Owner	Pose
Mystique	There are three stages of alertness on the Asteroid. White, which is the normal every day existence. The very level that the Brotherhood and those who made the asteroid their home lived at most all the time. Next came yellow, where all non-essential persons were evacuated from the asteroid and those on the planet not involved in other missions are recalled. Then there is red. Today the asteroid skipped yellow and went straight to red. Non-essential personnel were already being teleported to Genosha or Bushwick, all Brotherhood no matter their mission were being recalled, and Mystique was in full on boss the shit out of everyone mode.
Lydia Dietrich	Ever since Lydia joined the Brotherhood, she knew that an all hands on deck might be called that required her to come to the Asteroid and maybe have an extended stay. So she put together a little suitcase containing about a weeks worth of clothes, toiletries and other necessities that she could just grab and go. It's this and an oversized messenger bag holding her laptop, and various notebooks that she uses for her writing that she's carting around when she finds Mystique in the cafeteria. "Hello," she says, foregoing any public display of affection. She figures her partner is going to be busy leading the Brotherhood. "I came as soon as I got the message. What's going on?"
Clarice Ferguson	Clarice is settled in at the bar with her tablet - editting her schedules for the Neighborhood watch to take out members of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. It seems the watch will have to be self-sufficient much sooner than anticipated. This meant scheduling people for more frequent or longer shifts - and that some of the patrols would be more lightly powered. But she would make sure they team leaders knew they could still contact the Brotherhood for back up if they ran into real trouble.     The important thing was to maintain a presence during a time of crisis and potential turmoil.     She has a look of concentration as she works - a glass of her cognac sitting in front of her - still mostly full.
Victor Creed	A rather large man wanders into the bar, wearing a black t-shirt and camo pants. His hair is untamed, dirty blonde in color, framing a face with slit-pupiled eyes. He makes his way over to the bar and grabs a beer before ambling over to the group of people.     "Heya kiddo, Mystique. Who are these two, new recruits?" He indicates Sam and Lydia as he asks, pulling out a chair to sit with them.
Mystique	One table in the bar has numerous tablets resting on it, and Mystique has one in her hand. On the table is also a single drink. She is walking around the table slowly, talking into her comm. "Okay, the first shuttle is headed to Genosha now," she comments to the room or someone on the comm. "ETA is thirty minutes, refuel and come back. Teleporters are moving groups of ten," she continues her pace around the table. "Clarice, you got the new schedules for the Watch?" She pauses in the pace long enough to look toward Clarice, and that's when she notices Lydia. "Turns out the aliens made their way to earth alright, Magneto has ordered full preparedness, and I get the honor of going to the peace talks with the Justice League." Oh boy, there he is, she knew he'd make his way to her eventually. "Creed, this is Lydia... Lydia, Victor Creed," she indicates the woman with the green glow. "As for Sam, he's an X-Man here visiting. Came up with an injured former student from Xavier's."
Sam Guthrie	Sam Guthrie is sitting at the table. He is waiting to hear back from the institute, since Rahne is not ready to be moved yet. He thinks it might be best if one of the folks from the institute was here for when she woke up. Sam nods quietly to the new arrival when he sees Mr. Creed. He knows who he is, and knows where he is, so he figured best to keep quiet unless he has something to say.
Lydia Dietrich	"Goody," Lydia says dryly. "Justice League, though. That's when you know things are serious." She reaches around to one of the other tables to sit at it when Victor comes in and they're introduced. "Mister Creed," Lydia says with a pleasant smile, offering her hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Clarice has told me a lot about you." Lydia smells... off. Sure there's the typical human smells that come off her, sweat, deodorant, that croissant that she jammed in her face minutes before getting teleported to the asteroid. No, what's odd is the bioluminescent green haze that constantly surrounds her. The smell is literally not of this earth. Not even of this plane of existence. It tingles the nose to scent. Once introductions are made, she sits down in the chair, leaving ample space for people to roam around the table that has all the tablets. After all she doesn't get in their way. Sam gets a polite grin, though. "Mister Guthrie," she says. "How's Rahne doing?" Better to bother him with that than Clarice.
