Personally, I didn't think Kat was taking this money situation seriously enough. My query of how much she had was met with that simple insistence that she had 'enough' before insisting i put my own wallet away for fear we might be assaulted by a mugger. In a laundromat? Was this a prime location for muggings? Would someone really bother attacking me for, what, $700? Was that considered a significant amount to some people? Frankly as far as I was concerned we were borderline destitute and one poor monetary choice away from sleeping on the street. I'm not sure i can handle that. I'm not sure I can handle any of this and yet I was doing my best to appear far more relaxed about our pressing arrangements then I actually was. Then again, compared to losing Kat again I was entirely willing to deal with the idea that for a little while at least this 'running' business might have to be something I got used to. Hmm. There was a sentence i never thought i'd have to say, or deal with. My blue gold gaze shifted readily to her own then as I asked after those hotels and what exactly Kat deemed as 'cheap'. My definition of the word likely to be vastly different to her own and yet she'd been living with me for a damn long time now, wasn't she used to having, well, nicer things too? Her insistence we were hardly about to be staying in any Best Westerns prompted a slight scowl to my features and yet, I suppose, I could see the sense in it.

"Alright, although I have concerns."

Kat, I suspected, was likely not to be too terribly concerned with my concerns and yet I feared ending up at the sort of hotel where beds folded out from the sofa or the wall or there was a communal bathroom area. The very thought alone making my skin all but crawl. Could that truly be hygienic? Did anyone ever truly consider hygiene anymore? My thoughts on the manner were interrupted by the elderly woman offering her car. My efforts to insist otherwise met with only further assurance by herself. I tossed those keys towards Kat with that promise to meet her outside as I moved to fish my wallet from my pocket again. Maybe I don't always understand the value of things and maybe I do have more money then I know what to do with and spend it lavishly sometimes but I know that car ...meant something to this woman. I couldn't give her nothing for it. I couldn't just take it even if she was offering. I was almost relieved when she took the money. My lips pulled into a grin, offering her a warm smile before I moved to hurry out the door and after Kat. We'd already been in this place to long. It hardly took long to find my girlfriend and what had to be the smallest car I think i've ever seen. Hell, it was like one of those cars clowns pile out of in children's television shows. Was this really the car? Well- if anything Viktor was hardly going to expect us to be driving around in this. Kat held the keys toward me then as I shook my head, pressing them back toward her with the insistence she could drive. It was....er.....much better suited to......Kat driving I was sure. Her sudden query prompting that playful roll of my eyes as I moved to slide into the passenger seat.

"I wouldn't want my Masserati getting jealous of this, what did you call it, Beast?"

I put my seatbelt on anyway. Safety first. Even though i was mostly sure my risk of whiplash in this car would only come about if we were actually hit by a significantly better car. Still, I suppose, the elderly lady had been kind enough to give it to us. I never thought I'd be the proud owner of a Ford Fiesta in all my life. What was so Fiesta about it? Didn't that mean party? I assure you no one has ever had a party in this car ever. I don't think it's physically possible. Do these seats even recline? Kat pulled easily out of the parking lot then before piloting 'the beast' out and onto the main road. I moved to fetch my phone from my pocket then, google maps quickly making an effort to locate the nearest budget hotels to our location. Budget hotels. Another sentence I never thought i'd have to say. Kat's insistence that once we were checked in we'd find an outlet store for the rest of our clothes and anything else we needed hardly filled me with confidence. At least I wasn't about to forget this day anytime soon. I managed to direct us towards the sort of hotel Kat seemed to find acceptable. The inability of even the sign to work only further assuring me that this was not a place I would normally choose. Kat circled the parking lot before parking the car, the both of us making our way to reception as I queried some of that hotels less than...finer points. Kat suggesting we could find an abandoned warehouse and sleep in the basement instead if I prefered it.

"I think there would be less risk of contracting HIV there. Although I suppose at least this will have a shower."

I wasn't entirely brave enough to argue with her anymore then that as we made our way to the front desk, the man behind it exactly the type of man who, well, excelled at the sort of job where you didn't ask any question beyond how long we wanted the room for. Did he really think we were here for that? Did any woman want to sleep with a guy in a hotel like this? Was that a common thing here? That sudden question on our names readily saw my mind managed to quick up a gear, that beer and cigarette packet hurriedly fashioned into something by way of identities, the man hardly questioning it any further before handing us that key in exchange for that small fee. A worryingly small fee. I could hardly help that look of hesitation on my face as we made our way toward that allocated room. My words, I suppose, giving away that very hesitance as Kat suggested the car. For a moment I almost considered it. The blue gold of my gaze shifting from the hotel room door to the car and back and yet.....the hotel room was significantly more likely to contain Kat then the car was. That single thing alone something of a swaying point in my decision.

"I'm putting a lot of faith in this hotel's maid service."

There isn't much I've feared in my life. Genuinely feared that is, outside of needles. The very thought still threatening to make me sweat and yet I lived in genuine fear of what was going to be on the other side of that door as Kat opened it. Her declaration that it had no peeling wallpaper or, heaven forbid, blood stains, at least prompted me to open one eye.

"Darling, im going to pretend you didn't just say two nights. I haven't braced myself for one yet. Are we supposed to share that bed? It's so ...cosy."

Tiny would have been a better word. It was a double and yet it was the most compact double I'd ever seen. The King bed in our bedroom back in my apartment suddenly far more missed then I had anticipated it might be. The rest of that room was decidedly, well, let's go with ...bland. I dont think ive ever seen carpet so worn it actually managed to match the shade of pale, tan wallpaper. That's quite the talent. I shut the door behind me then, following Kat further into the room, the blue gold of my gaze running over that bed, tv, small table with 2 chairs, tiny kitchenette and bathroom. As much as I hated to admit it- Kat was right. This would suffice for a few days. It was going to have to. We didn't have anything else. It took my mind a few moments longer, I suppose, to slow down. To realise we were finally alone. That for maybe just a few hours we could have some....peace from the world. Christ it had been a hell of a day.

"Kat?"

My voice was softer then I'd anticipated as I crossed that few steps towards her, my gaze easily meeting her own as she turned to face me and my hands settled at her waist , tugging her gently agianst me then. My lips found her own readily, eagerly, stealing that uninterrupted, much-desired kiss. God how good she tasted! How much I'd missed her! I hadn't even realised, not until she'd been gone, just how much I'd come to....rely on her being there. I pulled gently away then. That taste of her alone seeing that simper find my lips all the same. My grip on her hardly releasing as if some illogical part of me worried she might disappear again.

"What in the hell are we going to do now?"

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