16996/A Requiem on Paper

A Requiem on Paper
Date of Scene:	23 January 2024
Location:	Grant's Gym - Amusement Mile
Synopsis:	Clara's governess tells Ted the truth about Clara, the Conservatory, and her real identity. She also meets Ted's new
Cast of Characters:	Clara Jennings, Ted Grant

---

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Ever since Clara had her training breakdown, things have been, well, a big different. Megan, usually confident and more than a bit casual, has been, well, formal. She has something on her mind, and her attempts to meet Theo on her own terms have gone awry. He has been busy, it seems. And so she has loitered, waiting, composing and editing the text of what she means to say.

    "Scripting," she comments to herself glibly. "I guess I am learning from that little girl myself, now. Hopefully he is... in a forgiving mood."

    But where is he? She notes that she really ought not to be here, waiting for him like this. But she gave Clara the night off and plenty of books to read. And music to listen to. She is back at her own place, where she cannot hear anything she isn't supposed to.

Ted Grant has posed:
Ted Grant enters the apartment via the back way. It's way after hours for Ted, not so much for Wildcat. He has a large bundle, a shivery bundle swathed in fabrics, drapes, rugs and a few, capes and robes? All of Egyptian cotton if you know about such things.

He seats the bundle, which is shedding in his chair. It divests itself of some swaths and reveals a head with long black hair, olive skin and refined features. The body the head sits on begins sliding off the recliner. She draws her legs under her and regains balance. She regards Ted with an intelligent and intense stare and says something unintelligible.

"Stay. Here." Ted hurries to a cabinet to look for a shirt or something. Hopefully speaking English loud and slowly enables understanding.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Megan does not need much time to realize that Ted is home. Or a burglar. Probably just Ted, though, which is why her gun isn't immediately drawn. If someone broke through a window, though, they'd hot hot metal in them in seconds. As it is she has hand inside her blazer up until she sees Ted with... huh.

    "Crazy night, then?" Megan says in greeting. "You live a most curious life, Theo. Curious indeed."

    Megan is not afraid. She does not get afraid very often. If Clara isn't involved she's generally untroubled. She will lower herself and watch this unusual creature. With considerable experience with the more unusual and skittish side of humanity, she reaches out to offer her right hand for inspection or at least in a sign of peace.

    "And who are you, dear?" she asks of the moving bundle. Asking what is, after all, in poor taste.

Ted Grant has posed:
Ted Grant comes back as the girl attempts the E.T. forefinger touch and then seems thrilled by her hands. She sits up, shaking her hair out of her face, then feels her face, loking confused. Cloths fall away revealing, all. Then she shivers and tries to burrow into her pile of cloths as Ted returns with his trademark big tee shirt. The girl is immediately at his side and he carefully pulls the shirt over her head and struggles to get her arms through. He looks quite comical before succeeding.

"She's a CAT. Only looks human... well she speaks too, Ancient Egyptian. I think. I can proposition you in twelve languages but it makes no sense to me. You speak Egyptian? Does Clara? I am having a night."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Megan watches all of this with a smirk. "A cat? Well, aren't we all at times. I know I used to get quite difficult to work with when I felt slighted." She is amused by this.

    "Clara probably can find a way to communicate with her, but my expertise is in reading, not so much speaking. And, not to get academic, but nobody speaks that language. At least not normal people in this day and age. It's been dead for more than 1500 years, Theo. In fact, the Ancient Eyptians did not even write vowels, so we don't even know what it sounded like."

    If Megan is at all bothered by the presence of this unusual girl, she does not show it. Theo is an adult and this girl is, well, probably at least 18 in cat years. "I had meant to share some rather heavy confessions tonight, but I think your hands are full as it is. How can I help with this one?" She grins wickedly, "Need a litter box? Perhaps some feather toys or a laser pointer?"

