Laurence Zelkovii

The drive home, short as it was from the Cafe, was enough to allow Laurence to cool down from his rush of rage. It was also enough time for him to notice the sting and pulsating pain starting up in his knuckles, along with the swelling and coloration that was setting in. For as many times as he'd fought, this was no new sensation for him and nothing he would concern himself with. It was Cassidy's jaw and the shake-up that Raine experienced that were prominent on Lanny's mind. As he pulled into their parking space and walked around to unbuckle Raine's carrier, his priorities had switched from ones of protection to his more subtle brand of comfort. "Wait a sec Cass, I'll help you out. Are you still feeling dizzy?" She may not have mentioned it, but he'd taken note of her uneven steps and the way she leaned her weight on him in the cafe.

Cassidy*Others

Strangely enough, Cass wasn't angry, even though she was the one with the sore jaw - she had taken this with a quiet, almost numb sort of acceptance. She'd been offended, when first his behavior passed into slight inappropriateness, and vicious as she swung the butt of the blade toward the man, but immediately afterward, she'd become mellow and pliable. She'd spent the ride home quietly soothing Raine, talking her down from her cries and tears, but she hadn't talked much with him on the way, partly because she knew he needed to stew and calm, and partly because she was still feeling kind of detached from the situation. When the young man moved around to open the door for her, she reached for his hand - and for the first time seemed to notice the bruising. Despite the fact that it was such a minor thing, she took hold of it and raised it to look at, and seemed startled for a second. She didn't say anything though, and instead took hold of his hand to stand up. "I'm alright, I just..." As she stood, the other hand went to her jaw again, and she scowled faintly. "Geeze... do they take you guys aside in school and teach you to do this? I mean, for God's sake... how on earth do men always know just where to hit a girl? Right smack across the jaw..."

Laurence Zelkovii

Lanny still wasn't able to place himself in Cassisy's shoes and see it the way she did, but now that he was in more of a listening mood, she would have a better chance at explaining it to him if she tried. What was crossing his mind was the infuriating idea of how controlling and violent Duke had been with Cassidy, when he knew what sort of traumas she'd dealt with already in a similar realm. "Are you sure?" Genuine, true concern that he wasn't abashed about expressing was used in his question. His eyes, too, reflected such things as he steadied his hand to help guide her up from the car. With the other arm, he held Raine's carrier seat at his side, "He shouldn't be hitting a girl in the first place." Lanny blew past the comment with a rather serious response. The gang he was born in had its own morals, where even though murder and any number of illegal things were common place, violence against women was deeply frowned upon. "If you're really concerned about Duke, I won't tell James. But I'm serious about you not going near him, and he will be hearing from me."

Cassidy*Others

"It's not a big deal" the young woman answered, brushing aside the importance of the fact that the burly fellow had slapped her hard enough to send her to the floor. "It doesn't... hurt all that much, just... ugh, I wish he'd picked someplace else." She drew in close to Lanny again as she spoke, and shook her head some, in an attempt to clear it. "I don't like what it does to my head, and... and it's not something I can hide from Johann." That was the major issue, of course - a broken rib, she could hide admirably well, with all the bandaging below her clothes and herself perfectly capable of enduring the pain without showing it. But a huge bruise across the side of her face? Even she couldn't disguise that. "Duke's a harmless old man - frustrated, and with a lot on his plate, like a lot of us. He was just looking for an evening with no complications. He's never struck me before Lanny, never. I swear that to you. Duke's a very gentle man. I-" She paused in her words, and came to a halt beside him, burying her eyes for a moment as the dizziness worsened, but took a few deep breaths and seemed to conquer it. As she began to move forward again, she went on, "Mb"

Laurence Zelkovii

"It is a big deal." He shifted his balance carefully to close Cassidy's door with a deft shove of his foot, then proceeded towards the sidewalk and on to the apartments in front of them. Defiant views aside, Lanny was speaking much more quietly than at the cafe, and with emotions that weren't dominated by his anger. "What do you think would have happened if he'd picked another spot? You could have gotten worse than a bruised jaw." After realizing that his statement might have come across a little harsher than what he was going for, Lanny relented, "I don't want argue about this with you Cass, I want to keep you safe. You and Raine." A second or two later, he was alarmed by another short bout of dizziness from Cassidy. He didn't immediately comment on it, but he was watching her more critically now, and planned on seeking Johann's advice on whether or not they should take her to the hospital. "Stop trying to play this down; it's not trivial and he deserved more than the few bruises he got. That kind of thing isn't right. Now I won't tell James, but I will have a chat with Duke."

Cassidy*Others

"It's trivial to me, Lanny." Seeing that he wasn't getting her point, Cass emphasized that more clearly, and squeezed his hand a little to indicate that she didn't really want to fight with him, but had a need to make him understand just why she didn't want Duke punished for what he'd done. "A bruised jaw, a black eye, fine. I've had one before this, and I'll probably have one again. What I can't get you to understand is that I got off easy. It's trivial to me because I'm looking at it from the seriousness of the injury - whereas you're looking at it as somebody who's hit me." She shook her head, and drew out from his shoulder again as the world settled more firmly around her for a few seconds, and began to set a slow pace for the apartment. "Duke doesn't know I'm not working anymore, Lan. And if I was working, as he assumed me to be, his offer would have been accepted. And if a bruised jaw came out of it, it would just be part of the day. It's expected - something we know and understand. I can't expect you to get that... but what I'm wanting you to understand is that I just happened to be handy. Duke would have hit an anvil then if it didn't move like he wanted it to. Don't look at this like he meant to hurt me, because he didn't. He just snapped, and I happened to be in the way."

Laurence Zelkovii

Despite himself, Lanny was feeling the flair of an argument trying to rise up in him, spurred on by his want to protect Cassidy. Most of that was quelled however by the simple squeeze she gave his hand, so that when he did respond, he was still using his quieter, more rational tones, "It was somebody that hit you, and that's the bottom line. Drunk or not, he hurt you." He stepped up over the curb and onto the sidewalk, moving at an easy pace that wouldn't be too fast for Cassidy's battered balance, and wouldn't jostle Raine about. "If I had it my way, Duke would be in for more than a chat with me, but you have my word that I won't do anything more than that. I'm just going to let him know that he's not welcome around you anymore, and that you're not in that business any longer." The chat wasn't going to be one of those civil, borderline friendly ones for sure - Lanny was absolutely going to use intimidation to get his message across - but because Cassidy wished it, he wouldn't use force.

Cassidy*Others

She shook her head again, more vehemently. "You're still not listening to me, Lanny." She sighed, knowing really that it was that same protectiveness over her that was preventing him from trying to understand what she was saying. "Look... all I'm saying is that you're mad because he hit me - Cass, your childhood friend, the mother of your child. That's who he hit, if you view it from your perspective. And I'm not saying that's not so." She reached and tucked a strand of crimson curl behind her ear, wincing a little as her fingers brushed her bruised face on the way back down, but didn't falter in her explanation as the moved toward the building. "But Cass, your childhood friend and mother of your child is nobody to Duke. I doubt he even knows my name, particularly when he's wasted like that. All he sees, looking at me, is Cass the working girl. Cass the professional, who can take a hit and send it right back his way. Some men like a girl who can take all they give and slap it right back in their face. I've never seen that in him before, but it frankly doesn't surprise me." She sighed as they reached the stairs, and looked up the flights they'd have to climb to get to the apartment - she didn't say anything, but it was clear she was regretting the fact that their rooms were on the top floor. "My point is that when you're working out at the bridge... well, you're something they've bought and paid for. Like a Coke or a new spare tire. And if they want to take that spare tire and send it through the shredder for spare rubber, well... that's their right. Because they paid for it."

Laurence Zelkovii

"I am listening to you." He asserted, then went on to justify his stance after she'd gotten through trying to show him her side of it. "And I am mad that he hit you, that's the problem. Just because you use to be a prostitute-" The term rolled of his tongue like a foul thing, because he didn't like to think of her as being in that profession anymore, even though it had been common knowledge while they were growing up, "-doesn't mean that he has any more right to abuse you than if you were the mayor of the city. I don't like to hear you talking about yourself like that." As they took to the stairs, Lanny shuffled Raine in front of him, since the stairwell was too narrow for the two of them and the carrier to fit side-by-side. "No one as a right to treat you like that. I don't want Raine growing up under that same mindset either. You're not some commodity to be played with, and I'm going to make sure that he understand that." He was very set on this belief, and felt strongly enough about it that he was willing to carry on with it, though he'd reluctantly agreed not to rough up Duke with anything other than words.

Cassidy*Others

"The fact remains that it was once true," Cass persisted, aware that the conversation was riling him up again, but still concentrated on getting her point across. "And the other part of it is that until Raine, and until you moved in, I was just another of those girls, just like any other. Born into obscurity, until I got plucked out of it when everybody assumed that Raine was yours. And if everyone hadn't made that assumption, I'd be one of those kind of girls still. I've earned a respect around the city, but it's all completely based on the fact that everyone knows you love Raine, and you look after me. If that had never happened, I'd still be one of those obscurities, and nobody would care if I got slapped around a little bit. Because that's what prostitutes are for." She repeated the word with emphasis, mercilessly, letting that hit home to bring her point around. "And if it were someone else, one of the other girl's - Mona, for example. A cute little brunette; she's a popular girl around here, always has a pink top on. Bet you've seen her around plying the trade. If Mona had gotten slapped, it wouldn't have bothered you a mite. Because that's what she's meant for, right? And it's her own fault if she doesn't have the guts to hit back." She nearly missed a step there, and had to tighten her hold on his hand for a moment to keep from falling. Frustration was building up in her now though, and it had more to do with James' attitude this morning and her own fears for Raine than really anything to do with Duke. So maybe that's why she looked up and let her eyes stab into his, when he mentioned the child. "What's wrong with it? You've got a problem with the kind of work I do, then that's on you. But you know what, I made my living at it, and I never cheated or stole or hurt anybody else - I got by with what belonged to me, and to no one else. I only hope Raine's that honest, when she comes up." Not that she wanted her daughter to grow up to be a girl who 'worked nights' the way that she had; not by any measure of it. What was eating Cassidy right now was that she was detecting in Lanny a hatred for the profession she'd gotten out of; no, it was worse than that. A disgust, that's what it was. And though it was directed toward the idea of what her job entailed rather than at Cass herself, she didn't see it that way. "Okay, you know what? I can get my own ice." And with that brief dismissal, she dropped his hand as though it had turned hot in hers, and took hold of the railing, pushing herself to mount the steps under her own power and fast enough to leave him behind.

