Limbo City, Friday Afternoon
Dec. 7th, 2018 01:48 pmToday's therapy appointment had spent awhile talking about Kathy's anxiety triggers (shocking no one, she had A Lot) and had left her wound up. So wound up, in fact, that rather than throwing herself into the first taxi she could find and riding white-knuckled to the guys' place, she'd actually braved both the cold and her fears of Limbo City to walk home. Not to explore or to try to get more comfortable, but just to try to work some of that extra jittering energy off.
Which of course meant that she was so far in her head that she didn't realize that she'd taken a wrong turn into a bad neighborhood until it was far too late. All the signs were there; she should have recognized them immediately from her time as Banzai - though with the addition of a lot more deep gouges in the buildings and concrete.
It was the sound of trash cans falling over as she passed an alleyway that got her head out of the clouds, and the almost-feline howl had her anxiety taking a backseat to the adrenaline getting dumped in her blood. She reached behind her to her backpack of weaponry she carried with her whenever she visited Limbo City, keeping her eyes locked dim confines of the alley. Maybe it was just a harmless old alleycat?
A pair of lambent eyes opened in the darkness, easily at height with her chest and each one roughly the size of her fist. Okay, not an alleycat then. One of those animalistic demons Dante called Rages. She was pretty sure that he classified them further, but the taxonomy didn't immediately come to her.
The Rage did, dashing out between the buildings at a speed that she'd have to sprint to match.
A snap of her wrist and her telescoping baton extended. The Rage pounced at her and she pivoted to the side, away from those grasping claws and slammed the baton upwards with full force. Something in its face cracked and the thing yowled in pain and fury. The baton wasn't going to kill the creature, but Kathy was loathe to take out her gun and shoot it; this was the middle of the city and a stray bullet could hit someone. Her Thundaga materia was still attached to her bokken, which was tucked away in her bag and all of her knives required her to get a lot closer than she really wanted to get.
Fuck, of all the times to miss Banzai's rope darts. Maybe she'd have to get a new set - a real set, not made from repurposed gymnastics equipment.
The fight was ugly and brutal, with Kathy basically bludgeoning the Rage with her metal baton, aiming for thinner bones and joints to try to take it down even if she couldn't take it out - or at least convince it that there was better prey elsewhere until she could get a minute to call Dante and have him deal with it. A lucky strike had the tip of her baton smashing into the Rage's eye and it howled; a noise loud and shrill enough to make Kathy's ears ring.
And, right before the heavy weight hit her back and knocked her to the ground, that was when she remembered that Rages usually belonged to a mated pair and where one was, another would surely follow.
The pavement shredded her jeans and the palms of her hands and her head bounced off a rock hard enough that stars burst behind her eyes. The Rage of top of her was even bigger than its mate; she could feel the heavy weight of it on her back, the claws pricking through her jacket and into her skin, smell the rancid tang of old meat on its breath. Her hand inched towards her shoulder, all concerns about shooting gone for the moment now that survival was on the line, and she swore she heard malice in the low growl the demon loosed in her ear.
And then the weight was gone, shouldered off of her by a blur of gray and brown and white. Snaps and snarls added to the yowling cacophony; dazed, it took Kathy a minute to make sense of what she was seeing. A large dog, filthy and matted with ribs showing, had flung itself into the Rage and had managed to wrap its powerful jaws around the demon's throat. The Rage was hissing and clawing at the dog, but there must have been terrier in the mix somewhere, because the mutt refused to budge, shaking the Rage like a rat to try to snap its neck. Ignoring her own wounds, Kathy pulled herself back up to her feet and dashed over to help. She didn't trust her aim enough to not hit the dog, so she went for a knife.
Together, they finished the second Rage off, the first one fleeing back into the depths of the alley. Kathy had no intentions of following and, from the looks of it, neither did the dog. She turned to it, noting he still had a tattered collar on, though he looked like it'd been on its own for awhile. "You okay, boy?" she asked, cautiously holding her hand out for it to sniff. The dog whined and limped forward, its back paw drawn up and a bloody hole in the skin, but still licked her hand.
