and then she'd say, 'it's okay, i got lost on the way, but i'm a supergirl and supergirls don't cry'

[lucked]

Up until now, everything's been easy. As strange as it might be for most people to imagine, Claire Bennet's leap off the Compound has been the best thing that's happened to her yet on Tabula Rasa. Maybe it isn't the healthiest- after all, where the leap from the Compound was supposed to help her shed that mask, come face to face with all that fate'

Comments

[arrownomore]

When Cissie had heard about Claire's accident, she had wondered. Sure, it could have been an accident but she knew that in Claire's world, she could regenerate. Maybe she hadn't realized that this place took that kind of thing out and thought that she could heal and everything would be okay - but that left the question of why she jumped in the first place or if she even had.

Still, no matter what happened, she was grateful that someone had been able to find Claire and get her help and that she was going to be okay. Her friends were very important to her - they were like her family and Claire was most definitely in that category.

"Hey," she poked her head through the doorway with a shy smile, hoping Claire felt up to having visitors. "How are you feeling?"

[lucked]

The doubt was slowly beginning to fade away. Claire doubted that it ever would, fully, any time someone looked at her differently, made her feel like she was part of some vague other, pressing her fears into her more strongly again. But the longer that time went by with people like Coraline and Cissie coming voluntarily to Claire, still getting to know her in spite of all that they'd seen and been through, the more Claire felt that maybe it was okay to trust. Maybe they weren't just trying to get something out of it all (and now that she knew she couldn't regenerate, it's not like they would have, anyway).

So she smiled, and perhaps it was weak, but the gratitude ran further than it had in months, apology laced in that look.

"Good, actually," she said quietly, nodding to the seat by her bed if Cissie wanted to sit. "I'm actually... really good, honest. I've never really been in a clinic like this before. It's kinda cool."

[arrownomore]

Cissie couldn't help but blink a little at the "really good" considering the injuries she knew Claire had, but maybe she was just overthinking it or something. It was definitely better than the alternative, that was for sure.

She entered the room and sat on the chair and she had meant to start off slow and tactful and make sure Claire really was doing okay, she really had, but the thought of what she had been doing up on the roof had been weighing on her. "I just - did you not know your powers didn't work here? I mean, you weren't jumping off to jump off, were you?"

[lucked]

Claire knew that she couldn't avoid the questions forever. Actually, she was surprised that it hadn't been the first thing out of Cissie's mouth- it had been for most of the visitors that she had that day, a fact unsurprising to Claire. After all, the physical injuries would only last so long. The more problematic fact was that she'd been up on the roof at all, and she squirmed in bed, trying to think of the best way to put it. Trying to come up with an explanation that would relieve Cissie, rather than worry her further

[arrownomore]

"Okay," Cissie breathed, feeling herself relax in her chair. "Okay. Good. Because you're my friend and I want you to be around for a long time, you know?"

She didn't know what it was like to have powers and lose them, but she could imagine how scary and unsettling it must be to try to do what you could before and realize you had nothing. She knew her friends missed their powers and she wondered if Claire did too. She had seemed so quiet about it that it could go either way.

[lucked]

Maybe it was the fact that Claire owed Cissie that drove her to speak. Because she did, whether or not Cissie ever would have seen eye-to-eye on the matter. Cissie had seen parts of Claire's life that other people would have turned their backs on, that people who had known Claire twice as long probably wouldn't have been able to deal with. And not only that, but Claire's actions had gotten Cissie further entangled in trouble than Claire was used to causing for anyone in her life. She owed Cissie explanations, the best of her effort to meet the other girl halfway.

"Well, I will be, island permitting," Claire replied softly in turn, that edge of realism still one that she hadn't relinquished. No matter how happy it made her, that bones broken were no longer easily so easily mended, a fall didn't solve all of her problems, nor was it anything more than the island magic at work. "...Cissie, I'm just. I'm so sorry for dragging you into all of this. Any of this. More than anything else, I just- I didn't want any of my friends to be hurt,

[arrownomore]

"For what?" Cissie lean forward, puzzled. "For the whole New York thing? That was just the island being evil or amusing itself or whatever it thought it was doing. It, you know, being kidnapped sucked, sure, but I knew what I was getting into when I asked to help."

She took a deep breath, knowing that this really wasn't any kind of a normal reaction and she wanted to try to explain to Claire. "I know it sounds crazy to be so... so 'whatever' about it, but it's something you have to consider when you decide to do the whole costumed hero thing and I think that's true whether you're a metahuman or not. It's just a possibility that can happen and you have to be prepared for it. It's scary but it's how it is."

[lucked]

The explanation made Claire feel young, in a way. Inexperienced, out of her league. She had never chosen any of what she had gotten involved in, and most of her guessed that she never would have gone into it by choice. But Cissie's statement made Claire feel like she should have. That any hero, like Peter, or like her dad, would have jumped right in to stop all of the injustice, no matter what harm befell them. So, maybe that just meant that Claire wasn't a hero, and that she wasn't that type of material, either. Claire ran her fingers through her hair, feeling inadequate, but trying to straighten herself up.

"You're clearly a better person than me, then," Claire said quietly. "But no one should have had to be around Sylar like that. Trapped by Sylar, and... I don't know, Cissie. He's my biggest nightmare, and I got you involved in that, and I can't really be anything other than sorry."

[arrownomore]

"No, no," Cissie said hastily, reaching for Claire's hand and squeezing it. "No, it's not like that at all and I didn't mean to say that you weren't. It's just - for me, it was really complicated and then I did a dumb thing and I quit and I just... God, I don't even know."

She took a deep breath and started again. "I just meant that, you know, I'm probably better equipped then most people to deal with it. I actually got kidnapped when I was first starting out but that guy wasn't anything like Sylar, it's true. Still... it's okay. I promise."

[lucked]

"I know you didn't mean it like that," Claire shook her head immediately, trying to shape her expression into one that was reassuring- the last thing that she needed to do was to make Cissie feel bad in any way. "And I know that stuff like this is always really complicated. Choosing whether or not to throw yourself out there, how much, how at all, it's not easy. I watched my dad struggle with juggling his job and his family so many times that I get it, I think."

She continued to rub at her left arm, the side of her hand brushing down the skin.

"But I worry anyway, because Sylar... everyone I know back home was affected by him in some way, and more often than not, it's never really okay. This time was just a dream, but sometimes it scares me so much, that he could end up here for real."

[arrownomore]

This was something that Cissie could easily understand and she squeezed Claire's hand as if she could somehow prevent a future appearance by Sylar by holding on tightly enough.

"At least if he does, he won't have any of his powers here," she said gently. "And more importantly? You won't be alone here. You have me and Kon and Cass and everyone. We love you, you're our friend and we take care of our friends. That's just all there is to it."

[lucked]

The first impulse was still to protest, Claire's lips parting just slightly, even as her hand squeezed Cissie's back in return. There was a part of her that had always wondered how Sylar started down his path. If he was a man who only gained powers after killing and absorbing them, then surely once, he had nothing but that ability to learn. Surely once, he was as normal as he could ever be. And yet, he'd started down a path, growing more destructive all the while. If he could start out a normal man and do so much, Claire didn't want to think of what he could set about doing if he arrived on the island.

"I guess so," she replied, barely above a whisper. But she tried to take strength in the fact that she had a wider support system than she could ever remember having before, looking up at Cissie with a smile. Even if she knew, by extension, having all of those friends also meant needing them to be safe, each one in turn. "I'll take care of all of you too, you know. As much as I can. Once I'm not the damsel stuck in bed."