One left (Open)

[Tah Savage]

SPOILER: Click to show

music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhHYDFc4Rck

January 18th, 2013 - not far outside Crow territory

---

You're right. Your boss IS a scary one. If you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods again, don't be afraid to look me up if you just want someone to talk to. Bring the dogs even, I miss those cute little pooches.

M.P.

Tah closed his hand on the crumpled note again, for the hundredth time or maybe more, a wrinkled crease in the paper for each time his confidence flickered unusually bright (but only ever momentarily). He slid the note into the back pocket of his black jeans.

This comfortable, trustworthy pair of pants had seen better (and worse) days: back in high school, and when there suddenly was no high school, and then when daily life consisted of hunting down and breeding wild animals for the Commander's use and amusement, and finally when Tah found himself on his own again in a world that seemed to have no further use for him, ridden with rips and tears, stained with soot and dirt and blood, but still clinging loyally to his thin frame, were his black jeans. It was nice to have something to count on those days, that was, aside from lingering boredom of unemployment (and the hovering danger of capture [and the nagging curiosity over what had ever happened to everyone, anyway]).

It had been well over a month. No, two months at the very least. It seemed like it must have been longer, but it was mid-November when everyone took off, and now it was still only the middle of winter, sometime in January. Tah's birthday would be coming up, or maybe it had already passed him by. He would be 19 soon... or maybe he was 19 already. It didn't really seem to matter either way, the young man thought, a twinge of cynicism rolling his drab eyes even though he wasn't talking to anyone or even out loud. 

Tah kept his hands snug in the front pockets of his jeans and his eyes rooted to the sidewalk as he wandered down the street in some arbitrary direction that felt like it was the right way to go. Mid-afternoon had the sun a little behind and to his right, throwing his lanky shadow a few paces ahead and beside him. The young man occasionally glanced at the walking silhouette of himself, and pretending it was a stranger, succeeded in both ignoring and annoying himself to a degree just far enough from boredom to keep Tah distracted for the entirety of his walk. 

[Marcus Prasad]

The Anaheim Police station was abuzz with activity as Crow Functionaries and soldiers went hither and thon carrying out whatever task was assigned to them by thier beleaguered leader, who himself was buried under a pile of reports which were scattered across his desk as he paced back and forth in what used to be the chiefs office back in the day. It was here that he got the call, a young man who matched a certain white haired dog trainers description, striking hope back into his heart.
It had been months since that bizarre encounter with Tah and his dogs. Months since that fight with those Mutants. Months since he had encountered the lad yet again deep in the heart of the so called 'Rogues' Territory.

And now the lad had resurfaced.

The word was put out. Tah was NOT to be approached by any member of the Wolfpack or Crows proper.

"Observe him for now. If he wants to approach us I want to make sure it was HIS decision alone to do so."
Taking a deep breath to curb his mounting excitement Marcus put the radio back down onto his desk and ceased his pacing.

Chocolate. He would defiantly have to find some chocolate.......

[Tah Savage]

After some hours spent lurking skirting around the edge of what Tah vaguely knew to be Crow territory, a decision was made. Completely unaware that his presence had already been detected, and obliviously confident that he wouldn't be noticed if he didn't stick around too long, Tah decided to wander in. The plan, or lack thereof, relied on blending in while he looked for someone who stood out, to him. If he didn't spot anyone, then he'd soon leave, and if he did spot someone... maybe just wave or something, and then leave anyway. 

The unassuming young man turned down a street he was sure would lead him straight into the territory if he walked long enough, walking along with his hands in his pockets, without any discernable expression on his face. To anyone who wasn't already keeping an eye out for him, Tah would just seem like an average guy.

[Marcus Prasad]

"Where is he now?"

"Going down Harbor Boulevard sir." 

"I'll head him off at Pearson Park then. You figure he suspects?"

Figure he doesn't sir. Or if he does he has one hell of a poker face."

"Yeah that sounds like our boy Tah."

"You sure about this boss? He might be a plant."

"Lady in Black says we have a truce then I'm more than inclined to believe her. Besides, I have faith and a hunch. S'all I need right now. Alpha out."


