xp_logs | Warren and Lorna -- Catching up times (backdated to September 9)

Lorna was pretty much keeping to herself when she returned back with XFI and the XMen. She was having an internal war with herself, perhaps if she did things differently. Rubbing her forehead with her unhurt hand, too late now.
She walked past a Warren's room on the way back to her room when she heard nosies. Stopping she turned around and headed back to the door. "Warren? You back?"

One definite negatove of living in the mansion meant there was no regular housekeeper. As much as he liked things in order, he liked it better when someone else did it. He'd tried convincing Sue, but she'd simply laughed his face.

Fine.

So here he was, making the bed when he heard his name. "Is that my sweet, angelic Lorna I hear?". Going to the door, he opened it. At the sight of her, his smile dropped and was replaced with a look of concern. "What happened to you? Who do I have to hurt?"

Lorna looked down at the sling and then shook her head. "No one. This one was an accident. I was too late in preventing it." Lorna gave a weak smile. "Did Adrienne allow you back? Or did you just miss us?"

"Some accident," he said, wholly unconvinced. It wouldn't take much to determine what happened.

Stepping away from the door, he motioned Lorna to come in and have a seat. "And I did miss you, this much is true. But it wasn't because of Adrienne that I wasn't around," he added. "That last incident has taken a great deal of work on my part to rebuild investor confidence and to get proposals again. I've been travelling quite a bit but now, I'm back. To XFI too.". He smiled deeply. He was actually pretty happy about that. "Took some fancy grovelling, but Adrienne is willing to take me back."

"Rogue got her entire back blistered. She will be fine." Lorna walked in and sat down at the nearest chair. "That is good. I am glad it worked out." She had forgiven him for involving a teen in his last case, even if it still didn't sit right with her. "Office has been quiet without you around."

Wait -- what?!" He gave her a look. "You have a sling, Rogue, who I heard was unvulnerable, ends up with a fried back, and it was just an accident, all's good?". He shook his head. "Try again. What happened?"

"What I have been hiding from since the beginning of the year found me and used someone that was very dear to me. That someone is also a mutant and had a power malfunction that caused this." She pointed to her arm. "It has been quite stressful."

Warren nodded gravely. "I believe jt. Is your friend alright? Lucky you didn't end up with any worse injuries.". He sat down and patted the seat next to him. "Sit. Can I get you anything? Water? Booze? Drugs? Cuddles? This beard is very soft you know," he said, stroking it. "I use conditioner."

"Yeah. He is alright. Our relationship is rocky at the moment. I didn't tell him about my past." Lorna leaned back in the chair. "I'll take a glass of your finest alcoholic beverage."

Warren raised his eyebrows, but he obeyed. Pulling out a bottle of scotch, he fetched two glasses. He served them both and he sat down, choosing to be across from her. Warren could be a listening ear.

"I'm here to listen if you'd like to vent. Far be it from me to judge anyone."

Lorna finished half of the scotch without making so much of a flinch of the strong liquid. "Alex is my fiancee."

That was easily the last thing he expected to hear. To his credit, he leaned back in his chair the glass dangling delicately from his fingertips. "I can see why he would be upset," Warren replied. "Did you have his best interests in mind when you chose not to say anything?"

"Both." Lorna looked down into her glass. "I didn't want, and still don't want, people to know I was part of the Brotherhood. That I went into it freely. That my dad is Magneto. I didn't want him involved in that. I was going to tell him after Wanda brought me here, but I had lost contact with him because of M-Day. I knew he was out of Country so I hoped for the best. He popped up last month, alive. I told him to come to New York. My dad has an annoying way of using people to get what he wants."

"We all have pasts. There's nothing that can be done about that," Warren said, shrugging. "You made choices that were the best at the time. And fathers...." He gave a wry grin. "Well, they have a way of making things awkward, don't they."
"Way awkward." Lorna agreed before finishing the rest of her drink. "Does it always feel like your past will come back to haunt you?"

Warren thought about that one, sloshing his drink slowly. "I think it can only haunt you if you give it power.....and fear feeds off secrecy." Finishing his own drink, he paced his glass soundly on his table. "Let's take my recent indiscretion for instance. If I hadn't kept everything inside, no one would've been angry because discussions could have done prior. I didn't, and so I had to deal with the consequences."

"Sometimes, I wish I wasn't born into the screwed up family that I have. Might make my life a little easier." Lorna looked at her empty glass and lifted up. "More please."

"And who am I to turn down a pretty lady?" He got up and reached for the bottle. "Keep talking. Or not. Either way, I'm here. Screwed up families are kind of my specialty, hence why I don't have an immediate one of my own." And probably never would, he thought to himself. The sheer idea of parenting or having a family of his own terrified him.

"I am sure there is some girl out there that wouldn't mind bearing your children. But I will not judge, here to drink and lament. I am kind of glad you didn't question too much about my dad being a mutant terrorist. You kind of accepted it."

Warren gave an involuntary shiver. Ugh. Children. Best to change that topic fast. "And why wouldn't I accept it? Like I said -- we all have pasts. Are you a crazy mutant terrorist? No." He topped off her glass generously, and then did the same to his. "Do you remember the first time we met? In the kitchen? You know what I remember? I'll tell you -- I remember thinking 'someone has scared this girl'. There was a sense about you that you had been almost...trapped. And now, I don't see that same girl. So I think it's safe to say that you are not your father, and whatever you had to deal with before, that's off your shoulders now. So again -- why shouldn't I accept you? You're amazing, Lorna. And I mean that in the most platonic way possible because I don't doubt you could completely knock me on my ass, sling or not."

She was raised to be a crazy mutant terrorist, it was her own mind that decided she shouldn't do that. "Thanks Warren...for making me feel better."