Katrina King

Sleeping. Why hadn’t she thought of that? For some reason, Cash had thought that Katrina would still be awake at the late hour but then she recalled Revel telling her that Kat had quit the Outlaw. Was it because of what happened with the frat boy that one fateful evening? Cash could still hear the snap of bone. If any guilt over the incident ever existed, it was immediately vanquished by the memory of his behavior toward Kat. Unfortunately, with that memory came the recollection of Kat’s look of fear. The way she had hunched over and teared up. A sudden lump in her throat, she merely nodded in reply.

Cash accepted the first-aid kit, rummaging through the small box. Again, Cash felt the urge to kick herself for not using her fucking brain. The King sisters had lost their parents in a car wreck - why would Katrina risk it? Her tongue pressed harshly to the roof of her mouth in punishment, staring down into the bandages and ointment. The ‘fox had no clue to why she kept putting her foot in her mouth that evening. 

“Makes sense.” She muttered, finding herself to be at a loss of words. She, instead, flipped open the mirror and bared her teeth at her reflection, carefully inspecting and prodding each of her teeth. Relieved to discover that none were lose, she went to work poking at her split lip. Cash seemed to go into a daze, treating each of her injuries with the precise knowledge of someone who had done this before. It didn’t take her more than ten minutes before she was shutting the mirror again and sitting back. 

“How’s Harper?”

Katrina watched out of the corner of her eye as Cash made faces at herself in the mirror. It made her sad how easily she assessed and treated her injuries, as if it was so common place that it didn’t even seem odd to her anymore. She deserved better. They all did. She knew the Jezebels were into some shady dealings, but she didn’t care. To a person, each one of them was brilliant and beautiful and unique, they deserved to be happy and safe. 

“Harp’s good, still busy workin’ on her car. Every time I think she’s done she finds something else to tweak or adjust or improve,” Kat said fondly. Harper was the most solidly dependable person in her life, always had been. Even when Skylar ghosted on her for the foxfire, Harper was there. If Skylar’s other family was the Jezebels, Katrina’s was Harper. 

Another quick glance to the right let Kat see that Cash was basically done with the first aid kit, but didn’t seem relaxed. She thought for a moment, torn between taking Cash straight home so she could rest and not wanting to leave her alone. All the girls knew where the Daniel’s kept the spare key to their cabin by the lake and Belle usually kept a few changes of clothes there...it was an option if Cash didn’t want to go home. Trouble was, she couldn’t quite get a read on what Cash was thinking. For a moment she wondered at the fact that she tended to think of most of the girls as themselves -- Addie, Sarah, Belle, Melanie, Skylar, etc. But Cash was never Charlotte to her, she just didn’t seem like a Charlotte. Maybe a Charlie? But Cash just fit her better than her actual name. 

“Hey, Cashola? You ok? I know that’s probably a dumb question given the circumstances... Do you want to get some food or you can stay at my place tonight if you want. Or we can break into Belle’s cabin. Unless you want to go straight home, that’s fine too.” 

It was so easy to forget that they were the same age. Kat had always looked far younger than Cash but whatever troubles the young woman had experienced, they didn’t show on her face. Meanwhile, Cash carried her grief with every step - a walking, leaking wound. Even now, she stood there, tired eyes tracking the human’s movements. As Kat reached up, Cash couldn’t help but visibly flinch away from her hand. She inwardly cursed herself for the display of weakness, expression hardening as a result. 

Honey would have been disappointed in her. That thought stung more than any of the bruises starting to pepper her body. God punished me with you, Charlotte! Her mother’s shrill voice was almost deafening but Cash managed to nod tightly at Kat. 

“Yeah, I’m good.” She shrugged, not quite reaching the level of nonchalance she wanted. “Thanks again.” She moved away from Kat, expelling a silent breath only after she had a put a few feet between the two of them. 

