4114/A Parent's Love

A Parent's Love
Date of Scene:	13 November 2020
Location:	Noriko's Room
Synopsis:	Ororo visits Noriko to apologize and offer an ear. She tells Noriko she can't be her parent, but neither can deny their natures.
Cast of Characters:	Noriko Ashida, Ororo Munroe

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Noriko Ashida has posed:
It's been a little over a year, okay more than a little now, since Noriko came to Xavier's, since Ororo became her legal guardian.  A lot has happened since then and little by little, details of Nori's life flooded back to the faculty and naturally next to Ororo.  Noriko was not ignored, but she wasn't aware of how much care was in the actions of her caretakers.

Time moves on, and legal guardianships aren't meant to last forever, though the state expected Ororo's to last through until Nori was eighteen.  It'd be pretty blatant to anyone involved that Noriko's parents did not want her when she first called them at Xavier's.  Not just in their disowning of her, but in attitude.  But for the child, every blow is fresh, every rejection unimaginable, so when she learned that her parents had officially surrendered her to the state just prior to her eighteenth birthday just this last March, it wasn't a kindness, it was a fulfillment on their word.

She was no longer their daughter.  A death of family, of identity both inherited and genuine.

Before her eighteenth birthday, Nori had been sullen at Xavier's, surly when approached by peers, and by herself as she struggled to recover from a hard drug dependency.  She had used the drugs to subdue her powers, now replaced by the gauntlets Dr. McCoy made for her are, in her expressed opinion, aren't really more effective, are fragile, and ugly.  She doesn't complain about the weight, though they certainly are heavy.

But after her birthday?  Noriko never seemed to have quite the right reaction to things again.  There was no grieving period for the knife in her back from her family, and a certain callousness devil-may-care demeanor that's supplanted the outwardly sensitive, even if gruff, girl.  Sure, Noriko was lost in a new world, her world of velocity and streaming lights, of learning more than she ever good without her powers, getting bored, but there was also risky behavior, quite opposite of how she was when she came in.  Still, these can all be rationalized as it's a time of great changes for the girl and everyone settles in at the school in their own time.

Currently, Noriko is on her bed, leaning back against the wall with one leg crossed over the other, crooked just so to prop up a magazine (it's not addressed to her but her roommate). Her foot flutters rapidly in the air.  For anyone else it's be a bounce, but it's just going too fast.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
The simplest things become important in life, and subtle things become those oftener than one would think. This is demonstrated with a small tapping at the door, a politeness as someone attends upon Noriko in a way that she would not be used to in her life. Respect of her personal space, and patience as someone waits for -her-.

There is peace, though Ororo waits outside, lips tight and drawn into a small line, a pencil mark, worry and concern visible upon her features. She says, "Noriko, it is Ororo. May I enter?" The question is not an assumption; if Nori says otherwise, she will go away and come another time.

But the conversation will occur. It is merely a matter of when.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Sounds are more difficult to hear in fast forward motion, but a sound that so starkly interrupts the background as she sits in that static speed is much easier to catch.  Her eyes snap toward the door.  Before Ororo can finish knocking, Nori's at the door, virtually silent save for how the door glides in that small amount of slack in the fit for the latch, knocking against the frame gently like it was guided by a wimpy breeze.

Noriko listens quietly through the door, not thinking about the fact that Storm knows where she is.  That she can sense those fluctuations of electricity that course through her body.  The teen cracks the door.  Ororo's expression disarms the teen a little.  She swallows and opens the door further.

"Sure.  Come on in."  It's friendly enough.  For Nori, a lazy pad back to her bead looks more like the abominable snowman sped up in stop-motion, trudging along...if he were an 18 year old Asian girl that is.

"What's up?" Nori asks from her bead, legs crossed at her ankles, foot going back to twitching even in this position.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
The slight raise of an eyebrow, as Ororo discerns the level of energy in the youth, betrays concern that was not there before the door was opened. Perhaps she was lost in thought, distracted. Or just giving privacy, either way she was not as 'aware' as Nori might have expected.

