9747/We're All Fine Here Now: Redux

We're All Fine Here Now: Redux
Date of Scene:	19 January 2022
Location:	Grand Central Station
Synopsis:	Jon and Martin get a puppy! And they try to confront Cael on her feelings in the wake of Sara's hospitalization. It simply results in all three of them retreating from one another however.
Cast of Characters:	Cael Becker, Jonathan Sims, Martin Blackwood

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Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael didn't have to stay away from Grand Central Station quite as long as she'd thought - with Wade apparently not needing sleep, and utterly refusing to spend too long away from Sara. She'd insisted he go get food, a shower, and sleep - he'd appearently decided this was an invitation to do coke in the Triskelion.
    ...some things you just have to let slide.
    Now Cael was in one of the storage rooms, with items returned from various missions and patrols as she sorted out some of the items, checked their condition, and logged them back in as available supplies - ready to return them to the appropriate storage location. Bear relaxes at her feet, his head on his paws - seemingly napping. It's quiet, and calm - and Cael, to all appearances, seems //fine.// Other than the heavy bags under her eyes that indicate what a struggle sleep had been the night before.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon has two coffee cups in his hands as he comes to find Cael. Paper cups, with plastic lids, so they don't spill. One of them has a generous splash of whiskey in it, and he offers that one out as he comes into the storage room.

    "I know you're on duty," he says, "but the day's winding down, you can afford it, I think." He looks around the room, at the crates and boxes and bins, labeled and catalogued or otherwise. "At least, you /should/ be winding down. I know there's a lot yet to do, but..."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I always prefer keeping busy," Cael answers easily as she takes the coffee, and then takes a sip. She savors the taste, letting out a sigh that was all appreciation, before looking up towards Jon. "I took my emergency meds yesterday," she points out. "Before going into the mines. How much whiskey's in this?" she asks - trusting him to know if it was safe for her to drink the whole thing or not.
    Certainly she wants to.
    "Pull of a crate, take a load off," she offers. "I hope the patrols have gone well, today. And the scouting."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon shrugs. "If it was yesterday you're probably fine. The key is to not drink alcohol while you're under the influence of the drugs, or within a few hours afterward. Those substances usually have a fairly short half-life."

    Jon goes to sit down and shakes his head. "Not scouting, so much. There's a bloody /crater/ taking up a 4-block circle of Inwood. Evidently the Metatron decided to blow itself up to make a point." He shakes his head and rubs at his temples. "I've pulled back the scouting missions except to East Harlem. We need to not risk losing people."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Four blocks..." Cael breathes quietly. ...shit. "And we'd have no way of knowing if all of those buildings were... empty. Like they should have been. Did we lose any of ours?" she asks, giving Jon a worried look.
    She slips off of her chair, sitting on the floor with her back to the wall, so she can pet Bear as she sips at her coffee, her head relaxing back against the wall behind her. The wall was cold, and solid - not surprising given the era and the marble construction.
    "Do we have all the info you need - to get all the circles created? The six, uhh, points locked down with your... dirt?
    "Still can't believe you just dumped it out," she mutters quietly. This is not the first time Jon's heard this - when she'd caught a glimpse of that happening at the end of Terry's video, she'd made a remark about 'ziplock bags next time.'

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "None of ours, no, but there was a woman who knelt before the angels and... disappeared with them. I can only pray she was taken the way other faithful have been taken." Jon's tone and expression are... worried, as he's /been/ worried about all the people working with the angels.

    He sighs, takes a sip of his coffee. "We know where they are, thanks to Meggan. I still have to get in to each one, secure the site, get a sample... and, yes, I bloody dumped it out, that's not the /point/, Cael. You treat the components with reverence." A pause. "Besides, dumping it out of a ziploc bag, it might've missed the spot I was going for." He grins at her, a little.

