Thursday Morning: A Warehouse formerly named George...

[badassprodigy]

While most of the island was still dealing with the lack of clothes and a heatwave, there was one warehouse that was dealing with some interdimensional weirdness of its own.

One moment everything was fine and in the next there was a rip in time and space. Gusts of wind blew debris and sand around the warehouse as a human sized figure fell through to the ground.

"All right! Send my shit through!" he shouted through the portal.

Various metallic crates began to shoot through the portal causing Barry to dodge and swear.

"Jesus fucking Christ! Be careful with those!"

Eventually all the crates came through and the portal sealed up behind Barry as he took a look at his old warehouse.

It was there, still standing. Barry stood outside and felt the sentimentality wash over him. It was here that he had his first date. Where he had made the dreadful mistake of trying to create a gremlin vaccine. Where he nearly lost his mind watching the evils of science and how it nearly destroyed the humanity of Eleanor’s universe. It was where one of his favorite teaches had adopted him as a… little brother? (That thought was immediately pushed away as he soon remembered how he and his girlfriend used to have sex on nearly every piece of furniture in the place)

Barry had made friends before Fandom. He’d also known love. But it was here in this warehouse that he realized just how important those things were. How they were more important than even (gasp) science.

The lock on it was new but not a challenge for Barry. It fell to the ground and with a slight hesitation he pushed open the door…

To find out that Kathy had redecorated.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! WHAT IS WITH ALL THIS IKEA BULLSHIT?! WHO GETS RID OF STAIRS AND REPLACES IT WITH A FUCKING ROPE! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!”

Barry paused. Took a deep breath and let it go. Easy Barry. It’s been ten years. Lots of changes. It’s okay. Changes are good. And at least some of the same stuff was there where he left it.

Dragging in his equipment he immediately kicked on the power generator and stepped over to his communication array and started the process of downloading five years of information to review.

And that's when he caught one email in particular. A notification he never got while dimension-hopping.


"Oh. Oh, no."

There's only a few things that can shake Barry to the core. Losing a friend and not being to do anything about it? That was the first one on the list.

He sat there for a long time just sitting there stunned.

"Fuck."

He was going to be that way for a while.

[ooc: Open. Trigger warning for link as it involves character death.]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy had managed to jury-rig the sensors from the warehouse to send her messages when they went off. (It was a good thing Barry hadn't been around to see how long it had taken her to kludge something together, he would have been embarrassed for her probably.) She'd said a temporary goodbye to Dante and Alluka - being person-shaped again, wooo! - and snagged a portal to the island to make sure nothing was messing with her warehouse.

"Hey!" she snapped, kicking open the warehouse door. "Didja miss the No Trespassing Or You Will Be Lasered sign out front?"

She still had all her clothes. This was just how she dressed now. Times changed. Barry.

[badassprodigy]

Normally Barry would be on top of things. Sensor proximity alarms? Those were his thing. Especially for someone as paranoid as him.

But the intruder that Kathy saw right now was a man hunched over in his chair with his head between his hands.

That changed as soon as Kathy started shouting. With a jolt, Barry was on his feet and grabbing a nearby pipe to defend himself. "I don't have fucking time for-"

And that's when he saw who it was.

"Kathy?"

The pipe fell from his hand and clattered to the ground.

"You're..."

You caught him speechless and crying, Kathy. This was not the homecoming he expected.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Barry?!" Kathy gasped, blinking at him. Her posture had shifted when he'd stood up with the pipe, but then shifted again when she'd finally heard his voice and seen who it was. "Barry!"

And then she was launching herself at him, faster than ever.

You were getting hugged so hard.

[badassprodigy]

Barry was not a hugger. He stood there in shock seeing a blur of a girl he knew and thought was dead tackle hug him.

It took a moment for him to react. And suddenly he found himself fiercely hugging Kathy.

And sobbing into her shoulder.

"You're alive?" he finally managed to say after a few moments.

