4782/House calls, in more than one sense

House calls, in more than one sense
Date of Scene:	30 June 2018
Location:	Sunnydale/Xavier's
Synopsis:	Andrea and Josh Foley stop by Erika's house to check on her. They end up transporting her back to Xavier's for emergency psychic diagnosis and treatment, care of Betsy Braddock.
Cast of Characters:	Souvenir, Rage, Elixir, Psylocke

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Souvenir has posed:
The last call to the hotline was, compared to the one before it, kind of alarming. The immediate danger had indeed passed, this is true. But the follow up call, a day later, had lots of notes about the caller being a bit incoherent and unstable in it. Those are.. not exactly happy fun notes to see. Supposedly, she is grounded, and stole a phone to make the call, but that doesn't explain the signs of sanity slippage.

The house is a nice outer suburban one in Sunnydale, surrounded by some trees. The roads leading to the house become gravel for the last few blocks, being a bit off the beaten track. There are two cars in the driveway, slightly nice ones. Parents are home.

Rage has posed:
A sleek black BMW pulls up outside with a large man in a polished suit at the driver's helm. Andrea and Josh are in the back seat, having had the popstar's personal security bring her over. As the back door is opened for her, she climbs out dressed in a pair of torn skinny flex jeans and a white and floral patterned sundress. She gives a look up at the house before giving a glance to her gold skinned companion. "Nice house." She says as she heads up the driveway, humming to herself. "James, wait by the car, please." She calls over her shoulder before reaching out and knocking on the door.

Elixir has posed:
Josh climbs out of the car and stuff his hands in blue skinny jeans, the gold skin of his face standing out against the deep blue of his hoodie. "Yeah, looks a bit like my parents' place," he says. "I swear these neighbourhoods all look the same."

He walks up the driveway beside Andrea and shifts a bit from one foot to the other as Andrea knocks.

Souvenir has posed:
The curtain behind the window on the door moves, and the older man behind the door looks out at the scene in obvious confusion. Metal guy in a hoodie, rich girl, fancy car. What?

The intercom clicks on. "'Ello, what's this about? I'm not expecting anybody here..?" It clicks off again as he looks to the side and shrugs confusedly at somebody else in the room.

Rage has posed:
Giving a bright smile, Andrea says, "Hi there! We've stopped by to see Erika. Is she home by chance?" She says as she sways a bit on her feet back and forth. "I'm Andrea by the way, and this is my friend, Josh. Would it be cool to say Hi to her and talk?"

Elixir has posed:
Josh waves and smiles, then puts his hand back into his pocket. He scuffs one white sneaker on the porch while Andrea talks and does his best to look unassuming at the end.

Souvenir has posed:
"She's grounded right now. What's this about?"

More cross talk on the other side of the door, visible but not so much easy to make out. In a foreign language, at that. There's a bit of an argument, then a middle aged woman comes into view and looks out the window. She reaches over and keys the intercom. "Do you know anything about what happened to her?"

Rage has posed:
"I don't know a lot of what happened last night, but I know that she is terrified and needs someone to talk to that understands her." Andrea says as she offers a warm smile at the front door in case they are being watched. "And when a multi-platinum popstar shows up with a gold skinned hottie to talk, I can think we can make an exception on the grounding thing, at least for a few minutes. Please? Pretty-please?"

Elixir has posed:
"We're here to help," Josh adds with a smile and a side-long glance at Andrea. "We think it's really important and came a long way; we've seen these kinds of things before."

Souvenir has posed:
The door unlatches and opens. "She's upstairs, in her room. First door on the left. She.. isn't doing well, and I don't know what to do."

The room is pretty clean. Band posters here and there for a variety of bands - Paramore, Tonight Alive, Within Temptation, Jinjur, Panic! At The Disco. Desk, bed, stuffed animals.

The resident of the room is disheveled, wrapped up in a blanket and laying in bed, blearily staring at the ceiling with red eyes. No makeup right now, dark curly hair and long bangs. She whimpers a little and doesn't even look over when the door opens.

