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

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes you make it hard to hate you," Karla said quietly.

Dont't worry, Warren. She persevered.

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

"Then maybe that's the note we should part on, this time," Warren mused, glancing her way, and then looking up toward the sky. "Unless you had anything left to say?"

Just once... Just once, he wanted to leave one of these conversations only mostly loathing himself. Could they do that?

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"Just one thing more."

She looked up at him.

"Why don't you ever try to bring me in?"

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

"Because I l-" Warren stopped short. No, no, that answer was just opening himself up for a dagger to the heart, and he wrenched himself away from it with closed eyes and a deep breath.

Because.

"Because I can't."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"You know I won't let the shades of sentiment stop me, right?" Karla asked.

You know, any more than she already had.

"We will get rid of her and take the island back. And anyone that stands with her, willingly?" She shrugged. "They probably won't have an easy time of it."

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

"I haven't expected it to be easy, right from the start," Warren replied, looking her up and down before spreading his wings again. "So, if it isn't the shades of sentiment keeping me alive right now, dare I ask what is?"

Look, if she was going to ask it, he reserved the right to ask the same.

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

Karla didn't have an answer for him. Not a good one, anyway. She shrugged. "Maybe I just haven't gotten the order yet. Ender prefers not to have too many casualties."

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

"Well. Then I'll have to thank Ender someday, if we all manage to come out of this alive somehow."

Warren wasn't holding his breath. But. If. He crouched low, and then leapt upwards, wings catching the air. He hung there, as if he was suspended from the sky itself, looking down at her with eyes that were... were they sad? Lonely? Or just curiously blank. It was difficult to tell from this distance.

"... Don't get yourself killed."

[poison-pretty.livejournal.com]

"And you..." Karla looked away, swallowed back whatever she'd intended to say, and finished with, "...try not to betray anyone on your way through the parking lot home. It'll be hard, I'm sure, but I have faith you can manage it if you concentrate."

They'd gotten too close moments before; she'd made herself too vulnerable.

[archparakeet.livejournal.com]

Warren's teeth clenched, just minutely. And then he gave a brief nod.

"No promises."

He didn't give her the chance to get another stab in before he was off and away, winging his way back toward the dorms.

He couldn't get away from there quickly enough.