Ted Grant has posed:
Ted Grant grabs his chair and immediately, the girl is at his side and then his lap, curling up and closing her eyes almost immediately. "Yeah, she's a cat. Speaks Egyptian. Sleeping now... alrrrighty shoot with your difficult things. Then I gotta head out and chase down Tut, before he can make more mummy catgirls, and rescue Catseye. though knowing Catseye, I may be rescuing Tut." The girl makes a loud purring sound for a moment.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Megan looks at the cat dubiously. "Well, if you are as certain as your life is worth that she will not understand me, I can do this." The governess is much more serious, now that the topic has shifted back to her purpose. "It would be unfortunate if I had to ensure silence of a feline." She has no idea what that would entail, but she lets it sound ominous enough.

    Now that it comes to it, she needs a moment to recalibrate. But only a moment.

    "I suppose it is easiest to start at the start. Clara's parents are William and Elizabeth Jennings. Both of them were gifted and dedicated members of a somewhat secret society known as the Conservatory of Antiquities. They had offered their daughter up to participate in a special project that would ensure our goal of defending the heritage of mankind would not be lost to the more serious supernatural threats we find in modern times. The old days were far easier, Mr. Grant." Yes, we are in Mr. Grant territory.

    "Clara believes the first day we met was when she left the nursery. But that is not true. I was instrumental in her life from its first moments to this day."

    She frowns. It is disjointed. "Getting back on track. The project was meant to create a team of gifted individuals with the powers of paper mastery. We used a magical tome to unlock that power. However, though we knew there was a serious risk, we did not fully know the nature of it. What we did know, however, is that a normal, strong, healthy mind cannot gain anything from that tome. You or I could hold it, even read it, and get nothing out of the experience."

    She sighs softly. "Only a mind overthrown, stressed, and nearly at its breaking point could possibly survive the integration."

Ted Grant has posed:
Ted Grant says nothing. His eyes get a more hard edge to them. He is not Mr. Grant but Wildcat. He might have been ready to get up and give into a sudden rage but the girl shifts and reminds him of her presence, her sleep now troubled. He gently strokes her head and she calms down. "I don't like what I'm hearing, and pretty sure I'll like what follows even less. So they tortured and abused kids to make them snap. That explains a lot. You're in a goddam cult."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Megan pauses, looks at Theo, but then turns away. "The worst is yet to come, Mr. Grant."

    She gathers her resolve and plows on. "But survival was not enough. I.. abused my position in the Conservatory to ensure Clara would not be first. Nor second. And on and on I delayed. There were 21 children in the program. I was not involved in the others, but just as Clara was, their parents were part of the organization. One by one they faced the tome and one by one they perished in the experience. Each time small adjustments were made, each time they came a bit closer. The losses were expected by others, but not by me. I was unaware of the risks. I redoubled my efforts to increase the stress on her, on my dear little one. Finally, there were no other children to try. We were very close. Two of them had survived, but there was.. damage. They were mentally impaired."

    Megan feels her mouth go dry. Her eyes, though, they are not. But she refuses to allow the tears to fall. The worst of all is still coming.

    "I broke her, Theo. I... they... it was either she read the tome or they were going to take my Clara from me forever. And make her read the tome anyway. I broke her. Then she read the tome. I saw it."

    She holds back the tears, brutally crushing them.

    "I saw my Clara, my baby shattered by that bloody book."

Ted Grant has posed:
Ted Grant keeps glaring. "All the stuff you're defending, isn't worth one life." Then he returns to listening. Megan might feel fortunate a lost cat turned human is on Ted's lap seeking comfort.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Megan looks at Theo seriously. "It is not, and was not. It was presented rather differently. It was like boiling the frog. Turn up the heat slowly over time. I was too naive. Then I was in very, very deep waters and finding I knew precious little about swimming."

    She does not sit. She stands, awaiting yet more judgment. "I never wanted my daughter to be harmed, Theo. I abused the system in the eyes of others. Insisting to work closely with her, to feed her, to even become her governess. I was part of an important control group, to see if one-on-one nurturing would increase the odds of success. And then I broke her for them, Theo. I broke her because I knew they were going to do something worse. I broke her because I could not risk losing my daughter forever."

