This curse is rather new to Penny. As such, she's quite alarmed when she walks in on Kate's dream. So alarmed, in fact, that she just watches until Kate's mother's final words.
The now empty space where her mother once stood is being stared at with the sort of disdain only used for supervillians. The air there is Kate's enemy; it took her mother away again and left her with nothing. She has no idea what her mother meant by her warning, just that it's important enough to be used as parting words.
Slowly, Kate turns to the voice that calls her name, eyes narrowed in realization that she's no longer being ignored. "Penny."
Maybe she'll hear her, maybe she won't. At this point, nothing's to be expected.
Kate's voice is uncharacteristically quiet. It's like if she doesn't say the words, her mother's death doesn't exist. It's not real in the fact that this is a dream, but the fact that when she wakes up, her mother will still be dead, still have been murdered. Nothing will actually change except the events of how she discovered this horror.
"She's gone. He took her. He killed her." Who is he? She doesn't see anybody in handcuffs. She's not even sure if it's really a he. This is all so confusing.
Oh, God, watching that hurts and for a moment Rachel closes her eyes against the sting of her own tears. It's familiar, far too familiar a scene and while the details are the different, the loss and the pain are all to recognizable.
"Kate?" Rachel speaks softly, not wanting to startle her friend and not sure why she's intruding in Kate's nightmare, but suspecting it's the City's fault somehow.
Somehow, the newspaper is back between her fingers. Kate's staring at the headline, willing it to change into something less devastating. For as little she cared about people being famous just for being famous, this would be the moment she wished their names were on the page instead of her mom's.
Her eyes, both dark with sorrow and red with tears, flit over to Rachel, leaving Kate wondering why the girl is around. How did she get here? How long was she here? Why didn't Rachel help her mom?
"Kate..." She looks around again, noting the headline, seeing the wreckage... she's seen too many bodies in her life, bodies of people that had families and people who loved them, people who were left behind.
"Do you want me to change this, take us somewhere else?" Perhaps the City would allow her that at least.
It's more of a demand than a request. If Rachel can change things, then she can change this whole mess. She can sweep up the pretty little piles of sparkling glass, mop up the rivers of blood, and scoop up the various items that have fallen out her mother's purse. Put her mother in a safer area of the city, maybe in her own office amongst the piles of paperwork from numerous charities. Anything is better than this.
Taking her away isn't what Kate wants. She wants to be given something back.
Amory's found himself in a tree, hanging in the boughs right above where Kate stands. He's never been one for climbing trees, as he's always been too scared of falling- he'd nearly fallen a cliff once as a child on a bicycle. But he remains there perched in the tree, knowing that making his present apparent would probably distress the girl even more.
He had watched it all.
There had always been a shared thread between them. They had both loved their mothers, just as they had both lost them, and there's an echo of emotion as he watches Kate's expression - similar sentiments rubbing against those ghost scars that he kept under scowls and sarcasm. And that's why he doesn't say anything, just sitting there perched above the girl.
If there's anybody around her watching this terror, Kate is unaware of them. She's in a fog. Everything is moving in slow motion, down to the paramedics coming back to stand over her mother's body. To her, it appears they're not talking about what they could have done about her mother, but superficial things like their plans for the weekend. Their voices are too slurred to make out clearly, but the tones tell Kate it's much too casual at the moment. Does nobody care? Does nobody wonder about the teenage girl standing there with pieces of the shattered glass gripped tightly in her fist, her mom's blood mixing with her own?
She couldn't help her. Kate is young, untrained, and had given absolutely no thought to becoming a superhero at her age. The hours she spent willingly at charity events never prepared her for this. All she knows is her family is now broken, not by a more socially acceptable act like divorce, but by murder.
Her family is broken, both in real life and in this dream. Somebody snatched the center of their world away
( ... )
He's still watching Kate, wondering if someone's going to pass by - a friend or even her other parent - someone who could pierce the bubble that separated her from the motions of the real world. Because he had walked in that fog once, that space separated and buffered from the constant flow of reality.
There was no one else coming and he could feel needle pricks against his behind. A hard wooden branch wasn't the most comfortable place to sit, and so egged by that and ultimately a desire to pull Kate out of her solitude, he carefully climbs down until his sneakers hit the concrete sidewalk with a clap.
"Hey."
