8686/Under Pressure

Under Pressure
Date of Scene:	07 August 2019
Location:	Garage - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Polaris explains the weight she is carrying and the bind she is in with Elixir. They talk about possibilities but none are great.
Cast of Characters:	Polaris, Elixir

---

Polaris has posed:
The garage was silent and cool in the summer's last waning days before school started up once more. At least, it was save for the green haired woman that was leaning against a car at seemingly random. A glass thin Genoshan made tablet in her grip as she tapped away on its screen with a quick and furious fashion. Her lips were pursed into a thin line, her eyebrows furrowed as she read whatever was the response back. A huff of a breath followed and she pushed off the car with a scowl.

Lorna paced, back and forth as she repeatedly tapped her fingers against the side of the tablet in a fidgeting, anxious movement. She huffed, and pushed her hair back from her face, her heels clicking as she paced back and forth in a line.

Elixir has posed:
Josh comes padding down the hall looking into a few rooms as he goes. Catching up with the green-haired Genoshan was harder than it should be. Between looking in rooms, getting stopped for a handful of minor issues and stony silence from most students to questions about where Lorna had gone, it took time. Finally, Josh pokes his head into the garage and sees her pacing. He closes the door behind him, puts one hand in his scrubs pocket and runs a hand through his hair as he walks toward his... Well. He felt like she was family.

"Hey, Lorna," Josh says with a bit of a smile. He quirks an eyebrow. "You okay? You look... Stressed. Kinda worried about you, you know?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna knew when Josh's presence approached, but only because she was already wired up already with the large amount of anxiety that course through her. The usual field of magnetics tangled through her head on a more elevated level, and though it was controlled, it meant she was more than slightly on edge for those that knew her. She paused in her pacing only to glance at the tablet again and glance to Josh.

"Stressed doesn't begin to cover it Josh. Everyone in Genosha is freaked out. Countries, the UN, the EU, anyone and everyone is trying to get a diplomat in or attache in to speak with me regarding my father's actions. They all want answers, they all want me to stop it. And I can't even think my head is spinning so much. How can I try to stop my father when I honestly don't disagree with him at the heart of it all? Nothing was getting done regarding the Sentinels. People are dying. Innocent people are being massacred."

Elixir has posed:
"Yeah, it's pretty insane, you gotta be under /stupid/ pressure," Josh says and puts his hands in his pockets.

"I'm one of those scared people though, you know? He's gonna get a /lot/ more people killed if starts a war. On all sides. I mean, I don't wanna be on the ground if they try to nuke him or whatever," Josh says, concerned. "I don't get why he's doing it this way. And why the X-Men aren't doing more. It's like, the Avengers that have done most of the work on this stuff, and they're not even mutants! Heck, the Governor of New York and the cops are doing more than the X-Men. At least they ordered a stop and like, raided a factory or something. It's like all the people who are supposed to be grown ups about this stuff are screwing it up."

Josh comes over a leans his butt against one of the cars and sighs. "Sorry. I'm with you, I really am. It has to stop and the government just let it keep going and going, you know? And you can't like, carry it all. If they run you into the ground, you can't help anyone. Is there any way to get more help handling this stuff?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna rolled her eyes skyward, "I know, damn it. I know. If my father just does what he wants he'll escalate things. It's one of the reasons why I spent so much time on Genosha. I thought, if I stayed there, worked with everything and him that maybe I could temper some of it. Some of his harsher practices. But I failed. He left Genosha. My plans. My ideas did //nothing//. I didn't do enough to help and now he's acted and I can't stop him." She exhaled a breath, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"My father wants to stop a mutant genocide. How is that wrong?" She bit out and dropped her hands to her sides, leaning back against the same car as Josh. "I don't know what to do." She exhaled a rough breath.

Elixir has posed:
Josh puts a hand on Lorna's shoulder without thinking about it.

"Sometimes it doesn't matter what we do," he says with genuine sympathy. "The best can do is just try, and the rest isn't up to us. Which sucks /ass/."

