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Thing was, Roch thought as he headed for the monster dorm, Danny was his best friend, sure, everyone knew it, obviously, but she didn't have a CLUE about some of the things that came with his lifestyle and past. Of course there was Amphi--but she was pretty much on the same level as Danny when it came to this stuff, maybe even worse, since she grew up so sheltered. Amrita was a write off--Riyo might understand, though...

But there was one guy that he KNEW would get it. Nope, not Rikki, definitely not Mot, Jove was out--

Well, Roch had been racking his brain for a few days before seeing the obvious choice. Even if the obvious choice might wind up laughing at him, he thought as he pulled to a stop in front of Nahm's door.

"Oye, Nahm! Y'home?" he called through the grue's door, already testing the doorknob. "An' alone?" he added belatedly.

"I'd offer a squeaky toy, but Demi yanked it," Roch said as he came in. "Sup, grue?" he said, looking around for the poof in question just to make sure he didn't get bit accidentally. "Been a while," he added.

"Yeah? Sounds like your granddad's as much trouble as mine," he said, heading for the nearest chair--one that didn't have an ankle biter in it. "Hey, y'know... you got a past with a gang in it, right?" he asked. Was he wrong? He sort of remembered something about the twins starting up their own gang--

"I used t' be in the Wolf Pack on Croost," Roch said. "I got beat in when I was eight..." He leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him and frowning slightly.

"Practically raised by the were that ran it, y'know? That's where I learned t'fight. They used t'set up fights with all the different species in a back lot, so... startin' at eight, they'd toss me inta' the lot with an adult, and expect me t'survive it. Not as high an' mighty as runnin' it yourself, I'll admit."

"Yeah? How thick's your juvie folder?" Roch asked, getting distracted. Then he shook his head, waving it off. "Well Fang--he wasn't stupid. Jack, I seriously admired the guy, wanted t'be just like him. Was startin' t'be, even." He went silent, thinking about it for a long moment.

"Y'ever wonder what woulda happened if y'stayed in that life?" he asked finally. He couldn't just come out with it--he was still trying to figure out WHAT he was trying to come out with.

"I'd be... either a murderer, murdered, or in juvie," Roch said simply. "No fame about it," he added dryly. "Fang's a psychopath." There, he'd said it. He'd flat out said it.

"One moment he's grinnin' like a loon, next he's tryin' t'kill someone that just happened to look at him wrong. I went t'see him last week. I coulda sworn he expected me t'break him out of prison and go on the lam with him. When I told him I got a ghoul and a job lined up--he lost it. Threw the table, even though he was wearin' silver bracelets, broke the special mirror--"

"Five t'ten," Roch said. "But it's a prison ran by boogies. I ain't sure how much I trust them t'keep him in," he admitted, saying something he HADN'T mentioned to the ghouls. "In a fair fight maybe I could beat him now, y'know, with all the fightin' I've done here. But I ain't never known Fang t'fight fair."

His grammar got worse with his agitation, it seemed. "And he would go for my ghoul, man... or for my best friend, or for the weaker, more vulnerable ones I know... Jack, I hope those bars are stronger than they look."

Roch blinked. He had never even thought of that idea. "There might be one thing..." he said slowly. "Sure he's got a lot of felonies and all that jack, but... Fang was kicked out of his pack." That seemed like an extremely serious fact to him now that he was older. "I never found out why--but there's one of them, maybe all of them livin' in town. I met Claw when I first came t'Amity... he said Fang owed him."

Would Claw know why Fang had been kicked out of the pack? He figured so.