Soft Meme for Magneto

[Lorna Dane]

Soft Meme For Erik Lehnsherr

[ fidget ] for your muse to comfort mine during a bad dream. - Challenge: Make it cannon verse!

[Erik Lehnsherr]

Tag: Lorna Dane
Note: Better layout coming soon!

Peace

WAS NEVER AN OPTION

Genosha was developing nicely. More and more mutants were hearing about this nation and joining them, whether it be as civilians or Brotherhood members. More homes were being built, more crops harvested . . . more mutants to build what would be a great nation. Magneto had returned from business in the city. While the deal was that he remain here, he still travelled back and forth, mainly to bring in more mutants and to try to save and protect the ones he could. But in addition to all this, there was something else. Something more. Lorna. Or, Polaris as she preferred.

It had only been a week or so since he'd found out she was his daughter in a rather . . . public display. Truth was, since losing Nina, he didn't know what it was to be a father. He hadn't been there when Lorna was born, nor raised her and it made him feel . . . regretful. Family was so incredibly important so to know he'd been deprived of that relationship his whole life, left him confused on how to define it now. Was he to overcompensate? Was he to pretend as if the previous years meant nothing? At least Lorna seemed to be embracing it, though he couldn't help but wonder if that was a front; a way to conceal her true, deeper emotions over the subjects.

Despite the late hour, Magneto made his way to Lorna's home, having brought her favourite snack from the city: cheese-its. His plan was to set the boxes of them on the table -- assuming she was asleep as he didn't see her on watch duty -- and then leave. But when he entered her home, he heard sounds of, almost distress coming from her. Concern peaked within him as he quietly made his way to her room. She was sleeping but . . . clearly not well. A nightmare, no doubt. He had two options: to leave, or to comfort.

It wasn't a decision that required much thought for Erik acted on pure instinct alone. Having been a father, it easily tapped into his paternal instincts as he made his way to the bed. He slowly sat at the edge of it, watching her. The sight of her distress and discomfort tugged at his heart in a way that . . . he supposed it would a father seeing their child in the slightest bit of pain. Risking waking her, but needing to comfort her, he reached out, gently putting his hand on her forehead and gently caressing it.

"Sshh, it's okay, you're safe," he said in a low voice. It didn't seem to do much. She still stirred. Still suffered from whatever images plagued her. Erik just watched her for a few more moments, knowing he had to try something else. Something, instinctual, yet something he had not done since that awful day. In a quiet voice, he began to sing a Polish lullaby, traditional to his land and one of his favourites that his father had sung to him. Lorna was not a child, nor may this help . . . but what he did know, was that she had been deprived of a father's love for her entire life and he did not want the rest of it to be filled with that absence.

[Lorna Dane]

"MOVE IT AGAIN!" Lorna's powers had come a bit younger then what most did. She'd been too long to know it might be better to hide them. Her mother had been the type to give her food and clothes, but not a lot of attention, and Lorna had often used misbehavior as a way of getting her mother's attention. As a child she wanted it, no matter what it looked like. What she didn't want, was his attention. Her father's--though to be fair, he wasn't her father by blood. Getting his attention often meant she would be sore the next day. If he saw her using her powers there was a swift lesson in not. He believed he could beat it out of her. Or the will to use them. "DO IT!" While the worlds might sound like he wanted her too, the tone said 'if you do your dead'. And Lorna had learned early on, she didn't want to do it. She wished her powers let her disappear. Later ass he got older, she wished they were strong enough to kill him.

With each time he dared her to defy him and move something, his fist followed his words. She tried to hide, but he'd pull her out of whatever bed or table she hide under and only yell louder. At seven, she knew it was better to face it and take it, then hide. The only good thing that had come from these, is her powers were never used by accident. When surprised or panicked they would almost habitually stop working. Her step=father had beaten that control in her.

He grabbed her, yelling at her to move something again! She didn't look at him which only made him more angry. In the dream though, Lorna was an adult, but she still couldn't fight back. She couldn't get her powers to work to defend her. She couldn't give him cancer like she'd wanted too for years. She could swing her fist to stop him. He pushed her down and began hitting her, yelling at her to do it again! The blows came to her ribs, and belly. Something touched her forehead, but it was gentle. Trapped int he dream, she pulled away from it. The blows came harder, and her mother watched. In the dream, Lorna reached for her, wanting someone to help her but her mother just watched. Disappointed! There was voice from outside the room in the dream, and she looked for it. When she looked around the blows came stronger, but she looked for them.

It was words she didn't know. A tone she'd never heard. She had to find it. It was soft and she wanted to there and not here. Slowly, bit by bit the dream faded. Slowly darkness took over. for a moment she thought she was going deeper into sleep, but then she realized she was waking up. Her body tense, tight, and wound up to snap from the dream. Braced for the next blow that wouldn't come. Yet the voice was still there. Her fingers shook as if cold, from the fear the dream made her feel and she bitterly hated it. Balling her fist up, she didn't raise them. Instead she turned to look for the voice. The song.

When her eyes found him, they almost immediately looked away. Pinching up tightly to close. Not only had he seen her like this, but he sang to her. Something she'd never had in her 20 plus years. A softness, an understanding, an feeling that had never been extended toward her. It shook her to her core, and she fear tears fall over her cheeks. She didn't know what to say or what do it. She didn't know how to react. She was shaking from the dream and the emotions. She couldn't speak, but the tears said enough.

She'd dreamed of one father's hate--only to awaken to another's compassion and it was too much for her to handle. So Lorna just cried. She wanted to reach for him, but years of rejection kept her still.

