CH 20: Century Park (Howl)

[HSummers]

"Well, you can't have someone biting your style, now can you? But then again, I'm sure the guy is just as stuck with the color silver as you are. Nice to meet you Quicksilver. I'm Howl. I'm fast and strong and tough, like a wolf should be. So, what other choices are there besides these Cavaliers?"

[Renekin Skywalker]

"You could be a villain, I suppose. But then I'ld have to hurt you." Quicksilver quipped. "But, better than that, you could be a Legionaire! We're the true heroes of the city, unbound by the hand of big brother, able to enforce the spirit of the law, and not just the law itself." Like any teenager, Quicksilver was good at spouting rhetoric. Certainly, he didn't seem to see anything wrong. "Except." Here it comes. "The city thinks we're as bad as the bad guys because we're not tied to them. but come one! We're on their side whether they like it or not, you know? And it's, like, what's a hero supposed to be? All that Avengers stuff is just comic books. Real heros are either tools or free to do what they need to do."

[HSummers]

"Heh, I'm sure you could try." Howl looks at Quicksilver for a moment and then says "Show me. Show me your way." Howl is genuinely interested in doing things off the record and his own way. And if he can do it without being in direct opposition to what his uncle wanted for him, he's all over it.

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Cool!" Quicksilver says. "I gotta team! I totally gotta text someone!" He looked around. "You know anyone I can text? My parents think I'm in class."

[HSummers]

Howl looks at Quicksilver oddly as he dodges out of the way of an upcoming light post. "Text? You need to give someone a book?"

[Renekin Skywalker]

"No, text, like as in a cellphone?" Quicksilver says. "Newbie, you are way far behind. Yoo from the fifties or something?" He turned and headed down a sidestreet, slowing a little. "This way! I know a friend who knows a place or two. Daveris. She works in a CD place near here. She can point you to a place."

[HSummers]

Howl slows down with Quicksilver and turns down the side street. "Oh, cellular phone text messaging. I understand now." Howl follows Quicksilver to Daveris' CD place.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Almost suddenly, Quicksilver comes to a stop. "Wait here." he says, and heads around the corner.

After a few minutes, Howl hears a woman talking as Quicksilver and Daveris (yes the same one from the show), round the corner. "... You can't just bring around every hard luck case you find and - Oh! Hello..." She said, pausing. "My goodness." She was obviously looking Howl over, unsure what to think.

Picking up on that, Quicksilver says, "He's legit. I've been checking up on him for a few days. Even the Cavaliers want him, now."

"Then let them. You know what happens when they set their sights on some one. That poor Mei is never going to have it easy." Daveris says. "And, if he's legit, let him use your couch." Daveris wasn't being specifically rude, just talking to Quicksilver.

[HSummers]

Howl looks up as Daveris rounds the corner, bowing as his uncle had taught him and he waits until they both stop talking before he says "I...do not wish to be...bound...by the hand of...Big...Brother." He speaks as though he were just learning how to use his vocal cords. Part of his being raised by wolves left him with a failing grasp of the human language when he was nervous. "I wish to...help this city."
It sounded like Quicksilver's contact was not as solid as Quicksilver previously thought. But worst come to worst, he could always head back over to the Cavalier's station and join up there.

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Charming." Daveris says. "He's gone cave-man to boot."

Quicksilver was making puppy eyes. "Can't you see he needs real people help? The Caveliers would put him in some bunk room."

"Would you stop - Oh, come on. Don't do the eyes." She turns to Howl. "I hate it when he does the eyes. Alright. You want a place? You have an income?"

[HSummers]

"Oh, is that like money? Yes, I have some of that from my time training with my uncle in the army."

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Not just a bit in your pocket, kid." Daveris said. "I mean a steady income. If you don't, you might as well just sign up with the Caveliers and get their pay and use that to find a place."

Quicksilver looked upset at the suggestion. "We can find him a job somewhere, right?" Turning to Howl, he says, "You don,t need to become some rent-a-hero just to make ends meet, right? Look at me?"

"Yes, Quicksivler's very successful. He lives with his parents." Daveris says.

[HSummers]

"I can sleep anywhere. A floor, a park, it doesn't matter to me. I've been sleeping outside since I was 15. If someone could just hold on to my duffel bag, I will be fine."

[Renekin Skywalker]

Daveris rubbed the bridge of her nose. "OK." She says turning to Howl. "Look. You need some kind of income, or you will end up being stuck in the worse kind of rooming house where even Alpha Prime would have to sleep with one eye open. Understand? Comprendez?"

[HSummers]

Howl looks at Daveris as his slight scowl turns into a toothy grin. "Are you offering me a job? Because I'll take it. When do I start?"