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]

"Yeah, I'm starting to figure out why you have so many friends," Dante said, jumping down to the ground below.

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"And how many friends do you have?" Max asked. "Are you going home to parades of cheering fans throwing panties at you? Or is it a quiet house waiting for you until someone decides you have something to offer in exchange for their attention?"

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

That last one glanced off a sore spot, though not hard enough to get much of a reaction. "You want me to count?" he drawled. "Or should I just point out I have a boyfriend and a girlfriend, while you got offed trying to french a decomposing actress?"

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Considering what my perceptions were being filtered through, that's still an amazing level of self-control," Max muttered. "And I could be dripping in pussy and dick right now, but I've been a little busy trying to keep a demon from eating every survivor here, including your girlfriend."

Beat.

"Didn't want you to get jealous. You're welcome."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"You know if you just fucking managed to like, take the asshole down even five percent," Dante said, walking around to find Max at the bottom of the fire escape, "You might actually get somewhere with people."

Beat.

"By the way, I saw Kathy right after she came back from the dead. You are probably so far from fucking okay, it's fucking ridiculous."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"If I took the asshole down five percent, we'd already be fucking in an alcove, so again, you're welcome," Max said, breezing right past that second comment. "Or, I dunno, maybe that's if I raised it up another five percent. You seem like the kind of guy who likes it when someone's a dick to you right before they slip their dick to you."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was not going to punch him again.

Dante was not going to punch him again.

Dante was not going to punch him again because that was what Max was trying for and also he needed all that energy to step on a very old part of him that really wanted to latch onto that and speculate about what fucking Max would be like. (Sometimes he hated how expressive his face could be.)

"Whatever, suit yourself," he snarled instead. "I don't care."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

It would be amazing, Dante. Just ask him.

"That's not what your face says," Max drawled. "I mean, sure. You look pissed, but that's okay. I like it rough."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

Three years ago he'd been saying the exact same shit to people. Dante was painfully aware of that, tried to put it aside, and rubbed his forehead. "Koreatown is this way, right?" he asked.

Pointedly.

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"I mean, look for the pile of rubble and ashes, you can't miss it," Max said dryly, heading off towards it. "You been? Before shit broke down, I mean. Get a chance to visit little Banzai's charming family when you came to collect her?"

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"No," Dante said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat as he followed. "You know where they lived?"

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Couldn't tell you the apartment number, but I know which bedroom was hers," Max said, casually.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante's gaze snapped abruptly from the street to Max. "What the fuck?"

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"What the - oh, for fuck sake, Dante." Max rolled his eyes. "I know the fire escape she used to climb out of to go heroing. I didn't creep in and look at her while she's undressing. I don't go for the sweet ones, okay?"

He liked assholes who knew the score. Dante.

"That's Nick's thing, shit."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't remind me," Dante said, irritably. "And you can't exactly fucking blame me for thinking that."

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Awww, or what?" Max asked. "You gonna beat him up? Shit, he's not half as blatant as I am to you." He paused. "Or is it different because you're actually into it?"

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"If he tries to come at Kathy again, hell yeah, I'm gonna beat him up," Dante said, bypassing that last part entirely. It wasn't worth his breath. "Does this place just breed skeezebags or what?"

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Bred Kathy, too, so what do you think?" Max asked, leading them down an uneven road. The tar had melted and reformed in places and all around them were tall, burned-out buildings. "And come for her how? I just wanna know so I can be there. You think he's gonna do some kind of fucked up kiss goodbye or something?"

Max sounded positively cheery at that possibility.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante rolled his eyes. "Like stare at her ass, maybe."

He would beat up a guy in a wheelchair if it was Nick. Probably.

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Should we turn around then?" Max asked, pretending to do just that. "Because I guarantee you, he's either checking out her ass or calling her 'Baby' while giving her sad, why-won't-you-fuck-me eyes."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't think I don't wanna punch him every time he fucking says 'Baby' like some kinda pathetic 60s has-been," Dante spat.

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Count the number of times he touches her," Max suggested brightly, because any day he could fuck with Gorgon was a good day. And, benefit, he didn't even have to make shit up to do it! "Especially her back. I'd say make a drinking game out of it, but I just got this liver."

They arrived in front of a tall apartment building. It was still standing, though there were smears of smoke and ash all over the exterior, especially around the windows and doors. The windows were shattered and many of them had smears of blood cooked on. Fleeing victims, maybe? Or something worse.

The building was ugly but seemed sturdy enough, one of those post-war monstrosities made of concrete, strong enough to withstand a bomb, though god only knew what they'd find inside.

Max headed for the left side of the building, past a playground that had been pathetic before the fire hit, over to a blackened fire escape that hung off the walls.

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante followed right behind, trying to keep himself from seething quietly about Nick. Though at least that distracted him away from Max, and all Max's bullshit.

"How did the fire happen out here, anyway?"

Re: Thursday

[hollywoodex_tras]

"Well, as not-a-fireman, I'm gonna guess there was a fire somewhere in one of these apartments," Max said, giving Dante a look that said Gimme a break. "Maybe an ex knocked over a candle or something shorted out or a Seventeen dropped a joint...whatever."

Or someone had made the apartment into a pyre for the family she couldn't save. Who knew?

"Emergency services were a little busy at the time. That's why it spread so far. Half of Koreatown was burning before anyone fuckin' noticed."

Re: Thursday

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante rolled his eyes at him. "You drag me out here on the grand tour of fucked-up LA, you get to tell me about it," he said. "But shit."