Room 324, Monday Afternoon
Things were better, right? They were. He'd disappeared and come back, and the rest of the island was back to normal, and people's homes were returning, too. Hell, all of Warren's accounts and stocks had even returned.
But once he'd gone out and replaced the one he'd demolished, he couldn't get his dad to answer the phone. And... he wasn't thrilled with his father, but that wasn't like him. It just... it wasn't.
It had taken a few hours of sitting, of arguing with himself over the wisdom of running back to make certain that his father was safe and sound, but he'd finally booked himself a portal back to New York. He'd check in there, first, and... go from there. Or something.
Harness. Long coat. Deep breath.
Karla
This past week had been filled with things that Karla had not been prepared for. The Auditors were one. The Nothing sweeping over the island was another. But the most unexpected even of the week?
Losing Warren. Specifically, losing Warren again. Losing Warren has after he'd saved her. Turning around to see him just...cease to exist, right before her very eyes.
She'd still been angry with him. Still been righteously furious at the way he'd just swooped down that morning and denied her agency. Truth be told, there was a tiny part of her that was still angry, and would be until they had a chance to sit down and have a deep talk about the whys and wherefores about what they'd done.
But all that anger and hurt and bitterness couldn't stand up to seeing him vanish, wiped out of existence like he was so easily replaceable. Discardable. Like he just didn't count. It didn't matter that she truly had hated him when he'd held her in his arms and refused to let her go--those feelings had disappeared in an aborted lunge to get him back and one broken, shrieking Nooooooo!
So now she was here, tapping gently on his door, hoping for a chance to mend and heal what was hurt and broken between them. Hoping to talk and clear the air. Hoping to see, once again, that he was here and healthy and whole.
Just...hoping.
"Warren?" she called. "I--it's me. May I come in?"
Warren
There was a list of people that Warren had been contemplating leaving messages for, before he could leave. Hercules. Tony, Wesley, Tara, Rapunzel. Just to tell them that he was taking a quick trip home, and not to worry, he'd be back as soon as possible.
Karla's name hadn't been on that list, which he'd ultimately wound up dismissing anyhow. There was no reason to put her name there, was there? And now, hearing her voice outside his door?
His voice was barely loud enough to be heard as he replied, a tired, "if you want to," while he rifled through his drawers, pulling out a few more shirts without holes cut into them.
He wasn't going to stop her from doing whatever the hell she wanted. Not again.
Karla
Karla felt a cold hand grip her heart when she walked into Warren's room and found him furiously tossing clothes into a bag. Her awkward greeting died unspoken on her lips and her hand fell back to her side, unwaved. For his part, Warren's only greeting was a distracted nod as he ran a hand through his hair, looking about his room in case he was missing anything, a last shirt lying crumpled and forgotten in his other hand. The feathers on his wings were ruffled slightly, Karla noticed. Puffing out, trying to make him look bigger, more dangerous, an unconscious habit she'd seen before.
And unconscious response to a threat, specifically.
A nameless fear stole most of her voice, leaving her sounding weak and little girlish as she forced "What's wrong?" out past dry lips. "Where are you going?"
Questions she no longer had any right to ask.
Warren
Warren turned his attention to the few last things lingering on his bed, dropping the last of his shirts into his bag before making a reach for one of his harnesses. He hated the damn thing. Hated it. But he couldn't bring himself to wear the bracelet that she had given him, let alone use the damn thing.
"Home," he intoned, pulling his wings tightly to his back and then starting to buckle himself in with those damn leather straps.
The harness was probably a good hint.
Karla
"For good?"
Karla's eyes dropped down to his bare wrist and she bit her lip. She couldn't blame him for not wearing the bracelet--but the sight of him in that harness made her feel ill.
She couldn't help wondering if she was the reason he was leaving. She'd told him she never wanted to see him again. And Warren was the kind of male--the kind of person--who would take that request literally and do what he could to honor it.
"Would you like some--" No. She couldn't make herself offer to help strap him in.
Warren
Warren didn't answer her question. Didn't answer either of her questions. He didn't have an answer for the first, and he wasn't entirely certain he'd be able to handle letting anyone but himself bind his wings down.
Especially not her. Especially not right now.
"Is everything okay back in Kaeleer?"
