Street Kids

"I...this is going to be hard to understand and maybe believe. I can't exactly explain it well," Rhys said, remembering his earlier explanation to the others and their confusion. It was confusing though if you didn't live it. Rhys decided to try and explain it anyways. "I am a merman. Or at least I was. When I was about your age I ran into a witch. She told me that she could help me as I had gotten lost in a storm. When I refused her help knowing it might not end well she went into a rage. She stole my...well let's call it my tail. She stole what made me a merma and I became a human left strandard to fend for myself in a world I knew little about. I have lived for almost ten years now looking for the witch who stole my tail so that I can return home to my people."


He stratched his head hoping it wasn't too much to take in for the young girl. "Does that make sense?"
 
Caroline frowns more deeply than she wants to, shrugging in response to Rhys's question. His story...well, it's pretty much the opposite of what Jenny had told her. In Rhys's version, JENNY was the thief, JENNY was the bad guy...and he sounded so convincing about it. He looked really sad when he talked to her about it...


But of course a good liar and actor would...right? And if he was really so old he'd have a lot of time to learn...


And Jenny had been so nice to her. She'd bought her food, hadn't she? Hadn't she promised to help, for just one little favor in return?


But these people were offering to help too, and not even asking that she do something for them....


Caroline doesn't like the slow confusion settling over her thoughts, her unease now with her mission. She tries to cover it with questions, even though they are also intended to clarify her own uncertainty.


"She stole your tail? Did she cut it off? Even if you found it, how could you put it back...and why were you on land if you're a merman?"


Sheena has been watching the girl's face as she reacted to Rhys's tale, the flicker of emotion passing through her eyes, and glances at May, asking her without words if she too had noticed the Caroline's expression. She was pretty sure there must be more to this girl than what she had shown...or was Sheena being too quick to jump to conclusions, just because May wanted to help her?
 
"She didn't literally cut off my tail. I just say that because it would be easier for people to imagine..." Rhys stopped and raised a hand. "She didn't cut off my tail. She more stole what made me a merman and tails are usually what set us apart from humans or at least the one of the biggest and most noticable things. It's hard to understand I know. Let me just say she stole from me and made her human and now I want to retrieve what she had taken so I can be whole again."


Rhys had not said that before but it was true. He was incomplete as a human. Just half a person really to himself. Even if he had spent almost equal time in both places he could sense that it was wrong. That something was wrong with himself.


"And it is not uncommon for young merfolk to get lost or thrown onto shores during intense storms especially when we have a habit of going close to the shores sometimes. The better question was why was she there." Rhys had always felt that the storm was on purpose. That the witch wanted a merfolk to some onto shore. Rhys was just the unlucky one if happened to.
 
Caroline frowns, still bothered by his words. If Jenny had taken Rhys's tail, then why was she still walking all around the streets acting like she was helpless and telling people Rhys has HER tail? That made no sense...why would she do that? Unless she wanted to kill him or something and was using Caroline for that? Or unless...no, that just made no sense. Rhys has to be lying, it was the only thing that made sense here.


"How will you get your tail back? Kill her? Um...where do you think she is now?" she asks next.
 
May frowns too as she listens, and watches Caroline's reaction to Rhys's story. The brief moment of confusion in Caroline's eyes now has her wondering. That look, it was almost as if Caroline was being told a story that challenged her own knowledge...but yet..it was more than that. Like two people were telling her two sides of a story. She quickly hides the frown however, but finds herself glancing over to Sheena. She notices the questioning look on Sheena's face and gives the subtlest of nods, even making sure that Caroline is focused on Rhys so that she won't notice the nod. Yes, May saw it. But more importantly, what did it mean? She couldn't just call a meeting or say she needed to speak to Sheena privately when Caroline was sitting right there infront of them. The last thing she wanted was for the girl to find a challengeable fault in them.
 
Sheena is relieved to see May's tiny acknowledgment and seeming agreement of her view. So it's not just her then...not just jealousy or Sheena's own mistrustful nature, at least, not probably. There's something about the girl that seems a little off...Sheena would love to get her alone, or with just her and May, and question her, but right now wouldn't be the best time for it. The last thing she wants is for the girl to flee before they know anything for sure at all. Whether or not she's hiding something, it seems like she really does need help too...hell, of course she does. Even if every word she says is a lie, the kid is thirteen and out on the streets alone, that's sort of the definition of needing help. Right?


