33 Apocalypse Ave, Wednesday Morning

[spin_kick_snap]

By the kindness of fate--or perhaps the influence of Fandom--Kathy had treated herself to a long bath and a book the night before, ending up falling asleep in her own room mere pages from the end up the book. This bit of unexpected luck allowed the Kathy that woke up the following morning to have at least a little while before she was unexpectedly traumatized. At thirteen and still several years before attending Fandom or developing superpowers, this Kathy was a little less trained to roll with the punches.

But for now, she got washed up and dressed, then headed downstairs to make herself a bowl of cereal and some toast before figuring out what to do with the day.

And wow. That was a lot of booze and leftover pizza to shove into one fridge. Huh.

[Open!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

Smart? She was smart too? That almost seemed unfair! Kathy bet she had the perfect life, getting good grades and very popular, going out to do something fun every night and coming home the next day to go to school and ace all her tests without even needing to study.

"I bet she makes her parents really proud," she said, a little wistfully. No wonder she didn't need to eat healthy bran cereal and drink skim milk. Her mom probably wasn't always going on about diets and makeup and being pretty while he dad got mad because she got a B in Music again. "Do they, umm, like you?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"They're dead," Dante said, after a pause. "And they gave her a lot of shit before they died. It fucking sucked, like she couldn't do anything right."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ohhhhh," Kathy said, cheeks burning again. "I'm sorry, that was really personal. I, umm, shouldn't have asked."

But she understood how that felt. At least a little. That feeling of trying and trying and never quite making it. "I'm sure they just, umm, had really high standards? You know, so she'd always do her best. Sometimes parents are just, uhh, really bad at showing it?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Nah, they sucked," Dante said flatly. "You don't encourage people to get better by making it so they're afraid to breathe wrong, and you sure as fuck don't show someone you love 'em by acting like they're dirt."

Beat.

"Sorry, it pisses me off."

[spin_kick_snap]

"It--it's okay," Kathy said, nodding. Her hand lifted up, like she was doing to lean over and pat him in reassurance, but then she lost her nerve and it dropped back to the table again. "Family is, umm, hard. Sorry."

Clearly they needed a new topic of conversation.

"So, umm, what's your family like? Do they like your girlfriend?"

Oh. Oh honey no.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante made an-- amused. Let's go with amused, noise. "My brother doesn't like anybody," he said. "My mom liked her."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy wasn't going to ask about his dad. She was at least a little tactful!

"Siblings can be difficult," she confided. "My little sister is the worst. And since I'm the big sister, whenever she does something wrong, I get in trouble, too, cause I'm the responsible one."

[rebelseekspizza]

"That's also kinda messed up," Dante said. "Stuff she did isn't your fault."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm supposed to stop her from getting into trouble, though," Kathy explained. "It's what big siblings are supposed to do."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You're a kid," Dante said. "Not a parent."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Right, but..." Kathy frowned. "It teaches responsibility for the future. And you don't have to be a parent to, umm, want to care of them?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"What, so you have to learn responsibility and your sister doesn't?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"No, she does, just..." Kathy didn't have a good answer for that.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't wanna talk shit about your parents," said Dante, though that was a lie. "But that just sounds like they want an excuse to yell at you."

[spin_kick_snap]

It had taken him months to get through to Kathy about her parents and that was with Sparkle and Eliot and Raven laying groundwork. This Kathy didn't have the benefit of that, just years of indoctrination.

"Oh no," she said, shaking her head. "They're just--they want me to be the best I can be, because it's a hard world out there. And I sometimes daydream or spend too long on the internet or get my head lost in a book or something. So they have to be a little hard on me. But they're just trying their best. I can just be a little...frustrating, I guess. You know. To deal with."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You're really not," Dante said quietly.

He swept past her, pizza box in hand.

[spin_kick_snap]

"But we only just me--oh." Kathy watched him go by, assuming he was leaving. "Umm, bye? Sorry."

[rebelseekspizza]

"C'mon," Dante said, waving at her. "Eat your cereal in front of the TV like a normal person."

[spin_kick_snap]

"In front of the TV?" she squeaked.

No wonder Sparkle had called her a mouse, once upon a time. "We're allowed to do that?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"You're allowed to do whatever you want," Dante said. He didn't wait for her to follow as he wandered into the living room and flopped down on the couch. "Your folks aren't here, and you're a guest in this house, so I make the rules."

[spin_kick_snap]

"But--but--" Kathy trailed after him in a confused daze. "Not whatever I want. There have to be rules." She blinked at him, sprawled out over the couch and her stomach did several tiny flips. Gosh, he was--pretty. "What if I want to do something bad? Or mean? Or illegal?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't kill or hurt anybody," Dante said, waving his pizza box at her, "And don't eat all the pizza. There, that's the rules."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shook her head in disbelief. You needed to have more rules that just that, Mr. Dante. You really did. "Do you eat pizza for breakfast every day?" she asked, gingerly sitting on the edge of the couch, worried she'd spill her bowl of cereal.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Most of the time, yeah," Dante agreed, shoving another slice into his mouth.

[spin_kick_snap]

"What do you eat for lunch?" Kathy asked. "Or dinner?"