momslilassassin | Room 204 [afternoon]

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Room 204 [afternoon]

After his daily run and trip to the gym, Ben had retreated to his room (not that he would see it that way) to continue working on the Thor helmet he'd been making for Jono.

Which was why Ben was currently hovering a good foot off of the ground and looking quite pleased with himself. The motor to make the wings actually serve a purpose was working!

The door was cracked open.

[OOC: And the post is totally open!]

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Ben yanked the hat off of his head and fell to the bed with a thump. "Come in!" he called back.

Karla entered slowly, partially to give Ben a chance to get himself fully presentable if he wasn't already (fishnets!) and partially because she hadn't seen him since Monday night.

"Hey," she said, coming into the room. "You okay? I thought I heard a noise."

Next, she would be commenting on the weather. Yay awkward!

"I was working on something mechanical," Ben said, blushing to his hair. "Nothing important. Hi! How are you? Want to sit down?"

Stop babbling, Ben.

"I--sure, yeah," she replied, Totally Sounding Casual.

Dammit, it had been less awkward after she'd accidentally confessed her crush in a burst of song.

"I'm okay," she said, sitting on a clear spot at the foot of his bed. "How are you?" She tried not to sound worried, but probably failed. Okay, failure was practically assured since Ben would be able to feel her worry--as well as all those other emotions that didn't exactly equate out to 'okay.' She increased her shields a bit. Not enough to shut him out completely, but enough to make sure that he could ignore her feelings if he wanted to.

"You're not okay," Ben said, watching her eyes. "Want to try that again?"

"I'm about as well as can be expected after not only experiencing that all for myself but then dragging in nine of my closest friends to enjoy it, too," Karla snapped. "And now let me ask you, just how well are you doing?"

"I'm worried about you," he replied, "so I'll be better when you're better."

Way to take the wind out of her sails there, Ben. "I am doing better," she muttered defensively. "I even baked cookies last night."

Rather than sleeping. Because sleeping was overrated.

She called in a big paperplate full of...cookies, covered in plastc wrap. Clearly, a lot of effort had gone into them. They were painstakingly decorated with frosting, baking gel, sprinkles, anything Karla could find. The decorations showed that they were meant to be jack-o-lanterns, which was useful since the otherwise hard, gray lumps weren't actually indicative of cookies, never mind anything more complicated than that.

"They look great," Ben said with a quick smile. "Thank you. Are they just for me, or do I get to share with Ender?"

"For you to share with Ender," Karla said, tucking her knees up under her chin. "And so are these." A big, white bakery box appeared next to her on the bed. "They're from J,GoB. I got these just in case, though 'Dite tried a cookie and said they were delicious."

'Dite was also a goddess who could change reality with a thought. But details.

"I wanted to say thank you to everyone and Dite told me that homemade cookies are a really good way to say thank you." Because 'Dite apparently had a death-wish or something. "So I made cookies. But since I made them by mself, without Merlin's help, I decided to get some other kinds of pastries, too. In case they came out like most of my other baking experiments."

"Thank you for both, then," Ben said with another smile. When he was hungry again, he'd try some. "But it really wasn't necessary. I didn't help because I thought I'd get cookies."

"I didn't think you had," Karla said, shaking her head. "But that doesn't mean I can't feel grateful and want to come up with some way to say 'thank you' for it. Especially since no one seems to want me to actually say 'thank you'." She looked away, not wantin Ben to see the tears that were welling up. "You went into Hell for me. Just because we're friends--and have been friends for less than half a year. You brought me back to myself. There aren't words for what you all did. And I'm going to feel appreciative and grateful no matter what anyone says."

And, because she was Karla, regardless of circumstances, she added, "So there."

Ben reached a cautious hand out toward her shoulder. "You're welcome," he said softly. "I wasn't going to just leave you there."

There was no male on this island that Karla trusted more than Ben. That being said, she couldn't help the brief flicker of fear that she knew he would read. Reaching out, she tried to snag his wrist before he had a chance to pull away.

"Ignore that," she said steadily. "It isn't me. It's a bit of left-over fear that doesn't understand yet that you...mean safety." Karla didn't think of Ben as safe, she knew full well that he had the potential to be dangerous. But she trusted him to never use those skills on her without just cause. "I trust you, Ben."

Ben's eyes locked onto hers as his grip on her hand grew a little tighter. "Good," he said, squeezing her fingers. "You scared me," he admitted finally. "You were so angry."

"I have never been so angry in my entire life," Karla admitted. "I...I think I was heading to Causeway to do something rash."

Like murder people. Details.

"I just wanted to find people like that, and hurt them. It wasn't even about justice anymore, it was about making them hurt for all the hurt they'd caused. I was frightened and wanted to make sure that fear went away." Karla looked down at the bed, still keeping a death-grip on Ben's fingers. "It was like when I killed Max and Eleanor in the other-Fandom. They were evil and deserved death, but that wasn't why I killed them. I was angry and frightened and they'd hurt me."

"If Max hadn't gotten there first, I would have stopped that from happening," Ben said softly, holding out his other hand for her to hold onto as well. "That kind of rage...it's what Jedi fight against our whole lives."

"I'm glad you would have," Karla whispered. "I don't--want to be that way."

"Back home, it's why the males protect and serve. Females' rage burns colder and slower. Sometimes they're protecting others from us just as much as they're protecting us from those others, I think."

~~Canon argument! IDEK!~~

Ben blinked. "So potentially homicidal rampages are something to be...anticipated...at home for you?"

"Not exactly?" Karla said.

Way to put those concerns to rest, Karla.

"Protocol exists to minimize Warlord Princes from stepping onto the killing field," she explained as gently as she could. "We do our best to prevent such things from occuring, but a hair-trigger temper and capacity for violence are mainstays of the Warlord Prince caste. Even regular Princes are aggressive."

Beat.

"Don't judge my culture, Ben."

"Working on it," he said, squeezing her hands gently.

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Room 204 [afternoon]

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