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Lorna sat in the back watching a game of pool being played by a man with a few extra arms with purple skin against another man with feathers instead of hair on his head. She held a glass of beer in one hand while she floated a handful of darts above the other. A dart board was leveled up above the pool table, and she took her time in lobbing the steel projectiles.
The green haired mutant looked utterly comfortable and at home there. She fit in the rest of the crowd, leather jacket, jeans and a pair of boots. No one gave her a second glance, not even much of a smile either. She wasn't there to make friends and rather prefered that people left her alone in general.
Though from time to time someone would challenge her to darts, they'd lose almost every time. And walk away a little poorer for their efforts.
Having not gotten a good first impression of Mutant Town, most people would have returned to the safety of the mansion and not come back out without friends.
Seeing as Clarice has no friends - this makes the decision to return a lot easier. Walking into the bar, the magenta hued mutant has a form-fitting t-shirt of green on, a jacket pulled on with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows, and a pair of capri jeans as she takes in the bar.
It takes her a moment to notice the green-haired mutant that assisted her yesterday, and pulling her hair back over her ears, the young woman grins as she makes her way across the bar to where she sits. "Hey. Got the kid home. When I came back, you and upsy daisy boy had blown the scene. Heat finally show up?"
Lorna glanced up as the magneta skinned mutant strolled over and she shot her a grin and gestured with her hand still occupied with a beer to the space near her. "No. Like I said, cops won't show up unless there's a reason to get a few freaks. And you dumped those kids well enough away that there's nothing for them to find. Though we'll likely see some nasty newspaper articles in the next few days." She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink.
"I took to watching the other streets in. If there's one gang of kids there's always another. They like that whole traveling in packs thing. Mob mentality. Next time they might bring some guns. Wouldn't that be fun?" She mused, arching a brow and tilting her head back.
"You did pretty well for your first visit to Mutant Town."
Dropping into the chair next to Lorna, Clarice waves for a beer of her own before she gives a little chuckle. "..where I'm from, some humans pushing around a kid would be a walk in the park." she admits with a certain dryness as she gives her bare arm a slight rub. "And bad press is a lot better than an all out assault." There's a shrug of her shoulders.
"You do it by yourself, or was the guy with you a friend?" she asks curiously before she chews on her lip. "You were mentioning that there was some others that gave you a hard time for your powers?" As the beer arrives, she considers and draws from it. "Considering that you control metal - I doubt it would be very fun for them." Her smile is slow at that.
Lorna shrugged, "I've gotten fed up with people burning mutants alive in buildings, or shooting them up in a riot. Took me far too long to get to that point. I'm late to that party." She sipped at her drink, crossing her legs and sending the remaining dart through the air with a wave of her hand. It landed dead center, and stayed there with a thump.
"Enough bad press with sway minds. It's difficult to say how much people will take before the fear sets in and we get another riot or attack on mutants." She frowned faintly, and glanced back to Clarice, hitching a green eyebrow upwards.
"It's mostly just me. I haven't seen other powerful mutants out and about recently around here. And since the Brotherhood went to ground, or retired.. this place needed another to step up. There's too many lower level mutants here that need the help."
There's a small flash of green energy and Clarice flicks her finger, sending the small dart of green to collide with Lorna's dart in the center, and the dart blinks back into existance on the table. Laziest game of darts ever.
"Where I came from.. it is different. The mutants ruled. But not all mutants were free. Those that were strong overwhelmed those that were weak. And those that were weak were culled - their genetic material pulled apart to make the strong only stronger." she says simply, glancing towards the dart board for a moment.
"Those that did not join willingly were made slaves - their DNA pulled to be used as well. Their bodies.." The gentle tightening of her fingers speaks volumes. "I would not want to see the same happening here. In either way - those of this world that are considered weak or different to be ground underboot - or to be used to strengthen others in a way they have no say in." She frowns.
"I do not wish you the things that I have seen, Lorna. And will do my part to make sure they do not happen here." Picking up the dart, she flings it at the dartboard. She doesn't use her abilities, but it sticks in the bullseye, a testament of her own abilities and accuracy.
Lorna fell silent as Clarice spoke, her eyebrows climbing upwards as the other mutant flung an impossible dart at the board and it vanished. Though it was more the woman's words that had Lorna twisting around to eye her critically. "Where are you from? I've never heard of anything like that." She murmured, her voice low as she held her beer glass with a slight shift of her grip.
