6886/Between the stacks

Between the stacks
Date of Scene:	13 March 2019
Location:	Xavier's School, Westchester, New York
Synopsis:	Erika gets advice from Lorna, and the Cuckoo Sisters say their goodbyes to Xavier's.
Cast of Characters:	Souvenir, Stepford Cuckoos, Polaris

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Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir wanders over to a table with a healthy stack of books. Art of Misdirection, Pocket Magic, Stage Magic For Dummies, and some others, some with yellowed pages. They thump onto a table in front, as she wiggles her black-gloved hands and looks around, pulling up a chair. Hmmmm...

Stepford Cuckoos has posed:
    The Stepford Cuckoos, as they have been dubbed by the student body, and some of the more talkative Staff, enter the library with rolling luggage behind them. Each girl is meticulously dressed, wearing a button up white blouse with suspenders over though not holding up their skirts, with red and black plaid patters, and matching ties at each of the girl's collar. For some reason they dress in another school's uniform.

    They walk into the library and each of them have a book tucked under their hands and nearing the front desk, they each take turn to place the book onto the granite top and nod thankfully.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna Dane was taking a much needed rest by hiding in the library. Or at least, that had been the plan. A kindle in hand with a fake book jacket of leather bound with decorative gold swirls was held loosely in her hand as she got up from her comfortable seat in the back corner. She'd spotted both the Cuckoos and Erika, and with a look of mild annoyance, closed the e-reader up and pushed herself from the chair. Her shoes were soft soled and left little enough noise as she walked toward the gaggle of mutants.

A glance was spared for erika's book choice, and she paused, arching a brow upward. "Magic?"

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir looks over at the Cuckoos and waves in a friendly way, not having really had a chance to get to know them yet. They seem nice as far as she knows. Might be good to compare notes with them sometime; they're psychic too, right? They might have some insights on how to make her powers a little less annoying, even if it's a totally different effect.

She looks over at Lorna as she approaches and tilts her head. "Yep!" She slips a deck of cards out of her pocket and turns it over in her fingers a little bit. "I do magic now. It's a thing."

Stepford Cuckoos has posed:
    "Thank you." The girls each whisper in kind before they turn and regard the princess and Erika with a kind-ish smile-ish. They're not big on emotions, but they are rather sterile in most sitatuions anyways, seemingly robotic at times. Though they do mostly take a few steps towards the two, they leave their luggage near the desk to retrive on the way out, the five girls give a nod in unison. "Good afternoon." They speak at once.

Polaris has posed:
A green eyebrow shot upward as Lorna considered first the books then back to Erika. Particularly as the young woman pulled out a stack of cards. "Uh huh.. why are you learning slight of hand tricks?" She drawled lightly, amusement dancing in her gaze and in the twitch of her lips. Lorna shifted her weight on her toes, making the old polished floor boards creak beneath her weight lightly.

Then her attention shifted to the blondes and she nodded toward them politely, shifting her grip on her e-book reader with care. "Hello, what are you all up to?" She asked, angling her gaze toward the luggage and back.

"Moving into the library for a study party?"

Souvenir has posed:
"Well, there's probably going to be some kind of talent show coming up, right? And it seems like a neat thing to practice, anyways. It gives me something to do with my hands." Erika Kristasdottir smiles, rattling off a reasonable, socially acceptable explanation. Not really the entire explanation, of course, but hey.

"How are you doing? I don't think I've had a chance to talk to you much. Any of you."

Stepford Cuckoos has posed:
    "Not at all. We had an interesting encounter last night and have been offered a chance to explore options elsewhere, and it seems we would be foolish to not take the opportunity to study under someone as talented and capable as Miss Frost." The lead girl, Phoebe explain with a calm look to Lorna, she is simply stating the facts of the matter.

    They all glance back to Erika as she speaks to them and they blink twice before responding to the student's question. "We are doing well." Esme answers for the group before their eyebrows furrow with a burning curiosity. "If you must learn magic, why not learn it from a person. Mister LeBeau would help we're sure."

