1964-06-17 - Jeans or Skirts
Summary: Crystal and Lorna go shopping and discuss what image is good for.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
lorna crystal 


Lorna had been rather morose again since her father had taken off, well, she would have been if she hadn't been spending so much time out of the mansion with various others. Remy Lebeau included on that. This of course had led to plenty of attempted muggings, being kicked out of stores for being a mutant and other assorted thugs had kept her occupied.

So when the suggestion of a day out with Crystal had been suggested? Lorna had practically leapt to agree to it. At least this way she wouldn't have to be the responsible one that behaved or kept look out or anything. She would be able to relax and just enjoy herself.

A sigh pulled at her lips as she walked alongside the Inhuman Princess, her arms swinging behind her as she glanced around at shop windows. Her flip-flops smacked against the sidewalk as she moved, and her light blue sundress swished around her knees.


Crystal has been a rare sight at the school of late. As other things have changed, she's quietly withdrawn a little bit at a time in favor of the Avengers, helping to set up procedures for the fledgling team much the way she did when she first moved in at the school. But she still tries to keep an eye on things, including Lorna. At the sigh, she looks back over, quirking a brow.

"Why so sad?" she prompts, pausing by a window to give a mini skirt a doubtful look.


A pout, and Lorna glanced up at the new fashions for the summer and continued alongside Crystal. "I dunno. I just.. I guess a lot of things. I dunno. I just always feel that way it seems whenever you ask." She mumbled, wrinkling her nose as she shook her head at one particularly brightly patterned dress with clashing colors.

"Between my father leaving again and just that mess with Julian and Maximus and everything.." She made a face and dragged a hand over her features. "Remy has been there, so I've made a new friend and all," Her gaze lifted toward the sky to try to disguise just how much of a crush she held on the older mutant, and then she was shaking her head. Then pointing at a floral patterned sundress in the window complete with lace around the frilly sleeves.

"That one is cute."


"Your father…" Crystal sighs softly herself, though there's a small smile to soften it as she shakes her head. "He's a very independent man. But Lorna, you've made it most of your life without him. You can't let his presence or absence define your life and how you feel. Maximus, though…" She trails off, wrinkling her nose. "He really is the most ill-behaved lout."

She follows the look toward the dress, nodding thoughtfully. "That's charming enough. At least it doesn't look as though it's meant to be a shirt. That's something."


The green haired mutant shrugged after a moment of eyeing the dress over. "I bet it's over priced." She mumbled, making a face as she seemingly gave up the lace edged blue sundress as soon as Crystal approved of its length. Such was the trouble with teenagers.

"And I know I have lived most of my life without having him around but I'm allowed to worry about whether or not he's okay, right?" Her brows pinched as she glanced back at Crystal. "Last I saw him he was looking to go find Maximus and .. I dunno, gosh. Do something pretty horrible." The Inhuman King had erased her memories, temporarily, but that hadn't seemed to matter overly to Erik. And it had been weeks.

"I just miss him." She added after a moment, moving toward the next shop's window and peering in at another display of similiar dresses.

"Maybe I should find a pair of jeans to wear.." She muttered after a moment.


"Maximus can take care of himself, and so can your father," Crystal dismisses, even if she doesn't look like she particularly cares for that answer herself. Maybe she's not entirely sure who she expects or hopes to come out on top in that confrontation. "I'm not sure what I think about jeans," she muses on the next topic. "They're practical, at least. Mostly. But they either seem to be completely lacking in any polish or fashion, or else so fashionable as to no longer be practical."


Lorna twisted around, her hands folded at her back as she listened to Crystal, walking backwards as she tried to not bump into anyone yet keep Crystal in her line of sight. She didn't add a comment about how either man could take care of himself. The last time that she had seen anything between the two men was when Erik was dismanteling Maximus' reign..

