9421/A New Year, A New Mission

A New Year, A New Mission
Date of Scene:	01 January 2022
Location:	Martin and Jon's Suite
Synopsis:	Cael comes to Martin and Jon's residence at the Triskelion to deliver a gift to the couple. They get to talking about Martin's new mission, the impending doom coming, and their shared desire to keep Jon safe from harm during his part in the trial at hand.
Cast of Characters:	Martin Blackwood, Cael Becker

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Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin sits at the couch, a cup of tea on a tray next to a laptop and the Manifest retrieved from Elias Bouchard on the other side of the machine. He looks like he hasn't slept much and is still in the clothes from the day before.

    He clicks through something on the screen and then takes the cup of tea to give it a soft sip before reaching to the kettle on the tray and pouring himself (yet) another cup. Cream and sugar go in with it and he stirs absently. It seems he's mastered the art without even looking at what he's doing as it seems to come out just the way he is used to.

    He sips more and then clicks another tab in a list of what looks like hundreds opened on his browser. The server dedicated to his wing of the residential area must be burning overtime given how much bandwith his little laptop is using at the moment.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Outside the apartment door, Martin has a pair of visitors - Bear, without his 'service dog in training' vest, and Cael Becker, carrying a paper shopping bag like you sometimes get at reasonably fancy shops, with a non-descript cardboard box nestled into it. She's gotten more sleep than poor Martin it seems, though rarely a night passes without some manner of bad dream disturbing her sleep. She hits the chime to announce her presence, and waits leaning back on one foot - while beside her Bear wags his tail cheerfully.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin takes a moment to look at the door. That *is* his chime isn't it? He sets his tea down and moves to the door, rolling his shoulders a bit to get out any stiffness he may have from sitting as he was for a prolonged period of time.

    When he opens it he blinks in surprise. "Cael... uh... hi. Sorry, I..." he makes a face of embarrassment. "I wasn't expecting company." He looks at his state and sighs. "I look like a mess don't I?" he asks. Without waiting for an answer he gestures into the apartment. "Please, come in. Both of you. Can I get you anything? I've got some tea but we have other things. Juice, water, I can even brew some coffee if you want?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "You do," Cael agrees easily as she steps in, unsnapping Bear's leash. The pup sniffs a circle around Martin, then plops down in front of the man, tail wagging cheerfully as he gazes up at the sleep-deprived man. "I thought I might help some more with the list," and get out of her own apartment. "...maybe I should take over for a bit, while you catch a nap?" she suggests in a dry voice.
    "I'm more of a coffee person. Coffee and/or whiskey. This is for you by, the way. Well - you and Jon I guess? Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukkah, or Happy New Year, or whatever," she says in a dismissive tone, as she hefts the bag in her hand. The contents certainly aren't gift wrapped by any stretch of the imagination.
    When opened, the cardboard box will reveal a decorative tea pot in predominately shades of blue, which nests on top of a pair of tea cups. Naturally, it brews just enough tea for the two cups.
    "If you hate it, I can take it back," she remarks.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin leans down to the give the massive canine a friendly pat on the head before he takes the box. His eyes widen at the sight of the collection within. "Oh my... this is... this is lovely, Cael" he says. "I can't... I don't have... I don't have anything for you..." He swallows and then moves away to the kitchen.

    "Please... please sit. I've got most of the work I've done there..." he says, moving around and setting the teaset on the counter near the sink before he starts grabbing things to make coffee.

