Owner	Pose
Ororo Munroe	Early afternoon on a Saturday would usually find Ororo out by the pool, but today she's expecting a guest. One of the tables out on the balcony has been covered in a delicate cloth and topped with a kettle on hot stones with two stone baked bowl style cups. The Storm Goddess is seated at one of the two chairs with her right leg crossed over the left. Wearing a swimsuit beneath a yellow and white shaw wrapped around her waist. A tanktop is worn over top, but the straps of the matching swimsuit top can be seen beside the knots tying the shoulders together on either side of her dark skinned neck. It's a beautiful day. Only a few clouds that float aimlessly across the blue sky. Just hot enough that there's a shin of sweat, but not sweltering and uncomfortable as it will be come Late June. It is, as they sometimes say, a perfect weather day.
Emma Frost	Emma Frost is coming up to talk with Ororo. For the blonde business executive, it's more of an attempt at socializing with the team that she's never quite fully fit into. For good reason, she's always given them quite justified trust issues. So she's here to try and start to work on mending them. Or at least extending a branch on it. So, with a tentative knock over as she goes up the stairs to the attic, Emma goes to wait to be let in after having announced herself. Under one arm Emma is carefully holding a large pot with a plant in it that she had done some research on to find something from the Savanna around the fertile regions of the Nile that would do well in the atmosphere. Emma is herself wearing a thin cropped shirt of some sort of leather, colored white, and a skirt also of the same color. And yes, as always, in heels.
Ororo Munroe	Usually Ororo would announce to would be visitors that the door is unlocked because the door to the Attic apartment is always unlocked. This, however, is something a bit more important. So the White haired teacher pads barefoot across the rosewood floor to pull open the stained glass windowed door for Emma, "Ms. Frost, it is good to see you." Stepping to one side with her hand extending invitingly. "Dressed impeccably, as always." The interior of the apartment is lined with plants. Some in functional plastic hanger pots, some in stone, and others in bio-appropriate containers to allow them rooting, but would be easy to transplant into the yard at some later point. This is a feeling out meeting for the both of them, but Ororo is rarely ''all business''. There's something warm and easy about her despite it being Emma entering. Or maybe because of it? It's hard to tell.
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would smile over at Ororo, "Thank you, ah.. Ororo." Emma would be feeling it out. Whehter to be formal in calling her 'Ms. Munroe' back which felt somewhat complicated, like she were speaking on official business and keeping that layer of iciness up.. Or something more informal. Finally leaning over on the informal end of things, the blonde would smoothly shift gears. "Thank you for having me an inviting me into your room. It's much.. Cozier and comfortable than where I might usually stay." Said the woman that had no doubt multiple palatial level palaces and probably her own personal estate as well. The large plant is then carefully handed over. "I tried to find something appropriate for the climate, do forgive me if my research was incorrect, and I'll ensure to get something more proper." An attempt at a gift. OR a peace offering? "And thank you for having me." For Emma, it's tricky as well. She wants to make this go smoothly herself.
Ororo Munroe	The shift from formal to informal is acknowledge with a amiccible nod of Ororo's head and a smile curling the corners of her mouth, "Emma, then." She repeats in a quieter tone, extending her hand out to accept the offered gift in both hands. "It's lovely. Geissorhiza melanthera.. I've always found them remarkable." She motions with the extended pot to find a place that matches the ecosystem for that section of South Africa where it grows and gives it a home amidst the greenery. "Did you know it is one of the on species that is pollinated by bee flies?" She stands back with her hands on her wide hips, the right jutting to the side slightly as she observes the placement with a look of appreciation. "The petals mimic the appearance of a bee flies to draw them in to carry the pollen all across the Savanna. Nature is truly wonderful.. the subtle changes ~" Her fingers extend out to flutter just so, like waves through the gentle cross breeze in the apartment. "~ to sustain and carry on life. A lulliby of millions of individual organisms living in harmony. If only humanity could learn from it." She smiles apologetically after clearing her throat, turning to regard Emma, "Sorry. Would you like some tea? I've set up a table out on the balcony over looking the grounds."
