The Island to Various Rifts, Friday Through Sunday

[spin_kick_snap]

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

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy popped out behind him and immediately looked around. "Well, not Fandom, that's for sure," she said. "But nothing is upside down, so..."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Still pretty far from home," Dante said, turning around to regard the... yep, street. "Not lookin' very East Coast in general."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy looked closer, at the way the buildings rose above the horizon and realized that, no, she knew exactly what coast they were on.

"It's LA," she said. "We're in LA."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante blinked, and looked aside at her abruptly. "Fuck," he said. "You okay?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Look," she said, pointing to the city. "The lights are on."

Hard to tell in the day, but here and there the neon gleamed bright enough to be seen even in the sunshine. More sun reflected off car windows and chrome as vehicles chugged up and down the 10.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Well... not your LA, then, I guess," Dante said, relaxing a tad. "Maybe it's Fandom's?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I don't think so," Kathy said, tiny niggling details reading 'wrong' to her on a level too unconscious to really pick out. "It's not quite right."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Well, as long as nothing's coming swinging at us, I guess it could be worse...?"

A beat.

"Fuck, being in the city makes me hungry."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Everything makes you hungry," Kathy said with a smile. "Should we go looking for pizza?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Might as well get a snack before we figure out how to get home, right?" Dante said. "You know you wanna too."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Actually, I kinda wanna see if the Pickle Hut is open," Kathy admitted. "I miss their burgers."

It hadn't been a chain and she hadn't felt comfortable asking Anders to go with her to see if there was a version of it in Fandom's LA.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante blinked. Then he nodded. Slowly. "Okay," he said. "Let's go find the Pickle Hut."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You gonna be okay going there?" she asked. "It's the same diner that..." She trailed off and shrugged. "That you found me in. That day."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I know."

He shrugged. Tried to be casual about it. "It'll be fine. Whatever, it was years ago."

[spin_kick_snap]

"If you're sure...?" Kathy said. "I mean, pizza's fine, too."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Kathy," Dante said, beginning to sound fondly exasperated, "Let's fuckin' go."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay okay!" Kathy said. "I just..." She trailed off again. "Okay, we're going."

It was a short walk to get into the city proper and then they hailed a cab - green and running on some kind of weird Tesla engine. Kathy didn't say anything, just noted the differences and gave the address of the diner.

The Pickle Hut was pretty much exactly the same, right down to the decor, she was pleased to see. Even the garish neon pickle sign was correct, blinking out every handful of seconds. And the smell - hot oil, salt, and brine hit them like a cloud when they walked through the door. "Oh," Kathy said, with a happy little smile as they were shown to their table. "I've missed this place."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante's mouth quirked a little. "Maybe you can tell me a couple of stories of how you used to hang out here," he said. "You know. Before."

Might take the edge off.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Nick took me here the first time," Kathy said, scanning through the menu. "It's funny, cause it was so at odds with his Mr. Hollywood persona. But the woman that runs this place - Mona - she knew him from when he was a kid. She'd come back and yell at him for being too skinny and demand to know when the last time he called his mom. Yelled at him for wearing the sunglasses indoors, but he told her that the neon lights gave him headaches now and she backed off."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snorted softly as he sank down into a booth. "What did you think?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I loved this place," Kathy said, looking around fondly. "Huge portions. Their kimchi is the best I've had outside of K-Town. It's just...it's everything a diner should be, but with a pickle bent."

Thus making it better.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Never took you for a huge fuckin' fan of pickles," Dante teased, "Gonna have to work that into the menu at home..."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You know how I always take my pickles off my Mooby sandwiches?" she asked. "It's so I can eat them last, save 'em for the end."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I mean, I saw that," Dante said, laughing a little bit. "'s cute."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Much better than thinking I'm a weirdo for doing it that way. Sarah always said it was."

Sarah...still brought a pang, but for once, Kathy's smile didn't slip, her expression didn't sadden.