Room 218, Sunday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Karla hadn't fallen asleep until well after the sun was in the sky, which meant that she hadn't woken up again until well into the afternoon. As soon as she did, she had to fight back the temptation to just pull the covers back over her head and go back to sleep. Maybe, if she slept long enough, it could all be a dream?

Not getting Raven back, no. Not that. But everything else? That would be awesome, thanks.

But sleeping more was the coward's way out--and would lead to a nasty headache anyway--so Karla reluctantly got up, put herself together, and tidied up her side of the room, all the while dreading the time when she would have to go and leave her door open in silent invitation. Should she use Craft--no. That would seem too much a summons. Warren would come to her when he was ready, no reason to push him. Just the door it would be then.

After the door was cracked in a silent invitation, she retreated to her desk, busying herself with feeding her frogs and flipping through a magazine she barely saw. Her Black Widow senses were silent but she was filled with a strong sense of foreboding anyway.

[For he who is anticipated, please!]

Comments

[wwiii]

"Good," Warren replied. There was something approaching a smile edging its way onto his features, now. It still fell a bit short, but it was... it was something.

And then he was biting his lip and ducking his head and shrugging his shoulders as the next ridiculous thought popped into his mind.

"And you owe me a new shirt."

That there, that was a smile.

[glacial_queen]

"You just want another dinner with my family," Karla said with a wavery smile. "I'm onto you."

She'd almost said 'a trip to Kaeleer' but reminding Warren of Agio wasn't going to win her any points right now.

"I don't suppose one of the shirts I claimed for my own will count?"

She almost wanted to laugh. Or maybe just collapse to the floor. The sudden relief that filled her made her legs a little trembly. They were joking. It didn't mean they were even good yet, but...he didn't hate her. He was offering her a chance. Neither of those had been certainties when he'd walked in.

[wwiii]

"That depends on whether or not you've claimed any of the ones with holes down the back," Warren replied.

... Because he was pretty sure that she'd just been taking the ones that didn't have wingholes. And he could get those with the spare change that he'd left in the common room couch cushions by accident on a weekly basis. He was kind of running out of custom-tailored shirts, with the rate he was soaking them with blood and filling them with slash-holes.

He kept that smile up for a few more moments, before it gave way into something that very suspiciously resembled a yawn. No, he hadn't slept last night. Not even close.

[glacial_queen]

There was the one with holes in it in the section of Karla's drawers that she'd set aside for Warren. She fetched it for him then, handing it over with a murmured, "I still owe you one." She hadn't stolen that one, after all.

The yawn had her looking up at him with concerned eyes. She lifted her hand up to caress his cheek, though she dropped it back to her side before it had gotten more than halfway, unsure if such a gesture would be welcome right now or not. "You should rest now, if you can. I can brew you a tea that may help. It lets you sleep without dreams for a few hours."

Without nightmares, really. Karla was fairly confident the events of Raven's resurrection would be haunting his dreams for awhile.

[wwiii]

"I think I could use something like that," Warren admitted, nodding and in that moment looking every bit as tired as he felt. "Have you ever felt too tired to sleep?"

He suspected that he wasn't the only one. He wadded up the shirt in his hands, staring down at it quietly.

He was really no good at this... hero thing.

[glacial_queen]

Except he kept going forward and doing it anyway. Which made him more of a hero than some others, who had no idea that they even should be frightened.

Though Warren probably wasn't in the mood to hear her say that.

"I have," Karla said, calling in her tea supplies and checking to see what she had. "Agio was like that," she added quietly, not sure that mentioning that place was the best idea right now, considering what he'd gone through there, too. "Glacia, too, a lot. After I came back to the estate from living with the coven."

She plucked several small bags and turned to hand them over. "The tea in the blue bags will help you sleep," she told him. "The tea in the green will help settle your nerves and let you eat." Okay, it would help settle his stomach, but there were some parts of his anatomy Karla wasn't going to mention right now. Specifically, any parts she'd seen on the outside recently.

[wwiii]

Oh, tea. Warren was beginning to wonder if there was anything that it couldn't do.

"Thank you," he replied, his voice a little softer than it had been before. Apparently, that was possible. "I'm... new to this."

To the trauma.

"After Agio, Sookie helped me with that. She kind of... tucked things away so that I could sleep. But I think I need to... figure this one out on my own."

After drinking some tea from the blue bag.

[glacial_queen]

Kaeleer was a place of magic tea, it was true. Many hours were spent bent over an herb table to bring people tea that could cure all ills.

