Quentin & Lorna, Thursday afternoon

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Quentin and Lorna have what starts out as a pleasant, deep conversation, but in true Quire fashion, ends up kind of a wreck.


"Hey Quentin? Can you bring that last box over here? We can finish this up and then head out to lunch." Lorna said as she put the last file into its proper place and closed the filing cabinet. "How does Chinese sound?" If anyone knew Lorna, they would know that the restaurant next door was her go-to place for food.

"Whatever." And if anyone knew Quentin then they knew that was his go-to response for just about every question. Not necessarily because he was contrarian (although he was), but because filing was boring as hell and it dimmed whatever sliver of enthusiasm he tried to have for this gig. Still, he did as requested and brought Lorna the box, and then promptly returned to his phone, which he had been glued to since Lorna recruited him for help.

"Thank you." Lorna looked over at him when he looked back at his phone. "Talking to anyone interesting?" How easy was it for her to just sent out a teeny tiny magnetic pulse to corrupt his phone? Too easy.

Quentin looked up at her with the stankiest of stink eyes. "Don't even," he warned as he fired off a final text and then secured his phone in his pocket. "I've got metal in my face, too, and I don't want to know what an EMP would feel like."

"Just a tiny one?" She smirked at him as she opened the last box. "And probably more painful than paper cuts. So can you always read anyones mind? Like Sookie from Trueblood? Or can you turn it off?"

"I pick up little bits and pieces if I'm not actually trying. I usually ignore them unless they're threats of physical violence against me," he pointedly informed Lorna. "But if I do really want to get in someone's head then I have to try and that's . . . not very easy."

"Duly noted." She smirked at Quentin. "There is nothing interested in my head. So you don't have to try. I did hear about what happened with a little girl. I don't have the whole story just the shorter version. I am glad you are all alright."

That comment earned her another side eye, as if he expected her to just be offering platitudes out of professional courtesy. And though he did not check for himself if she was sincere, there was no obvious lie. So he just shrugged and tagged along beside her as they left for lunch. "It's thanks to Gabriel, JP, and Maximoff, though. They're the ones who really did the work."

Lorna pushed aside the box before grabbing her jacket and heading towards the door. "And you are going to discredit what you did? I like to think it was a group effort to get back." She couldn't imagine being trapped in the astral plane.

"You sound a lot like Maximoff there," Quentin snorted, reminded of their conversation just after Daniella left for a (hopefully) better life. "I didn't do anything, except get a bunch of non-telepaths stuck in the body of a 15-year-old girl who was ten minutes away from being murdered in the name of science and Jesus. I mean, we saved her, but it was pretty much an accident."

"I am not surprised that we do." Lorna shook her head. "Not everything has to be an accident. There is purpose in everything, even if we didn't see it coming. Maybe you were meant to help people. I mean you joined XFI for that reason, right?"

Quentin opened the front door and grimaced against both the mid-autumn cold and Lorna's comment. "Please don't tell me you actually believe in destiny and higher purposes and all that other bullshit that clerics tell the poor and ignorant to keep them content. I'm not meant to do anything. Anything I do, it's because I've made the decision for myself."

"No. I don't believe in lying to people. But I do believe in that sometimes life takes us on interesting adventures. The good ones..." Lorna then gave a heavy sigh. "And the extremely bad ones. We are who we are today because of it."

"That's a lovely sermon." They entered the mostly empty adjacent restaurant and were immediately seated. Quentin stuffed his mouth with a small handful of crispy wonton noodles. "So. You finally letting your hair grow out?"

"Thank you." Taking off her jacket before sitting. "Maybe. We shall see how it goes. I haven't seen my natural colour since I was a young pre-teen and only took little looks at it when I was trying to cover it. I don't know too many people with green hair that grows naturally."

"It looks better natural. Green looks better and, let's be real, whoever did your hair doesn't deserve their cosmetology license. No offense."

Lorna laughed, "That is why I went into Geology. Seems simpler than getting a cosmetology license. However, it won't be easy to hide." She poured herself a cup of green tea. "Want some?"

Quentin passed the small cup. "Thanks. You're in New York. You're definitely not the only person with green hair, even if yours is natural. And you work for mutant private eyes. Why do you even want to hide?"

"Yeah. I guess I never looked around at the punk culture and thought I could fit in." She hesitated for a moment as she thought about it. "When I was 10, my powers manifested for the first time. In doing so, my mom was caught in the crossfire of it. She didn't survive it. It was the last time I had my natural color. I guess I am coming to terms that it really wasn't my fault. And most recently I was hiding from my dad but now that he knows where I am, guess it doesn't matter now if I grow it out."

