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Lorna's spring break had consisted of her training hard, and studying and reading over extra books on magnetism that her father had given her. Yet, those teenage tendencies for skipping out when the day was nice happened, yesterday had been one such day when she'd gone to a park with Julian. Of course, then she'd come home to tell her father that Julian was able to come to dinner.
The day had been grey and rainy since the morning had dawned, cooler than the day before and Lorna squirmed miserably in the chair as she waited for Julian to pull up the drive. She kept turning around at every car passing by, peering through the curtains with an impatient huff. She could sense metal, and knew what Julian drove, but she couldn't help herself. It made for studying over the book she'd been given earlier a difficult task.
Her green hair had been curled with care, it was clear that she'd gone as far as she could without very obviously trying to doll up. Still, she wore a nice spring colored dress of powder blue with a white sweater thrown over it. Every so often she'd huff, look up from her book and fidget. She still had no idea what was for dinner.
*
Erik is in the kitchen, as much as that can actually be believed. He looks out toward the door leading toward where Lorna has seated herself, his expression a thoughtful frown. He has been cooking for an hour or so now, his copy of 'The Book of Five Rings' laid out on the counter and being read between bouts of stirring and oven checking. Erik is wearing a gray turtleneck and black slacks, having just returned from the Institute in time to start dinner.
There is now the clatter of a pan coming out of the oven. Erik hasn't actually touched it himself. It smells of tomatoes and spices in the kitchen. "Corcezka, have you finished your work? Julian should be arriving soon." Erik's tone is clipped and cool. No way to tell what he thinks o the upcoming meeting.
*
There's the horrible roar of a powerful engine thrumming down the street. It's not the Jaguar that Lorna is familiar with; no, a sleek crimson Mustang is now heading forward, despite only being just released. Flame decals are upon the sides and hood, reeking of money down to the shining metal highlights. Having been here once before, it's not hard to turn into the driveway, and settle down with a last purr. He slips out the door, flicking it shut.
Presently he's dressed immaculately, wearing a white dress shirt with a black jacket over it, similarly colored pants, and dark brown loafers and belt. All of it looks fresh off the '500 dollars or up' line of tres chic clothing, however. He makes for the door, hands in his pockets and a low whistle on his lips, absolutely relaxed.
*
Lorna bounced her knees up and down where she'd balanced the book and huffed a breath, pushing a lock of green back from her features as her father looked in on her from the kitchen. "I've got another chapter, tata." She mumbled, lips twisting as she glanced back down at the paragraph she'd read at least three times already and it wasn't sticking.
At the roar of the engine she was snapping the book shut and jumping up to her feet. Before Julian could so much as knock on the door she was there. A smile on her features barely hiding her anxiety at her father and Julian meeting.
"Julian!" She chirped, bounding down the steps toward him despite the coolness of the air outside. She hesitated from throwing her arms around him then and there, and stopped short, awkwardly as her cheeks turned pink. A glance was spared for the car and she blinked, "You got a new car."
*
Erik emerges from the kitchen now, removing his apron and setting it aside. He's a tall, stoic man who watches the front door intently from his new vantage in the adjoining room. o words are spoken for the moment, at least not until he deigns to come a few meters closer. "Hello… You must be Julian. I am Lorna's father, Erik." He is scrutinizing the young man intensely, blue eyes studying his features while his brows gently furrow to match the act. Behind him the food is tending itself, as it does.
*
Julian smiles warmly upon seeing Lorna, opening his arms for a few moments. He seemed keen on applying a hug, too, but similarly restrains himself, standing up and at proper attention. "Ms. Dane." he offers, before leaning forward to peck her on the cheek, quite chastely. "You look good! And yeah. It was a good excuse for a new one. I'll try not to wreck it this time."
When Erik comes out, he smiles towards him and approaches, seeming confident. Smile broad. There's no particular deception or anxiety in his eyes; Lorna might be highly intimidated by this meeting, but he doesn't seem to be. If Erik had to pick a reason, it is likely arrogance. He is from high society clearly, wealth and privilege. People like that have a robust self-esteem. "Mr… …Erik!" he states, forgetting his last name, attempting a hearty handshake. "I still remember what you did against those ice giants. Great stuff. I have a pretty good ability, myself… still trying to find a place for it, but… y'know." He gives a sort of 'what can you do?' shrug.
