2090/Actions and Consequences

Actions and Consequences
Date of Scene:	13 June 2020
Location:	Main Foyer
Synopsis:	Scott and Lorna have a chat about what happened in Genosha, and what they should do going forward.
Cast of Characters:	Lorna Dane, Scott Summers

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Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna returned to the Mansion from her various trips about town and Genosha and back. Portals were an amazing resource for crossing international time zones. She wore a pair of black slacks and a dress shirt, kicking her wet heels off at the door. It was raining out, and she'd been caught without an umbrella. She cursed under her breath, shaking off the rain water as best she could as she stepped into the foyer of the Mansion.

A glance was spared down the hallway for the various students that didn't leave for Summer Break, and finding them absent from the hall and immediate area. She let out a slightly louder curse as she fished out her damp cell and looked for a hanging sweatshirt by the door to wipe it off with.

The green haired woman squinted down at the screen, leaning against the door as she dripped water all over and read over whatever message she'd received.

Scott Summers has posed:
Surprise spring showers are a thing. Even in New York. Lorna should know better, since in tropical areas they are a daily event some seasons. Guess who went out with an umbrella? Right. Scott did.

Having bad luck has made him careful with this kind of thing. By the way, the weather report said it was going to be sunny all day. Those liars.

He gets to the main door a minute after Lorna, giving the young woman a quizzical glance. "Ah, did you come from Genosha? Where is Blink?"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shifted from the doorframe she'd been leaning against as soon as she sensed Scott's hand on the door to turn the knob and open it. She sighed, dramatically and overwrought as she pushed off and slipped her phone into her pockets. She eyed the man who was mostly dry and holding an umbrella. She frowned. "I was in Genosha at one point today, yes." She murmured, and arched a brow.

"I've been following the rules about not going out alone, I promise. You don't need to worry about that." She reached up to shake her damp hair, the green strands curling rapidly and wildly as they dried. The frizz was going to be annoying.

"What about you, Mister-I-Go-Out-all-alone?"

Scott Summers has posed:
"I am just back from fixing one of the perimeter sensors," explains Scott. "No plans to leave the grounds today or during the weekend. I will stay doing some research and running simulations."

He folds his umbrella leaving it on the stand, then gives Lorna an appraising glance. "I think you won't drown after all. What brings you here today? I hope to catch Blink to ask her about the Mutant Town problems she was talking about."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna arched a brow upward, but didn't continue with the line of light teasing about Scott having gone out alone before. She heaved a sigh, a hand still tangled in her hair as she tried to wring it out on the entry mat. She likely should've just grabbed a towel. "Well I still have a room here.." She drawled, "But mostly I was in the city for business and I didn't want to pester Clarice again." She smiled weakly, and gestured a hand toward the door.

"Got caught in the rain. I haven't had a chance to ask her about what she thinks regarding Mutant Town."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott nods. Chances are he will talk to Blink himself, anyway. It is always Jean or him interviewing the mutants that come hang out at the school for a reason or another.

"And anything else happening in Genosha?" He adds, "do you need more X-Men there? I imagine the Magistrates will hit you soon, they will want revenge. Unless they have given up for good, but it seems unlikely. There will always be a few that feel they need to repay blood for blood tenfold."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shrugged once as she stood, barefoot and damp in the entryway and glanced about, "I dunno. It's hard to say. Right now we're working on getting farming up and running, so people can have some fresh produce rather than MRE's and imported goods. Not that Wakanda hasn't been generous.. but still." She knew they needed to get on their feet eventually.

Her expression darkened slightly at Scott's words about the Magistrates.

"I'm sure they will. But I haven't heard anything yet." She glanced down at herself and grimaced. "Mind grabbing me a towel so I don't drip water all over?"

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott hmphs. "Yeah, I suppose. Also, we better get to the kitchen and get something warm to drink and not stay here in the way. That is, if you don't want to change." He goes to find a towel, which requires him to go to the second floor, so Lorna has a few minutes alone. He will check the foyer and then the kitchen on returning.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna murmured a thank-you, and as Scott returned he'd find her there waiting still. She took the offered towel, trailing after him as she dried herself off and by the time they reached the kitchen she wasn't dripping anymore. "Coffee sounds good," She murmured, finding a place to sit and talk as she moved to toweling off her hair.

Sure she could go change, but that would mean she'd likely change into sleep clothes and pass out. She knew that if she wanted to get anything done.. she was better off being mildly uncomfortable. "Do you think that the Magistrates will attack Hammer Bay directly?

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott gives Lorna a white hand towel and follows her to the kitchen, checking the coffee pot briefly to discover, as usual, it is empty. Lazy students are always happy to consume coffee, but never have time to make it fresh. Such evil.

