forum Stronger than Some // Roleplay with Crocs

Started November 01, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

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"I suppose," he said with a shrug, unlocking the door with a press of a button and slipping into the driver's seat. "Is there any store close by that isn't around Panther territory?"

🙋‍♀

((what))

"Yamoto General. That place we used to go for slushies?" She said, pulling her feet up onto the seat underneath her as she shut the door, again not buckling. "That's the only place I ever took ya that Reapers frequented. 'Cause the Panthers knew better'n to show up somewhere there were at least seven Reapers any given day. Plus, Mr. Yamoto keeps a sword in his can and knows how t' use it."

((Same question I had in the cult chat)

"You treated me like such a baby," he said as he buckled up and shifted into reverse. "I never really understood why the Panthers didn't like me. Seems like they hated me before we even met."
The first time Khione and Raymond had met, actually, was her saving him from a pack of Panthers. They had ran up on him after a practice, shouting about something he couldn't really remember anymore. He honestly thought he was about to die right there until Khione, Rico, and Silas came out of nowhere and fought them off. From then on, he felt like he had another family, even if he had let them know he refused to join their gang.
"I still owe you a secret," Raymond said as he pulled into the street. "Do you remember the first time we met?"

((Ah. oooo secrets))

"The Panthers aren't fans of people who don't align themselves with one side. And who knows, ya mighta made 'em mad somehow." She said with a shrug, snuggling into the seat and closing her eyes. For a moment, she almost looked peaceful. "Yeah, I do. What's your secret that's gotta do with that?"

"When I got home, I had burst into tears as soon as the door shut." If anyone knew anything about Raymond, it was that he didn't cry. It came with his disability. Even when he was watching his father getting lowered into the grave, his tear ducts were dry. "But it wasn't because I was scared or anything. It was because I had found you guys. I don't think I had met a single person who treated me like I was normal before you. Nobody else would've stepped in and tried to stop that and that made me emotional enough to start crying."

Khione's eyes snapped open in surprise as he mentioned crying, her expression softening as he continued to talk. They had really been that important to him? "You fit, Ray. Right into our group, like ya'd been there all along." She said, voice uncharacteristically soft. "You weren't strange to us. Kids said horrid things about ya, but Reapers…Reapers take in the underdogs. That's what we're made up of. You were just another one of the guys, even if ya never really joined us." Family.

"La mia famiglia," he said softly, the only thing he really remembered from taking Italian in 11th grade. "Don't know what I would have done without you guys."
After a moment of silence, he glanced over at her and asked, "Was I really the only non-member allowed in the clubhouse?"

"It sounds like a ten year old's treehouse fort when ya say it like that." She said, shaking her head. "But yeah. There's been one other. At least, ya were one of the only two t' ever be allowed in and out alive. Boss's husband was the only other one, before he…passed away."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, taking a left onto Bass Street, where Yamoto's was located. "He always brought me a pack of Skittles when he walked in. Always a different flavor, too."
In truth, he'd been too scared to speak to the man. He was afraid of slipping up and saying the wrong thing, in turn losing the best thing to ever come into his life.
"Anything you want, you can get," Raymond said as he parked right next to the entrance. "Is anyone that I know here tonight?"

((Because you asked why))
((txet sesrever taht etisbew a otni tsop golb siht deggulp I ezilaer ot elihw elttil a uoy ekat lliw ti ekil tsuj ,oediv siht ni ta gnikool saw I tahw tuo erugif ot elihw elttil a em koot tI))

((… tsop siht fo eulav OES eht niur t’nseod ti sa gnol sa ,lleW ?huh ,revelC))

((.ti evol I .errazib oS .gniyfsitas dna gnitsugsid strap lauqe s’ti dna esrever ni gnitae elpoep fo oediv a edam tsacdaorb skcuB eht, haey ,yawynA))

"Silas is here. So is Jackie. Everyone else…they're members ya never met." Khione said, unfolding her legs without difficulty and climbing out. She didn't stretch this time, just shook one of her legs, before waiting for him. "Mr. Yamoto liked you. You were the only kid who wasn't a goddamn friend."

It was his time to stretch, putting his long arms out as far as they would go and listening to them crack.
"It's cause I'm the only person who hadn't tried to steal from him," he pointed out, walking around the car and heading towards the store.

“Hm. Point.” She said, nodding once in agreement. “One of the Reaper rights of passage is stealing somethin’ from the store, taking it to another member as proof, and then returnin’ It without gettin’ caught. Gets harder and harder the more you fail.”

"Yeah, I watched that happen more than a couple of times," he said, opening the door and listening to the bell above his head jingle. The noise carried with it a wave of nostalgia.

It was junior year for Raymond and senior year for Khione. At that point, the Panthers had started pressing for more territory and had taken over the one basketball court in their area. Khione took him to Yamoto's for some ice cream and to talk to Silas about what had happened. While they were talking, Yamoto saw Raymond's face as he picked out a chocolate tub and had the boy tell him everything. The next day, two basketball hoops had been put up in the back lot and that was where he played from that day on.

"Are the hoops still in the back?" Raymond asked when he snapped out of his stupor, turning to his friend with a wishful look on his face.

Khione's steps faltered for a split second. It was barely noticeable, unless someone was looking directly at her. "They are." She hadn't let anyone take them down. The one time Mr. Yamoto had proposed it to her, she had told him there was no way they could take them down. Other kids might need them, and admittedly, she didn't want to take them down. It was one of the last things that Raymond had loved that she had. "You remember the Kaitlyn I was talkin' about? I've been teachin' her how t' play. Gets her away from Karver Street." Karver Street was the street most dealers lived on or worked from, and too often the foster kids and teens that frequented the streets found themselves there. Khione even had, at one point.

"Is she here tonight?" he asked as he looked around the store. "No offense, but you were horrible at basketball."

The store had hardly changed since the last time he had been there. The 2nd drink fridge's light still flickered ceaselessly, the floor was still stained from various high-jinks that they had done, and the racks that held the food were still rusted and worn. Raymond felt like he was home again, even if his old home was down the street, to the left, and up about 7 stories.

"She is. The cops let her off tonight. Somethin' goin' on up at the Hills." She said, arching a brow over at him. "An' I knew the basics, I just couldn't figure out how t' actually play the game. Theory, not practice. Read every book I could on that damn game."

"Frost! Think fast!" Those three words were the only warning, before a brightly colored can of some drink came flying at Khione, at a slightly dangerous speed. She didn't even blink before catching it, looking it over before tossing it back to the boy who'd thrown it, nodding at him. He grinned, disappearing as Mr. Yamoto came down the aisle, yelling in Japanese. Entirely for show, but the recruits didn't need to know that.

"Did I hear Frost?"

Raymond couldn't help but flinch when the can came flying through the air, raising his hands over his face for a moment before realizing it was all staged.

"Hey, Mr. Yamoto," Raymond said sheepishly, once again realizing how long he'd been gone when he noticed the extra wrinkles on the old man's face.