The Perk, Thursday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

So...with all that was going on, sleep hadn't been very high on Karla's priorities--especially after a particularly nasty dream that melded the worst of the other-Fandom with bits of Briarwood. Yeah, Karla had pretty much decided she had other things to do after waking up from that.

Losing a single night's sleep wasn't too bad, but Karla had decided to stop into the Perk anyway. Coffee just tasted good and she was in the mood to appreciate the little things anyway.

[Karla's here one please, though the Perk is open for all your caffeinated needs!]

Comments

[weetuskenraider]

After leaving Ben's room, Tahiri had gone out looking for the last person she needed to talk to, which ended up with her at the Perk, getting bumped into by that pushy annoying girl from the reserves on her way in, and heading straight toward Karla once she spotted her.

"Just the person I was looking for," she said with a tiny smile. "Oddly enough."

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced up at Tahiri, giving her a wry smile around her coffee. "How convenient," she teased. "If only Jedi had some way to sense people when they were looking for them."

She waved at the empty seat next to her. "Sit down," she invited. She quickly added a slightly exasperated, "Before you fall down," when she got a good look at Tahiri.

[weetuskenraider]

"I'm not that bad," Tahiri objected, possibly futilely -- she was already dropping into the seat, hands folded on the table in front of her . . . paler than she liked to think about, weren't they? Maybe she could try to change the subject. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could do that?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla was very close to asking when Tahiri'd eaten last and then ordering her a giant steak anyway, but--grudgingly--decided not to.

And then squinted a bit at Tahiri. "Wait, you can, can't you?" she asked, just to make sure. It had been hard to tell if Tahiri was joking or not. "Ben says he can. It's part of my entire line of defense that I am secretly a Jedi and should get a lightsaber."

[weetuskenraider]

The question was, would Tahiri have eaten it? She'd been eating, if you called making the occasional valiant effort to pick at something from the cafeteria eating.

Wow. Her sense of humor was really falling off the table here, wasn't it?

"We can. Sorry; I must be losing my touch with jokes." She rubbed at the back of her neck, fidgeted a little in her chair, and ventured, "I -- you know the thing we've been talking about doing for a while, right?"

[glacial_queen]

"I do," Karla said, sobering. "I left you a message about it..." she paused, "...on the weekend the phones went crazy. Right. Never mind." She looked fully at Tahiri. "Is it time?"

[weetuskenraider]

"I didn't get it," Tahiri replied, then shook her head. "Obviously."

She took a deep breath, sat up as far as she could, and added, "Past time. Long past."

[glacial_queen]

"There were a lot of messages that went awry," Karla said, ruefully. "Remind me to tell you of a few sometime." She glanced up from under her lashes and gave Tahiri a shy smile. "I have some awesome gossip for when this is all over. Well, I think it's awesome anyway."

[weetuskenraider]

"I'd like to hear it," Tahiri said, jumping on the first instant she had to get a word in edgewise. "I've been . . . awfully out of touch with everyone lately, but hopefully that won't be a problem any more soon."

[glacial_queen]

"I don't think it will be," Karla said, giving Tahiri a smile. "I think you'll be surprised at how much better you'll feel after this. Fighting yourself constantly--it's draining." She sipped her coffee. "This is going to be worth it. I promise."

[weetuskenraider]

"I know. I even believe it, now." Tahiri examined the back of her own hand and chuckled humorlessly. "Anyone who knows and looks at me can probably tell it's draining. I've had enough of that."

[glacial_queen]

"Other people would probably have been subsumed by now," Karla said, keeping her voice low enough for only Tahiri to hear. "That you haven't been--and, instead, want to take the fight to her--means that you're an exceptional person Tahiri. I've always thought so, anyway. Remember that, when we go in."

Finishing her coffee, she asked, "So when?"

[weetuskenraider]

"Is tonight possible?" Tahiri asked. "I don't want to risk another, um . . . lapse."

[glacial_queen]

"Perfect," Karla said crisply. "I've got no plans and the sooner we do this, the happier I think we'll all be. Hell's fire, I finished my coffee; I'm ready now."

A bit of an overstatement, as she had to make a few preparations, but even those would be a matter of minutes, not hours.

[weetuskenraider]

"I need a little time to get ready, and round up the others . . . Raven, and Jaina and Ben," Tahiri replied, but she couldn't help a smile. "It means a lot to me that you're all willing to help with this. You don't need to make it that much of a rush!"

[glacial_queen]

"Soonest begun, soonest done," Karla quoted. It was the oldest witch in the coven's favorite saying.

Usually when Karla was staring at a vast field of dirty dishes as punishment for something.

"Though I also have preparations to make, so I guess I won't drag you up on this table to start right now," she said, looking a bit regretfully at the table. "Even though it meant I could work and have a steady coffee supply at the same time."

[weetuskenraider]

"I think people would look at us funny." And it would just be weird, and -- joke, Tahiri, remember? Tahiri looked at Karla's empty coffee cup and managed a laugh that was only slightly forced. "You've really gotten hooked on that stuff, haven't you? I'll buy you coffee for a month at least after this, I promise."

[glacial_queen]

"That's a lot of coffee," Karla said with a smile. "Just take me out for ice cream once or twice and we'll be good." She leaned over to take Tahiri's hand. "As friends. And you'll have to listen to me squeal and giggle and pretend like you don't think I sound like an idiot."

[weetuskenraider]

"I don't think you sound like an idiot," Tahiri said immediately, squeezing her hand. (See, the conversation wasn't touching culinary skills, and even in that case it wasn't as if she could throw stones.) "And I don't know. Asking me for ice cream outings? That sounds like an awfully difficult request . . ."