Selkie Peak, Sunday Afternoon

[wwiii]

It was good here, Warren had decided. Whatever this place was, this 'Fandom' that only knew vaguely of the years the island spent under Umbridge's rule, it was... good. A man could order himself a coffee looking the way he did without being questioned for it. Could meet a lovely blonde with a self-assured look in her eye and spend a night with her, and not once feel ashamed when she looked at his body. Here, he wasn't a traitor. Here he was just... a visitor. A pretty face taking the place of a different pretty face, until the island straightened itself out again.

It was enough to make a man never want to leave. Oh, there were certain roadblocks here, absolutely. That red-haired nuisance, Momoko, for one, also seemed to be here. Raven was here as well, though she didn't seem to be the same one. He wasn't thrilled about her presence, but she could be... handled... if she did become problematic again. Tamsin was a charming woman, all curves and blonde hair framing a face that wasn't quite what he was looking for, but she'd be entertaining for a while, if only they had more time, before the novelty would inevitably wear off and he'd have to put her aside and look for another her.

And here, he'd found her. He'd woken up with her in his arms, in fact. No, she wasn't quite the Karla he'd known. She only had the vaguest memories of the things that had happened that had broken his world in two, after all. But she was so, so close. Possibly the closest he'd ever get.

And yet, his time here was limited. The clock was ticking away. And Warren, realizing that everything he needed was right here on this damn island all over again...

... Well, he didn't want to leave. Whatever it was this other-him had... he wanted it for himself.

[OOC: Open Selkie Peak is open, of course, though the guy with the blue skin and razor-wings probably won't be the most pleasant company to keep, this afternoon.]

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[glacial_queen]

"Here you are," Karla said quietly, coming up the hill. "Didn't find you last night and kind of got worried."

She held out a cup of coffee in one hand and a cupcake in the other with a single candle stuck into the top. A glance from her ignited the wick. "Happy birthday."

[wwiii]

"Happy b--" Warren certainly hadn't been expecting this. As a matter of fact, those words hadn't been said to Warren in years. Oh, he was well aware of the date, of course. It was difficult to ignore, really, especially since it meant that back home, people couldn't question the legality of anything he did based on his age again.

It had been a sticking point during his takeover of the company. One of many, including the most obvious. His board members... really didn't want him around, for some reason.

Pity what happened to them on that cruise a few weeks back...

"I... Happy birthday to you, too. I'm sorry, I don't actually have anything..."

Their birthday. They had shared a birthday, he remembered. And here he was, empty-handed.

[glacial_queen]

Karla laughed and sat down next to him. "I'd be surprised if you did. You weren't exactly expecting to be here this weekend. Maybe I'll make you take me out to the Devil's Nest and slip me a drink or something," she teased. "Now that you're all legal and I'm not. And everyone on the island knows me, so my fake's no good."

[wwiii]

"I could probably manage that," Warren replied, a smile coming a little more easily to his face as he reached to take the cupcake. "A drink is pretty simple, on the scale of things."

There was a moment's pause, and then he laughed and shook his head a bit.

"They wouldn't even be speakeasies here, would they? Just... bars. Actual, licensed bars, serving alcohol over the counter. Maybe someone standing behind with a bar towel and a dirty glass, like they do in the movies. I've never had to get a drink on the island that I didn't have to be sneaky about. That's actually kind of novel."

[glacial_queen]

"Well, if you're giving a drink to me, we will be," Karla laughed. "Eric's bar doesn't serve minors anything harder than soda. I can drink all I want at Caritas, but it's not as much fun when you can."

[wwiii]

"There definitely is a certain sort of appeal to taking something that you shouldn't." That smile was still toying at his lips, even as he reached behind himself and pulled a feather from his wing, turning it over in his hands a few times. "You know, I'm toying with the idea of cutting this cupcake in two and sharing, since it's our birthday and all. But I'm dubious about neurotoxin cupcakes, admittedly."

[glacial_queen]

"Well, depending on how virulent, I could probably metabolize it," Karla said with a shrug, calling in a small knife and handing it over to him instead, "but I'd really prefer not going through the process if I don't have to. Especially not on our birthday."

[wwiii]

"It would probably taste a bit on the unpleasant side, at that," Warren chuckled, turning the feather about and jamming it into the ground beside himself. It slipped into the rock with barely any resistance at all.

"There are better ways to spend a birthday, really. Thank you." He took her knife, blew out the candle (he wasn't going to tell what he had wished for), and a moment later he was presenting her with half of the cupcake. "You know, I keep forgetting that you can do that. Just... make things appear and disappear with your Craft. I never got to see my own Karla do much of that."

[glacial_queen]

"She was hobbled," Karla agree, looking into the distance and shaking her head. She'd had another taste of what that was like and was all too glad not to have to deal with that again. "That might be another reason she was so furious with you, you know. You had the freedom to be what you were. She didn't. Craft is so much of how I define myself, when it's taken away, I feel lost. Same with Warren. So she'd lost two supports. I don't envy her."

