Outside of JGoB, Thursday

[godilovedthis]

Well, that had happened fast. Had it always been that fast, or was the process speeding up? Kathy couldn't remember. But this morning she'd gotten up and was greeted by the familiar fog and scent of mildew and rusting metal. Ahh, all the comforts of home. Cursing, she'd left her squat in Barry's old lab, hoping to find something to scrounge before

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[rebelseekspizza]

Yeah, it was like night and day on the island right now. Dante was... weirded out didn't quite cover it, did it?

Especially after he'd woken up and gone for a walk, hoping to pick up some food somewhere, or... something.

Instead he came to a stop in front of the completely wrecked JGoB, and... just. Stopped.

"Shitting hell."

[godilovedthis]

"Good morning to you too, Dante," Kathy said absently, still cataloguing the interior of the building to pay attention to which Dante it was. Her head snapped up a moment later when she realized she hadn't heard that much emotion in Dante's voice in...a very long time. She turned, awkward and ungainly, and caught sight of something else she hadn't seen in years.

His face.

Mouth dry, she took a step forward, hand raised towards his cheek--and her foot came down wrong and she nearly toppled over, keeping herself upright only be wrenching herself backwards and using the front of the building as a crutch. Fuck, that hurt. But she bit the pain back, promising another use of Rufus's magic ball when she got home, and stared dully at the boy in front of her.

He looked so young.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante started forward before even realizing what he was doing. "...Kathy!"

That had at one point been meant as a 'Kathy' of disturbed surprise, but it came out as more of a Kathy of 'worry' - especially as he moved to try and steady her more.

[godilovedthis]

"Don't!" Kathy said, raising a hand to ward him off. "Just--don't. I'm fine, okay? I can do this myself. I've been doing it for years."

It would be far less painful to let him help, but she just couldn't. She had trouble enough asking the usual Dante for help, she couldn't let this baby-faced version see her as weak.

Even if she was.

"Just give me a minute," she said, and worked to right herself with careful slowness.

[lostdistinction]

Eliot had had to be led back to the village yesterday by a newcomer with no sense of the terribleness that was Fandom now. Had he learned his lesson about wandering off? Of course not. It was really hard to learn things when you forgot 99% of everything that happened to you a good five minutes after it'd happened

[godilovedthis]

"Eliot," Kathy called, raising empty hands slowly in the air. He wouldn't attack, so long as he wasn't attacked first, but it never hurt to play it safe. "Eliot, it's Kathy. You know me. I feed you. Do you remember me?"

No matter what the answer was, it would likely change within another few minutes anyway.

[lostdistinction]

"Kathy." Names were easy to remember when the person it belonged to had just said it.

You know, sometimes.

"Don't get mad if I don't remember that later. My memory's pretty well fucked."

[godilovedthis]

Kathy closed her eyes and sighed. How many times had she heard that exact same speech, delivered that exact same way?

"I know," she said quietly. "I've known you for a long time." Had once looked to him as the kind of father she'd never had, in fact. But it was useless to bring that up now. "Wanna come in? I'm scrounging for something to eat."

[crimson_sister]

Well, the fog and everything suddenly looking dilapidated and decaying might not be a turn for the better, but it wasn't too bad, was it? Perhaps this was a good day to buy some cake?

It wasn't. There was nothing to be bought in town, and by the time Lucille had reached JGoB she was looking rather disappointed.

[godilovedthis]

What, did the creepy fog and dilapidated buildings remind Lucille of home? Look, it's Lucille and Kathy I HAD TO SNARK

Lucille's day was about to get even more disappointing when she noticed the girl behind the counter. Kathy was examining the remaining pastries to see if she'd maybe been wrong about their current state, that maybe one of them might be edible.

Protip: she hadn't been.

[crimson_sister]

Now that you mention it, it was rather homely. Apart from the mouldy cake.

Lucille stopped on the doorstep when she saw who was there. Her eyes widened at first, then narrowed.

"You are supposed to be dead."

[godilovedthis]

"Yeah, I'm getting that a lot," Kathy said, rolling her eyes. "If it helps any, most of you will be soon. So maybe it evens out in the wash."

Kathy...that wasn't how the saying went.

[that_oldsaying]

So, Kathy hadn't been in the warehouse district, which was okay, since she'd gotten to hold the nice man's hand for most of the time, and while in the back of her mind Alluka was still concerned that Papa was going to be angrier by the minute at her...

Finding Kathy was still a wondrous, amazing thing.

"Kathy!" she said, the beam on her face clearly audible in her voice too. "Kathy! I found you!"

[rebelscreams]

Behind her was a Dante, mask and all, one hand shoved down his coat pocket - and a winged seal poking out of the other pocket.

"That we did," he drawled.

He was just gonna... hang back for a while.

Non-creepily.

Mostly?

[godilovedthis]

You keep telling yourself that, Dante. That mask made everything roughly 33% creepier by volume.

Kathy's head flew up when she heard someone calling her name, barely escaping slamming the back of her head into the bottom of the counter she'd been scavenging under. "Who--?!" she demanded, before stopping and staring at the bright bundle of energy staring at her. "Alluka?!"

Dante had mentioned her but she hadn't actually expected--Dammit. More feelings incoming. She really loathed feelings and yet nobody here seemed to care.

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka hadn't thought the mask was creepy but, well, some of her toys were a lot creepier, so her perspective was warped.

Her smile got even brighter when Kathy knew who she was. She let go of the nice man's hand and skipped over to Kathy. At the last minute, she didn't go in for a hug.

This Kathy knew her but she was older and... and... maybe she was even more sad and lonely than the nice man was. So maybe she wouldn't want a hug immediately, without asking.

Alluka turned her huge blue eyes up to their most beseeching setting and said, "Can I have a hug, Kathy?"