Clarice Ferguson	"Yeah, I think they're good. Sending them now," Clarice answers. She'd removed herself from Mystique's pacing and constant chatter into her comm to help her concentrate - but a second check has revealed no issues, so with a few taps at her tablet, she transfers the information to Mystique. She hesitates a moment, then opens up her email and passes her tablet over to Lydia. "You type faster than me," she remarks. "Could you make a quick message to this mailing list - telling them that we're having an urgent meeting at..." she thinks for a moment, "18:00? We'll meet at the Hotel. Attendance is //strongly// encouraged. Thank you."     A moment later her attention is stolen by Creed - who she greets with a momentary, broad and utterly genuine smile. "Hey Mister Creed. I've been meaning to catch you, actually. You've been keeping busy." She nudges him lightly with her shoulder by way of greeting.     The question about Rahne has Clarice's smile faltering immediately, and her gaze flicking towards the Medical Bay. But somethings take precidence over what she //wishes// she could be doing right now.
Victor Creed	Victor chuckles, "Well, things really are changing, huh? X-Men up here hanging out at the bar and all." He shrugs, "I know it's what the boss wants, but it's gonnma take some getting used to."     With a grin that reveals his fangs he adds, "Probably best if Logan doesn't come up though, he gets all pissy around me for some reason." He takes a long drink from his beer bottle.     "So what do you two do, anything real exciting?" He looks from Lydia to Sam as he asks the question.
Mystique	Slowly, each tablet is flipped over as the steps needed for each area are complete. "I'm so looking forward to sitting in the same room with them, thankfully the aliens should be enough of a distraction to avoid getting arrested by one of them," she comments then picks up her drink for a sip. "Creed, you'll be in charge of a unit ready to teleport to the Watchtower should things go south, that is... when things go south. Lydia, I'll need to you to keep an eye on things in the med-bay, make sure there's a route to and from it at all times."
Sam Guthrie	Sam Guthrie will looks over and to Lydia he says "Not much of a change, part of why I am here so when she wakes up less chance of her freaking out." He looks over to Creed sure this will go over well "Cop in training." He hmms a bit about the aliens, having seen a few aliens in his time, but not sure which of the guard are here.
Lydia Dietrich	"Of course," Lydia says, taking the tablet. She starts typing out the message to the mailing list "... attendance ... strongly ... encouraged. Done." She looks back up to Clarice. "Anything else you need me to type up for you?" She doesn't seem phased at all by Victor's fangs. "I'm Clarice's tutor, Mystique's lover, and current overseer of the Bushwick school project," she says in a calm, focused tone. She looks up at the man and continues, "If you're wondering what my powers are I can do..." she holds out a hand and her ectoplasmic mists coalesce into the form of a rather long, rather sharp looking dagger. "This. Also shields, and anything that comes to the imagination, really. And I have /quite/ the imagination." She crosses her legs and lowers her hands to her lap, letting the dagger dissipate. "I also write smutty romance novels." Lydia nods at Mystique when she's given orders. "I can do that."
Clarice Ferguson	"I appreciate that," Clarice says to Sam solemnly. "I'd like to-" She lets out a frustrated sigh. "I'll spend as much time with her as I can. But... it seems my attention is required elsewhere for a while. She shouldn't wake up in an unfamiliar place without a familiar face if we can avoid it, though." She retrieves her cognac from the bar where she'd left it, before settling into a chair besides Creed, taking a sip from her glass.     "That's it for now - thank you, Lydia." She takes the tablet back - scanning what was written. She expects it to be more or less what she'd asked her to write - and it seems to be, so she sends it out with a tap. "Can you also keep an eye on Rahne - whenever Sam or I are not able to be there with her?" she asks.     Her attention shifts to Creed as she adds quietly, "The last few days have given me a new appreciation for how worrying it must have been for you when I got hurt."
Victor Creed	With a raised eyebrow, Victor looks from Lydia to Mystique, but makes no comment on that bit of information, just taking another drink. He nods to Clarice, saying "Yeah, I was kinda worried about you, kid. Not something I'm real used to, having someone else besides myself to think about."     He looks to Mystique, "So, aliens, huh? Well, if they bleed, I can deal with them if I need to. I'm guessing we don't expect things to go well?"
