From the Apartment Above Luke's to Currant, Maine, Wednesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy'd had trouble sleeping last night, in that she really didn't at all. Even moving to the safety of her closet hadn't helped; sure, she'd managed to fall asleep, but only long enough to have a screaming nightmare about zombies and towers and rabbit brains and then she was back up for the night. It wasn't until she noticed the date on her phone that she realized what she was responding to.

Right. Halloween. The trip to LA and then their getaway had messed with her sense of time enough that she hadn't realized how close the holiday was. Kathy used to love Halloween; she still might, if she hadn't been on the island. Last year's little...stunt had left her more than a little fucked up. Turned out her subconscious was better at keeping track of the date than the rest of her. Yay.

After the nightmare, she'd given up on sleep entirely, obsessively watching for signs that the island was going to turn her into an ex again, aware that she wouldn't notice even if it did, and that being paranoid it would was probably a good sign that it hadn't. Once dawn broke and she remained herself, that should have been the end of it - but it wasn't. Kathy had worked herself up into a panic and that wasn't responding to anything useful like 'logic' or 'thinking.' She just knew she had to get out of there. Off the island. Something.

She spent the morning in Baltimore, but when the third shitty zombie costume finally made her break down and cry in public, she realized this wasn't a viable option. Neither was Limbo City; if she was hesitant to visit most days, Halloween itself was a hard pass. That left...Ezra.

Kathy didn't even bother calling, just booked the closest portal, giving her enough time to grab a thing of donuts and go. And the irony of ironies was that Ezra wasn't even home when she got there; nobody answered her increasingly frantic knocks or her abuse of the doorbell. Eventually, she gave up, hoisting herself up to the roof of their porch. Exes couldn't climb, she would be safe on the roof while she waited. Something about that thought process was wrong, but she didn't bother to pinpoint what. Her brain was pinging safe and that was what mattered.

Curling up on the tiny bit of roof, she burrowed into her winter coat and, at some point, fell asleep.

[Ezra's house modded with permission and for said house-modded guy!]

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[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy took another careful look around, just to make sure that it remained safe and then slid off the porch roof, bouncing a little as she landed next to him. "Uhh, hi," she said, giving him an awkward wave. "You weren't home when I showed up, so..."

She'd climbed up to the roof? Look, it had made sense at the time.

[smilestopscars]

Yes, that was about what Ezra figured. And he wasn't pushing her about it. but, he also didn't hesitate in pulling her in for a hug. You know, just to say hello!

He was also mindful of the thing of doughnuts, because food was sacred.

"Well, hello and welcome, darling."

[spin_kick_snap]

Oh a hug. Yes, a hug was good. A hug was very good. Kathy took a deep breath, her face buried in Ezra's neck. He smelled warm and alive, not like rot or death or that dry, musty odor of leather in the sun.

"Seemed like a bad idea to pick the lock," she mumbled. "What with...everything."

She didn't know what Coterie defenses were in place when they left and she didn't want to know.

[smilestopscars]

There weren't any.

"Yes, it would be poor manners to break into someone's home like that," Ezra quipped, dropping a kiss against the side of her head.

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"Didn't mean to fall asleep though," Kathy said, because that was the weird part, sure. "I just didn't sleep much last night. So once I settled in..."

[smilestopscars]

"Completely understandable." Well, sort of. He gave her another squeeze before pulling back just enough to actually see her. "Would you like to come inside, now?"

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"That'd be nice," Kathy said, giving him a smile. She just looked...tired. Tired and stressed. Even her normally sunny grin was just a little droopy at the edges. "I remember your couch being a lot more comfortable than your porch turned out to be."

[smilestopscars]

"I can confirm that it is, not that I've ever been up on the porch roof myself." Since Lock handled all the maintenance, surprising no one.

Ezra released her from the hug only some of the way: he kept her against his side with his arm casually wound around her waist, and maneuvered them to the door like that. "But you should definitely check for yourself."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was grateful for the contact, it helped ground her in the the now, in the here.

