cal rankin. (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} doesitbetter) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} mutanthaven,@ 2009-05-04 11:02:00 |
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summary: With tensions rising at SaMoHS, Lorna becomes the target of an angry group who remembers what she did in the earlier fight. Cal, being an idiot, tries to get her out. Which makes his hair turn green. Which makes people freak out. Which makes the crowd get bigger and angrier. Which makes Cal get into a fight and throw a door. Which makes he and Lorna bolt from the school in the middle of the day. But there's angry sex afterwards? And an evil plan hatched by Lorna, sigh. This is why we can't have nice things.
LORNA: Things at school had gotten progressively worse since winter break. There was the incident with Terry earlier in the year and of course much more recently, the scene at the lockers when Noriko's powers had gone on the fritz. Throw in a few news stories about people with powers, some good old-fashioned paranoia and a dash of teenage stupidity and you got the idea. SaMo High had stopped being fun for anyone who had been connected to the 'freaks' and that included Lorna. There was only so long she could stave off the whispers and accusations and it seemed like her time was finally up. She'd been getting the cold shoulder from her friends for a few days now but what she didn't expect was for them to turn on her when she made a harmless comment about someone's outfit. All it had taken was one catty remark and then they were demanding answers, crowding her against the wall. "Ow, Whitney! Get your size eleven feet off mine!" she snapped, pushing the girl's shoulder to force her to take a step back. "God you're all so retarded. I've told you again and again, I'm not one of them." Except for the fact that she was. Looking around for an exit and not seeing one, Lorna settled for glaring instead. If anyone was paying the scene any attention they might have noticed a few of the lockers shaking ominously.
CAL: Cal had been firmly, firmly on the side of not becoming a loud and proud outed mutant at the school. He had no interest in going public with this, he was avoiding most of the ones who were being fingered obviously in public, and he'd already told himself that if something happened, he would stay back. He'd learned his lesson in Jersey. People could fend for themselves. Putting yourself out there will only get you fucked over in the end. Keep looking out for #1 and all the rest. He'd really believed it, too. He had his convictions strong, right there. But he also hadn't seen any real mutant bullying going on. And, as much as Cal was trying to kill it dead, he did still have some kind of a soul and possible bleeding heart in his chest that wouldn't let him just look away. Which was why, when he saw the girls crowding around someone at the lockers -- which were starting to shake. Shit. Lorna. Cal liked her, sure, but if it had been Terry in this position he probably would have done this exact same thing. Something he'd kick himself in the ass for later. He moved without thinking, even as other students were starting to watch, pushing a girl aside and glaring at her some. "Leave her alone." He still had one of the coldest stares ever, and she actually looked surprised and stopped her bitching for a moment then. But then his powers kicked in, copying Lorna before he could even remember that he shouldn't have come near this specific mutant at all when his hair wasn't covered. One of the girls screamed and he looked to her, frowning and confused, before realizing as he felt the powers in him suddenly. Shit. Immediately there was noise in the hall, even someone shouting he's a mutant. "Fuck --" More people were coming. It was almost uncanny how high schoolers were able to do that, appear in mass groups out of nowhere if something interesting was going on. Gotta get out. "Come on, we gotta go." He grabbed Lorna's wrist and pulled her with him, through the girls. Except he ran right into a football player a moment later. Larger than Cal, but with the way Cal was looking at him, that fact apparently wasn't realized by the copier. The guy shoved him. "Where do you think you're going, freak?" And of course, leave it to Cal to not be threatened at all. He didn't cow down for anyone, thanks. And he had this guy's exact strength now. He shoved him back, hard enough to make the other stumble some. "Fuck off." No use denying the freak part, apparently. He moved again, still holding onto Lorna, but faster now, wanting to get out of the hallway before this exploded into something even worse.
LORNA: It was amazing how teachers mysteriously seemed to disappear whenever a student fight or severe bullying was taking place. The cynical would probably argue that they did it on purpose but more likely it was just bad luck on the victim's part. So Lorna willing a faculty member to come along and break things up was in all likelihood completely pointless. Good thing then that Cal happened to be in the area and moreso, that he felt compelled to help. Except the damsel in distress in this scenario wasn't exactly grateful. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lorna hissed at him, trying to pull her wrist out of his grip. Short of kicking him in the knee though Lorna clearly wasn't going to be able to wrench herself free so she had no choice but to be pulled along. Anyone else would have thanked Cal for coming to their rescue but Lorna clearly wasn't going to be uttering those words anytime soon. He'd only gone and made the situation ten times worse and now everyone in school was going to associate her with him. And while Lorna could try and use denial and a lack of visible proof to get by, Cal couldn't now that his hair had turned green in front of everyone. So clearly, they were screwed. To add fuel to the fire the crowd was increasing and with numbers usually came the bystander effect, less people likely to help out and more people likely to act in ways they normally wouldn't. Which explained why someone had the guts to grab Lorna's shoulder from behind as she tried to pass by with Cal, pulling her back into the fray. Obviously it was a bad call on their part because not only was Lorna stressed out, shocked and nervous but now she was angry to boot. Which meant her powers were more likely to get out of control and yep, her wouldbe attacker just happened to be wearing a silver necklace. "Back. Off," Lorna demanded, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the girl and then watched as the delicate chain began to tighten itself around her neck. Oops. It'd probably snap before it managed to strangle her but still, it was doing a good job of scaring the girl so chock one up to the mutants. "Cal we need to-" she started, turning just in time to see some idiot jock punch her friend in the face. Ouch.
