LOG: [Lorna, Marius] Still in the doghouse

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Between the events of the weekend and Alison's current mission, Lorna is not in the best of moods. Unfortunately, today's visitor has the emotional sensitivity of a brick -- and a slightly unnerving mutant power manifestation if you're still trying to adjust to life after an alliance with Magneto.





Lorna was trying to be calm. She was trying not to think about everything that had happened since Thanksgiving and was trying even harder not to want to know the details, reminding herself that she'd quit the team for a reason and she had no right to curiosity or second guessing now. That didn't mean she wasn't edging towards a terrible mood that probably wouldn't be cured by a little cooking. She was folding laundry with unnecessary violence, her shields up so she wouldn't have to feel the rest of the mansion, when there as a knock on the door.

Marius hadn't been sure she was in, but as patience was not one of his virtues he thought he might as well make an attempt before going through the trouble of hunting down informants. He was pleased when the door opened for him. It meant he was actually making a delivery rather than merely standing in the middle of the staff hallway with a bag of raw meat.

"Believe someone mentioned something about being owed a few chunks of cow," Marius smiled, holding up his offering as proof.

Lorna's eyes narrowed as she realized who her visitor was then she struggled to put on a calm and non-hostile face. "You just as skinny when you're human," she said shortly, folding her arms. "You'd be better off eating that than returning it."

Marius grinned, missing the warning signs entirely. "Don't think I can manage ten eight-ounce steaks by myself." He noticed her look at that, and shrugged. "I've been known to overdo. May I?"

"I think I told you that you weren't welcome in my kitchen." Okay, so this wasn't going to be a successful attempt at not taking things out on the semi-innocent bystander. "What do you expect me to do with all that meat?" There was an entire bookshelf devoted to recipe books but he didn't need to know that. It wasn't the point after all.

Marius cocked his head. "If you've got some way of cookin' that extends across the suite and into the hall, you're more serious than I thought. As for what you do with it -- well, suppose you can freeze some if you like, but if it's a problem I'm sure Cats, Rahne and Kyle will be more'n happy to help out. Don't know, you're the cook -- I just bought the stuff." He untilted his head and smiled. "It's gettin' a bit heavy, though, so I'd take it as a favour if you decided soon."

She held out her hand for it. "I spent seven years taking private lessons from a world class chef. You might say that I'm serious about it, yes. However, I'm not the chef here. I gave that job up and there are plenty of very competent people here who do it now."

"Right, which means I begged a steak out've a private individual rather than the school stores. I figured I owed you some interest for the inconvenience." He handed her the bag with a small flourish that ended in something like a half-bow. "And besides," he added as he straightened again, "I haven't been havin' much luck with the kitchen lately. After the other week Dani an' I have this policy about not bein' in the same room at the same time."

"I can understand why." Lorna had been the one to take Dani down to the medlabs, shaken and shaking. She was firmly of the opinion that Marius should stay far away from all her friends at this point. She looked down at the bagged meat. "I recommend getting good at ordering take out."

"I get by." Marius snorted. "Unlike Forge, I don't burn water. Or fruit, apparently. Amazin'. Mate can do anythin' on earth with a kitchen appliance but cook with it. Sort that one out."

Lorna shrugged, with a fond internal smile for Forge's inability to make anything more complicated than cereal. "He thinks too much about it. He spends too much time trying to make it better and faster and more efficient and his brain gets in the way. Why the hell did you do that to him?" The topic change was only abrupt if you didn't know that it had been on her mind since she opened the door.

Startled by the unexpected sharpness, Marius hurriedly retraced their conversation for any overt hints as to where this had come from. When this failed, he went to plan B. "Sorry," he said carefully, frowning slightly, "why did I what?"

"Took his leg. Was it not enough that he'd been kidnapped, forced work for one of the most evil men on the planet and then lost his powers getting us the hell out of there? You just had to make it a little bit worse?" She turned away abruptly and crossed the suite to the kitchen so she could dump the meat in the freezer.

