mutant haven. (havenpeople) wrote in mutanthaven, @ 2010-01-22 10:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | erik lensherr, lorna dane, pietro maximoff, wanda maximoff |
log: erik lensherr, lorna dane and wanda and pietro maximoff
SUMMARY: Lorna, Wanda and Pietro finally meet their father - and it's not the happy family reunion anyone expected.
WANDA: This wasn't their first attempt to track down the elusive Erik Lensherr. All throughout last year, Lorna and the Maximoff twins had been frequent visitors of the UCLA campus; as easy as it had seemed at first to track down their biological father, he had proved to be nowhere near as accessible as they'd first thought. The department secretary had been giving reasonable excuses for his absences, but his stubborn children had done everything in their power to make sure that he wasn't lurking around somewhere anyway. Maybe someone had given him a heads up that his children were looking for him, they figured. Seemed only fair to assume that he was ducking responsibility, as he'd undoubtedly done in the past. But despite their hard work, no Erik Lensherr was to be found so far, and their luck hadn't changed for the better yet. Wanda wished sometimes that she could do something about that, but it wasn't in her ability. All she could do was make him wish he'd been there to meet them the first time they showed up. To be perfectly honest, Wanda's heart wasn't really in it. She accompanied her half-sister and twin dutifully whenever they went to the campus, but she couldn't keep up with Pietro when he zoomed off to search, and she couldn't compete with Lorna's demanding attitude. Part of her wasn't even really sure why they were there. They all wanted answers, sure, but she kept thinking about the future. About the big picture. How would Erik change their lives? Learning that they had a relative had already disturbed the perfect balance that the twins kept between themselves, and Lorna was someone who they already knew and who had a whole life of her own that didn't include siblings. What if their father wanted to be part of their lives now? What if he had a story to tell that would upend their entire childhood? What if he was charming and intelligent, a perfect role model now that his youth was past, and could fit into their little mismatched family like a missing piece of the puzzle? She almost wished that he was a disappointment; at least, they could leave with their world views intact, no better off than they were when they arrived. As they walked into the history faculty wing for what felt like the hundredth time, Wanda felt a not entirely strange sense of foreboding settling on her scantily-clad shoulders, and she reached out to slide her fingers down Pietro's arm, into his hand. At least they were all in this together.
LORNA Like Wanda, Lorna was nervous about the possible outcomes of meeting her birth father but unlike her sister she was determined to find and confront Erik Lensherr. In a lot of ways she was probably the driving force behind the reunion, desperate to get answers about what her powers meant, to see if they were inherited from him, to identify any familial similarities. And then of course there was the matter of being ostracised by her own adoptive family and the parental void it had left which, despite her new relationship with the twins, had yet to be filled. She couldn't possibly compete with their bond after all, she'd known that from the start. Maybe if they'd all grown up together then there might have been more of an attachment but the truth was, they were still virtual strangers even after all these months. At least in comparison to how well Wanda and Pietro knew each other. At best she felt like they were her country bumpkin cousins, over whom she had some sort of responsibility to keep them out of trouble and defend them from the many jealous idiots at the hotel. Of course Lorna wasn't naive enough to actually believe that Erik would match the picture she'd constructed in her head of the handsome, rich and loving man who would bond with her immediately and beg her forgiveness for his past transgressions. It didn't mean she didn't want to believe it though, so for her all her anger at this strange man for giving her an unwelcome inheritance, Lorna still wanted him to be her father. It was these conflicting feelings that had left her a bundle of nerves but in times of stress Lorna usually looked to needling others in order to relieve it. In this particular situation, criticising Wanda was going to be her outlet and she frowned at the younger girl's ensemble. "You know, you could have worn something a little more appropriate. In case he is here this time. You're not exactly setting the best first impression." If it wasn't for the fact that it would have ruined her own look, she might have taken off her sweater and given it to her sister to try to cover her up a little.
PIETRO: Pietro just wanted to get this over with. He'd wanted to meet this Erik Lensherr ever since they had finally found out his name. Truthfully, he'd wanted to meet him since before that, really; ever since he was a kid and had first discovered that his father wasn't his biological father, he'd wanted to know who actually had helped in creating him. Years and years of lacking so much as a name followed by months and months of said name not being where he was supposed to be had a way of wearing on a person, though. Especially when said person had a mutated sense of speed and time. Pietro's attention span was limited at the best of times, and even a topic as intriguing as this one could only remain on high alert for him for so long. He wanted this over and done with, whatever might come of it. He wanted to meet him, and if he turned out to be a waste of time, then Pietro wanted to be able to wipe his hands of the matter. What he didn't want was to live with some kind of weird and permanent paternal question mark over his head. It wasn't like he had terribly high hopes about this, after all. Whoever this man was, he was an Outsider. He'd gotten Pietro's mother pregnant, and had since been gone from Pietro and Wanda's lives. And now he was some professor at a college. Not even an exciting career. But, if nothing else, he had helped to make Pietro, Wanda, and Lorna -- it at least made the man's own mutation a topic of interest. Clearly he had one, given the fact that he was the common denominator between the three siblings. In short, Pietro wanted to know who Erik Lensherr was. And if he was someone worthless, then Pietro was convinced that he would be able to Not Care about it. Whether or not that was actually true remained to be seen. A brief eyeroll was given to the comments from Lorna, and he tugged on Wanda's hand. "Pretty sure there's no way to top his first impression." You know, of abandonment. He walked into the main office for the department, opting this time to ignore the secretary and head straight for Lensherr's door instead. Open up, Dad.