[spin_kick_snap]

"...Am now," she admits, which probably wasn't the most reassuring answer. "It was a long year though."

Well, for the other people. For Kathy, time hadn't had a whole lot of meaning. Zombies didn't care much.

[badassprodigy]

"A year? A FUCKING year! Jesus fucking Christ!"

Barry began to squirm now. He'd hugged someone for over five seconds, this was getting weird despite the whole friend being dead thing.

"What the fuck happened, Kathy? Let me guess. You were being a hero and-"

And that was Barry getting upset again.

"You're not allowed to die, god damn it!"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy squeezed him again, her own eyes wet - this was Barry, and he was back - and then let go, taking a step back.

"It's a long story," she said quietly. "Short version is, I got bit. Our magic healer didn't think about the effect my speed would have on the virus and let me wait. I died. And then reanimated. Raven - I don't know if you remember her? - walked across the country to the Causeway to get back here. Put a team together to get m-me back." That wasn't a stumble on the word 'me,' how dare. "Someone made a wish to bring me back to life and lo, here I am."

That's right, Barry. Kathy was here because of a 'wish.' VERY SCIENTIFIC.

[badassprodigy]

Barry stood there looking absolutely stunned.

"A wish? A fucking magical wish?"

Barry's hands were pulling on his hair and his left foot was tapping out his frustration.

He then took a deep breath centering himself.

"Okay."

One more breath.

"Okay. Yes. I remember Raven. I remember everything. Remember? I'm glad you're okay I just-"

His hands twitched. "Okay. I need to do something. It's been what? Three? Four years since then? Can I just run a scanner on you. Just to make sure everything is fine."

Jesus fucking Christ. Magic? God damn it.

[spin_kick_snap]

"If I say no now, I'll just end up swallowing some weird scanner that's shaped like candy or something," Kathy said with a sigh that was more for show than anything else.

She'd seen him crying. If he needed to scan her to make himself feel better? Who was she to argue.

"Go ahead."

[badassprodigy]

"Thank you," Barry said trying to keep himself in the right mind for this. He went over to one of his shipping containers and opened it up using a very long security code and started to rummage through it.

"You know, I tried to calculate what my return to Fandom would be like," he called back over his shoulder. "This was one scenario that caught me by fucking surprise."

He pulled out a medical scanner which did NOT look like a tricorder. Nope. Not at all. He began to wave it in front of Kathy and finally mustered a small smile.

"There was a 3% chance of cake."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You know me," Kathy said cheerfully, letting him scan her, two out of her three tattoos currently visible as he did. "Never liked being predictable."

She watched him as intently as he watched his absolutely-a-tricorder. "Are you...back, then?" she asked, hopefully. "Like, for longer than a visit?"

[badassprodigy]

His smile got a little bigger as he adjusted his scanner to account for Kathy's metabolism. "More like for good. I plan on teaching here in the fall. If they let me."

His grin melted as he noticed something in particular "Oh, fuck me. I didn't need to see that shit," he groaned. "You look fine other than some weird energy readings I can't identify. Which probably means it's fucking magic. Also? What I'm assuming is your goddamn birth control implants are completely empty. Clearly you've changed more than sporting a new style and tattoos," Barry said, shaking his head ruefully. "Whoever gave you those things did not take into account your metabolism. Better get those topped off."

Feeling a little bit better he put the scanner down.

"Seriously. For fucking real now: Are you okay? I don't trust magic shit as far as I can throw it."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy yelps, slapping her hand over her forearm. "Motherfucker!"

Yeah. Definitely going to need to talk to someone about that right quickly. Because while she wanted kids, she didn't necessarily mean right now or even next year.

"Uhh...what kind of magic readings?"

[badassprodigy]

Watching and hearing Kathy swear brought a broad smile to Barry's face. "How the fuck should I know what kind of magic energy shit it is?" Barry said turning the non-tri-corder around for Kathy to see. "I've never seen this shit before. It's not fucking harming you are anything. And if I don't know or can't determine what it is from a science prospect it's probably fucking magic."

