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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Dante made a faintly amused noise. "Kathy, I know," he said. "Always knew that. Don't worry about it. I'm good."

Kathy hesitated. "Wait, is that about the it not being bullshit part? Or the cuddling bit? Or both? I'm not entirely sure."

"The cuddling bit," Dante said. "You were overcompensating."

"How was I - oh." Kathy realized she was almost a half foot further away from him than she'd been before. "You make a good point."

And then curled back up around him.

"There we go, that's better," Dante said, smiling into her shoulder. "But-- yeah. I get it. Trust me. It's bullshit, but I get it."

"Five steps forward, three steps back," Kathy sighed. "And on top of that, when we get home, I still have to move."

UGH. But a slightly amused ugh, at least.

Dante laughed softly. "We'll help you with that," he promised.

"I was really hoping you'd tell me that you lot did it for me while I was gone," Kathy admitted with another sigh. This one contained an actual chuckle, though, so win.

"Sorry," Dante said. "We just crashed at the old place."

He ran his fingers through her hair.

"See if I ever get kidnapped to get out of moving again," Kathy grumped, her eyes closing with a pleased sigh. She owed Anders so much for teaching Dante how nice this felt.

"Please don't get kidnapped again," Dante admonished her quietly. Maybe more seriously than he'd been going for.

"I'm pretty sure I hit my quota for a lifetime," Kathy said while the narration laughed. She laid a hand on his cheek. "I'm so sorry for all the worry you've had to deal with this whole time. I know it's not my fault, but..."

She hated the thought of him upset.

"Don't worry about it," Dante said softly. "We're gonna get you out of here, figure this shit out, and then this is never happening again."

Edited 2018-09-30 17:29 (UTC)

"How can you be so sure?" Kathy asked, wanting, maybe even needing, to believe that he could find a way to make it so.

If there was one person she would bet on to take on the universe, it was Dante.

"'Cause we're gonna make it happen," Dante said. "First thing we do when we get back? Find someone back home that's gonna scorch any left-over spells off of you, stat."

"Is that something Kat can do?" Kathy asked, her head resting on his shoulder. "I don't know anyone else who does magic and this doesn't seem like Anders' kind."

"Maybe she does," Dante said softly. "There's also an occult book shop hidden away..."

"You trust whoever runs it?" Kathy asked. "Hmm. Maybe we could check in with whoever's running the Magic Box on the island, too."

If anyone was? Kathy couldn't keep up anymore.

"She's all right," Dante said. He toyed with her hair. "We'll figure it out. I know you don't like LC, but... there's plenty of people back there who know their shit."

"Ugh, LC..." Kathy groaned, dropping her head down. "I'm sorry to be a bitch about your city, I'm just so over asshole demons right now."

Vergil, Arkham, Cairax...if they could all go fuck themselves over the nearest cliff, that would be great.

"Looks like they're kinda everywhere, Kat," Dante said. And not because he was feeling defensive, either. "Better figure out how to fight 'em before they get here."

"Maybe I'll ask NRA-Barbie me where she got her bazooka," Kathy said. "And then figure out how she carries it around that effortlessly."

Maybe being born in a different reality had given her a touch of super-strength, too?

"Practice?" Dante offered.

"Where do you go to practice weilding a bazooka?!" Kathy asked with a little laugh. "She could just, like, spin it around and then shoot! Where do you go to target practice with it? And did she custom-order that bayonet?"

So many questions about her other-self's choices.

"Bigger question," Dante said thoughtfully, "Is where she got a bazooka that can punch a hole in most demons."

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