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Lorna sat on the edge of a stool in the kitchen. Still bare footed. Still in her pajamas. She hadn't made much of an attempt to get dressed in the past few days. And if it hadn't been for Xi'an's nudges the other night.. Lorna's hair would still be a rats nest and unbrushed and unwashed. The telepathic mutant had successfully managed that. Now? Now was the trick to get the depressed, green haired girl to eat something before she passed out.
Cookies, her usual favorites had gone ignored. And she sat hunched over a cup of luke warm hot chocolate, having only taken a sip or two before seeming to forget about it.
Xi'an is there, of course. Because simply brushing Lorna's hair is not enough. At present, she's across from the young woman, staring at her. "Mon chou," she says, her French accent so very that. "You will wither away to nothing if you do not eat," she explains. "And you are already almost nothing. If you were big and fat this would not be an issue, but…" A frown crosses her lips. "Maybe cheese?" she asks. "Toast with honey…?"
Xi'an is busy playing big sister, of course. It's sort of her thing.
Julie is coming into the kitchen, with… Paper sacks, which seem to be full of heavy things. She pauses, though, setting them down, and takes one of those kerchiefs she often wears driving off her head, to pour herself a cup of coffee, and come sit backwards on the bench she's chosen. "Hey, how you doing, Lorna?"
Daire is not often at the Institute. He comes by to go on missions, to help find young mutants and help them, or occasionally to check in, hang out the lake, visit, but he doesn't live there since he graduated several years ago. He comes wandering in toward the kitchen, apparently having come by to swim in the lake, still wearing damp but mostly-dry swim trunks, a plain white t-shirt, and sandals on his feet. Damp strands of hair fall in front of his eyes and across his forehead in slight curls around the bases of the twin horns that curl up and back from either side of his forehead before curving up again to slight points. "Heya Lorna," he says, to the one out of the three that he recognizes, and goes over to the fridge to root around for a bottle of Coke.
Lorna shook her head, her bare feet curling against the coolness of the kitchen tiles. "I'm not hungry.." She mumbled, her gaze still locked onto the slowly cooling mug of hot chocolate. Her lips pursing together as she shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm just tired…"
As if she hadn't tried to sleep her day away. Avoid the realities around her. Julie's entrance earned a flicker of her gaze, her expression a sort of dull, blandness. There was nothing there. And she looked away at the question. She didn't want to answer it.
Then, Daire entered, and well.. that was just a few too many people for the poor girl to handle. Her shoulders hunched forward and she hung her head. Her fingers curling around the mug of hot (luke warm) chocolate, bringing it scraping against the table toward her chest.
"I should go to the city… get coconut milk and mango," Xi'an decides, as she continues to watch Lorna. "Have you had this before? Rice, with coconut milk, with fresh mango…" she says, rather fruitlessly trying to name some food that might appeal to the young woman. Vietnamese and French. Two cultures that love eating. Her faint frown is distracted as two new arrivals come in. Xi'an looks that, and has a smile for both. "Dizzy… Daire," she says. Nothing like more people to get her smiling! She has been a near constant presence around the institute (save a few abductions and the like) for a few years. So, you know. Everyone knows Xi'an!
Julie sighs, quietly, looking over at Lorna, a moment, with a bit of concern, but, she supposes the whole experience takes some getting over. Her own accent's New York Italian, and she says, "Well, you better get an appetite soon, some of the boys roped me into making some lasagne, and she waves to Daire, giving him a once-over, perhaps just to not intrude on Lorna more than she has. "Hey, there. Glad to meetcha." She waves over to Karma, too. "Well, you can drive for that stuff now. I got something ready for you."
"Heya," Daire says to Karma with a smile when he pops open the top of his bottle and takes a swig from it. Then he looks over at Julie, returning that once-over with a little dip of his head, "Oh man, lasagna." He looks a little hungry at that and then says, "I should figure out what Josh wants to do for dinner." He moves over toward Lorna then as she hangs her head and says, "Hey chickadee. Long time no see." He doesn't ask how she's doing. He can see very well with his own two eyes how she's doing. There's a flicker of concern there in those unnaturally green eyes.
Another shake of her head follows, and Lorna slowly lifted her gaze back toward Xi'an. "No. I've never had it before." Her brows furrowed as she bit her lower lip, her voice barely above a whisper. She exhaled a shaky breath, her frame slowly uncurling again. Then her focus was shifting toward Julie and Daire in turn. She ran her fingers over the now cool mug in her grip.
