Comments | glacial_witch: Room 218, Sunday Afternoon

glacial_witch

Room 218, Sunday Afternoon

Jul 17, 2011 13:36

Just a few months ago, Karla would have fired off a text to a bunch of people, saying something useful like Hobart's killing all the B Widows. Going to stop him. Hugs & kisses, K and run off into the wilds of Glacia with no plan but a burning desire to stop the bastard in his tracks. But that was a few months ago--she'd learned a few lessons since ( Read more... )

where: room 218, door: open, what: housekeeping, what: playing telephone, who: raven roth, post: open, who: emma frost, who: karla, who: warren worthington iii, who: jack priest, who: bobby drake, who: dinah lance, what: keeping in touch, what: karla hates goodbyes, who: peter wiggin, who: tony stark, who: wesley wyndam-pryce

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not_a_parakeet July 17 2011, 17:43:28 UTC

Leaving again. Warren didn't much like the sound of that, and that showed on his face when he came to Karla's door. There was the slight taste of blood on his tongue- he'd been chewing the inside of his cheek to keep his anxiety from being too obvious as he headed down the hall to her room. Not like it mattered. His cheek was already healed by the time he opened his mouth to talk.

"... Hey."

And so very much talking he did.

glacial_witch July 17 2011, 17:56:23 UTC

There was no 'hey' back.

Instead, Karla set down the box she'd been putting clothes in and walked over to Warren to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his shoulder.

Greetings could wait. This could not.

not_a_parakeet July 17 2011, 18:06:37 UTC

Without a word, Warren nodded, pulling her into his arms and folding his wings around her. They could stay like this for as long as she needed to. As long as he needed to. He wasn't in any hurry to let go or to speak.

glacial_witch July 17 2011, 18:18:18 UTC

Karla clung to him tightly, just breathing in his scent, both physical and psychic. Just being in his arms centered her, strengthened her--but made everything that much harder, too.

But this--this was something she could do right. It wouldn't be like, well, any of the other times she'd flit off with hardly a word. This time, she could offer him a reason, an explanation...

A choice.

In a minute. When she was done clinging.

not_a_parakeet July 17 2011, 18:30:31 UTC

Warren was good at that. At making things difficult while trying to make everything better.

Maybe it was genetic. Maybe it was a Worthington thing.

After a few minutes of just that, he pulled away, not enough to let go, just enough to be able to see her face.

"What can I do?"

Most people waited until they knew what was up, Warren.

glacial_witch July 17 2011, 18:46:32 UTC

Karla bit her lip. She'd planned to explain first and invite him after. But if Warren was going to jump straight in...

"Hobart is killing all Black Widows who don't swear fealty to him," she said. "Or, rather, the Queen is doing it, but it all boils down to him in the end. I'm going home to protect my people. I...I'm not going to ask you to come."

She hurried on before he could protest. "I don't want you to feel like you have to say yes to me. But...but if you wanted to come along, the invitation is open."

She wanted him to come with her. She did. But if he came or not, it was his choice.

not_a_parakeet July 17 2011, 18:55:17 UTC

"I..." Well. It was good that she stopped his protest in its tracks, because it had been coming. These people were killing Black Widows. Karla was a Black Widow. It kind of went without saying that this was going to be dangerous. Probably well over the head of a Landen like himself.

Still.

"What are things like, out there?"

He'd already made up his mind that he was going to do whatever he could. But he needed to know more if he was going to be able to figure out exactly what 'what he could' consisted of.

glacial_witch July 17 2011, 19:15:50 UTC

"I'm not sure," Karla admitted, brushing the hair away from her face. "The edict just got handed down, but Hobart's been building anti-Black Widow sentiment for awhile now. Morton's said there's already been some deaths."

A stoning in Sidra. A few lynchings in the outlying villages closest to the Capitol. Burning down a cottage with a witch barricaded inside.

"Ugly and only going to get uglier, I guess. He doesn't want to kill every Black Widow. Just the ones who don't agree to serve him."

Karla had resolutely refused to think of the coven just outside of Sidra. Her coven. The ones who had taken her in after her parents had died. Hilda had always been so outspoken in her suspicions...

not_a_parakeet July 17 2011, 19:23:49 UTC

"So they'll be looking for your head," Warren noted, his tone neutral. Thoughtful. Ugly was one thing. Ugly wasn't hopeless.

They'd stared hopeless down more than a couple of times now, and had walked away alive.

"I want to help," he said, carefully. "I want to do whatever I can. But I have to admit, I don't really know what that is, yet."

glacial_witch July 17 2011, 19:47:51 UTC

"Among others, yes," Karla said softly. "I don't know how many people actually believe Hobart's announcement that I'm dead. This could, in part, be an attempt to smoke me out of hiding."

That was something she hadn't even considered before. But it made sense. She'd stayed with a coven once, why not again?

"You're already helping," she said, grabbing a notebook and writing that possibility down. "But that being said...I don't know what you'll be able to do. Hell's fire, I don't even know what we're going to do. We...don't really have a plan yet."

Hold your surprise, everyone.

not_a_parakeet July 17 2011, 19:52:39 UTC

The shock on Warren's face was about as plain as a... It was...

Yeah. No shock.

"So, the plan at the moment is to form a plan," Warren replied, with a wry sort of twist to his lips. "You don't know what's going on out there for certain, you don't know who you can trust or who even knows you're still alive. So you have to find a safe way of finding out."

There was definite emphasis on safe.

glacial_witch July 17 2011, 20:05:16 UTC

"It is," Karla agreed with a nod. "I'm not even going home to Glacia when leave here. I'm expected back at the Keep. This is...this is too important to just rush in and leave to chance. We're talking about hundreds maybe even thousands of innocent witches. If I run in and balls everything up--they're the ones who'll pay the price. Not me. So, I can't. I owe them more than that."

not_a_parakeet July 17 2011, 20:14:00 UTC

"You're their Queen," Warren offered, softly. "They won't get that help from anywhere else. You have to do it right the first time."

He reluctantly reclaimed his wings, folding them over his back. He'd love to hold on to her forever, but thinking about what was going on, even with the few small morsels of information that he'd been given, meant that he needed a bit of breathing room. Not much, as his hands had dropped down, reaching for hers.

"Good thing you won't have to do it alone, huh?"

glacial_witch July 17 2011, 20:40:51 UTC

Karla looked down at their clasped hands, the first real and genuine smile since she'd heard the news forming on her face. "You mean it?" she asked.

He hadn't actually answered before; just asked questions. And Karla had refused to press.

"You really want to go?"

not_a_parakeet July 17 2011, 20:58:16 UTC

"I had to make sure I wasn't going to be in the way," Warren admitted, smiling a little at the sight of her own smile. "But if you're taking it slowly, putting together a plan... I don't need Craft to be able to think."

glacial_witch July 17 2011, 21:07:04 UTC

"You're never in the way," Karla declared. "Even if--or maybe especially if--all you're doing is standing with me while I run around all crazy-like. You...you keep me balanced. You remind me to think--and act as a reminder of what happens when I don't. You support me and help me and ground me. I need that. I need you."

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