29 Chimera Court, Friday Morning

[on_her_korhal]

Where the Queen of Blades usually slept, upstairs in a bedroom taken haughtily from her fellow tenants, there was now a little pile of blankets. Underneath them was a girl, twenty-something years old, curled up into the foetal position. She had her hands pressed to her chest.

She was sobbing quietly. The covers shook a little under the motion of it-- and the sound she produced was desperate, ragged, and very, very human. Somewhere in her psyche, an alien queen slept soundly, burrowed far away from the surface.

Eventually, her alarm rang, emitting the dulcet tones of a good Kenny Rogers number.

[[ open for housemates, sure ]]

Comments

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

It was hard not to be drawn in.

"I love Kenny Rogers!" Aquaman couldn't help commenting in passing by the Leuitenant's door.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan's red hair poked up from beneath the mass of blankets. It was quickly followed by a pair of green eyes.

She promptly burst into more tears.

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

Somewhere downstairs... there was a mouse.

A tiny, tiny mouse. But to one Guy Gardner, it looked to be the size of a warf rat. A vicious one at that.

So, that girlish shriek? Yeah. That was Guy.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Slowly, Kerrigan dragged herself out of bed, face wet with tears. She curled the blanket around her and snuck slowly towards the stairs.

"What," she spoke, then shivered. "What--?"

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

"Oh god, someone save me!"

...he was gonna kill someone later.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan sniffled once before her feet found the stairs. She walked down gingerly. "Are we under attack?" she asked, and wiped at her eye.

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

Aquaman quirked an eyebrow.

"By Neptune's beard!" he cried out, appalled not for the crying but for the fact that she was crying at all. "What's the matter, Leuitenant?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

She pulled the blankets closer towards her, shielding herself. "My friend is dead," she hiccuped.

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

"Posiedon's pocket!" Aquaman said, frowning deeply at the poor misfortune of his housemate and moving into the room so that he could console her better. "That's very unfortunate! Do you need to talk about it? Sometimes talking about it helps."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan was going to have to eat several larvae - and perhaps some full-grown Zerg - just to get over the indignity of what she was about to do.

Which was get up (and thankfully she was still dressed in underwear and a long shirt) and practically throw herself at Aquaman, arms first. Hug? Please?

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

Aquaman, seemingly uneffected by any of today's strange going ons so far, could not refuse to hug a disheartened lady when she clearly needed one! And with a torso and arms like that, he gave very good hungs, indeed.

"There, there!" he offered, patting the Lueitenant on the back as he gave her a comforting squeeze. "It may seem so soon to think any comforting thoughts, but death is just another part of life! It happens to us all, so what really matters is that your friend lived a good, full, enriching life!"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan sobbed into Aquaman's... shoulder-area while she wrapped her arms tighter around his torso. "I don't know," she muttered into said large piece of muscle, "I don't know, I left, and then I came back--"

Snotter.

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

"And it's not your fault," said Aquaman, because it sounded like it might be one of those types of things. He worked with superheroes, here. He understood death-guilt issues. "Sometimes, a friend must take an unexpected detour off the path of life, and that just means that the rest of us must continue on the journey for them!"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Y-you think so?" she asked, pulling back a little to look up at him with earnest, if a bit moist, green eyes. She'd left a large splotch on Aquaman's costume, too, but that looked like it could deal with a bit of waterworks. "I don't think I like that very much."

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

Just a bit of waterworks, yes. As far as encounters went, this was actually still pretty on the dry side.

He gave the Leuitenant a small, encouraging smiled as she pulled back, rubbing her shoulders a little for comfort. He knew she had a softer side in there somewhere! He just knew it! "I don't either," he admitted, "but life isn't just the good stuff! What's important is that we take all that grief and pain and try to use it for good! Not evil! Take my good friend Batman. His parents are dead! But he uses that to fuel his desire for justice! He does it a bit more...broodingly for my tastes, but, by guppy, he's one of the best superheroes out there!"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan took a long, hard look at his face, and contemplated that.

"...My parents are dead too," she whimpered, and promptly pressed her face back into Aquaman's shoulder. Look what you did, Aquaman. Shame on you!

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

He was only trying to help!

"But that's okay!" said Aquaman, patting her back again. "Mine are, too! I couldn't be king of Atlantis if my father was still alive; they say the parents pass on so that the next generation can reach their full potential, you know!"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I was nine," Kerrigan hiccuped, finding that Aquaman's big, strong chest was a relatively nice and warm and comforting place to be, even if he smelled a little bit of fish. "And it's my fault."

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

"You musn't think such things!" said Aquaman with insistence, still patting her back. "That is a mighty big blame for small nine year old shoulders."

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

"There--" Guy tried valiantly not to sob. "--is a mouse."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"But it's true," she wailed, "I did!" Sinking into that hug now. Nice hug.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

There was?

Kerrigan's lip wobbled, and she stopped on the stairs. "A mouse," she cried.

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

"Where is Aquaman when you need him most?!"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"He was upstairs," Kerrigan wibbled, "A broom! A broom!"

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

"I can't move!" Guy insisted, cowering up on top of a chair.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan flailed about, stumbling downstairs and-- well, yes. Flailing, mostly, for the broom that was conveniently perched against a wall.

She brandished it. Awkwardly. "Mouse!"

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

Guy shrieked again. "WHERE?!"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"There!" Kerrigan struck out at the fiendish thing, and promptly destroyed a coffee table in the process.

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

"That was an antique!"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan paused in her waving about to stare at Guy.

Her lip wobbled again.

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

Oh, that wouldn't do at all. "...I'm sure we can repair it."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"But there's a mouse!" she brought up again, "And I broke something again!"

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

"We'll fix it," Guy promised. "And then we can have tea."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan sniffled girlishly and poked through the wreckage with the broom. "Think it's gone now?"

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

"And now tea," He assured her. Maybe looking around to make sure. "And some Lifetime."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I do like Lifetime," Kerrigan said, chewing on her bottom lip and lowering the broom. Slowly.

[onepunchguy.livejournal.com]

"I heard there was a good movie tonight."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

The broom hit the ground with a thud.

"Let's go watch it," she said, wiped some of the tears from her face, and headed for the living room.

[byneptunesbeard.livejournal.com]

Aquaman really was good with hugs. It was true.

"Surely not!" he said. "I'm sure there were...extenuating circumstances."