It'd be stupid to ask Are you okay, his common sense knows better than that. He doesn't really know what to say, other than to say something as if words could give reassurance to the grieving girl. But it's the best he can offer, that and a gentle hand on her shoulder. It's gentle enough that it's barely there against the fabric of her top.
No one's going to pass by. Her subconscious has made sure of this. Somehow Kate knows her sister is off spending money on something stupid and that her dad is holed up in his office making more money to give to her sister. The Young Avengers doen't exist to her right now and even if they did show up, there's no guarantee she would recognize them.
The barely there hand on her shoulder is unexpected to the point that Kate jumps, skittering away like a terrified cat. Settling down takes a few long seconds where she doesn't verbally reply to Amory. All Kate does is hold her hand out flat to him, some of the glass bits standing straight up like soldiers in her skin with others falling to Earth with the gentleness of snowflakes.
She's giving them to him, a piece of her and a piece of her mother. It's also a piece of her mind she keeps locked away. She just wants it out of her hand. It's too much to carry.
Comments 24
There's something very familiar about this.
Penny approaches Kate cautiously. "Kate?"
Reply
Slowly, Kate turns to the voice that calls her name, eyes narrowed in realization that she's no longer being ignored. "Penny."
Maybe she'll hear her, maybe she won't. At this point, nothing's to be expected.
Reply
Reply
Kate's voice is uncharacteristically quiet. It's like if she doesn't say the words, her mother's death doesn't exist. It's not real in the fact that this is a dream, but the fact that when she wakes up, her mother will still be dead, still have been murdered. Nothing will actually change except the events of how she discovered this horror.
"She's gone. He took her. He killed her." Who is he? She doesn't see anybody in handcuffs. She's not even sure if it's really a he. This is all so confusing.
Reply
"Kate?" Rachel speaks softly, not wanting to startle her friend and not sure why she's intruding in Kate's nightmare, but suspecting it's the City's fault somehow.
Reply
Her eyes, both dark with sorrow and red with tears, flit over to Rachel, leaving Kate wondering why the girl is around. How did she get here? How long was she here? Why didn't Rachel help her mom?
Reply
"Do you want me to change this, take us somewhere else?" Perhaps the City would allow her that at least.
Reply
It's more of a demand than a request. If Rachel can change things, then she can change this whole mess. She can sweep up the pretty little piles of sparkling glass, mop up the rivers of blood, and scoop up the various items that have fallen out her mother's purse. Put her mother in a safer area of the city, maybe in her own office amongst the piles of paperwork from numerous charities. Anything is better than this.
Taking her away isn't what Kate wants. She wants to be given something back.
Reply
He had watched it all.
There had always been a shared thread between them. They had both loved their mothers, just as they had both lost them, and there's an echo of emotion as he watches Kate's expression - similar sentiments rubbing against those ghost scars that he kept under scowls and sarcasm. And that's why he doesn't say anything, just sitting there perched above the girl.
Fuck, he can't cry in her dream.
Reply
She couldn't help her. Kate is young, untrained, and had given absolutely no thought to becoming a superhero at her age. The hours she spent willingly at charity events never prepared her for this. All she knows is her family is now broken, not by a more socially acceptable act like divorce, but by murder.
Her family is broken, both in real life and in this dream. Somebody snatched the center of their world away ( ... )
Reply
There was no one else coming and he could feel needle pricks against his behind. A hard wooden branch wasn't the most comfortable place to sit, and so egged by that and ultimately a desire to pull Kate out of her solitude, he carefully climbs down until his sneakers hit the concrete sidewalk with a clap.
"Hey."
It'd be stupid to ask Are you okay, his common sense knows better than that. He doesn't really know what to say, other than to say something as if words could give reassurance to the grieving girl. But it's the best he can offer, that and a gentle hand on her shoulder. It's gentle enough that it's barely there against the fabric of her top.
Reply
The barely there hand on her shoulder is unexpected to the point that Kate jumps, skittering away like a terrified cat. Settling down takes a few long seconds where she doesn't verbally reply to Amory. All Kate does is hold her hand out flat to him, some of the glass bits standing straight up like soldiers in her skin with others falling to Earth with the gentleness of snowflakes.
She's giving them to him, a piece of her and a piece of her mother. It's also a piece of her mind she keeps locked away. She just wants it out of her hand. It's too much to carry.
Reply
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