The words 'you're welcome' stuck in her throat. She was why he needed them, after all. "It's hard, but the tea will help you through," she said, pausing a moment before adding a few more blue bags. "The first few days are the most difficult."

Days, weeks...whatever. Still, she knew what she was talking about. Voice of experience and all that.

"There are meditation tricks you can learn, too," she added. "I--Sookie can probably teach you some. Or maybe Tara." Since she doubted she or Raven were at the top of his current go-to list of teachers.

[wwiii]

"Sookie's probably got her hands full with Bobby right now," Warren noted, softly. There was a small world of regret in those words.

He'd promised that Bobby wouldn't have to see anything like that. Not with him.

"I'll Google it."

The internet: Awesome for everything from social networking to trauma.

[glacial_queen]

Karla heard the regret and while she didn't understand it's source, felt guilty all over again. "I'm sure that will work, too," she said, completely smoothly and with no awkwardness whatever.

Now she was just standing there, fidgeting, not entirely certain what to do next. They'd talked, she didn't think they'd broken up, exactly, even if they weren't entirely together right now, either, she'd given him the tea...Her usual go-to options, like 'kiss him soundly' or 'pounce' weren't on the table anymore...

More than anything, she hated this awkwardness. The distance between them that hadn't been there before, the one that make the silences stretch forever and every word feel wrong in her mouth. "Thank you again," she blurted, half out of a desperation to find something to say. "For coming in to talk to me. For giving me a chance."

[wwiii]

"I said I would," Warren replied, shrugging a little, fidgeting a bit as well, between the shirt and the tea in his hands. "I... needed to know why."

And now that he knew why, he wasn't entirely thrilled with it, but at least it beat running from it. Warren... Warren ran entirely too much.

[glacial_queen]

Again, would there ever have been a reason that Waren would have been okay with? There were other reasons; reasons Karla could explain properly or wouldn't explain because they felt too much like an excuse. But even those wouldn't have been enough.

"Whatever your reasons, I appreciate it," she said, moving over to pluck the dead leaves off her miniature honey-pear tree. She needed the soothing of the earth right now, even something as little as a plant in a pot. "I hope the tea is okay. Don't let it get cold. It tastes awful that way."

In a minute, she'd probably move on to the curtains.

[wwiii]

Warren didn't think for an instant that the tea could possibly taste worse than Karla's cookies.

"Right," he agreed, making the proper mental note. "Thanks. For the tea."

Things like this clearly needed to be properly clarified.

Another yawn.

"I guess... I'll be on my way, now. Unless there was anything else?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla was actually competent at tea! Mostly because she knew she wasn't allowed to experiment or adapt the ingredients.

"I--" Karla paused, looking torn. Should she explain the rest? Would he understand, or just think she was making excuses? Could she explain it well enough for him to understand? Was it even that important or was she just focusing on it to make herself seem less in the wrong? She didn't know. "In Kae--"

Then she deflated. None of the explanations she could figure out in her head sounded good enough to offer him. "Never mind," she said dully. "That's all."

[wwiii]

Warren gave the inside of his cheek a good gnaw, at that. She had more to say. He could tell that she did.

But he was tired, and even if he wasn't physically sore, his emotions were still in a bit of a tangle, and not much was making sense anymore, especially after a few days without any sleep beyond her kind of shutting him down after he'd tried to leap out the window.

He sighed.

"It isn't," he said, quietly. "But now isn't a great time. I'll catch up with you again later? After we've both gotten a bit more rest?"

After he felt a bit more human, again.

[glacial_queen]

"That's sounds fair," Karla agreed. Maybe by then she'd have an explanation that could actually make sense of everything else. Or would have decided that it was all some kind of lame excuse to absolve her of her responsibilities. "More rest sounds really nice."

She'd be hitting her own stash of tea, too.

[wwiii]

"I'll see you 'round, then?" Warren offered her a small, tired smile. "I mean, it isn't as if we don't know how to find one another, right?"

The tea was going to be his best friend, for a couple of days.

"Take care, Karla."

[glacial_queen]

"We do," Karla agreed, not mentioning how slim the odds were of her finding her way over to his room. He was the injured party; the ball was pretty much in his court for how quickly he wanted to set the pace of their reconciliation.

"You too, Warren," she said. "Be well. Sleep well." She swallowed back the three words that wanted to follow.

The door closing behind him echoed loudly in her empty room.