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would go to walk alon gand listen over to Ororo's elaboration attentively. "I've unfortunately not ever had the inclination to work at gardening. It wasn't something I had the particular drive to ever do and I'm at the point in my life now where I couldn't give something the proper appreciation and time it deserves. This place is lovely and charming." Emma would glance at the selection of plans and listen. "Nature learns and adapts. To the ecosystem and what is around it. IT evolves to allow it to survive and prosper. And to fit the changing world around it." She would smile over at Ororo's emotional elaboration. "Yes, that sounds very apt. And I would.. Like that, Ororo. Some tea would be lovely. Don't go out of your way to prepare something extra for me,w ahtever you would have normally is fine."
Ororo Munroe	"I've worked very hard to make it feel inviting and welcoming." Ororo looks around her open style apartment with a raised white brow over deep blue eyes, "If not for me, then for those who come to visit me." Since that's really her lot amongst the mutants at Xavier's isn't it? The warm embrace and understanding ear, best served in a place that is warm and understanding. "Nature can be just as cruel.. I suppose it's very easy to observe things positively when looked at from the outside, but for every vibrant ecosystem coexisting with millions of organisms, there's a Kudzu vine devouring entire cities where it was introduced outside its own ecosystem." Her tongue pops off the roof of her mouth and the back of her teeth. Then her smile returns and she motions out onto the balcony, leading the way. The placement is rather simple, a smallt able with a stone kettle on heated stones with two bowls. "Chai tea. I always keep some around, it's one of my favorites." Her hand extends to the seat across from her own while settling back down into the one she'd recently vacated. Her leg comes up to recross the other knee, straightening her shaw out over her dark skinned thigh, easily leaning forward to take up the kettle to pour some of the steaming beverage for them both. Her motions are very precise. Almost reverent, really. Tea is important in almost every culture... not just the tea being drank, but how the tea is poured. It's no different for Ororo.
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would nod over at Ororo, listening, "Nature does what it takes to survive. To outperform. To get ahead. An ecosystem works in symbiosis, each part contributing. But each part still wishes to take more upon itself. Everything changes over time. And that which does not evolve is forever outperformed. Small things go out of alignment and those which cannot change wti the environment do not ocntinue." She would smile at Ororo, "I appreciate it. You having me here. I know I'm not the most.. Sociable of individuals." By that she likely means 'trusted'.. But for good reason. She's been somewhat lacking in that department. "Ah, excellent. When I was a child I used to love making a pitcher, putting it in the refrigerator and letting it cool overnight." She gives a rare look of fondness and almost happiness at a childhood memory. From the almos timagined creases on her face, it was not something that came up often. And Emma would watch Ororo as the womanw ould prepare the tea. Different cultures, perhaps? Different life experiences? Emma would just watch softly and evaluatorily. Interested. But for politeness sake not commenting about it. There was a time and place for such things. But for now.. It was rather unimportant.
Ororo Munroe	"Mmm, you're not wrong." Ororo settles the kettle back down on the rocks and extends both hands palm up towards the bowl, inviting Emma to take it, "I might would argue that sometimes the particulars of evolution are the exact thing that destroys a species, however. The Angel tear, for instance." Her bowl-cup is taken up in both hands, nothing added to the aromatic tea before taking a sip following a cooling breath blown across the surface. "The angel tear polinated by boring large fruit that would be consumed by fauna, the seeds spreading through the animals excrement.. but because of over grazing and human intervention, they developed a bitter taste to defend itself from being instinct." The bowl is set back down upon the table, hands resting her bent knew, "Which ward off the fauna that ate the fruit, and by eating the fruit, spread the seeds.. It literally evolved into a dead species defensively." Her palms turn over, fingers rising from her knee. "I think that would be the position we find ourselves in. As mutants, I mean." Not that it was brought up, but they were tap dancing around it regardless. "We've become defensive in our struggle against hatred.. and every instinct of our evolutionary, adaptive mind tells us to use those gifts that Nature has given us to ward off prey." Her blue eyes might not be as overt, but she's also watching Emma. Observing her. "Through a purly understandable, and even expect, response to hostile stimuli, we could make ourselves exstinct. Every thing about nature is a lesson. If we collectively watch, we can see precisely the course our lives could take..." A smile curls the corners of her mouth until her pearl white teeth are visible, "And it's beautiful. Which certainly doesn't hurt."