ERIK: Erik Lensherr was aware his children had come looking for him. He'd been told of the attempts to contact him throughout the year, but he'd made no effort to return the favour. He knew where they were living - Charles kept him up to date about the going ons within the hotel, for the most part, and he had his own way of finding information as well. He hadn't had time for children in the past, his work more important to him than starting a family or raising children. He didn't have much of an interest in them now either, but here they were, barging through his unlocked door like they had some sort of right to be there. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't, but apparently it was finally time for him to face the fruits of a misspent youth. He hit save on the document he was working on, switching off the computer monitor as he swung around to look at them all. "I suppose you should all take a seat." He waved over to where he had a couple of couches set up around a coffee table, pushing himself up out of the chair to move over there as well. It was a large office, for a college professor's office, two walls lined with bookshelves, one hung with photos from Israel and important news headlines, with the final wall taken up by windows.
WANDA: Wow. Her unsettling sense of concern hadn't been wrong. Erik Lensherr was actually there? Well, at least someone was there, sitting in the seat behind Erik Lensherr's desk, and she couldn't imagine who else it would be. Wanda's grip on her brother's hand tightened as she looked him over, uncomfortably. He was kind of handsome for an older man, with grey hair but a strangely younger face that didn't at all match up with what she'd had in mind. He seemed...stately, maybe. Not so much like a father. More like a senator. She hadn't felt inappropriately dressed in her usual club-ready ensemble even after Lorna's sarcastic comment, but his steady gaze did the trick like none of her half-sister's words could accomplish. For someone who owed them a lot of apologies and a decent explanation, if he couldn't give back the years of parenting that he really owed them, he did a pretty good job of making Wanda feel like she was the one who owed him for...for something. For not being what he'd hoped for, maybe, or maybe just for storming into the office with whatever sense of entitlement they came bearing. Weirder still, he didn't seem all that shocked or taken off-guard by their unexpected presence. Did he know who they were already? Or was he just a cooler customer than they'd expected? Either way, the element of surprise should've given them an advantage, but it didn't seem like it had. She brushed nervously at her hair with one gloved hand, glancing at Pietro's face and then Lorna's for any sign of their reactions, and at last took a deep breath to steady herself as she settled down on one of the couches with her boots neatly crossed. If Wanda had any questions, she kept them locked quietly away for now, appropriately silent for once. Pietro was the leader of the two and until she knew how to support what he wanted, she wasn't going to speak out of turn.
LORNA Lorna hadn't really expected Erik to match up to what she'd had in mind but she was disappointed when she didn't instantly recognise any of her own features on his face. He didn't have her green eyes or the mole she had on her cheek, and grey definitely didn't seem like a typical cover up for green hair. So she was somewhat deflated for a moment, it looked like her dreams were already beginning to get crushed and they'd only been in his office for thirty seconds. Not that any of this was showing on her face of course. Lorna was managing to maintain her expression of stoicism despite what she was feeling and her mouth was set in a thin, disapproving line as she looked at him. "Oh, you suppose," she replied sarcastically, falling back on her usual defense mechanism as she took a seat on the couch and primly crossed her legs. Wanda's sudden silence had caught her a little off-guard, since she'd never known the other girl not to voice an opinion on something. Obviously she was opting to sit back and quietly take things in which was fine, Lorna didn't mind going on the offensive. In a strange way it actually felt right that she should take the lead as the eldest, even if there was only a one year age gap between her and the twins. "So how are things in the Middle East? Still a lost cause?" she asked innocently, the conversational tone belying her obvious disapproval at the disappearing act Erik had pulled all summer. "It's nice that you can afford to go on such long vacations. That you don't have a wife or children tying you down, depending on your financial support." She smiled at him then, the stapler on his desk vibrating ever so slightly for a couple of seconds, it being the only outward indication of her anger. "Seriously, you're very lucky."
