1964-05-11 - Zombies? Zombies!
Summary: Rosemarie happens upon Kai getting some exercise in the park.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
kai rosemarie loki 


For all the blessings that rain down upon Kai Alfsson, trouble follows him as well. It's foolish to go near Central Park, but it's the only way he can get to Loki's shop. Usually he's fleet of foot enough to make the trip, but today, a half-dozen zombies cornered him instead. They've got him surrounded. Some of them shamble, but a few are fast, and the fight is attracting more. Kai ducks low, sweeping one's feet out from under it, but two more bear down on him. Kevin is several feet away, running about with his leash dragging behind him, barking at the top of his lungs.

*

The lure of the bookshop, mentioned over lunch on the library steps, was enough to draw Rosemarie near to the Park as well, despite the warnings portrayed in bold lettering on newspaper and the yellow cordons of police tape. She thought she could find the shop without getting close to any trouble —

But the frantic barking she can hear from one street over is enough to draw her attention. Frowning, she makes her way towards it. It sounds…familiar. Rounding the corner of the street, she sees the source and recognizes it — Kevin! Kai's dog, the scruffy sandwich-lusting mix! Where's his…

Thank goodness for the strap across her body, otherwise her purse would have been lost. The muffin in the paper bag? It's lost to numbed fingers and rolls from the bag once gravity jostles it free of its containment; it forlornly comes to a stop against the base of a street lamp. She claps hands over her mouth to stifle a shriek of purely-primal panic.

The Otherness flushes her body with power that sets her skin to tickle-burning like a bad sunburn. It recognizes these undead as 'enemy', pure and simple, a possible threat to its host.

"Kai?!" His name slips past her fingers, warbling and full of fear.

*

Kevin must smell the new familiarity of Rosemarie (and her cat) because his head turns, and he comes bolting up to her, barking and whining. Then he spies the muffin. He beelines for it. Hey, loyalty only goes so far. For what it's worth Kai would approve.

It may be cold comfort. He's flat on his back with one zombie atop him trying to eat his face. Kai manages to get his feet under it and he kicks it into another zombie, bowling both of them over. He's quick, he's agile. They've got him in sheer numbers and he's doomed to fall, but he takes out a third with a punch to the head. Well, slows it down at least. There's only one that lies still, its head separated from its body. The head bites at the air.

"Hello!" Kai calls as he wrangle another one of the creatures. It gets close enough to sink teeth into his shirt, savaging it with a low groan.

*

Forget the muffin, the dog can have it — those are zombies!!!

It's not that Rosemarie didn't believe the reports, but seeing them is a whole other ballgame entirely. That Kai responds in a greeting after doing some sort of ninja move to remove the undead creature gnashing at his nose continues to register as some sort of impossibility to her. Jovial, when almost being eaten alive?!

"Kai!!! The police?! Help!!!! HELP!!!"

Her voice should carry well and far, acting in place of Kevin, now on-nom-noming that muffin because Dog Logic.

*

Kevin continues to make sure the ants don't get that muffin or, god forbid, squirrels. He bolts it faster. Squirrels could be anywhere. Watching, waiting.

Meanwhile, Kevin's master (if such a word could apply) Kai pushes the gnashing zombie off of him, gets his feet under him, and rises as he grips the zombie by its arm, using it like a bat to T-ball another zombie, its rotted head rolling to the ground, teeth gnashing as its body falls beside it. The arm detaches from the rest of the zombie he wields, and he uses it to beat the others back.

More lurch toward the fray, and there are no police, no one to help. Kai is uncannily strong, impressively quick, but it's only a matter of time. He tries not to think about it. Fight til the end.

One zombie lurches toward Rosemarie upon hearing her cry out. It groans, one eye dangling from its socket, swinging as its uneven steps bear it along. Two others follow after that one to see what it's so excited about. Ooh, fresh brains. Those'll do nicely.

*

Those squirrels are eyeing you, Kevin, and they await any crumbs that remain. Dun-dun-dunnn.