Mystique	Two more tablets get turned over, leaving only three face up, and the one in Mystique's hand. "Considering they're here for the Phoenix," she states, looking to Creed. "No. I don't think it will go well, I'm pretty certain the attacks will start the second the talks are over, if not during. I'll be at the Watchtower of course, not entirely sure I like that, for the talks and Clarice is planned to go with me, but I might have to take Ritz instead, depending." She finally moves to sit down by Lydia, picking up her drink. "I don't care if you can't find him,... find him!" she says into the comm, then takes a drink. Her eyes shift over to look at Sam now, "Make sure to let Charles or Jean, or both for that matter, know we aren't keeping you against your will."
Sam Guthrie	Sam Guthrie nods his head a bit and says "Roughly how far are we from the Watchtower?" He asks and says "And how long an air supply you got in your scapce suits here?" He hmms, maybe planning a bit of EVA perhaps.
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia nods at Clarice. "Of course," she says. "I'll be helping out in the med bay as it is so it'll be easy for me to keep an eye on her. If she wakes up before you're back, you'll be the first to know." Her eyes flicker between Victor and Mystique. She has a question, but it's one that she'll ask later, when things aren't quite so busy. When Mystique sits down next to her she can help but send a part of her ectoplasm out to gently caress an arm before letting it go back in position.
Clarice Ferguson	"Yes, well... I appreciate you staying with me, until I was more myself," Clarice says sincerely, leaning over just enough to give the man another nudge of her slender shoulder. She looks like a slight, tiny thing next to his hulking form. "Thank you. I don't think I said it before, but I should have."     She lets out a sigh, taking a sip of her cognac before adding, "Yeah, it sounds like it'll come to a fight eventually, and this Princess Lilandra lady didn't seem to think our level of technology stands much of a chance against theirs, and they have super-powered individuals with them as well. It sounds like we need to make a united stand against them if Earth is going to repel them. And given their goals - simply handing over their targets is not going to be a good idea, either.     She glances towards Mystique again before adding, "I'll keep practicing. It is coming back, I just need to make sure they're reliable..."     And finally towards Lydia she adds a simple, "Thank you," and a nod.
Victor Creed	Victor shrugs a little, "Well, what else was I gonna do? You needed me to be there, so I was." He leans back a little in his chair, then adds, "As for the aliens, they gotta come in ships, right? If things go bad, just have the boss crush them like soda cans and we're done. I don't see a huge problem there. I mean, we might need to mop up a few special aliens if they got powers, but I don't imagine the ships are much of a danger."
Mystique	Mystique snerks, almost spitting the drink she just took out then coughs, catching her breath. "Come on Creed, don't give away our way obvious secrets like that," she teases, wiping her mouth of with a napkin. "There's a few other's on Earth with that level of god awful scariness, these Shi'ar must not have been paying attention. Sure, alone each of our super powered people might over run, might be... but with the number we have here, they have no chance against us." She reaches over the flips another tablet over, leaving just two that seem to be running lists in blocks of twenty. "I think we're talking several hundred ships however, at last that's the rumors. I don't listen to rumors, but confirming that sort of thing is not precisely easy when they're in space. Sure, I'm sitting on an asteroid in space, but I can't exactly go walking outside to count space ships."
Sam Guthrie	Sam Guthrie looks over and says "They would have brought quite a few superpowered people with them as well." He looks down at his watch and says "Well looks like it is time I need to go check on Rahne." He finishes his tea to wash the glass out and head on out towards the medbay.
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia looks pensive for a moment. "A few hundred spaceships is a lot for one man to handle, but we have all the kryptonians, and a few others at that level. Earth has a lot of scarily powerful people on it. Literal gods, too." She nods to Mystique, "I agree, they have no chance if they're coming for Earth as a whole. You said their target was the Phoenix, though, so they don't /have/ to act like they're battling earth directly. It's a singular goal, and there's only so many of us."
Clarice Ferguson	"Well. I never really thought you'd do anything else," Clarice answers. "But still - it's worth saying thank you, I think." She glances aside at him, a brief smile on her features, and there's a relaxed slump to her posture that's been lacking lately, despite the tension of the alien invasion. Maybe it was the fact that her powers were returning? Or maybe just the fact that she always felt more at ease around Victor.     "Part of the problem is that we can't let them have access to the Phoenix. Apparently, their leader believes they can use her to access a crystal - which will grant them power to conquer the universe. That's the story, at least. And the Phoenix is remarkably powerful - she blew up a planet, apparently. I don't have all the details on that..." She gives Mystique a questioning look as she wonders if the other woman does. "Anyways. It's a mess, and there's a lot at stake."     As Sam leaves she calls after him, "I'll come relieve you later so you can rest!"