Laurence Zelkovii

He was honestly trying to keep his hotter emotions at bay, and had been doing an admirable job of it after they'd left the cafe, but now it was starting to build back up against his desires to keep it down. Between what had all happened this morning, the rollercoster ride of events had whittled away at his ability to maintain calm thoughts for very long. "I don't get why you're stuck on this Cass, the past is past." His voice rose subtly in expression of his frustration, "You can't possibly expect me to write this off as something as trivial as talk of the weather or an accidental stumble; he knocked you clean to the floor!" Behind his protectiveness, there was also a note of offense that he'd taken, because for all that they avoided the topic, Cassidy was his unspoken girlfriend, and Duke had trespassed on that. "Mona has nothing to do with this conversation." Lanny got a little harsher now as the conversation stuck around the issue of her past profession. Truth be told, it wasn't prostitution in general that he spoke with such disgust about, but rather the idea that Cassidy still associated herself with that mindset that bothered him to a point that he'd been unaware of until the incident today. Unfortunately, he was failing to see Cassidy's side of it, and that led the the escalation of the argument that he'd been keen on avoiding. His words got hotter, "Yeah I have a problem with it, Cass! You don't do that work anymore, and I'll be damned if you keep this up around Raine!" His intense eyes met hers, and he held her fierce gaze without a flinch. What he wasn't expecting was for her to sudden detach herself from him and storm away up the stairs. The flush of anger that had come over him immediately cooled a few degees, "Cass! Cass, wait!" Raine would be witness to a few low curses from the man as he shuffled her carrier into his other hand and tried to catch up with the young woman.

Cassidy*Others

"Mona's got plenty to do with this conversation," she shouted down the stairs, as she began to ascend them more rapidly and the yells began to echo. "Mona's dead! Got dumped off two nights ago under the bridge, half-dressed and a crowbar mark at her temple. She was nineteen, and saving up to go to college, to get her art degree. She drew in pastels, Lanny - that drawing in the living room is hers. Did you know that?" Well, that had to be part of what was troubling her, but the young man knew Cass too well to believe that the death of another one of the girls could stir her this badly. She was too controlled, too composed. "This isn't honest gang fighting Lanny - this is sick. Mona had faint connections to the Akatsuki - had a cousin in it, or something. And even though they've all but disappeared off the map recently, somebody decided they didn't like that, so they picked her up with a promise for a job and dumped her back at the bridge like a pile of trash." That still didn't define why she was so determined to write off the slap she'd gotten from Duke, but it did kind of touch on why she was disturbed right now - if she'd still been in the business, somebody could have decided they didn't like the CS, and done the very same thing to her... and what would have happened to Johann, to Lanny, to Raine? And not only that... why did he have such a problem with her past? He'd never really voiced it before, and though she knew he didn't like the idea, she chose to ignore that. The problem was that she had trouble separating how he felt about her former business, and how he felt about her. In her mind, at least at this moment, she only saw that he hated that she'd been a prostitute - and that translated through and did a blow to her, not because he'd meant it that way in any way, but because she was that sensitive about the matter. It wouldn't have shown, if she'd been front-forward and clear headed, but with just enough pain in her head to give frustration that extra edge, it had hurt all the same, and the slam of a door at the top of the steps emphasized that.

Laurence Zelkovii

Normally spry on his feet, Lanny was hampered by carrying Raine, who he didn't want to jostle by jogging up the steps. Cassidy easily out-distanced him as he was hurrying up the steps with the carseat balanced in one sturdy arm, "Cass, stop!" He didn't care that both their voices were now loud enough for their many neighbors to hear, and furthermore doubted that anyone would dare respond to the escalating voices in the stairwell. The young man he scaled several steps when Cassidy stalled him by bringing up Mona again, and the revelation that the young woman had been murdered. It made him hesitate, for a moment or so, but rather than taking a different route and trying to talk this out with Cassidy or figure out why she was so riled by all of this when normally she was efficiently collected with her emotions, Lanny became angrier. "That is exactly why I don't want you associating yourself with that profession anymore!" Up the stairs he stormed again, picking up his pace, "I want you to take care of yourself! Cassidy!" The door slammed shut before he could reach their floor, but he was on it within seconds and swinging it open harshly enough to cause it to swing back against the wall with a loud bang.

Cassidy*Others

The young woman clearly wasn't prepared to talk right now, if her quick flight from the young man was any indication. He didn't get much more answer from her, possibly because she'd slammed the door behind herself, but when the door jerked open again, Lanny was met with a gun muzzle only a couple inches from his nose; for a couple of tense seconds, it was leveled there in front of two pale blue eyes that stayed squinted a focused for a moment before widening into surprise. A fraction of a second later, there was a hearty curse, and the gun lifted, pointing toward the ceiling as Johann made a frustrated gesture. "Damn, Lanny... she come through here like somebody lit a fire under her. What in the hell?" After a moment, he popped the rounds of ammo out of the gun and clicked the safety into place before throwing it onto the couch, and pointed at the bedroom door, which was closed. "She ran in there - here... you better give her to me." It was no surprise that Raine had startled awake and was yelling again, and the old man reached for her. Strangely enough though, he didn't scold Lanny as he probably wanted to - instead, he took the baby and stood back, leaving the path open to the bedroom.

Laurence Zelkovii

The tinge of red that was gracing Lanny's cheeks quickly receded when his eyes settled on the gun pointing at him the second he swung the door open. Lanny instinctively took a step back and swung himself to the side in the same motion to put Raine out of the line of fire. It wasn't a conscious reaction so much an instinctive one to shield the child, and he did it all before his startled brain told him who was at the other end of the barrel. "I'll tell you about it later." Lanny muttered a little breathlessly and stepped inside when Johann lowered the weapon. His heart was still racing though, and didn't feel any better when Johann pointed to the room where Cassidy had disappeared into. "Alright." After Raine was taken up by Johann, Lanny felt a stab of regret for hearing the youngster's screaming, but since the uncle was now looking after her needs, Lanny braced himself for Cassidy. Instead of trying to open the door, Lanny to the approach of knocking first and calling her name more quietly than he had in the hall. "Cass, can I come in?"

Cassidy*Others

Beginning to wind down from his own instinctive reaction a moment ago, which had led him to point a gun at the door that Cass had just come into at a run after listening to her scream as she came up the stairs, Johann gave a soft grunt and hefted Raine up, cuddling the squalling toddler against his chest and taking up a curious rhythm in patting the bottom of her diaper. It was something that Cass had seen other experienced parents do, but which often made her laugh at her uncle - even though it always worked, with Raine. As he moved back toward the kitchen with the child in order to give the girl's parents a little privacy to talk in - well, as much privacy as could be expected, with the paper-thin walls around here - he started up with a low string of words that were indistinguishable, and were meant mostly for the soft, gentle sound of them that would calm Raine. And that left Lanny to approach the door, where his knock was met with a stretch of silence - and the tiny metallic clank that was unmistakably that of metal hangers jangling in a closet. At long last, an irritable voice called out, "Is either of your legs broken? Unless they are, I'd say that you can come in whenever you want." There was the sound of cloth hitting the floor, and a soft curse, followed by the rattling of more hangers and a couple of thumps - probably shoes hitting the thin plywood floor.

Laurence Zelkovii

The young man looked back once to Raine, finding it hard to walk away while she was bawling, especially since he knew he was probably one of the reasons she was crying, thanks to his loud voice and the jog up the last half of the stairs. He stood at the door though, waiting until Cassidy replied; and when she did, he was a little ruffled by her stinging retort. Trying his best not to let it get to him, Lanny eased the door open and stepped in, then closed it behind him. "Cass, what in the world is up with you?" Speaking sympathetically didn't work out as he'd planned, though he did manage a much quieter tone than he'd used in the hallway. Concern was driving him now, "Look, I already said I'm not going to tell James what's happened, and if you're still upset about that, I want to know why." He still didn't quite get what was driving Cassidy's anger to such a degree, and wasn't quite calm enough from all that had happened to think as clearly as he might otherwise.

Cassidy*Others

Lanny was offered a curious view when finally he entered and closed the door behind him - half of Johann's closet was strewed all over the floor of the tiny bedroom. The young woman had always joked about the old man's closet, which she frequently referred to the 'abyss' into which random things - a certain hair tie, a pencil, or a shirt that she was looking for would invariably 'disappear into'. "What d'you know... that's what happened to my gold skirt. " She was muttering to herself and rummaging - apparently, she'd decided that now was a good time to clean out the closet, when always before she'd refused to do so, claiming that her uncle had made the mess and thus it was his responsibility. Lanny would have to step over a mound of various shoes and dirty clothes that she'd spread about her in order to even get close - but judging by the feverish tone of her movements, he might want to keep his distance for a moment. When finally she seemed to hear what he'd said, she didn't turn to face him - instead, she tossed her skirt into a pile that had to be dirty clothes, and went back to digging. "I'm not upset about Duke. I wasn't upset about Duke when he hit me, and I'm not upset about that now. What kind of fool do you take me for?" She shook her head, keeping her voice even, but she put too much strength into tossing something aside, and had to put a hand to the wall to keep from tipping over, even though she was down on her knees already. One of Raine's long-lost toys - a small stuffed pig - came to her hand next, and she stacked that in another pile once her balance had recovered, and then cradled her sore jaw again. He wasn't offered much a view of her face, but her eyes closed for a second, indicating the dizziness hadn't let up yet. She didn't let it stop her though, reaching for something else and muttering, "'m surprised you got in without a bullet between your teeth. Johann was already going for his Colt when I came in."

