She stared for 3 seconds before she blinked. "Right. Not going to ask. Anyway! Rope secured, are we off, adventurer?"

"...for tying your bike to things, right?"

"What bar has rope, are you kidding me?"

"I have some duct tape?"

"That'll work." Kay found herself nodding confidently. "Just enough time to get there when I'm supposed to clock in, then I can shepherd the others out and we can figure out what's going on. Phoebe is the other closer tonight!"

"How fast can they get here? And... what'll happen to Phoebe?"

Her brows twinged as she thought about it. "Now that you mention it, yeah. Phoebe's been making other people get stuff from the fridge for her. Usually it's me. Why? Do you know what's going on?"

"No bodies. No blood. Just some people acting weird." Kay grimaced. "My two coworkers, Phoebe and Jace, keep acting weird. They keep finding bugs around the bar, which we try really hard to keep clean--customers don't like a dirty bar, right?--but they keep talking about bugs they're finding. And

"No," she replied honestly, looking back at Eden. "I don't. That's so utterly foreign to me... I've always lived here. I don't even own a car - I walk everywhere. This is the only bar in town so why would I need a car? And crime here is like, last year someone broke into the sheriff's patrol car

"Oh." Kay seemed deeply disturbed by that. More than she felt she should be. She fell silent, digesting everything she'd been told, though a part of her was still hugely skeptical about all this. It was easy for some random person to claim something - but Eden was also the only person she'd met who

"So if angels, werewolves, and vampires are real... can we kill them? If angels are real, are devils real?"

💭 what do you MEAN angels are real

"I thought Ariel was a mermaid?"

"...angels are real?" Eden just inspired a religious crisis.

"I- that's-" she cleared her throat. "More interested in what you said before. Werewolves and vampires are real? Like, not a halloween prank? Or a myth?"

"Owner?" Kay sputtered, waving her hands. "No way, I just work there! Owning a bar would drive me crazy, I'd fire Luke and Jace instantly if I were the owner. They party all night and leave all the cleanup to me."

That made sense. Sort of. Kay quirked her lips, then nodded. "Alright. Kind of surprised you told me up front that you *are* a hunter. I thought there'd be more of an information barrier, I guess."

"How do you distinguish yourselves as hunters of things that go bump in the night, versus normal hunters- like people who hunt elk and deer and stuff."

"So if I thought there was something dangerous around the diner, can I bother you about it?"

“When things go bump in the night, I bump back.” An independent portrayal of Elsa Bloodstone. Monster hunter, archaeologist, tea enthusiast, firearms buff.

"Rainy day today."

Heyyy! Our first review, and it's a rave! In stores Wednesday - dontcha dare miss it!

"Of course all the monsters come out at night." Kay tsked. "So are you a hunter, then?"

"...is that unusual? That's a lot of them in one spot. Okay," she raised a hand to forestall Eden, "you wanna keep talking or do you need to be doing stuff? Cuz my shift doesn't start for another four hours, so I have time to gab - just don't know if you do."

"Ah, so they are real." Kay folded her arms loosely over her chest, thinking of her few brief experiences with Hunters. "How many Hunters have you met?"

"Bullshit." Even as she watched the web fly through the air. "How did you get 'halloween magic'?"

"How do you do that?" Kay gestured to the wall. "Just. Sticking. Like you're Spider-Man. I mean, great cosplay, but how do you make it work?"

That brought a genuine laugh and she took a half-step backward, her arms falling to her hips. "I'm a little surprised I haven't heard that one before!"

💭 am I a fucking chicken or not? Kay pressed her hands gently on Eden's cheeks, her thumbs near the edges of her lower lip, and pressed her lips gently against Eden's for a solid 3 seconds before leaning back, feeling slightly light-headed.

"And I just kiss you on the lips, or get really close?" 💭I'm just asking this to stall, aren't I...

|| had to redo the install 🫩

"Natural ginger?" she asked, noting the color, then looking at Eden's lips - and feeling her heart racing. 💭 This is so stupid, I'm- I'm 21! I'm not a stupid teenager. I just also haven't kissed anyone in forever. "Ready?"

"Is that girl gonna be okay?"

"Oh, I used to do stupid shit in high school all the time," she let out a little laugh and then pulled Eden's mask down, *really* slowly.

Someone needs to take a chill pill.

"How-" she pointed at the wall and gestured to it, seemingly lost for words. "Sticking? You're sticking." Kay approached, then reached up toward Eden's mask. "Uh, ready?"

"Okay. Who is this guy that he saved a city by kissing a plausibly naked clown? What reality TV show plot did I stumble into?"

"Kay," she took Eden's hand and shook it with a weak grip, too used to people trying to grab and hold her hand to let the contact linger. "So why are you doing this? Setting up for a photography project?"

This was like overhearing half of a phone conversation.

"You would've loved to talk to Ken," she nodded off to an empty chair on the far side of the room. "He usually sits over there. He's the little league coach. ... haven't seen him in about a week." Her eyebrows knit together briefly.

Part of her was relieved, while the other part of her was a little let-down. Then again, she didn't even know this person, or her name. "How about we trade names before we press lips?" she suggested, her usual confidence coming back.

|| kay hella confident except with flirting (only Maggie flirts well)

"W- I haven't uhhhhh brushed my teeth and my breath might be s-stinky, uh, or some shit-" Stammering, smoothing her pants unnecessarily, then waving her hands about.

A blush immediately colored her cheeks. "Uh, oh. You're looking for volunteers?"

"Yeah. He told me about it over beer."

"Too vague, I'm not sure what you mean."

"Try what?"

"I like Gotham Girl."

"What the hell are you guys talking about?"

Assholes. If I didn't need customers to keep my job...