    As with most things of a domestic nature, he takes a great deal of pride and care in how he does it. If you can't do something right, no use in doing it at all, has been a motto of his for some time. He looks over through the break in the partition of the kitchen and says. "There's not a whole lot to go on. The list references a string of numbers. I imagine it meant something to Jon's Grandmother but to everoyn else... it's gibberish. Whatever the first item is, it's in Washington... state. Town named Bucoda. Small. Known for lumber."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "That's fine. I just - I saw it, and I know you like tea, and it's blue, and the design - it kinda reminded me of those Jewish stars?" Cael points out, "Which is maybe stupid, but- I don't know. So I bought it." Besides - you can't take your money with you, and if the world is ending in a week...
    She drops into a seat in Martin's work area, picking up the list they'd fought so hard for, and looking over the gibberish numbers with curiosity, as she tries to make sense of what they'd discovered. "I've never been to Washington," she remarks. "I've heard it's beautiful."
    Bear pads over to lie at her feet - his tail still wagging periodically though he otherwise seems almost completely limp. "Finding these things makes Jon stronger, he said?" she asks. "Do we have even a chance of retrieving any of this stuff... before the 6th?"

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    "I'm not sure... maybe?" Martin says as he sets coffee on to start brewing. "It's a matter of finding out what we're looking for really. It could be a physical item. It could be a bunch of papers. We have to figure out what it is before we can even begin to look for it." He sighs and moves around to the main seating area and sits down beside Cael on the couch.

    "I did find this..." he says, sliding his finger to one of the tabs and clicking on it. It's a review of the town on a personal tourist site. It talks mostly about the Pit of Bucoda. From the article there seems to be a large pit in the city that no one from the city seems to notice. Roads are built around it and when someone asks about it the locals stop talking and then resume as if the question wasn't positted. There is a video watching a number of people go into the pit late at night and the account says those people were never seen again. Overall the entire article reads like a creepy-pasta sort of tale. "It's the most abnormal thing in the area that I could find. It's a start at least. I'm not sure what to make of it though."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael skims the article - her eyebrows rising as she gives it a disbelieving look. She's bought into a lot of things lately - but this? //This//? She has to draw the line somewhere - does she? "This is just one of those spooky stories kids make up for the school paper, and post online, or whatever," she says in a disbelieving tone. "I mean, the video's probably just a bunch of theater kids. And what sort of... artifact could possibly come from something like this?" she asks, shaking her head.
    How did she get mixed up in a world where things like this are taken seriously?
    Bear lifts his head as Martin approaches, thumping his tail a few times, before lying his head back onto his paws, seeming to be perfectly at ease.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin gives Cael a small sympathetic smile. "I thought the same but here..." He clicks through a number of other articles from different sources. All have the same outline. There is a pit. It is ignored by the locals--even at a governmental level. But it's strange and frightening and holds a number of mysteries.

    "It's even here..." He clicks on a Google Earth page of the town. Sure enough, there is a massive pit on the digial picture near where the town's name is typed on the screen. "I think I should get a team together and focus on that while Jon and the rest of you work here. If I can get these items and give him strength to fight what you guys are against..." He refuses to speak of angels, his own faith a roadblock against interfering with them. "It's the least I can do."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael gives a nod of confirmation as she studies the Google Earth image, a frown pulling at her lips. It is a strange image - a hole, of no discernable purpose, in the center of the street in the tiny town, with the street seemingly warped to flow around it. "It's not much to go on though, is it?" she mutters quietly. There //has// to be a reasonable explination. Doesn't there? Some sort of monument that was removed? But if that were true - there'd be come sort of paper trail.
    "If I'll be of any use on this thing... I'm happy to go along. Honestly, I don't know how much use I am preparing for this fight. I'm not a theologian, I know nothing of magic, I just- I feel a bit useless, sometimes," she admits. "I've been trying to go through that data you know - from EMS, and the fire stations, and the police stations - trying to find a pattern, but other than that..."
    And she has mere days until she - potentially - falls apart again. She still doesn't understand why she was given the two weeks. Was there something important she was supposed to achieve in that time? Or had Raphael really believed she could get a handle on what happened in only two weeks time?
    Well. She'll just have to wait and see how she feels on Thursday morning.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    "You need to be here to help Jon" Martin replies. "You, at least, can point and shoot at the things, that's more than I can do given..." He shrugs weakly. "But if there is a lull in the fighting... then by all means, I'll grab you to help get a handle on it for sure."

