What the....Where did East LA go? (Open to all)

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

The five guys, dressed in dark hoodies and baggy jean shorts, came up on the man who was standing alone under the street lamp on the corner. The fool had just left the ATM machine and was countin’ his cash right there for the world to see. They had two pups with them, and the pups didn’t make a sound as they approached the man first. So he just thought that two lost dogs were sniffing around.

When the pups had him distracted, and he was still holdin’ his cash in his hand, the five guys circled in around him. Hand gestures were made, the pulling up on the shorts only for them to fall right back down to the middle of the ass, showin’ some serious boxer, the swipe of the nose with the thumb. All of these things were indicative of an ass whoopin’ comin’.

One guy spoke up first. “Yo, essay, why don’tcha hand us over those bills and we let you leave with your brain still in yo head?” He had his shoulders slumped and tilted to the side, one hand in his pocket and the other swingin’. When it wasn’t swiping at his nose that is. Too much coke could give a guy a serious runny nose.

The man who had been standing there put his money in his front pocket. “I’m not giving you thugs anything. Now take your dogs and be on your way. I’m not going to report your harassing of me to the police. There’s no need. So just go off into the night and find someone else to rough up. Hooligans.” And he moved forward off the curb to cross the street.

So that meant that dude was runnin’, right? And the pups tore out. Each one snatching at a pant leg, and tryin’ for flesh. Pit Bulls had this nasty problem. When they locked their jaws down onto something, they couldn’t, or sometimes just wouldn’t, let go. And both of these pups hit their mark. Which brought the dude down. He hit the street hard too boy. His face was all kinds of jacked up.

So the five guys, who wore no colors in case they somehow ended up catchin’ a case, ran up on the man. A foot came out of nowhere and hit old dude right in the ribs. “You gunna cough up those Benjamin’s now dude, or you want some more?” Another foot hit his ribs on the other side.

He started coughing up blood as he was kicking to get the dogs off of him. He was screaming in pain between coughs. And one of his coughing fits spit blood onto a pair of pure white Air Jordan kicks. “Oh man, you done messed up now essay.” His punishment for getting blood on the shoes, a kick to his face.

Teeth flew from his mouth, as well as some more blood. He started trying to curl up into a fetal position. But that just pissed everyone off even more. The pups kept his legs from curling up, and the dude with the slant to his shoulders, produced a bat from under his hoodie. He raised the bat above his head and brought it down across the mans arm. The crack was heard by them all as the arm broke.

Dude screamed so loud that some lights went on in an upstairs apartment. That’s when the dude tried to sit up. He screamed for help towards the lit window. And with another swing of the bat, dudes head gave way. Blood and worse shit splattered all over the two who were in the path of the broken open melon. Which caused one of them to puke on site.

A hand dug into the front pocket to get the cash. Dude had five bills on him. The cash was divided up evenly. That was when the sirens were heard. “Yo, five-o, lets split.“ Two guys pulled off their pups and they all five ran in different directions. No point in all of them catchin’ a case.

One of the guys, they call him Speedy, was headed towards an alley way that led to a nicer part of town. His pup, Gonzales, was right behind him. The pup had been a gift from his ex-boo. She had given him his name because of the mouse in those old cartoons. She figured ‘give Speedy a pup named Gonzales.’.

As he was about to round the corner into the alley way, he turned his head to see the flashing lights of the po po’s pulling up to the dead dude in the street. When he turned his head back around, he wasn’t in the alley way he had been turning into. In fact, he had no idea where he was. But Gonz was right behind him. So with blood and other sticky, smelly, body stuff on him, he kept running.

He saw a horse stable up ahead. It looked like it belonged to a big fancy place. The place right next to it probably. But he figured that they would call the cops too if he tried to hide in their crib. So he headed in with the horses to lay low. He hid in an empty stall, just him, his pup, his bloody clothes and shoes, and a Benjamin in his pocket. They fell asleep.

[Oliver]

It's a funny thing - You may think you're alone but you really aren't. Oliver had been catching a nap in one of the stalls when the guy came rushing in and who could sleep with all that racket going on? The boy was up and rubbing his eyes as he looked around the corner of the stall he was in and towards the noise.

