9797/Clarice's Bad News

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Clarice's Bad News
Date of Scene: 24 January 2022
Location: Clarice Ferguson's Quarters
Synopsis: Clarice lets her family know that Rahne is missing - presumed dead. Her family attempts to console and reassure her.
Cast of Characters: Clarice Ferguson, Lydia Dietrich, Raven Darkholme




Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    After her visit with Sims, Clarice retreated to the one place on the planet where she finds the most peace - her island.
    Of course, it hadn't been quiet enough to calm as she cried, and screamed, and reduced one of the trees to a splintered pile of smoothly cut wood - all befoe sending out a series of desperate texts - none of which are answered. 'I need to know if your alive.' 'I'm not mad.' 'Are you okay?' 'Please answer me, Rahne.' 'I love you.'
    She sits staring at her phone, praying desperately for a response - but nothing comes. Finally, she forces herself to text her family instead. 'Need to talk. My quarters.'
    She breathes deeply and slowly, regaining some sort of composure and control over her emotions - before she opens a portal into her bedroom, and steps out into the living room of the quarters she shares with her two brothers, her features a blank, empty mask.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia has been working nearly nonstop on her ritual to seal the gate to Gaea at Grand Central Station. The clock was ticking and she needed to finish this before Michael manages to open the gate up. If he did, then it would be game over and reality as they knew it would be dismantled into its constituent stuff and recycled into a new universe.

No pressure.

But when her sister sends an urgent text to talk, she drops everything and comes back to the Asteroid. 'BRT' she responds. 'Ritz will drop me off there.' After a brief text to the teleport her, she appears in Clarice's room, stepping out of the portal with a concerned look on her face. "Is everything all right?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Since returning to school after the holiday break, Theo had been devoted to making this is last year of school. He was doubled up on classes, thus he was later getting home most days. Today was not one of those days. The text came and he left classes early to ensure he'd be back to the Asteroid.

Pete on the other hand had been pretty much locked in the room. Leaving it means all those voices out there on the asteroid in his head, so he just didn't go anywhere for now. He didn't mind. He read, listened to music, played with the guinea pigs, and kept everything clean.

Mystique checked her phone regularly, due to it constantly vibrating over something being shared. When she got the text from Clarice, she passed off the current problem regarding the situation on the asteroid and headed to the magenta mutant's room.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "No," Clarice answers Lydia bluntly. "I don't think it is. But I'd really prefer to tell this only once, so..." She'll wait for all her family to arrive. She drops onto the couch, pulling one leg up, and wrapping both of her arms around it as she waits, her cheek resting on her knee. She wills her phone to chime - to tell her that Rahne had answered her desperate messages.
    It remains silent.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods and moves to the couch to sit down next to Clarice. She wraps an arm around her sister and gives her a hug. "Whatever it is," she says, "We're here for you."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
When Theo comes in, he can see immediately that something is wrong, so he goes to Clarice and hugs her.

"What's going on?" He asks quietly, looking up to Lydia, then over to Pete as he comes in from their shared bedroom.

Pete has gotten better at not instantly reading people's minds, but the quiet background that all mind cause is always there, thus avoiding large crowds save for more training. The emotions however, there's never blocking those, there is only concealing that he can feel what others are feeling. Seeing Clairce, there was no need to conceal being concerned.

Being called, Mystique just slips into the room and takes a look around. The mood in the room stuck her in the chest, which sent her over to Clarice and rest a hand on her shoulder.

"What's going on?" she asks quietly.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I think Rahne's gone," Clarice says bluntly when they're all there, as she leans into Lydia's cold presence. "She hasn't answered my texts in two days, so I went to Sims, to see if there'd been any reports..."
    She takes a deep breath in, letting it out slowly as she adds, "Rahne was with a bunch of refugees trying to leave the Inwood neighborhood. Angels started to intercept them. Rahne went towards the angels to intercept them. The angels stopped - but then suddenly 'turned on her.' There's no blood, no body... She was just gone. Sims' people haven't been able to find her, and that place is a crater for four city blocks.
    "Rahne's gone."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia listens, her scowl deepening as Clarice explains. "My god," she breathes. "I'm so sorry. I... don't understand why the angels would attack refugees, but Rahne did a brave thing standing up to them." She squeezes Clarice to be as comforting as she can. "I can.... I can try to divine where she is if..." she hates saying this, "if she's not dead."

She isn't sure she wants to give Clarice false hope, though Lydia isn't entirely sure it /is/ false hope. Making somebody disappear isn't the angel's M.O. Neither is accosting refugees. Something about this doesn't sit right with her.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Theo blinks a few times. He's been hearing all the talk and rumors about Manhattan, but the finer details are lost him, The thing that stick, Rahne being gone. He hugs Clarice a little tighter.

"Lack of a body doesn't mean dead or gone," Pete states quickly. There was always a chance, no matter how small, that Rahne got out of the way.

