The Luckiest Girl In The World

"We aren't her boyfriends," Anders said firmly, and ignored how it felt like a lie. He was practically hissing his words as he continued. "Not that it's your business."

He turned to Kathy, practically hissing his words as he spoke. He suspected he'd start shouting if he spoke any louder, and he didn't want to get thrown out.

"You're going to stop a zombie apocalypse in a week," he said. "How is that going to work?"

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Dante was keeping an eye on those two guys over there, though he couldn't take the boyfriends crack personally enough to make a fuss about it. "You're fast, you're not made of steel, Kat," he said. "How about you let the professionals field this?"

Which was, for the record, very much not him. Or Anders. Or you, Kathy.

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You know what was great? This entire situation. Kathy looked like she was having a really fun time, with the dull flush she had in her cheeks and the way her jaw was set.

"We're working on the plans to do that very thing right now," she said through clenched teeth. "I am not about to run away from it, either. Your concern has been noted, so why don't you both f--"

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"That might not be the worst idea in the world, Ba--Kathy," Josh said quietly. Kathy nearly sprained something in her neck, whipping her head around to look at him. He held up his hands to placate her. "It's not because I don't think you'll be useful! You're our fastest scout when Zzzap's not here."

Max made a noise of protest and Josh rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid, they obviously know everything, even if they don't exactly know who we are. Anyway." He looked back up to Kathy. "You've given us what information you can remember. The tactics you passed onto Stealth are useful. But you've still got your whole life ahead of you. Get out of the city, go home with your friends, let us stop this while you focus on your life."

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Anders caught Josh's eye in surprised gratitude. If the heroes were backing them, maybe they had a chance.

"Hear that? You've done what you can," he said. "Besides, if you get out now you could bring your sister. It's not fair to risk her life too."

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"And your folks," Dante added. "Sure, you're all working to contain this, but do you really want to run the risk of what'll happen if you don't?"

When you don't, probably. Dante's faith in the future wasn't even particularly high on a normal day.

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"This is such bullshit!" Kathy said, giving Josh a look of extreme betrayal before switching it over to the guys. "I mean, thanks from the vote of confidence from everyone. I don't know who it means more from--my team or my friends."

Edited Date: 2016-04-08 01:02 pm (UTC)

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And not every hero at the table was willing to back their play ~~just the one with the guilty conscience~~.

"Okay, so who the fuck are you two again?" Nick asked. "I don't remember Kathy sending out a request for two white knights to show up and rescue her. I think she can do a damn good job of rescuing herself if she wanted to."

Kathy looked up at Nick with gratitude.

"Stop trying to use her family to guilt her into doing what you want her to do."

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"And stop acting like you care about her at all," Anders shot back, which really was all he had to say to Nick, then turned his attention to Josh since he seemed like the only halfway rational one at the table. (Except maybe Max. Anders didn't have a good read on Max yet, beyond that he seemed way too amused by all of this.)

"What are you up against now?" he asked. "We didn't see anything on the way here."

Kathy just got a sorrowful glance. An I wish you would see reason because I've already saved you from dying twice and can't stand the thought of losing you too, but I can't make you listen and I don't know what more to say to get you to kind of glance.

... it was complicated.

Edited Date: 2016-04-08 01:48 pm (UTC)

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The way Dante was looking at Nick was less of a glare and more of an epic side-eye; he was mostly irritated that sort-of-hot-but-increasingly-creepy dude was trying to stop them to... what? Get in Kathy's pants?

Ugh.

"How about you fuck off and go snoop after barely-legal ass somewhere else," he said, rolling his eyes.

Probably not useful in the convincing Kathy department, but fuck his shit.

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This was just going from bad to worse. Kathy was thinking of sliding under the table and not coming out until the zombies were literally banging on the door.

"Is this a dibs thing?" Max asked, looking intrigued. "Inquiring minds want to know." The speculative glance he was shooting at Dante--and Anders--suggested he wasn't just asking for Kathy.

