Who's Your Daddy? (Kiri, Alti)

It had been a long time. Healing and hope had been planted, taken root, and blossomed. Despite the overwhelming pain she endured, she had conquered. She was here. The people chattered to one another happily, discussing prices and frivolities such as weather. Several bright colors caught her eyes, each in turn causing a small squeal of excitement. It seemed familiar somehow, in the back of her mind, where she purposely cut off all memories of her kidnapping. Another day, she had been out with her father, holding his hand as she now held Louis’s, peering inside shop windows as she did now.

“That one, that one!” she exclaimed, pointing at a child inside the window licking an ice cream cone twice her size.

“That one?” Cadenza repeated from Kate’s other side, a bewildered look washing over her face. “Can you… finish that, sweetie?”

She nodded vehemently, beaming, though both Louis and Cadenza knew the six-year-old would never finish so much ice cream. “I’m sure, Mommy!”

“Well, alright, if that’s what you want,” Louis begrudgingly admitted, mentally making a note to get some hot tea going for the surely ensuing stomach ache. “I’ll have some Rocky Road myself, I think.”

Since Kate aced her first “real” test in her class, the three had decided to go out for a treat, namely, the best ice cream shop Kate knew and vaguely remembered from her childhood. Then, of course, afterwards to dinner. Since Kate chose the treat, dessert first it was. She had led them straight to it, although if asked where she used to live or other questions related to her family, she would have no answer.

The three entered the shop, and by the time they finished their purchase and exited, Kate had already half-finished her frozen treat. Unfortunately, being a little girl thrilled with her body full of sugar, she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings. She obliviously smiled, and wasn’t quite looking where she was going. All it took was one wayward cobblestone to cause her to trip, losing the other half of her cone to the rather delighted ants nearby. As per the method Kate most often chose to confront problems in her life, she burst into tears.

Quickly scooped up by Louis, she took solace in sharing his cone, sniffling at the smarting throb in her knee while he propped her up on a nearby table for an outdoor cafe. She placed her bunny on the table just behind her, hiccupping between licks of the ice cream. Louis folded back the edges of her dress to look over the wound, touch gentle as silk when he identified the hurt spot, a tiny cut and bit of skin rubbed away, bleeding only slightly. “Aw, it’s just a tiny scrape, sweetie. You’ll be just fine…”

Cadenza retreated indoors to ask for napkins and soap to clean the scrape while Louis hummed a comforting tune to his daughter, holding her securely in his strong arms. He understood how even the tiniest wound to a child could seem a mortal injury. “It’s okay…” Cadenza returned and swiftly bandaged the cut, cleaning it.

“There we go, sweetie… see? All better…” Cadenza kissed Kate’s knee tenderly.

Kate sniffled, but nodded, feeling more comforted now. It wasn’t far to home, at least that was true. “Okay… we can go to get dinner now…” As the three began to walk away, Louis holding Kate in his arms, they were missing one member of their party- Kate’s Bunny.

“What ARE you?” Havok asked, holding the teddy bear close to his face. The instant he’d seen the fuzzy animal, he knew he had to take it. Now that he had it, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with it. Something about the bear seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite figure out why.

The bear was just like the rest of this town. Everything seemed eerily familiar, though he couldn’t recall having ever been here. Every once in a while a passerby would give him a nod, or say hello, as if they knew him. Was everybody in on a conspiracy to freak him out?

At this moment the serial killer was sitting on a trashcan in a deserted alleyway, trying to make sense of this ridiculous town. He was wearing a white tank top and jeans, and his hair was tied back in a ponytail. If somebody looked at him they would see a confused tourist, rather than an agitated monster.

“This is starting to scare me,” Havok thought aloud, tucking the teddy bear into his satchel. His stomach growled. The pain eater decided to get a snack. One couldn’t figure out such a quandary on an empty stomach, could they? Of course not.

He left the alley and headed to the café from which he’d taken the bear. A sudden idea popped into his head on the way however, and he decided to go to a nearby ice cream parlor instead. On his way he accidentally stepped in some melted ice cream. He fixed an annoyed glare on the mess.

“Hey! Long time no see!” a voice said. Havok looked up at the entrance to the ice cream parlor, and saw yet another eerily familiar person. A woman was waving at him with a smile on her face. He looked the pretty red-haired woman up and down, trying to figure out where he’d seen her before.

“Umm… Hey,” he said, giving her a slight wave in return. Rather than leaving him alone as he’d hoped, the woman strode over to him. He noticed that she was wearing several bracelets on her arm, and her hair had several beads and braids in it. For a brief moment he thought he was looking at Roxxi.

“Aaron, it’s been so long!” she exclaimed. The strange woman gave him a hug, careful to avoid catching his ponytail with her ice cream cone. He slowly returned the hug, his skin breaking out in goose bumps. Havok considered running away, screaming like a little girl.

“Uhh… Yeah, it has,” he said. She broke the hug and looked him up and down with a smile. Judging by the way her smile disappeared, there was obviously something about him that she didn’t like. He arched his eyebrow and looked down at himself.