Laurence Zelkovii

Aside from seeing Cassidy, Lanny took notice of the curious array of clothing strewn over the floor. He'd known that Cass had refused to touch the closet on the idea that it was Johann's responsibility to get it organized - something that Lanny personally believed was never going to happen - so to see Cass at it now told him only one thing. She was distraught enough to be seeking a distraction. Lanny had a notion to move forward, but was rattled enough about the gun that had greeted him, and wise enough to Cassidy's moods that he didn't come forward just yet. "Hey, if I said anything that upset you, I'm sorry." Though he was very sincere about that, the young man couldn't yet manage the sort of voice that sounded as soft as it should. "I'm only trying to look out for you and Raine." He reminded her of that, trying to draw away some of her defenses, or perhaps elicit a more direct answer to why she'd gotten so rile up. When the gun was mentioned, a side of Lanny's anger came forward, albeit in a quiet fashion; he'd already been shot by Johann once. "You could have warned him." It wasn't that he was trying to accuse her of anything, he was still riding on that heightened fear of finding a barrel staring him in the face, and it would take a few minutes more before he'd settled completely from that.

Cassidy*Others

Her hand went back to the mess at the bottom of the closet again, coming back up with - was that a spatula? A clean one, at least, but a spatula nonetheless. Shaking her head a little, she lay it beside her on the floor and continued to clear out the bottom of the closet, even as he spoke to her. There was a long pause of quiet there, where she pretended to ignore him... but his apology demanded some kind of answer, even if that answer wasn't in a tone that was very friendly. "It wasn't what you said," she muttered, pausing in her work with a balled up pair of her uncle's pants in her hand. She wasn't prone to being too gentle in her replies either, and she continued to throw various items into piles she'd made with a snap of her arm, which a few times more nearly overbalanced her. She took her hand away from her face and started sorting still more intently, and went on, "Past may be past, Lanny... but it's my past. I can't pretend like none of that's never happened." That was the very faintest touch one the issue that was bothering her, and she shook her head, pausing again in her sorting, this time coming up with a blanket of the child's that had gone missing months ago. Stretching that idly in her lap and beginning to toy with the fabric, she listened to his complaint, and turned it aside with stark truth that might not be all that comforting to hear. "I wasn't so sure that I wanted to warn him. He wouldn't have shot you, but I expected that he'd keep you at bay in the living room, probably with an argument of some kind. Just goes to show you that old man can still surprise me, after all these years."

Laurence Zelkovii

It was a little difficult to watch Cassidy still struggling with her balance and putting the occasional hand to her face. The injury was fresh, but already was looking quite gruesome in Lanny's eyes. It tore his desires between wanting to console her and wanting to hash out this argument that had erupted. Laurence hesitated at first, yet in the end, remained standing where he was to give himself and Cassidy both time to cool off some more. "So what if it's your past, it's not your future. That's not you anymore, yet you talk as if you're the same girl as before, whose okay letting guys do what they want with her. Like thinking it's okay that some guy came up and decked you like he did?" The young man shook his head, "That's not okay, and it never should have been in the past." Blue eyes narrowed a smidgen afterwards with her stark response on Johann and his gun. Lanny shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "You're not going to avoid this discussion until I find out what's set you off like this. If it wasn't something I said, then what did I do - was I suppose to let Duke whale on you? Because I sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen."

Cassidy*Others

"I told you, Lanny," the young woman answered, a bit of snap coming into her words, "Just because I don't do that anymore doesn't mean I'm a different person than I ever was. The same Cass you grew up with is the girl that's slept with half the men in this town; you knew that when we were kids, and I can't see how you can expect that to just change as though it never happened. I'm not... a different version of Cass, just because I'm not working anymore." That really was a snap, where a little more bite came into her words than what she intended, and the blanket she'd spread over her legs got balled up in her hand as she tried to drag back that intensity. She let out a sigh, some of the tension riding out of her muscles, and went on, "I'm not trying to justify what Duke did. It's not right that he hit me, and it's not right if he hits anybody else, either. That's not Duke - he's never done that before, ever - but even if it was, I'm glad it was me he hit. Because I can hit right back and take care of myself. I always could. Whether it's okay or not has nothing to do with it." Her hand reached back for the pile at the bottom of the closet again, and a few dirty socks surfaced, prompting a toss to put them in the pile she'd already formed of clothes that were in a desperate need of a washing. "Geeze, it's no wonder he's never got any socks," she muttered to herself, just to try and let some of that anger settle a little. Finally, after another few seconds of silent sorting on her part, which brought forth a pair of paint-stained blue jeans and a light pink camisole top that Lanny would recognize from a wintery night when he'd fetched her from the downs, she spoke up more composedly. "It's not what you did so much either, Lanny. It's what I saw in you, while you were talking." She didn't turn to meet his gaze yet, and her words came back softer, and yet somehow more vicious despite the lack of volume. "I'm a manipulator, Lanny. I know how to take what you believe, and what you think you believe, and twist them until you'll do exactly what I want you to do, no questions asked. I did it when I convinced to you have Raven killed, without ever giving you any reason that I suddenly wanted it done. I did it in convincing you to be more careful when you went after the wolf boy - you're scared of arrows, and we both know it. Think it was any coincidence on my part that I brought it up right about then? You've got a scar on your left ankle from when you fell out of that tree at the park when you were seven, and landed on some old piping - that was right before that park was closed due to dangerous construction. It's shaped vaguely like a potato. You've got some kind of disturbed idea that there was something you should have done to help Carl and Conner, which is why you've always drunk." The very last statement was as light and gentle as she could possibly make it, knowing how touchy an issue that was with him. "I can read you like a book, Lanny - I always have. I know what you're thinking almost as soon as you think it. And right now, you're in a crazy mix of wondering what's gotten into me, listening partly to Raine in the other room, taking note of the shuffle of Johann's feet, making sure I don't fall over, and restraining a good impulse to smack me for mentioning Carl and Conner. Oh - and that gun you've got in the small of your back is digging into your spine. Judging by the way you're standing, it's your Smith & Wesson - police service issue." All that judgment she made... without ever once turning around to look at him.

Laurence Zelkovii

"That didn't mean I was okay with you doing it, but that was your life and it wasn't any of my business getting involved with." He defended his stance and reaffirmed his views on how he was never entirely comfortable with her in that profession, even if he rarely ventured any words against it in years past. "I don't expect you to change entirely, but you've got to realize that you're a mom now and you've got a family. And... I don't know." In exasperation, he ended his attempt at explaining his feelings, complete with tossing his hands up in the air. Lanny went quiet with his jumbled thoughts, finding it hard to confront Cassidy when he still was having trouble pinpointing the exact cause of their tangle. He watched her continue to sort through the messy closet, working her way systematically towards the bottom of it, where various odds and ends were being unearthed. Of course, he hardly paid attention to any of these things, especially when Cassidy went quieter and delved into a more vicious quality. He straightened, and his face went a little taunter - he was more uncomfortable now than he had been before, "You think you can really read me? Then how the hell did you miss the part of me being frightened for you back there?" It was almost a hiss, quiet but very intense. "Cass, all I'm trying to do - all I ever tried to do - is to keep you and Raine safe and happy. I don't know what you think you saw in me back there, but I'm telling you you're wrong." He was on the verge of turning around and leaving them room altogether, but he endured, not wanting to leave this verbal fight where it was now, because at the bottom of it all, he desperately hated fighting with her.

Cassidy*Others

"I did see it," she ventured, still doing her best to keep her tone quiet, and yet there was a stony quality to them. "And I felt your fears were misplaced. I can look after myself - a smack, I can take. And I took it deliberately as the result of my action in slapping his face - which I did so he wouldn't punch you square and completely dig his own grave. He viewed you as competition for what he wanted, and though I don't doubt your ability to protect your own interests, I do doubt his. The way I handled it, the least number of people got hurt, and nobody ended up at the bottom of the bay. My ability to predict his reaction to you, yours to him, and your likelihood to honor my request not to have him bumped off all factored into the way I handled it. That's what I do, Lanny. More than what I ever did at the bridge, or what I used to be, this is what I do." She'd grown still now, and the flow of random junk out of the closet had ceased as she allowed more of her attention to be drawn off onto the topic, against her own better judgment. "I don't like to read you like that, Lanny. I know how to do it, and I do it when you force me to, but I hate it. I don't think I should have to do that with you. I can't stand it... and worse, I can't stand that you're ashamed of me for being this way." Well, that was the root of the problem, which the argument had finally yielded, but it wasn't a very positive statement, and to that end, she balled the material in her hand more tightly. "This is the only way I know how to be, Lanny. I'm the girl you turn to in intense negotiations, when success or failure's at stake. That's my place in the gang. And I have that place because I am this way. Everything I've done and everything I am - prostitute, mother, and what have you - anything that I can say I've ever accomplished, is because I am this way. And that was never a problem for you before... not until Duke knocked me on the floor for being what I am."

