9101/Dracul Rising: The Hunt For Morlocks

Dracul Rising: The Hunt For Morlocks
Date of Scene:	15 December 2021
Location:	Brooklyn Sewers
Synopsis:	Lydia and Clarice head down into the sewers to try to find the Morlocks. Instead they find a turtle!
Cast of Characters:	Lydia Dietrich, Clarice Ferguson, Michelangelo

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Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia doesn't exactly want to go into the sewers, but necessity finds her here. She needs to find the Morlocks in order to enlist their aid in finding the Uraean Brood, and taking their fight to them. Only problem is, she doesn't know /exactly/ where the Morlocks are.

She does have a general idea though, so that brings her to this part of the sewers. She's brought Clarice along with her, since she doesn't know exactly how amenable the Morlocks would be to see a pair of surface dwellers. She's banking on them being obvious mutants to help smooth the way, but if they get into trouble, she wants a quick exit out.

"They've got to be around here somewhere," she says to Clarice as she picks her way through the tunnels. "We should hopefully be seeing signs of them soon."

For this outing she's dressed simply. A pair of hiking boots that she bought just for this that she can dispose of once this is all done and over with. Blue jeans that she doesn't care about and a t-shirt with I <3 New York emblazoned on the front.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Sewers. Great. She's been lots of places in her work for the Brotherhood - somehow, she's managed to avoid sewers, and from the look she's giving Lydia, she's decided to hold the other woman personally responsible for this afront to her nose. "Well, I certainly hope so," the magenta-hued woman agrees. She holds a flashlight in one hand, and has dressed warmly in layers - with the outermost layer being a thick waterproofed material. She even wears a pair of quality gloves - this place is filthy and she wants nothing to do with it.
    "I'm not seeing any obvious signs - but I'm not used to tracking in an environment like this."

Michelangelo has posed:
    There are other things living in the sewers than Morlocks. Other mutants, particularly, and /particularly/ Mutant Ninja Turtles. Just now, emphasis on the 'ninja' part.

    The pair of mutants is being stalked by one of those ninjas, who for once is actually keeping quiet and being stealthy instead of declaring to the entire world that he's a literal ninja turtle. He's trying to eavesdrop on enough of the conversation to figure out what they're up to. Don't the surface mutants have a whole town somewhere that they hang out in? What are these two doing down here?

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Yeah," Lydia admits. "I can't track anything by smell. I'm just... not breathing if I can help it." She doesn't have a flashlight herself. Her night vision is spectacularly good, and the light from Clarice's is enough for her to see the way.

Oblivious to the ninja that's trailing her she turns to Clarice, "Thank you for letting me drag you along on this one," she says. "I owe you a milkshake. No. /Two/ milkshakes. Maybe a home cooked dinner for you and the boys."

She shakes her head as she steps over something particularly vile. "I know they're down here somewhere," she says. "Last reports were that they were in this area."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Definitely a home cooked dinner," Clarice agrees firmly.
    "Oh," she adds, her tone quiet, but conversational. "You were right, you know - about the dragon. I gave it to Theo and I- I mean, I think it did hurt, but I think it also helped, for him to see that dad's trying. And he agreed that dad can write him some letters if he wants." Under her breath she adds in a quiet mutters, "But I'm fucking reading 'em first."
    Back on topic she adds, "I heard that too, but the reports were never too specific on the //exact// 'where.'"

Michelangelo has posed:
    The ninja doesn't show himself just yet. Because, look... /maybe/ they're /not/ looking for Ninja Turtles down here. But they're getting close to the brothers' lair, which implies they /might/ be. And doesn't he recognize one of them from TV, a while back? Some Brotherhood of Mutants thing?

    It's a shame he and /his/ brothers didn't think that one up first. But whatever. He's trailing along is the point. For a moment. But he'll pop out soon enough.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Oh?" Lydia asks, grinning. "I'm glad it helped. His father deserves not to be shut out and it's good to see Theo giving him a chance. Be careful about reading those letters," she says. "He may take it as an invasion of privacy." How do you even address letters to the Asteroid, she wonders. It's not like they're on any kind of postal delivery route. Maybe they have a physical address down on Genosha.