He let out a hefty sigh. "I thought I'd get one fucking day at least in this town before I ran into that shit again."

Wait until he finds out his clothes are gone.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Why on Earth would you think that?" Kathy asked, blinking at him. "It's Fandom." She peered at the readings, not that she could make heads or tales of even the science ones, regardless of anything. "...Oh god that could be so many different things, I don't even know. Anders. Dante. Hell. Nanika. The residual weirdness from being a klipspringer for a month..."

[badassprodigy]

"Well the island usually gives you at least one fucking day before it breaks your brain," Barry replied in his typical grumpy tone. "And let's back it up here because you mentioned Anders, I think two other people, hell and a being Klipspringer for a month? Man, an animal for a month. That's fucking harsh. Very Fandom."

He looked around the warehouse for a moment or two. "Maybe I'll just hunker down in her until I actually to have to fucking teach something."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy is just gonna send an uncomfortable glance up to the loft. "Uhhhhh. Maybe I should. Uh. Do some laundry before you settle in."

Uncomfortable cough.

"And yeah! Anders! The other two people came after you..." She droops ever so slightly. "Left."

She'd missed you, Barry.

[badassprodigy]

"Yeah, I know. At the time it was the right decision for me," Barry said feeling guilt creep into him. "If I had known what was going to happen to you-"

And that's when he realized what Kathy meant about doing laundry.

"Ahhhh, shit. What did you do? Isn't enough you turned this place into fucking Ikea-ville? Now I got to disinfect fucking everything."

It was Reno and Rikku all over again.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You were gone!" Kathy said, flustered. "You weren't using George anymore! I didn't think it would matter if I did!"

Phrasing, Kathy.

"And, hey. I get it. I was gonna leave, too. Head off to Stanford. But then..." You know. Zombie apocalypse followed by her death and reanimation.

She folded her arms. "If you didn't want me fucking in your warehouse, you should have kept in touch."

[badassprodigy]

Barry let out a long sigh. "Yeah, okay fair enough. I did leave it and at least it wasn't taken over by some fucking maniac hellbent on stealing my technology," he relented. "It's been more yours than mine for the last five years. Well... five for you. Ten for me."

"If that's the fucking case, do you mind if I move back in?"

...

"And while the rope is cute, I'd like stairs again."

[spin_kick_snap]

"The rope was important," Kathy said quietly. "When I needed to be safe."

You could pull a rope up behind you when you climbed, after all.

"But yeah. George was yours first. I suppose that as a sublet, it goes back to the owner when they return." She fondly pats the couch she'd pulled in and the spare guitar.

[badassprodigy]

Barry paused for a moment. In the past he probably would have just steamrolled over Kathy's comment and put up stairs.

"That's fine," he said in a way he was trying to sound very casual but failed. "Rope ladder stays. And all the Ikea shit too. Anytime you need to crash when you're in Fandom? You're welcome to crash here. I barely fucking sleep anyway so I probably won't use the bed anyway."

"Speaking of not sleeping, I was hoping you were still around Fandom. The last night I was in Ramaat I came up with a new concepts for you Banzai outfit. Two words: Extradimensional Pockets."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy grinned at Barry. "I mean...I also have faith you can create a set of retractable stairs that also turn into a slide in the morning," she says.

Even her smile is different. No longer small or shy, Kathy smiles and her whole face lights up. She smiles like she's used to being happy and bright and not worrying about hiding it anymore.

Then her face goes on a kind of journey, faltering at 'Banzai' and going back to excited at Extradimensional Pockets. "I...found the other prototype suit you made for me," she says. "The sneaky one, with the armor?"

[badassprodigy]

Barry's posture stiffened a bit and his eyes went back in forth; a worried expression on his face. "You mean... the prototype?"

...

"And clearly it didn't explode. Right?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"NO IT DIDN'T EXPLODE!!"

Beat.

"WHY WOULD IT HAVE EXPLODED?!"