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Mutant Town. Clarice actually feels more comfortable here than she does in most places, simply because it reminds her a little of the borough of Miami she lived in before Apocalypse arrived on her Earth. Dressed in a breezy cable knit cable that hugs her chest, and a loose cotton skirt, she smiles over at Xi'an as the pair of them walk. "She said that she used to go to the Institute, and she helped me out when I first got here. Thank you for coming with me to meet her.. I mean.. she's my friend and you're.. way more than that, but it's important for friends to meet friends, right?"
Xi'an replies "I don't mind at all." She's a little more concerned with the neighborhood than Clarice might be, but she's trying to play it down. "I'm sure everything is going to be fine." She's in jeans, sneakers, t-shirt.
Bobby would be walking Lorna home, having been front and center for that massive mess a day ago. Walking with her hand in hand, he gives her concerned looks time and again, but mostly it's good conversation. "You took a good bullet….are you sure you're alright?" he asks probably for about the third time. He's wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, a Dark Blue t-shirt, tenneshoes, and a black beanie with a white sun on the front.
Lorna walked along side Bobby, looking more than a little grumpy. Shadows ringed the edges of her eyes, she hadn't slept well (if at all last night). Bobby would've had his hands full with trying to get her to go home. She kept wanting to go back out, wanting to make sure tht Mutant Town was safe from further incursions. That someone had to stand up and make sure everything was fine.
Of course, with her exhaustion, and how very frazzled she was over the incident… She did doubt her ability to get her powers to work in the first place.
"I'm fine, I got healed. It's fine." There was a hole in her leather jacket in the upper part of the sleeve, but other than that— there were dark bruises beneath and she definitely favored the arm.
"You look nervous. It's okay.." Clarice offers, smiling a bit. It's kind of a table turn from her freak out at Coney Island. "…I mean, I can teleport us away in a heartbeat if something goes wrong." she considers, about to say more when she spots Lorna's familiar green locks and the pink and magenta mutant waves her hand towards the woman. "Lorna!" she calls out, tugging Xi'an gently to follow her.
"It's not that. I—" And then Clarice is waving and calling out. She reins in whatever commentary she was about to make, and moves to follow the magenta girl over towards the other two.
Bobby would nod a little to Lorna, realizing her strong desire to return back to Mutant Town. But he keeps stopping her "Lorna, don't worry…Mutant Town's fine. We left it in good hands." meaning ravager, Thea and the like. but he sighs a bit. "alright alright, I'll stop asking. I worry is all. it's in good hands. Let's get you home so yo ucan sleep. I've noticed you haven't been." he gives her a little nudge before he turns to Clarice as she calls out.
Lorna made a grumbling noise, rubbing her hair back from her face. "Well it's not my fault that baselines keep causing trouble and I have to stay out later.." She muttered. Clearly not wanting to talk about the whole 'not sleeping' thing. She glanced up as Clairce approached and waved toward her, a faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
"Hey Clarice." Her green eyes settled on Xi'an and she blinked. "Hey. Long time no see."
"Then what.." When Lorna responded, Clarice looks between Xi'an and Lorna curiously for a moment and the pink girl blushes. "Well, I guess you two know each other." She steps a little closer to Xi'an, perhaps in protection before she grins. "I was wanting to introduce you - suppose that's not needed." Though her attention turns to Sunspot. "Hi, I'm Clarice."
Xi'an smiles. "You can't live at that house and end up not knowing each other all over the place. How's everything going, you two?" She says, as her eyes flick over Lorna's condition. She doesn't call attention to it, though, concern notwithstanding.
Bobby looks on over to Clarice, smiling warmly to her and extending his free hand "Hi, names Roberto, but most people call me Bobby." he shoots Lorna a small smile there, before looking over to Xi'an "Hello there." he nods a few times, before he looks back to Lorna. "Well I know it sure as hell ain't, but don't worry alright?"
Lorna dragged her hands over her face, and slowed her steps to gesture to the house a few doors down. It was a lovely townhouse, well kept from the outside. "Someone has to worry." She grumbled at Bobby, "Why don't we all go inside, yeah?" She sighed and lead the way toward the front stoop.
"And yeah, the school is big, but it's not that big. It's impossible to stay there and not run into people." Her voice dropped and she glanced down, grimacing faintly. "I'm okay otherwise. How are both of you? Did you guys run into any trouble on your way here?"
"No trouble. Blinked in about a block away." Clarice says with a shrug after offering a smile to Roberto. "Nice to meet you, Roberto. This is Xi'an." the young woman introduces the other woman with her. Though as Lorna grimaced, the pink-hued mutant frowns a little deeper, losing the smile. "…is something wrong? What happened?"
