Portalocity Hub, Baltimore, Wednesday Afternoon

[chosehumanity]

And to think Mitchell had planned on coming back to Fandom from an incredibly strained holiday week to find some peace. And to think. There had been very little peace in him since that morning, when Kate had called him sounding like a bloody wreck. He'd hurried down here as fast as he could, and...

... nothing, apparently.

"Are you sure no one's come in yet?" he asked of the staff for about the fifth time. By now, they were eyerolling, and had foregone any more attempts at calming him down.

He was not in the best of moods.

[[ for a kate. ]]

Comments

[vanillajello]

Kate had placed that call on Monday evening, once she'd made it to the NYC Portalocity Hub. And that had been about six hours ago, for her. Those six hours had been spent in another Portalocity Hub, where her first portal had randomly dumped her for a layover. Something to do with all the snow on the east coast, apparently.

And those six hours had been spent freaked out of her mind, trying to deal with everything that had happened, and paranoid Hannibal was going to show up and not fail this time.

So, Kate wasn't happy either, once she finally all but fell out of her portal, tired but eyes darting around to check she'd finally landed where she was supposed to, and that it was safe.

[chosehumanity]

"Kate!"

Mitchell was starting forwards without even thinking about it. She looked like the exact same wreck she'd sounded like.

[vanillajello]

Pretty much. She didn't even have a jacket on despite all the snow and cold, just a hoodie with an 'I ♥ Montreal' t-shirt showing underneath. They hadn't had one in her tiny size, so the hem hung low over her jeans.

And, of course, the bruises had had a lot of time to properly form around her neck. They looked like handprints. Guy hands.

When she heard his voice she looked up, relief crossing her face. And she stopped, let him come to her: she was so done with running for today. "Mitchell."

[chosehumanity]

"Jesus christ," Mitchell said, in a not-so-rare display of... well, blasphemy, probably, considering what he was. He settled his hands carefully near her shoulders -- on them, if she'd let him -- and ducked his head to get a good, incredulous look at the damage. "What in the name of fuck happened to you?"

He'd realise about the jacket situation in a few seconds, but right now he had other priorities.

[vanillajello]

Kate didn't so much let him as just leaned straight into the touch. Kind of really needed one that didn't come with the intention of hurting her.

"Hannibal's a vampire." But that didn't sound... right, so she amended it to, "Hannibal's dead."

Which wasn't any better, really, but at least she could disassociate like a pro when she put it like that. Didn't mean her voice didn't crack when she said it, and she looked down.

[chosehumanity]

Oh, christ. Jesus and all the fucking stars. That took the voice out of him for a minute.

Then Mitchell pulled her in for a hug, careful not to as much as brush the skin of her neck. "He came after you?"

Always the fledgelings, wasn't it? Stupid little bastards.

[vanillajello]

He might have avoided her neck, but Kate still winced. That wasn't the only part with bruises on her.

"Careful with my ribs," she muttered against his jacket, but made no move away. Greedy for that hug, even if her side hurt. Her back, too. "I got trapped in his apartment because I'm fucking stupid."

Seriously, just how long had she let Hannibal fool her?

[chosehumanity]

"Playing the normal card?" Mitchell asked, though he let up just a little in fear of crushing her ribs any further. "Fucking fledgelings." That had to be said aloud, all right?

[vanillajello]

"Way normal." Normal enough to have sex with. Suppose that counted as necrophilia? Her voice got even quieter. "I feel so stupid."

Among other things.

[chosehumanity]

"He's a young vampire," Mitchell muttered, rubbing gently at her arm as he pulled a little further back. His tone was halfway between everyday nerd-Mitchell and serious vampire Mitchell, but his eyes were worried. "That's what they do, Kate. They think it's special or original to fool their old friends and twist their necks, that it makes them so clever and their victims stupid. It doesn't."

[vanillajello]

Kate looked up at him, tired. Truth be told she wasn't really grasping the magnitude of the situation yet. Still too wired up, half expecting to find herself fighting again.

"I should've been able to tell," she said. "I'm supposedly so fucking observant."

[chosehumanity]

"Don't," Mitchell just said. "We'll talk about that later, yeah? Have you eaten?"

[vanillajello]

She shrugged a shoulder. "I had a Mars bar in Montreal."

Liar. Half of said Mars bar was still in her bag.

[chosehumanity]

"Real food," he returned. And now that the first passing panic had passed, he noticed the fact she was barely clothed for Miami, let alone Baltimore.

He was taking off his jacket a second later.

[vanillajello]

"I don't need that," Kate said, but she wasn't really, honestly objecting. Arguing was just a habit, a weird sort of familiar comfort. "And chocolate is real food."

[chosehumanity]

He shoved the jacket at her without wasting a word on the subject. "Chocolate," Mitchell said, "Is not a food group."

He was already wracking his mind for a decent place to get food in really small portions in Baltimore.

[vanillajello]

Kate didn't bother even pretend-objecting, either. She pulled the jacket on, wincing when some movement in getting her arm in a sleeve made her feel a sharp but thankfully brief pain in her side.

"Fine," was all she said.

[chosehumanity]

"You want to head back to the island, or grab something to eat first?"

He was going to give her the opportunity to answer. Otherwise, fuck it, he was going for take-out and making her crash in the second bedroom.

[vanillajello]

Kate wrapped the slightly too roomy jacket a little more firmly around herself, then raised an eyebrow at him, mildly. "It's like ass o'clock in the morning, is there even any not gross food available?"

Well, it was something like ass o'clock in the morning in her own personal timeline. 4 AM, maybe, on Tuesday morning.

[chosehumanity]

"...What are you talking about?" Mitchell said, taking a break from being freaked out and worried and protective to look... incredulous. "It's three hours past noon."

[vanillajello]

"No it's not," she replied after a beat. Because sure, there was no way she with her head injuries and everything could possibly be wrong about this. "It's like four in the morning."

Another pause. "... Isn't it?"

[chosehumanity]

Wordlessly, he pointed at the windows near the very back of the lounge.

[vanillajello]

Her gaze followed where he was pointing, "... Well that's weird."

Said the girl who'd just been attacked by a vampire. To another vampire.

[chosehumanity]

"Yeah," Mitchell agreed, casually. He was used to conversations of the attacked-by-a-vampire-to-a-vampire variety, so taking it in stride wasn't that huge a thing.

"So food first," he said, "Or I take you back to the house on Fandom and you can tell me everything." See? There were options.

[vanillajello]

"Must've been a slow Montreal," Kate muttered mostly to herself as she frowned at the window, before acknowledging there had been options presented. "I'm not hungry."

She wasn't. Didn't mean she wouldn't have to eat, but she wasn't hungry.