17 [action/written]

[frost_jewel]

[On the border between afternoon and evening of the 31st, the draft ends for Mia. For a while, all she can do is look around at the village, standing still near where they all arrive. Then she takes what remains of her notes to the battledome. To turn them over to...well, whoever is there to give them to. She doesn't want to talk, at least not for very long.

Then she goes home, House 16, and checks on her housemates before taking what is perhaps the longest shower in her entire life. The water is freezing by the time she's done, and she doesn't care. The next morning, whoever wakes first will find the coffee is ready and there is no Mercury Adept in sight.

She's out for a walk. It's not a long one: back to the battledome, to check on people. Any people, but especially those she knows well. If there are questions she has to answer - and she doubts very much there won't be questions - then she will, as polite and quiet as she ever is. When she's through there, she'll head for nearby houses and apartments, without going too far. She knows her limits and is waiting to meet up with them.

That autopilot carries her until midafternoon. What follows isn't exactly a crash. It's a slow spiral, one that finds her walking back to the house at a glacial pace, as though she might find somewhere to hide instead. But she can't. Instead she huddles into a chair in the living room, finally opening the journal to write something.]

Thank you to everyone who was there to help us. [She doesn't feel the need to specify where. The next several things she tries are crossed out, until:] I'm sorry we couldn't do more, sooner.

[[ooc: Whew look at all that action! She's mostly bouncing from house to battledome, and if you want to run into her while she's walking or standing and staring off into space, that's great too!]]

Comments

[snikting]

Hm. [He doesn't doubt it. But he's not really fond of the idea of people worrying about him. He's the one people should never need to be worried about.

It doesn't sit well with him.]

I don't remember of most of it. Kinda became a blur after awhile.

[frost_jewel]

I think that's for the best. [She wishes it was just such a blur for her.] Ororo and Rogue will be glad you're back.

[snikting]

[Best. Ha.]

So what exactly happened out there? Cuz I can't say I've got any idea what the hell that was.

[frost_jewel]

[So much happened after those first two days that she doesn't even know where to begin. Perhaps he will appreciate the shortened version.]

You and many others were infected with a disease that...that caused the body to waste away and your minds to, ah, fade. [This is also the gentle version.] Eventually we managed to find a cure, but-

[Some of it is still far too fresh to really talk about.] There were...other problems. The Malnosso abandoned their own soldiers, new Third Party attacks stopped coming. If we didn't. [Stop, swallow, breathe.] If we didn't find a cure in time then they were going to destroy the whole enclosure. So it wouldn't get out.

[snikting]

[If only he could be surprised. It's what the Government would do. You get a big enough problem, you contain it by making it go away. Hell, it's what they did in the other world when New York was invaded.

It makes a disgusting kind of sense.]

Seein' as I'm here, I'm guessing they found a cure.

[frost_jewel]

Yes. We did. [Something about it clearly does not satisfy her but at least they have one.] And because of that, such a thing shouldn't have to happen in any other place.

[Does she have to say 'including this one' out loud? The sentiment is written all over her demeanor.]

[snikting]

Whatever that thing was. If that was their idea of an experiment, then the Mallies are sicker than I thought.

[frost_jewel]

I don't think it was. They seemed as unprepared as we were.

[snikting]

So where did it come from?

[frost_jewel]

We didn't spend much time talking about that, but I think it came in from...from outside, maybe. With some of the others called to fight.

Or do you mean where did the cure come from?

[snikting]

Cures come from doctors scratchin' their heads. That part I ain't so concerned about.

[frost_jewel]

Then I believe that was the answer you were looking for. It...it may have come from that man from the Kin'cora enclosure.

[snikting]

That man? I'm assuming you mean Blake.

[No one else in the enclosure earned the title 'that man'.]

[frost_jewel]

Yes. He...he was, um, coerced into assisting us. [The way she shakes her head and doesn't look at him again should give away a lot of things.] I don't know if he was the source of it all or not.

[snikting]

That earned an eyebrow. "Coerced?"

[frost_jewel]

"Mm." That should answer it nicely for him, right? "I wasn't there to see it."

[snikting]

It sure as hell didn't sit right with him. But it was what it was.

"... guess I'll have to look into."

[frost_jewel]

"I don't know how willing anyone will be to talk to you about it." Some of them won't even talk to each other about it. "But there's no stopping you from trying."