xp_logs | Thirteen Days: That Old Cliche (Reply)

Jean and Terry find shelter for the night in Siberia.

No food, no first aid, no supplies of any kind in fact against the coming night. Terry clenched her jaw, determined not to say anything about it and tightened her arms around her own waist. The fact that they had a structure at all was, in her mind, an accomplishment and not something to be overlooked in light of all the things that they didn't have. Like working comms. Or any clue where they were. Or where anyone else was.

At least she'd managed a fire. Wasn't that deserving of some credit?

"What?" she snapped, looking over at Jean. Her resolve had lasted two entire minutes.

"I didn't say anything," Jean said, not looking up from where her head was buried in her hands, shielding her eyes. If anything, she felt worse than after the tsunami. Of course, it hadn't been just her then and, thanks to Haller, she'd gotten to sleep for almost a full day after it. And who'd have thought she'd ever find a good thing from that. "It was a moan," she clarified, still not looking up. "You know, the kind of thing one lets out with when one's brain is quite literally attempting to force its way out through one's ears."

"I told you it was a stupid idea." Terry sighed and curled up tighter on the chair. "I don't know exactly where we are. There's nothing out there to hear except wind. Oh, and I think it's going to snow again soon. But at least we're not dead, so that's something."

"It worked, and I didn't hear you coming up with anything better." Jean was so not in the mood. Really, all she wanted right now was to be unconscious again but, for all her exhaustion, the pain in her head meant normal sleep wasn't really an option. "Remind me why you thought waking me up was a good idea? I'm not exactly in any position to know where we are, either, or to do anything about the snow."

"I was sick of carrying you. You were heavy and there's nothing wrong with your legs." Possibly she could have been a little more sympathetic to Jean's situation. But as far as Terry was concerned, they were even on that part since she hadn't left Jean behind for Mystique and her merry men. "I wanted to be certain that you could be woken."

The first was more snarling than anything else, and Jean dismissed it - for one thing, Terry hadn't woken her until they'd reached shelter and, for another, truthfully she probably couldn't walk - at least not any distance. She hadn't even tried to pull herself from the floor where she'd been dumped, simply curling where she lay and, eventually, struggling to sit up. Even that had set the world spinning around her for almost a minute as her battered mind tried to set itself in order. "Your concern regarding my dubious mental health is touching, really," she said.

"Aye, well, it's always been a hallmark of my character." Terry curled up more and rested her chin on her knees. She wouldn't admit how scared she was right now. They were utterly alone out here and the nearest people as far as she knew were the three unfriendly mutants that they'd traveled with back to earth. Jean was the one here with experience, not Terry and Jean was barely even lucid. Taking refuge in sarcasm and crankiness was just that, refuge. "Don't go crazy evil and try to kill me."

"Yeah, I'm not making any promises. Take comfort in the fact that if I do, you could hand my ass to me on a platter right now. And in the fact that my crazy half isn't talking to me to punish me for that stunt. Or cause I sprained the part of my brain she lives in. Couldn't say which." Jean sort of lacked any kind of filter just now. Or empathy. If she'd sat and thought about it, she'd probably have picked up on Terry's fear. As it was, banter was all she had left to keep her from curling up in a tiny little ball and sobbing from the pain.

"If we have to resort to cannibalism, I just want to point out that I'm younger and have more to live for." A shiver ran down Terry's spine, so hard that it almost knocked her off the chair. Reluctantly, she uncurled and moved to the fireplace to add more of their sad supply of wood. Conserving it wouldn't help if they froze.

"And thus you're flesh will be more tender and delicious. Plus, I've got the medical knowledge to take off a limb without killing you." Jean cautiously moved her hands away from her eyes. She winced at the brightness of the fire, but did her best to keep her eyes open against the pain.

Terry was systematically going through every pocket in her leathers, confirming that she did indeed have exactly nothing of use. "Culling the old and the sick is good for the health of the overall group. I watch the Discovery channel. I know these things." She found her wedding ring and after a moment's hesitation, stripped off her gloves to put it on. "I have a power bar."

"By all means," Jean said, flipping some fingers at Terry. "I'd be ill if I tried to eat anything right now." Giving up, she closed her eyes again, sighing. "We won't starve," she spoke again after a moment. "Either Mystique will find us before then, or my brain will once again take up residence inside my skull and I can try to contact Charles."

Terry sighed and slumped down by the fire, tucking the Power Bar away again for later when she was feeling more hungry than cold. "Or we'll freeze. Let's not forget the freezing."

"That's what I've always liked about you, Terry. Your cheerfully optimistic good humor."

"I'm infinitely more when I'm not stuck in the middle of nowhere all alone." She watched the fire jump and pop, wishing for a phone or a computer or some way to get in touch with the outside world. It wasn't even being rescued. She had a call to make and missing out on it was killing her. "You should try to sleep. I'll keep an ear open."

Jean sighed. "Normally, I'd argue with you, but right now... you're in a better position to do something if something does happen by far, and if I don't recover..." she trailed off.

"If you don't recover, I'm moving to Greenland where Mr. Summers can't find me." Terry sighed and curled up to listen to the night.