Kai swings and strikes home with a zombie body, Rosemarie is approached by not one, but three! Her cinnamon-brown eyes go wide, the whites showing, and she whimpers as she retreats until there's no space left. Her heel and then her shoulders hit the brick wall of the building behind her. There's no bravery in what she does: she straight-up panics.

Fabric tears audibly as the Otherness takes the helm. Wings with midnight-blue feathering, dulled for the lack of ambient light, spread out wide behind her even as she cries out in shock. Her irises bleed fully raptor-gold and the fans of plumage spring forth along outer forearms and behind ears. Her fingernails are now talons and when the nearest zombie reaches out a gnarled, half-defleshed hand, she slaps — hard. The limb detatches at the joint and now there's a twitching zombie hand lying on the sidewalk. Uttering another shrieking cry more fright than fight, she gets to swatting erratically at the grasping reaching of the zombies. Talons strong enough to mark steel rip through rotten muscle, slide through tendons like butter, and the end result is nothing pretty — but she's gained some space as she stumbles away along the wall. The wings flutter and mantle behind her, the Otherness going for full threat display despite its host's very desperate inclination to run.

*

Kevin yelps as the Otherness emerges. He grabs the rest of the muffin and runs, trailing crumbs. Time to beat feet!

The zombies fall before the panicked swatting. More zombies come, detaching from the group assaulting Kai. It gives him some relief, but he's still just one Alfheimian whose powers of glowing moonlight and water manipulation can't help him now. Still, he's got an arm, and he stomps on a snapping detached head, destroying the brain and his shoe. "Stop! Being!" he snarls as he beats back another one.

There are four down around him, three fallen before Rosemarie, and another half dozen closing in around Kai. He's getting to the end of his rope, alas.

*

With fingers slopped in putrid blood to mid-carpal, there's nothing left to do except vomit up what little exists in her stomach. Rosemarie was never one for gore in the first place; even having to defend herself presents an extreme issue. Thank goodness for the Otherness standing in for foolhardy bravery. It's very much convinced that the fight should continue once its host is finished puking.

Holding herself upright via the streetlamp, the librarian combats wobbling knees as she wipes an undignified sleeve across her mouth. It seems the terror isn't over yet. Everything takes on a fever-dream haze as more undead shamble towards her. The adrenaline blazes through veins and the closest approaching zombie is presented with another frightened swat that spins it in place to collapse, down but not out. She dances around it, wings fluttering audibly, and this brings her closer to Kai.

"GO AWAY! GO AWAAAY!!!" The carrying vowel takes on an avian war-cry as she swings again with curled fingers, spinning away yet another zombie. The Otherness guides her subconsciously towards the beleagured Alfheimian, sensing an ally in this fray.

*

It's hard to tell what Kai's thinking. It comes down to a singular concept, survive. In a moment of brief respite, he looks up and says brightly, "You've changed!" He's from lands full of what humans would consider riches and horrors. His librarian friend becoming an avian creature is a surprise, but not the kind that rattles a man too deeply.

Just as Kai finishes speaking, a zombie grabs him from behind, dead fingers curling in his golden hair. It pulls him back, mouth open for a bite at his throat. Kai grips the hand gripping his hair and mule-kicks the thing's kneecap. It goes down, but it takes him with it. Muffled in his struggling, Kai says, "Little help!"

*

An ally mustn't fall! Not to such abhorrent deviations from nature such as these! To the Otherness, these creatures are anathema. They threatened its host. Its host considers this other being a friend. Ergo, must protect.

Almost puppeted along, Rosemarie throws a punch that collapses a zombie's sternum, crumpling it to the ground with a broken spinal cord that risks breaking through its back-skin beneath the muddied, gore-spackled t-shirt. Startled, gritting teeth, she does an odd shuffle-dance to the side. One of the wings gives a solid swat to an approaching shambler from behind and knocks it down. She turns in tracking this sudden move and sees Kai in deep trouble.