“You look like you’ve been through a lot,” she said sadly. The man in front of her was far more rundown than she remembered. “I’m glad you’re back in town though. Everybody thought we’d never see you again… Where are you staying?”

“The Bates Motel, room 13,” he answered, desperately wanting this woman to go away. Something about her made him even more uneasy than the teddy bear. Her green eyes, her bizarre clothing style, her body, everything practically screamed at him to spend time with her. Whether that was his mind or some kind of vibe she gave off, he didn’t know. What he did know was that she frightened him.

“Ah, okay. I’ll give you some time to settle in, and then I’ll come see you later, okay? I really want to catch up,” she said, giving him a slight smile. He gave her a nod and a mumbled, “Okay”, and she was off. The whole exchange left him feeling flustered, frightened, and a tad bit happy.

The bizarre medley of emotions swirled through his head as he started on his way back to the hotel, completely forgetting about his hunger.

Kate had picked an Italian restaurant for dinner, and Louis and Cadenza were happy to oblige, no matter what the cost. It was the nicest one in town, they had heard, the Marchesi Grille, and they were said to serve a superb pizza, along with some delicious pastas as well. The adults' stomachs rumbled with hunger as they came up to the entrance, especially Louis'. He'd happily shared most of his ice cream with Kate.

The aromas filtering out of the red-stone building made their tummies grumble all the more as a snobbish-looking host dressed in a fine suit came out to greet them.

"Table for three, Signor?" he asked Louis, raising an eyebrow when he looked over the minstrel's simple attire. Louis shifted a little under his gaze, holding Kate and trying to look like the expression didn't offend him.

"Per noi, sì, tre, Signor," Cadenza cut in, giving the man a smirk.

His slightly smug air dropped for a moment at that as he blinked and nodded. "O-of course." He bowed slightly at the waist, and began to lead them inside, swallowing a little nervously as he walked. He could feel Cadenza's glare on the back of his neck. Rather than stopping them at the desk to pencil in their names and have them wait, he picked up three menus, and took them directly to a table.

"Your table, Signor and Signorinas," he bowed again, pulling out chairs for both Kate and Cadenza, and placing the two adult menus and one children's menu on the table before their places.

"Grazie," Cadenza answered with a smile, picking up Kate and gently setting her down in her polished-cherrywood chair. Louis helped her tie a napkin around her neck like a bib as they all glanced around the beautiful restaurant, taking in the cheerful, but quiet music, the happy murmur of families, and the delicious smells of food.

"You picked a good place, honey," Louis told her with a smile. He leaned over and began to help her read through the menu.

"I want... want this one..." she said, leading her finger along under the word, "spah-get... spah-get-ti...!"

"Good choice!" Cadenza complimented, clapping for her success at reading the word all by herself. "Our daughter is so smart, it's no wonder she aced the test," she gave her a little wink that made the girl beam proudly.

"I think I'll have the same," Louis said, waving over the waiter as he softly ruffled Kate's hair. The man took down their orders, two dishes of spaghetti and one plate of mezzalunas with tomato cream sauce, and three glasses of lemonade, and went into the kitchen, leaving the family alone to enjoy each other's company.

Cadenza glanced around the restaurant at all the families seated around their tables, and thought of how lucky she was.

After they got their drinks, Kate sipped her lemonade, and was just marveling at the taste, when a thought occurred to her. Why should she enjoy it? Why not offer some to her Bunny, too? She reached a hand down beside her chair, and grasped at the empty air. She leaned further down, until she was bending over sideways, her precious animal nowhere to be seen. Uh oh... where... where... was he under her chair? Her hands fumbled along the soft plush of the carpet. She checked.

"Is something wrong, honey?" Louis asked, watching her.

Kate sat up. Panic had seized her. But she felt scared to tell them, as if she would be the cause for ruining such a nice night. She didn't want them to leave... not when they were here and having fun and being a family. She decided, after a moment of reasoning, she could find it herself. After all, the ice cream parlor wasn't that far off, and if she ran, she could make it there and back before they noticed. "Just feelin' the carpet." In a way, it was true. "Mommy? I'm gonna go to the bathroom, okay?" She crawled out of her chair, untying her napkin with a little bit of difficulty.

"Do you my help, sweetie?" Cadenza asked, knowing Kate sometimes had trouble reaching sinks, being shorter than the average six-year-old. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I think I can go by myself," Kate said. She saw her Mommy hesitate. "If I need your help to reach, I'll get you." She smiled.

"Well... alright. But come right back here. Okay?"

"Alright, Mommy." Kate headed first for the restroom, which was conveniently located near the entrance of the restaurant. Making sure neither Louis nor Cadenza was looking her way, she left the building. Time to find Bunny. It didn't take long, but Kate didn't see him in the place she expected. Five or so minutes after sprinting, she arrived at the ice cream parlor. She stopped to catch her breath. He wasn't on the table. She looked around the area. There! Why was he in the trunk of a car? She carefully crawled inside it.