The boy had seen a lot of things but, well, what he saw in one of the empty stalls wasn't a sight you saw every day: a guy rushing in covered in gore and a dog too. What'd he want here? Oliver was a stable hand - not a dog watcher. The guy didn't notice him though - a benefit of being small - and had went off to hide in a stall. Oliver curiously followed behind after a moment and when he looked into the stall at the guy the boy frowned. "Ya mite wanna find a stall dat's been mucked." But the guy was sleeping. Figures.

Not all the stalls were clean, he had been sleeping and that Connor guy had the horses out somewhere. It was going to be cleaned by the time they got back, it only wasn't done yet. What was he suppose to do now? Look at the dog, that's what. The animal was sleep right? Oliver was wondering who's blood that was, he was a kid, no medical expert and just because he didn't see blood coming out of a wound didn't mean this guy and dog weren't going to die in the stall. If they did, then what? He didn't want to think how that would look on him.

Maybe he had something on him. Before Oliver was picked up to work on the stable he had made a living on the street and that meant he had done his fair share of pick-pocketing and was pretty good at it. The patrolmen who was faking and caught him didn't count. And that was then, this was now and this guy was sleep. He looked to see if Connor or anyone else was coming before going in and checking the guy's pockets.

Old habits and all that.

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

(Thanks for the reply.)

Gonzales had been laying there with his eyes closed and his head laying on his front paws. But when the kid approached his head rose, just like any good guard dog. He laid there looking at the kid, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, and panting. He made no move towards the kid as the kid was just standing there. So he wasn’t a threat.

But then the kid did move. And towards Speedy, who was still sleeping and hadn’t heard what the kid said about the stall not being mucked yet. When the kid moved towards Speedy, Gonzales would rise to all fours and growl. That was followed by one bark of warning. If the kid didn’t stop, he was more than likely going to get bit.

The bark caused Speedy to wake up from his unplanned nap. He pushed with his arm so that he was sitting upright and then looked to see what his pup was barking at. A few blinks and a rub of his eyes made it so he could see. “Oh crap. I’m sorry. I know I proly shouldn’t be here. I just needed a place to hide from the po po’s. Imma jet now. Please don’t narc me out. K?” He started to push himself up into a standing position. He was using the wall to brace himself, and his hand to start the push.

Then the smell hit him. It smelled like horse crap. And the reason the smell had hit him, was because when he put his hand down to push himself up, he put his hand right into a fresh, not so solid, pile. He raised his hand to look at it. “Awe man …” He wrinkled his nose and winced at the smell. He looked around the stall and started to wipe his hand on some straw.

He looked back at the kid. “Guess the funk on my shirt smelled worse than the crap in here. That’d be why I didn’t notice it before.” He wiped his hand off the best he could. But it still had some of the brown and green stinky grossness on it. He thought he was going to puke. Funny how you could be covered in some dudes brains after just taking part in his death, and it’s the smell of horse crap that makes you gag.

He moved to stand up again. But this time, he watched where he put his hands more carefully. Once he was on his feet he noticed that he also had the crap on his shorts. “Damn.” He shook the leg of his shorts trying to get it to fall off. But it was good and stuck. And it even had blades of grass in it. “Man, what you guys been feeding these horses here anyway. This crap is sick.” He was sure he was going to puke now.

He looked at the kid again. “Hey, you think maybe I can like hose off or something before I bail. I mean, I am kinda nasty with all this crap on me.” This time, crap was a general term for all the things on him, brain matter included. “I might stand out in a crowd.” He was thinking he was still on Earth and that outside the stable, maybe down the road, he would find that he was still in East LA.

[Guest]

Kyra was out and about riding Slepnir when she found herself at the stables at the Tel Inn. She smiled a little to herself thinking of something that was coming into her head at the moment. Once she was at the doors of the stable she slid off the horse and took a peek inside to see what was going on as she heard voices. Eying the dog and the man that was covered in crap from what she was over hearing.

"Sounds like you weren't watching where you sat."

She moved in a little more and moved Slepnir to the stall he was previously using. She wanted to make her presence known so she wouldn't startle anyone.

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

As Speedy stood there, trying to shake the crap off his shorts, and waiting to hear from the kid if he could use the hose or not, he heard a horse coming up to the stables. Of course he heard a horse it was a stables after all. So he let the sound pass. Until he heard a voice that came with the horse. Such a sweet sound. So proper and polite sounding. So he turned to look and saw the sexy brown haired babe. ”Well ain’t this a bioch? Here I am all covered in this shyt and in rides a chick.” He spoke more to himself than anything. He turned his back to her quickly, not quite sure why.

