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!]

Comments

[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."

[glacial_queen]

"I didn't know what I was in for when I left, or I would have," Karla said quietly. Then reconsidered. "No, I wouldn't have. Not at first. You see, the reason I left..."

She took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. "I went home to find my best friend had been drugged, married off to some bastard whoreson, and then drugged again to try to make her accept the marriage bed. The last thing I would have wanted right then was subject her to strangers, to strange males. The attempt did succeed, but...the drug lingers. For awhile. It was bad."

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

That certainly changed things. "They should have been around, yet. Not around her, if that's what you imply, but near, at hand, for whatever was going to happen next." A whatever he couldn't really imagine, but from the way Karla looked, it hadn't been too good at all.

"Look, I don't want to chastise you for trying to help." He really didn't, and felt as if he was doing so. "But...you can't do everything on your own. It never works on the long run. You usually die in the long run. I would rather have you alive to learn and do more good things than dying for a good cause."

[glacial_queen]

[Erm, that should say 'didn't succeed.' Stupid fingers!]

Karla nodded, looking away a bit. "I'm trying to learn that," she said quietly. "It's just...I can't take care of my people at home. Taking care of people here kind of...fills that void, a little. I know it's stupid. I'm trying to learn better."

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

"It's not, believe me. And you will take care of the people on your world, Karla. You are already doing so, but there is a time for everything." It certainly wasn't a time to die.

He looked at her now. "Just make sure to stop and consider your safety while you try to help others. And if it can't be helped...I know you can make the right choice." But he still preferred she didn't get killed, just saying.

[glacial_queen]

She didn't! She'd only come close to death like...maybe twice now! Pssht! That was nothing!

"It's just hard to focus on me when there are so many people who need helping. Like in Agio..."

She explained to him what happened after they took Jaenelle into Askavi to run herself into the ground. Talking about Agio was still hard, but as long as she stayed a bit detached from the topic, she could prevent the images from surfacing.

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

Cloud wasn't an overly imaginative guy, but still, the whole scene...it made him flinch a little. "None of you should have gone through that", said at last. He had to wonder just how useful he would have been there, and deal with the fact, as a matter of a fact, he would have been as useless as the others surely felt, trapped and without chances. Sure, he had Materia, but the mere idea of unleashing something like that anywhere wasn't appealing to him at all. Meteor Rain would cause more trouble than anything, too. It wasn't his fault that most of what he could do ended up causing some massive damage, but it was certainly a bit frustrating. Those people...they needed Aerith.

What did that left him to say?

"A friend is someone who supports your decisions, but a friend also knows that some times we need to be stopped, even if it's against our will. For our own well. You need people like that around you."

[glacial_queen]

"People who'll stand up to me when I being stubborn as a pig?" Karla asked with a trace of a smile.

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

He looked away, moved a hand from the back of his head, and patted hers a couple of times before moving his hand on a somewhat loose self hug. "Even when you deserve to get throttled, yes. Find that people, and don't let them go."

[glacial_queen]

"Those are the kind of people I need to form my Court," Karla said a little wistfully. "Too bad almost everyone here is committed to their world, too."

She thought about how that sounded and blushed. "I wasn't trying to get all passive-aggressive on you," she assured him. "Not at all."

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

Cloud gave her a surprised stare for a moment. "I didn't think you were. But, Karla, if you ever need help...you know where to find me."

[glacial_queen]

Karla darted him a smile. "I do at that. Or even if I can't, I can always wait for you to come visit me at 'Dite's."