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There is a tiny little park in Halloween Town. It's pretty much abandoned and covered with graffiti, but once in a while people pass by and see it. Those that went to the park usually went to a much better class one two blocks away. That day, though, someone had more than just "walked past." In fact two individuals were making a serious ruckus in this old, creaky park. They looked a lot alike, as well. Just one was a lot smaller than the other.

"Okay, buddy, come on down!" Roch said, standing at the bottom of a massive twisty slide. "I'll catch you--" before he could even finish the reassurance, his son was careening down the slid, squealing his head off happily. He caught the boil as he came out the slide, swinging him in a circle just to keep the momentum going.

Cisco let out a scream of laughter. "AGEEN!" he yelled, waving his fists in the air. "AGEEN!"

"Again it is!" Roch said, hopping up the ladder to put the boil at the top and jumping down just in time to catch him at the bottom. Yes, he was slacking from his evening work--he didn't care. They had a MASSIVE SLIDE, BRO!

Roch had little Cisco held up in the air like he was flying when she said that. He brought the giggling boil down, sitting him on his hip in an unconscious move as he turned to the other reaper. "We got distracted," he said shamelessly. "We were supposed to be doin' deliveries, but, well, there's a slide," he finishes.

"Side!" Cisco agreed happily. "AGEEN!"

"Not yet, buddy," Roch told him, reaching up and affectionately messing up his little mohawk. "Sup, Verusha, Cannon? I didn't expect to see you today." Idly he walked over to a backpack on a bench nearby, pulling a sippy cup out of a pocket and handing it to his kid as he waited for her reply. The little boil grabbed the handles, gulping it down happily. "You've met my kid yet? This is San Francisco Scythe--AKA Cisco."

Cisco turned to look at Verusha, his drink still in his mouth.

Cisco took his drink out of his mouth and grinned happily at her, waving back. Roch dropped down on the bench, putting his backpack on the ground and motioning for Verusha to sit down. The little boil was on his lap, looking quite comfortable there. It looked like they sat that way often.

"Yeah," he said, looking at Cisco with a little, happy grin, "he's my lil' buddy. When I ain't workin', I'm usually with him--hell, half the time when I AM workin', I'm with him. Single dad an' all. I'm just lucky, though, that he's got a grandma here t'take care of him when I can't."

"Mimi!" Cisco declared.

"That's right, but Mimi's workin' right now, buddy boil, so you're with Deaddy," Roch told him. "So, how's it goin, Verusha? Skippin class?"

Cisco put his cup down, his attention going to the dog she had brought with her. "Big woof woof!" he announced, his eyes going huge with excitement.

"Oh no you don't," Roch said, grabbing the boil before he jumped off of his lap to go see the "big woof woof." "Cannon's not the friendly type like your woof woof," he told the boil, holding him firmly, but gently. "He might accidentally burn you--it'd be hot," Roch added seriously.

"'ot," Cisco repeated.

"Yep, hot. Y'done drinkin?" he asked, earning a nod. "Wanna slide again?" he asked, earning another nod. "What d'ya say, Verusha, you wanna slide with us?" he asked the ghoul, as if playing with little kids was the best sort of fun.

"I didn't spend much time on slides," Roch said, a bit blandly. Memories of his childhood were rushing through his mind, and in automatic response his hold on the little boil turned protective and his FEAR aura rose slightly. He realized it a second later, and forced himself to relax. "But Cisco will!" he said, grinning at the boil.

He headed for the slide, putting the boil on top and heading for the bottom. "Course, y'porbably didn't plan on spending your hooky time playin' with an old guy an' his kid, huh?" he teased her as he caught Cisco. "Sorry bout that."

Roch plopped Cisco down on her lap, stepping back as the boil looked up at the ghoul curiously before giving her a huge grin. "AGEEN!" he said, bouncing on her lap to try and urge her to go!

Roch stepped to the side of the bottom of the slide, waiting for them to come down, his hand on the slide's side. He had a strange look on his face, as if he were somewhere else. It would be gone by the time they came down. "This is the one I was getting instruments for, obviously," he said. "And then he went and summoned his drumsticks before even tryin' any of them."

"AGEEN!"

"It was pretty obvious," Roch said, picking up the boil. "It's all about the music--Cisco has a thing for songs with a heavy beat, he has since I got him. I figured he'd be a bass guitarist, or a drummer. Hey, I really DO gotta make a few deliveries--y'two wanna come with us? You might find it interestin'. Well, as long as y'don't mention the fact you're still in school," he admitted, frowning.

"I gotta pick up a few dozen packs of cigars, a couple boxes of booze, and a ton of new card decks," he explains. "That means a few seedy places--maybe you wouldn't find it interesting," he admits a bit belatedly.

He was taking a KID into those sort of places?

"Unnn! Unnn! No!" Cisco said, reaching over Roch's shoulder towards the slide as Roch headed for the wagon.

"I know, kiddo, we'll come back soon, okay?" Roch said, patting his back and putting him in the wagon. "First off--at least half of the people we're runnin' into ain't got that high of an education--they didn't graduate from Amity, or anything, but they're still decent enough folk, as long as y'don't piss 'em off, that is. Gramps has friends in both the hoity parts an' the dives, so try not t'look surprised regardless of what we run into. Don't go wanderin' off, especially in the market--I might never find you again."

He picked up the handle of the wagon, pulling it along behind him in a casual manner, only to stop as he sensed a tiny dollop of FEAR being summoned. Before they could blink, he had two little balls on the tips of the spiked drumsticks Cisco had just summoned. "He keeps doin' that," he says, shaking his head and grinning at her. "I think he likes t'make me jump."

Cisco started giggling.