spin_kick_snap | The Mount, Ex-Los Angeles

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The Mount, Ex-Los Angeles

The last time anyone from Fandom had been in Kathy's LA, the heroes had been living inside the walls that surrounded Paramount Studios, with the exes and the South Seventeens laying claim to everything else. Since then, they'd expanded; the Big Wall pushing the borders out almost a mile in all four directions. In some spots, it was hard to tell that there had ever been a zombocalypse; the streets were clean, the buildings repaired, the blood all scrubbed away. There was a proper school, lots of farms and gardens, several churches, and even a small library. The studio was still the heart of the community, but people had started to spread out and settle. It was still a tight fit, several thousand people into one square mile, but honestly not much worse than Los Angeles used to be, back before the world died and reanimated again.

Life had fallen back into a rhythm again. People got up, got ready for the day. Kids were sent off to school, adults took themselves to various jobs, though there were fewer sales people, baristas, and aspiring actors and a lot more guards, scavengers, and farmers these days. There was a brewery down on Larchmont and a still over on Monroe. Burns Park let people enjoy a bit of nature where the kids could run around and burn off steam and a Gold's Gym practically against the Big Wall. That was where the Unbreakables spent most of their free time, with curious gawkers watching them put more and more weight onto the machines.

It was a bustling little community of survivors, as safe as a place could be, surrounded on all sides by millions of undead waiting to find a way inside to devour them all.

[For them that are there! NFB, and ~~please wait for the~~ OCD is up! Previous entry Next Entry]

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"Anywhere is fine," Dante said easily. "'M probably most used to it."

Kathy snorted. "You're just asking for Dad to tell you about one of his deployments or a con or whatever," she said, shooting Eliot a fond look.

...And not pointing out she'd been sleeping in a closet for the past two weeks. She was just gonna elide over that bit for as long as possible, thanks.

Dante rolled his eyes. "He can come at me," he said, and reached for her hand.

Kathy let him take it, clinging to it like a lifeline. She felt awkward and uncertain, like she'd forgotten how to deal with people since coming to the Mount. His hand helped, a bit of connection to hold on to.

"Stop trying to pick fights with my dad," she teased. Which wasn't what she wanted to say at all, but her throat felt too small for anything else. "You're both pretty."

"I'm prettier," Dante joked, and stole a quick, chaste kiss.

And for once, chaste was the best Kathy could do. It wasn't that there were other people around, even Eliot. But her omnipresent fear was too big for desire to get around. Sex meant letting your guard down, sex meant setting aside your constant vigilance. Kathy wasn't ready to do either, at least not when she was awake.

And she wasn't doing that great a job sleeping these days, either.

"Well, yeah," she said, smiling a little at the kiss but not stealing one of her own. "You're also under forty." She looked down at herself, covered in gross from the fight and the subsequent hugging. "We should get cleaned up. Fortunately, hot water isn't an issue."

"Got the pipes all sorted out around here?" Dante said, sounding somewhat surprised.

"After the exes, poor sanitation is the most dangerous enemy," Kathy recited, the side of her mouth kicking up. "St. George is kind of a flying PSA. Kinda reminds me of Mr. Rogers back home."

Her proper home.

"But yeah. Zzzap provides the electricity and from there, they figured out pipes and plumbing." She shrugged. "I didn't ask much about it. It works and that's enough for me."

Kathy hadn't wanted to know, because knowing was just a half-step away from accepting and she had clung to the belief she'd find a way home.

Dante smiled a bit. "The more you know," he said. "Guess deodorant would be hard to shop for around here."

He glanced towards the mattress by the door.

"You wanna shower? I can stand watch in the bathroom."

It was a joke but it wasn't really a joke.

"Would you?" Kathy asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. "I know it's dumb, but..."

A girl didn't tape knives to her shower stall walls if she wasn't expecting to need them.

"The exes have only gotten inside once since I've been here but I don't wanna chance it."

But once was one time too many.

Edited 2018-09-27 14:54 (UTC)

"It's not dumb," Dante said. He shrugged with one shoulder. "I offered, it's cool."

Kathy nodded, squeezing his hand in gratitude. "I won't even make you wash my hair," she said, trying for lightness as she led him towards the bathroom. "I'll be quick."

She didn't tend to linger.

"Take all the time you need," Dante said, following her lead.

If he could help her feel safer at all, he'd take it.

They entered the small bathroom and Kathy quickly stripped, utilitarian with not even a hint of flirtation. "You okay?" she asked. "I mean, outside of being always okay."

Dante leaned back against the bathroom door, hearing it click shut behind him.

"I'm fine," he said. "It's you I've been worried about."

"I've been worried about me, too," Kathy said with a wry smile, another joke that wasn't really. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and frowned, seeing for the first time just how much a toll these past weeks had been on her and quickly ducked into the shower stall like that would keep Dante from noticing, too. "But also you guys. I mean, I just vanished. That would fuck with me if it happened to any of you."

"We're here now," Dante said simply.

"I know I just - " Kathy voice broke for a moment and she stood under the water in silence. "I just have to apologize for awhile, I think. Feel guilty. Fuss."

"If it helps you," Dante said, watching her - more with quiet concern than anything else. "But I don't need it."

"I...I talked with a therapist once," Kathy said. "Right after I got back. Stopped going when I realized I wouldn't be able to explain some of the major shit that was wrong with me."

She went quiet again for a second, her silhouette slumped.

"She said that self-blame was an attempt to gain control over a situation where you have no control. That every time I apologize, that I point out that it's my fault for something, I'm just trying not to feel so helpless. Cause I do. A lot. Here, anyway."

Dante nodded.

"Then apologize all you want," he said softly.

"I'm sorry you're here," Kathy said, words almost lost beneath the noise of the shower. "I'm sorry you had to come get me again. I'm sorry that it's always the same story of 'Kathy needs help and Dante's gotta be there to catch her.' I'm sorry that you hate LA but you have to be here anyway. I'm sorry you've been scared or upset or whatever for the past two weeks. I'm just--I'm sorry for everything, for how much trouble I am."

Kathy sank down to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees.

Dante let her talk until she was finished, no matter what instincts told him to tell her no, she had nothing to be sorry for.

"I love you," he said instead, once she fell silent.

"I love you, too," she said, voice muffled by her legs.

"...I wanna go home."

"And we're gonna get you home as fast as possible," Dante promised her.

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