Selkie Cove, Tuesday Afternoon

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, being in town got to feeling claustrophobic. Too many people with too many loyalties, all crowded together, dancing on eggshells while they pretended one thing and felt another...It all got so tiresome after awhile. After awhile, Karla felt on edge, jumpy; and needed to retreat somewhere to gather herself again. The park in town was a bad idea; it was part of the rounds of several of the regular patrollers. And the Preserve was also out. Not only was it in the heart of Umbrage's territory, it was also where Karla had her secret vegetable garden. Which meant she limited her visits there as strictly as possible; the last thing she needed was to attract the wrong kind of attention by sneaking in there too often.

So instead of the obvious places, when Karla escaped the town, it was usually to somewhere on the edge of the island, where she could look at the sea and dream of home or, at least, happier times. Back where there had been happier times, anyway, like brief flashes in the dark.

Usually, Karla was silent when she snuck away to center herself. Today, however, Fandom intervened. As it occasionally did.

Dammit, Fandom.

"Without you, the ground thaws, the rain falls, the grass grows.
Without you, the seeds root, the flowers bloom, the children play.
The stars gleam, the poets dream, the eagles fly, without you.
The earth turns, the sun burns, but I die, without you...

The impulse to sing left her and she stood there, wrinkling her nose. "That's bullshit," she announced to no one in particular. "I'm not about to die for a lack of anyone."

[For one in particular, but open for anyone else wandering by, Resistance or Loyalist! Also, you saw nothing a moment before. *Waggles fingers*]

Comments

[hurricaneanna.livejournal.com]

There was a pale, dark-haired, barefoot girl in a white dress perched on a rock, seemingly lost in her own thoughts, though she was startled out of them when the singing started.

Anna thought about simply disappearing, but then she wasn't sure if she'd been spotted or not, and while she was wondering whether or not that mattered as far as disappearing went, she realized she recognized Karla from some resistance meeting or other.

"It's overrated, you know," she said. "Dying, I mean."

So if Karla hadn't noticed her before she probably did now.

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

Karla started, yes. Picking up psychic scents didn't quite work the same way with Anna. She whirled around, ready to fight, until she recognized the other female. The ghost girl from the dorms, yes.

At her commentary, Karla had to offer a slightly sardonic smile. "Even I'm not that melodramatic," she said. "Of course, I was raised to expect people to die for me, not the other way around." She wrinkled her nose. "And for better reasons than that."

She moved closer and sat on a rock across from Anna's. "I'd apologize if singing that was tactless in front of you, except, believe me, it wasn't by choice."

[hurricaneanna.livejournal.com]

"I know," Anna said. "There's been a lot of that going around today." She gave Karla a wry sort of half-smile and explained, "I see a lot more people than see me."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

Which made Anna incredibly useful--well, that and the volcano of power Karla could sense within her, when she focused. If, you know, Karla could get a bead on just where Anna's loyalties lay. As far as she could tell, the ghost was one of the few who were entirely neutral. Which was better than being on the Pink Side, at least.

"No singing for you?" she asked. "Does Fandom whimsy not affect you?"

She wasn't going to dance around Anna's 'condition.' The other girl was dead and knew it. No reason to try and play delicate.

[hurricaneanna.livejournal.com]

Anna shrugged and said, "Not yet, at least. The day's not over yet so I'm not ruling it out." Again with that wry look, and, "Not that I'm looking forward to it. I never could carry a tune in a bucket."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"You can always vanish away if you do," Karla pointed out. "Can you still be heard if you do? Or only if you wish to be?"

Idle conversation, true--or was it? Knowing more about how Anna's abilities worked could be very useful.

"Umbridge's restrictions against magic don't affect you, either, do they? Must be nice." She sighed and looked out onto the ocean. "I miss being able to do Craft whenever I wished."

[hurricaneanna.livejournal.com]

"Only if I want to be," Anna said. "Usually. Who knows what this island would decide to do with it?" And then she said, turning her gaze to the ocean as well, "I don't think she knows the right spells to use on something like me. And I'm certainly not about to tell her. I've had enough of being captive, thank you."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"If I had a glass, I'd toast to that," Karla said. It was easier to look out into the ocean now. Between the song and their oddly meandering conversation, Karla was feeling a little exposed. But she didn't want to turn it around to more surface topics. She hadn't had much of a chance to talk to Anna since the ghost had been here and she was intrigued by the other female. "I'd come to the island to get away from tyrants and skulking around in the dark and being watched and followed wherever I went. Oh, the irony."

