Room 528 [Tuesday afternoon]

[sorella_vecchia]

In the back of Triela's closet, there was a long shelf filled with slim little diaries. Each of them was nearly identical: bland beige covers, scrupulously clean and cared for, stacked in little rows. The only thing to differentiate any of them were a pair of precisely drawn numbers on their spines

Comments

[glacial_witch]

"Kiss kiss." Karla poked her face through the crack, tapping on the door as she did. "Triela? You up for company?"

[sorella_vecchia]

"Sure," Triela called, spinning in her chair.

"Hey." For an almost imperceptible moment Triela's mind blanked on the name, and for an equally imperceptible moment after that her eyes flashed angrily because she knew she should know this.

"Karla." There. Smooth recovery. Hopefully Karla hadn't even noticed that moment of confusion.

[glacial_witch]

Karla caught the pulse of confusion and anger, but didn't know the source. "Is this a bad time?" she asked, concerned. "I could go, if you'd rather. Or stay, if it's necessary."

[sorella_vecchia]

"Now's as good a time as any," Triela insisted. She mustered up a smile. It was even genuine.

"Want a seat?"

It was good to see Karla again, really. And... Triela was serious. She didn't imagine that stopping by later was going to be significantly better. Especially given the notes she'd been making.

[glacial_witch]

"Just wanted to stop by and say hello," Karla said, stepping inside. "It's been awhile since I popped in and since I noticed you were here, I figured I'd change that."

She gave Triela a small smile. "What, no hug?"

[sorella_vecchia]

Triela stood up and opened her arms. "I suppose you can have a hug."

"And it's good to see you. You've been... busy." Triela still listened to the radio.

[glacial_witch]

Karla's face fell a little as she went in to give Triela a hug. "Yeah. I have been. For awhile now. I think I'm ready for a break."

She squeezed Triela tightly, appreciating her friend's quiet, sturdy strength. "How've you been?"

[sorella_vecchia]

"About as well as can be expected, I suppose." Triela smiled, hugging Karla back hard.

"Want to take a vacation sometime soon?"

[glacial_witch]

"Mother Night, yes," Karla sighed. Then paused. "Is this one going to involve kidnapped girls and slaver rings?"

Though, looking back on things, that had been almost easy compared to everything she'd gone through recently. Them versus bad guys, with innocent girls to save. Easy.

[sorella_vecchia]

"Probably not?" Triela's eyes darted to the notes she'd left on her desk before turning back to Karla. "That was pretty unusual, you know..."

[glacial_witch]

"Not for my vacations," Karla said with another sigh. Her eyes followed Triela's gaze to the notebook on the desk. "Journal?"

[sorella_vecchia]

"For one of mine." Like Triela ever took vacations. "So we'll have to take one that's one of mine soon."

Then her voice became a bit more subdued. "Yeah. From last year."

[glacial_witch]

That wasn't a good tone of voice. Karla reached out to lay a comforting hand on Triela's arm. "What's got you wandering down memory lane?"

[sorella_vecchia]

Triela snorted. "Memory, actually. I just wanted to refresh it, you know." Which was sort of a twisty version of the truth. What she'd actually been doing was making a list of things that she'd forgotten.

And that list was far too long for her taste.

[glacial_witch]

"Refresh it." Look at Karla not buy that explanation entirely. "Anything in particular?"

[sorella_vecchia]

"Not really. Just... curious."

What else had she forgotten? It wasn't a very comforting thought.