1964-06-27 - Family Matters
Summary: Billy has news for the fam, and whoa, news it is.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
billy vic lorna teddy 


So. Billy and Teddy's apartment is rather nice, mostly because SHIELD pays good, but Billy doesn't of course tell anyone he's a trainee spy. He's a paid intern at a chemical company, though. Its evening after a long day of work, and Billy called people to see if they wanted to come over and have dinner. Paella. For once he's not going to go worldhopping. Well, he is: he went to Spain to get the paella, but he did takeout. He wants to be comfortable at home, because he has News. Big. Weird. News.


Lorna arrived with all the cheerfulness one could expect from the magnokinetic. Her green hair had been short off around her chin in a stylin' bob, completely with a poofy headband and brilliantly colorful pastle blue sundress. She hefted a bag filled with numerous cookies that she'd baked and knocked at the door before waiting for the 'Come in politely'.

"Billy! I come with cookies. And maybe a tub of ice cream." A pause, "Please tell me you have no issues with ice cream because your mom can't eat it and I felt like such a moron the other day for getting her some."


At the knock on the door, Teddy looks up at the kitchen clock. That time already? "Come in." he calls, 'putting on' a tee-shirt as he carries plates and silverware over to the table. He's almost never in anything but shorts at home. "Hey Lorna. We both eat ice cream. Lots of it too."


The big weird news shows up with a bottle of wine, because somewhere in his memory that's the thing one's supposed to do. He's dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, with military-issue black boots. He tried to slick back his hair but his curls won't be having any of that, so they're loose atop his head. "Hi, miss," he says, coming up behind Lorna in time to get in on that open door. "Hey, Billy. Hi, Teddy."


This is Billy's life. Teddy shirtless. Billy has such a good life. As Teddy starts setting, he pulls the container of paella and bread out and starts setting it around the table, "I have absolutely none of Wanda's dietary restrictions. I don't even really keep kosher. But I wasn't sure if you did so I bought two kinds of paella— the seafood which is totally not kosher and the rabbit which is. Mmm." Then he's waving when he sees Vic, flashing the young man a grin, "Vic, this is Lorna. She's my Magic-Aunt. Uhh." He looks from Teddy to Lorna, and gets the big weird news over with: "Vic's basically my brother."


Lorna steps aside as the strange young man comes in behind her and she blinks, smiling still as she glances toward Teddy. "Oh thank goodness. I would be heart broken if you guys didn't." She made her way inside, setting the cookies on the counter and finding a safe place to store the ice cream before turning around at Billy's question in terms of food.

"I wasn't raised Jewish, so that's not an issue. I'm only learning everything there is because tata wants me to." She still used the Polish term for Dad around family, but only family. Then slowly, the rest of Billy's introductions follow and she blinked, pausing as she considered Vic.

A stare follows as her gaze lands on Vic. "Wait. What?" A pause, "Another?! Did he come from the future too, or am I the only one in this family that was born and raised normally?" She glanced toward Teddy, arching a brow.

"Did you know about this one or was this news to you too?" She tilted her head, crossing her arms as she side eyed Vic and then grinned weakly. She coughed once into her hand and blushed. "Sorry. It's uhm nice to meet you."


"What flavor did you get?" Teddy asks the important questions. He's not setting the table so much as just putting everything on it so everyone can take one of each and then goes back for glasses. Opening the fridge, he reaches for a pitcher of iced tea but then pauses at the news and peers around the refrigerator door. "Your brother? This is going to be really complicated, isn't it?"


Vic offers Lorna a fingerwave and a sheepish. "Hi. I'm Vic. I'm from about three days ago, sort of, kind of. Or eighteen years, take your pick. I'm afraid I've never been to the future." He sets the wine on the table and shoves his hands in his pockets. He offers Teddy an apologetic smile. "Yeah, it's complicated. I'm still wrapping my head around it, but hey, I found my folks."


"Stephen and Wanda magiced up some being of pure energy and it escaped the Sanctum and found Vic. You know how I call them Magic-Mom and Magic-Dad? Well, its like that but for him its literal. They whooshed up a magic-kid. So he's basically my brother." Billy shakes his head slowly, grinning at Lorna and Teddy, then he gets a bowl and starts spooning over some of the seafood paella, "Vic, this sounds like something oldVic wouldn't like, you should try it. We are going to be expanding your eating horizons."


Lorna exhales a breath, her eyebrows held high as she glances toward Teddy, "It's chocolate. I love strawberry, but I realize most people don't. So I picked the next best thing." She shrugged and got out one of the cookies she'd baked before turning her attention toward Vic and making to sit down.

"See, now I feel better that this is a new thing and not an old thing that no one told me about. Cool." A pause and she grinned as she leaned back in her chair. "Oh my gosh, now he can say he was born yesterday. Or a few days ago at least." She giggled lightly at her own joke and then shook her head, clearing her throat.

"Sorry, hey, hi. I'm Lorna Dane. Wanda is my half sister. It's complicated. It involves Nazis and crazy stuff. Man," She shook her head again. "And I thought the family tree was already confusing."


"Sounds more like they just brought him here." Teddy says, trying to make sense of what Billy just said. "Doesn't he belong somewhere else? And what were they going to do with him that he needed to escape?" Some kind of magical slave? Shaking his head, he goes back to more important matters. "I love strawberry. And chocolate." And most other flavors too.


"Yeah, nuts to what he thought, it smells delicious," Vic says. His stomach growls, and he lays a hand over it with a sheepish look. "I love strawberry ice cream, too." He takes a seat as well. "Vic Delano," Vic says with a grin. "I don't think I'm as complicated as Nazis at least. I don't think so anyway." Teddy's questions cause him to knit his brow. Apparently he hadn't considered these angles before. "I hope I don't belong anywhere else. I like being alive and human."


"No, really." Billy shakes his head slowly to Teddy, "They didn't bring him here. He didn't exist. They were doing some sorta magic thing — I have no idea what — and he got made as an accidental side-effect. They didn't actually *know* about it until I introduced Vic to Dad and he did a reading. They weren't doing anything *with* him but he needed to escape because the Sanctum is a magical fortress and didn't have a body for Vic to live in just sitting around there. I mean Dad does not often keep comatose bodies around in case some magical being suddenly and unexpectantly comes into existance." He hands a bowl over to Vic and nods encouragingly. Eat! He grins at Lorna, "The family tree is more like a knot at this point."


