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[Fury] Tag-a-long (SeaTac 2.2)
SeaTac,
Riding back from Lucky 38 missed the Tax Patrol, but you passed by a trio of overturned vehicles, burning tires billowing smoke to the dark skies. Spray painted on the side of the wrecked can was simply:
TAX DODJERS
No bodies visible, so they were either hauled off to be sold as slaves or locked inside the cars and burned to death with no escape.
SafeCo garage
Laika dropped you off at SafeCo so you could meet with Joey. She headed on with the Arrows for some trade and R&R at Pike's Place. She told you they'd end up at Yellowhouse if you went to Pike's, or at the pile if not.
You found Joey hanging out with a couple of Gates' flock, a woman with a broken arm named Rei and the young girl Ghost. Joey left with you without complaint, even looked a little eager. He showed you his knife, something he must have found, a filet knife with a bit of rust near the hilt. Of course, he carries a canteen of pure water, too.
As you head down to see Pine, you're walking through the garage, past big military trucks, a "Hummer" with a fifty cal mounted on it, and a bunch of fixits tuning and fiddling around with recent hauls and gear. They've taken one of the Howitzers down from the wall to clean and retool it, the huge barrel looks menacing as it lies on the grease-stained concrete floor. Somewhere a radio is playing a song about Hell's Bells.
Pine's leaning over her engine, working on the exhaust or somesuch. She's torn away some of the broken and bent parts of Grimace's front to begin repairs, but she's only just started. She hasn't seen you coming up.
What did you do for her to owe you so much again?
What do you do?
Comments
Someone was messin with Pine's daughter in an unpleasant way, and Pine figured I was the right person to teach the rotter a little lesson in manners. Turns out I'm a pretty good teacher, especially when I include a little physical demonstration. That was this time. Seems like Pine's always in the middle of some drama or fuss, though. Let's just say she's a repeat customer. Always comes through with the jingle, in the end, but I sometimes got to be patient.
"'Lo, Pine. How bad's ol' Grimace hurtin?"
SeaTac,
This is Pine (of Grimace)
"She took a beating. Soaking Algee!" Pine replies as she stands up. She offers you a hand, looks over to Joey, noticing him but saying nothing to him. "How's things for you?"
I take Pine's hand for a firm shake, then indicate Joey with my head. "This here's Joey. He's my new cadet." I look over at Grimace and make a face. "Truth, Pine, is I'd be better if I didn't have to come lookin for my jingle. I think you get that, right?"
"Joey? I've seen him around the Arrows, right? One of theirs, but saddled with a cock. Oh well, he can Sounder up, I guess." She says with a chuckle. "Oh," she says when you mention the jingle. "Right. Listen, I just got paid after the match. I thought you'd show up at Swill's last night, SeaTac! I was going to pay you then, I'm good for it. What do you want, man? Safecoins? Booze? Guzzleline? A coupon for a dozen scrogs?" She laughs at the end, "Just kidding. That'd be too easy, right? Too easy, especially with Habor Girls coming 'round. I might hafta get me some Pine on Pine action tonight. Woo!" She slaps the hood of Grimace and laughs about that one.
Somehow, I manage to forget how... talky... Pine is between times that I see her. I hold up a hand to stop the flood. "That might be sweet for you, Pine. I hear HM's Pine always has wood." I don't wait for a chuckle at what even I know was a lame joke. "I'll take safecoin or hooch, whatever makes it easiest for you. Oh, and listen. Shoppin around for some wheels. Lemme know if you hear about some that seem reliable, yeah?"
Hope Pine will like the idea of me owin her one, for a change.
Pine guffaws at the "wood" joke, then nods alond when you ask about wanting some wheels. She grins, "Oh? You want to get... in the ring with me, ese?" Slaps the hood. "No, no, you're the quiet killer, I know. Yeah, sure, I'll look around for you." She ambles over to Grimace, flips some toggles to get into the glove compartment, then pulls out a small plastic baggie filled with Safecoins, brings it over.
"Here you go, SeaTac. We're square." She drops the baggie in your hand. "Sorry you had to hunt for it, really did think you'd come down to Swill's. Good place, you'd love it. So hey, you're watching kids now, right?" She indicates Joey with a nod. "You wanna watch after mine? She's a handful, but almost as pretty as me. That's her no account dad's fault, whoever he is!"