"Hi Daire.." She mumbled, glancing back down to her hot chocolate.
A sigh! And then Xi'an steps around the table, having abandoned the cookies in front of her. She steps around to Lorna's side, and then reaches out to lay a hand on the younger woman's back, rubbing gently. "You will be skin and bones…" she laments. As if Karma is really one to talk. There's not an ounce of fat on the woman. For reasons.
Xi'an then looks up, to Dizzy. "Lasagna?" she asks, her eyes going just a touch big. Not skinny because she doesn't like food! She nearly tortures herself to keep this trim! Blink blink. "Something ready… Did you find a car?!" she asks, suddenly excited.
Julie nods, to Xian, and winks. "Course I found something. Needed a few things, but me and a few of the kids took care of what the little guy needed, you know, between all the studying and dashing rescues and getting one of my aunties to whip up a little vat of her bolognese sauce," she winks to Lorna. "If you like it, we'll maybe make pretty later, but she'll do ya. Only catch is I kinda want to try something on for size with Dr. MacTaggert on the thing, if you don't mind. She's got a bad left leg and don't wanna be stuck with some Hydramatic or something, you see. Figure I see if she can work it on something with a light clutch first."
Daire leans up against the counter with his bottle, just kind of listening to everyone as they talk, his attention first on Lorna and then to Xi'an, but then there's mention of a car and he turns his attention back over toward Julie to listen as she explain the car and light clutches. He's paying attention, but he falls quiet for the time being. That doesn't, however, stop him from snagging a cookie while everyone is busy paying attention to other things.
Lorna too, fell silent. Even as Xi'an came around the table to settle a hand against her back. The green haired mutant's focus dropped, her shoulder slumping and she heaved a sigh. But she didn't argue the point that she'd be skin and bones if she didn't eat something. Never mind the fact that she'd likely drop from lack of food if she kept it up.
Then Julie was talking about cars.. and Lorna zoned out. Instinctively reaching out with her powers toward the garage to see if she could sense this newest addition to the cars that dotted the mansion… Which of course was too much for the poor girl who hadn't even eaten since she'd awoken. Her powers zinged back at her, her control sloppy, and immediately what flatware was on the table flew over to her and clung to her skin. She yelped in surprise, struggling to unmagnetized herself and be free of the forks, and spoons that now were plastered to her.
Xi'an's smile fades as she stares at Julie. "Hydra… hydrometer…?" she asks, dumbly. No, that word doesn't mean anything to her. As she tries to make sense of Dizzy's nonsense, she continues to stroke Lorna's back, idle touches. Doesn't seem like it's going ot much help, but Karma does it all the same!
And then flatware is flying! Her eyes go wide, and she instinctively jumps back. "Putain!" she gasps. Then she blinks. And then she realizes that swear just escaped her lips, and she quickly raises one hand to cover her mouth. Then she steps forward again, to reach for Lorna once more, just to lay a hand on the forkless woman's shoulder.
Julie ahs, "One of those automatic transmissions. We're trying to avoid that." She whoas, a moment, ducking and covering her head, as silverware flies. "Whoa, babe, that's kinda like what happens to the toolbox when *I* slip," she says to Lorna, and winks to Xian. "Anyway, just for temporary, I'd like her to try out what I come up with, then she can pick something out I can do up for real."
Daire just stands there with his bottle of Coke, taking a sip when suddenly silverware flies at Lorna and sticks to her. He blinks a little in surprise, but when she doesn't seem hurt, he doesn't move where he is, instead giving her a bit of space. He then looks over between Dizzy and Karma and says, "New car.. cool." But that's about all he's got, and so he starts heading back out of the kitchen only to almost run into Sophie on her way in.
Lorna exhaled a breath, and slowly the flatware demagnetized as she pulled it off herself and piled it on the table in front of her. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I wanted to sense the car you were talking about.. I messed up." She whispered, her shoulders tensing higher. She bit her lower lip, shifting in her seat. Her toes curled up against the foot of her chair, and she crossed her arms once the flatware was settled back into a neat pile.
"I'm sorry."
