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The shadows outside lengthened as afternoon drifted into evening at the Xavier Institute. The day had been bright and cheery, with plenty of students taking up space outside to enjoy the sun. It would seem Lorna had as well. The young mutant stood in the main library, staring at the books and looking around slowly as if she were lost. She wore a sleeveless sundress, white with red roses printed all over. A red belt wrapped around her waist and a matching headband pushed her hair back from her face with a bow atop it. The outfit suggested that she'd dressed up on purpose, but the bare feet belied the fact that she hadn't actually gone anywhere.
To confuse the image, her eyes were red rimmed, and a tissue was clasped crumpled in her hand. Yet she didn't seem distraught at the moment, as she stood staring up at a some painting of a renaissance portrait. Green eyebrows furrowed as she stared up at it, her head tilting to the side as if trying and failing to place having seen it. Then she was off again, wandering around slowly, as if she'd never seen any of it before.
*
"Lorna? Darling, what is the matter?" Erik is coming up behind her now. He has a way of just appearing, often when he is needed, though just as often he won't be there at all and is instead half a world away. Right now his magnetic fields are able to be sensed as he closes the distance. If she's even paying attention at the moment. Regardless, Erik approaches. Calm, tall, and confident. He takes a deep breath as he is coming closer. For once none of the man's powers are in evidence. He makes them a part of his lifestyle but apparently they are not needed tonight, at the Institute. "It's a lovely painting," the man adds quietly as he comes close.
*
Lorna's powers, if any indication to her state, were out of balance. It was as if all the training of the past (almost) year had been for naught. Her magnetic field wobbled, picking up and dropping little things, upsetting paperclips and pens as she turned. Unlike last year however, she'd been using her powers near constantly and they'd grown considerably. Now, it would seem, there was no control over them at all to match the increase.
At the gentle words, she turns, her brows shooting upwards and she paused to look around her. Once, twice, and a third time she blinked, her head tilting to the side. "Wait, what? Do you mean me?" Her voice soft and rife with her confusion.
A glance was spared toward the painting and she frowned, and looked back toward Erik a million questions written on her expression that went unsaid.
*
"Do I mean you? Lorna, what on earth do you mean?" Erik gently grasps the magnetic fields around Lorna and draws them in toward them. He keeps them contained, taking control effortlessly now that she's lost her own control of her powers.
"I'm not sure I understand. Lorna?" Erik's brow furrows deeply as he studies the woman's features, his head tilted to the left as he considers her carefully from head to toe. "I'm your father," he starts slowly in a careful voice. "Erik. DO you remember me?" Reflexively he reaches out to take her hands into his own. As gently and carefully as possible.
*
A blink, and green eyes widen to stare at the magnetic forces as he sweeps them up and takes control. The forces that only the two of them could see. She seemed transfixed at how they settled so effortlessly and ceased tugging at every little thing that fell in their sphere. It took a long moment before his questions seemed to register.
"Is that who I am?" She asked softly, turning her gaze back to him. A slow blink, and then a second followed as he took her hands gently in his own.
"I.." She frowned, and exhaled a huff of a breath. "I don't remember." She mumbled, as if confused to admit that.
Another pause followed as she looked down at her hands, as if she was struggling to comb through her memories and found none there. "I don't remember," Then a faint smile tugged at her lips, "But I trust you. I feel safe with you." Her smile faded and was replaced with another furrow of her brows.
"I don't know why."
*
Erik blinks his blue eyes in turn, watching as Lorna's eyes widen while she studies the forces surrounding them both. "Magnetism," he offers gently, answering the first of many unspoken questions. "That's what you're seeing around us. It's everywhere. Influencing everything. I helped you control it, once."
There's pain behind that gaze but Erik shoves it aside. Instead he steps forward and very softly draws the girl closer to him as he does so. "You trust me, corra, because you and I are closely intertwined. You are my daughter. My Lorna. And together we've done some incredible things. I'll try to help you remember."
Erik pauses, briefly licking his lips in an uncharacteristic display of nerves. Then he asks, "What do you remember? What is the first thing? Anything before that? Since then? I need you to share all of it with me."
*
Lorna distractedly reaches out a hand toward the otherwise invisible strands of magnetism that flowed through the room around them, as if she could touch them. Wonder followed as the fields bowed and twisted beneath her hand, but didn't move further beyond Erik's control. Then Erik was pulling her closer and guiding her attention away from the fields mysteries.