CAL: Whatever Lorna, judging by the way those girls were going at you, you were the only person left thinking that you might not be known as a mutant, anymore. And Cal wasn't exactly thrilled, himself. Thanks to Lorna, he was now a known mutant and getting hit for it. He'd lost track of Lorna when the girl grabbed her and the crowd separated them a bit. He hadn't seen the other guy coming after he'd shoved the first, but he definitely felt that solid connection of fist to jaw; it was strong enough that he went down with the force of it. His teeth gritted hard and he looked up at the guy before launching himself at him, slamming the other into the lockers hard and hitting him back. Another of them grabbed him to yank him back -- if they didn't get out soon, this would turn into a flat-out brawl. He reached for the powers to use instinctively. His hand gestured and, following it, one of the doors to a classroom was ripped off its hinges and flew to knock one of the boys into the wall. That, the actual aggressive use of the powers, actually made them circle wider for a moment, giving them a wide berth. They might want to fight, but they didn't want to get things like doors and lockers thrown at them. Someone from the crowd shouted anyway. "You're dead now, freak!" Cal just glared defiance at them, moving back and glancing at Lorna before turning and quickly heading out the front of the school. Better hurry up and go with him before you're the one left with the mob that's already riled up and looking for blood, Lorna.
LORNA: Lorna really didn't know how to react to Cal's use of her powers and more or less stood there gaping like an idiot along with the rest of the student body. Weirdly it gave her a little bit of a thrill to see them used that way, maybe because it made her realise how powerful she really was. Sure, she envied the telepaths for their ability to read minds and manipulate people but Lorna could throw doors and lockers at people. And it kind of rocked. Well, except for the part where you had to deal with the backlash of a mob of angry people. Which was why she wasted no time in running out after Cal, following him to his car. "I can't believe you just did that!" Lorna snapped at him, wrenching open the passenger door without bothering to wait for him to unlock it. She didn't even noticed she'd done it herself, too wired from what had just happened. "Could you drive any slower?" she asked sarcastically, glaring out the window. Goodbye former life. And she was such a shoo in for Prom Queen too.
CAL: It hadn't even occurred to Cal that Lorna may not have used her powers like that before. It would have made sense if he'd thought about (why would she need to use them offensively in that manner?), but for the moment he was completely unaware that he might have done something to gain that reaction from Lorna. He knew even as he was running, despite the adrenaline and thoughts of simply getting away, that this wouldn't end without serious repercussions. He'd destroyed school property, likely injured someone else -- he was done here. He'd be lucky if all they did was kick him out. He forced those thoughts away though. He didn't have time for them, and he refused to let himself be sorry for it. They deserved it. They deserved it. He was in the car in a flash, tearing out of the parking lot. The speed wasn't unwarranted, either -- people were already coming out of the school after them, staring and pointing, and he didn't want to give one of the attackers the chance to jump into the car and give chase. He wanted to tell her that he'd only wanted to help her, that those people were going to hurt her. But the experience was already hardening him, putting him firmly into survival mode. He didn't have time to indulge things like that. "Would you shut the fuck up?" It was snapped at her, but the speed did increase, narrowly making it through a light just turned red. "They knew, Lorna. They knew what you were." He went the only place that he knew to -- his house. He knew that people would be showing up there before long, but he could at least pack a bag and go from there. He pulled up with a screech and got out -- taking the keys with him -- heading inside.
