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: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"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.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

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

He ran his fingers through her hair.

Re: Wednesday Evening

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"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.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

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

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"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.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"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."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"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.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"'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."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"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."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

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

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"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.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"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."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"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.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"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."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"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?

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"Practice?" Dante offered.

Re: Wednesday Evening

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"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.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

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

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"Biggest question," Kathy said, tapping him on the chest. "Am I getting a demon-busting bazooka for Christmas? Cause I want one? But sorta like how I want a new vacuum."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante laughed softly. "I was thinking about finding an occult gunsmith, 'cause there's gotta be one," he said, patting Ivory.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"I've been thinking about getting more materia from Reno," Kathy murmured. "It's how my bokken throws lightning. It kinda takes a lot out of me, but it's handy when I need to, you know. Throw lightning at a problem."

Not that she'd say no to a trip to an occult gunsmith, either.

"It really sucked, dropping here and not having any of my weapons on me."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante kissed her neck. "What did you have on you when you got here?"

Re: Wednesday Evening

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"Change?" Kathy said, tilting her head again. Her body still felt cold and stiff and his lips helped the thaw. "I grabbed a twenty to pay for drinks because I didn't wanna deal with a purse, so that was all I had. The clothes I was wearing and, like, thirty cents in change."

Stupid girl pockets.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"So anything that's in your pockets," Dante guessed.

Re: Wednesday Evening

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"That's all that would fit," Kathy said. "Maybe a dryer sheet that had gotten stuck in the other one." She sighed. "I run around without underwear more often than not back home, but I showed up here and felt naked."