To Skin A Cat

[backslash]

This part now. This was where he should start crying.

It still didn't come.

But Kai let himself sink into Cali like he had the first time. She was still warm. Her heart was still beating.

They were both still here, for now.

---

It didn't take that long to gather Kitty's scattered weapons and wrap her body in the emergency blanket that Kai had initially pulled out for Cali. The other girl got a cursory pile of snow to cover her. He did most of the lifting, thanks to Cali's hurt shoulder. He didn't mind so much. At least, it felt like he wouldn't have to think as much if he kept busy. That was how it should have been, but his thoughts were still swirling.

This camp was where he and Kitty had buried Ren. Out behind the cabin. But the digging bar was gone, and there was no way Kai and Cali could dig with their hands. He wasn't sure Cali would have been willing to try digging a grave for Kitty even if she could have and even if he had asked.

He had always wanted to take care of Kitty, even when what he thought was best diverged so drastically from what she wanted. He couldn't have rested easy knowing that she was laying out in the open like roadkill. Easy pickings. That people robbed of the chance to kill her themselves would take whatever catharsis they could if they had the opportunity.

She had to go somewhere that nobody else could reach her.

When everything had been gathered, he spoke to Cali in a low voice. "I still want to go up the mountain to take a look. Just to see if we can." The throbbing ache that had set into his injured leg protested already. He was just going to have to power through.

"I'm bringing Kitty. Okay?" It wasn't so much a request.

"Just let me know when you feel like you'll be able to walk, and we can go."

((Kai Rosado-Prince continued in Color In Your Cheeks))

[Deamon]

She would have much preferred that he didn’t.

California’s injured arm was pinned close to her body, she’d been up and moving but any small twitch or nudge on her arm caused spikes of pain. So while Kai had been keeping himself busy moving the bigger weapons around, she’d been left with sorting the handguns.

Kai didn’t seem to mind or if he did he kept not from showing. But after he’d sorted out the weapons he’d looked over at Kitty and then said he was bringing her with them. The final syllables has been phrased like a question and carried a similar tone, but he hadn’t been asking.

California didn’t respond because she had nothing worthwhile to say. The only words she had were ‘No’ and ‘Don’t do that’, but Kai had made clear those answers weren’t acceptable. So she said nothing and only gave him a small nod.

“I’m ready now.”

She didn’t care to stay.

((California Fox continued elsewhere…))