524/Awkward Conversations

Awkward Conversations
Date of Scene:	14 March 2020
Location:	Main Foyer
Synopsis:	A couple of people run into each other at the X-mansion. Bonding happens.
Cast of Characters:	Hope Summers, Ororo Munroe, Lorna Dane, Gabby Kinney, Laura Kinney

---

Hope Summers has posed:
Once Hope managed to get her feet under herself here, she proceeded to essentially use the school as a base of operations for her scouting missions into the greater world. She sleeps here. If she comes upon something that needs dedicated research, she'll settle back here for long enough to find out what she needs to. But otherwise, she seems to be out at dawn and back at sunset, taking full advantage of the Hyperloop stations.

She's coming back from one such expedition now, in what looks like the same military surplus cargo pants, tank top, and hoodie that she's been wearing since someone managed to convince her to launder what she was wearing when she arrived. It's possible she just has multiples of the same things, though. In theory.

She has a double-handful of fliers of some sort in her hands, garnered from the Hyperloop station, flipping curiously through the attractions in various cities.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
The main foyer is hardly a greenhouse, but thanks to Ororo's green thumb there's always an abundance of verdancy in the common area. The Mansion isn't quite 'overgrown' but at times it seems near to it; Ororo's sense of botanolgocial aesthetic leans towards 'more is better'.

When Hope arrives, she's tending to a crawling wisteria in the corner of the foyer. Loathe to trim any living thing, she uses a pair of hedge clippers with careful precision to prune out errant growths and encourage the plant to crawl along a long-disused radiator.

When Hope enters, Ororo looks up, then straightens with a smile that warms up the room. "Hope! Welcome back," she bids the Summers scion. "How was your trip?" Ororo's dress looks handmade, a dazzling pattern of abstract blue spirals against a white background. It's a single-shoulder outfit that drapes to her calves, with a complex floral bunching gathered over her right collarbone.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna had been a bit of a shut in since her rescue from Genosha's rubble. A few times she'd actually ventured outside with various people pestering her.. Jean, or Wanda.. for instance. Recently she'd tried going out here and there on her own, in short bursts. But it exhausted her, and the way she held herself was constantly in fluctuation. She wore nearly all black as well, and dark circles hung around her eyes from more than just smudged makeup.

Everything she did was more of less out of balance, out of joint, and her schedule was frequently skipping from being around people to avoiding them. Such was today, as she'd avoided the kitchen for all major meal times, and had spent the day locked in her room. Only she'd eventually gotten hungry and raided the fridge again.

Decidedly today was a 'bad' day.

A soda was shoved under her armpit, a bag of popcorn in one hand and a cup of tea held in her other made up the show that she clearly meant to go back to hiding. Her feet were bare, and she wore the same black jeans and sweater she'd worn the previous day. Her green hair a tangled mess of curls. She paused on her way to the stairs, spotting Hope and Ororo.

Hope Summers has posed:
"Did you know that there are entire cities here that didn't exist where I came from?" Hope replies to Ororo, changing directions to move toward her and brandish a flyer with the Gotham skyline on it. "It's amazing. There are just...even after I came back from the weird, limited future, our world didn't have so much of...of everything. This place is //teeming//."

Catching sight of Lorna, she pauses for a moment, head tilting as she tries to decide how to react to the other girl. On the one hand, empathy says that leaving her alone would probaby be the kindest thing. But she's also still in information-gathering mode.

"Lorna," she calls over, shoving the stack of flyers into her back pocket. "Are you- I mean, did- How are- How's Genosha?" she finally asks.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
One could not ask a more cringeworthy question of Lorna. Ororo winces at Hope's awkward interrogation. Saying that Genosha is a sore topic for Lorna is an understatement on par with 'the ocean is wet'.

"It does make one thing, doesn't it?" Ororo says, overriding that clumsy question with one of her own. "What cities flourished or died because of some happenstance. The right leader in the right place. Someone who saw potential where others did not."

Ororo doesn't make a point of using her size to intimidate people, but it's hard to argue with the significant presence of a towering white-haired weather goddess obstructing Lorna's path. "Lorna, I know you're busy, but I am in need of help. I can't get enough sun to the potted ferns. Would you be a dear and help prune back some of the undergrowth?" Her tone is humbly apologetic, but all the same she practically pushes the shears into Lorna's hands.