Since the kid hadn’t said anything to him yet about the hose, he figured he’d ask the chick. She might have been sexy, but he had a boo at home waitin on him and she was about to become his baby mamma. And she wasn’t the kind a chica that you messed with anyway. She was almost always packin and he sure didn’t want to end up on the wrong end of her glock. So it was cool if he talked to this chick, it wasn’t like he was gunna try and hook up with her or nothin. Now, what was he doing again. Oh yea, the chick with the horse.

He looked over his shoulder, trying to hide the blood on his face from her view. ”Uh, yea, uh, sorry for the uh, intrusion miss. You know how it is when you’re trying to shake the five-o. Er, well, maybe you don’t, but uh, yea. I kinda got some crap on me, and some other shit too. If I could uh, just borrow your hose for a sec, kinda like hose some of this off of me, I swear I’ll bail and you don’t have to worry ‘bout me coming back.” He was thinking that this was her place, given how she sounded when she talked. Like she had breeding or something. Some kinda pedigree or like had money or something. He figured this was her place.

He would have turned around to face her, if it weren’t for all the blood and guts all over the front of him. Well, it was more like blood and brains, but who’s gunna argue the point? He looked over at the kid the best he could without facing the high society chick with the horse. ”Help a brother out here kid, show me the hose so I can bail.” He didn’t say it loud, and he hoped that the kid could hear him. He really wanted to get the stuff hosed off of him and get on his way back to the hood. He figured the po po’s were gone by now. Plus, he had a route home that wouldn’t even take him past the place where they had killed that dude.

[Oliver]

If the dog hadn't woken up it would be a good bet that Oliver would have picked the guy's pocket and taken whatever of value that was in there. Wouldn't have been all that bad, he may have discovered some form of identification and given it over to his boss. So much for that though because the dog woke the guy up and he was speaking about things that Oliver didn't know about. Po-po's? Five-o? He didn't know what they were but was he bothered by it? Not at all and that's because he lived in a place where there were all type of people who spoke all sorts of ways so not being able to understand the person next to you may as well been every day. Heck, he even had an 'accent' when he got jostled so who was he to judge.

Language barriers had their difficulties though and they didn't have a hose here in the stable but he figured it had something to do with water. They washed the horses with a bucket of water, soap and a scrub brush. This is exactly what he was turning to go get and when he turned he saw Kyra come in, he remembered her form when she first brought in that horse to be stabled and it kicked Connor. Obviously she didn't see him or she was treating him like other 'adult' people did: as if he didn't exist. He didn't even get as much as a nod form her even though he was standing right next to the man who was covered in dung and blood. It was important to be nice to the people who gave you service.

Who knows what would happen to her horse now once she was gone. Not like Oliver could mistreat a horse without consequences but he could make sure it got all of its services last and maybe slack up a bit. Never know.

"I help."

Oliver continued the get the bucket of water and once he had it started to bring it over. He didn't set it down or even offer it to the guy, instead he took up a stance, lifted it, and chucked the nice cold water right at the guy and dog.

[Guest]

She wasn't trying to be rude to Oliver and before she could rectify her rudeness he was off helping the man who sat in crap. The guy did have an odd way of speaking and it made her raise a brow trying to figure out something he was talking about. Before she could ask Oliver came back with the bucket of water and dumped it on the guy and the dog. At first she tried to stifle the giggles but it came out in a fit of laughter and nearly made her double over. She spoke up and even patted Oliver on his shoulder.

"Good idea, seems he needed it. And I'm sorry for ignoring you I didn't mean to. Can you forgive me?"

She gave a sweet smile as she looked at him a few moments before looking back to the man and decided now would be a good time to ask her question.

"What is a five-o and why would you want to shake it?"

A confused look crossed her face again as she tried to figure it out because she was thinking of numbers.

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

When the kid took off, Speedy thought it was to get the hose for him. He was happy to wait for him to come back. Which didn’t take long. But he came back with a bucket instead. And he threw the water on both Speedy and Gonzales. Cold assed water too boy. So the first thing Speedy did when the water hit him was scream. Not like some chick in a horror flick, just kinda like an aaaaa from surprise.