Polaris has posed:
A head tilt followed Erika's words and Lorna considered the other young woman with a look of disbelief. "You'll have better luck hiding and throwing knives around or lifting security cards from people than getting a talent show set up here. Last time I heard rumors about one people started to complain about using powers and what's fair or not fair." She rolled her eyes, shaking her head once.

Then her focus returned to the group of blondes and she blinked. "Huh, well, more power to you if you think it'll help broaden your studies.. or really whatever. I support it. I mean, hell, I left here for Genosha for the past year. I learned how to better control my powers from someone that knows them inside and out... and a hell of a lot more, but you know.. Point still stands."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods. "I, um... Already am. But he has other things to do, too, so I figured I would read when I can't get in to talk to him." She sighs at the talent show bit. "And yeah, I know, just.. It's complicated, okay?" She hmphs. There's an issue there, but she hasn't spilled it yet. She gets a bit of a smirk at the comment though, since, well, it is kind of ironic.

Stepford Cuckoos has posed:
    "Thank you Miss Dane." The girl closest to the princess says with a blink towards royalty, though she does take a moment to consider and then Sophie bow ever so slightly.

    "We wish you luck then, maybe reach out on twitter or instagram. We still have our own phones." The girls explain to Erika as they start to move back towards the desk and their bags.

Polaris has posed:
A long pause followed as Lorna considered Erika for a moment, two, then three. "So you're learning the tricks of slight of hand and likely how to hide sharp objects under your clothes." She hmm'ed under her breath, folding her arms. "I'd say don't let Scott know or Jean, but really if they had an issue with it, they'd have said something already to Remy." She shrugged. The green haired Princess was no the person to come to expecting any kind of recrimination for anything.

Particularly not for extra-curricular activities that were generally frowned upon or for leaving the school behind.

Her gaze switched back toward the blondes and she flapped a hand. "If you need anything just hollar. I'm used to running around like a crazy person, and not just because I went to school here. Genosha has its own brand of crazy."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods.. "Well.. Sure. I've been meaning to talk to you, actually. But if you're busy.." She shrugs and tilts her head. Then immediately blushes at Lorna. Busted.

"Yeah, well, people don't get nearly as creeped out if they think I'm trying to hide rabbits under my hat." Then under her voice, "please don't say anything." With the back of her finger, she gently nudges one or two books behind the rest of the stack more.

Stepford Cuckoos has posed:
    The cuckoos leave without another word after grabbing their bags and briskly make their way out of the library.

Polaris has posed:
A glance was spared for Erika and a grin pulled at the Princess of Genosha's lips. "I'm not creeped out. I won't say anything to anyone unless they directly ask me.. I don't tattle on people. I'm not a teacher, I don't have to." She pushed her hair back from her face, considering the young woman. "But if they ask directly, I'm not lying to them either. Deal?" She arched a brow, as if there was anything to actually make a deal about.

Her gaze swinging back to the blondes as they made a rather abrupt departure. "Huh..... //that// I will likely get in trouble for encouraging..'

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir frowns. "I guess. I mean, it's just... Complicated." She frowns. "I don't like, shoot lasers out of my toes or turn into rubber or anything, so I just feel kind of.. you know. Behind the curve."

She turns and watches the Cuckoos leave, too. "Um? I guess? I mean.. I hope Emma is okay? I'm not sure what all is going on."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna offered a small shrug as she lifted her grip on the e-reader. "You wish you were someone that would fit in better with all the powers that are cool and showy. You wish that you could be better at something that people value and think is a 'heroic' power, right?" She arched a brow, her lips twisting into a faint, sad, sympathetic smile. She nodded to the table, and pulled out a chair before sitting down.

"I know how it feels. In a round about way. I've seen it time and again in Genosha. Lots of mutants there that have no powers or powers that aren't particularly so called 'useful'." She made air quotes with her fingers.

"I didn't have powers for the longest time, they were sealed up. And when they weren't I hated them. I hated having powers like my father's. Mostly because of how people treated me differently because of him.."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir ohs and turns to you, listening and nodding. "Yeah... It's always 'All the cool people, and.. and Erika can come too, I guess.'" She rolls her eyes for emphasis.

