Dite's Decadent Delights, Monday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

The last place Karla wanted to be was at work (or, you know, on the island at all), but unlike people kept insinuating, she knew her duty and she did it. And she'd be damned if she was going to skulk about and hide in her room, regardless. So here she was, chin up and head high, inventorying the stock since it was doubtful they'd be getting any deliveries soon.

There were a few more snow globes left, but she was saving those. In case there were people about who wished to share their uninvited opinions about her actions the other day.

Comments

Re: Talk to Karla

[thatsamilkshake]

Like Francine would turn down baked goods no matter how dire the situation? Even baked goods she hadn't baked herself, what with the lack of a kitchen. She took the cupcake Karla had offered and set it on the counter to do her own unwrapping.

"I only heard what was on the radio: that you tried to go home, and then you and Warren..." Well, she assumed Karla knew that part and she didn't need to say it. "So I thought you maybe could use a friend and some cake. Or at least the cake. Everybody can use cake."

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

"I appreciate the friend part more," Karla said, trying to keep the naked gratitude away from her expression. "That's pretty much it in a nutshell, though. I tried. He stopped me. We fought."

Okay, she'd fought, he'd just stood there and took it, unyielding.

"I told him it was over. The end."

Re: Talk to Karla

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine winced. "He was afraid you'd get hurt?" Stupid question, given the guy on the radio had used the word doomed, but right now that could apply to anywhere, and she had no idea if he'd been exaggerating or not.

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

"Glacia is vanishing," Karla said with a reluctant nod. "Morton--my cousin--didn't seem to think it was weird to have a Territory made up of just a city and the outlying fields. The unicorns and dragons are gone."

People kept referring to it as suicide, but Karla didn't think of it that way at all. "Yes, I would have vanished with them. Yes, it was a hard decision to make and one I didn't really want to do. But it's something I felt I had to do--especially if it turns out that we can't stop this."

Re: Talk to Karla

[thatsamilkshake]

"So... you..." Francine was about to say wanted to disappear?? but Karla had already said that wasn't so. "I don't get it. I get that it's terrible - my world was disappearing too. But why go back, when we're... well, I don't know if we're safe, but it hasn't happened here yet."

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

Karla sighed and began trying to explain her reasoning to yet another person she didn't expect to understand it.

Not because it was Francine. But because nobody seemed to.

"Because I had a responsibility to my people," she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "Because being a good Queen to them in their last days was the most important thing I could do. It's--quite literally--the reason I was born." Queens--they healed the land and the hearts of their people, they were the Blood's center and their moral compass. Being born into that caste meant accepting those responsibilities and upholding them, no matter the cost.

"If I'd thought that me being here would somehow lead to us finding a solution--or even that my absence would lead to us not finding one--of course I would have stayed. But I'm just one person on an island filled with smarter people, better fighters, and skilled tacticians. It didn't seem like much of a gamble--either people would fix it and I'd be back, or they wouldn't and it would be that much more important that I was with them as they vanished into the ever-night. I'm not sorry for my choice."

Re: Talk to Karla

[thatsamilkshake]

"I don't understand what that's like, to feel that responsible for ...everybody, but I know what it's like to want to help and not be able to. But--"

Shut up, Francine.

For once, holy crap, she actually listened to her inner voice when it said something intelligent and didn't sound like her mom. She shut up until she knew what she was going to say.

"Is it okay if I'm glad you're still here?"

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

Karla huffed a small laugh at that. "Yeah. You can be glad. I'm not...glad that I'm here, exactly? I'm...rather kind of pissed off about it."

Obviously.

"But I'm kind of glad I'm here, too, at the same time. I really hadn't wanted to go, I just...needed to. Once I get over being pissy about why I'm still here, I'll probably be even more glad about it."

Re: Talk to Karla

[thatsamilkshake]

"I can understand that. Why you're mad, I mean." That was the easier thing to understand, really.

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

"You're one of the very few who do," Karla said, grimacing. "Everyone else acts like I'm supposed to be appallingly grateful."

Re: Talk to Karla

[thatsamilkshake]

That last but had to make its way into words eventually; the thing that Francine was grateful for was that it had waited until she had a little control over her tongue. "I... I guess I get that too. I mean I'm grateful. And... if I had any chance of stopping you, I probably would've tried too. But you'd have every right to be mad at me if I did."