Ororo Munroe is a big believer in the therapeutic value of gardening.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna's eyes eyed gaze seemed content on ignoring the two other mutants on her path to the stairs and back to her room. But then Hope shifted the conversation her way and her haunted gaze came into full force to settle on Hope. She stared, inhaling sharply. "Well. Still dead. Destroyed. A graveyard for mutants. A smoking ruin. The end of a million dreams and hopes. My father's end. How many ways do you want me to describe it because I could go on. While I sit here and my people rot--" She broke off her voice thick as Ororo smoothed the conversation and tried to pass a pair of scissors into her grip that was still occupied with tea and a bag of popcorn. Her powers caught the metal tool however reflexively, as soon as Ororo had pushed them her way. Green emanated about them and they dipped and swung in the air for a moment.

Her gaze finally left Hope and she glanced at the plants that the white haired woman had asked for her to help with. She squinted and the scissors went flicked open and were promptly flung to land in the wall. "Ops." She drawled flatly.

Hope Summers has posed:
"I mean. You could." Hope watches the scissors go flying with less fear than she probably should. "But I'm not sure how that would help things either." Strictly speaking, none of this is any of Hope's business. She did her part in her own world. She saved the last of the mutants. She restarted the birth of mutants. She stopped the Phoenix from destroying the world. She's done her time. But...

She also spent her entire life preparing for those things, and now they're gone. She can't just //leave// a perfectly good fight. There's a split-second of hesitation as she debates the potential risks before she reaches out with her mind to copy Lorna's power, then summons the scissors back to her own hand, offering it over to Lorna.

"When I first showed up in my timeline, your dad was just coming out of some sort of coma. The whole island - not Genosha, Utopia, and I'm not super clear on the difference, so don't bother asking - was about to be under attack. Want to guess what he was doing?"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo doesn't have Lorna's magnetism or Hope's telekinesis. All the same, she clamps her hand over the grip of the proffered hedge trimmers when the history lesson is launched. She shoots Hope a flat look. "Perhaps I was not clear before," Ororo remarks in a deceptively mild tone of voice.

"There is much that needs doing on the grounds. Living things that need little care, but they must have that care or they will suffer."

She looks from Hope to Lorna, expression an admixture of stern compassion. "It is appropriate to lament what was lost. And the best time to plant new seeds is after a forest fire has raged," she says. Her tone grants the simple folk wisdom the profundity of antiquity.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna's gaze swung back to Hope, watching in a flat manner, her expression hollowed out and drastically tired. She tried to edge around Ororo again, but found the other woman still blocking her escape upstairs. She huffed a breath, and her focus returned to Hope. Her gaze narrowed faintly, "He was preparing to fight, to the end. It's what he did. That was his war, and he lost. He lost with a million other people relying on him. And he died. My dad died. Just like all the rest. Humans built the machines that slaughtered them." Her gaze swung back to Ororo and she sucked in a sharp breath.

"People aren't //seeds//. A forest fire doesn't allow them to come back stronger. They're just dead. The country is dead. Genosha is dead." She bit out between her gritted teeth.

"What's the point in planting anything when the humans will just destroy it all over again?"

Hope Summers has posed:
"What's the point in giving up?" Hope either doesn't pick up on Ororo's caution or else is taking the bull in a china shop route. Probably the latter. Subtlety is not really one of her gifts. "Millions died. That's sad, Lorna. That's awful. Hey, you wanna know how many mutants were left in my world before I got there?"

She moves to flank Lorna, since Ororo already has her direct route blocked. "Fewer than two hundred. Picture being at that point in the fight. And we were still fighting. Your dad was still fighting. He said that having lived through one Holocaust, he was incapable of sitting through another. What do you think happens if you stop fighting now? That nobody else is going to die?"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
An arm outthrusts between Hope and Lorna. Ororo makes no effort to touch Hope, or even touch her. It's a barrier, not an attack-- protecting Lorna from Hope's aggressive tact. In fact her shoulderblade is to Lorna, and for a moment there's a touch of the sweeping imperiousness that Ororo so rarely indulges. Not merely a confidante or teacher; not a botanist or a friend. It is regal and pointed, and her flashing blue eyes speak volumes of reprimand at Hope's persistence.

