9931/Belated Birthday Presents

Belated Birthday Presents
Date of Scene:	06 November 2019
Location:	Lorna's Room (North Halls); Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Roberto and Lorna chat about her recent discoveries, and also create localized auroras.
Cast of Characters:	Sunspot, Polaris

---

Sunspot has posed:
It is late afternoon and Roberto plans to return to New York in a few minutes. But before he goes, he drops by Lorna's room. It has been a while since he has talked with the green-haired princess. He failed to go the Genosha's birthday-crowning ceremony due to a business emergency situation and then he somehow failed to see her when she returned to the US.

He is not avoiding her, however, quite the opposite. Mostly it has been bad luck.

Roberto expected to see her today, but apparently she has barely left her room all day. So instead, he came here, and knocks at the door with little hesitation. "Lorna? Are you there?"

Polaris has posed:
The door swung open with a creak at Roberto's knock and voice. The curtains were drawn and the only light seemed to come from the fireplace. Before it sat Lorna, wrapped up in a blanket and staring into the flames. The young woman wore a pair of rumpled PJ bottoms and an oversized T-shirt. Her green hair, usually so well taken care of, was a mass of curls that hung around her face, unwashed.

She hunched forward, her hands folded on the top of her knees as she kept her gaze trained on the fire before her, casting her in an ruddy, orange, light. She exhaled a breath, tilting her head back to peer at her doorway where Roberto stood.

"Might as well come in.." She huffed a breath, turning her gaze back to the fire and seeming to become lost in thought once more.

Sunspot has posed:
A fireplace? Nice. Clearly standards of living are rising since Roberto was a student. Before he can comment, however, Lorna's rumpled appearance gives him pause. "If you are sick it can wait a better moment," notes the young man in a quiet tone. Roberto is wearing a two piece suit, but it looks more casual than his usual power suits. No one to impress today at work, perhaps.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna arched a brow, and stifled a laugh, her expression otherwise flat and filled with a sharp sort of bitterness. "I'm not sick. I'm having a low point. My own doing I suppose. Wanda warned me to not poke at shit." She rolled her eyes, her voice rumbling and low. It was the kind of roughness that came from not speaking and crying far too much.

The young Princess also had the former master suite in the Mansion, she had for years, and no one had challenged her on it. So thus it stood that Lorna kept it. With its massive walk in closet, private bathroom, and excessive amount of space and fireplace included.

"There's plenty of space.. have a seat.. It's not like depression is contagious."

Sunspot has posed:
"Ah, I see." It is not contagious, just not good at all. "What happened? I thought events were progressing as you expected. I am sorry I missed the ceremony... there was an oil spill. Fortunately no one died," but the Atlanteans are furious. And they are also right.

The present he brought for her birthday, which was supposed to give her in Genosha, now rest in the breast pocket of his jacket. It feels the wrong moment to bring it out, so instead he takes one of the offered seats. "I heard nothing in the mutant rumormill, so I hope it is nothing to do with Genosha or the school," me murmurs.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna snorted a laugh, brittle as glass in frozen temperatures. It shattered at the edges, a crackle in her voice that was half a sob and she pressed her hand against her lips. A soft sniffle followed and she blinked repeatedly to clear the sudden moisture that had begun to sting the corners of her eyes. "Oil spills.. Genosha runs on entirely green energy and no one gives a damn." She muttered, shaking her head.

"I'm not allowed back in Genosha until my father settles things. My birthday celebration was crashed by some Nazi illusion. So. Yeah. That wasn't it though.." She shrugged and wrapped her arms back around her knees, her gaze swinging away from Roberto as she directed the door to shut behind him with a curl of her finger tip.

"No.. no.. this is my own doing. I dug into the past and I got bitten for it. What else is new?" She muttered, her lips curling into a self-loathing grimace. "I pushed and I pushed.. and this is what I get for it."

