(1942-08-30) Broken Down
Broken Down
Summary: The Trickster has shaken Kathleen's faith in herself.
Date: 1942-08-30
Related: Morning after Mirror Maze + Through The Looking Glass
Players:
clifton..kathleen..

Wright Residence, Higsi
Wed Aug 30, 1942


Built by the late Basil Wright, this beautiful Craftsman-style house overlooks the intersection of Cooper and Butler. A huge porch, flanked by two shade trees, is the first to greet visitors. It is set up seasonally with quite a few comfortable chairs and a large wooden table that looks rather archaic.

The immaculate interior presents a large kitchen with pantry, open dining room, den, full bathroom and two multi-purpose spare rooms. Closet-space is ample, appointed in nooks and crannies throughout the house and never given to clutter. A sturdy stairwell, with hand-carved designs set into the railing, ascends into a large second storey. There, one shall find a master bedroom, another occupied bedroom, a small bathroom and a large sitting room from which one can observe the street below through two large windows.

Departing the house and following a walkway around toward a fenced-in back yard, an addition from the late 1920s is accessible. There, two functional and comfortable rooms are located for usage as rooms-to-let to passing visitors. A large shed serves as a workspace for the home's owner.

Weather:
It is summer. The weather is warm and clear.

(OOC / Mood Music: "The Ringmaster's Dream" - Patrick O'Hearn


To say last night had been crazy was an understatement.  After an initial fun start to the fair, things had taken an upsetting turn when Dot and Kitty went missing in the Fun House.  They really needed to change that name, but it appeared that now the fair didn't have it anymore…and denied ever having it?  Odd.

Clifton had taken Dot home to get rest and inform the others about the goings on at the fair.  He hated leaving Kathleen in the state she was in, but Tommy seemed like capable enough hands.  Still, today was a new morning and the Walker made his way into town and to the Wright house.

He made sure it was late enough in the morning that Kitty could have gotten extra sleep, not sure what state she'd be in when he arrived.  Or if she would even be up for the visit.  Still…he had to check on her.  So here he was.

In a rare sight, his hands are wrapped in loose bandaging, cuts and scrapes from the mirror making it look worse than it really was.  Stupid silver.  Now he had to go and wait to heal like a regular person!  Lifting a hand he gives a few quick but firm knocks on the door before wincing.  Ow.  Yeah this was going to take some getting used to…

The night was not easy on Kathleen Wright, not after what happened in the funhouse…. hellhouse…. figment? What was that? How long had she been in there with Dot? Madeline had departed with her friends to one of their homes, having deemed the fair and the carnies a bore as the evening wore on.. which was just as well. Kitty did not want her sister to see her in such a state. She never… never wants Maddie to see that version of her as witnessed in the mirror. When the girl contacted Kitty and begged to have an overnighter because 'school was starting up soon', the elder Wright approved quickly. Despite wanting to take the girl and just hold her tight.
It was for the best.

But then there was the deep night and solitude; the nightmares and the recollections and seven grinding hours of twisting, turning, sitting up, lying down. Kitty hadn't even allowed herself a tumbler of brandy, which would have helped… because now the seed has been planted in her brain. One sip brings her closer to the wretch in the mirror, hunched over and bleary and relying on a cane and her poor sweet sister whom she should have protected—-
Yup. Kitty's night in a nutshell.

This morning she is seated in her father's former office/study, a solitary slender figure behind a Cadillac of a deck and some of the man's own decor rising up behind her in the form of portraits, a couple of certificates. Kitty even thinks of this room differently after last night, for it was here that Basil drank himself into oblivion in the years following his wife's death. Kitty's eyes pass over the surface of the desk and she is both surprised and angry to see the smooth edges blurring with tears. When she sees the ring of a water stain from a cup of sorts, that does it; her breath hitches——

A knock?!

Desperately Kathleen tries to wrangle her emotions, bumping her knee as she pushes herself to stand fast. Hair mussed and form outfitted in an oversized nightshirt, the woman wipes her face with a snarl and descends the stairs. The door opens to reveal this vision of (un)delight and she looks openly at Clifton, stunned. Kitty is, head-to-toe… 'off'.

Waiting a moment, brow furrowing in concern, he is debating knocking again when the door opens.  Seeing Kitty's appearance, the usually balanced woman looking anything but, he just looks to her.  "Came by to make sure you're alright.  Or if you need anything."  He looks past her as if trying to see inside or up the stairs "Maddie here?"  Or could they talk openly about last night?  He doesn't make a motion to enter yet or to even console her, waiting to see how she reacted or what she needed right now.  For all he knew she might just want to be left alone.