"NO!!!" The lunge takes her through the zombies that stumble around them with more grace than she could ever manage as her normal self and her grip is aimed for the Elf's shirt even as one foot flies out to stomp vindictively at the attacking zombie's head. CRUNCH. Like a rotten melon, there goes the head. Hopefully, its grip at Kai's hair lessens because she's dancing away, attempting to drag him along in her wake.

*

Kai is heavier than he looks, scrappy elf that he is, but he's easy enough to haul in his utter lack of struggle. Whatever this creature his, she's his friend and on his side. "Brilliant!" he calls. "Groovy, chick! Let's finish them off!" He swipes his arms at the zombies that shamble after. "We'll kill them all!"

So the elf might feel the heat of battle a little deeper than his peaceful facade might imply. "That's right, lefty, I'm looking at you!" The one-armed zombie is nonplussed. His shoes are ruined, his chinos muddy, and his shirt chewed on.

*

Having dragged the ally out of reach of immediate attack, Rosemarie releases her death-grip on said chewed-on shirt. It might sport some talon puncture points, maybe some tearing snags now. Whoops. Fashion clearly never counted on the undead.

Thank goodness she wore boots. Can one imagine the feeling of mushy brains between toes? …let's not consider it. Her gorge rises a little again and she forces it down simply because it makes no survival sense to purge one's stomach when one is actively under attack. Her skin beneath the odd tattooing that has now shown on her face, deep-brown like henna, is accompanied by metallic silvering about the skin where plumage erupts from; this is thickened to the point of being impenetrable.

"There's SO MANY of them!!!!" She manages to squeak breathlessly, panting for the exertion. The wings are careful not to buffet Kai as the Otherness leads her to align herself back-to-back with him.

*

"They're predictable," Kai says, breathless. "We're strong and clever." He stands back to back with about as much ease as one can while the half-dozen or so that remain come bearing down. "Go for the newly dead first. They're faster, more dangerous. Destroy the brain."

One of the fresher shambling bodies does indeed move fast, and it's soon upon them on Rosemarie's side. Two of rather Concerning Velocity follow on either side, and the rest are slow, dragging their decomposing limbs. Kai takes a stance that lowers his center of gravity. "Time to get to work, luv," he says.

Somewhere else in the park, hunkering by a lamppost, Kevin wishes them well and licks muffin crumbs from his chops.

*

Kevin ought to be hoping that the pseudo-master and the Muffin Giver make it out of this alive! Who else is going to drop muffins otherwise?!

A quick glance over her shoulder and Rosemarie mimics the crouch that better balances the Elf. It does lend her some centering of gravity, but the wings must spread wider to counteract her movements. This might cause a normal, living, threatening creature pause, but not the undead. With a cry like an elephant gargling a tuba, the runner reaches out with fingers missing nails entirely. She was once a college co-ed; not anymore.

Being the nervy sort, the librarian with plumage once took self-defense classes. Walking home late at night doesn't scare her as much as it used to — though this might change things. A quick side-step and transfer of weight and the Otherness grants her the smoothness and celerity to execute the move. The runner becomes the stumbler and the cuff to the back of its neck digs out a good chunk of flesh. The curved talons make quick work of the spinal cord. Not finished, by any means, but disabled well and truly. Uttering a little gagging sound, she averts her eyes simply because it's likely that another brain-muncher is headed her way.

*

She's not wrong. One down, five to go. The next one used to be a high school jock, his letterman's jacket hanging in rags upon his decomposed body. Beside him, a former little old lady drags one leg behind her as she staggers and limps toward Rosemarie. Her jaw hangs off one side of her face, her little grey bun disheveled, rusted hair pins sticking out here and there.

Behind Rosemarie, Kai snaps up the femur of the one he used as a club. "Atta girl," he calls without looking back. WHACK! Thud. A zombie lurching toward Kai goes down. WHACKWHACKWACK! Its skull caves in. "Ha!" WHACK!

Four.

Somewhere at a distance of relative safety, Kevin barks and barks now that the muffin is gone.

