Room 218, Wednesday Morning

[glacial_queen]

Karla was throwing clothes into an overnight bag and trying not to feel guilty. Or relived. Or guilty about feeling relieved. Jack's phone call had given her exactly what she'd wanted: an excuse to get away from the island for a few days, away from the memory of the Games and Katniss's death. Like Triela's death spurring her to Kaeleer for the weekend, Karla just needed a chance to get away.

She hadn't even waited for Jack to finish talking before she was agreeing to catch a fast portal to London.

The fact that she was needed to help catch a murderer who might or might not be a vampire almost made up for the fact that she was abandoning Wesley two days after he lost his girlfriend. Sorta. When she didn't think about it much.

The guilt-relief-guilt spiral wasn't going anywhere fast. Which was another reason she was glad for Jack's call. It gave her something else to think about.

[Open door, open post! Heading to bed now, will pick up pings when I wake up. (Up early to not conflict with plot posts)]

Comments

[wwiii]

On Anakin's insistence, Warren had forced some food into himself and had even made an attempt at sleep last night. He didn't get much, thanks to nightmares of gas and screaming birds and big orange monkeys chasing down his closest friends, wickedly curved hooks in their hands... But he'd tried.

This morning, he needed... either a hug, or to see if Karla needed one. And beyond that, he really wasn't sure.

He was going to have to check on Wesley, too. He'd promised.

"Knock knock?"

... Packing?

[glacial_queen]

Karla shoved another shirt into her back and then looked up, a hint of wildness in her eyes, a second or two of blankness when she looked at Warren out of dark-smudged eyes. "I...Warren." Warren. Boyfriend. Beloved.

She clutched her bag tightly, almost as if she feared he would take it from her. "Going. I'm going. To help."

That would be a 'yes' on that hug question.

[wwiii]

"Going to help...?"

Warren ducked his head a little, lifting his hands and easing carefully into the room. He was the one with the animal-like physiology, but there were moments when he had to wonder if the one he was dating was maybe on the verge of howling with the wolves, herself.

"Going to help who, Karla?"

Soft. Soothing. Tiredandhurtandguiltyandworriedandmourning. Gentle.

[glacial_queen]

...That wasn't a terribly far-off description, actually.

"Jack," she said, all in a rush. "Jack, in London. Vampires. Murders. Something--I wasn't quite listening."

And suddenly she was sitting on the edge of her bed with a small thump and no real idea that she'd intended to do that.

"I just need a few days away." Her voice was hoarse and her eyes burned; not with more tears, but exhaustion. "But I couldn't make myself go. Not with Wesley--but Jack needs my help."

So it was okay, see? It didn't count as being stupid and selfish if someone needed her.

[wwiii]

"Vampires." Warren's fondness for vampires had pretty much entirely vanished over the past little while. For whatever reason. "Murders."

And he'd never had a fondness for that one.

"Karla, I..."

He was tired. God, he was so damn tired right now. And she was running off in the wake of the Hunger Games and and and Katniss and he wanted to go to see Wesley to make certain that he was going to be okay, not because they were both mourning.

And all of that caught in his throat, and he bit his lip, and he stared at the floor.

"Murders," he said again. Because that word, he was kind of stuck on, right now.

[glacial_queen]

"Warren, I..."

Words. She had them. Didn't she always have them? Dammit, words, where were you?

"I don't know how to explain it better," she said, miserably. "But I need to go somewhere to breathe because I can't here. Not yet."

But that wasn't enough reason to go, not with Wesley and her promise in the bargain. She couldn't go for herself. But she could go for a friend who needed her, too.

[wwiii]

"So... you're going to go somewhere with vampires. Where there have been murders," Warren noted, his voice falling a little flat. "That's..."

What do you say? No? He couldn't say no. But. Just...

"Be careful?"

That wasn't what he'd wanted to say. At all.

[trigons_child]

Raven hadn't talked to Karla in a few days, but she'd been picking up on something unsettling from her, so she stopped on the second floor before her morning class.

She tapped on the door frame softly, watching Karla pack. "Are you going on another vacation?" she asked.

[glacial_queen]

The sound Karla made was not exactly a laugh, even if her mouth was twisting upwards as she made it. "Not really," she said. "I'm getting away for a few days. Jack's London. Vampires and murders who are maybe one and the same. I don't care."

It gave her a reason to go.