"I am willing to share the couch with you, though," she said like she was conceding a great honor upon him. Probably learned that tone from him, truth be told. "You don't have to thank me, I know you're appreciative."

See. Totally okay.

[smilestopscars]

Sure, Kathy.

"Oh, you're willing?" Ezra teased, as he opened the door and guided her into the house. "You're allowing me to sit on my own furniture? How kind, Your Grace!"

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"I know," Kathy said, sounding amazed at her own generosity of spirit. "It's just one of the ways I like to give back."

She was clinging pretty hard to his hand though, so maybe it was less 'he was allowed to sit with her' and more 'best of luck trying to do anything else.'

[smilestopscars]

Good thing Ezra wasn't really trying to get her to do anything else. He just led her into the living room, and to the couch in question.

Although she had to know he was going to ask some questions once they were there.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was going to try to forestall that by handing over the box of donuts when she sat. Didn't really think it would work, but hey, there was always room for optimism, right?

She didn't even take one for herself. Though that was mostly because her stomach was in knots. "They might even still be a little warm," she said, opening the box so he could smell the chocolate and cinnamon.

[smilestopscars]

"I don't care."

He was a fox: while she opened the box, he managed both to plonk himself down next to her and grab a donut from the box.

"A donut's a donut."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm just saying, they're always good but they're even better when they're warm," Kathy said, ready and willing to debate this for as long as possible.

[smilestopscars]

Ezra made a vague noise as he devoured the donut. It had been at least thirty minutes since he'd last eaten something!

Anyway, he wasn't very interested in debating baked goods right now.

"So," he said casually as he was licking his fingers to rescue any residual donut crumbs, "would you care to tell me to what I owe this surprise visit?"

[spin_kick_snap]

But it made for such a better conversation topic than her crazy!

"Huh?" Kathy asked, her eyes flicking up from his mouth to the rest of his face. Okay, that one was his fault. "Oh I...uhh...thought you might appreciate donuts?"

No one was going to buy that, Kathy. Not even a little.

[smilestopscars]

Not even the tiniest bit.

"If you're going to lie to me, cupcake," Ezra said, his eyebrows raised, "you should have at least gone for my vanity and said you desperately needed to see my face in person because you were feeling a withdrawal."

Tsk, Kathy.

"That's like Lying to Ezra 101."

[spin_kick_snap]

"But it wouldn't be a lie though," Kathy said. "I'll give you a slight exaggeration, but not I lie. I do miss your face."

With Raven spending so much time off in the woods, Ezra had ended up stepping into the position of her best friend, she realized. Huh.

"I showed up here...it was the first place I could think of where I felt safe," she said quietly. "Only place, really."

[smilestopscars]

Elevating Ezra to that status was a bad idea. He hoped she knew that.

"And why didn't Fandom qualify?" he asked, his voice a touch softer than before, his head tilting a little to the side. Quizzical, but only faintly.

He had guesses.

[spin_kick_snap]

At this point, probably worse for him than for her. She was already showing up randomly at his house and crashing.

"Because it's Halloween," Kathy said, like that would explain everything.

Well, Ez had spent years there. Maybe it would.

[smilestopscars]

Unfortunately, Ezra had missed most of his island Halloweens, and it didn't tend to move him much one way or another even in general - not beyond his admiration of attractive costumes and requisite eye rolling at some of the human worlds takes on the supernatural, anyway.

So he could only guess.

"Is it the threat of people costumed as the undead?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Last year I turned undead," Kathy said quietly. "I was a zombie for a day. Ate bunny brains. I was a little more me, but still a zombie."

Nothing like that had happened this year, obviously, but she was haunted by the possibility that it could.

[smilestopscars]

"Well," Ezra replied softly, slinging one arm casually around her shoulders (but keeping his other hand free for donuts), "nothing like that is likely to happen here, so you're right about that."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I know," Kathy said quietly. "This is the safest place I can think of sometimes. So I...I kinda panicked a little and came here."

Panicked wasn't really the right word. She'd been too exhausted for panic. More that she'd run right through her endurance and needed a place to shelter and hide, like a wounded animal.

And this was the only place that she'd felt like she could do that.