Difference between revisions of "Lorna Dane"
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| − | Lorna | + | Lorna is the School Nutritionalist and executive chef for [[Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters]], as well as an active member of the [[X-Men]]. She is back at the school following a long stay on [[Muir Island]] |
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Revision as of 21:13, 6 January 2012
| Lorna Dane | |
|---|---|
| File:Lorna.jpg Portrayed by Sienna Miller | |
| Codename: | Polaris |
| Affiliations: | X-Men |
| Birthdate: | November 18, 1983 |
| Journal: | x_polarisstar |
| Player: | Rei |
Lorna is the School Nutritionalist and executive chef for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, as well as an active member of the X-Men. She is back at the school following a long stay on Muir Island
Contents
Details
Character Journal: x_polarisstar
Real Name: Lorna Eileen Dane
Codename: Polaris
Aliases: None
First Appearance: May 20, 2003
Date of Birth: November 18, 1983
Place of Birth: Camarillo, California
Citizenship: United States
Relatives: Dane Family: Paul Dane (uncle/father-adoptive), Janice Dane (aunt/mother-adoptive), Zala Dane (cousin/sister-adoptive), Camile Sullivan (second cousin)
Education: Graduate of La Reina High School (2002), Graduate of Westchester College - Bachelor's Degree in Geophysics (2007), University of California, Berkeley - M.A;M.S - Earth & Planetary Sciences (2010)
Relationship Status: Single
Occupation: Executive Chef/Nutritionalist
Team Affiliation: Active team member- X-Men
Biography
Childhood
Lorna's childhood history remains incompletely disclosed, including her place of birth and the names of her parents. She was adopted at an early age and took her adopted parents last name 'Dane'. The Danes never told Lorna that they were not her true parents for fear that the truth might have a traumatic effect on her. Lorna grew up unaware of her parentage and led a relatively normal life, except for the naturally green hair she was born with. To avoid unwanted attention, her parents, though later by her own choice, kept it dyed brown at all times. Since coming to the school, she has let it return to her normal green.
Her family is small and close-knit and she has focused a great deal of her life on making her parents proud and living up to their expectations. The Danes are well-off, but by no means wealthy. Lorna grew up in southern California in a fairly exclusive gated community and attended a succession of small, private Catholic schools. She graduated from an all girls Catholic high school and is a national merit scholar. As of her graduation senior year, she had enough AP credits to apply for sophomore standing; this is unremarkable to her as many of her classmates could claim the same. She took four years of Spanish and some of it she even remembers. As well, Lorna took cooking lessons for 7 years, becoming a gifted chef and gaining a passable mastery of French (mostly the swear words).
Post High School/Xavier's
After high school, Lorna took a semester of college in California before deciding that she wanted to learn more about her powers. Though she chose to go to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and stopped dying her hair, Lorna never believed that she would ever have anything other than a perfectly normal life. When the school was attacked, Lorna had only been in attendance for about three months. She was not present for the events of X2 as she was home for her cousin's wedding.
There were several incidents in Lorna's first year at the school that would impact heavily on Lorna's life at the school, and beyond. She met and fell in love with Alex Summers, three years her junior. Lorna initially resisted her attraction due to Alex being a student while she was a graduate and teacher, but after nudging by Alex's brother Scott Summers and Betsy Braddock and a screaming match in the hallways, they began a relationship in July 2003. Their happiness proved short-lived - in a powers accident, Alex lost control and severely burned Lorna, running away and disappearing for several months before being rescued from the clutches of Selene.
Lorna's recovery was slow, aided by her strong friendship with suitemate Alison Blaire and her new friendship with the enigmatic young Cajun Remy LeBeau, but hindered by her worry and guilt about Alex's departure and her eating disorder. A disastrous encounter with Manuel de la Rocha in the kitchen resulted in her anorexia spiralling out of control, a severely burned hand (Healed at Remy's behest by Amanda Sefton) and a lifelong antipathy of the empath. After a fight with Alison about her anorexia which had her move briefly out of their suite and an encounter with Amanda that almost sparked the teenage witch killing herself, Lorna began to try to address her various issues and rebuild her relationship with Alex.