Rage has posed:
"No worries, we'll talk to her and see what's going on. Josh here is a doctor by the way. One of the best." Andrea says as she steps in and heads up the stairs after giving a glance about, followed by an instinctive sniff of the air to check the scent. Once she knocks lightly on the door, she opens it up and peeks inside. "Hey, Erika? I'm Andrea Jackson from the Starlight Foundation. I got your calls forwarded to me and wanted to check in on you. I also brought a friend with me who's super cute. You okay to talk?"

Elixir has posed:
Josh looks at Andrea when she calls him a doctor, but manages to keep his mouth from falling open. He smiles reassuringly to the woman who let them in. "Is Erika hurt? Or is anyone else here hurt?" he asks, then as long as they aren't hiding someone who is badly injured, he makes his way up the stairs after Andrea and stands near her when she peeks into the room. He lets out a slow breath.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir looks over blearily. Blinks slowly. Nods, uncertainly. "..Hi." She gestures vaguely at the door as you come in. The room smells clean, no drugs or tobacco or anything like that.

Her mom offers, "All I know is the police brought her home yesterday morning. Somebody slipped her friend a roofie and chased them both off, and she broke into someplace with her to hide from them. The cops say they didn't take anything, but she didn't get any sleep that night, or that morning, and she hasn't slept a wink since then. She's just been.. getting worse and worse. I was thinking about taking her to the hospital if you didn't show up."

Rage has posed:
"So, she got grounded because her friend was drugged and she tried to hide the pair of them from some bad guys who probably was going to do them harm?" Andrea asks curiously over to her mother with a lift of her fine brow. "Think what she needs is someone to love her right now." Sliding into a chair, she swivels it to face her with a smile. "Are you okay to talk?" She focuses now on the girl as she motions to Josh to come in closer to evaluate her.

Elixir has posed:
Josh comes over with andrea and crouches down by the bed so he's not looming. While Andrea has her attention he gets a good look then glances around the room before turning his attention back to Erika. He smiles reasurringly. "Hey, I'm Josh," he says. "This is Andrea. We're here to help," he says gently.

Souvenir has posed:
The mom frowns, "No, she got grounded because she was helping her friends dip pockets on the bus, then climbed out the window to go to a party. My husband is still angry. Sweetie, let me know if there's anything I can bring you.. I'll leave you to this." She moves away from the door.

Erika Kristasdottir blinks at the two of you exhaustedly. "...Yeah. I just.. I don't know what's going on..." She sniffles, really exhausted and not really feeling herself. She pokes a hand out of her blanket to wave at Josh, and focuses on Andrea with some difficulty.

Rage has posed:
"Let's start from the beginning. You called a mutant crisis hotline. I didn't want to say that in front of your parents. You think you hurt your friend by accident? What happened?" Andrea folds one leg over the other at the knee, settling her hands upon the top of it as well.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir shakes her head vigorously. "N..no, no, I.. she's fine... I think.. she was okay when the police got us. I don't know where she is now." Bleary blink and pause, retreating a bit into the blanket. "Dad hates her 'cause.. you know, reasons.. so I got in trouble really hard, and I snuck out to go to a party with her anyway. Anyway, some guys were there and they gave us a drink, and I didn't drink any of it, but she did. And then she was acting really wobbly and out of it, and the guys were trying to get me to drink too, so I grabbed her and we got out of there. Except they followed us, and.. and it was just super scary, and things felt really weird. And I saw a door that was locked with a combination lock, and I opened it and went inside. Except it made my head blow up." She makes the whole firework gesture and sound effect. "Pchoooo!" She blinks a little bit more. "...I'm sorry. I am super, super, super tired?"

