10805/Confronting Fears

Confronting Fears
Date of Scene:	20 January 2020
Location:	Roberto's private jet.
Synopsis:	Lorna has a panic attack on Roberto's private jet on the way to Argentina
Cast of Characters:	Polaris, Sunspot

---

Polaris has posed:
Finally the day had arrived that Lorna planned to track down the person that had sent her a letter claiming to be her long lost sister.. At least, that was the plan. The Princess could easily take a portal to Argentina, where the letter writer claimed to be from, and be done with it. Yet Lorna wanted to try to keep things simple, and by simple, she meant to not be bothering her bodyguard again. Because she didn't want to drag all and sundry with her if this all turned out to be a fake.. as Roberto had suggested at the start.

Magneto had said it was all possible, but a slim chance.. at least he had conceded that there was a chance, perhaps.. that she had yet another unknown sibling. A full sibling this time.

The green haired woman walked up the ramp to the privately owned plane, her luggage since having been taken away to be loaded. She gripped at Roberto's arm with both hands, her fingers locked into a grip so hard that her fingers physically pained her from it. Yet that was the only outward sign of how well and truly freaked out the green haired woman was to be boarding any kind of a plane. She'd never had an issue before.. but since Emma had peeled back her memories and shown her the destruction of her mother's plane, she was now utterly terrified... The saving grace of course, was that Roberto could fly, and between the two of them, if something did happen.. they could in theory save everyone on the plane. No deaths.

But logic didn't always bow before fear.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto still thinks it is a fake. He also thinks Lorna is being silly avoiding the Blink-taxi. After all Blink gets paid for her work, right? What is the salary of a royal bodyguard? He knows how much his father's bodyguards got paid. He had two. They were ex-special forces.

And they got killed with him.

Depressing thoughts aside, they have a whole private jet for themselves. It is not the Blackbird, but it is supersonic, so the trip to Buenos Aires won't take forever. A scared Lorna means she might be willing to make out. He is trying to be positive. Just in case he made sure the trip takes place during the day, because having the plane explode in the middle of the night, over the ocean, might be a problem. He is not a long-distance flyer.

The pilot and co-pilot have the parachutes at hand. They are supposed to stay in the cabin. Otherwise they have the plane all for themselves. Plenty snacks, drinks, a couch and a large screen for movies. There is also a conference table near the tail, but he doesn't expect to be using it.

Cellphone in 'airplane' mode. No distractions.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna blinked as she stepped inside the luxury jet's main cabin, and she stared. It was frankly, nothing like the plane in her memories. There were no cramped brown seats. Instead it was all polished leather, curving edges, and flat screens. She was stunned momentarily that her grip on Roberto's arm loosened and she stared quite openly. "Oh.." She breathed, it reminded her more of the royal planes in Genosha she had once used the previous year, though it was still far more plush than even that plane which sat unused more often than not.

A stunned green haired woman stepped lightly around, her heels barely making a sound as walked further into the cabin. "I .. I dunno what I was expecting." She mumbled, and looked back to Roberto. There was still tension in her shoulders, in the line of her back. The way her gaze swept around and back to him again. "I feel a little silly." She murmured, sheepish. But there was still fear in the pit of her stomach. The engine hadn't turned over yet, and her powers were already buzzing in her head to tell her so. Even as she struggled to tamp that part of her down and instead focus on the cabin.

Sunspot has posed:
"Only high ranked executives or guests use this plane, so it is for relaxing, or serious business," comments Roberto, tossing the travel bags to a corner. They travel light, since it is supposed to be a couple days only. "Well, and emergencies. But it is mostly a status thing. Large corporations are supposed to have one. Very large ones, more than one. DCI has two, I think Roxxon has a dozen," he explains.

"Anyway," he sprawls on the couch, "do you want coffee, a drink, a hug?" He reaches with a hand and tries to pulls her on top of him. "It is almost eight ours to destination, we have time to kill."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna exhaled a long, drawn, pinched breath as she stood there awkwardly. She wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself at the moment. It was the calm before the storm in a way, hopefully though, it would only be a storm of emotions and not an electromagnetic one. She didn't really want to be known for blowing up her boyfriend's plane.

As Roberto sprawled on the couch she moved to follow, trailing after him. As he asked what she wanted, pulling her along with him, she laughed, her voice strained.

