capeandcowllogs | But at least I stopped being crazy

Entry tags:

But at least I stopped being crazy

WHO: Lorna and Madrox
WHERE: Uhhhh near the porter building?
WHEN: This afternoon
WARNINGS: Erm nothing?
SUMMARY: Lorna's been ported in, and the first person she runs into is Jamie. But he's all growed up! Awwwwww~
FORMAT: Para, then whatever!

Lorna hated having her body thrown around places she didn't recognize. Except, this did look like New York, didn't it? Was it the same thing? No matter, she wasn't supposed to be here. She had other things she wanted to do, and she really didn't need to be surrounded by people right now. This almost felt like a sick game, and she was hardly in the mood for it.

But her mind felt clear, and she supposed she could hang onto that simple fact just for now.

She tucked her hair behind her ear, looking all around. She was dressed in a long purple shirt, still from hours previous when the X-men had been performing tests on her. Lorna was away from them, though. Away from them and Alex, just like she needed to be.

She could really use some shoes.

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[ It was nice to feel like he had some sort of purpose again, after spending a week or two of getting his ass continuously handed to him. With X-Factor back on track, and Monet back in the fold, he started doing what he did best-- follow leads. Very noir.

The client came to him the other day-- wanted him to check out a jewel heist at his store, but the place was completely clean. Possible phasing? That made things tricky; there wouldn't be much evidence to go on, but Jamie had worked harder.

He recognized that he'd just started passing the building where he originally came in, and stared as he continued walking past, hand in his pockets, when he caught a flash of green hair, and he literally knew only one person with hair like that. ]

Oh my God.

Lorna?

[She whips around, his voice triggering her out of her train of thought. She squints and steps closer.]

Jamie...?

[My, he really grew up, didn't he?]

What are you doing here?!

[ He smiles and hugs her like immediately, then pulls back. ]

You know as much as I do. [ He gestures with a glance to the building she just walked out of. ]

How are you? [ He sounds genuinely happy, for maybe like the first time in a while. ]

[She's hesitant to the touch, but she does hug him back. It is Jamie afterall.]

I'm better than I have been in a long time, actually.

[She manages a small smile.]

How are you? What is this place?

[ He takes a step back to give her a little space following the hug, and something towards the ground catches his eyes. ] You're not wearing shoes.

Ah-- [ His attention returns back to her questions. ] Nobody really knows. It's an analogue of New York, but it pulls us from... different times. [ He pieces together his answer, obviously unsure of how to answer the question, really. ]

Hold on to that stuff the Iron Giant in there gave you, though. You'll at least get an apartment out of it... [ He waves himself off. ]

We can talk about that later, huh? Let's get you some shoes? Maybe something to eat?

I've been through a lot, Jamie. This is actually the most put together I've been in a long time.

[She smiles again, shrugging a little. At least they're provided with housing! However, if Jamie is here, she has to wonder who else is. X-men? Alex? Bobby? She assumes it's possible.]

But I'd like that. Shoes and food would be a great way to start off my new life in this place.

Edited 2010-03-09 00:22 (UTC)

[ Well, that seemed to be something he and the rest of the old X-Factor alumni seemed to have in common. ]

Yeah, I... know what you mean. [ Though he didn't seem to elaborate any more on that. Not only had he been through rough times himself, he had heard bits and pieces about her. How didn't you hear about Horsemen of the Apocalypse? He didn't want to ask, though, mostly because, in a similar position, he didn't want to share much either.

After a brief aside getting her some shoes (he created some dupes along with their money, cheating, sure, whatever), he ended up taking her to a small café nearby. It wasn't anything special, but a small mom and pop diner with friendly faces-- it seemed more like a place Marlowe would have picked. ]

[She's glad with the place he picked, and eagerly sits down at a table with him. Out of all the people to run into, she's glad it's Jamie. There are so many people she doesn't want to see or talk to right now, so she's glad to keep avoiding them.]

How long have you been here, anyways? You seem almost...settled.

[ He laughed. ] Do I? [ He said behind his cup of coffee. That seemed a little funny to him. A lot of the time he barely felt settled in back home ]

It's close enough to New York, I guess, with tiny differences. Mostly people... and... strange things happen every now and then.

[ He paused and took another sip. ] But I've only been here for a couple weeks now. I'm really only glad to see a lot of familiar faces. [ He regarded her with a smile. ]

Oh! [ He remembered, gesturing with his palm outward. ] I'm actually putting X-Factor back together, not... our X-Factor, but... I've been trying to keep things going with a... spiritual successor, I guess.

X-factor? How many people from our world are here?! It can't just be you and me.

[Please don't tell me Alex is here. Or Gambit. Or Sunfire. Or Apocalypse. Or Bobby. The list goes on!]

Just please tell me you're without feral members on your team.