Green eyebrows climbed upwards as Lorna listened and then glanced toward Vic. She picked up her fork as the plate was settled in front of her and she went to town. A pause follows Billy's words and explaination had her pointing her fork at him. "Billy, if your father thought he was dangerous or needed something or anything else in regards to him. Don't you think he'd have kept him at the Sanctum and not just let him hang out here with you?" She tilted her head and then ate some more of the delicious dinner. Mmm.

"Well Vic, after we eat, I'll give you the tragic run down of our family tree .. knot.. bush?" She tilted her head to the side and shrugged. "Whatever."


Frowning as he thinks that over, Teddy shakes his head and carries the glass and pitcher out to the table. The four large iced tea glasses are held in one oversized hand so he doesn't need to put his fingers into them. "Billy, dropping the pitcher of iced tea is an accident. I don't even know what to call it when your family does things like creating sentient magical beings out of nothing or warping the reality of time. There's got to be a word for it." Giving Billy a concerned look, he asks "You'll be extra careful when you're practicing, right?"


Vic takes the bowl and says, "Thank you." He doesn't have to be told twice. He tucks in, and he goes cross-eyed at the paella's deliciousness. Magical conundrums aside, Vic got nothing to say til he's had a few good mouthfuls. Then he sighs with pleasure, and he says, "He said I'm his son, and he didn't try to contain me." He nods then to Lorna. "I'd like to hear it." To Teddy, he suggests, "Another night at the Strange residence?"


Billy waves at Lorna, shaking his head, "Oh, that's separate. I mean he had to escape when he was — what was it?" He glances at Vic, "A 'Mote of Consciousness'? I don't know, some motey thing. Neither Dad or Mom knew he was there, floating disembodied, so next time someone left he probably just slipped out with them. Then he found himself a body to live in, and voila." He can't help but grin at Teddy, "Aww, you do care. Of course." He smiles, "And hey, I fully admit the weirdness of my family is epic and that magical accidents maybe could use a different term. Mishap? Misadventure? Magical Happenstance? See all the words I can think of for 'accident' either have a negative connotation or seem trivial. And Vic is a good thing! He gets to be alive. And my brother."


A laugh followed and Lorna shook her head as she continued eating, "I swear I'm the most boring one out of this whole family. I'm just a mutant with green hair. Tommy is a speedster from the future, Wanda and Pietro are magic and mutant genes spliced by crazy mad Nazis, Billy—you've got the double whammy with the future and reality warping skills, and now Vic. Geeze. Teddy, if you ever leave Billy I think his ability to find another man that won't run away is like nil." She winked good naturedly as she flashed Billy a grin.

"Hell. I'm certainly never getting a date that won't run screaming for the hills as it was."


"It's just lucky he's not going around possessing people who aren't brain dead." Teddy points out, ever practical. "And of course I do." he says, moving over to slip an arm around Billy's waist as he tells Lorna "That'll never happen."


"Cognizance," Vic says. "I'm not sure what the difference is." He eats more paella, making quick work of the bowl. "That's so good," he tells Billy. "I know I say that about a lot of food, but it really is." And iced tea. He likes that, too from the way he drinks it down. "I know I'm an accident," he says. "But I'm still glad to be alive. I don't think I could possess anyone. I'm pretty attached to this body. I don't want to leave it." Lorna gets a sheepish smile as he says, "I dunno, I can think of plenty of guys who'd be lucky to get to ask you out. Not everyone's scared of mutants."


"Hey, no talking about leaving me." But Billy grins at Lorna, digging into his paella himself— the seafood variant. He practically melts against Teddy's side when that arm goes around his waist, and he grins broadly. He's completely smitten: he mostly manages to pretend he's Just Friends when out in public with Teddy, what with the times, but behind closed doors? Not even slightly. "Hey, for all of my crazy, Lorna, I have benefits too. Like this paella is not from down the street, its from *Spain*. And last night we had a beach party in Hawaii. There's advantages to dating a boy-witch. Besides, you know. Obvious stuff." He flushes at that, then he nods to Vic, "Right, Cognizance. It might not be different: Stephen has a weird vocabulary, I think it comes with the mantle— another weird word real people don't use." Then he smiles at Lorna, "Oh, you'll find someone. Just don't let your dad meet him."


A snort at that as she waved a fork at Vic. "See it's only the men in my family that seem to think that. Every other boy has ditched as soon as they meet my tata, your .. oh, my gosh, grandfather. Ha!" She took another bite of the paella. "He's gotta flip his wig." She shook her head, "Bit literally every boy meets him and flees! Never to be seen again. And that's when he likes them." She rolled her eyes as she watched Billy and Teddy being cute.

"I know, Billy. Remember that trip to Rome? That pizza was fantastic." She grinned and shook her head slightly as she continued to eat. "And it's like impossible for anyone to get around meeting tata at that school. He stops in all the time, since you know, he kinda lives there."


"Now you should ask her out." Teddy tells Vic as he goes to put some paella on this plate. The seafood one. Course, he's never met Lorna's father so his advice might be problematic. "Boy witches have lots of benefits." he agrees.


"Is my grandfather really that scary?" Vic asks. If only he knew. "I'm sure you'll meet someone worthy of you someday. If they flee from him, they haven't earned you." He nods firmly to this. Then he blinks a few times at Teddy. "But she's my aunt. Isn't that hinky?" He glances to Lorna, then to Billy. What kind of family is this?" But then he says, in a low tone, "Besides, I've got my eyes on someone, but we'll see how that goes." Three days old and already a player.


"Well who says you have to date someone at the school? Find yourself a nice, cute human who thinks your hair is exotic." Billy grins at Lorna, and then spends some time noming on the paella. He's in heaven: Teddy right by him, paella, and family. He can't help but laugh softly at Vic, "First person you meet in life and you have a crush immediately. Welcome to being devastatingly handsome, as Strange Men all are. We are irresistible."