Still. "I can tap some of your charge if you wish," she offers, stepping in with a walk that likely has little to do with speed. She acts with meaning, with purpose, but rarely with alacrity. Which has to seem like molasses in January to Noriko just now.

Still. "Also I came to talk. Or, more precisely, to listen." She motions to a chair, then asks, "May I? You've been through a lot of late."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Ororo's offer is convenient, but not when Nori immediately, viscerally realizes the obvious.  It'd take her way less time to run and do it on her own than to wait for Ororo, even after thinking about this all in her head.  Eh.  She sticks it out.  She lifts a gauntlet toward the woman.

Noriko's cultural programming is triggered automatically by the circumstances.  From not outright turning her elder away at the door.  The feeling of invasion on her world physically, trapped mentally already like some child who has been subjected to long, repeated lectures.  She's already tuned out, staring at some part of Ororo's clothing as she speaks, hopefully faking that she's paying attention like when she used to play the part he wanted.

Silence...."Yeah I guess.  I just don't know what to say."  Noriko's eyes shoot the side and she shrugs.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Well, it's hardly my choice to make," Ororo says gently. She eyes the gauntlet with a smile, and without even a motion simply causes the electricity in Noriko to expend itself into the world about her. She has enough control over it that she can do so with a thought, and while she may often use gestures...it is not a requirement.

Waiting a moment while Noriko adjusts to a more conversable level of acceleration, Ororo tilts her head gently toward her. She sits then, adjusting her skirts, and allows the girl what she's often so short on. Time.

Must not be the first teenager she's had to deal with. "I wonder if I was wrong to take you from the circus. At the time it seemed the right thing to do, but I hardly asked your opinion." It isn't a question, and yet it is at the same time. This is a subtle interrogation if it is one.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
The feeling of the charge leaving her in this way is strange.  Not uncomfortable, but alien, like something slippery sliding down one's back unexpectedly.  What she normally absorbs passively feels inverted.  There's something about being brought down to equilibrium while having to stay in the moment with people that is a bit of a relief, but there's also the loss of that buzz that her body and mind so naturally gravitate toward...that they crave.

The tactic works.  Nori's young, and still slightly impulsive, just primed psychologically from being amped up.  She opens her mouth, but the words seem suspended for a moment.  Her expression shifts as she actually stares down now, losing herself in it.  "I don't really want to think about it...I can't remember everything and I think they drained me," she says quietly.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"I will ask you to think about it at some point," Ororo says, her lips still concerned though her tone lies and says that she is not. "But for now that's fine. It does no good to force it. But I wanted you to know that you do have the option." She pauses, then tilts her head again. "If you truly chose to go, you could."

Then she does as she said, true to her word, and lets the subject lapse. "This is more of a chance to talk. We so rarely do, and I get lost in my thoughts at..." She seems to stare off into space, her speech trailing off. And then winks. She made a joke! She isn't a robot after all.

"Seriously, though. I need to get out of my attic more often. And I happen to enjoy your company."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko's stormy expression is just a simple mixture of pain and surliness, nothing new from the girl in times of vulnerability. "Yeah," it's an automatic response.  Nori knows when memories go missing, it's for a reason.  Drugs, things you don't want to remember, things you /shouldn't/, but the worst part is not knowing yourself if you should.  That's where the fear is.

"Yeah.  Me too." It is one thing they actually do have in common outside of electricity.  "Uh, thanks," the awkward teen says when she's treated like an adult by an adult.  There's an urge to apologize for her clumsiness, not one ounce of her capable of thinking about herself as good company after this conversation...but she holds her tongue and simply sits up straight so she can give the woman a respectful bow of her head.

"Thank you for coming," Nori mumbles as she lifts her head.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo gets a half-smile, as close to being awkward as she ever does. "Well, there is a reason for it. And the topic." She seems to be almost stumbling, uncertain how to approach a topic. The sigh is internal, visible only in how she slumps, and even that is subtle. This is a woman with pride.