Laurence Zelkovii

"There's half the problem then." The response came back swiftly, "Your safety, the safety of the gang, comes before everyone else. I don't care whether he was drunk or not, he could have been blazed out of his mind and I still would have dropped him just as fast, whether he's got a family or not." He was slightly missing the point still, though towards the end he was starting to catch onto what she was talking about. Not so much about Duke, but about her methods of dealing with him, and how that related back to her profession, and how Lanny had shown such revulsion to it without realizing for a second that Cass would take it personally. It didn't fully get it until she finally whispered it out on a faint breath. Lanny's hardened expression loosened with surprise, then melded into a furrow-browed expression that came with an immediate softening of his voice. "So that's what this is all about then? You actually think I'm ashamed of you..?" His words trailed off and he finally moved his feet to guide himself near Cassidy. "I'm not ashamed of you and I never have been, Cass." An apologetic note came to his tones, "I never expected your personality to change, you know that. At least, I'd hoped that you knew that."

Cassidy*Others

Strangely enough, when he finally softened his voice and drew close to her, she flinched faintly, which was something she hadn't done in his presence in a long time. She hadn't even flinched at the slap that had come her way - that his nearness now aroused that out of her was more significant than most would pick up on... and offered more insight into her innermost thoughts than the girl would have liked. "Which is why you've said four times now that it's what I used to be, with determination and blunt denial in your voice. Sure - that makes perfect sense." She reached up to hang the little blanket over her shoulder now, blinking quickly and making a small face when it glanced past the bruise on that side of her face - it was very swollen now, and part of her eye was beginning to look puffy, which indicated just how hard the strike had landed, if it had impacting something so far away from the original place the man's hand had hit. "Whether you acknowledge it or not, Lanny... the fact remains that if I was Mona, you'd distance yourself from me as quickly as possible and never look back. Never wonder if, maybe the next morning, I'd end up under the bridge instead of on top of it. Because that's all a prostitute is worth, to you or to most people. You're not ashamed of me per se... but you're ashamed of what I used to be, which when all else fails is still part of who I am. And eliminating that from myself is more than I can do - but then, so is dealing with the fact that you hate that part of me.

Lanny

The flinch stung him considerably, but did not deter him from crouching down beside her on the floor amongst the piles of clothes and odds and ends she'd sorted out. "I've also said that you've got me pegged wrong on that, Cass." The anger was dissolved mostly, making room for the more sensitive tones he'd been trying and failing to come up with until this point. He'd been defensive before, but now that he suddenly understood what al this was boiling down to, Lanny could afford to drop his temper. "I'm not ashamed of you any more than you're ashamed of me. Neither of us have clean records in this town." Not that he was a prostitute himself, but he'd had a hand in many robberies, murders, and other nefarious acts that most would be aghast to hear. "If you think I view you any less for what your job use to be, then you really can't read me as well as you think. Just because I don't much like what you had to do doesn't mean I hold that against you at all. You know that."

Cassidy*Others

"Then give me a better explanation." That was a challenge, and sounded as she turned to face him finally, intensity showing behind the dark blue eyes. There wasn't much else to be seen in her features, but of course the black and blue shades that were starting to take over enhanced her unreadability. "Look at me straight Lanny, and tell me you don't hate that I was a prostitute." Her face was even, but her tones defied him, and before he could even answer, she turned away. "See?" She shook her head and toyed with the edge of the blanket again. "There's my answer... you're upset that I'm upset, and you want to comfort me. That means a lot, really it does. But that's all I see. You're using a comparison of sins to downplay the significance of it without ever actually acknowledging the problem at hand. It's something you do well." She smiled faintly, not a happy expression, but rather something that expressed that the familiarity was soothing. "I told you... there's a difference between what you believe, and what you think you believe. I know the difference, and I know which one's which, in you. I'm also quite aware that you're convinced that it's not the case. It makes it easier to deal with what would otherwise be a conflict of motives... dammit, Lanny, aren't you listening to me? Don't you hear that? I'm dissecting you like a bug or something, and you're going to try to tell me that it doesn't bother you? It bothers me."

Laurence Zelkovii

As the moments went by, the young man was able to sort out his feelings better and to analyze what Cassidy was really saying. More than that, he was getting a better understand of not just her words, but what was driving them; at least to some degree. "You're making this far too personal. Yeah I hate that you use to be a prostitute. Okay, are you happy with that? I wish you could have picked a different job - hell, a burger-flipper would have been better than that." Just because his words had gotten a little harsher didn't mean that his tones had changed; they were still in the softer quality that reflected his attempts at reconciling with Cassidy as he truly tried to work through the problem. "But don't think for a second that I hate you, or that I'm at all judging you for what job you had. You're Cassidy, one of my best friends for longer than either of us can remember, and nothing then or now has changed that. That's your perception, not mine, and I don't know how I can convince you of it." What he didn't admit to was that her ability to pick him apart really did bother him, more than he was letting on. But that little fact he was going to keep back, because admitting it would only lead to more arguing.

Cassidy*Others

Oddly enough, she relaxed a little now - harsh words were familiar and welcome, moreso than anything sensitive; not because she didn't appreciate gentleness or the kind of subtle care that he showered her with, but because harshness was easier for her to cope with. So even his admission that he hated it was something of a relief to her. "Well... and least that's true. Now we're getting someplace." The marked the breaking of a barrier, allowing her to lean toward him again, and pronounced the end of her efforts to push him away for what she'd perceived on the stairs. At long last, she let out an airy chuckle, and whispered, "Can you imagine me flipping burgers? Who'd pull my knives out of the walls when I forgot that they weren't targets, eh?" That broke the ice between them a little, and she became vaguely aware that silence had fallen in the other room; Johann was immensely talented at getting his grandchild to calm. In turn, Cass too began to come down from some of her defensiveness, enough that she reached for his hand again. "I don't know whether I believe that or not, Lanny..." She ventured after a long stretch of silence, and let go with a sigh that seemed to carry part of her soul with it. It didn't sound like a very positive comment, until she finished, "But I believe that you believe it. And who knows... maybe that means that, for once in my life, I'm wrong about somebody." And she smiled a little, suggesting vaguely that she'd like nothing better than to be proved wrong, in this case.

Laurence Zelkovii

Lanny was beginning to wonder whether it would be best to back off for some time and let them both have time to think things over before continuing. He didn't like the idea of if, but he was on the verge of standing back up when they struck upon a break in their fight that allowed Cassidy to step down from her own defensive perch and reach some sort of even ground between them. The young man cracked the side of a smile that took some effort, "No, not really. Personally, I don't think you'd keep that job long if you had your knives with you." It was a lifted weight to hear her chuckle, and even more to find her hand reaching for his. To express that he was ready to put this behind them, Lanny gave her hand a squeeze. "I hate to say it Cass, but I think you are wrong for once." It was a tease on a rather serious subject. Of all people though, Lanny was quick to try and put darker events behind them, whether by using alcohol to drown them out, or jokes to make them seem more trivial than they really were.

Cassidy*Others

Outside the room, Johann was hesitantly taking the renewed quiet in the bedroom as a good sign, choosing to view it as a hint that Cass might be relaxing a little, where her sudden entrance had freaked him out just a minute ago. As there began sounds in the kitchen that sounded like the uncle was probably preparing lunch, Cass allowed her mind to be lifted from the darkness that had overtaken her. "Hey, if those burgers jump up at me, they're taking their own lives willingly in their hands," she quipped, and adjusted her grip on Lanny's hand until she could stand up, putting her other hand to the wall to help stabilize her balance. "You'll have a huge job to do in convincing me of that, Lanny... but I'll give you the honest chance at it. You can be persuasive, when you try." Her hand went to her jaw again, and she made a face, as if she'd forgotten how badly it hurt until now. She used it though, as an excuse to move away from the topic. "I reckon if we don't head to the kitchen and find some ice soon, I'll look like a prizefighter pretty quick, if I don't already." Casually, she stood on her toes and placed a little kiss on his cheek, not apologizing or getting overly embarrassed the way she had the first time this had happened - it was her way of continuing to move forward.

Laurence Zelkovii

The half grin that had graced Lanny's face grew a little and appeared more genuine. "Spatula or knife in hand, I don't think I'd want to cross you the wrong way." He briefly entertained the idea in his mind of Cassidy trying her hand as a fastfood cook, which brought a mild chuckle out of him. The young man stood when she did and found that he felt considerably better now, even though he knew it would take some time to adjust to the argument they'd had, and the implications behind it. "As long as you promise to be more forthcoming about your thoughts. You're good at what you do, but something you look too hard into things and see what's not really there." He said it in a gentle way, not wanting to rehash an argument, but rather settle it. "Ouch.. are you sure you're feeling alright, dizzy-wise?" Distracted as he'd become by the swelling and coloration on her face, the kiss didn't catch him off guard as it once would have. He responded to it with a warmer smile, and a sense of closure about this volatile fight - and with that, he walked with her out of the room, ready to face Johann.

