Hey-o! I'm back with another one-shot with everyone's favorite world traveler.
?: The Doctor?
Wha-who said that? What are you doing here? *No answer* That was weird. Anyway, it's another installment of Kyra and Rusty and this one takes place a year before the events of Reconnected. Which means her family is still missing, Luke might be sailing, and West is trapped in the Realm of Darkness. It's not one of Kyra's best days. However, she gets a prep talk and a new friend. Roll the story!
Down in New Orleans
Kyra stirred her ice tea idly with one finger moving the straw, the ice clinking against the glass. Rusty slept underneath her, curled up around her feet. Both of them were at a place called Duke's, sitting at one of the tables that were set up outside.
It was beautiful here in New Orleans. The sky was clear and jazz music wafted up from down the street, people performing and generally enjoying themselves and having fun. Not knowing how big the universe is and the darkness that lingers out there, even here. Of evil forces that want to consume worlds and having to worry about being in constant danger. Never knowing the feeling of having no home or family to go to. How she envied them.
"They would've love it here, Rusty," Kyra said softly. She spotted a little boy walking with his father no doubt. They both wore a catcher's glove, the boy holding a baseball in his other hand. Even though the sport wasn't one they were familiar with from their original world, she could imagine her father and Luke playing baseball. Just throwing the ball back and forth until they could do it without dropping it. She could imagine her mother dancing to the music, swinging Garnet back and forth with her until he got dizzy. Probably try and get her to dance with her. Then, she could imagine them going down to the docks and watch the lights from the steamboat, the stars reflecting in the water. And West would be there, too. Smiling and not lost like her family was. All of them together and happy.
Too bad it would just be in her imagination.
"Why did this happened to us?" Kyra questioned, not for the first time since her world's destruction from the darkness.
A clink of a dish being set in front of her snapped her out of her thoughts.
"There you go, miss."
Kyra glanced up at the waitress. She was close to her own age, perhaps a year older or so. She had dark skin and black haired tied up in a ponytail. "Thanks," Kyra murmured and turned her eyes back to her drink, still absentmindedly playing with the straw.
"Is everything ok?" The waitress asked, noticing her customer's gloomy mood.
"Yeah, fine. Always just fine," Kyra replied, not at all convincing that she was.
The waitress hesitated. She looked back at the door, then back to her customer. Making up her mind, she set down her tray and took a set opposite Kyra. "I know this isn't none of my business, but you look like you have a lot on your mind." Her warm, brown eyes trailed down to her patron's appearance. "And like you got into a mud fight with a gator."
Kyra glance down at herself. It was true that her appearance was in disarray. Mud caked her boots and half her pants, twigs stuck out of her hair, mud splatters were all over her shirt and face, and her sleeve on her jacket was torn. Before she came here, she spent about two or three days in that swamp (or was it call a bayou?) to find a voodoo priestess she heard about from one of the steamboat drivers. Her and Rusty had to endure mosquitos, idiot hunters, and alligators. Oh, have mercy, the alligators. Thank goodness she had more than just a bow and arrow or she might have lost a leg (or, worst yet, Rusty). Finally, they found the boat in the tree and met up with Mama Odie.
***Flashback***
"Please, ma'am. I've heard that you can help me."
Kyra followed the 196-year-old, blind woman through her living quarters. Rusty walked behind her, albeit slower, observing the odd trinkets on the shelves. He paused momentarily at a jar full of eyes, which all turn as one to look at him. He moved a little quicker to catch up to the humans, Kyra still talking.
"I've traveled very far to get here and almost got eaten by those ugly, large reptiles call gators to-"
"JUJU!" Mama Odie called out, a smiling snake coming to her side at once. The snake affectionately rubbed his head against the ancient woman's face as she talked to it sweetly as if he was a little puppy. Rusty gagged when the old woman started kissing the snake...tongue and all. Once she was done, she placed Juju around her shoulders and turned to Kyra, who had a hand to her face in a "I can't believe this lady" pose. "Now, have you figured out what you need?"
Kyra took her hand away from her face and crossed her arms. "What I need is help finding my family-"
And that's when she got smacked upside the head with a wooden spoon, Mama Odie telling her that she "ain't got the sense you was born with!" and she knew what she wanted, but blind to what she needs.
"What you need is to see the things right in front of your nose before you miss them."
The appearance of singing birds and Mama Odie's song outburst were the final straw, and girl and fox left in a hurry.
***Flashback***
Kyra looked up, back at the waitress. After a moment, she sighed. "You could say that." She leaned back, slouching in her chair. "It's just...this day. I was hoping my luck was getting better."
"In the bayou?"
Kyra shrugged her shoulders. "I thought I would find something there. However, I got nothing for all my trouble." She exhaled, eyes downcast. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm just wasting my time with all this hard work. If it'll all just amount to nothing."
For a moment, everything was silent at that table. Then a comforting hand was laid on the disheveled girl. She looked up to see the waitress looking at her with a soft expression.
"I might not know what situation you're in, but I know how you feel. Every day, I work hard toward my goal and I worry about ending up with nothing in the end, just like you. But then I would remember my daddy, and how he'd always encourages me to keep going and telling me never let my fear and doubts get the best of me. To never lose sight of what is really important."
Images of West's face and her family's pop up in Kyra's thoughts. What's really important is them. I can never give up on them.
Kyra smiled softly. "Thank you. I needed that."
The waitress smiled back before offering her hand. "I don't think we were properly introduced. I'm Tiana."
Kyra took the offered hand and shook it in greeting. "Kyra, and this little guy down here is Rusty." She indicated down to the fox that was just waking up with a yawn. He crawled out from under the chair into view.
"He sure is a cute little guy," Tiana said.
Rusty ducked his head, seemingly bashful. He walked right into Tiana's outstretched hand, letting her fingers brush through his fur.
"He likes you," Kyra said.
Tiana chuckled. "I'm glad he approves." She gave his ear a quick scratch before standing up and picking up her tray. "I gotta get back to work."
Kyra nodded her understanding. "Thank you for cheering me up."
Tiana turned to go, but hesitated, thinking. She turned back. "My shift ends in an hour. If you want, I know someone who can fix that tear in your arm."
Kyra glanced to her ruined jacket. It was her favorite jacket. Maybe the sleeve could be saved, or the jacket could be rid of the sleeves altogether. No sleeves could be an improvement."Sure, why not."
"See you in an hour then."
Tiana gave Kyra and Rusty a little wave before going back into the diner. Kyra turned to Rusty as he set his forepaws up on the table and laid his head on the surface. Amused, she petted her furry companion's head. "We might not have found the answers we wanted, but at least we met someone nice and got a much needed motivational talk. Who knows? Maybe we'll go back to that crazy voodoo lady and get the help that we want without getting smack. No matter what, we're not giving up on them."
Rusty barked in agreement. Then, before Kyra could stop him, Rusty darted over and snatched the beignet right off her plate with his mouth.
"Rusty!" Kyra scolded as the fox jumped down from the table and quickly gobbled down the stolen treat. "That was my beignet!"
Rusty just gave her his most innocent look, white powder all over his nose and muzzle.
Ain't Rusty just a stinker? So there you have it. Be sure to review and, if you haven't already, check out Prismrain13's stories. And watch out for bees:)