The woman almost seems to sway a bit, her eyes nonetheless flitting over Clif's bandaged hands with an obvious wince. "Ya okay?" She asks quietly, not looking as if she is ready to do much of anything. She looks as if she hasn't slept a wink, or if she had… it was bad, bad quality. Kitty notes Clif's inquisitive glance beyond her to see if the younger Wright is home at this time, and she shakes her head once. "Maddie stayed with her friends.. was of a mind to have one last hurrah before school is startin' up again. I couldn't say no." She admits, stepping aside to allow the Walker to step indoors if he is of a mind; an invitation.

"Only thing I'm needin', Clif, is a good ol' wiping clean of my mind. To not have seen what was in that.. that funhouse." Kitty admits solemnly.. this subdued behavior is not like her. "It was so real, what I saw.." She trails off, considers. Dim, haunted eyes blink once and check the Walker's face, to make sure he is really okay. "Yer cousin, is she alright?" She asks quietly.

"C'mon in.. I'm making coffee."

Clifton's eyes go down to the bandages, "Yeah.  Looks worse than it is.  Just got a few cuts and scratches from the mirrors."  They'd heal.  Just slower than usual.  Listening to her explain about Maddie, the Walker offers a nod and steps inside when she makes the gesture.  His concerned gaze then goes back to his friend.  If it had upset her this badly, she must have seen something awful.  Whether or not it was real, it was enough to have a real impact.

"Dot is resting, but she'll be okay."  Last thing Kitty needed was to be worrying about them.  He follows her towards the kitchen, "I'll make the coffee.  You sit at the table."  With that he'd step over and start getting the coffee prepared.  "You can tell me about it…if you want.  Or we can talk about something else.  Or just sit…"  At this point he was genuinely worried about her and the impact this…whatever had happened…was having on her.  "If you think somebody else here would help you feel better about sleeping, I can stay a bit."

Look at Clif being all Beta and taking charge to take care! Of course Kitty hasn't a hope of knowing exactly who (what) is letting himself in to get coffee prepared in her well-used and well-worn French press. Kitty turns on a heel to watch worriedly as Clif steps inside and does not hesitate to make his way toward the kitchen to get things ready. She opens her mouth to speak, to tell him that the host should make the coffee, but all she manages is a wispy sigh.. a tired sound.

"I'm glad. She really got rattled by whatever she saw.." Kitty remarks of the young woman, padding along after Clif and entering the sunny kitchen. How can the place look so idyllic and cheerful while Kitty feels so shitty (how's that for a rhyme!?) and Clif's hands are cut up as they are? Pfft. The blonde is touched by the man's concern, and slowly she lowers herself to sit upon one of the chairs. Already a bruise is beginning to form upon her bare knee, where she jobbed it leaving Basil's desk. She leans forth, elbow on the edge of the table, and rubs her face in frustration.

"I still can't quite believe it." Kitty says solemnly. "Did ya hear what I told that young guy? Cooper… who was he.. Tommy? About the mirrors and the visions? I-I don't quite remember much of what happened once the mirrors shattered…. fuck. What a fucking mess…" She looks down, lips working and pressing together. What she saw, indeed, must have been terrible… and persuasive to yet be haunting her, this following morning

She does not say yes or no, yet, to Clif's offer to stay and watch out for her.

Getting everything situated and started with the coffee before lifting the french press and moving it over towards the table.  "I'll get mugs.  You sit."  Not really a command, but also not giving much room for protest either.  After setting the french press down on the table he turns and heads back to where the mugs are kept.  "Want some whiskey for it?" he offers.  He didn't know!  Meaning well, he reaches for the cabinet she knows she keeps the alcohol in.

"Yeah I heard you telling Tommy about it.  I still don't know what to make of all of it."  Or Tommy for that matter, but that wasn't a conversation to have with her.  "Doesn't seem like it should be possible, but in this town…who knows anymore."

How efficient is this guy? Like, really? Kathleen watches all of the components of coffee and coffee-making being set up on the table as if Clif owns this kitchen. Granted he's been here often enough and left to his own devices, so it makes sense. Normally Kitty would feel warmed to see a trusted friend so capable and content in her space… but she just feels so bleak. Both inside and out. She didn't speak the 'oath'; she didn't bite the offered chocolate bar. She doesn't think she walked over any sort of mental tripwire that will have put that strange man at an advantage… but why does it feel as if he succeeded?