“I hope I didn’t take you away from anythin’ important.” Momentarily waiting for Kat to unlock the car, Cash slid into the passenger seat of the beetle. Glancing around the interior, she was comforted by the flash of amusement of just how much the car fit Kat. It was completely unlike her own 1970 Plymouth Barracuda but it still brought the image of Kat racing the tiny car around one of the dirt racetracks. 

“You ever get any speed with this thing?”

The flinch broke her heart. It was stupid to expect anything other than a flinch from someone who’d clearly just been hit more than once, but it still hurt to have Cash flinch away from her. Katrina dropped her hand and her eyes, letting Cash retreat. “You really don’t have to thank me.” She cleared her throat, turning her attention to unlocking the car and slipping inside. 

“Oh, no...I wasn’t doing anything but sleeping,” she said as she started the car. Reaching into the back seat, she pulled out the first aid kit Skylar insisted she keep in the vehicle. Katrina tended to be a bit accident prone and Sky was overprotective. Part of her had always wondered if that would have eased if she’d been able to truly join their gang, but her body had refused to comply with the change so she’d never find out. Foxes healed fast, but there might be something that would help Cash while she waited for that healing to kick in. She handed the first aid kit to the other girl but didn’t make a big deal out of it. 

Kat shook her head in answer to Cash’s question. Since her parents had died in their car wreck she’d been an intensely careful driver. “Harp’s raced it a few times but I don’t... I prefer to go the speed limit. Not really much of a dare devil.” 

When: June 2018 Where: Henry County Jail  Availability: @kat-scratch–fever

“Jones, you’re free to go. Made bail.”

Cash used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe some of the blood from the corner of her mouth as she stood up from the hard, metal bench. Ignoring the sneers of her temporary cellmates, she strode out of cell. As she followed the officer through the line of cells, toward the front of the station. As the pair passed the window Cash turned her face away from her reflection, not needing to see her face to know that she looked a mess. Already a black eye was forming and her lip was split but her ribs weren’t broken and she hadn’t lost any teeth. The ‘fox considered that a win despite the otherwise shitty night. 

Getting into it with a cop hadn’t been on Cash’s agenda but things rarely seemed to go her way lately. One thing was for sure though, she wasn’t going to bother Honey with another phone call from jail. Her older sister rarely had the opportunity to spend time with Revel as it was. Not to mention that Cash was pretty sure that Revel was going to clobber the new recruit, Lucky if Honey didn’t help her relax. Cash knew Honey had worried about her lately, sensing the tempest in her younger sister’s chest. She had considered calling Dixie but instead she had called a number that she didn’t even know she remembered. 

After stopping to gather her belongings back up from the officers, Cash stepped into the warm Georgia night. She could hear crickets, the hoot of an owl sounding in the distance. The parking lot was almost empty but Cash had been arrested in a small town half an hour from Fairburn. And true to her nature, she had run her mouth to some of her cellmates. A few feet away, Cash could see her white knight leaning against her car.

“….Thanks.” She stopped, flicking her eyes up to Katrina’s face. “I’ll pay you back all the money, I just didn’t…” Cash trailed off, the message going unspoken.

I didn’t want to call Honey.

The call had woken Kat when it came, but she didn’t hesitate to get up. Cash had rescued her once from a drunken frat boy, returning the favor seemed like the least she could do. Katrina didn’t work at the outlaw anymore, when the opening had come at Archive, it had felt like a better fit. Serving coffee to sober people felt more her speed. She tugged on a pair of shorts and threw her hair into a ponytail, pausing only long enough to leave Harper a note in case she woke up before grabbing her keys and wallet and slipping out of the apartment. 

She let her phone’s GPS guide her to the jail, an interesting experience she wasn’t eager to repeat. Part of her felt guilty for just being there, like the clerks accepting the bail money were judging her for helping her friend. Kat did her best to remain professional and respectful, despite the fact that she knew she looked like a fish out of water. Dressed in an oversized Coca Cola shirt and without a stitch of makeup on her face, she probably appeared far younger than she actually was. 