Approaching their first anniversary and her first year at the school, Lorna considered joining the X-Men full-time. She had been on several smaller missions in a volunteer capacity and felt she had more to offer. Alex, already facing the possibility of his long-lost, now-found brother Scott being injured or killed on a mission, reacted badly to the idea, and a new source of tension rose between the two. Several months later, they had a very public break up. Lorna began dating Brent, a nice, normal guy from Salem Center while Alex's friendship with Shiro Yoshida showed tendencies of being more, with Shiro kissing Alex as a way of proving their friendship. Despite their apparent coping, their friends knew better, rallying around and trying to get them to see sense. It took the HeliX fundraiser ball to prompt Alex to confront Brent and the two finally make up. Only two weeks later, Alex accompanied Lorna back to California when her mother was in a car accident, giving Lorna's father the chance to have a 'talk' with Alex about the powers accident that had injured his baby girl so badly.
Upon her return, Lorna was shocked to discover Alison was offering to help train Manuel in his powers by letting his practice on her, leading to Lorna to move out of their suite again and eventually to Alex and herself contemplating moving in together. When Manuel had his memory wiped, he still continued to cause issues for Lorna, with Alex declaring he wanted to try and help Manuel by befriending him and a tense discussion with the empath's stricken girlfriend, Amanda, in the kitchen as she tried to convince Lorna Manuel was a changed man. Small steps were made, but with the return of Manuel's memory, things reverted back to the way they were.
With Malice Aforethought
2005 began constructively enough. Lorna's tendency to overtrain and thus injure herself was addressed by Madelyn Bartlet and she told her parents about her anorexia. With the sudden return of Jean Grey and the gradual nervous breakdown suffered by Paige Guthrie, plus the beginning of Alison's relationship with Haroun al-Rashid and catering for the wedding of Nathan Dayspring and Moira MacTaggart and Remy's deliberate absence from the event, Lorna had plenty of other things to focus on. She and Alex continued to disagree about her status as an X-Man, but managed to gloss over it enough - as was usual for them with difficult issues - to plan to attend class in geophysics in Hawaii together.
En route to Hawaii via LA, Lorna was waylaid by Mystique and forced to wear a collar containing the essence of a dead telepath called Malice. While controlled, she joined Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants, believing Magneto's assertion that he was also her biological father. As Malice, Lorna murdered Alison Blaire's father, lobotomized two Salem Center FOH youths named Josh and Karen, kidnapped Forge and nearly killed Remy. It was Forge's use of the Neutraliser that Magneto insisted he create against Lorna that freed her of Malice's influence and allowed the X-Men to rescue the pair.
Back at the mansion, Lorna had to face what she had done. Her sense of personal responsibility was at odds with the general reaction that nothing had actually been her fault, that she had been mind-controlled and wasn't to blame. Only Manuel insisted she had been responsible, having witnessed her attack Josh and Karen in Salem Center with both his eyes and his powers. In talking about Malice to Manuel, Lorna made the discovery that she was no longer terrified of him - that didn't mean they would be friends, as the empath had his own version of events and continued to feel he was the one who had been wronged. Alex's firm belief she was innocent also made things difficult for her, but at the core of their issues was the fact that Lorna had realised that she was also in love with Remy, crippled from Malice's attack. The feeling was reciprocated, but the pair agreed it could not work and they would not act on their feelings. With Remy's departure back to New Orleans with Amanda in December, Lorna felt things had moved on, enough to accept Alex's Christmas proposal of marriage (and the King Charles Spaniel puppy that came with it). She also overcame her fear of her powers enough to accompany the team on a mission against the Brotherhood, albeit very reluctantly.
Falling Apart
2006 was a bad year for Lorna. Beginning in January when she broke off her engagement to Alex in favor of Remy and moving back to the mansion instead of actually continuing the "normal" life that she claimed to want, Lorna's decisions were often erratic and overly emotional. She rejoined the X-Men but found herself confronted with situations that often overwhelmed her including causing the death of a mutant that had taken over F.O.H. offices. Her relationships were equally turbulent whether it be with Remy or with her friends (Alison and Jamie moved to California and Lorna replaced these two best friends with two to five new ones in the person of David Haller). Perhaps most devastating of all was the death of her beloved mentor, Chef Marcel, who succumbed to a heart attack in June.
But it was the discovery that her adoptive parents had a biological daughter that consumed Lorna. For the next several months, Lorna would search for Zala without pause. She broke up with Remy after finding out he had been married before, relapsed into anorexia, had an ill-advised fling in Cabo San Lucas and found herself benched from the X-Men as a result of her eating disorder. She also had her shoulder dislocated (again) when Haller snapped from the pressure of helping hold back a tsunami.
Spending Thanksgiving in Hawaii with Alex, an unexpected kiss almost resulted in the destruction of the island by Alex's new girlfriend and the return of Alex to the mansion. Things were tense between the former lovers, especially as Alex began to have a physical relationship with his best friend and roommate, Shiro; Lorna made the connection on her own, when she caught Shiro making out with someone who looked just like Alex as part of a shared dreamworld.