"You see, I went in there all guns blazing, announcing that I was your guardian. And I find that I am not, and finding out that is gone leaves something missing in my life. I thought, perhaps, there could be something to replace it."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko is an orphan.  The irony is not lost on her, and the reminder stings.  Nori's jaw tenses for a moment when she grits her teeth in an effort to tamp down her surge of sadness she's tried to transform into anger like some failed emotional alchemist.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," Noriko says with more tentativeness it seems than pure confusion.  But then, her brow lifts as she finally comes out of her head to notice Ororo's body language, to register her tone.  "Are you okay?" she asks instinctually, demonstrating she's a fish out of water on what Ororo could be implying.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo is a goddess. Yet, at the same time this is a very lonely role, and one that she took on without any choice in the matter. She was not asked if she wished to be what she is; noone has ever asked her if she wanted to be. Who ever would? It is the clear lottery of DNA, won hands-down. So why could she dare to be lonely?

She looks up to Noriko, her dark eyes manifest and emotional. "I..overreacted. It is an apology of sorts, because I found that I was not allowed to be your guardian any more and I refused to take that news. At all." She waves her right hand in the air, not manifesting mist or weather, merely an energetic motion of humanity. "I'm upset, and I admit, worried for you as well. I've not taught you all that I know. Are you ready to grow, is this what a parent should feel like? Like there is so much I should have done, and I am certain that there is not enough time to teach all of the things you could know?"

She's taking this quite seriously!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has tried not to reason out what Ororo really is, nor has she ever asked anyone.  She's assumed, like most people probably, that Ororo is just what she appears to be, incredibly powerful and in many ways.  Still, the display, almost an admission of loneliness is just as strange to Noriko as it would be with full knowledge.  It's like the wind is blowing wrong, slightly off course, but just enough to feel out of place, a disorder in the world.

Noriko shrinks a little as she pulls her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.  "It's fine..."  The girl's eyes are expressive, more telling than her words.  Nervous and delicate looks, the movement in her body now quiet.  Ororo has all of Noriko's attention.  "I don't know what it means to be a parent, but if you're worried if you did your job.  Your job was to keep me in the States till I could stay legally.  You don't have to worry about all this stuff."  Hiding again.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo watches Noriko. The distance the girl is trying to create is obvious. She can't force it to go away, nor would she dare. Nori is, after all, an adult and knows it. "I'm not here to force anything on you, but you're going to have to live with the worry," she says, her voice gentling from its earlier concern. Almost a soft laugh, at the end. "It comes with the territory, or so I am told."

She pauses, her mind roving back, wondering where she lost the trail of the conversation. And she grasps it, her mind powerful enough to even handle this. And then, she offers. That one little thing. "I can not be your parent," she says bluntly, like a hammer. She knows it will hit hard, but there is a backswing coming. And she lays it on before Nori can close up.

"Will you have me as a friend, though? Not as a superior, but as one who still has much to learn of her own?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko's quiet demeanor just seems to grow more looming in the air as if sowing the silence.  She listens.  No discernible response till Ororo picks back up the conversation with those shattering words.  Noriko's facade comes crashing down and tears start to roll down her cheeks.  There's no hiding this one.  As if it could be any worse, electricity leaps mockingly and shoots down her stream of tears like they're damn slip in' slides.

She wipes them with her sleeve.  "Yeah."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo does not hug often. She reaches for Noriko's hands, the gauntlets slipped off, and performs their task as they fall to the floor. She holds the girl's fingers, her eyes looking into those tears, and with a bit of her own she pulls Noriko to her.

A parent's duties are: to teach when teaching is needed, to protect until they can protect themselves, and to be there when the child needs someone to hold them. Thus, that one point at least, Ororo manages, as she cradles the crying teen to her and hugs. Because Noriko Ashida is not quite ready to be all grown up yet, and the last stages hurt.

She knows. And she is there.