Cassidy*Others

"Durn tootin', you wouldn't," Cass answered, and made a motion as though she were turning over a hamburger patty, her face overly serious for a second or two in order to add to the humor value of the statement. "I'll burn your a-" She stopped, because there was a knock on the bedroom door, and her eyes turned that way. Apparently, Johann had detected the rise of civil, soft voices again, and had taken that as his cue to intrude. There was a brief pause before the door opened, and he showed himself in, a once-again slumbering Raine in his arms. "Sorry guys - but she's getting to be quite a little armful, now. If I don't get her in the crib soon, my arm's going to fall off on the floor." He hadn't looked at them just yet, instead moving across and laying the child out in the crib to finish her nap, laying an affectionate hand to the back of the downy-soft red curls before he straightened again. Judging by his words and his carriage, it was difficult to tell that barely forty-five minutes ago, he'd been clean out in bed, enough where his voice had been slurred when Cass had called. Of course, a sudden gun showdown at the front door was a good way to clear all the cobwebs out of the attic, so to speak. "I've got lunch running, and- land sakes, girl!" He lowered his voice in order to keep from waking the baby, and stalked forward to take Cass' chin in his hand, turning her head to the side so he could see the full effect of the bruise across her jaw and cheek, and scowled promptly. Cass felt the tiny tremble in his fingers as he took hold of her, but didn't mention it - instead, she spoke up nonchalantly. "Met up with an old friend and got a little too involved in the reunion," she answered, and he shook his head. "C'mon Lanny... bring 'er in here. You sit down on the couch there girl, and if you so much as move before I get that tended to, I'll skin you alive." Now the girl really smiled, responding to the comforting, all-too-familiar threat from her uncle that was just as much an affectionate thing as if he'd hugged her. As he led the way into the living room, she told Lanny, "Eh, I'm okay... nothing I haven't handled before. Just... don't let go, huh?" So saying, she squeezed his hand and began to move toward the door, picking her way over the rather chaotic mess she'd made.

Laurence Zelkovii

He was all ready to carry along with the light-hearted joke, with a grin stretching across his cheeks. A rap on the door stopped Lanny before he could get a word in however, and he watched it ease open shortly thereafter to permit Johann into the room. The wide-eye, incredulous look that Lanny had last met the other man with for pointing a gun at him was gone and forgotten about by now as if that incident had never occurred. "We better leave Raine to her nap. She's had a long day today, and if she's going to visit the bay later, she'll need to catch up on her z's." He didn't intend to account for the cafe incident as part of Raine's 'long day', and since Johann didn't ask, he didn't even mention it. He couldn't very well hide the bruise that Cassidy was sporting though, and he didn't intend to either. "We have the situation handled, trust me. It was more of a misunderstanding than anything." Not that he was ready to write of Duke's actions as that - he was still intent on meeting with the man later to set some things straight - but Lanny figured that Cassidy would feel better of he could at least keep Johann from riding her about it. "I don't, don't you worry. Come on now, it's about time you sat back and got some rest, and let Johann have a better look at it." He held on as promised, and probably would have even if she hadn't asked. Leaving Raine to her sleep, Lanny stayed with Cassidy as they exited the room and headed for the couch, where he planned to sit down beside her.

Cassidy*Others

"The bay?" That was a question from Johann as he moved into the other room, and Cass spoke up to answer as she held to Lanny's hand and moved into the room. "Yeah, we were thinking we might take her out and let her play a bit, now that it's not quite so frigid. Not in the water you know... just around the beach." He nodded, apparently alright with that idea - the bay was a part of the city that they controlled, by virtue of the need to use it for importing and exporting some of their less-than-legal goods; the three of them would be plenty safe, in that area. "I've got that old life-jacket of yours around here somewhere - the one with Donald Duck on it? It should be in that bottom drawer of the dresser in there. Best put it on her before you go; when you were her age, you couldn't wait to run away from me and get into the water, whether you could swim or no." As the pair of them moved to the couch and seated themselves, he came back around the corner from the kitchen, holding a towel-wrapped ziploc bag filled with ice, and reached to position it carefully over the greater bulk of the bruise. She winced, and let a hiss out through her teeth to indicate that it wasn't comfortable, but otherwise didn't protest as he positioned it, and then prompted her to hold onto it as he headed back to the kitchen. Keeping the ice in place with a very delicate touch, she turned her gaze after him, and got the question she was expecting. "Misunderstanding? Geeze girl, what got misunderstood so badly to get a shiner like that?" She chuckled faintly, and answered, "I smacked a fellow to knock some sense back into him; he was a little bit over capacity and took it as an insult instead." Coming back around the corner, he shook his head. "Here, let that down a minute. Aht! Hold still." Cass had lowered the ice, only to flinch the second he put a clean rag to her jaw, trying to clean up some of the faint traces of blood on her face; most of it was from Duke's knuckles where he'd struck her, but part of it was from a split that had barely been visible under all the bruising, and it was this that he was trying to tend. "I always knew one day you'd pick a fight with a bigger bull than you," he muttered, his eyes on the cut as she braced herself and held still, knowing that it would get the process over with much more quickly than if she squirmed. "I just always figured it'd happen while you were a hot-headed teenager. Alright, put it back now." He lifted the rag away from her face then, and guided her hand back into place, turning about and heading to the sink to rinse out the rag. "You'll be lucky if that eye isn't swollen shut tomorrow. That was rather foolish of you, my girl - I taught you that move, and you know how to block it."

Laurence Zelkovii

"The water's still pretty cold, and I don't trust those whales that are always out there." Not that Laurence was going to deny a lifejacket for Raine, but he was going to make absolutely sure that with or without it, the youngster wasn't going to get near the water as long as he was looking after her. It was one thing in his mind to have that turf claimed on the CrypticSilvers banner, and a whole other issue to have the bay populated with giant predators that he himself wasn't particularly fond of. "Is her jacket in there too? It wasn't that windy out this morning, but it's always cooler down there by that open water." Lanny eased onto the couch at this point with Cassidy, there to help in any way he could, though it looked like Johann had it pretty well covered. And no wonder; for being in the gang as long as he had, he'd seen his fair share of busted lips, bruised faces, and swollen hands, many of which had come from Lanny and James. It wasn't often that the young man saw such injuries on Cassidy however, and after the fight they'd just been through, he was feeling especially mindful of the bruise she carried, and made a slight face himself when Johann dabbed away at her cut - he understood how much it must be hurting at this point. "If the police come knocking on the door, I'll handle it. It's a simple matter of self defense." To keep Johann from asking too many questions about the incident, only because he was trying to respect Cassidy's desire not to get Duke into anymore trouble, Lanny tried to guide the focus of the conversation in a new direction.

Cassidy*Others

"Mmmph," Johann grunted, and in the old man, it was a sound of denial. "No, it's in the closet; too thick for the drawers on that piece-of-crap dresser." Cass burst into giggles then, and got a curious look from her uncle, who was gazing at her as if he wondered whether the blow to her head was having an impact on her faculties. But soon enough she recovered, and explained, "Actually... I think it's down at the foot of my bed somewhere. I did a little... rearranging in the closet." 'Rearranging' didn't quite capture the way that she'd strewn the contents of the closet all over the floor of the bedroom, but the old man smiled in good humor. "So long as it 'rearranges' itself back in again in some fashion before tonight - I saw that pile of dirty socks on my bed and I am not sleeping in that." Cass laughed again, and set the ice on her knee for a moment as her uncle came back to her with some ibuprofen - a little something for the pain, but more importantly something that would help reduce the swelling. She slugged them down with the glass of water he'd offered her, and put the ice back in place. "Even if they do swing by, you know it'll only be a formality. With this on my face, we probably won't even get a bill for the broken dishes."

Laurence Zelkovii

The young man was immediately aware of where Cassidy's giggles had come from. He even produced a lop-sided grin at thinking of the mess that had been brought out of the closet and piled in different heaps in the room, despite the fact that it had only happened because Cassidy needed a reason to distract herself at the time. "Good luck sorting through that mess. I think I even saw a spatula in there?" Lanny quirked a look at Johann, "Did you forget where the kitchen was?" He couldn't really blame the other man, considering that his own apartment was less than tidy, and he often spent a good amount of time hunting for things that would be simple to find if only he put them back where they belonged. "Yeah, I'm not too worried about the cops, unless they sound Sohmers our way." He rolled his eyes when he said the name, referring to one of the few cops on the force who didn't accept bribes and wasn't corrupt.

Cassidy*Others

"Eh - Raine had half my kitchen out playing 'bang the pot' a couple nights back." That question, coming from most anyone else, would have gotten a grunt and perhaps a vague mutter as to the fact that they should mind their own business - that Lanny's joke got such a... almost friendly response out of him indicated that he'd become accepting of the young man as part of their family unit. Of course, the fact that he hadn't immediately accused Lanny of wrongdoing when Cass had come running into the apartment and had allowed the young man to be the main comforter in that situation also implied that he was trusted on a more important level than just as gang co-head. "Well, I'll tell you one thing - if that dizziness doesn't let up pretty soon, you're going nowhere, much less to the bay." The man was shaking his head at the sink, and Cass knew better than to object - if he didn't argue her down, Lanny would. "That just means that it'll have to go away."

Laurence Zelkovii

A small laughter rose out of Lanny, "I guess that means we should expect to find other odds and ends around the place?" He'd never thought twice about making the previous comment, and had sort of just settled in with this small family and become a part of it without thinking too much about it. Things had been less then smooth at times, particularly the shooting incident, but all in all... the young man was comfortable with where he was, and part of that had to do with Johann being accepting of him playing a much larger role in the lives of Cassidy and Raine. "We can hang out here for an hour or two, and see how you are after a bit of food and rest." Lanny was right with Johann in not wanting the young mother up and about after such a blow to the head, unless they were both sure that she was going okay. "Do you think you can handle eating anything?"

Cassidy*Others

"She's quite the blossoming musician," the old man quipped by way of answer, to indicate that they could probably expect to find any random kitchen tool - aside from Johann's extensive collection of kitchen knives - in all kinds of unusual places. "She likes to pretend to cook too," he went on, and Cass smiled faintly, indicating that she understood the quiet pride and affection it aroused in Johann to know that the child was already showing an interest in cooking that would provide many happy hours of collaboration between them in the kitchen, as she got older. To think that she had inherited his love for cooking was something that touched the stoic old man deeply, and in keeping with that mood, Cass leaned and lay her head on Lanny's shoulder, a fond look on her features. "Lanny's right though, missy - you'd better give that head of yours a rest for a while, and then after a while-" "Okay, the next person who says anything about 'rest' or what I can 'handle' is going to get a punch in the nose, I swear! I've heard nothing else from the two of you for a year!" That was an exasperated statement as Cass sat up straighter, but she wasn't angry - she was just a little over-tired of being looked after, when she was accustomed to relying on her own strength. Johann knew how to handle it though; he turned a mischievous smile at Lanny, and muttered conspiratorially, in a volume that the woman would clearly hear, "Okay Lanny - you take 'rest' and I'll take 'handle'... teach it to Raine, and Cass'll love those words."

