It wasn’t clear even to Clarice herself why she had volunteered to talk to the freshly awakened Atlantis citizens, but she supposed that it was an extension of the stuff she’d seen done in the mutant underground and a way to feel useful when neither being at “home” nor at work really made sense. Plus, it wasn’t like she’d had much luck sussing out anything important from her fake family, so this was her way to pull her own weight in this mess. Clarice had reached out to the others who had woken up fully and asked them to meet her at the formerly normal coffee shop, now known to Clarice as ‘the shop where it happened’, because everything important happened here. If she looked surly and overall ‘done’, it’s because she was, though she tried to adopt a softer demeanor once everyone was gathered around the same table.
“So… Hi. I’m Clarice, we’re all awake, and this is weird. I get it, believe me. You’re not the only ones, and everyone else is working on figuring this out. But it’s going very slowly.”
“Who, exactly, is everyone else?” Eleanor asked, leaning forward as she listened closely to what Clarice was saying. Her head was reeling with all the memories that had come flooding back over the last few days but she was determined to get a handle on this situation, for her own sake and everyone else’s. First thing was first: establishing the facts.
“How many of us are there awake?”
Connor stood near the table, though he hadn’t yet taken a seat, nor had he said much other than a polite hello to the three women who joined him. His brow was furrowed as his thoughts drifted between the conversation and questions they all shared, but it was obvious that his attention was not fully on the group as he occasionally glanced down at his hand and rubbed his thumb across his fingers with a slight frown.
Abby hadn’t said anything since she had arrived at the coffee shop. Hell, she hadn’t spoken all that much she’d woken to find that she had essentially been living a lie. That that feeling from days before was a clue to all of this and not from lack of sleep as she’d suspected. As she sat listening to what the others had to say Abby wished that she hadn’t been “woken” up. Sometimes ignorance was bliss. Nadine Quinzel had a wonderful life and was happy. She, on the other hand, had it rough. Most especially in the last couple of years.
“So far it’s me, Rocco, Lissa and Daisy. Far as I know: a mutant, a wizard, a… vampire? And an inhuman which is kind of like a mutant but with alien DNA. And none of us have our powers, by the way. So Rocco is working on checking out the hospital for anyone behaving oddly or talking about things feeling wrong. Lissa is working on a timeline of events from our perspective, I guess to check on patterns later. And Daisy has a program running on the network and social media to also see if there’s anyone talking about it like we did. Slowly waking up, I guess.” Clarice replied.
“So what I think we need to do next is get together, all of us, and try to figure out what’s happening and how we deal with it. I know this is hard, I’m not taking it well either. There’s an entire life I had no part in choosing but it’s still going on, and no one around me has any idea. And we don’t even know if breaking the charade from our side is a good idea because we don’t know how long we’re stuck here for. So if you need to talk about it, I think it’s not a stretch to say we’re here for each other, right?”
At the mention of powers, Connor perked up slightly. He half-listened as Clarice continued in her explanation while glancing around the room for an unrecognizable stain on the floor. Spotting one of a brownish-green color, he walked over to it and knelt, dipping his fingers in the still damp stain and bringing his fingers back to his mouth.
“Regret,” he mumbled in a sad voice. Connor grimaced as he stood and turned back toward the table, trying to get the taste of… Well, to be honest, he wasn’t quite sure what it was since he still had human functions. If he had to guess, though, it was probably mixed with some sort of feces. He was still making disgusted faces as he voiced a question to the group. “Any chance someone has determined why we have been the ones to … awaken, rather than others?”
“As much as I’d like to go back to being blissfully unaware of all this, I know that’s not possible. So, I agree that we should all get together and discuss what we know. If we work together we should be able to navigate our way through this mess,” Abby said and then turned to face Connor and said, “I’m going to regret this but I have to know. What did you hope to gain by doing that?”
Rubbing a napkin over his tongue, Connor bobbed his head slightly as he considered how to answer Abby’s question. “I wanted to test the.. erm... power theory for myself.” One thing was certain-- he definitely understood now why so many people found that particular ability off-putting. He threw the napkin away before sitting down at the empty chair at the table, his face still reflecting a degree of disgust.
