The Li Family Apartment, Koreatown, Los Angeles, Wednesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Things were still tense in the apartment today, but at least she hadn't been kicked out or disowned or whatever. Kathy'd half-expected to find all of her belongings tossed out on the street after she and Raven had gotten home for the night after a night out as Banzai and Mystique, but no. Her parents weren't actually talking to her, but they hadn't decided to evict her, either.

It just proved what everyone had been telling her: her parents had only had the power over her that she had given to them. She was pretty self-sufficient now; even if they had thrown her out, she and Raven would have been perfectly fine. What could they do to her? Ground her? She'd ignore them. Hit her? They never had before and she couldn't imagine them doing so now. Send her to bed without dinner? Fine, she'd call for delivery. A frisson from the unexpected freedom ghosted up her spine. If she were a slightly different person, this realization could have been dangerous. Good thing that she was the type of girl who defied her parents only to go be a superhero-slash-clinic nurse.

Honestly, the only real punishment she could think of that would actually affect her would be to forbid her from seeing Sarah. Her little sister meant everything to her.

No matter what was going on with the outside world, Kathy was determined to keep her safe.

[NFB, and also for tigerundercover if she so wishes!]

Comments

[tigerundercover]

Please. Like they'd actually be able to keep Kathy and Sarah from each other. Especially with someone like Raven as an ally.

"I'm proud of you," Raven said. "You know that, right?"

Yes, Raven, she knew. You'd said it enough times since the argument.

[the-family-li.livejournal.com]

"I know, right?" Sarah said--and then did a doubletake. "Uhhh..."

That, she hadn't been expecting.

[tigerundercover]

"What, you didn't think your superhero sister would have superhero best friends?" Raven asked, bluster covering for the faint nervousness she still felt when people reacted to her blueness.

[the-family-li.livejournal.com]

Blink. Blinkblink.

"This is so unfair!" Sarah said. "How did my lame, nerd sister not only become cooler than me, but get cooler friends, too?" Sarah stomped her foot. "If you tell me she's got some hot, superhero boyfriend she also hasn't told me about, I'm going to totally scream."

[tigerundercover]

"Well," Raven said, looking sideling towards Kathy. "She doesn't like to call them 'boyfriends.'"

[the-family-li.livejournal.com]

Kathy was trying to wave Raven to be quiet and avoid this topic, but Sarah smoothly stepped in front of her. "Did I just hear a plural?" she asked, grinning. "Oh my god, Raven, you have to tell me everything." She shoved Kathy over and then proceeded to sit on her in an attempt to keep her quiet. "I mean, we've already proven that if I wait for Kathy to tell me anything, I'll die of old age before I learn what the weather's like, so clearly it's up to you."

[tigerundercover]

"Sorry, Kathy," Raven said sweetly. "It's my duty as a younger sister. Otherwise they might kick me out of the club or try to collect on overdue dues. Okay, so as far as I can tell there's three of them. All of whom have fancy abilities."

Sarah was going to end up with a complex about not having powers. Maybe she was a late bloomer?

[the-family-li.livejournal.com]

Hey, Kathy was a sophomore when her powers manifested! That put Sarah right on target.

Sarah squealed, probably angering every dog and bat in the neighborhood. "Three?! Oh my gosh, names! Names, I need names! And abilities! What can they do? Is everybody at your school a superhero? And don't think I don't want to know all about your powers, too! But first I need to get all the dirt on Ka--ack!"

Kathy bucked up, knocking her sister off of her. "Did she learn that move from her boyfriends, too?" Sarah asked from where she landed on the floor. "Also, ow!"

[tigerundercover]

"That one's probably in the older sister's handbook," Raven said. "I'm a shapeshifter. I can look like anyone or anything I want."

[the-family-li.livejournal.com]

"That's so cool," Sarah said, getting up and sitting back on the bed, though this time on Raven's other side. Maybe Kathy would be less inclined to lunge for her if she had to go through Raven first. "Can you look like me? Or Kathy? Or our Mom and Dad?"