It crosses Sheena's mind then suddenly that in all this time, she hasn't seen or heard Devin anywhere. Seizing upon this excuse for May's attention, hoping both that she gets she wants to talk to her and also that she wants her to come with her, apart from the others, as well as that Caroline won't think it odd, Sheena looks up.


"Where's Devin...did he take off, or is he still asleep? If he's around, he should get his ass up, so we can talk about what we're gonna do here. Since we're running out of room...May, I'm gonna go look for him, all right, you know where he went? Seeing as how he thinks he's your guy and all."
 
When Devin is mentioned, May lets out a groan. "Oh yes, I forgot that he was here." She glances around, "Let's just hope he gained some sense and left." She sighs, "Probably not though. He seems to believe that it is his job to protect me or something. Like I can't protect myself." On the last line her eyes become sort of...distant. Like there's a double meaning behind those words that even she doesn't want to think about. She looks at Sheena properly again, then realizes Sheena's own double meaning behind her own words, she wants to speak to her. She shrugs, "Yeah, I guess we should ask him what he thinks." She heads to the door and walks out of the room with her words travelling back behind her to reach the other's ears, "He might be upstairs." She makes sure to wait for Sheena.


(By the way, Devin is actually still asleep on the sofa upstairs - he moved upstairs when everyone started waking up, although he was sleepwalking when he moved xD )
 
Caroline glances up at the other girls, slightly curious as to who the mentioned Devin is, but then turns her attention back to Rhys, awaiting his response. This is what she's really interested in, and the other girls have little consequence to her. She also occasionally glances at Hood, still rather intrigued by his appearance.


As Sheena leads May down the hallway out of the kitchen, she motions for her to return to the bedroom they had slept in, then shut the door behind her. Turning to face her, she says without any preamble, frowning slightly, "There's something weird about this girl and it's not our kind of weird. If you know what I mean."
 
"I assume her death would do it. But I am not 100% sure right now," Rhys answered. It felt right though to him. He didn't like the thought of killing someone either but he felt that it would be okay. This woman. She wasn't human. Maybe it wouldn't matter with her. "I can also kind of sense her. She has a part of me. I can sense it."
 
At this answer, Caroline's eyes widen, and though she attempts to rearrange her features into fully neutral expression, her shock is fairly transparent. That honest reply of Rhys's does nothing to convince her of his innocence. KILL Jenny? Kill JENNY, who had been so nice and helpful to her, JENNY, who was going to help her with her dad?! Of course Rhys was the bad one...of course Rhys was the thief. Jenny hadn't ever said anything about hurting Rhys, and here he was wanting to kill her! And everyone else was standing around like it was no big deal!


It was hard for her not to say anything, to just nod like she thought what he said was normal. But she had to...it was what Jenny needed her to do. And she definitely would do it now.


"Oh...okay. Um...so...if...some of you do want to help me...where should we start?"
 
Jason felt sort of left out, but that was perfectly fine. He wasn't the one with a body made of tar or a lost metaphorical body part or a demon-inflicted wound, or owned the house or was best friends- at least he assumed they were at least best friends- with the owner of the house. Or... Uh, was ridiculously annoying and rakish and stirred up conflict either, he supposed.


He didn't know about Caroline. It was a little bit irritating, really, now that the sympathy for her story was past. Heck, she was getting all the attention just because she sounded helpless; he'd been here way longer than her, and all he'd gotten was half a heart attack from a talking cat.


Eh. Feeling jealous of a girl who'd lost a father- well, a good one, not like May's- made no sense.


"Well, the first step would be to rest a little," said Jason in response to Caroline. "We just got back from a rescue thing and were covered in blood only yesterday, so, uh, don't be too hasty." he scratched his left arm absentmindedly, half-aware that he was being a little antagonistic. He really shouldn't have mentioned the blood. "Kira's in no shape to, uh, be doing anything-" he motioned towards the figure on the floor- "and I bet all the others are sore and tired. I mean, they have supernatural regenerative abilities and stuff, but these guys were getting shot."


He left it there, using good judgement not to include the rest. Hood was getting used to his new body, Sheena had been shot in the leg, May was in turmoil with Devin, and Kira was wounded badly. All of them were emotionally mixed up- as in trauma worthy. May's father, and Devin, and Kira's boyfriend, and wherever the heck Joe had disappeared to, and shooting someone for the first time... And Sheena just seemed sort of distraught in general. He bet her story had much more heartbreaks and losses than one person.