When the water hit Gonz, he shook, and shook some more. And then he started smelling up the place with his wet dog scent. Like they needed more stink in a stables. But when the water hit Speedy, it got all the dried up crunchy stuff in his hair and on his face all wet again. And now that it was wet again, it was running and smelling very nasty too. Globs of brains and goop started to fall from his hair, blood ran into his eyes. And all the blood and guts began to spread through his clothes even more. It was like a paper towel soaking up Kool-Aid.

Speedy wiped both his eyes and flung the goop out to his sides. Then he reached up to wipe his face some more and a tooth fell into his hand. That was kinda gross, so he dropped the tooth, shook his hands and kinda jumped back a little, all at the same time. Yea, it was a kinda sissy thing to do, but it was the dead dudes tooth.

Once he was done being creaped out, he looked at the chick who was laughing at him. But he spoke to the kid. “Yea, thanks lil dude. I think that made it worse. But hey, you tried. I ‘preciate that.” Once he was able to tear his eyes away from giggling girl he looked to the kid. He offered him his hand for an ol’ skool handshake. He was still thinking he was on homechicks property or something and that these people were high society or something. “You’re alright by me kid. I’m Speedy. And the smelly pup here is Gonzales. Yea, yea, I know, just like the mouse in the cartoon.” He sort of laughed, but it was nothing like the laughing the chick had done.

He looked to the chick and then back to the dude. He had missed the whole thing about where she had told lil dude that it was a good idea for him to throw the water on him, well, because he was cleaning the blood and other stuff out of his face. So he had missed lil dudes name. But that was ok, because even if the kid said his name, he would probably still end up being lil dude. Well, unless he was like offended by it or something. But Speedy made sure to look at both of them before he asked. “And what are you guys’ names?” He wiped some more brain mush and blood from his face while he waited to see if they were going to answer.

But before he could get an answer to his question, the chick had a question for him. She didn‘t know what five-o was? He gave her his best grin, dimples and all. ”You know, five-o. Book ‘em Dano? The po po, pigs, bacon, ‘the man‘, law dawgs, um, cops, police, you know, like the dudes that lock you up when you catch a case. I was trying to shake em cause I was chillin with my homeys when some shyt went down. And I don‘t need to catch a case with my boo about to become my baby mamma and all.” And he thought that explained everything.

[Guest]

The giggle fits had long stopped and she had more of a serious look on her face as she was now trying to figure out what he was talking about. The only thing in that she did understand was cop and police. She had known of a few of those in her life but not for doing anything bad of course. They always seemed to want to help since she spent a lot of time alone growing up. Still really confused she did offer up her name as he did offer his and he asked nicely.

"I'm Kyra and I'm just going to take a guess you aren't from around here."

It was just an observation by the way he was talking and how he was acting and all that other good stuff mixed in there too. She had lots of questions running through her mind but now didn't seem to be the time for a lesson in the things she didn't know about. She waited to see what he would say but also kept an eye on Oliver.

[Oliver]

Oliver was ten and boys his age didn't often see anything wrong with being covered in all types of muck and grime. Besides, he had done a lot of his growing up in the streets and sewer systems of the Rhydin Marketplace. He wasn't all that presentable when he got picked up by the owner of the Inn then cleaned up. So he laughed when Speedy said his thanks and then he turned with the bucket in hand stopping only a moment when Kyra got him on the shoulder.

"Kay," is what he offered her in exchange for the apology. Whose to know how he took it. Remember, he was a kid so therefore..... "Been runnin' from da Guards he's says." The girl over there might not have understood what the guy was saying but Oliver understood that much. He's had his ins and outs of running from the guards when his picking didn't go quite as planned.

As Speedy continued to talk Oliver here went back to get more water and fill up the bucket. The guy had complained that he still had all types of stuff on him so this boy was going to help him more. "If ya gawn be hidin' here miss Aybara won't be havin' ya smellin' all of muck."

And that's when he tossed the bucket of water at Speedy for a second time. Let his boss find out that he was hiding someone in the stables. He didn't think she would care about the hiding part he didn't want her to get upset about the place being dirty! He was expected to keep the place clean and currently that guy wasn't cutting it. He wasn't going to get in trouble over this guy's behalf!