Victor Creed	Finishing off the beer he's holding, Victor signals the bartender for another. He shakes his head, saying "Sounds bad all around if you ask me. I'm not big on the idea of some aliens sweeping in and taking over. If anyone's gonna take over, it should be us. Even if the boss says we're not doing that any more, it's still a better idea then letting aliens take over."     He takes the beer that the bartender carried over and takes a swig. "I think we got a pretty god chance anyway. Maybe we don't have the tech, but yeah, we got a lot of really powerful folks like Superman and all."
Mystique	Mystique watches Sam depart, not making a comment, but then she looks to Clarice, "I hate that this is happening now Clarice, but you won't be able to get back to the med-bay tonight. You're going to have to trust the medical staff to do their jobs, because you need sleep. I need you recovered and able to function for that meeting and not worrying over Rahne. If you can't do that, and I accept that maybe you can't, then I'll get Ritz and assign you to Asteroid duty while I go. You think I'm not completely freaked over having to leave Lydia here, not knowing what's going to happen? Well, I am... but my responsibilities go beyond what my personal feelings are." She scoots closer to Lydia, eyes taking a moment to scan the tablets, then one gets flipped over leaving just one still scrolling. That's when her arm goes around Lydia. "Magneto could handle those ships no problem at all," she states with a smile, proudly, knowing the aces in a hole that the Brotherhood has but not able to list them. "However, you're right. The Kryptonian's, the Martian, and a few others... these Shi'ar have fucking clue what they're dealing with. They're about to realize that even if as a whole we don't all get along, you threaten our planet, even one thing on our planet, and you face the wrath of all of us as one cohesive force."
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia gives Mystique a soft smile when an arm snakes around her, and one of her hands moves from her own lap to Mystiques. She looks over and gives her lover a soft smile before returning to the conversation at hand. "I'll be fine," she says. "I'd only be in the way if I came with you. I doubt they'll give the Asteroid a second glance because the Phoenix isn't here." "I like our odds," she says, "but I caution against thinking our victory to be all but guaranteed. That's hubris on the highest level and will only get us in trouble." She shrugs, "Plan for the worst and hope for the best. That may sound fatalistic but I think that would be the smart move."
Clarice Ferguson	"And we don't really know what we're up against," Clarice agrees with Lydia. "I'll talk to the Princess Lilandra and see what intel she can give us on that front."     But as Mystique speaks, it was plain from the way the tension creeps back into Clarice's form that she didn't like what she was being told - not one little bit, even if she did understand it, and the necessity of it. And with Hank having to return to the Mansion - it only made all of this so much worse.     "It isn't even a choice. If the planet - and even the universe are at stake? We have to give our best," she replies. "But what if I just stepped in for an hour or two? Give Sam a chance for a solid nap before I go rest?" she suggests, hoping for a compromise.
Victor Creed	Victor chuckles and tousles Clarice's hair, "I know you're worried about your friend, but you need to be at your best if we're gonna fight off an alien invasion. Which is why I'm going to head to bed myself. Always good to be rested when the world is ending, so you don't miss anything important." He drains the beer from the second bottle then stands.     Nodding to Lydia, he says "Nice to meet you, all things considered I'm thinking you'll be around a lot more, so see you later. Night Mystique, remember that you need to be well rested too if you're actually going to this meeting."
Mystique	Mystique rubs the bridge of her nose for a moment, just letting her thoughts settle while her other hand lightly caresses Lydia's shoulder. At this exact moment it's a damn good thing Mystique has Lydia sitting right there, accepting the caressing as a way to vent out the first thought for responses to Clarice she had. "I may talk with confidence," she says slowly, lifting her head to look at Lydia. "But I am well aware we could lose and may lose, but my job is to appear calm and confident, as if I have all the answers, so that's how I will present myself." Now she looks toward Clarice, still trying to decide the best way to say what she needs to say and not sound like a rampaging, heartless bitch while doing it... though that might be the better way to go about it. Then Victor just goes and sums it up nicely, in the way the man could, and she decides to say it nicely, "You need sleep Clarice, we all do, and yes Victor I intend to sleep once I ensure the other three hundred things that need to be ensured, but I will sleep because I'm a bitch..." she pauses for a moment. "... more of a bitch if I haven't slept."