Xi'an gives Lorna's shoulder a squeeze. "C'est bon," she whispers out. An assurance that it's all right, in French, of course. Then she lifts that hand and lets it fall to her side. Her attention shifts back to Julie. "Do you think… we could go see it now?" she asks. "Rather than needing to try to sense it across the manor?" she asks. She's trying for supportive (and for a distraction).
And yes, Sophie is on her way into the kitchen about then, dressed in a purple tee and a pair of grey gym shorts, with flipflop sandals on her feet — Typical comfy around-home Sophie clothes during the summer's heat. She doesn't collide with Daire, but does give him a delighted, friendly smile. "Hello again," she says to him, a little surprised to see him here but not making a fuss of it. "Nice to see you again." And then she's slipping gracefully past, and heads on in.
All thoughts the young Frenchwoman had of cold beverages are pushed aside as she sees the others already present. "Lorna," she says, with a tone and an expression that imply that she might have made more of an exclamation of it, if she weren't mindful of her friend's recent traumas. "I am certain you are tired of being asked this, but, how are you?" The question is accompanied by the warm, soft smile that those who know her know so well.
Julie winks to Lorna, "Careful around the Prof's collection, is all. They had youse pretty doped up. You was out the whole time we was cannonballing back." She puts a hand on Lorna's forearm, reassuringly. "Let me get this stuff in the fridge, then maybe we can all just go see."
"Oh, heya Sophie," Daire says when she moves past him into the room, "Nice to see you again." He pauses for a moment, but then decides to continue on out the way that he had come in, lifting his bottle to those gathered and heading back out into the hall.
Lorna exhaled a breath, her shoulders rising and falling as she pushed her mug of now cold hot-chocolate away from her. "..I think I'll just stay here.. or maybe .. I .. I dunno." She mumbled, looking some what lost, even as Daire comes and goes. And as Sophie appears. She hung her head, and averted her eyes, picking at her fingernails and falling silent for a moment, two.
"I'm fine." She whispered in regards to Sophie's question. Still dressed in her pajamas, still bare footed. She certainly didn't look fine.
"Bonjour, Sophie. Comment allez-vous?" Xi'an asks towards the pretty blonde, a soft smile on her lips as she does. She then trails her eyes back down to Lorna. "You're certain? We could go for a drive…" And for anyone entering, it's rather obvious that Karma is doting on the young woman. Just a bit, at least. She looks back up to Dizzy, and then gives a nod. Yes, she can wait!
There's probably the faint odor of booze and cigarettes that hits just before Remy hits the room. As he enters he gives a smile and a wave and is in a particularly chipper mood. He's even whistling. "'Lo errybody," he says and immediately heads to the refrigerator for some of his food—andouille sausage and some eggs, for those who are down for the particular. Out comes the frying pan and some tabasco from the cabinet.
"Well enough," Sophie replies to Xi'an, with a slight shrug and a glance toward Lorna, making her own concern for the greenette clear. And it's to Lorna that her next words are directed, as she half-crouches next to where the magnetist is sitting. "I am sorry, it is such a habit to ask," she says gently, her smile turned a bit apologetic. "It is all right. And it will /be/ all right. You are here, and you are with friends who love you."
Julie winks, taking her paper sacks to the fridge inside. "Big dinner tomorrow, weather permitting," she hints as she heads in there.
A wordless sort of shrug followed Xi'an's question of 'are you sure?' and Lorna crossed her arms a top the table. Her head pillowing agianst it as she closed her eyes against everything around her for several beats. At least.. until Sophie crouched down to her level. Her expression seemed to teeter on the edge between breaking down into tears again or not.
Which was all thrown off as Remy entered and started cooking. She blinked, distracted from her misery and apathy, to curiously glance his way. "What are you cooking?"
"Bonjour, Remy," says Xi'an, as the Canjun man makes her way. She reaches out to give one more brush of fingers over Lorna's shoulders, and then decides to peel away. "I am going to the garage… is that where it is, Julie? I'll wait for you there?" she offers up.
"Sausage and egg, lil lady. Sausage and egg." Remy seems downright chipper, gliding around the kitchen in a near dance. "Bonjour, Xi'an. Ca va?" As the frying pan starts to heat he turns and smiles, "What's goin' on round here, y'all?"