"Wait, what?" Marius wasn't sure whether to laugh or gape. He couldn't believe she was still angry about that. Forge hadn't even wasted an entire day on it. Marius followed her into the suite, stopping just short of the kitchen. "Oi, that was just a joke! Maybe not in the best taste, but it falls a bit short of bein' abducted by Magneto!"

"You can't even imagine how short. But that doesn't excuse it." Even upset, which she was honest enough to admit that it had little to nothing to do with Marius himself, she still took the time to store the meat properly. Most went into the freezer but two steaks were tossed into the fridge for later. "What made you think that it was funny to do that?"

Marius stared at her. "Motive, means, and opportunity" was probably the wrong answer.

"It was a joke," he repeated, frowning. He didn't understand why she was making such a big deal of this. "We're mates. We mess each other about. We sorted it out days ago."

It was really really wrong of her to take this all out on him. Lorna took a deep breath and tried to formulate a thought process that wasn't 'just admit you were wrong, you stupid child'. "Luckily, you sorted it out. It's not... He was devastated after losing his powers. You saw it, you're the one who helped him get them back. How did you know that he wouldn't react to being taunted and crippled by a friend just as badly?" She sighed, "I can't take anyone hurting him lightly. Not considering how much wrong I did toward him myself."

Marius really wasn't prepared for this sort of conversation. He wanted to say "Because Forge isn't like that," but it was a lame excuse. It may have been true, but he hadn't bothered to consider it at the time. That type of thinking rarely factored into a crime of opportunity.

This wasn't going well, and Marius was starting to feel jittery. His skin was prickling. It felt like someone was breathing down his neck -- if you replaced "neck" with "entire body." He shoved the thought away; he didn't have time for guilt, or embarassment, or whatever this was.

"Look," Marius said at last, sticking with what he knew, "if it'd been as bad as all that, I'd have apologised. I mean, I may be an unthinkin' ass, but I'm not evil. Even asked him after, just to be sure, but he said no worries, so . . ." Marius shook his head helplessly. "I wasn't lookin' to hurt him. Just -- wasn't so happy with him just then, is all."

"Remind me not to get on your bad side. I don't have any loose limbs to take so I'm a little afraid of what your joke on me might be." She stalked past him to the bookshelf and started leafing through a spiral-bound book, folding it open once she found the page she wanted and tucking it under her arm. "You said you apologised?"

"I offered. He said no need." Marius turned to follow her passage across the suite. "It was a prick thing to do, yeah, but like I said we got it sorted. I don't know what more I'm supposed to have done about it."

"You could show some sign that you actually understand that you did something wrong instead of just something dumb." She shook her head, "I'd say you were as bad as Manny but it's more that you two think too much alike."

Marius was getting frustrated. While he had yet to form a clear opinion of Manuel, her tone made it clear that Lorna's was less than favourable. Furthermore, he resented being compared to someone he barely knew by someone who barely knew him. He didn't want to fight with Lorna, but that decision didn't seem to be up to him.

The static feeling seemed concentrated at his back, almost as if someone were watching him. He didn't know why that should be, but it was not helping his nerves.

"Right," Marius managed, "I'll admit I was in the wrong, but I'm gettin' a bit sick of you lot assumin' I did it as a lark. I was angry with him, okay?" He threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "Fine, he wasn't obligated to warn me on Dani's powers. Fine, he didn't know our powers would loop. Not his fault. But I had a right shit experience there, and he didn't see any reason to be sorry for that, so you'll have to excuse me for not feelin' too bad about inconveniencin' him for less'n an hour after Rahne had to spend half the evening talkin' me out've a corner!" It came out more angrily than he'd meant it to. Marius realized, too late, that he needed to get ahold of himself. He opened his mouth, shut it again, and finally folded his arms over his chest.

"Fine," he muttered, his gaze firmly on the floor, "it was wrong. But it wasn't some idiot prank I pulled just for the sake of bein' a prick."