"Shut the fuck up, Max," Nick snarled, hands up to his sunglasses. But he wasn't pulling them away. Not yet. Close, but not yet. "And fuck you both, too. I knew Kathy before any of you. I think that I know what she's capable of. And if she thinks she can handle some fucking zombies, then I trust her. More than you do, apparently."

See? Who said this was about sex? He'd barely even been checking her out recently!

...During zombie patrols anyway.

Josh just pulled out his wallet. He was so ready to go. Let them sort out this whatever it was. He had work to do.

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"It's not about trusting her, you moron," Anders returned sharply. "It's about knowing that we've both seen her get damn close to killed because she took on something too big for her, and we don't want to see it again. Call us white knights if it makes you feel better, but at least we aren't encouraging her to try to catch zombies because we want to sleep with her."

A beat.

"Who the fuck came up with that brilliant plan, anyhow? They're dead. You don't have to round them up and study them."

Edited Date: 2016-04-08 02:53 pm (UTC)

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Dante pulled a face at Max. "Seriously?" he said.

Because seriously.

He looked back at Kathy. "You bite off more than you can chew all the fucking time," he said. "Which is why this is not us asking."

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Max was entirely that kind of person, sorry Dante. It took a special kind of guy to decide to wear a demon like a coat and that kind of guy was Max Hale.

"Will you stop with the insinuations?!" Kathy snapped, jumping to her feet and trying to poke Dante in the chest. "Maybe Nick's standing up for me because he honestly believes that I can do this!"

Max snorted into his milkshake. Kathy ignored him. She ignored Max a lot of times.

"Is this a two-way street?" she demanded. "Do I suddenly get to have a say in what you do and where you go? I have to argue with you about smoking in my damn room, but you think you can come here and tell me to come home like you're my fucking dad?" She whirled towards Anders, finger still out. "And you! You know whose brilliant plan that was? Mine, backed by Stealth. Because we have a magic healer who might be able to fix them. Because we didn't know if it was transferred by bite or if anyone who was dying was going to get back up! To see how much trauma they could take before falling apart!"

Which, admittedly, Kathy had had a problem with. It had just seemed so disrespectful. But Stealth had assured her that the zombies were indeed dead and felt no pain.

"Because all we have to go on are twenty years of zombie flicks and they contradict one another! We needed information so even little old me could be fucking useful in keeping them from taking over the damn city!"

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Anders was also ignoring Max, mainly because all of his attention was going toward looking at Kathy as if she had gone totally and completely insane.

"You've told me I shouldn't go back to Thedas about 30 times," he pointed out. "And that's nothing next to what you're throwing yourself into here. Nothing I'm likely to run into there literally wants to eat my brain."

Well. Not until the next Blight, anyhow, and that was years and years away. Or until Anders wandered into the Deep Roads, or tripped into a nest of giant spiders, or pissed off the wrong blood mage, or ... maybe Thedas wasn't the best comparison point here.

"And congratulations, brilliant plan. I'm sure all your research is going to be incredibly valuable when one that doesn't realize he's helping you save the city rears up and bites you or worse."

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Dante... was sort of ignoring Max. He was keeping an eye on the guy. Didn't like the look of him. Something about him... and it wasn't even the sleaze... didn't feel right.

"I can tell you whatever the fuck I want," he said flatly. "Does wannabe lover boy over here know you nearly got your ass killed running into a burning building without telling anyone shit? Damn right I don't fucking trust you with this shit, you proved to my face you lose your fucking head sometimes."

He was really tempted to just grab her and fling her over his shoulder already.

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Was it the way he had a habit of wearing the Reaver Lord of the Abyss like a cheap suit? It could be that!

"You know, fuck this," Nick said. "Sorry, baby, your friends are assholes. You can do better."

And then he was pulling off his sunglasses and trying to catch their eyes.

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And as he did, Anders felt like someone was painlessly clubbing him over the head. His already-low opinion of Nick dropped even further.

