Room 218, Friday Morning

[glacial_queen]

Didi was gone. Drake was gone. Dinah was going. Elena was gone. Ben had left in a rush and hadn't even bothered to say goodbye. Not that Karla could blame him. His empathy must have been killing him right then--no pun intended. She could feel Jono's pain roiling off him in waves, probably from the other side of the island. He wasn't in the dorms, at least. She'd already checked.

She knew she couldn't stay in her dorm and cry all day, no matter how appealing that option was right now. So in a few minutes, she would get up and wash her face and figure out what she could to help out today.

But for those next few minutes, she was just going to curl up on her bed and cry.

[Mostly establishy, as I'm leaving the house to help out with errands for a few hours, but open if folks don't mind SP.]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"I didn't have much of a choice," Karla reminded, drawing up her knees. "And when I came here, I hadn't seen Jaenelle in three years."

And by then, she'd already assumed the worst.

"I knew Drake better than I did Didi," she continued. "He was fun and interesting and one of the most alive people I ever met." She winced, but it had been true. "Probably because he knew he only had a short time and was determined to make the most of it. He gave me those frogs," she said, pointing to the terrarium on her bureau.

[endsthegame]

"I never accused you of having one," Ender said, and that smile hadn't gone anywhere. "Likewise, nobody who left had much of one."

He stretched out his legs and watched her as she spoke. "Why the frogs?" he asked, at last.

[glacial_queen]

Dinah totally could have taken Karla up on her offer of becoming a professional lace-tatter or whatever. It was totally a viable option!

"Delirium--Didi's sister and not the one on the island--created them for him during Parent's Weekend," Karla said, ignoring Ender's other comment for now. She knew that no one who had left her had a choice, but that didn't make it easier. "He wanted to make sure they were taken care of after he was gone. They like jello."

[endsthegame]

"Of course they do," Ender murmured. "Wouldn't be Fandom if anyone stuck to the basics of biology and the laws of nature."

[glacial_queen]

Karla shrugged. "If she's anything like the Delirium on the island, her disregard for laws of nature was established long before she got here."

[endsthegame]

"But she found her way here," he noted. Then shook his head. "It's not important," he said. "How long have you had the frogs?"

[glacial_queen]

"Since last Thursday," Karla said. And they still looked healthy! "I got them as Drake was cleaning out his office. They're pretty, if kind of boring."

That didn't mean Karla had abandoned her plans to spoil the Hell out of them.