Lorna shot Teddy a look, her eyebrow going flat as she stared at him evenly for a long moment. "Uhm. Ew. Family. Maybe not by blood exactly, but magic? And that's totally close enough for me." She glanced toward Vic and grinned.

"Uhm, yeah, he is. Between Wanda, your mom, and my father? No one wants to be the one wants to date me. Last boy I tried to talk about the family mess with turned paler than a sheet and looked vaguely sick." She shook her head and continued to eat her food. "It does help that Wanda can rewrite reality and tata can crush a bus or tank or level a building like miles away with a wave of his hand." She shrugged and made a face as she glanced at Billy.

"There is no way I'll meet a nice human boy that won't go running at the first inkling of how messed up our family is."


"You're not really related to any of them." Teddy points out to Vic. "You can date anyone you want." Pause. "Except Billy." But he nods as it's revealed that Vic has his target sets. "Kellan?" he guesses. Logical deduction. "Lorna, the trick is to get him hooked before he finds out who your family is. It worked for Billy."


Vic says wryly, "Yeah, but if we break up, she's still my aunt. That could get ugly." He looks at Billy and he wrinkles his nose. "Nah, he feels like a brother already. That's seven kinds of wrong." When Kellan's name is mentioned, he looks shifty. "He's nice, and I know he likes guys, so…" His cheeks color. "It just happened that the first person I really met is cute." He eats another bite of paella to busy himself. Then he says, "Yeah, Lorna, don't let them know about the family til they're hooked."


"When your dad is the Sorcerer Supreme and your mom a reality-warping witch of terrible power in her own right, rules don't really apply to you the same way they do to others." explains Billy to Teddy, "And in our family magic is as important as blood. Because Mom and Dad's magic mixed and that caused Vic's motey thingy to get created, they're his parents. So he really is related to us." But then he adds with a grin, "And yes, Billy is not on the table for anyone but a certain blond stud of studly studliness." He eyes Lorna for a long moment, "Yeah, you hook them then you tell them how weird your family is… but stop calling it messed up. Weird, yes, complicated, yes, but there's nothing *messed up* about us. Hmph!"


Lorna rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay, weird totally and utterly and completely weird." She huffed and finished off what was on her plate. "Also thank you for the food Billy." She grinned and arched a brow as Vic talked about liking someone already.

"And also, it's easy for you all to say that I could hook a guy before he knows about the family, but really? Really? Again, school, where I live.. everyone already knows the start of the rabbit hole. My dating pool is very, very limited. It's not like guys just drop out of the sky." A beat.

"Okay, never mind sometimes they do, but apparently not for me. I've only ever dated one boy and he fled after dating me for like three months and then meeting tata. One nice little dinner and I never heard from him again."


"Take a course at NYU." Teddy suggests. "Or even the city college. There's plenty of good looking guys there. Some of them are smart too. And they'll have no idea who you are or who your father is. Just wait six months this time." Or maybe a year.


"Men are pigs anyway," Vic tells Lorna. "Except us, and Kellan. And whoever's out there in this city who's going to love you at first sight, and grandpa won't be able to do anything about it." He nods then to Teddy. "Yeah, what he said. Get out in the city, widen the pool." He grins at Billy as he defends the family, and he nods to his words.


"The school isn't a prison, you can … Yeah, Teddy has a good idea." Billy nods his head, "Other option is to… just go out. Go to a bar, meet people. You're an adult: you don't have to keep having your dad treat you like a kid to shelter."


A dry look was sent around the table as Lorna scraped the plate clean. "I am so not going to even attempt to date a baseline human. Are you kidding me? That's begging for trouble." She shook her head and propped her chin up with a hand.

"I don't have time to date. Which I think is what Uncle Charlie and tata planned all along when Miss Frost moved the Frost Academy out to the school in Westchester. I mean seriously. It's like a tag team of how much training and school work I have year round. Also so nix the bar, your mother and father—"A fork stab in the direction of Billy and Vic.

"Already gave me and Tommy the lecture of drinking. Do you want to be the one to explain to your them about that? Cause I so don't." Lorna rose, shaking her head as she got up to grab the ice cream and several spoons. She knew where they were. "Right. So ice cream? And lets stop talking about my dating woes. I'll just end up a spinster at this rate."


Teddy just shrugs. He's certainly not going to try to talk Lorna into anything. "It's your life." is all he says. At the mention of the ice cream, he looks at Billy. "Do we have any whipped cream?" Not that he's quite ready to quit the paella yet. He's still a growing boy.


"We can't drink?" Vic asks. But then ice cream is mentioned and he says, "Yes, please." He sighs and looks at his empty bowl as he says, "I can't ever seem to get full. I'm burning through all this fuel so fast." He looks up at the other. "Thank goodness there's ice cream, yeah?"


"I'm not even a little bit afraid of my parents, Lorna." Billy shakes his head, grinning, "There's nothing wrong with drinking. Getting royally drunk all the time, sure, that's bad. But we're 18. We're allowed to have a life and make our own decisions. It's *your* life, Lorna. I work full time and go to school full time but even I still put my foot down and *go out* from time to time. Of course I don't really sleep a lot." He eyes Vic for a moment, "Did oldVic had an appetite like that?" But he nods to Teddy, "Yep, fridge." He flushes a little bit for some reason.


Lorna starts scouping out ice cream and nods toward Vic passing a bowl over of the chocolate scoups, "Yeah, your mom gave me a lecture about drinking when I lived with her and the Doctor for like three weeks. Said I'm not allowed to get drunk with my powers and how it might cause something disasterous." A dry look was sent Billy's way.

"You mom locked my last boyfriend in the mirror dimension because he almost woke up tata when Mojo kidnapped me. You might be able to open doors where ever you want, but most of us can't." She scouped herself some ice cream too, her free hand lifting to wave the fridge door open, another wave and the can of whipped cream came floating out to the table.

"I might be willing to sneak a beer here and there with some of the older students at school, but I am so not risking Wanda's wrath if I'm caught out in public drunk."


"We can drink." Teddy tells Vic, agreeing with Billy. "Listen to them for advice but don't get in the habit of letting them control your life." Standing, he heads into the kitchen to put the dirty dishes into the sink.


