight. He seemed surprised to find it full and set it back down. So, what? Does that mean he's a great person? No. Not to me. Just that he's a partial monster, not a full one." He spits off the side of the tram car. "And sounds like stockholme syndrome… I mean, to keep sane, doubt it much mattered who it was…" He ends up rubbing his face with a slow exhale. "You get enough people telling you how to live your life. I won't become one of them. Not when my own is in such shambles. …I just hate myself for not being there, alright?"
*
"Mmm." Julian mumbles, scratching the side of his cheek in thought. A mild blink of surprise follows on hearing her assaulters died, but quickly fades away to ambivalence. "It was an accident." he offers. "And they probably deserved it." World's a better place. "One good deed doesn't mean someone has a good heart or soul, Lorna. I saw on the news video that, uh, once that Absorbing Man lifted a car of people in a fight. He seemed surprised to find it full and set it back down. So, what? Does that mean he's a great person? No. Not to me. Just that he's a partial monster, not a full one." He spits off the side of the tram car. "And sounds like you clung to him since you had no better options… I mean, to keep sane, doubt it much mattered who it was…" He ends up rubbing his face with a slow exhale. "You get enough people telling you how to live your life. I won't become one of them. Not when my own is in such shambles. …I just hate myself for not being there, alright?"
*
Lorna gave his hands a gentle squeeze and she tucked her chin against his shoulder. "Miss Frost said it was in self defense and didn't count. But Professor Xavier told me that we need to be better.." An exhale followed and she closed her eyes briefly. "The Absorbing man attacked me.." A pause, "I.. my tata, my father.." She corrected the Polish almost immediately out of habit.
"He was livid. He had me locked up inside with my sister and Doctor Strange for weeks." A grimace. "That guy is awful. And Mojo had him ready to fight us again on TV too.." Her nose wrinkled up and she lifted her head up to eye Julian with a faint frown.
"But that doesn't excuse anything either.. You're right on that.. but he's not a bad person over all, Julian. He's really not. A bad person wouldn't.." She trailed off and looked down at her hands with a sigh, her shoulders slumping.
*
Finally Julian reaches out in an attempt to give Lorna a shoulder-rub. "You need to know me, I guess. …I, ah. Grew up a womanizer. …lot of empty relationships. One night stands. That sorta deal. I was attractive, I had money, it was easy. …I never really thought anything of it." He's a young male, why would he? "I-I don't think that's you, though. I talked to you since… since I never really met another mutant before. I dunno. My goal not being… /that/… kinda changed everything. It was like… like the stuff I've done so many times before was suddenly new, since I wasn't going through a routine. I kinda liked it. …proper dating." He slumps right back after. "I get it if that makes you hate me, though. I figured you'd find out eventually."
*
Lorna's tension eased as he reached out to her shoulders and she sagged as she leaned to rest her head on his shoulder. Yet as he spoke again, her eyebrows climbed higher and she blinked repeatedly at him, a flush crossing her cheeks as she stared at him for a long moment. Clearly, the she was attempting to process what he'd told her, and it took her mind an almost comical length to piece what he was getting to exactly.
"Oh." She bit her lower lip, looking at him side long. "Uhm…" She scratched the back of her head and fidgeted.
"You don't have any kids running around accidentally, right?" She finally bit out, her cheeks hot. "Because like, that's how I came to exist.. My father.. like.. uhh.." She glanced up at the sky, kicking her legs out before her as she drew her hands back to press against her cheeks.
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I said that outloud. Oh my gosh." She winced, her eyes screwing shut.
*
"…" Julian turns to stare when he's asked that particular question. But he's blushing pretty deeply all the same. "Iusedacondom." he grumbles out as fast as he can, given the topic at hand. "I don't want kids. And I always used my own. And it was only once. Never twice. …You're the first girl I've ever met twice." He kicks his legs into the open air, where they dangle from the train car.
*
Lorna's lips formed an 'o' and she turned even redder if at all possible as she continued to kick her feet outwards in lieu of actually speaking for several long moments. "S-oo.." She dragged out the word and peeked a glance at Julian side long from beneath a curtain of green hair that she most decidedly did not move from her face.
"That's.. uhm.. ah.. good to know.." Her voice lurched upwards in pitch slightly, her shoulders rising slightly. Embarrassment was high.
Then she seemed to continue to consider his words. "Wait, you don't want kids.. like ever?"
