Re: [Second City: Cat & Jack]
"It's home." Not literally, of course, but this underground world was like Cat's antecedents. It was familiar, and wasn't it funny she'd fought so hard to leave it behind, and only to find something akin to it here, in this place? "You can buy and sell people everywhere, Jack, just like this. Apparently you need to travel more." Ah, yes, this was underground and illicit, but so were other places. "Just think of the stories you could write." And young, like this, there was no doubt that the kitten found the prospect thrilling. It was like a man dressing up in a suit and saving the world, only with paper and ink, and wouldn't it be something to make a difference? Young, Cat had been all about making a difference, and she'd salivated for it in big ways. After all, she'd fallen in love with a Shadow, hadn't she? These days, she made small gestures, saved small people, but it was nothing that changed the planet. Cat, she liked men who changed the planet.
She watched him watch, and her smile was lush and genuine. Truth in her features, and none of the melancholy that had drawn shadows across the older woman's eyes. Ah, this girl, she saw everything, even what was to come, and she still had hope. Older? That hope was a dead thing, and perhaps it was the resilience of youth that rekindled it. Perhaps it was something belonging to young bones and young cells. Cat didn't know, but she knew she liked it. She could hardly remember how that old woman felt now, but she knew she didn't miss the sensation.
As he watched, she knelt forward and pressed a harlot-red kiss to his cheek. It was ridiculously chaste, and her smirk as she leaned back was anything but innocent. Still, it entertained her, and that was obvious as obvious could be. "You're welcome." She stood. "Don't bother following me. I can outrun you." She could, and they both knew that. She had no idea if the serum still lived in her body, but she could outrun him with or without it. Reece said it was there, and Cat knew there were repercussions if that was true. But, fuck repercussions.
She looked down at him. "Stay a while. I think it's good for you." She pulled off her hip scarf, and she dropped the flimsy fabric and its accessories onto his head. The fabric smelled of spices, of incense, of girl. And by the time he fished his way out from beneath it? Cat was nowhere to be found.