The Preserve, Saturday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

It had been a really long time Kathy had gone on patrol, but her body had immediately fallen into the old rhythm. It felt like warming up muscles that hadn't been used in a while and Kathy was pretending she didn't notice how easy it was--or how good it felt. She was also ignoring the real reason she was out here, goaded into action by her conversation with the AlternaDante yesterday.

Whatever. Forget him. These slugs were gross as hell and they needed a good killing anyway.

She picked through the trees, keeping her eyes open for any signs of slugs, the nebulous 'danger' that AlternaDante had warned her against, and, most importantly, of Raven. She wasn't stupid enough to think that her bestie couldn't handle herself out here and probably do so better than Kathy herself, but that didn't mean she needed to handle it all herself.

And thanks, Fandom, way to ruin her plans of spending the weekend getting a Christmas tree. Dammit.

[Expecting two, but open!]

Comments

[rebelscreams]

"Justice has a habit of getting in trouble," Dante said lightly. Like he hadn't just been found out, walking up to them, his face a blank.

[moody_vagrant]

“Justice has nothing to do with this,” Anders said irritably. “And she doesn’t need to know about that nonsense, anyhow.”

[spin_kick_snap]

Color Kathy completely confused. Of course, she hadn't realized that they were talking about a proper noun, as opposed to a concept.

"Well, this seems like fun," she remarked, wrapping her arms around herself. "So you intended to follow Anders? Or is this another one of your 'mistakes'?"

[rebelscreams]

"Just making sure he doesn't get swallowed by an evil worm," Dante said idly.

Yeah, he and Anders could talk about Justice later.

[moody_vagrant]

“I’m touched by your concern,” Anders said, still stiff. “So far I haven’t met a worm I couldn’t fight, but you never know when that might change.”

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh just stop it, the both of you," Kathy snapped. "Dante, nobody believes you were just randomly out here wandering around, and Anders, you may be from a different reality, but I still recognize your reaction to feeling annoyed and guilty at the same time. Are you really telling me that you both crossed dimensions to try to save a whole different world and still can't stop sniping at one another?"

She threw her hands up in the air. "What the heck do I do when you get like this, that's what I wanna know."

[rebelscreams]

"Sometimes we get in some beating things up," Dante said, still all-casual. "Kathy keeps score."

[moody_vagrant]

"Scorekeeper and cheerleader," Anders nodded. "And not bad with a knife, when she remembers who to point it at."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Glad to have a purpose," Kathy said. Her eyes darted from one to the other, amused. Did they even realize they did that? How effortlessly they backed each other up when someone went up against them?

[rebelscreams]

Dante shrugged, though whether that was an answer to that unasked question was anybody's guess.

"She's with Spencer right now."

[moody_vagrant]

"Good," Anders said, conversationally. "She might break his brain, but he'll keep her safe."

[spin_kick_snap]

She'd broken his heart more than his brain, but she'd indeed remained safe.

"Did you walk her there?" Kathy asked. "Or just linger in something high and watch?"

[rebelscreams]

"Walked her," Dante said, tilting his head. "She doesn't always know where to go."

[moody_vagrant]

"Or remember what to do when she gets there," Anders said. "She has good days and bad days."

He glanced at Dante with what remained of their old affection.

"We keep her out of too much trouble. Mostly."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I...see," Kathy said, wrapping her arms around herself. They kept talking about this other her like she was a--

Well, a dementia patient, really. And, with the few details she'd gotten from Dante yesterday, maybe that was the best way to think about it.

"What's going to happen to her?" Kathy asked. "Is she just going to stay like that? Forever?"

[rebelscreams]

"It's."

Dante paused. If but for a moment.

"She'll go hollow soon," he said. "Then the monster takes over."

[moody_vagrant]

Anders gave an almost imperceptible nod but kept quiet. It wasn't like he could improve on what Dante had said.

[spin_kick_snap]

That sounded awfully familiar.

"What kind of monster?" she asked, her fingers curling over her mouth. "What will she do?"

Don't say 'eat people'. Don't say 'eat people.'

[rebelscreams]

"Kill people," Dante said, shrugging. "They change worse over time."

Saying it so clinically meant he didn't have to think about it.

[moody_vagrant]

"She's strong," Anders added, and he could never be quite as clinical as Dante. "She's held onto herself longer than most of them. But ... I don't think it'll be long, now."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy didn't want to think about that. She couldn't think about that. Her hand came up and worried the inside of her left wrist, where seven tally marks were inked on her skin. "What about you," she blurted out, looking at Anders. "You're fine. Aren't you?"

[rebelscreams]

"He's got his own deal," Dante said vaguely.

Anders'd gotten kinda pissed when he'd mentioned Justice just now, and he wasn't so far gone he wasn't going to respect that.

[moody_vagrant]

Anders found a particularly interesting lichen-covered stump to stare at.

"I'm not exactly human anymore."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You're...what?" Kathy asked, looking from one of them to the other. "How? Are you okay?"

Dammit, did Kathy need to find a way to get a non-human power-up, too? She was starting to feel distinctly outclassed.

[rebelscreams]

"Now there's a difficult question," Dante said, a kind of deep, disappointed cynicism dripping from his voice.