10893/Late Night Snacks... IN SPACE

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Late Night Snacks... IN SPACE
Date of Scene: 25 April 2022
Location: Cafeteria and Bar
Synopsis: Lorna manages to chase down Tommy to question him about his uncanny likeness to her brother. The chasing down was figurative, just to be clear.
Cast of Characters: Tommy Shepherd, Lorna Dane




Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    It's late, but it's not quiet. That's probably just not a thing on Asteroid M, not as far as Tommy's experienced. Unless you get ejected out into space. He's pretty sure that would be quiet, after the whole explosive decompression bit.

    But what does he know? He's got the equivalent scientific knowledge of your average third grader. They never were big on sticking to the curriculum in juvie.

    He's camped out on a table in the furthest corner of the cafeteria he can find, half a dozen plates stacked high with as much food from the buffet as he could fit on them. Mostly so that he doesn't have to make any return trips back. Which he could in the blink of an eye, but he's purposefully tucked himself away so that people will leave him alone, because he's busy.

    Studying. Yeah. Definitely. That's what he's doing, not dicking around on his phone. But the illusion of hard work is set up, at least, with the stack of books and spiral-bound notebook open to a page half-filled with notes.

Lorna Dane has posed:
It had been awhile since Lorna had last caught sight of the speedster that looked disturbingly like her father, and brother. There were suspicions that she had yet to properly quell. Which is why, in spite of being at the opening of the new Starport, when she received a text notifying her that the teen was back on the station she had made her way there immediately. There was no impending doom to deal with, so she was going to deal with potential family issues (tm).

It didn't take long to find him even with the far corner he'd opted for. There were only so many people that had such a shock of blonde-white hair, and could eat that many plates in one go. With a smile in place she plucks up a plate of her own with something more substantial than finger foods to make her way over. "Good evening, Tommy. Do you mind if I join you?"

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    When Tommy had got the invite to join the Brotherhood, he'd accepted. He didn't actually care about the cause, not really, not then, too fresh off of gaining his freedom to consider anything but his own needs. And the Brotherhood made an offer he couldn't refuse.

    Now, he's not quite the same. Not a scared animal backed into a corner. Mostly he's just... hungry, and there aren't too many buffets that won't bat an eye at his, uh... unique metabolic needs.

    He has a fried spring roll pinched between a pair of disposable chopsticks as he types at his phone. Fast enough that his fingers are a blur, but not so fast that he might break it. Finding that sweet spot where his phone's processors can just about keep up.

    "Yes," he says first, immediately, automatically. But then he looks up and recognizes Lorna for who she is, both her status as Genoshan royalty and the woman who had questioned him about his family just over yonder at the bar, once upon a time. Ages ago based on his warped perception of time, but Tommy's only really lacking in a solid educational foundation. That has no impact on how sharp he is, and he remembers.

    So after a moment (an eternity of weighing his options, which mostly boil down to 'running away' or 'staying here so he can keep eating') Tommy nods his assent towards one of the unoccupied chairs with a muttered, "Yeah, sure, whatever you want."

Lorna Dane has posed:
"You *can* say no, if you'd rather," Lorna assures with a bit of bemusement as she settles down. He said yes first of all before beginning to sound so very thrilled by her presence. Her own plate only has a salad, and serving of lasagna on it. Simple, easy, yet still enough to fill her up while at the same time not being too unhealthy. Just enough. Her fork is plucked up between def fingers to take a bit of salad for a bite.

Once it's done she regards Tommy a quiet moment. "How have you been doing lately? I see it looks as if you've got your hands full with school." A nod is given to the pile of books even if she rather guessed the phone being used was not for school purposes. As if to silently say it was okay, and she wasn't about to chastize him for using it, she pulls her own out to idly tap on the screen.

... To the camera. To turn off the shutter sound.

