The Luckiest Girl In The World

Fuck it. Enough waiting, hoping Kathy'd come back on her own. Maybe she needed help, or something.

Dante had a short list of places to look, listed in his head. Top of the list was Barry's warehouse - though he kinda figured she hadn't gone there if she really wanted to hide away.

Still, might as well cross off the obvious places first. And that's why he showed up at the warehouse door early into the afternoon, cold pizza in hand. Reached out, knocked. "Kathy?"

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Her original plan of 'hide in the preserve and never come out' was thwarted by fall. Yellow ducky pj pants and a matching tank top were great to wander around the house in, not so great at fighting off hypothermia. It was probably for the best that she'd spent Wednesday night wandering around ~~zombie-like~~ in a daze instead of curling up somewhere to fall asleep. It meant she'd still been conscious on Thursday morning by the time her survival instinct kicked back in and she'd fled the preserve for somewhere with blankets and heat.

Besides, she was less 'hiding' and more 'avoiding.' Which didn't really explain why she was dashing up to her loft to pull blankets over her head at the sound of a knock at the door.

Which probably would have worked better if she hadn't blundered into the table, bouncing off of it and into one of the metal sides with a loud clatter, before doing so. Good job on that stealth check, Kathy.

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... Yeah. There was definitely something in there.

Cautiously, Dante tried the door. It opened, and he let himself in. "Kathy?"

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It was probably too much to hope that he didn't hear her clambering up to the loft. So after a good thirty seconds of ~~hiding~~ pulling herself together, Kathy peeked over the edge and replied, "Dante?"

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"Pizza delivery?" Dante called.

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Her stomach growled, then lurched, then growled again. That meant she was probably more hungry than nauseous, though it was hard to tell these days.

"I--" she started and then realized that she was on the verge of tears.

Ugh.

"Y-you should--" she sniffled, taking deep breaths and trying to swallow the tears back. "I'm sorry!"

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"...Yeah, it was real terrible of you to make me get a veggie to come see you," Dante said slowly.

(Okay, he had an inkling of what she may be sorry for, but whatever. That was in the past.)

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She had a slew of things she was apologizing for, from offering him brains to arguing over personhood to up and vanishing for almost a week to crying about it now. Hell, she wasn't even entirely sure what she was apologizing for, other than a nebulous 'everything' reaching all the way to becoming a zombie in the first place.

"I--I'm all right," she said, despite evidence to the contrary. "I just--"

She had no idea what she was trying to say.

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Dante sighed.

He walked up closer and thrust the pizza box up towards her. "Eat."

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Kathy flinched away, from his food and tone both, but a moment later her arm, skinnier than normal, reached out to grab the box. Her hand trembled from exhaustion and it took her a few attempts to get a decent grip on the box.

"Thanks," she said, soft voice floating down to him as the box raised up.

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"You're welcome," Dante said. He looked at her. "Okay if I come up there, or...?"

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Raven hadn't gotten her usual poking from Kathy to go out into the world, and by Sunday Raven decided it was time to go track her down and make sure she was okay.

Yeah, okay, she maybe should have done this sooner. She was totally just trying to give her friend space (and maybe get some herself at the same time, seeing Kathy all ex-ed out hadn't been a picnic either).

"You know, if you want to avoid people, the preserve really does work way better."

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There was a long silence before Kathy's dubious "...Yeeeees?" came down.

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"Okay," Dante said.

And began the slow ascent up to her loft.

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And, you know, having said friend offering you brains probably hadn't been great, either.

Kathy startled like a hair, bouncing so high she nearly cracked her head on the ceiling, whirling around with her hands raised--to to attack, but to ward off a blow.

"Raven," she said, a little weakly when she realized who had spoken. "I...yeah, it does, but I don't come with subzero insulation. And its getting chilly."

And she had run out of the house with nothing more substantial than thin cotton pjs and a tank top. Not exactly the best clothing to camping in with 40 degree weather.

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Kathy was in the furthest corner of the loft by the time he ascended, knees tight to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them. The pizza box was open by her side, but she hadn't actually taken a slice yet.

Her hair was wild and snarled, her pjs grubby and stained from her sojourn outside. The only thing keeping her from being absolutely filthy was the shower Barry had installed in the warehouse. Kathy had spent hours under the water, the temperature turned up higher than was comfortable, leaving her skin stinging and red. And she'd sit there, blank-eyed, until the hot water finally ran out, and she'd be left with a frigid blast that left her shivering and running for her blankets.

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Raven checked the weather app on her phone. "Yeah, it's, like, 60 degrees out." She was reasonably certain that was normal people weather, but who knew? She tucked her phone away again. "So you have been avoiding people."

It was hard to tell for sure when you, too, were avoiding the world.

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Dante sighed, taking in the scene. "You gotta eat, Kat," he said.

He took a few more steps, until he was close enough - could sit down opposite her and push the pizza box a little closer.

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"Not at night," Kathy pointed out. She hadn't been doing a whole lot of wandering back and forth. That was more activity--and more potential to run into people--than she was really looking for.

"I've been...thinking," she said. That was better than avoiding, right? Or freaking out? Having a breakdown?

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"I know," she said, trying not to flinch away again. "I'm trying. It's just--" She waved her hands around, trying to find words. "Hard. Again."

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Hey, Raven was the last person to blame anyone for avoiding. "Thinking's good. About anything in particular?"

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"There's a lot of 'Oh god, I was a fucking ex again' on repeat," Kathy said with something approaching her old spirit.

It flickered and the collapsed again, leaving Kathy looking for tired and mousey than ever.

"I just..." How was she supposed to find words about what it was like waking up and remembering all that again?

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"That was pretty fucked up," Raven agreed. "Though -- you weren't quite the same again. Way less teeth gnashing."

Wasn't Kathy so glad this was her best friend?

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"Yeah," Kathy said, "I was actually a person." She grimaced, thinking about her argument that night with Dante. "Which means that everything I did was my actual choice."

Like hunting creatures and messily devouring them, for example. And offering their brains to her friends. "It was everything I hated about being an ex, but worse because I was actively participating in it. If I'd found someone who was still a human on the island that day..."

Of such things were nightmares made of. Literally.

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