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

[rebelseekspizza]

"I don't know. Doesn't matter," the boy said.

He reached for his milk. "Why's it brown?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"There's chocolate in there," Kathy said, kicking herself for not realizing that he wouldn't ever remember having chocolate milk before. She hadn't even thought!

Jesus, Allah, and sweet baby Buddha, it was chocolate milk.

"If you don't like it, I can pour you a fresh glass," she offered. "But it's sweet. I think you'll like it. I also have some strawberry jam I can put on toast."

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy studied the drink in front of him.

Then her, again.

Then he shrugged anew and picked up his glass, taking a big sip of it. It was... nice. Sweet.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy didn't say anything as she watched him drink, figuring that too much enthusiasm might raise his suspicions again. But she couldn't stop herself from smiling when he seemed to like it.

Good. She was limited in ways to make Dante happy, but if introducing him to new, plentiful food was one, she'd take it.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy's eyes darted to her face as he finished. Why was she smiling? He pushed the glass aside.

"I'm full now."

[spin_kick_snap]

Because she cared about you, Dante, and wanted you to be full and content and maybe even a little happy.

"I'm glad to hear it," Kathy said. "I'm going to keep cooking a little so that Anders and Raven can have a hot breakfast when they wake up, too, but would you like to help me clean up a little after ours? Two sets of hands clean up faster than one."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Do I have to?" the boy asked warily.

Stupid to think he'd get food for free.

[spin_kick_snap]

"No," Kathy said, easily. "You don't. There's a TV in the living room and comics in my bedroom if you're looking for something else to do."

She got up and started moving dirty dishes to the sink. "I invited you to breakfast as my guest. You don't have to help clean up if you don't want to."

She'd just poke regular-flavor Dante into doing dishes a couple more times instead or something.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy watched her for a few more moments, weighing those options. Weighing having options at all.

Then he climbed out of his seat, empty glass and plate in hand, and put them down on the counter next to the sink.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Thank you," Kathy said, sincerely. That he even did that much, rather than just running away as soon as her back was turned, meant a lot. "You're a good kid, Dante."

She knew he heard the opposite all too often. One compliment in the face of thousands probably didn't do much, but it was still something.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy made a slight noise of acknowledgement, somewhere in the back of his throat. "Why d'you keep calling me that?" he asked, padding back to the table to get his knife and fork.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Dante?" she asked, startled. "I call you that because that's your name. Don't you remember?"

[rebelseekspizza]

It sounded vaguely familiar, but...

"No."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh," Kathy said quietly and shut off the water, wiping her hands on the dishtowels that hung off the cupboard below the sink. She turned to face him, dragging a chair over to look him in the eyes. "I can tell you some things if you like," she said. "Things that I know about you. And you can choose to believe me or not, but I promise I'm not lying to you. I do my best to never lie to you."

Dance around the truth, absolutely. Even be deliberately misleading sometimes. But never, ever lie.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Sure," said the boy, sounding like he didn't believe her at all.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Your name is Dante," she said quietly. "You are the son of Eva and Sparda and they loved you very much."

She thought about mentioning Vergil, but...no. Too much. This was already going to be too much for him to believe. And it was just too complicated, both emotionally and trying to explain. She could understand Sparda deciding to split them up, but giving one to a loving wealthy family and another to St. Lamia? What kind of bullshit was that?

"Your mother...helped me out once. More than once, really." Kathy closed her eyes, taking in a long breath. She remembered Eva's beauty, a light in the eternal beige of Purgatory, the warmth of her hug, and her flaming red hair. "She talked about you with love and pride."

[rebelseekspizza]

"My mom's dead," the boy said dully, those words sliding through his ears and touching on small hints of familiarity on their way out.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yes, she is," Kathy said softly. "If she weren't, there is no force in all this world that would keep her from you."

[rebelseekspizza]

"That's nice."

The boy wasn't so sure he believed it. Wasn't even sure if his mom was really dead, or just gone - the nuns said something different every other day.

"Then how'd you meet her?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"She found me when I was lost," Kathy said, looking down at her hands. "Wandering mostly, completely out of it. She saw me, talked to me, helped me remember who I was."

Which, sure, made Kathy sound like she'd been on drugs or something, but whatever. She wasn't about to mention that she'd been literally dead at the time unless he somehow figured out enough to ask.

"I only saw her a few times. It was dangerous for her to be where I was. But she wanted to help me as best she could. And while she was with me, we talked about you." She looked up at him and said deliberately, "She hugged me once and it was like I was surrounded by a cloud of red hair and a touch soft as feathers."

[rebelseekspizza]

Feathers. The boy remembered the feathers. "Like a bird," he said quietly, his eyes going wide.

For a moment, he had a memory almost in his grasp... and then it vanished on him again.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy just nodded. God, she wished he trusted her enough to let her hug him. "Yes," she said, "just like that. She was so proud of you, Dante; she just...lit up when she talked about you." God, she was saying too much and it wouldn't even count because this wasn't real childhood Dante, this was just another one of the island's stupid tricks, but she couldn't look at this sad and angry little boy and not. "Whenever someone tells you you're bad or stupid or broken or broken or unlovable, you need to know that they're wrong and they're lying, because your mother knew you better than they ever could and she loved you fiercely."