Laurence Zelkovii

The child's want to play with kitchen utensils when she had plenty of normal toys to indulge in hadn't been lost on Lanny. Nor had the loud clanging and banging of pots, pans, and such that always occurred. He put up with the ruckus and the occasional mess without a fuss, something that Lanny might not have been quite so tolerant of if he was still drinking as heavily as he had before, and had the usual hangovers to deal with. "Before you know it, you'll have a helper in the kitchen." He didn't quite understand the level of pride that Johann felt about this that Cassidy did, if only because the young woman had grown up with him and he'd only been here for the last several months. Still, he knew it was something of a highlight for Johann. "Eh, we can watch a movie or something." Lanny suggested, and sort of leaned in as Cassidy rested her head on his shoulder, expressing his mutual content at their closeness. The Zelkovii brother got a cheeky look in his eyes in the next instant however, "It wouldn't be too difficult a word to teach her, you know. Her vocabulary is starting to take off already."

Cassidy*Others

Johann made a small groaning sound, but with her head on Lanny's shoulder and the young man leaning in, Cass whispered, "Don't let that old faker fool you... he would just love to have more tiny feet under him, right where he can trip over her." Fortunately, Johann was still in the kitchen, so he wouldn't be able to hear her as she continued, "Some of my very fondest memories are in that little kitchen." This was the Cass that no one else got to see - not even Johann, since she wasn't going to discuss it with the old man himself. "I swear... when I'm old and gray, I'll remember him there at the counter, a knife in one hand and a baby on the opposite hip, a phone propped between one ear and a shoulder, talking in large words I couldn't understand." She smiled, and her eyes closed in contentment, letting the other stressors fade for a few moments. By the time they opened again, the old man was moving back into the room and seating himself in his worn, threadbare armchair - Cass was relieved to note that he had an ordinary Coke in his hand, rather than his whiskey bottle. She let a few seconds go by, rolled her eyes at the both of them for their teasing, and then brought up the reason they'd come home. "Johann..." she ventured slowly, using his first name as she almost always did whenever there was gang business involved. Certainly, it got his attention, and he turned his eyes to her. "Hold that still, my girl." He reminded her strictly when she almost moved the ice down, and she put it back in place to please him before going on. "Kenny's payment came up half short. James came to see us at the cafe." Johann's eyes widened subtly, but he didn't react beyond that. "Bet he was pissed."

Laurence Zelkovii

Lanny found relaxation in the moment too, after the round he and Cassidy went not too long ago. It assured him that all was mostly well between them again, and in the few minutes of quiet downtime, the young man mulled over the misunderstanding that led to the verbal fight in the first place. "He always has been a multitasker. I'm not sure I'd trust myself with a knife in one hand and a kid in the other. Not at the same time at least." He laughed a little, quietly so that Johann wouldn't catch on to the fact that they were talking about him. Eventually their quiet moment had to come to an end, because they couldn't long put off what their encounter with James at the cafe. Lanny took on a more sober expression and picked up the discussion after Johann's comment. "Pissed doesn't describe the half of it. He's wanting to talk to you today, and I can't say whether he'll have cooled off some, or whether he'll be stewing more." He sighed, "Whatever happened to it, I've got to come up with the missing portion and have it delivered to Kenny by tonight. From there... we'll have to see if we can't find what happened."

Cassidy*Others

"I guess he kinda had to be, raising me on his own and still directing the gang's attacks." She knew all too well that Johann had been very busy while she was growing up; that had been one reason why she'd spent so much time at James and Lanny's house, as a child. Because at some point, even the grumbly, tough old man had to find time to sleep. They didn't have a chance to continue on that line of fond discussion, because there was the need to cover the imminent disaster that might occur if Kenny wasn't paid. "Well, you can't blame him... Kenny's not the kind to snap at random or anything, but there is the whole idea of where it could have gone. And of course, we don't come up with that five grand, and it's going to be an issue, no matter how patient he is." Certainly, Johann knew how important this was, and with James' capacity for temper and attitude, he wasn't surprised that the young man had immediately gone to the cafe to confront his brother. "I followed the withdrawal of money from our funds last night... the whole ten thousand, and it was all there this morning. You didn't touch it Cass?" She shook her head, and Johann nodded - he'd asked only as a formality. "And it was all there when you left, Lanny?"

Laurence Zelkovii

Lanny moved one arm around Cassidy while she was leaned against him, and the other was stretched out over his leg, with a finger tapping in a distracted way against his jeans. He'd put the confrontation with James on the backburner when Duke showed up, but now it was flaring to the forefront of his thoughts and bringing with it a certain dread. "He tried pinning the blame on one of us at first. I know he didn't mean it, he trusts us, but it goes to show how wound it he is about it. And even if it was my responsibility to see the delivery go through, he's ultimately responsible as the gang head." His blue eyes darted, flicking about in animation, but at nothing in particularly while he was thinking so intently about what could have happened to the money. "Yeah, I know it was there.. I-" A mark of frustration worked into his expression and he shook his head, "-I counted it last night, and it was all there. I know it was all there this morning. The only possibility is that someone took it between the time I dropped it off, and when Kenny picked it up. It wasn't there long either."

Cassidy*Others

The old man shook his head and ran a hand over his bald scalp; it would have been a nervous gesture in others, but it was merely an idle motion in him. "Doesn't surprise me... he's always had a bit of a temper, and when he's nervous over something, it's worse. And he's got good reason to be nervous about this one." Johann himself didn't sound nervous, but the stiffness to Cassidy's body that Lanny would feel wasn't for how he'd laid an arm around her; it was for knowing too well what sort of responsibility was laid upon James, and what consequences the unfortunate circumstances might have if they weren't immediately rectified. "Nevertheless," the man went on, when he'd finished listening to Lanny, "the money was left alone for a few minutes. Which gave someone opportunity to make off with it. And I doubt seriously that someone would be able to do it if they weren't intently aware of some of our movements and strategies. In a detached, strategic sort of sense, I can understand why he might suspect someone in the gang. But frankly, I don't think any of the guineas are that stupid, and the rest have been with us long enough that I hesitate to implicate any of them, either." Thinking along those lines, Cass was nodding, and spoke up. "The matter of the money itself isn't so much the object..." she murmured, her tones pondering, as though she were thinking aloud. "Johann can move a little out of a few accounts in the city that won't miss the amount, and put together another cash payment in a few clicks on the computer; we can always replace the money later. If it were a larger amount, I'd be worried, but five grand is no big deal. No... this person wasn't after the money, I don't think. They're making a statement..." She faded off, and her eyes suddenly became a little more concentrated. "They want to send a message. The question is... what's the message?"

Laurence Zelkovii

Lanny was doing his best to recall the events of the morning, from the time he woke up, when he took the money, and when he dropped it off. What cars were around the area? Was there anyone suspicious looking lingering around, watching him? No... he'd specifically looked to make sure there were no Akatsuki or any number of the other gangs hanging around. Maybe they'd been hiding in wait... maybe they'd followed him there and he hadn't noticed? Belatedly, the young man shook his head, agreeing with Johann, "I can't imagine anyone from our gang would have done it. Very few of them even knew about the drop as it was... no, it couldn't have been one of them." Or could it? A myriad of possibilities were playing through his head as he tried to come up with an answer for several thousand dollars being missing, but nothing he could recall from this morning raised a red flag in his mind. "For taking half of the money, there's no question that it has to be a message. But you'd think they'd have made it clear who took the money? Unless we're still waiting for the punchline."

Cassidy*Others

"It's meant to cause tension," the young woman stated with a firm nod, indicating her certainty in this idea. "Part of the significance of this is definitely to make us think that there is something wrong in our own ranks. Obviously, it's partially worked with James." Johann's eyes turned to her, his expression unreadable, but his next question was harboring a tiny bit of interest. "So what you're saying is that this person or persons has reason to want to cause a rift. Which brings a whole different layer to this." She nodded again, and closed her eyes in order to better concentrate on her line of thought. "The identity of the sender is not important; what we need to concentrate on is the message. Once we figure out what the message is, it may very well lead us to the sender." Johann was watching his niece intently, partly out of concern for the ongoing dizziness he knew she must be feeling, and partly considering what she'd been saying. "How certain are you of that, my girl?" She didn't flick her eyes open again, but her face got serious. "Pretty durn. It just doesn't... feel like the messenger is what we should worry about."

Laurence Zelkovii

"Tension?" That idea hadn't crossed Lanny's mind yet, but now that it was mentioned, he added it to the various ideas floating about in his mind. "That's a good point." He nodded after mulling it around, "Whoever took the five grand, it was about more than just the money, or they would have taken it all. What I want to know is, why are they trying to make this statement, or start this tension? From all we've been gathering, none of our rivals are in a position to usurp us. Why cause tension in the first place?" Lanny trusted Cassidy's intuition on this, and had to agree that causing tension within the gang was a very likely goal for whoever took the money. What he couldn't figure out was the reasoning behind it, other than one of their rivals trying to weaken them from the inside out before making a more decisive blow. "Whoever they are, they're messing with the wrong crowd. We'll just have to be more vigilant about our moves from now on."

