Cherry Street

[Ki Harper]

In reality, it had been Ki's mother that had done most of the cooking for the entire Harper clan, bringing spices and recipes from her native people. She had been a fantastic cook and the sad reality was that it didn't seem that either her son or niece seemed to be able to come close to her skills. "Mom would probably think it best if we didn't attempt it," Ki agreed, he had never been much for cooking either, his large body type put him mostly in the way and he just didn't have the skill for it like she did. Which was just fine with him, she had a magic touch that Ki was certain had come from her gypsy lineage and he was sure he'd never be able to discover her secret.

When Devan skipped into the hotel and announced she was moving in with Ki, the man behind the desk eyed him uncertainly and Ki had a feeling that the entire thing looked rather odd. Devan was long-limbed and slim, making look taller than her 5 feet and 7 inches but Ki towered over her and easily dwarfed her in size and most people were intimated just by that. It was clear by the expression on the man's face that he didn't entirely buy the cousin explanation but Ki merely smiled when they made eye contact and followed Devan up to her room when she was ready.

She bustled about the room, throwing items into her bag as she chattered excitedly about Ireland and bringing there act there and Ki couldn't help but laugh at the image. "You know I think they just might," He said, giving the idea some real thought and wondering if perhaps they might ever manage to make that sort of trip a reality. The fun they would have and the things that they would see were almost unimaginable to Ki. "He'll be in awe of Uncle Cal to be sure," Ki nodded and reached over to take her bag, tossing it over his shoulder and leading the way downstairs, waited as Devan checked out and then turned right once they were back outside. "This way, I've got an apartment down in Harlem - stay close." Harlem was an okay part of the city but at night it could get as ugly as the other bits and though they were far from evening now, Ki just wanted to be extra careful. "Where do you want to go eat, Dev?"

[Devan Harper]

Devan couldn’t help but giggle at his words regarding his mother and nod in agreement. “She certainly did always prefer having us elsewhere.” Devan would never want to face her aunt again if she accidentally poisoned his son. A small quiver ran through her spine at the mere thought but she shook her head and grinned at Ki. “Suppose eating out will be better then trying to force down whatever I manage to cook.”

A large smile crossed her face at the mention of her father. Most people who met him were somewhat awed by him and what he did for a living. Well either that or they thought he was mad. Some people would never begin to understand what sort of man could possibly work with lions for a living and for entertainment purposes. With parents like him and her mother it was no wonder Devan had a bit of wild streak. It was a family trait she shared with her cousin. They didn’t purposely put themselves in danger, but they had been known to end up in an odd situation from time to time.

“I don’t doubt it,” She said with a wide smile as she looped her arm through his once again. She walked closely at his side and carefully observed the streets they took so that she could find her way to the apartment by herself. “How about Tibby’s? Have you been there yet?” She tilted her head to look up at him with a bright smile on her face. “Unless you want to go somewhere else.” Devan wouldn’t mind going somewhere else, but Tibby’s was one of the places she’d been to where she really liked the food.

[Ki Harper]

"Tibby's sounds like a brilliant choice," Ki said, smiling down at her as she looped her arm back through his and allowed him to lead the way to his apartment. It wasn't hard to find, but he was glad that she appeared to be paying attention to how they got there, it would make things easier for her later. Not that Ki doubted Devan's abilities, but her carefree attitude and nature did have a tendency to lead her astray from time to time - he supposed that's why he'd fallen into a sort of caretaker role for most of their lives. "That was the restaurant I was at when I met this kid. Cute kid too, I wish you could have seen him trying to count up his money, reminded me of that time you wanted to buy a peppermint stick at that general store in that town down in Texas."

They crossed the street and Ki led the way into the apartment building and up two flights of stairs to the tiny apartment he'd managed to find his first day in the city. It was cramped quarters to be sure, but it would do them fine and he was just relieved that now Devan was there with him - despite his own reassurances, it did ease his mind to have found her. "Welcome home," He grinned, throwing open the door and leading the way inside. The air was a little stale and the windows were dingy with dirt and grim but it was mostly clean and Ki was confidant that they would make do just fine.

[Devan Harper]

"Great," Devan exclaimed as they continued walking. Her sandwich had been good and cheap and their soup had smelled amazing. She was looking forward to trying it out today. Devan laughed when he brought up her inability to count out simple change in Texas. Numbers had never been something Devan was good at and it had taken her longer then the normal person to be able to do simple things like that. "He sounds like a cute kid," She said with a smile.