I pocket the baggie. "Joey ain't a kid no more, he's a cadet. Right, Joey?" I turn my attention on him to give him a chance to respond. "And I'll watch your daughter in a few years, if she asks for it, Pine. Don't want to be the guy that you'd hire me to beat on to make a point, do I?"
SeaTac,
A bunch of shooting sparks come off a jeep on suspension. One of the fixits is cutting her apart to rebuild it, or maybe add on something. A couple guys come over and lower some of the jeep's guts.
Joey looks at you, nods, repeating, "A cadet." He nods like that's a mark of honor. He's been mostly standing behind and to your side.
Pine jabbers on, "Hah! She's a bit young for you yet, but yeah, in a few years you'll come knocking. Or knock coming! hah! You like that one? She's going to be a beauty, none of the scars and whatnot I got. She already thinks she's grown. No cadetting for my girl." She nods, like she's made a decision. "We're square, and I'll look for a good set of wheels for you, then you owe me. And I like that, SeaTac." She makes a kissy noise, then ducks back under the hood of Grimace, and yes, she bends over a little showy. Joey seems a bit confused, but doesn't say anything.
Where to next?
I shake my head at Pine's antics, then give Joey a nod. "Cadet, take a look around. Remember as much as you can about what you see. I'm gonna ask you questions later. I'll give you a minute, then we can go do some other training." Reckon I should be lookin for some work, too, but I promised to train the boy.
SeaTac,
"Oh..." Joey says, eyes darting around. "Right." He stops moving to focus. His eyes drift to Pine's ass, then over to the trio of workers on the jeep, back to the cannon. The fingers of his right hand twitch like he's counting or something. Then, he speed walks to catch up with you.
Now that you've got some coin, where else in SafeCo do you normally go, SeaTac? Or are you doing some training work this morning?
I've set aside most of the early part of the day for workin with Joey. Gonna take him to one of the less-used sections of SafeCo for a little hide and seek first. Someplace that ain't likely to collapse, but with plenty of junk for cover.
SeaTac,
You take Joey down to an abandoned section under a set of destroyed bleachers. There's exposed rebar and chunks of concrete like broken legos on the floor. Joey follows you, moving with agile feet, listening and watching. Sarge is muttering in your ear, from time to time. He's running cadence, keeping time, encouraging you. The Unit is happy that you're following tradition.
After a couple hours, you hear echoing across the walls, some shooting, laughter... what the hell? Did someone scream or are you imagining things? Joey looks at you, alarmed.
Is Joey armed?
What do you do?
Joey has his knife, but I haven't given him a gun yet. Not gonna change that now. I consider tellin him to hide and wait for me, but instead lean down and whisper, "Keep close and if I give you an order, you follow it with no questions. Got it?"
If he gets it, I'll make my way, careful, toward the sound of the scream, keepin in cover wherever I can.
SeaTac,
"Got it." Joey says quietly with a nod. He hangs back, but draws his knife, just in case, as you sneak forward, picking a way over the concrete like broken rocks on a cliffside.
"Easy does it." One-Eye says, "Keep low, stay quiet, move on. Check those corners."
You see shadows across a graffiti-covered wall and hear another scream echo, "Just let me go!" Shrill, maybe female, maybe a young boy, hard to tell.
Moving up to the edge of the wall, you peer around to see a barrel-fire and a couple out-of-towners who must've stuck around after the motor duel, maybe drinking at Swill's. They've got a girl with them. Looks like they're throwing bottles just past her, listenign to them break at the wall and laughing. One of them has a pistol, and that seems to prevent her from running.
They haven't noticed you yet.
What do you do?
I take a moment to unsling my rifle, line up a shot on the pissant with the pistol. Silencer is on. Not going for a kill-shot, necessarily. Would rather be able to drag this flooding rotter outside to rot on his own than kill him outright.
(Rolled: 2d6+3. Rolls: 3, 5. Total: 11)
SeaTac,
How did you knock this guy out with a rifle, SeaTac?
Invoking Disciplined Engagement to do s-Harm.
Dude's wearing a makeshift helmet made out of an old cooking pot. Doesn't fit very well. I manage to make a shot across his bow, as it were. Pretty much literally ring his bell.