Rage has posed:
"I hear you. I've done my share of sneaking out when I was younger, and I got some questionable friends too. So you said your head started to explode after you touched the door? You knew the combination to the lock?" Andrea looks curiously about that particular bit of information. "Does your head hurt now? Josh can help take the pain away. He's a healer. That's his mutant power. He brought me back to life once when some bad guys got ahold of me awhile back."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir uhs. "No, it doesn't.. hurt, it.. >boom<. I don't know how to say. I'm staying in the blanket so it doesn't? But it's still.. like.. there's something in my head." She reaches up and grabs the side of her head lightly with her fingers. "..Blocking the door open. I just.. I can't sleep and I'm just so TIRED..."

"And.. I don't know, I just knew what to do to open it. I don't know why." She sighs and slumps some, because she just doesn't know how to even explain what's broken.

Rage has posed:
"It's okay. Have you tried maybe taking some melatonin to see if it can help you sleep?" Andrea says as she lets out a breath. "But, besides the fatigue and the headache, you're okay, right? Not thinking of killing yourself or anything? That's usually what the crisis line is set up for... to make sure young mutants don't .. harm themselves on purpose." She says with a small smile on her face. "Maybe Josh can help you sleep. He may need to touch you though, something on the arm aybe."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir actually sobs at that. "I took melatonin, and benadryl, and.. and a sleeping pill, and nothing works.." She cries. "I don't know what to do, I can't.. I can't do this any more." She gestures vaguely at the bedside, where all those things she mentioned are sitting.
Then because she's tired, she accidentally brushes her hand against your knee. She makes a gasping, gurgling noise and her eyes flutter as her expression goes weird for a couple seconds while she clumsily curls up in a ball. "Tt..tthh.. Uhhh yeah that.." She blinks a few times, trying to refocus her eyes.

Elixir has posed:
Josh looks at Andrea. "She could really use the Professor or Ms. Grey or someone like that," he says, then looks at Erika. "Especially if touching is so..."

Josh turns his attention to Erika. "Erika, I know it's super hard right now, but we know some people who can help you, they can help you turn down the volume and get some sleep. But you'd have to come with us. Do you think you could do that, if it meant you could get a real rest and some answers?"

Rage has posed:
Frowning, Andrea gives a bit of a twitch at the brush of her fingers against her. "So after you touched me your head started to hurt?" She gives a glance over to Josh. "I think that this is a talk one of the faculty should have with her, not us. It's not our place." She says as she runs a hand back through her hair. "But I agree, she needs to talk to Miss Grey or maybe Miss Frost... "

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir shakes her head at Andrea. "..Yeah.. It goes boom. Booms don't.." She gestures up, then down quickly. "Just.. I'm sorry! I don't know how to SAY any of this and I am so TIRED! And I don't know what to DO to figure things out, I'm in my room."

She nodsnods helplessly. "..I need help.." She starts vaguely trying to get out of bed tiredly, keeping herself wrapped up in the blanket.

Elixir has posed:
"I know, I know, but she really needs one of them to get her through this or she's gonna break down," he says. "She's already been up for days. Can you help her get dressed or whatever? I'll talk to her mom."

Josh steps out to find Erika's mom and reassure her and broach the subject of Erika coming with them to get some help getting some sleep.

Rage has posed:
Letting out a deep sigh, Andrea has a worried expression on her face. "Erika, I can't promise that we can fix or help you. But if your parents let you come with us, we can at least try and see what we can do. We have friends who have some incredible gifts, just like me and Josh and even you.. we just gotta figure out what it is that you have."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods helplessly. "..I.. can't.. do this any more. I'm.. I'm starting to thing bad things just so I don't have to be awake. Just.. I need help.." She wobbles a lot and grabs her overnight bag full of stuff. Already packed. Complete with headasplodey whimper, jerking, and eye-flutter when her hands close around the handle.

Permission is pretty easy to get, after all, she was about to be sent to an ER otherwise.

Elixir has posed:
Josh talks for a bit with the mom, exchanges numbers with her and assures her they will get Erika to call home as soon as she gets some sleep.

"We can go," he says to Andrea and Erika, meeting them back up at the top of the stairs.