*
Lorna settled for a brief hug, accepting the peck on her cheek with a giggle as she stepped back to let Julian inside properly. As her father came out of the kitchen to introduce himself to Julian, Lorna stepped further back into the front room, pushing her hair back as she shut the door behind them. Her gaze flickered between the two and she carefully tucked her hands behind her as she watched.
As Julian addressed her father she grimaced briefly, "Tata, this is Julian Keller, Julian, this is my father Erik Lehnsherr." She supplied the last name of both with a gentle tone, chewing her lower lip.
*
"Mr. Keller. I believe I remember the event in question." Erik nods once, taking a deep breath as he turns to survey the living room at large. "Please, make yourself at home. Dinner is being served as we speak and I am very interested to gt to know you better." Lorna gets a nod from Erik who is already moving in the direction of the dining room. Hardwood chairs and tables. Nothing here is 'cheap', even if it is relatively unostentatious.
"What talent is that, precisely?" This question has Erik regarding Julian with an open interest. He draws a breath, holds it for a beat, and then exhales. "There are a lot of places where people with power could be useful. It depends on if you intend to use it."
*
"Sorry I kinda, uhhh. Ran in here a few weeks ago in a tizzy. I thought Lorna melted… made me pretty upset…" He's sure Wanda's spoke of his less than stellar mental state at the time, after all. Good thing Magneto had been out hunting nazi's at the time. Probably for Mojo, too. He makes his way into the dining room, somewhat happy that he's mostly seeing wood instead of metal. Not that it means he's safe in the slightest, but. Still, not sitting on an instant deathtrap is always reassuring. He makes to pull out Lorna's seat for her before taking one himself. "Uhh. Telekinesis. I can lift an empty train car with it, if I try really hard. And other neat things. …got a lot of issues with control, but…"
*
Lorna went into the dinning room as Erik nods her way. She kept quiet for a long time as the two conversed, letting Julian push in her car as she settled down at the table proper. Green eyes flickering with interest between the two before she chose to speak. "I've been trying to convince Julian that with his family's position he could do more for mutants than most, tata. I was trying to convince him to help me out in Mutant Town more with my volunteer work." A pause.
"But his family rather uhm.. not pro-mutant." She supplied softly.
*
The silverware is metal. The pans are metal. Photo frames and door knobs? Metal. The chairs are not, however, and so crushing Julian with one would be quite difficult. Erik nods as the young man is speaking, moving through the room to approach a chair. He watches as Julian is removing Lorna's chair for her before moving to take his own.
The food is in the midst of serving itself. A floating pan and spatula are busy dishing the food out. It appears Erik has prepared shaksuka- a spicy tomato and pepper stew with eggs floating in it- and challah bread alongside a simple Israeli salad made of tomatoes, cucumbers, and mint then dressed with pepper, olive oil, and lemon. "Issues with control. What you need is to be properly educated. Have you worked with a telekinetic who can match you for power, Keller?"
Erik is being surprisingly conversational, remaining calm as he speaks. He seems to be disregarding talk of Lorna melting other than beetling his brows briefly and studying the green-haired mutant's response to the statement. Then Lorna is speaking and Erik is listening. He nods his head slowly, taking a deep breath.
"If your family doesn't support who you are you need to be prepared to step forward. People like you are suffering because of their abilities. I could help you learn to control your powers if you're willing to learn." There's a beat, with Erik's naturally solemn face shifting toward a frown. "Lorna, I had meant to mention. The situation in Mutant Town is apparently getting worse. Killer robots and cops kidnapping our kind to beat them to death. I know you asked me to avoid conflict but it looks to be inevitable that there will be fighting."
*
There's a scowl from Julian at that. "Mom and dad consider me their hidden shame. They are on the fence, leaning anti-Mutant, and I think the only reason they don't go all in against them is the threat of me getting out." All signs point towards this sickening him. Floating thing is somewhat impressive, but between Lorna and his own powers, not anything new. Still, he envies the fine control to say the least. "I've never met another telekinetic period. I can chase down Lorna in a race, though." He grins sidelong towards the green-haired mutant affectionately.