That was unexpected. The revelation actually stunned Quentin into silence, so much so that he just fumbled his order to the waitress while trying not to gawk at his coworker. "I'm . . . sorry," he said eventually. "That must be terrible."

She looked at him and gave him a little smile. "It was. I still have nightmares once in awhile about it. But I know she wouldn't want me to hide forever. Probably why I am surrounded by people who want me to be more like myself. And not someone that I am not. You know, you are one of the few that know that. And don't worry, I have way better control over my powers. My dad saw to that."

"I didn't mean . . . I'm sure that you're not a crazy mutant murderer now or anything. You'd've probably already killed me, then," he joked lamely. "Who's your dad?"

"I hold it all in." She joked touching her chest to indicate that she bottles up that part of her. "Well since most of XFI already knows, you might as well. Especially after what happened a few months ago with Alex and in case he shows up again. Just don't spread it around the mansion, especially the teener boppers. I don't want them to be curious about him as he is not a very good role model." She took a sip of her tea. "His name is Erik Lehnsherr."

To his credit, Quentin did not drop his cup and spill piping-hot tea all over himself and/or Lorna. He gently put the cup down on the table and looked at Lorna like he was examining a piece in an art gallery. "So you and Maximoff are sisters? She's a whole lot older than you, and Magneto is already pretty damn old himself. Wow, talk about virility."

"Half-sisters. But yes, she is about 17 years older than I." Lorna winced only slightly when he said Magneto. "Apparently my mom liked older men. I hadn't thought about the age difference, nor do I want to know my parents personal sex life. That would be gross."

Not a problem for Quentin, though. He nodded approvingly, wishing he would be so vigorous if he ever reached old age. "And he gets around, too. Good for him." He took his cup again and leaned back in his seat. "How come you were hiding from him?"

Lorna looked at Quentin with a questioning look, was he complimenting her dad? That was a little weird. "I was telling my sister information regarding Brotherhood activities. They found out someone was spilling the beans and I quickly bounced. Just because we are family doesn't mean I wouldn't feel his wrath. He found out about Alex and used Alex to get to me. His family could have died as they were used and Alex...Alex wasn't any better situation after we found him. For all his preach that mutants are a superior species, he isn't afraid to use them, or even kill them, to obtain what he wants. Most are expendable to him, if not all."

"Just wondering, how do you fit such big brass balls in your pants?" Quentin asked, not even bothering to hide his awe at someone who defied not only one of the most powerful and influential mutants on the planet, but betrayed him and lived to tell about it.

Lorna laughed, "I control metal so it is pretty easy and I guess being raised by my dad, you just do. But seriously, you have to have seen some fucked up shit to even considering it. The people in that group..." She paused and shook her head. "They have no morals, no conscience. Nothing to tell them what is right or wrong. I mean I know a few that probably do and they are good people, just easily manipulated. I think most are there just to hurt people."

"You think they're all a bunch of psycho sadists or something? You don't think they're just fighting for their existence?"

"Not all. But the majority. I was a member when I was sixteen to just up to last year, and last I checked I wasn't a sadist." She paused as she could have been just as bad as her father. But she took a different route. "They aren't fighting for existence. They are fighting to become superior beings over others. My dad is really good at twisting the truth and getting those who want to believe into something to believe in him. He has been doing it for many years."

"Maybe superiority is the only way we even can exist," Quentin offered with a shrug. "When your options are fight or be killed, you have a fucking obligation to fight. Just because you and your sister don't see that they're the ones without morals or conscience."

Lorna lifted her eyebrow at him. "I see both sides. I have too much blood on my hands to not see it. I rather put my skills to help people, to save lives." She quickly took a sip of her water. "I betrayed my own father because I saw how far he was willing to go. And what I saw scared me to death."

Their food arrived, and Quentin viciously speared a chunk of General Tso's chicken with his fork. "Maybe your balls aren't as big as I thought," he quipped. "Whatever, doesn't matter."

"It isn't about how big your balls are. It is if you are willing to go to the point of no return. And being okay with that." Lorna didn't have to explain to him of the things she did for the Brotherhood before realizing it wasn't for her. She had many regrets and many skeletons in her closet, ones not even Alex knew.

With her conversation with Quentin she knew he would be someone they would recruit. He seemed interested in the Brotherhood with his questions. Lorna just hoped he would see past the illusion they displayed and see them for what the group really was. It took her years and she never wanted anyone to go through what she witnessed. "Oh food. How I missed you."