33 Apocalypse Ave, Saturday Morning

[spin_kick_snap]

After a night spent crashing in the front room catching up on some of the K-dramas that had come out while she'd been dead, Kathy decided that it was a good morning to make a hearty Korean breakfast. It was definitely cold enough that the hotteok sellers would be out in force in the streets of K-town and gaeran tost-u was always a hearty breakfast food. Kathy decided to make something like a Southwestern vegetarian omelette for the tost-u and set to work chopping, dicing, and slicing the fillings while waiting for the hotteok dough to rise. She still wasn't up to eating meat yet, but figured everyone else in the house would appreciate a side of bacon with their meals. And maybe if she fried the tost-u bread in the bacon drippings, she could get a little bit of the flavor without tripping over her current aversion to meat?

It was worth a shot, anyway.

Not knowing that anything was weird yet, Kathy danced and sang around the kitchen, hoping Raven had fallen asleep in her room last night instead of out in a tree somewhere, planning on waking the guys up with breakfast in bed. It was a good morning and already the house was beginning to smell of delicious sugary pancakes, frying bacon, and brewing coffee.

And the strains of upbeat pop music, too. Because you couldn't cook breakfast without bouncing around to the bippiest music you could find.

[Open for housemates and wandering children alike, warning for SP in the afternoon]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Quiero ver bailar tu pelo, quiero ser tu ritmo
Que le enseñes a mi boca tus lugares favoritos..."

Look, if you couldn't sing the catchiest song of the summer in the privacy of your own home, where could you sing it?

Hips swaying, grooving to the beat that existed only in her head, Kathy danced between the table and the oven, using a spatula as mic in between moving the hatteok from the pan to a plate.

"Déjame sobrepasar tus zonas de peligr--ah!" Kathy had caught sight of Dante mid-spin and startled. It was a miracle that she hadn't accidentally burned herself on the oven when she flinched back into the oven. One of the pancakes was lost, though, toppling off the plate and landing on the floor. "Oh my goodness, you scared the he--heck out of me!"

Beat.

"...Dante?" She remembered this little boy, skinny and scared and determined not to show it, hoovering down pizza and reading her comic books back at the dorms, years ago now.

[rebelseekspizza]

The little boy took a quick, wary step back, watching her with dark eyes.

"You wanted to say 'hell'."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I did," Kathy admitted, staying where she was. "But swearing in front of younger kids sets a bad example."

She was pretty sure that even at this age, Dante could out-cuss her. But it was the principle of the matter, dammit.

"But it's only a saying," she continued. "I should have said that you scared the 'daylights' out of me instead. That would be more polite." She offered him a small smile. "You're not gonna make me wash my mouth out with soap for swearing are you?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"No," the boy said, his expression steady. "You're big."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I am," Kathy said, looking at him just as steadily. "But we both know that grownups can make mistakes and do things they should get in trouble for."

Should being the operative word there.

She brought the plate of hatteok to the table, keeping her movements slow and deliberate. "Breakfast is almost ready," she told him. "If you're hungry, there's plenty. You can eat until you're full."

[rebelseekspizza]

"No, we don't."

Not in the boy's world, at least. He'd never seen anyone who did anything bad to him get in trouble. Not ever.

"Are you just giving that to me?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Well, he lived in a fucked up world where nuns were demons in disguise who ate children.

"Yes I am," Kathy told him. "You're free to eat as much as you like, provided you don't make yourself sick. And there's plenty, so you can help yourself or you can ask me for something. Whichever you feel more comfortable with."

She put two of the biggest, fluffiest pancakes onto a plate, the brown sugar stuffing oozing down the side in tasty, caramelized goodness. Next to that, she added a gaeran tost-u and a couple of strips of bacon and then set the whole thing down on the side of the table closest to him.

And then she added the same to her plate, minus the bacon, taking a quick bite of each. Just in case he was worried about what she'd put into the food.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy... was starving. After watching her eat, he realized he was too hungry to care if she was trying to do anything to him. He was pretty sure he could take her, anyway.

He rushed the table, sitting down and grabbing his fork. Cut off a large piece of the pancake and shoved it in his mouth, chewing rapidly.

He barely even tasted it.

[spin_kick_snap]

Any other kid and Kathy would ask him to slow down, would worry about him choking. Dante, she was just glad to see that he was eating to nag about manners.

She waited until he was done with his first pancake before saying anything again.

