The Mount, Ex-Los Angeles

[spin_kick_snap]

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]

Comments

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm not scared of your magic," Dante snapped back. "The next word out of your mouth better be sorry."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Maybe you should be," Max said softly. "You're not the first demon I've tangled with."

He held up a hand. "That being said, I am sorry. It sucks that Kathy's here. If I had any control of the situation, she wouldn't be."

Again, he sounded sincere.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"Right," Dante said.

He still didn't believe it.

But he took a step back, none the less.

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

Max relaxed, too, giving Dante a long once over. "You look better," he noted. "Haircut's less stupid. And Kathy seemed pretty blase about admitting she's fucking a demon. So you finally figured it out? You seemed pretty dead set on denying what you were when we last...talked."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"Half-demon," Dante corrected, almost absently. "I found out a few things."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Oh?" Max asked. "Like what?"

Please, Dante, share with the class.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"Like my memories," Dante said, eyes flashing, "And that Mundus screams like a fuckin' pig when you carve him up in two."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Good," Max said, a slow smile spreading over his face.

He'd only heard of the the Reaver Lord Mundus, mostly because everyone who had dealt with him directly usually died screaming.

"You were always strong, though. Even back before you knew what you were. Quite the contrast, skinny kid in a club unsure whether to beat me or blow me and giant untapped reservoir of demonic power."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"Do you just wanna get your face kicked in?" Dante asked.

He didn't move on Max again. The demonic rock crawling down his arm before fading anew was going to have to do the talking for him.

"What happened to you, anyway? Weren't you walkin' around being a meat puppet for some demon somewhere? You get off on that?"

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Just callin' 'em like I saw 'em," Max said easily, though his eyes were on that rock. He seemed more curious than concerned though. "And you have it the other way around. I was wearing him. My brain, his body. His powers. Just my way of doing a little bit of good where I could. Reverse-possession, you could call it."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

Time and better nutrition had taken the skinny off of Dante's form; he was halfway on his way to the broad-shouldered powerhouse he was going to be.

He didn't like Max. He liked even less how much Max reminded him that, once upon a time, he'd been fucked up and fatalistic and desperate enough that if Max'd been even a smidgen less of an asshole--

He pushed the thought down.

"Wasn't what it looked like when I took your head clean off," he said, voice steady in a way that was unnatural for him.

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

Maybe Max had been that much of an asshole to keep that from happening, huh? Had Dante ever considered that even's Max's moral compass didn't dip towards taking advantage of an emotionally fucked-up teen?

"Well, sure, kid," Max said. "I was a fuckin' zombie them. Not a whole lot going on upstairs. Ask your girlfriend - is she your girlfriend? I know a guy who'd love to know."

Psst, it was Gorgon, pass it on.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

Based on what he knew about Max? No, he sure as fuck hadn't seriously considered that.

Dante rolled his eyes. "She's my girlfriend," he said flatly. "Anders is our boyfriend. Man, you are getting off on this, aren't you? Fucking freak."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

Hurtful, Dante. Very hurtful. He'd been a hero, you know. Using the forces of evil to fight for good.

"Awww, nah, I just think young love is adorable," Max said, grinning. "Though I'm gonna go have to console a friend. I think he was really hoping he had a shot after she stayed over at his place one night."

...That was a very liberal interpretation of events there, Max. Starting with the idea that Nick was your friend.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"Aw, jesus," and that eyeroll was a lot more heartfelt than the first. "Nick's a fucking creep, too. I guess he's just less honest about it than you."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Hey!" Max protested immediately. "...I'm not sure which one of us should be more offended by that."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"What, are you pretending you aren't a creep?" Dante retorted.

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Look, I went around wearing a demon like a suit, I know I'm a creep," Max said, sounded very unfazed by this admission. "It's just rude to point it out in a conversation like this. Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?"

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"She died," Dante said flatly.

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"So that's a no on the manners thing?" Max checked. His smile went slightly flat, like he'd just gotten bad news and had to play it off like no big deal.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"What do you think?" Dante asked sarcastically.

The fuck was that expression about?

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

Fuck, a guy couldn't be sad about your clearly tragic home life, Dante? You were cold.

"I think that sometimes you wish someone would shut you up and teach you manners," Max said, expression settling back to its normal, smirky lines.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

No. That had just been weird.

Though the 'weirded out' got overruled pretty quickly by a sudden, insistent wave of wanting to kick Max's teeth in again.

Yep. That's what that was.

"Are you trying to drag info out of me or what?" he shot back. "Sad your demon ride left you? I mean, fuck, you sound hard up for it."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Why, you offering to be my new demon ride?"

Because, come on, Dante, you'd left that wide open for him.

...Also, the narrative would like to call phrasing on itself, thank you.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"Not in a million fucking years," Dante said, eyes narrowing. "Which is probably how long it's gonna be before you ever get laid again, scumbag."

Ugh, he wished Max hadn't dragged them back into the arena of sex insults.