Josh folds his hands in front of him. "Your dad's not wrong, I mean, stopping crazy people killing mutants isn't wrong. It's just how he's doing it. And, I mean, the death toll's like, a couple hundred in the whole US. Just LA gets that many homicides a year, you know?" Josh says. "I only know it cause I looked it up after Wanda and I saw the news. I mean, from the info the Avengers have given us so far, the problem is Trask, not the US government, anyway. He's threatening the wrong people. And millions could die. It's pretty messed up."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath as Josh settled a hand on her shoulder. She let it sit there for a moment, before she shrugged and gestured to the tablet in her grip. "It's a couple hundred now. But if left unchecked who knows? That's his argument anyways. Anyone building weapons to wipe out a specific group of people is wrong. But like you said.. his methods aren't exactly the best.." She grimaced.

"Why do you think I'm not there at his side? If he ever really wanted to do something awful...? Our powers build on one another. Amplify them. Polar opposites.." She muttered, and she glanced down.

"I think all this time he was meaning to leave me out of it. Plausible deniability he'd said.. I thought he meant my personal involvement in strikes against Trask.."

Elixir has posed:
Some realization dawns on Josh as he listens to Lorna.

"You're such a fucking bind," he comments. Josh looks across the garage at the far wall.

"Shit. Like, you go outside down the line or you try and break the middle, but the defence is everywhere and you know you're gonna get hammered in the tackle no matter what," Josh muses. "Um. So if like, you were just Lorna, you know. Not princesss diplomat Magneto's daughter Lorna.... What would you do about the Sentinels?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna snorted a laugh, short, and bitter as she reached up to rub the sides of her face as if it would some how slow the march of her migraine that pounded and formed at the sides of her temples. She glanced side long at Josh, her eyebrows lifting at the sports references. "I wouldn't put it that way, but sure. I was just gonna say that my father out maneuvered me, and left me with few choices that I want." She exhaled a breath and shook her head slowly.

Josh's question gave her pause though, and she tilted her head, letting her hand fall away.

"If it was just me? Me? Well... I guess go after Trask's labs one by one. Try to stop research and development. Sentinels.. they're created, but I doubt that's all he's working on. I'd imagine if this man really hates us, he'll fixate and likely has tons of R+D projects all over. I'd hit those. I doubt they have was much security as the factories and no one's looking at them right now."

Elixir has posed:
Josh raises an eyebrow, reading the gestures. "Want me to stop that for a bit?" he offers. Regardless of her answer, he continues.

"You could just, do it. I mean, like, you could crush Trask's factories probably. I mean, Sentinels are super nasty so maybe take Wanda and some others, but why not? You know? And if you find anything like, really heinous, expose him. He's not the only sick psycho, but maybe it'd make some think twice. And you'd get to /do/ something totally good. And badass. Cause let's face it, that would be like seriously hardcore and then I'd get to be like, hey, that's my girlfriend's sis!"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna snorted, and shook her head as she glanced side long at Josh. "I get migraines all the damn time. Earth's magnetic fields run through my head. It's always 'on'. Real fun to try to medicate bipolar disorder when you don't know that..." She trailed off, glancing off into the distance as she exhaled a breath.

"I can't be seen publicly attacking anything on US soil. Not unless I want to get Genosha in real dip trouble. Like my father already is doing. I have to be seen as different to him. I can't just go around doing whatever Josh. It's part of that whole pubic face thing. Everyone knows who I am. I don't have a secret identity really."

Elixir has posed:
"Oh, that's shitty," Josh says of the migraines.

Josh nods slowly. "Yeah. I mean, there's through the X-Men, but there's only so many people with powers like yours on your scale," he muses. Then he grins and shrugs. "Don't need a secret identity to be covert, you know? Best ops nobody knows who did them!"

"Seriously though, I dunno what to say. You've got like, a huge weight on your shoulders. I don't what I'd actually do. I actually trust you with it though," he says seriously. "Not just cause you're Wanda's sister, but like, you're level. I feel better knowing you're involved. So, like, thanks. For what you're trying to do."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna snorted a laugh, and rolled her eyes. "Yeah it kinda does suck, but what else can I do?" She arched an eyebrow upward as Josh said she was 'level' and she shifted her weight on her feet, as she pushed off the car's side.

"No one has ever accused me of being particularly balanced or level. Mentally or otherwise." She drawled, and the tablet in her grip ding'ed again. She bit back a sigh and she shook her head.

"I dunno. I need to figure some stuff out. Go for a drive and burn off some steam before I go back to Genosha and try to deal with all of this."