The Village of Haven, Arceria, Kaeleer, Thursday Evening (Fandom time)

[glacial_witch]

Throwing herself headlong into the duties of Haven had helped Karla come to terms with what had happened in that other Fandom--and, by 'come to terms,' she meant 'repress until almost a month had passed and she could pretend she believed that none of it mattered because it hadn't really been her.' Even the realization that some version of her had

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[not_a_parakeet]

"I know that look," Warren said as he made his way into the stillroom where Karla was working with herbs, a tired little smile on his face. He'd been putting his all into helping ready things for the harvest over the past few days, now that the worst of the illnesses in the settlement had passed. Hell, he'd been putting in twice as much time as most of the other people in the village, between lugging farming implements around and tending to the few straggling sick whenever they'd let him away from the fields.

... Because he was one of the few able-bodied people around at the moment, and not at all because he was taking the opportunity to help as some sort of penance for whatever the hell it was that he'd been in that other timeline. Of course.

"Have you taken a break yet today?"

[glacial_witch]

"Yes!" Karla protested. "...Wait. No. That was yesterday."

Dammit. Now he was going to get that look. "Breakfast was delivered earlier on in the day!"

He could see the evidence of it! Right there, on the counter, slightly grazed over, but mostly untouched!

She gave him a smile and tried to distract him with a hug. "How's my favorite male doing today?"

[not_a_parakeet]

Warren was going to accept that hug, Karla, mostly because he'd been very huggy in general lately, and his weeks were numbered before it was time to take off to school, and he was so never letting go, so there.

"Tired," he admitted, "but at least I ate all of the meals that people have been shoving at me today. I seem to have skipped dinner, though."

[glacial_witch]

Karla was going to ignore that he had to go away. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. And maybe quietly contemplate kidnapping him and keeping him in Kaeleer instead.

Shhh. Don't tell.

"I ate some!" Karla pointed out. "But then Helene came in and needed some ointments--one of the babies has diaper rash. And then I saw that we were really low on the itching unguents and you know how much of that we go through in a day, even with fewer people still sick..."

And then some other herbs needed to be dried before they spoiled and then one of the Arcerians came in complaining about worms and it just hadn't ended.

[theboyos]

"There is no landing Web in the vicinity of Haven," Khardeen announced as he walked into the cottage Karla and Warren shared. "That's positively uncivilized. I had to hike all the way from where the Opal Web. Which, I'll have you know, leads right through a few Arcerian dens."

[not_a_parakeet]

See how truly sympathetic Warren was, Khary? By the way he was looking up at you with a little smirk on his face, there?

"You seem to be all accounted for," he noted, biting the inside of his cheek to keep that smirk from becoming an all-out grin. "But if I'd known you were coming, I could have made the trip out there to pick you up."

And then he could have carried Khardeen like a pretty, pretty princess, all the way back to the cottage.

[theboyos]

"Well, I might have used Kaelas's name like a banner," Khary said, still sounding disgruntled. "That stopped them from licking their chops long enough to add that I was also well-liked by Jaenelle and your lady. And then they growled at me and made sure to let me know that Karla has a Consort. What, are you the one that feeds them or something?"

Khary kicked his long legs up over the side of the chair he was sitting in and slumped against the other arm. He was practically vibrating with tension, for all that he was playing it cool, and a trek through the woods while being paced by large, Craft-using carnivores hadn't put him at ease.

"Next time, I'll make sure to schedule the trip in advance. Mother Night, you don't have friendly neighbors."

[not_a_parakeet]

"We do give them a share of our livestock and game, for the right to work their land in order to grow crops," Warren pointed out, still smirking a little as he nodded toward a chair, and then paced across the room to open a cupboard that he kept a few liquors in. Khary looked like he needed a Scotch. Badly. "But they had never tasted anything quite like Wagyu cattle until I came along. I think maybe they like it."

Call it a hunch.

Multi-media message from Leda

[anarchist_queen]

After failing to talk to Karla after their last encounter (Leda wasn't so sure she was sorry about that), Leda still felt she owed her friend something.

So she sent her a cute picture:

Re: Multi-media message from Leda

[glacial_witch]

Probably for the best overall.

Eeeee! It was important that Leda get a text showing how excited Karla was about this development. With who? How long? What's the baby's name?

Re: Multi-media message from Leda

[anarchist_queen]

Uh, kid's name is Skiblits Jr. Cause I fail at naming. I had no idea until the little one showed up that there were any other Jackalopes in the capital, but it turns out the dress maker across the way has one.

Then she send another text: Kid is very cuddly, so I had to put a shield spell around the antlers till he learns to be careful in that regard.

Re: Multi-media message from Leda

[glacial_witch]

So ridiculously cute! Karla was still squeeing out loud, hunched over her phone. Shields are a good idea, though. Till he's old enough to understand that antlers hurt. How old?

[trigons_child]

Raven debated at various times during the week teleporting to Kaeleer, but she was still flailing too much at the thought of running into Warren. She'd been making a lot of headway into "not hiding in her room forever and ever and ever," but some things were still too difficult to think of facing.

But she couldn't put it off forever, so finally she gathered up her courage and just did it before she lost her nerve, and transported herself to Haven so she could seek out her friend.

"Karla?"

[glacial_witch]

"Raven!" Karla lunged up out of her chair to hug her friend. "I was worried about you," she said. "Please tell me you're okay? I kept meaning to call you, but things have been hectic."

Other than that brief touch of minds immediately after they'd gotten back dropped because I suck, it had been awhile since Karla had been in touch with Raven.

[trigons_child]

Raven clung tightly to Karla, happy she wasn't upset with her. "I am sorry," she said. "I did not mean to make you worry when I did not return to Kaeleer with you. I just needed time...."

[glacial_witch]

See? Raven was a happy beneficiary of Karla's excellent repressing tactics, too!

"We all needed time," Karla said softly. In fact, she was pretty sure Warren still needed more time. But she wasn't going to point that out. Not yet. "I didn't blame you for not coming back. You needed a safe space to sort through everything that happened."

[blondecanary]

*riiiiing*

Someone is calling to talk to the kitties!

Oh, and you too, Karla and Warren. And Khary if you're that bored.

[glacial_witch]

Khary was having some male-to-male bonding time! That may or may not involve man-crying. It depended on what part of the evening Dinah called at.

Karla, however, was not having male-to-male bonding time. She was ensconced in their bedroom, a stuffy Protocol book in her lap, trying her hardest not to fall asleep over it. The glass of wine in her hand was not helping.

"Thank the Darkness for this interruption," she said, immediately answering. "You have no idea how much I needed one."

[blondecanary]

Dinah snickered, and bounced on her suitcase to make it shut. "What am I interrupting? Bickering witches? Whining kitties? Being forced to wear a dress while talking to old people? Unf!"

[glacial_witch]

"Studying." From Karla's tone, she might have been telling Dinah she was digging raw sewage lines. "Old Protocol books Uncle Saetan dredged up. Probably to punish me for staying in Fandom for an unexpected week. Because that was my fault, obviously."

Grumpy Karla was grumpy.

"What're you up to?"