    She watches Theo closely. "I have done terrible things to my own daughter. Her father and the organization trapped me, but I could have paid closer attention. There were signs, in hindsight. If I had read them in a more timely fashion, perhaps, well, I could have run away before she was born."

Ted Grant has posed:
Ted Grant says softly, "Let me tell you about a guy, really not remarkable in most ways but he could motivate people, tap into their desires. He indeed turned the water up, A lot of people fell for his pitch in Europe, in America. It was the biggest cult the world ever knew. I fought them. I saw their work. I am over 100. You are still a child to me. Don't you tell me I don't know cults. What happens to people who try to leave?"

Clara Jennings has posed:
    "I apologize. I was not clear. It is a cult. And I agree, what we protect is not worth it. Clara said it herself. She figured it out all on her own. There is nothing more beautiful, more precious, or more historically important than a living, breathing human being. I am proud of her for understanding this. But I am scared, Theo."

    She is understandably agitated right now. "There was a power struggle. Clara's brush with stress during that little training of hers pushed into territory that was noticed by the director. Or rather, the former director. I learned today that his attempts to have me reassigned backfired. He was reassigned. Now we have Director Stanning to deal with. He... thinks I intentionally put Clara through that recent bout of stress as an experiment."

    Megan catche herself starting to pace and stops. She focuses again on Theo. "So I have to address this issue. And as for leaving? I do not know for certain, but in the past it was implied by the former director that I could leave, but that Clara could not."

Ted Grant has posed:
Ted Grant nods at the admission it is a cult. Of course it is. He might not be a genius, able to make black out bombs and cosmic rods or Miraclo, however, he was not a stupid man. In fact he might be the best at talking to people in the old JSA.

He is really tired of Nazis. You think you got them all and no, they changed their goals and reskinned and there they are! It took him years to realize most people doing evil were misguided, deserved another chance or at least life. At the very least, it wasn't for Ted Grant to decide.

Something dark building in Ted recedes and is reminded of its place. So instead of knocking Megan Bell through the wall he holds an arm out to the weeping woman.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Megan lowers her eyes, feeling defeated. Her posture, though, never shrinks away. Theo deserves the full truth. And now he has most of it. The parts that matter most.

    She sees the arm offered and hesitates. She looks at he cat, looks at Theo, and allows memories to crash over her. It had all been safely put away before. Now she can't help but return to the past, visiting the memories of things she did, words she said, and dark nights punctuated with crying so hard she thought they surely must kill her in the end.

    Her steps are measured. Almost robotic, really, and then she allows herself to slip into his reach. She reaches out, as well. In that moment she accepts that while she doubts she deserves to ever feel warmth again and certainly does not deserve forgiveness, she needs both desperately.

Ted Grant has posed:
Ted Grant rubs Megan's back. He whispers to her, "In this life... I don't give a crap about prayer or forgiveness. There's atonement. You wake up, as you did, and decide there's ways to make things better even if you don't or can't make things right. So we gotta figure out a way to make this better. You realize that you are in a city with a lot of people who would love a crack at this Conservatory, let someone decent like you run it, helop those poor kids and Clara and recruit adults supers to deal with threats." He separates from her and holds her away.

"These tears are delusions and lies leaving your body. But there's fury in you too. You've been used and manipulated. That ends. Let that fury turn cold, in your gut and you'll know, you may cry again, but you'll do whatever it takes to make this right." He hugs Megan tight and feels her tears.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Megan nods in agreement. "There are things I can do. The Conservatory is broken into many offices. The London Branch is the one I am familiar with. But maybe it is time to seek allies elsewhere. To get my daughter help and keep her safe."

    Megan finds it difficult to swallow without a gulp. She will just have to deal with that, too. "I want to tell her, Theo. But I am afraid she will not forgive me. As much as she deserves the truth, if she drives me away..."

    "Honestly I don't think I could survive it. Until recently, Clara has been the only thing I've thought about. I don't want that to change. Well, not entirely, that is."

    She feels dizzy, she realizes. Weak in the knees. Like she ran a marathon at full clip and might collapse any moment. "There is one other thing. The former director..." She frowns. "He is Clara's father. He was my husband."