Room 324, Late(r) Monday Afternoon

[vanillajello]

Having put up her posters, Kate had returned to her room to continue her good day with further party planning. But that was sadly not to be: her phone had been charging while she'd been away and she'd finally gotten around to seeing she had a voicemail. So she listened to it.

Bad idea.

Her first thought was that it was a sick joke, that Nathan really was pushing things too far in an effort to be excused for his radio silence since leaving, but she couldn't hold onto that bit of disbelief for long. The woman – Nathan's mom – was far too shaken, the quivering of her voice far too real. It was all real. On the second listen Kate had to sit down on the edge of her bed because the room had started to spin, but it took about four times before it all started really sinking in.

Forcing herself to skip listening a fifth time, her brain instead switched on to practical matters, the first of which was leaving a voicemail of her own. And the second... Was staring dully into the middle distance.

She'd maybe get to something a little more useful later.

[ooc: Post and door open, if you wish to deal with the upset.]

Comments

[therewaslife]

It took Bod a few moments to figure out her phone but he eventually did and listened to the voicemail she had. When the news filtered in through his ear, he frowned and tried to hold her tighter.

When the voicemail ended, he turned her phone off and tossed it behind him. "I'm so sorry, Kate."

[vanillajello]

Kate clung to him tighter and failed to say anything. She meant to, for a moment, but nothing came out.

So she was clinging, with her face pressed against the crook of his neck.

[therewaslife]

"I'm sorry," he said again, reaching to rub her back. "Is there anything I can do? Is there anything you need?"

[vanillajello]

Her friends to stop dying. But that wasn't exactly something she could ask for, so she shook her head. "No," she muttered. "I don't... I don't know."

[therewaslife]

"All right," he said and fell quiet, deciding just to hold her and wait for her to do something rather than pushing and prodding reactions out of her.

[vanillajello]

Kate was tense in his embrace. She couldn't help it, there was no relaxing when she felt like she was feeling right now. Not that she could name the feeling. It was too twsited up, a bunch of things at once.

"I fucking hate this."

[therewaslife]

"I know," he said, still rubbing her back to try and work some of that tension out before she hurt herself. "I know. There's nothing good about this sort of thing especially when it's too soon. I'm sorry."

[vanillajello]

"I can't deal with this," Kate replied, not that it was a direct reply of any sort. She shuddered. "I can't."

[therewaslife]

Bod felt helpless especially when she said that. He didn't know what to do. "It won't hurt forever. It's just going to hurt badly for awhile."

[vanillajello]

And on some level Kate knew she wasn't even really hurting yet. This was just the initial onslaught of shock, and the actual pain would come later, once the fog cleared, and it was going to last a good long while.

"He's gone," she said, quiet but somehow desperate anyway, trying to keep a hold on her emotions. "That wasn't supposed to happen!"

[therewaslife]

"I know, Kate, I know," he said soothingly, trying to keep her close to him in case she did unravel. "It shouldn't have happened, you're right. It was too soon and he was too young. And I'm so sorry that it did, Kate."

[vanillajello]

"Why can't I have normal friends that don't just go and die the minute they leave?"

She wasn't honestly thinking about it in a way that was that self-centered. It was just an easier way to approach things.

[therewaslife]

"I don't know," he said helplessly, frowning. "I'm sure your friends didn't want to leave and pass on either. Sometimes, bad things just happened undeservedly."

[vanillajello]

Kate made a frustrated, sad little sound. "Is that gonna happen to me, too?"

Well, so far it had turned out there was some weird and dangerous supernatural shit going on in every one of her closest friends' worlds, and in the one where there wasn't (that she knew of), her friend still managed to get himself killed in no time at all. It didn't seem like too impossible a thing.

[therewaslife]

"You're not going to die," he said roughly, shaking his head. "It's not going to happen. I won't let it happen."

He knew he didn't have that power but he'd find someone that could stop it, if he had to. "You can't think like that."

[vanillajello]

She was already thinking like that, though she didn't point that out. She'd feel ridiculous about it later, anyway. Once she got more rational.

But she wasn't rational yet. "I can't handle all this death."

[therewaslife]

"Then, let me handle it," he tried, pulling back so he could put his hands on her cheeks. It was an attempt to ground her when she sounded like she was going to lose it at any moment. "I'll take the burden, Kate. I'll take it and you hide behind me."

[vanillajello]

"It doesn't work like that," Kate replied, blinking quite a lot now to keep tears at bay while she was looking at him. "You can't protect me."

She wished he could.

[therewaslife]

"I can try," Bod mumbled, frowning at her. "I can definitely try."

He knew he couldn't but it was hurting him to hear her talking like she was. It was worrying.

[vanillajello]

Kate closed her eyes tightly, brows knitting together.

"Try," she half sighed, voice heavy with everything she was holding back. "Please promise me you won't get killed."

It was an impossible promise to make, but she couldn't help wanting it anyway. Anyone could get ripped away from her, or so she felt.

[therewaslife]

"I'm not going to get killed," Bod said, bringing her back against him so he could hug her again. "It's not my time. I have some spiritual friends who might object to it happening so soon. I promise I won't die."

Bod knew it was a promise easily broken but he didn't care. She seemed to need to hear it and he was damn sure going to try and keep that promise.

[vanillajello]

Kate sighed again, raggedly this time. It was good to hear him say that, as empty a promise as it was. Nathan hadn't meant to die, either.

She buried her face against his neck again. "I miss him."

[therewaslife]

"You're allowed," he said gently, going back to rubbing her back and keeping her close. "I doubt you'll ever stop. And that's perfectly all right, Kate. It'll hurt. I'm here."

[vanillajello]

"I know," she said. "I know. I know." She drew in another unsteady breath. "He was like me, you know?"

[therewaslife]

"That's probably why you were friends," Bod said quietly. "You had a lot in common and you attracted each other. He was around when I wasn't. He helped you."