The process felt like it took forever, but in all honesty it was rather quick. She tucked the receipt and instructions for Cash to have to return and speak to the judge or something and tucked them into her back pocket. The clerk told her it would take a few minutes to get everything squared away and when he gave her the option to wait at her car, she took it gratefully. Cash finally came out to find Katrina leaning against her little green beetle, phone in hand. She’d texted Skylar that she was with Cash, but hadn’t given her any details. It wasn’t her story to tell and she didn’t even know the story yet. 

“Of course,” Kat replied, straightening up and eyeing Cash carefully. “You okay?” Slim fingers reached up, almost touching Cash’s face but hesitating. She didn’t care about the money or about what Cash told her sister right now, she was more concerned with the bruises forming on the fox’s face and knuckles. Cash could handle herself, Katrina knew that first hand, but that didn’t mean she should have to. “C’mon, I’ll take you home.” 

As he should’ve expected by now, the rapid fire way she threw thoughts at him left him slightly slack-jawed and bemused, though dread still lingered at the edges of his mind. Hyper Rey was probably astoundingly cute, but her words hit too close to his worries. “Whaaat, that little bundle of marshmallow fluff, causing trouble? Rey, are you hearing this?” Wisely, the pup made no move to respond. “She’s probably a fifth my size or less but I have no doubt she could drag me around like a rag doll. I’d be afraid to take her out near a street.” Subtle, he was. 

“I suppose there’s a bright side to a slow day indoors, like… Air conditioning?” To his ears his chuckle was more of a sigh. “And maybe you’ll make it outside for the nicest part of the day, when it’s not too hot but it’s still light out, you know? Go frolicking in a field or something. Live a picturesque Southern life.”

His eyes drifted toward the espresso machine, but a thought struck him. “Sweet tea, huh? I’ve actually never had it.” He lowered his voice there, looking over his shoulder like a native Georgian might overhear and jump him for it. “Not to be a complete northerner or a big city snob or anything, but is it really all that?”

One hand withdrew to paw at his back pockets, yanking his wallet from its resting place so he could dig some wrinkled bills out. “And uh, if you want something, I’m buying. Since you’re a friend and all, and I’m probably about to hang around for a while and harass your dog.” He could find any excuse to linger and make sure the nagging fear his dream had left behind was just the product of an overactive, anxiety-inducing imagination and nothing more. If I’m the one holding the leash, that’s fine by me.

Ignoring his worry about Rey and the street as well as the perks of air condition, Kat zeroed in on a different part of what Isaiah told her. She stared at him like he’d just told her he’d never had chocolate or christmas presents. “You’ve never had sweet tea? I forget sometimes that you haven’t been here long. Okay, well, we’re going to fix that today,” she insisted. “You my friend are getting a sweet tea sampler, because...regular sweet tea is good but it’s kinda boring? Or maybe I’m just too used to it. Anyway. You’ll get a little of that...” She was mostly talking to herself now, grabbing tiny sample sized cups and putting together a flight of tea. 

It took her a few minutes but soon enough she presented him with a tray of small glasses. If they were all poured together it probably wouldn’t even equal a large drink size, but it was enough to give him a taste of the different kinds of sweet tea he’d clearly been missing out on his entire life. 

“Okay, so we have regular,” she said, pointing to the first drink. “Peach, lemon, raspberry, green tea mojito -- which is seasonal and my favorite. It’s got mint and lime and green tea and it’d probably be better with a splash of rum? But it’s very refreshing. Uh, the really pink one on the here is barely tea -- a passion tea lemonade. And next week we’ll be having a berry hibiscus tea as well because I spend too much time looking on pinterest and finding new things to try so I limit myself to one a week. Anyway here you go! A limited introduction to southern sweet tea.” 