To her question, he glances back. "Directly? It depends on what resources they have. They might just go guerilla and start assassinating mutants at random. But yes, there will be more blood. They can leave unanswered the destruction of their fleet and the killing of so many of their own people."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna settled on a stool as she watched Scott check the coffee machine and found it empty. She leaned against the counter, working the towel over the ends of her hair. "At least it'll be fresh?" She murmured, and as Scott turned to glance back at her and her question regarding the Magistrates she felt her stomach twist.

"Do you think they honestly have much in terms of resources to launch another frontal assault? The more you talk about it the more I think that... assassinations and attacks in dark alleys sound more probable.."

Scott Summers has posed:
"Perhaps," Scott is not sure, maybe distracted with the coffee making. But then he growls and adds. "I would have said it was impossible for them to have an armed warship, but they had one. Maybe they have weapon depots no one knows about. Or powerful friends willing to pay for them to kill mutants. Wait, no, I have no doubts at all they have powerful friends that will give them the weapons to kill mutants. Still, murder seems a safer approach. Sabotage the reconstruction efforts, poison the foodstuff and water wells, the usual guerilla tactics against hated enemies. I don't think they are interested in getting slaves this time."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna exhaled, and she bit the inside of her cheek in thought at Scott's words. She could hear the tone in his voice, the terse growl. She shifted in her seat, setting the now used towel down on the stool beside her. "People like Stryker and Senator Kelly? Trask? People that run other countries governments with more restrictive laws on mutants?" She tilted her head to the side.

"So that's what.. most of the planet, yeah?" She sighed, and looked down at the counter top beside her. "Or whoever sent the Sentinels to destroy us in the first place." They still had no clear leads.

Scott Summers has posed:
"No, not the same," explains Scott. "Stryker and Kelly need to work within the U.S." he offers. "Kelly seems awful honest, I bet he tries to do that by the book. Which means he is likely will lose to the Luthor. Stryker needs to be keep most of his hand hidden. His goal is demonize us and make us public enemies, not just kill us. Because he can't kill us, he doesn't have the manpower. But he can try to make the people of America hate us so much the government itself will use all their resources to kill us. Get Graydon Creed to the White House. Not just Kelly, who is pain wrong, but Creed, who has no scruples and will happily murder to get new shoes."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shrugged once, waving her hand dismissively as Scott goes onto explain why she was wrong in terms of who might fund the Magistrates and who would not. She pursed her lips together. "So you think Creed might be behind some possible funding regarding the Magistrates then?" She arched a brow, tilting her head to the side.

"If we can find out who might be throwing money their way, I can try to talk to others and see about getting some financial pressure on them.." It wasn't direct action, but it was something, and at the moment she'd take anything to try to prevent what Scott spoke of.

Scott Summers has posed:
"Er, no..." Scott brings two coffee mugs and the pot full of steaming coffee to the table. Then goes looking for cream, sugar and the rest. "I mean in Genosha you are not against politicians and manipulators. You are up against an army, an army of unknown size. War has no laws."

Who can be financing the Magistrates? The list is long. Genosha has some natural resources and many multinational companies lost when Magneto took over. Or maybe they just use crowdfunding. With a million of displaced Genoshans worldwide, they have numbers.

"Did you talk to the professor? I think he would advice you to seek peace with the old Genoshans." But obviously that might be impossible after sinking their fleet.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna glanced up as Scott returned with mugs of coffee in hand and her expression softened from frustration to gratefulness. "Thank you." She murmured, and wrapped both of her chilled hands around the warmth of the mug. She remained silent for a long moment, trying to put her thoughts in order and trying to figure out what she wanted to say.

"My talks with the Professor are more therapy based." She admitted, and glanced down at the coffee in her grip. "He thinks it's important that I'm somewhat functional... mentally speaking." She paused and took a sip of her coffee. "I think he's trying to do for me what he couldn't do for my father, in a way. I dunno. It sounds silly when I say it outloud."

She heaved a soft sigh and dragged her gaze back to Scott. "War has laws, and I'm aware that the Magistrates will use them against me but not use them for themselves."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott shakes his head. "No, war has laws only when someone who cares is watching. You attacked them under a white flag of truce. They will rightfully claim they can do now whatever it takes. And I doubt any human nation will object."

He looks down at his mug. Just coffee, a spoonful of sugar. Bitter, but not raw. "This kind of conflict goes on and on for generations. Every new dirty blow brings more hatred, more need to revenge. It was your father's path, Lorna. Kill a hundred for every one of us killed? Good? No, not really, you still lose. You create martyrs and heroes. You take everything away from them, then they have nothing to lose, they will keep fighting and killing."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna sipped at the coffee, and grimaced, moving to get more sugar to add to it and returning to her stool after. A spoon floated over to her grip and she stirred in a fair amount. Perhaps more than was needed, but oh well. She glanced back to Scott and her lips twisted. "I can think of a few that might, but I doubt that it will do much. I mean, Wakanda isn't known well in international politics, and hearing anything from Latveria is well.. not a good thing either." She muttered wrinkled her nose as she took a sip of her now too sweet coffee.