Vic swallows. Ice cream is coming. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. There's floating whipped cream and that puts a spark of something akin to lust in Vic's eyes. Sweet, sweet calories, how he can't get enough. He glances at Teddy as he gets up, but he quickly looks away, back to the ice cream preparation. "There were cookies too, weren't there?" he asks, casual-like. So smooth.


"Well… Do you lose control of your powers a lot?" Billy asks Lorna with a tilt of his head, "I mean if I got drunk I'm pretty sure my reality warping would stop working, ooor, really weird stuff would happen. Not going to try it. Still. You gotta live your life yourself, auntie." He grins at Vic, "Did you answer if oldVic have an appetite like this?"


Lorna winced, "My powers are directly connected to my emotions. I only learned control this past year and yeah, I mean.. I might've brought down a building a few times when I was upset." She bit her lower lip. "So you're uhm.. not wrong. I don't really like drinking, so I mean it's not that big a deal. Buuut, I am so not going to be in trouble for getting drunk and trashing something. Tommy got me drunk once when he lied about how much was in the fruity thing he gave me. No one died, but.. I did trash a lamp."

Then she promptly made to turn around and grab the cookies off the counter to offer them to Vic. "Yep, chocolate chip. I have a sweet tooth, so you get cookies and ice cream." She grinned and sat back in her seat with her own ice cream dish.


"I've never gotten drunk." Teddy says as he returns and sits back down. "I've never managed to drink enough though I've tried. Nothing's strong enough." Dishing out a large bowl of ice cream, he covers it in whipped cream.


Vic dishes himself up a sizeable portion, though he keeps it within the realm of politeness. He's a guest after all. He's generous with the whipped cream, too. "No," he tells Billy, "he never ate like this. I tried eating like he did, and I felt like I was starving." To Lorna, he says, "Thank you so much, Aunt Lorna. Maybe our family is weird, but so far, it's the best family me or old-me ever had."


"Well, you can go to a bar or a club and not drink, you know. The point is meeting people and dancing. Just nurse a club soda." Billy shrugs a bit, before eyeing Teddy for a long moment, "Challenge accepted. I will drink daiquiri's and you will do Everclear shots." He nods his head firmly, and then gives a curious look to Vic, "Well… hm. You're an energy being in a body, maybe your energy-being-ness needs sustenance too? I wonder if there's something you can eat taht will sustain both without you being so…ravenous. But maybe magic causes weird diets. Try a diet very high in sugar."


A smile flashed over Lorna's features. "Hey, I love sweet things, so this is just the results of my nature." She hefted a spoon between her fingers, playing idly with it. "And I dunno our family has pretty high metabolisms. Look at Wanda and Pietro, and Tommy.. I think tata eats more than most too. I dunno. I get pretty hungry when I do some heavy lifting. Nothing like Pietro or Tommy, but I've gotten a few looks before." She shrugged.

"Who knows. Anyways, should I start the family history or do you want to Billy?"


"Special abilities probably burn energy like anything else. Makes sense we'd need to eat more." Teddy says, pausing the spoon in order to talk. "I kinda wonder where I get the extra mass I put on. And then where it goes. It's not magic so there's got to be some science explanation for it."


Vic nods to Billy and says, "I should live near Coney Island so I can live on hot dogs, cotton candy, and funnel cakes." His eyes glaze over a bit as he spoons some ice cream into his mouth. "It's even better than last time," he says. He studies Teddy, and after a moment he admits, "I don't know, but it's an interesting question." The study is purely curious, Billy. Honest. He then grins at Lorna and says, "You need all that sugar because you're so sweet."


"I know I can eat a lot more then it seems I should, given my frame." Billy muses, consideringly, "Though I've never noticed a link between how much magic I do and how hungry I am, though that doesn't mean there isn't a link." He pauses, and eyes Lorna for a moment, "Well honestly, I don't *know* that much of it. Me and Tommy are still a mystery, for example. Knowing how Wanda feels about family, she'd never give us up for adoption… yet, obviously she did, otherwise Tommy and I wouldn't have our families."


An 'awww' followed Vic's compliment on how sweet she was and Lorna grinned, biting off a chunk of her ice cream from her spoon. "I like him, we can keep him." She winked and continued to work on her ice cream for a moment, befor returning Billy's look.

"No one knows that, and I said history, not future. You're future." She gestured with her spoon as if to make a point.

"So. Lets start with my father, my tata, which is Polish for papa, or daddy. I guess. And he's your grandfather now. Lets see. His name is Erik Lensherr, he's a German, Polish Jew. He grew up there right when World War two broke out." She paused, looking over Vic. "Do you remember world history or do we have to cover that too?"


"If you're from the future or another dimension or whatever, who knows what she was like there." Teddy says to Billy, shrugging a shoulder. "Or what things were like then for her. Stuff happens."


"Circumstances," Vic agrees with Teddy with a nod. "This version seems like a truer mother than the other. To Lorna, he says, "I know the history, what happened over there." He taps his temple. "Everything the guy who was in here before knew, I can see it plain as day. It just doesn't feel like it happened to me." His brow knits. "I feel like I know the name Erik Lensherr." Apparently his former self read newspapers. His expression clears, though, and he doesn't give it too much thought.


Billy looks between Teddy and Vic, and says softly, "If something happened to me, I don't know what Wanda would do. It'd be massive in scale and the world would tremble, but I can't predict it. I know what Stephen would do because he told me: he'd challenge Lady Death herself— the cosmic embodiment of endings, and yes she apparently exists as an actual real entity and not so much an abstract concept— and that would be super awkward and dangerous. Me and Tommy— especially Tommy, cuz his parents were so *bad*— adopted away and never knowing them? It doesn't make sense." But he nods his head to Lorna for her to continue.


Lorna reached out to pat Billy's arm as he spoke and she offered a sympathetic smile. Her gaze lifting back to Vic, "He's also known as Magneto. He's saved New York from ice giants when they invaded. And he also was accused of having something to do with a riot that broke out and got violent." She grimaced, "He's also helped to topple a secret Kingdom on the otherside of the world and is dating a Princess." She grinned, and then sobered.