Cassidy*Others

Johann downed the last of his Coke with a decisive gulp and used the back of his hand to wipe away a tiny bit that had escaped him, to prevent it from drizzling down his jaw in a comical way. He wiggled the tab until it popped off, and then dropped it down inside the can - something that Cass always teased him about, but didn't have the attention to joke about now; between the pain in her jaw, which was only just now beginning to fade as the medicine kicked in, and the need to concentrate on the matter of why the money had been taken, she didn't have the attention to spare. "That's easily enough answered, Lan," she replied, opening her eyes and turning them to him. "They know that they can't take us down by brute force; we've got too tight a hold on the city. But if they can drive a wedge into the middle and force the various members apart by casting suspicion onto one or the other, it could potentially weaken the gang enough to make our efforts at defense disjointed and clumsy, which would offer them the upper hand." Even her superiorly-trained, manipulative mind didn't come up with the idea that perhaps this was directed more personally at Lanny than at the gang itself, but then they hadn't any evidence yet to suggest that. Johann was nodding, seeing sense in her words, and finally got to his feet. "Well, at any rate, let me go in and work the five grand out of my computer... you should be able to take it out of the gang's accounts in less than forty five minutes, and get it to Kenny. And after I've got that done, I'm moving the computer... I've decided it would do better against the wall beside my bed in there, to make room. Raine's bed will need to be converted to toddler form, once she gets her big-girl braces next week, and-" "No you won't either," came Cass' stern warning, and her eyes went to Johann like a pair of lances. "You want that behemoth moved, then Lanny will do it. You're not supposed to be lifting."

Laurence Zelkovii

"Good luck trying to drive a wedge between the gang. Whoever they are, they underestimate our loyalty, and they're fools to think something like this would have any lasting impact." He felt confident about that, even though his older brother's reaction earlier today was not the most understanding or controlled. Surely, a talk with James about their thoughts on the missing money would clear things up... after he'd had time to cool off, and after Kenny's entire payment was secured. "I'll speak with James about this before he gets a hold of Johann, and hopefully he'll have tamed down by then. And even after we've gotten the payment lined up, if I know him right, he's going to want to find whose responsible for this in the first place. We can't have this happening again." It made Lanny feel better to have reached an understanding, or at least a very likely one, and to start getting a plan in place to take care of it. The most important right now was having Johann wire the five grand and have it ready by the end of the day, and as the uncle got onto that topic, another one came up. "You show me where you want that, and after lunch, I'll get it moved for you."

Cassidy*Others

"Don't let's get too cocky about it," Cass warned, knowing that the gang had an intense level of loyalty, and yet remembering too well James' earlier ferocity. "Your brother's more temper-prone than you are; I'm not saying he's foolish, but he tends to let bravado go first and try to smash his way through with that before trying a more clever way about it. It's appropriate for most situations we find ourselves in... but not all of them. And if this is a game being played with us, as we suppose it to be, then we'll have to use something other than brute force to take this person out. Convincing him of that when he's uptight like he is... that's going to be a challenge." She wasn't afraid of James, not by any means - they'd grown up together, and even if she hadn't known that the elder Zelkovii had been raised not to hit girls, she would not have been afraid of him. However, his temper was one force that she was slightly wary of, on the rare occasion when it overrode his reason. It didn't happen often... but after all, no one was perfect. "And I still say there was something more to it than just Kenny's payment." By this time, the old man was getting to his feet - and the mention of lunch captured his attention. "Oh yeah, lunch... you know, I've got a roast in the oven, but I didn't get the potatoes and beans in yet, and-" "I'll get it, Johann... go do your techy stuff." Not wanting to see what sort of damage the old man might do to his fingers with his knives with the remnants of that medicine in his system, Cass sent him away with a gentle word, and as he left the room, she put a hand to Lanny's shoulder and stood up. "Here, c'mon. At least my fingers still work. Can you peel potatoes without shredding your fingers?"

Laurence Zelkovii

Despite the gravity of the situation, Lanny drew up a half-grin, "Cocky isn't the issue. We've had this town for as long as I can remember, a little threat like this isn't going to change that now." Truth be told, he was worried about it, because it was so atypical of the usual threats that they got from their enemies. Usually acts against them left no questions as to who the culprits were, and more often than not, a firefight was enough to settle matters. On other occasions, the use of the local police force or blackmailing got the job done in the end. But this was odd, and Lanny couldn't help but wonder if there was some connection with the crash that was meant to take out Cassidy, but instead saw Johann in the hospital with a busted arm. "Don't worry about James, he's just been under a lot of pressure lately. I'll handle him once the money is in order." Not that Lanny was looking forward to talking with his brother, but if anyone could make James see past the red, Lanny was it. On a less volatile note, potatoes sounded like an easier job to tackle, and provided Lanny with something to keep his hands occupied, "I can sure give it a shot." The young man watched Cassidy stand up, looking specifically for any indication that her balance was still off; he felt the instinctual need to ask if she were okay, but he held back, knowing that she'd heard enough of that today.

Cassidy*Others

If the young woman realized that Lanny was genuinely worried by all this, she didn't indicate it in any way; after all, she felt that she'd probably freaked him out enough in the bedroom by quoting back to him the sort of things that were running through his head, down to the kind of gun he had tucked in the small of his back. So she kept quiet, covering her concern with a smile, and got to her feet, using the back of the couch to help her get there, but admirably sturdy once she was up. Apparently, the lack of balance was fading some. She bent briefly to set the bag of ice on the coffee table, and then turned toward the kitchen, even as the click of keys in the next room indicated that Johann had set right to work. "Good... that way we can keep all of Johann's fingers on him," she murmured in reply, and as she reached the kitchen, she pulled open a drawer and fetched the peeler. Another bend down and a look behind a cupboard door produced a bag of potatoes, and a reach to the door over her head brought forth a large pot to boil them in. "You peel, I'll cut - and do try not to take off any fingerprints while you're at it. Hey Johann - what do you want in these?" She raised her voice for the old man, who responded without ever missing a beat on the keys. "Dillweed, rosemary, onion and garlic powder, and a dab of parsley. Salt and pepper. Boil to half-done and pop 'em in the pot with that roast. That'll do the rest." "Got it." That information gathered, she turned back to the pot, beginning to fill it with water, and gave a quiet question to the young man. "Pressure? Anything I should know about?" It was a seemingly-idle query... but then so little with Cass ever was truly idle.

Laurence Zelkovii

Even though Cassidy showed no problems standing or keeping her balance once she was up, Lanny was right behind her to monitor her movements just in case. He tried to be discrete about it though, since she was not one to be coddled and he knew her well enough to understand that she didn't like to be doted on and treated as if she couldn't properly care for herself. "Personally, I say we hide all his knives while he's on that medication." It was a joke, and spoken just as quietly as Cass's comment to avoid Johann's detection. He went quite then while Cass went about getting the instructions for the portion of the meal they were preparing, and used that time to take out a cutting board and a knife for himself, so that he could cut up the peeled potatoes when they were ready. When he spoke next, it was in a tone that was lower, and meant for Cassidy's ears only. "I'm not entirely sure about the details..." Lanny started with some caution, without sounding too concerned about the issue himself. "..but I know he's been in contact with the Elders recently. I haven't dared ask him what it's concerning, but needless to say, any talk with the Elders is going to cause some anxiety. Especially for him, with all the responsibility he's shouldering."

Cassidy*Others

"I'm in agreement with that," the young woman answered, taking up the first potato and passing it to Lanny for peeling. A knife plopped into her hand a second later and she gave it a deft twirl as she waited for him to hand the potato back so that she could chop them up; after all, she was the main blade-bearer in this house, and frankly didn't want to see what would happen if she let Lanny take a crack at it with a sharp utensil. "Try and get those shavings in the trash can - we need a new broom." She turned and dragged the tall kitchen trash can over close to Lanny to facilitate easier aiming - and had to control herself very carefully to keep a hitch from coming into her movements when the Elders came into the conversation. As she turned back to the counter, she went on casually, "Oh? Yeah, I can imagine that would worry him a bit. Anything involving the Elders is always intense." She reached up and tucked her long hair into the back of her t-shirt in order to keep it out of her way, and went on, "Still doesn't explain to me why he's wailing on you, though. James has a temper, but he's very rarely unreasonable Stressed or not... it seems strange to me."

Laurence Zelkovii

Lanny fished around in the drawer until he came up with a peeler, and switched places with Cassidy to let her handle the more potentially dangerous task of slicing the potatoes. "Right..." Brows furrowed, it took the young man a moment to figure out what to do with the peeler, and how to go about applying it to the vegetable; he wasn't a slow person, but it just went to show how rare it was for him to do any sort of cooking or food preparation that didn't involve tossing a box into the microwave and setting a simple timer. After a few seconds of trying, Lanny got a pattern down and was soon flinging shavings of potato skins into the trash, and in no time was passing off the cleaned tuber to Cassidy for chopping. "I've only talked with them a few times, and you can believe I was sweating bullets. And I'm not the gang's leader." He reached for another potato and began to shave away at it. "I don't know... I mean, I can see how he's under a lot of pressure to show that he's got things under control. And here I flubbed up a simple transaction, and that looks bad for me and him." Only a moment later, he shook his head, "But you're right; there's got to be more to it than that. I should talk to him about it tonight, see what's really up."