*

The librarian can't bring herself to wield any of the body parts lying strewn about, attached or barely attached, in any capacity. EW. Ew-ew-ew! At least she has no love for jocks in general. Loud-mouthed, testosterone-filled, air-headed human beings — they're always getting shushed and always disrespectful right back.

It's with some bias that she darts away from Kai's back, causing the trajectory of the incoming zombie to swerve. Rosemarie snatches out at the jacket, ducking a swing of a beefy arm, and counter-levers, her wings flapping with a loud whuft. Off-balance goes the zombie and this one succumbs to the release of its frayed jacket after around ninety degrees of rotation. Like a moldering discus, the critter goes flying into a nearby street pole. The impact dents it and the body would have wrapped around it but for the natural resistance of tendon and bone. Another broken back, leaving this one upside down like a tortoise, only able to use one arm.

*

Three. The shambling little old lady zombie, a former journalist who's pretty fast, with his broken camera hanging from its strap around his neck, and a shambling priest whose God couldn't save him, not from this. Perhaps his soul has found its release despite his body forgetting to fall down. The little old lady makes her way toward Rosemarie. The priest bears down on Kai, and the journalist wends toward Rosemarie, then Kai, then Rosemarie. Fast but indecisive.

Kai hefts his femur. He shows no outward problem with gripping the exposed bone with gobbets of grey, moldering flesh and pant leg hanging from it. There's a gleam in his eye, though, something sharp and inhuman. It knows only this: survive at all cost.

"I've got the evening edition," he says, "take Grandma or the padre, doll, and I've got your back." He lunges for the quickest zombie, letting out an incoherent cry. He's broken quite the sweat, and he's got zombie bits all over him. Unfortunately, he's been fighting so many, so hard, that the journalist is a little faster. It bats the femur out of the way and grips Kai by the throat. Kai struggles.

*

"Oh, b-b-but!" Trust Fate to shove two of the more reverent zombies in her direction. She has more than enough time, given the deliberate stepping of the elderly undead, to see the swing-and-a-miss by the Elf. "No! STOP!" The command falls on deaf ears (or, in a few cases, none at all) and it falls instead upon her to dart over to her friend. He's nearly got the strength to shake free and it seems like the disruptive salmon-on-a-line wriggling is enough to stymie the zombie's intent to snap at a critical point anywhere on his body.

Each of her cries are punctuated by wicked swats of those raptor talons with the impact force of a fully-grown lioness. "Let — " swat " — him — " Thunk-RRRRIP " — GO!!!" Discolored viscera spills from a particularly viscious gouging in the kidneys — but does it disrupt the attacker? And what of the other two?!

*

A Midgardian would've been toast. Kai gets aggled like a rag doll, but his spine is made of sterner stuff. The zombie's maw gapes open as it pulls the writhing elf to his doom. Then its viscera are spilling, and it's distracted enough by Rosemarie that Kai can kick get in a good kick-off from its stomach. Physics being what they are, the zombie goes one way, Kai tumbles back the other. The zombie's hand has detached, and it's still strangling the elf.

"Ack!" It's what the elf can manage as it pulls at the hand, trying to get to his feet. He slips back onto the viscera-slick ground. No time to worry about him, though. That journalist whips around on Rosemarie and lunges. No groaning, no warning, just a cold, methodical thirst for the living.

Kai gets the hand off his throat and hurls it at the priest. "Sorry!" he calls before it smacks the dead holy man in the face.

*

Slippery ground indeed! Some loose feathers fly as the wings try and fail to counter the mucky mess underfoot. The zombie lunges as she goes backwards. Her tailbone will be feeling that for a few days, eeep. Rosemarie the librarian retreats away in her mind as the Shi'ar Otherness takes majority control of the wheel simply to survive. A lucky swat to the journalist's face means the jaw knocked loose to hang and the strap of his professional camera cut cleanly through. Destroyed upon impact to the bloodied cement, the thing lies there…until Rosemarie grabs hold of the straps. The journalist gargles, brackish ooze bubbling down his throat skin, and then useless air leaves his lungs as both of her feet plant into his solar plexus. It sends him back, not onto his butt, and it gives her time to scramble to her feet, aided by pumps of the wings.