"Enough," Ororo says. Her tone is flat and icy, and brooks little in the way of debate. "You are not helping by haranguing her," she informs Hope. "Of all here, I would have thought you the one to come forward with compassion. Not berating her for her suffering."

She looks over her shoulder at Lorna. "And yes. We are all seeds. Civlization is not the individual. It is the 'we'. It is all of us. Our ancestors have survived fire, floods. The destruction of their world. Our descendents will endure the same." She gestures at Hope. "Individuals die. Our history will remain, so long as even one person lives to tell it."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna tilted her head, her eyebrows furrowed sharply. Her lips parted with something sharp, and she dropped both the popcorn bag and her can of soda (which was at least unopened.) Both rolled to the floor with a thump against the thick carpet of the entry way. It was perhaps, a good thing that she'd managed to hold onto the tea mug in her other hand.

"And you know what he got for fighting in this world? Here? He died. That's what fighting gets you. You die. And everyone around you that you thought you could save? They die too. He had a dream, and it ended with mass slaughter. Get over yourself. Heroes don't mean shit. You just end up failing in the end anyways." She snapped, and her expression twisted.

Which is when Ororo stepped in and blocked her line of sight to Hope, and tried to cheer her up. Her heated expression lessened, fading to the same hollowed out emptiness that had occupied it before.

"My father survived the Shoah to get slaughtered in his home. What's the point?" She muttered.

Hope Summers has posed:
"I'm not berating her for her suffering," Hope rolls her eyes. Apparently some things about teenagers are truly universal. "Suffering is a part of life, there's no point in being mad about someone suffering. It's what you //do// about it that matters. And the //point//," she continues, leaning around Ororo to see Lorna, "Is that even if you lose, at least you can go out on your feet. At least you can go out trying. And at least because //you// tried, someone else got a chance to live."

She crosses her arms over her chest, giving Ororo a stubborn look. "You can't just quit because you lost once. You have to keep moving. You have to keep going. Because it's not just about you. Genosha was a //nation//. What does it say if you just let it die? That if you kill enough mutants hard enough, the rest will lie down and die, so hey, keep on keeping on with the killing?"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo faces Hope full on. She towers over most in the Mansion, save Colossus; one might think that tired refrains of 'awe' and 'majesty' are the bedrock for how the towering goddess keeps order.

One might be sorely mistaken. Instead, her hands lift and rest a gentle grip on Hope's shoulders.

"Hope," she says, quietly. "You cannot project your demands onto Lorna. Any more than Lorna can project her expectations onto you. It is not the way of this school to shame each other for failing to live up to the expectations we place on ourselves."

She turns then, so the two younger women can see each other full on. Ororo stands aside, a mediating presence but no longer an obstacle. Her richly accented alto rolls around the room with a steady timbre. "Regret is the most bitter of drinks. When we see in each other our own regrets, it can bring out an uncharitable side." Fingers curl gently on Hope's shoulder.

"This place is a school. It is the way of schools to learn from one another." She gestures to Lorna. "Learning to suffer is a difficult lesson. But it is not one we must bear alone. I think the two of you might have more in common than you care to admit," she suggests. "But only if you first stop and see something of yourselves in each other."

At that, Ororo's hands drop and interlace loosely in front of her thighs; the ball is in the other court for Lorna and Hope.

Lorna Dane has posed:
"There is nothing noble about struggling and suffering. That's just a pretty way to say you're losing, and trying to apply some arbitrary meaning to death. It certainly doesn't comfort the dead." She snarled, rapidly snapping back to heated within one breath and the next. Lorna's powers were close to the surface and a residue of electromagnetism colored her hands a pale green, though nothing else happened.

Still, as Ororo shifted and addressed both of them, she quieted, huffing a breath and bending to pick up her now shaken and dented, soda can and the bag of popcorn she had swiped from the kitchen. A truly healthy diet to be sure.

"I see nothing similar between me and Miss 'I-Saved-People-Lookit-Me." She drawled, and shook her head. Bitterness thick in her voice. She had froze when people were slaughtered all around her, she had //failed// when people needed her the most. And that left a different set of scars altogether..

And still people knelt before her and called her 'Queen'. It made her sick.

Hope Summers has posed:
"I think we've got a lot in common. I just-" Hope is good on a battlefield. Less good with people who don't see themselves as soldiers. Something she might have in common with other Summerses.