"What do you mean, this world?" She tilted her head to the side, she had a few guesses to what Clarice meant, but wasn't entirely sure about saying them outloud.
"Just throwing it out there, whatever it is, I believe you. I've seen some shit and I'm not going to think you're crazy. Trust me on that, I've been told I am plenty of times."
"Not from around here. My Earth was on the verge of destruction, and I somehow… was sent here." Clarice glances down into her beer. "Those I cared for most do not recognize me. Those that I helped are probably dead. We were.. trying to stop a nuclear assault when I was sent away. Humanity's last desperate gambit to stop a mutant that had nearly conquered the planet." Quietly commented, the dart is forgotten about. "I arrived at a mansion that was destroyed. Met a man long dead that inspired the dream of my mentor. And a planet that stands on the same cusp that my own once did."
She draws in a breath, then takes a long long drink from her beer, drinking it almost like water. "I have never had a beer. Mister Lenhsherr only allowed the older members to drink. And Mister Creed was worried it would dull my abilities." she says with a dry smile. "I can hear them scolding me in my head right now."
Lorna listened with care, following along with an interested expression. She didn't interupt, though a few thousand questions burst in her expression and danced on her tongue. She waited, politely. The last part however, at the name 'Mister Lenhsherr' had Lorna nearly choking on her beer and sputtering. The drink splashed down the front of her shirt and she swore furiously.
"Lenhsherr? Erik Lenhsherrr? Magneto?" She reached for a napkin dispenser, patting down her shirt.
"Wait, my father was in your world? Mansion.. you don't mean the Xavier Mansion?" She blinked, gaping at the other young woman.
While plenty of guys would enjoy the impromptu wet-tshirt, Clarice grins, though she's quick to try to help with napkins as well. Though her own cheeks darken the magenta of her skin, giving her an almost glow to her skin. "Your father? I.. I don't recall meeting you." she admits quietly. It doesn't mean that means that Lorna didn't exist, just that Clarice never met the green-haired woman.
She takes another draw from her beer, trying to wait for the other woman to calm down. "Your father in my world led the resistance against those mutants that were trying to destroy the world. He upheld the beliefs of Xavier's dream of co-existance between humans and mutants - though by the time I was old enough - and had been rescued from the slave pens, it was no longer co-existance, it was to defend what was left of humanity."
Lorna grimaced as she shook her shirt out, grumbling a bit under her breath about how she'd smell like a drunkard. At least the glares she aimed at a few of the guy's in the immediate area kept the catcalls to a minimum. Her gaze returned to Clarice as the mutant helped her clean up her spill and when that was handled, Lorna settled back. Still shaking out her shirt in hopes it might dry faster.
"My dad was a hero? That's .. that's so cool." She smiled weakly, and heaved a sigh. "He kinda just.. hunts Nazis here. The Professor is still alive. Has that whole thing running upstate. They're good friends. When my father is still around that is." Her lips thinned and she reached for her drink again to down the rest of it.
"He kinda has a habit of abandoning people here."
"Xavier died before I was born on my world. I can see why he was inspiring." Clarice says simply. "Even if he seems shorter in person." There's a slight tease in her voice as she grins at Lorna as she glares at the catcallers. "I'll keep my own oogling to a minimum." she says with a sharp grin before she turns her attention back to her drink. "The last real hero, honestly. No Captain America, Spider-Man.. all these people I read about here. They were all gone." A shake of her head, and she's downing the rest of her beer.
"Though I'm not going to suggest we go kill Xavier to get your father to change his habits." she points out with a smirk. "By the time I met him, he already had started another family. Oh gosh.." she asks, brows lifting. "…is Pietro here?"
Lorna laughed lightly, and waved for a new drink from a waitress that circulated around the bar and came over to make sure all was well. The green haired mutant returned her gaze to Clarice, and some of her humor faded. "You've been up that way then?" She hooked an eyebrow upwards. "How is everyone over there?" Her expression contorted with concern.
"I used to go to school up there.. till.. well I had a mental episode and dropped out to put it lightly." She grimaced and scratched the back of her neck. As the other mutant woman continued however, she blinked.
"Yeah, my brother is around somewhere. He's never in one place long."
"I popped out of this world's Illyana's spell at the school, yes." Clarice responds, setting down the empty mug before picking up a few peanuts to consider them. "I haven't been back since talking to the Professor. I wanted to explore a little.. because the last time I saw a world that was whole.. and not at war, I was a very young child." she admits quietly.