Ah, what was he to know about heartbreaks? Feeling desultory, he wandered over and fell back into a couch.
 
May follows Sheena and moves infront of Sheena as she shuts the door, turning to face her at the same time Sheena does. She nods at her words, "I know." She manages to smile slightly at the 'not our kind of weird' thing, "I'm not one to judge of course. But her story doesn't seem quite right. She also seems to be holding something back." She looks up at Sheena as she perches on the edge of the bed daintly. "I think, until we are certain, we should hold back what we can do too." She begins switching rapidly to demonstrate her point silently, just in case someone is listening outside the door. She switches to a red head, a brunette, a blonde, a girl with black hair, an asian girl, Kira, Sheena, Caroline, then herself again. She grins at Sheena finally, her voice lowered slightly so only she and Sheena can hear, "I can turn into boys aswell, know how freaky that is?" Ah, the age old debate about Girls not knowing what Boys go through and so forth, May kinda ruined that debate, although she had only ever become a male once before in her whole life.
 
Rhys wasn't sure what to say to the girl. It was a bit odd that after the semi-dismissal of the others about his story and now this young girl seemed to be really interested in it. Sure it was an odd story and not a common one. But it still made him feel uncomfortable. He was fine with being ignored or brushed off or telling little. That was how it was once he began his life on the street.


"I um....not sure. I think what Jason said. I mean I am still a little tired myself. Searching is not easy work but the others do seem like they need it much more."
 
Sheena smiles at May's showing off, her eyebrows rising when she switches to Sheena herself in her form. It hadn't occurred to her that May could like herself, if she so chose, and it briefly crosses her mind to wonder how it felt for May,to be in Sheena's body even briefly, and what she thought of her body. Her cheeks redden as she pushes this thought back, quickly talking to try to cover it up.


"Yeah...I mean, what does she know so far? Just about Rhys and Hood, right? I don't think she needs to know I'm Lycan or you shift, just in case she could find some way to use that against us, right? She seemed really interested in Rhys and Hood...I mean, not that I'd blame her, especially if she hasn't seen people like that before. Hell, /I/ was interested in Hood. Still...not a bad idea to lay low...and Jason's right, anyway. Kira needs to rest up, and I'm not exactly at the top of my game either."


Unable to contain her curiosity, she adds, "When you turn into another person, a real person, do you get all their thoughts and stuff too? And feel like you are them?"


Because that would be so beyond mortifying if she could see everything going through Sheena's mind...


Her face grows more serious as she glances around the room, then says more quietly, "May...how are you? I mean, a lot's gone on...your...what we did here, and the kidnapping, and everything since..."


Caroline is disappointed by Jason and Rhys's reply but nods slowly. She guesses she couldn't expect them to trust her immediately, or jump to work helping, or for Rhys to right away let her lead him to Jenny...she had known it might take time. Still...part of her had hoped she could get her dad back as soon as possible, maybe even today.


"Okay...I understand."


Turning her head towards where Jason had exited, seeming a little testy, she says with some delayed reaction, "People got SHOT? What happened?"
 
Jason heard Caroline from the adjoining room and tried to maneuver his head so he could see into the kitchen. The girl was a little annoying, he realized. "Some guys with a history with Kira barged in here and took her," he explained. "And May. We went to get them back, and they had guns. And, uh... Yeah." It had obviously been more involved than that, but their plight really wasn't Caroline's business.


Jason wondered if he was being as bothersome to the others as she was to him- he hoped not! He thought of almost shooting May in the abandoned building, and Kira thanking him the night before in the living room. He really didn't know.


Instead of dwelling on it, he fumbled for the TV remote on a couch arm and clicked the device on. News was the first thing to pop up on the television. What channels were on TV again? What was there to watch? Jason couldn't remember too well.


He flipped a channel. And another.


(Hey, should we wait up for Kira and Grin?)
 
Taking this brief explanation in, Caroline frowns, a little bothered. If Rhys and the others are the bad guys, why are people coming and kidnapping and shooting them? Maybe it was good guys doing it? People wanting to take them to jail? She guessed that made sense.


It's weird...Jason seems sort of annoyed by her, from his tone of voice and disappearing to the other room. Caroline thinks she hears the tv going, even...who could go watch TV with a ghost-like guy at the table, people apparently getting shot and stabbed around here all the time, and a mermaid in the room too? If she didn't know better she'd think he was jealous of her...but why would he be?