PIETRO: Seeing someone in person whom you'd tried to picture for so long was always strange. Pietro had seen Lensherr's face from the faculty website, but still. He refused to be cowed or shocked by it though. Especially since Lensherr himself seemed completely unsurprised. He opted to not take a seat, moving over to the couch (at a normal speed, actually), standing by the side that Wanda was sitting on, a hip resting lightly against the edge. His arms crossed over his chest loosely as his pale eyes studied Erik. Maybe he'd taken after his mother, then? His father seemed to look much more like Lorna and Wanda. While he was thinking about that, Lorna seemed to have no issue with taking control of the situation; her words made Pietro smirk slightly as he watched the man, his eyes flicking over to the vibrating stapler for a moment. This was disappointing. There was really no way that Erik could live up to the build-up that had come with thinking about him, but still. This? Was underwhelming.
ERIK: "Don't speak about my life as if you know anything about it, Miss Dane." The rattling stapler came to an abrupt stop, with Erik ignoring the twins as he coolly stared back at Lorna. He wasn't about to sit here and let a child take control of this conversation, even one as collected as Lorna. "I don't recall you ever wanting for anything through your life, have you? Though I'm sure your current lack of designer shoes is particularly heartbreaking." He'd made sure he was aware of the situations his children had been in, though he had lost track of Wanda and Pietro for quite a few years. Damn gypsies. He glanced over to the twins now, surprised by their silence. "Are there any other accusations you'd like to throw at me, while we're here? I find them particularly tiring myself, but I suppose you have the right to vent them." Let's not leave anything to fester, boys and girls.
WANDA: Wanda had noticed the angry stapler too, which is why she most definitely didn't miss it when the metal object suddenly stopped moving. That was strange -- was that Lorna who had stopped it? She was frowning sightly at her half-sister when Erik turned his attention on them, and for a moment she almost felt the urge to apologize for being distracted. Dammit. Normally Wanda was the very essence of anti-authoritarian sass, but it was a very different matter when the authority in question was her supposed father. Family was different. Even when he'd never really been their father, protecting them and taking care of them and providing for them, certainly not the way that Pietro had done all of those things for her over the years. As far as Wanda was concerned, her family was small, but it was complete. She didn't want anything from Erik. In fact, she'd rather not be here. But maybe they could take the opportunity to ask a thing or two, at least. Shaking her head, Wanda reached up to lean her hand lightly against Pietro's leg -- probably wanting to take his grip again -- and spoke at last. "So what, are you like us? Do you have powers, is that why all three of us ended up like this?" You know. Lives completely upended thanks to their 'special' qualities.
LORNA Well Erik had definitely gone down in Lorna's estimation. She didn't appreciate being told off by her actual parents, nevermind him. Though it was probably to Erik's credit that she didn't say anything in return or stomp out but simply folded her arms and scowled at a spot on the wall. So okay, maybe she had been adopted by people living above the average income line and maybe she was better off for it than she would've been if Erik had stepped up. But regardless of that, Lorna still felt like she was perfectly entitled to be angry at him. Not that she was voicing any of this out loud, instead she was listening with interest for his answer to Wanda's questions because she was almost positive that someone else had stopped that stapler.
PIETRO: It wasn't really like Pietro to be the quiet twin. Or silent sibling in general. None of them really were, Erik had apparently produced a group of very opinionated offspring. But for whatever reason, in this office, he was remaining silent. Accusations and grievances? He supposed he had them, but it was hard to pinpoint them now that he was staring at this person. And his sisters seemed to be covering all the bases with their questions anyway. Except then he found himself speaking, almost cutting over the end of Wanda's question. "How the hell are they tiring? It's not like we've ever thrown anything at you before. We haven't even seen you before, so how the hell do you get to act like this is all so boring to you? We don't need you in our lives." Well, he and Wanda, at least, but apparently Lorna was being dragged along by association. "We've been fine on our own. But yeah, now that we finally tracked you down, the least you can do is not be a complete ass for the fifteen minutes it'll take us to find out what we want to know and get back to our unimportant teenage lives." At least his kids all had backbones too, in addition to making themselves heard.
ERIK: "I find them tiring because they're a waste of time," Erik replied to Pietro with a snap. He was, honestly, far more interested in answering Wanda's question, given that it was the only thing of interest any of them had said. "You can sit there and whine all you like about what I haven't done or provided if you like, but if that is honestly all you want to know about, then you are wasting your time. No, I was not part of your lives. Yes, it was, more or less, by choice." He stopped, rather abruptly changing topics since he honestly didn't want to get into any of that with his children. He looked over at Wanda, a smile cracking his face for the first time since the three of them entered the room. "Yes, I have powers." Every metal item in the room - including the seats they were sitting on - lifted two inches in the air, hovering there for a few moments before gently returning back to their original positions. "And presumably, yes, that is why you all have powers. From what I've been able to learn, it seems mutants do pass along the gene along to their children."
