Clarice and TJ - Backdated

[ax_nocturne]

TJ keeps recruiting her favorite peeps to hopefully go world-hopping some time.


It wasn't always easy to track down a teleporter, so rather than try, TJ climbed up the side of the mansion, to her favorite spot on the roof, then texted her friend. Heeeey real nice sunset going on right now. Meet me on the roof? Question for you.

The text had scarcely been marked "Read" when there was a surge of spiraling pink energy not far from TJ's usual spot. When it subsided, Clarice was crouched beside her friend, and slowly lowered herself into a seated position, mindful of the angling roof. "Question, 'ay? Those're usually interestin'. What your mind gone to now?"

"Really?" TJ grinned at her friend. "You're not even sparing a second for the view? It's nothing urgent. Take a seat, enjoy the sunset, babe."

Clarice paused, then gave a shrug and settled on her butt with her knees drawn up in front of her, propped herself up on her palms. She considered the descending sun, the riot of color it made of the clouds as it dipped lower and lower on the horizon. "Ain' bad," she acknowledged. "Is better on the islands, but what isn'? Eight outta ten."

TJ grinned. "I'll take that." She paused. "For the sunset, obviously. I'm totally a ten."

"More like an eleven," Clarice countered, mirroring the expression, before her look turned sly. "If you wan' a second opinion, I sure I could get Barnes to chime in."

TJ laughed. "I'm sure he would protest and call me a, like, 36. That man is way too good for my ego."

"Nothin' wrong with that," Clarice chuckled. "E'rybody needs some of that, now an' then. Anyway, jus' means the boy has good taste, 'ay? Glad you is havin' fun."

"Yeah," TJ agreed, settling down a little. "It's more than just having fun, though." She smiled at her friend, but it was a little restrained compared to her usual grins, because of the whole 'moment of actual emotional honesty' thing. "You know. For the record."

Bright green eyes widened slightly, though the corner of Clarice's mouth remained quirked upward. "Hey. I jus' meant I's happy for you. You deserve it, Teej."

TJ smiled. "It's just a little weird, when I still wanna get back home. And he's got Natasha - not like that, but still. She's his priority. But then he says those things, and I just kinda... wanna forget about everything else?"

She shrugged. "Life is be like that sometimes, though, ain' it?" Clarice asked reflectively. "The important things ain' hardly ever straightforward as we want 'em to be. You'll figure it out. Meantime, there ain' nothin' wrong with enjoyin' a lil' good luck when it falls right into your lap like so."

"Oh, there's nothing little about what he does in my lap," TJ assured Clarice with a cheeky grin. She sobered up a little. "But yeah, that's the plan. Enjoying it while I can."

"Too much information, gal!" said Clarice with a scandalized laugh, cheeks coloring a noticeably deeper shade of lavender. "You can keep the details between you and him. As long as you've got somethin' you enjoy, we can let that other stuff work itself out in its own time, 'ay?"

TJ laughed with Clarice, then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I just - I wish I had a better idea whether I'm ever going home."

"I wish I could help you with that," she said sympathetically, reaching out to touch her TJ's knee in a physical gesture of solidarity. "I really, really do. But, far as I can go, it looks like whole other realities are a lil' outside my range." An odd word, "multiverse", popped suddenly into Clarice's head, and she couldn't remember where for the life of her she'd heard it before ... though, for some reason, it also brought to mind a dreamlike impression of a figure like something out of The Lord of the Rings movies. She gave her head a quick shake to banish the almost-memory.

"Funny you should mention that," TJ said, and pushed the topic of Bucky aside to focus on her upcoming extracurricular activity special. "You know that device we used to get to Mojoverse?"

Clarice arched an eyebrow wryly. "How could I forget? Is not e'ryday we go break up a cross-dimensional kidnapping ring-slash-twenty-four hour TV entertainment outlet. The robots alone are gonna haunt my dreams for years." Her eyes brightened. "Did they figure out how to keep it workin', then?"

"They're figuring it out," TJ amended. "And next up, how to get it to send us to other worlds than that shitshowverse."

"TJ," the other girl began, grabbing at her blue-furred friend's shoulders impulsively, "that wonderful!. I mean, is not the same as being able to send you straight home, but is definitely a step in the right direction."