That was good enough for Kathy. "C'mon, boy," she said, and scooped him up in her arms. He was heavy and almost as big as she was, and he stank, like trash and dirt and blood, but he'd come to her rescue. She wasn't going to leave him behind. "Let's get you home."
[Mostly establishy, but open for phone calls and/or the guys whose house is about to get a surprise guest!]
Which of course meant that she was so far in her head that she didn't realize that she'd taken a wrong turn into a bad neighborhood until it was far too late. All the signs were there; she should have recognized them immediately from her time as Banzai - though with the addition of a lot more deep gouges in the buildings and concrete.
It was the sound of trash cans falling over as she passed an alleyway that got her head out of the clouds, and the almost-feline howl had her anxiety taking a backseat to the adrenaline getting dumped in her blood. She reached behind her to her backpack of weaponry she carried with her whenever she visited Limbo City, keeping her eyes locked dim confines of the alley. Maybe it was just a harmless old alleycat?
A pair of lambent eyes opened in the darkness, easily at height with her chest and each one roughly the size of her fist. Okay, not an alleycat then. One of those animalistic demons Dante called Rages. She was pretty sure that he classified them further, but the taxonomy didn't immediately come to her.
The Rage did, dashing out between the buildings at a speed that she'd have to sprint to match.
A snap of her wrist and her telescoping baton extended. The Rage pounced at her and she pivoted to the side, away from those grasping claws and slammed the baton upwards with full force. Something in its face cracked and the thing yowled in pain and fury. The baton wasn't going to kill the creature, but Kathy was loathe to take out her gun and shoot it; this was the middle of the city and a stray bullet could hit someone. Her Thundaga materia was still attached to her bokken, which was tucked away in her bag and all of her knives required her to get a lot closer than she really wanted to get.
Fuck, of all the times to miss Banzai's rope darts. Maybe she'd have to get a new set - a real set, not made from repurposed gymnastics equipment.
The fight was ugly and brutal, with Kathy basically bludgeoning the Rage with her metal baton, aiming for thinner bones and joints to try to take it down even if she couldn't take it out - or at least convince it that there was better prey elsewhere until she could get a minute to call Dante and have him deal with it. A lucky strike had the tip of her baton smashing into the Rage's eye and it howled; a noise loud and shrill enough to make Kathy's ears ring.
And, right before the heavy weight hit her back and knocked her to the ground, that was when she remembered that Rages usually belonged to a mated pair and where one was, another would surely follow.
The pavement shredded her jeans and the palms of her hands and her head bounced off a rock hard enough that stars burst behind her eyes. The Rage of top of her was even bigger than its mate; she could feel the heavy weight of it on her back, the claws pricking through her jacket and into her skin, smell the rancid tang of old meat on its breath. Her hand inched towards her shoulder, all concerns about shooting gone for the moment now that survival was on the line, and she swore she heard malice in the low growl the demon loosed in her ear.
And then the weight was gone, shouldered off of her by a blur of gray and brown and white. Snaps and snarls added to the yowling cacophony; dazed, it took Kathy a minute to make sense of what she was seeing. A large dog, filthy and matted with ribs showing, had flung itself into the Rage and had managed to wrap its powerful jaws around the demon's throat. The Rage was hissing and clawing at the dog, but there must have been terrier in the mix somewhere, because the mutt refused to budge, shaking the Rage like a rat to try to snap its neck. Ignoring her own wounds, Kathy pulled herself back up to her feet and dashed over to help. She didn't trust her aim enough to not hit the dog, so she went for a knife.
Together, they finished the second Rage off, the first one fleeing back into the depths of the alley. Kathy had no intentions of following and, from the looks of it, neither did the dog. She turned to it, noting he still had a tattered collar on, though he looked like it'd been on its own for awhile. "You okay, boy?" she asked, cautiously holding her hand out for it to sniff. The dog whined and limped forward, its back paw drawn up and a bloody hole in the skin, but still licked her hand.