"I don't remember any of that.. I'm sorry." She mumbled to his words about doing amazing things, her brows furrowed faintly, as she struggled to come up with something to ease that sadness behind his gaze and found nothing to offer.
His questions, however brought a new focus for her to struggle with and she bit her lower lip. "I remember coming inside? Then I came up here." She tilted her head, blinking repeatedly as she struggled to remember anything.
"I'm safe here." She added, rocking her weight back on her heels.
*
"You are safe here," Erik agrees gently, nodding as he does. He takes a deep breath afterward and holds it for a second. "But I want to help you be more than just safe. You look frightened. Confused. Here…" Erik still holds Lorna's hands but this time he lifts them, grasping a finger to trace one of the fields through the air.
"You can feel that. I know you can. You were reaching for it. I want you to concentrate on it. Use your hand if you have to but- grasp it. With your mind." His voice is gentle but he's still quite firm as he speaks.
"If you can do that you'll learn more about yourself than you ever knew there was to know. I promise. I'll help you. Please."
*
Lorna blinked, biting her lower lip. "I don't know why I don't remember." Her voice was small, and she worried at her lower lip, a familiar gesture that showed how nervous the green haired girl was. There wasn't a mark on her, nothing to show that her memory had been lost due to some head injury or anything. Only the signs that she's been crying, and those were rapidly fading.
"They're pretty. I like them." She mumbled, as her hands lifted to trace against the magnetic fields that surrounded the two. A smile tugged at her lips as she poked at one without intending to. It wasn't the grip that Erik asked for, but more of like a child splashing in a puddle. It was as natural to her as breathing, and the ease with which she tapped and toyed with the fields was entirely different than the strained concentration her usage of powers typically involved. There was no fear behind her use, and it showed.
A small giggle escaped her as she prodded them gingerly, and they responded to her mental commands that went along with her gesture. A ripple of power flitted and died as she toyed with the magnetism between them, but it slowed and she turned green eyes back toward him.
"I wish I remembered.. I'm sorry."
*
"Don't apologize, coreczka. This isn't your fault," Erik responds seriously. "We will figure out what happened and make it right." He runs a thumb gently over Lorna's knuckle and breathes a quiet sigh as he turns to survey the school around them again.
"In the meantime, just understand that I will always protect you. You can trust me, no matter what. If you feel scared or nervous then find me. You can sense me. Do you feel that? If you concentrate… That power between us. It's like a beacon. You'll always know where I am." Erik takes a deep breath and then draws himself back to his full height.
"I know someone who may help. Professor Xavier. You might know him as Charles, or Chuck." Erik rolls his shoulders lightly. "We should go visit him. But first- do you remember the last time you ate, child?" With that Erik is going to gently guide Lorna down the hallway.
*
A slow, wide eyed, nod follows as he explains that she doesn't have to apologize. Her gaze fell back to her hand as he gently ran his thumb over her knuckles, the tissues she'd crumpled earlier had fallen away to the floor at some point. She listened with care, hanging on his every word as he explained that she could always find him. Her head tilted to the side, as she concentrated and a small ping of her magnetic power followed. She grinned again, and waited to see his reaction before he spoke about Charles.
"I don't remember him either.." She mumbled, trailing after him as he tugged her away from the library and down the hall. "Is he far away?" She asked, her voice just as soft and confused as before. Yet as they walked out of the library her gaze was drawn to literally anything and everything around them. As if she'd been seeing it for the first time.
"… I don't remember when I ate. Is it dinner time? I don't know if I had anything to eat.."
*
Downstairs
*
Lorna sat at the table, dressed in a sleeveless sundress and barefoot. Lunch had since been cleared away by other students, she had missed in her wanderings around the mansion, but Erik had dug out whatever there had been and made sure the green haired mutant had a plate of her own. While he'd been heating it up, the young mutant had spent her time staring at random odds and ends, that or picking things up in the kitchen with her powers and setting them down as if she were heavily amused.
There had been attempts to break into the cookie jar prior to Erik setting a plate of food in front of her. Which had earned a smile and a thanks.
