Room 218, Thursday Evening

[glacial_queen]

Karla was being very good today. Rather than fidgeting or spending all of her free time cataloging all the secret nooks and out-of-the way places she could think of on the island, she was channeling all of her extra energy into into checking on her various herbs and medicinal supplies. Between her conversations with Reno and Lady Ghanima, she thought knowing exactly what she had might come in handy.

Okay, mostly she was trying to distract herself from going down the hall and pouncing on her boyfriend. But this sounded better.

[Open!]

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[snarkyhealer.livejournal.com]

Shira had spent most of the day thinking about a certain someone back home, but eventually she'd forced herself to stop with the thinking and make with the checking on her friends.

She'd gotten as far as going to check on Cassidy before handwavily but with mun permission catching her Queen very enthusiastically kissing their favorite unstable blonde. It was that, oddly enough, that made Shira decide something had to be done. Not because of Cassidy kissing a girl -- Cassie could kiss whoever she damn well pleased -- but because said kissing (with some bonus funtime groping) had been in the middle of a hallway.

Shira was pretty sure Cassie would be mortified about that part of it when she realized what exactly she'd done, which was why it was also her duty to make sure it stayed contained to this.

And that would be what brought her to knock at Karla's door.

[glacial_queen]

"Come in," Karla called, keeping her eyes on the bunches of feverfew currently scattered over her desk. "It's open?"

[snarkyhealer.livejournal.com]

Shira let herself in and quietly shut the door behind her. "I... need your help."

[glacial_queen]

And like that, the feverfew was forgotten. "You do?" Karla asked, coming around her desk. "Shira, what's wrong? What can I do to help?"

[snarkyhealer.livejournal.com]

"It's not for me, it's for Cassidy," Shira explained. "And, well, sort of for me, too. See, I just caught her kissing our friend Elle in the hallway. Very enthusiastically. And while I don't think Cassidy's going to care about the kissing Elle part, necessarily, I'm pretty sure she's going to feel awful about the doing it so publicly part."

She quirked a smile. "And with everyone being so... tense, there's no way of knowing what else might happen. I don't want Cassidy to end up doing something she might regret. So I was thinking of locking the both of us in her room behind shields and locks, because I don't want her to be alone, but then I realized that she'd be able to get through them if I put them up."

And this would be where she finally took a breath in the mess of explanation and said, "Which is why I'm here. You wear a darker Jewel than we do. You lock us in, we can't get out until you let us out -- and I know you'll let us out when it's safe."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

There was a knock at Karla's door. Who could it be? Why, it was her good friend Triela! Who might have been thinking of her more than usual throughout the week.

[glacial_queen]

"Kiss kiss," Karla called, back behind her desk, hands deep in dried blossoms. "Come in."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Karla," Triela smiled. "I wanted to stop by and thank you again."

[glacial_queen]

"Triela!" Karla looked up and beamed. "Since we no longer seemed to be cursed with truthfulness to an upsetting degree, I can ask. Did they help? Do you prefer one over the other?"

Karla had been kind of intrigued by the little finger one, truth be told. "You can tell me to shut up if you want, but I'm curious."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"The butterfly was very simple, but the finger vibrator was... flexible." Triela smiled. "You should try one sometime." Yes. She totally had a preference.

And she didn't mind sharing with Karla.

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

Cloud was next to the door...doing something that could almost be considered guard duty. He wasn't really guarding anything, if not his own mind, though. While he was sure to be able to endure the week without losing his head -as much as it sounded like a great idea, he just couldn't- he preferred to allow Karla to have the advantage of closing her door if he...well, whatever. It wasn't happening.

"I suppose", said as he folded his hand behind his head. "I'm a little late to the party of people worried about you?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla poked her head out the door and smiled at him. "It's okay," she said with a small chuckle. "I spent the entire first week back as an Arcerian cat."

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

"Oh yes, because everyone would yell and be concerned at a...kitten." He wouldn't, anyway. "But I suppose there isn't much I can add so...how are you doing?"