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto would usually make a comment about how DCI is setting solar farms all over Brazil, but a 'green Brazil' is still decades in the future, plus he definitely does not want to talk about the wonders of mutant utopia / magnetic autocracy.

"Nazi illusions with Magneto in attendance? Well, I expect some suicidal neo-nazi will get what he deserves soon," He is not really going to be very sorry for the foolish scumbag. Political impact might be interesting, however.

"I don't know much about your past," he admits. "You are from California, right?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna shrugged once, falling silent for a long while after Roberto spoke. She shifted, and one of the fireplace pokers floated over to the parted metal curtain of woven chains to stoke it. She twisted her fingers this way and that, but otherwise didn't speak for a long while. Even after Roberto had finished his line of thought and asked her where she was from.

"I don't know much about your past either.. so fair's fair.." She murmured softly, glancing down as she directed the poke to return to the stand.

"My foster parents raised me out that way, but .." She shrugged once more. "I dunno where my mother was from." She exhaled a soft breath, fighting the urge to sigh heavily.

"I hired Jamie to look into her plane crash.. and well, that didn't give me answers. So I asked Emma to go into my head and find them."

Sunspot has posed:
"Oh, I am a rich boy from Rio," but that is not a secret. "My father was a brilliant businessman that didn't many scruples, or mercy. My mother is an American archeologist and activist."

And Emma rummaged into Lorna's head. Oi. "Why Emma Frost and not Jean Grey, or even the Professor. Emma is... too much like my father. They even were in the same club for the ruthless rich."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath, glancing back to Roberto and arching a brow. "C'mon there's more to you than that and we both know it." She muttered, and turned her gaze away. She burrowed deeper into the blankets that hung around her shoulders. Her fingers curls into the fabric that wrapped around her shoulders, as if she were incredibly cold and couldn't get warm. Even hunched by the fire as she was.

"The Professor is already trying to make me attend therapy sessions and talked about medicating me. I don't want to give him more reason to think I need more interventions.. and Jean.. she's.." She trailed off, her lips pursing together.

"Jean has a school to run and doesn't need to be burdened by me and my problems. Emma doesn't care about my feelings. Or anyone's for that matter unless it's a benefit to her."

Sunspot has posed:
"Oh Emma cares about her own," points out Roberto. "Crushes everyone else under a heeled boot, though." Then shakes his head. "There is not much else about me. I would be just like my father if Xavier had not brought me here. Another member of the ruthless rich club. That one your father is part nowadays. With the skimpy dress code, but only for females."

He shakes his head. "Jean would have find time for you. No games. No favors due. No fetish clubs to handle."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna shrugged once, "I already had base line evidence to point at either my father.. or another magnokinetic having been responsible for my mother's plane crash. Jamie thought that maybe my powers had manifested earlier. Like his own, and that the crash's wreckage didn't match with my father's MO...." She grimaced and glanced back to Roberto again with a rather sullen, exhausted pinch to the edges of her gaze.

"Jean has better things to do than deal with me. I didn't want to be a burden and I still don't. Doesn't matter anyways, I don't see why Emma would lie about what was in my head anyways. It doesn't benefit her to have me find out I freaked out and caused the crash. Does it? I mean.." She shook her head and pursed her lips.

"Maybe it does, but I don't see how."

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto frowns, momentarily confused. Was Magneto causing plane crashes? But he is a bright boy, and it takes him only a few seconds to follow Lorna's words to the logical conclusion.

The many, many things Emma could do to Lorna's head for her own benefit that run through his head are shoved aside. For now. Instead he asks: "How old were you at the time of the crash?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna leaned forward to rest her chin on her knees as she stared at the fire rather than look directly at Roberto. "I was three." She swallowed hard, "She and her husband had been arguing about her affair with Magneto. She was yelling that it was all done.. and he'd had a test done to prove that I wasn't his kid." She reached up to press her knuckles against her temples.

"Her husband threatened to kill her and me.. and she was running to me and I woke up and I tried to protect her... but I ripped the plane apart." She opened her eyes again and glanced toward Roberto.

