The Oak

[Administrator]

Come relax in the shade of this giant oak tree...

[Avalanche]

((NEW DAY: For Jewel))

Avalanche had to love this city. He knew just about everyone in it (just about) and it seems that a lot of his friends were coming back with a vengeance! First Red shows up at his apartment door, then Ace is back and the boys practically start takin' over Brooklyn. He had to chuckle, it was just the way New York worked. If you were a New Yorker, it sure as heck was hard to stay away.

As Avalanche walked through the park he came across a tree. He glanced from one side and then the other. He barely jumped at all, the man was pretty tall after all, just over 6 feet, grabbed on to a lower branch and hoisted himself up into the tree. He climbed around a little until he found a comfortable branch, that wasn't covered in snow, and he laid back and prepared to watch the world go by, all with his usual charming smile on his face.

[jewelkent]

After settling into her bunk, and getting everything fixed up, Jewel decided to take a walk. Somewhere along her travels, she ended up in an area that looked a little like a park.

Now Jewel didn't know her way around the Bronx much at all. So, she hoped she could find her way home. Sometimes, when she walked, she swore she was in another world.

This had happened to her when she ended up on the Brooklyn Bridge after leaving McGinty's, and also when she ended up in the Bronx meeting Lexi.

Just then, she came across a huge Oak Tree in the middle of it. It was beautiful. Jewel couldn't get over how nice evrything was compared to Brooklyn.

Just then, something startled her as she looked up. She saw a very handsome man sitting on one of the branches. She looked up at the man and smiled.

"Why hello there. You scared me half ta death. What are ya doin way up there?" She asked herself.

This man looked familiar to her, but then again...everyone did now-a-days.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche had been whistling a tune as he sat up in the tree and he watched people as they came down the paths through the park. He'd get quieter as they got closer so as not to disturb them, but this girl caught his eye. She looked familiar. Probably a newsie, which in his mind was a sin. He used to know every newsie in New York! They were comin' and goin' so quick these days' he'd lost track of who he knew and who he didn't anymore. This one though, he knew he didn't know So, time to introduce himself.

Avalanche whistled a hello which caused her to look up, and he smiled charmingly down at her, as he would have greeted everyone. His legs gripped a branch. "The question is," he said as he swung himself upside down in front of her face, "why don't people climb trees more often? You get great views, and people watching is fun!" His hat then fell off of his head and he looked up... well... down at it. "Oops. Lend a guy a hand and grab that for me would ya mind?" he asked extending an arm towards the hat that he would fully not be able to reach.

[jewelkent]

Jewel jumped back slightly as the man came into full view. She was face to face with him before she knew it.

"Wow, you scared the hell outta me." She said with a startled laugh.

She let her eyes lock with his. Oh my god, this guy is even better looking up close. she thought to herself.

She then heard him speak, asking her to retrieve his hat for him. Jewel gladly bent down, and picked up the hat, never once allowing her eyes to leave his.

"Ummm...here ya go." She said, feeling as if her breath was caught in her throat.

This was the feeling she had gotten when she had first encountered Banshee back in Brooklyn. Jewel quickly shook that memory away, and spoke up again.

"Hey, I'm Julianne. But you can call me 'Jewel'." She said to him, offering him her usual charming smile.

[Avalanche]

"Jewel... eh? Alright..." he looked at her hand. "This ain't gonna work." He shook his head, and with hat still in hand he swung himself back up onto his branch, flipped over it once, and then landed on the ground in front of her.

He turned around and slipped his hat back onto his hat. "Hi!" he said now taking her hand. "Avalanche, former Queens leader, current doc worker, all around newsie helper at ya service," he said shaking her hand vigorously and smiling broadly.

"Ya know," he said taking his hand back and folding his arms. "You... look familiar. He started circling her and looking her up and down. "Lemme guess Brooklyn newsie, yeah?" chances are good he saw her around selling papers. He worked at the docks down in Brooklyn, and made sure he bought a paper every day. Most people he knew, occasionally he found one he didn't. However, he was usually in too big of a hurry to introduce himself, so he always tried to find times to do it later. Well better later than never. "Jewel the Brooklyn newsie, yeah that sounds right," he said nodding his head as he reached the front of her again.

[jewelkent]

Jewel watched as the man jumped down from the tree, and landed in front of her. Jewel looked up at him. He was way taller than her, and Jewel cursed her short height a lot. She smiled widely, shaking the man's hand.

"It's nice to meet ya, Avalanche. Wow... So you used to work as a newsie in Queens? That's great." She said.

When she heard Avalanche identify her as a Brooklyn Newsie, she chuckled at this.