"So, there are some house rules I want you to be aware of while you're here," she told him. "First is that no one is allowed to touch you without your permission. Not me, not anyone else who lives here, not anyone who visits. If someone does, you have every right to make them stop touching you however you need to--but if it's another kid your age or younger, I'd appreciate it if you didn't hurt them much."

He wasn't going to believe her, she knew it already. But she still had to try.

"Second, your bedroom door and the bathroom doors both lock. If you ever want to, you can go into either room and lock the door and no one will come in after you. Third, I'm not the boss of you, but I worry. If you're going to leave to go anywhere, I'd appreciate it if you let me know, just so I didn't get worried if I go looking for you for lunch and you're not around. And fourth..."

She nodded over to the block of kitchen knives, mercifully spared from Fandom's childproofing magic. "If it will make you feel better to have a knife handy, you're welcome to take one, so long as you promise to only use it in self-defense. Smaller ones will fit your hand better and are easier to hide and will impact my ability to make dinner less. Fair?"

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy chewed on that as he chewed on the next pancake.

"And what if I don't follow the rules?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Then I will probably sit you down and talk at you for awhile," Kathy admitted. "A long lecture where I'll let you know what I am disappointed or that I was worried and then ask why you didn't follow them." She shrugged at him. "But I'm never going to hurt you or hit you or say mean things about you. And I'm not going to lie to you."

She took another bite of her egg sandwich. "That's true whether you break the rules or not. Ask me a question and I'll give you the most honest answer I can."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Sure."

The boy didn't quite believe that.

But he was tearing through his second pancake now, and it was good, and she wasn't trying to hurt him right this minute, so he'd worry about it later.

[spin_kick_snap]

Honestly, Kathy knew--just from dealing with regular-flavor Dante--that this was the best she'd get anyway.

"Do you remember visiting here before?" she asked instead.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy squinted at her. Her face meant something... vaguely.

"I don't know," he said.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay," Kathy said, a little disappointed. "Well, the first time you showed up, you ate pizza and carefully read my comics so you didn't get them all greasy. You're welcome to read more comics today if you'd like."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Which ones were the comics? About the blue guy?"

The boy was running out of pancake. Crisis.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy could at least fix one of those problems. She nudged the plate of hitteok towards him. "Might have been," she said. "We can look through them and check? Also, want a gaeran tost-u? It's an egg sandwich, nice and tasty."

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy watched her warily - though not so warily that he couldn't grab the plate and yank it towards him. "Okay," he said at last.

And in the pancakes went.

[spin_kick_snap]

He was eating. He could look at her warily all he wanted so long as he was eating.

Kathy went over to the stove and grabbed two of the egg sandwiched from where they were warming in the oven. "Here," she said, keeping one for herself and adding the other to his plate. She was careful to keep several feet of distance between them. "Not an olive in sight, either."

[rebelseekspizza]

Smacking loudly, the boy looked up at the food. "I think I remember you from a dream."

[spin_kick_snap]

"A dream?" Kathy asked, getting them both glasses of milk as well. She added a little bit of chocolate syrup to his; she figured he needed the calcium a lot more than the extra sugar would harm him. And then she sat down in her seat, wishing she could move closer to him. But he was back to being feral and she was better off respecting his desire for distance than giving him the cuddles she really wanted to.

Rule number one was nobody touched him without his permission. Not even for all the hugs, Kathy.

"Will you tell me about it?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"We were in a room. A different one. Small," the boy said, a little mollified now by the food - and the sense there was no immediate threat. "There was food too."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy nodded. "I will always feed you when you're hungry," she promised. "And warm clothes and somewhere safe to rest."

She eyed him. "Speaking of, are you chilly? I've got a couple of sweatshirts that you can borrow while you're here. They're soft."

And huge even on her, because Kathy liked being enveloped in oversized warm clothes in the winter.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm fine," the boy said stiffly.

He was only wearing a sleeveless shirt and pants, but he didn't get cold fast.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay," Kathy said, since she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere by fussing. "But I'll leave a hoodie out just in case you do get cold later."

So he wouldn't have to ask. She hoped he'd be more amenable to things if he had the freedom to take them for himself, rather than needing her to give them to him. Admitting he needed something was just one more way someone could have leverage over him.

Kathy wished she could go back in time and burn the nuns of Saint Lamia alive herself.

"Is that all you remember about your dream?" she asked, fighting down her anger so he wouldn't think it was at all directed towards him.