She looks now to Hood and Kira, who have held their peace throughout much of the exchanges. Trying to see Kira's wound from her having been shot, she grows distracted.


[MENTION=1530]Mr. Grin[/MENTION] [MENTION=1478]Fire of Hearts[/MENTION] you guys are getting behind. lol
 
Hood was quiet for a long time after he'd spoken, mind awash with churning thoughts of just what he'd become and what he could do. Smiling faintly at May's compliment, the creature warmed a little. It was nice to see that he was not thought of as a complete monster, especially now. Picking up the glass of water gingerly, he studied it and, with no time for thought, lifted it to his lips and drank deeply, emptying it with haste.


Swallowing the cool liquid, the creature gave a small sigh as a reflective sheen pulsed across his deep black flesh. It made him look once again of oil, shimmering in the light, then faded as quickly as it had come. "That is interesting..." he mused to himself, then listened to Kira's words. Second state of his life cycle? That could be it indeed! The thought made him feel dizzy, almost outside of himself as his mind tried to dissect all it could about this new form.


When Sheena smiled at him and both she and Jason commented positively on his new change, the creature began to feel a sort of pride in what he was, replacing the worry that he'd not be accepted. It was a nice feeling, albeit a strange one. Answering Sheena's question (a bit too late), the creature nodded. "Yes, I believe I am going to."


When the younger girl told her story, Hood went quiet, studying it and picking apart each detail in his mind. He got so wrapped up in his thoughts, however, that for a long time, he did not register that he'd even been spoken to.


Suddenly snapping out of his mind, the creature stood with a start. "Yes. Yes, that will work perfectly." He looked around to the others, white eyes wide and full of the charisma that came with a brilliant idea. "All of you can remain here and rest. I've no need for it at the moment, so I will go and give my assistance," he said plainly, as if that made perfect sense. "It will give me a change to see just what I can do."


Turning to the girl, Caroline, the creature tilted his head. "As for your earlier inquiry, I don't believe I can squeeze someone else through bars, but I should be able to easily remove them." Looking down at his right hand, he concentrated, shifting his fingers into long, razor-sharp talons. Reaching forward, he slowly pulled the talons around the empty cup, slicing it cleanly into perfectly cut pieces that clattered onto the table.


Blinking at this, his unseen smile widened. "I will replace that cup," he muttered absentmindedly, shifting his hand back to normal. "Now... just where is this man being held again?"
 
Kira smiles at Hood. Everyone seemed so interested in his new form and including him which seemed to really brighten his mood. She watched him carefully and then leaned in with intress as she saw his reaction to the water. "How pretty." she said with a bright smile. She looked to the glass and then back at Hood. He was intriguing alright.


She soon grabbed a glass for herself and poured water knowing she had to keep drinking water. She drank the glass down and then set the cup gently back on the counter. She listened carefully to what everyone was saying and sighed a bit. She looked at the new girl and then at Sheena. With a frown on her face she gave out another sigh. There suddenly was a burst of pain in her side. She gently touched it wincing a bit. She was moving to much.


Kira went and sat down the pain on clear on her face. She sighed as it soon pasted. She looked around hoping no one noticed when Jason caught her eye. He seemed in a down mood maybe because of the new girl. She soon set her gaze to the floor. She leaned to the right and took another look at her wound. That's when she noticed the new girl staring at her. She blinked and covered up the wound again.
 
Rhys was tempted to go and watch TV. It was still a bit of a forgein concept to him, having not had a lot of intercounters with one really. He also felt a bit uncomfortable around Caroline still. He hated it when people got interested in him. He would rather be on the outside of the group, then part of it. Attachments would only hinder him right now. He had a goal and he needed to complete it.


It also seemed that his goal was not going to be completed soon. He remembered mentioning that he would leave today last night. Maybe he should follow through on that. Surely no one would miss him. It seemed the most reasonable choice to just leave.


But he paused when he looked at Kira.


"You should get that checked out. It doesn't look so good."
 
May nods at Sheena's big speech, "Yeah, we should lay low for a while. Just until everyone is better." She frowns lightly, "Maybe...if we show Caroline that she can trust us - without revealing our 'ablities' - then she might open up a bit, she still seems to be holding back something." May then listens silently as Sheena begins questioning May about her power, she grins slightly as she assumes Sheena means that when she turns into her form, can she hear her thoughts and have her memories. She shakes her head though, "No. I can change into them, and have their voice, but I do not have any of their memories or thoughts."