Mystique frowns as she says, "I'll track her phone. If it's still in one piece, it's likely she made it out... but that doesn't mean..." She leans down and hugs Clarice, around Theo.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "...you can do that?" Clarice asks Lydia quietly, her gaze flicking towards her sister for a moment, before the tears start to leak from her eyes again. "Maybe her phone was destroyed. Maybe she lost it. Maybe that's why she's not-" Could she still be alive? Was it really possible?
    "I was- I'm planning on going to Inwood myself - looking. And then- and then to that church. I have to at least look..."
    She starts to cry in earnest, surrounded by her family, and leaning heavily into their support. Why was this happening? Why did Rahne have to go there - alone?

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"That assumes it's in a trackable place," Lydia observes. "She might be on a different plane altogether. It'll be harder to divine her location if that's the case, but it's not impossible. I'll just have to take that into consideration."

She nods to Clarice. "It wouldn't be the first time I've divined somebody's location. I'll need something of hers, the more personal the better, and some supplies from Grand Central Station, and a bit of time."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Theo has no words, he just hugs his sister and listens. False hope would be a horrible thing, he didn't want to give that, but at the same time hope was a good thing, to hope she was out there and not just gone.

"Anything I can do to help?" He finally asks. "I have a tuft of her fur, would that work?" He will /not/ explain where he got that or why he saved it.

Pete glances to Lydia, "I could try sensing for her mind, though I'd need to be pretty close do to that." Then he hmms softly and steps back, trying to think hard on something he could do because he wasn't ready to just say Rahne was gone.

Stepping back from the hug, Mystique glances to Lydia for a moment. She didn't want to say the obvious thing, that would be back seat girlfriending, but it needed to be said. "You sure you can take the time to do that? I know what you're working on," she comments. "Let me see if her phone is still in one piece before you volunteer to run off an yet another mission you don't actually have time for. What you're dong right now, way more important, I'm sorry to say it, I hate saying it, but you have to finish that seal."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Pete can no doubt feel it - the way her hope rises at the thought of Lydia finding an answer. Even if it confirms what she already believes - she'd know. She'd know.
    Only to have that hope crash into an ache at Mystique's response. She was right, of course. The world - all of reality - was more important than her and Rahne. She remains wordless for the moment, simply crying, and sandwiched between Theo and Lydia.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia scowls at Mystique. "But I can't just let Clarice sit there and wonder if Rahne is gone," she says, looking helpless. She knows Mystique is right but still... "Family is important, too."

"There are times when I need a break from the rite, so I work on other things. Spend an hour on my book, work on a side project to Phoebe. I could work on this instead of those things when I need to step back for a bit. I'm trying to make sure I don't burn out before the rite is done." She turns to Theo, "If I could get that tuft of fur when I'm ready to cast the spell."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Theo reaches out with his hand and the tuft appears in his hand. It's not large, but it has a purple string around it and is in a small plastic bag. He still has no intentions of explaining. As he goes to offer it, Pete takes it in hand for a moment before the older boy looks Lydia over.

Neither of them knew much of what was going on, but if Mystique was speaking up against the idea, then clearly there was something far more serious going on. He knew what the cobalt mutant felt for Clarice, and for Rahne for that matter, he also knew that saying it had made Mystique angry at herself.

Mystique just offers Pete a nod, anything else would definitely be backseat girlfriending. If Lydia felt she had time to add one more thing, even as the cost of her own health and strength, Mystique knew nothing she said would change that.

Pete chews at his bottom lip, then he offers the little bag with the tuft in it to Lydia.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Well," Clarice finally manages to get out, as the others around her try to make plans to help - hopefully not at the cost of the defense of the planet. "I- I still plan to go to that church. See if they'll give me answers." She tries to wipe the tears from her eyes, but they just well up again instantly.
    "...I hate these fucking angels."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia sees the concern in both Mystique and Pete's eyes and she tries to ease their worry. "I'm not going to be adding any more time off than I'm already taking," she says. "I'm just shifting around what I'm doing during those breaks. That and I need to do this for my own peace of mind. If I don't I'll be distracted worrying about Rahne, and worried for Clarice."

She shakes her head at Clarice, "It's not entirely their fault, for the most part. The ones with sentience are driven to follow Michael, so even if they think this whole thing is wrong, the /can't/ disobey him. But the ones who are all for it? Fuck 'em." Lydia sure has been swearing a lot lately.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Theo frowns deeply and says very bluntly. "No, you aren't going. They're the enemy, you don't go walking into enemy headquarters."

Pete opens his mouth and closes it again. He would have said it a little more nicely, but Theo said what he was thinking.

Folding her arms across her chest, Mystique takes a slow, deep breath. Tactically speaking, it was a bad idea. There were no answers that the angels would give, period. They were blindly following the level of above them in the rank of the order, which lead up to Michael.

"If you're going, I'm going," she finally says. Bad ideas are always best when piled on, right?