"Look, Lorna. I'm not out here trying to make you feel bad. I know you already feel bad. It's just that feeling bad isn't going to change anything. You're in a place where you have a chance to make a difference. Not just a chance, but the //responsibility//. And trust me when I say that I know how much that word sucks. I know you didn't ask for it, and you didn't get to decide if you were ready for it and you're probably mad at everyone who expects anything from you because don't they get that you're a person too and-"

She stops herself, taking a deep breath. "I'd like to help, if you'll let me. Because I do get it. I just...also know that no one else can do it for you."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo smiles very slightly at the moment of candor between the two women. She slips back a diplomatic half-step as Hope and Lorna bare their scars for one another.

"I think I will put a kettle on for some tea," she murmurs. Just as Ororo can project her authority with her words, she can retreat like a foggy day under the warm sun. "Perhaps in the study. It is always best to discuss difficult topics with a warm drink in hands."

Lorna gets a gentle touch to the arm-- Hope, an approving smile. With no more ado, Ororo slips quietly out of the way to go about that very task.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna glanced at her tea mug in her hand still, and finally calmed enough to have a sip. She exhaled a shaky breath, her gaze lowering as Hope spoke. Finally, yes.. the woman //did// share a great deal with her. A glance was spared for Ororo as the other woman spoke of making tea. A squint at her now luke warm mug.. of whatever had been in the cabinets followed, but Lorna didn't remark on it. The white haired mutant had standards and microwaving a mug of tea was technically not the same.

"I went to my father in Genosha when I finally figured out who he was to me.. I didn't go trying to get a title or to be anyone.. I just.." Her expression broke slightly, "I just wanted to ask him why he'd left me behind.." Her voice trembled and her eyes watered with tears. She blinked them repeatedly in an effort to drive them away. She inhaled repeatedly, sharply, and tilted her head back.

"And then suddenly I wasn't just me anymore. And people..." She broke off as Ororo stepped out and she fell silent, sniffling slightly. A glance was spared around the hallway. Anyone could walk in and that wasn't something Lorna particularly wanted to deal with.

Hope Summers has posed:
"It sucks," Hope nods. "People deciding who you are because of what they need from you. They've decided who you are and what you can do and..." Shaking her head, she takes a few steps toward the study, waiting for Lorna to join her. "Your dad where I came from was one of the first people who didn't put that on me. I really appreciated that. Everyone seemed to think I could bring people back from the dead, or that just showing up was going to fix everything. Your dad looked at me and said well, you're here, you see any changes?" A smile flickers across her features. "I told him to give me a week."

Reaching the door, she holds it open for Lorna. "Come on. Yell about it for a little if you want. I promise not to judge, pretty sure I've yelled it all."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna trailed along after Hope, a bitter laugh escaping her in a brief chortle that ended with a miserable sounding sniffle and clearing of her throat. The door bounced open at her direction with a magnetic tug and she shut it behind them as Hope and her were both inside. She shook her head slightly, "People have worshipped me for years thinking I'm Magneto's second coming. Did you know that on Genosha, several nights a week there would be some banquet or some ball dedicated to him? Most of them weren't even in the Palace. He had Acolytes and followers that thought he was a god. And he was just.. the man that left me to be raised by humans. Now.. I mean.. I know it was more than that. But still." She shook her head.

"These people all worshipped him and me by extension. Never for anything I'd actually done. He was one of the few people in Genosha that expected anything further from me. That would talk to me without bowing and scraping. He wasn't always nice, or easy to get along with. We fought a lot actually.." She winced, her eyebrows furrowing sharply as she settled into a chair. Her shoulders hunched and she hugged the luke warm mug of tea with both of her hands clasped around it as she set the soda and popcorn bag down.

"And now there are people trying to do that to me again. People that bow and kneel on the ground at the sight of me. They expect me to be a Queen.. but there's nothing for me to be a Queen of anymore. I can't rebuild Genosha. Not in good faith. I... I couldn't save anyone. How can they expect me to be able to anything to protect them again?"

Hope Summers has posed:
"People need..." Hope pauses, a wry smile flickering across her features as she shrugs. "Pardon the self-serving pun, but people need hope, Lorna. All that stuff they're looking at? Everything they want? That's not about you and who //you// are. That's about them and what they need. What you're ready to be to them is up to you. But it's gotta //be// about you, you know?"