He didn't look up, either. He was looking into his bag as he fastened the last of the buckles, wondering what in the world he'd forgotten. You always managed to forget something when packing in a hurry, even if it was just a change of socks or a toothbrush or something...
Karla
Karla blinked at that sudden and abrupt change of topic. "I...I don't know."
Flushing at how callous that answer sounded, she hurried to explain. "My phone died. In the rush, I never grabbed my charger and its battery ran out. It's downstairs in my room, charging now."
Because by the time she'd dragged herself to bed last night, she hadn't bothered to make sure the power cord was plugged into the wall when she'd attached her phone to it.
Warren
"Oh..."
His phone. He hadn't packed it. Hopefully that was just what he'd been forgetting. He grabbed it from his nightstand, and then tossed it her way without actually looking her way.
Eye contact was a horrible plan right now.
"Call them. Right now. Make sure they're okay."
Karla
She caught it, more out of reflex than anything else and stupidly looked down at the phone in her hands. It was new--a later model than his previous phone had been with there were no claw marks on the casing. Irrationally, she wanted to ask where the old one was, but dismissed that thought as quickly as it had bubbled to the surface of her mind.
"Warren, I--" she tried to hand the phone back, stumbling over her words. "This isn't about them, it's about us and what I did and--I came up here to apologize. I know I hu-hurt you and I know I said awful things, but I just wanted to talk--"
Warren
"Call them." Warren's voice sounded as though it was carefully skirting the edges of desperation, now. Like he wasn't just asking her to call for the sake of her own peace of mind. "Please. Please, just do it."
Karla
Karla flipped open his phone, her heart squeezing a little in her chest when she saw that there were still entries there for 'Morton' and 'Lucivar.' He probably just hadn't had a chance to delete them yet, but...still.
"Hello, Morton?" She sank a little against the wall when her cousin answered the phone, relieved."...No, no, everything's okay." I know this is supposed to be for emergencies only...Listen, I just had to call and make sure you were all right. Where are you?...In Haven? Well then I don't know what you're getting all snippy about. You're nowhere Hobart's males can...yes, yes, I know. Constant vigilance." Karla sighed a moment and shook her head. "I'll go. I just needed to hear your voice for a minute. I had to know you were okay."
"I love you," she said, bringing her eyes up to Warren. "I do." And then she laughed, a little weakly. "No, I'm not getting sick. I just wanted you to know it. All right...bye."
She held his phone back out for him. "They're fine. He's in Arceria, with Kaelas and Julian. They're all okay." She repeated it, more for her own peace of mind. "They're really okay."
Thank the Darkness for that.
Warren
Warren hadn't realized that he'd been holding his breath until he exhaled it all in one relieved whoosh of air, like someone had punched it out of him.
"Good." He hadn't broken everything, then. He could leave without that much on his head. Her family was safe. He took his phone, pocketed it, and then went back to his dresser to make certain that he'd grabbed enough winghole-free shirts to get him through. "Okay. Good..."
Karla
"Please."
Karla had watched him for another long minute, willing him to turn around. Willing him to talk to her.
Finally, she'd realized he wasn't going to. It hurt, but it was fair. Fitting, in fact, that she be the first to speak, to try to repair something of what had been between them. She reached for him.
Please. So much rested on that one word. Was encapsulated within it. "Please just...don't."
Don't. Don't go. Don't put that on. Don't leave.
"I have no right to ask you, I know. What I said--I was wrong and I won't blame you if you can't forgive me for it. But please. Don't leave. Don't leave your friends, your home. Don't leave the people who love you."
Who knew irony could cut so damn deep?
Warren
Oh, no. No, no no no, he couldn't deal with this right now. Her begging like this. And he didn't really need to explain himself to her, didn't think he had it in him to do so anyhow. Hell, she'd attempted to leave with a letter.
She'd promised she'd never leave with a message again.
He zipped his bag and stared down at it, willing himself to breathe, to come up with coherent words and to make them happen, here. And the best that he could do?
"I can't reach my father."
Karla
Karla rocked backwards. Oh. Oh shit. "You can't?" she asked, voice soft. "The phone isn't not connecting, he's just...not answering?"
In a way, she would have almost rather preferred that he was leaving because of her. Because that--that she could at least fix. Or try to. This--
This was his dad.
This was so much bigger than them or what was between them.
"I...I want to go with you. If you'll let me."
Warren
And a deep breath, as Warren pulled his long coat on and then slung his bag over his shoulder, finally looking her way.