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would nod over at Ororo and listen, "Oh, yes. Not every evolution in the end comes to benefit itself. Evolution takes time. And circumstances do not always lend themselves over to a rapid shift. Or in ways that were no tanticipated." She would nod. "Humanity itself has lead to many of these things. By grazing, deforestation, overpopulation, destruction of habitat.." Her face would look sad for a few moments. Listening and paying attention. "It ujltimately comes down to whether one might see we as mutants as the next step, next phase in evolution or merely another sideline of it. In this galaxy, with everything giong on.. I do have to wonder how special we are in the greater scheme of things. How often things such as ourselves do happen over the course of a species.. Whether it is beneficial or not." She would muse distantly. "And one thing I'm curious but also fearful to see what other cultures have had happen and have done." Emma would fold her hands together. "And everything comes iwth danger, Ororo. Everything comes wsith anticipation. Every change comes with risk inherent to it. Change is not always for the better. but a world without change.. Becomes static. And that which something does not change to external circumstances.. Dies and fades away by default. So one must change.. OR accept inevitability. One can change themselves.. The world aroun dthem is much harder."
Ororo Munroe	Again Ororo agrees with a nod of her long neck, tipping her chin to Emma, "So is it true with ... say.. social issues." Which brings them to where they now sit. A giant loop of a circle drawn in the conversation to bring them right back to why they are sitting at this table together now. Feeling each other out. "For good reason, people have misgivings about you." As caring and welcoming as Ororo might be, she is not one to mence words or tap dance around an uncomfortable truth. "What I think people fail to see, even if we call it understandingly, is the effort you're putting into changing the collective opinion." Her blue eyes sit upon Emma unwavering. "I generally give people the benefit of the doubt. It's no secret, I think, that I have a reputation in Africa. That as many people ''fear'' me as they do revere me. Are they wrong in their opinion?" She shakes her head at that, answering her own rhetorical question. "Certainly not. I did great things for my people, but I also did terrible things to those who would harm them. I was, and in many ways still am, an agent of neutrality. The greater good always seems to hurt the minor few." Her smile wans, but only slightly. "So I'm curious about you. If the stories of what you've done are true, then you've got a rather long ledger to answer for, but I am neither a judge nor one to throw stones in glass houses." At this point she pauses, having gone on for some time, and favors taking another sip from her tea so that Emma might speak her piece.
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would fold her hands together, "We have to remember existence is not a zero sum game. Simply as one side has things does not mean that if another is granted some things it takes away. A hard thing> It goes against what we see as instinctive for survival. TO have and to hoard. To fear and to wish to protect. Something that goes against what is innate to ourselves. One of the failures of the last ten thousand or so years or however long it's been since humanity started staying in villages permanently rather than eternally wandering. Civilization is new on the grand scheme of humanity's existence." Relative. "And I've done some horrid, horrid things, Ororo. My actions have hurt people greatly, breached trust, and lead to suffering. No matter what I do I can never say that I've paid back the debt nor given anyone reason to think I won't fall back on old habits at any point and repeat the process." She looks tired and worn at admitting that. But it is honest. "All those and more. My own penance.. But things that are true. And ones htat I cannot undo nor look away from. So I can only hope to earn my place and penance.. But I can never blame any for always being wary of me. In thier place, I would do the same."
Ororo Munroe	There's a soft chuffing hum from the Storm Goddess who sits across from Emma listening to her explanation of events and responses. Ororo drums the ends of her fingers against her bent knee, "Then I can offer you this: When you feel yourself weighed down by the burden you carry in your penance, my door will be open. Here, in this attic, you will not find judgement." She looks through the double doors opened upon her home. "Only welcome and an ear to listen." Her gaze then returns to Emma, "It's a small thing, I know. I cannot change peoples minds or bare the weight with you, but I can listen... and through letting you relieve yoursel of the harsh weight you carry lighten the load." The bowl cup is set back down then. "You bring a unique experience to the school. One that must be expressed carefully, but one that I think is fundamental to the students understanding of the world in which we live. We expect them to walk this rigid path of acceptance for people who don't accept them.. Your experiences, while explained by yourself as horrible, were a response to the same adversities experienced by so many young people today." Which don't all deal with being a mutant. They aren't teaching them simply to BE mutants. They're teaching them to be adults. "I would like to call you my friend. And I would like you to call me yours."