Kitty is jolted out of her inner turmoil by Clif's innocuous offer to jazz up the coffee, and there… she pales some. With the arrival of Wolf into her life, Kitty isn't quite so sure anymore that the world as she knows it is as linear as initially thought. Then this… whatever that was. Her golden eyes watch the cabinet being opened and the winking amber bottle being pulled down. Her mouth is dry and she feels, suddenly, very scared.

"Y-ya.. ya can have some. I can't.. I can't.." Kitty stammers, sweat glistening in the hollow of her neck and at her temples as she presses her palms to her face. Shivers.

Looking back at the woman and seeing her reaction to the booze, Clifton lofts a confused brow but puts the whiskey back just as quickly as it had been retrieved.  Closing the cabinet to further hide it, he instead grabs two mugs and heads over to where Kitty sits.  "Here…" he sets the two mugs down before pulling a chair over to place it in front of where she sits.  Sitting down in it he is now across from her, knees close enough to almost touch but still giving her space.

A hand then reaches out and rests gently on her shoulder as she presses her palms to her face.  "Kat…please.  Talk to me.  Whatever happened.  Whatever you saw in there.  It's terrorizing you.  If you don't let it out, it will just keep thrashing around and tearing your mind to shreds."  Speaking from experience much?  Maybe!  "You're out.  You're safe now.  Please…just talk to me."  

"Fuck, Clif, I'm so sorry—" Kitty starts, but hitches again with a rusty and reluctant sob. She bites it back, seems to practically growl it away… no, not the sound, but the sneer upon her face. As if it's distasteful to her to be crying again. Damnit, Kitty.. muster up! She's looking down at her knees and sees, suddenly, Clifton's are but a hairsbreadth away from them and she looks up to see him looking right at her. The touch to her shoulder brings her back, much as the knees being so close had done. She is pulled out of the volatile territory that has erupted in her own head.

The strange man has indeed won.

"What I saw in that mirror was my worst nightmare. My biggest fear." Kathleen starts, her voice low and troubled. "Was as if that fucker.. it had to have been him, that man… reached into my head and pulled it out like spun sugar." How sweet an analogy for something so awful… Kitty's eyes glitter fiercely with her stubborn tears. "I couldn't see what yer cousin saw… but I was right beside her, lookin' in that same mirror. I saw what I never want t'become as plain as day.. as clear as a bell.. as—-" She hitches, breathes deep.. leans back so that she can feel the back of the chair between her shoulder-blades. Her legs shift some, knees not quite as close to Clif's as they had been but her bare feet shift inwards some, bracketing the Walker's own feet. Some sort of contact to keep her present.

"Was like a look into the future, i-if I carried on like my Da did… a-and it's possible Clif, if I drink too hard.. I was older, bellied up to th' bar at the Gallows and crippled… I had a cane. I was a goddamned tosspot, three sheets to the wind, and t-there was Maddie… a teenager.. beggin' me to go. T'leave.. she had to pull me off because I was so damned soused and I looked so heavy and useless and a failure.." Kitty looks to be getting incensed, breath coming fast. "Everyone was so disappointed… even had ol' Frank Russel in the picture, right down to the last whisker.. the look on his face was awful.. so disappointed…" A whisper, her eyes squeeze shut.

"I ain't ever wantin' to fail.. Da pickled himself to death, his heart gave out because he was so fucking full of the alcohol. Weren't just a broken heart that killed Da, he was a fucking drunk." Kitty sobs to the ceiling. "He chose it over us a-and that vision showed me doin' the same."

Clifton's face falls into a frown as he sees his friend breaking emotionally.  Not judging her at all, but hating it for her.  He knew how hard she fought to keep a strong front so even if the emotions alone weren't enough to wreck her, the shame she was probably feeling must add to that something terrible.  "Hey…hey come here."  Obviously he wouldn't hold her if she fought it, but the hand that is on her shoulder attempts to pull her into him.  Against him in a hug.  "You're not him.  That isn't you.  It may be your fear, but that doesn't mean it has to be a reality…no matter what that bastard showed you in there."

The Walker had no clue who or what that man was or how he had pulled off this attack on both his friend and cousin, but you better believe Clifton was determined to find out.  As he tries his best to comfort Kitty, if she let him hold her, he leans forward in his own chair so that his hand can move from her shoulder and around to rub up and down her back.  His other hand moves to find her hand and hold it.  "I'm right here.  I'm not going anywhere.  You're okay.  Maddie is safe.  You do a great job of looking after her" he just tries to reassure her.  