That camera? It becomes a weapon. Thank goodness for steel rings at the strap's mounting points. It blurs through the air a few times before colliding most rudely with the side of the journalist's head. Skull + impact = CRUNCH. Last truly mobile zombie down.

No need to hold on to the strap since the body's keeled over on the pavement. Rosemarie aligns herself with Kai and the last two zombies, baring her teeth. It's all alien war-madness now in her glowing golden eyes.

*

"That was far out," Kai pipes up, panting for breath. The elf's getting tired. He's not Asgardian, damn it. Just… close. He looks about for a body part to use for a weapon as the priest groans and ambles toward him. It gurgles, a black ichor frothing on blue lips. The stench of stale death permeates everything. The air, clothes, skin.

Kai frowns, catches himself looking for a weapon, then shrugs and hauls off and punches the zombie. Its head comes clean off, rolling on the ground as the body drops. Kai leaps over the corpse and kicks the head into a lamppost. It crunches.

Kevin continues to bark. Hey! Hey! Hey! Guys! Guys! Hey! Guys! Zombies.

*

The battle-rage of the Shi'ar fades enough for the librarian to come forth again, though it makes no difference in the threatening mantling of wings and gloves of inky ichor that she wears to nearly her elbows.

"I c-c-can't," she whispers, her throat working as she watches the last zombie, the old woman. This was someone's grandmother — there's no way in her heart of hearts that she could dismantle it. "M-Make it q-quick." The stutter is likely at complete odds to the ferocious expression.

*

One. Of the dozen-some drawn to the fray, they're down to one. Kai turns toward Rosemarie and the shambling grandmother. Even if the idea of dismantling his own grandmother has been the fuel of many fond thoughts, one look at Rosemarie, and Kai's features soften. "Close your eyes, doll," he says.

A huff of breath from the effort, a crunch, and a heavy thud. That's all it takes. Then there's just the sound of the elf panting for breath and Kevin's barking. "It's over," Kai says. "We did it."

*

She closes her eyes, as bidden, but the sound — that sound will haunt her nightmares and have cruel parallels throughout life. They did it, indeed. Her opening eyes take in the carnage around them, bodies strewn about, and she makes a tiny whimper as she curls her hands in against her gore-spattered jacket. The wings fold around her, nearly a hug, as if to shield her from what surrounds her. The Otherness realizes that its host is under much stress. No need to subject her to more.

Stumbling back, she keeps retreating, chin nearly tucked to her chest, until she finds the nearest wall. Slowly, she slides down it, ruffling the wings askew, and then sits there, shivering and sobbing quietly.

*

Kai looks around at the carnage, solemn-faced, and when Rosemarie starts to retreat, his features go all soft, and he hurries to shield her view by getting in the way of it. Okay, so she has wings and talons. That's new. It's not something Kai's going to hold against her. "Oh, no, no it's all right," he says. "Let's just…" Yes, retreat, and curl up. Ugh. Kai wrings his hands, utterly distraught that she's distraught.

Kevin comes over, wiggling and wagging, but upon whiffing the zombie remnants, he opts not to lick Rosemarie. Instead, he just prances a little out of reach, whimpering and wagging. Then he ventures closer. He doesn't like the smell, but there's a distressed person. A distressed person who dropped a muffin.

Kai stays near Rosemarie, and he regards the zombie pieces and ichor with a small frown stitching his brow. "What we're going to do," he says calmly, "is see if the shop owner is home, and if we might use his shower. From there, we'll make an anonymous call to the police that there's…" He gestures vaguely. "This. They'll know what to do."