Lydia Dietrich	"Nice to meet you too," Lydia says to Victor. All in all, for being a vicious serial killer he didn't seem like a bad guy. He certainly cares for Clarice, so that counts for something in her book. "I'll make sure she gets to bed," Lydia says about Mystique. "I'll make sure she gets some /rest/," she adds in case anybody was thinking anything naughty.
Clarice Ferguson	Clarice looks down-hearted at Victor's response to her suggestion - and Mystique agreeing with his assessment only makes it worse. She looks down and away from the the others, momentarily wordless. She doesn't even wish Victor a good night, as she normally would. Instead, she struggles with getting her anger, and frustration, and anxiety under control. She hates everything about this.     When she finally does speak, it's without looking up quite yet. "I'll just peek in, then," she answers. "Wish Rahne a good night, and tell Sam I won't be able to take his place after all."
Victor Creed	Heading for the exit, Victor throws over his should a quick "All of you get some rest, you never know what might happen tomorrow. Night all."     He heads out the door and heads for the living quarters.
Mystique	As if there weren't a million other thing to worry about, now Mystique had to add cranky teenager to the list. Picking up her glass she downs the rest of the mixture in it, then set the glass back down. She had numerous voices issuing reports in her ear as she sat there, people exceedingly worried about why they have to evacuate, the possibility if an impending alien attack, but Clarice not getting to sit with her girlfriend is all she could think about at that moment. Reaching over she picks up the tablet that was still scrolling, "Clarice..." she sighs, but she honestly doesn't have any more she can say on the matter, so she decides. "You're staying, I'll get Ritz or Milo." It was clear that there was no way Clarice could push the emotions aside, the situation with Rahne would always be playing at the back of her mind and interfering with her concentration, so she had to stay. Resting the tablet on the table again she looks at Lydia and smiles as she says playfully, "You think you can make me go to bed?"
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia leans over to Mystique and plants a kiss on her cheek. "I know I can." It's her turn to give the suggestive eyebrow waggle this time. Clarice gets a measure of consideration. "You're still going to need to get some rest before it all begins. If things go south we may need you to help evacuate." She takes a deep breath, "I hope that it doesn't come to that, though. I don't expect things to go /well/ but I also don't think things will get that bad."
Clarice Ferguson	"What?" Clarice responds, surprise shaking her immediately out of her thoughts as her gaze is drawn abruptly to Mystique. "No. No, I can manage," she promises. "I'll be alright. I mean, it's frustrating but- I'll manage. The world is threatened - don't sideline me."     She glances at Lydia only for a moment, before returning her gaze to Mystique without responding to the other woman's words. "I'm //fine//," she insists fiercely. "I can do this."
Mystique	Mystique shakes her head, her face for a moment looking sad but she shoves that down and puts the mask on. "No, I can't risk it Clarice," she says calmly, trying to keep her concern and the anger out of her tone, but perhaps a little of the concern seeps in. "It's obvious that in your head your concern over Rahne is so much bigger than anything else, that you can't even agree to go to bed when you know you need to. You're so wrapped up in your own head about it, that you once again heard an order and tried to push the boundaries of it. I'm sorry, you aren't going. You can stay here on the Asteroid and help maintain security, and trust me, I don't like this any more than you do, but I have to do what's best for me, for the Brotherhood, for you and for the possible war that is about to break out." She told herself one drink, but that's not happening. Standing up she walks to the bar to pour a glass of whiskey, adds cherry grenadine syrup it in, three ice cubs and walks back to the table to sit down. "I won't risk a single mutant I don't have to, and I'm not risking you when you can't get your head in the game." She looks over to Lydia, she'd love to just crawl to bed right now and snuggle up to her, pretend for one night that the world wasn't resting on her shoulders, but that wasn't going to happen. "You're right, you can lure me to bed pretty easily, however tonight I do have to ensure a certain number of things before I can sleep."
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia gives Mystique a little scowl when she watches her get up and get a second drink. "That's your last one," she says, tone firm. "You shouldn't even be having a second one, really. And she's right, Clarice," she says turning to the purple mutant. "Your worrying over Rahne is driving you to distraction, it's that obvious." Her expression softens a bit, "Look, I know how you feel. I'm going to be worried sick about Mystique once she leaves the Asteroid. I wish I could be there with her but, really, what could /I/ do?" She shakes her head. "I'm hoping I can keep it together while she's out there to be of some help, but I don't have the kind of training that the two of you do."