She was going to punch Morton next time she saw him. Whenever that would be.

"How'd you end up here?" she asked. "Ordinarily, I would think you were one of her early victims and all, but I remember your arrival."

[hurricaneanna.livejournal.com]

"No," Anna agreed. "I've been dead a long time. It's kind of a long story," Anna said, then she reconsidered and allowed. "Maybe not that long. An Obeahman--it doesn't matter if you don't know what that is--was trying to eat my power and hurt my friends. He didn't know what he was messing with." It wasn't a brag, merely stated as fact. "I dragged him into Hell. It was only where both of us deserved to be," she admitted, matter-of-fact and faraway. "Except I kept falling, and I landed here." She blinked, and said in a decidedly more 'present' voice, "There was a voice that said something about 'Portalocity?'"

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

Radio read and his class finished for the day, Warren needed to breathe.

No, he needed to fly. Which was almost the same thing, even though the wind didn't slip between his feathers the way that it used to. There wasn't that old, familiar rustle of down against down. Instead, there was just that oddly cold, hollow noise that came from steel sliding against steel, of razorblade windchimes slicing neatly through the wind.

And music.

"Without you, the breeze warms, the girl smiles, the cloud moves.
Without you, the tides change, the boys run, the oceans crash.
The crowds roar, the days soar, the babies cry, without you.
The moon glows, the river flows, but I die, without you."

There was nobody around. Nobody to hear as his voice carried away on the wind. He had to watch himself down on the ground, but, even if he had nothing else in the world, up in the sky with nobody aiming to blow him out of the air, he was in charge.

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"The world revives...Colors renew..."

Oh look! Fandom had apparently decided that it was time for another verse! Karla was just going to sing while looking Very Put Upon. Because singing against her will was stupid. And singing this...soppy, wistful love song was even worse.

There would be no dying. There would be no pining. She was better than that, thank you.

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

"But I know blue, only blue, lonely blue, within me blue..."

Warren wrinkled his nose at that line. For several reasons, really. For one thing, that verse seemed to have come out of nowhere, stealing itself from his lips with very little leading into it, as though he was only singing half a song.

For another? Well, the other part was kind of obvious, perhaps.

He wheeled around overhead, directing himself toward Selkie Cove. Another place that was quiet. Another place where he could stop and think undisturbed, while trying to stop all of this incessant singing.

"Without you..."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

Karla was almost expecting it, by the time Warren's voice came to her ears. Of course they were winging a duet. Of course they were. Her shoulders hunched against her will as his tenor reached her ears and she tried not to think of the duet they'd been singing last time the island was playing tricks. There was no reason to, after all. That was then and this was now and neither of them were the same person they'd been before.

Quite literally, for one of them.

"Without you, the hand gropes, the ear hears, the pulse beats." She turned around while singing it, looking up to meet his eyes. Let him be the one to turn away, to hide. Karla wasn't afraid to face him, ridiculous song or not.

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

He should have known. Should have, the moment he realized just how much of the song wasn't his to sing. Should have.

And maybe he did.

His breath caught as he landed, his eyes locked on hers, standing transfixed in place while every last muscle in his body screamed for him to take off again. He couldn't do this.

By all rights, he should be killing her where she stood.

"Without you, the eyes gaze, the legs walk, the lungs breathe." And yet he couldn't breathe at all, except for the breath that he drew, almost panicked, as they both opened their mouths to sing at once. "The mind churns! The heart yearns!"

Why, island? Why? What need was there for this? They'd gone their separate ways. Or, rather, he'd gone his, and she'd stayed behind. Perhaps there was a reason for that, one that he'd rather not dredge up once again.

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"The tears dry, without you."

They were still singing together, their voices one in a way they hadn't been--couldn't be--in quite some time. If Karla could have, she would have stopped after that first line, defiant and proud. The tears dried, dammit. She'd moved on, beyond the girl who'd cried every day, first because of the false belief in his death, and then for the harsh reality of his betrayal.

