Bahir
Natalie is, as is perhaps expected, completely exhausted. She looks drawn and worn, with a flat sort of expression that indicates physical exhaustion, not lack of sleep. "You know," she murmurs, staring at the ghost of Terry in front of her, "We're all going to be too fucking tired to /do/ anything by the time we figure this out."
"Yeah." Less than bushy-tailed, Bahir is still not as worn as Natalie. Thus, it is his job to stand up and go fetch drinks from the kitchenette. He doesn't bother with glasses; he cracks open the caps, leaves them behind, and then crosses to hand Natalie the first of the plastic bottles before taking a sip from his own. "Some of us more than others," he adds, giving her a mildly concerned glance.
Natalie snorts, leaning to take the bottle in what is by now a practiced habit. "More calories, please!" she answers chipperly, and then breathes out and shuts the ghosts abruptly off as she leans back into the cushions of her couch. "I need a break."
Bahir smirks sidelong at Natalie as he takes a seat on the arm of the couch. "I could just get a bottle of corn syrup and start pouring shots," he offers.
"That sounds /delicious/," Natalie answers with a smile that lasts a few moments before she gives up on it in favor of another sigh. "I wonder if we have ice cream."
"Probably. Downstairs." Bahir wrinkles his nose as he takes another sip of his juice. "I don't want any, but I can go down and get some for you, if you want it. You deserve the break. And then some."
"Eh," Natalie says, and flops sideways instead, stretching out on her couch and wiggling her head against the arm of it. Balancing carefully so as not to choke, she sips at her juice. "One day," she says wistfully. "I'm going to be able to jump around like a fucking /calendar/, you know."
"A little daunting." Bahir shifts more comfortably, leg braced against the side of the couch. "I mean, think about how much practice that would entail." He pats the top of Natalie's head, playfully patronizing. "Keeps you busy."
Natalie scowls, but she doesn't bother to hold the expression. "Don't be an asshole," she answers, habitually, and sighs as she lets her eyes sink closed.
"Don't think I know how to not be one." Rolling his shoulders, Bahir stretches out the kinks and knots of a long day's tense work.
"I bet if you think really really hard, you could figure it out," Natalie answers, yawning and pointing her toes in a stretch.
Bahir makes a low scoffing noise in the back of his throat. "My energy is better spent elsewhere."
"I think your energy would be excellently spent being nice to me," Natalie disagrees, tugging at her glasses a bit to ease their set before lapsing into silence. Eventually she wonders quietly, "What could have happened to them?"
"You're just trying to get me to rub your shoulders." Bahir slides from the arm and down onto the cushion, making room for himself in a somewhat obnoxious way as he holds his bottle up and out so that it doesn't spill. He sobers as he settles in, rubbing at his jaw. "I -- I really don't know. It's hard to imagine the scale of a thing that could take /all of them/ off-grid as they have been. Illyana says that Kitty and Walter are both alive -- but we don't really know about the others."
Natalie looks wistful for a moment, squinting an eye open to peer at Bahir, and then she sighs again and closes them once more. "Alive doesn't mean much," she answers quietly. "You'd think it'd be comforting, that I can't find any... pain, or terror, to tap into. But it kind of worries me more."
Stubbornly, Bahir says, "Alive means /something/." He leans forward to set his bottle down and wiggles his fingers at Natalie. "If you turn, I'll be nice to you. Why does it worry you?"
"Reaaally?" Natalie lifts on her elbows, peering down at Bahir for a doubtful moment before she decides she shouldn't push it and flips, swiftly settling on her stomach on the couch to allow him access. "Cause," she murmurs down against her arm. "It means they probably weren't taken away by force."
Bahir flicks a point between Natalie's shoulderblades as punishment for pushing it, and then sets to teasing tension from her shoulders and upper back. "And that's scarier?" he asks, less doubtful than he is inviting her to continue.
Natalie's shoulders hunch together as she twists her neck, wrinkling her nose at him before she settles her chin down on crossed forearms again. Her sigh this time is happy and long, and there's silence for a moment before she answers, "You know it is."
Bahir is quiet, silence filled with the rub of fingers over fabric. After a minute, he says, "Yeah. You don't think -- Clauson went crazy or something and was knocking people out, then ran off, right? Think she could be involved?"
Natalie tilts her head forward to rest her forehead on her arms. "Yeah," she answers quietly. "Or something else. That's the problem. Too many damned possibilities. If there was a moment, some fear, we'd at least /know/..."
"Your mutation," says Bahir, thumbs sliding along her spine, "is annoyingly hard to tune."
Natalie shivers slightly and groans. "I don't think you should ever be allowed to do anything else but that right there," she answers.
Bahir smirks at the back of her neck. "Make disparaging comments about your mutation? I can handle that." Obnoxious, yet not entirely uncivilized, he repeats the stroke of his thumbs before working his fingers laterally across the muscles of her shoulder.