She moves to drop into a chair, pulling one knee up toward her chest to set her chin down on it, arms wrapped around. "You don't want to be a queen, then don't be a queen. Maybe you wanna be president instead. Maybe you don't want anything to do with your dad's legacy. That's your call too. But...someone's gonna pick up the standard, Lorna. If you pass it by, someone else is gonna pick it up. And if that's cool with you, then good. Live your life. You deserve to."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath, reaching up to rub her eyes with her hand and let it fall back to the table with a heavy sigh. "I don't get to do that.. even if I wanted to." She murmured. Mystique had already come to her, threatened to //be// her if she didn't act.. And that weighed on her. Perhaps why she'd snapped into a 'bad' day so hard and so quickly that day.

"People will continue to see me as such, and well.. I'm too well known to ever be just me. I don't get that option." She pursed her lips and took another long sip of her rapidly cooling tea.

"I didn't tell Wanda that I was alive or anyone for that matter for days.. because... I just.. I thought everything would be better if everyone thought I was dead too."

Hope Summers has posed:
"Sure you can. If you really want to, you can do anything," Hope grins, winking once. "I mean, I'll help you if you want. Because wow, when the X-Men decide they know what's right for you, they can be //massive// dicks about it. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad to hear you're not really ready to give up."

"But hey, if you've decided you're not going to give it up, then the next step is to decide what to do instead." She leans into one corner of the chair, making herself comfortable. "I don't know about you, but I always feel better with an actual battle plan."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shrugged weakly once, "It's not the X-men," She muttered and bit back a sigh a she looked morosely at the mug of tea in her grip. She pursed her lips together, and finished it off with another sip. She set it down again, and pushed the mug off to the side with a sigh. Her frame curled up in the chair she sat on, drawing her knees close as she wrapped her arms around them.

"I don't know what to do. So many people are trying to 'raise funds' for Genosha or the refugees. So many countries that ignored us before now want to help. When my father was alive, no one wanted to be an ally. Now they're all over the place. Charity balls, events, auctions, foreign aid." She frowned, "I've let Wanda handle most of it, and a few of the members from the government that were off the island. My father never prepared me for this, and how could he?"

Hope Summers has posed:
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure 'how to run a country' isn't something there's a crash course for," Hope agrees. "Lots of moving parts there. But for what it's worth, I have seen some objectively awful people manage to set things up their own way, so the bar is pretty low on making it work. If that helps."

"So who survived, then? What skills do they have? The good news is you're not alone, right?" Full disclosure: Under no circumstances should anyone let Hope build anything //other// than an army. But at least she tries!

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath, "One or two of our Ambassadors survived. They were on the Council. Uhmm... maybe a few thousand citizens. A handful of the Brotherhood that were here in the States. I don't know about any of the Acolytes." She pursed her lips, "I could build steel buildings all day with the raw materials left on the island.. But I don't see it as a good idea. Not with whoever did it still out there. They could just wipe us out permanently. At least with the mutant diaspora we're harder to track down and slaughter en masse. I worry about any attempts to gather up people again." She pursed her lips and hung her head again.

"And that's not just my wanting to get revenge talking. I've thought about it a lot. If these things attacked at the height of Genosha's powers and wiped us off the map.. then it's just not safe to try to gather people up again until they're handled.. And even then. Humans created those Sentinels. They could make them again and get the same thing.."

Hope Summers has posed:
"Depends," Hope says slowly, head tilting. "I mean. It depends on a lot of variables. Like who did it? You've got a lot of people out there who hate mutants, but they come in so many different flavors. Some of them might not hit the island if there were human aid workers there. Others would say that those humans deserve to die for trying to help mutants."

She shrugs, letting her leg fall as she unfolds to tap her fingers on the arm of her chair. "Depends on the sort of defenses you want to put up too. And there's something to be said for symbolic power too, Lorna. Even if you've got just a couple hundred mutants staying put on that island and ready to make a stand...Well, on my world we stopped them that way too. And they were sending literal waves of Sentinels at us from the future."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna let her legs straighten slightly from the hunched, curled position she was in, mirroring Hope's body language as she moved. She sighed, leaning back and dragging her hands through her shorn locks. "We had humans on the island. Kitty's father was human, and he died. At least, no one has heard from him. So whoever sent those Sentinels did so knowing that humans and mutants were on the island. Most of the world's governments are suspect, thought they deny it. There were a ton of people gunning for my father." She heaved a sigh.

