14254/Saturday Shopping

Saturday Shopping
Date of Scene:	26 February 2023
Location:	Salem Center
Synopsis:	Forge takes Storm by surprise at Salem Center by arriving a week early for his lecture series.
Cast of Characters:	Ororo Munroe, Forge

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Ororo Munroe has posed:
The weather is topsy-turvy; Ororo can feel it in her bones when she comes out of Home Depot. The sky overhead has high cirrus clouds, but the temperatures have risen to balmy seventies. Traces of last week's blizzard still linger on the northern side of buildings and along the roads where the snow plows had left ten-foot walls.

She stops outside the store, head raised, pale eyes squinting against the sun. At the same time, other Saturday shoppers pass by, some hiding their stares and others frankly fascinated by her exotic looks. Ororo ignores the eyes as she reads the weather. In her imagination, she soars high in the clouds. Taller than average, wide-shouldered with the narrow hips of a dancer, it's the contrast of her moonlight white hair against mahogany skin that first catches the eye, then her nearly colorless eyes framed in dark lashes.

Ororo comes back to herself and strides down the street, intent on coffee, just another Saturday suburban shopper.

Forge has posed:
Xavier's Institute and their occasional student seminars. Forge wasn't opposed to being a guest speaker in an anthropology course about indigenous people of North America. The day finishes though and his path had taken him past a pond on campus and its gurgling and poor acting pump that kept it warm in its greenhouse had set his mind going. Like a splinter in the foot, a thorn in the hand, the notion that he knew what needed correcting and hadn't done so yet had nagged at him until he drove into town to get parts at a store adjacent to Home Depot. He had tried home depot first but didn't quite have what he didn't know exactly what he needed.

He left it all packed away and found a remedy for his own self, the chill in the air and snow on the ground left his hands cold. Hence, a large black coffee in hand as he stands out on the sidewalk. Waiting for something? Not in particular.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
The weather goddess still intent on the unseasonably warm temperatures and the winter sky, nearly walks by the man holding a cup of coffee though he merits a stare. He too stands out but requires a keener eye to read his differences beyond the superficial color of his skin.

Ororo slows, turning her head, real surprise at seeing him so unexpectedly in the widening of her eyes that warm with a smile.

"It really is you! I read you were coming in to be a guest speaker but didn't think you'd be here till next week." She stands next to him on the side of the busy sidewalk to let others other shoppers pass by.

"How are you?" She searches his face, scrying the changes that the years of separation have brought.

Forge has posed:
Forge was willing and nearly about to step backwards out of the way of the imposing war-path or distracted marching Ororo. A shoulder shrug of his flannel-covered shoulders at her pronouncement of his arrival. "I figured I'd come out a bit early to let someone look over my slides and the like before I go and talk to students."

"I'm well. Its about as warm here as it is in Texas, strangely enough." Of course you talk about the weather with someone like Ororo.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Eyes lifted to the high cold clouds, Ororo nods abstractedly, then lowers her gaze to focus on him.

"The jet stream is a mess right now. And Texas," she shakes her head in wonder. "Of all the places to land. Are you out on a ranch? I could see you riding the range on a good horse or racing down a road in something you built."

Gesturing at his cup, "I was just off to get some coffee. Bring yours, and we can sit in the park if you have the time."

Forge has posed:
"The jet stream is a mess." Forge lets those words percolate on his tongue awhile before not engaging with it further. "A workshop, less animals and more....oil stains? A garage I'd say more than anything. But outside of a city's limits because of the booms." His head cants from side to side as if debating actually saying no to the invitation before he'll turn to point the way back into the coffee shop. "I've got nothing but time on this side of the country, Ororo."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Alright. Coming in? They have good scones here. I'll get us both some." The woman who can control a tornado is somewhat flustered at the surprise meeting. She doesn't linger for his decision and opens the door and walks in without waiting for him. She gets in line, scanning the menu on the wall behind the counter though she knows exactly what she wants; it's easier than staring at him through the glass door.

A few minutes later, coffee in hand and a bag of goodies in the other, she rejoins him on the street. She lifts the bag indicating the direction, "Let's go this way to sit in the park."

Forge has posed:
"I can come in." The possibility of staying in with chairs is definitely on his mind as he holds the door open for her, but he doesn't actually follow through to go stand awkwardly in line with her. Instead turning back from the door and side-eyeing his vehicle with the parts waiting for him to install way way back at the institute.

