Chilly Boulder, Monday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

The weekend was over and people were back to their old selves, at least if the lovely gifts Momoko had left outside her dorm were any indication. The dorm that a sopping wet Karla had marched to last night in high dudgeon. For reasons. Lots of reasons.

But it was a new day, people were back to normal, graduation was in less than a week, and she'd gotten a special package in the mail from Kaeleer. Banard was apologetic that they likely wouldn't arrive in time for her birthday, but just holding her set Jewels in her hands was enough to make her smile.

There was a cup of coffee in her hand, an ice cream cake with 'Happy Birthday' on it, and a clear view of the street so Karla could wave to anyone who wandered by.

[Open! Was going to be a townie post until I went crazy with the links!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"You look like Hell," Karla said, looking up at him with surprise. She figured that he'd probably be sheepish as all Hell, knowing what had happened between other-him and Tamsin, but she hadn't expected him to look so damn...haggard. "Mother Night, just how angry do you think I'm going to be?"

Sure, she'd been pissy last night, but it wasn't like she hadn't dealt with Fandom whimsy over the years!

[wwiii]

"Would it sound bad if I said this isn't all about being worried about how much I messed up this weekend while I wasn't me?" Warren managed a tired smile. "I mean... I know you know I wasn't exactly in control of what was going on. Though I am sorry our birthday sucked."

He walked over to the table and set a printout down on it. An e-mail he'd sent to Captain Chiba, apologizing profusely for missing their reservation due to unforeseen circumstances, saying that he'd be compensated for the lost business all the same. And a request to reschedule, as soon as possible.

"After you graduate, can we never come back to this damned island again? If people want to see us, they can go right ahead and come to Sidra themselves."

[glacial_queen]

"Wow," Karla said, blinking at him. That Warren wasn't best pleased about not being himself for the weekend wasn't surprising, but that he had this level of upset certainly was. "Sure. I mean, if you want. I don't really have anything tying me here. But...you sound pretty harsh."

[wwiii]

"The occasional other-reality kid is great, don't get me wrong," Warren sighed, pulling up a seat and pinching the bridge of his nose, "but the last two times I've been here, the island has tried to kill us and then turned me into a psychotic horror-show version of myself and... it's getting tiring."

A beat.

"I can't actually remember a time since I graduated that the island hasn't done something while I was here."

[glacial_queen]

"I think Homecoming was safe?" Karla said, furrowing her brow as she tried to remember.

And then the rest of what he said sank in. "Psychotic horror-show...? You mean Momoko was right? All the things she said about you? Other you, I mean?"

[wwiii]

"Momoko was right," Warren agreed, softly. "About all of those things and more. The inside of his head was a scary place, Karla. I don't want to visit it again."

Ever.

[glacial_queen]

Karla scooted back out of her chair to offer him a hug. "Should I even ask?" she murmured, holding him tightly and weaving soothing spells around him.

[wwiii]

Warren just sighed and gave his head a shake, leaning into her hug and wrapping his wings and arms around her.

"It's nothing you want to hear, and nothing I want to repeat," he noted. "It'll fade with time, that'll have to do."

[glacial_queen]

He was wrong about her wanting to hear it, but she was willing to set morbid curiosity aside in favor of Warren's own comfort. "I can take those memories away from you, if you wish," she reminded him. "You don't deserve to carry them with you."

[wwiii]

"I never wanted them," Warren agreed softly. "But maybe they're... a good reminder of... of something. Something I never want to become. It scares me, that we had the same beginnings, that I was so close to being something like him, instead."

[glacial_queen]

"No," Karla said, shaking her head. "You're might have been like him once, but no more. You wouldn't ever be. No matter what happened, you wouldn't become something like that. Not now. Not ever."

[wwiii]

"Not now," Warren agreed. "I had too many things that he never had. I've had praise for the things I've done right, and a reason to grow a backbone that didn't come from shame and rejection and hurt."

That had kind of been a prevalent theme over the weekend. Hurt them before they could hurt you. And be better at it.

"There's only a few years between a point when we were the same person, but we've both changed too much since to really be anything like the other, now."

[glacial_queen]

"Too true," Karla said softly. "Momoko, too. That world twisted you both so much."

Shaking her head to clear it, Karla held the box containing her new Jewels out for Warren's inspection. "What do you think?" she asked, figuring he might appreciate the change in subject.

[wwiii]

"I think..." Warren leaned forward to look at the contents of the box, and then he smiled. "I think it'll be good to see you wearing a Jewel that finally reflects how strong I've always known you are. The cut is beautiful too, of course. Banard did a fantastic job."

He looked back up to her, still smiling. This was a great distraction, Karla, thank you.

"Though you're not just going to carry them around in the box, I hope?