Selkie Peak, Saturday Morning

[wwiii]

Last night, Warren and Karla hadn't bothered to go back to the hotel room that he'd booked so that he could visit her for the weekend, no. They'd had their hot coffee and their cider and their blankets, and cold November night or not, they'd fallen asleep together, curled up in feathered wings and warming spells. It had been an excellent way to end an evening, thank you very much. And being on Fandom Island, it really stood to reason that this morning wasn't going to go near as smoothly.

It was Fandom, after all.

Warren was the first to stir today, troubled by the cool air and a sort of heaviness in his joints that left him feeling as though he was made of lead. And normally, he'd just wrap his wings more tightly around Karla and cuddle up to her even more closely, but today...

He sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes shot open, and he stared up at the sky above from the flat of his back.

"Oh no," he murmured. "No no no no no."

[For that girl!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"There's something wrong when I want to go home to Kaeleer for a relaxing weekend," Karla grumbled. She leaned away from Warren, trying to give him a little more space. "Home. To Kaeleer. Where Lucivar lives. Ugh."

[wwiii]

"So help me," Warren mumbled, "I actually miss having him smack the hell out of me when I miss a step doing drills."

Warren missed steps far less often these days than he used to, at least?

"I wouldn't stand a chance against him today, though."

[glacial_queen]

"You're whole...everything is off," Karla said, waving vaguely in his direction to encompass 'everything.' "Balance, weight, gravity...just all of it."

"And I feel like I'm walking around with my eyes closed and my nose plugged."

[wwiii]

"Between the two of us, it's like the blind leading the clumsy," Warren sighed, waiting for the elevator doors to open and fidgeting a little. "I kind of wish I hadn't gone for a room on one of the higher-up floors, this weekend."

[glacial_queen]

"Maybe standing on the balcony with the wind on your face might help a little?" Karla suggested. "I mean, it's not perfect, but at least it's something familair?"

[wwiii]

"That... might help," Warren agreed, leaning against her as the elevator dinged and the door opened up to them.

He... really didn't want to go in there.

"Ladies first?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla gave him a sympathetic smile and stepped inside and turned around. "Give me your hand," she murmured. "And close your eyes."

[wwiii]

Warren nodded a little, biting his lip as he reached for her hand and obediently closed his eyes.

"Thank you," he murmured. "I know... this is silly, especially right now, but..."

Only a couple of weeks since he'd nearly been crushed alive in that frat house? Was still a couple of weeks too soon.

[glacial_queen]

"Shh," she said. "I'm going to need your help soon enough."

She pushed the button for their floor, then drew Warren to her, twining her arms around his neck and bringing him in for a kiss. A kiss she could only feel, but that was good enough for her right now. A kiss that would hopefully keep him distracted until the elevator opened at their floor.

[wwiii]

Really, that was an excellent way of keeping Warren's mind off of things like enclosed spaces. It felt as if the world was opening up on all sides with a kiss like that, and Warren let himself fall into it with a gusto, pressing himself up against her and desperately losing himself in the feel of her lips against his.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. His arms would have to do.

[glacial_queen]

Though, for Karla, all it did was put into stark contrast what she was missing. She would fall into the kiss, then suddenly become aware of how she could only feel it; she was used to having the steady thrum of Warren's desire in the back of her mind.

The kiss was wonderful, as they always were, but she couldn't lose herself in it as she so often did, as Warren was doing now.

Still, a kiss was a kiss, and she was going to cling to him and keep it going for as long as she could.

[wwiii]

And as long as she could was about as long as it took for the elevator to ding on the appropriate floor, jarring Warren back to the present, where he was in a tiny box and his wings had vanished overnight.

His hold on her tightened a little, his shoulders tensing as he opened his eyes. A moment later and the door was opening, and he was doing his best to keep from just dragging her out into the hallway.

Stupid elevator. Stupid ding.

[glacial_queen]

Karla let him go quickly, not wanting to impede on his break for freedom. She followed after him quickly, to also avoid that whole 'getting dragged along' thing.

"Want me to go in first and open up all the windows?" she offered, sliding their keycard to unlock the door.

[wwiii]

Warren stood in the hallway, staring at the elevator door as it closed, sealing away that enclosed nightmare and leaving him with just the wide open on either side. He wasn't doing much moving in the hallway, either. The one at the frat house had left a bit of an impression on him.

"Please," he murmured, nodding a little. "The fresh air would be great."

But the view would just make him long to leap out into the blue.

[glacial_queen]

It didn't take long for her to open all the doors and windows in their suite. There was a bottle of wine in a bucket, surrounded by water from the melted ice. She poured two large glasses of it, then walked back out to hallway, holding the door open for Warren. "Here," she said, giving him a glass. "Might help."

By the time they had finished the bottle, perhaps.

[wwiii]

Or two or three bottles. He was down a pair of wings, but he still had the crazy metabolism that a healing factor required.

"Thanks," he replied, accepting the glass all the same, giving her a grateful little smile as he stepped into the room. "The wine's a great idea."

Who cared what time of day it was?

[glacial_queen]

NOBODY. NOBODY, THAT IS WHO.

"I'm going to take care of you," Karla said, all fiery determination. "Do my damnedest to keep your mind off...everything...as much as I can. Keeping busy. That's the key to this."

...Or being drunk. One of those.

[wwiii]

"I... guess it is," Warren replied, blinking between Karla and his wine glass. He... wasn't sure he needed too much being taken care of, but he suspected a lot of that was her own need to throw herself into forgetting the power that had been taken from her, too. "So we're going to just... keep occupied all day? Play chess or something?"

[glacial_queen]

"...Now is the wrong time to suggest picking up cradle again, right?"

[wwiii]

Did the way that Warren went pale answer that, Karla?

Did it?

"Right. Cradle. I'd forgotten about that."

Because cradle had been a came of horror and nightmares even before Warren had turned into an alien-infected ragemonster while playing it.

[glacial_queen]

It wasn't like she was suggesting baking cookies to go along with it!

"Or we could just watch movies all day," she suggested hastily. "Order them on the teevee, call room service to stock up the minibar and bring us food, and call it good?"

[wwiii]

"Movies," Warren agreed, still a little on the pallid side. "I'll let you pick what we order from room service, and I'll pick the movie, maybe?"

[glacial_queen]

"Sounds good," Karla said, and busied herself calling for room service while pouring over the menu. It easily took her three times as long as usual to do so, intent on making sure that everything was just perfect when she ordered.

Which was rather ridiculous, considering the quantity she was ordering anyway. But hopefully it would keep them from having to order more later.

[wwiii]

And if they did have to order more later, Warren would handle it. Really, it was probably the least he could do to make up for the fact that he'd managed to find a bunch of feel-good Disney animated movies on Pay-Per-View, which had seemed like just about the safest bet, today.

Barring that, he had a bunch of sappy rom coms lined up next.

"So... will it be the movie about the dalmatian puppies or the one about the high-society cats, first?"

[glacial_queen]

"Cats," Karla declared, curling up next to Warren. "I like cats better than dogs."

Not that it would have mattered. Before the movie was more than fifteen minutes Karla was fidgeting. By the time they had passed the half an hour point, she'd called in her spidersilk and frames and was weaving healing webs.

"Sorry," she said, giving him a wan smile. "Can't seem to sit still."

No movie about rich cats could make up for the feeling of wrong in her head.