Crazy girl. A pair of flecked brown eyes stared out from a nearby alleyway as the boy munched the remains of an apple, half-eaten, but still ripe. He tossed it aside as he saw Kate crawl inside the car. Half of him wanted to speak up to her. Then again, what if it was her parent's car or something? Chris really didn't want to get involved in another parent situation. He'd had enough trouble with those. Nowadays, most parents who saw him usually called him an urchin of some sort or a troublemaker. He'd like to see them survive on the streets as long as he had. Of course, being so fast and so agile really helped. So far, no policeman had really been able to catch him. There was that one time, though, he had met that one red-headed police lady. She had been pretty fast. And she didn't seem angry, not like the others. Where had she been? Chris didn't remember if it was this town or another. He had traveled a lot during the past four years. He watched from the confines of the darkness.

And the watching continued. Ruin blinked. He had never seen Marcus this intent upon something before. "Something troubling you?" he asked.

Marcus didn't reply. You... what... what are you doing here? Then something happened Ruin didn't expect. Marcus' hair began to lose it's sheen. It turned darker grey, dull, then darker, and darker, until it was a pure jet black. Even more surprising, Ruin watched as his master cried. Marcus bowed his head, wiping his furred sleeve at his eyes. You... you were supposed to stay with them! You were supposed to stay safe and happy! Why are you running? I don't want you involved! The black began to fade, returning to silver, and with it, the scowl on his face. "What are you looking at?" he snapped at Ruin. "Hurry. Bring me some more wine."

OoC: Hahahahaha. I laughed at this. Four people watching one another.

“Irony can suck my Dill Pickle,” Havok mumbled, dragging his feet as he wandered about the town. Despite the city seeming vaguely familiar, he still somehow managed to get lost on his way back to the hotel. He turned into an alleyway and walked for a little bit, before finding himself staring at a dead end.

Giving in to his increasing frustration, the serial killer growled and kicked over a nearby trashcan. A startled cat darted out of the garbage and into the night. Aaron sat on the overturned can and sighed.

“If I had a car, I could find it in no time. As long as it wasn’t a stick shift, anyway,” he thought. Havok surveyed his surroundings. Maybe he could find his way back to the ice cream parlor. If he could find his way back there, there was a chance he’d… What was that noise?

Aaron slowly turned around, and didn’t exactly like what he saw. A gun in his face let him know that he was, in fact, getting robbed. The wielder of the gun was a fairly skinny bald man with a tattoo over his right eye. Havok could faintly smell onion in the man’s breath as he spoke.

“Sorry man, but a guy has to make a living somehow. You know the drill. Gimme all of the money you have, and anything you have that’s worth cash.”

Aaron looked at the gun and broke out in a fit of laughter. The robber nervously shook the gun at his supposed victim and asked, “What are you laughing at?”

“You left the safety on,” Havok replied, before going for the man’s eyes.

~

Samantha drummed her fingers on the dining room table. She was unsure of what she was supposed to do, or when she was supposed to do it. Now that he was back, she certainly wanted to see him, but she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable by smothering him on his first day back.

He’d told her that he was staying at the Bates Motel, so that might be a sign that he wanted to visit with her and catch up on things. At the same time however, he seemed a little confused when she ran into him outside the ice cream parlor. What if he’d forgotten her?

She lightly bit her lip and puffed air out her mouth. If he’d forgotten her, that would truly suck. She sure hadn’t forgotten him. Samantha rarely went a day without thinking about that man.

~

Havok stepped out of the alley in full serial killer apparel. His face was smeared with the wannabe robber’s blood, distinctly spread in horizontal lines over his eyes and across his cheeks. Around his torso he wore a black sleeveless shirt, and he’d replaced his jeans with a kilt.

The pain obsessed monster wore a fedora hat atop his head, and carried his satchel under his arm. Though he was buzzing quite a bit after what he’d done to the robber, he knew that he couldn’t risk being sighted in such a bizarre outfit. He darted off, keeping low and watching for anybody who might see him.

~

Samantha stirred some sugar into her coffee and took a sip. Still unhappy with the taste, she added several more spoonfuls of sugar. On the second taste, she found it far better than before. With a slight smile she took her drink into the living room.

She’d done quite well for herself in recent years. After opening a local café, she’d made the café the most popular spot in town by introducing drinks from around the world. People in the city loved the taste of Tybalt espresso, North Alumbiun double shots, and Billings famous vanilla mochas.

With the money she earned from her business, she’d been able to buy one of the nicest houses in town. It was a two story house with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony, a deck, and a large basement. Having such a house all to herself made her lonely from time to time, but she was happy with it most days.

Samantha sat on her favorite couch and set her coffee down on the table before her. She’d have to invite him over to see the house sometime…

~

“YES! A CAR!” Havok thought, delighted. He tugged on the door and found that its owner had made the mistake of leaving it unlocked. It wasn’t long before he hotwired it and drove off.