"It's a step towards mapping out an infinity of timelines out there, anyway," TJ answered with a smile, her tail curling around to pat one of Clarice's hands on her shoulders. "And with a bit of luck, who knows? At worst, it'll just keep me busy through senior year."

"I like your chances," Clarice said, wholly encouraging. "You's the luckiest gal I know--in the time I've known you, anyhow. And when you ain' lucky, you're persistent enough to make up for it. You got this, Teej. And, hey," she added with a thumbs up, "I know I ain' your Blink, but if you ever need backup all you gotta do is ask. I'll try'n keep up."

"You're my Clarice," TJ retorted with a frown, and then smiled. "And you're already ahead of me. I was gonna move straight on to 'I'm not going exploring alone wanna come world hopping with me?'"

"Just try'n stop me!" she replied, feeling a warm swell of gratification in that moment that she couldn't quite explain. "Just kiddin'," she added. "Knowin' you, you is probably have some kinda secret weapon for thwartin' intrudin' teleporters."

"Never!" TJ protested with a bright grin. "Intruding teleporters keep me on my toes. They're highly encouraged." They really weren't, but Clarice was always welcome, anyway.

"I'll pass the word along," Clarice told her cheekily. "All us teleporters is know each other, y'know. All that aside, when were you thinkin' of settin' out? And to where, exactly? How exact a science is world-hoppin'?"

"As inexact as it gets?" TJ stated, then shook her head with a smile. "I have no clue when it'll be ready for actual exploration. But we're gonna be playing the lottery each time we go out."

"That sounds ..." She trailed off, trying to think of what, exactly, that did sound like. Scary, for one thing. But weirdly exciting, too. And, if nothing else, their expedition to Mojo World had proved there wasn't much they couldn't handle, when they teamed up.

"... like an adventure," Clarice concluded, grinning again.

TJ laughed approvingly. "I know! It's going to be amazing. I mean, I'm sure we'll hit some boring places, but there's bound to be adventure out there, yes."

"Hey, I ain' never said there was anythin' wrong with borin'," she protested. "Given all the adventure we seem to get 'round here anyway, I think a lil' borin' would go a long way. Least it would with me."

"There is so much wrong with boring," TJ retorted with a shake of her head, still of the mind that they were hardly getting much adventure at all. Different standards, really. If nothing else, she was totally hoping exploring other worlds would help with that.

"Just depends on your frame for reference, I guess," said Clarice idly. "School's usually plenty excitin' for somebody like me, who never new more'n twenty people or so growin' up, and nobody who wasn' close family. An' then we get stuff like the raids on the Right or Mojo's studio, where I's pretty much just tryin' not to fall to pieces."

"You manage not to fall to pieces like a champ, don't talk yourself down," TJ replied with a softer smile than she usually wielded.

"Hey, I'm not bein' down on me," she protested, holding up her lavender skin hands as if warding something off. "I just bein' real. But I glad you is been convinced enough by my performance to wan' to invite me onto your mini-Exiles crew. Means a lot, y'know?"

TJ was frowning a little, now. "I don't want you to come if it's not gonna be fun for you, though."

"Is always fun," Clarice hastened to assure her. "I jus' mean there's usually some nerves I gotta deal with right before an' at the start. Once we get into the swing of it, I's usually have a grand time. An' it gets easier, every time I get out there."

"Oh," TJ acknowledged, surprised. Was that all? Some nerves? She chuckled. "Babe, I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't think the nerves ever go away. You just learn to ride them better."

"See, a real friend would pretend they go away, eventually, just to give a gal some hope," the other girl joked, punching her friend lightly in her bare upper arm. "But either which way, it sounds like I is benefit more getting out there than stayin' her, or stickin' to 'port duty."

"Not my kinda real friend," TJ shot back quietly, throwing Clarice a smirk. No, her kind of real friend was all about the real. "But yeah. As long as you're sure you want in, I totally want you there. You kick ass."

"Sometimes," Clarice agreed, inclining her head. "But yeah. I sure. Count me in."

TJ leaned against her friend, tail wrapping snugly around Clarice's waist to give her a squeeze. She was a little quieter than usual as she told her, "Thank you."

"Ain' no thing, gal," she assured her. "You can call on me anytime."