ArchivedLogs:Commonalities

Commonalities
Dramatis Personae Lorna, Mallory, NPC-Xavier
In Absentia	2014-04-04 Part of the Future Past TP.
Location <XS> Headmaster's Office - B1
Quietly elegant, the headmaster's office is as old-fashioned as the headmaster himself. The large wooden desk is the centerpiece of the room, the guest's chair a high-backed dark wood one. The walls are painted in rich dark colours, a sole impressionist painting hanging on the wall. The hardwood floors are polished, the floor kept carefully neat and tidy, the room perpetually immaculately organized. Classes have ended for the day, though there are still a host of extracurriculars ongoing in the period between end-of-class and dinner hour. Over in the gym, up on the first floor, outside on the playing fields, it is, then, very /loud/. Boisterous. Hectic. Down here it is none of those things. There's a soft clickclickclick of fingers against a keyboard, but past that only quiet. The headmaster is seated behind his desk, rather focused at the moment on answering emails. There's a tray set up /on/ the desk. A teapot. Three cups. Still steaming. As is usually the case when Lorna is safely ensconced within the confines of the campus, the woman is drifting along the corridor a few inches on the ground, just enjoying the feeling of moving about that way. It looks like she's wearing X-Man/undercover clothes. Black boots with a practical, low heel, dark hip-hugger jeans, and a light cyan button-up blouse with a low collar and short sleeves. Drifting along next to Mallory as they approach the door, she says quietly, "Don't worry. People are always intimidated, meeting with the Professor. But he's actually nice. Friendly, I mean." She turns to look at Mallory while they 'walk', actually drifting backwards a bit so she can face the other woman. As they get closer to the door, Lorna drifts to one side a bit, and reaches to knock on the door. Occasionally, Mallory wishes she could float along through the halls. But that is not the case, and instead she makes her way gingerly through the corridor, her cloven hooves making sharp clicking noises with each step. Still dressed professionally from teaching classes today, Mallory wears a nicely tailored skirt-suit in a steel gray color over a deep red silk button up blouse, the top two buttons left undone. Her hair is pulled back into a neat but long braid that sways slowly with her gait. The librarian is fidgetting nervously with her hands, slowly spinning her engagement ring around her finger as she walks beside Lorna. "I'm not so worried about speaking with him," Mallory says with a smirk, watching as Lorna floats her way along, "I'm more worried about what might be causing this. I can't say I relish the idea of it being my fault, potentially." She falls quiet as they approach the door, standing back a bit and neatening her attire by way of habit. There is actually a moment of delay, after the knock. Continued typing, before Xavier sends his mail and locks his computer screen. He doesn't take time to neaten his attire, carefully tailored grey suit already fairly immaculate. "Come in." The rich deep voice carries easily past the closed door. "Hey," Lorna says with a gentle smile. "Powers going wonky aren't anyone's fault. It's just stuff we all gotta figure out, you know?" Turning, she pushes the door open and drifts in, smiling at Charles. "Hi Professor. Thank you for meeting with us." She waits for Mallory to come in as well, and then drifts down to sit in one of the chairs opposite Xavier's desk. "Doesn't mean people don't get hurt," Mallory mumbles under her breath at the idea of her powers going wonky, shaking her head and shrugging nervously. As they are invited in, Mallory follows carefully, offering a pleasant smile and nod of greeting. "Hello Professor," Mallory says, smiling slightly, though she does hesitate briefly before moving to take a seat, nowhere near as graceful as Lorna's movement. Mallory perches on the edge of the guest chair, her tail looped around to fit with her on the seat. "I do appreciate you agreeing to this meeting," she says quietly, folding her hands in her lap but continuing to fidget nervously. "Good afternoon, Ms. Winthrop, Dr. Dane." Xavier unfurls a hand in invitation to sit; there's a quiet mechanized hum as he turns his wheelchair from the computer to face the two women more fully. "Would either of you care for some tea?" There's a tiny hint of a smile, less in his lips and more in the small crinkling at the corners of his eyes. "My door is always open. To everyone at this school, not merely the students." "Thank you, yeah," Lorna says with a smile, reaching for the tea. Cup held between both hands, she plows ahead, nodding at Mallory's 'thanks'. "And also yeah, for meeting with us. So, in my email I briefed you that we had shared a dream. One that felt very real and that we remembered in the exact same detail. My first guess was that maybe Mallory's latent telepathic sense was mutating. The experience seemed altogether different from the dream stuff a few weeks ago." Lorna sips her tea and continues. "But now, I've heard more rumors about these dreams being predictive, and wide spread. Ghost, for instance, is convinced they're prescient. I find that unlikely, but you never know these days, right?" "Tea is lovely, thank you," Mallory says greatfully, taking one of the tea cups and holding it delicately in both her hands, though there is a faint shake to her grip. "I have experienced shared dreams previous to this," Mallory offers, after sitting quietly through Lorna's initial