33 Apocalypse Ave, Sunday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

From the minute the calendar had flipped from November to December, Kathy had been getting ready for the holidays. Quite literally--at midnight exactly she'd hung up the first decoration over her bed so she could fall asleep under it. By the tenth day of December, the public spaces in 33 apocalypse were starting to resemble a gingerbread house, lacking only a Christmas tree to hit maximum Christmas spirit.

So it was entirely possible that when the magic strings of Christmas lights appeared (in very unusual places, like inside closets and around the fridge and festively illuminating the shower since most other places already had strings of lights put up), it was entirely possible that it would have shorted the power even without the island's impetus behind it. Kathy tried flipping the breakers three times before just giving up and lighting a bunch of candles instead.

Though she'd just finished mixing up a batch of cookie dough which required an oven to bake. Maybe one last attempt to get the power working before giving up on electricity entirely?

[Open]

Comments

[tigerundercover]

Who said Kathy needed to go outside to get hit with a snowball?

"I mean, obviously. That way I can infiltrate their troops. Get the inside scoop."

[spin_kick_snap]

RAVEN DON'T YOU DARE BRING SNOW INSIDE THIS HOUSE!

"On what? Their plans to destroy humanity via carrots and pointy sticks?" she asked, starting the movie.

Cheesy horror and B-rated sci-fi, her two favorite genres.

[tigerundercover]

"Don't forget the weaponized icicles. Frozen and deadly."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay, yeah, icicles are pretty legit as far as weapons go," Kathy said with a solemn nod. "Though any enemy that can be overcome by a thermostat kind of lacks a bit of...panache."

[tigerundercover]

"I think it depends on how big they are," Raven said. "I mean, it can take ages for a decent sized snowman to melt."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Uggggghhhhhhh," Kathy said, wrapping the blanket around her even tighter. "I just assumed that time when they're all creepy and melted was because it wasn't really warm enough to melt them all away."

[tigerundercover]

"I mean if it's warmer it melts faster, but it's never going to be instantaneous. Maybe you just need to carry a flame thrower. '

[spin_kick_snap]

"That's why I have an Anders," Kathy declared. "He likes lighting things on fire while yelling, 'Never mess with a mage!' And he's cuddly."

Bonus points, especially in winter.

"And I knew it wasn't, like, instant-instant, but I just always kinda assumed it'd be fast." Which didn't make a lot of logical sense, but it was one of those things you decide in childhood and then never question again until forced to.

[tigerundercover]

"How many winters have you been in Maryland, and you still don't know how snow works," Raven marveled.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Because it's terrible," Kathy sniffed. "And a pain in the ass to run through."

[tigerundercover]

"But it's pretty. It makes the whole world seem quiet and calm."

Well. Until you ended up murdering a man for looking at you funny and breaking up with your lover because of it.

Raven was suddenly not certain that killer snow men was as good a movie choice.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey," Kathy said, nudging Raven. "You okay? You were talking and then your face did a thing."

She couldn't even quite say what, exactly.

[tigerundercover]

Raven shook the dark thoughts away. "I'm fine. Just -- blood on snow. Some memories with that."

[spin_kick_snap]

"We can watch something else," Kathy offered quietly. "It's barely even started yet."

No judgment. It was only a geographical quirk that kept her from having similar memories herself.

[tigerundercover]

Geographic quirk, personality quirk . . . Same thing.

"It's okay. I'll get used to it in a minute."

[spin_kick_snap]

If it snowed in LA, Kathy would probably have had plenty of unpleasant associations with blood on snow herself.

But none like Raven's, no.

"If you're sure," Kathy said, since she didn't want to push. "But if we decide halfway through that the movie sucks, I'm making a bid for more sexy doctors in increasingly improbable scenarios."

[tigerundercover]

"Perfectly fair. We can skip ahead to the episode where the genius woc intern sets a rapist on fire."

[spin_kick_snap]

"...Wait, why aren't we watching that episode right now?" Kathy had to ask.

[tigerundercover]

"It's not holiday themed?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Thus far, the only flaw I've heard evidence of about the entire episode."

Which, yes, she'd just heard about. But WOC setting rapists on fire, A++

[tigerundercover]

"It was actually really stressful to watch the first time through," Raven mused. "Because, like, there's the whole build up where we find out he is a rapist, and then the whole bit where she ends up being cornered alone with him. . . . I mean, if it weren't for the fact that the show never kills its recurring characters of color, I'd have really thought she was screwed."

[spin_kick_snap]

That rule was the reason why Kathy had bothered to start watching the dumb show--well, that and Raven had insisted, once upon a time.

"Remember that season when the POC outnumbered the remaining white cast in the last three episodes?" Kathy asked, grinning. "That was the best."

[tigerundercover]

"They totally need to do that again. Maybe get a whole non-white batch of interns!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Never gonna happen," Kathy said with a sigh. "But goddamn, wouldn't that be cool?"

[tigerundercover]

"Think of all the white lady tears," Raven said cheerfully. "They'd probably try to claim it was misogynistic or something, even if most of the interns were women."