"My father showed up and .. and he had the memory taken from me. He tried to protect me. He knew about this.. the whole time I've been living with him in Genosha. The whole time I've just.. he didn't say a word. Didn't tell me once.."

Sunspot has posed:
"Three? You were three?" Roberto shakes his head, standing up. "Lorna, you are not responsible what you do when you were three years old. I don't think most people can even remember anything of that age."

And Magneto knew. But really, what could he say about this? For one the old monster seems blameless. He did but what most parents would have done.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna hung her head and a bitter laugh escaped her as she burrowed deeper into the blankets wrapped around her. "My father knew Roberto and he tried to protect me. Don't you get it? He constantly tried to protect me my whole life.. and I was paranoid that he'd killed my mother or had her killed for leaving him or something." She snorted and shook her head, a hysterical reaction to her own words, and she clapped her hand against her mouth.

"Someone messed with my head when I was three, how do I know that other parts of my memory of real and not fake too? How do I know any of it? Damn it!" She pressed her hands against her temples again, whimpering as she swung from bitter laughter, to edges of panic and rage, back to helplessness.

Sunspot has posed:
"How does anyone?" Points out Roberto. "Well, anyone that is not Xavier. But look, if your father was watching you, it is unlikely anyone else had a chance, right? At least until you had your powers. Afterwards you have been among telepaths, so it is difficult someone could have manipulated you unnoticed."

He won't suggest her to steal his dad's helmet. But maybe it would work for her!

He steps a little closer and lays down a hand on Lorna's shoulder, gently. "Listen. I think you might be sleep-deprived and in shock. My advice... work out until you are physical tired and then sleep eight hours. Things will seem much better."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna's head bowed and she reached up to smooth her hands against the palms of her hands. Her fingers reaching up to tangle in the curls of her hair and push it back. As Roberto stepped closer and settled his hand on her shoulder, her magnetic fields, already a tangle of emotions that drifted about surged into the visible light spectrum. A blossom of color bloomed beneath his hand, and danced lightly in the air between them. A tiny aurora of light that lingered in pinks, purples, and greens.

Whatever Lorna had been about to say vanished from her mind as she blinked in shock, her mouth falling open to stare.

"What the hell is that?"

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto is not as perceptive to energy fields, so it takes him a few seconds to notice his hand is glowing. Then he pulls it out quickly. "Blessed Madonna," he mutters. His hand seems fine, though. It was just some light, not heat. He can generate heat, but it was not that. "Are you alright?" He asks, looking back at Lorna. "I have no idea," he adds, in belated response to her question.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna twisted around, standing up and looking around owlishly. She blinked, dropping the blanket from around her shoulders and looked at Roberto. "Well it wasn't //me//, it must have been you! You draw from the sun, right? It's in your name. Got a secondary mutation we didn't know about?" She asked, exhaling a breath and pressing a hand against her head.

The sudden rush of standing made her head pound and she looked faintly paler than she should. Her gaze swept the room and back.

"I'm fine.."

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto looks in mild disbelief at the 'I'm fine' bit, but he is curious about the light show event. "No, I can release energy as heat, but not really as light. Sun's spots are supposed to be dark." But lets not overthink it. They are dark only in comparison with the rest of the solar surface. Xavier probably picked Roberto's codename while he was reading science fiction in the Internet. Or maybe he was drunk.

"Hey, you are the one with the name of a star, don't put this one me," he jokes weakly.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna offered a wobbly little laugh that came up from the back of her throat and reached out a hand to steady herself against her chair. She missed, her arm swinging wide and nearly stumbled directly into Roberto. She caught her balance against the side of his arm, and the light show appeared again. Her eyes went wide and she scrambled back, with a yelp.

