polaris.

She feels the power streaming through her entire body -- It’s OVERWHELMING. There are voices in her head -- digging and trespassing where she doesn’t want them. Where they don’t deserve to be. They don’t belong. The only telepaths ever allowed in her mind was Selene. Selene never threatened her.

Selene was the only one who didn’t tell her she needed to stop using her power. People said she was born evil. Talked about her father like he was a legendary disgrace -- but she always thought he was a badass who controlled metal. It...never mattered she never really knew him. Those who feared did not understand. And those same people shot her down for wanting to have a better world. Footsteps haunt her, she raises her hand in defense ready to twist and break the offender with any scrap of metal she can find. 

The redhead turned abruptly, facing the woman that had called out to her. She swore that she had never seen her before, but there was something familiar about the way she carried herself. It made Wanda question whether or not they’d actually met prior to this occasion. But, when she couldn’t put a name to the face, she decided to drop her suspicios. It was likley that her powers were just playing trickes on her, building false emotions to distract her from everything going on. 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for that,” she mumbled in response, unsure why this woman had approached her in the first place. “I only woke up here yesterday, I was still trying to wrap my head around this place… It wouldn’t have been a good idea for me to get invovled.”

Even if she had been stable, Wanda doubted whether or not she would have helped. Her only concern at this point was reuniting with her family, she didn’t care about anything else. It wasn’t very heroic of her, but she didn’t care at this point. 

“I’m fine now, but what about you? You’re mind is… Well, not quiet.” 

“Are you a mind reader?? That’s invasive--”

She could not see clearly the intentions --- but Lorna did not feel anything harmful coming from the redhead she walked up to. Lorna only placed trust into one telepathic superhuman, so anyone will see the issues she has in placing a trust into someone getting inside of her head. A blackish--greenish-- colour takes over like the plague would before it contaminated.

“I would’ve loved to not be there either. I could barely keep the cave from collapsing--” A whoosh of her hand--- and metal surrounds them both. “Lorna Dane--” Lorna introduces.  “Don’t worry for my mind honestly. We’ve all got our own shit. “

   Lorna paces -- and --  would rather be around Selene at the moment, where she doesn’t feel so anxious of the situation. A volcano. Falling cave, collapsing. Doesn’t feel amazing when she was supposed to keep it from doing more damage than it had. There’s someone. She remembers -- all that talk inside the cave, she saw and she knew. Someone’s got the same thing---- Magnetic field. Tore a hole right through her. Five times she pushed all of that back. All of this... though, it’s different how she wants to help people out. Not that--she’s going to scope out the similar in this situation...... no distractions.

As far as Selene had spoken? 

Tony has to think about that for a moment, because it’s weird to be receiving character references from someone he wouldn’t provide a character reference for. If someone asked him if they could trust Selene, he’s pretty sure his answer would be qualified at best.

But he’s getting distracted, and the lady is trying to talk to him. He takes in shakiness, the sense of brittleness around the edges, and his eyes dart to the casual display of her powers. No matter how long he hangs around sorcerers, demi-gods and Enhanced, it feels like he’s never truly going to get used to that. 

“Polaris, right?” he says, the name jumping to his mind at the last minute. “I thought you did a great job. I’m sorry we didn’t have more time to speak - it got a bit crazy back there.” He smiles, tries to shoot for reassuring. “What’s wrong?” he asks, because he doesn’t quite get why she’s tearing herself up so badly over this - he wonders if there’s more to the story. “Mistakes happen, especially in stressful situations. The most important thing is that we got everyone out safely.”

“Yes--yes,Polaris,” She sounds annoyed-- with how she responds but...in her head it’s screaming everything else. Don’t call me Lorna--- Lorna Dane I’m not her. 

He keeps talking good job and all that came after but she doesn’t feel that way. And---- no she doesn’t know why she’s suddenly confiding in a stranger she just met. He looks at her like people before--that makes her want to run away instantly. Tell Selene no it’s not worth it, why’d she tell her to expand her connections. It’s wrong. Annoying. Consuming. 

“I---nearly contributed to the collapsing of that cave. No we didn’t speak much but--that’s heavy. Yes---yes everyone’s safe --- but the magnetic fields, shit. I did that--your suit. Is it metal?? Thing is, and whatever but... I can’t control it--” A loud piece of her is wanting him to see her as the one’s who never understood her and she??? She doesn’t understand that herself. 

Jean’s smile was more genuine as she took a few more steps towards the other girl. “The only thing I’m trying is being friendly, if that counts as trying anything.” she mused. She was closer to her now, but not too close- she wasn’t sure if she’d welcome her being any closer. “What do you want me to call you?” she asked. Everyone here seemed to have more than one name- the normal one and the made up one. So, it was only fair to ask- because, well- sometimes the normal one was too much information. Leave it to Jean to not have one of her own. “I didn’t know what was happening to me when I got mine.” she admitted.

