I don't think either of us was ever of us was ever going to look back on this day with any real fondness. That is to say it was never going to make it into that photobook of memories some couples have sitting on their living room tables for guests to flip through at their leisure. I never really understood those books to begin with. Although really now that i think about it Kat and I have so few photos together I somehow doubt we could make a book out of them. Maybe once this mess was over we'd have to at least rectify that. I knew what she was trying to do from the start, at least, I had a pretty good idea. Kat was stubborn and she always had been- it was just who she was. I knew she was trying to protect me, keep me safe, stop me from getting myself killed and I...appreciated that. Hell, I think anyone would appreciate not getting themselves killed- self preservation and all. Yet this ludicrous idea that she wanted to leave me to do was exactly that- ridiculous. I knew she was trying to push me away, make me angry with her, sever whatever bond we had and yet I'm almost certain it doesn't work that way. Not after years together. I knew her far better then she believed I did. I could tell as well that her resolve was wavering with every argument i threw back at her. She didn't really want to break up, deep down, that was something I was never going to believe.

I hadn't expected the tears. Hell, of all the things I expected from Kat- tears were never one of them. A solid punch maybe, a witty line, biting sarcasm but tears? I don't think I can even remember the last time she cried. At least over something that wasn't a movie. Is this how far we had truly let Viktor push us? Until Kat was crying? It was ridiculous really and yet there was something so....innocent about those tears I....I just wanted to protect her. She threw herself near forcefully agianst my chest as if to hide her crying from the rest of the world. The singular elderly lady who had watched most of our performance continuing to stare and yet I was mostly sure this was probably more exciting for her then any television show she'd seen in the last five years. My arms lifted automatically to wrap around Kat then and hold her agianst me. I was damn sure this was exactly where she belonged. Her tears only seemed to increase and for that moment I simply....let them. Maybe it was better to just....let her cry them out. I think she needed it and hell- I was happy enough just to hold her like I'd been dying to do for months now.

It was only when those tears started to stop that I finally cold her name. The blue gold of my gaze glancing down to meet her own and make sure she'd actually heard me. I hadn't exactly expected the impassioned speech that followed and yet I was damn well determined not to get left behind again. She couldn't do this alone, not anymore, and maybe I wasn't exactly her first choice of team-mate but I was better than nothing. I could keep myself alive, I was mostly sure and in the very least Viktor would hardly be expecting us to be together when he came back. That question on whether or not Kat could trust me seemed to prompt that pause, the vaugest hint of a simper tugging at her lips before she muttered she hardly seemed to have a choice. That much was right. That soft sound of amusement rose within my own throat before she insisted she could, in fact, trust me. Her head rested back agianst my chest then, Kat inhaling deeply before apologising for her tears. I was about to tell her it hardly mattered. I could live with a wet shirt- before she queried the possibility of some sort of disease- my gaze cutting sharply downward to eye my shirt once more.

"Is....that a thing? Seriously, do i need to wash my shirt sooner rather than later? Should I take it off? Can I wash it here?"

Isn't that what a laundromat was for? Washing things? Could disease really be transferred through tears? Not that i thought Kat had any kind of disease. Hunters apparently can't get sick but still there was a risk of cross contamination or....something. I eyed my shirt almost critically once more as Kat leaned away. Maybe once I got home I could-. Another thought suddenly seemed to strike me then. My gaze turned suddenly back toward Kat, my possibly diseased shirt momentarily forgotten.

"Where are we going to live? Viktor knows about my place and your place and he knows about where I was living after you left. I suppose.....we could get a hotel room but we're going to have to keep moving every few days. Christ. The Hunter Council building has rooms, we could stay there but I'm not sure the Council is going to be exactly supportive of our mission here. Where have you been living all this time? Can we go back there?"

Alright, maybe I was a bit....stressed. I'd never been homeless before. Was this how poor people felt? This was....well.....terrible.

"We probably need to get out of here too. We've been here too long."


k o h l
so you want to play with magic?