Any other students that ventured into the kitchen quickly left from the glowers aimed their way, and gave it a wide berth. It would seem Magneto was scaring them just by his protective presence at the table. Lorna meanwhile, seemed oblivious to it all. Oddly so. Her mind was almost completely blank, save for an odd question that popped up every now and then. For the moment, she was pestering Erik over her plate.
"So. If it's a school. Did I go here? Do I go here?" Her head tilted to the side as she blinked repeatedly in his direction.
*
"Yes, you're a student here, Lorna." Erik responds in a rather uncharacteristically gentle way. The generally stoic, quiet older man is standing beside Lorna and speaking to her in careful, even tones. He holds himself with excellent posture and a sense of dignity, and other than slight furrow in his brow one would be hard put to note his distress. Unless they're a telepath.
Erik has a strong mind, razor sharp and difficult to easily grasp. At the same time, his distress is loud enough to pick up on for anyone passing who would be attuned to such things. Why doesn't she remember? While Erik relays information about Lorna's surroundings the food… Is coming to them. Metal trays and metal utensils, right? Hot, neatly prepared plates wander out of the kitchen, just above the heads of any other students.
"And there's our food. This was always one of your favourites." Erik finally takes a seat of his own, across from the green-haired girl.
*
After having had a lovely dinner with Charles at Lutece, and the dancing that happened afterwards, Emma knew she was probably being a bit too eager to show her face around the Institute, but honestly, she needed to start making her presence around the school a daily thing, anyway. What kind of co-headmistress isn't around to handle her administrative duties? Though Emma isn't normally known to be listening in for hints of distress, in her new position at the Institute, she runs on a different default setting, as far as her psychic scans go. So, while she was wandering around, looking at the various wings of the building and wondering which one would be hers… Well, haha, not the /entire/ wing, no. But, she wouldn't object, if they /insisted/. She laughed to herself at her own hilarious internal joke…but, that faded quickly as she picked up on that distress that Erik was so clearly sending out.
She followed the trail to its source, her heels clacking crisply on the polished floors as she walked with purpose. As she neared, she got the feeling of Lorna being nearby, knowing her psychic signature very well. Furrowing her brow lightly, Emma wondered if Charles had had a chance to speak with Erik about Lorna's inflated course load. Standing in the doorway to the room, she finds Lorna and Erik seated at a table, eating their lunch. "Well, hello there, Mr. Lehnsherr, Lorna," she says politely, clasping her hands in front of her. "How are you this afternoon?"
*
Considering that Erik and Charles have a good friendship and rapport, the fact that Erik was having some sort of distress wasn't something lost on Charles. Fortunately, it is the summer, so Charles was actually not teaching a class at the time. Following the trail of thoughts, he meanders through the Institute until he reaches the dining area, stepping in with a curious expression.
When he sees Emma there, he can't help but smile a little, despite the distress he senses from Erik, though he masks that before he comes over, concern for his old friend at the forefront as he nods to the three, "Erik, Lorna, Emma… is everything alright?" He says that mostly to Erik, though his eyes can't help but flicker to Emma just for a moment.
*
Lorna looked at the food that Erik had brought out, and furrowed her brow as she prodded it with her fork. "Really? Okay, if you say so.." She looked dubiously at the plate, and reached for a cookie to nibble instead. It would seem, memories or not, Lorna still had a sweet tooth. The green haired mutant was oblivious of course, to her father's internal distress.
As Emma arrives Lorna blinks, not an ounce of recognition played upon her features at the sight of the blonde haired headmistress. "Who is she?" She asked Erik, her gaze swinging back toward her father.
Her gaze didn't linger either, for shortly after, as Charles arrived Lorna looked toward him. "Who is he? Is that the friend you were saying can help?" She bit her lower lip, slipping lower in her chair.
To either of the telepaths Lorna's surface thoughts were entirely filled with confusion. Nothing seemed to register to the young woman.
*
"… Miss Frost. Charles!" Erik is unusually emphatic, even though he still doesn't raise his voice. The man gets as close to springing to his feet as a studied stoic can manage, the chair clattering softly in response. "It's good to see you both." He draws a deep breath and holds it in a measured way, blue eyes flickering between both of the people in front of him carefully.