*
Right now, Julian is trying to look far off in the distance to make things somewhat more comfortable. This wasn't the type of conversation he had expected to have with Lorna so soon, after all. "I never said that." he mumbles. "Just not ones with flings. …I have a big family. Having a kid'd complicate stuff. My older brother doesn't even have one yet, so. I dunno. Guess I never thought about it?"
*
Her cheeks still burned bright, and Lorna offered a jerky nod. "Oh. Okay. Yeah.." She bit her lower lip, glancing at him in tiny snatches between her curtain of green hair. "That was a stupid question to ask. Oh my gosh. I am .. I am so sorry Julian to uhm.. uhm.. oh gosh." She winced again, and promptly smacked her forehead.
"I-I don't hate you. At all. It's.. I don't.. it's okay.. I-I.. I mean. I'm.. I'm not like that so.. so obviously… uhm.. ah.." She blinked repeatedly, awkward as she lowered her gaze to her lap.
*
"Um." Julian mumbles, fiddling around with his thumbs to try to keep things distracted. "I know you aren't. Even if, uh. I pulled off my best seduction routine on our first date, it wouldn't have worked. You'd… probably have blushed cutely, but… I always just—never went with people it wouldn't work with… it meant I spent a lot of time with a rather particular personality… that, the more I think of it, I never much cared for…"
*
A heavy silence followed for while as she glanced away and down at her lap. Then after he finished speaking, she turned her brows drawn high as she considered him. A pink blush still very much alive on her cheeks. Then slowly, she reached out to try to capture his hands and give them a gentle squeeze. A shy and hesitant smile on her lips.
"I.. uhm.. I'm glad that you didn't. Because I like this Julian. I mean yeah, tempers and all.. but yeah.." She dropped her gaze, biting her lower lip again.
"Though we gotta work on that whole destroying pretty cars thing.. cause seriously…"
*
The hand is not immediately grasped, but then he does with a low sort of sigh. The last little shimmers or crackles of his power seem to be gone now, for the moment. "I guess I got a rage problem." Understatement of the century. "I hate feeling powerless. …and with my power, that is rarely the cast…"
*
As he took her hands back she smiled, warmer, and her blush cooled as she settled more comfortably beside him. Contented to just be beside him as she glanced out at the trainyard before them. She gave his hands another gentle squeeze and she sighed softly. "I understand." She offered simply, crossing her legs as she tucked them in closer to her against the chill that settled into the late afternoon as the sun waned in the sky.
"I really hate feeling that way too. It's only been recently that my powers started acting up with my emotions like that. So, I get that control can be .. difficult." She smiled his way again.
"And I'm here if you need me Julian. You aren't alone. You don't have to react like that all the time, because well.. you've got me."
*
"Just…" Julian mumbles, looking down. "…I want to be more a part of your life. I'm not scared of your family. Or your friends. Or you. …I don't really…" He thinks long and hard on this, before deciding to finish. "I don't really got anyone else right now. I don't want you… to feel obliged or nothing… but…" He rubs the side of his face, not entirely sure where he's going with it. "We've had a few dates, but… you keep me distant beyond that. Whether you are conscious of it or not."
*
A blink, and Lorna's brows drew close as she considered him a faint frown pulling at her lips. Confusion flitting over her features. "What do you mean, exactly? I'm.." A shift as she lifted her figure from the simple lean against his frame to look at him properly.
"I'm a bit .. uh.. lost I guess?" She reached up to scratch at the back of her head. "Because uhm.. one of those dates wasn't me.. and I ah.." She blinked repeatedly as she glanced down at her lap awkwardly.
*
There's a bolt of tension, and a crackle of energy that would be fairly painful. "I don't want to talk about that." he states, teeth clamped down once more. It's some time before he calms down once more, deathgripping that held hand. "You're you. I'm me. Let's just focus on that… okay?"
*
A wince follows at the tightness of his grip but she doesn't make to pull away. She doesn't flinch at the crackle of energy, and bites her lower lip to hold the silence for a long moment before she spoke.
"Okay. Uh, tell me.. tell me what you mean by.. by that I keep you distant? I don't get it Julian.." She mumbled, leaning to the side so that she could catch his expression.
*
"…I dunno." he mumbles, looking out across things. "How could I not know you vanished for so long? I barely even realized your clone was fake. I… sigh. I dunno. I guess I'm just… meh." He plants his chin into the palm of his free hand. "I just want you to know that, like. Don't be afraid of showing me who you are and how you live. I guess."
*
A blink, and Lorna exhaled a soft breath as she leaned back to press her shoulder against his. "Okay. Well.. I'll try more I guess.." Her expression screwing up in thought, a furrow of her brow, a twist of her lips. "I go to classes, which if I haven't failed.. I guess.." She wrinkled up her nose at that.
