Who: Christian and Ciara When: Sunday, May 4, just before sunset Where: Utopia What: Ciara needs to know if Christian saw anything involving the Jack Frost incident Warnings: IDK, there'll be some swearing, mentions of violence. Status: In progress
Being with Lora had significantly calmed Ciara's nerves, at least momentarily, if only because it had helped her see she wasn't alone in this mess that had been created. Blank spot in her memory aside, it was reassuring to know that someone else felt the same she did, that this had to be a mistake. Even in self defense Ciara wasn't so sure she'd take the life of a cop, maybe a criminal who was trying to kill her. But then there were the bruises on her neck to consider, telling a story of their own she couldn't remember of someone grabbing her by the throat roughly enough to have left their mark. Along with the bruise on her cheek, the two visible injuries, and a myriad of other discolored patches on her skin beneath her clothes - Ciara knew she'd probably had to use her powers in self defense at least then. The only problem being she couldn't remember a single fight that intense.
There were certain rules she liked to live by when it came to being a vigilante. One of those was not to hurt someone who didn't deserve it. The line got blurred when she was in the heat of the moment and she let herself leave frostbite on people, but even then she tried to keep the severity in check, matching the degree to whatever the criminal had been doing. A man assaulting a woman warranted a worse case of frostbite than some kid stealing something, in her opinion. And it wasn't like she always left frostbite, even. Ciara chose when, carefully, or she had been when she'd had excellent control over her power. It was possible that she hadn't meant for it to happen this time, even, giving someone hypothermia severe enough to kill them. One of the last things she could remember was deciding to pack it in, having recognized the added stress was effectively her negatively and not wanting to do more harm than good as she noticed a loss of control in her power.
So what had happened after that?
Only a handful knew Ciara was Jack Frost. One being Lora, readily available for her to find, and she already had. The second was harder. Ciara knew roughly where she could find Christian, who she'd only recently begun even calling by his actual name - a habit she had of distancing herself from fellow Wonderlands members by only referring to them as their codenames. And the third someone she wasn't sure she wanted to walk down that road with at the moment, and in any case he wasn't a vigilante or part of that life at all. Whereas, just like Lora, Christian was. He may have seen something, might have heard something more concrete than a bullshit ambiguous article that named her as a maybe, maybe not murderer. All she wanted was a little light shed on what had happened, and right now, Christian seemed like her best bet. If all else failed, she supposed she could contact the others whose numbers she did have, but that would mean donning her Jack Frost get up as she wasn't sure she wanted them to know her face, and that seemed like the stupidest thing she could do at the moment. What with Jack Frost being a wanted criminal.
Heading to Utopia from Lora's, Ciara regretted that she'd left her phone at home, that she hadn't called Joni or her dad to let them know she was safe. Easily she could have stopped someone on her way, asked to use a strangers phone and in light of recent events she was sure someone would take pity on her. Lots of people would be wondering where their loved ones were, probably more than willing to help someone else get in touch with theirs, but Ciara was filled with anxiety and the thought of stopping her current mission to call her dad made her feel like crying. She needed to wait until she had herself under better control before she talked to anyone in her family, especially the two people who knew how to read her better than anyone else. Them being worried and mad at her for not getting into contact with them ASAP was something she was willing to live with, even if it left her stomach in knots at the very thought of any of them thinking she was one of the many dead in the wake of the blackout.
Like that police officer.
Ignoring the thought, Ciara made her way through Utopia with what she hoped was the demeanor of a person who belonged there, knowing full well she probably looked as much the tourist in this part of town as she felt - though maybe the bruises she was wearing helped. It was already nearing sundown and Utopia was fairly rough during daylight hours, everyone knew that. Wandering aimlessly trying to find Christian wasn’t exactly how she wanted to spend her night, so she took stock of the various people, choosing a group that looked homeless, looked like they weren’t just passing through Utopia, like they spent their nights here just like Christian did. The image made her sad, because no one deserved to live on the streets like this, and it shamed her that the thought especially Christian crossed her mind, as if he were somehow the others had more reasons to deserve this. It left her feeling uncomfortable.
Concentrating at the task at hand, Ciara made her way over to a group of several men who looked relatively harmless, though she knew looks could be deceiving. “Hey,” she called out, once she was close enough for them to hear her, “Do any of you know where I can find a kid named Christian?”