"If you want to."
He wouldn't argue.
Karla
She'd had a whole slew of reasons prepared for his almost inevitable denial and to suddenly not even need them threw her off-balance. "I--I can?"
Way to give him the chance to take it back, Karla.
"If you have no objections, then I'm going," she said quickly, before he could take the opportunity she'd given him. And even though he hasn't asked for her reasons, she was telling him anyway. "I want to help you find your father. Because the two of us have better odds of finding your father than you alone. Because you deserve to have a friend with you through all this, even if I haven't been much of one to you at all this past week. "
Because this was his father and there was no way Karla would stand idly by while Warren needed help.
"Later, when we get back--after we find your father, I mean..."
Looking at him, seeing the shape of his harness even through the fabric of his clothes, Karla abruptly shut up. Now was not the time. Now was quite possibly the least appropriate time ever. Once they found Warren's dad, made sure he was all right, then they could talk. Until then, Karla wasn't going to make this even harder on him than it had to be. That's what any friend would do.
"Never mind," she said, dismissing it. "I'm ready whenever you are."
Warren
Warren's voice was still smile when he replied. Tired. Tentative, as though he was half afraid that if he opened his mouth and said too many words, he'd wake up, and his father would still be missing, and she still wouldn't want to talk to him, still hated him, still wanted him to just... go.
"Portal leaves in twenty minutes," he said, looking down at his feet. "Get whatever you need and meet me at the Causeway?"
He'd almost told her to meet him there in an hour, instead.
Honesty won.
Karla
Even if he'd tried to lie, Karla would have had him beat. "I'm already packed," she said, calling in a small duffel bag. "I've started keeping an emergencies bag packed and vanished at all times now. It seemed...a good idea. Few changes of clothing, toiletries, little bit of food and water, medical supplies...even a book or two."
She was rambling now, because if she didn't, she'd just throw herself at him and beg forgiveness and she doesn't have the right now. Not anymore. Not after what she said and did and most especially not under these circumstances.
"I can just head there now, if you want," she added, awkwardly realizing that just because Warren had agreed, it didn't mean he was looking forward to hanging out together. "If you have any last minute packing or whatever to do." Or, say, wanted to give her a graceful exit.
Warren
Graceful exits were for other people, Karla.
"I... actually think I'm done," Warren murmured, shrugging a little and making his way to his door. Thor was fed. A voicemail for Tony was left asking him to check up on him if Warren wasn't back in a couple of days. Yeah. It was handled, pretty much.
Yeah. He was done. She was welcome to follow along behind or to run ahead or whatever she wanted to do, really.
Karla
It was an aborted reflex to grab his hand that had her hurrying out the door in front of him. Even trying to touch him felt wrong and presumptuous, like she was pushing for more than he was ready or maybe even capable of giving.
But, glancing back, he just seemed so...lost. Exhausted and hunched over, like he was carrying the weight of the world along with his harness. It was all she could do not to just wrap her arms around him and promise that everything was going to be all right.
She couldn't. Whatever they were to one another right now, Karla had a feeling that hugs, no matter how well-meant, transgressed those boundaries. No hugs. No touching.
But maybe...a phantom hand? A light one, practically no more than a wisp of air with a momentary mind of its own. And, for a span of time too brief to be measured in heartbeats, it was caressing Warren's cheek, offering what little comfort it could.
Warren
There was a small brush, like fingers made up of nothing at all, there for a moment and then gone, as if it hadn't ever been there at all.
Warren didn't say anything about it. Didn't protest or thank her or even really do much at all, except that, for the brief instant that he had been able to feel that hand, he'd moved his face just slightly as if he was leaning into a caress. For that moment, that fraction of a heartbeat, that was as close to 'I want to be close to you' as he could manage. As close to a concession that she hadn't really thrown him away as he dared to get, just yet. Maybe later. Maybe if they found his dad and everything was okay. But just then... Just then, he couldn't.
Karla
And once that moment was over, Karla could almost feel the barriers going back up between them. She wasn't even entirely sure that she had seen what she'd thought, an instant of yearning and hope and comfort. The moment was gone before she could be certain and left her thinking that it might have been nothing more than a projection of her own hopes.
"Come on," she said softly, hitching her bag over her shoulder. "We have a portal to catch."