[trigons_child]

"Please be careful," Raven said, worried as ever when it came to Karla's safety, and doubly so when it involved vampires.

She stepped into the room. "You are troubled," she said. "Is there anything I can do to help before you go, or while you are away?"

[glacial_queen]

"I could use a hug," Karla said quietly.

A hug from someone not involved in the Games. A hug where she was not giving as much comfort as she was receiving, but one that was simply for her.

[trigons_child]

Raven didn't need to be asked twice. She crossed the room and folded Karla into her arms, hugging her close, sending gentle pulses of warmth and comfort as she stroked her hair.

"What is wrong?" she asked softly. "Is it news from home?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla shook her head. "In a way, I almost wish it were," she said, not realizing how soon or how thoroughly that was going to bite her in the ass. But if it were news from home, she wouldn't feel the urge to go so damn much.

"One of the students here, Katniss. She's...not coming back to school. She had to go home and she didn't make it back."

That was a very awkward and not-at-all helpful description of what happened, Karla. Good job.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle was already up too, and rolling soap and shampoo into her towel (it was just a short walk to the bathroom, not a trek down to the river, but old habits and all) for a shower before her library shift.

"It might be a moot point, but I'm passing on Master Skywalker's message anyway," she remarked over her shoulder. "He said he wanted to see all of us --" she didn't think she needed to explain who 'us' entailed -- "sometime this week."

[glacial_queen]

"I should be back by...tomorrow, I think Jack said," Karla replied, brow creased in thought. He'd said tomorrow, right? Just a few days?

...Karla hadn't been listening. "I'm not sure when tomorrow, but tomorrow."

She looked over at Gabrielle with pleading eyes, wanting her to understand. "Jack needs my help. There's a thing. I have to help him."

In London. London that was not Fandom.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle, who fully intended to leave for Greece as soon as she left Anakin's office -- which she guessed would be a difficult place for Karla to be at all for a while yet -- tomorrow, understood; even if she hadn't, she understood the need to help.

She dipped her head once in acknowledgement.

"I'll let him know for you. I think he'll understand . . . I might not be here when you get back, either." Which was to say that yes, she understood.

[glacial_queen]

The idea of coming back to an empty room wasn't particularly appealing, but then, wasn't she leaving Gabrielle to face the same now? Karla nodded, stepping forward with her arms out.

"You're coming back, though, right?" she asked without meaning to. It was just...Triela. Katniss. Ben. Ender.

Way to sound super-needy, Karla.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

"Of course I'm coming back!" Gabrielle blurted out, all but charging forward into a hug that made 'clingy' feel inadequate. "I just really, really want to see Xena for a few days. I need that."

Because that always went so smoothly.

[glacial_queen]

"I understand," Karla said with a fervor that matched Gabrielle's. "I need to get out of here, too. I don't want to abandon Wesley, but--"

But Warren had also promised. And Karla really did just need to leave for a few days, put her thoughts back together in a place that didn't remind her of Katniss or the Games with every step.

"Tell Xena I said hi, okay?" she said into Gab's hair. "And that I said you need an extra-big hug."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

*riiiing* It was far too long since Dinah talked to Karla; the Fyreborn Islands had been awesome, and then she'd gotten busy with crimefighting, and it was time for a check-in.

[glacial_queen]

The caller ID got a ghost of a smile out of Karla as she answered it. "Hey, Dinah," she said, trying to sound--well, not perky, but less dispirited than she was. "What's up?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"This'n'that," Dinah said blithely. "Um. Summer school, for one." Yeah, just get that out of the way fast. "How about you?"

[glacial_queen]

"Summer school?" Karla asked. "You mean like the classes Fandom has in the summer?"

Look at her deftly avoid Dinah's second question. Someone had been hanging around the boyos in room 204 for too long.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Um. Sort of? I mean, hey, I'm taking them of my own free will." Dinah grimaced. "...on the advice of another crimefighter, who pointed out my grades wouldn't keep nose-diving if I spread them out over summer semester." She settled into the grass on the quad, so much less busy now that it was summer. "It turns out it's hard to do this stuff at the same time as an education if the grades aren't in classes like History of Television."

[glacial_queen]

"Did you ever ask to retake your finals?" Karla asked. "I mean, you spent half the week in Italy with Triela--" Karla's voice caught on her name. "They have to understand extenuating circumstances."