Just A 'Little' Meltdown

[Jacinda Blake]

Following the Events of... (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=21666)

Little by little the nothing began to fill in with somethings. First, came the realization that she was some place comfortable, safe and..familiar. She knew something else had happened, but every time she tried to recall what, all she saw was red and black.

She smelled the sterile scent of alcohol, and medical supplies. The hospital! That's right she had been in a hospital somewhere - New Mexico? Arizona? She couldn't remember exactly, all the highways had begun to blur together on her after a while. An accident, ok. She had woken up and gone...home to New York.

Lucy! She felt sure she wasn't imagining seeing Lucy. There had been trouble though. Anti-mutant activists that had tried to kidnap her. They had fought it out with them. Three on three. Lucy and another mutant who kept pissing the bad guys off with a nifty shielding ability. She remembered.. She had tried to reason with them, and one of them had tried to sucker punch her in the stomach.. Idiot. Someone had clearly never told him the most dangerous animal in the world was a mother protecting her young, and planned or not, that was what she was now. A mother. She had been about to blow his ass out the nearest window when the protective rage within her boiled over. The wind that blasted out from around her hands emerged with unfamiliar force. She saw red, literally. She closed her eyes and... what had happened? She barely remembered Lucy and...Ethan! That was his name, they had dragged her out from the house, all kinds of alarms had been going off and all Jacinda could think to do, knowing she was seconds away from passing out again, was shove her cell phone at Lucy. "Professor Rhee..", she had croaked at her and now...

Just where was she?

"Owwwww..", she groaned without opening her eyes.

[Chartis]

With a courtesy so often forgotten in the bustling way of modern life, the overhead lights in Jacinda's room dimmed as she stirred, shading away from sterile fluorescence into a soft yellow glow that was much gentler on tender eyes. The girl would find herself tucked in a hospital bed beneath a lightweight cotton blanket the colour of heavy cream as soon as she gained enough mental clarity to grasp hold of awareness. She was not in a hospital, however; no, she was much safer that that.

"Easy - you're alright," came a soft voice, gracefully curled around the edges in a vague European way. Clarity Cleine leaned over the half-rail on the bed, her clear blue eyes bright with concern, and placed a gentle hand on Jacinda's shoulder to keep her from rising. "Please don't try to sit up just yet, Jacinda. You've had quite a time."

The girl's eyes fluttered open and Clarity smiled reassuringly. "Welcome back to Cullen's, Miss Blake."

[Jacinda Blake]

At the gentle urging to stay as she was, Jacinda complied, but only because she recognized the voice. "Yes, Professor Clarity."

Despite the fact that Jacinda had graduated, somethings were hard to let go of. Clarity (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=18115) herself had invited Jacinda to call her by her given name, but she was just not over the teacher/student hurdle yet. Maybe another year or so..

"Thank you. I wish I could say it was good to be home, but it's kind of painful really. Have I been out long?"

[Chartis]

"The better part of a day," Clarity answered, quietly amused at the blend of formal and familiar in the girl's address. It was a natural reluctance that she understood - even now, well established in her thirties, she still couldn't bring herself to refer to Dr. Cullen, the founder of the Institute and the man who had presented her and so many other mutants with a future, in a casual way. There were some things that time simply didn't change.

Someone had set a clear pitcher of water on the nearby side table and Clarity turned over a waiting shatterproof cup, filling it halfway before handing it to Jacinda. The girl's grip was sound and she had no trouble bringing the cup to her lips. Any lingering effects she may have been suffering were not compromising her fine motor skills, at least.

"There's something to be said about making an entrance, although next time perhaps you ought to go with something a little less dramatic - after all, we rather like you, Jacinda." the bed purred softly as it's upper half rose to an incline, bringing the girl up at a measured pace that wouldn't send her into a lightheaded swoon. Clarity brushed aside an errant platinum curl from her face, expression creasing in a maternal mixture of gentle inquisition and concern.

"What do you remember?"

[Jacinda Blake]

"I swear, it's not my fault! Trouble finds me." Jacinda protested. Hurricanes, mutant terrorists, anti-mutant activists, even a military sect or two, (if you could believe the conspiracy theories floating around) they all seemed to want a piece of this elemental mutant.

"I remember the accident in Arizona. I woke up in a hospital, sans Carlos. After that I came home. I was supposed to meet with a rep' from my lawyer. He said he'd found out my sister Lucy was really alive and was arranging a reunion.", she paused and took a slow, steady sip of the water.

Closing her eyes she found the next part of the story a little more fuzzy to relate.. "It was all an ambush. I think they were anti-mutant whackos. They were definitely not mutants themselves, and not organized enough to be government. They got me, but before they could take me, Lucy did show up! She did, Professor I saw her! She had a guy with her, another Ethan. We fought it out and... I'm not sure what happened."

[Chartis]

"Lucy and Ethan, yes, they were there," Clarity nodded, reassuring the young woman that she hadn't imagined it. An only child herself, the professor could only guess at what a toll losing a sister must have taken on Jacinda - and then to be given back that bond? It was little wonder Jacinda was so adamant that she'd seen Lucy, that it hadn't been a dream.

"They were the ones that called John. When we got there you were already unconscious and needed medical attention right away - if you feel a bit like you're falling, that's probably my fault; Ridley says it takes a couple of days for him to feel right after I jump with him. Although," Clarity winced. "That knock on your head could account for vertigo, too."

[Jacinda Blake]

"I jumped with Chartis and I missed it?!"

All things considered, this was the most disappointing of news. Everything else she had accepted with grace. The accident. The news of her condition. The fact that her sister was alive. Missing her first jump though, that was drawing a line. Now she was just good and disappointed. "Damn..", she muttered, followed up quickly with.. "Sorry, Professor.."

"I do feel a little wonky still, yes. How is Ridley? Is Professor Rhee here?" Too many questions, she grumbled until her eyes slid shut again. "Alright, maybe I'm not as okay as I think I am.."

[Chartis]

Clarity smiled and waited out the dizzy spell. She had no medical training beyond being a mother (which, granted, had supplied a crash course in kamikaze first aid) but Jacinda had been given an initial all-clear and it had more or less been a waiting game for her to wake up to finalize the diagnosis. That the young woman was unsteady was to be expected and so Clarity let Jacinda's body find it's equilibrium without alerting Duncan.

When the girl's eyes opened again, it was to a warm, patient smile.

"John and Ridley are well," Clarity said. Her lips quirked. "I'm meant to tell you that you're not allowed to get hurt like this again - Rids says he'll fine you and fair warning, Jacinda, he's a tyrant when it comes to issuing tickets."

[Jacinda Blake]

Taking things more slowly, Jacinda scooted up. "You may give him my solemn vow that I will be taking it easy for the.. considerable future."

"It's nice to be back here. You know when we drove away, Carlos and I, I mean.. I blubbered like a watering can for a good few miles. Cullen's really did become home to me, like so many people tried to tell me it would."

Jacinda snuggled into the blankets and just let the feeling of being in safe, familiar surroundings wrap her in a comforting cocoon. Being back was probably a good thing. It would be a good place to regroup. To try and patch together the missing pieces of time and figure out what happened. Something.. strange, was all she knew with certainty.