7379/It's All Magnetic

It's All Magnetic
Date of Scene:	01 May 2019
Location:	Genosha
Synopsis:	Lorna returns to Genosha to speak with Magneto regarding Sentinel activity and ends up discussing family history and the succession of Genosha
Cast of Characters:	Magneto, Polaris
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Magneto has posed:
     Magneto had been keeping mostly to himself as of late, the past encounters with the Sentinels had him accelerating a plan of his. He was not going to let his people go lightly into that sweet night, not by a long shot.

  "I must insist we maintain a tight schedule, one delay is unacceptable. " He says on the receiver in his office, he still used a landline telephone for some matters, this was one of them.

  It was approaching evening in Genosha, and the sun was already glaring behind him, bathing the monarch in sunlight. "Yes, keep me updated. I want to be ready to launch within an hour's notice. Very good."

  The receiver is placed back on the hotline, and he leans back in his chair, the first moment of the day he's been able to relax. He runs a hand through his silver-white hair, and balls up a fist, closing his eyes for a brief moment of meditation.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna had been spending most of her time in America, particularly the Mansion. But it wasn't X-men business that often occupied her time, which dragged her into the city frequently. It was all her attempts to make business deals for Genosha. Trade deals, negotiations, attempting to make head way into other trades for what Genosha wanted, needed, or could simply use.

Most of the time, she was stood up, other times she was met for the amusement of 'meeting the Princess' but rarely was she truly taken seriously.

Lex Luthor of course was the exception, and she'd typed up and called her own thoughts on his Peacemaker models. But she figured it was well past time to sit down and speak with her father and check in on her business in Genosha proper. She paused as she stepped into her father's office, dressed once again in the loose, tropical fitted garb of Genosha that she typically donned. Something that would breath in the heat and humidity. She stepped inside with careful, quiet steps as she moved, waiting for her father to end his call before she took up patiently waiting before his desk. When he looked up at her, she smiled, "Hello, father."

Magneto has posed:
     The man opened his eyes at Lorna's greeting. He didn't make mention of what he was planning, the resources used were secured under false names. No one would ask him about it either way.

  Magneto responded. "Hello." It was warm enough for Magneto, but he was still occupied mentally on other things.

  "I trust you are well." He mentions, standing up and approaching Lorna for an embrace.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna bent to hug her father from his spot at his desk, bending down and sweeping her arms around his shoulders and enveloping her powers around him in an intricate knot of magnetic fields that was something just the two of them could ever understand and share. She smiled, but it was strained as she watched her father, strained and burdened by whatever it was that weighed him with his rulership of the island nation. She drew back after a long moment, settling herself on the edge of his desk without disrupting the paperwork or other assorted tech there. "I'm alright, just tired with all the meetings I've been running around to. Nothing major there though.." She trailed off, pausing as she considered her father.

"There was an update from the mansion. About the Sentinels. I wasn't there, but I read the report anyways. Apparently they had null fields. Completely cancelled out mutant powers.." Her lips thinned and there was a slight hint of worry to her tone.

"Lex also has stepped up his research on the Peacemakers, the suits did well enough in preliminary tests. The fire power was good." She shook her head slightly, "But it's not enough. Not unless we can match Trask and his capabilities..."

Magneto has posed:
     The comments from the princess had him bothered, he saw this in terms of when he was a child. Hitler had an army of men and the support of a nation behind him. Trask, on the other hand, had Sentinels, machines built only to do one thing, follow their orders, this was so much worse. "It's a bad idea to simply have him assassinated, that would only serve to make him a martyr, but..." He clenches his hand, indicating he sure did want to carry out a summary execution on this man. "It would feel justified for the deaths he has already caused."

  "Alexander Luthor thinks he can fight these machines with machines. Even as an ally, what would keep him from also pulling this same stunt with his own army? No, this technology is best left eradicated, all traces of it removed from existence."

  The null fields have him only grimace. "First this man targets us, now he takes away our means of self-defense."

  The scowl on his face growing ever so stern, Had he been in his battle armor, he'd have turned in a heavily dramatic fashion, forcing his cape to flick and billow. "Mark my words, Homo Superior will not allow this to stand."

  He takes his seat, only thinking of his master stroke, and how fast it would be ready."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna watched her father get up and pace, watched the clenching of his hands at the news she'd brought and she pursed her lips as she listened. She kept her spot, ankles crossed as the cool air from the vents ruffled her hair and she buried her fingers into the soft silken fabric of her skirts. She exhaled a breath, her green eyebrows pinched as she finally pushed herself up from his desk as he sat once more and returned to his seat.