[Erik Lehnsherr]

Tag: Lorna Dane
Note: Better layout coming soon!

Peace

WAS NEVER AN OPTION

While his voice helped ease whatever visions plagued her sleeping mind, it had not been enough to lull her back to sleep. For when she opened her eyes, they were filled with tears. His heart ached at the sight, and he wondered if it would have been the same, had he not discovered she was his daughter. Either way, he cared for her deeply but this time, he felt as if it physically hurt his heart to see a child of his suffering. To see her upset. To see her cry. It was as if, her pain was his pain. After all, was that not part of the link a parent and child shared? To not only share the good and joyful moments, but rather, the sorrowful and saddening ones. Just like now.

So perhaps she did not want him there. Perhaps this was all too soon for her. He would bare the consequences of her potentially pulling away from him. But in this very moment, all he could do was act on his hurt; one that ached for her. And he didn't need to be an empath to know that. He gently held her arm, only to pull her up from her position and greet her upright position with his own arms as they wrapped around her, holding her close to him in a hug. Meant to comfort. Meant to silently invite her to share that pain with him. To let her know that she was not alone. And . . . to just let her cry. He understood too well the burden of carrying a strong exterior. But it was around family, around loved ones that a person could truly let those walls down. Perhaps Lorna had not had any such figure in her life before, but Erik wanted her to know that she had one now. And that he was not going anywhere.

[Lorna Dane]

Magneto put his hand on her and pulled her up to a sitting position, and she let him. She wasn't sure what else she could do. Had she just woken herself up from this she wouldn't be left feeling this exposed, and raw. Instead she was left here showing him of all people her weakness. Her . . . her humanity. The wound left from a childhood of no one wanting her gaping open.

Magneto pulled her toward him, and his arms went around her. Lorna couldn't handle it any longer. F looking strong right now, she wasn't thinking about being the strongest so no one could hurt her--she only wanted someone to hold her. Pushing off from the bed she wrapped her arms around her father and hugged him. Pressing her face into his shoulder for the first real hug of her life. Her mother ignored her, her step father beat her, and she had no close friends that she could drop her guard around. This moment . . . . this broken moment with his arms around her was the first time she could ever remember having someone care enough, or hold her. And the emotions of knowing that he cared broken open the flood gates.

Lorna held on to him as if he was the anchor in the stormy sea. She knew he grip was tight but she couldn't loosen it while her tears soaked through his shirt. She hadn't understood the words of the song, but they still echoed in her brain. The soft words and tone that he had used while singing. A song she didn't know but it was her's now. One she'd hold to her forever now. Lorna's song.

She held him for a long time, but at the same time it felt like not enough time. Her tears slowed, and she almost dreaded the moment she had to let go and face him. "I don't know how to escape him." Lorna whispered. She was out of familiar waters now, and didn't know how to react. So she didn't let him go. She just kept holding on to him until he pulled back.

[Erik Lehnsherr]

Tag: Lorna Dane
Note: Better layout coming soon!

Peace

WAS NEVER AN OPTION

Feeling her tightened grip had Erik remaining in place. All he could do now was hold her, allow his arms to remain wrapped around her and judging from her own body language . . . perhaps that was what she needed in this moment. She spoke of not knowing how to escape him. There was only one person that came to mind. He didn't know the deeper details but he knew enough. Enough to be aware of how the man still effected her. How he still haunted her. He hated that she had to endure that; he hated it even before he knew she was his daughter. But now, he despised it even more. He couldn't help but think how different things could have been had he known he had a daughter. A daughter who was so . . . unwanted by her parents. A daughter he surely would have cherished.

Fatherhood had changed his life completely, and among all else, he hated the fact that Lorna did not know what it was to be in a loving family. That she did not know her worth from her parents. "He is part of your past," Erik began to say, still holding her, speaking in a low, soft voice. His words implying that her strength was drawn by the pain one had suffered. Just like him. "But he is not your present, or your future." He was not here, nor would be. He couldn't hurt her anymore, though Magneto knew full well that the damage had been done already. They both came from a similar past end in the sense that they faced an abuser. The difference was, Erik had confronted his and he wondered if Lorna wished to do the same.

[Lorna Dane]

Something has simple as being held, was so unknown yo Lorna that she wasn't sure how to react after. Her positive interactions with people were limited to her last half of her young life, and even then she didn't go out of her way to earn more. Yet even knowing she was a mess, he'd stayed and held her. Since she'd met him, and even more after she found out he was her father, Lorna had been sensitive to his attention. She never got it from her mother, and she wanted it all from him. Yet she hadn't thought about it like this. Hadn't imagined emotional attention.

Pulling back she finally let him go, and slid back a few inches so she wasn't in his face. He had said that her step-Dad had been her past, and she got it. Forget about her past and kick the future's ass. But it didn't feel finished. He might not be here, but he was HERE. Always would. Taking a deep breath she nodded, and tried to say something. Lorna just didn't know what to say. "Yeah, I know." It wasn't dismissive, but it wasn't quite an agreement.

"I know it's stupid to let him get in my head. I just happens. Some Dads suck." Mostly when she was thinking too much. Or tired. Or upset about something. She expected it some nights. She hadn't expected Magneto to come into her room and catch her. Had it been almost anyone else she'd had freaked out and thrown a punch. "You had a kid, right?" She asked. Well, technology he still had a kid, but she didn't know how much he thought of her that way and she wasn't pushing it since the answer had the potential to hurt like a dumb bitch. "You sing to her?"