"And we had defenses. My father was one of the most paranoid men on the planet. He had planned for so many methods of attack.. And it wasn't enough. Short of lifting the island out of the seat and hurling it into orbit, I don't see a way to make it any safer."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Oh my god, this is amazing!" Comes a rather cheery voice that might be familiar to both Lorna and Hope. "What's it called again? Hey, don't be stingy!" Gabby comes into the room weilding a pair of chopsticks rather hap-hazardly (she'd tied them together with a hairband and bit of folded up paper to act as a hinge till she knew how to use them), and she's trying to swipe a bit of chicken and noodles out of a Chinese takeout box that she's carrying. Her other hand holds a plastic bag weighed down with other boxes of savory, spicy smelling items that bounces lightly against her leg as she walks. Either someone was hungry or indecisive. And hungry.

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "This is a Number 25 with Chicken from Chang's." Laura goes on to give the translation in almost unaccented Cantonese. "It is what I was eating when those mercenaries tried to arrest me and I was forced to use it as a weapon. A tragic waste of food." The taller teen has her own box, the aromas of which make eyes water at five paces. Not that Laura seems perturbed in the slightest. "We should find a table so we do not make a mess on the carpets. The sauce stains easily."

Hope Summers has posed:
"I'm a little fuzzy on all of history, but I feel like someone tried something like that at some point," Hope admits when Lorna mentions throwing the island into orbit, squinting to herself. "Not the point though, I guess. Whatever they did, however they did it? That's a massive strike with some serious resources. I'd be willing to bet that they're hurting in their own way right now. You put that much into one strike, you're //counting// on it working because you don't have enough in you for another one."

As the smell of Chinese preceeds the arrival of Wolverines, she looks toward the door, waving a hand at Gabby and Laura. "Hey guys. You guys know each other, right?" she asks, gesturing between them and Lorna.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shifted in her seat, "I dunno, if it was Trask they could make more. It would take time, but I bet they could make more. I know people spotted a few scavengers around after the attack. So, who knows." She sighed and pressed her hands against her eyes again. She pursed her lips and shifted in her seat.

"I could try to make a massive solar flare and knock out the Earth's electronics for a few decades. How about that?" She drawled sarcastically. Mostly. Of course that is when Laura and Gabby entered the room and she glanced up, her expression pinched and drawn. She still wore the same clothes she'd worn yesterday, and her hair was a tangled mess. There was a bag of popcorn and dented soda can near her, along with an empty mug that had once contained tea.

"Hey."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney hms, "The stuff that blinded that guard after me?" That was about all she remembers of the Chinese takeout Laura was eating at the time. Spice level 'lethal' or not, she doens't seem to be breaking a sweat herself over it.

When Hope greets her, she breaks into a smile. "Yeah, course I do!" Looking toward Laura she adds, "See now we can share and spending my allowance on Chinese food isn't so bad. Well, Chinese and paint markers," She adds as she looks down to pockets buldging with who-knew-what art supplies. Again she grins, and hefts up the bag of food. "Of course I do! You guys eaten yet? Got a ton of stuff I wanted to try and I doubt even I can eat it all." Lorna is eyed along with the popcorn bag. Yeah. She needs real food.

"You guys okay?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "Yes. Mrs. Chang wears a mask to make the sauce. She only does it once a month." Hope gets a nod of greeting from Laura, and Lorna gets an evaluating look. Like the stoic teen is sizing her up as a potential threat. Not to worry, she does that to everyone. "I am familiar with her, but we have not been introduced. I am Laura Kinney." They'd better not eat it all. Laura's hungry, and she needs her leftovers.

Hope Summers has posed:
"We're getting to okay," Hope answers Gabby with a quick, small smile. "Maybe skipping the massive solar flare though. People get real dumb when they don't have access to their normal power supply." She falls silent for Laura's introduction, not wanting to overstep by oversharing on that front. "Personally," she continues to Lorna, "I'm the sort of person who'd rather start rebuilding and deal with what comes. But I've been accused of being, uh. Less than prudent in the past, so. Grain of salt."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shrugged lightly, a roll of her shoulders as she glanced toward Gabby, "I'm fine." She lied, completely straight faced. But that had been the standard in the past few days. She'd stopped openly admitting she wasn't fine. It was easier that way. Better to wave away her issues, when it was abundantly clear that she was anything but fine. Barely functional, was more apt.