"I want the jeans because then hey, I can not worry about wearing skirts if stuff happens, yeah? Practical ones. I can go up into the air and not be worried about stuff like that. And they're good for protection. They might not have as much give as like my training sweats, but they won't shred on the pavement either right? I was talking to Remy, and he only wears jeans."


"Short of some sort of actual suit or special material, jeans are useful in case you end up in a fight, yes," Crystal agrees. "Though planning your life around an ever-present idea that you might get into a fight is…less than ideal. Remy is also not a young lady," she points out, a flicker of amusement crossing her features.


A pout followed Crystal's words, another that is, as she sighed heavily and tugged on her skirt. "Well every time I've gone out in the past … two weeks has resulted in a fight or almost a fight. It's not my fault," She added defensively. "I went to a jazz concert. I went out with Remy and this shop owner pulled a gun on us. I went out with Cassie to get ice cream and some drunks tried to pick us up."

A glance at her skirt followed and she grimaced. "So maybe I should wear jeans when I go out? Like and I could get a leather jacket too. I've got the leather jumpsuit Jean loaned me last year for like when father pulls me out for whatever he wants," Lorna wasn't part of the X-men, though she knew of their existence. Erik had most assuredly not made Lorna one, though he made no qualms about bringing her into dangerous situations.. if he was with her.

"I mean, then I'd really be careful and ready for like anything then!"


"And you'd also look like someone who was either trouble or looking for trouble," Crystal points out, a faint smile touching one corner of her lips. "Then again, that might not be entirely inaccurate either. Trouble tends to come with consequences, though. Just something to keep in mind as you consider your options."


Lorna heaved a sigh, rolling her eyes to the sky as her lower lip stuck out briefly. Then she was turning back around to walk properly, her arms crossing as she glanced side long at the shop windows. "Wanda wears leather, and she's like.. responsible." She muttered, and then glanced back to Crystal.

"Besides, it's not my fault I keep getting into trouble! I wear dresses and skirts and-and that's why people target me. That and my hair," She bit her lower lip, "Maybe if they think I'm trouble they'll leave me alone. Besides, this is totally like responsible and practical of me. Right?"

She was busily twisting her hair at the nape of her neck as she walked, her words sounding very much like an argument she'd made in her head before.


"Are you convincing me, or yourself?" Crystal asks as she moves down the sidewalk, catching on quickly enough with an arch of her brow. At least she's honest with Lorna. "I'm not really much of one to speak when it comes to fashion. Everything in fashion is relative. I only know what it conveys to others. You seem to be in search of an identity, and I'm not sure if it's because it's what's inside you, or because you have a point you want to prove. But you should know the answer to that before you decide."


A look of hesitation followed and Lorna glanced sidelong at Crystal again. She bit her lower lip, her hand rising and falling from her hair. "Uhm.."

Then she was glancing down at the sidewalk as the two ambled down the rows of display windows on the street. "I.. er," She sighed, her shoulders slumping as she ruffled her hair. "I dunno." She admitted after a long moment.

"I don't want to be this weeping little kid that everyone has to watch out for." She mumbled finally.


"Do you think that a pair of jeans and a jacket can really change that?" It's a question that Crystal knows Lorna knows the answer to. And it's phrased that way, though there's a gentleness to it as well. Just as there's a gentleness to the hand that reaches to Lorna's lower back, the light touch at her shoulders that nudges her into standing tall without challenging. It's a posture Crystal herself has mastered, how to own a room without actually issuing a challenge to anyone else in it.


A muted shrug, a jerky rise and fall of her shoulders followed and Lorna pursed her lips together in a deepening silence. Crystal gentle nudge straigthens her otherwise terrible posture and Lorna casts a green eyed glance over the Inhuman Princess. "I.." A sigh. "No.. probably not." She mumbled, dragging a hand through her hair with a gusty huff of a breath.

"S'not fair. I can level buildings and lift tanks and stuff. But it doesn't matter. I'm hated 'cause of what I can do just based on my green hair and stuff. And just ugh.. S'not fair.." She repeatedly lamely.