"Anyways, he never told me the details, but he and everyone in his family was taken by the Nazis to Auschwitz. No one else survived but him. His powers awoke there.. and some Nazi doctors did experiments." Her voice fell and became hushed as she glanced around the table. "One of those involved Wanda and Pietro's mom from what she told me. Tata never knew. But he escaped before the war ended. He.. was understandably angry and apparently treated several women that he met poorly. And that's where I came from." She shrugged and glanced back at Billy and Vic.

"He didn't know about me either. He went off to go track down the men that killed his family.. and I got adopted out of Poland. Wasn't until this past year that we found out we were related."


Vic snaps his fingers. "Magneto. That's right." He pauses, then his eyes widen. "My grandfather is Magneto!?" He almost stops eating his ice cream, slowing down to give his mouth a few moments to gape. Then he grimaces as Lorna mentions Auschwitz. "That's rough," he says. "I… I don't know what to say. Is, um, is he better now? I mean you two got a good relationship?" He lays a hand on Lorna's, giving it a squeeze. "Are you all okay?"


Billy frowns at mention of Nazi experimenting on Wanda and Pietro's mom, that's news to him. "I didn't know they had any specific runins with actual Nazi's." But he nods his head slightly, "Though it explains some stuff after the fact."


A nod, and Lorna smiled at Vic. "I was born after the war, or near enough. I don't know who my mom was, and I'll likely never know. No birth cerificate. I grew up here. I'm fine." She shrugged lightly, "And yeah, Magneto. Now you know why I can't get a date." She joked, but it was weak compared to be fore.

"And yeah, Auschwitz and everything.." She exhaled a breath, "I lost a grandpa and grandma there.. and I think an aunt. Tata doesn't really talk about it. Wanda told me she and Pietro grew up there for a bit. As experiments. The Nazis wanted something that mixed Mutant DNA with magic. She said something about her mother being a Roma woman that was.." She grimaced and looked down. "Selected."

"Wanda said she died giving birth or near enough." A shrug followed. "She told me back when I was trying to research more about it. I wanted to understand what tata went through.." She sighed heavily again and shook her head. "But yeah. Now you know why tata hunts Nazis.." She murmured.


Vic nods solemnly, understanding now Lorna's dating situation. "Mom grew up there?" he says quietly. "That's awful." He shudders, then nods slowly. "Yeah, that's a dose of perspective. So we're Roma and Jewish, too? I mean I know I'm not by blood. This body's pop was Italian and he didn't know what his mom was. But historically, I mean." He looks to Billy, and he asks, "Why do you call them Stephen and Wanda?"


"I've known them… months. And I have parents. Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan raised me: as far as they know I'm theirs. The magic that wrote us into the past edited their memories completely— mine it left half intact, but them? They think they've always been here and my mom remembers giving birth to me even though they apparently adopted me… but the *truth* of that was lost with the magic." Billy sounds… a bit pained. That's an answer he'll never get, now. "And they're good, supportive parents. I love them. I love my little brotheres, too. Stephen and Wanda… are new. Eight months maybe? And I sometimes call them Mom and Dad too, but I'm still getting used to it. Its not that I don't love them, its just new. My mom Rebecca sang to me when I was a little boy and sick. My dad tried desperately to teach me about sports… and in the future, when I came out to them— told them I was homosexual— they were okay with it." He winces, "I can't tell them *now* though." Another pain. But he nods over to Lorna's tale, "Every Jew has a reason to hunt Nazi's. I'm all for hunting them even if I'm not *really* Jewish anymore."


Lorna nodded, "Wanda, if you ask her, will tell you that she and Pietro never had a childhood. It was taken from them.. along with everything else. It's likely why her and tata are always so quiet and people think they're stoic. But they're not. Not to me anyways. Wanda lets me hug her and we've gone shopping together and I've teased her with lacy skirts and dresses. Tata has trained me and been there for me when I found out I was adopted." She glanced toward Billy.

"I wasn't from the future or anything, but my adoptive parents loved me and raised me and never told me they adopted me from Poland." She winced and glanced down at her ice cream bowl. "Miss Frost found me, offered me a place for college and then trained me up. I was going to school and went to a museum. There was a magnetic disturbance, and it wasn't me.. that's how I met Magneto, and everyone else and that started the spiral of the 'Hey you're adopted, now lets have a blood test to see if you're related, drama."


Vic nods thoughtfully, and he dips his cookie in ice cream to nibble on both cookie and ice cream goodness together. "This guy's dad left his mom for a younger woman, and his mom threw wine glasses at him til the state took him away. He never got adopted, just bounced through foster homes til he was eighteen." He smiles weakly and ducks his head. "So I guess I'm good with saying Mom and Dad because I have no one else. I can see how it would be hard otherwise."


"Huh, Wanda letting someone hug is a big deal." Billy eyes Lorna for a moment, and then he nods his head slowly, nodding over towards Vic, "Give them some time on the whole hugging and mom-and-dadding thing. I don't mean don't do it, but they might get this abstract look on their faces until they get used to it. Stephen's still not entirely used to me Dading him."


"I call my father 'tata' mostly because I asked him what he called his father.. It seemed important to him, so I use it. That and I already have a dad. Like I said.. adopted by loving parents. Over protective, but they still loved me." She smiled weakly and sighed softly, dipping her spoon into the ice cream again.

"And your body dude sounds like what Tommy told me about his adoptive folks. He definitely got into trouble a lot." She glanced towrd Billy, her brow furrowing.

"Yeah, Wanda lets me hug her. So does tata. And trust me that freaked out several students at the school. They still think he's like some scary robot that's come to scold them and make them do homework. Or something if they misbehave."


"I was going to wait til they were comfortable with me," Vic tells Billy. "I know they didn't exactly make me on purpose, and they're nice not to kick me out, so I'll just take things as they happen. But it's weird to think of them as 'Stephen and Wanda.' I'll try to avoid calling them anything, I think." He admits, looking down at his bowl, "I'm kind of scared of them. And my grandfather."