"There's a lot I need to experience. Learn. Understand. This isn't a world at war. At least not all out. It's a quiet war, small in scale. Cold, I guess. The prejuidices are still there. But it's not the same. It's not the idea of joining with Apocalypse or perishing as a member of the weak. It's.. different. And it takes getting used to." For a moment, tears form at the corners of her eyes. "I wish they could see it. I wish I had stayed to help. I didn't want to come here. But here I am."
Lorna shifted on the bench, carefully balancing her drink on her lap this time as she listened. Then she exhaled a breath. "I know someone that might be able to help send you back if you really want to. He trained Illyana in magic. Though, from what you've said.. it might not be such a good idea. Nukes and all the rest. Though I know it can't be easy to be separated from everything you've known. Everyone you've known." She exhaled a breath.
"This world always feels like it's a breath away from something horrible. It's been getting progressively worse for Mutants. Our president got murdered last year. Ice giants from Asgard invaded. We've dealt with aliens and Gods. Guys with ties to the government, labcoats and funding kidnap mutants and experiment on us." Her voice tightened and she took a sip of her drink.
"And every so often a massacre happens. People get up in arms for all of a few days and go back to their lives."
Reaching over for a moment, Clarice squeezes Lorna's hand, the magenta skinned mutant trying to comfort the green haired mutant for a moment before withdrawing her hand. Then she considers. "Imagine a massacre. Every day. Somewhere in the world. Chicago. Seattle. Cleveland. Dubai. Moscow. Everywhere. And when you arrive.. it was almost always too late."
"Mutants kidnapping each other to experiment to better themselves." she offers quietly, before she draws in a breath. "…nevermind, I doubt you want to go through the whole night trying to burn you down to bore with the details of a war we're never going to see. Hopefully."
Lorna shrugged, and offered a faint hint of a smile at the comforting squeeze. "Yeah, your world does sound like shit. We've got TV still, and milkshakes. So there's that. I imagine a world that has that kind of death doesn't have time for those things." Her voice a forced lightness.
"Here we just have a bunch of bigots and racists. Nothing to that point yet. And hey, we still have the Professor. So, good on us. Yay." She raised her hand occupied with her beer in a mocking cheer and took another sip.
"Worst guy I've ever had to face was Mojo from another dimension and all he wanted was violent TV."
"Yeah. Definetly will keep you out of my head." Clarice says with a laugh. "I'd rather deal with bigots and racists instead of an overpowered super being spouting about how we're weak for defending humanity and spouting about how we're all inferior." she murmurs quietly as she looks down into her mug. "Okay. Something stronger than beer needed." comes the response as she lifts her gaze to Lorna. "So, we should gossip about something else?" she asks quietly. "Like. Who you're dating or something?" Change of subject awkwardly offered!
Well, if the change in subject was meant to be cheering, it wasn't. Lorna's expression shut up and closed off more rapidly than a door swinging shut in a hurricane. She leaned back, away and chugged back the rest of her beer. Which to say, was almost the whole damn thing. "No. I don't particularly want to deal with someone yelling that I'm fucking crazy these days. So I don't date anymore." She muttered tersely.
"Can we go back to talking about how shitty the world is? Because I prefer that right now." She pursed her lips and lifted a hand. The darts flying off the board returned to her hand in a snap of power that left the air smelling faintly of the steel as her powers pried deeper into them than strictly necesssary.
"Note taken. Not that I think you're crazy. I mean, I'd have a long way to go to consider you crazy." Clarice shrugs. "After all, told my story to anyone else, I'd already he in the nuthouse in a form fitting jacket that does nothing to my figure." she comments with a smirk as she takes in the scent. A small portal appears to snag a bottle of whiskey from the bar to teleport it to the table.
"I'll pay for it in a moment!" she calls out before she turns her attention back to Lorna.
Lorna exhaled a breath. "I've got some .. ticks I guess. Shit that just sets me off. Boys are one of those. So are men in labcoats. And a long list of other shit." She set the glass of her emptied glass down and scratched the back of her head. "And yeah, I've seen enough of the world being crazy to know that there's a ton of other things out there. I tend to believe people when they say otherwise crazy shit." She grinned weakly and sat back.
The darts starting to fly back up to the dart board with a smacking sound.
Lorna and Clarice are sitting in a back corner of the bar, chatting while the pair of them play darts, with two empty beer mugs on their table, and a half-empty bottle of whiskey. When Lorna 'throws' the darts, Clarice's own gars fly out, snagging the darts out of mid-air and smacking them all off target. The young woman can't help but to grin at her own mischief before she laughs.
