7982/Aftermath: The Defurring

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Aftermath: The Defurring
Date of Scene: 25 September 2021
Location: Central Nexus
Synopsis: When Rahne gets out of the medbay, she and Clarice discuss what needs to be done next. Both get duties, and neither is happy with what needs to be done.
Cast of Characters: Rahne Sinclair, Clarice Ferguson




Rahne Sinclair has posed:
When Rahne emerged from medbay this time, she'd shaven her head. She knew that Clarice was going to be super busy, what with Magneto having had to step in on this one, Mystique not being ready to take over yet, and a thousand issues to be handled.

She knew that she'd likely be on her own for a bit. That's okay, she absolutely was going to be alright on her own. She felt good, the doctor knew her stuff.

Yep. Totally fine. Super.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Yes, Clarice was a little busy. She had been ignoring her burns - but they were now tended to. She'd had to talk to Lydia. She'd had to check in on the boys and give them a more specific update than 'fire thumbs up' or 'sad face bandaid.' She's actually standing just outside the medbay herself, having only just sent the boys on their way with the promise that she'll send for them as soon as Raven can tolerate visitors, and is just turning back towards the medbay to go back in when she's abruptly face to face with Rahne.
    She's out of her armor now, with a simple t-shirt on over the bandages that mostly cover her left arm, and she wears a tired expression that quickly melts into a smile at the sight of Rahne, who she greets with a one armed hug, wrappin her right arm around her.
    "Hey," she murmurs quietly. "You okay?"

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne was not expecting that. She knows that she's low priority compared to major issues, so having the boss just waiting around - unexpected. She blinks, she looks up. She turns into Clarice, wrapping her arms around the magenta woman with all her might.

"Mmf," she says into Clarice's collarbone, which she inhales the scent of and allows her eyes to close. The scent makes her relax, something she's needed badly. "Ah will be," she murmurs, allowing herself breath enough to speak. "Et was a lot."

It was. There are times when you just need to hear the right heartbeat to let you know the world's okay. Then sh eleans back enough to see, and smiles. "How be ye, hon?" Not Theo. Not sadface bandaid. You.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I'm still angry," Clarice admits quietly. "And I still need to speak to Li Hu," the poor man. "I'm alright, though. You're here." And that's the most important thing.
    Well, that and Theo, but she'd already let him know things were fine. Mostly.
    "I wanted to tear all of them apart. What if they run back into the arms off this... Bianyi Jingcha? What if they hurt more mutants? We let them go..."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
"We didnae let them go," Rahne says softly. "We told them we were watchin'. An' we are, now. Th' whole world be watching." She knows that China would like to have covered it up. She also knows that that is impossible. If she has to shout it herself, people will know.

"Ah dinnae doubt tha' the scientists will all quietly vanish, startin' today. An' not so they can be used tae make more fun happy holes en th' ground. They fucked up, an' someone has tae pay for thet."

She wouldn't like to be in their shoes.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "You're probably right. I just-" Clarice lets out a sigh, and remains tucked tightly against Rahne. It would have felt so //satisfying// to tear them apart for what they had done. "This has been going on for forty years or more. How many people have died there? How could we not have known?" she asks.
    "We still need to follow up on all of this - check their other bases. Destroy them all, if I have any say in it."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne stops squeezing so tightly. Clarice is tough, but she's got silly things like cartilage and a need to breathe. Not going anywhere, she nods.

Then, sighs. "Ye be not wrong." She has thoughts, and doesn't really want to bring them up. But, you know. Probably should. "Seen thes before though. Th' country will need tae get back face. So they'll do somethin, ah dinnae what. We need tae be ready for et."

Then she reaches up, and touches Clarice's nosetip. "But we also need tae move, an' deal wi' th' other locations. Before they can make 'em vanish forever. Th' other mutants are in more danger nor ever, right now. Because o' us."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice wrinkles up her nose at the touch - amusement flicking across her features for a moment, before her expression settles back into more serious lines. "You're not wrong. We need to be planning the rest of these attacks - take out the rest of the buildings in quick succession." But if they spread their forces too thin, they leave themselves at risk. It's a balancing act.
    Her gaze goes back to the door to the medbay as she adds quietly, "I really hate seeing Raven that way. It just doesn't seem natural."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne's shaven head lets her run her fingers over the top, kind of silly how it feels but she did it herself, and it's already showing stubble. Minutes after doing so, it is so weird that way. She doesn't have anything to say, so she doesn't say anything. That's her way. Rahne Sinclair doesn't need to fill space with nothing. Though she does kind of like knowing that...

"She's home," she says, letting that be enough.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "She's home," Clarice agrees. "And she'll be alright." Won't she? Jasmine came. Jasmine wouldn't let Raven die, not now that they have her home again. Right?
    "I'm not ready to run this place, Rahne," she murmurs quietly. "I still have so much to learn..."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
"We could...run away," Rahne says, hesitating. "I want tae run away. So much." She realizes that's what she was doing, when she left the mansion. Running. It was time to start proper X-men training, and she ran. She looks at the door, leading to the shuttles. She's only used them one time, and was unconscious at the time, but it's still a symbol.

Coward, her wolf tells her. You're not worthy of your powers.

"I don't want tae have te read last rites for another group o' people. Ah'm not even a priest."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice shakes her head. "This is my home. This is my family," she murmurs quietly. "These people saved me from darkness." And she could never turn her back on them, no matter how frightened she feels. "Raven believes in me." She just needs to believe in herself, right?
    She plants a kiss on Rahne's head - a hint of a smile ghosting across her lips for a moment at the feel of that stubble. "Why'd you shave it all off?" she asks.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Changing the subject. Rahne accepts that, and smiles at the feel of a hand on her skull. "Kinda felt like startin' over," she says, rubbing against Clarice's hand. "M' hair grows like crazy anyway, an' it was easier nor de-radiating all o' et."

