Los Angeles, Tuesday

[spin_kick_snap]

Banzai had patrolled for two days without seeing a single zombie. By day, she hung out on rooftops, peering down into dim alleys in the worst sections of town, looking for any of the signs that Stealth and Barry--Zzzap--had mentioned: pale skin, a lack of coordination and language skills, high resistance to damage, a degree of aggression, the scent

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was outside on the roof when the call came in, leaning against the wall and - yep - smoking.

It took two rings for him to realize his phone was going off; he snuck his hand into his pocket and answered it without really looking. "Hey."

[spin_kick_snap]

Hey. who was Kathy to pass judgment about hanging out on rooftops? Rooftops were even cooler than alleyways! Though the smoking was terrible. Dante, stop that.

"Hey," she replied, waving down Mona to silently request another platter of fries. "I guess that's a better greeting than 'Go for Dante.'"

[rebelseekspizza]

"I dunno what that's supposed to mean," Dante said easily. "Hey, Kat, what's up?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's the douchey businessman's version of hello," Kathy said with a small laugh. "So, no, not one I see you using ever. And, uhh, I'm having lunch right now, figured I'd call, touch base, that kind of thing."

Because Dante was entirely the kind of guy you called up to shoot the shit with. Absolutely.

"I'm at a place that specializes in pickles, the burger's the size of my head, and my milkshake might be even bigger. And I don't even have to share!"

[not_every_mage]

Anders had been surprised not to hear from Kathy the day before, so it was a relief when his phone rang that morning and her name blinked on the display.

"Hi," he said. "Did you just get back?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"..."

The half-beat of silence probably told Anders all he needed to know about how this conversation was going to go.

"Hi," Kathy said quietly in return. "No, uhh, no I didn't."

[not_every_mage]

A beat as Anders willed her to just mean she'd gotten in the day before.

Not that it seemed likely, given the tone in her voice.

"... then where are you?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"The Pickle Hut?" Which wasn't an answer and she knew it. "...Which is a restaurant in LA. I'm still here. I'll be staying here longer than I assumed I would. Probably through till next Friday."

Not this Friday. The one after that.

[tigerundercover]

"You missed turning into a boy," Raven said when she answered. What was she, a secretary? Just saying "hello" like this was a random call? Pffft. "Unless you turned into a boy there. I've heard Fandom can still get you in other places, sometimes."

[spin_kick_snap]

"...That would have done wonders for my cover," Kathy said, laughing. "I'm supposed to be a boy out here, remember? And maybe Max would be less of a creeper if he thought I was a boy, hmm."

[tigerundercover]

"You might just end up with a different creeper," Raven said. "So how's the second best city in America?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"How do I know what New York is like?" Kathy asked, sounding puzzled. "I'm in warm and sunny Los Angeles, eating the best burger of my life. I mean, sure, the forecast for the next week is 'Mid-70s with a chance of zombies', but I bet Venice Beach will have way way fewer tourists than usual!"

...Okay, not how she'd planned to tell Raven, but she was still a little on edge from the fight.

[vdistinctive]

"Kathy?" Eliot answered. "You're not patchin' up another bullet wound, are ya?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not this time!" Kathy said, slightly more cheered by the start of this conversation than she'd been. Because at least she wasn't doing that. "But I do have a really weird question for you. But it's actually a serious one."

She inhaled, then asked in a rush, "Do you have any experience fighting zombies?"

If anyone did, she was guessing it would be Eliot.

[vdistinctive]

". . . Actually, no." Aliens, ghosts, even a little bit of werewolf fighting, but no zombies. "I've got some theories, though."

Because frankly you never knew.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Can I hear those theories?" Kathy asked. "At this point, vague hunches will do. We're mostly running on guesses and Romero."

Oh. Hmm. She might have skipped over some important intel there.

"Uhh, so I don't think I mentioned this before, but I'm in LA fighting zombies. How're you?"