    He gives a look to Cael. "What did you find when looking into this pattern? Each night I go out there seem to be more people than before. You'd think the tourism would die down after New Years Eve but it just seems to grow and with... well, with what you and Jon are dealing with that's... really concerning." He frowns deeply and rises to go get Cael's coffee as the maker lets out it's final puff of steam signalling the end of the drip.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well. I had to pull ridership info from subways, and ferries - and look at bus and plane info and all that - but we've got four times the visitors that we had last Christmas. There's that whole 'no room at the Inn' thing happening that's practically Biblical, leading to people camping on the streets - mostly around St. Patrick's. Crazy hippy doomsday camps with 'The End is Nigh' sandwich board bullshit - I mean, it's so cliche that it ought to be funny," but it's not. "Everything surrounded around that damned church. If it weren't so very, very illegal - I'd burn the place to the ground."
    She looks towards Martin for a moment, then lets out a sigh, and lets her gaze drop down towards Bear. "I'm gonna stay near him... Martin," she promises, hesitating over the name only slightly. She doesn't use first names much, but calling him 'Blackwood' just doesn't feel right, somehow. Not for this conversation. "As much as I can, anyways. I mean, I've promised Jon I'd have his back. I just hope- I don't know. Whatever it is that Raphael did to my head, he told me it'd expire when the invasion //begins//. So- I just don't understand why he did that. And I just hope I'm ready to cope with everything, and still... function." What if she crumples at the first sighting of an angel?

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin returns with a cup of steaming coffee. Nothing added. He sets it before her and then sits back down before reaching out and placing a hand on Cael's shoulder. "You're a strong woman, Cael" he says giving the shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I can't imagine what you went through, but I can say that if anyone can handle that sort of thing and come through the other side stronger, better, more aware, and more capable... it's you."

    He thinks on her information. "That's... that explains a lot and it helps. It really does. I can tell the crew chief to expect more calls from the area and we can know what we're looking at when there are tent cities set up in the middle of the street." He smiles a bit. "I think that burning down a church, regardless of your religion is grounds for severe punishment on a spiritual level. There are some things you just don't do. No matter how justified."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I try to be," Cael answers softly, accepting the coffee with a brief, grateful smile. She takes a sip of it - hot as it is - before she speaks again. "But everyone has their limits. I've... hell, I've practically been telling my story to anyone that'll listen. I mean - maybe that's why... Raphael did what he did? That there's someone out there that would be moved to helping by hearing it? That somehow it'll make a difference? That as awful as it was - that it'll at least mean something. That there'll be a reason I went through that shit, that was can- use it. As a tangible good, somehow." She sighs heavily. "Or maybe that if I just... tell the story enough times, it have the same hold on me wheneverything comes back."
    She frowns down at her cup, as lets out a little whine, and creeps closer to Cael, his tail thumping on the floor. "Part of me's honestly wondered if- well. If the reason I was given the 2 weeks was because there was something important I was supposed to do in that time. That I had a role to play in that time. What if I missed it? What if I failed to figure it out? Or that maybe... Maybe I wasn't expected to really //last// past that time."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin frowns for a moment and looks at the whine from Bear. "I... At the risk of coming off painfully Jewish can I give my two cents? I don't know the particulars of what you went through, I don't listen to the tapes Jon takes without permission and I haven't really asked on yours. So... I can only say based on what I know. But..." He frowns and takes up his tea, filling it again to get the warmth from the hot remains.

    He takes a sip and then gives the woman a smile. "It could be he gave you time to take the pain and turn it into a constructive weapon against the army that is coming. If there is one thing we Jews are good at, it's taking our pain and turning it into a tool. We suffer over and over and over and yet... we don't break. We continue because we know in the end, we're going to win. So we use our suffering as our banner. We use it fight. We use it to endure."