Bobby just sighed at Lorna, "alright, let's go inside." he agrees, before he looks over at CLarice "Mutant Town was attacked the other day by four hoodlums." he states simply. What? they outta know. "someone's bringing trouble, and I'm going to burn them to a crisp if they come back." he says protectively.
Lorna glanced back toward Clarice, her brows furrowing. "A couple of baselines showed up with a van and started throwing rocks. Bunch of religious nut jobs. Some people got hurt. The cops were all over." She muttered, her lips pursing together.
Still, she flashed a smile toward Clarice, "I'm still worried. But I'm glad you guys portaled in safe and away from it all." She exhaled a breath, and climbed the stairs of the front stoop, waving her hand to unlock the door and step inside. The door of course, would shut behind all of them. Clarice had been there, and had even seen the patch jobs on the walls where Lorna had covered up the plaster that had been broken with pipes or other bits of metal that had blasted through in the middle of the night.
Bobby followed Lorna through the door she had opened for them, and would cross his arms lightly "….I'm sorry I've been protective." he looks away then before he has a coughing fit, doubling over a little bit as he coughs into his hand for a few seconds and leaning against the wall. Though eventually he'd be fine after a few seconds, he would take that time to breathe a little. "sorry….not infectious…side effect of labcoats." he grins at her a little.
"Nice place though."
The Townhouse clearly was decorated in a tasteful manner, all the furniture was obviously expensive, and well cared for. Oddly though all the picture frames had been taken off the walls, which were now bare. Nails had been carefully removed, so as to no longer cause accidental damage. There were large swaths of wall that looked like they'd been punched through, and pipes could be seen in the holes.
Over some of the holes, metal sheets had been smoothed over in an attempt to hide the damage or at least cover it up.
"It was my father's house. Though he never spent all that much time here." She grimaced, peeling off her coat and tossing it onto the railing on the stairs going up. She winced as the bruises on her arm brushed against the jacket sleeve and she glanced over the darkening bruise on her arm. "Getting shot sucks."
Bobby would walk over to her when she winced, looking at the bruise. "I'm sorry…should've seen a bullet coming." he shakes his head a little, mad at himself. "Sorry again for being protective….I just care about you." he admits freely, removing his jacket to set on one of the chairs as he looks around. "at least we got them." he states easily, approaching her again and just looking her in the eyes, sighing a little.
"THis is a really nice place though. Father did good by this place." he touches the wall a little bit.
Lorna rubbed a hand over her bruises, ghosting an inch above, looking over it with a frown. "It's my job to sense metal things. That bullet.. it wasn't made of anything ferrous. I.. I haven't ever seen something like that." She sighed, moving into the living room, her feet shuffling. She looked even more tired now that she was inside. She made to plop down onto the couch, leaning against the side of the arm.
"My father.." She pursed her lips together, looking down at her lap and shook her head.
"I don't hold it against you, being protective. I mean."
Bobby would follow her still, and when she sat down, he would stand there a moment, before eventually taking a seat next to her, and if she let him, his hand would come down to hers. "You can vent at me you know. I'll listen." when she talks about her father and how that apparently not metal bullet were clearly affecting her emotionally.
"I'm here for you, Lorna." he declares quietly so that it's between them, his eyes locked with hers, and they didn't move away for any reason.
Lorna glanced down at the warm hand that settled atop her own. She hesitated, but in the end relaxed, leaning back against the sofa. The same twinkling lights burst to life around their connected hands and she sighed softly.
"My father is strong enough, he can affect non-magnetic things. He would've caught that car before it got so far. He would've stopped all of that. Saved more people.." She whispered, "I'm not.. I'm not good enough to be here, doing this…" Her lips twisted and she looked away from him.
Bobby would look at Lorna t her words, giving her hand a squeeze as their fingers start to intertwine. But when she spoke about not being as good as her father and how she's not good enough, Bobby takes his offhand to cup her cheek, attempting to turn her face to him….and he would boldy try to kiss her. Afterwards, he would look her right in the eyes.
"You are strong, and you are capable. Don't let yourself down with one error, regardless if yo uwere strong enough or not. I still believe you can do it." he says encouragingly.
Lorna's features twisted in a brief shock as he reached up to cup her cheek and turn her features toward him. Still unused to such contact, she was left blinking for a stunned moment as he leaned in for a kiss. She sat there, her frame listing after him as he drew back and looked her in the eyes. Her lips parted, as if she would say something right off, but thought better of it. She averted her gaze, leaning back against the couch, a weak laugh escaping her as she pressed her free hand over her eyes.