Then the door opens and she is out, a look over his shoulder before she gets given a quick nod to agree with her direction and intention. "Is this something you typically do? To get away from the students and the institute hubbub?" A casual conversation topic on the way to some park bench.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Every once in a while, I like to get lost in town. Forget the school, forget who I am for a few minutes." With a glance at him, eyebrows raised high in question, she nearly smiles at her own question, "Does that make me irresponsible?"

Pointing ahead, "It's not far from here. We'll enjoy the balmy weather. It's going to change tonight and be back to winter temperatures overnight. Snow will start by evening tomorrow." The weather goddess could run a weather network and become rich in no time with her uncannily accurate weather forecasting, but she is careful to keep those skills to herself except when it matters. NASA relies on her word for launches still.

"I'd like to hear all about what you're doing these days."

They enter a tree-lined park with benches along its walk ways and a children's playground set back from the street. Ororo selects a bench in the sun, sits and pats the seat beside her.

Forge has posed:
"Irresponsible? More patient than I might be. Children, gifted or otherwise, can be a lot to take in every day." Uncanny weather forecasting, or weather causing. Agricultural firms would probably just as interested in her services. The man isn't in any particular rush to get to their park bench or cozy little nook in a park.

"What I'm doing? I'd call it open consulting. My e-mail inbox tends to stay pretty full and a company or agency lets to rattle my door with some problem they can't fix." The invitation to settle where her hand pat-pats gets a side-eye smile before he'll acquiesce and plop down next to her.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"I have no doubt that you're busy. What surprises me is that you are not in competition with Stark. Your inventions are always cutting edge." The bag rustles as she opens it and hands him a napkin then takes one for herself.

"You're going to love these scones. Classic, hot and fresh with clotted cream and locally made jam to slather on them, if you want. If I didn't exercise so much they would be bad for me."

She opens the box and takes out a warm scone, holding it up to place on his napkin.

Forge has posed:
"Should I be? One of us is inventing new things and pushing the boundary and the other one of us is realigning broken bits and basically performing chakra corrections for technology." His arm lifts and settles across the back of the bench as he sips his coffee. Scones though, are Ororo's focus and he'll watch her open that box before unwinding his napkin from around his cup to let her tuck one into his grip. "That does sound rather dangerous. I think my heart can handle one though."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"They are the best. You'll see. Light, buttery, sweet but not cloying. Here," opens a pack of butter and hands him a plastic knife. "Try it with this jam. Somebody settled here from Oregon and started a Marion berry farm. It's better than blackberry." She busies herself with food, glancing at him with an involuntary smile lifting the corners of her mouth as she fusses.

Forge has posed:
"You don't think you are overselling these sconces, ma'am?" It has become too much to do with only one hand when she breaks out butter and talks of jam so Forge has to settle his cup of coffee on the armrest of the park bench. If he wants to attend to his sconce, that is, and she is making it difficult not to. Its a sparse amount of butter that gets stuffed into the scone before he'll reach up to take a bite of it. A long amount of time to chew and taste before she gets a solitary nod of agreement.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Ma'am? You sound so..." she shrugs not finishing the sentence and takes a bite of scone. "Vindicated! This is good."

After a sip of coffee, "What are you going to talk about in your lecture?"

Forge has posed:
"Hm?" He'll ask with a dark eyebrow lifted as his mouth clears of food. "Polite, or is that not allowed?" Coffee though, to wash away the richness of butter amid his thinking. "Just my culture. Also, other cultures of natives in the southwestern region of the United States. An overview more than anything else."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Good, they need to understand how the United States was colonized, too," she says firmly. "But, I guess, you are going to concentrate on customs and differences between eastern coast indigenous peoples and the west."

After another sip of coffee, she leans back with a sigh and turns her face up to the sun.

"I know the weather changing like it is worries me constantly but I'm glad for the warmth. I've been thinking of taking a break and going to St. Johns for a little sun."