"Wait," she says, stopping. "I think I see something." She hurries forward and looks at one of the walls which has been tagged. "Do you think this means anything?" she asks Clarice gesturing to the graffiti. She stares at it trying to puzzle it out. "Would the Morlocks even tag the sewer walls like this?"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    In this particular case - Clarice would be hand delivering the letters. "I've already told faddah I'm going to read the first few before I deliver them. I just- I want to make sure, you know? And Pete's going to come with me to meet, and talk to faddah. And if that goes well... we might try all getting together for a coffee or something," she explains. "Just, you know, taking it a step at a time. None of us want Theo to get hurt again. But I- it'd really be nice if we could all be a family."
    She approaches the marking as Lydia points it out, training her flashlight on it, and putting on a thoughtful frown. "Well. It could be something to do with the city workers that come down here? But... I don't think so," she murmurs thoughtfully, as she studies the shape of the mark, and looks up and down the tunnel.

Michelangelo has posed:
    Oh crap! They spotted some of the graffiti! Well, that means he's going to have to leap into action.

    The turtle doesn't exactly... /leap/. But he does step out of the shadows nehind the two and says, "That's /definitely/ not a Morlock tag. For one thing, they never go to the surface to get spray paint."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods. "Okay, good. Let Theo know that you're reading them, too. Being up front and honest with him is the best way to go. Besides, if you all come together as a family unit, we can all get together and have a big family meal. I haven't done that in /ages/."

She shakes her head at the markings. "I don't know. I think the city would have something a bit more formal, you know? Like a plaque or a sign, or some kind of numbering system."

Then Mikey is there. "GWAH!" Lydia startles and /whirls/ on the turtle, crouching and hissing, eyes red and her teeth bared. First Batman and now this turtle. How do they /do/ that?

She blinks when she recognizes the turtle, though. She stands up from the crouch and fights away the instinct to *attack* and makes a show of smoothing out her jeans while she gets everything under control.

"Sorry about that," she says. "You snuck up on me." She checks to see what Clarice's response is and holds out a hand to her. "I recognize this guy," she says. "He helped out when the Golem was attacked a while back." Of course it may have been one of Mikey's brothers who did that, but she wouldn't know that there's actually *four* of them.

Turning back to the turtle, "You wouldn't happen to know where they are?" she asks. "Oh! Where are my manners. I'm Lydia."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Yeah, but when there's repairs that need to be done on sidewalks, they use these fluorescent orange mark-" Clarice doesn't cry out - but she does cut off abruptly, turning towards the voice, and the movement - with javelins charged faintly with purple energy appearing in each of her hands. She holds them at the ready, starting to move away from Lydia, so they can't both be taken out at once, her posture tense and prepared. As Lydia seems to vouch for the being, her gaze flicks to her friend, then back to Mikey with an uncertain frown. "Who're you?" she asks bluntly.

Michelangelo has posed:
    "Whoa, whoa, sorry! Chill, it's cool." Michelangelo puts up his hands to show he's not meaning to attack. "It's cool," he repeats. "I'm Michelangelo. And... I think you must've met one of my brothers? Did he have a different color bandana?" He tugs at the orange bandana around his eyes. They're color-coded, see?

    "Sorry I surprised you, I just... well, people who aren't with the city coming down here, it's weird, y'know?" He looks relaxed, himself, though his hands are still raised a bit. "You looking for something? Someone?" Oh, he overheard, but he's trying to be sure he heard right. Are they really trying to find... /Morlocks/?

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia shakes her head and chuckles, "I must admit that I was a little busy at the time to check out what color bandana he wore." She gives Mikey a curious look. "You say 'brothers'? There's three of you? What are the odds on that?"

She nods in understanding. "Under normal circumstances we'd leave well enough alone down here," she says. "But we're looking for the Morlocks. We have business to do with them, but they don't really like getting visitors from the surface."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice slowly dials it back from 'ready for a fight' to 'cautiously suspicious,' as her posture continues to relax by slow degrees. Her hands go from a position where she's clearly ready to let her javelins fly - to letting them rest loosely at her side, as she studies the turtle-like man. Hrm. "Don't suppose you could show us the way?" she asks. "Do you and your 'brothers' live with them?" she asks in a curious, but puzzled tone.

Michelangelo has posed:
    "Morlocks? Nah, we don't live with the Morlocks." Michelangelo grins, folds his arms across his front, what passes for a 'chest' on an upright turtle. "But you're going /totally/ the wrong way if you want to find the Morlocks. I can show you, but I think I'd better ask..."

