Rome, Italy Thursday Evening Fandom Time

[glacial_queen]

Even in Kaeleer, Karla made sure to keep a Fandom-based calendar handy, so she could keep track of things like friends' birthdays and things like that. A few days ago, she'd noted another anniversary was coming up, but not one as fun or exciting as a birthday.

Thursday, May 10th, was the day that Triela had died, last year. Funny how it felt like both more and less than that long. Funny how much it still hurt, an ache in her heart she doubted would ever go away.

After seeing that, Karla had made a few handwavy calls to people, friends of hers and Triela's that she thought might want to join her sojourn back to Italy. Unsurprisingly, several people had already made separate plans to do just that, but didn't mind combining those plans with hers. Karla couldn't speak for everyone, of course, but she was sure that very few people wanted to go back and remember their friend alone.

For once, Portalocity was willing to work with her, and she was able to set up several portals to meet in Rome for Thursday afternoon and a return set for late Thursday evening. Hopefully that would give everyone time to...do whatever they needed to do today.

[For any friends of Triela's who want to meet up. If you think you'd've gotten a phone call, you absolutely did. Give a sec for OCD. NFB, NFI]

Comments

Re: Gather by the Grave

[sie-bruder.livejournal.com]

"Memory." Hilshire snorted. Not that it was funny.

"What am I supposed to do? Put on a smiling face and pretend it's all okay?"

"Take on another partner?" Marco had managed. Hilshire wasn't sure how. Not after Angelica.

Re: Gather by the Grave

[glacial_queen]

"There's the option of working through your grief, instead of giving into it," Karla said. "Crazy thing the kids are trying these days. I can't blame you for not wanting to go through this again, but is that all there really is to this world? The Agency or a rum-sodden grave of a girl who never got to grow up?"

Re: Gather by the Grave

[sie-bruder.livejournal.com]

"You've got suggestions?" Of course she did.

Re: Gather by the Grave

[glacial_queen]

Karla had to think for a little while. She didn't really know Hilshire at all, had no idea of what he cared about outside of Triela. She'd only met him, what? Once or twice, maybe? Triela's graduation, Rome at the end, and...

And...

"What ever happened to those girls Triela and I rescued?" she asked, looking back up him with a furrowed brow. "The time we tried to come to Rome but ended up in Bulgaria or Belgravia or Belltopia or whatever?"

Re: Gather by the Grave

[sie-bruder.livejournal.com]

Hilshire blinked, but that was the only sign of surprise at the topic.

"Europol has a partnership with a group that provides a counseling center for girls in similar situations. They were transferred into that."

Why did she ask?

Re: Gather by the Grave

[glacial_queen]

"So...this group takes young females who have been through traumatizing experiences and helps them become stronger for it?" Karla asked. Slowly, since her words probably had to soak through a few layers of...whatever he'd been drinking recently. "But without making them into assassins with drastically shortened lifespans?"

Re: Gather by the Grave

[sie-bruder.livejournal.com]

"Most places don't do that, you know." Cybernetic assassins were expensive, after all.

Re: Gather by the Grave

[glacial_queen]

"And you've never given thought to maybe looking into one of the places that doesn't?"

Hilshire, you were starting to make her doubt Triela's assurances of your competence.

Re: Gather by the Grave

[sie-bruder.livejournal.com]

Hilshire snorted. "I haven't existed for the past six, seven years, you know. It's pretty hard to do anything official when you've been out of things for that long."

"Besides, I'm on one of Europol's blacklists." The one that involved kidnapping 'key witnesses' and rushing off to Italy to have them made into cybernetic assassins.

Re: Gather by the Grave

[glacial_queen]

"And you know of no one who could fix either of those problems for you?" Karla asked. "So, the Hilshire that pissed of Europol is blacklisted. Good thing he doesn't exist anymore. You're not that same male, either. You can make new choices. Different ones."

Re: Gather by the Grave

[sie-bruder.livejournal.com]

"Maybe," Hilshire murmured, still not sounding convinced.

But not sounding completely out of it, either.

Re: Gather by the Grave

[glacial_queen]

"Hey, if you want to keep stinking up Triela's grave with unwashed clothing, that's on you," Karla said, because she was nothing if not gentle and kind. Not that Triela would have been any nicer. "I just think she'd rest easier knowing the one person in this world who really, truly cared for her hadn't stopped caring for himself just because she was gone."

Re: Gather by the Grave

[sie-bruder.livejournal.com]

"You say that like it's just that easy," Hilshire pointed out with a shake of his head slightly.