Welcome to Gaia! ::

With a sour expression on her face, Clerise made her way through the ruined labs, careful to not trip over bricks or random microscopes or the remnants of runic-god-knows-what. She stalked the halls, deftly avoiding anyone who looked like they might ask her to do something productive.

She would not be interrupted. Or distracted. ...Again.

Pussying out might happen, though. H was sort of creepy, sort of sexy, really terrifying kind of guy.

But Clerise had questions, damnit. Her friends had been plucked from the island before her eyes, and the radio silence afterwards was overwhelming.

Also annoying.

Hoping that he was, in fact, in his office-- Clerise knocked on the door.

Clerise blinked once, incredulous.

"Uh. Hey doc," she started, edging inwards and closing the door shut behind her, leaving it partially closed as it had been before she'd disturbed it.

Man, this was so awkward. Maybe he was like some sort of dinosaur. If she moved slowly, he wouldn't see her? The redhead didn't easily forget that this was the man who was eaten by a leviathan that had nearly destroyed them all-- and her, in particular, almost destroyed her TWICE.

And he'd come out with barely a scratch.

Crazy ********/> Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Clerise watched the good Doctor fill out paperwork.

"So...Are they dead, or what?"

Clerise rolled her eyes, but with it came the upward curve of a smile, darkly humorous.

"Forgive me, doctor." She took a step forward, gesturing widely to the gaping hole in his wall. "When all that bullshit happened, the ponies took some of our bitches." The redhead's smile faded, the thin veneer of protective armour-- her humour-- faded away.

The horsemen took Otto. Took Sasha. The same monsters that wrenched Balthazar from her grasp and broke him, who scarred both her and Rep, who tried to bring about the ******** apocalypse.

"I'll be honest. I only really give a ******** about two of them, in a personal sense. Otto..." A breath. "And Sasha." Clerise crossed her arms. "So. Are they dead, or should I be throwing my hat into the ring for rescue shenanigans?"

Don't.

Show.

Weakness.

(Too much, anyway.)

She growled, guttural, in frustration.

"Awesome."

Clerise paced the room a little, clutching the pocketwatch at her neck. "Well." The taste of frozen salt water, the feeling of jagged feathers carving into her flesh-- raw and juicy like a rare steak-- the bite of wind, the touch of a tentacle, the buttons of a harpoon, the sensation of darkness.

The sand of the sahara. The darkness of a theme park.

"Uhh. No, I'm not eager. Or excited. But they are people. She was here, on the island, being...normal. And bitchy, and vindictive, and mad, and HUMAN. But I was talking to her, I was helping her fly. Metaphorically. Whatever." Clerise snorted, running a hand through her hair.

"I don't even want to go. I don't know where they took the two of them, but I bet it is probably some sort of pony rumpus a*****e factory." Red eyes met H's. "I'd really rather not die, so if there's a group going or someone with a better sense of how the ******** to get by horseman than a trainee who can't keep her weapon in one piece, then." She smiled, lopsided. "I'd really like in. But if there's no one else?"

Sasha. Otto. Rin. Wash. Ami.

"Then I guess it's time to play the 'recruit a bunch of assholes and maybe get the backing of a division head' game."

Owlish, and almost comically, Clerise blinked, taken off guard. "The ******** is Ben?"

Weird dude. Was Ben just someone she'd never heard of? Maybe she should ask someone at a later date about this Ben character. Maybe he was just some ******** in the Life division that she had similar tendencies to. Who knew? The good doc was about as forthcoming with details as a stone was with giving blood. Clerise had a feeling neither H or a rock would be showing up to any blood bank any time soon.

Speaking of rocks...Either way, this situation shoved her firmly between a rock and a hard place. "Yeah yeah, my heroics are great. They are more fabulous than a rainbow ******** a cheesecake, doc."

Reluctantly, she deflated, coming to grips with HOW MANY WALLS needed to be built.

SO MANY WALLS. The siege hadn't been kind to Deus Ex, and while it wasn't the first (nor would it be the last) time the place needed to be put back together...it still was a nigh unsurmountable task.

"Thanks for the info, though, sir." Clerise gave him a performer's bow, her lips drawn into a grimace. "I..." hope they're okay. "Yeah."