"Frank is an *asshole*." says Billy with heat in response to Lorna, and for anyone who knows him, they should be shocked he cussed. Billy does not cuss. At all. He pauses, then adds, "Frank being Tommy's dad. I've never wanted to *hurt* anyone before, but the way he treats Tommy…" The hatred is naked on Billy's face. Billy's got various virtues, and a few vices, but one of his virtues is loyalty. Its absolute. He blinks at Vic, frowning, "Why are you scared of them? I mean, they're powerful and Wanda … she seems colder then she really is, but she's warm for her family. She's a hero. And he's the Lord High Muckitymuck of the Wizarding World, responsible for keeping the whole world safe from the outer darkness. You really couldn't have better parents, especially considering you're a magical motey thingy." Pause, and aside to Lorna, "No offense intended on the 'cant be better' front, Lorna."


A blink, and Lorna's eyes went wide. She understood the nonswearing that was Billy. She was the same. Never swore. So her mouth dropped open and she stared. Then slowly, took a spoonful of her ice cream to pointedly not freak out some more. She knew that Tommy had it rough, but Tommy never told her more than that. But Vic's words drew her attention and she shifted.

"Don't be scared of them. They'll love you. So will tata. I told you the family history, such as it was, to tell you how much family means to them. Wanda and Pietro only had each other. Tata was alone for most of his life. He thought his family died out. So having more family?" She shook her head.

"It'll mean the world to them." She smiled warmly and then reached up to poke her nephew in the side.

"None taken. My sister is pretty rad. And I have no idea who my mom was. So you get that point."


"I don't get how someone could adopt a kid and treat them like trash," Vic says. "I mean sure, a kid you never wanted, it's still wrong but you didn't want them. If you do want them, why would you treat them badly?" He eats more ice cream, eyes lidding with pleasure, despite himself. Fear and ice cream. Ice cream wins. "I'm not kind of scared they won't really want me. I was an accident, and last night, Dad looked so freaked out."


"He looked just as freaked out when we figured out who I am." says Billy reassuring, "You have to understand… the mantle— his magic job thing— has responsibilities. And the gods he answers to, the Vishmantu? SOmething like that. They aren't really keen on the Sorcerer Supreme having split loyalties. He's not supposed to be capable of reproducing. Me and Tommy were quite a shock to him and it took him time to get used to it, but he came around. And even when he was still freaked out he always treated me fine. And he isn't prejudiced against magical entities. He works for a few of them." Billy flashes a grin to Lorna, not at all noticing her shock at the cussing, because for that moment he was full of fury. "She's right, though. To Wanda family is everything. And though Stephen never thought he'd have any, that makes us all the more important. We drive him nuts with worry, but he wouldn't trade us for anything." He doesn't comment more on Frank. He can't do that and not start warping hte universe to one where Frank is not in it.


Lorna reached out at hand to pat Vic's arm gently. "Trust us when we say we've been through it. My tata freaked out when it was suggested to him that I was his daughter, or heck, even related to him." Of course Erik's freak out was more of a muted panic that involved downing a good portion of scotch.

"And when Wanda and Billy found us in the park and said we were related? Gosh, he refused to consider it and dragged me out by my arm. It took months for everyone to get things figured out. And Wanda and I only figured out what we think happened through a lot of comparing notes and talking." She scratched the back of her neck.

"And Wanda's spells. She does a lot of those." She grinned and sat back in her seat. "So hey, give it time. They'll accept you. Just remember, these are people that want a family and never expected to have one."


"So we have that in common," Vic says wryly. "Wanting a family and never expecting one. I don't know, it's weird. I just felt connected to him. I feel connected to you guys. The part of me that remembers before is firing off all kinds of warning signals that it's a trick or something." He holds up a hand, "Which I know it isn't. I might just need time, too." He smiles, broadly with straight, white teeth showing. "Life's good, guys. I'm doing okay."


Billy nods along with agreement to Lorna on the subject of them being through it: this family has a pattern and freaking out and getting over it is totally part of said pattern. But he gestures to Lorna, "And I'm not at all clear what probably happened with you guys: that bit of the history has never been clear to me." But then he smiles a little sadly to Vic, "You have it with them, our parents, but not me. I mean, even in the future? Tommy was my best friend. Yeah we knew we looked alike but we chalked it up to a coinicdence: there was no chance of anything more. But I have a family. Its… why some of this hard for me. I feel like calling Stephen Dad and Wanda Mom is a betrayal of my mom and dad. Brother's easier: I love my little brothers but they are also annoying as heck, and Tommy and I have such history trusting eachother and working together then."


Lorna shrugged, "We'll get through it. I have no issues with accepting another nephew that's an adult and basically all grown up. It's cool. I mean, I went from having a family and knowing everything.. to not having a family.. to back again. It's been a crazy year, but I've seen way worse out there in this world. If having magically appearing family members is the least of it.. then I'm happy." She smiled and finished off her ice cream.

"It's what family does, right? Besides, now you'll never get a moments peace and quiet because we're all crazy and always get into trouble."


"If it helps," Vic tells Lorna, "I'm also only a few days old. Everything is so new and amazing. I feel like of like a kid in a candy store. Being alive is great." He flashes that bright smile again. "I've got some skill with getting in trouble. Sounds fun." He finishes his ice cream and licks his lips. Mmm. Then he tilts his head and looks at Billy curiously. "I don't understand what you mean when you say I have it with them but not you."


Billy again nods to Lorna, considering, "Family is important." Then he considers Vic in turn, "I always had a family." explains Billy softly, "Stephen never thought he'd have a family. Wanda thought she had no one but Pietro and it's stay that way. Tommy had a family but not for real. Etc. But me, I had a family. I *have* a family. They're great. My greatest fear in the whole world is that someone might try to use them to control me, which is why I magic it up as Wiccan and not Billy Kaplan. But, though I totally welcome you and embrace you as a brother, its not the same for me. I visit the Kaplan Tribe every sabbath. I talk to my mom every other day at least."


A smile was offered for Billy, "I get it Billy. Like I said. I love my adoptive parents. I was raised thinking they were my parents. Now it's all kinds of awkward on my end too. Call my mom all the time, even if I don't go Upstate that often anymore." A pause, "It's likely for the best anyways." She added and shrugged, dragging a hand through her hair.