The grin falls from May's face as Sheena glances around the room and quietly tries to ask her if she's alright, what with the killing of the man she had to call 'Father' and all the stuff that happened in this house, sometimes in this very room, and then being kidnapped and re-seeing Devin, and everything else. She shrugs, her eyes falling to the floor, "I'm fine." She had been using that lie so often that it felt natural now, she sighed and stood up, did she have to lie to Sheena? She felt like Sheena WAS her best friend, her first and only best friend. They had shared secrets that she had never told anyone about, they had sympathized with each other and helped each other out in times of need. If that wasn't a best friend, she didn't know what was. "I'm not going to lie. I'm not fine, but I'm working through it. That is all we can do in this world, right? Just keep our heads up, look Reality in the eyes and tell it to f**k itself." She grins at Sheena, her eyes are watery but she shows no sign of crying. She then glances around, suddenly having to speak to fill the emptiness and prevent many questions, "We should probably try to find Devin anyway though, hopefully he has seen sense and left."
 
Kira looks at Rhys and then blinks a bit. "It's better then what is use to be....it was much worse but Hood fixed it up a bit." She said with a smile. "I'll be fine....this isn't the first time believe me." She said and then relaxed in the chair. "As long as I keep it clean it will heal." She said looking more out the window now. She tilted her head resting it in a hand. She has been wounded many times with her job. This wound was worse then most and it made Kira feel useless. Right now she was so tired she really wanted to go back to sleep but....she didn't want to make it seem like the wound was that bad. She closed her eyes sighing even deeper. The pain was still there although it died down.
 
Rhys nodded, standing there a bit awkward. He could leave now. Just go. They would not stop him, would not care if he left. They wanted him gone. He was a pointless addition and he did not fit in. Besides he had to find his tail.


But Rhys didn't move. "So um...Kira? I really don't know much about you guys despite me telling you guys about me. So...um....is there anything you can tell me about yourself?"
 
Kira looks up at Rhys and then smiled a bit. "Well I guess..." She started thinking of things to tell him. "Well first off I am not really on the street because I have to be it's mostly for protection. You see I have this dangerous guy after me...in fact he gave me this nasty wound. He also happens to be very rich so if I settle down somewhere he could easily find me...but I guess...he already has. Really by now I would have gone into hiding and left all these wounderful people behind. I guess you can say...there is something very different and I don't want to leave if I don't have to. I am also a up for hire bounty hunter I guess. I hunt certain bad guys down for money but I leave it up to my bosses to do what ever with them I never kill you see. I guess you could say rescently my reputation has been wrongly tainted so I'm out of work." She sighed. "The man that is after me...I would kill him but he is very very hard to kill you see...in fact unlike most people here he actualy posses a real threat to me." She laughs. "Really I would leave it up to sir gooy over there to kill him." She said with a bright smile pointing at Hood, the nickname was more in affectionate friendly way then to tease Hood. "This man has put me on the street since I was 10 you see because he murdered my parents over a secret I found out....this one secret costed me....my family." She sighed. "Anything else?" She asked him.
 
Rhys listened. He had not expected that when he has asked her to tell him about herself. Still it was almost in a way relieving to listen to her.


"I guess I am not the only one here who is looking for someone or has someone after then. I am sure if I see the Witch who took my tail she would kill me." He smiled but it fell and he shrugged. "If you were still for hire be nice to ask you to find this ***** for me. But I guess it's something I have to do alone in the end."


He smiled again, this time a sad one. "You're right though. It is different here. But I am not sure if that is a good thing or not yet."
 
Jason wasn't sure what he was supposed to watch. What did a 13-year-old watch on television nowadays? He hit a talk show, and a talk show, and sports, and news, and then a sitcom. More sports, a reality TV show, weather, cartoons. He frowned slightly at the television, flipping through everything he came across; he felt oddly out of place. It wasn't as if the others would really care- none of them had had television on the streets- but still.


Another sitcom. A cooking channel. A drama. Kid's show. And another.


Jason was suddenly aware of Kira looking at him, and turned to meet her eye. But she just turned away, and he continued surfing the channels. He eventually stopped on a channel showing a movie, and put the remote down. Kira's conversation drew his attention before he even learned who the main character was; he completely lost focus on the TV as her backstory came out.


More tragic parentage, huh? A bounty hunter... A killer. Jason stared offhandedly at the screen; well, he thought. Must be why she's got all the guns for.


He wished he was better at consoling people. He would have said something to Kira.
 
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