"Woah... just.. Magnetism doesn't appear on the visible light spectrum..I mean. Not on its own.. There's.." She trailed off, and if Roberto hadn't moved further, reached out to try to press a hand against his arm, slowly, casting glances at him the entire time. As if unsure that he'd allow her to just reach out and do so.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto catches Lorna, although he steps quickly when she retreats. "You are not quite alright," he offers with a hrm. "Please sit-down? or not." He smirks faintly when instead she goes to check for light again. And yes, there is that odd luminosity again. "Actually magnetic fields can produce light by ionization in specific circumstances. Such as when interacting with the solar winds in the upper atmosphere in polar regions." Because looking up close it looks like a mini polar aurora.

It must be something else, Roberto is certainly not producing solar winds, but perhaps his powers alter the way light interacts with him. After all he goes pitch black when he uses them.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna blinked repeatedly, withdrawing her hand after a moment and squinting in consideration. "Okay. Yes. True. But I would say its the solar particles interacting with the magnetic fields. Not the magnetics actually producing light on their own. Which is what I meant.." She muttered, and seemingly occupied with her thoughts, reached out again to create the effect as she touched Roberto with a sort of scientific curiosity.

As the swirls of light manifested again, she hmm'ed under her breath, and cocked her head to the side.

"Huh." She did that repeatedly a few more times, as if testing the way it manifested.

It would seem the curiosity of it all over rode any of her anxieties, and depression-- at least temporarily. "You must be creating charged particles which are in turn reacting with my own electromagnetic fields, creating a localized aurora. That's.. that's actually really cool." She grinned, looking up to him.

Sunspot has posed:
"That is... actually possible, I am always absorbing energy, not just sunlight," admits Roberto, amused at being poked like this. "It is not usually noticeable unless I am putting an effort. But I could drain the heat of this room to the point of freezing in about three minutes, even with the fireplace going."

That might be good to get Lorna out of the room. At least!

"Well, it seems harmless and cool, I guess," he agrees, looking back to the light show and smiling.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna hmmmed and tapped her chin with her other hand as she poked at Roberto's arm, which was a safe enough to test her curiosity on. She drew her hand back, focused on a burst of magnetic power about her hand, touched him, didn't touch him. All to the simple result that touching him produced an actual tiny burst of aurora and not doing so... did nothing. The charged particles that he may or may not be putting off weren't that far reaching, and even if she pushed her magnetic fields at him, they weren't concentrated enough to create the sustained light show.

Or so she figured.

"I think the Professor will be amused you know. Interested too. It's so cool to think of all the ways that mutant powers can interact in a non combative way." She murmured, glancing back up at Roberto. "Please don't drain the heat, I like the heat. Genosha has ruined my ability to climatize to the winters here. It was in the sixties today and I was freezing." She muttered, making a face.

Sunspot has posed:
"And I bet you don't eating anything is not helping," points out Roberto. Of course although he is from the very tropical Rio de Janeiro his powers make him pretty much immune to mundane temperature shifts. He is now amused when his friends complain 'too hot' or 'damn cold'.

Also amused this has taken Lorna's mind out of the circumstances of her mother's death. "You know what? I bet McCoy would be more interested than the Professor and will toss a theory or three about it in less than a minute."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna shot Roberto a look about her lack of eating, it was highly likely the reason she'd been so light headed when she stood up.. but he didn't have to go and point it out so abruptly and ruin her amusement with the light show they created. She wrinkled her nose and as he continued she grinned, reaching out and back a few more times experimentally. Or more likely, for the hell of it.

"I bet he would be, we should definitely show them. It's pretty neat. Though, now we know if we're on a stealth mission that requires sneaking about, to not touch I guess."

Sunspot has posed:
"Stealth missions are not for us in any case," says Roberto. He mentioned the food with a goal too. "Look, why don't you get some clothes on and we go to the kitchen looking for soup or leftovers, and then hunt down Hank to show him this?"

And as an aside. "By the way, I brought you this," he offers the green haired girl as small case. "Belated happy birthday, princess Polaris," he says with a grin. The case has a medallion with a green star sapphire on a gold frame.