Boston Mariott, Thursday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy...Kathy wasn't doing so well. She had a whole slew of reasons why she wasn't doing well, from her realization she remembered everything about being dead, to finding out Raven had killed her family, to her run-in with Ezra at the Coterie-run bar when she'd just wanted to drown her sorrows the old-fashioned way, it had been one thing after another after a-fucking-nother.

Which was why the phone call at ten pm found her putting the last touches on her makeup and hair for an evening out on the town. Her outfit left very little to the imagination and even less as protection to the elements, but she didn't care. Hell, that was the whole point. This was the third night she was in Boston and the third night of making questionable choices in the pursuit of getting her brain to shut down so she wouldn't have to think about any of the things she didn't want to think about. Sure, it was a weeknight in the dead of winter, but Boston was a college town. There were always people willing to party.

Though that didn't explain how Eliot knew what was going on. She listened to his message with a frown and immediately called him back. The only person who knew she was here was Ezra, so who'd gone to Eliot, carrying tales?

[Eliot's thread is chronologically first, but open to phone calls or that guy in Boston if he'd like! NFB for off-island shenanigans. Content warning for alcohol as a coping mechanism in the comments.]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"I didn't--I'm not--" Was this some kind of 'fake news' performance piece? There was just so many things wrong with his statement that Kathy didn't even know where to begin.

Oh wait, yes she did. "What the fuck?!" '

[vdistinctive]

"Well what the hell're you freakin' out about then?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Raven killing my mom and dad!"

[vdistinctive]

". . ."



"Yeah, that makes a lot more sense."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Why the hell would you think I'm pregnant?!"

When was that even supposed to have happened? Even if she'd gotten laid the night they brought her back, she still wouldn't be far along enough to know! The only way that would work is if it had happened before she'd died and--

Ewwww.

[vdistinctive]

"I don't know, it ain't like my world has people comin' back from the dead, either." Eliot rubbed his head. "My staff overheard Hardison talkin' to Raven and called me. I didn't believe it right away or nothin', but you seemed to know just what I was callin' about and -- what the hell kind of pill was s'posed to take care of your parents bein' dead?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"The kind that makes me forget!" Kathy said. "Forget that my best friend murdered my parents! Forget that I have no idea what to do next! Forget the fact that I remember everything from when I was dead! I just want to forget for awhile, is that so wrong?!"

...Oh. She hadn't meant to say some of that out loud. Oops.

[vdistinctive]

Fuck.

"Kathy." What the hell could he even say? "Darlin'. I'm so sorry."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I left the island on Valentine's Day," Kathy said softly, tucking her knees up to her chest. She'd long-since burned through the alcohol and was coldly sober now. That wasn't going to stop her from word-vomiting all over Eliot, though.

"I just--I couldn't stay. First there was the weekend where I realized that I remembered the afterlife and hell and then if those memories were true than the ones I was having about being an ex were true and then I asked Raven about what happened to my family and she told me that she killed them and burned the building down and it was Valentine's Day and the island was just going to be filled with people being cute and happy and in l-love and I just. Couldn't. Stay! So I ran."

[vdistinctive]

That was fair. That was more than fair. Eliot himself had gone off to liberate Croatia and all that had been about was his high school sweetheart marrying another man.

"Are you somewhere safe?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm in a hotel in Boston," Kathy said, scrubbing her eyes and ruining her makeup. "But there may or may not be a supernatural mafia interested in me now. I dunno. Hard to say."

Not helpful Kathy.

[vdistinctive]

You could have lied to him, Kathy. He'd been all set to just tell you to come home when you were ready, but nooooo.

"Alright. That ain't -- the best news I ever heard."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy didn't lie! Not when she didn't have to anyway!

"Well, I mean, I haven't seen any evidence that they noticed me or cared?" Kathy said. In that no one had coshed her over the head and abducted her, as she wasn't really going out of her way to pay attention. That went directly against her 'party till you forget' plans. "So it's probably nothing to worry about."

[vdistinctive]

"Then why do you think they might be interested in ya in the first place?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Because I went to their bar and met up with an old friend who told me to get out because the last thing I wanted was to attract their attention," Kathy said, glum. "So I left."

Eventually.

[vdistinctive]

Kathy, none of this was helping Eliot's urge to track you down and come get you.

"You need any help?"

He was trying really hard to trust her. He was.

[spin_kick_snap]

At least she wasn't pregnant?

Oh wait. That would be fixable. Hmm.

"I don't know. I mean, not for that." Honestly, the Coterie didn't even rate right now. "Just..."

She didn't know what to do. What to think. How to feel. Which was why she was chasing forgetfulness so hard. Because then she wouldn't have to do, or think, or feel anything.

[vdistinctive]

"I can come get you," Eliot offered. "If you want me to."

[spin_kick_snap]

"And do what?" Kathy asked. "Here, there, nothing changes. I don't even know what to do about the apartment. At least here, I don't have to make a decision about that."

[vdistinctive]

"True. But you're just puttin' off the inevitable. You know that, right? Running from your troubles, it can't last forever."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I dunno, I've never tried it before," Kathy pointed out. Mostly because she was feeling sulky and stubborn, dammit. "Maybe I'm the one person it will work out for."

Sorry, Eliot. But sometimes Kathy was very nineteen. Well--eighteen. She hadn't really spent most of eighteen alive.

"What do you say to the person who killed your family?"

[vdistinctive]

She really, really was.

"I ain't gonna tell you you gotta forgive her. . . ." Eliot said gently. "But I s'pect that depends on why she did it."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was quiet for a very long time.

"...Because she came home from watching me die to see my dad eating what was left of Sarah," she said when she did finally speak. "After having hurt my mom. Pretty badly."

There. The reasoning Kathy hadn't wanted to face. Because it moved the culpability from Raven to her.

[vdistinctive]

Or, you know, onto her father, and the world, and the jackass who'd thought maybe if he just kept quiet about starting the zombie apocalypse, it would all be okay.

"That can't have been easy to hear," Eliot said. "I'm sorry, darlin'.'

[spin_kick_snap]

Sure but none of them had the specific responsibility of keeping her family safe. She had.

"And while she was talking, all I could think about was this kid--a teen--that I...chased down. And--and--" Don't make her say it, Eliot. "He kept screaming that he had a little sister to take care of, but I didn't--I just--"

Oh fuck, here were all the tears. See? This was why she'd wanted to forget!