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Detention, Depths of the Castle, Friday

So, one of the important things to realize about detention was that the monotony of everyone's daily lives was part of the punishment. That meant that even though someone had died yesterday, the day's schedule didn't change a bit.

After all, most of your little lives just weren't that important in the grand scheme of things.

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Jack didn't want to talk to anyone from the outside after yesterday's horrors, but the hour came whether he wanted it to or not.

His face was like stone as he watched the door.

And there was a Karla, walking directly towards him. She still wore the nasty smile from yesterday, but a truly careful observer might have noticed a few things were off. There was no bounce in her step, no crackling mischief in her eyes. She smiled and bared her teeth, but she was very careful not to look around at the sight of all the pain and misery around her.

Her eyes lighted on Jack and her smile grew wider. "Kiss kiss, wolf-boy!" she said, taking a seat next to him. "Given any thought to my proposal from yesterday?"

Jack barely glanced at her, not noticing the changes before his gaze returned to some indeterminate point in the distance.

"Go drop dead in a ditch."

Not the most elegant of retorts, but Sookie was dead, Bobby and Rinoa were broken, and he was tired.

"I take that as a no," Karla sighed. "Well, fine. I'm not going to be the one picking remains of friends out of my teeth in a few weeks."

After all of this, Karla was going to find a place to be quietly sick for awhile.

"Though, really. I'd expected much better from you than...this. You had such potential, Jack."

At the same time she said his name, she whispered it in his mind. *Jack?*

<<Yes, what?>> Jack's mental voice sounded cold, on the edge of hostile -- but he recognized Karla's tone was different, and would give her a moment to make her case. <<I should start thinking horrible things to get you out.>>

Out loud, he said, "That's what this place does, isn't it? Locks up the gifted and burns through our youth? I'm just one among many."

*Right,* Karla sent, her bitterness giving her words a metallic tang. *Because the worse thoughts you could conjure up are anything compared to what I'm already thinking. About myself.*

Rinoa. Sam. Sookie.

"Only those stupid enough to let it," she said aloud. "I know you're not that stupid, Jack? So why do you continue to pretend you are?"

Jack did his best to keep his mental voice dry, shorn of any sign of his hope Karla had recovered. <<Very funny. There are things I've seen that might make Briarwood look like a summer home. Don't tempt me. Just tell me what you want.>>

"Wolves are pack animals," he said aloud, and gestured to encompass the rest of the detainees. "This is my pack. Attack one of us, and we'll all be at your heels."

Edited 2012-07-27 19:19 (UTC)

A part of Karla was disappointed that Jack was still cold and standoffish to her, but she had said that he was smart. And it wasn't like she didn't have it coming. *Tomorrow,* she sent. *The Resistance is going to try and rescue you all tomorrow. The bullshit I spewed yesterday about the nexus and everyone abandoning the island was due to false memories implanted by Lady Ghanima so I couldn't share any real information while under Imperio.*

"You sound like Lady Umbridge is afraid of a pack of mangy dogs nipping at her heels. She'll trod you all underfoot and you know it." She forced herself to sneer at Jack. "And we'll see just how much you see them as pack once the beast breaks free."

*That's another thing. I made that threat up. Umbridge isn't thinking of doing--that--and I didn't suggest it to her, either.*

Mostly because she hadn't had the time. But the important thing was that she hadn't.

Jack hesitated, squinted, as if trying to work out the lie in her words.

He decided that perhaps there wasn't one. He wanted to believe there wasn't one, anyhow, and he cautiously permitted himself optimism.

<<Oh thank God>>, he thought, with a rush of warmth and relief. <<I wondered if something was up, because you said Cara got you -- but you have to admit she's not the stablest influence. Tomorrow? Is there anything we should do to get ready?>>

Aloud, he said, "That's a good sneer. Do you practice it in the mirror? Is there a cackle to go with it?"

*Considering the bruises I got from our staged fight before she brought me in, I'm not entirely sure 'stable' is at all remotely correct.* If nothing else, that sounded much like the old Karla, grumpy and exasperated, without the mocking edge. *I don't know how many people I'll be able to get to today. My own little show yesterday got me enough cred with her people that I'm not as watched today, but didn't win me any friends down here.*

"Just as often as you've practiced your bravado," Karla quipped back. "There's nothing sadder than a scared little boy pretending to be brave. Did Sebastian suck out all your courage while he was at it? Or did the beast take it all with him?"

*Sorry, so sorry. But I have to--it's too important I get out with the information I have about the defenses.*

<<No, you can say whatever nonsense to me you like. It's all part of a good show,> Jack thought easily. <<Although I might start laughing if we try to keep this up much longer. And -- I'll do my best to spread the word.>>

Aloud, he said, in a bored voice, "Oh, don't say that name as if you knew the first thing about him. Besides, I've nothing to prove to you on the point of bravery anyhow."

*I'm glad you can laugh,* Karla sent, shaking her head slightly. *I'm still going to feel horrible about it. But you've got the important bit, so I'm going to swan off and insult other people horribly in the name of saving everyone.*

Her hand brushed his in a motion that was meant to seem casual. Really, though, she just needed the human contact.

"Fine," she said a heartbeat later, standing up and brushing off her pants like sitting near him had contaminated them somehow. "If that's how you want to play it, then fine. And when you wake up covered in innocent blood, remember this conversation. I would have saved you if I could."

"Fine. I'll wait in hell for you," Jack told her, and it didn't matter that he was fairly certain neither of them believed in that kind of hell -- he was going for effect, not accuracy.

His thought, in a considerably more human tone, was: <<I understand. Thank you.>>

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Detention, Depths of the Castle, Friday

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