Marie-Ange, Laurie - Call goes out.

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

Right before the call goes out, Marie-Ange is sent to retrieve a wayward explorer who is not answering her cell phone. She finds her just in time for Laurie to get the message, but too late for Laurie to get ice cream.



Laurie was exploring through one of the abandoned apartments, and from what she could see it appeared as if, in the clean up of the other places in the Brownstone, most of the stuff that they didn't want to just throw out had been squirreled away. It made for some interesting exploration through unused rooms that appeared dusty with neglect.

She'd realized after a few moments that her fingers were itching to clean things but she'd resisted the urge, not knowing what was actually valuable and what was merely junk. It was rude to go rummaging through someone else's property anyway, something even her innate curiosity couldn't deny.

"You should not be in here, not without a facemask." The silent proximity alarms that had been setup had also been programmed to page any of the residents when they were broken. With the current visitors, Marie-Ange had no worry about the intrusion - only a wonder about which of the teenagers was wandering around the topmost floor of the brownstone. "I do not think we ever got all the mold and dust out of this apartment. We never needed to." She was quite probably going to startle a few years off Laurie's life, but really, the girl shouldn't have wandered off alone.

"Oh!" Laurie gasped, twirling around suddenly, only relaxing when she saw it was Marie-Ange. "I didn't think it was that bad. Mold doesn't usually bother me."

She could still hear her heart beating in her ears and she took a moment to get herself under control before she moved closer to the older girl. It wouldn't do to cause one of their hosts to go into a panic attack simply because she'd been startled.

"Usually no, but you must remember that both Wanda and Amanda live here. The mold could be setting up a collective to take over the world. Mold is communist, you know." Marie-Ange answered dryly. "Also, I wonder how you got in without a key? These were supposed to be locked."

"Guess someone must have forgot, or maybe they were putting something in here?" Laurie replied, moving closer to Marie-Ange and away from the various interesting looking piles of old papers. "Did you guys ever go through all the furniture? I bet there's like, old letters or maybe a treasure map somewhere in here." Laurie had never needed much to let her imagination run wild, an empty dusty room with unexplored depths could contain anything. It had been too much of a temptation to resist.

"There are no treasure maps in this apartment, or any of the other empty ones." Marie-Ange said dryly. "Nor should there be wandering teenage girls exploring them." Laurie was only lucky that it had been Marie-Ange who'd been sent to find her, and not, say, Sarah. Or Pete.

Laurie scuffed at the worn and patched carpet with a foot, letting her hair fall forward as she examined the surface of the floor. She'd already had something akin to an argument with Amanda and didn't want to start another with someone else.

It was hard enough being worried about all the people who could be getting hurt right this minute without also worrying about her own place among the people left behind. It would have been so much easier being one of the kids staying with her mother and Angel and Angelo's parents.

But was that what she really wanted? To be safe, or to help? She couldn't yet say she'd decided one way or the other despite the grey uniform she wore.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry anyone. I figured the Brownstone wasn't all that big, and I had my cell phone on me." Laurie replied, looking down and wincing as she realized the cell phone wasn't turned on. She must have forgotten to charge it last night, a stupid mistake.

"It is not that big, but it is the principle of the thing. If your X-Men needed you, we would need to be able to find you as soon as possible." Marie-Ange explained sternly. "And that is why all of your phones are traceable even when off now." She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a small black pager with a red LED that was blinking rapidly. "And how I knew where to find you."

"Yeah, I feel kinda stupid for not checking. It's the sort of thing they've been trying to drill into us from day one," Laurie responded, an embarrassed blush staining the skin of her face a light pink. "I haven't really been thinking like an X-man."

"Then now is the time to make mistakes, rather then later when you cannot afford to, yes?" Marie-Ange said gently. "Make them now when you are training and can get scolded by people." She reached into the same pocket, and handed Laurie a cell phone battery with a smile. "We keep several charged just in case. And I am told by a reliable source that after scaring several years off you and yelling at you, I am to get you an ice cream cone. A little bird told me." A red-eyed one. With a Cajun accent.

"Ice cream is always..." Laurie started to say as she placed the charged battery into her phone. It beeped insistently the moment it fired up, and she noticed the message. "Crap weasels. I've got to go, we've been told to get back to the mansion right now."

The lack of real surprise on Marie-Ange's face was evident by the slight raise of one eyebrow, and then a pause as she reached down to turn off the ringer on her own phone before it went off. They did not need redundant messages, and any specifics she needed would be passed on verbally. "Then we should get you downstairs quickly. I can lock up behind you, go on. They need you."