(Untitled)

[k_gabriel]

For the most part, Karla doesn't bother to keep track of what day of the week it is anymore. Doesn't seem to be much point, with what little difference there is between one day and the next (aside from holidays, which she figures she'll find out about by any plans that are being made for them in the Wasteland). Mostly, she just keeps track of what

Comments

[bass_line_blues]

Preston's ribs have healed up all right, though he still has to be careful taking deep breaths.

But he's walking normally, and when he sits down next to Karla, it's a relatively easy motion.

"Hey."

[k_gabriel]

Karla glances over, smiles a little.

"Hey. How's it going?"

[bass_line_blues]

"Not too bad."

Preston tilts his head, amused. "You know they've got a swimming pool rigged up in the basement of one of the abandoned complexes? Guess it flooded when a water main burst, and instead of cleaning it up the squatters just kept dumping more water in."

[k_gabriel]

"Seriously? Except for the 'basement of an abandoned building' part, that's pretty cool."

Not that Karla has swimwear. Or...would wear it if she did.

[bass_line_blues]

"People are getting pretty creative."

Preston grins. "And to be fair, most buildings these days were at least abandoned at one point. Can't be too picky."

[k_gabriel]

"True. Still. Basements."

Karla's got her lighter out, held loosely in one hand. She flicks it a few times, thoughtfully, before speaking.

"So, guess what today is? Or--sort of today."

[bass_line_blues]

Preston tilts his head, but stays silent, waiting - not really the kind of question, he thinks, that you're actually supposed to guess at.

[k_gabriel]

Faced with an attentively listening Preston, Karla suddenly feels silly for making this at all a big deal.

But she can't really leave him hanging now.

"Today," she says, with a faint, crooked smile, "is my arbitrarily-chosen Chicagoversary. Which is totally a word as of today."

[bass_line_blues]

"- totally."

Preston's also smiling, a little, now.

Quiet, sincere: "Congratulations."

[k_gabriel]

Karla's smile widens a little, even as she ducks her head, rubbing at the back of her neck with her free hand.

"Yeah. It's--before I got here, longest I'd stayed in one place since I was seventeen was six months."

[bass_line_blues]

"Guess we're doing something right," Preston says, lightly. "Between the gang wars and the vampires and the poster-thefts and all."

He says 'we', and tries very hard to mean it, instead of 'I'.

[k_gabriel]

"That or I've finally managed to loot more stuff than I can fit in a backpack, and I'm getting lazy and materialistic in my old age," Karla shoots back, just as light.

Then, she flicks the lighter again, and says, "I think we are. Doing something right, I mean."

[bass_line_blues]

"I like to think so, anyways."

Beat. "Shit, Karla, you start complaining about your old age, what does that make me, Village Elder?"

[k_gabriel]

Karla snorts. "Whatever, I totally turned twenty in May and, um, forgot to tell anyone. I'm old now. That's how it works."

[bass_line_blues]

Preston looks as traumatized as it is possible for him to look, which . . . is still in a mild fashion, but!

"Karla, I turned twenty-four in July."

[k_gabriel]

"You being older doesn't mean I'm not."

Karla doesn't do 'prim' very well, but that won't stop her from trying.