    The grin fades after a moment, though. "Hey," he says softly, "did you... sleep at all?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "What 'raptured'?" Cael asks - with a distinctly dubious tone in her voice. Dead is dead, as far as she's concerned. And she suspects the raptured people are 'dead.'
    Though hadn't Michael claimed they'd be allowed to live again in the new world he creats? Only with less free will? Ugh.
    "You're just worried about single-use plastics. You can admit it, Jon," Cael asserts in a dry voice. She takes a sip of her coffee - and focuses down on it, and on Bear as Jon asks about her sleep. It isn't a comfortable question for her - but no doubt he knows that.
    "I slept," she offers. "I just- nightmares were a problem //before// Michael. They've just gotten worse sense." She frowns before offering quietly, "The only dream I remember is- I dreamt I was trapped in a cave-in, unable to get to Sara, and these angels just started coming through the walls - it was a bad time."
    Well. That was //almost// how she remembered the dream, but she had no intention of clarifying what she'd //actually// dreamed.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin had to get a few things before arriving in Grand Central Station. If he was adopting a dog, he was going to do it right. First thing was first. Food and crate. He didn't know what type of dog it was, only that judging by the size of its paws and the size of its mother... it was going to be a big one.

    After inquiring about where he could find Jon. He was directed one of the storage rooms where the woman was working. He stopped on the other side of the door and knocked. "Umm... could one of you get the door?" he asks from the opposite side. "I sort of have my hands full here."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon gets up to go over and give Cael a hug, crouching down on the floor beside her. He can sense she's holding something back, surely, even if he doesn't know what. But he doesn't push. Instead he says, softly, "Hey, it's okay. And it's okay that you're not okay." He kisses the top of her head. "We've talked about this. Do you think maybe this thing with Sara is--"

    Thank the gods for Martin, right? Jon looks over, then looks back at Cael, then sighs and pushes himself to his feet. "If you had something to bring to the quartermaster you could've texted ahead, Martin," he says as he walks over to open the door.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael accepts the hug - though for the moment, she doesn't return it as she simply allows her eyes to fall closed. "I'm fine. Sara's gonna be fine too. I'm just tired," she protests quietly as he opens the door for Martin. She takes a deep breath in, letting it out slowly as she lifts her gaze to greet the medic with a small, slightly crooked smile. "Hey Martin," she offers simply, one hand stroking Bear still. The pup, apparently not asleep - or perhaps wakened by Jon and Martin's arrivals - lifts his head to sniff the air, and look towards the door - letting out a quiet bark.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    "It's not for the quartermaster" Martin says as the door is opened. "In one had is a dog carrying crate; one of the medium sized one's that can carry up to forty pounds of dog. In the other, mostly resting on his shoulder is a mass of brown, grey, and black fur. It's big eyes and dopey looking face is sniffing at the air tentatively, hesitantly and squirming intensely in the stocky man's grip.

    "Hi?" he says. "Um... Happy Valentine's Day?" he sets the crate of the ground and offers the mass of fur out to Jon. "I sort of picked this up earlier tonight." It's not a big animal, but for a puppy it's -a lot- of dog and if the paws are any indactor it's going to get to be a much larger animal in short order.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon stares at the dog. /Stares/. Then turns the stare on Martin. It's an expression Cael hasn't seen much, but Martin knows all too well from when they went to university together. That expression he used to get when he was about to absolutely /rip/ into something Martin had suggested in class, and was only holding back from a string of expletives because the professor might object.

    "...Martin," he says in a too-even tone, every syllable crisp and enunciated, "what... is /this/?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    Bear is on his feet now, tail wagging. He starts to move towards Martin, then stops, looking back towards Cael - siddling closer to her and earning a laugh in response from his owner. "Yes, Bear, you can go play with the puppy," she answers him, giving him a push towards Martin. This earns another bark from the older pup in the room, who moves towards Martin now, tail wagging as furiously as it ever has.
    "What possessed you to get a dog, Martin? Did you get jealous of Bear?" she asks with some amusement from her position on the floor, a smile on her features.
    "Oh, come off it, Jon. It's //adorable// is what it is."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin, with what might be the most defiant look in his eyes that Cael's seen from him, stares at Jon and says plainly, "It's a puppy, Jon." He shakes his head at Cael. "No I didn't get jealous of Bear. I just... I saw a dog today and it just felt like it needed help, so after my shift I tracked it down and... well," he hefts the puppy.

