Lorna Dane loves rocks and math (compassrose) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-10 00:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, lorna dane (polaris), tate langdon |
Who: Lorna Summers and Tate Langdon
Where: Urdnot Ranch
What: talking
When: recently, before the plot
Warnings/Rating: PG-13 for drug and violence refrences.
Status complete
It was fair to say that Lorna was a little intimidated by Tate. They were opposites in a lot of ways. But she didn’t want to let that sort of thing stand in the way of her job. She was here to help people, and Tate needed help. He’d asked for it specifically.
So she went to the library, taking along the shawl she was crocheting for Natasha. She would at least have something to do with her hands. She smiled when she went in and began looking for Tate, her hands moving the hook and thread without looking down much. “Tate?”
"...yeah?" He appeared out of seemingly thin air behind her, his blond hair its usual ruffled mess hanging down into his eyes, and a ratty old thrift store sweater and torn jeans. It made him look a little dated, like someone out of the early 90's, but it was what he felt like wearing and what made him feel the most comfortable.
There was a book held in the crook of one hand, against his chest. Poetry. And his pitch black eyes were a little wary, like he wasn't sure of who he could trust yet, or not. Wrex? He trusted him, because that dude knew what it was like to kill another living being. That guy openly admitted it. This girl? She seemed harmless enough. But he'd been burned by women both in this life and in his dreams, so he was remaining a little guarded...even if he still desperately wanted the help.
After all, hurting people sucked. Which was another reason why he was keeping a respectable distance away from her, and everyone else. It was almost like getting in closer might cause them both some measure of harm, so he didn't dare try to move forward, but he wasn't running away, either.
Lorna felt him before she turned and saw him. His energy was similar to Alma’s. It made her skin crawl. She tried to push that feeling aside. Alma was a sweet girl, despite her nature. Tate didn’t seem sweet, but none of the kids were when they first showed up. She smiled at him. letting her hook hover for a second as she held out her hand to shake. “I’m Lorna. I work here as a teacher and part-time counselor.”
He looked at the hook and then at her hand, before reaching out to take hold. It didn't last long, before he pulled it away.
"That's cool," he said in a slow, low voice, which came across as a little uncertain. "I mean, the teaching, and...whatever the hell you did to make that happen." He pointed at that hook. "You've got freaky powers too, because of this place and those dreams...don't you."
That wasn't even a question, but more like a resigned statement of a well known fact.
She gave him a firm handshake a wider smile. “I manipulate and sense magnetic fields. It’s the only perk of the dreams so far. I imagine you know a thing or two about crappy dreams.” Being dead and all. She went back to crocheting, her eyes on Tate. “I like being a teacher. I didn’t think I would, but it turns out that having a captive audience and the chance to talk about science and math for an hour at a time suits me perfectly well. Have you been out to explore the facilities here?”
"No, not that much. A little bit," he replied, with a shrug. He looked a little more at ease, even if it was only marginally. "I never really got to come out to places like this, not even in my dreams...which were really crappy. I killed and hurt a bunch of people and lost someone I really liked. I started to do that here, too. I don't want to." He was sullen and quiet for a long moment, looking a little lost, before he drew in a deep breath to speak. "That's a pretty bad ass power to have. I bet if you know a lot of math and science, like a teacher would, you can really do some cool stuff with that."
Lorna nodded, and didn’t look very surprised or upset at his admission of the content of his dreams. “You should look around a little. The grounds are very pretty.” She smiled sweetly at him, and laughed at his comment about her powers. “I can. I’m always trying to learn new things, to try new stuff out. Are there any things you can do because of the dreams, other than disappearing and reappearing?”
That was a relief. He was often confused or wondering what the hell he was thinking doing most of the things he had done, in those dreams. He expected people to reject him the minute he admitted to it.
"Sure, there's probably loads of stuff you can do with that." He was quiet for a moment before he said, "I can do some stuff, including hurting living people or making it look like I'm bleeding or hurt, when I'm really not. It's hard to hurt someone who's already dead, unless it's, like, the emotional stuff. I guess I'm pretty strong, but I have to kinda get geared up to do it, or be really angry at the time. Lurking's probably safer right now, unless there's some shitheads you guys don't want in here, trying to bust stuff up. Then it's fair game."
Lorna nodded. “Sounds like you have a lot to overcome if you want to get away from hurting people.” Her voice was calm and understanding, still. “I’m glad you came here for help. I feel like this place is really good for helping people in unique situations like yours as well as the more mundane kids we get. I understand what it’s like to be afraid you’ll hurt people.”
He knew it was going to be a long uphill battle, so he was painfully quiet for a moment, before the worry was plain to see in his eyes. He looked much like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, with nowhere left to run.
