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Gareth stood outside as he always did, guarding. What was he guarding? Probably nothing. But it was the way he stood that always made it appear he was guarding something. His arms folded across his chest which was puffed out slightly. His legs spread just far enough apart that he was planted so firmly on the ground that a football player couldn't have toppled him. Sprawled out before him across the scenery was... a playground?

Today Gareth was guarding something. Across the little playground was tubby little yuni named Butalso. Japi had asked Gareth to take him somewhere fun and play with him, but to be honest, Gareth didn't play. So he had managed to pawn the fat little yuni off on some little kids and proceeded to do what he did best: guard.

He had long before secured the area. There were no suspicious people, no establishments nearby that might house them. There was an ice cream shop across the street that Butalso had begged Gareth to take him to first. Instead he had promised to take him there after. In the meantime, he was trying to think of reasons not to keep that promise.

Other than that, there was a small specialty clothing store, a food mart, a bar that was still closed, and a shop that sold cheap nic nacks that Gareth felt nobody would want.

Gareth's ear twitched. There was yelling from between the grocery store and the clothing store. He turned, knowing there was an alley there. Hooligans. It must be. He made one last glance back to Butalso to make sure he was secure and made his way over to the commotion.

Gareth always took it upon himself to rid an area of such types. They were probably mugging some old lady after all, and he would have nothing of it. Indeed, when he reached the commotion, it did appear they were in the process of attacking someone. "Oi," he attempted to yell at them, but frankly, the volume of Gareth's voice didn't reach over their own commotion. As luck would have it, however, one turned around, probably checking their back and screamed something similar to "Eeek," tugging the shoulder of one of his comrades who turned and agreed with him. They shouted a signal to the rest who proceeded to do the same and the whole group fled.

But Gareth wouldn't let them off so easily. He took off after them. Sadly, speed was not one of his finer honed physical skills and he soon lost them. He grumbled his frustration as he made his way back to the alley. Whoever it was had already left, though Gareth noticed a few drops of blood making a trail back out of the alley. He hoped they had gone to find medical attention.

Across the playground, Butalso finally noticed that his guardian had disappeared. While any normal child might have been worried for his safety, Butalso had other concerns. "Wunning out on ice cweam," he muttered to himself. He hobbled his way over to where Gareth had been standing and looked around. There on a bench nearby was another yuni boy, a lot older than Butalso, covered in blood. Of course Butalso's definition of covered in blood was any amount more than a small scrape might give you. He was about to run for help when he saw Gareth coming back out of the corner of his eye.

When Gareth reached the playground, he saw Butalso running toward him. "Garef," he called. The boy could not pronounce Gareth's name properly even after being made to repeat it a hundred times. Gareth was about to roll his eyes when he saw the expression in Butalso's face. He actually appeared to be in distress. Gareth's guardian instinct took over and he dashed to scoop up the little yuni.

Once he was in Gareth's arms, Butalso pointed in the direction of the bloody boy, wimpering softly. "Scawy boy all covewed in blood." Gareth nodded and set Butalso back down. "Go play," he said, pointing back to the group he'd been with. He understood now what was going on. The injured victim had come over here.

After deciding that Butalso was completely safe again, Gareth approached the injured boy. His wounds weren't as bad as Butalso made it sound, but they weren't exactly going to heal properly without some kind of attention. Luckily, Gareth was experienced in first aid. He walked up to the yuni boy and in the only way he really understood how to do things, immediately started to help. He drew a cloth from the pouch Japi always insisted he carry with him when with Butalso. He was glad it finally came in handy, though not especially under the circumstances. Without permission or warning, he took the boy's hand and the balled paper away from his nose and replaced it with the cloth and muttered the simple instructions. "Tilt your head back, it'll stop the bleeding faster."

Gareth stood back at the remark. Maybe he should have asked first? That sounded silly to him though. Why would anyone ask permission to help an injured child? Still, he didn't touch him again just yet. "Your arm looks pretty bad." Gareth's voice was quiet, barely audible to anyone not standing immediately next to them. It was always that way. That was really just the extent of his voice. "Did they take anything from you? I couldn't catch up to them." The admission was one of regret. There was even a little repentance in his voice.

Since the boy had obliged his request to tilt his head back, Gareth relaxed a bit, but just enough to try and observe the rest of his injuries. The boy was indeed a Kurai, though he hadn't noticed before. Maybe he was too concerned with the blood. It wasn't that he was new to seeing a kurai, he honestly never saw one so young. It was simply... unexpected.

It was only a brief moment, but Gareth weighed the difference between helping a child and not helping a kurai. But he pushed his prejudice aside a moment and decided it was not worth ignoring his guardian instinct.

"Do you need to be taken somewhere?" Gareth asked, unsure of how he could help if the boy wouldn't allow himself to be bandaged. "I know a woman who could heal your injuries, quite perfectly in fact." He knew that even though Japi's power was limited in this world, she could easily draw on some of the extra power that he and the others provided for one quick heal like this.

Gareth of course, saw the stand and sit as a failed attempt, rather than an able demonstration. The boy's legs were not about to hold him up properly long enough to walk anywhere. Gareth hadn't meant he'd carry him, only be an escort, but there was the possibility the boy might need it.

But he was stubborn, probably as stubborn as Gareth, so the light Yuni decided to give the boy some time. "Name's Gareth," he informed the boy. "I'm still here with Butalso, the little fat one," he honestly didn't know any other way to describe the tubby little yuni. "Call for me if you need anything."

The moment Gareth returned to his self-dictated post, Butalso came running up to him. "Is the bloody boy okay?" His voice was loud and whiny.

"He's fine," Gareth lied to the little yuni. There was no use in explaining to Butalso why Soren wouldn't accept help. Maybe he had family on their way? It was doubtful. Still in the back of his mind, Gareth knew he should keep an eye on the kid, even if it was unsolicited.

Butalso's little eyes were filled with little tears, though Gareth couldn't imagine why. He rolled his eyes and reached into the pouch Japi had given him for something to wipe Butalso's scrunched up face with but came up empty handed.

Gareth turned slightly in Soren's direction, realizing he'd left Japi's cloth with the boy. He'd have to replace it, as it wasn't his, but he figured the kurai child needed it more anyway. Japi was an understanding woman, she wouldn't be angry. If anything, Gareth's bonded would be disappointed that he hadn't helped. Gareth didn't know if Japi would understand either why Soren didn't want help. He hoped she wouldn't stop by like she sometimes did, to check up on Butalso.

As for the fat little yuni, it didn't take him long to stop crying as he faced the ice cream shop across the street. "I'm weady to go eat ice cweam now," he informed Gareth in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Not yet," Gareth replied a little absently. He wanted to make sure at least someone came and picked up the little yuni.

New tears filled Butalso's already reddening eyes. "But I wanna," he whined loudly, holding the last 'a' out and getting louder.

Gareth looked at the child with a start, not realizing Butalso's lungs were that powerful. "Alright, alright," he tried to calm the tubby little yuni down. "We'll go," he conceded finally. "But I want to talk to the bloody boy one more time before we go." Gareth tried to use the voice Japi did when she was trying to calm down any one of her children, and succeeded partially. Butalso stopped his noise. Gareth sighed inwardly in relief.

Taking a calming breath Gareth looked around to make sure no one was bothered by that scene. Then again, they were at a park, with lots of whiny little children and plenty of parents who understood how that sort of thing worked. No one seemed to care.

After determining the situation cleared, Gareth headed back to Soren. "I'm taking Butalso for some ice cream," he started, hoping at least his persistence would get to the young kurai. "Do you want some?"