"Don't worry. I'm not being idle. I'm funneling money to Mutant Town… into the hands of someone who swears to do good with it. …Josh. The guy who turns gold and heals people." He seems to be a little uncomfortable revealing that. His links to the Brotherhood are not hidden, and he has no idea how the pair here will feel about that.
"…! What?" Julian's features turn hard at that. "I… since when?!" He's not very keen on the news, and most of it is filtered by his family. Ignorance is not always bliss. "Can I help?!"
*
Lorna looks studiously down at the food as it lands on her plate as Julian and her father speak. A magnetic pulse uncontrol vibrates through the fields though at the mention of killer robots. At least, for her part, it doesn't actually upset or grasp at the metal in the room. "I-I uhm, I know tata. I erm.. Professor McCoy and uhm.." She bit her lower lip picking at her food. "I'll talk to you about it later, tata." She mumbled.
Her gaze shifted toward Julian and she pursed her lips together, frowning. "You didn't tell me that you were funding The Brotherhood Julian! Gosh! When I said helping Mutants I meant more like what Warren Worthington was doing after the giant attack. Making sure Mutant Town had supplies and that people were being taken care of. Or maybe putting some fund raising into pro-mutant senators, representatives. Things to bring about change in a significant way.." She pouted, and glanced down at the food.
"Thank you tata for the food." She offered lamely.
*
"A couple of the younger students came to class yesterday with a bucket of parts from one of the assassin bots, and it was earlier today that we found a man beaten to death by a police officer for the crime of having unusual eyes." This is stated rather gravely, with Erik taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling afterward. He shifts his weight slightly but doesn't act otherwise. A fork vibrates, however.
With all the food laid out Erik finally breathes a quiet sigh. ALl of the dishes settle into their proper places. "For now we should eat. Then I would like you to come with me, Julian. We can discuss this in more detail… And practice controlling your talents. You can help, yes. You can help me fight. None of us will be safe as long as threats like this are allowed to stand. Lorna, you should join us as well.
"If you were funding the Brotherhood then you should ask them to come in. Perhaps they will be willing to cooperate to eliminate the encroaching threats." Lorna gets a slow nod and then Erik takes a deep breath. "But it's time for dinner. We should eat before coming back to this subject." Lorna gets a faintly apologetic nod, at least."
*
Food is rather eagerly eaten by Julian. Although hasty, he does it with proper manners and dignity, following the expected culture of someone raised with utmost etiquette. It would annoy someone who is a purist. Obviously he is trying to do what he likes within the rules of another, despite not caring for them. In this case, it's clearly a show of respect, however.
"H-hey! I want to HELP them. Not… like. Make myself feel better. /Actually/ help!! The Brotherhood's got people doing just that. He promised he'd keep the money in that community… and-and the risk of it going to worse hands… well, what they aren't doing isn't COMPLETELY wrong…!"
Although there's a glower from Julian once more as the details are given. "…help you fight? Really?" A glance is given to Lorna, as if to assess how good such a thing is. "I mean… I want to. I,I'm strong enough to. But… I just dunno what to do, y'know? Just wait for people to act, and try to stop it?" Anger brews, and a green crackle of energy across the fingers holding his utensil. "No. I want to act /first./"
*
Lorna glanced between her father and Julian as both spoke, her features looking sour as the discussion grows more passionate. She seemed particularly annoyed when, after her father mentioned eating, that Julian continued to talk about the Brotherhood instead. She huffed, she wasn't sure if it was better or worse that her father and Julian were getting along. Truly it was a toss up. "Have you even seen what the Brotherhood does Julian?" She exhaled a sharp breath and shook her head. "Never mind. Later."
Still, she dug into the food with gusto, apparently she was no longer anxiously bouncing around and was hungry. She smiled faintly as she ate, glancing up at her father. "It's good tata, really good. Thank you." She beamed, her shoulders loosening in tension.
The plate scraped as she helped herself to seconds with a wave of her hand and a lift of a metal spoon. She concentrated rather hard to manage it, but manage it she did.