Barry's Old Warehouse, Warehouse District, Monday Afternoon

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All of Kathy's cleaning yesterday had paid off and the warehouse was much more livable today. All the broken furniture had been tossed, though very little had been moved in to replace it, and everything that could be swept, scrubbed, or tidied had been. Kathy had ended up crashing up in the loft in a nest of pillows and blankets that she'd managed to scrounge from various stores around the island and Ikea. The loft itself was more of an open platform jutting out from a wall than a proper room, so Kathy hadn't even tried to make it resemble a bedroom. If anything, it was a colorful blanket fort with two hammocks strung in the corners. It was truly ridiculous, but she loved it. She'd also destroyed the stairs leading up to loft, replacing it with a knotted rope that dangled from the ceiling all the way to the floor. Eventually, she'd add a ladder and some kind of pulley system to help get other people up, but last night she'd slept more soundly than she had since Mexico, up in the air where nothing could get to her.

This morning had involved a run to JGoB's for frosted cranberry scones slathered with creamy honey-butter and now she was wandering the warehouse, debating how much furniture she'd actually need to replace and where it would all go while waiting for Dante to show up with the hair dye.

Not a bad Monday, overall.

[For the guy mentioned but also open!]

Comments

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Kathy tilted her head to look at him. "I won't," she said. "Promise. I don't wanna end up with my hair falling out."

And he'd been firm enough in his no that Kathy wasn't going to do more than tease him about it.

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"Good," Dante said sagely. "'Cause we're gonna make you look even more awesome than Raven."

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"Flatterer," Kathy teased. "She and I had a good talk about whether or not you and Anders would be able to tell which of us was which if she shifted into me." She paused and added, "We also agreed we were never actually gonna do that to see."

They'd settled on that being 'potentially amusing, but way more likely to cause unnecessary drama.'

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Dante tilted his head and looked at her skeptically.

Very skeptically.

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"I'm serious!" Kathy said. "We agreed that it's off the table." Beat. "At least for you two."

Another beat.

"And we're probably going to pretend to be twins in Baltimore sometime."

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Dante's mouth quirked. "You really want that twin fantasy, huh."

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Belatedly, Kathy realized how incredibly fucking tactless she was being. Her expression skewed abruptly to horrified and it was all she could do not to gasp aloud. "Err, well, that is..." she stammered. "Just like...we were thinking--well, not thinking--"

Fuck. If she hadn't made it awkward before, she sure as hell was doing that now.

"It's dumb," she finished lamely. "Just idle chitchat while I short-circuited a hair dyeing inspired panic. Which was also dumb."

She was dumb. Who let her do things? Like talk?!

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He hadn't meant to get her stammering, or anything. But twins just got him-- well.

Dante shrugged idly. "Hey, whatever you guys are into," he said. "Twins are just overrated."

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No, no, this one was entirely on her. She was kicking herself for not thinking about it and just rambling about whatever idiot thing that came into her head.

"Raven just like showing off what she can do," Kathy said. "Which--fair, her powers are pretty awesome. Can't blame her for that. But it's not going to be, like, a thing now, me walking around with a--a double."

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"I'm not judging," Dante said, patting her arm. "So, d'you have any food around here?"

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Thank you, Dante, for saving her from awkward!spiraling herself into a nosebleed. Even though it did force you into a position of doing emotional labor for her, which she would feel guilty about later. Right now, though, she was grabbing onto that out with both hands.

"Sort of," Kathy said with a smile. "Let me show--err, can I get up and move around? Cause I can explain to you how the food machine thingy works, but it's kinda easier to show you."

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"You can get up, just don't try to headbutt anything," Dante said, taking a few steps back.

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"You never let me do anything," Kathy said, pretending to pout. "Anyway, it's right here."

She gestured to a large metal box near the sink, mounted on the wall. "It's a food replicator or something," she explained. "I forgot all the technobabble Barry used to explain it. But you've gotta add matter to the top like this..." she shoved a handful of junk into the top of the machine, then opened a panel on the side and entered in a code. "I...think it should be voice activated now," she said, a little dubious. "Ask it for something. Simpler is better--not saying you can't order a full Thanksgiving dinner, but you'd have to refill it."

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Dante squinted. He took a step towards the machine, side-eyeing the area she'd just shoved junk into it.

Dubious, yeah.

"A slice of pepperoni pizza?"

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It took a minute--literally, one minute, and then the bottom extended, with a steaming slice of pepperoni pizza resting on it. "You have to be real specific," Kathy mentioned. "Make sure to ask for a bowl if you want so--" She paused, hit the button on the side again, and then finished. "Soup. And make sure to turn it off of voice-activated when you're done. Or it'll just provide anything you say that's vaguely food-related."

Barry hadn't had these problems, but he was a super-genius. Kathy was going on half-remembered talks and tech she wasn't smart enough to fully understand.

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Dante laughed, picking up the slice. "Eh, I wouldn't say no to a robot following me around and making me food every time it comes up."

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"Well, this one is firmly attached to this wall, so you're going to have to come here to enjoy food made for you like that," Kathy declared. "I come back and there's a hole missing in this wall, I'm coming after you."

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"Can't call your buddy Barry and beg him to make a portable one?" Dante asked.

He held up the slice. ...and approached it with caution.

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"I thiiiiink he's in some magic country living with his princess girlfriend?" Kathy said with a shrug. "We lost touch after he left the island. That...that happens a lot."

At least for her.

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Dante winced, for an adjacent but different reason. "Lucky for us none of us are planning to bail, right?"

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"Good luck getting rid of me," Kathy said, face going stubborn. "I mean, if living in a warehouse with four other people hasn't chased me off screaming, god only knows what will."

Not that she exactly had a home world to go back to, but details.

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There was always the mainland. Close enough to home.

"Good," Dante said. He finally took a bite - the pizza tasted fine. "Ada's leaving soon."

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Kathy would have to give some serious thought to living in a city again. Especially since Raven wasn't likely to move there, either.

"Oh, that's right, she's a senior," Kathy said. "Isabella must be, too. I'm sorry."

Kathy was pretty sure Ada had never liked her and had liked her even less when she'd come back, but she knew that Ada and Dante had been close. She laid a brief hand on his shoulder, squeezed, and then let it fall. "Made plans to visit yet?"

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"Plans to get her a cat," Dante said. "We're swinging by Anders' shift on Wednesday."

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"Aww, that's sweet," Kathy said with a smile. Sometimes she thought about how nice it would be to get a kitten or a puppy--but no. "Something to cuddle that'll remind her of the island. Is she having a going away party or anything?"