Room 222, Saturday Evening

[glacial_queen]

There were suitcases open on the spare bed in her room, Karla listlessly tossing stuff into them. She wasn't entirely certain what she was doing for the holidays--likely returning home to Kaeleer, but that wasn't set in stone--so deciding what to pack was a bit on the difficult side.

It didn't help that she was spending most of her time going through old pictures from freshman year on. Nostalgia was hitting her hard. So many old friends that had left, so many more that she'd simply lost touch with. Some she'd never hear from again...Triela, Ben, Ender.

Okay, this was a depressing train of thought. Rather than dwell any further on that, Karla pulled out her phone and started dialing people. Rather than being mopey and stupid thinking about her friends, she was going to be mopey and stupid while calling them. That was a much better idea!

[Open! For phone calls and random droppers-by!]

Comments

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin figured he'd probably just send out a mass e-mail about this, but he was in the mood to invite some folks personally. So...

*ring ring, goes the bell*

[glacial_queen]

"Kiss kiss, Robin!" Karla said, snagging the phone. This was a much better idea than brooding! "Happy Holidays!"

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"Happy Holidays and kiss kiss to you too!" If Robin knew that he was helping bring Karla out of a funk his day would have been made.

"I wanted to invite you, if you can make it at all, to come visit for the holidays. My friend Fozzie's mom has a farm in New York, and she's invited us and anyone we want to invite to visit." And this time, she knew they were coming!

[glacial_queen]

Totally beat the first trip up, right?

"A trip to a farm?" Karla asked. "A real working farm with cows and goats and things?"

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"Uh huh! Of course most of the animals are Muppets so they're pretty good at taking care of themselves. And there's dogs and penguins and wildlife around too!"

Don't ask how the cows milk each other. Just...don't.

[glacial_queen]

"...Penguins?" Karla asked. "In New York?"

Look, she wasn't an expert on Earth animals, but that seemed a little weird, even to her.

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"Muppet Penguins." Robin clarified. "They're a bit more well traveled than other penguins. More excitable too." But then, that could be said about most Muppets.

[glacial_queen]

"And they live on the farm?" Karla just had to keep clarifying. "Muppet penguins are livestock?"

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"Well..." Robin was a little embarrassed to admit this, "I haven't quite gotten the hang of telling penguins apart from each other. I only see them every once in a while. But there are penguins that work on some of my uncle's projects, so these might be those same penguins. Or they just like up state New York in the winter."

[heromaniac]

Momoko was actually wandering in Bordertown, trying to do some Christmas shopping, when her phone rang.

"Ah! Karla! Hi! Do you think Dinah needs another pair of boots?" Momoko held up the pair she was considering buying. "It's totally getting harder to buy for you guys."

[glacial_queen]

"Dinah always needs new boots," Karla said with authority. "The bigger the better. Kiss kiss, Momoko! Happy Holidays!"

[heromaniac]

Boots were totally being bought, then! One less gift to buy!

"Happy holidays to you too! You're sounding totally better; you must have had lots of rest!"

[glacial_queen]

"I did," Karla said, trying not to sound terribly glum. "Over a week in Kaeleer and then I spent the weekend in Sunnydale. Except that one wasn't really relaxing, because there were creepy monsters that stole everyone's voices and then yanked out hearts. But they were stopped."

Which would make Momoko feel better about hearing that, right?

[heromaniac]

"WHAT?!" Momoko nearly dropped her bags, thanks, Karla.

She took a breath, but it didn't help. yanking out hearts... "And you didn't call me?! Is everyone okay?"

[glacial_queen]

"...We couldn't exactly call," Karla pointed out. "No voices. And everyone from our group was okay. But these creatures got to other people in town before we even knew what was happening."

There was some guilt there. Misplaced? Sure. But still there.

"I didn't even patrol," she added. "I kept myself on research duty all weekend, out of the line of fire."

[heromaniac]

"If you didn't know about it, it wasn't your fault. We're not required to go on patrol everywhere we go. We just have to be sure we respond when we're needed..."

There was a moment of silence on Momoko's end, and then, her voice swelled with pride, "so thank you. Not for not calling, because you can totally text without a voice, but for knowing that you were stronger in a different position than the one I know you wanted to take. It totally makes me proud of you when I hear that."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was tempted to take credit for that, but honesty won out.

"...I didn't want to get in more trouble with Warren for going out when I should have been resting," she mumbled. "It seemed easier, if still utterly pointless."

[trigons_child]

Raven shameless modded answered her phone before the second ring when she heard Karla's ring tone. "Hello, Karla," she said. "How are you?"

[glacial_queen]

"Happy holidays, Raven!" Karla cheered as soon as Raven answered. "Kiss kiss! How are you!"

[trigons_child]

"I have been well," Raven said. "And very pleased to be able to speak again." Even if she didn't say much, it had still been very disconcerting not be to able to talk.

[glacial_queen]

"It was a pain in the ass, but it saved me from getting yelled at," Karla admitted. "That was pretty nice."

[trigons_child]

"Saved you from getting yelled at?" Raven said, frowning. "Who was going to yell at you, and why?"

[glacial_queen]

"Warren, mostly," Karla said. "And you, maybe? Did you get my message?"

...Not that you needed to yell at her now for it.

[trigons_child]

"Yes, that Leda needed help," Raven said. She'd worried a bit because someone hadn't heeded her request to let her know when she was back, but then she'd seen Karla in Sunnydale.

"Was everything taken care of?" she said. "I assumed if you needed more assistance you would have asked for me to accompany you as well."

[glacial_queen]

Hey! Karla had been tiny in Kaeleer getting yelled at by everyone!

"It was," she assured Raven, gliding over certain parts unless and until she asked. "And I would have. Someone was making a power play for Leda's throne. We stopped him. Permanently."