WANDA: Thrown off-guard by that smile in her direction, Wanda practically jumped when the metal objects and her chair rose from the floor. Her black gloved fingers crackled momentarily with scarlet light, and it was only by grace of her curling her hand into a tight fist that she saved them all from an unexpected hexing, which could very well have set something on fire. It would definitely make the meeting a little more interesting, but getting drenched by sprinklers wasn't exactly how Wanda wanted to end the conversation. Her cheeks flushed as she tucked her hands tightly into her lap. Out of the three half-siblings, Wanda's power control was arguably the worst, and she was embarrassed to have come so close to showing that in front of Erik. It might undo the momentary good impression he seemed to have of her. "I don't understand," she said after a moment, and swallowed hard. God she was nervous. "Why did you just leave us alone if you knew we'd have powers? I mean...you can control your powers, right? We didn't know what we even were. Or why us."
LORNA So it turned out Lorna did get something from her father after all. And it was going to take a while for her to digest that, particularly since he was clearly miles ahead of her in the power control range and the possibilities that opened up to her were endless. Lorna might not love being a freak but if she was going to be one then she wanted to be the best. And that meant being able to float an entire office of metal objects just like Erik. She glanced at Wanda, reaching out a hand as if to pat the other girl on the arm before she realised what she was doing and drew it back quickly. "And what about now? Are you going to help us or just walk away again?" she asked Erik.
PIETRO: Huh. Powers like Lorna's. That made sense, he guessed, that a kid would get the powers their parent did. But then where did he and Wanda's come from? How did someone get superspeed from magnetism, or strange witch stuff from movie metals? He continued to just listen until Lorna tagged her question on, which made him roll his eyes. "We don't need his help." Pietro didn't even know what help Lensherr might be able to offer, but he knew that it wasn't necessary. Not for him and Wanda, at least. Lorna might be used to being pampered and not be able to get by on her own, but the twins had been self-sufficient for quite some time.
ERIK: "I didn't know you would have powers," Erik began, settling into his best teaching voice. "There was so little knowledge about there about people like us, there was no way to know that it would be passed on. We had no idea what gave us our powers, and we had to work hard to learn how to control and use them. Your mothers did not have powers, and we'd yet to see a second generation when you were all born. By the time I was aware you had powers, it was many years later. Too late, even." Erik glanced over to Lorna, then Pietro. "If you believe you truly need my help, I will do what I can. But I am a busy man, and I'm afraid my schedule will not permit me the time to do justice to your needs."
LORNA "Well, we certainly wouldn't want to take time away from your students," Lorna replied pointedly, getting to her feet. She wasn't about to reduce herself to begging this man for help or attention, not if he didn't want to give it freely. They'd just have to figure things out themselves, like Pietro had asserted. After a moment Lorna crossed the room to Erik's desk and scrawled her cellphone number on a post-it note, sticking it to one of his books. "In case you have an attack of conscience," she explained before heading to the door. She didn't bother to look and see if the twins were following her out, Lorna simply wanted out of that room before her resolve broke. She'd already embarrassed herself enough today by forcing a meeting on Erik.
WANDA: Wanda still wasn't sure what she wanted from their father, or what they'd achieved from the meeting. They knew what he looked like now, they knew what his powers were, they'd heard his excuses and explanations and gotten a pretty good feeling for how ambivalent he felt towards his children, and yet -- what were they really taking away from the room? A misguided desire to still have a father despite his unwillingness? Or were they really on their own again, as they'd always half-known? Wanda pursed her lips, frowning in slight confusion at Wanda's retreating back, and finally reached up to touch Pietro's side. A gesture of solidarity, meant to comfort herself as much as soothe her twin brother. "We've made it this far on our own," she said after a moment, glancing up at Pietro to affirm it. "We'll survive." Which, naturally, was true. They didn't need Erik. Maybe part of Wanda needed him to want them, but she didn't say as much, and when she rose to her feet, it was with a little more pride than she'd shown throughout the meeting so far. "Well." It was nice to meet you might have been the appropriate way to end the conversation, but Wanda wasn't sure she felt that way, so she simply moved around the side of the couch and took Pietro's hand. They'd be leaving now.
PIETRO: Just when things were starting to get interesting, too. Still, regardless of how much of a dick Pietro could be (especially to his older sister), he was all about solidarity in the face of some kind of Other. So if they were deciding to go, he would too. He squeezed Wanda's hand some but let go of it, to let her start out on her own before flashing a grin that seemed as much a baring of teeth as anything else, to Erik. "See you around." Between one second and the next, he seemed to blur and was gone. Later, Erik would notice that one of his small metal statues had gone missing. Pietro liked souvenirs, what could he say?