"Hey, at least you dated. Choices are sort of limited when you're down to the last remnants of humanity. And what's left is already joining with each other like rabbid rabbits." she offers with a roll of her eyes when she pours some whiskey into her glass to tug upon.
Speaking of crazy shit… well, granted, she doesn't stand out as much around here as she does most places, but Delphyne walks in with nary a look from the bouncer. Her 'hair' is worn loose, the snakes hissing and peeking around her as she goes over to the bar, saying to the bartender, "Ouzo, if you please." The gorgon's eyes flicker over towards Lorna and Clarice, tilting her head a bit as she watches them with the darts. Not necessarily the powers, so much as the intent of the game.
Lorna arched a brow, the front of her shirt still drying from having been accidentally covered in beer. A leather jacket still slung over her shoulders and a pair of beaten boots match it. She in general, looked more like a street thug or wanna be greaser from the '50s. But no one seemed interested in messing either young woman. Though Lorna started to fling the darts around in more wild and strange ways to try to avoid Clarice's own special brand of darts.
"Gives a new meaning to that whole 'I wouldn't date you even if you were the last man on earth', thing." She laughed weakly and dragged a hand over her features. Her other hand lifted up to balance the gathered darts that hovered in the air around her.
"My first boyfriend had his butler dump me. And as far as I'm concerned, he's the only one worth mentioning anymore." She drawled and flicked another dart into the air.
"or last girl on earth." Clarice adds with a laugh. As Lorna starts to manipulating the darts around, the young magenta mutant starts to manipulate her gars to try to fling them to teleport the darts back to the board. That is until one of the darts lands at the feet of Delphyne. Glancing over, the elfin mutant blinks and wows softly. "…I thought green hair was pretty unique." she points out, lifting a hand to the gorgon in a wave.
Let the strangest looking people in the place of strange people sit together, right? Though Clarice can't help but to stare a little in awe at the girl's arrival. Okay, she's been ursurped as the most unusual tonight.
Delphyne looks curiously at the dart, picking it up, "An unusual weapon… though it appears this is meant to be target practice, not actual combat?" Her accent is thick and vaguely Greek, though not quite, and she smiles a little over at Clarice, "I hope I would not be interrupting?" When the woman's ouzo arrives, she takes it and walks over towards the other two ladies.
Lorna snickered under her breath, "Yeah I guess," Then she trailed off as Clarice's attention shifted to the new 'mutant' that entered the bar with snakes for her hair. She paused, glancing back to Clarice. "I dunno, never thought green was all that impressive. But you're the second person in a week to think it's pretty cool. So I guess that's worth not buying hair dye." She murmured.
Then her attention turned toward the approaching, snake haired woman and she smiled faintly. "Yeah, they won't let me bring in knives like I usually prefer. So I leave 'em at home. This is just a game." She nodded toward the empty chair still near to Clarice and her. "Not interupting, no. If you want a seat you're welcome."
There's a roll of Clarice's eyes. "Polaris. I'm magenta. With pink hair. I couldn't hide my appearance if I wanted to." she says, reaching to tap the points of her ears. The tattoos just add to it. "There's nothing to be ashamed of for being who you are. And you look nice. Apparently nice enough that butlers dump you." she adds with a small smirk.
When Delphyne arrives, she gestures. "I'm Clarice, that's Polaris. We were just.. well, playing, yes, is a good word for it. And talking about making a difference around here, since the local authorities don't seem to be all that interested."
|ROLL| Delphyne +rolls 1d20 for: 7
Delphyne smiles over at Lorna, "Nice color on the hair." She then looks over at Clarice, "I'm Delphyne. And what sort of difference were you looking to make?" At the mention of the darts being a game, Del takes the dart she's holding, and looks at the board. After a moment to aim, she throws the dart, which lands right in the '7' section. With that she frowns a bit, "I must be out of practice. My apologies if that was not part of the play."
Lorna gathered up the rest of the darts and set them on the table before her. "Thanks. It's nice to meet you, Delphyne. And you did just fine, try more for the center. You can pick up where I left off." She stood and pulled out a few bucks to pay for her beers.
"It was nice to hang with you Clarice too. I gotta go take a look around the streets. Make sure that there's no new trouble makers looking for an easy target. That's the difference I'm working on right now." She smiled again, shoving her hands into her pockets.