    The dog, for its part, isn't really squirming too much. But it does offer a high pitched yip in greeting to Bear.

    Martin returns his attention to Jon. "We were talking about getting an animal and she needs a home so it just felt... serendipitous. Besides, she's cute isn't she?" he says shaking the animal in front of Jon.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "We were /talking/ about getting a /cat/, Martin! Not a /dog/!" Jon gestures toward the huge ball of fluff in Martin's arms. "/That/ is /clearly/ a Caucasian Shepherd! Do you know how /big/ they get?! Where are we going to have /room/?! A big dog like that needs exercise, a /lot/ of food... you didn't even talk to me! You didn't even /warn/ me!"

    He glowers at the animal in Martin's arms. "Don't you get too comfortable, young miss," he says, wagging a finger. "You're going /right/ back home where you belong just as soon as I'm done scolding my husband." The glower gets turned back on Martin. "I mean, where would we even /put/ a dog, here in Grand Central? Bear's a trained service animal, that's /different/!"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Those are all perfectly valid reasons to be annoyed. I gave Sara a piece of my mind for deciding Johnny Blaze could stay in our flat without asking me first," Cael remarks calmly.
    "But pups can be trained. And if you like, I can take him home to the Triskelion with me, and look after him for a bit, until all of this is... finally blows over. Maybe bring him back and forth with me, if you like. Or we can set up a kennel for him - I mean, if we can house //Redfox,// then..."
    Bear continues to look up at the pup, tail still wagging - and he lets out his loudest bark yet.
    "Besides, I think Bear likes him. You don't want to make Bear sad, do you?"

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin gives the crate a nudge with his foot. "She has a crate and a bed and I have a bunch of other things back in your office. Food, training pads, treats..." Martin says. "That's part of the problem. She doesn't have a home" Martin says. "Her," he says correcting Cael before turning back to Jon. "They were all holed up under the Queens Giant. In this weather. Veira had to ressurect one of them."

    "Just... go on" he says, all but foisting the animal onto Jon. "Just... let her smell you. See how you feel about her and see if she can change your mind. Please? She's so sweet and well mannered. She's not even trying to get out of my grasp like this." The dog did look rather docile just hanging there in Martin's hold. Her tail, a bushy J-shaped thing, did wag back and forth and she let out another high pitched yip in response to Bear's insistence.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon looks aside toward Bear. "Oh, of course /you/ want us to keep her," he grumbles. "Traitor." He flicks a look up to Cael. Evidently that's meant for her, too.

    Then, as he turns back to keep scolding Martin, he gets a faceful of dog, including some rather insistent licking. He blinks and makes a face, turning his head away. "Oh, for... would you... yes, yes, I know, you like me, you probably like /everyone/, you're a /dog/." But he finally takes the dog into his arms, pulling her back a bit to look at her rather intently.

    "Living under a tree, in the cold? You poor thing." His voice has softened, predictably enough. "Do you have a name? Because if I let Martin name you it's likely to be after some ridiculous poet of his, and we can't have /that/, now can we?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Her. Sorry. //She's// absolutely lovely, Martin," Cael replies with some amusement. Her smile grows as Jon's voice softens - and there may even be a little relief there at this development. This was a good thing - for Jon, and for Martin. They'd need it over the coming days, and weeks - and she still has such doubts of what the future holds.
    Bear continues to wag his tail furiously as he waits for the pup to be places within his reach, sniffing at Jon - but thankfully, not trying to jump up and put his massive forepaws on Jon. Thank goodness for obedience training.
    "Could always be worse. I'd probably pick a deliberately annoying name if I named her. Like I did with Redfox."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    "Actually, I was thinking something more like Lady Grey" Martin says with a smile as Jon takes the dog. "She's soft and warm and comforting and yet robust. Much like the tea." He kneels down to great the ever important Bear and a soft headpat and ruff scritch.