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would look down at her cup of tea and smile, "Thank you." She would take a moment to take in a deep breath, composing hereslf and forming thoughts. "I feel.. That I have much to atone for. And that the least I can do is ensure that others see the mistakes and failures that I have done, the ways I inflicted harm.. And learn from them. That perhaps in the great scheme of things that the means do not always justify the ends. Perhaps that is the best contribution I could make." Her tone amused, a litlte more relaxed. "And.. Thank you Ororo. I would appreciate that. It is.. Nice to have a friend. Something I have not had many of." Emma's life taught her that people would go out of their way to abuse her if she left an opening to care. Her time with the Club taught her that people were disposable and to be manipulated. Her time as a telepath showed her how so many people at their core were rotten and what they would do if left to their own devices. Was it surprising, then, that perhaps for a time she had seen the world looking out at her with so much contempt and seeking for power for her to have tkaen that upon herself as all the justificaiton she needed to do it back to the world?     "Thank you, Ororo. I.. Would like to be your friend. And that means much to me that you have offered it." Then she would add, a slight upwards tilt to her lips. "And I didn't even have to buy you a small country."
Ororo Munroe	"Oh please." Ororo swats her hand through the air playfully, "I'm a living Goddess to the people of the Fertile Valley.. I am ''worshipped'' as a deity." Which, despite the playful way she says it, genuinely doesn't seem to have gone to her head. Who could honestly boast that? "What could you possibly have bought me?" Her smile is friendly and soft. A bit of a joyous twinkle in her blue eye. "If, however, you wished to spend money on something, there is an entire community of Mutants in New York that could use better schools... or a safe place for the children of Bushwick to gather and play without fear of being introduced to drugs or... worse.." because there's always worse. "I don't think you'll find forgiveness in anything you spend money on, but you might find some comfort in doing good for the world. Altruism is rare these days." She winks across the table and looks out at some of the younger kids playing several stories below them in the warm afternoon.
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would just fold her hands together over at Ororo and smile< "Well, you have a point there. What are material possessions over to a goddess? But again, what then is a woman that does not have anything about to display as finery or possessions? From those gods that I have met they all seem to have at least some appreciation for finery. For what is station if others do not see you as a goddess?" She would nod at Ororo, "Those are reasonable things. I'll see what I can do in the area to make some donations.. Or at least twist some arms to resolve issues. Maybe buy out a few of them to make a bit of a point." Musing over on the business end of things. A little more of a cutthroat way of going about doing things. The busienss world.. Was a zero sum one. She would sigh, "You're right, it is a start, and one that is meaningful. Thank you Ororo. That does mean a great deal to me as a suggestion." She would smile.
Ororo Munroe	Ororo raises a brow and turns her hands over in a facimile of a shrug, but with the accompanying grin on her dark lips, "There is a popular song by the Geto Boys. ''Real Gangsta ass Goddess don't flex nuts because real Gangsta Ass Goddess know that they've got'em.''." She actually laughs, like wind blowing through an open field, she rolls her eyes at herself and settles back into her chair. "I have everything I need and don't, actually, consider myself a God at all. I just never corrected anyone who said so..." Another wink, grin becoming cheeky. Like she's playing at being mischievous. "Ahhh the business world and government. Yet another avenue where you might be of endless benefit to us here and the mutant condition." Ro nods to this, understanding full well the cutthroat nature of what goes on behind the doors of a Board Room. "Some might see that as a flaw, your ability to manipulate the workings of the business sphere, but we cheer Warren for it. He's as ruthless as you, the only difference, I think... is you're a woman." She flicks her fingers and shrugs, "There's a whole conversation we could have on the inequality of perception between a male and female business mogal, but I doubt either of us needs to vocalize it to know how unfair ''that'' can be. Suffice that... never change how you play the system, Emma." She holds up a finger and points it out towards her newest friend. "Of all the things you may be guilty of, that is not one of them."