SeaTac,
It was a silenced shot (and yeah, it makes some noise). The girl stifles a scream, seeing her tormentor with the pistol is down, starts crawling away. Unfortunately, she's crawling away in a line perpendicular to your position.
The other guy, in waders and a wife-beater, flinches, looking at his buddy fall like a sack of sand. "Da rot?" he says, looking around in the darkness, beyond the light of the barrel fires. "Yo guys, Tweaks just got dropped by..."
"By what?" another man grumbles as he waddles into the firelight, looking at helmet idiot. "I didn't hear nothin."
"It was..." waders stammers. "He was shot by a ghost?"
The pudgy guy with the bristly beard who just appeared looks into the night with coal-black eyes, "Aint no ghosts, Sump. Lest we make 'em." He draws out a pistol, says to Sump, "Grab that girl, idiot." You see a couple more guys coming into the light.
"Four targets now, Pyle." Sarge says. "Oughta grab the kid and see how he fights."
Waders-guy moves to obey the pudgy bearded guy as the girl tries to stand up and run.
What do you do?
I take a look at these rotters. Don't much care for the idea of sending Joey into this unless I'm pretty clear I can protect him.
Read a Sitch
(Rolled: 2d6+0. Rolls: 6, 3. Total: 9)
Which enemy is the biggest threat?
SeaTac,
The pudgy guy with the bristly beard and coal-black eyes is the bossy one of the group. He is about to spot you, too. He's got keen enough eyes.
He'll spot me sooner than later. Motioning Joey to stay in cover, I move into the open, point the rifle at Pudgy. "You will let the girl go, you red-streaked pile of scum. Or I won't let YOU go."
SeaTac,
Joey ducks back, watching quiet. The girl is still crawling away, whimpering a bit with fear. Bearded chubby looks into the darkness and sees you. The others pause, looking towards the voice, peering into the shadows.
Let's see you Go Aggro here, SeaTac.
Going Aggro (+1XP)
(Rolled: 2d6+3. Rolls: 1, 2. Total: 6)
SeaTac,
"Shoot this moldy speck!" chubby yells as he draws his pistol. They start firing at you, SeaTac, and you're bad as hell, of course, but there is 3-Harm coming at you.
Minus your Gang-size, minus your armor.... so, that's 0-Harm.
SeaTac,
0-Harm
(Rolled: 2d6. Rolls: 2, 5. Total: 7)
SeaTac,
Chubby catches you in the neck with a bullet. It burns, and you know you're bleeding.
It's worse than it seemed. Take 1-Harm
What do you do?
Bleeding? Burns? Whatever. I drop the rifle on its sling, reach across to pull the machete from its sheath with my left hand, and mirror the action to draw my magnum with the right. I warned 'em fair, didn't I? Gave 'em a chance to save some pain, didn't I?
Sarge whisperin in my ear, And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. It was sort of a battle cry.
Gun and machete, I wade in to these rotters.
SeaTac,
With their guns blazing against the barrel fire in the dark, it's like flashbulbs from four little cameras, and you're the popstar, SeaTac.
You're definitely Attacking these guys. Let's see some dice and we'll figure out how that goes for you.
Attacking (+1XP)
(Rolled: 2d6+3. Rolls: 2, 6. Total: 11)
SeaTac,
Moving quick, you rush them. They spray bullets while you rain hell on them. Your machete slices through a quarter of chubby's head while you no-scope the guy in the waders. He takes it in the leg, it twists him around like a rag doll and he falls on his gut, ass up away from you, groaning weakly.
There is now 2-Harm coming at you, the two guys still up and the errant shot from fatty.
Minus your Gang-size, minus your armor.... so, that's no harm. None. Hot knife through butter.
The other two break and run rather than keep up this fight. There's some bolt hole behind them, most likely. Do you chase them down, SeaTac?
I don't chase them. Rotters run, rotters don't get dead, I suppose. I call to Joey to come out, and call to the girl. "Girl, you're safe for now. How'd you get into this puddle?"
SeaTac,
It takes her a few moments to calm down. She's wearing a black plastic dress with a few colorful, long ribbons streaming down the front, with a silver triangle on a beaded necklace. Her hair looks dyed pinkish red, and she has a sodden cloth headdress on.