"Uhm... all of the above. Though maybe not the coffee on second thought. I'm jittery enough as it is." Her shoulders remained rigid, even as she settled back against Roberto's frame. She made to take off her jacket then, her fingers fumbling with the zipper briefly. After all, it was a blustery cold day in New York.. but Argentina should be warm, right?

Sunspot has posed:
It is summer in Argentina, but they are going south of the country, so it should be cool. A jacket is going to be useful. Of course it is likely a trap of some kind, so he left word with Sam and a few others. Mysteriously missing sisters from a well-off American family are very unlikely.

Chuckling, he momentarily leaves Lorna's side to reach the mini-fridge. Gin and vermouth. He passes Lorna a tall glass and then pulls her back against him. "One the way back we could spend a weekend in Rio. You are in a dire need to relax."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna laughed softly as she took the drink, her hand closing tightly around the glass' base and hugging it close. The tension in her shoulders drawing ever tighter the closer to take off they get. She curled up against Roberto, closing her eyes as she took a minute to breath before she practically inhaled the drink in front of her and fell into a cough.

"I can't. You know I can't. With the release in the papers about us, I have to reassure everyone in Genosha that I won't be slack on my duties.." She bit her lower lip, and the pre-flight take off lights buzzed in the cabin, a polite reminder that they planned to take off. The green haired woman twisted around and practically buried her face against Roberto's shoulder. Even with her eyes squeezed shut, she could //feel// the plane gearing up to go, feel each push of power and clicking of mechanical parts.

Lorna bit the inside of her cheek, inhaling sharply.

Sunspot has posed:
"Maybe we can say we got kidnapped by aliens and vanish for a few days," offers Roberto. Hey, it happens! Look at the Avengers. Then he notices the growing tension and pulls the green haired woman into a tighter hug. "You know, my dad got me flying lessons when I was eight. It was completely illegal, but when did that stop my father? I loved him for it, because little boys love flying airplanes. Now I have a flight license, but it kind of lost its magic because I learned to fly without an airplane. By the way, I did envy Sam way back. A lot. But don't tell him that. I have a reputation of supreme coolness to maintain."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna felt a reflexive laugh bubble up at the base of her throat as Roberto spoke, but she kept her arms wound around him tightly as the plane started the movements to take off. She couldn't block out her magnetic senses, not even by closing her eyes.. she just //knew//. It was horrible, when every movement of the plane ground against the fairly fresh memories of her mother's death anew.

"I learned to fly.. when.. when I was Xavier's." She whispered, her voice muffled against the fabric of Roberto's shirt. "I didn't know what I was doing.. but I figured it out by putting on steel toed boots, and bouncing on someone's car... it was easier.." She breathed, shuddering and inhaling sharply.

"I hate this, geeze, I hate this.." She mumbled.

Sunspot has posed:
"Stop thinking about it, breathe deeply," advices the young man, stroking the young woman's hair. "You can also try the drink. It is light, but might help a little. Steel boots and bouncing," he chuckles. "Might have been a fun thing to see. Did you crash often the first times?"

He is not sure what else he can do to calm her down. Perhaps this was an even worse idea he thought. Fighting phobias is something one should do in small steps. Also, a trip in a luxury liner and then a private yatch could have allowed them to fulfill much of their duties while feeling like vacations.

Oh well, it is an idea for the return trip.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna felt another twist of her stomach drop as the plane started to actively maneuver around the runway, her fingers curling into the fabric of Roberto's shirt and clutching it at his waist. Her face still pressed against his shoulder. Still, she tried to do the breathing exercises that her father had taught her over a year ago now, Roberto's reminder to breath deeply, at least was a good one. Even if her head buzzed with the information that they were ///moving//, a movement that was increasingly getting faster every time she breathed... and brought them closer to the sky.

"I can't drink, I'll inhale it and cough everywhere.." She mumbled, her shoulders now a tense line.

It was hard not to fall into panic.

"I bounced because I couldn't keep up the magnetic currents to be consistent. Kept spinning too. I fell and scraped my hands.. knees.. think I likely gave myself a concussion at least once.." Talking, it seemed was better than whimpering and clutching at her boyfriend in fear.

