5579/Been a While...

Been a While...
Date of Scene:	14 March 2021
Location:	Clare Temple's Apartment, Hell's Kitchen, NYC
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Matthew Murdock, Claire Temple

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Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt had returned home from Afterlife exhausted but unfortunately life had a way of making sleep scarce for him. He returned not to find his quiet apartment he shared with Daisy intact and waiting for him but that someone had moved in while he was gone and had more than that stolen his suit. He and Daisy had made plans about what to do to investigate but they had to wait until tomorrow with Daisy being as bone tired as he was, still, Matt couldn't sleep so he decided it was time to call on the one person who might sleep less than he did, to see if she'd seen anything, and even if not, Claire would be someone he could talk to about everything that happened in Afterlife as well without holding anything back.

So ^it is, that Matt texts ahead to see if Claire's awake before he heads down a few floors to knock on her door.

Claire Temple has posed:
While Claire shouldn't be awake, especially being that no one was dying on her couch and she had a double shift tomorrow, she keeps her phone on. There's always a dim worry in the back of her head that someone's going to need her. When she sees his number, especially being that he's ignored her in the elevator at least twice now, she blinks and pushes herself into half sitting in bed. 'I'm awake, come down.' She texts back immediately.

When he makes it to her door, it's unlocked. She's clearly expecting him. Her apartment smells like it always does, warm, Latin cooking, disinfectant, coffee, her clean deodorant and light soap. It's a mix of hospital, home, and *Claire*. Some things never change. All of her body is in the sluggish, still just waking up and getting out of bed mode, breath a little too deep, pulse slower than it would be right after a shift. She smells like warm, mussy bed, but also has a pot of coffee going, so intends on being up. "...So...finally decided to say hello?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
After being away for so long the familiar smells of Claire's place is welcoming, all the more so because he's not bleeding in any way shape or form as he arrives, which he had to admit was rare for visiting at this hour of the night. Though 'seeing' her and the familiarity of the apartment is welcome her reaction leaves him a little embarassed. "Sorry, I was out of town for a bit, haven't been around," he says. "Would have let you know but I didn't expect to be as long as I was things... were interesting. Hasn't gotten any less so since getting back, mind if I come in, I need to tell you something."

Claire Temple has posed:
"...How were out of town for a while when I just saw you in the elevator like...three days ago? I figured you were snubbing me. Didn't even say hello." Claire's sleep raspy voice states flat enough that there is clearly an edge of her that was angry at the time, but that icy anger is quickly melting. She's heard about dopplegangers, it's been all over the news. Therefore, it's not hard for her mind to make the worrisome leap about what this COULD be. Still, she isn't kicking him out, even if he did snub her.

"Sit down, sit down...I've got coffee ready in a minute. Lay it on me. What's going on?" She's now standing herself, doing that worried little pace she sometimes does when she's ready for action but there is nothing to *do*. Often, it's after she's bandaged up someone very hurt. This time it's waiting for coffee and being worried about the whole situation./

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"Huh?" Matt asks brows raising above the red of his shades. "How could you have seen me when I've been /way/ out of town?" he steps inside letting the door close behind him and then takes that offered seat. "I've been in Tibet the last week or so, I just came back a few hours ago and found someone living in my place, and you're saying you saw me three days ago?" he asks. This wasn't sounding good at all.

Claire Temple has posed:
"...I *definitely* saw you in the elevator three days ago, and in the hallway before that. You completely snubbed me both times. No wave, no words... Nothing. I figured I pissed you off somehow but I don't have time for pouting men so I just let it be. Now..." Claire exhales, every last bit of anger out of her voice now and replaced by something far closer to worry. She turns on the ball of her slippered foot and heads into the kitchen, still listening, but she is pouring them both out coffee that they desperately need right now. Especially for a situation like this. She brings it back to his side..."Drink up. I have a feeling we need to be awake for this talk."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt opens his mouth to protest the pouting thing but decides better of it, it wasn't him and there were bigger fish to fry. "Definitely not me, but he looked like me? This guy you saw?" he asks, taking the cup of coffee with a grateful nod he takes a sip. Claire's not alone in thinking they'll need it tonight.

Claire Temple has posed:
Handing his coffee over, the way he's always liked it, Claire takes her own cup of black and settles down into the couch across from him. "Get comfortable, let's think through this." She's pulling her legs up onto the couch, criss cross beneath her in her pajama pants, her coffee nursed between weary hands, keeping them warm in the late winter chill of their not well insulated apartment building.

"So...definitely not you. You've seen the newspaper articles about dopplegangers, right? I feel like that's the pretty obvious solution here, but it's a shitty one, if someone is out there running around as you... And has been for a few *days*. Shit, Matt. He looked exactly like you. Other than being kinda a bastard, I couldn't tell the difference."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt takes his coffee the same way, black, the way cops, nurses and apparently vigilantes were wont to do. He takes a sip while he mulls things over. "The news about them was just hitting the papers when I left, copies of people from some sort of alternate dimension right? Like out of Star Trek?" his tone suggests he's having a hard time believing it. "So those are actually real?"

Claire Temple has posed:
A deep sigh echoes from her chest and Claire sinks back in the couch a bit more. This is not the conversation she expected to have when she told him to come down. She takes a small sip of her too-hot coffee, buying herself a few heartbeats to organize her thoughts around it all. "...Yeah." She finally admits, flat and honest. "Never saw my own. She probably didn't...come. It seemed focused on... heroes. Or more prominent people, at least. Like you. But I saw people caught up in the fights in the ER. A few people who had to fight their own... Seems those copies that came over were mostly determined on...removing the original entirely."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt frowns blowing on his coffee a little before taking another sip, as much to just give himself some time to pull his thoughts together as he listens to Claire. "Seems like mine lucked out and found my life empty and ready to step into," he says before rolling his neck a little. "I'd be worried he'd come back but the food he left out was about three days old, so I am guessing he took off after running into you," he says. "Which would be good news, except for what you just said about these Dopplegangers wanting to take out the originals and the fact the guy took my suit." Which left him with his old suit and the one that he could wear under clothes and Claire knows well how little protection either of them affords.

Claire Temple has posed:
"...well *shit*." That was not news that Claire wanted to hear. She hadn't seen him in the suit, because no version of Matt would use the suit in the elevator, so it's new information. She frowns deeper, taking another good sip of still slightly too hot coffee but it's a good way to buy time. "Your guy who made that one... Can he get you some emergency pieces? No matter what, you gotta tell Luke. Jess... hell, even Danny. The saving grace here is you've got some friends and he probably doesn't. But make certain they know you don't have your *stuff* and if someone is running around in it, that's not *you*. Otherwise this is going to get real complicated, real fast."