"And like, I'd be okay with that? If people were like 'Hey Erika, can you take a look at this cool thing we picked up? Maybe you can find something out from it!' Just.."

She sighs and looks down at the table. "They don't. Sam did once, and I didn't find out much he didn't know, but I was super happy he asked."

Polaris has posed:
Another small nod followed, "I first through my only mutation was green hair.." She drawled, reaching up to flick a stray strand of it from her face. "It bled through hair dyes constantly. And washed out as soon as I used shampoo or hell.. even water." She smiled thinly, "It was because of how the proteins in my hair are naturally reactive to ionized matter due to my inherent secondary magnetism.. but you know.. stuff that wasn't clear to little kid me." She shrugged.

Her gaze swung back to Erika. "My point is... it will get better. You might not suddenly wake up with powers that you want, but as you get older, you'll find your niche. You'll find where you fit. Promise."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir hmms. "Yeah, I can't touch things. It suuuucks. So I'm trying to, you know. Carve stuff out and like, MAKE myself useful. There's all sorts of, you know. Synergies and stuff that I'm shooting for." She gestures vaguely at the books.

"I'm just kind of sick of being the designated damsel in distress, you know? I want to be able to save myself sometimes too."

Polaris has posed:
Another nod followed and Lorna bit back a sigh. "I get that too. I wanted super strength, you know?" She grinned and waved a hand around the room ar large, as she leaned back in the chair she'd taken over, crossing her legs at her ankles. 5r
"You'll find you spot, you'll get your team and you'll figure out where you belong." She paused a beat.

"Of course you could make a killing being a TV show psychic and just demand people bring stuff from their dead relatives and you could BS your way through a lot of money..?" She teased, a smile on her lips.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir smirks, "Well maybe, but I would totally have giant robots in the audience every time, right? Anyway, mostly I'm trying to find ways to get my hands on stuff and figure out what people did with it. You know, like after I figure out how to get out of zip ties and find out how not to get caught with creepers under trap doors and stuff, because like, that sucked."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna nodded, looking utterly unconcerned with the idea that Erika was effectively learning skills that many would consider to be preferred by those with illegal activities.. Which wasn't necessarily wrong, depending on who you asked. "It's a good idea to get out of sticky situations. There's a lot of people out there that know even less." She flapped a hand and bit back the urge to sigh.

Scott had been right on learning to train without using their powers.. not that she'd tell him. % "Take your time and do it your way."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods. "Yeah. I'm working on it." She frowns some. "It seems like everybody wants to turn me into Batman, so far. So that's kind of what I'm working on. It's not like I can think of anything else to do." She shrugs a little. "I'm not sure they thought that through, but hey."

Polaris has posed:
A shrug and Lorna reached up to push her hair back from her face. "If that's what you want to do, you could, sure. I mean, maybe not the whole black bat thing and Gotham. Avoid Gotham, it sucks, architecture aside it has some serious issues.." She drawled, only partly kidding. The Sentinel attack the last time she'd been there had left a rather nasty impression on the green haired woman.

"Or you could open up your own private eye shop. Run a business. Take clients and stuff.."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods. "Well like, sure. But like, right now? I'm a kid and like, I can't be running around getting jobs. I mean I can try to own a business, I guess. I know bunch of things I could do. I could have done taxes for people this year if I wanted to deal with business licenses and stuff. Just, that doesn't help me learn stuff or get better. And afterwards people are still going to not like me. "

Polaris has posed:
A faint smile pulled at Lorna's expression again and she nodded, "Then stay here and learn. There's nothing wrong with learning and knowing that you've got a lot to learn. I spent the better part of a year learning how to act like I knew what it means to be Princess of Genosha. I spent my time learning how to deal with politics and diplomacy and international and foreign relations. I have a degree in Physics. It was so beyond anything I'd set out to learn, it was hard, and frustrating and at the end the day, I had no idea if it was the right thing to do." She nodded to Erika.

"So do what you can for now. Worry about tomorrow when it comes. And realize that people dislike other people for seriously dumb reasons. Mutant or not."