Lorna eyed him for a long, quiet moment, sorting through his outburst. "Okay," she said finally. "In the future, you should find a better way of expressing your displeasure. Revenge is a stupid reason to get into trouble." She tilted her head to the side, "Was it worth it?"

Marius snorted. "Who bloody knows? Lost track once the rest of the school piled in." He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "Stupid thing is, stunts like that aren't even my bag. Not so long after the fact. I have it out with the bloke right upfront, and it's done with. Easier all around. That time, though . . . don't know where my head was." Marius shook his head. "This place makes you crazy. It must do."

Lorna half-smiled. "That's not a theory I'm going to dispute. But I don’t think that you should blame this all on the school. It doesn't excuse poor behaviour, even if it does explain it." She shook her head. "Have you talked to Samson at all? You've been through a hell of a lot since you got here."

"Oh, not blamin' the school -- got a long, proud history of actin' an absolute idiot. Just not used to a situation where workin' it out with the other bloke doesn't necessarily settle the matter." Marius felt some of the irritation subside. The fact that she'd conceeded a smile, even a wry one, helped a great deal. He rubbed his arms vaguely, not quite sure why his skin was still tingling. "As for that Samson bloke . . . nah. I've had my moments, but on the whole, I'm doin' okay. No therapy necessary."

Lorna sighed, relaxing against the bookcase, "You really should talk to him. You've been through a...what the hell is that?" As her shields relaxed along with her, she felt fields shifting and bending around him. In a purely reflex move, she clamped her shields down again and slammed more around him. Her heart was already racing and her adrenaline pumping. "What the hell are you doing?"

An uncontrollable tremor passed through Marius' body as the varying pressures he'd been feeling suddenly normalized. He stumbled back a step, caught off-guard, but managed not to trip in spite of the momentary disorientation. With the prickling weight on his skin lifted, Marius was acutely aware of just how much he'd been feeling.

Marius pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to focus. Belatedly, he realized Lorna had said something. "What'd I . . . what?"

She's shifted unconsciously into a defensive posture but didn't see any reason to stand down just yet. "How did you do that?" Inside the shield, his EM field still rippled, seeking a way out. "You're screwing the fields." Really he was just bashing about like a child. Lorna took a deep breath, trying to think. "You absorb other mutants' powers...but you haven't touched me."

"I -- just a minute, I need to . . ." Marius carefully lowered himself to the floor, trying to adjust to the feeling that he was in a bottle of water. After a few slow, measured breaths he felt better.

"I don't know what's goin' on," Marius said at last. He frowned up at Lorna. "Felt like I was drownin' in static until a minute ago. I'm . . . you said screwin' the fields? What'd you mean?"

"EM fields. I'm a magnekinetic--magnetopath if you listen to Forge bitch about semantics. You were pushing on them." Her defense dropped but not her shields. She wasn't about to let him continue this. "The static feeling is the electromagnetic fields in the room...and farther if I'd let you keep pushing. But I don't understand how you did that."

"Then that makes two of us," Marius replied with a half-hearted smile. "I don't get it either. I know I flipped Dani's power, but I was touchin' . . ." The words died in mid-sentence. He remembered something from the nightmare Dani had pulled from his mind. Before the illusion had fully taken hold Marius had felt Dani's weight in his arms, but once he'd looked down he'd jolted back, and the weight had . . . disappeared.

He'd dropped her. He must have -- they'd been more than two yards apart when the illusion broke. And that meant he hadn't been touching her when he'd pulled her fear.

"Moira said the bit with Dani was . . . reactive," he said slowly, thinking back. "I didn't feed on her. My power read hers as an attack, an' flipped it. Just assumed it was because I was holdin' her, because Dani's power's a bit touchy at human contact, but . . . oh, sod." Now he remembered what this situation reminded him of: Rachel. She'd been unhappy, and broadcasting it in that innocent baby-way she had, and Marius had felt distinctly uncomfortable. Then suddenly she was crying, and it felt like a rubberband had snapped against his brain.

