xp_logs | Sarah and Callisto, Thursday afternoon (Reply)

Despite her best efforts, Sarah runs into Callisto just outside the mansion. At least the conversation doesn't end in blood.

Sarah looked grumpily up at the mansion in front of her. She didn't want to be here, which wasn't anything new, but not now especially. Why they couldn't just fax the forms she needed over to the Snow Valley office was beyond her. It wasn't like she was asking for X-men mission reports or anything. Just whatever grades they still had on record. But no, they had to make her come in and sign for them, despite knowing full well she had people she was avoiding there. Fuckers.

"Fucker!" The utterance was muttered but it still rang across the foyer as Sarah entered. The speaker was crouched at the foot of the large staircase, looking up at the underside of the banister, poised with a hammer and shaking her other hand before sticking her thumb in her mouth. However badly you've been hurt in your time, there's still nothing that smarts quite like a hammer to the thumb...

The young Morlock's eyes widened for a split second, as she quickly tried to discern whether she had, in fact, been speaking out loud. Not that they hadn't heard her say it all or worse before, but it wasn't often she got her inside and outside voices mixed up. Seeing the figure under the stairs greatly relieved her, then, until she recognized the voice. And the figure. FUCK. Maybe if she could just back away slowly, she could just come back later. Really. There were other times this could be taken care of. Like when Callisto is not here and armed with a hammer.

Noticing that there was someone there, Callisto began to speak. "Can I help you wi-" She broke off abruptly as she spotted who it was. "...Sarah." She stood up, hammer hanging forgotten in her hand.

"Marrow," came the flat reply. "And no, I was just here to pick up some paperwork the university needs. I'll be out of your hair shortly." She mentally gathered herself, preparing to walk off in a huff. Because that would certainly make her feel better.

Marrow... Callisto's brow furrowed briefly, but then she simply placed the hammer down on the nearest step and took a few paces towards Sarah. "You're not in my hair." She stuck her hands in her pockets. "You okay?"

"Sure," Sarah shrugged, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jeans. There was the slight sound of snagging as the bone covering her knuckles ripped the inside. She winced. "I didn't just live for years thinking my whole family was dead, only to find they weren't, and then have to evacuate everyone from our home -again-, but only after they'd tried to kill me, because that would probably make me feel pretty shitty. I'm fine."

Callisto opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, and shrugged. "I don't know what you want to hear."

Sarah took a deep breath, and considered her best course of action. In the end, she defaulted with anger. "How about starting with where the fuck you were? I was fourteen! I lived down in those tunnels for two years. You couldn't have stopped by, just once?"

"I was..." Callisto shut her mouth, her lips flattening to a line. Of all the people she didn't want to talk to about the last seven years, Sarah was top of the list. "I thought everyone was dead," she said matter-of-factly. "I didn't want to go back there."

"I lived there." Sarah's voice left no room for sympathy. "I took care of corpses for two years."

Callisto's expression wavered at this. The thought of Sarah down in the dark with all those bodies wasn't one she wanted to dwell on. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't even know you were alive, for the longest time. I didn't know."

"Well." Sarah turned, shoulders hunched forward slightly. "It sure is a good thing you found out about me last week." Her voice was creeping into an overly cheerful tone, syllable by syllable. "I could've gotten hurt, and then what would you have done?"

"Last thing I wanted was to see you hurt," the older woman said, the tension visible in her stance. "I did what I thought was best. I don't know what to tell you."

"Of course you don't." Sarah glared back over her shoulder, and turned to leave. "I've got to go."

"For fuckssake Sarah, listen to yourself," Callisto barked then, a tone creeping into her voice that she hadn't had cause to use in years, taking her hands out of her pockets only to realise they were balled into fists. To her horror she felt a hot prickle behind her eyes which she staunchly ignored. "What the hell do you think I've been doing all these years, living in the lap of luxury? Being an international superspy? What, you think because I wasn't underground my life was easy? Sarah, look at me!"

Sarah spun back around, eyes widened now. She had gotten a reaction out of Callisto --great-- but what now? Standing there gaping, the words just wouldn't come to her. Finally, all the anger and hurt that had puffed her up and kept her going for so long abandoned her in one long sigh. She looked back down at the floor. "Welcome back to 'Not Dealing', population: Sarah."

In a couple of short strides Callisto was in front of her former charge, although as she lifted her arm she found that she couldn't quite take the leap of making contact - It wasn't as though they'd ever been particularly 'huggy' back in the day. Despite that, however, the fondness in Callisto's tone couldn't be hidden as she spoke.

"Christsakes, Sarah..." she began, but trailed off.

"Just----don't. " Sarah took a step back, needing the space, needing to feel like she was in control of something, even if it was just as simple as how close people got to her. "I'm only lashing out, and I'll only say something else to hurt you because I just don't know what to say." The words tumbled out, like she was trying to get everything out before she lost her thoughts. "I was doing really well before this, too. Just this side of batshit crazy."

"You were doing great. Are doing great."

Sarah snorted softly, looking back up from the floor. "Please, have you seen me? I'm a fucking basketcase."

"You're alive, aren't you?" Callisto said, tipping her head to one side. "Warm place to sleep, not starving any time soon. And you're making your mark."

"My mark? 'That crazy bitch over at 'Snow Valley' is one hell of a mark to be making." She shrugged. "Don't give me the credit before you get the whole story. I'm sure someone'll be willing to fill you in."

Callisto's brow furrowed a little. "If there's a story to be told I'd sooner hear it from you."

"I'm told I'm biased." Sarah paused then, and when she was sure that Callisto was just going to look at her expectantly until she got more than that, she took another deep breath.

"This place and I didn't get along well. I was insane, and they were trying to make me a better person." She counted out each point on her fingers, easily, as if she'd done this all before. "I got in a brawl with a mansion guest, was grounded a couple of times, left with my pretty boyfriend, died, came back, made everyone's lives generally miserable, left again, was kidnapped, turned into an organ farm, and rescued accidentally by friends who didn't even know I was back in the country. And now I'm working with Remy, who I swore in a pretty creative string of expletives that I would never-ever work with, let alone live in the same building with. I left him for dead once. That was fun."

Callisto listened to all of this with a thoughtful expression, lips pursed, brow slightly furrowed. Then she shrugged. "Sounds colourful," she said simply.

"Would you believe it scares some people?" Sarah smiled then, just slightly, and glanced around. How long had she been talking? There was stuff to get done back at the office, and she still hadn't tracked down those papers she needed. "Look, I really have to go. They're going to send a search party if I don't show back up soon. We're a little twitchy lately."

"Yeah, there seem to be kidnappings and disappearances all over the joint. I swear this has to be the least safe place for mutants on the planet. I never had this much hassle."

"Get used to it. The mansion is probably due an invasion any time now." And with that, she hurried towards the door before any more questions could be asked.

Callisto opened her mouth to call after her, then closed it. What would I say? Let her go. Give it time.