[glacial_queen]

"That's what I mean," Karla said. "No one really yelled at me. Except to stop pouncing, or sharpening my claws on the furniture, or chasing my tail in their lap."

She leaned against the doorway, still easily tired by most physical exertion. "I'm getting better," she said quietly. "But it will be awhile before I really get back to where I was. I ran myself pretty thoroughly into the ground."

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

He turned to see her...and well, he was partly glad he hadn't seen Karla in her worst moment. "I would have paid to see the tail chasing." Because that? Was cute even to someone like Cloud.

"I know about doing reckless, dangerous things under the pretense that I'm the most suited to carry them all, and that I'd prefer not to have people following me, even if I know they'll just end up putting themselves in danger because of me." The sigh that followed indicated that Cloud wasn't judging. At all. "You can ask for help, Karla. Not me necessarily, but to the people that count. Those that followed and brought you back, for example. Some of us can't protect ourselves from the need to help others...so we should probably stick together. Just think about it next time your world needs you."

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle had been making herself scarce lately; she hadn't lived with Karla this long to be unaware of what her roommate could pick up from the walls of the dorm room, and she wasn't about to dump more on Karla than she already had to deal with.

She couldn't stay out forever, though, and slipped into the room late in the evening as quietly as she could.

"Oh," she said, feeling a little bit guilty that she was disappointed the room wasn't empty. "Hi."

[glacial_queen]

"Hey," Karla said, glancing up. She didn't entirely miss that flash of guilt or disappointment either, though she figured they came from lingering unease from Kaeleer. "I...did you want to be alone?"

She blushed, realizing there were other reasons Gabrielle might want to be alone this week. "I could go bug Warren or the boyos if you needed a little 'you' time or something."

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

None of those other reasons were appealing enough for her to take advantage of them, sadly.

"I was about to ask you that, actually." Gabrielle was lingering near the doorway, not really sure she ought to stay. "If you're busy, I can always find somewhere else to be."

She wouldn't be Gabrielle if she didn't ask, though. "Do you need to be alone? After . . . after everything, you've probably had everyone coming to check on you, and if you're sick of it by now . . ."

[glacial_queen]

"Gabrielle..." Karla got up to grab her roommate by the hand, ready to drag her inside if necessary. "This is your room, too. You hardly count as, like, company or something. I'm keeping myself distracted messing about with plants anyway."

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle didn't really have it in her to fight, so if she was going to get dragged into the room, she was going to get dragged into the room.

"Are you doing a little better now?" she had to ask. "I should have asked sooner, but I was away last week myself, and . . ."

A little too caught up in her own emo, and she felt bad about that.

"I just hope everyone else made sure you got enough rest."

[trigons_child]

Raven had promised Karla she'd talk to her when they weren't at the Reserve meeting and surrounded by other people, so when she found a little time she headed down to Karla's room and peered inside. "How are you faring, Karla?" she asked.

[glacial_queen]

"Still frustrated, but no longer saying everything that comes into my damn head," Karla said, smiling up at Raven in greeting. "Kiss kiss, darling. Come in. I was about to make some tea. Want some?"

[trigons_child]

"Yes, thank you," Raven said, stepping into the room. "The compulsion to speak the truth did not entire affect me since I do not lie, but it did make me say things I ordinarily attempted to keep silent. It was not entirely a bad thing, however." She couldn't help but smile.

[glacial_queen]

"That was more how I felt, too," Karla said, calling in her tea supplies. That she could do so without wincing was a bit of a victory, really. "I'm usually blunt, but that doesn't mean I want to say what's on my mind. And it ruined play rehearsal."

She glanced up at Raven in time to see the smile. "What tea would you--hello. Raven, why do you look like the cat that ate the songbird?"

[trigons_child]

Raven bluuuuuuuuushed. "After the meeting, I spoke to Jono," she explained. "We returned to my room together, and...."