33 Apocalypse Ave, Wednesday Morning

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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

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"You said tons," Kathy pointed out. "That means more than one."

He thought she was cool, but because she reminded him of his girlfriend, probably.

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Dante shrugged. "I said tons of people who would think that," he said. "You haven't talked to them yet, so they can't find out."

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"Talking is hard," Kathy grumbled. "People are intimidating."

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"Why?"

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"Because they can be mean," Kathy said, matter-of-fact.

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"Not all of them," Dante pointed out.

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"Enough are. Or, can be, maybe?" Kathy said. "Not everyone is mean, but everyone has the potential to be."

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"Everyone's also got the potential to be cool," Dante pointed out.

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"You just said other people are lame," Kathy grumbled--before realizing that she'd just passed Mr. Dante. To his face. "I'm sorry!" she yelped. "Oh fish, that was super-rude of me!"

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Dante frowned. "What? When the fuck were you rude?"

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"Right then!" Kathy said. "I backtalked!"

That was very much Not Allowed in the Li household, thank you very much.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to contradict you," she added. "Sometimes my mouth runs when it isn't supposed to."

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Jesus fucking christ.

"Run your mouth all you want," Dante said. "Everyone else in this house does."

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"Well, you're all, umm, older," Kathy said delicately, trying to sound like she wasn't contradicting him again, even though she sorta was. "I'm just a kid. It's not my, umm, place? To run my mouth and cop an attitude."

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"Why the fuck not?" Dante said.

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Kathy gaped at him, unable to give an answer. He might as well have been asking 'Why gravity?' Because that was just the way the world worked.

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"When you're a kid is the best time to run your mouth," Dante said. "You don't get thrown in jail."

Well. If you were a not-him kid, anyway.

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"No, but then you get in trouble and you get grounded and your dad just ignores you for like a week," said Kathy, who wasn't smart enough to just enjoy the silence. "It's just, umm, better to stay quiet and polite."

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"Maybe around your folks," Dante said, giving her a little nudge in the shoulder, because he couldn't help himself. "You wanna talk back around me, it's cool."

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"You won't get mad?" Kathy asked, like such a thing was impossible to imagine. "I'm younger than you! I'm supposed to be respectful."

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Dante snorted. "Fuck respectful," he said. "Just be you, shitting hell."

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"I've, ummm...never really done that before," she said quietly.

Her whole life had been pruning herself to fit into the molds the adults in her life expected her to fit; a bonsai tree of respectability, responsibility, and politeness.

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"So give it a shot as long as you're here," Dante said, shrugging. "You're probably not coming back, right?"

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Kathy shrugged. "This is supposed to be an educational enrichment program," she said. "I thought it would look good for college."

Not that Kathy was even a freshman in high school yet.

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"You're like nine," Dante said, rolling his eyes. "Fuck, lighten up, okay?"

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The shift in Kathy was immediate. She just kinda of...wilted, shoulders hunching forward, knees coming up to her chest. "Right," she said softly. "Sorry. Yeah."

Somewhere, adult!Kathy was facepalming.