*

"Th-They're all — an-an-an-and they squished an-an-and att-ttacked us an-and — "

Her squeaky words dissolve to more tears. The wings shift around behind her, jostling her, but all in an effort to wrap around her instead of being half-cranked about at odd angles. Tears track lines in what little old blood spattered on her cheeks and she stares at Kai's shins, perhaps through them, seeing things on terrible repeat.

*

Kai kneels beside Rosemarie, still catching his breath. It should have been impossible for him to have fended them off as well as he did. Literally not humanly possible. Is it any small wonder he's shaking where he crouches? He tilts his head, trying to catch her gaze with his. "Hey there, gorgeous," he murmurs, and he musters up a smile, weary as it is. "We put them to rest. They're not suffering anymore."

Kai fishes a kerchief from his pocket. There's a little goo on the hem, but the rest is clean. "Here," he says gently. "We're going to take a minute here, then we're going to go somewhere we can get cleaned up. The reservoir isn't too far from here, and it's on our way. We'll get cleaned up and get inside, dig me? You're going to be all right."

*

"B-B-B-But — " Even as she blubber-stutters, she reaches out and takes the kerchief as carefully as possible given the length of the talons. It's a bit like picking up a cloth with steak knives and she's sorry somewhere within the maze of herself for puncturing holes in the fabric. With equal care, clutching it between knuckles, she wipes at her face and sniffles, hiccuping every now and then.

"Y-Y-You w-were so b-b-brave," and another round of tears leak down across her cheeks as she manages to make eye contact with Kai. "Th-Thank y-y-y-you." Another sob. Kevin is given a glance and a shivery smile breaks its way through before she dissolves into more weeping, having noticed the amount of gross tacked onto her skin and clothing.

*

Kai carefully, so carefully what with the wings and talons, takes Rosemarie in his arms. He doesn't seem to mind the kerchief meeting its doom. Doesn't even give it a glance. "So were you, you're a pretty groovy chick," he says. "What a team we make, huh?"

Kai slowly gets to his feet and tries to draw her with him. "You're pretty brave, yourself," he days. "But we gotta be brave just a little longer, dig me, chick? Just a little longer and we're golden."

Kevin sidles closer, as if coming in sideways will ward off the scary smells.

*

She goes without complaint, even if aforementioned wings and talons don't retreat one iota. The Otherness is here to stay, at least until it senses that things are well and truly in control and its host completely safe. To Kai's skin, the feathers are surprisingly soft given their strength, even the strong primary and secondary pinions. Rosemarie curls away the talons into her palms, silvery-skinned in tone and unable to be cut by the natural weaponry. The kerchief is lost at this point, though it's not as if the Elf would want it back, slashed and be-grimed as it is.

She leans heavily into him, a point of presence and solace and stability in the fight against quivery knees and the lingering sickness in the back of her throat. "O-Okay, b-brave a l-l-little l-longer," she whispers, nodding quickly and sniffling. She would attempt to pet Kevin, but for the talons. Brave dog, lingering in the face of zombie sludge. It likely smells horrifying.

*

"Yeah, you're doing great," Kai tells Rosemarie, and that smiles remains, still weary but no less sincere for it. He takes up Kevin's leash, which is slimy from being dragged through zombie ichor and blood. He crosses through the park again, but in his defense, all the zombies in the area have already descended upon them. He just wants to get out of the street as fast as they can.

That's what brings Kai knocking at the door of the shop, holding a grimy leash attached to a dog who needs a bath, and he's with a woman who's got talons and feathery wings…ish. They're filthy. They reek of corrupt death. They look tired. Kevin barks when Kai knocks, because he hears knocking. Doesn't really matter from where.

*

Loki moves to the front of the shop and then unlocked the door when he sees Kai and Kevin, and just assumes that Rosemarie with her wings and claws is…some /new pet/ that Kai has brought home. This one, like many of his others, will probably try to kill someone. "Kaaaaai…who is this?" he gestures with his pale hand as he stands wide to let them both through.

