MHA #10- Sunday morning

[throughaphase]

This morning Kitty got a call from Rachel. Jean was dead (again), the school was destroyed (again), New York was in ruins, and something about Xorn, but frankly Kitty had no idea what had happened there and suspected she wouldn't until she could get the full story in person. But she stayed on the phone with Rachel and talked her down as much as she could before promising that she'd come back, and that she was around for crying and venting as much as she wanted.

So. Things apparently never really changed, and once again Kitty decided to head right back into all the chaos.

She had a to-do list now: get class figured out, which she was planning out now with her computer open to some articles on the state of New York, get Caritas work stuff sorted, figure out if she even had appropriate funeral clothes anymore... you know, fun stuff.

[Did I destroy two New Yorks in one week? Yes I did. Open!]

Comments

[so_hawkward]

Clint had gone for breakfast and coffee a little late this morning, but he still made a stop at Kitty's door bearing bagels as he knocked.

[throughaphase]

Whenever he knocked Kitty assumed he had stuff in his hands, so Kitty got up to open the door for him. "Hey."

[so_hawkward]

Hey, he at least knew not to try locks with full hands. Or knocking with his head. Anymore.

"Hey," he said, his smile fading a little when he saw her expression. "Uh oh, you don't look so good. Are you okay?"

[throughaphase]

"Not really," she admitted, taking stuff from him so his hands weren't full. And because it'd be easier to hug in a minute. "Crisis back home."

[so_hawkward]

"Wow, that was a nice few weeks," Clint said with a sigh. "What happened? Do you need me to shoot someone somewhere uncomfortable, because I can be on that."

[throughaphase]

"Nah," she said. "Jean's dead, New York's ruined, mansion's destroyed... Just another day in the life of the X-Men."

[so_hawkward]

Clint kind of blinked for a moment, because even after all their time together, he still wasn't expecting a list quite that long. "I'm sorry?" he said, pulling her into a hug. "What are you going to do?"

[throughaphase]

"Not too much I can do," Kitty said, hugging him back as best she could. "Spent a lot of the morning on the phone with Rachel. I told her I'd come up for the funeral, and to help fix the mansion up."

[so_hawkward]

"Do you want me to come with you or will I just be in the way?" Clint asked. "Whatever you need, just say the word."

[throughaphase]

"It's up to you," she told him. "I think it's mostly going to be me holding Rachel's hand and working computer-fu on the systems, but I wouldn't mind having you around. And we could probably use some help."

And okay, Scott was maybe waffling on opening the school up again at all but she didn't know that.

[so_hawkward]

"I can help. If nothing else, you'll need someone to decompress at after spending your days holding everyone's hand," Clint said. "Or I can just cheerlead your computer-fu."

[throughaphase]

"You can fan me and feed me grapes on break," Kitty said with a tiny smile. "I could book us a portal for early Wednesday. I doubt they'll get anything done before then, and I can get work stuff done."

[so_hawkward]

"And I can work on my grape-feeding," Clint said, giving her another hug. "I really am sorry. I was hoping you'd make it to the holidays without anything awful happening."

[throughaphase]

"Things have been okay for too long. Guess we were due," Kitty sighed, but she always appreciated hugs. "And Jean and I were never really close. I mean, she died the first time right around when I joined up."

Oh, Jean. Stay alive for five minutes, will you?

[so_hawkward]

Yeah, that made the situation a little different. "Maybe she'll be okay again? Somehow?" he said uncertainly. "It still sucks. Someone still made her dead, right?"

[throughaphase]

"Yeah. And I'm not entirely sure what happened, really," Kitty said, pulling back to feature to the sofa. "It's going to be tough to see Scott, too."

[so_hawkward]

"Scott. That's... Jean's husband?" Clint said, trying to remember from all the people Kitty talked about. "Yeah, he can't be having a good time. Have I mentioned that nothing's allowed to happen to you? I feel like this is a good time for that reminder."

[throughaphase]

"Nothing's going to happen to me," she assured him. "Can't even get crushed by rubble at the mansion."

That was her lame, lame attempt at lightness.

[so_hawkward]

"Okay, good," Clint said with a nod. "Although I'm sorry there's rubble to deal with. Sometimes I wonder why anyone lives in either of our New Yorks."

[throughaphase]

"This isn't even the city. This is Westchester," Kitty sighed. "The mansion just tends to get destroyed a lot. One time was my fault, kind of."

It only occurred to her now to look inside the bag he'd brought. "Thanks for breakfast, by the way."

[so_hawkward]

"Hey, if you helped put it back together again, that kind of cancels everything out," Clint insisted, smiling softly. "Are you hungry? I could get you something else, if you want."

[throughaphase]

"No, this is perfect," she assured him. "You know when your body knows you should eat but you're not really hungry? That's where I've been, so bagels are good."

[so_hawkward]

"Then you should definitely eat," Clint said. "You can have both bagels if you need the energy. And I can get more coffee if you need it too." Really, he just wanted to be helpful and not in Kitty's way here.

[throughaphase]

"You are awesome and I love you," Kitty said, giving him a kiss. "You eat, though. Sorry I've been a downer on your visit."

[so_hawkward]

"You haven't been a downer. I mean, it's not like you asked for this stuff to happen," Clint said, grabbing the smaller bagel from the bag. "I'm just glad I came over."

[throughaphase]

"Me, too," she said, taking the other one. "I've been doing work and being all serious over here. Serious isn't a great look on me."

[so_hawkward]

"That's a lie. Every look is good on you," Clint said with a smirk.

[throughaphase]

"You giant flirt, you've seen me sobbing and sneezy, you know that's not true," she smiled.

[so_hawkward]

"Nope, you're even adorable then. I've seen some ugly crying, and that's not you," Clint said. "And sneezy means you need to be wrapped in a blanket or something."

[throughaphase]

"I'm remembering this next time I get sick," Kitty warned.

[so_hawkward]

"Just don't sneeze on me and get me sick too," Clint warned.

[throughaphase]

"I will keep my germs to myself. As best I can if you're going to be in the same room with me, anyway," Kitty said. "I can do nothing about the air."

[so_hawkward]

"It's a good thing I'm relatively healthy." In Clint's defense, he only had two bandages on today and they were both being covered by clothes. That was seriously healthy. "I'll be able to defend against your germs."

[throughaphase]

"Good. You stay nice and healthy, and out of as many hospitals and clinics as possible." A girl could dream.

[so_hawkward]

"I haven't been to the hospital or clinic in a while--" because he hated them and didn't want to go "--so you don't have anything to worry about."

[throughaphase]

"Good. Keep it that way." And she was going to hug him with her bagel-less hand because she lost too many people in general and hugging was good.