There are a lot, though some of them come from different points in time than others. Al-- [ He coughed and glanced off to the side, sipping his drink. Alex and she had always had kind of a tumultuous relationship, and he still wasn't sure just when she'd come from, so... ]

And Rahne? She's not here. [ He said flatly. ] There was a bit of a falling out.

[She catches the start of the name, as it's hard to ignore.]

Is Alex here?

Yeah.

I haven't talked to him yet, but... yeah, along with most of the X-Men, and Generation-X.

[Oh. Of course. It's just her luck he's here when she wants to be as far away from him as possible. She doesn't want to see him, or the other X-men. Not yet.]

Can you...if you manage to talk to them, just not mention I'm here?

[ He wasn't sure how comfortable he felt with that, but he raised his hand, three fingers up, pinky and thumb touching. He offered a weak smile. ]

Scout's honor.

Though we all kind of stay in the MAC-- the heroes, I mean. It houses most of the apartments. I dunno where Alex is staying, but...

If you need a place to stay until you figure things out.. [ He offered, leaving the gesture open. ]

If Alex is here, I'm sure he's with the X-men. It's where he's been drawn to, usually. At least lately.

[She wonders if there's a little nurse running around, but she doesn't voice the question. Like what happened between the three of them needs to be brought up.]

The MAC sounds fine. Kind of strange, though. Being pulled into a world where you have to be a "hero" is almost like some weird Arcade thing. I'm actually not even surprised this is happening.

I guess weirder things have happened...

I mean, not much, but... [ He took a sip. ]

We're not the only ones. Heroes, I mean. There are plenty of others around looking to give us trouble. [ He shrugged, and then met her eyes. ]

I... whatever you wanna do here, Lorna, I'll stick by your decision, but if you want in...

Well, I could always use more friends.

[Lorna offers him a warm smile at that.]

I don't know if I should get on the hero stuff right yet. My powers aren't what they used to be, and I have no idea how dangerous I am right now. I need to be careful with what I do here.

[She shrugs a little. Lorna doesn't want to hurt anyone, and she really doesn't want to kill either. Will people make her do that? If she's pushed enough, yes. She's already quite fearful for that part of it too.]

You've got me as a friend. That's for sure.

[Jamie wasn't there when all of that stuff went down. Though she's scared of her powers, she wants to put a little faith in at least one person. Who better than Jamie Madrox?]

[ He nodded quickly. ] Good.

And I know what you mean-- about the powers thing.

If you want, you can just... work a normal job here, I guess. Do the nine to five thing. And nobody will glance twice. I guess that's kind of nice.

[ Jamie was a reliable guy, really. You just had to be sure you were getting Jamie. That was sometimes difficult to determine. ]

A normal job? That's actually possible for people like us?

[Well, it is. Just for a short amount of time, though, because trouble always manages to find anyone who has an X-gene. Or in her case, used to have an X-gene.]

[ His brow raised and he huffed a short, amused, skeptical laugh. ] I guess. I've had enough dupes around who've been busboys to know I could do it.

I just don't know if I really want to. [ Oh boy, there was way more to that statement than met the eye, but again, he felt no urge to elaborate on his own uselessness. ]

I've wanted to in the past. Back when things were a lot more simple for me, and for Alex.

[She turns her head at the mention of his name.]

But things change. I don't think I could do it this time around.

You never know. [ He sat back and shrugged. ]

Things don't change too much. [ He smiled and gestured to the, he supposed, iconic symbol on his shirt, and then with a nod, to her still green hair. ]

[She laughs a little at that, nodding.]

Even M-Day didn't take it away from me. Weird, huh?

Defying even reality and time. [ He nodded back. ]

Do you know what happened to me, Jamie?

That depends on when you're from. [ He glanced away. ]

I know you've been through a lot, Lorna, though I haven't heard much from or about you and Alex for a little while now, to be honest.

[ He stared back up now. ] Do you wanna talk about it?

I think so. Just a little.

[She frowns. Of course, she spits out more than she intended. This is Jamie, afterall. Not Doc Samson. He's not going to tell her how she feels or combat her with statement after statement of what he thinks of her. He's her friend, right? He'll listen]

It all started on Genosha. I saw 16 million people die right in front of me and it made me lose my mind. Alex wasn't much help to me, and little Lorna was about as stable as any psych ward patient.

[She sighs, a shake to her voice.]

Then I lost my powers on M-day, and Apocalypse kidnapped me shortly after. He did something to me and I can't trust myself because of it. Nothing in me feels natural right now.

Edited 2010-03-09 05:19 (UTC)

[ And all at once he felt bad. Of course because of what she went through, but because he's always been terrified of being alone, and he pushed Rahne away when she wanted to leave, but he did the same thing to Alex and Lorna, didn't he?

Maybe he thought, hey, at least they always had each other, but that wasn't entirely true, was it? He knew that, and it was still no excuse. He cursed himself for not knowing more, because the only reason he didn't know more was because he wasn't there when she needed help.

