xp_logs | X-Men Mission: Opera Redux

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Garrison stays with Clarice during the night, where she's afraid that her injury might turn out to be fatal.

It was cool at night in the hills. Iran wasn't a desert, not as Kane had been expecting, but it did share the desert's trait of cooling off rapidly at night. In the hills around them, you could see spots of fire, where cattle drovers had small camps set up, following grazing rotations a thousand years old. Enough of them that Ororo had agreed they could risk a fire to keep Clarice warm. Occasionally, Garrison could hear Cain's massive form outside of the firelight, making slow circles around their camp while Ororo and Shiro slept. Clarice had been tucked carefully close to the fire, but her eyes were open, watching the flames idly as the Canadian poked at them.

Kane dug out the canteen he'd liberated from the IRG soldier at the facility, and carefully offered it to her. "You should be sleeping, you know."

"I should also floss my teeth every day and not get myself accidentally irradiated," Clarice replied softly, coughing slightly. "Sleeping won't help. It'll just mean I missed what could be the last moments of my life."

"Not a lot out here to see, Clarice. Besides, you're not going to die out on this mission. All we need to do is keep going north a little longer, break clear and get a pickup from the mansion." He reached into his uniform and pulled out a cloth, soaking it from the canteen and placing it on her forehead.

That wasn't really the point, at least to Clarice. She was a fighter, but even she had to concede that this wasn't a fight she was well equipped to handle, even as she tried her best, "Just tell my mom I was trying to save the whales or something out here. She likes that stuff and doesn't know the truth,," Clarice instructed him, just in case, the cloth felt good on her forehead, "And give my bike to Sooraya."

"That's the problem you're running into, you know. Last I checked, you needed a lawyer to make a proper will. So, since all my Mountie training doesn't actually cover a law degree, I can't make anything binding." He refreshed the cloth again and brushed her face. "Guess that means that you need to stay alive until we can get you to a lawyer, and make it all official. Very important to be official, you know."

Idly, Clarice waved away Kane's protests, then coughed, :"I am taking a long vacation when this is over. Somewhere with water and cabana boys in thongs."

"Cuba's very nice this time of year. Cold rum drinks, good cigars, bathing suits the size of beer coasters... although, it's not like this place doesn't have a certain charm. Rustic, earthy, a sense of back to nature." Kane dug into the web harness and came up with a small box; some kind of local candy. He passed it over. "Until then, cold water and some random sweets will have to do."

So getting irradiated had it's perks, even if it was a high price to pay for candy, "Mmm. Cuba. I could do Cuba. Wanna go with me?" opening the candy without moving was hard, but she managed it. Barely. "Remind me never to get cancer."

"Cancer's bad. Takes you away bit by bit from inside. You don't want to get that." Kane said, suddenly uncharacteristically quiet. He shook his head after a moment. "Cuba sounds like a deal. If-- no, when we get out of this, a week of fruity rum drinks poolside in Santiago de Cuba, my treat."

"When. Yeah," she agreed, though it wasn't said with much enthusiasm, " The problem with being an EMT, is that I know too much medical crap. Not enough to be a doctor, but too much to be blissfully ignorant," she appreciated his company though. It was comforting and she really didn't want to be alone.

"Are you an oncologist all of a sudden? Or did your interning out by Three Mile Island? No, neither of those?" Kane said. "Then shut the fuck up. You don't know what a dose of radiation like this means any more than I do. And I am seriously not going to have to carry a purple coffin in some ceremony. So that means rum drinks and sunshine are what we're going to be focusing on. Otherwise, I don't care how hurt you are, I will turn you into a 'tickle me' emo."

"Fine. So I don't know. But it feels pretty bad!" Clarice almost spat the candy out, but decided to continue sucking on it instead, "I'm scared."

"I know. This time, you're allowed to be." Garrison squeezed her shoulder through the coat. "Look, I'm not a doctor either. What I do know is that unless you give up, we will get out of this hellhole of a country, and once we do, there's the best medical facility in the world waiting for you."

The fire was pretty, "I'm not giving up," Clarice said as strongly as she could, "I've come too far for that. And besides, I doubt they make purple caskets."

"One can only hope you're right on that." Kane said with a chuckle, staying with her in the night.