Kat’s smile left Isaiah blinking like he’d just been blinded in the sun, though he was fairly sure he managed to return it with something more than a tired grimace. That in itself was an achievement from him. Then again, it was easy to relax around Kat. She did always have that infectiousness about her; maybe it was in the gentle disarray of her hair or the airy way she moved, but something about her just…generated warmth.

Lots of people would agree if he could find the guts to choke those words out.

“Hey Kat,” he responded, shoving his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t fidget in front of her. I really need to learn how to look calm, casual. Not like a man who might have visions in his sleep. “How are y- oh, uh, I haven’t even thought about what I want yet.” Yeah, I really need to learn. 

As always, his head felt like a cinder block barely supported by his neck, so his first instinct was coffee–but between his pulse trotting behind his ribs and the slight tremor in his hands, it seemed caffeine could only make his nerves that much worse. He exhaled in a short, defeated huff, giving her a half-smile across the counter. “Do you have any suggestions? I feel like I’d trust your judgment on all things tasty.”

Movement at his side caught his eye and made his heart skip, though there was no good reason for it; it was just Rey rolling over, exposing fluffy puppy belly to the room and practically begging to be petted. On any other day, Isaiah would have taken the bait and gone to spoil her rotten with Kat’s blessing. Today her presence in the shop left an uncomfortable coldness crawling up his back.

He forced a smile grin anyway and looked back at her, as always hoping his fatigue wasn’t obvious in his face. “She looks like she’s ready to sleep all day and all night. Which, I gotta be honest, sounds awesome. How are you? How’s your shift been?”

She smiled at him again, leaning against the counter with hands spread out wide on either side of her. There was no line, no reason for him to rush. It was gorgeous out so most people were out and about instead of tucked inside the little shop. In fact, when she got off of work she had every intention of soaking up whatever sun was left. 

“I don’t know that trusting me is such a good idea, actually,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m still drinking vanilla lattes, extra vanilla, no foam, nice and hot. Even though it’s got to be nearly a hundred degrees out today. But, the iced chai seems to be popular today and the iced caramel macchiato is always a favorite if you’re looking for coffee instead of tea. Or there’s always sweet tea, because this is Georgia and you can get sweet tea anywhere...I guess I don’t really know what you like, so feel free to chime in.”  

Isaiah looked over at the puppy, sprawled out on her back and Kat had to shake her head. Even asleep the little mutt was begging for attention. How could anyone resist going over and giving her a belly rub? It was almost criminal how adorable the little dog was. 

For the third time this week, Isaiah dreamed of Kat.

Rarely were they interesting dreams, often just featuring her for a few moments of coffee shop serenity or on a giggle-inducing dog chase. He preferred it that way. Smiling, laughing Kat appearing only long enough for a glimpse was better than the alternative.

Tonight’s alternative was a perfect example, not just of how wrong his dreams could go, but also of how poor his luck was.

Tonight, he dreamed of her covering her shift at the Archive as usual, cheerfully greeting patrons and adding warmth to the already comfortable vibe of the place. Nothing new there. The scene shifted in a swirl of sensation that would have left him dizzy if he were awake; she had hung up her apron and made her way out, Rey in tow. The duo had their day about town, enjoying the sun and saying hello to friends and whatever else one does in a small town. A little mundane, but perfectly fine for a dream. He could have lived with it staying just like that.

But, of course, that just wasn’t in the cards for him. The film of his mind’s eye began to skip, showing him snatches of scenes as everything went south. Kat stopping to say hello to someone else with a dog–

Rey taking off to get away from the dog, or maybe start a chase, who knew–

The leash jerking, sending Kat stumbling into the street, into the path of an oncoming car–

Isaiah woke with a start when his shoulder collided with the floor, taking the brunt of the impact of falling off of the couch. “Fuck.” They needed to get carpet, seriously.

Sitting up, he rubbed the back of his head and yawned, trying and failing not to dwell on the dream. It was just a dream, after all, and stress dreams about people you’re fond of are totally normal. Everyone has them. It doesn’t mean anything bad is going to happen. It’s not going to come true.