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    "To the Princess of Genosha?" Tommy asks, eyebrows both up. He looks disbelieving, though that's just the equilibrium point of his expression nowadays. RBF: Resting Betrayal Face.

    He's got both feet tucked up on the chair with him, legs folded together. His whole posture is kind of like that, pulled in and closed off. And even with Lorna pulling out her own phone in a show of solidarity, Tommy sets his on the table. Screen facing down. "I have half of middle school and all of high school to make up. Tried to cram it all in a week, but turns out that's not the best for 'knowledge retention.'" Tommy's nose wrinkles, and he stabs a piece of stir-fried tofu with one chopstick rather than try to navigate it up to his mouth with care. The sullen chewing that follows is done at what Tommy calls (in his head) "normie speed".

    Which is to say: he chews slowly so he doesn't have to keep talking.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna Dane keeps her phone up a few moments longer. Just long enough to shut the flash off as well as the shutter noise. She pretends to read something for a moment with a soft 'hummm' of pretend though. All so she can take a picture of the boy across the table. Apparently satisfied she exhales a sigh and sets her own phone down... Only to regard him thoughtfully again.

"I always found repetition was the easest way to recall things."

"And it's Queen of Genosha," she corrects with a bemused smile. "But I'm as much 'off duty' at the moment as I can ever be in that position. So it IS all right to say 'no' on occasion." Moving from her salad to her lasagna she cuts off a bit to eat herself. "If you're holding back on my account, you don't have to. I'm used to how speedsters work. My brother is one after all."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    Lucky for Lorna, Tommy's too annoyed with the whole process of getting this dumb, wiggly tofu into his mouth to pay much attention to what she's doing. Beyond keeping an eye out for any sudden movements, at least. A level of anxious energy thrums under his skin, suggesting that he'll dip into the fight-or-flight reflex pretty much immediately.

    He snorts, and it's at least a mostly-amused kind of noise, at the mention of reptition. The way he side-eyes some of his textbooks really communicates how little he wants to reread any of them. But then Lorna corrects him on her title, and he looks like he's just sucked on a lemon.

    "Queen. Right. Sorry, I'm from America. We're not big on royalty." Stab stab tofu. "Think this is the point where I say something quippy about the Kardashians or whatever being the same thing though."

    There's something purposeful about how Tommy keeps his eyes on the table when Pietro is mentioned. "Heard about him, yeah," he says. Cagey. "People say I look like him. That why you're talking to me?"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna Dane snorts softly but in an amused way, not one that was derisive or insulting. The smile that comes along with it hopefully portrays that as well. "I'm not used to royalty either, but it's a job I agreed to take on." For a moment she has a flashback to her younger self at such a remark, and she shrugs indifferently.

His question snaps her back to reality though as she regards him simply. A breif thought of how to respond is considered before she just nods. "While I do try to get to know everyone to some extent... In your case, yes. You're right."

Again she reaches for her phone to lift it up. This time rather than sneaking a photo of him though she opens the photos to search for one she has of Pietro. Since she rarely took photos it wasn't too hard to find. The phone is flipped around toward him.

"I know you mentioned your parents but the resemblence really is uncanny. And," she adds with a weary sigh. "Unfortunately my family is rather well-known for having kids they left others behind to raise. My mother and step-father raised me. I had no idea until they died who my real father was." An apologetic smile is offered toward him. "I hope I'm not being too rude with my curiosity."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    If Tommy eats things at a slow enough pace for Lorna (and, well, everyone else in the cafeteria) to actually perceive, then it's a sure sign that he at least enjoys it. That also probably explains why most of the vegetable side-dishes seem to disappear in a literal blink of an eye.

    He doesn't look surprised by Lorna's answer. Tommy's been expecting it.

    "Look, I don't know what to tell you," he's saying, even as he stares at the pic Lorna's showing him. But it's nothing new: he googled Quicksilver himself, back when the whole thing first came up. "IDK," yes he says the letters aloud, "Maybe it's some weird genetic mutation thing? If you have a certain set of abilities, your, uh, hair and eye chromosones are also preset?"