"I'm afraid it isn't," Erik continues, cutting right to the chase in his carefully measured way. "Something has happened to Lorna. Or someone, I suspect. She seems to have lost her memory." Erik glances at the girl beside him, who has been plied with a meal half made of sweets. He doesn't even comment on her immediately diving into dessert. Some things never change, after all. "Lorna, darling. This is Charles. Yes, he's the man I said could help us. Could you explain to him what you do remember? Where you woke up, for example." He nods once, perhaps a bit gravely.
*
At Charles' arrival, Emma's eyes widen slightly in surprise, but only slightly! She knew she'd see him, but she wasn't expecting him to walk right up in that casual way, looking at her with those eyes of his, and.. She pushes those thoughts downdownDOWN. She does cast her gaze in his direction once or twice as Erik explains the basic situation, though. She can't help herself. But, she's present enough to hear what it is that's distressing Erik and that brings her icy blue eyes to lock onto Lorna, her brows furrowing.
"You don't recognize me, Lorna? We spoke only a couple of days ago," she says, moving closer to the green-haired girl. "I spoke with you about how you've been feeling overwhelmed, lately, how you've felt scattered and finding it difficult to settle in… I told you I'd speak with Headmaster Xavier, which I haven't done, as of yet, admittedly," she mentions things the two had discussed, seeing if it will jog the young woman's memory. She glances at Charles, having mentioned her intention to speak with him about a student's issue…that she'd forgotten to do, until just now.
*
Charles smiles reassuringly and sits down next to Lorna, looking at her curiously, "Lorna, I'm a friend of your father's… do you remember anything at all?" He asks verbally first, not going to just start the telepathy route until he has a better idea of what he's looking for, first.
At Emma's comment about mentioning Lorna's workload, Charles glances over at Emma with a smile, "Well, it has been a little hectic, but we can talk about that later." The smile fades a bit as he looks at Lorna, concern showing on his features as he regards the young girl.
*
Between Erik asking what she remembered, Emma's attempts to jog her memory and Charles sitting down beside her she bit her lower lip and tried to sink lower in her chair. It took several long moments before she responded, wide eyes looking back toward Erik in question before she finally spoke. A grimace pulled faintly at her expression as she slouched.
"I-I don't remember anything.. really.. I-I .. I remember being inside? Er.. coming inside? I came through a door. A-and then I got lost walking around. The library?" She asked as she turned her gaze back to Erik. "I ended up there, where he found me. He said my name is Lorna.. and he's my dad." She fidgeted, looking down at her lap.
"I don't remember anything before that. It… it's just not there. I dunno where it went. I'm sorry." She mumbled. She was very nearly overwhelmed, and as she spoke, she kept trying to mentally drum up memories. But there was nothing. There were no physical signs either to why she'd lost her memory. No marks, no bruises, nothing to indicate a bump or knock to her head.
*
Emma sits down on the other side of the table, across from Charles and Lorna. She can sense the girl's increasing anxiety over the sudden influx of attention and concern. Surely, having no memory is enough stress, as it is, without multiple people hovering over you. Charles has the better bedside manner, so she happily takes a step back from trying to help, unless it's requested. "Lorna, take five deep breaths, nice and slow. Everything will be all right, given enough time. Professor Xavier is uniquely qualified to help you," she says as soothingly as she can, in a calm voice.
*
Charles smiles slightly at Emma, "Yes, Lorna, it's going to be alright. Just relax… and focus on your breathing. Nice, deep breaths. That's it…" And with that, he uses his telepathy, exploring Lorna's mind, to see what exactly happened… and who might be responsible, as he clamps down a bit on his protective instincts towards his students.
*
Lorna did as she was told by both Emma and Charles. A slow inhale, and exhale. Her eyes drifted shut as she focused on her breaths, and she nodded slowly. "Okay." Her shoulders relaxed and some of the tension faded from her.
As Charles started to explore her mind he'd find.. chaos.
If Lorna's mind was a library with books filling the shelves.. then someone had gone through and knocked most of them over. A few remained in place, language, fire was hot, the school was safe… but nothing else. Her memories were dumped into a pile on the 'floor' as it were. Heaped and scrambled without order. There wasn't nothing blocking her mind's ability to restore them, but it would take time.
Already, Lorna's mental self was there, struggling to separate out the books of her memories and trying to put them into some kind of order. Long term memories, short term.. it made no difference, anything before her interaction with Erik in the library was on her mental floor.