    He raises his 'brows.' "What do you want with the Morlocks? 'Cause if I show you how to find them and it's not for a good reason, they'll be /mad/, and they're out neighbors. Gotta play nice, y'know?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia hesitates, trying to decide how much to tell the turtle. His brother /did/ prove himself to be one of the 'good guys' during the fight. "I'm trying to find a warren of vampires who've been... particularly active in Queens. I'm fairly certain that they've gone underground there and we want to take them out before they can hurt more innocent lives."

She tilts her head, "I know that the Morlocks know the area better than we do, so we're trying to enlist their aid in tracking them down." She chuckles, rubbing the back of her head, "I know it's a long shot, but we don't have very many other leads. Unless, of course, /you/ know where these vampires are. You can tell that they're unlike other vampires. Looks like they're beginning to grow scales."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    //Scales//?! The look Clarice abruptly shoots Lydia is a kneejerk reaction the other woman probably has little trouble reading. Is Lydia going to grow scales, now?!
    It's only a couple heartbeats before she shakes her head and dismisses the notion. No - that's ridiculous.
    "I can understand your caution," she remarks to Michelangelo instead. "But I promise you we mean neither you nor your 'neighbors' any harm. We certainly wouldn't harm other mutants - it goes against everything we stand for. I'm Clarice, by the way," she introduces herself simply - without offering Lydia's name. She would leave that up to her friend.

Michelangelo has posed:
    "Vampires, huh? And lurking in Queens?" Michelangelo nods. "Well, that's important to deal with for sure. And /I/ don't know where any vampires are... but I bet the Morlocks would."

    He thinks about it for a moment, then says, "Alright, c'mon, this way. I'll take you as far as the nearest junction." He beckons them, then turns around to go back the way they'd come. They really /were/ going the wrong way, evidently.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia catches Clarice's look out of the corner of her eyes. She gives her a silent shake of the head. No, she's not going to grow any scales.

She nods in agreement with Mikey. "Exactly. That's why we're trying to contact them. Open up negotiations so we can help each other." She looks relieved when he beckons them to follow him. "Thank you," she says. "I owe you. Is there anything we can get you since we're above ground most of the time? We can get you a milkshake when we're done."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "There's nothing quite like a Mootant Milkshake," Clarice agrees. The pair of javelins finally vanish from her hands, as Clarice apparently decides the turtle-like-man is not a threat - at least, not currently. She sticks to the edges of the tunnel they walk in - where a small stone walkway has been constructed. It's mostly dry, with the occasional worrying patch of damn. She lets out an unhappy hiss as she feels something drip from overhead, and run down one of her pointed ears - it's cold, and probably not at all sanitary.
    "Maybe we could get you better digs, somehow," she suggests in a dry tone.

Michelangelo has posed:
    "Oh, I get up to the surface. It's amazing what people think a suit can do. But I could go for a milkshake!" Michelangelo doesn't seem to mind the weird goop in the sewers--but, then, he's lived down here literally all of his life.

    "Naaah," he says, "we've got perfectly good 'digs' down here. Safe, quiet, pretty easy to pop up to the surface and get pizza. Oh, we should get pizza! There's some good places that have milkshakes too, /and/ they're used to us popping in so they don't care about mutants much."

    He takes them down a fork they'd ignored earlier, not having been marked by anything. Maybe that's part of the point, though, to keep people away from the place.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia follows dutifully, "Especially if you go up in Bushwick," she says. "You might get an odd look or two, but really, you're a mutant" (or so she assumes) "so nobody will say anything."

At the mention of pizza, Lydia shakes her head. "I don't eat pizza, unless it's vegetarian." Well. She doesn't really eat /food/, but she's still trying to keep kosher. "Even then I'll just nibble on a little of it."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I love pizza," Clarice remarks brightly. "There was a place - in Genosha," before it fell, "that made pizzas with Genoshan flavor profiles. With curries and such for sauces." Her tone's more wistful as she adds quitely, "I miss that place."
    She turns at the fork with Mikey, keeping a mental record of their path as she asks, "Your home isn't all... damp like this, is it? I mean, the stuff down here can't be good for your health."

Michelangelo has posed:
    "Ohhh, that's /awesome/! I've been trying different kinds of pizza. I made a Thanksgiving pizza this year, with gravy and turkey and stuffing on it!" Michelangelo's excitement fades a bit. "The guys didn't like it much." He perks back up. "But! Curry, that's a great idea. Curry's tomato-y, right? I bet they'd like /that/." He glances to Lydia. "Awww, well, we can just get milkshakes, it's cool." He's not going to /force/ someone to go to a pizza place. Even if he wants to.