"The world is full of unfair things, Lorna, and I know that you know that," Crystal points out. "Some children are born into homes where their parents can't feed them. Some people just have terrible luck. And hate is…complicated," she sighs. "Of the people who seem to hate you, I would wager most either fear you, or envy you. You have a great power. But they don't. And they have no control over whether or not they could have it."


Lorna pouted, and crossed her arms again. "I know." She mumbled, "It's why I work out in Mutant Town when I can." A pause, as she thought it over. "No one there messes with me anymore." At least not since Raven, but it had been a long while.

"When the shop owner pulled his gun.. I guess, I guess he's just scared. I mean, Remy did scare him, but I was able to magnetize the shotgun so he couldn't use it.. so I .. I.." She sighed, and grimaced. "I'd never been kicked out for having green hair before. It was really scary actually.." She blinked down at the sidewalk.

"I just.. I keep thinking maybe I'm being dumb for keeping my hair green instead of using Wanda's charm. Or that I can make myself look tougher and maybe people would take me seriously when I tell them to leave me alone.."


"Maybe they would. Or maybe they would see someone who looks tough as a challenge, someone they need to beat to prove that they're strong," Crystal points out. "I…can only offer so much assistance in this, I'm afraid. In Attilan, those who are different, those who have powers, are celebrated. It's a gift. An honor. Something people aspire to. But then, in Attilan, it's something that people can aspire to. They know that they too could earn that possibility. In this world, people don't have that hope."


Another pout and a wrinkle of Lorna's nose followed Crystal's words. "I don't want that." She mumbled, scratching the back of her neck in thought.

"Ugh, it's just.. Attilan sounds so much better than anything else. I was talking to Remy about how if everyone had powers it wouldn't be a problem anymore. Like in Mutant Town no one looks at me twice for having green hair. Or even at the school. I dunno.. it's just.. yeah.. like you said." She grimaced faintly.

"And then I think, well what if we had our own place? Like a state or something? And then I remember everthing that's happened at Mutant Towns and realize that wouldn't solve anything.."


"Not everyone in Attilan has powers," Crystal points out. "But we also control when we develop them, which can't be said for mutants. I do think it would help if people were able to tell if they were mutants, or mutants were able to tell when they were likely to manifest their powers. It would certainly allow for better preparation, which would help with the fear and uncertainty at least."


A nod followed, and Loran rubbed her arm. "Yeah.." She bit her lower lip, "I know. But no one thinks they're weird. Or cursed. Or something." She shrugged weakly and glanced down as they walked down the sidewalk, watching cracks and pebbles on the pavement.

"If everyone knew that sorta stuff then yeah.. it would be better.. but I think someone would try bad things with it." She winced and bit her lower lip. "I was talking to Mister Logan's son. And he's not the only one that's mentioned secret government programs forcing mutants into horrible experiments and stuff.." Never mind what her father and sister had told her, she still had nightmares because of it.

"If there was a way to tell all that.. I think bad people would do bad things too.."


"I remember well what we found when we were looking for missing mutants," Crystal says quietly. "It was…not what I would have hoped from the world. There is no easy answer for this, I'm afraid. The world is going to know that there are mutants, and in time it is going to have to adapt. There seem to be more and more of you every day. Perhaps we will be able to help."


A nod, and a sigh followed, "Like when I was talking to Remy.. I said there really aren't easy immediate answers. I dunno. He said he's more of a doer than a thinker on it all." She shrugged, and then brightened faintly, changing the topic abruptly.

"He has a kitten named Oliver! He's so cute. He let me into his room so I could pet the little guy. And Remy said it's totally cool if I buy toys for him. Can we stop by the petshop instead of dress shopping?"


Crystal arches a brow, though it seems to be more at the talk of Remy than the idea of visiting a pet shop instead of a dress store. "We can, of course," she agrees with a nod, making a mental note to check in with this Remy at some point. The last thing Lorna needs is more bad influences.


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