fandomtownies | Chilly Boulder, Wednesday Afternoon

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Chilly Boulder, Wednesday Afternoon

Well, their Fandom was phasing with a new one and while Kathy couldn't remember how long it would take before theirs overtook this one and destroyed it nor how many times this had already happened in the past (though the flickers were lingering longer now than they'd been this morning, so odds were high the process was a quick one), she knew to enjoy what time she had before it all went to hell in a handbasket. After chatting with Dante outside the dorms, she'd left him to his vigil to hobble into town and see what she could get before it all turned to rot and ruin and rampaging monsters. She hadn't had much of a plan in mind, just ambling through the town and hoping that it was a Fandom with human-analogues and not, say, inhabited by sentient shades of blue or something, when she'd spotted the Chilly Boulder.

Oh. Oh. It didn't matter that it was December and already cold out--Kathy literally could not remember the last time she'd had ice cream. Forget looking for new clothing or better weapons, she was making her way into the ice cream parlor as fast as her legs could carry her. Which wasn't fast at all anymore, but for ice cream, she could ignore how much her legs hurt and work her way up to a brisk walk.

"Hey," she said, not even noticing how surprised the servers were to see her. "Can I get a Skywalker Special, please? With as many different flavors as I can get. Don't care which ones, just a lot of them."

[Open for original flavor and AU'd townies alike!]

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Eliot had Val out for a walk/recon mission through town. He'd been here far too long to not take "creepy fog and weird people on the streets" as a sign of impending nastiness, but as much as part of him wanted to just grab his partners and hunker down for the duration, dogs still needed to pee, and he had students to keep an eye out for.

And, you know, part of him was maybe hankering for a fight.

He actually managed to walk right past the Chilly Boulder at first, distracted by a flash of pink up ahead, but he registered what he'd seen through the window a moment later and backed up so sharply that he nearly left Val behind.

She looked -- like she might've just come back from a zombie apocalypse. Of course she did. If it weren't weird fog day, Eliot might've burst into the shop and scooped her up in a hug with no warning. And, really, he exercised only the barest fraction more caution than that, stopping just inside the door post-burst.

"Kathy? That really you, darlin'?"

It was cold, and Anders wasn't sure what he was doing wandering into the ice cream place. But sometimes, a man just needed his cookies and cream.

... which he promptly forgot about as soon as he made it into the door, heart thudding in his throat. He'd spent the last eight months trying to get that face and hair out of his mind, and now --

"No," he said, not realizing he'd even spoken.

"Eliot?" Kathy turned a puzzled expression up at him. She hadn't heard that level of enthusiasm out of him in a very long time. Or seen his chin in roughly the same. "Yes, it's--Oh. Fandom. Of course."

She pushed herself up with a grimace of pain and tried to flash him a smile. It didn't sit well on her, like muscles that hadn't exercised in too long. "I could be asking you the same thing."

Except it wasn't. It was this new world's Eliot, not the one she saw skulking about the town sometimes.

For a moment, Kathy didn't even realize that Anders was referring to her. She was minding her own business, eating more ice cream than any one person ought to in one sitting, not doing anything to anyone. "What?" she asked, sounding a little more defensive than she intended. "I'm not stopping you from getting your own. The shortages won't start for awhile."

Yeah, none of that helped make working out if she was his Kathy any easier, really. She could totally have been injured on her trip back home. Hell, she'd looked like death warmed over in that last video, who knew where she'd been hurt.

There was . . . something, though. Nothing distinctive, just a feeling. She wasn't his Kathy.

That didn't make it any less incredible to see her, though.

"I'm me," he said, taking a few steps closer. God, she looked rough, and that grimace physically hurt, but he still wanted to grab onto her and not let go. Val caught up and hid behind his legs, another sign he should stay cautious. "I ain't the one who left. How'd you get here?"

Ringo didn't usually interrupt a run through town once she got going. And she certainly didn't slam through doors at breakneck speeds to barrel straight toward someone aiming for a sort of tackle-hug. But, to be fair, she hadn't had anyone come back from the dead for her yet, either.

"Kathy!"

If she'd been in less of a hurry, she might have noticed some of the not-so-subtle things that were "off" about her senpai, but she was in a hurry. She wanted to be hugging Kathy as soon as possible.

Kathy hadn't been anybody's in a long time. Hell, most days, Kathy skated perilously close to not being anybody herself.

"Fandom being Fandom," she said, also staying on her side of the table. Her hand fell to her side, where a knife was strapped to her hip, hidden under the long flannel shirt she was wearing. It looked like Eliot and sounded like Eliot, and they were flickering in and out of a new reality, but only an idiot let someone get too close without making sure they were still a person.

Bosses sometimes still looked like people. Sounded like people. Acted like people. Until the teeth and claws and knives came out and the screaming began.

"Yesterday I was on my island. Today I'm here. Mostly. Sometimes I blip back home." Home was said with a tired bitterness so old she didn't even know it was there. "Don't know how much longer that'll keep happening though."

"I--whoa, what--fuck!"

Instinct had Kathy moving before conscious thought could process the blur of motion coming at her. Usually, that meant DANGER INCOMING, which meant that getting the fuck out of the way trumped whatever pain she might feel and damage she might do. She could worry about that kind of thing later, when she was able to be pleased that she had a later.