Forge has posed:
"Well, I think there are other guest speakers for cultures apart from my own." The coffee cup's bottom rolls in a small concentric circle as he thinks a few moments. "I suppose it would be worrying. If you were aware of it constantly. I tend to have a roof over my head and not really watching it. St John's? I'm going to assume thats a place."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Well, I'm glad you're here. You'll have to put up with the noise and all our students for a while. Then go back to your workshop." The bag rustles as she pulls out another scone. "I'll let you attend to your waist line and eat this myself if you don't mind." She shoots him an impish smile and takes a bite after slathering it with butter and jam.

Forge has posed:
Forge's eyes flick from scone to the jam to her face with a narrowing expression. "Perhaps you'd worry less about your figure if you ate more scone and less butter or jam." Almost accusingly, but fake obviously. "My waistline is fine. When you get this old, you have less people to impress."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Old man," she barely contains a grin and shoots him a sideways glance, then pats her flat stomach. "Good genes and exercise will keep you fit. So how long will you grace us with your presence, babu? I could see you up here teaching about indigenous cultures and working on your inventions."

Forge has posed:
"Youthful upstart." He'll pat his own flat stomach, flat-ish stomach. Shirts that aren't tight make one look more fit than one is. "If I stay too long, then I'm close enough for drop by visits for New York and DC. Which is the worry. So a week and a half. Maybe. Perhaps I'll circle back around in the summer when...do the kids do school in the summer?"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"You know that most of them don't return home and stay all year," she says, wistfully. "Even after all this time their parents don't accept who they are. So, we go to national parks and camp. Rafting, canoe trips, rock climbing. I take them to Africa when I can. Wakanda has opened its borders to certain people, you know?"

Forge has posed:
"Ohhh. That is fun." Forge lets his chin lift and head cock back in thought. "Not texas though. Too hot. You don't road-trip to Yellowstone do you? All of them stuffed in the same bus for hours on end..." The thought seems frightening and Forge seems reticent to continue that line of thought. "Certain people? So, people vouch for other people."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"I might know some people?" she says with a tilt to her head and a quick smile. "And no, we fly and stay at good places when we are not camping. Logan takes care of most of that. I go along. I enjoy the rafting trips. You should join us sometime. It's not so bad."

Forge has posed:
"Just a few, here and there. Enough to let you visit fine places like Wakanda?" Coffee still, to sip from. "I will have to inform Logan that I know of his abilities as a travel agent. Rafting and not canoes? The former seems like it'd have a lot more splashing. Xavier's Institute needs a summer camp location."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"What are you suggesting?" she asks, then finishes off her coffee and puts the cup into the bag. Hand held out for his cup, "You could take them to visit your people if that's appropriate. Or other communities. We don't always go to Wakanda, you know, I want them to see how different Africa and Africans can be."

Forge has posed:
"I'm not suggesting anything." Forge rattles his cup a moment to check for signs of liquid before draining it entirely into his mouth. Only then does Ororo get his paper cup to stuff into her bag. He'll finish his scone too in a single bite that has his jaw working, hand covering his mouth. "Normal Summer Camp experience. Divide them up and make them compete for prizes or something."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Shaking her head slowly, she says, "That would work for other kids. We have to keep them separate for a lot of competitions..." she stops herself. "No," she turns to face him, "you're right. If it's organized by someone who understands them. Someone like you. That would work."

Forge has posed:
"I think them having to compete without the extras would be important. Most of them can manage that, day to day, I think? I don't know many of them. Or most of them." He'll stand up slowly from the park bench like woe I am old and my back and knees and hip. "Are you the recruiter, Miss Munroe?"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Not officially, but you can talk to Jean and Rogue. You know them, right? I can put a word in for you, if you'd like." She watches how stiff he is, wondering how much of it is put on or really from old injuries.

"Or did I get that completely wrong?"

Forge has posed:
"I wasn't aware I was going to be pitched to today, hon." Most of it is put on, probably. At least by the smug expression he casts her way. "The things I know, I can't teach. You do understand that bit of the whole...everything?"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
She stand suddenly, looking out over the park. "Never mind. You'll do what you want." After a deep breath, "Ready? Let's go. I flew. How are you getting back to the school or are you staying at a hotel?"

Forge has posed:
"I'm sure Dr. McCoy is already teaching engineering or what not for the institute..." But Ororo is standing up and cutting herself off, but there is at least a question lingering. "I drove out here, rental car. Its got parts in it for that pond in the greenhouse that isn't pumping right." Because he saw a thing not working and he needed to make it work. "How about I drive you, and you relax and not fly?"