    Clarice's question seems to confuse him. "Umm... I'm a turtle. Like... a... turtle? We're umm... what's the word? Donnie and Leo say I say it wrong. Amphidextrous? Ambphibious! Water and land both, is my point. We /like/ the damp." Another forking, with no indication or marking, again, but he seems confident in where they're going.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"To be fair," Lydia says to Clarice, "He /is/ a turtle. The damp would just slide ride off." She grins at Mike when he confirms what she just said. "Turtles are good swimmers, too," she says. "There are some that only go onto land to mate. They're about as big as Michelangelo here." She chuckles, "Okay. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but they're /huge/, and they live their whole lives in the ocean."

"Curry on pizza," she muses. "I can kind of see it, though I don't think putting any kind of cheese on it would be doing any good." She grins, "I'd eat curry pizza. I've heard shrimp scampi pizza is good, too, but I can't have shellfish."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Yeah, but the water here isn't... clean! You're going to catch something," Clarice protests. "If you want water - we can find you //better// water somewhere. This place is- okay, I probably shouldn't go around insulting your home, but- I mean... //come on//!" She insists, letting out a loud sigh as the trio continue their walk.
    "It's actually good with the cheese, Lydia," she adds with some amusement. "You have to try it to understand, I guess."

Michelangelo has posed:
    "She's right," Michelangelo indicates Lydia, "it's fine down here. I mean, we've lived down here our whole lives, it's cool! We're good."

    He thinks for a long moment as he walks, then goes, "Ohhhh, I get it. You're like... you want to help the mutants, and you think we're... like... all... sad and alone down here? Living miserably? Naaah, we're good. We've got friends and allies, we've got space, we're happy." It's not quite 'hey look we're not charity cases' but Michelangelo's not the type to say that outright.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Can't have meat and cheese at the same time," Lydia informs Clarice. "Unless they've got a veggie curry pizza." Which they probably do, to be honest.

She grins at Michelangelo, "Still. I can give you our contact number so if there's anything you need, we can provide it for you." She lets out a chuckle, "Or you can just invite us over for a pizza party."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "There were meat curry pizzas, fish curry pizzas, veggie curry pizzas... They were really good. Hopefully they make that restaurant again." Hopefully the owner or chef survived.
    Her attention shifts back to Michelangelo as she adds, "I just like to help people. I was in a bad place for a while - and people helped me. You know?" She gives a shug of her shoulders before adding, "Lydia's right, though. I mean, you're helping us - we'd be happy to help you - anytime."

Michelangelo has posed:
    "Look, if someone will try my new pizza ideas, /that/ would be a help. Do you know how hard it is to get supposedly pizza-loving turtles to try anything but a basic New York slice? Like, I'm /trying/ to expand our horizons here, learn like... the /essence/ of pizza, but these guys are just all..." Michelangelo puts on a gruff face. "'No, Mikey, that's not /pizza/.'" He returns to normal. "And then noogies."

    He grins, an easy expression on his green face. "But more contacts are always good. I'll be glad to take the number."

    He stops at another fork and gestures to the left. The tunnel gets darker down that way. Different somehow. "Straight on, take the third left. Tell them Splinter's student vouches for you and they /should/ let you in. No promises that they'll give you what you want, but..." He shrugs. "That's on you."

    A pause. "I'll wait here for you. If they try to attack, just yell or something, I should hear you. Don't want to start anything, but I'm sending you down in there, so..." Another grin. "Besides. Milkshakes!"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia grins, and pulls out her cell phone to swap numbers. "I would have come by myself," she says, "to make them less wary, but I wanted somebody who could get me out of here quick, so I brought along my best friend, here." She shoulderbumps Clarice. "She can port us out if we're in danger so you don't have to wait for us."

"The essence of pizza," she muses. "I admit, pizza was never my thing, being kosher and all. But, I would surmise that pizza is a baked crust on which you put sauce and toppings. Unless you fry it. Can you fry pizza? You'd have to fold it into a pocket. But then that'd be a calzone."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Yup. Quick evacs are what I'm good at," Clarice confirms brightly. "Amongst a few other things. Anyways, it was nice to meet you, uh... Mikey?" she guesses - based on the bit of monologue he'd just given.
    As for the talk of the nature of pizza she offers simply, "I can't cook. Never learned how, and I mostly eat out of a cafeteria now, so there isn't a need to learn. But anyways - thanks for the help. Take care of yourself and your brothers, yeah?"
    With a polite nod, the woman starts to move up the tunnel as instructed.