LORNA: Being told to shut up did actually have the desired effect, though only because Lorna was too shocked to think of anything to say. Instead she settled for scowling, the fingers on her left hand tapping nervously against her thigh as she watched the passing scenery out the window. Cal was right after all, they'd known exactly what she was. All the efforts she'd made to distance herself from the hotel occupants, from the real freaks, hadn't worked. In the end everyone had seen her for what she was and now because of some father she didn't even know her life was over. If only she really had been the offspring of a plastic surgeon and professional homemaker, her life would have been so much easier. When Cal hurriedly got out the car Lorna glanced over at the empty driver's seat, contemplating the idea of just driving off in the direction of the Mexico border. She probably didn't need to add car theft to the list of her growing problems though and besides, she was far too hyped up on adrenaline to think straight let alone drive. So she did the only thing she could, Lorna got out the car and followed Cal inside. It didn't take her long to figure out where he was and she stood in the doorway of his room, watching as he threw things into a bag. "So what exactly is your plan?" she asked, folding her arms. "Because clearly you didn't think things through when you decided to throw a door at Jake Epstein."
CAL: A plan? That would be nice, right about now. The truth of the matter though, was that Cal had no idea what he was doing. He was flying on instinct here, had been from the moment he'd seen Lorna in the halls. Gut reactions were not a good thing to base your actions around entirely, either, not when you were as hotheaded as he could be. So far, not thinking had led him to exposing himself, attacking a student, and now...running away? He didn't know what he was going to do, only what he couldn't do -- and right now what he couldn't do was stay here. "Leaving. Gonna go by the hotel, see if Tessa can do anything." He trusted her. He knew her powers and how smart she was, and also how she was one of the few people there who probably wouldn't give him a Look for what had happened, and instead work on fixing it. He was still riled up though, adrenaline making him itchy with the need to do something, to get this out of his system. It made him want to fight, actually. Which was likely a large part of why he tossed the finished bag up near where she was, following it and getting almost too into her personal space. "He deserved it. They all did."
LORNA: "You don't think you might end up leading an angry mob right to the hotel if you do that?" she asked, rolling her eyes at his stupidity. Just go ahead and put everyone in danger, Cal. Good thing for you Lorna isn't about to let you lead the crazies to her front door. Because that would mean a, potential danger and b, everyone finding out she was no longer living with her parents. Turned out appearances still mattered after all, even in the wake of what had happened today. Lorna didn't exactly appreciate having a bag thrown at her, even if it did land at her feet, so she made sure to give it a good kick to the side. Hopefully Cal had something nice and breakable in there. Unlike some people who might have naturally taken a step back when Cal got up in their face, Lorna did the exact opposite and moved forward, trying to force him to back off instead. She tilted her head up, looking him in the eye, and glared. "Well I hope you had fun. Because you've just ruined both of our lives."
CAL: Hey, if Jack Power could manage it, then Cal figured he could as well. Still, she was right. Probably better to find another place to hide and contact them for help. His eyes narrowed some as she got into his space in return, not hugely used to people who wouldn't simply back down when situations got to that level. He could have argued with her, or coming up with a snarky response wouldn't have been an issue -- sarcasm was something that Cal had employed in his daily conversations practically from the time he learned how to talk, after all. But he did something else instead, courtesy of those same impulses that he really should just beat into submission forever. He grabbed her by the back of her head and kissed her, roughly. It definitely wasn't a sweet and tender moment, here. More about their lives both getting crushed, the fight in the hall, the fact that he could still feel all of that power buzzing around in his veins. He presed against her, moving her back until her back was flat against the wall or door or whatever there was. While this might not be a good idea, it was definitely a good way to burn off some of that adrenaline.
LORNA: Well that was completely unexpected. For a moment Lorna stood there, frozen in surprise and then it passed and her brain and hormones seemed to wake up and take notice of what was going on. Needless to say she responded enthusiastically to the kiss, though being shoved back against the door so roughly earned Cal a bit lip. "Bed, now," she managed to get out between kisses, hands tugging at the hem of his shirt in an impatient attempt to get it off....
Not one for pillow talk, in the aftermath of what had been very hot, angry sex Lorna had used the time to think. The situation she was in was completely unacceptable, she'd worked too hard to lost everything at the last second. Her place on the social ladder, her guaranteed nomination for Prom Queen, her acceptance to Harvard, it was all too much and Lorna wasn't ready to say goodbye to any of it yet. Which meant that she had to come up with a solution to her current problem, which was no easy task. Fortunately Lorna was one of those people who embraced a challenge and she also happened to be very, very smart. Not to mention the fact that she had no trouble stepping on the people around her to get what she wanted. Which was why when the idea formed in her head, she wasted no time in getting up and out of Cal's bed. "I have to go," she said over her shoulder, pulling her dress on over her head and glancing around for her shoes. Once those were located the next thing she went for was her phone. "I'll call you or something," Lorna offered with a shrug, just in case Cal happened to be the sensitive type. But whatever his reply was she didn't hear it, too busy being distracted by her phone as her fingers tapped out a text and set her plan in motion.