[NFI since they're on their way out, and preplayed with and coded by the lovely glacial_witch, who is made of pure awesome. True story.]
But once he'd gone out and replaced the one he'd demolished, he couldn't get his dad to answer the phone. And... he wasn't thrilled with his father, but that wasn't like him. It just... it wasn't.
It had taken a few hours of sitting, of arguing with himself over the wisdom of running back to make certain that his father was safe and sound, but he'd finally booked himself a portal back to New York. He'd check in there, first, and... go from there. Or something.
Harness. Long coat. Deep breath.
Karla
This past week had been filled with things that Karla had not been prepared for. The Auditors were one. The Nothing sweeping over the island was another. But the most unexpected even of the week?
Losing Warren. Specifically, losing Warren again. Losing Warren has after he'd saved her. Turning around to see him just...cease to exist, right before her very eyes.
She'd still been angry with him. Still been righteously furious at the way he'd just swooped down that morning and denied her agency. Truth be told, there was a tiny part of her that was still angry, and would be until they had a chance to sit down and have a deep talk about the whys and wherefores about what they'd done.
But all that anger and hurt and bitterness couldn't stand up to seeing him vanish, wiped out of existence like he was so easily replaceable. Discardable. Like he just didn't count. It didn't matter that she truly had hated him when he'd held her in his arms and refused to let her go--those feelings had disappeared in an aborted lunge to get him back and one broken, shrieking Nooooooo!
So now she was here, tapping gently on his door, hoping for a chance to mend and heal what was hurt and broken between them. Hoping to talk and clear the air. Hoping to see, once again, that he was here and healthy and whole.
Just...hoping.
"Warren?" she called. "I--it's me. May I come in?"
Warren
There was a list of people that Warren had been contemplating leaving messages for, before he could leave. Hercules. Tony, Wesley, Tara, Rapunzel. Just to tell them that he was taking a quick trip home, and not to worry, he'd be back as soon as possible.
Karla's name hadn't been on that list, which he'd ultimately wound up dismissing anyhow. There was no reason to put her name there, was there? And now, hearing her voice outside his door?
His voice was barely loud enough to be heard as he replied, a tired, "if you want to," while he rifled through his drawers, pulling out a few more shirts without holes cut into them.
He wasn't going to stop her from doing whatever the hell she wanted. Not again.
Karla
Karla felt a cold hand grip her heart when she walked into Warren's room and found him furiously tossing clothes into a bag. Her awkward greeting died unspoken on her lips and her hand fell back to her side, unwaved. For his part, Warren's only greeting was a distracted nod as he ran a hand through his hair, looking about his room in case he was missing anything, a last shirt lying crumpled and forgotten in his other hand. The feathers on his wings were ruffled slightly, Karla noticed. Puffing out, trying to make him look bigger, more dangerous, an unconscious habit she'd seen before.
And unconscious response to a threat, specifically.
A nameless fear stole most of her voice, leaving her sounding weak and little girlish as she forced "What's wrong?" out past dry lips. "Where are you going?"
Questions she no longer had any right to ask.
Warren
Warren turned his attention to the few last things lingering on his bed, dropping the last of his shirts into his bag before making a reach for one of his harnesses. He hated the damn thing. Hated it. But he couldn't bring himself to wear the bracelet that she had given him, let alone use the damn thing.
"Home," he intoned, pulling his wings tightly to his back and then starting to buckle himself in with those damn leather straps.
The harness was probably a good hint.
Karla
"For good?"
Karla's eyes dropped down to his bare wrist and she bit her lip. She couldn't blame him for not wearing the bracelet--but the sight of him in that harness made her feel ill.
She couldn't help wondering if she was the reason he was leaving. She'd told him she never wanted to see him again. And Warren was the kind of male--the kind of person--who would take that request literally and do what he could to honor it.
"Would you like some--" No. She couldn't make herself offer to help strap him in.
Warren
Warren didn't answer her question. Didn't answer either of her questions. He didn't have an answer for the first, and he wasn't entirely certain he'd be able to handle letting anyone but himself bind his wings down.
Especially not her. Especially not right now.
"Is everything okay back in Kaeleer?"
He didn't look up, either. He was looking into his bag as he fastened the last of the buckles, wondering what in the world he'd forgotten. You always managed to forget something when packing in a hurry, even if it was just a change of socks or a toothbrush or something...
