Eaaaaaarly Friday Morning, Room 505

[thatsamilkshake]

So after a week of that, absotively, posilutely the smartest thing to do ever is to try to get away from that and that by going there and doing THAT which is still being SP'd but you can guess how it ends.

Or perhaps not so much doing as done, but too dense and too drunk and too doused in glitter to realize what was happening until it had.

Either way, best complete-non-plan ever.

As was calling your boyfriend about it while you were still tipsy and freaked and making even less sense than usual, before you curled up with a stuffed animal and passed out.

Yes.

[For the Ears, and SP of DooooOOOoooOOOOoOOoOooooOOom!]

Comments

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin had been up late, working on his superb article for the school paper, so when his phone rang, he'd been...

Passed out.

But he was awake now and knocking on the door. "Francine?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Who was... not so awake. "Mmmhr-rrrm?" Oh. Knocking.

She shuffled her way to the door, still wearing yesterday's clothes and with the bedhead of... well, at least she had long hair. It wasn't too doomy.

She peered at him once the door was open. "Merlin?"

Given her a minute. She'll remember.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Are you alright?!" Okay, so he was somehow thinking perhaps she'd been attacked by some sort of small, Scottish ninjas.

[thatsamilkshake]

She rubbed at her face for a second, pushing both sleep and hair out of her eyes. "I...oh."

Oh hey, rocks in the bottom of my stomach, how I missed you.

She winced. "Yeah. No. I don't know. You should come in."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"...Katchoo won't complain?"

Merlin, listen to the damn radio again.

[thatsamilkshake]

If you want to avoid that look on Francine's face, it .... wouldn't really help. You just wouldn't have gotten it quite so soon.

"Katchoo's not here. Katchoo left."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Oh." That would be Merlin walking in to try and put an arm around her. Because that face was a baaaad thing.

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine took advantage of it while she could, wondering how long he'd be in the mood to do that once she got to the part of the story where she'd called him.

"We...the talking thing turned into the yelling thing, and we had this huge fight on Thursday night."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"And she just left?" Merlin asked. That didn't sound like--well, maybe if they checked Caritas?

[thatsamilkshake]

Any other time that would've been a damn good idea.

Francine shook her head. "No, I left. I went and slept in the common room. But she was gone in the morning; the only thing here was this." She ducked out from under his arm to retrieve Katchoo's note from the desk, then brought it back to him.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin read it and thought it needed more e's nodded slowly. "Did you try calling her?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"I'm not sure she even wants me to; I told her to call me if she wanted to talk."

No, that's... not what you told her, Francine.

"But, um. Yeah, I tried anyway. Her phone was off or dead or something."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Merlin frowned at the note again. "She'll call, I'm sure she will."

[thatsamilkshake]

"Sure." Not the sarcastic kind of sure, just the tired kind that had spent too many months without one of those calls before Katchoo came to Fandom to ever be really sure. "I guess. I just... it was really bad. I don't think we've ever had a fight like that."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Was it about the drinking again?" Merlin asked, going to hug her again.

[thatsamilkshake]

"No. Well, yes. Kind of. It didn't start out about that, but it came up." In the way that slightly-off fish for dinner comes up at three a.m. the next morning, yes. "I got back and she was changing, and, um." Francine fiddled with the top button of her blouse as she leaned into the hug, opening it enough to show her scar. "She has one of these too. It's a tattoo."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

That was an odd coincidence. "And that's a bad thing? Did she think you copied hers?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"She knows how I got mine. But she saw it when I got back and she didn't say anything about hers. Didn't say anything until I walked in and saw it, and ... " Francine glanced down at it. "I don't know. She acted like it was a bad thing that I had it, yeah."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"You couldn't help it, though!"

[thatsamilkshake]

She shook her head. "Not ... not bad like she was mad at me for it, just bad like I shouldn't have it and whatever it meant was none of my damn business."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"And then you fought," Merlin ventured. He sighed, pulling her to sit down on the bed with him.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Well, sort of before, during and after, but yeah." Francine laced her hands in her lap and stared down at them. "She said I don't live in the real world, like just because there's magic here and I hang out with you and Karla, it's all sunshine and puppies and kittens. And I...said something really terrible about the drinking. I'd be surprised if she ever forgives me for that one."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Yes. Karla and him were all about puppies and sunshine.

...yes.

Merlin put his arm around her shoulders, pulling Francine closer. "She will."

[thatsamilkshake]

"I'm not sure she should." Francine leaned in against him. "I wanted to to get through to her, but I was so mad I went straight for the way that would hurt most."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Are you sorry?"