"Are you saying you feel threatened by me?" Which, okay, recently evil so that wasn't too much of a shock. Lorna took another deep breath and relaxed her pose entirely, running one hand through her hair. "Maybe we should sit down."

"Way ahead of you," Marius smiled from his spot on the carpet. "An' no, I'm not threatened. Or if I was, it'd be less so than I would have done five minutes ago. That 'oh, sod' was me realizin' I might've done somethin' similar with Rachel. An' . . . maybe Manuel too, come to that." That had been odd. The longer he'd spoken with Manuel, the more certain he'd become about the man's state of mind. And when it came to what others were feeling, any sort of certainty was unusual.

"I kinda meant me. And on actual pieces of furniture." She edged around him and headed back to the couch where her forgotten laundry was still piled. She tossed her book down on the pile then shoved it all into the basket before seating herself carefully on the sofa, looking at the young man on her floor. "Okay, so..."

"So . . . I don't know, my power's a bit tetchier'n previously supposed. Guess it counters anythin' a mutant lays out there, not just the direct stuff." Marius turned to face her, then propped his elbow against his knee and rested his chin against the heel of his palm to avoid impaling it on his own teeth. The carpet seemed as good a place as any, though the angle was providing an amusing parallel to their first encounter. He shrugged the shoulder not supporting his chin. "Well, that's somethin'. Beats a mutation solely devoted to suckin' marrow out of people, at any rate."

"I'm what, ten feet from you right now? How do you feel?" She let go of the shield, ready to slap it back if she had to.

Marius shivered a little as the sensation of weight returned, but at least this time he'd been prepared for it. "About the same," he said, rolling his shoulders as he readjusted to the feeling, like getting comfortable under a heavy coat. "Weird. Didn't start feelin' it all at once . . . didn't notice it last time I was here, either. Maybe it's got to . . . don't know, build up or something. Am I still screwin' with the fields?"

"Yes," she said shortly and clamped the shields down again. It just made her entire too nervous, given recent events, to have someone else messing with her powers. She frowned. "If you do that with everyone with a distance mutation, this could get very messy. Not everyone can block their own mutation." And most people hadn't the slightest clue how to defend against it if it came to that.

Marius thought of Dani and winced. "I noticed. Bugger. I didn't even know I was doin' it." He rubbed his forehead again. The disappearing and reappearing magnetic fields were giving him a slight headache. "Guess it's time to make a report to Moira. Should be grateful . . . we figured out a new bit with my powers and neither of us is traumatized or injured. That's a step up from the usual way of things."

"As a magnetopath, you're very unscary. Believe me." There was absolutely no amusement in her wry smile. "I'll hold that shield until you get to the medlab. Then I'll let Samson know he should expect you for an appointment."

"I am absolutely unscary. The bit about goin' mental an' suckin' marrow out've people is unfairly prejudical. Anyway, appreciate the shieldin'. The fields or whatever are a bit . . . close." Marius rose in one fluid motion, pulling his hands over his head in a stretch. "No worries about the shrink. My emotional baggage tends to stay checked."

"You get used to it. It's a little like white noise or humidity or something. You miss it when it's not there." She rolled her eyes at him when he dismissed therapy. "Yeah huh, sure it does. Go see Samson anyway."

"Right, right, staff know best," Marius sighed. He dropped his arms and smiled. "Not quite the visit I had in mind, but it was productive if nothin' else. We right, then?"

"I'm not staff. I'm just pushy. But I'll tattle to Charles on you and then where will you be?" Lorna waved him towards the door. "We're better. I still don't think you're allowed in my kitchen but I'll let you know if that changes. Consider this probation pending cessation of stupid acts."

Marius grinned. "I may be in for a long wait, then. No worries. Like I said, I can feed myself. Or at least the bit that still eats food." He moved to let himself out, and gave her a brief nod. "Enjoy the cow."