33 Apocalypse Ave (and eventually to Limbo City), Friday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Last week, Kathy had been an utter lump, eating ice cream and playing sad music and watching a lot of TV while she got used to life without the guys. This week wasn't actually much easier, but Kathy's tolerance for her own moping had run out and left her needing to do something that wasn't just dwell.

Fortunately, it wasn't like she was lacking in options. With the guys gone and Raven spending most of her time out in the woods, the house was just too big and full of memories. So she was moving back to the apartment above Luke's - along with Raven, at least nominally - and this week she'd really gotten her ass in gear when it came to packing. Most of the upstairs was packed, even if those boxes were still mostly stacked downstairs, and now she was just cleaning out their old rooms of the detritus the always seemed to accumulate under furniture and in corners.

Like this old credit card bill of Dante's from...April of 2017. Kathy snorted and rolled her eyes, preparing to toss it into the bin that was half-full of junk when she noticed that one of the items on there was in Hangul. Wait. Had Dante been learning stuff in Korean?

Wait. 김치 크림 파이. Was that a-- Kathy grabbed her phone and did a quick search and yep. It was pretty much exactly the kind of website she'd been expecting with a name like that. Definitely didn't have to do with desserts, that was for damn sure.

"Oh." She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, especially since that was back when everything had still been really...rough...between them. They'd been friends, in a tentative kind of manner, but no more. So then why...?

"Hi, Portalocity? I've got a portal scheduled to Limbo City for later on this evening, but I was wondering, could I bump it up to earlier than that? Something this afternoon would be good, yeah."

[Open for calls, texts, and visitors before she goes, and LC folks afterwards!]

Comments

[that_oldsaying]

"I've grown a little," Alluka protested, laughing as she checked one of the cabinets for plates. "I'm sure I have!"

She hadn't. Like, at all. Nnnnnothing. Eternally small.

"But a dinner party sounds nice!" Except, er... "We won't be doing anything too complicated though, right? Papa Hannibal's dinner parties are always..."

She waved her hands. A bit much? Super fancy?

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh gosh no," Kathy said, shaking her head. "Especially if I was trying to teach you at the same time. Probably just a curry or something, you know? A nice sauce you could ladle over rice."

She sighed, eyes going far away for a moment. "One day, though, I'd like to do a proper big Korean dinner. A couple of big, fancy dishes and lots of little banchan. Maybe even some barbeque."

[that_oldsaying]

"What's a banchan?" Alluka asked, checking another cabinet and beaming when she found the plates. "Is that like an appetizer?"

She looked over at Kathy.

"And you can teach me, and then we'll do that, just the way you want it."

It... it sounded important to Kathy, somehow.

[spin_kick_snap]

It reminded her of home. A home she didn't have any more. All the little traditions that were lost because she was the only one they meant anything too, now.

"Side dishes, actually. Korean meals are usually a big bowl of rice, a plate of meat, soup, and then a lot of little sides of stuff," she explained, setting in the tea to steep. "They're all supposed to kinda balance and harmonize the meal, but half the time, they're just stuff in the fridge. And kimchi. You can't have banchan and not include kimchi."

[that_oldsaying]

"So I should learn to make that one first," Alluka reasoned, pulling down a couple plates. "Since it has to be there."

Nothing could replace what Kathy had lost, but new traditions could be formed.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy chuckled. "Kimchi's one of those ones you work up to. I don't even make my own. I'd need a kimchi fridge first, because it takes a little while for the flavors to set. And there's lots of different kinds! Technically, you're supposed to make different types depending on the season and how close you are to the ocean and the weather's like...but most people just make their family's recipe and call it good."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka blinked.

"People have a fridge just for one dish?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah," Kathy said with a wistful sigh. "Kimchi takes awhile to ferment, even a few weeks depending on the variety. And most families go through a lot of it. So you have a whole fridge - usually small ones - devoted to fermenting kimchi. And kimchi can smell pretty strong, especially the fish-based ones, so if you don't want everything tasting like kimchi, it's smart to separate it."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka glanced around the kitchen.

She didn't see a second fridge.

"But you don't make your own? So, so you only have one fridge?"

Less the other was hiding?

[spin_kick_snap]

"I don't, not really," Kathy admitted. "I usually get some at the Korean market in Baltimore. It comes in a big jar."

It wasn't as good as homemade, but it was still kimchi.

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka nodded, filing that away.

She'd ask Ringo about it. Maybe they could get Kathy a fridge for her birthday. It wasn't a very exciting present, in Alluka's opinion, but it sounded like it mattered. A lot. And that was more important.

And then they could save the exciting presents for Christmas!

"And the jar doesn't smell up the fridge?" she asked. "How many tarts do you want, Kathy?"

[spin_kick_snap]

They happened around the same time, so they'd be able to do both at once!

...Though Kathy would probably break down crying at a kimchi fridge and forget to open up everything else.

"The jar is airtight," Kathy explained, holding up three fingers. "So long as I close it tightly and only open it outside the fridge, it's fine. And, let me tell you, having Dante around means never having to worry if your jars lids are too loose. Usually it means just the opposite."

Her smile faded a little as she realized that having too-tight lids wasn't really a problem she was going to have to worry about.

Oh.

[that_oldsaying]

All the more reason to do both separately!

"Dante will miss you even more though," Alluka declared, setting two tarts on Kathy's plate for her since one was never enough. "Because you're way more helpful than he is. So that means he'll have to come visit you lots and lots."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'll have to point that out to him later on," Kathy said. "I'm the cute and helpful one. But yeah. I hope he and Anders do visit a lot."

She would do her part and visit Limbo City sometimes, but she'd be far happier if she didn't have to go often.

[that_oldsaying]

"Dante said he'd help me learn to fight," Alluka offered, smiling at Kathy. "So, so he'll have to come here. And of course if he's here, he'll visit you! You're way more important to him than my lessons."

At least, Alluka really hoped so.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'd like to think so," Kathy said, amused. "Though I do know that he's gonna take your lessons seriously. He wants you to stay safe." She bit into one of her jam tarts and mmmm'd at how good it was. "Can I come watch?"

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka added a third jam tart to her own plate and nodded.

"I don't mind," she said, shrugging a little. "If it would make you feel better, I don't mind at all."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I just wanna watch," Kathy said. "Not even to feel better? But just to watch you learn."

[that_oldsaying]

"Then that's even better," she said happily. "I'll work as hard as I can to learn well."

Alluka considered that.

"Though you don't want to come to my other lessons yet," she decided, though she was still grinning. "At least, you shouldn't. They're kind of terrible."

[spin_kick_snap]

"What other lessons are you learning?" Kathy asked. "And you also have to tell me about that other thing you experienced out there!"

[that_oldsaying]

"Papa Jono has started teaching me how to play the violin," Alluka announced, then giggled. "You really don't want to hear it yet, Kathy."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ooooh," Kathy winced. "I've heard that's a little bit, uhh, hard to listen to when you're just started out."

[that_oldsaying]

She giggled.

"It's awful," she said, delighted. "But my violin is really pretty!"

Alluka fished her phone out of one of her skirt pockets and, after a moment, offered it to Kathy.

"See?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ooh, that's lovely!" Kathy cooed, looking at Alluka's phone. "What made you decide to learn the violin?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Um, um, well..."

Alluka hesitated for a moment, trying to put it into words.

"I wanted something that Papa Jono and I could do together," she explained, "and I didn't want to learn guitar. And while I could've asked Papa Jono to teach me how to fight, he... he had a bad summer for reasons I don't know. So I wanted something that would make him happy, without making him unhappy at the same time? And I like the violin. It's pretty, when other people play it."

She'd get there!