*

Rosemarie's along for the ride at this point. She's coated in ichor, sticky in places and dried in others, and shivering. She's cold to the touch now too, having drawn so much metabolic energy from her personal stores in order for the Otherness to defend its host and the Elf.

When she glances up at the shopkeeper, it's with a meek sense of defeat. Please, please don't turn me away, she thinks to herself. Only Kai's strong arm about her person, trapping a wing between without concern, is keeping from her puddling to the ground again.

*

Kai's weary smiles gains a few more Watts the moment he sees Loki's face. "This is Rosemarie," Kai says, "she's a friend of mine." Not a pet. There's a difference. Though he often calls Kevin his friend, so can anyone blame Loki for getting confused? He moves carefully so as not to brush up against Loki and get zombie goo on him, and he steers Rosemarie away from the books to spare them as well. "I was hoping we might be able to take a shower and make an anonymous call to the pigs that there's, uh, some zombie parts just laying around out there. For some reason."

Kevin trots in like he owns the place, and he sniffs at Loki's feet, then wags his tail. Ah, the meatball-giver. In Kevin's book, he's good people.

*

"Don't. Touch. Anything. Besides the shower. What is that on you? Is it caustic?" A pause. "Of course you can come rinse all that off." He waits until they are both in, then locks up and follows them like a hound, making sure that no goo gets on his books. Kai can easily guide her to where the shower is upstairs, and Loki is just a few paces behind. "Being a hero…as usual. Does she know your affiliation?"

*

Kai guides Rosemarie to the shower and tells her, "There you are. Ladies first. I'll find you something to wear." First, though, he brings Kevin to the kitchen sink to rinse him off. He just looks sad. So sad. Why is he getting a bath? Did he somehow do wrong? This dog will splash and roll in every puddle he can, but run clean water over him from a faucet and it's like he's being murdered.

"She knows I'm anti-zombie," Kai says. He rinses his own hands and wraps a towel around the little dog. He didn't get too dirty, so a rinse will do. "You should've seen it. There were so many of them. The place reminds me of a battlefield. Pieces everywhere."

*

Loki takes, perhaps, a secret delight in how sad Kevin looks in the sink. Its the cutest. "Zombies again! You and those zombies! I get the feeling that killing some…doesn't stop them. They seem just as numerous as the first they appeared. This entire realm may be doomed, eventually!" Dramatic, but, its possible that Asgard has tales of mass diseases in its history.

*

Kai rubs Kevin dry and sets him down. He shakes, ears flopping, though there isn't much more water left to get flung. Freed from his miserable prison of bathing, he wiggles his way over to Loki. Loki will protect him! That dog is not very bright. Kai rolls up his sleeves and rinses off more. He goes heavy on soap. The stench is unbearable. "I think I've got sweats and a t-shirt here she could borrow," he mentions. Then he smiles over at Loki, his expression all soft and smitten. "We'll figure it out, get rid of them all. You'll see."

*

The shower comes on after a few minutes and she steps into it, clothing and all. Shivering so loudly that her teeth clatter, Rosemarie stands there at first, just letting the old blood wash from her. It swirls down the drain in ribbons of pale pink, darker rust-red, none of it hers — thank whomever she will. Steam fills the bathroom. The wings are apparently naturally waterproofed; droplets quiver before sliding off from them. After the heat gets into her bones and the shivering abates, she gets to peeling off the clothing.

It all gets left in the bottom of the shower. The Otherness, sensing its work done, recedes away into stillness along with the feathering, talons, and general color changes on her person. Back to brunette, freckles and cinnamon-brown eyes and all. There are some shampoos, a conditioner or two, and her hair gets a good scrubbing. The motions are mechanical, but by the time things are all said and done, she feels…more human if not still shellshocked. Shaking hands turn off the water and she steps out to grab a towel.

And then she sits again on the bath mat, wrapped up in the bath sheet, and tries very, very hard not to cry again.

