[AU] like a comet pulled from orbit ; clara

[Sarafine Duchannes]

It was said that losing a child was one of the most reliable triggers to make a marriage fall apart, and so...Sarafine was more or less just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Since Lena's Claiming, she'd barely been able to look John in the eye. This was her fault. Her fault that he had to suffer through having a child go Dark - she'd continued her relationship with him, married him, had his child, all while knowing about the curse that haunted her family and how that might affect any children they might have. They'd been so absolutely sure that Lena would turn Light, that she didn't have even an ounce of Darkness in her, but it turned out they'd been wrong. At least she'd been able to hold it together, outwardly. John had lost all interest in just about everything, and spent most of his time locked away in his study. She...really couldn't take it, being home with him anymore. Being reminded of what had happened to them. Anything was easier than that, even being out here, fighting God-knew-what in order to protect the city to the point where it could at least function.

They'd moved to New York only about a month ago, to get away from everything from their old lives. At the very least, there was a lot of work to do here, since this was where most of the rifts were opening up. And work meant a near-endless supply of distractions, which Sarafine was only all too eager to embrace. Most of the usual threats that plagued the city weren't much of a problem for a Natural, but she needed to be careful. She couldn't use any ridiculous amount of power - starting a hurricane or a firestorm or an earthquake, for instance - without the risk of innocent lives being lost, and that was something Sarafine was determined to avoid at all cost. Humanity might have been flawed, and they didn't have a track record of treating her kind with anything resembling compassion, but she knew that ultimately, in a world where everything they knew was constantly changing, they were just scared. Fear could do strange things, when it backed people into a corner. And for all their flaws, they were still people, and their lives still mattered. If she'd failed to protect her daughter, she could at least protect them.

Today, however, she'd run into something quite unlike anything she'd faced before. She didn't recognize the creature that was wreaking havoc in Central Park, but its aura was certainly disconcerting. Dark, and chaotic, and full of despair...she didn't think it would be at all inaccurate to call the creature a demon. And apparently, it had decided to go after some of the children playing in the soccer field. Her maternal instincts made her bristle at the very thought, and despite the fact that she knew nothing about the demon or what it was capable of (or how to kill it, for that matter), she hadn't wasted any time in tearing after it. Even as it gave chase after the children, she struck at it with a sudden bolt of lightning so that it reared around and turned its attention to her. She'd expected it to go after her instead, perhaps in a fit of rage, but...she hadn't counted on one of the children tripping and falling right in the midst of his escape attempt.

The demon, pinpointing its weakened prey, took a chance and lashed out at the little boy - but Sarafine threw herself in front of him, feeling something like a claw tear into her arm, knocking her a good several meters across the field. She landed with a painful thump, and glared up at the creature with flashing green eyes, quickly attempting to struggle to her feet. This...wasn't exactly going to be simple.

[Clara Oswin Oswald]

It was rare to find Clara hunting demons as diligently as her fellow contractors. Really, she saw little point in attempting to purify her perpetually darkening soul gem, other than to keep herself alive, and that certainly didn't need to be done daily. Before, when she'd first contracted, fighting demons was a relief. It was something to do, something to keep her mind off the look in Oswin's Doctor's eyes when he'd discovered her on board. He had warned her not to wish, and she'd done it anyway. Because that's what Clara did. She wouldn't have even known the Doctor if she'd done what he told her to do...but this hadn't quite worked out in the way that had. And without any other Doctor in sight, her choice had been made.

Bit of a pity that it was the wrong one.

She would have regretted it, had she not perfected the art of shutting her emotions off. It was the only thing that slowed the darkening of her soul gem, the only thing she could think to do now that her life depended on it. If Clara didn't care, if she didn't feel anything, it could only become so corrupted. And now, with the clouds of despair swirling inside the ice-blue crystal gleaming dully on her hand, she knew it was time to seek out whatever demon happened to be plaguing New York City today. At the very least, it would give her something to do. Clara didn't spend her time outside of hunting doing much besides aimlessly wandering the city. What was the point of doing anything else, when her life was this one?

If a person had blinked, they would missed Clara's arrival in the middle of Central Park. Teleportation made hunting easier by far, even if it was wasted on a contractor that rarely made proper use of it. Clara could be anywhere in the world, but she hardly saw the point of going places, not when she needed to remain here. Kyubey wanted her and the rest of the city's contractors close, and she hardly cared where she was.

Now. Where was this demon?

At the sound of a child's cry, something briefly sparked within her. Even with all of this, she was still Clara Oswin Oswald, somewhere inside. And if there was one thing that Clara Oswin Oswald couldn't abide, it was the thought of children being attacked, especially by something as dark and powerful as a demon. This was quickly followed by a flash of lightning....on a perfectly sunny day. Even the way she was, there was something like curiosity stirring in her chest, and even now, it was unlike Clara to ignore it. And so, picking up her skirts, she stepped forward, only to disappear and reappear close to the source.

Definitely a demon then. And apparently someone...fighting it off? That wasn't much of a surprise, though, considering the powerful people being taken here and even coming her to keep New York in a stable condition. The Doctor and his little team were among them, no doubt. Clara inwardly bristled at the thought, but there was no time for that now. Her soul gem glowed weakly and immediately, a pair of razor sharp lances manifested in her hands, the weapons her magic had granted her. Bit satisfying, actually, to throw them at her target and hurt and hurt and hurt.

She stole another glance at the woman and...hm. Had they met somewhere before? For just a moment, Clara couldn't shake the feeling that this woman was important somehow, but it was gone just as quickly as it came. There was work to be done, after all.

Her enhanced strength made it easy to hurl one of her lances forward towards the demon's eyes, and it hit right on target. It shrieked, backing away from it's advance on the other woman and instead turning its attention to Clara. Or, wherever it thought Clara was, it's eyes were hardly functioning properly anymore. There was a brief moment of satisfaction as she realized this, but it faded quickly as she looked towards the woman. "You'd better leave while you can," she told her, another lance manifesting in her hand. "I'll handle this."

That was her job, after all. Only thing she had left, really and it wasn't...so bad. Better than the alternative, anyway.