Joey moves up, knife still out. He checks over the two guys who are on the ground. Your protege glances back at you about the guy who you shot in the leg. He's slowly crawling away. You can read Joey's eyes, he's asking if he should put the guy down?
What do you do?
I give Joey "the" nod. The finish it nod. He's young, but needs to know that sometimes it ends with someone getting dead. Not the lesson I set out to teach today, but a lesson that needs to be learned. These rotters, makin a girl dance for 'em, they're not the good guys.
"Girl, answer me! I just spilt blood on your account. Need to hear your story."
SeaTac,
The woman on the ground, this is how she'd look in normal daylight:
She looks up at you, her muddy face streak with tears, "I was... I came in for the motor duel. Went to Swill's with my friends, and we got separated. They took me. Took me down here. Said I was theirs now."
Joey moves over to the guy crawling away. The guys's blubbering, begging him not to do it. Joey's hesitating, SeaTac. He's never done this before, not to a live person.
What do you do?
Don't need to push this on the boy, force his hand. There's plenty of time. I step over to the man and hold my hand out for Joey's knife, test the edge, which is dull, of course. "Good on you for hesitatin, cadet. This blade's too dull to do the job proper." I hand the knife back. "We'll work on gettin you a proper tool tomorrow."
I kick the crawling rotter in the shot leg. "Lucky day for you. Tell your friends, if you don't bleed out first—SeaTac 'n Joey let you live. This time."
I look at the woman. "What's your name, girl? And where do you wanna get to? Back to Swill's?"
SeaTac,
"My name's Pylon." She says while sitting up, looking over at you and Joey. "No jokes, it's really my name. And no, I don't want to go back to Swill's, rotters like those guys are at Swill's. Is there anywhere nice here? Anyplace to work? I heard there was a garden, right?"
"I'll..." Joey says quietly as Pylon talks at you. "I'll sharpen it. Sir." He sounds relieved as the guy groans in pain and continues crawling, tries to get up, then drops again when his hip gives out on him.
I consider things. "Are you bad hurt, Pylon? If not, whyn't you walk with me. I'll take you to the growers, introduce you."
Hearin Joey, I think about where I can get him a real knife. And a revolver. Something light, chambered for .22 Long Rifle cartridges, if I can find one and clean it up proper. "We'll get you equipped proper, cadet. In the meantime, I'll show you how to sharpen what you got, the right way."
SeaTac,
"I'm not hurt, no." Pylon says, sniffling a bit. "I mean, they hit me a couple times. Nothing's broken, though." She's looking around for a way out. In the vacant underneath of this section of Safeco, there's just the way those two went, and where you came from.
"The right way." Joey repeats, adds a curt nod. "I shot a gun before." He says it like it might make up for earlier, for the dull knife, for what he couldn't do.
I've seen the look in her eyes before. That look that says all men that are good with doin violence are the same. "Listen, Pylon. You don't have to run. No one's gonna hurt you, me and Joey around." Joey just gets a nod, but I guess he's pretty used to readin cues, given the givens. This nod means, That's good, kid.
Actually, Joey get's more'n a nod. "Cadet, why don't you help Pylon up. She's bumped and bruised, needs a hand."
SeaTac,
"What's it worth?" Pylon asks, still tense, like she's in the frying pan. "Saving me, taking me to the head grower. What do I owe?" She looks to you now, ignoring Joey, he's low on the pecking order.
I shrug. "Out here workin with my cadet on his skills. You gave us a... whatsit... teachable moment. If you'll start walkin, I call us even. Maybe someday you see me or Joey needs somethin, you remember. Ain't always about jingle." One-Eye would probably strangle me with his bare hands for sayin that, but Sarge'd smile, pretty sure. Splash me, they're dead anyway. I'm the only one around to make rules, and the kid's listenin.
SeaTac,
Joey snickers at the phrase "teachable moment", like he's never heard it before and it strikes him as odd.
Pylon is up, she starts walking with you, letting you lead her. "You part of security? I hear Admiral's men are rough. I wonder if they knew," she looks back at chubby's corpse, "those rotters."