    "I feel quite sorry for Jan. He took home 3 of them... and he's in a hotel since his home is here on the island." He chuckles. "We all got a bit of the litter, except that young man there. He felt... strange. I don't know. He was a help for sure, but something was a bit off." He shrugs. "He seemed to think his situation wouldn't have been an improvement in safety."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Lady Grey?" Jon murmurs, looking at the puppy, who proceeds to waggle and yip and lick him again. He actually buries his face in the dog's fur for a moment, taking long breaths, and then puts her down so she can go play with Bear.

    "Be nice," he says to Bear. "You're older and bigger, so don't go pushing her around, understand?" He has the same kind of protective tone he uses for children. It seems Lady Grey is officially part of the family.

    He straightens, then, and looks to Martin. "Have you heard about Sara?" He glances toward Cael. "She's, ahh, in hospital... which is why I'd come by, actually. /Someone/ is claiming she's 'just fine.'"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I was thinking... Commander," Cael remarks in a dry tone, mischief sparkling in her eyes.
    She watches with a smile on her lips as Bear lets out one last happy bark, and then starts sniffing at the pup, tail still wagging fiercely. He tries to walk around the smaller dog, and licks him several times - before dropping down into a play posture - his chest pressed to the floor, paws splayed in front of him, and hindquarters in the air. He then springs up and starts bouncing back and forth, trying to engage the smaller puppy in a game in the limited space of the storage room.
    As Jon speaks, however, the smile on Cael's lips stiffens, then fades, tension entering her posture as she shoots Jon a glare.
    "She //will// be fine. This is.... the third time it's happened. It's something to do with that stupid Witchblade. She's gonna be alright."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    The dog, apparently now named Lady Grey, used to playing with other creatures her size seems a bit overwhelmed by the mass discrepency between her and Bear. She's excited but doens't now how to maneuver in the small space as well as the bigger dog. As such there are a lot of clumsy bounds and tumbles in the midst of their play. But she seems to be having fun all the same.

    Martin's expression turns worried. "Sara? She's hurt?" he asks. "What happened?" He looks at the size of the room and eyes the supplies outside and decides to just leave them there for now. They're safe in this place given it's a mostly military operation and not the hustle of Grand Central as usual.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I didn't mean you were claiming /Sara/ was fine. I meant you were claiming /you/ were fine. Which you are /not/. Clearly." Jon glowers at Cael for a moment, folds his arms across his chest. "I didn't push last night because we were on the phone, but you're not sleeping and I can /feel/ your anxiety halfway across the terminal."

    Okay, that's not /quite/ true. Jon's not /that/ strong of a telepath. But he still glowers at his girlfriend. "How much is Bear trying to push himself on you lately, hmm? Trying to calm you down?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "She was attacked by a fake Witchblade that wanted to... I dunno. To kill her and absorb the power of the real Witchblade, I think. They were doing some sort of magical ceremony. We stopped it, killed them, and brought her home. She's in Medical at the Trisk," Cael says succinctly, from her position still seated on the floor. She keeps her gaze on the dogs at play, as one of her hands tightens, and then relaxes repeatedly - and the other still holds her cup of coffee.
    "She's going to be fine," she insists quietly. "This is actually the //third// time something like this has happened, and she's recovered both times. She'll recover again - so what's the point in... in over-reacting."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    "But you're not..." Martin says, looking at Cael. "She's your friend and she's hurting, healing or not, that's significant." He moves around the animals currently engaged in a play battle. Bear is letting the smaller dog get the upper hand on him--because he is a good boy. "You can't just ignore your own worries just because you're certain she'll get better. Complancency is a very dangerous emotion... even for those who can tank the heaviest of hits."

    He moves and gives the woman a soft smile. "You can't just bottle this stuff up" he says, placing a hand on her arm comfortingly. "Tell your friends or those you care about what you're feeling. It's what we're here for." He seems to count himself in one of those categories, if not both.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon sighs and moves to crouch back down on the floor next to Cael, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in close, if she'll let him. "Martin's right. Which, of course he is, because he's just relaying what I've been telling him over and over for years. You're worried. It's okay to be worried. It's okay to be scared. /I'm/ worried and scared, and she's not my roommate and best friend."