*
And the Professor looks around the scattered books everywhere, and doesn't disturb Lorna's efforts just yet. Instead, he looks for something that is out of the ordinary. Something that does NOT belong, as he frowns at the mindscape. A library? Yes, this he would expect… but this level of chaos implies that there was an outside source responsible for scrambling the poor girl's memories.
*
It was entirely possible that, had a telepath of any less experience than Charles been looking, it would've been missed. Yet there was a book, one that did not belong. Buried amongst the memories of childhood and training, between lessons on Polish and how to paint her fingernails, there was a book that didn't belong. There wasn't a clear ah-ha to it that made it stick out. There was nothing to link it to anyone in particular, other than it simply didn't belong.
Lorna's mental shuffling continued, unaware, as she struggled to find the right book to put into the stack she'd tugged free. Yet it never got very far, as she'd stop and find something else and make another stack. Her mind was a mess.
*
The Professor frowns, and… well, it's a good thing he has the control that he does, because he recognizes the 'book' for what it is. Someone attempting to affect the mind of one of his students, which (despite his groovy demeanor at times) he takes Quite Seriously. Taking the book, he focuses his concentration, looking to see more about this book, then he looks over at Lorna, saying mentally, "Lorna? Do you recognize me?"
*
Lorna looked up from her organization, or at least, her mental figment did. She blinked up from her attempts to reorganize her mind, frowning faintly as she noticed Charles there. She bit her lower lip, a book in her hand. It was some memory, one from her childhood, nothing recent and she put into a stack beside her before reaching for another one.
"I.." As luck would have it, she had picked up a memory, a more recent one, that had Charles in it. Her brow furrowed and she looked down at the memory in her grasp. "Yes?" She looked back to him, her head tilted to the side.
"You look familiar.. I know you?" It was phrased as a question, too many gaps remained for her to make much more of the telepath in front of her.
*
Charles nods a bit towards Lorna, "Looks like you have a lot of work to do… did you want a hand with that?" He smiles gently, focusing on the strange book and, once he confirms that Lorna's memories are not hidden in there in some fashion, eliminates the book from Lorna's library of the mind.
*
The representation of Lorna shot him a grateful look from her place crouched beside a pile of books. "Please? I don't.. I keep trying to get them put away. But .. but there's so much. It'll take me forever to get them put away." She bit her lower lip, pushing her hands through her hair. Her mind would heal on its own, but it would take days.
"It's such a mess.." Her lower lip trembled, and it was clear she was overwhelmed with the assortment of memories that piled the floor of her mindscape.
The book in Charles' hand had no memories from Lorna. Nothing. It was 'blank' in a way. And it vanished from Lorna's mind under Charles' concentration without so much as a puff of smoke. It simply ceased to exist there.
*
Charles /does/ have the power to just fix the damage, but he's not Lorna, and there might be some negative effects to just doing that. Then he smiles, as he gets an idea, stepping to Lorna's side as he smiles, "Lorna, I think we can make this go a lot faster, but you have to trust me. I can lift the books, but you have to show me where they go."
Extending a hand like Jean or Erik might in the real world, the books on the floor suddenly start to shiver and quake, as Charles offers a link to Lorna, "Let's get things back in order, shall we?" If Lorna reaches into the link, she discovers… that she can move the books just by thinking about it. Certainly you can run back and forth, but /thinking/ them into place is so much faster!
*
A blink and Lorna looked up at him as he talks about trusting him. A slow nod follows, the green haired mutant took his offered hand, standing up from the piles of books that surrounded her. "Okay." She mumbled, her brows shooting upwards as the books shivered and shook, before they rose and floated about them to rise off the floor of her mindscape. She gaped, her lips parting as she looked all around them.
"Woah. Groovy." She grinned, and through the link started putting things back into place. The work went much faster, books zipping to and fro. A few would likely be a bit out of order, but they too quickly were reshuffled as other memories floated into place.
*
While Lorna actually does the driving, with Charles acting as the engine… he's also doing a little bit of more investigating regarding that mysterious mental bomb of a book, doing some backtracking in Lorna's mind so that he can try to figure out the source. After all, if one of his students was affected… this might be lurking in the minds of other students, and that's a definite threat in his eyes.