Clarice Ferguson	"Not bigger than this. It's not bigger than this," Clarice insists, her hands gripped together to try to contain her frustration. "I swear I can do this. I- you know I wouldn't want to put anyone at risk, either, least of all you. I want to have your back out there." She shakes her head rapidly as she adds, "You told me to sleep, I asked for the hour, you said no, and I //agreed//. Don't sideline me when the fate of the world is on the line. When we're on a job, my head is on the job - and nothing else."     She momentarily shoots Lydia an aggrevated look. Things are bad enough as it is. Don't make it //worse//.
Mystique	Closing her eyes for a moment, that new drink in her hand, she takes a slow deep breath. "No, what you said is you'd poke your head in and tell Sam you couldn't take his place, which is still going to her room and likely lingering for a bit, because she's right there in the front of your mind. You can't sideline her, so I have to sideline you." She opens her eyes to look at Clarice, "I'm sorry Clarice, I really am. I know this is the first time you've felt like this about someone, I know you're emotions are all over the place as a result of that, and I wish to gods that it wasn't happening right no that some fucking aliens decided they wanted to take something that doesn't belong to them. So tell me Clarice, honestly, what would you do in my place?" She adjusts herself in the chair, watching Clarice very closely. "What would you do if you had a member of your team who didn't have their head in the game, and you knew full well that game was life or death? Would you take them along and /hope/ they were alright, or would you leave them behind to deal with less life threatening situations?"
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia remains silent after Clarice's admonishing look. Really, this is a conversation that needs to happen between the two of them, and she really shouldn't be taking sides in this. She pats Mystique's knee before she gets up. A reassuring gesture that she'll be right back and heads over to the bar to get herself something to drink. She eschews alcohol and just pours herself a glass of soda with some ice in it. Taking it back to the two, she sits back down in her seat, and resumes resting a hand on Mystique's leg.
Clarice Ferguson	"For five minutes! To tell Sam things had changed, and tell Rahne goodnight! Tell her that- that I'll be away."     She watches Mystique as she speaks, then shuts her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. When her eyes open again, her expression is more controlled - her anger, frustration, and anxiety carefully bottled and put back into their place. "I know I haven't been completely myself. Losing my powers, and almost losing Rahne has been tough. I know I made mistakes in Bushwick." She feels a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she force herself to examine this - from Mystique's perspective - and an expression of doubt flicks across her features. Was Mystique right? The expression is fleeting, however.     "I honestly think I'll be alright. I would never put anyone in the Brotherhood, least of all you, in danger by going on a mission I wasn't prepared for. Is there nothing I can say to persuade you?"
Mystique	Mystique tilts her head slightly, "You didn't answer my question, Clarice. What would you do? Would you take the person solely on their words and the hope that everything would be alright, or would you side line them?" She sets the drink on the table and leans forward, watching Clarice very intently as she does. "You see it, I know you do, you just can't accept that you fall into that category right now. That for the first time in your life, you aren't at your peek performance levels, but you know I'm right. You won't admit it, because you really do believe that you'll be alright, but the fact that there is any question at all that you might not be... that's why I can't take you, and you know it." Mystique hated this, more than she could express, more than she could let show. She had to keep it bottled up tightly inside of her, not let it seep out because that's what you do when the lives of thousands rest in your hands. She wanted to be able to just toss out reason and logic and let Clarice go, because she trusted Clarice to have her back, but not this time. She knew the purple mutant would do her best, and there was every chance that she would perform her tasks without a hitch, but that point zero five percent chance was too much. "Listen, we don't know exactly when the peace talks are Clarice," she finally says, still calm, still showing no emotion. "Let's see what happened between now and then, alright? We'll act on the thinking that the talks are tomorrow and I will access then and decide for certain if you are staying or going. Alight?"
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia watches the two talk, catching that moment of doubt that Clarice has. She frowns in sympathy, knowing how frustrating it must be for her to be sidelined this. Especially after she just got her powers back. Her eyes flick back to Mystique. She's been getting better at reading her when she's got that mask on. She'll talk to her when they're alone tonight. Let her get out some of those feelings before the meeting to help her keep her head in the game. She'll probably give a backrub, too.
