Owner Pose
Cael Becker     It's been a long night for Cael, between scouting out the warehouse, the fight that happened... and all that nonsense in the mines. Sara is not in the hands of SHIELD's medical staff who - once again - don't see anything //physically// wrong with her. Yet she's clearly unconscious. Witchblade has physically changed in appearance, which worries Cael, but there's little she can do sitting up at the woman's beside, and besides - Wade is with her. After extracting a promise that he'd //call her// if anything changes, Cael retreats to her quarters.
    She paces for a while, Bear watching from the couch (rather than his dog bed) before she finally pulls out her phone. She doesn't call Jon though - nope. First, she texts Martin. 'Jon still awake?'
    Only when Martin answers in the affirmative does she call. The voice that answers Jon when he picks up sounds tired, and worn - but calm. "Hey Jon. I hope your night hasn't been as shit as mine?"
Jonathan Sims     Jon's been trying not to worry. He had tried to call Cael to say goodnight, only to have it go to voicemail. She'd sent a text about investigating something with Sara and Sam... but 'something' could be any number of things. If it was in Manhattan, he reasoned, they would have kept him in the loop. But there were plenty of dangerous things /not/ in Manhattan. So... he'd been fretting, and Martin hadn't informed him that Cael had texted.

    "Cael? What's going on?" The worry in Jon's voice is palpable. "Are you okay? Is everyone else okay? What were you investigating?" Slow down, Jon. Deep breaths. Let her actually... explain.
Cael Becker     "Jon... I'm fine," Cael says in a calm, reasonable voice which is clearly her attempt to get him to mirror back her attitude. Even through the phone - that slight note of panic was palpable. "I mean - okay, some minor injuries. But seriously - I'm fine. Okay?"
    She takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly before she adds, "We were researching some Hydra bullshit. Those Thule assholes who robbed the Natural History Museum? We'd tracked them down and- well." She frowns deeply, and Jon can hear it in her tone. "They managed to grab Sara. They had some... fake Witchblade that managed to snatch her. But we got her back, she's just- she's unconscious."
Jonathan Sims     "Wait, HYDRA? Thule Society? Oh, /fuck/ those guys, all of them." Jon sounds... alarmed. Calm and reasonable he is not, just now. "But you're okay. But... Sara isn't? Oh, lord. Oh, /lord/. Do they have any idea..."

    He's pacing again, and it's probably audible. There's the sound of a door opening and then closing, as Jon takes the conversation out of the small room he shares with Martin. "What's /wrong/ with her, Cael? Is... do you need anything? Is it something mystical, magical?"
Cael Becker     "I have no idea what's wrong with her," Cael admits - her voice sounds tired, but not without hope. "Like I said - physically, she's fine. The fake Witchblade was trying to do something to... steal her power? I don't pretend to really understand it. The medical staff are calling in someone to consult on the case, and see what we can learn but- Yeah. Right now we just don't know.
    "But this is what happened before," Cael adds. "At the Natural History Museum. She brushed up about some sort of... magical ward, and it just- knocked her out for two days. And then she woke up, and she was fine. So... She'll be fine," Cael asserts. "Sara'll be fine."
Jonathan Sims     "I'll come check on her regardless, when I get the chance. I can afford an hour or two to look in on a friend. Maybe I'll be able to See something they can't." Jon leans against the wall outside the supply room where he and Martin sleep, and sighs. Sara is his friend... and Sara is Cael's /best/ friend. So how freaked out must /she/ be, if he's trying to fight back panic?

    "How are you doing? Honestly, love." His voice is soft, and he doesn't really realize the endearment's slipped out. "Emotionally? How are you doing?" A pause. "Should I ask Singh to step in and take over quartermaster duties for a couple of days?" There's no... judgement or anything, just concern.
Cael Becker     Cael has been pacing as well, slow circles around the living, though she manages to almost stumble when his voice suddenly softens, and the word 'love' slips out.
    She doesn't call attention to it.
    "I'm fine, Jon. Wade's with her - he promised to call me if anything changes. I'll probably have to take a turn sitting with her, later, to make sure he gets some rest..." So where does that leave her in regards to her work? "I don't want to sit around here all day with nothing to do. I'll end up climbing the walls. Why don't I come in tomorrow - later in the day - for a half day? I'll get some sleep, take over for Wade... and then head over."
Jonathan Sims     "Alright. I'll let Singh know. There's not much going on just now, mostly we're scouting out the locations Meggan provided, focusing on East Harlem first. It'll be alright."

    Jon hesitates for a moment, then says, "It's okay to be worried, Cael. It's okay to be scared. I'm the person to dump that on, so you don't freak out at Sara when she wakes up."
Cael Becker     Cael stops in place in the middle of her floor, the phone still held to her ear. She stands in silence for a moment, Jon's words finally getting her to wonder - why isn't she more scared right now? Why isn't she worried? And with the mere question, she can feel hints of a sense of panic starting to rise up in her, and she quickly starts walking again. "I'm fine," she repeats stubbornly. "And //when// she wakes up... I won't have to dump on her, because waking up will mean she's okay. She's going to be okay."
    But the thought is in her head now. Her mother died. Alis died. Jon is going to die...
    "Everything's going to be alright. We got her back. We interrupted their ritual... She's fine."
Jonathan Sims     "Cael..." Jon hesitates. Will it do any good, to push her? To force her to deal with this here and now? Maybe if he were there, or she were here, so he could hold her and sing to her... but a voice over a phone line can only do so much, and if she breaks down crying right now... well, Bear's there, but it's not fair to her.