Sunspot has posed:
"Fun times, I crashed a couple times too," admits Roberto, "good thing I am pretty durable. At least to kinetic impact." Hey, he still did much better than Sam. Cannonballing makes smooth flying really hard.

"Maybe it helps I don't need to think what I am doing," he adds with a grin. "There is a complex explanation that involved quantum gravimetrics, but I am pretty sure even Doug would find pretty hard to follow it."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna shuddered briefly as the plane took off, her shoulders rising to a pitch near her neck. A soft whine escaped her, and she inhaled and exhaled in shaky bursts of air. She closed her eyes, the pressure building back against her eyelids as she struggled to not burst into tears. She was panicking, but at least she was keeping her powers under wraps. Perhaps it was a sign of all the training she'd done, the practice, the care.... that the plane was still moving even as she curled around her boyfriend all the more.

"It's elementary school physics... magnets of the same polarity repel each other.. I just struggled with the strength of how much magnetic force to push back on..." She winced, pulling back briefly, her features pale and drawn.

"We're in the air.. and we're.. we're alive. That's good..." She choked out, visibly shaken.

Sunspot has posed:
"Should be good, yes," agrees Roberto, smiling nervously. "I don't like to see you scared. You are safe. I'll keep you safe. You won't lose control, you have many years of training with some of the best." He reaches to her neck and shoulders, trying to massage away some of the tension. "Take off the jacket, hmm? It is warm enough in here. And if it is not, I can fix it." He finishes his drink and leaves it on a low table. The airplane is taking off, so there is a noticeably inclination, but the table (and the glass) has been designed to take that into consideration.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna offered a strained laugh again, a halting sound as she glanced around the cabin with her eyes rather than her electromagnetic senses. It was one thing to view the world in magnetics, another entirely to see with her own eyes. She exhaled a rough sound at the back of her throat as Roberto massaged his hands over her shoulders and neck, and found his progress slow going.

Panic might be edging back, but the fear that something might go wrong because of her hadn't faded entirely either.

"I know.. I know.." She mumbled, and slowly eased out of the coat and tossed it back to the floor. Which required that she let go of the stranglehold she had on Roberto. She was sitting freely now, beside Roberto, her face ashen as the plane tilted back for take off.

"Have you been to Argentina before?"

Sunspot has posed:
"Of course, but it is a pretty boring country," comments Roberto. "Buenos Aires is a big, big city, but it can't hold a candle to Rio or New York. And the rest of the country is poor and old. Corruption was pretty nasty. Much worse than in Brazil. And then the Atlantes invaded and I am not sure they even have good football teams anymore."

He shrugs, pulling Lorna back to him, this time turning her around so he can stand behind her. "We are going to the south lands, anyway. I have never been there. I am told it is a rough but beautiful land. Still underdeveloped."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna reached up and rubbed her palms against her eyelids, exhaling another long, steadying breath. The worst was over, right? They were in the air, and everything was okay. They were okay. No one had died. The plane was doing what planes did. It was fine. Except she knew exactly how far from the Earth they were constantly, and knew just where they were in relation to the magnetic poles. It was a constant drum on her mind.

"I think I need that drink now... after all.. if I manage to not throw anything up." She added, her breath just a tad shorter than usual. Still, she was trying, and as Roberto shifted to hold her close, she smiled weakly.

"I think my father thought I was trying to just annoy him when I said I was going to Argentina. He hates that place..."

Sunspot has posed:
"Does he likes it anywhere?" Murmurs Roberto. "I bet her hates America too, and Russia. And Germany. Maybe he likes Israel?" He ventures. "Seriously, there is no reason to hate any place. You will meet good people, bad people, everything in between. Genosha used to be an awful place, does he still hate it for what happened ten years ago?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna shrugged once, "I doubt it, I've asked him before why he doesn't hate America for all that they did.. but he has a selective memory I think." She shook her head, curling up with her legs drawn up as she leaned lighter against Roberto than she had previously. The worst, for now, had passed.. so long as she didn't concentrate or think too much about the magnetics behind her mind's eye.. she could breathe.

"How long do we have on this flight, by the way?"

Sunspot has posed:
"Oh, plenty of time," and Roberto finally remembers there is also a remote control at hand, so he uses it to get some classical music going in the background. "We have time for everything. We can watch a movie or two. Or take a long nap. Or you know," he kisses her neck, "anything we want."