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

A name, that was a start. The chicks name was Kyra. That was an interesting name. Which made Speedy even more sure that these people were high society. When she was through with what she said he gave her a look. It was one of those wrinkling your brows together and pull your head back type looks. “Glad to meet ya Kyra.“ He said it just like she did, at least he hoped he did. “Na, I growed up ‘round here. Well, sorta. I mean, I growed up on the other sidea the tracks.” Figuratively though, ‘cause there were no tracks between where he stayed and where he thought he was. He still was thinking that he was in East LA, just in a different part of town, where he had never been before.

When he heard what lil dude, who stil hadn’t told Speedy his name, told her he snickered. “Yea, what lil dude said, xactly.” So lil dude spoke street, that was cool. Kid seemed like a smart lil cookie to Speedy. Then the kid went after another bucket of water. Gonz saw him and moved to stand closer to Kyra. He didn’t want to get wet again. When lil dude came back, he threw the water again. At least this time Speedy had seen it coming. So he was ready for it. And this time, the horse crap fell off his shorts. He had some more of the other stuff running off his head, but his face seemed to be getting clean. His hoodie was trashed though. Red water was pouring off his shorts. And he would have to do some scrubbing on his Jordan’s.

When he heard lil dude talk about him hidin out here, as in where they were at that moment, he was caught off guard. “Yo, why would I be hidin out here?” He looked from lil dude to Kyra. “Miss Aybara, I don’t need to hide here. Thanks though. I need to be getting to the store and getting my boo some milk, then be getting home.” These people seemed nice enough, but if he didn’t get his tail home soon, he was going to end up on the business end of his boo’s Glock. And that was a bad thing.

He thought a little more about it and thought that if he explained where he had been and where he thought he was, maybe they would understand. “I stay over on East Cypress St. We was kickin it over at the park, you know, Raymond Park, over on West Raymond St. We was headed back to the hood when we stumbled up on ol’ dude. There was some static and I ducked into an alley way. I ended up here. Thought I was gunna end up coming out on West Alondra Bulevard. Been through there before. But some how I ended up … Were we at anyway, Racquet Club Drive or South Oleander Avenue? Either way, my hood ain’t but a couple blocks from here.” Or so he thought anyway. He figured he had somehow ended up in one of the two gated communities that was in the area. After all, it was a short alley way, so it’s not like he could of ended up somewhere North of Rosecrans or something.

[Oliver]

"Ya be at the Tel'Ranaemyn Inn an' that ain't Miss Aybara." Oliver pointed out as he put the bucket down. If Kyra happened to get caught in the water tossing then she should have thought about moving. Nothing personal against her but he was looking out for his self and now that he had gotten the guy clean (he thought he was clean enough anyway) Oliver went to get hay to toss on the ground where all the water was running and collection with the muck.

It might have seemed like a lot of work but it wasn't that bad. No laws against child labor or anything like that and even if there was he wouldn't complain. As long as he worked here he got his meals for free and an roof over his head that he didn't have to share with rats or any of the other boys he use to run with. He didn't mind the horses and didn't have to bunk with them, had himself his own space up in the loft he did.

"Ya the one say ya be hidin from da Guards, s'why ya here. But 'here' ain't wherevah ya from." This boy knew his way about the city of Rhydin and he had never heard of the place he was calling out that he was from or the nearby places. Oliver looked to Kyra and laughed as he tossed the hay back into the stockpile and took out a shovel.

"He think he home!" To him that was funny. Over the years he had made a good bit of items or money form running into the people who were 'fresh in the realm' like this guy here. Oliver wasn't as good as his friend Tommy at scamming but he knew how! Didn't try any of it here, maybe if Kyra had never shown up he would have.

Oh well, another time.

[Guest]

Kyra's eyes went a little wide as she listened to the two talking after Speedy got doused with more water. Lucky for her she wasn't currently close enough to him to get wet herself. She started to tell him she wasn't who he thought but Oliver did that for her. A bit confused she spoke up as she watched them both.

"Well that is a very unfortunate set of events for you. Now don't freak out but ummm yeah you aren't home anymore. You're in a land called New Haven which is in Rhydin."

She thought it best to get that out of the way and stepped back a little in case he tried to bolt from the shock. Which in her experience happens with new comers from time to time when they weren't trying to get here in the first place.