"But my nephews, Hope, Ava and a few others, we made a group. For us .. younger types I guess. To well.. I guess do something. It's why I was caught by Mojo. I dragged everyone along with me to try to find Seth cause Mojo was kidnapping mutants." A pause, at that.
"I worked with Raven for a bit of time to get information.. but she was only interested in the Friends of Humanity.. and I guess when there's an evil slug lord from another dimension people hating us for being mutants just seems to.. I dunno dumb I guess." A shrug and a sigh followed. Then she was reaching up to awkwardly try to cup his cheek.
"I.. I just got use to keeping bits of my life separate, to just keep functioning, you know? Like my adoptive parents don't know anything about anyone in my life these days.. and I just.. I dunno.. It sounds lame like that."
*
"Meh." Julian offers, matter of factly. "I've never had anyone to worry about before. So try to remember that, okay? I know you… get coddled all the time. But that doesn't diminish how others feel about you." Fingers continue to drum on the top of the train idly.
"That was a lot of names I don't know." Julian offers simply. Although the contact shifts his gaze to Lorna's. Some thought follows. "Do what makes you happy." he decides. "In the end, you're you. Never forget that. Maybe it's what made me so selfish, but. Relationships, no relationships, happy, sad… in the end, you always got you."
*
A shrug at that as she lowered her eyes, "I can understand that." She murmured, "I do understand it. I mean, my family loves me and coddles me yeah, but they do it out of concern and love.. I get that. I do." She bit her lower lip, "I'll try to remember that that's new for you." She smiled faintly, pushing her hair back from her face.
"And I dunno who I am these days.. A little better than I was a few months ago.. but.." She wordlessly shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure myself out. It's hard to go from thinking you know who you are.. and your family to suddenly a new family and.. and actually accepting my powers and who I am as a mutant.. And I just.. I still don't know who my mother was, or why she gave me up or anything.. and I don't think I ever will know.." She grimaced and exhaled a breath.
"Never mind how much Mojo got into my head and I just.. I don't know me these days as well as I used to.."
*
"And sometimes you know exactly who your family is. And what you are to them. Do you think I'm happier for it? Does it ultimately change who I am? No." There's a bit of anger here, directed towards his birthright. "Who cares who your mother is. I don't really even care who your father is." He suddenly reaches out to give a firm poke. "You need to stop thinking what you should be, or what you're expected to be. Happy. What makes you happy. You haven't even answered that for me, yet."
*
Lorna shifted a squeak escaping her as he poked her. "Hey!" She squirmed an inch, two away from him, defensively crossing her arms with a pout as she attempted to hide the smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"And it does matter to me. I went from knowing everything about my life.. to finding out it was a lie. One meant to protect me but a lie still.. And that my mother might be some random woman out there. I might have other siblings or something Julian. It's just.. It's jarring. Okay?" She made a face, smoothing her hands out over her skirts.
"And I dunno what makes me happy? I mean, it's not something I think about I guess. I like spending time with my father. Spending time with you, and my roommate and others. I like sunny days and milkshakes and getting my homework done." A shrug.
*
"I wish mine was a lie." Julian responds, so quietly it would nearly be missed. He stares down at the ground, still gently kicking his feet. Before letting out a sigh and leaning back, thumping heavily on the iron roof of the rusting cargo container. "That's normal. Normal stuff. You want a normal life. Then live one, as much as you can. I've got crazy powers, too, and I… well. I guess I dunno what I want, honestly. Maybe money can buy happiness, but by now I've tried just about everything I can think of."
*
Lorna's eyebrows furrowed as she leaned forward, catching the whispered wish. She frowned, reaching out with a hand to settle against his shoulder. "I say I want those things, and I do. I want a chance to be normal, but I guess I've had that most of my life and I just.. I want to go back to that. To when I felt safe. But I don't think I can do that these days. There's too much. I know too much about.. everything now. Does that make sense?" She winced, her lips pursing together.
"Like until a few months ago I had no idea there were other dimensions or magic or geeze any of that. But now I feel like it's everywhere and if I just ignore it.. those things won't go away. So while being normal and doing normal things makes me happy… I just.. I don't feel like I can do that anymore either.."
*
"No." Julian openly admits when Lorna asks whether everything makes sense. "I've heard all of this, too. I've seen some guy in a stupid looking outfit stop time. Your sister do her portal-crap. And you know what I think? People way more qualified than me got this stuff sorted out. I can't do anything on my own. And if I try to pretend I can, I'll just get frustrated."