"Bonjour, Remy. There was a… problem. Or several of them, all connected," Sophie answers. She makes a meaningful glance toward Lorna as she's saying that, trying to convey that it's maybe not best to get into the details right this moment. "That does smell wonderful."
Lorna offered Xi'an a strangled look as the woman spoke of leaving to the garage. There was some kind of a desparate plea for the telepath to stay. Of course, her attention shifted as Remy spoke about what he was cooking and at least Sophie made an attempt to explain what was going on. Even if the other woman hadn't been witness to the fiasco that was Kaleb and Lorna's last interaction. At least no one was making her attempt to explain things.
"Oh.." She mumbled in response at least to Remy's comment on what he was cooking.
"Ca va," Xi'an responds, to Remy, with a smile. She watches him a moment longer, and his cooking, then turns to go. Only, as she does, that puts her facing Lorna. She catches that look. There's a faint frown, and she steps over, and leans down, to slip her arms around Lorna and offer a hug from the side. As she does, she whispers out a few words.
"Aww hell," Remy replies as he looks to Lorna with a twisted face. He knew things were headed to a bad place; sounds as if the two love birds are having trouble patching things up. It makes his excitement something he feels just a twinge of guilt over. Just a twinge.
Julie comes ducking out of the kitchen, relieved of makings for stuff, and waves again, and, seeing general body language, says to Remy ans Sophie as an aside, perhaps to give Lorna and Karma some space, "You like a lasagne? I thought I'd make some up tomorrow."
There's a clear look of gratitude directed from Sophie to Remy as the man picks up on her cues and does not ask about what exactly happened. "That sounds lovely, Julie," she answers, before adding, looking from her to Remy, "I wonder what a combination of your two cuisines would be like? I can see certain things working well together…"
Trying to change the subject, and in a direction Lorna might find amusing, or at least diverting? Would Sophie do that? (Of course she would.)
Lorna shook her head to Xi'an's offer, though she did return the hug. "It's.. it's okay." She mumbled, "Sorry.. go.. go see the car." She drew back, and as Remy glanced her way, her expression crumbled again. She blinked hard, rubbing at her eyes to stem the water that welled up there. A sniffle. And then another.
But at least she didn't outright break down into tears. She managed that at least and mentally claimed that a victory. Despite the continued sniffles. She reached for a napkin, and used it as a tissue. Her gaze flickering toward Sophie briefly, her eyebrows furrowing.
Karma doesn't leave, despite Lorna telling her it was alright to. She stays right at the younger woman's side, and then raises a hand to gently run her fingers down the back of the woman's head. She doesn't say anything to Remy, to Julie, to Sophie. Her focus remains on Lorna, with a faint frown on her lips. So concerned. So unsure what to do…
"Ah got some extra if anyone want some," Remy says, taking his cue from Sophie and avoiding digging any deeper. "Hope y'all like tabasco." It was probably just his luck that when he found a little luck in love, something was destined to fall through somewhere else to someone he cared about. That's just the luck of the cards.
Julie glances back to Lorna, figuring out, at least, who she wants to be with at the very moment, and gives a quiet little nod toward Sophie and Karma. It's just the sort of thing Girl Racer never seems to talk about, any romantic complications, so, her eyes sort of light on the tabasco sauce, and she says, "I guess you use a lot of that then, here, how bout you tell us about it?" Cause clearly Lorna could use the space.
Well, that failed spectacularly. Not sure what else to do, Sophie plunks herself down across from Lorna, holding her hands out, open and palms up. "Give me your hands, cherie," she says, gently. She'll wait there, for the moment, looking at her friend with a slightly crooked, slightly uncertain smile.
Lorna sags back against Xi'an's gentle brush of her fingers, calming somewhat. Though when the telepath brushes her mind against Lorna's? It was chaos. There was a storm of self-loathing, warring with depression and wailing over Kaleb's driving off the other day. Along with anger and no small amount of hurt.
The brush had Lorna jerking faintly to the side, breathing hard as she heard Xi'an's voice and immediately had a poor reaction. She paled, and her hands shook. It was purely instinctive, and the flatware still on the table jittered.
The green haired mutant struggled to breath, to calm herself. The voices in the kitchen doing more to anchor her to reality than anything else. The flatware stopped moving. "So-sorry.." She whispered, and Lorna opened her eyes to glance at Remy. Her voice was small, "I'm not hungry…"
She trailed off, and her gaze fell back to Sophie. Her brows furrowing, and slowly she set cool and clammy hands on the table. A faint tremble following.