*
Emma smiles to herself as she watches Charles interact with Lorna, standing just out of sight of the two, though Charles certainly can sense her eyes and ears being there. When he invites Lorna to help him put things back in order, it strikes her as impressive and she looks at him with renewed interest. Then, the mental books are swirling and zipping around the mindscape and she watches the show with interest, sitting back in her seat. Poor Erik is left out of this visual treat, but he might gather from Emma's relaxing of posture as a sign that things are going well—especially because she's got that small smile.
*
It took time, a good amount of time in the real world, but within Lorna's mind it seemed to be barely minutes as Lorna sorts through her memories at a rapid pace thanks to Charles' power. She had control of her own mind after all, and knew where things belonged instinctively. Without having to go back and forth within her mind, or simply stack and restack books, it was much simpler for her to put them back into order. What would've taken days, took moments within her mindscape. At last the books float into their proper places, the floor to Lorna's mindscape clear of books and fallen debris.
As she worked organization, Charles's tracking in her mind found no direct signs about what created the mental bomb of a book in terms of Lorna's memories.. Then came the click as the last missing link to what had led up to her loss of memory clicked into place within her memory.
It involved a crying Lorna, broken hearted over Julian's, (her first serious boyfriend) lack of returning her phone calls. A message from his butler telling her to stop calling… and then Maximus. The Inhuman King stood mockingly before her in the memory, and offered to take it all away. A break. A vacation. A few days without her woes. He'd erase it all for her.
Lorna at first hesitated, but as he jeered and made to leave.. before she accepted. And then nothingness.
There was a break in her time between Maximus' mental swipe of her mind, and Erik finding her in the library.
*
In the Real World, Charles' fist suddenly clenches tight, even as the mental projection doesn't show any sign of distress at the revelation. Keeping it light there, Charles smiles over at Lorna as she puts the last few books into their proper place, "So… take it easy, but I think you remember me now?" He also remembers every last detail of Maximus' appearance to Lorna in that memory.
For future reference.
*
A nod, as Lorna glanced around her mindscape, but she wasn't smiling anymore. Rather she looked downright upset as the memories settled over her and she remembered agreeing to Maximus' offer to make it all go away. She hadn't thought about the consequences and that realization dawned on her. Exhaustion, mental and physical weighed down her shoulders and she nodded within her mind.
"Yes Professor.." She mumbled, looking down at her feet as tears welled up in her eyes. "I-I'm sorry."
*
At the revelation of the heartbreak being the straw that broke the camel's back… Emma tenses slightly, knowing she is responsible, to a degree. There's a flare of upset that blossoms from her, that Charles can certainly sense, but she withdraws from Lorna's mind. She does some defensive triage on herself quietly while Charles attempts to see how Lorna is doing after the reparations. "Lorna," she says in a soft, but slightly firm voice. "Really, now. Didn't we discuss how that boy wasn't worth your time or tears?" she asks, her voice struggling to stay as sympathetic as she can.
*
In the mindscape, Charles shakes his head and draws the girl in for a hug, "Nothing to apologize for. You were in pain, and someone took advantage of that pain." He chuckles very softly, "I should tell you how I felt when Moira dumped me, all those years ago."
While he's calm Uncle Charlie in the mindscape, Emma and Erik might note his fist clenched exceptionally tight in the real world, a frown creasing his normally cheerful features in reality.
*
It was a good thing there was the mental hug, because Lorna winced at Emma's words. And guilt slammed heavily into her. She awoke from her mindscape quickly then, her cheeks flushed pink and exhausted warring with her desire to try to make herself very small. Her hands reached up to rub at her eyes, which while she'd returned to the physical plane of existence again, were welling with tears.
Her food had long since gone cold.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled, her shoulders hunching forward as she curled up in her chair.
*
Emma's lips purse tightly as Lorna begins to cry, again. Nooooo, feelings. Bad feelings. Push them down. She exhales softly and slides her hand across the table, her white-gloved palm facing up and reaching for Lorna's hand, should she want to take the comfort she's offering. "Lorna Dane," she says in a soft voice. "Please, don't cry for him. He was bad news, trust me. I'm…" she trails off, finding the words difficult to say. "I'm very sorry that you're hurting so much over this. I had no idea it was still weighing you down. When I spoke to you the other day, you didn't really mention anything about that, though I'm sure it's because you didn't want me thinking it was a big deal," she murmurs.