    He hesitates, then adds, softly, "Besides... this seems awfully like other things you're... currently worried about, you know? It's... it's bound to be... reminding you." Of the fact that Jon himself will be in trouble, soon.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael refuses to meet the eyes of either of the men as they move closer to her - and indeed, she considers the wisdom of simply //leaving// - but then Matin's arm is on her shoulder and Jon is pulling her in for a hug, her posture stiff and her breath becoming increasingly unsteady until she's abruptly crying into Jon's shoulder, tears running quietly down her cheeks, accompanied only by the sounds of her uneven breathing.
    Everyone she loves dies.
    "I did- I did what I could," she manages. "It's no good - there's no point in... in..." panicking.
    Bear, who was gently nipping at Lady Grey's toes stops abruptly, and turns his head towards Cael, his floppy ears cocked towards her. He starts belly-crawling over towards her - harrassed along the way by the smaller pup, though he doesn't seem to mind her antics.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin frowns as Cael starts crying. He offers his own comforting squeeze on her shoulder before leaving Jon to the physical deed of consolation. "Panicking no, but worry is perfectly acceptable, Cael" he says dropping down next the the other two and drawing the mass of fur of Lady Grey into his lap.

    The pup, struggles to go after Bear for a bit before seeming to find Martin's lap comfortable enough to curl into. It's not long before the puppy is snoring. "What you have to be able to do is... accept the worry and move forward with it. It's hard, I know... but... I think you're more than strong enough."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon rubs Cael's arm gently, holding her close as she cries. "She'll be fine," he murmurs. "I'm going to go look at her as soon as I can, see if there's anything I can do to help. And you said this has happened before... so she should be okay." His tone is reassuring. Comforting.

    "Have you talked to Caldwell yet?" Typical Jon response--talk to the therapist! But, then... that's what she's /there/ for, right? For Cael to be able to process this stuff, deal with it, in healthier ways than just bottling it all up.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Tomorrow," Cael answers Jon's question. She has an appointment with Caldwell tomorrow. She tries to rein her tears back in, exasperated with herself as she can feel Jon rubbing at her arm, and Bear nuzzling his way to insert his head inbetween the pair, in an attempt at doing //his// part to calm Cael.
    "What's the point?" she asks quietly. "What's the point of worry? I already did what I could..." So what's the purpose of worrying? She already has enough anxiety eating at her.
    "She'll be fine..." she repeats again, echoing Jon this time, and not seeming to pay any attention to Martin, as he pulls the younger pup into his lap.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin is no therapist. That's Jon's area of expertise. He can be a pair of ears though. So he sits patiently and listens to Jon and Cael as they converse. He's slowly coming to grips with his own emotions about Jon's soon to be demise. He's had a few cries about it, but maybe getting the puppy was part of his own coping mechanism. He knows Jon will be back. He -has- to believe that. But the fact that Jon was going to die--that alone was enough to wrench at his gut. He tightens his grip on the mass of fur in his lap, not enough to wake the pup, but enough to make him feel safe.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I mean... the /point/ of fear--which is all that worry is, low-level fear--is to prime your body to handle danger. It's a perfectly reasonable evolutionary mechanism in the sorts of environments we evolved in response to. But here...? There may not be a /point/ to worrying, no. There often isn't a /point/ to our emotions."