    Which is ignoring the rest of the familial resemblance, admittedly. And... probably also ignoring science as a whole. It's beyond his understanding. If anything, he's talking more video game logic than actual biology.

    Somehow most of the plates he'd brought over from the buffet have been cleared. "If I was adopted, pretty sure my parents would have loved to rub that in my face when I misbehaved."

Lorna Dane has posed:
"I know. That you don't know," Lorna responds with another soft smile as she puts the phone away again entirely. The photo she'd taken would be shown later to Pietro so he could see Tommy himself while she had a very earnest 'talk' with him. "And I apologize for pressing the matter at all. It's quite possible what you said." Unlikely. She knew more about genetics than that, but she was allowing a semi-plausible explanation as an out for him to take some of the pressure off.

"I was more thinking that perhaps your mother had... Ah, nevermind." Her hand lifts to wave dismissively at the thought. Sure if he were adopted they would rub it in his face. If however his mother had an affair or a fling, certainly she wouldn't want to let that information out at all either.

"I would just feel responsible for helping you out further if you did perhaps happen to be related somehow. Either way, I'll drop the matter if you wish."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    All Tommy has for an answer is a shrug. There's not much change to his expression, so nothing really to go on about whether he'd prefer the out or not. Instead he starts to stack up his now-empty plates, fully invested in the actions of his hands. It's just so he can continue to not look at Lorna.

    Because looking would mean he'd acknowledge any of this as real. Some scruffy, broke-ass kid from Jersey being a member of Genoshan royalty? Puh-lease. Tommy isn't the type to get his hopes up like that.

    "You don't have to help me out. I'm fine on my own. I can take care of myself." Even Tommy seems to hear how lame and unbelievable that sounds, and he huffs out a nasal breath after, frustrated with himself.

    Defensive. He sounded defensive. And even though he knows that, it doesn't stop Tommy's mouth from running. "Besides, it's probably just a coincidence. Quicksilver and I don't even have the same powers." He grabs one of the mandarins he'd taken from the buffet and shoved into his backpack for later snackage, and tosses it up into the air.

    His hand extends, aimed up towards it. The orange reaches the apex of its upward motion, acceleration slowing until it reaches zero and for a long moment in Tommy's eye it hangs, suspended.

    Then its physical form begins to shake apart at the molecular level as hyperkinetic vibrations turn the fruit into a fine mist of aerosolized orange essential oil that drifts down into the surrounding area.

    Mm. Citrusy.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna Dane watches the rapid disinegration of the orange with a slowly raised eyebrow, and a rather warm smile. "Honestly, if my brother couldn't do that, I would be surprised. I just imagine he doesn't because he'd make a mess of his shirt." That sounded like Pietro though she wouldn't say that directly to him.

Another bite is taken of her own food, and she nods toward the apparently departing boy. "There's nothing wrong with help. That's how so many people get ahead in life--Accepting help even if they can manage on their own. Don't disregard the advantages of having connections." With that, she rises to her own feet taking her plate with her. "Have a good evening, Tommy."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    Tommy sniffs as he finishes cleaning up his mess from the table. Well, it's not really a mess unless you consider the layer of mandarin perfume that everyone in a fifteen-foot radius is now wearing. Otherwise, he's pretty tidy for a teenager.

    The only sign that he's moved is a faint shift of his posture to the side. That and the stack of plates that was previously in his hands being gone; they're now safely deposited in whatever the appropriate receptacle for dirty dishes is in the cafeteria.

    "Yeah, sure," he says and doesn't sound at all like he's going to take her advice. At least, though, he has enough manners to nod at Lorna and mutter a "Thanks, you too," before he's just... gone. No trace of him left at the table.

    Just the smell of oranges. This corner of the cafeteria is probably going to smell like citrus for a while, now.