*
"Lorna? Sorry for what?" Erik doesn't hesitate to move up beside Lorna, reaching for her hands as he does. He's every inch the devoted father, if also restrained emotionally, and for once his posture is disrupted, if only so that he can bend forward and more comfortably embrace Lorna. "You didn't' do anything wrong," he murmurs then, shaking his head. "Does that mean you know what happened?" Erik does grant Emma a nod as she speaks but he seems to be more concerned with Lorna. For obvious reasons.
*
Lorna's gaze fell, watery and tear filled to Emma's hand and she sniffled. "I-I didn't w-want it t-to be. I-I didn't want.. want you to be di-disappointed in me." She mumbled, and hiccupped as her tears quickly stopped up her ability to breath. She rubbed at her nose, and eyes, which were quickly becoming red-rimmed as the waterworks continued.
"A-and h-he o-off-e-erd to make it go away." She coughed, and inhaled. She struggled for a long moment, trying to slow her breathing as her father came around to wrap his arms around her. Between Erik and Emma, Lorna was firmly rooted in place. No running away this time.
The green haired mutant buried her features against her father's shoulders, sniffling and closing her eyes as she sagged heavily. She was already mentally exhausted, and now she was overwrought with the present. It would have to be up to Emma to explain to Erik anything further in Lorna's mumbling, sniffling, tearful speech. Pronouns especially.
*
Emma grimaced inwardly, not allowing it to reach her face. The poor girl really was struggling with that damnable boy. It had been Emma's hope that, once Julian ran off (as he was certainly going to do) and Lorna'd had a chance to cry it out for a week or two, she'd eventually move on. She'd seemed to be doing well, but Emma had been so busy with the merger of Frost Academy with Xavier Institute… She just hadn't seen. She'd been oblivious to how much pain Lorna was actually going through.
Emma casts a commiserating look to Erik as he asks for information. "Mr. Lehnsherr, your daughter was dating a reprobate named Julian. He was bad news and, as her headmistress, I told her that she should dump him and focus on her studies—she's such a bright student. Then, the boy disappeared and it's left her heartbroken. So much so that, it seems, she sought the help from some…fiendish individual," she curls her lip, showing that she, too, is very cross about this person mucking with her student's mind. "This person seems to've done quite a bit more than simply take her memories of this boy away, and it resulted in a cascading amnesia of sorts. Charles and Lorna have, of course, put her memories to rights… But, that doesn't mean her heartbreak is any lessened. Perhaps it's all the keener, now that she's freshly remembered it," she sighs softly, looking back to Lorna.
*
"Julian? I've met the young man. He had a lot of potential but he was wasting it." Erik makes the statement coolly, looking from Lorna as he does. "I would not have expected him to run, however." The man isn't really moving, other than allowing his expressions to shift slightly and pale blue eyes to scan everything present before returning unerringly to Emma herself. Then he asks somewhat tersely, "Who offered to make it go away?" His voice is gentle even if his expression is stern. An advantage of standing beside someone looking away is that they cannot see the tension through your features. Erik might be gentle with Lorna but there's none of it in his gaze. "Tell me what happened, corra. Please. I know it's difficult… But no one should take your memories from you. Certainly not all of them, all at once."
*
Lorna was struggling to control her breathing and calm down enough to talk. Exhaustion weight on her shoulders as she kept her features pressed against her father's shoulder. Slowly, she pulled back, sniffling and wiping her tear-streaked face. "J-Julian w-wasn't th-that bad." She hiccupped out, and reached for the water on the table to sip at it. She coughed, and rubbed at her eyes, struggling to sit up and not choke on her water.
But her defense of the boy ended just as quickly and as Erik questioned her, her gaze dropped and she made to clap her hands against her eyes. She couldn't look at him as she bit back more tears.
"Tata, please.. I-I'm sorry, I didn't think I.. Maximus was there and I was upset.. and.. and he offered to make it all go away. He said he'd make everything go away. He said it'd be for a few days.. that.. he'd make it so I wasn't sad. He said he'd erase everything.." She mumbled, drawing away looking down at her lap. She hung her head, avoiding Emma and Erik's gazes.
