Room 324, Tuesday Afternoon

[wwiii]

Okay. Things. There were things happening, and Warren needed to... to do something about them. Frat had been skipped last week because of the holiday, and this week, after losing his entire world, he just hadn't had it in him to coordinate anything resembling fun and games. He'd meant to go to the library to help research over the weekend, and that hadn't happened, and he couldn't really remember the last time he'd eaten, though he was vaguely aware of stumbling off to raid common room fridges at least a couple of times in there.

It was stupid. He hadn't so much as thought about going home in the past two years, and now that it was gone...

He needed to be doing things, but he had no idea where to start. So he just kind of cuddled Thor and stared at the ceiling.

When had moping in his room alone with a bunny become the status quo, anyhow?

[Open post, closed door, IDEK. Someone smack him or something.]

Comments

[wwiii]

Oh. Hey, ringing phone. Warren heard you there, and would even check the call display before answering. That was how totally together he had it. Check that out, right?

"Hey, Hercules."

Oh yeah. Warren was a master of conversation, today. If... a bit listless.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"The phone connected. Good," Hercules said, his voice free of any sign of his normal mirth or jocularity. "Have... have you heard from young Bobby at all?" Hercules sighed a bit, pinching the bridge of his nose.

This would be a happy conversation, obviously.

[wwiii]

"No," Warren admitted, resting his free hand on Thor's back and inhaling slowly. It was a word he really didn't care to be saying in reply to that question, right there. "Nothing yet. I... guess you've been having trouble getting in touch with people, too?"

You know. For whatever measure of 'getting in touch' included them still being alive and well.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"I..." Hercules shifted on his bed, the clink clink of a few beer bottles falling to the floor audible over the phone. "The world we saved so recently is gone. My world."

He wasn't going to beat around the bush at all, really. "...I wanted to check in on what friends I have left."

[wwiii]

Warren managed to keep from pulling in a hiss of breath at the sound of those bottles, at the words that Hercules was saying. He knew how it felt. Wesley had started pouring him scotch almost the instant that he'd dropped his phone last week.

"I'm here," he promised, quietly. "I'm okay. But... But my world, it's..."

Not so much with the okay.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"Cut off?" Hercules said, offering a happier alternative to his friend instead of the harsh reality he only offered himself in terms of universe fate. "It seems to be happening a lot."

He paused, looked at the mess of bottles, the stains on his sheets from his drunkenness, and cleared his throat.

"We will find a way to fix this," he said, steely resolve in his voice.

[wwiii]

"Cut off," Warren echoed. Right. That was a good way to put it. And when Herc talking about making it better, that could have been the end of it. See? It wasn't over. They weren't all gone, snapped up piece by piece without ever realizing. It would be okay.

Only...

"How?"

Only Warren wasn't convinced.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

Hercules wasn't exactly the bright idea man. He'd beaten Kyknos mainly because other people did things that allowed him to use brawn to save the day. He'd solved the mess with the Chaos King by just... wishing the problems away using the powers of the All-Father.

He paused, because it was an important question, but he really only had one answer.

"I'm going to find out who I have to punch, and I'm going to punch them."

But in his heart... that was what he knew. And it was what he would do.

[wwiii]

That was a horrible answer, Herc.

Or, maybe not. It made Warren smile a little, in spite of himself. Hercules was starting to become a ... sort of constant, really. There would always be death and taxes and Hercules, punching things because that was how things got fixed.

"When you find them, punch them once for my dad too, okay?"

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"I will have many punches," Hercules said, resolved to this. "Ones for your father. Ones for Rhea and Amadeus. Punches for all the Avengers and even all of the X-Peoples. I do not think I will be able to refrain my fists from leaving a litany of names upon our currently nameless foe. Names that we will never forget."

He often blundered into these motivational speeches by accident.

[wwiii]

Which suited Warren just fine, really.

"Maybe I can join you, huh? And... do some punching, too?"

Punching things didn't seem like it would necessarily bring anyone back, but it did seem like it would be satisfying, at least.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"I always am honored to have you at my side," Hercules said, now having gotten a bit of fire in his belly. Hangover be damned. "And more fists make more punches, and therefore doubly more names will be honored in our fight."

He stood up on his bed, naked as the day he was born (thankfully Warren could not see this), and raised a fist to the air.

"The names we shall remember, and the names that we will make our foes regret."

[wwiii]

"Right," Warren agreed, blissfully ignorant of any nude posturing that might be happening on the other end of the line. "... Whoever they are."

He was still new to this heroing thing. Give him a break.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"...minor detail," Hercules said, making a little face like he'd burn that bridge when he came to it. And then the minor problem of standing on a bed after a long night of drinking hit and he tumbled over onto the floor with an audible series of thumps.

"I'm okay," Hercules said. "Nothing happened. That was... I dropped a goat."

Yes, that was the best cover story, Hercules.

[wwiii]

"I'm going to just go ahead and not ask you why you have a goat in your apartment, okay?"

That seemed like the safest plan, here. Because... because he wouldn't entirely put it past Hercules to have one in the first place. Especially not when he sounded like he'd been drinking all night.

That was how Warren and Bobby had wound up with a bunny, after all.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"...thank you," Hercules said, looking around his apartment just to be doubly sure no one had seen him fall over.

"I shall see you on Friday, of course. If we do not see each other before then."

[wwiii]

"Of course," Warren replied, smiling faintly. "... Take care, okay?"

He was pretty sure he couldn't handle anyone else disappearing, right about now.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"You too, Warren," Hercules said.

"...I'm going to go put some pants on now."

And that's when Hercules hung up.