"Let Lex make his machines if he thinks it will help. Something is better than nothing and having an ally is better than not having any at all." She whispered softly, "We need allies, father. We can't win in an arms race. They can build robots faster than new mutants can be born, develop powers, and be trained."

"Besides, isn't it worth it to investigate fighting their fire with fire? Why risk mutant lives on their robots if we can outbuild them too? It's an arms race, yes, but it would buy us time."

Magneto has posed:
     Erik gives a soft sigh, then nods. "We cannot, you are correct. But if they are as you say, incomplete, then what use are they? Every time I turn around, there's another permutation of those machines, and now they have the ability to nullify our abilities!" He isn't thinking straight, at least fully through. "It's an iron to keep in the fire, but I think this will land against us. We need...a bigger symbol than even I, to speak out against Trask."

  Erik leans back in his chair, putting a hand to his chin, not believing even himself as he contemplates. "Tell me, dear. What do you know of Captain America?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna grimaced as she came over to stand beside her father's seat, her hand settling gently on his shoulder as he slowly spiraled into his own thoughts and musings on where the Sentinels and the alike were moving. She remained there, by his side much as she had for the past year or so, just listening while he spoke before she broke the silence to answer his questions.

"Incomplete as in I don't know their capabilities against a Sentinel. But they did well enough against powered individuals and modern weapons otherwise. He's making super solider suits more or less. To be piloted from the inside by people. Not AI. It seems he mistrusts that." She shrugged lightly, and let her hand fall away as she turned her gaze to the wide, expansive windows that overlooked the Genoshan horizon beyond to the brilliant sunset.

"Captain America..? Well, he's on the Avengers. Rogue's worked with him in the most recent reports against the Sentinels. Wanda must work with him too, since she spends most of her time with the Avengers.. I dunno. I haven't met him. But if you're talking about symbols, he's definitely one of them." She considered.

"But symbols are only as good as the people that follow them. You can't fight hate and fear with them alone." She paused, "When I was talking about Allies, I was thinking more of reaching out to the other Kingdoms and domains that might be more sympathetic to us. The Amazons, the Asgardians, Wakanda, the under-sea Kingdoms. Any of them. They're not the standard powers that move and shake the world.."

Magneto has posed:
     "He is trying to make his own Iron Men. In that case, it shouldn't prove to be much of a threat to you or I." He seems to be alright with the concept, at least for now.

  Magneto stands, looking out the window and staring into the ocean. His silver-white hair shining with the sun's rays. When the king speaks again, it is with a solemnity that Lorna has heard a couple times before. "When I was starving and weak, almost about to give up hope, the troops all started running away. We heard the sound of tanks approaching, could smell their exhaust in the air, and we all thought that our suffering was going to come to the grimmest of ends."

  He turns, looking to Lorna's eyes and confesses. "We couldn't have been more wrong. We saw a white star, and a man dressed in blue, red, and white. They tore down the walls of our prison, and gave us the first real food we had in months. That man in blue, held out to me a piece of bread, and said something that I couldn't understand at the time, but he gave me comfort for the first time in years, with his voice, assuredly telling me it was alright, that it was over. But it was clear who he was, Captain America."

  He reaches to Lorna, grasping her hand and squeezes firm, but not painstakingly so. "That, my dear, is the power of an icon. The people will listen to him, just as we did."

Polaris has posed:
As always when her father spoke, Lorna listened. Moreover, when //that// tone came over him, she stilled and watched him with rapt attention. It was so rare when her father spoke of his past. When he confronted it. The ghosts, the scars still haunted him awake or asleep. She knew that, and still the scars of his trauma lived on. Soon, he'd be the only one that had lived through those horrors left alive. As the others in his generation aged and died... he'd be even more alone in than ever.

Lorna swallowed the hard lump that formed in her throat, averting her eyes as her father drew near and took her hands with both of his. She squeezed them back, a gentle reassurance that she was there and listening to him.

Slowly, her gaze swung back to him, green eyebrows knitting together in surprise as she finally realized he meant that Captain America had saved him, been there for his liberation from the horrors of war. Her throat went dry and she didn't have the heart to argue back against his words. She sighed instead, "Do you mean to ask him to speak on Mutant's behalf to the American people somehow? Like a television conference? Or a rally? Have him speak to Congress or something?"