Without waiting for a response Marcus took his hand off his radio mic as he stormed through Anaheim towards the park riding on his Motorcycle. Parking Lady nearby, the man would plant himself down on a park bench facing the stretch of road Tah would be walking down.

All he had to do now was wait.

[Tah Savage]

Marcus would see the young man approach, glance at the park bench, promptly but casually turn on his heel, and start walking the opposite direction at the exact same pace. Tah retreated back the way he had come a good dozen paces before he halted again. This time he stood still, head slightly lowered as if he were peering at something on the ground. One of his hands, having emerged from its protective pocket when he turned around, slowly slipped back within. After a moment of regaining his composure (though outwardly nothing had changed) Tah slowly turned around again and began making his way back to the park.

As he neared the bench where Marcus was sitting, Tah's eyes were on the grass. His visage hadn't changed at all, even appearing as though he hadn't even seen Marcus sitting there yet, even looking quite bored and not nervous at all.

"Hey."

Tah stood a few paces from the bench, lifted his head and managed to settle his gaze nonchalantly somewhere just beyond Marcus's head.

[Marcus Prasad]

"Sup."
The man replied casualy with a nod of his head after watching the boy struggle with some inner conflict. He decided to honor Tahs intelligence by dispencing with the usual talks of how 'it took a lot of courage to blah blah blah' and the usual back patting that came with making a decision like this.

"Hope you didn't have too much trouble finding the place. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Anaheim."
He said with a friendly smile, extending his arms out to either side as if to encompass his entire city within his arms.

[Tah Savage]

Tah glanced across the cityscape with mild interest as if he were inspecting it for the first time, even though he'd lived in the area his entire life. He didn't feel the need to mention that, and just nodded, a silent thanks for the welcome.

"Crow city?" he inquired as if it wasn't obvious, just as a sort of lead-in to talk about... the Crows.

[Marcus Prasad]

Marcus would nod his head.
"Yup. Used to belong to what was left of the American government until we essentialy absorbed them. Left in my care if you could believe that. God knows I still have trouble wrapping my head around it."

[Tah Savage]

Tah stared at the man with a straight face, choosing not to comment though what he thought to himself went something like, 'i assumed it probably belonged to the American government because we are after all in America'. But Marcus had a point; America was essentially gone. This wasn't really America anymore, was it? Was America the name of the land independent of the civilization that inhabited it? Tah pondered that one for a long moment. It would appear that he had trouble wrapping his head around it, too.

"Well uh," Tah began, panning his gaze somewhere else that still was not Marcus' face, "would it be cool if I stayed here then? Y'know.. like, with Crows or.. whatever."

He glanced at Marcus then, for just a moment. Then he shifted his attention nonchalantly elsewhere, and shifted his weight onto the other foot with his hands still in his pockets-- trying to look kind of cool, but not too cool like he was trying to look cool, not desperate or anything; surely not like he had nowhere else to go.

[Marcus Prasad]

The man had to surpress a fit of giggles at seeing the lad try so hard to play it cool that he nearly went full circle and make it look natural. An interesting feat to be sure!
"Hmm."
Marcus grunted thoughtfully as he looked the young boy over now that he had a chance to do so in the full sunlight. Tah was definitely a distinct person. Marcus actualy was having a tough time pinning down his heritage. Green eyes, blonde hair but the skin tone.....

Strange but intriguing.

"Anaheims big enough I think."
He finally said with a shrug and a warm smile.
"We'd love to have ya. You can think of the Crows as something more of an orginization than a real 'gang' or Militia. We oversee our spheres of influence but we try to manage with as little impact in the average citizens day to day life as possible. Luckily we have full housing and communal food production programs that are counted and rationed out. Means you'll never go hungry and we won't be sticking you in some filthy ass tent out in the middle of buttfuck nowhere."

A short spiel, but there would be more to come. If Tah was serious in his desire to settle in Anahiem or even in one of the other Crow 'cities' he would have to be familierized with how things worked under the Crow umbrella. Slowly but surely of course.

Slowly Marcus would rise to his feet, give a brief yawn and stretch his arms out before shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.
"If you want I can give you a tour. Let you get the lay of the land so to speak."

