District Thirteen, Panem, Thursday Night, Fandom Time

[glacial_witch]

So, a few nights ago, Karla had gotten a... very interesting voicemail. Then, however, had come Anakin's distress call and hilarious voicemails had gotten ignored in favor of getting here, assessing the situation, and figuring out what to do. But now, without a wedding to distract her--it wasn't like she was paying attention to her schedule anyway--

Comments

[blondecanary]

Dinah had just gotten in from fighting crime (Still no sign of Poison Ivy, damnit) and was now indulging in popadam and naan. She grinned at the Caller ID. "Helloooooo? How's your week going?"

[glacial_witch]

"Ohhhh, no," Karla said, laughing. "I called to talk about you. And your epic battle to get Momoko's pretzels back."

[blondecanary]

"What?" Dinah asked, trying to sound convincing. "Back from... who?" A pause. "...what else did we say?"

[glacial_witch]

"Well, then Momoko was sad because I wasn't talking to her over voicemail, and some of the rest was too slurred to make out," Karla said, still chuckling. "But surely you remember the message, don't you?"

[blondecanary]

"Maaaaaan," Dinah whined. "Yes. And I had a record of it. I just-- hoped we were more together than that?" She sighed. "...and okay, relieved we didn't sing at you. Tony called back handwavily just to laugh."

[glacial_witch]

"If I could play it back for you, I would," Karla said. "It's like a poem. An epic poem about love and friendship and pink drinks and pretzels. This is never getting deleted off of my phone. Ever."

She would play it at Dinah's wedding. And Momoko's. And maybe her own.

"So, who else did you call? Please. Share every detail you can actually remember."

[blondecanary]

"God. My phone records are better than my memory. Roy, who will probably also laugh. You, Francine, Tony. Priestly, because we wanted food." Dinah winced. "And Jaime. A couple times. Or three."

[glacial_witch]

"I'm sure he just loved hearing about his girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend running around drunkenly in New Gotham," Karla said, snorting. "I'm sad that Priestly didn't find some way to book a portal and bring your guys something to eat as you made your rounds."

[blondecanary]

"Oh, me too, that would've been awesome," Dinah admitted. "I miss him, he's in Texas if he hasn't moved onto Mexico by now. And... I don't know on Jaime." She was quiet. "Momoko had a sucky, sucky week, and I know Jaime did too, but I was really wishing he was here so I could hit him with a pillow."

[glacial_witch]

Well, that sounded foreboding.

Karla had been aware that Momoko had come to New Gotham during her visit because she'd needed some kind of comfort. About Jaime. And now Dinah wanted to hit him with a pillow?

"He gave her the same speech, didn't he?" she asked quietly. "Aww, poor Momoko."

[blondecanary]

"She didn't tell...? Oh, of course she didn't." She hadn't told Dinah at the time, not until she showed up feeling like a monster. "Yeah. Pretty much. I love him, I do, but I swear I just-- she's so hurt, as hurt as I was, and it's for the exact same reasons, and... damnit, Karla, why did I think this was a good idea? Why did I encourage it? Damnit, damnit, damnit."

[glacial_witch]

"You encouraged it because you hoped for a better outcome," Karla said softly. "You hoped he'd learned; that all the pain you went through would at least guarantee that Momoko wouldn't. And a good bit of what you're feeling right now is the disappointment that it's not true."

[blondecanary]

"Pretty much, I guess." Dinah felt achey on Momoko's behalf, but achey on her own, too, seeing it play out again, and being disappointed for both of them. "I get that break-ups are never just one person, but you know what? In this case? It is. And it's not because he doesn't love her any more, or there's any betrayal or real issues. It's Jaime Stubborn Reyes deciding what's best for everyone again, even if he talked it over with her more than he did me. She still didn't get a say, because he decided this would be the least hurtful option. The jackass."

All the stuff she could *not* say to Momoko, and wouldn't say to Jaime, even if he really, really deserved it spilled out.

[glacial_witch]

Fortunately, she had a Karla who had no compunctions about saying this all to Jaime herself.

"Jaime has to realize that in a situation like this that he doesn't get to unilaterally decide this stuff," she said. "He doesn't get to decide what's best for other people. He's not your--her--father or anything like that. He's treating you guys like you're...lesser. Like you're not capable of deciding things for yourself. And that's not right."

[blondecanary]

"I think it's even more that he's not saying that he's scared." Talking to Momoko about this had put a few things to rest for Dinah. A year later. Finally.

"He doesn't want to mess it up, so he wants to quit now before some awful thing he imagines happens. But he thinks that's better, somehow, than dumping us was. Don't ask me how." Dinah sighed. "He said stuff to Momoko that sounded like stuff he said to me, about how we'd inevitably hate each other... God. I don't know. He's got issues, and he means well. But I think that yeah, he's just-- scared."

[glacial_witch]

"Being in a relationship is scary," Karla said. "Fear of losing people, fear of getting hurt, fear of hurting someone else. That's just part and parcel of any relationship, romantic or not. But just...unilaterally deciding what the best course of action is...that's not right. Being in a relationship means being partners. You don't just decide what to do, even if you are scared."