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would chuckle, "why, Gangster? I must say that goes agaisnt everything that one might ever have imagined you being into. is that something I shouldn't pass around just as it might run afoul of your reputation, Ororo?" Seh would inquire over in amusement. "Considering oneself one and being treated as one do not necessarily overlap. IF you are considered one, do you take advnatage of it? Do you ensure that others are aware you are not? Or do you find such concerns beneath you so long as they do not interfere?" She would smile, "Everything in the world of business is about advantages. Maximizing your own, minimizing those of others. Perception. People see my role and persona.. They will judge me for it regardless, so work to it as an advantage. Turn what might be a weakness into a strength. Have those fear me or underestimate me because of how I am perceived. Anything can be an advantage. And Warren is.. For all his virtues, not an aggressive businessman. He does not need to be." She would muse over. "We come from different worlds." Despite them both being very 'old money' types, at least by the standards of the United States. "And the system bends to my will. I do not bend to it. Unless it gives me an advantage to." Sometimes one did find things easier playing to the system rather than twisting it.
Ororo Munroe	Ororo actually laughs at Emma's questions series and shakes her head, "It's just a song, I found it amusing. But you're probably right in that I haven't ever issued a press release denouncing all the claims of my divinity." Which wouldn't work anyways, even if she tried. "I don't revel in what people say, and I've tried very hard to not let myself be catagorized by any labels. Everyone seems so tied up into them, but I find them too stiffling and restrictive." Her hands resettle upon her bent and bare knee, "Some see me as a friend, others an enemy, a few as a Goddess, and more as a abdomination. If I let what people ''think'' sway my day, I would spend entirely too much time concerned about things I have no control over and entirely too little sun bathing." She shrugs and chuckles quietly into a smile, "Between the two, I think sun bathing is far more enjoyable." Like wise she nods to Emma's observation, "You're almost certainly right. I would do poorly in the business world... as soon as a meeting went unfavorably, I'd shatter the table into a trillion pieces with a bolt of lightning from a window. It would be the most gloreous end to a very short business career." A very exagerated and dramatic sigh, "No.. I've far more temperment for God hood." Obviously, at this point, just teasing and bantering playfully. "So, at the risk of going well off the rails of our conversation, tell me something about yourself, Emma. Help me get to know the woman you are instead of the woman you let people see."
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would fold her hands together over and smile at Ororo, "You, my dear, are a woman of mystery. And the fact that you do not particularly engage in it merely adds to the.. Mystique of it. If your secret is you don't particularly care for it and in turn pay little attention, then congratulations at having found a way to play the game without having to pay attention to every little twist and turn in it. You have figured out the secret and kept your sanity from it. Something a great deal of us can't do." Emma would laugh, "Oh, you don't want -yourself- to do that. That's why you have someone on the board or that works underneath you very clearly as the person available to do that. You express your displeasure indirectly. That's part of what the assumption is for. You want them to have a healthy dose of fear, a healthy one of respect.. But if they do not have fear then they feel all themore justified in making assumptions of aggression. And.. I presume that wihtin the pantheon things are quite different." Emma would muse for a moment and think. "Very well. I have three siblings. Christian, Cordellia, and Adrienne." Whatever sort of pleasantness there has been in the conversation so far goes to raw acid as she speaks that last name right before it passes. "My mother died when I was a teenager."
Ororo Munroe	"Perhaps that's true. Perhaps I have figured out the way to exist in the world without ever having to acknowledge that I'm doing so." Ororo laughs and shrugs in a way that could be indifference, but is probably done intentional and good natured, "I struggle, just like anyone, but I always remember that sometimes it's time for the carrot and sometimes the stick. Knowing when to use which is the secret." Nodding again, she inclines her head to Emma. It's not that she glosses over what she's said about business as seeing what she's revealed about her family as more central to the conversation. At least by the response it's had on Emma herself. Rather than pry about the souring expression, "My mother also died when I was very young." A shared tragedy, she doesn't elaborate nor ask Emma to do so. When she's ready to speak on them, when they are close enough friends to share that, she will. "And what of hobbies?"