"I used to sell at the Docks sometimes. I don't work out there anymore though. It was not a good place for me, and it took me 2 years to figure that out. I just moved into the Girls Lodging House here in the Bronx. A wonderful girl named Lexi helped me out. Do you know her? She's such a beautiful person. She helped me out in a big way. My life in Brooklyn sucked." She explained.

"People didn't treat me very badly, and I had a lot of bad run-ins with the people I lived with...mostly the men. I had some bad luck there. I'm hoping things will change for the better here." She said, smiling.

Jewel then broke off her rant, and stared longingly at Avalanche "Did anyone ever tell you that you have the most beautiful eyes?" She asked him.

[Avalanche]

"Mmhmm!" he said proudly. "Prince is one of my best friends, though more often than not you're hear her curse my name than praise it, but it's all out of love," he said as he rolled his eyes with a chuckle. They were like siblings those two.

At her detest for Brooklyn Avalanche's eyebrows shot up. "well, I'll be sure to not mention that to the Brooklyn kids than shall I," he said with a slight smile. "I'm sure they'll understand you needing a new direction in life, and if Lexi is the one who recruited you well... I think you'll love the Bronx," he said smiling. "Lexi is a lovely person, I agree, inside and out it's hard to find a better person in New York than her," he shook his head. "Real shame about her brothers." One being dead, the other one hardly been seen since that. "Great family though."

At the mention of his eyes he looked at Jewel with a crooked smile and a raised eyebrow, "Heh..." he chuckled. "Yeah, I get that," he said nodding slightly. Quite the flirt the girl was, but he wasn't going to knock her for who she was naturally. No one had ever done it to him, and he felt she deserved better than to be judged right off the bat. "Anyone ever tell you, you gotta pretty smile?" he asked. It was sincere, Avalanche wasn't a liar, and it was definitely not a joke so he must have meant it, but that's also the kind of person he was. Saying things like that.

[jewelkent]

Jewel laughed when Avalanche mentioned about not telling the Brooklyn boys anything.

"Oh no, please don't, they will have a fit if they knew I just up and left...especially Spot. That kid has a radar on him. He caught me in mid-fight with one of the boys from my house. It was awful!" She said.

At the mention of Lexi and her brothers, Jewel's eyes widened. Her and Lexi talked, but Jewel didnt know much of her brothers though.

"Oh Lexi and I met and talked at Eastern Beach. I mentioned she had brothers.. Also, She did however mention you in the conversation somewhere." She said.

Jewel could feel a severe blush creeping up on her face as Avalanche told her she had a pretty smile."

"Thank you so much for that. I never got a lot of compliments from men. They all just wanted to use me. But I'm glad that I met you. Really opened my eyes. You are a lot nicer than the others. Guys like Banshee and Spot...all no good." She said.

She then stopped herself. She felt like she was gonna suddenly cry as her smile faded.

"Dammit. Why do people hate me so much? I never did anything wrong to anyone." She said, her voice beginning to tremble a bit.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche listened to her talk for a while with a smile still on his face, arms still folded and listening intently all the while. After all, the best way to learn about things is by listening to people who've been talkin' to other people... right? Okay, probably not, but it was his best source of information for the time being.

She was rather cute the way she kind of just rambled on about things. As she listed off men who were no good, Avalanche shrugged. "Wouldn't go that far, a lotta them got good in them, you just have to be on their good side to see it, and with them Brooklyn boys if you get off on the wrong foot, it's hard to fall back into step." Trust him, he knew. He learned early, never make a Brooklynite mad. Red taught him that... with some help from a lot of the rest of the borough.

Avalanche was shocked as the girl started to cry. "Woah woah there little missy," he said taking his handkerchief out of his pocket. "Kiddo, I'm sorry I didn't mean ta..." but then he heard what she said. "Hates you? Who in Sam hill hates you? I don't. And I'm the only one that matters right now." He hunched down a little bit to her eye level. "Now, I'm fairly sure that not everyone hates you... there are a lot of people in New York, and that ain't fair to those who ain't never metcha, or never got ta know ya," he said with a wink and a smile. "Now c'mon, take a deep breath, s'gonna be alright."

[jewelkent]

Jewel sighed heavily. She was hoping she hadn't said the wrong thing to him.

"Okay, well maybe not ALL Brooklyn men are bad. But the ones I've met in the past were pretty mean to me. Sorry, I didn't mean nothing by it. I've just been hurt a lot when it comes to matters of the heart. I'm hoping to find someone that will help change my bad luck." She said, her green eyes sparkling.