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I have to have answers, Theo. I have to know. If there's any chance they're at the church..." Then she has to go.
    Clarice tries again to wipe away her tears, as the flood slowly begins to receed.
    "I'll be careful, though. And- I can blink out if they get hostile. I've faced them before..."
    She turns her head towards Mystique next - giving a wordless nod, and accepting Mystique's help. If she wanted to come... Though she wasn't sure if it would really make them any safer.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"I want to come, but I don't think I can risk myself like that," Lydia says, sounding disappointed. "Not after the last time when I nearly met my final death. We can't afford for that to happen." Her lips press together in frustration, "If there's anything else I can do, just... just let me know."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Theo frowns even more, then just nods and glares at the wall. Now was not the time. If the universe made it and survived, /then/ he'd have another talk about all this, but not now. Pete watches Theo, which pulls Theo's eyes off the wall and the two have one of those private conversations and Theo sighs with another nod.

"Is there anything Theo and I can do to help?" Pete then asks, making certain he was the one to speak and not Theo, cause the tone would come out from from his younger brother right now.

Mystique steps over now and slides her arm around Lydia, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. "And that's why I'm going, so you don't have to. I may not be magical, but I can still be a second voice, more guns, and try to help where I can," she pauses to kiss Lydia's cheek again. "You can't do everything love, that's where family comes in to help."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Sims wanted me to bring you," Clarice admits quietly. "But I told him I wouldn't." Lydia couldn't be risked right now - no matter how much each of them may hate that fact.
     She takes another slow, deep breath, then looks towards Pete and Theo, trying to decide how to answer that. What did she need? "...I don't know," she admits. "Be here with me? Maybe... play something, or...?" She rubs at her eyes again. "I don't know. It just hurts..."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods, and turns her head so she can kiss Mystique back. "Fortunately, guns work on the lesser angels, and any of the humans who might try to fight you, but I'd rather you not kill any humans. They're... just misguided. The lesser angels don't have much in the way of any agency of their own so they're open season."

"I know," she says to Clarice. "I want to go but we just can't take any chances." She lets out a weary sigh and leans on Clarice. "What kind of world is this that the fate of the universe hangs on the back of an English teacher from Brooklyn."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Theo re-wraps both arms around Clarice, as he offers, "We can play Mario Cart, or watch a movie, we could make popcorn, or go to the bar and make everyone watch me whip your butt at Fortnight." He was joking about most of it, just trying to make her smile, to feel a little better.

Pete leans against the end of the couch. He didn't want any of them to go, and he most definitely did not want to get near an angel himself. THe idea of feeling what they felt, or touching their mind, scared the holy living shit out of him.

"A lucky world," Mystique comments. "Because you won't let it down, even if you kill yourself with exhaustion doing it. As for the angels and the humans, we aren't going there to kill anyone. We're going for answers, if they attack me and Clarice however, all bets are off."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "It all sounds good," Clarice remarks without much enthusiasm, flashing her brother a brief smile, and leaning into his hug. "I don't care why you have that bit of hair," she adds more quietly. "I'm just glad that you did." All she really had was Rahne's clothes - and some photos. And a couple of her books.
    "If there's any violence - any aggression - then we come back home," she adds in confimation. "We're not looking for a fight."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia looks relieved that Mystique isn't going to go in guns blazing. "Of course," she says, giving Mystique a grin. "I wouldn't expect anything less." Another weary sigh escapes her, "When this is done, when we can breathe again (metaphorically speaking), you and I are going to go on a nice vacation somewhere quiet for a few days."

She nods at Clarice. "A better plan. Still. Defend yourselves if you have to. I don't know if I can make it if I lost either of you."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Theo detaches himself from Clarice to go collect the extra controllers, because someone, if not everyone, was going to lose at Mario Cart. It's all he could offer, even if he wanted to go with his sister to this church. A part of him wanted to know if he could pocket and angel, the other part wanted to know if he could kill one doing so.

Pete's eyes follow Theo out of the room before he looks back to Clarice. "He's going fine, just wants to help," he offers very quietly, before Clarice could ask. "I'm going to go get us some chips, dip and sodas. Can't Mario Cart without them." And then he does just that because he also feels completely helpless in a helpless situation, but then, he and Theo had been feeling it all along.

Mystique leans to give Clarice another hug. "I'm looking for a fight," she admits plainly. "But I won't go there to find one. I'll be prepared, there's no doubt about that, but I'd rather not make the situation worse than it is."

Standing back up, she reattaches herself to Lydia, arm around the waist and pulling her close. "When this is over," she comments. "It'll be a week vacation for everyone, just not all at the same time."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "We'll stay safe," Clarice promises. "I won't start a fight - but we'll finish it," if one comes. She remains tucked against Lydia, and nods her understanding to Theo.
    The group devolve into a round of Mario Cart then - when Clarice periodically checking her phone, hoping for a message that never comes.
    Eventually, she retreats back to her room - so Lydia and Mystique can get back to the work she no doubt interrupted.
    And only once they are gone, does she come back out to spend the rest of the evening with her brothers - the trio all cramming together into the same bed at the end of the night, so she doesn't have to sleep alone.
    Tomorrow - she'd go looking for Rahne, and hope for answers.