He fumbled for his staff, realizing as he did that his fingers wouldn't so much as move. A chill of terror and fury went up his spine. Prick, he thought resentfully. The second you let me out of this, you're on fire. I don't care if we're inside. You earned it.

Edited Date: 2016-04-08 05:01 pm (UTC)

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Dante felt it, too-- a giant something striking him, pulling at him, and then it was like something was seeping out of him. What the--

He didn't know it, but his power was like a large but placid lake sitting on top of a closed gateway leading straight into the heart of a star, and Nick was trying to drain out the water real hard.

Something locked away just past that gate uncoiled, as it had done only once before. It snapped up. Snarled. Shot up and pushed its head above the water.

And for just a split second, Dante's skin and hair flushed a perfect white, red veins spidering up; gravity gave way just long enough to lift a few plates, and the eyes staring back into Nick's were like stars, white blown irises in vivid red sclera.

It was a lot of power, all at once... and it faded too quickly for anyone else to get a real look at it, leaving behind just a whisp of vivid red something staining table and air, beginning to fade almost immediately.

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"Nooo!" Knowing the way Nick's powers worked, Kathy had closed her eyes, too late to do anything more than shout at him. These were her friends, dammit, and more than friends--he didn't get to drain them just because they were being assholes!

Keeping her face averted, she shoved Nick. Hard. Elbow-first.

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Nick, already stunned from whatever the hell that was, broke eye contact, releasing Anders and Dante both. He shoved himself to his feet, gasping, trying to figure out what tier he'd just jumped to. The hit he'd gotten from the kid with the staff had been intense, but nothing compared to whatever the...red...

And it was draining out of him almost immediately, like water through a sieve. Whatever that energy was was inimical to him; it wanted out and it wouldn't hesitate to destroy him if it didn't get its way.

Nick stood, reeling, trying to figure out what the fuck had just happened.

Max, for his part, was also staring directly at Dante, his Sativa amulet glowing. Like recognized like--and Cairax Murrain wanted to know more about this boy-child with the power of the Abyss.

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Anders gave Dante a curious look out of the corner of his eye -- what had that been? -- before turning his attention back to Nick with murder in his carefully averted eyes. It was a lucky thing someone dropped a plate in the kitchen just then, and Anders heard a soft crash and a rush of laughter. It reminded him that there were other people in the restaurant, people who didn't know about magic and probably shouldn't find out by watching fireballs whiz through the air.

(He was too angry to have good control, anyhow. Likely to burn the whole place down.)

He allowed himself to hit out at Nick's stomach with eyes closed and a carefully placed fist. He hadn't fought with his fists since he was a child, but he suspected it was still going to hurt.

"Never mess with a mage," he said between heavy breaths, not particularly caring whether Nick understood the warning. "It won't end well."

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"What the fuck," Dante breathed.

He wasn't even paying attention to Nick - which was a pity, because he'd have viscerally enjoyed the sight of Anders punching him like that. Just-- what the fuck? What the fuck had that been? Where the fuck had that come from? What did it-- fuck.

(If Cairax Murrain wanted a piece of him, he could get in line.)

He took a few steps back and nearly hit the table behind him.

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Okay, Kathy viscerally enjoyed that punch and she liked Nick!

She slammed Nick's shades back onto his face. "Don't you ever do that to my friends again," she said in a quiet snarl. Between the punch and the thing with Dante, Nick was probably not even registering what she was saying, but she didn't care. She was going to make her point. "Ever, Nick. Or I swear to god the zombies will be the least of your worries."

Today was a fucking disaster and she was pissed at pretty much everyone in the diner but Mona. But none of that was stopping her from slinging an arm around Anders' waist with a quiet, "You can look now."

And then she was tugging him over towards Dante who was also looking a little pole-axed by what happened. Dante? Nearly back into a table? Unheard of.

"Let's get out of here," she said. "My motel isn't far. We can talk there."

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