"Genosha already has had everything taken away from us."

Scott Summers has posed:
"It did," replies Scott. "Which made everyone sympathetic to you. So Genosha was weak militarily in appearance, but strong politically. Stryker would never have dared to say what happened was 'god's justice' and that you had 'snakes in your hair'. It would have immediately painted him as a jerk that targets victims of genocide."

He is not even going to comment on the support of Wakanda and Latveria. Stamp-sized countries with no political influence, one of them infamous for having a terrifying super-villain as ruler, the other isolationist and very poor. Even if he knew Wakanda was actually a high-tech secret super-power, he would still scoff at the idea it can protect Genosha in the international arena.

"And Genosha is actually pretty strong militarily," he notes, "which would have been much better to keep hidden for a while longer."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna pursed her lips together and reached up to push her hair behind an ear. Her frustration clearly written on her expression as she listened to Scott. She didn't argue, but it didn't take a telepath to know that she disagreed with him. She took a sip of her coffee again, her nose wrinkling slightly. "That wouldn't have stopped him even if I had done nothing on that beach Scott. Hatred like that doesn't stop people just because they'd look bad. He'd have just said it in a different way." She closed her hands around the mug in her grip.

"Genosha isn't that strong. We can't patrol the whole of the island, much less the small area we're working to rebuild. They're sitting ducks if someone made a concerted effort. We could be overwhelmed too easily."

Scott Summers has posed:
"Sometimes is better to give up a little to keep the important bits," offers Scott. "Your father, I think, never understood about it. Because in his time negotiation failed so badly to stop Hitler. Only a total war did. But we are not in the same world."

He sips his coffee. "Genosha was stronger when the enemy knew the public opinion was overwhelmingly with you. That forces them to negotiate with more power than a dozen omega glass mutants. And once peace is settled, it can be pretty strong. Most people prefer to live in peace. Most humans are not fanatic mutant haters. At most they are mild mutant-haters. And many just don't give a shit."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shot Scott a look, "People tried to negotiate with Hitler. The problem was that they tried to tolerate his intolerance. And that in and of itself allowed him to continue." She exhaled a breath, and closed her hands around the coffee cup again. "But that's neither here nor there. I don't want to get into that." She let her shoulders slump.

"We don't even know who attacked Genosha in the first place, Scott. I'd love for peace to happen.. but we don't know if the Magistrates were behind the Sentinels, or anything. For all we know that person is just waiting to finish us off."

Scott Summers has posed:
"Yes, we don't know," agrees Scott. "So, we can lash blindly to people we suspect. Like Mystique did, or you did. There is a lot of anger at what happened, of course. But those Genoshans trying to return? They probably lost friends and family had that had stayed in Genosha. They might have been allies against whoever sent the Sentinels. Or against Hydra, if Viper returns." He sighs, "and if not, if they proved to be treacherous and dangerous, you could always have sent some Acolytes to hit them later on. Hell, the X-Men would have hit them full force if they were trying to return to their old ways. And we could have done it without killing anyone, and showing the world they were still asshole. You wanted blood, Lorna. And now they will want more blood, and they have an excuse most humans understand perfectly. And it doesn't seem we can protect everyone. There will be more dead."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna inhaled deeply, her chest rising and falling with the action as she sat back in her stool, her hands sliding away from her coffee mug as she closed her eyes and struggled for a long, long moment. She took several more deep steadying breaths, and remained silent for a long while as she let Scott speak and did not interrupt him.

Finally she opened her eyes and seemed to school her expression into something reserved. "No where is truly safe Scott." She finally whispered, and her gaze fell back to her coffee. "And hatred doesn't die no matter what. Even if we played by their every rule, and did everything perfectly... and played the part of a 'good mutant'... that wouldn't change their hatred."

Scott Summers has posed:
"I disagree," replies Scott. "Well, not in that anywhere is truly safe. That is true. When the Genoshans showed up with their fleet you were in a situation where a winning was not possible. There were degrees of losing something. Losing face, losing a chunk of land, losing the goodwill of the bulk of humankind, and having to eat your anger and smile to someone you despised. It was bad. Your choice was violence. And that is rarely the best choice."

A brief pause. "As for the hatred, I disagree. I think we can get over the hatred if we want. I think most humans won't hate mutants if they get to know some mutants. Oh yes, there will always be some that can't get over it. But happens the same with racial tensions among human nations and religions. SOME people can't stop hating. But most people can get over it."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna leaned toward Scott, setting the coffee mug aside as she pressed her hands against the countertop. "We aren't going to agree on any of this Scott. My experiences tell me otherwise, and they're just as real as your own, that inform your opinions." She exhaled a slow breath.