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

Now Speedy was even more confused. He understood that Kyra wasn’t Miss Aybara. So he replied to that first. “Oh, sorry Kyra, I thought you were Miss Aybara. No offence.” So what was the rest of what lil dude said, he was at an Inn? Ok, that explained … Wait, it explained nothing, yet anyway.

He looked at lil dude. “The Tel what?” He had never heard of such a place before. So he had no idea what he was talking about. But he listened as the pair kept talking. Ok, so guards were what they called the cops. He’d figured that much out. Still listening. Gonz had moved away from Kyra when lil dude put down the bucket, happy that he didn’t get wet again because he was closer to her.

His brows wrinkled together again. “What do you mean here ain’t where I’m from?” But then lil dude was telling Kyra that Speedy thought he was home. He was home, wasn’t he? So a look to Kyra to see if she had more light to shed on the subject. “What is he talkin about Kyra?” And he was quickly answered with another explanation of the same information.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand how lil dude spoke, he understood all that just fine. It was that his brain couldn’t wrap itself around what lil dude was saying. He was just so confused. New Haven, in Rhydin. He had never heard of either place before. “So, is this Rhydin place at least still in So. Cal? Or even in Cali at all?” So confused.

[Guest]

Kyra listened to him and knew that confusion well it wasn't that long ago she was confused about things just not the same things he is now confused about. At any rate she would do what she could to help. She shook her head a little bit.

"No offense taken you didn't know."

A soft smile given until he asked if he was still in this place called Cali, whatever that was but she knew it wasn't any place in their world. She had read books before about a place called Earth and wondered if it might be there. She frowned a bit and sighed trying to think.

"No it's not....I'm not sure where this So. Cal or Cali are but I know it's not around here at all."

She didn't want to overload the poor guy with too much information and just figured it best to answer his questions and take it from there.

[Oliver]

"Ya don't be un'standin things easy do ya?" Said Oliver as he continued to go about his work. He did have work to do unlike the other two people who were in the stables at the moment. He couldn't keep standing around talking or things would never get done, sooner or later Connor would be back with the horses and then he'd be behind.

He pushed his shovel into the muck of a stable that still had to be cleaned. Not the one that the guy Speedy was in because he was in it and in the way, but the one next to it. "Looka'ere, if ya don't believe whut she be sayin ga'n look 'round out there. Ya too Miss Kyra, I's work ta do and 'less ya gawn help ya need to be gettin' out." And he really didn't think that they would help but he put it out there anyway.

"Man can see da place for himself, ya? Rhydin o' the Inn. He's gotta be getting somewares." And if he had more question about things then the people in the Inn could help him out if Kyra needed another voice or something like that. "Maybe even git sumthing to eat." Oliver knew about that!

Yes, he was kicking them out of the stables.

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

((Yeah, I am totally sorry. We had a car accident the other day and so things have been a bit hectic. My girlfriend is still in the hospital. But she’s going to be fine. I am so sorry to leave you guys hanging.))

Not in Cali. If he wasn’t in Cali then where was he? Oregon, maybe? No, that’s crazy. Who walks through and alley and ends up in Oregon rather than Cali. Maybe Arizona? No, that was just as crazy. ”So . . . Ok. I’ll just walk over to where I came from and end up back in the alley.” He nodded.

Lil dude was telling them to help out or hit the road anyway. ”Ok, so yeah, I’m just going to go back out here.” And he started to walk out of the stables with Gonz in tow. ”And head over here.” He moved to where he had first seen the stables. ”And walk through these tree’s here.” He walked through the trees and found nothing but more trees. ”Crap.” He started feeling around for anything that would tell him that this was some kind of backdrop or something.

After about thirty minutes of searching he dropped his hands to his sides and looked at the ground. He shook his head and walked over to the edge of the trees. He sat down with his knees bent, and rested his arms on them. Gonz came over and laid down beside him. He put his head between his front paws and wined.

Speedy looked up to see if Kyra was still around. He was very much lost now, and had no idea what he was going to do. If Kyra was still there, she might have heard him. If not, then he was speaking to himself as he thought out loud. ”Now what am I going to do? My boo is gunna be havin my baby an I needs to be home fer that.” He lowered his head and sighed.