*

"I will get something." Loki moves, passing the fridge. He pulls out a piece of cheese…literally a slice of cheese, and tosses it down to Kevin with a glance to Kai and a crooked grin. "Ct Ct. Come, Kevin…now it is Kai's turn to be bathed." He chuckles, then rifles through Kai's clothes to see if he can find the sweatpants he's talking about.

*

Kai groans as Kevin starts wolfing down the cheese. "He's going to stink up the place." Like Kai's got room to talk right now. Besides, it's not the little dog's fault cheese turns to pure evil in his belly. It's so tasty! Still, Kai lets Kevin have his bounty. Kai starts unbuttoning his shirt. "I hope she doesn't use up all the hot water," he says, though he doesn't sound too bent about it one way or the other. There are indeed sweatpants and a tshirt among the accumulation of Kai's clothing that's slowly building up here. "She's a librarian," he tells Loki. "And she likes old books. I was going to introduce you two."

*

"A librarian? Excellent. And she fights zombies and has…" Loki opens the bathroom door to see the girl wrapped in a towel. "Or…perhaps does not have…wings and claws." Startled by the transformation, he holds the clothes out to her. "For you, Miss. I had no idea our shower was so powerful."

*

Glancing up with a little gasp, Rosemarie quickly manages to turn beet-red beneath her freckles.

"Th-Th-Th-Th — " Okay, enough stuttering, self, really. She swallows obviously and closes her eyes. "The feathers only come out when I'm stressed or scared, I think. It's s-safe h-here, s-s-so…" The waver comes back and she wipes quickly at her face. Scrub-scrub, to put some healthy pink in there and bring herself back to the present. She probably looks much smaller and far less intimidating to Kai, at least, minus plumage and with hair slicked wet to her skull.

She looks at the clothing and rolls her lips before whispering, "Th-Thank y-you, I'll g-g-get d-dressed. P-Please close the d-d-door." A hand outstretched means that she can take the offered clothing without getting up from her sit or risk losing the towel.

*

"Yeah, I got my library card from her," Kai says. He can hear stuttering, though not what's said, and he grins. "She's shy," he says. Kevin trots after Loki, wagging his tail. Kai's brow furrows. Though he can't blame the little dog. Kai does smell awfully bad. "This isn't the greatest time to bring it up, but what are you thinking for dinner? I shouldn't cook." Domesticity doesn't just stop because of zombies.

*

Loki does move out of the room and he waits for Kai to shamble this way. "You mean you actually have an appetite? I believe we have something that can be cooked. Some chicken, some hragrant." He means broccoli, but Asgardian terms have been slipping in here and there. "She seems very nice. Do you know her well?" Wheels they are a-turning.

*

"I might after I get cleaned up," Kai says. "I like to be prepared for these things." He carefully starts pulling things out of is pocket. Wallet, loose change, pieces of paper and napkins he's sketched on. The usual stuff he accumulates during his days. "We've only met a few times," he says. "But she's really nice, and she likes books. I told her about the shop. I wasn't looking forward to introducing her to it quite like this."

*

"Certainly not. Not covered in…are you certain that is not toxic? You know…" Loki holds out a hand and 'touches', but a good 6 inches off, the side of Kai face, "You endangered our dog. The last I checked, Kevin had not signed up to be an Avenger."

*

"Who's an Avenger?" Rosemarie emerges from the bathroom wearing the t-shirt and sweatpants. Turns out that being an inch taller than the guy who owns the clothing isn't the end of the world, though the shirt's a bit tight on her and her ankles show. She's got her hair wrapped up in a haphazard turban in the towel. The question was asked so very tentatively; she approaches as if a single sharp move might startle her into flight — literally. There's a darkness under her eyes, as if she could use a big dinner and a heavy night's sleep.

*

"Oh, that coward ran and hid," Kai says. Wait, our dog? He grins a little. Aw, Loki has a soft spot. "He takes care of himself." Then Rosemarie emerges and Kai says, "I am." It's all the explanation he gives before he scoots past her to take his turn in the shower. Ugh, must get zombie go off. "You two talk books!" he suggests, then slips into the bathroom.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License