And yes, she needed real food and not just a bag of popcorn and caffeinated beverages.

"I'm not hungry." Another lie. She glanced at Laura, having seen the other mutant in passing during the past few weeks but not having had a chance to actually introduce herself, unlike Gabby, who had become a bit of on and off shadow.

"Lorna Dane, Polaris." She offered up, and sighed as she got up from her chair. Her gaze swung briefly toward Hope.

"I'm not willing to put people in danger if I can't protect them.." She muttered and shook her head. "I'm going to head back to my room."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney places the bag of food down on a table. Side table, coffee table, it didn't really matter which. Her attention is on Lorna with a small frown. An unusual expression from her, but one that just meant she was being serious. When Lorna rises to head off she quickly reaches into the bag to pull out a container of chicken congee soup and paper wrapped eggroll. Whirling around she rushes over to Lorna to thrust the container at her. "Here. I heard chicken soup is good for the soul or something. It's not quite chicken soup, more like chicken porridge or something? But it's supposed to be good and smells good and you should have some." Pausing she adds, "And an egg roll because it's yummy."

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "If you ever need someone to do things you publicly can not... You can ask me. I have my own mission that I have been working on, but those who would exterminate us must be stopped. I would help if you asked." Another nod, although this one slower. Respectful. "I hope you rest well and recover." Sinking into a seat, Laura expertly chopsticks some noodles from her own container into her mouth.

Hope Summers has posed:
"We're mutants, Lorna. We're pretty good at protecting ourselves," Hope points out, though she softens it with a small smile. "If you ever just want to yell about it, get some things off your chest, just let me know. Not like I've got a real mission here. The least I can do it help the people who do have one."

It's not //exactly// the same offer as Laura's, but it's not not the same offer either. Teenage child soldier mutants are what the anti-mutant people should //really// be afraid of.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Gabby's sudden movement caught Lorna off guard and she stopped abruptly as the younger mutant plopped down a thing of soup and an eggroll into Lorna's grip. The magnokinetic smiled weakly, accepting both without so much as a grumble or complaint. "Okay. Thank you Gabby." She murmured softly. For all the anger and depressive moods she'd had in front of Hope or Ororo, Gabby seemed to earn an entirely different side.

The green haired woman's gaze swung between Laura and Hope in turn as each spoke and she nodded slowly. If Lorna had true intent of starting up a Brotherhood of Mutants, she could likely put together a more efficient team than her father had within minutes. But, she wasn't exactly in that state of mind.. So it was a moot point. Still, the offers were essentially there.

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm ah... going to head up to my room and eat this.." She offered awkwardly.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney beams a grin up at Lorna when she takes the offered food without complaint. Good, good. Eating was good. She'd recognized signs of avoiding food in her sisters before, and was often the one to keep after them to take care of themselves. This wasn't so different.

When Laura and Hope offer to help she pipes up with, "I can help too! I'm good with guns, infiltration and espionage. Though I don't kill people. Robots don't count though so that's okay, right?" A glance is cast over her shoulder to Laura and Hope as if to confirm this. "I mean, so long as they're not like AI type people. Just robots is different."

With that said she nods again at Lorna with a grin. "Okay! Get some rest too!"

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "I hope you enjoy the food. Rest well." Social niceties over, it's time to dig in, and Laura does so. She has to avenge the fallen food from last time, after all. Gabby recieves a confirming nod that non-sentient robots are, indeed, perfectly fine to destroy. Mmmmm. Spicey. Acquire egg roll, dip egg roll in duck sauce...

Hope Summers has posed:
"Robots are a thousand percent fair game," Hope concurs with a firm nod, settling back into the corner of her chair once more as Lorna departs, though she keeps an eye on the other girl. This is not fixed yet. And there's not much Hope hates more than not being able to fix something. She's not the giving up sort.

"How's things going?" she asks Gabby and Laura next, propping her chin up on one fist. "How's your other sister doing?"