1964-10-18 - Knock Next Time!
Summary: Clarice comes portaling into Lorna's home. The two bond over memories of Magneto.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
clarice-ferguson lorna 


The townhouse on the outskirts of Mutant Town was nice. It was down right swanky on the outside. Clean, neat brownstone and a lawn that had been clipped at some point in the past month. It was trimmed with a deep burgundy along the edges and had beautiful iron-work railings going up the front stoop. Matching iron-worked flower boxes sat at each window, though the flowers had long since been removed for winter's approach.

There was even a nicely painted, matching garage, where doubtlessly a nice car was parked inside. The backyard was fenced off with more decorative wrought iron work around a wooden fence that cut off a view to the back.

It hadn't been Lorna's house to begin with, but her father's. Still, now it was more or less her's. Her father had up and left in the middle of the night. A small note giving her access to a bank account and permission to take what she needed, as well as use of the house until his return—whenever that would be.

Inside was just as neat and tidy… or should've been. Clearly it used to be a townhouse that was well cared for with a military precision. Now it was taken care of by a mutant with insomina and a bad attitude. There were signs where the plaster had been punched through by a stray steel beam, wires, or pipes. All of which had been patched over with a plate of scrap metal smoothed over it. There were no working electronics either— the tv had been shorted out weeks ago, the telephone was a mess of wires…


Arriving by taxi outside the address that Lorna provided, Clarice had avoided blinking for the most part. She was a little dizzy, a little tipsy - and a lot of loud. Coming up to the door, she knocks on it. "Lorna!~" she calls out. "Lemme in, it's late, and I need you to lend me your comb. It's time to go home, I must confess, my hair's a mess…" she's singing along with the Beatles song in her head. Before she realizes it, she ohs. And just blinks herself to the other side of the door.

"Nevermind." she offers with a giggle as she starts to explore the front rooms, shushing herself when she bumps into a table. "Oops." she murmurs, as she looks around. "Wow. She really does know how to throw a proper fit. Daddy would be proud."


The knives in the kitchen all danced into the air for a brief moment, as Lorna rounded the corner, ready and waiting to attack whoever came into the house. And boy were those sharp. But nothing further happened when Lorna finally caught sight of the portal'ing mutant. Instead she waved a hand and all the sharp and pointy objects went back to their proper places.

"You do realize if I wasn't already awake, that I could've really hurt you by accident yeah? Warn a girl next time." She muttered, tramping over to Clarice.

"Knock or something." She grumbled, dragging her hand through her hair. She wore a loose fitting T-shirt of dark, verdant green, and a pair of blue jeans. Her feet were bare and her hair was a tangled mess.


"I knocked!" Clarice protests before she gives Lorna a hug. "Sorry. Didn't know where else to go. And the squares at the mansion would have all made faces at me coming in after tied one on too many." she murmurs. At least she didn't have to go teleporting around knives. There's a smile offered to Lorna and she taps her nose. "You bailed on me."

Pulling back, she folds her hands in front of her. "Sorry for scarying you." comes the apology as she clears her throat. "I don't think I ever drank that much before."


Lorna laughed lightly at Clarice's explanation, all seemingly forgiven. "Yeah, well give me half an hour and I can get as drunk as you so at least we're both having fun. My dad left me a fully stocked cabinet. Never mind that the basement has some wine in there that's older than dirt." She grinned, at least her father had good taste. She hadn't wrecked the wine cellar either.

"But I get what you mean, I got lectured quite a bit before for comin' in late and drunk." She dragged a hand through her hair again, trying in vain to straighten it before returning Clarice's hug lightly.

"And I didn't bail. I told you, someone has to keep eyes out on the streets."


"Nope. One of us have to be the adult, cause I might do something stupid." Clarice points out as she looks around the place and reaches up after a moment to smoothe Lorna's hair. "Bed head." she teases as she steps away and heads towards the living area. "So. Couch. You have one, right? I can just crash on it." There's a grin in her voice as she removes her jacket to set it aside.

"Are the streets safe? Can you let your guard down a little?" she asks, turning her empty green eyes up to the magnetic manipulator. "Can I let mine down?"


Lorna rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling. She hadn't had anyone to hang out with in well over a month. She'd been so isolated. The stark difference in just having someone else in the house was almost jarring. "Yeah. Living room's in here. Can't say that the couch is all that plush. My father went for taste of style rather than say, comfort. It's this ugly purple-y red thing, leather with these polished brass tacks on the sides of the armrests. I bang by elbow on it every time." She drawled, leaving Clarice to the living room.

"But we've got plenty of blankets and I can stack those up so it's more comfortable." The living room was almost out of a catalogue. All hardwood polished with care. It smelled faintly of pine. There was a coffee table made of twisted iron with a glass top. Velvet curtains blocked out the view of the street from the big bay window. And the opposite wall was covered in thick leather bound books.

The lone TV sat opposite of the couch. Off and dead and grey.


"I'm well aware of your father's taste. He liked the red and purple where I'm from too. All menancingy. Or something. It off-set Rogue's green and yellow pretty well." Clarice offers with a shrug as she wanders into the living room after Lorna. Taking it all in, she sighs a little. "It's like.. being back there. In happier times, I mean." she says quietly as she moves to sit on the couch and leans against it.

Remember when she asked if she could let her guard down? Now that she's settled, she lowers her head, her face obscured by her mop of dark magenta hair, and she pulls in on herself. The tears come easily to pupil-less eyes as she starts to sob gently. "Why me? Why did they send me here, Lorna?" she asks quietly, not even sure of herself. "I wanted to help. Even if we lost.. I was with them."