"I know, but I want to try. I kind of told myself," he said under his breath, "that if anyone's going to get hurt, it's going to be people that deserve it. You know? Like people who are going to hurt other people who don't deserve it, or can't defend themselves. I can't keep doing that bullshit. I hate knowing I did it to people that were good people, or people that I never bothered getting to know."
“I understand that. I kind of admire that, actually. My dreams make me afraid to hurt anyone at all, even people I know deserve it.” She looked down for a moment, her guilt and fears written plainly across her face. “The world isn’t kind in any universe. I hope that you don’t get a lot of experience with that aspect of life.” She took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts aside. “But for now you have to get used to a more peaceful lifestyle. Have you talked to any of the other kids?”
When she was saying all that, he was frowning a little and staring at her, deeply concerned. Sure, he was wary of girls...they always left or hurt him, somehow or other...but he still felt drawn to the ones who were scared or upset. It made him want to help or fix it, and he had to stop himself before he even asked her what would make it all better.
All too readily, Tate seemed like putting all that aside was a good idea, because he didn't hesitate with an answer to that last question.
"A few. The ones that came in looking for certain books. I asked that Wrex guy if I could help out in the library. It's quiet in here. It helps that, when you're dead, there's a shit ton of books to read and plenty of time to read them all in. I guess I can catch up on a lot of movies I've never watched, too. Oh, and I used to run track in school, so I volunteered to help out with that too. If that's ok."
Lorna didn’t want to talk about that anyway. She latched on to the topic change as quickly at Tate. “Reading is a good passtime. I can bring you some arts and crafts type stuff to work on, if you want something to do with your hands. I teach crochet normally, but I know some other neat stuff.”
"I don't know about that crochet stuff." Tate shook his head a little, followed by a shrug of his shoulders. "I think you've got that handled. I like reading a lot, but maybe some other art things wouldn't be too bad. You mean like painting, right?"
“Sure, I could bring some paints or colored pencils or something. Whatever you want, really.” She chuckled and winked at him. “I can hook you up.”
"Cool. I'd like that." There was a pause before he smiled back at her, with a bit more ease than before. "Thanks, Lorna."
“Anytime.” She replied, her smile wide and genuine. “So who else have you met as far as staff goes? What did you think of Wrex?”
"No one else yet. And I like him. He seems pretty badass and like he doesn't put up with anyone's shit. I was blunt with him and he was blunt right back at me. I think it went ok."
“Wrex is pretty cool. He’s a good boss.” She liked all her coworkers, actually. “You were around during the zombie thing, right? He set up a minefield and had mortars and stuff to keep them out. He takes his job her very seriously.”
"Really? A whole minefield? And mortars? Damn." That was impressive. Tate whistled and then winced a little at the thought of zombie parts exploding all over the place. "Wish I could've been here to see that."
Lorna laughed. It was a very uneasy laugh. “It was a pretty stressful time. I was here pretty much all the time to help keep things in line.”
"You didn't use your powers to, like, throw up some stuff against the doors and windows or anything?" he asked, rubbing at the side of his neck with one hand and scrunching up one eye a little more than the other. "That would've been really kick ass too, you know. I mean, unless using it like that is stressful."
“I kept them out.” Lorna said, looking even more uneasy. She’d failed to kill something horrible, something that would mindlessly kill innocent children. It was already dead and she couldn’t finish it off. “The mines were just for nighttime.”
"...something tells me it wasn't so kick ass," Tate said, softly and slowly, once again unsure. "You look a little uncomfortable talking about it. Sorry. We can talk about other stuff."
“Thank you.” Lorna said with a nod. “You like poetry?” She motioned to the book he was carrying.
He looked down at the book like he remembered it was there, in his hand.
"Oh, yeah. I liked reading a lot of Keats, Dickinson, Blake. Poe's poetry beyond The Raven was really good, like The Conqueror Worm or A Dream Within A Dream. I read one of Dylan Thomas' poems a lot. You know, do not go gentle into that good night. Things like that. Do you read any poetry too?"
“I was more into science and stuff. I really like Ginsberg’s Howl. Actually I liked A Supermarket in California too. I know it’s kind of in to like Walt Whitman now, but I can read his stuff when I’m in the mood.” Which normally meant stoned. “I have a bunch of recordings of people reading poetry. It doesn’t even matter whose, I love to hear people read it.”
