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]

"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

[spin_kick_snap]

"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

[spin_kick_snap]

"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

[spin_kick_snap]

"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."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"So we have to find you a weapon you can keep in your pockets all the time," Dante mused, "Without stabbing yourself..."

There had to be some ways they could make her feel safer when they got back.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"You're assuming I have pockets all the time," Kathy said with a small smile. "Most of those cute skirts you like so much don't."

Not that Kathy thought she'd be wearing anything flirty or sexy or cute for awhile after she got home. Comfort and layers and things she could almost hide in were going to be the order of the day.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"Huh," Dante said. He let his hand slide over hers. "Guess we'll have to get someone to make you some skirt pockets, huh?"

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"I bet Sparks would take that as a commission," Kathy mused. "Up to you to find me a good weapon though. You know them better than me."

Or maybe she'd just start carrying her weapons everywhere, not just when she felt unsafe. Or, hmm, materia jewelry?

His shoulder was nice to rest on and his arms were warm. Kathy had missed both so very much.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'll think of something," Dante promised quietly. "Okay?"

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy looked up at him, surprised. She'd half-thought they were just shooting the shit. But no. Dante didn't look like he was joking.

"You're serious about this, aren't you."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"I am," Dante said. "I wanna make sure you feel safe."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"Right now, I don't even know where safe lives," Kathy admitted.

Not the island, where she could be snatched away with impunity. Fuck, if she'd gone and done the drinks run alone, who knew when someone would have realized she was gone?

Not Limbo City, where demons prowled schools and churches and streets, enough that Dante could earn a living fighting them off.

Certainly not her LA. So where did that leave her?

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante tightened his grip on her again, for a second.

"We'll find you something."

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm gonna end up the only Korean housefrau in Minnesota or something," Kathy laughed and surprised herself when it ended up being a half-sob.

Because, really, where did she belong? Anywhere?

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

"Kathy," Dante whispered, wishing there was a way for him to hold her tighter, better, something.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"I j-just don't have a place!" she gasped out, burying her face in her hands. "Either I make you miserable or I am and I don't have a place!"

All she had ever wanted to do was belong. And now she felt like she had no roots at all.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

Tear his heart out, why don't you, Kathy?

"I'm-- I'm sorry," Dante mumbled, his blanket reassurances all drowned out by the sound of guilt.

Re: Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not your fault," Kathy hiccuped. "You've got somewhere. I'm the difficult one. Again."

As per usual.