Jewel wiped her tears away with Avalanche's handkerchief. She sighed again, and began to speak. "Just Banshee and Spot...also a few of the girls who I worked with in Brooklyn with me."

When Jewel heard Avalanche say that he was the only one that mattered right now, she smiled weakly through her tears.

"Yes... Yes you are the only one who matters right now. You are the kindest man I have ever met...in my age range of course. I'm glad that I ran into you. You are the best." She said,

With those words, she stood on her tip toes, and kissed Avalanche on the cheek gently.

"Thank you so much. So, are u up for some company?" She asked him.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche hadn't meant to say that all Brooklyn people were bad, but he'd been honest about getting off on the wrong foot. Getting on the bad side of Brooklyn was a difficult thing to recover from.

Avalanche's eyebrows went up when she said he was the best and then kissed his cheek. Oh dear, what had he done now? His friends always said his charm would get him in trouble. And not that Jewel wasn't a lovely person, which he was sure she was, Avalanche just wasn't that kinda guy. He liked girls, lots of girls, but as for winning his heart? Took a little more than a charming smile and cheery disposition to win him over. The only thing was, he couldn't tell you what would win his heart... the last time that had happened was a long time ago.

At the proposal for company Avalanche stood up to his full height and stretched higher, towards the sky using his arms. "Welp I don't really have any plans on a destination or an eventful occurrence any time soon, so if you have nothin' better to do than to sit at the bottom of a tree with a guy who has nothing to do for several hours and talk, then by all means I'll welcome you. But if you're still gettin' settled around here, or heading somewhere then I'll be the last person to stop you." It was the truth too. He could be quite content on his own, but he never turned down someone to talk to, or be with. And yet, he always seemed to be happy with either situation.

[jewelkent]

Jewel was sure that Avalanche meant nothing by what he said. She was just on edge lately.

When she kissed him on the cheek however, Jewel found herself in an odd position. She was hoping that this wasn't gonna turn into a deja vu situation. That would be disasterous.

She saw that he looked a bit distressed when she did that *Uh-oh...here we go again* she thought to herself. "That kiss was merely to thank you for listening to me...and for being so kind to me as well." She explained to him.

Jewel laughed while watching Avalanche stretch. He was really tall, and it showed. "Well, I don't have anythin' ta do as well, kind sir. Got settled into my new place a while ago. So, I would like nothing more than to talk with you some more under this tree." She said.

"So, what do you wanna know about me? Ask me anything." Jewel said to him with a smile.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche smiled. He wasn't one for confrontation save for defending others and when it was needed, so if she was expecting him to blow up, it wasn't going to happen. He shrugged it off. "Dun worry about it, I'm sure it was nothin'," he said with a small nod. that was a lie, but... he was good at it.

Avalanche sauntered over to the tree, and lifted up his right leg, putting the bottom of his foot against the trunk and leaning down slightly as he searched for a matchbook in his pocket. "Gosh, not so sure what I should be askin' aboutcha," he said. He always learned not to ask questions, and taught others the same. If a newsie wanted you to know something they'd tell ya. If they didn't, he was the last person wanting to poke around their business. For this reason he made it a personal goal never venture in questions of the past with newsies, or people who weren't open about it.

"How's about we start with what you wanna tell me? Or maybe, how do ya like ya new home so far? Or... what have you heard walkin' around New York lately?" Avalanche wasn't one for gossip mostly because it was second hand knowledge, but if he heard of anything he thought questionable, he could always go straight to the source. For example, he'd made it a personal goal to go find this Banshee person Jewel had mentioned, but this might need to happen another day. "So, you pick your category, and we can go from there," he said as he pulled out a cigarette as well. He lit the match on the back of the match book and then in turn lit the cigarette before shaking out the flame on the match and taking a drag on the smoke.

[jewelkent]

Jewel inhaled and exhaled a sigh of relief as she saw how calm Avalanche was about the kiss.

"Thank ya so much, Avalanche." She sighed.

She soon followed suite as she sat with him underneath the tree. She began to tell him things.

"Well, here goes nothing. I love my new home so far. I still have yet to meet the other girls there, but I'm sure they are lovely people. As for stuff about myself, I'm 15 years old, I was born in Brooklyn, I'm an orphan, and I was in an orphanage before I became a newsie. I was 13 when the Brooklyn gang recruited me. I loved it there for a while. I'm also on a search to find my older sister Lydia. She went missing 5 years ago." She explained.

Jewel could tell that Avalanche was a good listener, the way he just sat there listening to her speak.

When she was finished, she looked to him "Now, what about you? You can tell me anything you want." She said.

With those words, she took his hand in hers, hoping she didn't just make another move that would make him uncomfortable.