    He shrugs. "Maybe Raphael... seriously? The angel of Love and Compassion?" He shakes his head still having trouble belieiving these figures are just showing up to people Torah style. He continues. "Maybe Raphael wanted you to find a way to turn your pain into a tool or weapon when the invasion hits. Give you clarity and purpose on -why- you must fight and -why- like us... ou'll win." He smiles softly.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "That's the one," Cael agrees with a soft laugh. "Believe me, I know how ridiculous that seems." She lifts her coffee to her lips, taking another small sip of its contents as she mulls over Martin's words. "Believe me, I'd very much like that to be true. Maybe it is - but I guess it's part of my nature to see things the very worst way possible. I should get that looked at, you know?" She remarks in dry tone.
    "I mean, like I said, I'm hoping to find some... use for what I went through. I'd rather that, than..." She lets out a sigh, shaking her head as she adds softly, "It was pretty bad."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin nods. "I understand. Look, I know that Jon will be busy and might not be able to be there to talk to when this all kicks off... but..." he looks a little uncomfortable but he's putting himself out there even though they haven't been anything more than work colleagues before now. "I'll still be here if you want an ear or a couch or well... whatever, okay?" he asks.

    "I know we haven't been close and you're more friends with Jon than you are with me... but... I wouldn't mind getting to know you better. You have done good by Jon and that makes you good people in my book." He shifts a bit and sips his tea. "I guess what I'm saying is... if you need a friend during this who isn't attached to the war effort. I'll be around. Don't be a stranger. Okay?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Jon has enough on his plate without me piling more onto it," Cael remarks in her usual dry tone. She's silent a moment before adding more softly, "I appreciate that, honestly. Just... you know. Don't be too offended if I don't take you up on that too much. I don't- opening up to people isn't one of my strong suits," she admits, "but all of this has been a lot. You know?" She continues to stare down at her cup as she adds, "Jon's come to mean an awful lot to me, and he- well. He's said that he needs you - to help him stay sane through all of this." She lifts her head to give Martin a wry smile. "He told me to do whatever I can to keep you safe through all this you know."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin frowns. "That's... rather unfair of him" he says in a tone that is mildly irritated. "Here I am telling you to stick with him and keep safe and instead he's going about telling you the same thing about me. I'm not even in danger. I mean..." He frowns and shrugs. "I might be, but we don't know that and I'm likely going to have a whole SHIELD crew with me on these recovery missions."

    He scrubs a hand through his hair. "Look. I can take care of myself, but if we're on these missions together at all... I guess... I guess it can't hurt to have you watching my back. Just know that I'll be doing the same for you too. It's not going to be a one-sided thing. Okay?" He smiles to her.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Tell me one thing about any of this that's fair, Blackwood?" Cael asks flatly - but she does flash him a brief, appreciative smile. "I- thanks. I don't think getting through all this, myself, is the most important thing but- well. Doesn't mean I don't intend to, regardless." She takes another sip of her coffee, her gaze focused down towards it as she adds, "I mean to make sure that //both// of you see the otherside of this, though, one way or another. It's not exactly the sort of thing I can promise, but- well. That's my goal. If Jon is key to this, and you're key to him..." She gives a small shrug of her shoulders. Was there really anything else that needed saying?
    "I need him to be okay," she concludes in a small voice.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    "We both do" Martin says, though his gaze on Cael lingers for a bit before he sips his tea and sets the cup down. "Look. I think I have enough for a initial brief of the Bucoda location for Pe--Chief Carter.

    He nods. "Let's get to work on the second one and see what we can find out. Another set of eyes on it might be good since I'm hitting about... 36 hours of wakeness." He chuckles. "Been a rough couple of days. But we'll get through it. Always do."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "We'll take a look," Cael agrees. "...then you can get your ass into bed, Blackwood," she adds with just a hint of amusement coloring her tone. "So no more of that tea, huh?" she suggests, before turning her attention back to the list they were studying. "We'll get through it," she repeats. ...she has to believe that.