spin_kick_snap: Kang Min Kyung as Kathy/Banzai (Sleepy)
[personal profile] spin_kick_snap
Kathy could hear the noise all around her. Worse, her jaw ached from all the clacking she was doing herself. She wanted to stop, to push her way through the endless mob of dead people, to get somewhere she could be alone and not HURT anyone, but her body wouldn't do what she wanted. It just dragged itself forward, gliding through the other exes with a grace that seemed wrong for a corpse to have. She was faster than the rest, able to sprint while they only staggered, and somehow that speed translated into an ability to slide through crowds like mist.

Because of that, the dead girl that had once been Katherine Hana Li made it to the center of the mob, where all the exes in this location had turned their unblinking attention. Only one thing could cause this kind of focus in the dead: fresh meat. Where the living Kathy now realized that she was looking at the remains of a stocky man in a green bandanna and pair of sweats, the dead Kathy only saw food. She knelt on the hard pavement and did as her undead brethren were doing; she reached out and grabbed her own portion of that fresh meat and hot blood, bringing a handful of something wet and slippery to her mouth--


Kathy managed to wrench herself out of the dream, stifling the gasp that would surely wake Raven if her thrashing hadn't already done so. She lay still for a moment, frantically swallowing--not bile, which would have been nice, but saliva. If she really wanted to, she could remember the taste and the smell of that dead Seventeen. Most of her recognized it had smelled awful, that nothing smelled good with its insides on the outsides.

A small part of her, the part that came to the forefront whenever she remembered dreamed about the past eight months, thought it smelled delicious. She was afraid it always would.

Silently, she slipped out of the guest bed and made her way to the bathroom where she could rinse her mouth out and brush her teeth again. It was the only way to get the imagined taste of salt and pennies out of her mouth. And then to the living room, where she snagged the laptop Hardison had given her and called up a queue of cute animal videos. She'd stay up till dawn before sneaking back into the guest room to catch another hour or so of sleep. Or, at least, to pretend to so nobody asked questions about why she was up so early.

[Open for housemates!, text under the cut NFB, warning for zombie-typical violence]

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 02:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"We do!" Parker beamed at her. Then she added, "It took a while, though. A longish while. We were all crew before we were family. And I thought they were weird, and they thought I was weird. But we got used to each other. And then it was a while longer before Hardison and me started being me-and-Hardison." She tapped her heels on the roof, smiling at the memory. "And now Eliot's with us, which took longer than we thought it would but still." She tilted her head at Raven. "Did you have a somebody, before you went to L.A.?"

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 03:04 am (UTC)
tigerundercover: (blue - downward)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"Not really," Raven said. "There were people I flirted with a lot, and I went on some dates. And I thought maybe something might be happening with this one girl. But . . . then I went away. And now I'm all . . . weird."

Weird was a good word. She was going to lean pretty heavily on weird.

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 03:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"Weird isn't bad," Parker said. She studied Raven's expression, her own sober. "I mean, it doesn't have to be." She frowned. "Does it? I mean, is it? Is the girl still here?"

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 04:54 am (UTC)
tigerundercover: (blue - serious face)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"Yeah. She graduates in May, though. I don't know what her plans are." Raven shrugged. "I guess she's probably still interested. She said she was trying to get a way to Kathy's world too, like Hardison was. But -- I think I'm too different now. From who I was before I left." She looked over at Parker. "Does that make sense?"

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 05:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"Yeah." Parker squinted, her expression thoughtful. "Except, maybe, don't make any assumptions? That's the only thing I know for sure. People can surprise you." She smiled sideways at Raven, and said, "We all like who you are now. For what it's worth."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 05:12 am (UTC)
tigerundercover: (blue - headtilt)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"You barely know who I am now," Raven pointed out. "I barely know who I am now. I got really good at Kathy's world."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 05:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
Parker nodded. And was pretty sure she didn't get it. She frowned, then her face did the equivalent of 'shrug.' "There are worse things. I don't know this girl though-- wait, do I? No, wait, you don't have to say." Privacy: so hard to remember. "But. I'm sorry if it doesn't work out. I hope it does, though."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 05:27 am (UTC)
tigerundercover: (blue - profile)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"No, that's what I'm saying. Though not very well, I think. I'm not sure I want it to work out."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 05:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"Ohhhh." Parker thought about that. Then nodded. "Okay." Because really, it was. And what more could you say?

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 05:35 am (UTC)
tigerundercover: (blue - happy)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
Raven watched the sun quietly for a few moments, then looked over at Parker and smiled.

"You're really nice to talk to, Parker," she said. "You don't -- complicate things."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 05:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
Parker blinked at her, then gave her one of her surprised, happy smiles. "Oh good. You can tell me if I mess up, you know." She paused, and added, "I like talking to you, too." And she could see why Hardison loved Raven, even if she couldn't put it exactly into words.

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 05:45 am (UTC)
tigerundercover: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"I don't know if you can mess up a conversation if you're just being honest," Raven said.

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 09:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"See, that's what I always think. But it turns out if you have any agenda or anyone has issues, you can really explode a nice chat." Parker shook her head in mystification. "You should meet Sophie. She's really good at talking. And grifting. She'd be thrilled to see what you can do. She did most of her grifting with different accents and different hats."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 09:49 pm (UTC)
tigerundercover: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"That sounds like it's probably a lot harder than what I do," Raven said. "I mean, no one's going to recognize me after I pretend to be someone else."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 09:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"A lot of times they didn't recognize her later," Parker admitted. "She's English. Or British. One of those." Parker wasn't entirely clear on all the differences. "But she's a theater director now. She taught me how people are like safes. They're fiddly. You can't force them."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 09:54 pm (UTC)
tigerundercover: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"Cool. . . . I don't actually know anything about safes."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 09:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
Parker actually gasped in shock. Speechless. At least for several seconds.

"No! They are wonderful! If you want to learn anything I can show you lots of stuff! And most of them don't even need explosives!"

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 10:01 pm (UTC)
tigerundercover: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"Um." Wow. "Sure? I never really thought about them much before."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 10:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"You never know when you'll be locked into a safe," Parker said very soberly. "Or need extra funds." She frowned. "But we don't do that for funds any more. We have an alternative revenue stream."

Mostly by shorting stocks. But Parker didn't want you to ever be short of money, Raven.

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 10:07 pm (UTC)
tigerundercover: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
"I didn't need any money at all for most of last year. You can bust open a safe from inside it?"

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 10:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"Oh sure." Well. "Not the ones so tiny I can't fit in them, though. But the bigger ones, all you need is a jackhammer and a crowbar. Or an oxygen tank, if you want to take your time opening the tumbler locks." She considered what Raven had said, and asked, "Was the rest of America like L.A.? Wasn't anywhere safe?"

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 10:21 pm (UTC)
tigerundercover: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
Raven shrugged. "Most of it was pretty . . . empty. I could usually go for whole days without seeing any other people, alive or dead. Those were actually the safest."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-04 10:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
That didn't sound so bad. But Parker still remembered what you said in L.A., Raven. About having to shoot a baby.

"What was the closest call you had?" And did you just fly away? Or something else?

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-05 12:33 am (UTC)
tigerundercover: (blue - bigfoot shot)
From: [personal profile] tigerundercover
Raven shrugged and looked down at the scar on her shoulder. "Getting shot, probably. I don't recommend it."

(no subject)

Date: 2017-02-05 12:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com
"I haven't been shot. Been shot at, but..." Parker nodded, then frowned a little. "Random people out there with guns? I'm guessing."

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