Karla
Karla blinked at that sudden and abrupt change of topic. "I...I don't know."
Flushing at how callous that answer sounded, she hurried to explain. "My phone died. In the rush, I never grabbed my charger and its battery ran out. It's downstairs in my room, charging now."
Because by the time she'd dragged herself to bed last night, she hadn't bothered to make sure the power cord was plugged into the wall when she'd attached her phone to it.
Warren
"Oh..."
His phone. He hadn't packed it. Hopefully that was just what he'd been forgetting. He grabbed it from his nightstand, and then tossed it her way without actually looking her way.
Eye contact was a horrible plan right now.
"Call them. Right now. Make sure they're okay."
Karla
She caught it, more out of reflex than anything else and stupidly looked down at the phone in her hands. It was new--a later model than his previous phone had been with there were no claw marks on the casing. Irrationally, she wanted to ask where the old one was, but dismissed that thought as quickly as it had bubbled to the surface of her mind.
"Warren, I--" she tried to hand the phone back, stumbling over her words. "This isn't about them, it's about us and what I did and--I came up here to apologize. I know I hu-hurt you and I know I said awful things, but I just wanted to talk--"
Warren
"Call them." Warren's voice sounded as though it was carefully skirting the edges of desperation, now. Like he wasn't just asking her to call for the sake of her own peace of mind. "Please. Please, just do it."
Karla
Karla flipped open his phone, her heart squeezing a little in her chest when she saw that there were still entries there for 'Morton' and 'Lucivar.' He probably just hadn't had a chance to delete them yet, but...still.
"Hello, Morton?" She sank a little against the wall when her cousin answered the phone, relieved."...No, no, everything's okay." I know this is supposed to be for emergencies only...Listen, I just had to call and make sure you were all right. Where are you?...In Haven? Well then I don't know what you're getting all snippy about. You're nowhere Hobart's males can...yes, yes, I know. Constant vigilance." Karla sighed a moment and shook her head. "I'll go. I just needed to hear your voice for a minute. I had to know you were okay."
"I love you," she said, bringing her eyes up to Warren. "I do." And then she laughed, a little weakly. "No, I'm not getting sick. I just wanted you to know it. All right...bye."
She held his phone back out for him. "They're fine. He's in Arceria, with Kaelas and Julian. They're all okay." She repeated it, more for her own peace of mind. "They're really okay."
Thank the Darkness for that.
Warren
Warren hadn't realized that he'd been holding his breath until he exhaled it all in one relieved whoosh of air, like someone had punched it out of him.
"Good." He hadn't broken everything, then. He could leave without that much on his head. Her family was safe. He took his phone, pocketed it, and then went back to his dresser to make certain that he'd grabbed enough winghole-free shirts to get him through. "Okay. Good..."
Karla
"Please."
Karla had watched him for another long minute, willing him to turn around. Willing him to talk to her.
Finally, she'd realized he wasn't going to. It hurt, but it was fair. Fitting, in fact, that she be the first to speak, to try to repair something of what had been between them. She reached for him.
Please. So much rested on that one word. Was encapsulated within it. "Please just...don't."
Don't. Don't go. Don't put that on. Don't leave.
"I have no right to ask you, I know. What I said--I was wrong and I won't blame you if you can't forgive me for it. But please. Don't leave. Don't leave your friends, your home. Don't leave the people who love you."
Who knew irony could cut so damn deep?
Warren
Oh, no. No, no no no, he couldn't deal with this right now. Her begging like this. And he didn't really need to explain himself to her, didn't think he had it in him to do so anyhow. Hell, she'd attempted to leave with a letter.
She'd promised she'd never leave with a message again.
He zipped his bag and stared down at it, willing himself to breathe, to come up with coherent words and to make them happen, here. And the best that he could do?
"I can't reach my father."
Karla
Karla rocked backwards. Oh. Oh shit. "You can't?" she asked, voice soft. "The phone isn't not connecting, he's just...not answering?"
In a way, she would have almost rather preferred that he was leaving because of her. Because that--that she could at least fix. Or try to. This--
This was his dad.
This was so much bigger than them or what was between them.
"I...I want to go with you. If you'll let me."
Warren
And a deep breath, as Warren pulled his long coat on and then slung his bag over his shoulder, finally looking her way.
"If you want to."
He wouldn't argue.