"Trust me when I found out that they'd lied to me? I.. freaked out.. So yeah.."


Vic nods slowly. "Sure, sure," he says. "In some of the foster homes there were kids who'd been there long enough they thought of their foster parents like family, but they also had visitation. As far as I'm concerned, you're my brother, and if that comes with complications, that's okay." He smiles a little. "I don't mind complicated." He strokes his chin. "Maybe when I'm doing my thing I should go by Serendipity. What about you, Lorna? Do you have a moniker?"


Billy winces towards Lorna, nodding his head slowly, "Yeeeah, that's awkward, the whole parent-not-parent thing. I'm particularly frustrated because the spellbackfire rewrote their memory: they don't even know why they lied to me, that they lied at all." He nods over to Vic and the dimples show, "Of that there is certainty. You're my brother too, Vic. There's weird and complication but on that note its simply. And when it comes to my brothers? I will shake the world to help them out of trouble. Or do something actually scary." He's oh so serious. There's a flash of a grin, "Serendipity? I like that. Serendipity, Wiccan and Speed, the sons of the fate. We shouldn't exist any of us but we do anyways, so we were meant to." He looks to Lorna then, having not heard her codename himself.


Lorna shifted and flushed a dark pink, "Gosh, I still think having code names is so lame! It's like a Saturday morning breakfast cartoon." She muttered and scratched at the back of her neck.

"Miss Frost made it a mandatory homework assignment and tata refused to let me skip it. He sat me down and had me go over a book on the basics of Magnetism." She wiggled her fingers as she spoke and the sat shaker did a little twirl. "It's Polaris. Trust me, I know it sounds lame, but the others were just as bad."


Vic grins at Billy. "Serendipity, Wiccan, and Speed. I like that. Luck, Magic, and Motion. Three things that, together, gets stuff done. He shoulderbumps Lorna and says, "Code names aren't lame. They're a front. You want people to remember them instead of you. Same deal with the costumes, though I didn't really have one in mind. I think Polaris is great. What do you think, Billy?"


"No, no." Billy shakes his head firmly, "Having a codename is *cool*. Who knows Steve Rogers? Everyone knows Captain America. Codenames are the first line of defense in you protecting the people you love. There's nothing at all lame about that, and nothing at all lame about Polaris. Do you even know what Wiccan means?" Most don't: it hasn't made a serious transition from England yet in this time period, "Witch, but minus odd female connotations. That's what I am: a boy-witch." He nods in agreement with Vic, "Yeah, I like that. Luck, Magic and Motion." He nods encouragingly, adding, "Polaris is great." He grins, "I don't have a costume exactly: I have this suit I wear, its a dark green with panels along the side that show the universe, and I wear a red hooded cloak over it. No one make any christmas comments, remember I'm a Jew. Its enough for me to disguise my appearance so when I'm Wiccaning it up, people won't recognize me so much. And that keeps my parents and my little brothers safe. What keeps my family safe is the definition of being the opposite of lame."


A arch of her brow followed, "I've got armor." A pause and she tapped her fingers against the table top. "My tata made it when we went to Attlian, that secret kingdom he brought me to? Yeah.." She exhaled a huff of breath. "So I've got armor over a leather jumpsuit that Jean loaned me.. So I guess that's the costume part down." She made a face and sent Billy a dry look.

"Oh c'mon, what about tata's? Magneto? Totally lame. Magnet plus neto, is Magneto. Lame." She snorted a laugh, "Course he didn't come up with it, but he's using it. So I guess that's what he's stuck with. Come up with a code name before someone else does I guess."


"I wasn't gonna say a thing," Vic says, though there's a spark if humor in his eyes. He was going to say something. But he's being good! He nods to Lorna. "There you have it, come up with it before someone else does and pray it sticks." He glances down at himself, jeans and a t-shirt. The t-shirt is a little small so it stretches over a rather fit form, but still, not exactly costume material. "I might have to work on the costume part."


"Magneto is _Awesome_." Billy breathes, "One of the best codenames ever. It radiates power. It has a dignity and a power to it." Billy nods his head repeatedly as he makes these statements, "Who fears the coming of Erik? What sets Erik apart as special? But Magneto, even I would hesitate before making angry. The codenames are just another kind of armor, Lorna. It lets you act without bringing *you* and the people you love into the equation. Its a shield against those who would leverage your real identity against you and a tool that you can use to make a point. Even the Fantastic Four who everyone knows who they are? They have the names, too. It gives them mystique, power, a sense of otherness that makes manifest their power. The codename is shield and sword of the righteous: you should embrace it. What happens if someone traces 'Lorna Dane' to your adoptive parents? What happens if they kidnap them and say: break the empire state building or they die." He is so very serious, "Family is strength and weakness: codenames are just one way that we defend against the weakness." He's so focused on Lorna here that he can only nod to Vic slightly. "… I'm thinking a lot of white with a mask. But I might be bad at costumes."


A blink and Lorna's eyebrows climbed higher, her hands leaping upwards at Billy's impassioned speech over codenames and their importance. "Okay, okay, I get it. Yeesh." She made a face, shaking her head. "Tata still wears a cape, a purple cape. Seriously, I got so many jabs about it when I was in Mutant Town helping out." Mostly from Raven and assorted others, but still!

"I don't always have the get up though, so I just.. I never saw much of a point. You know? Like I don't have a mask, or anything.."


Vic nods to himself. "White, I like it. It might get dirty though." He then tells Lorna, "Purple was the color of royalty once. You didn't mess with someone in purple. It might look a little weird now though, I dunno. Just take care no one sees your face who knows your parents, I guess. I'm going to get one I can change into fast, keep the mask folded up in my pocket." He laughs, giddy as he says, "I'm going to be a hero."


Softly, Billy murmurs while looking troubled as he regards Lorna, "My little brother, Eli?" he mentions, "If someone took him and sent me a picture of him tied into a chair, do you think I'd hesitate before rewriting the universe to be any shape someone wanted if only they didn't hurt him? What would the spell be? Think about what I can do — and I only vaguely understand it but the awesome horror of what it would be for my power to be controlled by someone else is nightmare-worthy. But." He nods to Vic, "You have to take this into account about Stephen. We're his weakness, too. He'd do anything to save us and to have that power over the guy who is supposed to guard reality… This is why its better if we are a bit quiet on the relationship and on what his job is." He takes a low, deep breath, seeming… genuinely haunted. "I might be able to help you, Vic. I've been thinking about stuff that fits into spaces that it doesn't fit into. I… don't *know* I can do it but I can try."