"...And don't forget to tell me about Kathy's boyfriend!" Because she still needed all the gossip. "She's really dating three guys?"

"I'm not dating anyone!" Kathy snapped. "...At least, not exactly."

Sarah's grin only got bigger. "I want to know everything," she breathed.

[tigerundercover]

"Yup," Raven said, shifting to match Sarah. "And yup." And a subtle shift to Kathy. "Anyone. And did you meet Dante or Anders or Ezra? I know Anders came out here on prom to cheer Kathy up."

Because, you know, that wasn't romantic date-like behavior or anything.

[the-family-li.livejournal.com]

"Oh wooow," Sarah said, leaning in to peer at Raven's depiction of her sister. "Hey, those helix piercings. Or those yours--or is that something else my jerky big sister didn't tell me about."

Kathy groaned and buried herself in her pillows.

"That answers that," Sarah said, rolling her eyes. "Wait a sec--Anders, Dante, and Ezra? I know all of them! Dante told me that Ezra and Kathy made out, but not that they were dating!"

"We're not dating!" Kathy's protest was muffled.

"Then what are you doing, huh?"

RAVEN THE FLOOR WAS YOURS.

[tigerundercover]

"Soooo, when two people of any gender combination whatsoever like each other -- or each other's bodies -- a whole lot. . . ." Raven started. Still looking like Kathy. "Actually I haven't heard as much about Ezra lately. But she and Dante and Anders go on what they call 'adventures' all the time."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You might have said something to that effect," Kathy said, hugging a pillow to her chest and grinning. "But I'm okay with hearing it again."

[tigerundercover]

"And again and again," Raven promised. "How long do you suppose it'll take for them to calm down and start talking to you again?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Possibly forever?" Kathy said with a nervous laugh. "Usually it bothers me a lot more, but today..." She shrugged. "It's like, let them sulk, because I'm right and in the end they can't do anything about it."

[tigerundercover]

"I'm sorry your parents are dicks," Raven said. "We should just take Darah with us when we leave."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Eliot said the same thing," Kathy mused. "And it's just about the start of summer term. She could enroll as a sophomore, which was when I started..."

Yeah, not having her sister hanging around post-apocalyptic LA was already a good idea. Now, with everything the way it was with her parents? Even better.

"You think she'd wanna go?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven shrugged. "I don't know her as well as you do. She might rather find some other big crazy boarding school, just so she doesn't have to always be 'Kathy's sister'." Raven had gotten a lot of Charles' shadow over the years. She knew how that could chafe. "But it's definitely worth asking her."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I dunno," Kathy said. "This crazy boarding school has teachers that punched her dad. That's a pretty compelling argument."

She sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Did you get that letter from Portalocity?" she asked softly.

[tigerundercover]

"Yeah. Guess we can't call for more back up from Fandom."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Or get home fast," Kathy said. "I'm sorry, Raven, I didn't expect you to get stuck here with me."

She hadn't expected either of them to get stuck. The portals had been her Plan B.

"But there's still the Causeway, right? So it's not like we're cut off from Fandom. There's just a trek across the rest of the States first." She laughed, the sound bitter. "The president declared martial law today. Through the whole country, not just California. And DC, New York, and Boston are warzones right now, too. They say DC's worse off than LA is right now."

[tigerundercover]

"I think we're probably better off sticking to what we're doing here," Raven said. "It's not like we're not making a difference, right? We got that whole family home last night."

[spin_kick_snap]

"That was awesome," Kathy said. "Their faces when they first saw you as that giant drill-thing--and then again when you went back to being you!"

It was nice, having a friend here with her. Having someone she could still laugh with. Someone who believed she was doing the right thing.


"We definitely are making a difference," she said firmly. "But--Eliot made me promised to have an exit plan." She barked a laugh. "Heh. An ex-it plan. I'm just trying to come up with one. Because if things get much worse...It's my responsibility to get my family to safety. And you, too. I don't think Charles will like me anymore if you get bitten by a zombie, you know."

[tigerundercover]

"Uh huh. And what's this Eliot guy going to do to me if you get bitten? You're stuck with me, Kathy."