"We're freelance. Admiral's guys are rough, yeah, but they should give you some waterproofin once you work for him, regardless. Still need to keep your eyes open and watch who you drink with, of course." I'm walkin back the way we came, up and toward the growers.
SeaTac,
The three of you walk slow and quiet, picking ways over broken concrete, around tiny pools of brackish water and mud down here in the bowels of Safeco. Joey jogs ahead, hoping to scout, be of some use.
"Freelance?" Pylon asks after a couple quiet minutes. Her question is a whisper than bounces off the walls as you near a staircase up. "How's that work? Nobody like you?"
I shrug. "We help out here and there. Enough that Admiral don't begrudge me crash space. Don't see as there's any leader in particular that's worth callin boss, for me. I can stay dry my own way, if it comes to that."
SeaTac,
Pylon listens to your answer, a little skeptical, but she won't argue with your results. She drops her voice a little, "And the kid? He's yours?"
I shake my head. "Joey's my cadet... I'm trainin him up. His mom's one of Dog's crew, the Arrows." I wonder if that's sufficient answer. "Just cause I don't want to work full-time for any of the powers-that-be don't mean I'm meant to work alone."
SeaTac,
Pylon seems done with questions, but you think maybe she doesn't know what a cadet is. You head up a long series of metal and concrete stairs, concrete in places, metal skeleton in others where things have worn away over time. It takes a big shove to get the metal fire-door open to the level with the Yacht Club, the greenhouse and the HQ for the inside gang.
It's afternoon as you're walking, and the smell of ratonastik is strong from the little mobile cart near the door. The center arena has nothing going on, and people are working. Seaward is watching the door. He gives you a "guy nod" when you come up. He looks to Joey, not a nod, but he knows the boy. Then he looks at Pylon, with her shiny dress, black lips and weird headdress thing. He asks you, "What's up, SeaTac? Need some food? Kitsap took a bunch out for you earlier."
This is the hard part. Guess the only thing I promised was to introduce the girl, right? I can do that. I return Seaward's nod. "Reckon what Kitsap grabbed will suit me fine." I hand Joey enough Safecoin for a couple ratonastik. "Grab three, cadet."
"Seaward, this here's Pylon. Had her some trouble earlier, which Joey and me fixed up. Told her I'd get her an introduction to Tiffany. She wants to work."
SeaTac,
Seaward has you three wait outside and he steps in to send someone to fetch Tiffany. After a few minutes, a crusty old woman comes hobbling from between the rows of green. She steps outside, straightens a little, then looks at you, then Joey, then flicks a glance at Pylon.
"Give me a light." She snaps and she reaches in with gnarled fingers to pull out a hand-rolled cig, followed by a second.. Do you have a light, or is she telling Seaward?
Okay, there are four things a soldier shouldn't pass up when the opportunity presents itself, 'less there's a good reason. Food, sleep, sex, and a smoke. I got a small stash of waterproof matches left. About a dozen, all told. Reckon I'll have to look for a lighter that still works, or someone makin matches, soon. Don't always have time to strike a spark and wait for the fire to build.
Still and all, I grab my matches and light Tiffany's cigarette. And if she's offering me the second one, I'll light it off the same match.
SeaTac,
She was offering, yes.
She takes a drag with a smile that evaporates with the smoke. "Who's this girl who wants work and why should I rotting care, SeaTac?" Pylon opens her mouth, takes a breath to speak in her own defense, but Tiffany raises a gnarled finger, fixes her with a stare, and Pylon says nothing.
What do you do?
I meet Tiff's look, shrug again. "Don't rightly know where she comes from, but I saw her deal with a buncha rotters that wanted to, dunno, use her or torture her or whatever, without dribblin down her leg. Scared, sure, but not froze up. Saw her makin a call that I wasn't more of the same, right after. Pretty enough, but instead of askin for protection or offerin herself up as a prize, she asked after work. Thought it might be worth you two jabberin a bit." Take a long drag off my cigarette, after that speech.
SeaTac,
Tiffany listens in, her eyes boring into Pylon. Pylon, for her part, doesn't shirk away. She doesn't glare or anything, but she stands there, taking the comments you make while Tiffany sizes her up. The old woman's left eye closes as tendrils of smoke wafts up past it.