“Fuck.”

Sighing at himself, he stood, stretching to his full height before donning his usual slouch and setting off out the door.

Fifteen minutes of walking took him to the doors of the Archive and then he stood, momentarily lost. What am I even doing here? He was being ridiculous, it was just a dream. She would probably be here just because she worked here.

Well, it couldn’t hurt to say hi, could it?

Poking his head around the door first, he walked into the cafe, scanning the room for familiar red hair…

@kat-scratch–fever 

There was something comforting about the scent of coffee mingled with old books and spicy teas. It felt simultaneously soothing and adventurous, like you could relax and curl up or take off on an epic adventure depending on which way you wanted the afternoon to go. Of course, the Archive Tea Room tended to sell more coffee than it did tea, but that didn’t really change anything in Kat’s mind. 

Her long braid fell over one shoulder as she added whipped cream to an iced coffee -- because it was summer in Georgia and she seemed to be the only one still drinking hot beverages -- and slid it across the counter to the waiting customer. “Thanks, enjoy your afternoon,” she said with a small wave of her fingers. 

Moving out from behind the counter, she began wiping down the recently vacated tables and re-shelving the borrowed books. Without really intending to, she hummed along with the radio, bobbing her head in time with the music. It had been a relatively slow day and there wasn’t much for her to do. Even Rey was lazy; sleeping on a cushion in a patch of sunlight by the window. Casey was nice enough to let Kat bring her to work when she had longer shifts and Harper was working so that the puppy wasn’t home alone. 

The little bell above the door tinkled as Kat was restocking the sugar packets and she turned to greet the new customer, smiling broadly when she recognized Isaiah. 

“Hobbies.”  He said it flatly; more of a statement than a question.  It was a fair inquiry but that didn’t make answering it any easier.  Any kind of honest answer he wouldn’t exactly be something he’d tell a stranger– particularly one that looked like she did.  Drugs with a side of murder usually didn’t go over well with innocent pretty faces that buy strangers presents.

“You’re pretty much looking at it.” A half-shrug punctuated the sentence, forcing a smile to make it seem more like a joke than he actually intended it.  “Kidding– mostly.  I actually moved down here for, uh…work.  And the transition’s been pretty time consuming, getting settled and all that.  How about coffee joints?  You got any good ones around here?”

“Smoking is your hobby?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “Guess I should’ve gotten more than one lighter, huh? No, but, I think we can improve on that, somewhat.” Katrina smiled up at him, flicking her braid over her shoulder as she listened to him explain about his job. Well, not so much about the job itself, but the effect it had on his life. “Coffee we’ve got. Casey runs the Archive and they’ve got the best coffee in town. Or tea, if you like tea.”

Gesturing in the general direction of the Archive, she started walking, fully expecting Xavier to follow. “There’s not a whole lot of town to show you, but the general rule is that if you stick to the main drag here, you’ll either find what you’re looking for or someone who can point you in the right direction. You said you moved here for work? What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?”

REBLOG TO PLAY:GEMSTONE ASKS

When you reblog, be sure your anon /ask is on. For every ask you get, send one out. Answers are considered on the Internet/public; strikeouts are still readable. If you want, though, you can answer below that with a 'private' section to share headcanons your character wouldn't!

✘✘

amethyst: do you think age is needed for maturity?

aquamarine: do you believe the future is predetermined?

bloodstone: what words are most comforting to you?

diamond: how important is money to you?

emerald: is there anything you want to last forever?

garnet: list three of your passions

jasper: if you could revive a spirit, who would it be?

moonstone: what family do you want in the future?

opal: do you keep secrets forever?

pearl: are you stereotypically feminine?

peridot: how old do you want to live to?

ruby: what kind of love do you value the most?

sapphire: if you could control one element, what would it be?

topaz: are your current relationships with others healthy?

tourmaline: do you like the idea of having a guardian angel?

Katrina: Harp says you're staying with us