Issue 1 Downtime

Randa knelt in the dirt, scratching symbols rapidly into the ground. "Next convergence in five minutes," she muttered to herself. It would have been more precise to use an instrument of some sort, but this sort of magic seemed to respond better to the personal touch, so she was using her fingers to make the symbols. "Rhwystr gryf byd gommed," she said aloud, her voice edged with power. The symbols began to glow, throbbing with a life of their own.

A figured comes sliding down a particularly thick root that leads from a shattered building the tree has grown through down to the ground. She comes to a stop halfway down in a spot where the root levels out a bit.

"Hey, there you are. Theresa has been mumbling about shit again. I dunno if she's asking for you or what and I'm not gonna risk letting her weird-ass thoughts into my head again." she shouts down to Randa.

"Shit, I was hoping she'd be content long enough to let me make sure this finishes." Her expression got distant, "Ten seconds." She held up five fingers and then began counting down. As the countdown neared zero, the air began to shimmer and become positively green as the symbols on the ground sparked. There was a sound that sounded vaguely like someone throwing gelatin against a wall and Miranda cringed. "Go with your gods," she said, making a gesture at the shimmering air as it started to fade. "We'll need to hit the East Side tomorrow morning. A troll crossed into Greenwich. You up for that?" She crossed to where Jennifer was standing.

Jennifer has long since stopped asking what it is Miranda does and just accepts it as one more thing she doesn't really understand. She doesn't need to anyway, better to focus on the things she can do something about than to try and figure out this god damn magic crap. She fishes a scrunched up pack of cigarettes out of the bag slung across her shoulder and rifles through a small compartment filled with lighters until she finds one that works.

"It's on the other side of the river. Can't we just let him have it?" she asks, already knowing the answer is no. "Trolls suck."

"You could stay with Theresa," she pointed out. "I'd go now, but it'd be dark before we got there and troll hunting in the dark sucks worse than troll-hunting in general."

"I'll take my chances with the troll." It's not that she didn't like Theresa, but hanging around her was just so damn depressing. And it was hard not to slip into blaming the woman for the state of things so she tried not to spend too much time around her. "I seriously don't get how you handle it."

"Handle her? I know what it's like to be almost in that state. Maybe not first hand, but... well... visions." She sighed, "Seems like that's my explanation for everything these days. Sorry."

"Whatever, it's fine. I'm just glad somebody does or who knows what would happen. We're also running low on a bunch of stuff. Non-essentials, I guess, technically. But still shit we don't really wanna run out of. Toothbrushes, batteries, that kinda stuff. Maybe there's some untapped places left in Greenwich."

Miranda nodded, "Let's get back and make a list. We'll see what we can find. Greenwich is deep enough that it may not have been picked clean yet. I'm a little concerned with what the river may be doing to the bridges as well, so we'll want to check that out too." She gestured, "After you?"

"We're not exactly in a position to do anything about the bridges either way." she points out as she begins to climb back up the root and into the building.

"Of course not," Miranda says, climbing behind her, "but I'd rather know which ones were in danger of collapsing into the river. I wouldn't want to be crossing one when it goes."

"We should get one of the boats that hasn't been smashed into the barrier yet and fix it up. Screw the bridges entirely."

"Not a bad idea, as soon as we figure out how to deal with the river spirits that people say they're seeing," she says with a chuckle. "I swear, the more this magical stuff wakes up, the more I miss Mom."

"Might just be rumors." she says, not sounding like she really buys that herself.

"I guess we'll see for ourselves tomorrow. Thanks for looking in on Theresa by the way. I know she's not easy to be around."

"It's just depressing as fuck, is all."

"Well, we'll break out some of that wine I stashed and be a little happy," she said with a genuine smile.

"I would hate you for hiding booze, but then it turns into surprise alcohol later and I can't."

"It's hard to hide things from another telepath. Forgive me if I feel smug about it for a bit."

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up."

"Thank you, I think I will," she said with a chuckle.

When they arrived back at the hideout, Theresa was sitting in the common area, rocking back and forth. "Randa?"

"I'm here, Theresa," Miranda said, putting her fingers on the other woman's temples. "You've been reliving it again." It wasn't a question. "Here, let me take it." There was a wash of psychic energy and Miranda shook her head. Theresa calmed down and leaned back in her chair. "She'll stay quiet for a while now," Miranda said with a sigh.

Jennifer stays near the door, watching Miranda as she does her thing. "I still say we should try to gloss it over completely. Go in there and tear it all down, maybe she'll rebuild her sanity. Even if she doesn't it might be better." she says a little darkly. She'd made the mistake of letting herself catch a glimpse of Theresa's thoughts once and the fact that the woman was, for lack of a better word, so badly damaged kept haunting her.

"We'd run the risk of erasing who she is... or was..." Miranda said sadly, looking at the woman. She picked Theresa up and carried her back to Theresa's room, settling her in the most comfortable chair in the hideout before coming back out with the bottle of wine. "I hear what you're saying, I just don't trust myself enough with that kind of operation. There might also be a mystical component that could slap us around."

"Not sure if she still is who she was." she says but drops the topic, essentially conceding the point without outright saying so.

Miranda fished around and found the corkscrew, uncorking the bottle of wine and handing the bottle over to Jennifer. "Here's to preventing something from crossing over today and to putting a troll down tomorrow."

"Either that's a jinx or you're still being smug." she says, briefly raising her glass.

"Well, I didn't think you wanted to hear about the potential future where it kills us both," she said with a chuckle, raising her own glass.

"I coulda told you that one."

Miranda sagged into one of their collected chairs, "What I wouldn't give for a group of X-Men to help deal with this shit. One of these days, we may have to see what happened to the University."

"That's a trip of multiple days. We'd have to take Theresa." she says, staring out the glass-less window.

"I know. And I can't always predict those convergences properly, so I can't leave," she said. "It'd just be nice to know for sure."

"It'd be faster by boat. Just down the river and up the coast. If no one's gotten to it yet there could be a lot of useful crap there."

"I can't see it, which concerns me just a little, but you're right. A boat is probably what we need."

"We'll take the scenic route back from Greenwich tomorrow, maybe we can spot something. The marinas are pretty much bound to be fucked up but it's worth checking out even if we just find a couple wrecks to siphon some gas from."

"We might get lucky," she nodded, sipping at her wine.

"I'll be honest, I've heard more encouraging predictions from you before."

"I'll take a closer look at the future tomorrow," she chuckled. "I'm trying to relax right now."

"Point taken."