IT's clearly hard… tremendously hard for Kitty to take Basil Wright down off his pedestal and knock him around a bit, like a toddler getting hold of something expensive and having a go with it. That kinda thing. For so long and so fervently, the woman has maintained her father in the light of some sort of martyr. A supremely skilled tradesman whose beloved wife died in childbirth, descending further into heartache until one day.. everything gave out. But there's a strong reality, one that is carefully guarded… and last night broke it wide open for Kitty, again. The man with the candy sure hit a big nerve… one that is resounding and hurting the carpenter the morning after.

Then Clif bids her to 'come here', and Kitty's head tilts forward and her eyes watch him again. She will concede, leaning in and accepting the comfort. Her eyes squeeze shut as she is held, the Walker's hand stroking her back. She feels rigid; one long lean strip of agitated nerves and tense muscle.. but this is due to the difficult act of letting it all out, not unhappiness at being held. No, this sort of thing may as well be as difficult as childbirth for Kitty. An over-exaggeration? Maybe.. maybe not…

"But the demon is in me, Clif, I have it I'm sure. I'm not any better than that foolish Roddy down the road from me, who got his stupid fucking rich boy ass trounced by transients. He has the demon too." Kitty says against the man's chest, shuddering once as she just can't get the tears to stop flowing. Her hand is caught up, and her fingers knit into Clif's. Her palm is rough and warm, perhaps soothed only by the Bag Balm that has become their inside joke; she has worked almost every day of her adolescent and adult life. "I like my drink… I-I like t'think I got a handle on it. But it could slip.. just like Da.."

She seems to be calming though, slowly.. Clif's efforts are working. A shame she likened herself to Roddy Boyd. 

"That's the thing, Kitty.  Everybody has a demon in them, Kitty.  As much as this God fearing town would like to believe otherwise.  We all have one and even if it's a different one for different people…we are only ever a handful of bad decisions away from letting it take over."  What kind of demon did the Walker have?  He wasn't going into that here.  Not now and perhaps not ever with anybody.  Truth be told, he hadn't even opened up much about his own past and troubles with his family on the Mountain let alone his friends in town.

"That's what makes you different from Roddy though.  He has given his demon control of the driver's seat and is enjoying the ride."  Or seemed to be until those 'drifters' paid him a visit the other night.  No pity here.  "You aren't anything like him.  You realize your demon is there and you fight it.  Iit won't ever win because I know you.  You won't let it."  Keeping one hand in hers, his bandages perhaps rough against her own rough skin.  His other hand moves from her back to her shoulder again as he pulls back enough to look at her.

"You adore Madeline.  Nothing on this earth could ever take place over her in your heart.  You also have one thing that your dad didn't have to work at your advantage.  You've seen what letting that demon win can do by watching your dad.  No…you won't end up like him.  Not in a million years could you ever.  I won't believe it."  He'd then look to the french press as the brew was ready.  Moving both hands over and leaning enough to get the coffee ready, he pours her a mug and hands it over.  

The blonde isn't quite so upset that she cannot listen. It seems as if she has sicked something up in her admittance that Basil was weak, in some ways. Strong in many, but distinctly weak in a critical way that he could not come back from. Kitty continues to just lean in — she does not 'nestle' — and somehow that is a big a sign of her 'surrendering' as one can hope for. "I like to screw, men and women." She says bluntly. "I ain't goin' to church these days.. I curse and I wish bad things on people I'm thinkin' as deserving. I ain't one to forgive easily. Somehow any of those things bein' looked at by the town ain't puttin' as big a scare in me as losing myself to the sauce.." She trails off in a whisper, another round of hot tears dropping from her chin.

Silent now, she listens to Clif again.. to his very real, very valid points. How is it that since she took her first nip of shine at the age of ten, she is still successful? Still keeping this beautiful house together and an even lovelier 'sister-daughter' in perfect standing? Clif says precisely how that is, and the woman's reluctant hitches and twitches level out into a soft, even keening sound. 'You aren't anything like him.' … like Roddy. Kathleen takes a breath that could fill both her lungs, her whole body, and exhales it hotly against the Walker's chest before he draws back to look a her. She looks back at him.

Madeline's name warrants a sparkle in her eyes, but that too can be a tear waiting to join what feels like a neverending torrent. A headache throbs in the carpenter's skull.. borne of caffeine withdrawal and all of this damnable crying.