    "You're right," he says, confidently. "She's going to be fine. She's tough, and Witchblade's tougher. If whatever's going on is physical, the SHIELD doctors will figure it out, and if it's mystical the Justice League Dark will figure it out. One way or another. Alright? And if you need me, /when/ you need me... just call. I'll be there."
Cael Becker     "Right," Cael answers, trying to sound confident. "And like I said, Wade'll call me - when she wakes up." She starts moving again, in slow circles around the room as she adds, "Anyways, I just wanted you to know I was home, and that I'm safe, and that I wasn't seriously hurt. And that I'm really starting to hate caves and underground tunnels, and next time someone //else// can go down into them. You know?"
Jonathan Sims     "Martin told me about Bucoda," Jon says wryly. "Gods, what was Gran /thinking/...?" He sighs. "I need to get out there, and soon. Make sure nobody else gets trapped down there. But... you had to go into a cave?"

    After a moment, he adds, "...I'd love to hear the whole story, you know I would, but if you need to get to sleep I'll understand."
Cael Becker     There's a moment of silence before Cael lets out a sigh and answers with a simple, "Yeah."
    After another brief pause she explains more comprehensively. "Alis was able to follow Sara - since she's linked to Witchblade, so she found out Sara was down a mine shaft. I borrowed a quinjet to get us there - Wade came, and Johnny, and this woman named Artemis. When we got there we were attacked by these weird... mystical dogs. We got rid of them, and this woman appears - typical villain monologuing. That we should tell Sara to give up and surrender the Witchblade, or she'd be dead before we could ready her, blah blah blah... Apparently the woman was just a projection, though.
    "So we went down into the tunnels, and Alis showed us an invisible door - because this is my fucking life now - and inside that was a bunch of those fucking Thule assholes, and a rock-lady, and some electro-dude, and the fake Witchblade. Sara was chained, and surrounded by... some sort of magic glow. So we went in, kicked their collective asses, broke enough of their magical voodoo writing to undo the spells on Sara, and then Johnny //judged// the false Witchblade..." Everything Cael says is in a brusk, no-nonsense tone, as if she was describing a trip to the grocery story, and why she came back with linguini instead of macaroni.
    "He collapses screaming. The rest of the Thule Society asshats used cyanide pills to off themselves - because that's a sustainable way to maintain your secret organization.... And we grabbed Sara and started to run because I knew these guys have a habit of blowing up their toys.
    "And before we could get out - everything exploded, and the tunnel collapsed, and I had a moment of thinking we might be totally fucked... Only then suddenly were fine. In a perfectly normal tunnel. Because - apparently - they'd managed to put themselves in... a parallel version of the tunnels? Something now quite our reality? Anyways, you know how little I understand these things. So we just got out of there and went home but I //done// with tunnels, Jon. //Done//."
Jonathan Sims     "Fuck," Jon breathes out. Weird German occult societies resurfacing and maybe having access to alternate realities? That's /all/ they need.

    He pinches the bridge of his nose. "I don't blame you, hating tunnels. No more tunnels if I can help it, I promise." He's making a mental note to talk to Johnny, to check on Sara, to see if there's anything he can do to help. Maybe there isn't, but he has to /try/.

    "But you're all okay. And Sara is going to be okay." He sighs. "Is there anything I can do, love? Anything at all? Look, I know... I know I'm here, and you're there, and the world's maybe ending, but... the bloody universe can wait five minutes for me to make sure my girlfriend's alright."
Cael Becker     "I'm just tired, Jon," Cael admits honestly. "I want a drink, and I can't-"
    "No alcohol!" comes Alis's voice over the line.
    "- ...fucking have one. So. ...I'm thinking shower, cocoa, and sleep. But I love you, Jon - and //I'm// gonna be alright too, okay? Me and Sara both - fine," she says determinedly. "...so don't worry about me too much."
    There's a brief pause before she adds more softly, "I really look forward to seeing you in the morning, though."
Jonathan Sims     "I love you, too. And therefore, I worry. I'm glad Alis is there with you. It... helps." It does! Even if she's a ghost.

    Jon sighs, letting his head thump against the wall. "Wish you were here. Or I was there. But I look forward to seeing you in the morning, too. I... always do. It's nice."
Cael Becker     "Me too," Cael agrees in a quiet voice. "All of that." Especially the part where they were together - now. But it's fine - things are fine. "Look, you should probably get some sleep. You're probably as beat as I am, and you're keeping Martin up." She doesn't //know// this - but she guesses.
    "I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well."