explanation, "With Thomas, when we were children. But we always assumed that was part of our somewhat linked mutations. And he was not part of this dream - I imagine if there was some expansion, I would still catch him up in the matter." She glances sidelong at Lorna, frowning at the idea of the dreams being predictive, her careful smile faltering. "Predictive? I..." Mallory starts, shaking her head, snippets of the dream flitting through her memory unbidden, "I rather doubt it. I can't..." Whatever she was going to say is lost in a calming sip of tea, "How wide spread are these dreams?" "This entire Institute, Dr. Dane," Xavier answers with a quiet note of humour curling through his voice, "is /built/ on the highly unlikely." He takes the last teacup for himself -- it's a very good Earl Grey -- and curls his fingers around the warm china. "I can say with some confidence, though, that your telepathic connection with your twin, Ms. Winthrop, is not behind these. They are --" His eyes slip towards Mallory with this last question, a very faint press thinning his lips just slighly. "Widespread. Far beyond the bounds of this school, and extending to people I -- do not believe you have ever had any contact with." Lorna nods, visibly effected. "Wow, well that's a relief." She turns and gives Mallory's forearm a brief squeeze. Thinking his response over another moment though turns her relieved face into a slight frown. "Oh but... Wait, how widespread are we talking? And do we have any confirmation of their predictive nature?" "Oh thank god," Mallory breathes at the confirmation that it isn't her fault, though she blushes in embarassment at her outburst. "Apologies," she says, running a hand along one horn with a sigh and a guilty smile, "I was rather concerned that my personal matters were beginning to interrupt other people's sleep. It is a relief." She fidgets with her tea cup, the concerned look crinkling her brow again, "So there are many people experiencing these? Mutants and humans alike? Interesting." Sipping her tea, she shakes her head, waiting for the response to Lorna's questions, gaze down at the tea cup as she is somewhat lost in thought. "Extensively, throughout New York. And the student body. But certainly not limited to those at this school. I have heard reports," Xavier answers in thoughtful musing, "of these dreams occurring as far afield as California, though I have yet to determine just /how/ they select their targets." He lifts his tea, taking a small sip together with a slow inhale, drawing in the fragrant steam. "Mutants and humans both, yes. And there has been some evidence supporting the theory that they are predictive. Nothing /concrete/, as yet, but it is a very /strong/ hypothesis regardless." Lorna sits back in her chair and lets out a low, impressed whistle. "Wow, that is... huge. I mean, we know that quantum states are not tied to traditional Newtonian physics, and even fly in the face of cause-and-effect phenomena, at times. But we've never seen an effect reaching so far beyond the level of an individual particle." Lorna babbles on another moment posing and dismissing a couple more theories and finally shakes her head. "Sorry about that. This is just... fascinating. I mean, any prescient quality must be immediately hamstrung by causality and the flexible nature of..." she turns to Mallory, suddenly smiling bright. "And you, hey! I'm so excited for you!" Mallory looks a bit surprised by the spread of the dreams, "Oh, my. That expansive? Is... is there a narrative to the dreams? Has anyone started mapping the possible links?" She falls quiet, pondering the possibilities, sipping her tea slowly as she mulls it over, "I'd be willing to do that, if it is needed. Finding links in stories is, well, sort of my thing." Her dark eyes glaze over at the science babble from Lorna, nodding along but rather obviously not grasping what was said. Until the last comment that is, when Mallory's semblance of holding it together with a polite smile, her head dropping forward to hide the change of expression,shouldres slumping slightly as she holds the tea cup. "Right. But... I can't," she is only barely whispering this, staring intently at the tea cup in her hands, "Thomas said... proteins denature... I /can't/." She takes a deep breath, shaking her head in an attempt to regain her composure, forcing a polite smile as she looks up again at Professor Xavier, "Apologies, Professor, Lorna. I'm afraid I need to be going, Faelan had asked if I had time to speak with him this evening." That is at least only a partial lie, but it's the first excuse she can come up with. "Thank you again for this meeting, Professor. Please, if there is any way I may be of assistane, please let me know." "There have been commonalities," Xavier acknowledges mildly, "though as for a /narrative/, I would say they only have as much /narrative/ as life seems to have. They are not telling a story, they are displaying snapshots of moments in time. But those moments do seem to hold consistent with each other, yes. And I believe that --" There's a very faint twitch at his lips as he eyes Lorna, sipping again at his tea and then lowering the cup, "these glimpses have already prompted at least a few people to try and /change/ their possible futures. Time is -- always a fluid thing." He takes another sip of his cup, setting it back down and inclining his head to Mallory as she excuses herself. "Indeed. And Ms. Winthrop, do remember. In this institute you are surrounded by the highly unlikely. I have never found /can't/ to be in any way a relevant concept, here."