[wwiii]

"I hope she never has to lose something like that again," Warren mused, running a finger carefully over the edge of the blade to get the extra frosting off before holding the knife back out to her. "I always respected her for that, though. I'm the one who spooked and ran away the moment I got hurt. She stuck it through. She did what needed to be done, and I was a kid who had no idea where to start."

[glacial_queen]

"We had already run away by that point," Karla told him softly, vanishing the knife. "After awhile, you start to wonder if you keep running away, when will you ever stop?"

She swiped a fingerful of icing from his cupcake without thinking and licked it off her finger. "Besides, fighting against an evil tyrant who was hurting people she cared about? Too close to home."

[wwiii]

"I can only imagine," Warren replied, gently. "Going from Glacia into a world ruled by Umbridge would be like stepping right back into it again. And... there's only so much running away a person can do before they put a foot down and say no. I've finally learned that, too."

[glacial_queen]

Karla reached out for Warren's empty hand. "I'm glad," she said, giving it a squeeze. "I mean, I'm sorry that it came to that, but I'm glad you found something you could put your back against and turn around to face the things that you used to run from."

[heromaniac]

Momoko hadn't bothered following Warren, mostly because she'd known it would be foolish. He never did anything obvious or in the open, and he definitely wouldn't today. This birthday meant he could finally take full control, if she remembered her notes correctly, of his family company without any interference. So Warren was definitely not going to mess up or dirty his hands here. He needed that control - that money! to continue his personal madness. But when her exploration of the island had led her right to him, there was no way Momoko couldn't take a moment to watch him. And when she saw someone who looked like Karla approaching him... well, that was a different story. She wasn't going to let him be alone with someone who could end up another victim. At least not without letting him know she knew. "Hello again, Warren," Momoko called as she approached. "Still haven't concluded your business either, I see." She gave the girl a long look. They were in a different world, but this girl really did look like Karla.

[glacial_queen]

"What, am I invisible Momoko?" Karla asked with a laugh. "Wait--when'd you get your haircut? Yesterday?"

If she'd been thinking, she would have realized that her Momoko wouldn't have greeted Warren so easily, but...birthday cupcake!

[wwiii]

"I believe she's been wearing it that long for a while, now," Warren said, his tone mild as he gave Momoko a polite nod. "Afternoon, Momoko. Actually, I had set today aside for a bit of pleasure. It is our birthday, after all. I'm afraid there's not much cupcake to go around, unfortunately."

He wasn't going to share with you, Momoko. Sorry.

[heromaniac]

"Poor planning? That totally doesn't sound like you." Momoko was still looking at this girl. "I cut my hair when Warren was killed... Karla?" Karla was in her own world, raising her daughter and being queen to her people, but if there was a different Raven, here...

[glacial_queen]

"Warren?" Karla asked, shooting a look at the large blue male next to her. "But he's ali--Oh!"

Karla snapped her fingers, embarrassed it had taken her so long to figure it out. "You're not my Momoko! You're--are you also from the Umbridge-verse?"

Because that was exactly how Momoko would think of it, Karla, gold star.

[wwiii]

"She was on the same iteration of the island as the one I was," Warren corrected her, gently. "None of us are from the same reality as Umbridge. The island is still a multiversal hub, after all."

He really didn't want to give Umbridge any more credit than she deserved by naming their version of the multiverse after her. Ugh.

[heromaniac]

Momoko had to snicker at the term. It was so very something she would have come up with years ago. "No one is from the same reality as Umbridge. And as much as it pains me to agree with you again," she gave Warren a small nod, her tone going formal again. "Yes, he and I know each other in another Fandom Island. Apparently we're the only two. We haven't spent this much time together in years, have we Warren?"

[glacial_queen]

Oooh. There was kinda some tension there or something. Karla glanced between the two of them.

"Uhh, this somehow doesn't strike me as a happy reunion," she said, never loathe to state the blindingly obvious.

[wwiii]

"Momoko and I parted last on a somewhat tense note," Warren pointed out, easily. "She had just re-gained her freedom. I was still by all accounts loyal to the losing side. That does tend to leave a lasting impression, I've heard."

He idly licked some icing from his finger.

"Not that I'm trying to get rid of you or anything, but this is our birthday, Momoko. Was there something important?"

[heromaniac]

Because that was the only reason things were tense. Really. "No time for old friends? Perhaps I wanted to make sure you didn't spend your birthday alone in a strange place. Despite what you may think, I do still care about you." Just not his insanity. Or criminal activities. Ah. She turned to smile warmly at Karla. "And happy birthday, Karla. I'm afraid I wasn't expecting to meet you on this trip out, either, so I don't have a gift."

[glacial_queen]

This was the Momoko that had Boaz! Or...maybe she didn't yet. Dammit timelines.

"No reason I'd expect you to," Karla assured her. "Funny, Warren just said the same thing."

See? You two weren't so different after all! Karla was determined to try to get them to be friends again.

"Besides, I'm sure you'll see your version of me soon enough, won't you?"

[wwiii]

Warren's gaze flicked curiously toward Momoko at that.

Yes, he would definitely like to know her answer, there.

"Mmm. How has she been, by the way? It's funny, portals to Kaeleer have been inaccessible to me for the past little while, or I would've checked up on her myself."