    Jon sighs and leans over to rest his head on Cael's, shifting a bit to let Bear into her lap. "Just because there isn't a /point/ doesn't mean you're not... feeling it, though. It's usually best to... let yourself experience the emotion, acknowledge it, and /then/ let it go. It's okay that you're worried. It's okay that you're scared. And right here, it's okay to let that out."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael lets out a quiet groan as Jon betweens to exposite on the evolutionary advantages of fear. God, he's such a-
    With one hand still holding her coffe, she lets her other hand fall on Bear's fur - working her fingers into the long strands while the pup leans heavily into her. "I'm just so tired. I'm tired of being afraid. I'm tired of worrying. There's a constant... knot in my chest, so what's one more thing?" she asks - bitterness tinging her voice.
    "Even if we win this thing... we're not all making it out the other side. We're going to lose someone." And they just won't know who until it happens.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    "Says who?" Martin asks, his expression suddenly frustrated. "Who says we have to lose someone special to us? Sure, people die in wars... but... but they don't have to be our people?" He shifts in place on the ground. "It doesn't have to be our grief that calls out."

    He shakes his head. Knowing that they've already lost a number of agents. Good men and women who died for this war. But it wasn't in their midst. It was on their periphery. Not -their- grief. "I just... I disagree. I think we can all make it out of this... maybe not the same. But we will be whole and that's what matters." Tears stand in his eyes, his own emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "People have already died," Jon says softly. "Martin's right, in a way... it doesn't have to be /our/ people. But it was... /someone's/ people." He frowns at the floor, eyes going distant. Not frustrated or worried. The expression of a man staring down the barrel of a gun and trying to figure out what to do about the situation.

    "I wish I knew how to help," he says almost in a whisper, after a moment. "Both of you. I wish... I knew what to say." Because he can't really promise to be /whole/, just to be... himself. Probably, hopefully. "All I can do is promise to help Sara however I can."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "That's not... how it ever works for me," Cael admits quietly. "I'm never that lucky. I-" Cael lets out another shakey breath, struggling with the words as she holds tightly to Bear's fur, and leans into Jon's shoulder. "I didn't let myself care... for years. I finally let people in, and-" This is what happens.
    "I'm scared. And I'm tired of being scared. And I don't think anything can be done about it."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin frowns. "Running from caring only hurts you more... in the end" he says softly. "I get why... or well, I don't, not really. Not for you. But I get why people do it. But..." He shakes his head. "It's not a long term solution. Not really."

    He gingerly moves the puppy aside and then moves in to wrap his own arms around Cael and Jon (and Bear) or at least as much as he can. "I just... you don't have to isolate yourself. Let others carry the fear with you. You're not alone anymore. Heh. I don't think you ever truly were to begin with. I just mean... everyone can carry some of the load. It's just up to you to let us help where we can."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I'm scared all the time," Jon admits quietly. "Scared of losing people, scared of people pushing me away, scared of... being hurt for being /myself/. And now, scared of dying. Why do you think I'm trying to figure out how to... to get people to come down and help me in the Underworld? Not so much to not be alone, but just... if I just sit there and don't plan /anything/ I'll just be... consumed by fear."

    He sighs. "Eventually you just have to... figure out how to get up and keep going. Not let it paralyze you. I know that's harder than it sounds."

Cael Becker has posed:
    No doubt Jon can feel it - the way that fear, that knot in her chest, only increases as Martin moves in to wrap arms around them. The thought that here was someone else she was coming to care about - that //mattered// in her life, even if it was still largely because of his importance to Jon.
    Years of pain and isolation scream at her to leave - to escape this situation, and the pain she's so certain it promises - but though she grows tense, and stiff, she remains where she is. "This is hard," she admits softly.
    She takes a few, deep breaths in, letting them out slowly before she adds, "If you just tell me how - I'll come for you." And if that ends up costing her her life?
    Then oh well.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin blinks at Cael and steps away from the pair. "Umm... is that... is that possible?" he asks his husband. "I mean. I know you plan on subverting it... but are people supposed to come for you down there?" he asks.

    He wasn't certain if he could do that or not. Maybe? It was certainly possile... enough people had travelled to the Underworld. But Du'at was different... wasn't it? Could he help get his husband back from that land of the dead?

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon looks over at Martin, across Cael, and frowns, shakes his head. "I need /you/ to stay /here/. To anchor me, and to stay with Agnes. Alright? You... you should be dead anyway. I don't want to risk..."

