Jace

He blinked, when the ball rolled past his feet, a bit zoned out, and bent, picking it up, but then yelped, flinching, as he heard a bark. He was scared of dogs - he’d had one too many set on him, and they freaked him out. He backed up away from the barking dog - it was huge, and took some deep breaths. It’s ok. Not gonna hurt you. 

“Oh, um, I don’t live in Bess any more. Because I realised that actually while I had a home in her, she was still sort of sleeping on the street. So now she has a drive to live on, and we’ve got some lovely flowers and stuff for her. But, more to, um, the point, you can have your own space! I live with Cian and Alexei. In the house that the... drive belongs to.” 

“Well... I definitely can’t be a... y’know. Prostitute any more.” He mumbled, but took a deep breath, not about to let himself get tangled up in that right now. It was something he’d done, but now, he was different. He was doing better, and that was what to focus on now. “So yeah. I’m gonna try and find something new. Once I stop being scared of... everything. I don’t really know what, because I don’t have any... skills or training or anything, so... Well. I’ll just have to see I guess.”

“I’m still working on it. I’m still kinda sick. I have to go to a doctor a lot. So, it’s not a good idea to be on the streets if you can help it. Um, Bessie is my girlfriend! And also she is a van that I turned into my home. She is very nice, I’m sure she’ll like you.” 

“Um. Well. You see, I was... homeless. For a long time. And it... it sucks. It really sucks and I got... sick, and it’s so cold right now. So, um... you shouldn’t be on the streets. So you can stay with me! In Bessie! I got her when I was kicked out. And I am sure she would be happy to have you.”

“Well, um...” Jace bit his lip a moment, before shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I- You don’t have to be sc-screwed. I mean. I have somewhere you can stay. If you - If you need to. Because you can’t sleep on the... street.” He perhaps shouldn’t be just offering this, but Bessie was still his, and yes, it was their property she was parked on, but he was sure they wouldn’t mind. He was supposed to be making friends, after all.

“Oh... Oh no!” Jace frowned, tilting his head, looking up at the building behind them. “Um... No, you don’t need to apologise. Um- do... do you have somewhere to stay? Tonight, I mean.” He knew how it felt to be alone with no help - he’d known people, but that hadn’t stopped him from going cold and hungry most nights.

When he saw the person who’d bumped into him, though, he held a hand out, to steady him, in case he was going to fall. “Oh- Oh no. Are you ok? I’m... fine.” He’d be bruised, sure, but that was more his fault - he needed to gain weight, and hopefully his counts would start going in their various correct directions, so he could stop bruising at the slightest little bump. “Don’t worry about me, um... what’s wrong?” 

Jace nodded, cuddling Dracarys. “Mhm. I came from... a real small town. I’ve never been anywhere with as many... people as this. And the people I did... know... Well. They weren’t super nice people. I was, um, homeless. And I didn’t have many ways to make money. So I...” He hadn’t told many people this, only Alexei and Cian, but he didn’t want to keep it a secret from everyone. “There were some ways I could make money, y’know. But people would hurt me a lot. So... This is kind of... a fresh start. I have a therapist, and I am working on being trusting. But smart. It’s kind of a lot!” Jace smiled at Daniel - that hadn’t actually been as hard as he’d thought, and he still had his sleeves rolled down, hiding the track marks - one thing at a time.

Jace smiled, rolling back onto his back, slowly enough to let Dracarys hop down into his lap, and petted him gently. “He’s very clever. And brave. I’m very lucky to know him. I’m glad we could help!” He beamed at Daniel, brushing his fingertips over the chinchilla’s nose. “I get scared of stuff a lot. Like this city. And the people. And crowds places that aren’t here. And sometimes when doors slam, especially car doors? I could go on, but... It’s a long list.” He gave Daniel a sheepish smile.

Dracarys emerged, some fluff in his paws, which he dropped, continuing to sniff around. “Oh- did you eat it? That’s kinda gross. I hope you don’t get sick now.” He held his hands out, and the little creature hopped over into his lap, and Jace petted his fur, gently. “There! All sorted.” He hopped the chinchilla up onto his back, and crawled to the bed, flipping the blankets up, showing the empty space underneath. “Nothing here.” 

“No. He says they stole it from him. And that Dracarys is the closest we can get to his true name in our sorry excuse for a language. His words not mine.” He bent down, elbows on the floor, trying to see the chinchilla under the bed. “Oh, he came through to our dimension. Because he didn’t wanna be king. I found him in the remains of his capsule under an underpass. He nearly died! He said in exchange for saving his life I could serve as his peon.” He gave Daniel a look, and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Between us, if I didn’t look after him he would for sure be in trouble by now. He is very used to being a spoiled princeling who gets to do whatever he wants.”

He is Dracarys.” Jace smiled. “His full title is a bit too long for me to remember. But he’s a princeling from another dimension. And, by his own account, a fearsome warrior. So if there’s anything under there, he’ll get rid of it for sure.” He looked over at Daniel, and smiled gently. “There are lots of things to be scared of, but it’s good to be able to do things about the stuff you can.” Dracarys sniffed at the blankets of the bed, sitting up on his haunches, and then vanished under them. “Dracarys isn’t scared of anything.” 

Wally sighed, tilting his head as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He was walking through the park, kicking random mounds of dirt. It was almost his birthday and, while for most people that was a positive, Wally had always hated his birthday. His parents always tried to call and it just caused stress in his life. But for now, he was just trying to not think about it. In his absentmindedness, he felt himself bump into someone and stumbled back, looking up. “Oh… Well my bad. I guess.”