[Guest]

She got the hint and got out the stables, today was not the day for her to help out in the stables She learned her lesson on that last time she helped out. Slipping out she would make it a point to bring back some cookies or something for Oliver for her lack of talking to him at first.

Not sure if he would want someone tagging along following him. Instead she stayed back a ways watching to see if he wanted or needed help. When she saw him sit down and his head on his arm she thought it safe to walk closer. She didn't hear what he said but spoke softly.

"I'm sure there has to be a way to get you back where you came from but maybe there is a reason for you to be here right now."

She was just trying to be helpful nothing more nothing less.

(Glad you are both doing ok and hope she gets to come home soon =) )

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

She was still there. Speedy was actually relieved to know that Kyra hadn’t bailed on him. He looked up at her, she might be able to tell that he was sad from the look on his face. ”Please, don’t take this the wrong way or nothin’ Kyra, but what possible reason could there be fer me to be here? I got a girl at home ready to pop any day now. When, no if, I find my way home, she’s gunna bust a cap in my ass. And my moms is gunna tan whatever’s left of me.” He shook his head and looked down again for a moment.

It was maybe a minute or less before he looked up again. ”I really do stink something fierce. You know of any place I can get cleaned up, maybe grab a bite or something? I think better when I’m not ready to hurl from my own smell and when I have some food in me.” He had the hundred bucks in his pocket. He figured that should be enough to get him something to eat. He could wash his clothes out in a bathroom sink or something. They’d be wet, but at least they’d smell better. He hoped anyway.

((She gets to come home Tuesday. Her leg’s broken, but she’ll be ok, it was a clean break. Thanks for giving a shyt, stranger’s don‘t usually. Kinda glad I picked here to come back to RP.))

[Guest]

She thought amount about his first question and spoke to that part first as she thought about the rest of it.

"Well maybe you are here to escape, there's a million reasons why people end up here. Some because they are scared, some to escape danger or trouble. There are those that come here all by themselves. Some of us have lived here our entire lives, never going to where you are from. Who knows maybe your girlfriend and your mom will understand that it wasn't your fault that you got sucked out of your world and dropped into ours."

She was being wise for a moment and trying the comfort thing without getting too close cause as he said he really did smell bad at the moment. She looked back at the inn and thought getting an idea.

"Well there is that inn over there that you could wash your clothes and get food even a room with a bed to sleep in. But I think maybe you should clean the clothes before you get the food. Who knows maybe someone in there can loan you some fresh clothes."

She grinned as if a light bulb went off in her head and looked at him curiously trying to size him up and then a finger started tapping her chin as she got a look on her face and shook her head thinking that her idea wasn't going to work.

(That is great about her coming home and we are a caring bunch of people here. Glad to have you here.)

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

Speedy looked up at her. So did Gonz. Speedy reached over and rubbed the top of his pups head. ”I guess I don’t have too much of a choice. Other than wander the streets. Not really lookin’ forward to that.” He twisted to his side and pushed against the tree he had been sitting against to push himself up. Once he was on his feet he dusted himself off, out of habit, and looked down at Gonz. ”Come on boy.” He snapped his fingers twice.

Then he looked to Kyra again, knowing that his pup would follow him as commanded. ”You probably know I have like a million questions, right? If you would be willing to stick around fer a bit, I’d rather talk to you than someone else at the moment. I kinda don’t like new people. But given you didn’t bail on me, I figure you’re alright.” He started to walk back towards the Inn.

He had almost forgot to ask her the obvious. ”Hey, you think they’ll have change fer a Benjamin?” He only had the hundred in his pocket. And if they didn’t have change or didn’t take big bills, or if they didn’t even take bills at all, he was screwed. He reached his hand into his pocket to make sure the bill was still there and didn’t get lost when he got zapped to this foreign place.

((She‘s home, she‘s resting, and she says thanks for the concern peoples. ))

[Guest]

Standing near she nodded to him as he got up. Thinking to herself he had choices but none at the moment were going to help him get home any faster than getting cleaned up and resting to think this through logically.

"I'm pretty sure you do and I can do what I can to help with most of the and anything I can't then I can help find someone who can."

She looked at him curiously at his last question about a Benjamin and had to ask regardless of how dumb she felt at this moment.

"Who's Benjamin and why would they want to change him?"