"Fuuuuck," Natalie groans, and then lifts her head slightly, squeezing her shoulderblades in a bit of a stretch under the touch of his hands. "I didn't realize how painful it is to /sit/ all day. I'm out of practice." A few moments pass, then she adds, "What if I can't ever get it better? It's next to /useless/ like this."
"No, no it isn't," Bahir says, quick to disagree. "It might not be instantaneous, but when you get results, they are good ones. Remember what you did with Nadia's skateboard? Hardly useless."
Natalie snorts quietly and reminds, "Took me three days." Still, she turns her cheek against her arms and allows, "Alright, fine. I'm exagerating. But it's /frustrating/ as /hell/. It could be so much more."
Bahir grunts acknowledgement, but then adds, "You've come a long way from having no control over it at all. You've only really been using it to /try/ to look for things for a pretty limited amount of time."
"You know, your encouragement is kind of annoying," Natalie mumbles against her arm.
"Would 'You don't suck as much as you used to' be more to your tastes?" Bahir jabs at Natalie's shoulder with a finger.
"Yes. But stop poking me and go back to that thing with your thumbs along my spine," Natalie answers drowsily.
Obligingly, Bahir presses his thumbs up along Natalie's spine. "You don't suck as much as you used to."
"Thanks," Natalie says, her lips twisting with amusement. There's a pause, and then she wonders, "How long do you think they'll let this go on before we go in, information or no information?"
"Do you really think they can risk us going in?" Bahir shakes his head, a thoughtful pause following. "I think that they will probably send other agencies in. FBI, maybe. It might be bigger than us -- and frankly, it's easier to train a new human than wait for a useful mutant to come along."
Natalie lifts her head, pushing herself up on her arms to twist around and look at Bahir for a long moment. Eventually she breathes, "Shit," and turns forward to lower herself again. "Shit."
Bahir leans back when Natalie turns, with one hand braced on the back of the couch. His lips twist, starting as a rueful smile but failing in a grimace. "Yeah," he says, slower as he begins again when she lowers herself.
Natalie's expression settles into a frown, and she's quiet with her thoughts for some time, more than content to let Bahir rub at tired muscles as her eyes grow heavy and her thoughts grow dark.
Bahir lets thoughts get nicely gloomy and eyes get nicely weighty and shoulders get nicely relaxy before he breaks silence to ask, "Penny for your thoughts?"
"Isn't that an even more ridiculous saying than usual," Natalie wonders on a low, sleepy murmur, "When you're a telepath?"
"Ah, but I'm a well-behaved telepath," Bahir teases. "I wouldn't dream of cheating you of your penny."
"Ha," Natalie answers, and then shakes her head slightly. "I was just thinking... I don't know. I don't think they're alright, Bahir. And I don't think we're going to be able to get them back. I think whoever... whatever... I think there was a ton of power in that group, and a decent batch of brains." She pushes up and away from his touch then, turning to look at Bahir quietly. "It's fucking terrifying."
Bahir shifts, turning to settle next to Natalie. His hand remains near her shoulder, close without touching. "We don't know that they aren't, and we know that they are still alive." At least, some of them. "It /is/ terrifying -- but there's still reason to think we'll be able to recover them."
Natalie snorts and looks toward Bahir, her brows lifting just slightly. "When the hell'd you turn into a fucking optimist?" she wonders.
"About the time you sounded like you needed one," Bahir answers tartly, nudging her leg with his own.
"I never need people telling me lies to make me feel better," Natalie answers, and the tone of her voice is quiet, not teasing.
Bahir deflates a little. He looks away, and lets a moment of awkward silence fall between them before he speaks again: "I'd still prefer to work as though it isn't /hopeless/."
"You don't see me giving up, do you?" Natalie answers, turning to look at him for a moment before she pushes up to stand, snatching her juice as she goes for a long swallow. "I'm just not--" She pauses, lips twisting as she looks down at Bahir. "Optimistic," she finishes.
Bahir shakes his head, rubbing the back of his neck, and shifts to take up the space newly freed. "I don't want to get in a fight about it. But until I know otherwise, I'm assuming that they are all alive. And that they will be fine."
"Doesn't sound like I'm the one who needs an optimist," Natalie answers, her brows twitching slightly before she lifts her gaze to look briefly out the window. There's a pause, and then she says, "I'm going to crash. Pick up again tomorrow?"
Bahir grunts, prying himself from his seat and picking up his bottle as he stands. "Yeah. Watch yourself, tomorrow. Burn out on this and you'll be useless." With those happy words, he wiggles his hands in a wave and then heads for the door.
"Aye aye, cap'in," Natalie replies with a twist of her expression before she disappears off to her bedroom, juice bottle in hand, as soon as Bahir's let himself out.