Eleanor’s nose had wrinkled as she’d watched Connor testing his theory but she tried to ignore the whole incident, accepting his explanation at face value with a little nod. She was keen to get back to the matter at hand. The concept of powers meant little to her.
“I agree too. We’re not going to get anywhere alone but together we might have a chance of coming up with a viable plan.” She paused, the frown deepening on her brow.
“But I think it’s absolutely vital that this stays between just us for the time being. If we try to tell other people about what’s happening, they’ll simply call us mad and that won’t serve any purpose at all other than to frustrate our efforts.“
Clarice shot a sympathetic smile at Abby. She was torn right down the middle herself between wanting to be awake and being blissfully unaware.
“Yeah, together we have a better chance. We’re already theorizing; it could be magic, a sort of simulation that Daisy is experienced with…” Clarice trailed off. Once Connor walked away from their table Clarice stopped talking and decided to follow him with her eyes, casual gaze turning into a semi-disgusted stare as he proceeded to essentially lick the floor. When he expressed regret, Clarice snorted. “Yeah, no shit. Is your power licking the floor for...clues? Or something?”
She then nodded at Eleanor. “Right, there’s no point, so we have to go on pretending. And it’s going to be hard, and eventually I don’t wanna keep going, but for now sure. Which brings me to my idea of us all meeting this weekend so people can go back to work and most schedules won’t get in the way. ‘Til then we’ll keep in touch via phones. If you hear or see anyone behaving kind of like you yourself had been until now, let everyone else know.”
Clarice pulled her phone and read from it. “Stuff like someone feeling like they shouldn’t be here, or something usually normal feels wrong. Anything like that. Good?”
For his part, Connor wasn’t sure how to address Clarice’s comment about his abilities. He was torn between the memories of her being one his closest friends and the truth. He opted for a quiet shrug, slumping down a bit further in his seat as she addressed Eleanor’s concerns.
Though she now had many questions Abby’s only response to Connor’s explanation was an arched brow and a shake of her head. It was probably best for her and everyone else that she not inquire any further about his actions.
“I agree that we should keep it to ourselves for now. The last thing any of us need is to be checked into a psych ward,” Abby said and then sighed. Coming to terms with the memories of her life as Nadine, while currently difficult, would become less of a burden after some time. But to have to continue living the lie? Well, that was perhaps the most difficult part about their entire situation.
“As long as there are no patients that require emergency surgery I should be available the entire weekend.”
“I have to work,” Connor added, idly drumming his fingers on the table before catching himself and clasping his hands together. “But it’s possible that someone may have a more dramatic reaction to conflicting memories, so I’ll keep an ear out in the station for any suspicious behavior that seems to line up with our… situation.”
“It sounds like we have enough of a plan to be getting on with,” Eleanor summarised. “We can share our phone calendars with each other to find a convenient time at the weekend to meet again.”
Eleanor looked rather surprised at herself for coming up with such a modern solution to their problem. It seemed as though the Cummings-Brown memories were as alive in her as the recently reawakened Guthrie ones. Perhaps it would be easier than she’d first imagined it would be to keep up the appearance of normalcy.
Clarice eyed Connor curiously, remembering how he was supposed to be a really close friend of hers but she had actually never met him before today. In the end she smiled. “That’s okay, we can get together some other time or even on your break.” She told him. “I tried to suss out some stuff from my supposed sister and detective Cat but didn’t get very far, so that would be helpful.”
Reaching for her phone again Clarice added the other three to the already existing group entitled ‘woke’ and shared her calendar. “‘Kay mine’s shared. If this gets hard, fire off a text. The least I can do is be around.”
“Likewise,” Eleanor added. “And, while we’re all still here, I seem to have possession of a very large house full of empty rooms. I’m willing to offer up its use as… well, a safe space. Somewhere to retreat to.”
With a smile at Eleanor, Clarice nodded. At least they weren’t alone, she supposed.