"Ginsberg was good too," Tate agreed, "and Howl was a great poem. I liked America with the whole go fuck yourself with your atom bomb. I don't know about it being that in. Whitman's kind of like trying to read Thoreau. You gotta be in the right frame of mind to even get close enough to poke it with a stick. Trying to force yourself to read it makes it really unbearable. Well, unless someone's on some total downers, so they're super relaxed, and probably even more if someone read it to them? Then they can put up with just about anything and probably get into the meanings of it. Some stuff was better figured out, when wasted. Which makes sense, considering how many writers were wasted when they wrote stuff."
Quoted for truth.
Lorna snorted. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the state of mind I’m in when I listen to poetry.” Oh yeah, she was on some relaxants and typically a hallucinogen or two as well. “Sometimes you just have to let the words wash over you and not mean anything.”
Tate smiled and even though he was eighteen, it was little boyish and profoundly mischievous looking, all at the same time. Probably because he’s been on enough stimulants to know what chemical intoxication is. Ohhh yeah.
"You're high as a god damn kite. There's no other way that words would be washing over you, if you weren't. You're the best teacher ever."
Lorna laughed loudly. “I have a legitimate medical condition, It’s super serious.” She said, while restraining her laughter. “Wrex knows, but I try not to tell the students. Buuuut, since you’re not one of my students, I hope I can trust you with this little secret?”
"So you've got a card and you're legit. Awesome." He nodded and kept right on smiling. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. I used to snort shit like crazy, every chance I got."
And then go light people on fire and shoot up schools. Uh huh.
Lorna shook her head. “That kind of drug use I’m not able to support, but since you’re dead, I guess it’s not really something worth lecturing you for.”
"True. Any nose candy doesn't really work as intended anymore. But don't worry. I still won't tell anyone. Secret's safe with me."
Lorna couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you.”
He waved it off, looking much more at ease since secrets had been shared. "No problem."
Lorna was glad he was put at ease. He seemed much less intense than he had on the forum. Maybe being around people was doing him some good. “I hope you like it here at the Ranch. I think it’s my favorite place in Orange County, beside my house.”
Tate tended toward flipping shit while on the internet, and he really wasn't past flipping that shit at people that he thought were trying to swerve out of their way to get a reaction or were being smart asses. The other part of the time, it was general disagreements, when he thought he had a point. One had to live by their convictions...only now he was trying to keep those convictions firmly on the non-ultra-violence side of the spectrum.
"Yeah, I like it already. It's quiet. I know with Orange County being totally batshit crazy, it probably won't stay that way...so hopefully you don’t have that house in Orange County. But I guess I'll just deal with that when it happens. I'll help Wrex and everyone else, so none of you have to worry about zombies trying to eat your brains out."
Lorna laughed, and thought for the thousandth time about her house in New Mexico. It would be safer, he was right about that for sure. “I like my brains intact. It’s a personal preference.” She passed it off as a joke, but it was scary to realize how close she’d come to that very thing. “I guess we are all kind of stuck, in a way. I can’t get a real job anywhere else, not even with my good references and research.” Tate was dead, so he was stuck much harder than Lorna.
"Well, maybe," he said with a smile, one hand held up like he was pleading the fifth there, "but I'm not stuck in a house, until the one day a year I could get out of there. Can't complain. I've got a lot of stuff I can do now, to help out, so being dead isn't so bad." There was a pause before he spoke again. "Don't worry. I don't want to hurt anyone here, and I won't let anyone who's bad hurt you or anyone else here, either. You seem nice and maybe I can finally finish getting my GED or whatever. You know, if I sit through some of your classes."
Lorna nodded. “You’d earn your full diploma here, I’m a for real teacher. Actually we could really use a humanities type teacher for English and history and other random gen eds. Scott’s wife is a former teacher, I wonder if she’d be-” Lorna stopped and laughed. “Sorry. My brain goes off on its own sometimes. I’m just along for the ride.”
"Yeah, I kinda get lost in my thoughts like that too," he said with a laugh. "I don't go blabbing it outloud, but don't worry about it. I think that would be really epic. If I could get that done, then I always wanted to try to go to film school, and become the next Martin Scorsese or Oliver Stone."
“This is place to be for that, for sure.” Lorna said with a giggle. “We’ve got so many actors and actresses and probably all kinds of production people in the network.”
"Sweet. Now I just need to get everything else done and go to school for it, and then I can work with them. Thanks. For telling me all this. It'll give me something else to look forward to."
“We all deserve a future.” Lorna said with a smile. “I’m on the network basically all the time, send me a message if you need anything, okay?”
"Ok, I'll do that," he replied with a nod of his head. "And I'll sign up for some of the classes, since I have a lot of time to do homework. Thanks again, Lorna."
“You’re welcome.” She smiled and let her hook hover again, waving goodbye as she left.