"Take care of yourselves. And Clarice, if you need a place to stay down here, let me know. I've got crash space."
"See you later, Lorna, I'll keep it in mind." Clarice watches the green haired mutant leave and turns her attention to the reptiled haired one as she reaches for her whisky to take a sip from it. "Technically, yes, that's the way to play it. We were just.. powering it up a bit." she offers with a little smile, a blush darkening her magenta cheeks slightly. "Wasn't trying to hit you, though. That was just a happy accident. Nice to meet you Delphyne." Her smile warms by a few degrees. She's already had a couple of beers. "We were just grousing about the world, men, the usual stuff. She doesn't think that the…"
Drawing in a breath, she shakes her head. "That the police here are going to do enough to help. And the super hero teams are more interested in the global stuff than the local mutants that may need their help. After last night, I can understand that in a way." she admits quietly, looking across with her bright green eyes to the green girl. "I mean, we stand out. We should do something with it, right?"
Delphyne nods slightly, "I have been working as an… investigator, of sorts." She smiles and looks over at Clarice, "I have to admit, I'm still a little puzzled by men. They seem odd, more often than not." Which is to imply she doesn't normally deal with them. But that's just a little weird, isn't it?
There's a chuckle. "Polaris has sworn off men.. me, well, I've had limited options." She shrugs as Clarice tucks some strands of hair behind her ear. "Were you born like that? I mean, I was born like this, so please don't be offended. I'm just curious. People talk about getting their changes at puberty, I only got extra powers - I was born well.. pink."
Delphyne laughs softly, "I was born like this… for me, it is a matter of heritage." She grins slightly, "I have met very few men worthy of my time. But then, I haven't even seen men before coming to this place." Her lips curl a bit as she looks curiously at Clarice, "But why would I be offended? I mean, this is who I am."
"I don't know. Some people are." Clarice admits. "I mean, I'm not ashamed or offended by what I look like or who I am. I can totally rock a swimsuit." she says with a laugh. "At least the few times I've tried." she shrugs her shoulders, as she considers her. "What would you consider worthy?" she asks curiously.
Delphyne hmms, "Well, I suppose it would be someone that is… interesting. From multiple aspects. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally." She throws a dart with each word, her aim getting remarkably better as she seems to have a fair amount of hand-eye coordination.
"Sounds like high standards." Clarice says with a grin, before forming a small green portal that guides pops one of the darts off it's target and then pops back into the bullseye. Her smile to Delphyne is pure innocence as she lifts her glass to sip her whisky. "I don't think I know any guys that meet all those. Though I suppose I'm notthe authority on that either. And Polaris was dumped via butler. So that was a sore subject for her."
Delphyne shakes her head, "Dumped via butler… well, it could be worse, I suppose. Though I'm not quite sure how exactly it would be." She gives Clarice a wry look, "So you aren't from around here either, then?"
"Dumped via messenger? Dumped via.. uh. Singing telegram?" Clarice offers lamely and smiles a little more. "Yeah. Not around here is putting it lightly." she admits as she returns Delphyne's smile as she glances at the bottle. "Okay. So that's why they didn't let me drink. I'm a terribly drunk." she says with a laugh.
Delphyne smiles a bit, "Well, I think it's rather charming. But that might be me." She glances curiously at the bottle, "Though I have prefered ouzo, or wine… but I didn't think they'd have wine here at this place." She hmms and regards the pink woman with a curious expression.
"Never had wine. Barely existed where I was from." Delphyne's comment causes Clarice to blush further, but she glances towards the bottle a little more. Then she realizes that she's being stared at a little, looking herself over. "Is something amiss?" she asks. She didn't get beer spilled on her by Polaris earlier. Yes, her shirt does show off her curves a little more. And her capris show scandalous ankle.
Delphyne hmms, "Not one thing, as far as I can tell." She smiles a little, averting her gaze as she says, "Apologies, I didn't mean to embarrass you." She shrugs a little, looking somewhat sheepish.
"You.. you didn't." Clarice admits and grins a little more boldly. "But I think I need some fresh air. Would you like to go for a walk?" she asks, reaching into her purse to take out some bills to pay for her drinks. "We can discuss Polaris' idea some more.. or.. something." she trails off, a little more daring in her smile.
Delphyne smile back, "I wouldn't mind that at all. A walk would be good." She chuckles, "I am somewhat curious about this idea that your friend has." Though, her eyes perk up a little bit at the 'or something.'