Xi'an's doing nothing might be a whole lot less nothing when Lorna reacts as she does. The Asian woman snags the swell of her lower lip between her teeth, and then just brushes over Lorna's head again. Soothing pet-pets. She glances around, suddenly aware again that she's in a room full of people, and then clears her throat. "Sorry, what was…?" Xi'an asks Sophie. Who was talking to Lorna. "Oh," she says, and falls quiet again. Not talking to her.
"Can't tell if dere more egg shells in dis room or in dis carton," Remy says as he turns to stir his food. Apparently Lorna being pet like a puppy causes Remy to chuckle and shake his head. "Y'all know if anybody claim dat shredded cheese in dere? Dunno if dat communal or not."
Julie hrms, to Remy. "I dunno who shredded up some cheese, just hands off what's in the paper sacks, that's for tomorrow." Glances back, looking a bit concerned toward Lorna there, and elects to follow Remy back toward the fridge. Says quietly. "Something else going on I dunno about?"
Sophie gently and carefully takes Lorna's hands in hers, looking across at the green-haired girl as she does. If Lorna will meet her eyes, good, If she will not, well, that is all right, too. "Lorna, I cannot imagine what it was like for you, with all that you've just been through. I won't insult you by pretending that I can. All I can say to you is that you are safe now. If you need to cry, or to scream, do it. Let us be strong for you, just for now. I would walk through fire for you. I am not alone in this. You know that this is true. And you would do the same for me. I know this. We have your back. Always. No matter what."
"And if those who hurt you come calling? Let them come. They will soon regret it."
Between Xi'an's telepathic warmth, and Sophie's words, some of the chaos in Lorna's mind eased for the moment. She heaved a sigh, her eyes slipping shut as fresh tears welled up there and trickled down her cheeks. A watery smile tugging at her lips as she sniffled and gave Sophie's hands a squeeze. "Thank you." She mumbled, sniffling again. She freed a hand to rub at her nose, blinking repeatedly as the tears kept coming.
An embarrassed, tearful, laugh escaped her as she rubbed at her eyes and nose again. Seeming unable to stop the torrent now that it had started. "You're .. you're all just.. the best.. thank you." She added after another sniffle.
Xi'an's smile grows as Sophie speaks. She gives a nod along with it, agreeing. Her hand trails down Lorna's hair, landing on her shoulder, and she gives a little squeeze. "Always, cherie," she murmurs out. Xi'an lingers there a moment longer, then gives another squeeze and draws back. "I'll be in the garage if you need me, Lorna," she says. Then to the others, there's a faint nod. "Au revoir."
Remy gives Lorna a nod and a pursed lips smile that says more worry than a real smile. He scoops the eggs onto a plate, rinses the pan, adds the cheese, throws on some tabasco and ketchup and then gives a wave to everyone. "Can't miss my programs," he says, at a loss for what else to say. "Good seein' y'all"
Julie nods to Remy, as, well, there's no help there, and heads off to the other two girls, glancing over for a cue. "I guess if you guys need me, I'll be around. Probably I'll be in the garage a bit."
Sophie doesn't mean to be rude by not acknowledging Remy's departure. It's just that, at the moment, she's rather focused on trying to help Lorna. "You're welcome," she replies softly to her greenette friend. "Cry, or laugh, or do whatever you need to. If you want to go down to the Danger Room and take out your anger on some poor defenseless targets, I'll be happy to run it for you. Whatever you need, you need only ask. If it is within my power, it will be so."
Julie gives Sophie a little salute, and slips out.
Lorna sniffled again, offering glance and a nod toward Xi'an as the woman departed. A faint watery smile still on her lips. Then her gaze was shifting toward Remy and she rubbed her nose and looked as if she'd say something, but the man was already out of the kitchen. She sighed, and gave Sophie's hand a faint squeeze. Even as Julie too made to depart. "Okay." She whispered, and then lapsed into silence.
Which was only broken by Sophie's words. She shook her head slowly, rubbing at her eyes that still prickled with tears. "..I'll try to remember that." A pause followed and she made to let go of the hand gripping her own. "But I think I'm going to lie down for a while. Everything just makes me tired these days.." She rose and too made to leave the kitchen.