*
Her nose wrinkled up, "What about the Friends of Humanity? About the people that hate mutants? Julian people have died.." She trailed off and glances down at her lap. "I guess, what I mean to say is, that while we can pass for normal people others can't. And there's a need for someone to help out. I mean, I don't want to go fighting people or something, but like.." She exhaled and dragged her hands through her hair.
"Mojo was kidnapping mutants for months. No one else stopped him. My nephews and I aren't the ones that should've been doing stuff about it. But we were.. I just.. I guess.. I want to be normal. I want to be able to live my life without being scared that someone might try to lock me up and throw away the key just because I was born different. Even if I don't know what I'm doing I feel like I should do something.."
*
"…" That causes Julian to harden his eyes. "No. I want to do something about THAT kind of stuff." he finally admits, grinding his teeth. "We… talked about this before. The mutant issue. That's something I can do something about… but that's not, like. Magical or dimensional. That's real life. Just… finding the people who are responsible and…" Green energy flickers across his fingers. "Dealing with them."
*
A sigh and Lorna reached out with her hands to smooth over his own as the green energy alights over his skin. "Julian, we did talk about this before. I just.. I'm not sure that that will help ultimately. Raven and the Brotherhood do help out in Mutant Town. They .. try to police and protect it as much as possible. But I don't agree with her methods." She bit her lower lip.
"I tried to be a person that could do anything to save mutants.. and I-I don't think I can do those things. It made me sick." She winced and looked down a her hands.
"I want to help and I'll do it in ways that I can.. and I want you to think about other ways too.. because not everything can be solved with raw power or strength or might.."
*
"Hmm." Julian offers, knowing full well that the extremes that Lorna shies from, he has no particular issue with. He has not attempted them, but he is fully aware of what he is capable of. What kind of monster might be lurking inside. "Not everything. But some things. I am not going to try to be something I'm not. My power… it's only good at destruction. It takes effort to not. Like—like fire. It'll burn, if I'm not careful. You… you know what that's like, too."
*
Lorna inclined her head, "But without fire I doubt people would've gotten very far, Julian. It gives life, warmth and allows people to cook food.. I mean, yes it's destructive and if you disrespect that it'll burn you but it's still important.." She trailed off, offering him a faint smile.
"Are we.. are we okay?" She ventured finally.
*
"Just since people use fire to their own advantage doesn't change what fire is. It doesn't care. It'll consume a forest to grant new life, or a home of shrieking people, all the same." But then he blinks, glancing over. "I… what do you mean? I think we are… if you aren't sick of me yet or nothing…"
*
A smile, and Lorna inched back to her position previously, snuggling up beside him and settling her chin against his shoulder. "Good." She yawned, "Because I am exhausted from today." She mumbled.
"And we're getting way too philosophical for my mind to keep up for much longer. Debating the meaning of the metaphors and how fire can be applied to us. We're still people, Julian. We have a conscious mind and feelings.." She murmured, "We're not mindless like fire."
*
After some moments, Julian slips an arm back around Lorna with a little grunt. "I'm not sorry I beat up that guy." he clarifies. "But I am sorry that I got so angry afterwards. …and blew up my car…" That's going to cause a lot of issues. Blegh. And then, after some more time just enjoying the quiet, "Let's go get a milkshake before it's too late. …if you don't mind walking."
*
A grimace pulled at her lips as Julian clairifed that he wasn't sorry about beating up Seth, and she bit her lower lip. She held her silence for a long moment before exhaling and drawing back with a strained smile. "I don't mind walking, but we can always get my car. It's about ten years old, but it's pretty good. I got it for my sweet sixteen." She her expression lightening as she spoke about her car.
*
Well, it wasn't a lie. Lorna can certainly try to make him feel bad about it, but it was rather stress relieving to punch him in the face, for sure. "Right now, your car is better than mine." he grumbles, stepping off the edge of the train. A shimmer of green slows him enough to land… roughly, but safely.
*
The traincar was as easy as walking down steps to Lorna, the large body of steel and iron that made up the car made it particularly easy for her to slowly ease herself down to the ground on. The riotous amount of metal around her was as comforting as a stuffed animal or a blanket wrapped around her. After having gone weeks in Mojo's metal free room? It was relaxing to be surrounded by so much iron and steel once again.
So a smile pulled at her lips as she touched down lightly, and swung her arms around her in glee. "C'mon." She grinned, reaching for his hands and making to tug him alone beside her.