"T-thanks Clif.." Kitty says softly, looking and feeling emptied as she accepts the coffee. "I'm tryin'.. really am… wrestlin' demons is tiring work. What is your demon? How do ya fight it?" She blatantly asks, innocently even.

"No need to thank me," Clifton says, offering her a small smile.  "I'm only speaking the truth.  You're a strong person and capable of more than you give yourself credit for."  Then, her question about his own demon.  He just shakes his head, looking down at his hands "Another time…right now I want to make sure you're alright."  He looks back up at Kitty then, "Just know that you gotta keep fighting it.  Every time it tries to tell you why you aren't good enough.  Punch it.  Whenever it tells you there's no point in trying.  Kick it.  In those moments where you stumble and for a moment it gains ground.  Shout it back down to it's place.  Like yelling at the storm…" The Walker gives a small smirk with the reference.  Not that he viewed her as if he were talking to Maddie.  He knew she was grown and he respected her.  Just hoped the comparison might make her smile.

The woman lifts the mug to her lips, drawing in deeply the hot liquid. Lord above is there no better taste after a good cry? Kathleen sighs into the coffee, steam puffing up in front of and around her face. "Thank you." She says again, softly… and to her credit, she does not push for an answer to her own question. "I'll be okay.. it's for th' best that Maddie is out having some fun. A little ol' hen party. Gives me time to get my shit together." She admits, folding one long leg over the other and sighing. She looks gutted still, but calm.

The talk on the 'storm yelling' finally warrants a turning up of her lips into a wry smile. "She still does it, ya know… bless her heart. If she keeps it up when she gets on with bein' a woman maybe I won't have to chase the boys away afterall.." Kitty trails off, eyes glittering once. When Madeline becomes a woman, just as she had been in the vision. What a beautiful woman she was, helping the wretch-like Kitty at the bar. She reaches up with deft fingers and pinches the bridge of her nose, her body seeming to… just relax a bit.

"Yer a good man Clif. Smartest and kindest fuckbuddy I ever coulda hoped to know. Once I get my wits.. and I'll give it a day… I'm goin' back to that fairground to see if I can find any inkling of that man." Kathleen says softly, head turning upon the lithe stalk of her neck to glare toward the liquor cabinet. "I ain't no authority on mystical mumbo jumbo or voodoo or whatever the fuck he was supposed to be, but if I see him he'll be eating that candybar with his asshole." She pledges.. big talk, but she's trying to bolster.

Now she sounds like Kitty, even as she yet looks like a hurt little girl, a hand lifting so she can rub the heel of her palm along a cheekbone.

"If yer cousin needs support, send her on over here.. she can talk if she needs to. Not about what she saw, as it's her business.. personal… but I think she an' I deserve some revenge."

Clifton listens to her, concerned brow furrowing.  "Don't" about her finding the man.  "I mean it.  Don't go looking for him.  Or trying to get revenge."  It was close to an order as he'd ever given her.  "Whoever…whatever this asshole is.  It's not something you want to seek out and not something you can go at with any kind of weapon."  At least not that he knew yet, not that that'd make him more keen on her going after him.  "He trapped you in a mirror of all things for crying out loud.  You can't fight somebody like that as if they were just anybody else on the street."

A frown to her before he sighs, knowing she wouldn't take well to being 'ordered'.  "Please.  I'm just trying to keep something from happening again.  You don't need to go through what happened last night again.  Could even be worse next time.  Think of Maddie…"

There goes Clif, being all Beta again. The order made with this title would certainly have been enough to make one of his own take heed, but it very briefly rubs this stubborn human woman the wrong way. He knows Kitty well; knows that a stark order would rattle her.  Which is why it's a smart thing that he explains himself afterward, as those golden eyes — made more intense by the redness in their whites — peer through the coiling steam of her coffee mug.

"I…" She starts, then blinks a couple of times. Sighs. At the heart of it she KNOWS how dangerous it is and how unknown it all is to her. Clif can perhaps see it in her shifting expression as she admits it to herself.

"If he comes here, I can't promise I won't retaliate.. but I ain't gonna look for him." Kitty concedes, indeed thinking of Maddie.
"First the drifters… I was waiting with my gun on the porch that evening, ready to fill one of the roving bastards with lead if they so much as approached my house…" HAH!! "Then this…."

Kitty looks up, "What the hell is happening in this town?"