As they crossed the street, Devan tightened her hold on his arm. She was used to being in unfamiliar parts of town but it was definitely less stressful with Ki around. Whenever she'd gotten into any sort of trouble he was usually with her which made it less likely that anyone would give her problems. She wasn't so naive that she didn't realize that her cousin intimidated most people who he didn't know, but she knew that he was just a big muscular teddy bear. At least, most of the time. He could be purposefully intimidating if he wanted to be, but it wasn't in her nature. When he opened the door to their apartment she walked in and spun in a circle before jumping at Ki and throwing her arm around his neck.

"Can you believe it? This is our place!" She couldn't remember a time when she'd been more excited. Of course she'd looked forward to coming to New York, but it had been lonely. With Ki around she was sure things would be so much better. The city would be their playground and they would make the most of their time there. It would probably fly by and their parents along with the rest of the circus would be here.

[Ki Harper]

Ki supposed that his natural role has caretaker and protector was partly because he was older than Devan if only by a year, bigger than his cousin and by his very personality was more likely to follow her lead. There was no doubt that Ki enjoyed a good time, and even a little adventure when the opportunity was presented, but he had a practical and logical mind that tended to kick in at the most opportune moments. It was one of the many reasons that so many of his and Devan's adventures had gone off so well, between the two of them there wasn't much that couldn't be handled. He liked that about them and now that they were together in New York, Ki felt like the world was at their feet.

He laughed as she spun around the room and then launched herself into his arms, apparently thrilled by the accommodations, tiny and somewhat dingy as they might be. Ki could admit there was a certain thrill to being away from their parents and alone in the big city, and the fact that they had a place of their own only added to it. He held his arms open and wrapped her in a big hug, squeezing her tight just as he used to do back home every night before they went on.

"It is our place, Dev, and we are going to have a grand time." He assured her, setting her down easily on her feet and finally releasing her. He didn't know what the city had for them, but he was absolutely certain that they could handle it. "What do you say you go get settled in and then we see about heading down to Tibbys? I figured you could set up in the bedroom - it's not much but it'll do."

[Milo]

((New Day- open))

Milo was still practically half-asleep as he dragged down cherry street, carrying his usual stack of papes with him as he went. He'd sold a few earlier in the morning, hopping trolleys on his way here, but most of those sales had just been by chance. To tell the truth, after the night he'd had, he really couldn't muster up the energy to care whether or not he sold his papes today.

His real trouble had started the day before when he had tried to sell some papes to a group of older boys outside of the secondary school. They'd turned him down at first, but then one of them had caught up to him and told him that they'd each give him a quarter if he'd do one, little, thing for them. Of course, he'd agreed and it had sounded like a good deal at the time. All they wanted him to do was go inside an old, empty house and get a ball that they'd hit through the window. It had gone very smoothly too. The door had been unlocked, he'd walked straight to the room with the broken broken window, found the ball on the ground near a bookcase and returned it to the older boys. It was only after they had thanked him and given him the money they had promised in return that his day had taken a turn for the worse. He's made the mistake of asking them why they'd needed him to get the ball when it was so easy to do. Their answer had not been what he'd expected to hear.

They hadn't wanted to go in the house, they'd said, because it was haunted by the old man who used to own it. the man, an old hermit, had hated other people, especially kids, and hadn't let anyone into his house for years before his death a few months earlier. Before he'd died, he'd sworn to hunt down and kill anyone who set foot in it and, sure enough, the only other person who'd gone in had shown up a day later, stabbed to death in an alley.

Now, Milo really didn't believe in ghost all that much and, when he really thought about it, the whole story sounded kind of silly, after all, if the old man was a ghost, how could he hold a knife? But, still, once he'd gone to bed that night in the dark and relative quiet of the bunkroom the only thing he could think of was the old man, floating in through the wall behind him with a knife and stabbing him until he died. He'd tried to go off to sleep and forget about the whole thing, but, every time he closed his eyes, that was all that he could see. So, he'd stayed on guard the whole night, his eyes wide open, glancing over at the wall every few minutes and praying for morning to come soon.

Now that it was here, though, he just wanted to go to bed. In the daylight and noise of the city streets, the story seemed even sillier now than it had before and he felt like kicking himself for letting it keep him up, but, as it was, the only thing he could work up the energy to do was drag himself over to a bench, put down his stack of papes as a makeshift pillow and lie down for a nap. He knew it wasn't a very safe place to sleep, but all he had on him was the tiny stack of pennies that he had earned from his sales on the trolley and, with the four quarters that he had hidden under his bunk from the older boys the day before, he wasn't so worried about losing them if some pickpocket came by to steal from him while he was sleeping. As he lay there, the sounds of the birds chirping around him and people passing by faded away and he drifted off into sleep.