"Alright. I'll jabber with her." Pylon visibly relaxes. Tiffany looks over at Joey, "Hey Joey, nice to see you kid." She reaches into her apron and pulls out three carrots, hands them to the boy. "Here, take these." Pylon's mouth drops as your cadet takes the vegetables and mutters his thanks.
"C'mon, string bean. Let's see if you're worth squat." Tiffany says as she turns to trudge back to the door. Pylon follows, and you hear Tiffany ask her as they go into the greenhouse, "That ugly-ass makeup on your face is removable, right?"
Pylon looks back at you to mouth a quick "thanks". Then they're gone.
What do you do?
That much is done. I grab a ratonastick from Joey, leave him with the one I intended for Pylon, plus the one I meant for him. He's a growin boy, needs his pro-teen. "So, Cadet, tell me. What did the picture on that car they were workin on, not Pine's but the other one, show? And... what color are Pylon's eyes?"
SeaTac,
Joey hands you a carrot, heads over to a railing with you. He climb up on a round metal rail and sits so he is facing you (and the greenhouse). "Pylon's eyes are brown. And the, uhm... the picture on the car?" He covers his hesitation with a bite off ratonatick number one. "I don't... Mister SeaTac, I don't know. I'm sorry."
I take a bite off my own ratonastick before answerin. "What do you remember about the picture, cadet? Colors? Anything?" He's respectful, that's good. And we're early on. Just want to draw out what he's got.
SeaTac,
He munches on the rat, swaps out for a nibble of carrot, looks down at his knees. "I didn't..." he swallows. "I didn't even see a picture on the car. I counted the workers, and looked at the cannon. And the music." Did you hear the music playing, SeaTac? What was the song?
It was this song. Not one I'd heard before, but I got the gist. I think. "Tell me about the song, cadet." I realize it's ridiculous, but I say, "Let me hear ya say," and let him try to finish.
SeaTac,
Joey grins a little, has to cover his mouth because he laughs a little nervously at the idea of singing that song. He wipes his mouth, then hums a bit of the tune. slaps his thigh the rhythm, hits the chorus, "Lemme hear ya say Say Fire It Up. Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up!" He drops into a hum again for a little, but has the vibe of the song. He bobs his head as he hums the verse until he gets near the chorus, then says, "The singer spoke really fast. I couldn't. I didn't know what he was saying."
Sarge never really touched me, back when, but I feel a thought that I might reach out and, whatsit, tussle? Joey's hair. I don't.
"Good enough. Picture was a... lady with a fishtail. Green and white. We'll work on it, cadet." I take a bite of carrot, then another of ratonastick.
SeaTac,
Joey nods, takes another bite, "Yes, sir." He munches for a bit, looking around, not at you, like staring at you might be forbidden or something. "Mr. SeaTac, can I ask you a question?" He swallows the bits of food in his mouth, then adds, "Besides the one I just asked. Sir."
I pause, thinkin back to how I was trained. Shouts and commands, mostly, but... "We're not operational, Cadet. I'll let you know when it's a time to hold up on questions. You learn by askin, right? And just call me SeaTac. Or CT. Or sir, if you have to." I take another bite of carrot, enjoy the sweetness.
SeaTac,
"Yes, sir." Joey says, reluctant to just call you SeaTac. "What I wanted to know was, uhm, why me? Did my mom talk you into it? I don't really get why I get to be your cadet... sir."
I take the question serious, so I think a minute before answerin. Reckon saying a dead person talking in my head suggested him ain't the right way to go. "Seen you and Mox together, watchin each other's backs. Of the two of you, I figure you're the one with the eye and the stomach for my sorta work. Mox is on his own trail."
SeaTac,
Joey nods, listening. He finishes his ratonastick, then munches on the carrot, chews for a bit, then swallows it down. "Ok. I will learn, sir. I will do right by you. I... I can't be an Arrow. And it's kind of weird sleeping in the pile now, with me and, uhm, being older now. My ma and a bunch of the other Arrows taught me to fight. I've just... never been in a real one." He seems sheepish about that admission.
Not looking up, he asks, "When were you in your first scrap, sir?"
I hadn't considered working out living arrangements for Joey. Have to work that out. He's almost old enough to be on his own, I reckon, but not quite yet. Still, I can see that it could get a might... awkward bein at a certain age and sleepin in the middle of that particular pile. In the meantime, "First real fight was when I was ten. Mind you, I was raised by people pretty much like me, trained since I was knee-high. You'll be fine. I like the way you move, the way you pay attention."