Clarice Ferguson	"...yes, ma'am," Clarice answers quietly. She's still for a moment, before pushing herself to her feet, her hand reaching out to retrieve her tablet, her expression a carefully neutral mask. "I'm going to go tell Rahne goodnight," she informs the two women, "and turn in."     She's even going to genuinely try to get a good night's sleep. She's just not sure how successful she'll be - when she's willingly keeping herself away from Rahne, and likely to be side-lined anyways.     "Goodnight," she adds simply as she turns to leave.
Mystique	Mystique stands up rather quickly as she states with a hint of anger breaking through, "Clarice, answer the fucking question!" It's rare that she has to ask a question more than once, but three times? "I want to know your answer, so please for fucks sake, tell me." She glances to Lydia for a moment, before looking back to Clarice, "Then by all means go to bed."
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia scowls at Mystique's anger. She thinks Mystique is pushing Clarice a little too hard, but isn't going to say so when Mystique is in Head Honcho mode. Instead, quietly, she says, "Goodnight, Clarice. I'll see you in the morning."
Clarice Ferguson	Clarice stops in her tracks, and lets out a sigh, but she doesn't turn back. "I thought you'd deduced my answer," she replies, her tone still carefully neutral as she keeps her emotions locked away - as much as she can, anyways. "I'd probably sit them out, too. Goodnight," she repeats, before she begins to walk again.
Mystique	Mystique nods once, "Thank you. I hope you sleep well." She looks back to the drink on the table, then picks it up to take a sip. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry." She adds as Clarice departs, then takes another sip and starts gathering up the tablets. The last one that had been spamming information had finally stopped, indication that everyone who needed to be off the asteroid was. The only people left were essential personnel. "I have to ensure the lock down the non-key locations with my code, then I'll see you in my room, Lydia." She leaves the drink on the table, then moves to head out of the room herself.
Lydia Dietrich	"Don't apologize to me," Lydia says with a sigh. She stands up and takes the drinks to the back to be cleaned, since she doubts any of the service staff is still here. "You pushed her hard, and I'm sure you have your reasons, but...." She shakes her head. "Maybe she'll get angry enough to try to prove to you that she's 'in the game'. I don't know," she sighs. "I'm new to all of this." She finishes washing the dishes and makes her way back to where her bags are located, and walks up to Mystique to kiss her on the lips. "I'll see you soon." And with that, she departs.
Clarice Ferguson	The door to Rahne's room in Asteroid M's Medical Bay opens quietly as Clarice steps in - the purple-hued woman's features a carefully maintained neutral mask. "Sam - hey. Look, seems like things are a little too hectic right now for me to give you a proper break. But I plan to send Lydia. She's met Rahne at least - so that ought to help. Do you think you could give me a minute, though? ...thanks."     She waits until the door has sealed behind Sam - and a few moments after that as she slowly releases the strangle hold she has one her own emotions, and a few tears begin to streak silently down her cheeks. After a deep breath in and a slow release, she begins to speak, her tone carefully controlled to sound bright, and hopeful. "Hey Rahne. It's me," she offers, slipping one hand into the girl's still hand, and the other brushing some of her short-shorn hair away from her face. "Look - I gotta let you know I might not be around very much for a while. I don't want you to worry about it, though. I'm fine. Things just came up I have to help with, you know? To make sure everyone stays safe."     There was so much more she could say - that it was all probably futile. That she was going to end up sidelined, anyways. That she was staying away for nothing - but what good would any of that do?     "Sam's going to stay with you, though. And my friend Lydia - you remember her, yeah? She met you in the garden, and she's sat with you some. So we'll make sure you're not alone, and I'll come see you whenever I can. Even if it's just for a minute or two." She squeezes Rahne's hand, blinking away a few more tears. "You just focus on getting better, and I'll see you as soon as I can. Okay?" She doesn't expect any response, of course, as she studies the smaller mutant's still features. Her fingers stroke down Rahne's cheek - then rest for a moment over her lips, before she pulls her hand away. "Anyways. Goodnight, Rahne. I'll send Sam back in, and I'll see you tomorrow. Alright?"     She pulls her hand out of hers, wipes her tears from her cheeks, and strides from the room without another word.     "Thanks Sam," she adds as she passes the man on her way out of the Medical Bay.