Welcome to Gaia! ::

The first few messages weren't really that strange: Lucky wasn't the only one to call her 'carol9', and the extra letters just made him seem especially happy to be writing her name, which was entirely understandable. But from there, the texts rapidly plummeted into Deeply Concerning territory, and that didn't leave much room for any alternate meanings.






After retrieving a bag of very specific emergency supplies beneath her bed, Caroline set out to find him, just as she'd said. It didn't take very long, mercifully discovered in the first place she chose to look. He seemed to be sleeping. Hopefully.

"Lucky?" She curled one arm around him and squeezed his shoulder. "You in there?"

On the list of people that Caroline called her 'children', each of varying degrees of actual relation to her, Lucky was pretty close to the bottom when that list was sorted by 'Likely To Kill Me: Ordered Most to Least'.

"Oh," she squeaked out, pulling back to take a deep breath of air. "Okay--okay. No, hey--it's okay. Don't be. Not the first time someone's been ready to kill me--first time it's not been intentional though, I think."

Maybe not the best time for a joke.

"Yeah," she continued, after an awkward laugh. "So you're not okay. Want to tell me about it? Need a pick-me-up or something to take some of that edge off? Maybe--here, just take whatever--"

She began to unpack her Specific Emergency essentials, setting them down on the floor beside them. It was mostly an assortment of energy drinks (Monster was notably absent), many small bottles of liquor, water, a washcloth, and a pile of lollipops.

"Quit that," she teasingly admonished him, making a face at the repeated 'sorry'. "Nothing you need to apologize to me for--anyway, I said it's okay."

As she spoke, Caroline slowly slid the energy drinks and candy back into the bag. Lucky very clearly did not need more stimulants in his system - one look at him was enough to know that. She paused at his admission, stared thoughtfully at him for a passing moment, and shook her head when he'd finished speaking.

"That's okay too. You don't have to." It was her turn to have a drink, opting for a shot of tiny tequila. She smiled through the tingle of the alcohol in her throat and gave an affable pat to one of his hands, holding it there until he chose to let it go.

"So--it's complicated, for one." Her head tilted as she tried to make sure she was using the right context. "You were there and heard? Or--oh, s**t, yeah--plenty of talking about it after. Guess I have to tell the whole story. Most of the kids there don't know some of my side anyway--you'd have missed that part. Have another drink."

Another little bottle was graciously offered.