Karla
She'd had a whole slew of reasons prepared for his almost inevitable denial and to suddenly not even need them threw her off-balance. "I--I can?"
Way to give him the chance to take it back, Karla.
"If you have no objections, then I'm going," she said quickly, before he could take the opportunity she'd given him. And even though he hasn't asked for her reasons, she was telling him anyway. "I want to help you find your father. Because the two of us have better odds of finding your father than you alone. Because you deserve to have a friend with you through all this, even if I haven't been much of one to you at all this past week. "
Because this was his father and there was no way Karla would stand idly by while Warren needed help.
"Later, when we get back--after we find your father, I mean..."
Looking at him, seeing the shape of his harness even through the fabric of his clothes, Karla abruptly shut up. Now was not the time. Now was quite possibly the least appropriate time ever. Once they found Warren's dad, made sure he was all right, then they could talk. Until then, Karla wasn't going to make this even harder on him than it had to be. That's what any friend would do.
"Never mind," she said, dismissing it. "I'm ready whenever you are."
Warren
Warren's voice was still smile when he replied. Tired. Tentative, as though he was half afraid that if he opened his mouth and said too many words, he'd wake up, and his father would still be missing, and she still wouldn't want to talk to him, still hated him, still wanted him to just... go.
"Portal leaves in twenty minutes," he said, looking down at his feet. "Get whatever you need and meet me at the Causeway?"
He'd almost told her to meet him there in an hour, instead.
Honesty won.
Karla
Even if he'd tried to lie, Karla would have had him beat. "I'm already packed," she said, calling in a small duffel bag. "I've started keeping an emergencies bag packed and vanished at all times now. It seemed...a good idea. Few changes of clothing, toiletries, little bit of food and water, medical supplies...even a book or two."
She was rambling now, because if she didn't, she'd just throw herself at him and beg forgiveness and she doesn't have the right now. Not anymore. Not after what she said and did and most especially not under these circumstances.
"I can just head there now, if you want," she added, awkwardly realizing that just because Warren had agreed, it didn't mean he was looking forward to hanging out together. "If you have any last minute packing or whatever to do." Or, say, wanted to give her a graceful exit.
Warren
Graceful exits were for other people, Karla.
"I... actually think I'm done," Warren murmured, shrugging a little and making his way to his door. Thor was fed. A voicemail for Tony was left asking him to check up on him if Warren wasn't back in a couple of days. Yeah. It was handled, pretty much.
Yeah. He was done. She was welcome to follow along behind or to run ahead or whatever she wanted to do, really.
Karla
It was an aborted reflex to grab his hand that had her hurrying out the door in front of him. Even trying to touch him felt wrong and presumptuous, like she was pushing for more than he was ready or maybe even capable of giving.
But, glancing back, he just seemed so...lost. Exhausted and hunched over, like he was carrying the weight of the world along with his harness. It was all she could do not to just wrap her arms around him and promise that everything was going to be all right.
She couldn't. Whatever they were to one another right now, Karla had a feeling that hugs, no matter how well-meant, transgressed those boundaries. No hugs. No touching.
But maybe...a phantom hand? A light one, practically no more than a wisp of air with a momentary mind of its own. And, for a span of time too brief to be measured in heartbeats, it was caressing Warren's cheek, offering what little comfort it could.
Warren
There was a small brush, like fingers made up of nothing at all, there for a moment and then gone, as if it hadn't ever been there at all.
Warren didn't say anything about it. Didn't protest or thank her or even really do much at all, except that, for the brief instant that he had been able to feel that hand, he'd moved his face just slightly as if he was leaning into a caress. For that moment, that fraction of a heartbeat, that was as close to 'I want to be close to you' as he could manage. As close to a concession that she hadn't really thrown him away as he dared to get, just yet. Maybe later. Maybe if they found his dad and everything was okay. But just then... Just then, he couldn't.
Karla
And once that moment was over, Karla could almost feel the barriers going back up between them. She wasn't even entirely sure that she had seen what she'd thought, an instant of yearning and hope and comfort. The moment was gone before she could be certain and left her thinking that it might have been nothing more than a projection of her own hopes.
"Come on," she said softly, hitching her bag over her shoulder. "We have a portal to catch."
[NFI since they're on their way out, and preplayed with and coded by the lovely glacial_witch, who is made of pure awesome. True story.]