2007 wasn't much kinder. Though officially returned to active status and apparently doing better, Lorna's search for Zala only became more intense. When the agency Lorna hired to find her adopted sister refused to continue, Haller connected Lorna with Sofia Mantega-Barret who used her skills to connect the last few dots. Her discovery of the fact Zala was involved in the weapons black market didn't shake Lorna's desire to meet the older woman and she flew out before Easter to do so. To her surprise, her sister/cousin offered her a job - after a night of reflecting on the decision, Lorna turned the offer down and went to spend Easter with her parents, seemingly content with how things turned out.
Finding her sister, however, didn't have a lasting effect on Lorna's volatile emotional state. Following the discovery that Alex's dog Crush had gotten her dog Lili pregnant and on the heels of Cain Marko's announcement of a kennel for the mansion's pets, Lorna moved into a house in Salem Center. The move startled and confused her friends. An incident a few months later, in which Shiro's addiction to Alex's powers came to light in a particularly ugly way and led to Alex seeking refuge with Lorna, was far more serious. Furious at what had happened to Alex, Lorna confronted Shiro in the lobby of the school, using her powers to physically restrain him in the ensuing fight. The incident had a number of effects, with Lorna and Shiro both compelled to talk to Charles and Lorna directed to seek help with her self-control while Shiro was compelled to address his addiction. It also created issues with the students, with one, Yvette Petrovic, transferring out of Lorna's classes due to her discomfort with the display.
Moving On and Return
With the end of her course at Westchester College nearing in 2008, Lorna considered her options for the next year, deciding to apply again for post-graduate work at Berkeley in California. This time she was accepted and during the intervening months, Lorna became more remote to casual interaction outside of her friends than before. The return of Manuel de la Rocha to the school following a lengthy coma upset her serenity, and caused a resurgence of her eating issues for a short time. Leaving was further complicated by a mysterious prankster, who managed to cancel her enrollment at Berkeley temporarily, hide various items she needed and booby-trapped her office in an attempt to stop her leaving. The efforts proved fruitless - with one last night spent with Alex after their long estrangement, Lorna left for California in May 2008.
Noticing issues with her powers - a decrease in her range and her multi-tasking abilities, Lorna returned to the school in March 2010. A stranger now, with many of her friends and cohorts leaving or already left, Lorna kept largely to herself, interacting mainly through the venue of the kitchen. She rejoined the team despite her powers problems, the most notable mission being preventing a war between India and Pakistan. The strain was telling, however, and in March 2011 she left again, this time for Muir Island and hopefully some answers as to the deterioration in her abilities.
A New Start
When Lorna first arrived at Muir Island, she was there just to find out one answer: what was wrong with her powers? The first couple of weeks were the hardest as she was under surveillance twenty four –seven. They took her anorexia very seriously and wanted to first deal with that before getting into her decrease in powers, much to Lorna’s displease. She didn’t like the feeling of being an insect under a microscope, but towards the end she was thankful for it. She was put on Dietary supplements, like zinc and omega-3 fatty acids. She took those three times a day with a meal.
Her therapy started as she sat down and discussed her emotional state to a doctor. It felt weird to be telling someone her secrets but it was for the best. The main concern was her eating disorder and the failing of her powers. Where they connected? Or was it all in Lorna’s head or was it something more serious. She was also put on medication to help her sleep at night. Lorna had found comfort in meditating near the ocean. She had never done so before and she was able to clear her mind from the troubles of the world. Lorna was put in nutrition counseling and then put on a schedule to help maintain a healthy eating pattern. Lorna struggles a lot but with the support from her parents who called daily. She was also put on Olanzapine.
After her eating had gotten back to normal, next came the testing of her powers. Lorna who was once able to pick up naval cruiser could barely lift up car. After each test, Lorna felt weak and had to rest before she was able to start up again. During those weeks of testing were the hardest weeks for her. Outside of the testing, she would take small metal objects and continue to bend them to her will, it was her only little training course, and if her body and mind would allow it.
Lorna health had greatly improved the next couple of months with eating properly; she had one relapse in the month of July. She had heard from someone that Remy had married Ororo after he left Muir Island. After a couple of sessions with her therapist Lorna learned to let it go and just simply be happy for someone she once loved. She may be unlucky in the world of love and that didn’t mean that she should feel sorry for herself, especially since things had been rocky with Alex and she hadn’t seen him in years. She often found herself thinking of where he was and how he was doing. That month was hard for Lorna but with the help with therapy, meditation and the staff she bounced back and recovered in August, where she was back on a normal eating schedule.