"I hope that you understand that I'm not advocating that we slaughter humans, that we go off and hunt down former Magistrates and kill them in their beds. I don't agree with that. It's why I told Ellie that killing Stryker wouldn't help anyone." She sat back, letting her hands fall away.

Scott Summers has posed:
"Look, you can keep setting Hitler as example why only violence will stop that kind of people. But I can start setting Gandhi as my own, and how through negotiation and peaceful protest even the greatest Empires can be stopped," offers Scott, finishing the coffee. "Bottom line, we should try negotiation first. Because there is always time for fighting later, and ultimately even if we kill a hundred humans for each mutant dead, the dead mutants are still dead. We lose."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna seemed to practically vibrate with anger, but she kept it mostly, underwraps. Her arms crossed and her hands curled into fists as she once more fell into deep breathing and shut her eyes. She was trying at the very least. Finally she shot Scott a look, "Gandhi thought women's periods were a form of punishment for the distortion of their souls." Her voice dry, as she sat back in in the stool.

It was a side topic, with very little to do with what they were discussing, but it was something that broke the tension in her shoulders and the gritting of her teeth.

Scott Summers has posed:
"That is stupid," admits Scott. "But also, beyond the point. Gandhi changed the way to achieve political goals forever. And for the better." He shrugs, "look, the point is that for each example you give me of a situation or a tyrant that wouldn't stop unless violence was applied, I can show you one in which a different approach worked. And Xavier taught us to aim for peace first. The X-Men are to be heroes and examples for mutant-kind, but also for human-kind. It has been a... a code of behavior, I suppose, set up by the Fantastic Four and then Superman and others. 'Heroes do not kill'. And the 'X-Men do not kill' needs to be there too. It has been from the beginning. I am very worried because after Genosha I am seeing some of my old friends talking about this or that person 'deserving to die'. Stryker the latest one. And he is a monster. But we still need to be an exemplar. He does not need to die to be defeated."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna's lips twitched, "My point is even your idealized forms of nonviolence only work so far. People, humans, or mutants aren't all going to fit into your perfect plans or strategies Scott. I agree that the X-men shouldn't advocate for killing people just because they hate us. However, you're going to have a hard time convincing Ellie that nonviolence or negociation works. She went through the Mutate Bonding process, and she then survived the Genocide. She's a very hurt, very broken young woman. You can't lecture her into understanding Scott." She offered a weak smile.

"Think of it this way... The more you push and lecture, the more she won't listen. You need to let her come to her own conclusions. And as a teacher, it's your job to be there as a guide on the side."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott nods. "I am not a qualified psychiatrist, that's true. Jean and the Professor are better choices for dealing with Ellie," he confirms. "I am a teacher, however, and sometimes I manage to get my point across the thickest skulls. Ellie is still very young and I hope she can overcome her past. But we have to help her. You and me, too."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna arched a green eyebrow upward, but given that Scott nodded, they at least had common ground in regards to Ellie. Even if they didn't agree with everything else. She sipped at her coffee again, "You can drill them on whatever it is you teach academics wise... But I'm telling you, the more you push with Ellie, the harder she'll fight you." She murmured, and perhaps it wasn't entirely just Ellie she was speaking of there.

"I'll keep talking to her as I find her. She listens to me if only because she respects my father and what he did for Genosha. I can't promise that I'll get through though."

Scott Summers has posed:
"What about Blink? Have you tried to get those two together?" Asks Scott, perhaps deciding they have already talked enough about Lorna's dealings with the old Genoshans. "Seems to me Blink went through everything Ellie did and more, and she seems to be remarkably normal and well adapted. She might be a good role model for Ellie."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna tilted her head, "People deal with hurt and grief in different ways Scott.." She mused, but eventually nodded as she reached out a hand and magnetically tugged the coffee pot over to the counter where they both sat. The screws in the handle were metal, and it was enough to her. She poured herself another cup, leaving the remnants of sugar at the bottom to be mixed with the fresh liquid.

"Want some more?" She gestured to his cup. "But yes.. it sounds like a good idea. I'll ask if Clarice is up for it."

Scott Summers has posed:
"And some ways are healthier than others," retorts Scott, allowing a faint smile to be shown. "Thanks, I think I have taken enough caffeine for today. I should try to cut down my daily dosage, to be honest." He stands up, "and I also need to work on some Danger Room scenarios. Because I do expect conflict with the Purifiers. I doubt we will be able to deal with Stryker without fighting his goons. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. That is how it goes, hmm?"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna set the coffee pot down as Scott declined and got up, she smiled. "Yes, you're right." She murmured and sipped at her new cup. "I'll come down and join you if you want some company? If you let me finish ruining my health a little more first." She teased, glancing down at her mug of coffee.