That was good enough for Kathy. "C'mon, boy," she said, and scooped him up in her arms. He was heavy and almost as big as she was, and he stank, like trash and dirt and blood, but he'd come to her rescue. She wasn't going to leave him behind. "Let's get you home."
[Mostly establishy, but open for phone calls and/or the guys whose house is about to get a surprise guest!]
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 09:31 pm (UTC)"Meow!"
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it," Dante growled. "Fuck, where'd we leave your food--?"
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 09:37 pm (UTC)She got to the front door and realized that getting out her key would mean putting down the dog. And putting down the dog probably meant not picking him back up because, again, ow.
So she was just going to...kick the door a little. And lean on the the doorbell. And hope one of the guys answered it before she fell over into a filthy, bloody heap.
Ding dong
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 09:40 pm (UTC)It swung open. "Hey, if you're looking for a toil-- Kathy!"
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 09:49 pm (UTC)Sorry, Dante; the hyper-clarity of the fight had turned into a foggy mess of exhaustion somewhere around five blocks from here.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 09:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 10:03 pm (UTC)The dog's fluffy tail tick-tocked, batting her in the face, which didn't make the journey to the bathroom much easier. "S'a good boy."
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 10:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 10:14 pm (UTC)She was pretty sure trying to set the dog down would just result in her dropping him, so she knelt on the edge of the blanket and placed him on it. He whined as she let go and Kathy had to fight the urge to pick him back up.
"Sorry, pupper," she said. "I've got noodle arms." They protested being raised up to pet him, but she was willing to make sacrifices and under the dirt, his ears were silky smooth.
Hi, Dante. Your girlfriend and her new friend were a pair of bloody, filthy messes. Kathy looked like she was going to tip over at any minute and the dog smelled like, well, filthy dog, and they both looked like they'd tangled with a whirlwind made of claws.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 10:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 10:21 pm (UTC)"For the puppy?" she asked, not bothering to move. Moving was a thing other people did. "I don't know if he uses his powers on dogs. Even ones that saved me." She wrapped her arms around the dog's neck, wrinkling her nose at the smell. "He's a hero dog. Better hero than anyone in LA. Even me."
...Getting a little off-track there, baby girl.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 10:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 10:32 pm (UTC)The fluffy tail tick-tocked again.
"See? He agrees." Beat. "This isn't me being dog-sexist, again. He's definitely a he."
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-08 01:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
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From:(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-08 03:48 pm (UTC)"Is that a dog I hear?" he asked.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-09 03:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-09 03:55 pm (UTC)"What happened?" he asked, looking her over. "Maker, that looks like it hurts."
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-09 09:34 pm (UTC)Sorta. That was the positive view of it, anyway. But Kathy wasn't quite ready to admit to having been knocked prone with a Rage on top of her yet.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-10 02:01 am (UTC)His stomach was twisting despite the relative calm of his words. Kathy was skittish enough about LC, and for good reasons; being attacked by demons could only make it worse.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-10 02:19 am (UTC)Kathy had bounced her head off a rock and the nasty headache - and lack of brain-to-mouth filter - suggested a concussion, but she figured she'd rather get the dog fixed up first. After all, he was the hero.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-10 02:25 am (UTC)He glanced up at Kathy. "You're sure you don't want me to take care of you first, anyhow?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-10 02:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-10 02:59 am (UTC)He ran his hands along the dog's flanks, feeling the jut of its ribs but few obvious problems until he got to the wound. The dog whimpered a bit but calmed quickly at the touch. "Stay still," he said, and tentatively tried to heal the gash the demons had left on the dog.
The healing ... didn't feel different, anyhow?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-10 03:43 am (UTC)And they had flea and tick shampoos and pills with their pet stuff that Kathy had every intention of borrowing to use on the hero dog while he stayed with them.
"Oooh, look, I think he's doing better now. He's putting more weight on his back leg."
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-10 03:37 pm (UTC)Whatever he thought, it was being interrupted by solid thump from the hero-dog's tail, and a series of joyful yips.
"I think it worked!" Anders said, over the din.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-10 03:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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