Cassidy*Others

Doing her best not to giggle as the young man turned the peeler about in mild confusion and examined it as though it were a foreign object, Cass waited until she could take the potato from him, and instantly began showing her uncle's deftness in chopping and slicing. Her eyes never left his face, even while the blade was slicing along only millimeters from her fingertips, threatening to slice them at any moment, and yet never quite succeeding. "Yeah well... nobody likes the idea of being summoned before the Elders. Even Johann's wary of them, after all his years with the Silvers - and I know of very few things that can make him wary." Snakes being one of them, which was something that she found endlessly amusing and would usually joke about, but with as serious as this topic is, the tease was never brought up. "And even though I've never been summoned myself... anything that makes him wary is something that disturbs me. Perhaps because there are so few things that make him anxious." A second later though, her eyes turned intent, and she shook her head firmly. "You didn't flub it, Lanny... this was something deliberate done to us. Don't ever get your facts confused, even in idle conversation; you'd be surprised how much they can indicate your private feelings on the matter."

Laurence Zelkovii

The second potato went a little smoother than the first, though not all of the shavings happened to make it into the trashcan. The fact that his mind was distracted on other topics had something to do with that, too. "They can be an intimidating lot. I remember even when I was little, James and I were there for some ceremony... a wedding or something along those lines. Even then, they scared me." He spoke in a quiet way, as if afraid that those at the very top of the gang's hierarchy might actually hear him. "I can't imagine it's anything bad, I mean... for all that I know, we've been doing good here. We're turning out a good profit, and we've resisted our competition without any major lossess." He was trying to find reasons for staying positive about this, but no matter all the bright sides he was mentioning, there was no telling what James was dealing with right now. "It might have been a deliberate strike against us, but it was done on my watch."

Cassidy*Others

Taking the second tuber from him, Cass made just as quick work out of it as she had the first, demonstrating a deftness and viciousness with a blade that would ordinarily be applied only to the flesh of her enemies; or to her sewing, which was always a source of joking for both of the men in the household. Perhaps there was a tiny bit of unnecessary force behind her work, but that was no stranger than her way of stabbing at anything she was mending - it shouldn't get tied back to any tension on her part that the discussion of the Elders might have brought about. At least, that's what she was banking on. "Yeah, I remember... Johann and I weren't important enough to get summoned to that, thank all that's holy. He always told me that he was the best man at my parents wedding, and after that, never wanted to see anything of the sort ever again. Can you imagine Uncle in a tux?" She giggled, and it was lively and joyous - but mildly artificial, and Lanny knew her laughter pretty well by now. So she jumped past that rather quickly and instead moved onto the matter of who was to 'blame' for the catastrophe of the missing money. "Lanny, don't ever take up a burden that isn't yours. It weighs down on you. It's that sort of thing that you always get into, right before James sends me to fetch you someplace. I haven't had to fetch you from anywhere in awhile... don't get me wrong, I don't believe that you're going to go back to it. But taking on that kind of pressure... it's unhealthy. If you'd made some kind of screw up in the delivery or stood there and just watched them take it, then alright, that's your fault. But don't take it up on your shoulders just because no one else is going to take it. Trust me on that... that's what got me into 'the business' in the first place."

Laurence Zelkovii

Lanny's work was lagging behind Cassidy's, making the young woman wait in between potatoes before he got the next one peeled. His lack of attention for cooking, paired with his general lack of skills in that area, also led to a few potatoes being passed on with bits of skin still attached, or with eyes that he hadn't bothered to dig out. "The one good thing about it is, if they're planning on some event, we'll get to travel." It was reaching a little far, since he had no idea what the Elders were contacting James about in the first place, but he was trying to keep the talk more on the positive side - partially to allay his own anxiety over it. Going along with that, he laughed lightly at imagining Johann in a tux. "That'd be something to see." What he couldn't be so positive about was where to place the blame about the missing money. "I know Cass, but... it's a complicated matter. If it's not my blame, it's my brother's. That's how the Elders will see it." He turned up a quasi-grin to try and come off as less bothered as he really was, "Don't worry about me going to the bars. I've got enough to worry about than being plastered during times like this. Then I'd really be in some hot water."

Cassidy*Others

"Well, there's that," the girl replied, reaching to take the next potato as soon as it became available, dispatching it just as cleanly and easily as she did almost everything else. The tapping of keys in the background were a soothing thing to her, helping to keep her calm as she covered the tension-filled subject of the Elders. "I was born and raised here, and I've never really been important enough to get invitations to anything... I've never been outside Atroe in all my life. Might be nice to see a little something outside this little town." She shrugged a bit to keep that from holding too much significance, and smiled faintly. "I've always wanted to... heh, no. No, no - you'll laugh." She giggled, and shook her head some, sending the dark red hair flying a little, which further helped to draw attention away from how uncomfortable she was. She didn't seem too shy about addressing how she felt about Lanny taking the blame for himself though. "Yes... I understand that. It doesn't mean that it's not stupid, though." She shrugged, kept her eyes averted for a few moments, and then finally turned to look at him. "You promised me you were done with that Lanny, and I believe you. But what concerns me is, since you're not going out drinking anymore... what are you going to do?" That was a soft, tentative question - built more out of concern for Lanny himself than any real worry over what the Elders thought. Which indicated how very much she'd become attached to him. "I don't care so much about what they think... I just don't want you taking blame for something you didn't do."

Laurence Zelkovii

Past the sound of tapping keys in the background and the thump of Cassidy's knife slicing against the cutting board, Lanny was waiting for the familiar ringtone of his cellphone that would tell him his brother was calling. So far, they'd heard nothing from him, and he hoped it'd stay that way until they had the money wired for Kenny, and possibly a suspect lined up for who stole the money. "It's been a good three or so years since James and I went to see them. If we do go anywhere, you can be it'll be to a big city. One of those ones with the tall skyscrapers and taxi cars every five feet. And fancy restaurants." He laughed a little at the thought of their last trip to a big city, and how vastly different it was compared to the small, secluded Atroe. The excitement of that almost took the edge of the great anxiety over potentially meeting with the Elders. Almost. In the very least, it was a lighter topic than the one Cass was following, and Lanny moved quickly to assure her that all was well with him, whether he felt that way or not, "Don't worry so much about it, Cass. Maybe I'll go to the gym with Johann, and work off some steam." He tried to pass that as a joke and as a means to work around her worry, when really it was an almost subconscious attempt to avoid talking about the subject in any depth.

Cassidy*Others

The young lady shook her head, the pair of dangly gold earrings she was wearing swaying a little and flashing in the light, detracting a little attention from the spread of purple and blue on her face. "Geeze... I'm a small town girl, Lanny. What would I do in a big place like that?" Proceeding through another potato with precision movements, she moved to mix in the other ingredients prescribed by the old man while waiting for Lanny to provide her with something else to tend to with her blade. "I don't even have a reason to do any shopping anymore - seems like more and more nowadays I'm in a pair of cut-off, raggedy blue jeans and a t-shirt, and bare-footed with Raine on my hip. Half the time, I don't even get my hair straightened in the morning." The curls in the dark red hair were really a lot prettier than the times when she straightened it, as they framed her face nicely and gave her a more delicate, gentle sort of look - for one thing, the curls made the blue eyes that could be so sharp look softer and more forgiving. But Cass ever declared the difficulty involved with having to care for her curls, even though she'd all but stopped straightening them after Raine was born, due to lack of time, what with the need to care for the little girl. A moment later, she laughed at his declaration that he might go to the gym with Johann later, and rolled her eyes in exasperation. "And get a call from the gym to come pull the two of you apart? No thank you!" She giggled, and about that time, the old man in question emerged from the bedroom, putting an end to the more somber end of their talk. "Got the funds transferred, Lan - you can pick it up in about thirty minutes."

Laurence Zelkovii

Lanny gave a chuckle, "And I'm a small town boy, but you've got to admit that it'd be something fun to experience." A slightly mischievous grin came over his face and he turned his eyes to give Cassidy a questioning look, "Plus, I heard what you said earlier. What is it you've always wanted to do?" When it came down to it, he had to agree with Cassidy though. He did enjoy going to the big cities now and then on the rare job-related trips, but he couldn't see himself moving from Atroe City. It was an entirely different world out there, and not one that he thought he'd ever be ready to fit into. Before he could make a jesting remark back about going to the gym, Lanny called out to them with welcome news. "Okay, thanks Johann." It brought a small sense of relief to Lanny, who finished up withe latest potato and handed it off to Cassidy. "I guess I'll help you finish up here, then make my run to Kenny's. And I might as well have a few words with my brother, and hopefully cool him off some to save you and Johann from some of his temper."

Cassidy*Others

"Oh, no - you'll laugh," Cass answered, for once looking almost... bashful when he took the moment to question her about what she wanted to do. "She wants to go para-sailing," the old man chimed in, and Cass darted him a look of surprise - she hadn't been aware that he knew about this. Not that it was something that was private or anything, but she hadn't ever discussed it with him. She smiled, and tossed a glance to him as she worked through the last potato and turned the heat on to get them going. "Is there anything you don't know?" She asked, and the old man flicked a soft smile at her. "Many things," he answered, and lifted a shirt from her mending basket. "For one, I don't know how this barbecue stain got on my shirt." She laughed, musical and content, and then returned her attention to Lanny. "This'll take a bit to get ready anyway - I bet it'll be just finishing up by the time you get back."

Laurence Zelkovii

The young man's eyes were fixed on Cassidy, ready to hold his gaze on her and press for the secret that she was trying to keep back, all in good nature of course. His dimples deepened along with his grin, "Me, laugh at you? Nah." There was some sarcasm, since they were both known for teasing each other. Yet before he could try to get any further with her, Johann spilled the beans. "Para-sailing huh? With the big parachutes and the like?" He'd half expected to hear something about shopping or going to a certain landmark, though he knew she was not at all into shopping. "I'd like to try my hand at that too. And a bit of jet-skiing would be fun. The waters around here are too rough for any of that most of the year, and you about have to wear a wetsuit to deal with the cold." Well, maybe there were a few things he'd like to change about the small town he lived in, but it wasn't enough to make him want to move away from Atroe. "Back in time for dinner? Perfect."