The Parking Lot, Sunday Morning

[rebelseekspizza]

Usually, Dante didn't do being up this early. Especially not on a Sunday, when 'early' was anything before noon. Today - this weekend - was different. He was restless, couldn't sleep, needed to get out.

So he got out.

It'd been too long since he last gave the bike some love, anyway. Washing it with water might be a bad idea, but cleaning off grime and water and flecks of ice with a cloth? He could do that. "Maybe you and me should head out on a ride soon, huh," he said quietly. To the bike.

Sometimes being alone was nice.

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[that_oldsaying]

Alluka had work to go and do, but that didn't mean she couldn't take the long way around, especially when she was wearing her ATs and so could get around the island pretty fast.

She hadn't really been looking for Dante, since even Alluka knew Dante and early morning weren't a usual thing, but finding him wasn't a bad thing.

Skating over to him meant there was no way he could miss her approach--ATs weren't exactly silent--but Alluka wasn't much of one for sneaking up on people anyway.

"Good morning," she said, big eyes taking in him and the bike. "You're up early."

[rebelseekspizza]

There was too much tension left in Dante's body for him not to jerk up with... well, not nothing of his usual grace, but definitely some of it. "H-- oh. Alluka."

He relaxed. "Hey."

[that_oldsaying]

"Sorry," she said, sounding contrite. "I didn't meant to startle you. Are you okay?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm fine," Dante said, dropping the rag he'd been using on top of his saddle. "What're you doing here?"

[that_oldsaying]

"I'm just skating around until I make it to work," Alluka said, smiling. "And it's quiet in the mornings, so I usually do most of my practice then. What were you doing?"

Alluka's version of checking in on people did not tend to involve demands to know how they were feeling.

She was still sort of checking in on him, since she'd found him out here.

[rebelseekspizza]

Some days, demanding to know how Dante was feeling was the only way to get him to do talking that he really needed to do.

Today wasn't one of those days. He'd done a lot of talking already, and none of it made him feel any better, and the way Alluka just kind of let it go made it strangely easier to breathe.

"Cleaning up my bike," he reported. "I've been ignoring her lately, and she's gonna get pissed with me if I keep it up."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka nodded. The idea of a bike getting angry about being ignored made perfect sense to her.

"Then it's good you're taking care of her now," she said easily. "Can I watch and keep you company for a bit?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Sure," Dante said, lifting up one shoulder in a shrug. "If you're that bored. Maybe I'll even take her for a ride soon."

[that_oldsaying]

"I like your company," Alluka said mildly, finding a spot to sit down primly. She hugged her bunny, then set it on her lap.

"Where will you take her? How fast does she go? Much faster than ATs?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Depends on the ATs," Dante said. He squatted down, rag back in hand, and got to ferreting some scraps of mud out from a crease. "I've beat Ringo in a race with this girl once or twice."

[that_oldsaying]

"You'd beat me a lot more then," Alluka said, laughing. "She's faster than I am."

Alluka watched him work for a moment.

"No destination in mind?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Nah," Dante said, after a short pause. "Was thinking just driving might be fun for a while, you know?"

[that_oldsaying]

"I think so," she said, looking at her ATs. Yeah, she actually did think she understood that part.

"You should pick some place kind far that has a lot of sweets," Alluka said happily. "So you can get there, all happy from a ride, and then add candy to the ride home to make it better."

Alluka was a simple soul.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy knew she couldn't leave the islamd in much the same way she knew she had only a few more hours left. But she could at least walk to the edge of the Causeway, and look out onto the world was denied to her. She got as far as the parking lot when she saw who else is there.

"Oh, Dante," she said, surprised. "Shit. Sorry."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante glanced over his shoulder.

He didn't really need to; he'd know that voice anywhere. "Kathy," he said, eyes narrowing.

(He didn't even realize he was doing it.)

[spin_kick_snap]

But he was and Kathy shrank in on herself a little because of it. "S-sorry," she stuttered, because, hey, she was existing and that was bad. "I was just--I'm not following you, I swear. I just wanted to see."

The outside world that didn't belong to her anymore.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante sighed. "See what?" he asked.

At least there wasn't anything accusatory in his voice, this time.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Baltimore," she said, pointing across the Causeway. "I can't actually cross, so I just came here to look. I just wanted to remember what the outside world looked like, is all."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Baltimore's a little far to see from here," Dante said. "But hey, I guess there's plenty of land to stare at."

He considered sticking around there and ignoring her, but-- fuck it.

He left his bike where it was, and walked towards her.

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's the closest I can get," Kathy started to say, then faded into a wary silence as Dante came closer.

She wasn't afraid of him, precisely. The fact that he could easily snap her in half without even working up a sweat never even crossed her mind. But he could hurt her, deeper than anyone else on the island save one.

But Kathy had stopped running away from things years ago, so she shoved her hands in her pockets and waited to see how close he'd get.

[rebelseekspizza]

Close, but not that close.

Dante stopped a few feet away, sticking his hands in his pockets awkwardly.

He'd gotten a lot of the anger out yesterday. Now he wasn't sure what he felt. So he just looked at her. Trying to figure that out.

[spin_kick_snap]

Well, now they were mirroring one another's body language. That was supposed to good, right? She was pretty sure that was a good sign between people--though that had been more about smiling and touching faces and less about looking awkward with your hands balled in your pockets.

"She's looking good," Kathy said, nodding at the bike, since that was probably the safest topic she could find. "Have you been able to take her out much this winter?"

So many memories on that bike. They'd gotten it together in a crazy night of kissing, fighting, and racing. Makeouts, Dante teaching her to drive it, outrunning the cops together on it, plans to head to DC for a week of crazy sex and bouncing off of monuments.

Maybe the bike was a fraught topic after all.

[rebelseekspizza]

"No, not a lot," Dante said. He shrugged awkwardly. "It's been a fucked up couple of weeks. Not getting better by the looks of it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Sorry," Kathy said immediately. God, she felt like she was fifteen again, apologizing with every other breath. "I'll be gone in a few hours, though. So maybe things will start getting back to normal again."

For a few months anyway. Till the next Fandom weirdness set in. At least that one would probably not be her fault?

[rebelseekspizza]

"Maybe," Dante said. "Don't think so. We were starting to figure this out, y'know?"