She dove out of the chair and tucked herself into a roll, then bounced up onto her feet. Her cry of pain didn't stop her from yanking out her knife, her eyes darting around for the best way out. Maybe she could lead the creature behind the counter and make her getaway while it was busy with the cashier...

Ringo hadn't really been ready for a dodge. That, more than even the knife that suddenly appeared in Kathy's hand, pulled her up short. She spun, bouncing off the wall to kill her momentum, and stood absolutely still. Her eyes were wide, staring at Kathy in hurt and betrayal, neither of which she could manage to force down.

"I." What was she supposed to say to a reaction like that?

She swallowed. "I'm sorry."

After forcing herself to take a couple of deep breaths, she rubbed at her eyes with the back of her arm and turned toward the door again.

Eliot had already been suspecting it, but the confirmation still hurt. He might not ever know for sure about his Kathy.

"Fandom bein' Fandom," he agreed, and nodded to the seat across from her. "You mind if I pick your brain a little? I'm guessin' this ain't gonna be one of those things that just goes away on its own by morning."

Those things tended to be more random animals or desserts, for one thing.

Well, Kathy hadn't been expecting a tackle, either! Most of the survivors of their Fandom knew better than to make fast movements toward someone.

"I...Ringo?" Kathy asked, peering at her, blinking almost like she couldn't believe it. "Ringo?"

And then she abruptly sat down on the ground, her legs protesting mightily the activity of a few moments before.

Seeing Kathy recognize her actually had Ringo straightening slightly, and starting to smile, but then Kathy's legs gave out and Ringo was rushing over again.

"Are you okay?" Ringo asked, eyes wide with worry, dropping to skid on her knees to stop beside Kathy. She came up short, hesitating to reach for another hug.

Of course that was a stupid question. A really stupid question. Kathy must have been fighting zombies for, like, seven or eight months! No way was she okay.

Kathy nodded, sinking back down into her chair with a sigh of relief. "Sure," she said, her eyes greedily traveling across his face. It had been...years, maybe?...since she'd seen Eliot looking like this. Looking alive. "It's not going to be a lot of help. I--I don't remember much. No one does."

Maybe Dante? But it was hard to say for sure.

"And it's not going to matter soon. It's all going to be here anyway."

"I'm dealing," she said, struggling to push herself back up. Then Ringo's arms were wrapping around her and she froze for a moment before tentatively returning the hug like she barely remembered how. "I'm used to it."

Ringo had started with a tight hug, but Kathy's hesitation had her relaxing her grip. "When, um, when did you get back?" She suspected the answer was "just now", since she hadn't seen or heard anything to suggest otherwise.

And Ringo couldn't easily imagine Kathy arriving without making waves.

Eliot noted the way she was looking at him and filed the information away. Her version of him might well be dead. Parker and Hardison would just love hearing about that.

"Alright. Still, better bein' a little forearmed than not at all." He took a seat, and Val edged hesitantly closer, sniffing in Kathy's direction. Eliot kept one eye on her and leaned his elbows on the table. "You've had run in with other Fandoms before, huh?"

Well, it helped when she was literally thrust into this reality from her own.

"Back?" Kathy's brow creased and she shook her head. "I only just arrived. How could I be coming back?"

Kathy's evident confusion was enough to trigger Ringo's own. And that, in turn, was enough for her to really look at Kathy.

She licked her lips carefully, not quite letting go of the hug even as she was pulled a little away for a better view. "You, um, didn't just come back from LA, did you?"

"I--yes?" Kathy didn't sound entirely certain, her hand dropping down to beckon Val closer. "Yeeees. We've been to other Fandoms before." Her gaze turned inward, trying to remember more clearly. "We arrive, much like this. There are weird flickers where both realities collide. Things start coming over, most only for a few seconds before going back." She gave him another of those small, bitter smiles. "Fair warning, I could vanish at any second myself. But those collisions start lasting longer, spreading further. And that's when the invasion happens."

"LA?" Kathy barked a laugh that was held very little amusement in it. "I haven't been in LA in..." She honestly didn't know how long. "Years, I think? Not since I left med school."

Med school? Ringo's eyes narrowed.

Kathy did look older. And not just "barely lived through a zombie apocalypse" older. Like, actually older.

It had Ringo finally dropping her hug and leaning back. "Oh."

Of course not. Kathy was dead. Her Kathy was dead, at least.

She tried not to let the disappointment show on her face. Not just that it wasn't what she'd hoped, but for letting herself hope even though she knew it was impossible. But Ringo had never been good at hiding her feelings.

That fit with what he'd seen so far. "Invasion, huh? Always gotta be a damn invasion." Though considering the kinds of magical or interdimensional or whatever energy Fandom seemed to run on, that wasn't really that surprising. "Invasion of what, exactly?"

"Monsters," Kathy said quietly. It was always monsters wasn't it? "Twisted versions of ourselves--the ones who were on the island when it all...happened."

What happened? She couldn't remember.

"We call them hollows. The little ones, anyway. The bigger ones are bosses. All of them are lethal."

"Shortages?"

Anders was more confused than ever.

"I -- I'm not upset about ice cream, Kathy."

"When what happened?" Sorry, Kathy. Eliot was good, but he couldn't read the narrative. "How d'ya mean, twisted?"

Or "little" for that matter. Was she talking about children?

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Chilly Boulder, Wednesday Afternoon

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