"If he shows up here you absolutely aim to kick his ass.  That's different.  I just mean don't seek him out."  Great.  The thought of him coming here after her again is not what Clifton needed going through his mind right now.  Maybe he'd have to check out the fair grounds himself.  First though, he'd talk to Clyde about it.  Especially realizing just how serious the visions had been for Kitty, he needed to get back home and check on Dot too.

"As for this town.  It's been a little unbalanced ever since I got here.  Don't know if that's how it's always been, but…there has definitely been an increase in odd occurrences lately."  The comment on the drifters just gets a shake of his head from the Walker.  "Cops don't have any reason to think they stayed in town.  Most likely a hit and run job, but definitely better to stay safe than sorry.  Just don't keep yourself up half the night worrying about it.  You've got enough on your plate…"

"There's something about you." Kathleen says pointedly, after obviously taking the Walker's words to heart.  If Clif looks at her he will see her gaze, no longer quite so troubled, watching him.
"You ain't one to tell me what to do. Ya never did before. But soon as I said what I thought I had to do, ya were up like a shot." Kitty explains, leaning back in her seat, the folds of the shirt draping becomingly. She goes on watching Clif for longer than necessary, perhaps discomfortingly. Were Kitty a werewolf she would have gotten her ass kicked.
"Ya got some kinda fire under yer ass. There's somethin' strong about ya right now. Do ya notice?" She asks again.

Leaning back in his own seat then, Clifton pours himself a mug of coffee now and lets it cool while she mentions there being a change to him.  The Walker couldn't deny it, even if he wasn't rightly aware of it.  Having it brought to his attention did make him smirk a bit as he shrugs, "I guess?  I don't know.  Just been feeling…more settled lately.  With Higsi.  With my family in the mountains."  Which is bizarre to him given that things were such a mess in the wake of all the recent happenings.  Still, it was there.  "I feel like…I'm home."  The word is said with more confidence than before.  Whatever came or didn't come of him and New York, this was his home now.

Right there, all the fear and turmoil put aside for now, Kitty smiles in earnest. When she's not sneering, cursing or smirking an honest smile upon her face is surprisingly warm. She looks so much like Madeline in this moment, in her honesty.

"I remember ya talkin' to me back then about not feelin' a part of this town. Missing yer city.  I didn't quite know how to comfort ya on account of my never being in yer shoes. But there's what I'm seeing in ya most of all.. much like what I see on the morning, my cranky fucking mug in the bathroom mirror…." She pauses, setting her cup down. "Not calling ya cranky.. but that same sureness of where ya gotta be, where yer wantin' to be… and belonging. That's what's different about ya." Kitty says, standing slowly and twisting, savoring the cracking of her spine.

"Welcome home, Clif, to this small fucked up, wonderful little town." She says huskily, taking her mug to the sink. "Yer probably wanting to get on over to check on Dot. I will be alright," A glance over a shoulder. "I promise."

Thinking about it, all of that makes sense.  With what he's feeling.  Then thinking on his talk with Clyde the other night.  He didn't feel like he was betraying New York.  Or just on an assignment anymore.  Higsi was home now…and that felt good to realize.  "Thanks," Clif says, smirk spreading into a small grin at Kitty's welcome.  Then, about Dot, he nods.  "If you're sure you're alright?  Just with all you told me.  I had no idea it was all of that and if that's what he made you see…"  He didn't want to imagine what Dot had seen.  "If you need anything.  Leave a message at the Gallows.  But I'll stop back by again soon and visit alright?"  That worry is still there, but he knew she would be better now after their talk.

Knowing little of what brought Clif here, the TRUE reason, Kitty will take it all at face value. Obviously the Walker has found his niche, maybe the true 'in' with his family or the community. Mind you the community is hard-pressed to welcome Walkers.. but Clifton has been trying hard.

Whatever it is… it shows. Kitty finally grins, but her eyes are so tired. "I'm alright.  Thanks for letting me.. helping me get it all out. I'm going to sleep.. I reckon I will manage this time." She smirks, "Nothing interesting happening in bed today, so yer better off getting on home. I regret t' inform that I ain't at my best."

That said, she moves to collect the empty press and simply pauses alongside Clif, reaching out with a arm and if he will allow it, hug him against her side for a brief moment, the side of his head perhaps resting against her chest if the gesture was accepted.  Kitty is not one to kiss or be tender, not often. But her affection is genuine.

"Be safe. Don't ya go up and dying when yer finally putting down yer roots, ya fucker." Said tenderly, before she makes for the stairs.  "Leave the dishes."

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