Lorna has turned to the future now; her main concern is her powers as she wishes to continue to fight with the x-men for a better world. Another part of her wants to know if she would ever settle down. Unsure where her path will lead her outside the island as everyone probably has moved on with their own lives. Lorna has no idea what to expect. Writing down her ideas of that she wanted in life, the top of the list is opening up her own restaurant or bakery and joining the x-men. Lorna started to look at different locations with New York of where it would be good to open up a little shop. Feeling that she has learned to come to reality with her own personal demons, Lorna is ready to leave the island that she has called home for most of the year. But Lorna’s journey is still not over as she becomes a new chapter in her life.
Physical Characteristics
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 118 lbs*
Eyes: Green.
Hair: Green.
Other Features: An accident in December 2003 left Lorna with severe burn scars over her right shoulder, most of her back and right thigh. Her right hand has scarring on the palm (a burn mostly healed by Amanda). She also has a massive claw scar on her chest (courtesy of Sabretooth during Malice. She tends to shrug just one shoulder at a time first because of the burns then because her left shoulder has been dislocated twice (once during Thermopylae and once during The Rictor Effect).
(*)Lorna suffers from anorexia nervosa and her weight can fluctuate wildly depending on how well her recovery is going. She has recently gotten help on Muir Island is doing fairly well. Only time will tell.
Powers
Lorna has the power over magnetism. She has the ability to conduct magnetic pulses as bolts, create force fields, fly, manipulate ferrous materials, and absorb electricity to charge her own electromagnetic fields. If she concentrates, she can see the world only as patterns of magnetic and electrical energy. Lorna can also see the natural magnetic aura’s around living beings. Her sensitivity towards magnetic fields hasn’t been as strong as in the past, but it is still there even if it is faint. Things she once could do with easy haven’t been the same. She can still tell the different EM fields and could name the different metals.
Lorna can lift herself and fly and can move (throw) other people around. Because a lot of people have weak magnetic fields surrounding them, and to not overdo it, she’ll use whatever metal they have on them instead. Lorna can also lift mental objects with ease, she once able to pick up air craft carriers, but now only as big as small planes (or airliners), with some training she may be back to where she was but only time can tell. She can also block anything metal thrown at her. Creating a shield will block most objects and she can leave it up for a while, but with constant things being thrown into the shield will cause it to weak with each hit.
Lorna biggest weakness is that she is still recuperating from health issue that may have been a factor to the drastic decrease in her powers. She still feels exhausted after each session where they are testing to see where her strength lies and were her weakness are. One able to carry a navel cruiser in the past, Lorna has trouble lifting a car at first. But over the sessions she was able to lift a private plane. She has been told to not go past her limits or reach it as it could have a horrible effect on her, to the point where it could seriously harm her. The powers Lorna had displayed in the past, she can no longer do.
Equipment
Lorna, like many of the X-team, has modified her uniform. While it weighs about 40-60 lbs (about as much as a suit of armor), owing to having been worked through with dense metal plates, she uses her power to keep them close to her and supple. In a fight, she'll fling the metal at an enemy or use it to pull a Paige Guthrie or Piotr Rasputin and sheath her fists in it for hand to hand work (which she tries to avoid).
Trivia
- Though you couldn't get her to admit in under pain of torture or death, Lorna was once active in a Vampire: the Masquerade LARP.
- Like Forge, Lorna doesn't like cilantro.
- Lorna continues to plot ways to get the men of the school into compromising positions, whether it be through a cross-dressing fashion show or a swimsuit calendar. She's been unsuccessful so far at getting any of the males to cooperate and appears to have dropped it.
- Lorna is also infamous for welcoming newcomers with "Welcome to the Madhouse", to the point if someone else uses it, people will point out that was Lorna's phrase.
- Lorna has taken up meditation, which she found out she really enjoys.
Plots
2003
2004
2005
X-Men Mission: A Mirror Darkly
X-Men Mission: Mutant Mole People
X-Men Mission: Merry Christmas Magneto
2006
X-Men Mission: The Empty Quarter
2007
2008
2010
2011
Meta
Player: Rei
E-mail: lornaedane@gmail.com
AIM: lornadane
Player Icon Base: Sienna Miller
Meta Trivia
Lorna was played by Sil from May 2003 and made available for applications in June 2009. She was picked up by Da'mien from February 2010 to March 2011. Rei brought her back to X-Project in January 2012.