Lorna blinked "Rogue's? Huh?" She tilted her head to the side, clearly not understanding what Clarice meant by an off-set of colors. Did Rogue have something to do with the decore of the mansion? She never struck Lorna as the type to care. Strange. Still, the news that her father in another world still liked the same colors and was as Raven had put it 'dramatic as a Queen' made her smirk. "He likes capes here too, if that means anything to you." She offered.

Then of course, Clarice was breaking down on her couch and Lorna shot forward on her toes to settle down beside the tearful mutant. "Hey, hey, shh.. Sh.. If your world was as bad off as you say, then maybe they were trying to protect you. To save you. To save someone so that someone could tell their stories. Could remember them." She patted Clarice's back gently, her brows furrowed.

"Besides, I thought you said Illyana accidentally brought you through?"


"Totally had a huge cape." Clarice offers through sniffles and leans over to press against Lorna in a hug. She's the closest link to him, and right now, she's going to cling to it.

After a few moments, she pulls away. "Apparently I'm a terrible drunk." she murmurs quietly. "I didn't mean to come in here and blubber all over you. Just wanted.. to.." she stares up at the other green eyed girl and glances away. "Stupid. Probably just stupid drunk." she says with a laugh. "…Illyana there.. she's the one. No accident. This world's Illyana says she'd done the same if she felt strongly for someone."


Lorna patted Clarice's back again gently, and with a look of concentration, waved her hand. A door opened somewhere down the hall, and a tissue box wrapped in iron came floating out and into her out stretched hand. "Hey, I got made fun of by the Brotherhood 'cause my father's love of capes. They called him a drama queen." She joked lightly, and offered the tissue box to Clarice, sans the iron cover that decorated the outside.

"And you haven't seen me drunk. So don't worry about it. I'm far worse. I blew up a lamp once."


Taking the tissues, Clarice sighs, and dabs at her face. "He had the best capes." she counters, shaking her head. "It went over his shoulders and sorta draped around him. Me, I didn't do capes well." she manages.

"Didn't mean to come over and dump on you." she offers again before the young woman leans back on the couch. "You're my first friend here. Delphyne's my second. Thanks." she murmurs quietly.


Lorna chuckled softly, and patted Clarice's shoulder, giving it a parting sleeve. A smirk pulle at her lips as she stood up. "I can snag his stuff and you can tell me if it looks right, yeah? I mean, I'm way shorter and no where near as broad. But hey, it could work." She tilted her hands up toward the ceiling, her hair lifting up in a magnetic corona around her head. And it became clear why the green haired mutant had mussed up hair.

Then came a banging sound, once, twice, a thump and then from up the stairs and downwards came pieces of armor all red and purple plates. Of course there wasn't an exact helmet, that had gone with Magneto. But Lorna had her own version that had been made sometime ago. The cape came too, held in place by several armored clasps and in no time the oversized outfit was settling on her shoulders.

The green haired mutant grinned and then lifted up into the air a few inches on her toes, giving at least some false sense of height. "So, how's it look?"


Sitting up after leaning for a moment into the touch, Clarice looks confused for a moment, but when Lorna returns, the magenta mutant blinks up at Lorna.

And then she breaks into a fit of giggles. "Mister Lenhsherr!" she says with a cheer before she bounces to her feet. Coming over to Lorna, she tugs the cape a little and peers up into that helmet. "Dunno. Think you're cuter without it." she points out with a small giggle.


Lorna floated up in the air, the cape billowing in the magnetic currents that wafted and spun around her. It was all very dramatic. No wonder her father ran around with it when he was fighting things. It was rather groovy. She grinned and reached up a hand to lift the faux-helmet off her head, letting it bob in the air above her. "My father made me learn how to make the metals bond on a molecular level before he was pleased with my attempts at forging stuff. This was my first attempt." She winked and the metal all flew off her in a twirl and settled back down to the floor.

"I made it based on his armor to annoy him. Didn't work. He laughed."


"He is always so serious. I mean.. I understood why." Clarice admits as she slips her hands back against Lorna's to give hers a squeeze. "I'm sorry yours left you." The offer is sincere before she starts to withdraw again, heat touching her cheeks. "I'm glad I found you though." With that, she's starting her retreat back to the couch, but not before grabbing the cape. Blanket acquired.


Lorna nodded as her feet touched back to the ground and she let Clarice snatch the cloak. It wasn't like she needed the security blanket—what she needed was the magnetic blanket that her father always had around him. That they shared. That was her security blanket, and she knew it was roughly on the other side of the world at the moment. Too far out of reach to be a comfort.

"Yeah, I know. He went through a lot. I mean, he lost my grandparents.. his sister… everyone. It's why he was so protective of me at first. When he found out that I existed, mind you." She exhaled a breath. "He does this sometimes though. Goes off for months without telling anyone why or where or when he'll be back." She wrinkled her nose, making a face.

"I hate it." It was the first time he'd broken a promise to her. To stay and be in her life and to help her.. It hurt.

The green haired girl forced a smile though, and nodded back to the couch. "You hungry? I've got stuff I can snag for you."


"I'm sorry he let you down." Clarice offers. "I won't do that, if I can help." she murmurs. When there comes the question about food, the young woman shook her head. She moved to kick off her shoes, and curled beneath the blanket. "Thank you. For everything." she whispers quietly and moves in on herself.

Before either of them know it, the magenta mutant is asleep, getting her first true sleep for the first time since arriving in this world.


Lorna shrugged and dragged her hand through her mussed up hair again. "Don't hold yourself up on me, Clarice. I'm pretty messed up. And I'm not really good at having friends. I'll let you down. It's in my genes." She grimaced and checked over the other mutant once or twice, making sure there was enough at least pillow and blanket wise for her.

"And you're welcome." She murmured, softly, as Clarice slipped into sleep.


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