30 years old meteorological manipulator
citizen of the United States member of the X-Men
unmarried
Ororo is omnipresent in Westchester. She's referred to half-jokingly around the house as a goddess, and the description's unexpectedly convincing. Plants reach towards her. People turn to look at her when she enters a room. Small objects electrify at her touch.It takes a long time to get past that. Or, at least, it took me a long time. But Ororo's also co-leader of the X-Men with Scott Summers, and she lived for half a year on the streets with only Gambit for company, and neither of those things fits her ethereal image. I was only introduced to the competent, focussed Storm when she came in with two injured team members, watching them intently and holding her palm against the wound in Jean Grey's thigh like she could close it herself if she exerted the effort.
I came up to visit her the next morning. Brought tea and humility. Ororo lives in the attic of the original house, by herself. Few walls, relatively little furniture. A lot of plants close to the windows. Eventually, I had the chance to recognize that there was a human woman under the hard gloss, and one who knows a surprising number of extremely dirty jokes, at that.
Photographing her at the Westchester base proved to be too difficult. I took the first photograph in a friend's greenhouse in early winter. We spent two days there, in southern Pennsylvania, and I watched Ororo garden. I came upon her early in the morning, replanting with earth-marked nails, and asked to take her picture.
The second photo was taken at Warren Worthington's loft in the East Village of Manhattan. We stayed there after Ororo asked me to come shopping with her. Spent the early evening in two different slightly yuppie bars, and found we were too drunk to go home. (Something which she'll deny, but I know I wasn't the only one laughing at very little.) Proof positive that a woman can look majestic and tipsy at the same time.
There's no furniture up there, just extra bedding and a handful of dishes in one of the cupboards. I woke a little after dawn and saw Ororo by the window. I took the picture while lying on my stomach in my sleeping bag, with my elbows on the floor. It was like waiting for rain to break over me, waiting for her to turn around.
Sinclair: I was wondering why anybody as essentially pacifist as you strike me would do this for a living.
Ororo: I would like the opportunity someday to be a pacifist. At various times, mutants with beta- and gamma-class mutations, and those with physical mutations only, have attempted to work by passive resistance. They were subjected to violence on a level which would have provoked outrage had it been directed towards a group considered to be 'human.'
Sinclair: Do you think the X-Men would be better served by pursuing a legislative agenda?
Ororo: Possibly, and we have at times focussed some of our resources in that direction. However, there are times when the political atmosphere is so completely unreceptive to our position, that mutants deserve equal protection under the law, that we have withdrawn from campaigning and focussed our energies on protecting people, both human and mutant, as well as we can.
Sinclair: And you're comfortable with that?
Ororo: I am.
Sinclair: Do you have other reasons?
Ororo: Many. I have worked with the X-Men for the greatest part of my adult life. My love for these people is unmatched by my love for anyone currently living. Many of the younger members of the teams, particularly Kitty and Jubilee, were only children when I met them, and I find that accepting their independence now is an ongoing struggle for me.
Sinclair: Do you miss them?
Ororo: I did. For years, while we in Australia and after, I was struck by the absence of children in the house. However, they visit often. Perhaps too often for ours to be a quiet household. There might be three people home on one day, and thirty or more the next.
Sinclair: That's a lot. Noisy?
Ororo: You might have noticed. I prefer attics for reasons which are only partially rooted in my love of open space. Stillness is hard to come by, otherwise. I appreciate mornings like this one for the peace they bring.