Welcome to Gaia! ::

Clerise was bundled up in a borrowed coat, the fur lining a comfort in the chill. They had been kind enough to give her snow pants, too, so her fine little a** wouldn't freeze off. She was camped out on the ground by a tent, sitting butterfly style. Her wounds had been tended to, her scars rubbed clean with antiseptic by a rather irate Sunny.

In her mind, she was mentally rehearsing what she was going to tell Clarice. Hi, nice to see you, I have bad news?

I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I can't--?

My weapon is--?

Am I going to die if--?

With a petulant hiss of frustration, Clerise threw a handful of snow at a nearby penguin, settling on muttering to herself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Penguins are dumb," Clerise replied, petulant--Then did a double take. "You mean those are...?" Huh. Clerise was slowly becoming used to the antics of her Division, and well.

There were odder things in life-- like the fact that Clarice was wearing a big fluffy coat that was pink and had kitty kitty mew mew ears.

"Hold up," Clerise said, solemn, jumping up to pace around the other woman, staring at her butt. "I'm disappointed that there's no tail."

With little hesitation after that, the redhead was swooping down to hug Clarice from behind, pressing her face into the shoulder of a pink coat. This hug, at least, was less panicked and covered in bug guts.

To Clerise, the being smacked into a wall thing was of little concern; accidents happen. Even hospital inducing accidents. There were bigger fish to fry; like Horsemen and shitty, cracked weapons that refused to work.

"I know you're busy, really, miss lady," Clerise replied, laughing against her back, arms wrapping around her waist.

"...Sunny?" she asked, curiosity in her voice. "I haven't met many of the doctors--er. While...awake, anyway?"

Another laugh. "I'm not broken for real," Clerise said gravely, chewing on her lower lip after the fact. She pulled away for a moment, fingers brushing over the familiar surface that was Balthazar. Underneath that deceptively smooth metal was a very broken face.

"But uh...that's kind of why I wanted to..." God.

Being serious was awful. All her prepared statements abandoned the redhead as she gingerly pulled his form from her pocket, staring down at it.

It was so quiet, still. She was slowly getting re-accustomed to it, to the missing place where he had lain, warm and comfortable like a fat housecat.

A fat, crotchety housecat, but still. Captain had been hers.

With the smallest of quavers in her voice, Clerise offered the other woman an unsteady smile. "Well, you're not the only one that breaks s**t, I guess."

Without a word, Clerise popped the watch open, revealing the shattered face.

The hands did not move. It was cold in her hands, as always, but his lack of a presence made it that much worse.

Brushing her thumb over the surface of the pocket watch, Clerise awkwardly shifted her weight from foot to foot. There was no real way to be undramatic about this, and the silence was hanging in the air and, well.

Might as well just spit it out. "He's uh. Not in my head anymore? And I can't summon him. I...probably should have told you earlier, if I should even tell you because I kind of don't want to be culled or whatever happens to hunters that can't ********' do anything and--"

You are rambling, Clerise Nicole. Rambling. Shut up.

"Explanation," Clerise replied immediately, her hand shaking in Clarice's.

She really, really should have just cried to her the moment she'd woken up and felt empty inside.

"Assuming it's something besides 'you're going to die' -- If that's the explanation, then just...leave it at that."

Heaving a gigantic sigh of relief, Clerise visibly relaxed as the blonde assured her that she was, in fact, not going to die. "Thank ******** god," she murmured, reaching up to cover the bottom of Clarice's hand with her own, squeezing it.

Listening to the Life division assistant explain was like some sort of massive weight coming up and off her chest. Clerise was able to breathe free and easy, unburdened by her own perceived impending doom.

"After we sparred, he had a little hairline crack, but I didn't think anything of it," Clerise admitted, sounding guilty about it. It was obvious that Clarice felt worse about it, perpetually unsure. She reached upwards, grabbing her chin and gently forcing the other woman to meet her gaze.

"You don't get it-- I just. Ihought he was dead, Clarice. I thought I was dead. I like, ********' thought I was dogchow or worse if anyone found out. Caelius pressed his scythe," She pointed to the paperthin scar on her neck. "Here and told me I was, basically, useless and expendable."

A deep breathe, red eyes shining with mirth. "So. The fact that he's just hanging out in my head somewhere where I can't reach so he can turn into something ******** amazing."

Christ. She would gladly be that ******** cocoon.

You could have told me, jackass. You're such a dumbass. I'm such a dumbass. Christ.

"You're amazing. God, I could kiss you right now, ******** it. Clerise laughed, nearly hysterical in how much a few short words alleviated the bundles upon bundles of stress inside her melting away with each passing moment. Abruptly, the redhead pulled Clarice closer, giving her a series of brief kisses, giggling all the while. "You are. The best."

Clerise pulled away to spin in circles, unable to control her laughter. Jumping up and down in snow drifts, she knew one thing: Life was ******** AMAZING.

"Whaaat, grumpybutt? Seriously?" Clerise looked vaguely impressed-- she didn't think Gale had it in him to piss Caelius off. Not that it was...that hard, but still! He was tiny and couldn't really hurt a fly!

The sahara had been...extremely unpleasant, and Clerise was still reeling a little from its effects--but that was conveniently buried until there was a time and a place to be afraid. In dreamspace, most likely. There was no way Clerise was dreaming of anything but bugs for a long, long time.

But there were more pressing issues at hand, here. While Clarice made a snowman? The redhead had flopped into the snow to make an angel, and then started chasing some poor, poor, penguin. After failing, Clerise came back, grabbing Clarice by the shoulder.

"Say cheese, miss lady!" and snapped a picture of them both, snow caught in her hair, cheeks appled.

Antarctic was the best.

"Okayyy," Clerise agreed, letting herself be tugged away towards another tent. She stopped to admire the start of Clarice's snowcreature, smiling a little, in a sad sort of way.

She took a picture, and would every time she passed by it, just in case. When it was done, Clerise would text the picture to Dakota in a moment of nigh-uncharacteristic thoughtfulness.



--

Upon arriving at the weapons lab, the redhead stared around, awestruck.

"Can I take them all?"