Magneto has posed:
     Erik holds Lorna's hand, and reciprocated her sigh. Giving a moment to the sacred silence between daughter and father before he releases her hand, taking his seat at his desk. "I want him to speak not on mutant behalf, but on history. We have the opportunity to stop a Fourth Reich, right here, right now. If we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. From where I see it, we have not, and yet again, my people are facing mass murder, and persecution. This time, it is mutants. A people united by one single fact, that their genetics have taken a leap forward, and in so being, have given them extraordinary gifts...or terrible deformities." Yes, it was a fact that Magneto always had in the back of his mind, just as the nazis had persecuted those with birth defects, even mutants akin to the morlocks had an even bigger target on them then those like himself, Scott Summers, or Wanda.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna was not the first one to break the silence, rather she left that to her father as he settled back in his seat again and she came around to the front of his desk. "Then I have an idea. It'll be hard.. I think.. but we might be able to get the necessary permission." She paused as she considered, tapping her finger tips against the rich wood of her father's desk.

"I think if you want to go for history... and symbols.." She paused, and lifted her gaze back to her father. "You need to .. both of you visit... somewhere symbolically important. Somewhere that people would recognize.. And broadcast it." She couldn't say. Couldn't tell her father to go to Auschwitz again. But it was the most emotional place she could think of when it came to speaking out against hate and fear..

Not that she thought it would be enough. Her views on humanity had sank in the last year or so. Her belief that the world could change, or would stop its fear induced path had failed. Perhaps that was truly why she'd left the X-men behind.

Magneto has posed:
     Magneto already knew where his daughter was going to suggest from the moment she mentioned history. The thought of which shook him to his core, and it showed. His eyes flared open and stared towards Lorna, not focusing on her, but past her. He was focused on his own mind. Flashing back to the horrors he had seen there. "You...propose something I had never thought of, ever. But...if it has the effect we wish, I will do it. I'll return to Auschwitz, one last time."

  The words are tantamount to a major sacrifice, even giving up his life for the mutant cause. But it needed to be done.

  "I'll be on the next flight to New York, I must ask him in person."

Polaris has posed:
@emit Lorna came back around the desk, looping magnetic fields through her father's as she reached out a hand to settle on his arm. "I'll come with you. If you want me there. But if you don't that's fine too." She spoke softly, as if saying anything to father might shatter the impressive King and Magnokinetic into a thousand tiny shards. Never to be put back together again.

"If it gets to be too much, we can just try for it here. A sit down talk, we can put it online and see what people think. Maybe it'll do that whole.. changing hearts and minds.." She pursed her lips together, and tried to sound convincing to her own ears. She'd done //so// much research since finding who her father was.. his history. Her family's history..

All in an attempt to fill in the gaps on why she'd been raised how she had been, by strangers, people that had no relation to her father or her mother for that matter.. To answer the questions that haunted //her//. It always, always came back to that first trauma that her father had suffered so long ago.

"I still think we'll need more international ties for diplomatic reasons though. I'll start seeing if any of them will speak with me about that at least.. in the mean time."

Magneto has posed:
     Erik speaks in hushed tones, but responds. "You should be there. It's not going to be easy for me, but you should also see the place I was born." Figuratively of course. He reached into his pocket, and pulls out that watch that she had gifted him so tenderly last December. He looks at it, and makes sure it is wound well. Eventually merely staring at the watch.

  "I would gather that anyone truly paying attention to our message at Auschwitz would also join in the stand. It's powerful, and will get the point across."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna worried, worried that it would expose something raw and tender in her father to the world. Something that spoke of what haunted him and was so deeply personal.. She exhaled a breath through her nose as she watched her father. It was odd, how very protective she had become over a man that could rip up cars and had more magnetic power than anything man made. Perhaps it was this show of vulnerability of her father that truly shook her to the core. That brought out the harsh reality of what faced them in the future if something drastic wasn't done to change the course they were all on.

"We could go to Germany to put up a plaque or something. That doesn't have to be televised. Just for our family. If you wanted.." She kept her voice soft, gentle. Too many people had forgotten or had written off those horrors from the past. The world hated what it feared, it always had. That hatred hadn't gone away since the Holocaust.. It remained.

But perhaps this might give those on the fence a push. To realize what they supported.

Maybe.

Lorna had her doubts.

"I can ask Wanda and Pietro if they want to be there...?" She offered.

Magneto has posed:
     "The invitation should be extended to them." He commented, before placing the watch back in his pocket. "I don't plan on staying there much longer than necessary, but we can leave it with a piece of our family."

  Magneto reaches up, and opens a nearby hidden alcove. It containted the crown that was made, and the tiaras and coronet of the Prince and Princesses of the land. "Your father has a flare for theatrics, as you know..." He reaches up and takes his crown, placing it atop his head. "King Erik will give way to Max Eisenhardt, at the place where he was created."