    He looks away, guiltily. He doesn't want to risk Martin going down there and not coming back.

    He sighs. "Phoebe and Lydia are the ones trying to figure it out. Phoebe knows of a gate... but... but I think maybe you should have more... I don't know, a way to fight things, or... or..."

    He stops, because he's going to start crying if he doesn't. The fear from the two of them is overwhelming him, and /he's/ the one that's dying, after all. "We'll figure it out, okay? We'll... we'll figure it out. Just... just... we'll figure it out. Can... can we just... umm... sorry, umm... h-how... I wanted to help... Sara. I'll... I'll try to help wake up Sara, and then that won't be... worrying you."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Martin backs off and - right or wrong - it eases some of the terror in Cael's chest.
    It really is hard letting people in.
    "Sara'll be alright. //I'll// be alright. It's just- it's all so hard. This is why I don't like to-" To think about her feelings. To share them. To allow herself to feel.
    She takes deep, slow breaths as she tries to shove the fear back out of her thoughts. "I'll be alright," she repeats quietly. I'm fine. I... will be fine." Repeat it enough times and it'll become true, right? That's what she hopes anyways.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin presses his lips into a tight line but he relents and doesn't argue. He can tell that Jon is not handling this response from either of them well at all. He wants to let them both know that ti'll be okay, but even he is having doubts these days. War wears down even the strongest of stones with enough time.

    He lets out a long sigh and rises. "When was the last time either of you got some real food? Honest food?" he asks, dusting off his trousers and eying the sleeping dog. He feels they all could do with some of that as well, but he understands there is still work to do before any of them can take a true and honest break.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Talk to Caldwell about it," Jon says softly. "Please. I just... I need you both to take care of yourselves. I need you to be okay." He squeezes Cael tight for a moment and then begins to pull away, unwrapping himself and standing, slowly.

    "I don't... if you think food will help? I should maybe get to sleep early, so I can get over to the Trisk and see what I can do about Sara." That will fix this problem with Cael, right? So, thus, that's where he's focused.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Jon pulls away - and Cael starts to relax a little bit more. She takes sip of her cooling coffe, then sets it aside so she can wrap both arms tightly around Bear. "I've been broken for years, Jon. We're not going to just fix that overnight, but... yeah. Sure." She will //try// to get better.
    "I eat in the Shield cafeteria pretty often," she reminds Martin. Daily, really, and they provide pretty healthy food choices there.
    "So. You guys plan to keep Lady Grey here with you?" she asks simply, changing the topic abruptly to safer ground.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin frowns for a moment but then nods. "At least until we have a more stable plan. I bought a bunch of pet stuff in Queens before coming over. Most of it is in the office." He hefts the dog, who apparently sleeps like a rock and moves her into the crate.

    "For now... it'll be easier to take care of her while here and go out with her--except on missions, of course." He pauses and wonders what to do about these formative weeks. Maybe he can request to stay at Grand Central for a while just to ensure she isn't left alone for too long.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon flinches at 'broken for years.' He opens his mouth to say something, but then they're changing the subject and he just nods quietly.

    "I'm here most of the time, and if I'm not... well... you are. I can keep an eye on her, I suppose. Though socialization is important; we should be certain she sees others. But it'll work out, I'm sure."

    He looks between the two of them. "Do... do you need anything else? I should..." He gestures, vaguely, at the door. He's withdrawing, and he knows that, and he knows he shouldn't, but it's hard to be honest when it just makes the people around him afraid.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "And if things ever get to a point where you need to send her away for a bit - I'll take her to the Trisk and look after her until that changes," Cael offers simply, with her attention still largely focused on the dog that's crawled into her lap. "I think it's good, though. Having a dog is good. She'll... I bet it'll be good for both of you."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin nods. "I know. There's options." He wants to fix this situation so badly, but there's just not the resources to deal with it. Not here and not now. It bothers him. "I'm going to go see if I can show her her temporary home and get some food in her" he says.

    He knows it's a lame excuse but right now none of them are in a position to help the others and what Martin does in that situation... is disappear.