The Island to Various Rifts, Friday Through Sunday

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This is what happens when you stopped listening to the radio for the island; you were taken by surprise when you stepped on the island and saw that half of it looked like it belonged somewhere and somewhen else. Like, even moreso than usual.

Even with all the differences in the island, the first rift took Kathy by surprise as it opened up under her feet, too wide for her to bounce out. It reminded her a little too much of that column of light that had grabbed her to bring her to LA. Only this time it was down instead of up and when she looked around...

"Okay, I am not in Kansas anymore."

[For thems what are there with her.]

Comments

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"Kansas isn't usually this pastel, I don't think," Kathy said on autopilot. And then, "Dante!"

She'd missed the part where he'd also fallen into the rift, what with being preoccupied with falling into said rift herself.

[rebelseekspizza]

... And Dante startled, too. "Kathy?!"

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Kathy flung herself at him. "Oh thank Christ, you're here, too."

Being stuck this world of pastels and upside down architecture by herself would have brought back way too many unpleasant memories.

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Dante wrapped his arms around her by reflex; hugging her close, a moment later, was more of a conscious decision.

"You okay, Kat?"

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Kathy nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah. So far nothing dangerous has popped out to attack or whatever," she murmured, keeping her answer to strictly physical right now.

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Dante frowned at that answer, but said nothing about it. "Was trying to leave the house," he said. "Didn't mean to go this drastic."

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"So, I think it's safe to say that we're not on Earth anymore, at least," Kathy said, looking around again. "Or, at least not on our Earth. Unless Limbo City has a really weird suburb you've never told me about."

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"...Yeah, no, I'd remember birds flying across the pavement on their backs," Dante said slowly.

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"Well, in case anybody was wondering, I'm official over getting interdimensionally kidnapped," Kathy snarked. She turned around, trying to find some kind of reference point. "Any ideas which way to go?"

Since nothing seemed to be happening if they stayed here.

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"I mean, thinking back to my time hunting down Bob Barbas, uh..."

Dante spun around, and pointed towards... okay, that looked like the top of a railway station. "There?"

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Kathy nodded, implicitly trusting Dante's instincts. "It's a sign of civilization, if nothing else." She hefted her bag on her shoulders, feeling the comforting weight of her weapons at the bottom.

She'd mostly given up checking on her bug-out bags, but she tended to still grab one when heading to the island.

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"And I mean, if we just showed up here, there's gotta be a way to just... show up back home, right?" Dante said. Optimistically.

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"Hope you're right," Kathy said. "I'm not ready to have to make another call to have Dad and Anders come rescue us again."

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"Between you and me, there's enough kick-ass to avoid that anyway," Dante promised.

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"Still, maybe we've got service," Kathy said, digging into her pocket for her phone. "We could just call Portalocity and get home that way."

...Which was a great idea, up until she held up her phone and observed a big red X where bars should be.

"I've, uh, never seen that before," she said.

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Dante frowned, digging into his pocket for his own phone--

"Okay, there's dancing bananas on mine."

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"Glad to see we don't even have to be on the island for island nonsense to follow us," Kathy scowled, shoving her phone away. "...Besides the usual kind of island nonsense that follows us around."

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"Still lookin' forward to one of us swapping genitals in the house," Dante said brightly, though his forehead was creased in a frown as he slid his phone back into his pocket.

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"Still can't believe Isabela didn't eat you out," Kathy grumbled. "That's just rude."

Kathy, it had been years.

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"Let it go," Dante said, patting her shoulder. "C'mon, let's get moving towards... that train... thing."

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"True," Kathy said. "Hate to be late getting to a building."

The surroundings didn't get less weird as they walked. Little yellow birds with one cyclopean eye darted through the air, fighting with what looked like oversized pitcher plants. Trees sat upside down, their branches buried in the earth, fruit resting right above the ground while bare roots reached for the sky.

"Is this what it's like to be high?" Kathy asked. "Because I'm starting to wonder."

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"Nah," Dante said, with the voice of experience. "Though now I do fuckin' want drugs."

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"It's been awhile since you've done anything more than drink, huh?" Kathy asked, the shock and disapproval that would have been present in her voice in high school nowhere to be found.

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"Couple years," Dante allowed. "Enough to get nostalgic without gettin' needy."

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"Mostly club drugs, right?" Kathy asked. "Funny, I can't see you smoking pot much. That slows you down, makes you relax. That woulda been a bad thing for you in old LC. Bet Anders would, though. He's generally chill."

She thought about it. "In high school, I woulda been the girl that abuses, like, Adderall. And 4 Loko on weekends or whatever."

Welcome to her brain, Dante.