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

[wwiii]

So, Warren had been sitting on it now for a little while. It had only been a day, according to Fandom, since Karla had formed her Court, but in Kaeleer, it had been two. A very busy two. They were in Haven, now, making the last of their plans before the procession into Sidra and everything that that would entail. And, the entire time, there was something that Warren had been itching to scream from the rooftops, and finally, he'd found a moment edgewise in order to do it.

First, he'd left a message for Bobby. Before anyone else, Bobby.

But, after that, it was fair game. He pulled out his phone, tapped out a quick text, and sent it to everyone on his phone's contact list:

We're engaged!

Apologies to those in Kaeleer, who were getting that text at an obscene hour of the night. Warren had been a little too anxious to share it to bother weeding through his contacts. Plus he hadn't had much sleep lately. Eh, he'd apologize to anybody that had been inconvenienced by that text in the morning.

[OOC: NFB for distance, obviously! If you think you got Warren's text, you totally did! Open for return texts, phone calls, other people who have a reason to be in bed with him in Haven...]

Comments

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, Junior was thinking about Warren and Karla when his phone beeped. Not even a full day after their dinner, and already the tabloids were abuzz about Warren's surprise public dinner with his father and the identity of his mystery date. The two of them were obviously very close and very much attached, but no one could figure out who the girl was.

Someone intensely private, apparently, because none of the tabloid writers could dig up anything about her. Someone had already made the joke 'It was like she doesn't exist'! There had been a few cynics who'd decried the whole thing to be a publicity stunt designed to get the Worthington name out there for something other than the debacle on Alcatraz and the resultant stock-plummet, but then at least one enterprising reporter had found pictures and news clips from that crazy terrible night, and there was Karla, bleeding, bruised, and exhausted, standing right there with Warren through it all and no one could mistake the tenderness in her expression as she looked at him.

Mutant rights activists were wondering if she was another mutant with the ability to 'pass'. Anti-mutant groups were already calling her a race-traitor and there were several of those disgusting websites where you could punch or shoot at a copy of her picture. The X-Men had released a statement saying that, yes, Karla had arrived with them on Alcatraz, but that she had come with Warren and they didn't know more about her than that, other than that she had been instrumental to saving lives.

It was a media blitz and a positive one. If nothing else came of the meeting and dinner, there was this.

...And as much Junior appreciated a good media blitz, if that was the only thing that came from the meeting, he would be very disappointed.

Well, the other, other thing. Since apparently something else came of it. Junior stared at the text for well over an hour before he picked up the phone to return the text.

Congratulations.

There was so much more that he wanted to say, but he figured that was the best place to start.

[wwiii]

Of all of the return texts that Warren had gotten tonight, the one from his dad that had arrived a little after the break of dawn was the one that actually managed to knock the wind out of him.

Warren chewed his lip a little as he read it, just one simple word, over and over. Just that. Just... Congratulations. From the same man who even a year ago was telling him that he was living a fantasy that would only manage to blow up in his face.

Something to wake up to, indeed.

He deliberated over how he was going to reply well into the morning, through breakfast, through a walk through the village to get reacquainted with some of the farmers that he'd helped to plant those first fields with, ages ago. He could keep his father waiting. It would be barely a heartbeat for his dad even if Warren took all day to reply.

Finally, he managed to come up with something. It was simple, but it said more than he might have managed even a week before.

Thanks, Dad.

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

And it would be mid-afternoon before his reply returned.

Any wedding plans yet?

Warren had no idea how his father's heart was in his throat as he sent that message.

[wwiii]

By the time mid-afternoon rolled around, Warren was elbows-deep in a piece of farm equipment that had broken down. The farmer who owned it was an elderly gentleman, and while his Craft still worked just fine, there was only so much a man could do without a pair of strong, steady hands. Warren excused himself for a moment in order to reply to the text, wiping grease from a cracked wheel axle from his hands onto a rag before reaching for his phone.

Probably not for a long while. Hard to plan a wedding and win back a stolen Territory at the same time.

It was easier talking to his father at this much, much slower pace. Gave him time to breathe between replies, while at the same time, his dad was bound to be getting them practically rapid-fire, since Kaeleer was moving so much faster than his home New York.

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

Junior sighed in relief. And engagement, he could handle. Engagements happened all the time. They could be ended at any time, either.

Not that he doubted that Warren and Karla loved one another, but that didn't change the fact that they were still young. Still practically children.

He still had a problem accepting that his son was twenty-one instead of seventeen.

Good priorities. That was all he could allow himself to say on that topic. Though I'm sure the tabloids would love to know more about Karla before I make any kind of announcements.

See? A joke! Ish.

[wwiii]

The long, slow blink that Warren gave his phone while he was sitting down to dinner had a few people glancing his way, asking if he was feeling well.

"M'fine. It's nothing."

Wait, tabloids? But it's only been a few days, even here.

Warren had clearly never been at the middle of a media whirlwind before. Or, at least, not one that he'd been present for. He could thank his father for that one, and he knew it. But that had been a bit of a mixed blessing.

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the age of the internet, son.

See? Even Junior could be a wry ass sometimes. Hey, he'd gotten a text announcing his son's engagement. He reserved the right to be a dick.

[wwiii]

How is it that my father is the one who spends all his time on Reddit, and I'm the one who stops and backs away slowly after checking his stocks?

It took two to tango, Dad.

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

I do it for the lulz?

HE'D LOOKED THAT LINE UP ON GOOGLE FOR YOU, WARREN. HE'D RESEARCHED A JOKE FOR YOU.

[wwiii]

... Well. Now Warren had to explain to Jonothon just why he'd gone and spat water all over that page of notes about Sidra.

Oh my god who are you and what have you done with my father?

WARREN WAS SO CONFUSED. THIS WAS THE SLOWEST, MOST CONFUSING CONVERSATION HE'D EVER HAD.

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

Junior contemplated how to respond to that text over his morning coffee--which, for all he knew, meant that Warren was going to get it the next morning or somesuch.

Your old man has a sense of humor buried under all that business acumen, he decided on finally, hoping that Warren would be amused by that, too, at least a little. I guess we both have things to learn about one another.

[wwiii]

Seeing as Warren wasn't going to wake up in the dead of night to answer texts, now that the flurry of them before was out of his system, Junior would be right about that.

Warren sat on the edge of the bed the next morning, trying to figure out how in the world to reply to that. There was still a part of him that was tempted to reach for the easy jab, the barb, the 'we'd know if you had ever been there.' And there was the part of him that just wanted him to put the phone down and let the conversation drop there. Claim, if asked, that he'd gotten wrapped up in more important things.

In the face of all that they were about to go up against, Warren didn't have that much cruelty in him, this morning.

Keep this up, Dad, and someday we might get a chance to.

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

For once, Junior was very appreciative of the time difference between them. It meant that he wouldn't need to wait as long for Warren to come around as he otherwise might.

I look forward to it, he typed back, feeling very old and yet, hopeful. The juxtaposition was disconcerting. Give my regards to Karla.

[wwiii]

What was a few months compared to the couple of years that it might take Warren to finally agree to give his father another chance, right?

I'll do that. Stay out of trouble.

Don't get thrown off of any more rooftops, Dad.

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

Junior wished he could stay the same. So much. And for all that he appreciated Karla's steps to bringing him and Warren closer together, he couldn't help but resent her a bit for getting his son tangled up in some kind of war that he really had no part in.

And you stay safe. Please.

Warren was the only family Junior had left.