Polaris has posed:
A nod, and Lorna leaned back from her father as he put the pocket watch back into his pocket. She struggled with the lump that formed at the back of her throat at the heavy topic that had settled on them. Perhaps it would be better for her father than running from his past, from the trauma of it. To confront those ghosts like so many others had. Still, there was no small measure of guilt on Lorna's behalf. If something happened... she had suggested this in the first place.

As her father rose and revealed the secret compartment she stepped back further, giving him room around his desk to move. A small hint of a smile traced her lips as he spoke of having a flare for theatrics. The sight of the crowns left behind in the alcove made her stomach twist. People always asked.. Did she have an actual crown? Who was going to be formally crowned heir apparent? Magneto had yet to say anything that she knew of.

Her green eyed gaze swung to her father and she lifted an eyebrow upward. "What? You? Dramatic?" She teased, humor painting her words with a forced lightness.

Magneto has posed:
     Magneto took one of the tiaras, yellow gold and emblazoned with emeralds and jade. He holds in in two hands, and looks it over. The Coronet looked like a smaller version of the King's Crown, with sapphires instead of rubies on its white gold metal. And the other tiara was white gold with garnets. "Once this matter is over, Lorna. We have something to discuss..." He turns, holding out the tiara, none had actually seen their royal jewels, other than the King. He'd taken phots with himself wearing it, and many of his addresses to parliament and the people had been wearing this crown. "For now...this is yours, as Princess of Genosha." That was all he could say for now, but soon, the matters of the questions surrounding the succession of the King would be known.

Polaris has posed:
Just because Lorna hadn't seen the crowns in person before didn't mean she hadn't thought of their existence. Not with her magnetic powers that fell into sink with her father's in their palace... in which the bulk was created out of magnetic elements for ease of use. The sight of the tiara in her father's grip left a tingle tracing down her spine, leaving her cold and oddly shaken.

The problem with monarchies was very simple. The old monarch had to pass on before the next generation could take over. It was a thought that frightened her, and the sight of the crown in her father's grip was a harsh reminder of all that they represented. Duty. Responsibility. She didn't reach out to take it from his grip, even as he told her it was her's.

She licked her lips, exhaling a breath she hadn't realized she'd sucked in and been holding. "Okay," She shifted her weight onto her heels.

"..Uhm.. I suppose that talk will include Wanda and Pietro?" She asked, arching a brow.

Magneto has posed:
     Magneto still holds the tiara out. Of course, there would have to be another made when his heir was crowned as King or Queen, but that day was long off, he hoped. "Indeed. Should they wish to join. I will not force either's hand. Despite Pietro's stance that I am the devil incarnate, he is still my son. And Wanda..." The two had grown apart as of late, but as was so with the twins, their ability to be in the same room as their father waxed and waned. "But first and foremost, you, in service to the Kingdom, have contributed so much. Not only myself, but the people have taken note of this."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna stared at the crown, very much transfixed by the simple spun metal and gleaming gems therein. Again her breath hitched and slowed as her father spoke, still holding the tiara out toward her. "Pietro doesn't truly think that. He asked after you when he stopped in. He cares." She offered softly, pulling her gaze from the weight of the tiara's presence back to her father's blue eyes.

She didn't mention Wanda. Wanda, who she hadn't seen since the holidays. Her older sister always seemed so distant.

As her father continued about her contributions to the kingdom, she colored faintly. "I haven't done that much..." She mumbled softly. She had spent a year on Genosha, in council chambers, Parliament meetings and proceedings. She had been there for the opening of hospitals and schools. Fought for Genosha to be the idealized Mutant State both there and abroad.. She had committed everything she could to Genosha.

She believed in it and those ideals that it promised. That much was clear.

"I feel silly, saying I have ... a... a tiara.. or something.."

Magneto has posed:
     "Nonsense, you've been more than devoted to Genosha, and helping her people. You deserve this tiara." He comments, still holding out the jewels.

  He turns, and places it back on its pillow. "Anyway, I will be on my way to New York, to talk to Captain America posthaste." He also places his crown on it's resting place. "Care to join me?"

Polaris has posed:
As the tiara and crown are carefully set aside Lorna exhaled, a weight seeming to lift from her shoulder as soon as the symbol for the monarchy was out of sight. Rarely did any royal from any country wear such relics anymore.. but they didn't have to. The sight was enough to cement in Lorna's mind exactly what her title encompassed for her more so than anything she'd done in the past year or so had.

Then her father spoke of heading to New York and she nodded. "Yeah, I'll come. I can check in and see if there's anything else in the reports regarding the Sentinels. I'll bring you a copy if there's anything relevant." She offered.