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

[magicinmyskin]

"Hey, I was curious," Max said. "Honestly, I thought it was going to be bad."

Instead, it had been entirely the opposite.

"So, why didn't she join the band?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Bad timing, mostly," Kathy said, returning to the table not that the music was over. "Dante didn't really get started on it until after I...came back to LA."

[magicinmyskin]

"College?" Max guessed.

[spin_kick_snap]

A wry smile crossed Kathy's face. "I got into Stanford," she said.

[rebelseekspizza]

"It was complicated," Dante said wryly. "Not to get too far into the weeds, but we were kinda on a break. And... Well. She's at NYU now."

[magicinmyskin]

Kathy snorted into her soda at that but Max wasn't sure why and it seemed best not to press.

"Still, Stanford and NYU, both good schools," he said quickly, feeling like a shitty guidance counselor or something. "I was UCLA music, myself. Err, you?" he asked Dante.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm not really a college kinda guy," Dante said, with a little sheepish laugh. "Kinda proud of myself for finishing high school, actually."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not that he's dumb," Kathy said a little sharply, lest Max get the wrong idea. "There was just a lot going on and school was never a high priority."

[magicinmyskin]

"School isn't a high priority for lots of people," Max said easily. "Learned a trade instead?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"You could say that," Dante said, grinning a little. "I do, uh, private detective work, I guess."

[magicinmyskin]

"That's, uhhh..." For a minute, Max was stumped. "Okay, how the hell did you fall into that?" he finally asked.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Long fucking story," Dante said, laughing a little. "My neighbourhood had kinda, uh, a crisis recently? Loads of people went missing. I just stepped in to help."

[magicinmyskin]

"Errr....related to that guy, who uh....?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shook her head. "No," she said softly. "Not related to the guy who grabbed me. This was a different thing entirely. Disaster."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Bad one," Dante said, blowing out a breath. "Took 'em a while to put the neighborhood back together."

[magicinmyskin]

Max frowned, trying to remember if he heard anything about a major disaster...and then realized he couldn't pin down where they were from even if he wanted to.

"Things better now?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah," Kathy said, softening as she glanced at Dante. "They're getting there."

[rebelseekspizza]

"But now people know me," Dante said, grinning, "So I get some sweet cash out of it."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy snorted. "Sweet, huh?" she muttered.

She'd seen your take, Dante, don't lie.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Pays the pizza bills."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Which might be our most substantial bill," Kathy acknowledged.

Followed by the electricity for their two goddamn fridges, to be honest.

[magicinmyskin]

Max snickered. "It'd be mine if I didn't have a restaurant that fed me on the regular."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Liar," Kathy said, though she still sounded amused. "I remember LA rent prices."

[magicinmyskin]

"Okay, you got me," Max said, sharing her smile. Wow. She was really, really pretty when she smi--nope! "It's gas and tolls."