"I don't get it." She muttered, "Why you're still here. Why you haven't bolted. Or walked off.."
Bobby would smile at her after the kiss, the lights moving around their entirety for a moment before it disappeared, returning to only their hands when she looked away from him. Though, eyes filled with care and concern cross his features, leaning to comically look at her "I've said it before and I'll say it again."
He tries to get her to look at him again. "I care for you. More than I've cared about anyone else. You're a breath of fresh air. You are smart, beautiful, and brave. Why would I leave? I don't see a valid reason why I should run. So….if you don't mind, I'd greatly prefer to stay."
there he goes giving her choices again.
Lorna looked back at him, her lips twisting. "You barely know me, Bobby. Can't you see how busted up this place is? I've been here alone on my own for two months and I've ripped this place up with nightmares and fits. I can't control myself. I'm a danger to be around. I hurt people. Everyone I care about gets hurt. It always happens. I'm crazy. Either I hurt people or.. or something happens and they leave." She whispered, her voice catching.
"How can you stand to be around me? I'm a wreck."
Bobby just looked right into those eyes of hers, never leaving them for a second. Eventually though, after her words he would speak. "Yet it feels like I've known you for a lifetime. Even if you were a stranger to me, I'd be here for you. As for being a general danger." he smirks to her "So am I. first few years of my power almost everywhere I slept had the possibility of burning down because I'd catch fire in my sleep. Doesnt happen anymore…but what cna you do." he jokes a little, and even as he breath catches, he looks her right in the eyes. "Because I care about you. I can't stop thinking about you. I think I'd refuse to even if I could." he smile sto her warmly then, looking her in the eyes.
"Lorna." he says to her, his hand giving hers an affectionate squeeze. "I can stand you….because." oh he choked on his words there, looking aside. "I uh…..like you..in the romantic sense…" which was really already covered when he kissed her the first time. Man was he bad at this. But it could cause a bit of a humorous nature with how bad he was. "Here, I'll help you fix up the place. Could use a little love. and if you're having nightmares, I'll be here with you to keep them at bay." he smiles to her, offering his comfort to her as best he could. On the bright side, he was really encouraging.
Lorna's hand was cool in his own, and she glanced back to him, her brows furrowing together faintly. "I hurt the last person I was in a relationship with. Physically.. with my powers and .. and emotionally.. Just by.. by being me. I'm not going to get better or over what happened to me." She whispered, her eyes squeezing shut as she struggled to hold in tears.
"I lost friends and family because of how unstable I am." She exhaled a breath, her green eyes opening up again to land on him as he spoke about fixing the place up, about staying with her to keep the nightmares at bay.
"I might hurt you if you stay and I'm asleep.."
Bobby listened to her as she spoke, really listened to her. But even as she spoke and how she hurt everyone she ever really had…who she was in a relationship with, how she lost friends and family, though when she shut her eyes to stop her tears, Bobby reacted again, leaning in to kiss her gently to try to use the shock value to calm her down, letting it linger if she did.
afterwards, he would look her in the eyes. "Don't you worry about me. I can take a licking and keep on ticking." he smiles at her, apparently not afraid of her mental state or her powers. "Don't be afraid. I'll be just fine." he attempts to wrap his arms around her whilst avoiding her wound to hug her, just to comfort her to avoid all her fears and all her worries.
Lorna inhaled sharply as he leaned in again to kiss her, she tensed as she had before, briefly before she simply leaned into the kiss. Her free arm sliding around him and tugging him closer. Of course, as he leaned away, talking about taking that risk of being near her. Her heart hammered in her chest as he wrapped his arms around her, mindful of her bruised arm.
Green eyes blinked open to look up at him, her brows furrowing as she simply leaned in closer to him. She'd been pushing herself near to the point of collapsing. The fact that she hadn't already was shocking in and of itself. But the warmth of his frame against her own, the soft light of their powers mingling in the air.. lulled her.
"You.. you'll stay if I go to sleep?" She mumbled.
Bobby would smile at her as she accepted his affection, and leaned into his embrace, and that warmness would remain even when she asked him her question, to which he nods happily. "If you fall asleep, I'll stay here, and keep you safe." he affirms her. "Don't you worry about hurting me you hear?" he whispers to her, his forehead leaning against hers as they talk in their sweet embrace.
He looks her right in the eyes, never shying away from her. His own heart hammered in his chest, he was nervous…anxious, that she would send him away in anger, but she didn't…and thus did his eyes show a love in them, even as the aurora borealis swirled around them, it only made the moment that much more beautiful. With a thumb, he caresses her cheek. "No more tears Lorna. You arn't alone, and never will you be again."