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]

"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.

[glacial_queen]

"The vampires are technically on our side, this time," Karla said. "I think."

Unless one of them was a murderer, of course. That put a different complexion on things. "You remember Sebastien, from our trip to London? I guess we're going to help him look into things."

She rubbed her eyes tiredly and looked up at Warren. "Why do I feel like that's not what you wanted to say?"

[wwiii]

Everything about Warren seemed to droop a little more. There were even feathers, dragging on the floor, now.

"It's kind of not," he admitted, mumbling a little. "But... I don't know. I think maybe..."

And this would be a good time for a tired, ragged sigh.

"Murders," he said again, because that seemed like a big deal. A really, really big deal. "That's... Kinda... I mean, right after..."

Spitting this out was going to take some effort.

"God, Karla."

[glacial_queen]

Karla sighed at sat down on her bed, looking up at him. "Well, if it were something nice, like puppies or kittens or rainbows, I wouldn't be able to go," she said in a way that explained everything, except for how it didn't.

[wwiii]

"Of course," Warren agreed, in that tone that said that he did, in fact, understand. And that he was pretty certain that she didn't.

It was also that tone that meant that he was trying very hard to not just out and say things that were very much not his business to say, like, 'We just watched one of our friends die two days ago. Please, please don't do this to me.'

"How has Wesley been?"

That seemed safer. Somehow.

[glacial_queen]

"I got him to eat yesterday," Karla said, standing back up again and pacing back and forth in her room. Staying still for longer than a moment was hard. "And we talked about Katniss some. I think I got the last of the alcohol from his room, too."

Drinking away his problems had been allowed for one night only.

"He might even be able to sleep sometime soon."

Lucky.

[wwiii]

Warren nodded as he listened. See, talking about Wesley was way easier. Ish. Easier-ish.

"He'll exhaust himself to that point, at this rate. Either way, he'll rest eventually."

... That wasn't so great, either. But it was better than nothing.

[glacial_queen]

"He said he was feeling better after I left," Karla said, rubbing her arms. "He may actually sleep before he gets to that point."

One of them had to and it might as well be Wesley.

But, see, it all worked out. Wesley was doing slightly better, which meant Karla didn't have to feel terribly guilty about leaving the island for a few days--so long as there was a decent enough reason. Vampires and murders were a decent enough reason.

Articulating this labyrinthine bit of reasoning--and explaining why she felt she needed a reason to leave, instead of just going--was still a bit beyond her, though.

[wwiii]

"I hope so," Warren sighed, rubbing awkwardly at his arms and looking toward the floor. "He needs that rest more than almost anyone, I think."

He shrugged.

"It's been a hard week for everyone. I... should check up on him soon, myself."

[glacial_queen]

"It would be nice if you did," Karla agreed. Damn it. She'd thought they'd given awkward a boot out the door the night of the Valentine's Day Dance. Apparently it had come back. "He's doing better, but I think he'd appreciate knowing his friends are there for him."

She hesitated before adding, "I don't think that's something he's been used to, honestly."

[wwiii]

The corners of Warren's mouth turned up into something wry that wasn't quite a smile.

"I don't think that's something that most people around here have been used to," he noted.

[glacial_queen]

"Then it's that much more important for us their friends to be there, isn't it?" Karla asked. "Fortunately, I think we got all the drinking out of his system Monday night."

Through till dawn on Tuesday, really.

"But we could all use a reminder we're not alone sometimes, I think."

[wwiii]

"Yeah," Warren agreed. He wasn't going to let himself droop more than he already was. He wasn't. "Sometimes, those reminders are nice to have."

Would he be able to hold it together enough to be able to check on Wesley without just making things worse? He had no idea.

[glacial_queen]

Karla waited. There was a lot going on behind his eyes and she wondered if any of it was going to come out of his mouth.

"Then you'll stop by and see him?" she pressed when it seemed the answer was no.

[wwiii]

"I'll try," Warren replied, licking his lips and looking down at the floor. "I mean, I made the same promise you did. And I haven't, yet. I need to."

He was really sucking at this. Why?

[glacial_queen]

"Wesley and I talked about some kind of memorial for Katniss," Karla said, feeling like there was a whole unspoken conversation happening at the same time. "Something small, just for her friends. He might like someone to bounce ideas off of?"

Eventually, they were going to start talking about the furnishings and Karla was just going to scream.

[wwiii]

"Yeah," Warren agreed. "He might."

Warren was going to be bad at that.

So, so bad at that.

He exhaled a sigh that was just a bit south of being completely ragged, and then looked up at her again with a bit of a forced smile.

"Stay safe?"

Back to that. Like a slingshot. It seemed better than making more promises that he wasn't certain he'd be able to handle just yet.

[glacial_queen]

"I will," Karla promised. "I won't--no stupid risks, no assuming I can handle something without backup."

For once, she was on the same side as the vampires. She was going to make the most of it.

"I love you."

[wwiii]

"Love you too," Warren murmured, finally crossing the room and holding his arms open. That hug that he'd come for, he was going to claim now. Absolutely. "So, so much."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was just going to sag into his arms a bit, trusting in his strength to keep her steady. "I'll be back," she whispered. "Thursday night or Friday morning. I promise."

[wwiii]

"Okay," Warren replied, hugging her tightly and reasoning to himself that he wasn't allowed to just keep clinging so that she couldn't leave. That would be selfish. And...

Mostly selfish.

"I'm holding you to that."

[glacial_queen]

"You'd better," she mumbled into his neck. "Or, at least, just keep holding me."

The need to go was still pounding in the pit of her stomach, but being wrapped up in Warren dulled it, just a bit.

[wwiii]

"I can do that, too," he whispered, and squeezed all the more tightly.

She was going to have to pry herself free if she wanted to go. She just was.