Lorna shrugged, her lips twisting. "I love my parents, don't think I don't. I just.. Billy, there was a killer robot attack in Mutant Town. I went out and fought the things without thinking about it. I didn't have anything to throw on and disguise myself. It's not like it's my first instinct to go 'Wait a sec lemme grab a mask' when people are screaming." She sighed, shaking her head.

"I don't disagree with you, I don't. It's just that I don't feel like a hero. I don't stop and think about that stuff when people are in danger and I know I can help. That's all." She waved her hands and then settled them on the table.

"I already know what tata would do if someone hurt me. Because a few people have. It's why I ended up locked up with your mom and dad for three weeks while he hunted them down. It's why he went off in a rage a few weeks ago to track down Maximus. But lets not forget what happened with Mojo either, right? We were careful. We were in costume and everything and he still found who mattered to us."


"I just want a cool costume," Vic admits. "But the important part is helping." He nods then to Billy and says, "I'll keep it under wraps. It'd be kind of weird anyway if Victor Delano went around calling someone Pops after never having one before." He looks across the table at Billy, and his features soften. "Do what you can, man. We're going to be fine, whatever happens."


"I'm not saying its a perfect shield, Lorna. I know its not. When Mojo had Tommy, I swear to God I almost tried to write Mojo out of existance, and whenever I unmake something Stephen gets really cranky." The tone of voice Billy has clearly says: and I do not understand why. "The only reason I didn't was I was afraid I couldn't… *restore* him to unflatness. But perfect is the enemy of good. A costume, and a name, are good defenses to protect those you love. They aren't perfect and if you wait for perfect you get nothing at all: settle for good. Because you're my aunt and I'd hate for someone to try to use me against you or use against me. If someone took Teddy from me I'd unmake the sun if it would get him back. To love is to be weak. But to not love is to be inhuman. So I love and I mitigate the weakness as much as I can." He nods to Vic, "I agree, the important part is helping. On us being fine… I hope so. I don't know, though."


A sigh and Lorna reached up to pat Billy on the arm. "I know." Was all she offered him along with a weak smile. A glance was offered toward Vic, her smile warming. "I'll ask tata to help me make some armor for you if you'd like. It has to be held on by magnetism in the original design, but I bet we can straps. Also it'd be nice so I can keep track of you on the field or city or where ever we end up."


Vic shakes his head and says, "Having people in your life you care about is rough. This is going to take some getting used to. I don't have a lot of, uh, knowledge of that. But I'm going to learn. But look, we're going to have costumes, we have code names. Sure, there's risk, but we're mitigating it as much as we can. You've got to have faith, Billy. Besides," here, he winks, "You've got Luck on your side."

He tilts his head as he considers Lorna. "That," he says, "would be great. Maybe I could find some way to rig it so it focuses my energy. What do you think, Billy? Something to amplify maybe?"


"I… have no idea." admits Billy as he looks between the two, "I was thinking of a stopwatch that turned all your clothes and skin and hair pure white for an hour. I don't even know if I could do that but I was thinking of it, uh, this is otherwise getting a lot more involved then I know how to whoosh. Please remember Billy your friendly neighborhod boy-witch is new with the witching, okay? I can't do something I don't understand."


A grin followed, "Wanda made me a charm to change my hair brown if I needed. So I mean.. we can talk to her to get tips." She winked and then shrugged lightly as she gathered up the dishes of ice cream bowls. "Also tata is starting me on combat training. So I'll be working on that with him next week. I'll ask him about making armor with latches or something so I don't have to hold onto your armor and mine. Cause that's just silly."

"There are some metal alloys out there that conduct electricty better than others. Though I'm not sure how well that would help you, but we can try it." She tapped her chin in thought. "Also I could throw you. If you're wearing an iron based alloy."


"I like the stopwatch idea," Vic says. "And the energy conduits, if they amplified my power, Billy you could just touch me and get a boost that'll make the other night look like child's play." When Lorna gathers up the bowls, he stands up to help, because deep down, under it all, Victor Delano was a good kid. Who made lots of bad choices. "Throwing me would be cool, too. Maybe a speed boost. Guys, we're going to be a force to be reckoned with. Together."


For his part, Billy settles in his seat, and suddenly bowls and forks and dishes that are not gotten by the others just rise up themselves. Yes, Billy is that guy who does chores magically while unconcerned for the mouse in Fantasia. His arms cross over his chest, and he's thoughtful, "Let's have a codeword, Vic. I say 'spark', and reach for you or grab you— you reach or grab back, and boost my lightning. Then I burn something out. Spark, grab and blast." He hesitates, and looks between them, "Throwing is good, but also rememeber I can fly someone easy. I can lift about two tons with my mind and that includes me and almost any of our team flying. Granted, Teddy can fly by growing wings, but we won't discuss the insanely hot blond jock of sexappeal strategically, because we can only think of him as doing a slow strip— what? What were we talking about again?"


Lorna was busy turning on the water and starting up the fishes a murmured thank you offered toward Vic as he helped. "Make me your electromagnet." She offered, glancing between the two. "I'm basically a giant magnet. Electricity is just the reversing of poles, north and south. I can change my polarity, to make a current if I had conductors, or I can draw it off the lines. I figured it out when Mojo had me. There was nothing metal there, and no magnetic field from the Earth, but I figured out how to turn the lights on and off by taking up the power to boost my own magnetism." She grinned and wiggled her fingers.

As Billy stars talking about Teddy she flicked her water damp fingers at her nephew. "Oi, down boy." She teased.


Vic sets dishes beside the sink, then returns to the table. Snapping his fingers, he says, "Spark. I like it." Then Billy gets sidetracked and Vic's expression goes bland. He pats Billy's hand. There, there. To Lorna, he says, "I like this even better."


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