Outside the Ruins of Furnado, Saturday Morning

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

Dante had taken up patrolling again for the first time in... he'd like to say months, but it was probably weeks. So sue him: the regulars knew the rules of this place now, but the newbies were probably running into trouble a lot.

So he'd gone a-walking, right from the park up past the old restaurant district and then down to here, at Furnado. Most of it laid in ruins, though the front part of the shop was still upright. He wondered suddenly if there was anything of importance left inside. Sure, the cat- and dog food had been scavenged out years ago, but...

... sigh.

He blamed seeing Anders again yesterday. Been trying to avoid that.

He poked his head into the door. "Wonder if they still carry cat t-shirts..."

Nostalgia was a terrible friend, some days.

[[ open! ]]

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[good_for_six]

Isabela had made a terrible mistake and gone down to the docks to see if the Call was still there. That had not gone in any way she might have expected.

"Tentacles! What's with all the tentacles in this place?"

She had also been complaining about that the entire way from the docks to here.

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

"I dunno," Dante said, righting himself up and away from a pile of debris he'd been poking through. "My guess is still that the island read way too much bad fanfic on the internet before shit went down."

Years of terribleness might have given him a mask and a much more dour demeanor, but he was still Dante underneath all of it.

[good_for_six]

"Dante?" Turning, Isabela palmed a dagger, after all if she couldn't trust herself in this place... "...why are you wearing that ridiculous mask?"

Beat.

"Please tell me it's not face tentacles."

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

Dante held his arms up.

"No tentacles on me," he reported. "Just bad fashion choices."

Or trouble coming to term with the death of a twin brother, but to-mah-toe, to-may-toe.

[good_for_six]

"So I'm evil, and you've decided it's a good idea to dress like an Orlesian," Isabela said. "I don't want to know what's happened to Ada."

That way she could tell herself it wasn't terrible.

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

"Just don't walk too close to the oceanfront, then," Dante said. He gave a small shrug. "See you've met the Death Boat."

[good_for_six]

Andraste's tits, Dante.

"Tentacles! Not even the fun kind."

[godilovedthis.livejournal.com]

It was. It might even be the worst friend. Nostalgia was the only reason Kathy could come up with for why she was absently singing old songs, half-under her breath as she made her way back to where she holed up in the ruined warehouse district, rather than squatting in the protected park shanty like a sensible person.

"Tossing and turning all night," she sang (https://youtu.be/bstWoRsocaw) softly, moving more easily over the broken ground than she had in years, "I count the stars as I try to sleep..."

[Shameless new music plug and I don't even care]

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

"Now there's a tune I haven't heard in a long time."

Dante had found not a shirt, but a cat mug, with only a single chip missing. He was looking at it, and not Kathy.

[godilovedthis.livejournal.com]

Kathy stopped, singing and moving both, cheeks turning bright red in embarrassment, caught not only singing, but singing a rather maudlin song. "It's been awhile since I sang it," she said, stiffly.

Since she'd sung anything at all.

"Didn't mean to disturb your scavenging."

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

"You didn't," Dante said, stuffing the mug into a bag at his side. "Didn't ask you to stop, either."

[godilovedthis.livejournal.com]

Kathy shrugged, still flushing. "Not even sure how much of the words I remember," she mumbled. "End up having to switch to la la las halfway through the chorus or something, probably."

She'd forgotten how much she'd liked singing, once upon a time.

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

"So let's find out."

Dante should keep his distance, yes.

But he'd always had a weakness for music.

[godilovedthis.livejournal.com]

Kathy tried to think of a million reasons why she shouldn't do this; feeling stupid was only one of them. But Dante had asked and Kathy couldn't find it in her to say no.

Fucking nostalgia. That had to be it.

"But you twinkle and dazzle so much that whether I eat or drink coffee, whether I watch TV, whether I laugh or cry..." She faltered over the next line. "It’s like you’re next to me."

And subsided again. "These lyrics are pretty ridiculous."

[trulyshelved.livejournal.com]

There were lots and lots of things around and Allu-Nika recognized this one. They peeked around a fallen sign and then, when he didn't look like he was looking, they tossed three pebbles at him.

Their giggling filled the air around them as they did so.

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

Dante, being who he was, didn't need to look to sense the pebbles coming. His entire body shifted out of the way fluidly, effortlessly, as they went sailing past and hit the wall instead.

"Huh," he said. "Guess someone's bored..."

[trulyshelved.livejournal.com]

Not bored, exactly, there'd been a lot of new fun in the last few days, but he was him and they didn't like to make him think they'd forgotten about him.

They drifted out from behind their sign, floating around until they could better view him, still giggling, and offered him a pebble. Maybe he'd like that better than their throwing it at him.

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

"See, now there's a couple of faces I haven't seen in a while."

Dante reached out to take the pebble. Threw in a little curtsy, too.

[trulyshelved.livejournal.com]

They clapped their hands together happily and then twirled showing off their new yellow ribbon.

Did he like it? They'd gotten it from someone and they hadn't even had to hurt him!

[rebelscreams.livejournal.com]

"Aw, see, now that's just your color," Dante said. He tossed the pebble up into the air and caught it. "Where'd you find something pretty like that?"

[godilovedthis.livejournal.com]

Kathy stiffened as she heard the giggle, song dying on her lips again. The Alluka half of the doll was fairly harmless, but Kathy wasn't able to run fast enough or far enough if the Nanika half came out.

"Allu-Nika," she said shortly, by way of greeting.

[trulyshelved.livejournal.com]

They still wouldn't kill her, and wasn't that reassuring? Not that they'd save her either. They didn't remember that much, though they did remember Kathy and loving her.

Floating over to her, they reached out to flail a greeting in her direction. They had a new yellow ribbon around their waists and an pretty little bit of lace wound up in their hair. They looked great, didn't they?

[godilovedthis.livejournal.com]

"You've gotten very fancy," Kathy said, voice polite. This was both harder and easier after having seen Alluka again. She remembered how much she'd loved the little girl, her bruised heart feeling tender, but it also reminded her just how twisted this version had become. "Preparing for something?"

[trulyshelved.livejournal.com]

They shook their heads, doing a twirl. This was how they wanted to be every day!

Allu-Nika rummaged around in their skirt, pulling out something that definitely hadn't been in their skirt but magic let them do that, and held it out for Kathy's inspection.

It was a blue eye, the optical nerve intricately braided and attached to a pretty ribbon and a bit of chain. It was super, super shiny. If Kathy had seen Hannibal's work before, she'd recognize it.

Their Papa had given them a present, wasn't it nice?

[godilovedthis.livejournal.com]

Kathy had long-since grown immune to horror, so other than a slight wonder about whose eye this had been originally, she wasn't particularly disturbed by the gift. "Your Papa's handiwork, isn't it?" she asked, unable to remember his name. She didn't get into the village much. "Going to get spoiled with all these presents."