She has more, but the rest is harder. "An...ah felt...ah dinnae know. Dirty."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Why?" Clarice answers quietly. "Rahne... We saved lives today. We saves sixty mutants from lives of slavery and oppression." Her hand moves so she can lift Rahne's chin just enough to look into her eyes. "We can't save them all. And trying to would just- we'd lose our own people. We did what we could - what we //had// to."
    And Rahne had the far less bloody of the two jobs...

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
And Rahne is by far the weaker of the two girls. She looks up at Clarice's eyes, but she drops her gaze again. She doesn't know what to say. So she doesn't answer, though not for lack of trying. Not until she's got a grip on what she's thinking.

"Ah'm nae built for this," she says softly. "Th' New Mutants always treated me like a little girl, na'er an adult. Maybe they were right."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice lets out a quiet sigh, and pulls Rahne close to her again, remaining silent for a while. Finally she offers in a quiet voice, "If you don't want to go on missions, you don't have to. There are other ways to contribute.
    "But you are not a little girl, Rahne Sinclair. It's just- it's okay if you're not like me. It's good if you're not."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne doesn't know what she wants. She doesn't know what she wants to say. So, as she was told once by a very good friend, when you can't say anything, say that.

"Ah dinnae know m'self right now." That, at least, Clarice will surely understand. "Things hae changed so much lately. Most for th' good. Not all. Ah do not know what ah want anymore. except, ah want you tae be there when ah come home."

There. It's all out.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I don't plan on going anywhere," Clarice promises, without relinquishing her hold on the other woman. "And you know I need you just as much as you need me."
    A wry smile crosses her lips as she adds, "I don't know how Raven and I ended up with you and Lydia. I imagine Lydia won't be going on anymore missions for a while either."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
"Ah know we need tae work fast, so ah'm gonnae push it all down inside," Rahne says firmly. "Got tae save them, got tae do what needs doin'. But after, Clary, ah really need therapy sessions." Teach by example, be willing to get better. Please, clarice, take the hint.

"Like, a lot."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "We can use the help," Clarice admits, still holding to Rahne. "There's a lot of work ahead of us. But I won't trade you, for them. Whether it's right or not - I need //you//. You're sure you'll be alright?" she asks seriously.
    "You're sure you're ready to go out in the field again?"

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
"No. Ah'm really not." Rahne knows that she's already screwed up, she doubts she'll sleep without seeing the irradiated bodies, the faces of the dead. "We need tae get it done anyway. First aid training 101. First, save th' lives. THEN ye can throw up y'self." She pulls back from the hug, but takes Clarice's hand. And smiles. "Ah threw up a little early in th' medbay, but ah take it as a deposit."

her hair is visibly longer, even after this short a time. Wow. Mutants are weird.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I worry about you," Clarice admits, running a hand over Rahne's cheek as she studies the other mutant. "I don't want you hurt by this - I hate asking you to do something that hurts you. We could call in more help from the X-Men instead... maybe even the Avengers, and the Justice League will help - when we show them what's going on. There are other options," she assures Rahne.
    "You don't have to."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne spreads her free hand, waving it at the air. "Should hae done that th' first time," she says, grinning exasperatedly. "Why we'd keep somethin' this important in-house is beyond me. Tha, was th' Professor's biggest weakness, hon. Dinnae do it his way."

She lifts Clarice's hand to her lips, then kisses the fingers. One at a time. "We can do better, d'ye ken me?" She completely bypassed the 'you don't have to'. She does have to. But soon it'll stop, and then...oh, so many naps.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Well. I didn't want to risk tipping them off to how much we knew. We couldn't risk letting them know who they had, if they didn't know already. We couldn't risk exposing to the world that the Brotherhood was vulnerable, with the boss missing in action," Clarice explains. "We had to keep it contained, and strike quickly.
    "But it's out of the bad, now," she explains simply. "Now we bring them in. We need all the help we can get, there's lives on the line." She rubs at her face before she adds, "Which probably means I have to go making all these calls - reach out to any allies and friends." Her day isn't over by half.
    "...Li Hu deserves to know what happened to his son. I tried to offer him freedom. A chance to change his ways, but- he can't. He's too far gone to ever turn back, trying to would destroy him. He ordered his own mother's execution. He's still out there, but he's lost. He's never coming home."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne listens. It's her go-to, and she tries desperately to hear what Clarice is saying, instead of what she thinks that she's going to say. That's hard to do. And what she's saying makes sense.

"Yeah. Tha' makes a lot o' sense. If ye need me tae talk to anyone, you know ah'm here."

Then she hears the rest, and weeps for that old man's heart. She knows that he won't last long afterward. And, she did just offer.

"Ah'll tell him. Then, we'll talk." One thing that Clarice won't have to do.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Thank you," Clarice replies, sadly, but sincerely. "Remind him that he has a place here for as long as he would like it - and that we're all very sorry for what he's lost. That we're doing everything we can to make sure it never happens to anyone else again." She squeezes Rahne's hand gratefully, while giving her a small, sympathetic smile.
    She knows she just asked for a lot - but Rahne'll be better at this than she ever could.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne smiles a little bit less, but the hand holding Clarice's helps. There's no way to say it, but as she'd heard from someone long ago, someone cruel...when you don't know what to say, say that.

So she lets go of the hand, and turns to go find Li Hu. Because she has no idea what to say, and he deserves better. After all, not being good enough is what she does best.

The trick is, try anyway.