*
Emma shakes her head as Lorna continues to defend Julian. She shifts a loaded look to Erik, her lips pursed in disapproval of this. "Clearly, he was rotten enough to leave without word," she says softly. "I know it hurts, but you should certainly be thanking him for saving you from even more heartache—a clean break. I…admit I have never really had this reaction in reference to a male in my life, but I can imagine. I'm trying to sympathize, honestly, even if it doesn't seem like it. If I were you, I'd thank the stars for an opportunity to be stronger, and to see that I'm better off without someone who'd do such a thing to me," she offers.
"Maximus… I am unfamiliar with the name, but I do believe I'll be acquainting myself with this person in short order," she says icily. "I'm sure it was his intent to help, but he's done a lot of harm in that and he should've known better," she continues. "Don't you think, Lorna, that I'd have done it for you, if it was something that should be done? We /are/ our pain. It shapes us, like the hammer tempers steel," she says, pinching the bridge of her nose briefly, glad that Lorna can't see her do this. The girl would take it to heart and that's not what Emma's intending.
*
"Miss Frost. COuld you keep an eye on Lorna for me?" Erik asks softly, straightening as he does so. "Corra, I will visit with you in a bit but for now I need to go." Erik's Expression is stark, a mask of quiet contemplation and cold, dark fury that leaves the features nearly placid and the eyes almost glowing with flame. He takes a deep breath and draws to his full height as he steps away from the two women with a careful stride. "I have to visit with a mad king." With that Erik is walking, hardly seeming to hurry and still setting a brisk pace as he departs.
As Erik leaves the metal trays and forks tremble and the tables shake.
*
Lorna kept her gaze low during Emma's words, her shoulders rising and falling. "I didn't think." She mumbled, her head held low. "I.. I.. didn't want to be a disa..disappointment because it.. it hurt. I thought.. I thought it'd be better if I didn't remember him. That.. that it wouldn't be a big deal." She whispered. A hand rose to rub at her eyes and she sniffled hard.
As Erik rose, she finally lifted her watery eyes. "Tata?" Her voice was thick with her struggle to keep her emotions in check to talk, and exhaustion that pulled at her. "I'm sorry." She mumbled, "I didn't mean to upset you, or you Miss Frost.. or anyone.." She bit her lower lip, worrying away at the skin.
As the metal trembled and shook she jumped, took raw to pull on the magnetic fields herself to even try to calm the metal around her.
*
Emma looks up at Erik as he rises, all cold fury and dark intent. She glances surreptitiously to Charles as she moves closer to Lorna, to be present for her. Hopefully, the girl's cried all her makeup off and won't transfer any to her clothes. A really ridiculous thought to have at a time like this, but really, it's Emma. "Lorna, darling, honestly. You don't need to apologize any more. We know you're sorry, and you don't really have anything to apologize for—you did what almost anyone in your position would do. You thought you were being offered a life raft, and you jumped at it. No one can blame you for that. You're not a disappointment. You're a young woman who's dealing with her first real heartbreak. It's not easy. It doesn't feel good. And, to balance everything else going on…well…" she trails off and offers the girl a one-armed hug.
To Erik, Emma says, "Mr. Lehnsherr, I think it'd be better if you waited until Charles can go with you. I know you probably don't care about my opinion, but I'm certain he wants to talk to this Maximus, as well," she nods, looking to Charles, who's been silently supportive. Her gaze goes back to Erik as the metallic things in the room begin to rattle. "Do you agree? I think Lorna needs her father to hold her. I'm no good at this kind of thing," she admits with a faint smile, still awkwardly holding Lorna with one arm.
*
"Lorna… you did nothing wrong. And Charles would wish to talk, yes, Miss Frost. I, for one, have no desire to limit myself," Erik responds coldly. "Time wasted is time lost." Then he's simply gone.
*
Lorna had cried off what makeup the girl usually wore (it wasn't a whole lot), so Emma had little to fear in terms of her clothes at least. She sniffled softly as Emma spoke, and rubbed her nose on a napkin that she grabbed. Still, the guilty weighed heavily upon the young woman, and it was clear that she was still beating herself up mentally over her mistake, and would likely continue to do so.
But she wasn't going to argue with Miss Frost at least verbally, she was too exhausted.
As her father spoke and made to leave, she sat back in her seat, slumping back. "Thanks Miss Frost.. but my father isn't going to stay. It's not the first time he's been like that.." She mumbled. At least this time she wasn't being carted off to Wanda's for safe keeping.