The tears dried, Warren. Without you. Whatever the reason the island had for bringing them together in this song, Karla rejected it. Utterly.

" Life goes on, but I’m gone. Cause I die, without you."

The island was cruel sometimes. Even without Umbridge's interference.

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

Warren's back was straight, his jaw was set. He wasn't going to show weakness in the face of her, even while the words that the island ripped from his mouth said something entirely different. Even while the words that the island pulled from him could send him to detention, or, worse, be grounds for a well-placed Imperio.

"Without you... Without you."

He didn't fold his wings away. He looked practically spring-loaded, as though he was desperate to launch himself back into the sky, to pretend that this hadn't happened at all.

He was in the wrong, at least so far as their hearts were concerned. He knew that. But what choice did he have?

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"Without yoooooou."

They held that last note for several heartbeats until the magic ended and left them with their voices their own again.

"Well," Karla said flatly, folding her arms. "That was...charming. I hope you're not taking any of that at face value. I have no intentions of dying any time soon."

Much to the Loyalists' dismay, she was sure.

[broken-empath.livejournal.com]

As luck would have it, Raven was seeking solace as well, away from detention and the school and everyone else so she could try to focus and stop the battle in her head. And, well, to be alone in case she started singing again so no one else could hear her saying things she'd rather not.

Such as:

Now I will tell you what I've done for you -
Fifty thousand tears I've cried.
Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you -
And you still won't hear me.
Going under
Don't want your hand this time - I'll save myself.
Maybe I'll wake up for once
Not tormented daily defeated by you
Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom

I'm dying again

I'm going under
Drowning in you
I'm falling forever
I've got to break through
I'm going under

Blurring and stirring - the truth and the lies.
So I don't know what's real and what's not
Always confusing the thoughts in my head
So I can't trust myself anymore

I'm dying again

A familiar emotional signature broke her from the song, and she smiled sharply. Oh, this would cheer her up. "Karlaaaaaaaaaa."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"Kiss kiss." Karla smiled to see her old friend, but it wasn't a nice smile. There was pity in it, and sadness, but also a cold, sharp-edged malice. This wasn't the girl she'd known, however briefly. This was a puppet that wore pink clothes and the other girl's face. "Someone let the pretty songbird out of her pink cage?"

[broken-empath.livejournal.com]

"I can go wherever I wish," Raven said, choosing to ignore the songbird comment, preferring to believe that Karla hadn't heard her singing at all. She also tried to ignore the pity. She'd had enough of that today.

"I am free. Unlike you, who has to skulk in the shadows. Or your friends in detention. Is there anyone to whom I should give your greetings? Dinah? Sookie?"

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"Only a bird that's forgotten her freedom sees nothing amiss with bars," Karla chided, breezing past Raven's offer. She'd rather her friends had the kindness of being ignored by the empath, not deliberately sought out. "So, carrion-eater, what brings you by? Tired of picking at the people discarded by your betters?"

[broken-empath.livejournal.com]

Didn't matter. Raven had a list of favorite toys that she was always happy to give her attentions to...though she might be avoiding one of two of them for awhile since they were getting under her skin.

"Maybe I came to cage you," she said sweetly. "Take you in and break you down, keep you with the rest of my toys."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"Oh, honey, there are easier ways to commit suicide," Karla pointed out, voice just as sweet. "You're not the first to try and you won't be the last."

Her eyes swept over the agony in pink that Raven had become and shook her head. "I'd return the threat, but what's left to break?"

[broken-empath.livejournal.com]

Raven giggled. "Arrogance, I like that," she said. She didn't know why Pride tasted the best of all emotions, and it always made her crave more.

She ignored the broken comment, not wanting to get unsettled again like she had with Jono earlier that day. "You are not impossible to catch," she said. "I will find the right fishhooks to reel you in."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"Ravens are scavengers," Karla retorted, her voice like sandpaper over glass. "Nothing more than that. Keep that in mind before you overstep yourself. I'd hate to see you make a promise to the bitch in pink you couldn't deliver."

Her voice dropped, more a whisper than anything else. "You don't want her to punish you again, do you, Raven?"