"I could ride when I was ten." Joey says, drawing some comparisons where he can. "You know who raised me, of course. Sir." He puts the last half of carrot in his pocket, hops off the rail. "What do we do? When there's no work."
That's quite a question for a kid. "We train, which I will tell you ain't always gonna be a walk in the park with an umbrella. We look for work. Sometimes, we relax. Blow off some steam." I don't wink. Not my thing. But I give him a twitch of the lips that's probably about the same thing. "How d'you blow off steam, cadet?"
"Hangout with Mox and Ghost, mostly." Joey answers simply. "They're my best friends." He meets your eyes. "What about you, sir?"
Well, I like to drink and screw and sometimes beat up some rotters that are askin for it... "Ah... I do... things. I like to, umm, relax with a drink, or enjoy the company of one of my friends, or... exercise."
Joey gives this mischievous smile, and asks, "Is... Kitsap one of your friends, sir?" He seems pretty curious about it, nervous to ask so directly.
Ugh. Still, I guess 'train the boy' has more than one meanin. "Yeah. Kitsap's a friend. One of them that I sometimes do more than hang out with." Boy's old enough he surely knows what his thing is for, even if he's only used it for one of the two reasons yet. Shouldn't have to spell it out.
"Ok, sir." Joey says. "That's dry for me. She's really pretty. And, she gave me and Mox some berries once."
How long do you two chat before you move on? What's next for you, big trainer?
We don't actually hang out. Instead, we walk and talk. I ask specific questions about details of the things Joey's likely to see every day, just to get him thinkin. Which of the Arrows has the biggest feet. What color Mox's blanket is. Safe, dry spots between SafeCo and the Arrows' hangout. Nothin that will sound like I'm askin for tactical information if he repeats the questions to anyone later, mind. Every now and then I'll ask the boy about somethin or someone we just passed. "Habits are built on repetition," Sarge said, and a habit of really seein the world around him might keep me and Joey both dry, someday.
SeaTac,
You work with Joey, quizzing, taking, getting to know the cadet. Storm clouds come and he sticks with you, his eyes looking outside, where the Arrows might be, towards the hideout, where none of them would be this time of day, but it's sort of a "home" to them, a touchstone.
As the storms build and thunder rolls, Safeco starts filling up with people who work outside on scavenging or whatever. You spot a mugging, some young man getting knifed for his jingle. The trio of guys take off, seeing you. None of the inside gang are around, probably watching the gates.
Did you let the muggers go, or did you shoot them when they ignored you and split up?
Joey rushes forward to the guy, he seems to know him. The guy's bleeding, and he won't last long. It's getting dark already, the storm's rolling in fast and nobody around seems to step up for the guy. He'll bleed out if you don't do something.
What do you do?
Since they're runnin and the damage is already done, I let 'em go for now, but for sure I'll remember their faces, I come across 'em again. When Joey rushes up to the guy, I follow, takin a clean rag from my one of my pockets. "Cadet, run on ahead to Bon, let her know I'm comin with a patient. What's this fella's name?" If he's conscious, I'll put the rag over whatever's bleedin worst, press his hands to it to tell him to keep the pressure on, then scoop him up best I can.
"His name's Tags!" Joey says right before he takes off at a run to the lower levels, to tell Mox, Shy, and Bon that you're coming.
Tags is a scrawny, dirty guy, laying on his side, groaning and holding his gut. He's getting paler by the moment. When you put the rag on his wound, he feebly holds it like it is his lifeline, which looks like it may be. He's light in your arms.
What do you do?
I follow Joey, quick and smooth as I can. I know jostlin's gonna hurt like another knife and might cause more damage, but blood loss'll kill him sure if I don't get him to Bon soonest.
SeaTac,
"They got..." Tags says weakly as you carry him, his blood seeping out past the rag, you feel the warm wetness against your belly and left hip. "They got her locket."
Puddles. "Keep it dry, Tags. Save it until we get you to Bon and she stitches you up. You can tell us then." Part of that's for his sake, part for mine. Dying requests get messy.
SeaTac,
Please go here.