(Tell her she's welcome and glad to hear she is home and resting)

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

((I humbly throw myself on the ground at Kyra-mun’s feet to beg her forgiveness. My girlfriend has taken the doctors instructions so literally that she called my work to get me time off and won’t even go to the bathroom without me there to help her walk. She has me running ragged and it caused me to drop the ball here. Please forgive me?))

Speedy nodded as Kyra said she would help with what she could as far as his questions went. Which was cool with him. She even offered to find someone else to try and help if it was needed. Speedy was kinda glad that she was his second meeting in this place. She seemed kinda cool. Lil dude was cool too. If he was stuck here for a while, he might just have t hang with lil dude some. Like a big bro, lil bro type thing.

But as they were walking and talking, she asked him who Benjamin was. He stopped right there in the middle of the road. Then he turned to her with his right eyebrow arched. ”You know, Benjamin Franklin. Ol’ dude on the hundred.” He fished the bill out of his pocket and opened it up. Holding the upper corners, he flashed it at her like it was the greatest thing he’d ever seen.

He let go with one hand, and waved the slightly damp bill while it was pinched between his thumb and index finger. ”Yea, me an my homeboys were out in the hood tryin to score some cash. My boo needed me to bring home some milk. We came up on ol’ dude flashin his cash still warm from the ATM. So he asked him to hook us up and he got pissy. So he ended up getting jacked up, and he’s done kicked the bucket now. But we got his cash.” While he was explaining all this to her, he was doing a little happy dance of sorts. Then, unless she took the money to look at it better, he would stuff it back in his pocket. Either way, he wasn’t swinging it or dancing anymore.

He looked around. “I figured this would buy plenty of moo fer my boo. But I guess that’s shot all t hell. My pops is gunna have a coronary when he finds out he’s gunna have t go to the store after he gets off work.” Speedy had a rare family. His parents were still married. There wasn’t a whole lot of peoples from his hood that were that way. Not only were they still married, after over thirty years, but they had been married for two years before his moms even got preggers. Which was why they tripped when his boo got knocked up. Speedy hadn’t married her first. He was planning to, but she wanted to have the baby and loose the weight first.

Now if Kyra had his bill, he would hold his hand out to get it back so he could stuff it in his pocket. Otherwise, it was still back in his pocket from before. But now they were standing in the middle of the road, and he was waiting for her reaction to his questions about the bill, and the change and anything else she wanted to add or just say or whatever.

[Guest]

(You have a PM.)

Kyra was listening and stopped when he did and gave him that same look back at him. She shrugged her shoulders just a bit as if to say who is he...but she didn't verbalize it. Well not until he showed off the bill and she couldn't help but want a better look. Seeing as he held it out so she could hold it she took it and was looking at it as he was telling her how he came to have it. Looking up she canted her head a bit and spoke in a curious way not intending on being mean about it.

"So you are a thief? Why not go out and work for it?"

She knew some thieves in the town she grew up and for the most part they only did so because they couldn't get work to feed their families. She wasn't going to look at him differently because of his choices as they were his not hers to live with. She handed the bill back to him as she stood there watching him.

[Speedy ~n~ Gonzales]

((She get’s a walking cast tomorrow, yay. Then she won’t be wearing me ragged. And again, a thousand apologies Kyra-mun.))

A Thief? Did Kyra actually just call Speedy a thief? He shook his head after hearing her words. He wasn’t just some thief. And he was going to set her straight about that fact. ”No, I’m not a thief. I’m a thug, a gangster, a … Well, I’m not a thief anyway. And as far as a job goes, I don’t have time for a job. What would happen if I wasn’t there for one of my homies and he caught a case or worse, caught a bullet, all because he didn’t have me there to watch his back? You gotta be there for yer homies, ya know?” Did she know? Did this place even have gangs?

Speedy wasn’t sure why Kyra’s words had struck a nerve with him, but they did. So with a slightly calmer tone, not that his previous tone had been all yelling and stuff, he explained a little better. ”I figure, why get a job when I can get whatever I need from those who have more than enough? My homies and me, we do what we gotta do to survive. I mean, I got a woman to support and a kid on the way too. So if I happen to pick a bill off a fat cat once in a while, so be it. We're like modern day Robin Hood's, we take from the rich because we's poor.” Maybe she understood all that?

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