All of that stuff about not being able to trust herself hit home, too. She was really preaching to the choir on that one. It was getting worse for him, so at least in that respect, he could relate.

He wasn't sure what to say, but he moved from his seat and went to hug her. ]

I only heard a little, but I didn't know. I'm sorry.

[She hugs him back, though still a little worried by the touch. The last thing she wants to do is hurt Jamie, and she knows with these powers it's very possible. Even when she was a mutant she was able to reverse blood flow. How much could she control these powers now? Lorna has absolutely no idea.]

Thanks, Jamie. I've really missed you, you know.

I missed you too, Lorna. [ He gave her a squeeze and pulled back. ]

I think we've all been through a lot, and I don't necessarily think we should let our guards down after getting pulled here. But let's stick together-- like old times. [ He smiled. ]

You're right.

[She smiles when they pull back, and then nods. Sticking together with Jamie didn't seem like a bad idea, after all. He was always going to be that sweet kid to her, no matter what. It's something to be appreciative of, she supposes.]

So what's going on with you? You mentioned something about Rahne. How is she?

[ He shook his head and sat back down, reminiscing bitterly for a second with his eyes closed. ] Dunno.

She left, and I... had some words. I haven't really heard from her since then.

I haven't been... around the group for a few months before getting pulled here, but Guido was around, too.

[ Obviously the past few months weren't good for him, but Lorna wouldn't know that. He wondered what she would think if she knew everything? Even without the dupes causing him trouble, he realized, he wasn't entire trustworthy. He always was, and he thought, always would be, afraid of losing the people around him. ]

[Oh, the poor kid. Lorna had found herself rather attached to her after all that mess with the Genoshan bond. Though it had been really creepy, Lorna had sympathized. She hoped Rahne was okay, and Guido too. She hadn't seen that blork in ages.]

How's Guido? Is he still appearing in hallways all naked from Lila Cheney pop ups?

[She'd be asking Jamie what he meant by being away from the group in a few months. Small things first. Other people were always less difficult to discuss than yourself.]

Edited 2010-03-11 03:39 (UTC)

Guido's Guido. [ He shrugged with a tiny laugh. ]

And to my recollection, and it would be hard to forget, I think, Guido has been completely clothed. Personally, I'd like to keep it that way.

[ He paused for a moment. ] Anyway, the only other one here from my group is M. Monet St. Croix. I'm not sure if the two of you had ever met.

[ He picked up his drink and thought, yeah, it'd be great for them to meet, that way they could talk about Alex and him and then all the women in his life would hate him. ]

I don't think I've met her. I've heard of her, though. One of the Generation X people, right?

[She touches her hair again, shrugging a little.]

But how are you, Jamie?

I'm alright. [ That was particularly evasive. ]

Though you wouldn't be the only one at the table with screwy powers. [ He casually raised his hand and avoided staring at her. ]

[Her expression softens and she watches him for a second before speaking again.]

Is that so?

[Are his dupes acting up again?]

Edited 2010-03-12 21:45 (UTC)

[ Jamie sighs, and after a moment slowly starts to tell her how badly his powers have gotten since X-Factor and Muir. He explains, briefly, his crisis of conscience, the memory overlapping, and the borderline personality disorder. He talks about how making decisions has become almost impossible for him to do, and how it's only getting harder.

He very briefly mentions his parents, how he found out they really died, and talks briefly about Damian and being a Changeling.

He tries to be very concise. He doesn't want to mince words, or make things sound like a long-winded sob story.

He doesn't say anything about Monet, about Theresa, about Layla, or about baby Sean. ]

[Lorna says nothing and just listens to everything he says. She takes in the words, thinking back to Jamie being the teenager with the dopey bangs all those years ago. He's changed, that much is obvious, and she can see why that is. She can't help but remember the Jamie she hugged, the one in the dark room with the sullen eyes. He's almost a shadow of that as he talks right now.]

We've all been through a lot, haven't we?

[She moves to hug him again.]

I know I might not the best person for this anymore, but I'll be here if you need a friend. It's not much, I know, but it's all I can offer.

[ He hugged her back. ] Yeah, we have.

Thanks... Lorna.

[ God, he wondered if she would have still hugged him if she knew about everything. Mostly about the baby, and about attempting suicide. He felt like a kid again, but older now, he was supposed to be better than that now. Sometimes, he felt like he was just taking steps backward. ]

The same goes for you, too.

[She pulls back and manages a small smile at him. Oh, Jamie. He's always going to be a kid to her, no matter how much he's grown up.]

Well, we're set aren't we? All we need to do now is get control over our screwy powers.

Somehow, [ He looked out the window. ] I think that's going to be easier said than done.

[ He crosses his arms and looks back over to her. ] But, yeah. [ He smiles. ] We're set.

Like most things. We'll be fine.

[She looks back, still smiling at him. Though things are kind of odd right now, Lorna thinks they'll be alright for the time being. Well. Until she runs into Alex, that is.]

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But at least I stopped being crazy

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