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would nod at Ororo, "My powers.. Played a part in her death. Or at least her incapacitation that lead to it." Emma's tone was quiet. Flat. And not in the sort of way one needed to say 'I'm so sorry' over. "I have relatively few of them. My family was not a great believer in.. Idle hands is the term. I had few chances to discover doing things I enjoyed along the way purely for the sake ofe njoyment. And little time since." She would add on, "One of thsoe small difficulties of being a telepath. One gets glimpses of all these thigns that others do indulge in.. And that means it's rather difficult in turn to do them for your own sake. I'm impressed Ms. Grey is quite capable of doing so."
Ororo Munroe	"Ah." Ororo picks up the incracies of what Emma's said, by the way she says it. It potentially wasnt' an ''accident'' that her mother died. And very well may have been deserved, in so far as by perspective of events. She nods slowly, "My mother and father were both killed in a plane crash." Again not going into the greater, darker, details of having spent 3 days trapped with her mothers body until being rescued. "I suppose seeing peoples thoughts does complicate the matter of finding something to enjoy singularly, but I would think that's Jean's secret. If idle hands are dangerous to everyone, imagine how difficult an idle mind is to a telepath." She tilts her head curiously to Emma, considering. "Would you like to join me in gardening? It's dirty work and no one will ever know you did it, but there's self accomplishment and pride in seeing the plants you've cultivated grow and thrive. It'll keep your mind occupied, your hands moving, and I'll be there to talk to." Her brow perks thoughtfully over one blue eye.
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would pick up the cues of that from Ororo's mannerisms, "No, not like that. I.. Discovered my fathere was having an affair. I attempted tos how proof to my mother. When she disbelieved it, I attempted to broadcast to her mind what I had seen. She had a stroke and was never the same afterwords. She simply faded away. Whatever sort o fspark she had in her I broke, so hard did I press her to believe me>" Her tone would be neutral on it. Somethings he had come to terms with.. For better or ill. And the casual way she spoke about her father.. Didn't lend itself to anything pleasant to mind. "I relish those enjoyments, don't have the time for them, and any sort of experience I would get I simply pick up from others." She would smile. "One of the tribulations I fear. And I would.. Appreciate it. I cannot guarantee much time available but I will do what I can to aid you."
Ororo Munroe	"Ah.." Ororo hadn't wished to pry, but appreciates the ernestness of having the story told. Her expression has sadness to it, but it's a muted thing that looks more like understanding. She's not the one who Emma would have to get forgiveness from, if she wanted it. So it made no sense for her to offer it, "it's an unfortunate truth that in our youth, when given these abilities, we are capable of terrible tragedy that is hard to blame a child for, but impossible to forgive ourselves." It's all she offers instead. There are dozens of stories like this one at the school. Young mutants whose powers killed or harmed a loved one. Ororo understands it well. "That's the beauty of being friends, Emma. You are not beholdened to me in any way. Not with your time. When it is given, I will appreciate it." Her palm slaps her bare knee, "Speaking of which, I should probably get ready for my meeting with Jean. The school year is nearly over and we've got a great deal to discuss about the logistics of the children."
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would smile over at Ororo, "I thank you. But it was one of many incidents.. But, we must learn from the past, not obsess over it. See what we can do to improve ourselves, and how to ensure others do not make our mistakes. And hopefully help guide them away from the failures of our own." Emma would smile over sadly. "I do appreciate it. You are going out of your way to be a friend, Ororo. You have made the effort to approahc me on it and invite me in. And not let me drive you away or antagonize you."
Ororo Munroe	"I'm a Goddess, remember?" Ororo pushes up from her seat, playfully adding with a grin, "We're terribly difficult to push away." She waits for Emma to stand and walks with her to the pane glass door that leads down into the mansion proper, "The door is never locked, Emma. Feel free to visit whenever you have time or a desire. It's a small cosmos we live in here at the mansion..." Leaning in to speak teasingly conspiratorially, "Everyone knows when we are around." When she straightens, she once again has her hands on her hips above the shaw wrapping her waist. "It's been good to speak with you. I look forward to doing so again."
Emma Frost	Emma Frost would smile over and give a hug if allowed, "I appreciate that, Ororo. I do appreciate it. I look forwards to spending some more time with you. And perhaps we shall see if I can engage you a bit more as the goddess you deny being. If only to see what sort of a change the winds will bring i you do feel like letting out that wild side of you." she would give a formal bow.