She closed the rest of the space between them and moved to the wall beside the other girl. Slipping down onto the ground, she hoped that alone would show she wasn’t going to try anything, and looked at her hands. Several loose pebbles began floating around her fingers when she moved them, absentmindedly, but she dropped them, quickly. There was something about being near someone who had accepted themselves fully that made her unafraid of using her powers for no reason other than the fact that she could. “I’d never heard of any… people with powers before then. So it was all overwhelming and… different.” she glanced back up at the other girl. “Charles Xavier was the one who told me I wasn’t alone. He took me to his school and I met others just like me. But I… kind of shook the entire building at one point- that and my.. nightmares… made everyone afraid of me.” she leaned back against the cave wall and gently patted the spot beside her for the girl to sit. “I promise I don’t bite.” she said, half friendly teasing, but half honest as well.

 “Polaris.” It fit her nicely where Lorna was simple-- that had stood for too much weak. One step back when the red haired girl approaches further. If she could snap her fingers and instantly forget-- forget it all, maybe she would. She could try caring more when it came to other people. She should try, she should try. A chill hits her nerves. “We give ourselves the name that doesn’t brand us like the parents who skipped out. We feel new-- it doesn’t sting when someone says it. There’s... no latched and painful memory,”

Curiosity would trip her in the way she eyes the other girl’s power. It’s like drinking a cold glass of water after months spent in the desert. Seeing...believing-- a power that made her feel not so alone. Lorna wouldn’t rely on people anymore. She squashed the idea of a father figure the moment she was old enough to realize the parents she grew up with were just liars. They pushed her to be normal when normal to her was the mutant she was born. Her voice barely carries when she scoffs. “Charles Xavier huh-- just a guy with money or does he really care?”She tries to not mean it in that way, but the words slip and she feels her heart ready to burst out of anger. She sits. “You shook an entire building. I’ve crashed planes. From what I see people shouldn’t be fearing-- they shouldn’t be trying to control you. When that happens, you just get stronger .If people die--get hurt...that’s on them.”

“Wait!” Jean held her hands up as soon as the other girl threatened her- not in defense, but in a way to show she had no intention to attack. She’d felt another mutant close by and come to investigate, but it seemed this girl was ready to fight. “I’m Jean Grey- I’m an X-man- and a mutant just like you.” she told her, trying to give a reassuring smile.

Lowering her hands, she picked up the nearest rock with her telekinesis and let it sit between them in the air for a moment before dropping it to the ground of the cave again. “I’m telekinetic and telepathic” she continued. She didn’t cross the space between them, she’d let the girl do that first. “Most of the school is actually afraid of me, so,” she paused, “if it helps, I’m not afraid of you. Our powers are gifts, even if they sometimes feel like a curse, and I admire you for not hiding it.” She took one step forward, but that was it. “Want any company or am I intruding?” she asked, because she knew the girl couldn’t be all threats. There was always a good side to someone. “It can get kind of lonely in these caves- and pretty bad when you start seeing things, so… sometimes company is better than being alone.”

“A mutant just like me,” Words are words. She decided early on to not let anything get to her-- but Lorna also believed that people existed to get the better of her sooner or later. It could only be a matter of time. And that’s why--that’s why she had given such a difficult time. There’s an invisible watch ticking down--she can hear it. It becomes the normal. 

She raises both hands higher in defense as the other woman raises a rock-- only wary to see where all this would be going?? Telekinetic. Telepath. Those become notes as they are voices inside her head. Still, she’s kept her stance clear and knowing. Lorna addresses the problem and studies the other woman before her. There’s something there she knows.  “I need it. I need some ...company-- as long as you’re not trying anything. But I--  I don’t hide things. Kinda accepted my ways of power the moment I realized them..” 

 “If you don’t want a hot piece of metal straight through your heart,” Dark irises stick like glue to the floor but she senses the other person very very clearly. Her knuckles crack--fingers swipe in a waving gesture, playing with existing metal that flew right into her hands. Hostile. Defensive... label her up. The world was a very cruel place and if she was forced to live in it with the gift she was provided-- she was going to love every tiny little piece of that sweet power. 

Bronze tinted lips, mould a cheshire grin; fangs and all. Small shards of metal compost fly around her fingers like reading an old book-- memorized and something already known. Eyes glower beneath dark lashes as she watches. “Give me a reason--and maybe, just maybe... I’ll reconsider these opportunities of slow, agonizing death playing like an old movie in my mind.. how should I even, trust you??.”

    “ Mine’s not either , you want a medal ? “  where his tone was friendly and inviting, it took a colder approach the moment she started her own warpath to who could out wit the other. Darker eyes drift to the chain link fence and he can’t help like he’s seen this movie before — and it ended with an image of his ( possibly their father ) erik lehnsherr.  Peter shouldn’t be so abrasive —- he shouldn’t milk his injury; but he can’t help but press on old wounds —- especially here. 

     and then she walks away. 

    In almost no time, he’s zipping before her, now facing her. “ Hi Lorna, I’m Peter — but everyone calls me Quicksilver. that’s a nifty little mutation you got there, let me guess —- you mutated and your hair turned green ? “  he shoulders her now, pacing back and forth. “ I don’t get why you’re so bitter about it, being mutated is cool, especially when you get a drastic hair change. “ 

  “--Don’t want anything actually,” A bitter remark to see who could become the champion of that conversation-- too bad Lorna didn’t really care enough to let that one flow all the way through. Something about him. This thing--she can feel it -- she needs to leave immediately. It’s a lot too much. Family is a dark path she doesn’t want to remark footsteps on. He is pressing.