[Tah Savage]

Little impact... full housing... never hungry... no filthy ass tents... not buttfuck nowhere.

Tah nodded inwardly at this, though outwardly he appeared to stare at Marcus with the same disinterested drab-eyed teenager look about him, his jaw slack behind emotionlessly closed lips. Realistically, it would be impossible for him to express his interest in any other way. Tah calmly dissuaded the blonde hair from his hanging over left eye with a slight tilt of his head.

"Yeah that would be cool," he conceded, without sounding too interested.

[Marcus Prasad]

"Cool?"
Marcus asked with a smirk and a raised brow.
"Oh be still your enthusiasm young man, it threatens to overwhelm us both."
With a laugh he rose to his feet slowly and made a show of dusting his knees off before reaching into his jacket pocket and tossing Tah a single Hershey's Kiss with a flick of his wrist. he found the little wrapped nugget of chocolate and the rest of the bag he kept in his jacket pocket while rummaging around one of the medical tents.

Privileges of being Grim indeed.
"Well common boyo, lets get this show started."
He called over his shoulder as he began to walk out of the park and down the street towards the nearest habitable section of Anaheim.

Nellies Block.

All of Anaheim was divided into residential blocks after the Great fall. Self contained communities built up around the many Communal Farms and the Private wells that fed the city. Each block contained probably over 100 different family units each.

The Majority of Nellies block was Suburbia with a single long stretch of street full of strip malls and Autopart stores with a church nestled in the heart of it all. The Housing was....Interesting to say the least. Many of the houses too damaged for habitation were bulldozed and the materials used to build up rather ingenious additions to the more stable houses and apartments which resulted in buildings that grew out from each other like fungus or termite hills with patchwork repair jobs keeping everything standing.

[Tah Savage]

For a half-second, Tah's drab gaze went wide and glassy with something like glee as a familiar little shape nestled in the palm of his hand. Then it was gone. Casual, he nodded his thanks and went about unwrapping the foil from the chocolate treat as they walked. He popped it into his cheek and panned his gaze up, seemingly with newfound interest, at the clustered homes like swallow's nests. Like big, human birds... no. No, that was really dumb imagery. Tah shook his head a little and let it slip from his mind.

As they passed by the strip malls and shops, Tah found himself almost with a feeling of... eagerness, or something like it. He was so bored of doing nothing, he'd almost rather be working. Trouble was, he wasn't good at a lot of things.

"There any like... pet stores, or like, uh... animal control, maybe?"

Marcus would probably see where he was going with this.

[Marcus Prasad]

"Unofficially yes."
Marcus answered with a thoughtful expression as they began to encounter various citizens of Anaheim the further into the heart of Nellies Block they travelled. It would seem that fashion in the city followed function over style as the people continued to clad themselves in the clothes they had before the great fall, now only faded, threadbare and patched up.

The effect always reminded Marcus of old photos of the great depression back in the 30's where men stood around trashcan bon fires in tattered suits and the women conversed casually with their neighbors while surrounded by sheet metal slum walls.

And life went on.

"It's a bit of a disorganized mess at the moment though. They catch em just fine, its just what to do with them after that noone can agree on. Some want to just kick them back out of the city, others talk of rehabilitation. Some..."
The man let out a small sigh before adding with a grimace.
"Just want to gas the whole lot of them or even use them as a food source unfortunatly. Not my prefered plan you can imagine."

[Tah Savage]

"Huh."

Tah kept walking, hands in his pockets. He recalled several occasions in the past when his parents had stopped being total hippies for just a second and asked him what he planned to do with his life after he'd graduated high school. He never had an answer for them and they never pressed too hard for one, but coming back to him now were the key phrases they'd used on him, trying to figure out what the hell to make of the boy.

'What do you enjoy?'

I dunno.

'What are you good at?'

Stuff, I dunno.

'Where can you see yourself in ten years?'

Around.

The answers would be a little different now, something more like: 'food and being alive'; 'working with animals'; and 'hopefully still alive'.

"Well I could do that for you. I mean, whatever it is you plan to do with them, I don't care. But I could do that for a job," he spoke, sounding not very enthusiastic, but subtly determined in his own way.