Rage has posed:
"Okay, James will drive us to the school then and I'll text ahead that we're on our way." Andrea says as she takes her phone out to send a text to the faculty member on duty line that she and Josh was coming back with a new mutant in need of help. "Let's try and limit what you touch as best as you can. You can ride shot gun." She says as she heads out of the girl's room to give a quick good-bye to the parents and to thank them for their understanding.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir shuffles after, bundled in a blanket, disheveled, incredibly exhausted as if she hadn't slept in DAYS. She waves vaguely at her mom on the way out, then wobbles to the car unsteadily, clutching a day bag with clothes and stuff in it. She just dully follows where she is lead.

She gets in the car and does her best to not touch ANYTHING. Including the seat belt. She just sits there and hopes somebody else is going to get that for her. ugh. She just doesn't even care anymore.

Elixir has posed:
Josh holds the door open for her and watches the way she gets into the car. He passes the seatbelt to James. "Just don't touch her," he says to James. "Don't ask."

"It'll be alright soon, Erika," he says.

Then he opens a door for Andrea and climbs into the car for the ride to the mansion.

Rage has posed:
The popstar's security guard leans over and buckles Erika in without touching her. From there, the small group is led to the mansion. Andrea sits in the back with Josh, humming softly to herself in thought as she texts with her phone, popping the screen with her thumbs as she goes. Once they finally arrive and pull up, she is let out of the car by James, and she heads up the steps to the front door to find a member of staff.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir draaaags after. No makeup. Her hair is a complete mess. She has some shoes on and is wrapped up in a blanket. She looks like she hasn't slept in days. She's not trying to stay awake, but she just can not sleep. She drags after Andrea, not looking around, not really paying attention to anything. And yes, the security pings her as mutant.

Elixir has posed:
Josh hops out of the car and opens the door for Erika. "Thanks, James," he says when the man unbuckles her.

"This place is a school, and a place we can get help," he explains once they're out of the car and the door is closed. "Let's get you to the Wellness Centre, okay? It's this way?"

Josh walks at her pace with Erika up the stairs and into the Wellness Centre and shows her to one of the beds.

Psylocke has posed:
    The faculty member on duty happens to be Betsy Braddock. At some point, she must have returned with much less fanfare than her earlier deaparture. Due to circumstances, she had volunteered to take the calls for the night.
    When her cell phone alerted, she arose and changed. With a thought, a trip through the shadows had brought her to the school from her apartment in New York City.
    It takes but a moment to locate the minds of Josh and Andrea. She knows there is someone with them from the text but she doesn't try to teach the girl's mind.
    It is a moment after they arrive at the Wellness Center that Betsy steps through the door, glancing around then pinpointing the three. Her face shows concern as she looks to the stranger in the group and her disheveled state.
    She walks over to the trio, giving a soft smile. "Welcome. I'm Betsy Braddock, an instructor here." Then she looks to the group. "What happened?"

Rage has posed:
"This is Erika. She's reached out to my crisis hotline for young mutants a few times through my charity. It seems that her powers are just now coming along. When she touches something, she has bad headaches and she hasn't slept in days because of it. She and a friend was almost .. ah .. harmed the other night when they tried to roofie them." Andrea says as she rubs the back of her neck. "Her parents gave us permission to .. seek treatment. Told them Josh is a doctor."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir just tries to flop into the bed, doing her best to avoid touching anything. At this point, she barely even cares about the fact that she's naked under the blanket except for her shoes. Sadly, she's also so tired she's clumsy, so she manages to get the blanket under her head, only flashes Josh a little bit, fails to cover the bottom edge of the bed completely with the blanket, climbs in, then gasps, flutters her eyes, and twitches a bit, biting her lip for a couple seconds. She releases the breath she had sucked in, and lies still, staring at the ceiling exhaustedly, not wanting to touch anything else. She looks to be on the verge of tears, frustrated, leaving her leg touching the edge of the bed because it's just too much hassle to fight with it now.

Elixir has posed:
Josh looks away when he gets flashed a bit, and shoots Andrea and a Betsy a look of concern. This poor girl is a wreck. Careful with where his gaze falls, he tugs at the edge of the blanket until it all the way under Erika's leg.

"She doesn't want to touch anything, she says it makes her head go boom. It makes her all twitchy," he adds, avoiding meeting Betsy's eyes when Andrea mentions telling the parents he was a doctor.

Psylocke has posed:
    For most of the explanation from Andrea, things were good. Two things changed that. The idea of someone trying to drug the young woman and her friend has her temper flaring. It isn't a pleasant thing as the shadows in the room seem to lengthen for the briefest of moments before she gets it under control. It makes her want to go hunting.
    The second is that they passed off Josh as a doctor. She looks sharply over at the golden skinned lad, one of her violet brows arched upward in question. "They believed that without a telepath present? I'm not sure if I'm impressed or horrified."
    Then she focuses back on Erika. "Erika, if you will allow it, I'd like to have Andrea help you dress. I can try to block your reactions if you will allow me to do so? I'm a telepath and it would require me touching your mind. Would you be willing to let me try?"

Rage has posed:
"I'd be horrified." Andrea says as she heads to the girl's backpack to open it up, rustling through the clothing. "It wasn't my idea to bring her." She shoots a look to Josh. "But technically he is better than a doctor." Taking out the clothing, she gives the articles a critical look for a moment before she hands them over to the girl. "Here you go.. at least get a shirt and some undies on."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir whines a little and nods. "..kay.." She swallows and bites her lip, looking at the clothes and kicking her shoes off. She points over at Josh, ish, "Can he.." gestures dismissively, "..you know? Not be watching?"

Elixir has posed:
"They were desperate," Josh says to Betsy's comment about passing him off as a doctor. "They didn't know what to do."

"And we couldn't just leave her there," Josh says in response to Andrea as if Erika's state was all the explanation that was needed. "She can't go on like this much longer." Then when Erika speaks up he flushes slightly, "Geez, sorry, yeah of course," he says and steps into the next room, closing the door behind him.

Psylocke has posed:
    "I am going to touch your mind, see if I can figure out why you are getting headaches. If it is something I can block, I will do so for the time being. Nothing I do will be permanent, it is just meant to give you a measure of relief," Betsy explains, wanting to certain the young woman understands before she goes traipsing through her brain.
    She reaches out mentally toward Erika, seeking to find the cause of her distress.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir sighs. nods, and shoves the blanket down to make a little bit of a rug on the floor to stand on, reaches in the bag and grabs some underwear and puts those on. Nothing. Then she reaches in and grabs a plain green dress.

To Betsy's senses, she can feel the pop! as the live telepathic link opens! followed instantly by a river of information as her brain sucks up and buffers all of the memories and personality stored in the dress. She squeaks, eyes fluttering as all the bits of her brain that should handle things like dreaming start sorting through how to sort through it, and wobbles as it all plows through her senses. She now has two telepathic links locking up her brain - dress, and blanket.

She whines and makes a fist, then pulls the dress on.

Psylocke has posed:
    "You read objects," Betsy muses outloud as she feels that link as it is established, reading the details that are pouring into the girl's brain. "This should be simple enough. I am going to do something. It will stop all the readings you are getting from things you touch. That should allow you to rest at least. I think that should be priority for you right now. We will worry about you learning to control it after you get some sleep."
    With that, she reaches in and builds a mental barrier around Erika's mind. In effect, she cuts her off from telepathy. Certainly a highly skilled telepath would be able to get through it but it should give the young woman some peace for a time.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods stupidly. Not really hearing anything you are saying at this point, just hey there's a soft thing here and zzzzzzzzzzz......... She's unconscious almost the instant you break the contacts.

Psylocke has posed:
    With the help of Andrea (presumably), Betsy makes sure that Erika is comfortable. She leaves instructions for the next marning while sending messages to the faculty as well. Tomorrow, hopefully Jean and the Professor can look to find a better solution for the girl since this is more a stopgap measure.