Guess who!?

It had been three days since that morning, when Iori Yagami woke up as Rock Howard, and Rock Howard screamed himself awake as a red-haired lunatic. It took some time for Terry to wrap his head around the whole situation, but the conclusion he'd come to was just that. The person currently locked in Rock's room was actually Rock - despite the fact he looked like a red-haired Japanese man.

Rock Howard's body was probably carousing around the city, speaking Japanese and fistfighting KOF Champion Kyo Kusanagi in the streets. Terry had already seen the two of them blowing holes in the asphalt in the background of news broadcasts a couple of times, and it seemed that neither Iori or Kyo were taking the body-swap very seriously. They had placed the issue in the hands of Ms. Kagura, and were relying on her entirely to solve the issue. Must be nice not having responsibilities.

Nevertheless, Iori Yagami was quite capable of taking care of himself in whatever situation he happened to be in. In fact, he seemed quite a bit cheerier and more relaxed than usual. He also seemed to communicate more clearly. When Terry asked him about it, he had replied with, 'Cuz Riot's over there with Howard. It's pretty nice having the whole brain to myself. Don't worry, I told Riot to play nice. If it starts acting up, just break my arm. Please don't break my leg.'

And with that, Iori Yagami and his new driver's license roared down the street and disappeared. Terry had seen neither hide nor hair of him since that fateful afternoon. Instead, SouthTown's Legendary Wolf found himself a full time parent, doing his best to take care of Rock - whose condition had only gotten worse over the past three days.

Rocky… ugh…

The first day, Rock acted mostly like himself. He still cooked (he banged his head on lots of cabinets), he still did his homework, he seemed embarrassed to go to school - which Terry understood 100%. All in all, although it was intensely weird, Terry thought he'd get used to it.

Unfortunately, 'Terry getting used to it' was the least of their problems. That glint on lunacy in Rock's eyes - apparently, the 'Riot' Iori was now temporarily free of - had begun taking a toll on him. His shaking had worsened. His expression was constantly strained, and he seemed to be in pain. When Terry tried to ask him about it, he got nothing but 'Don't worry Dad' and 'I'm fine', when Rock was very obviously not fine.

Should I just… break down the door and drag him to the hospital?

It had been about 24 hours since Terry had seen his son, and he was fairly certain Rock hadn't eaten anything since cooking dinner two nights ago. He had locked himself in his room and only wandered out in the dead of the night. Terry had caught a glimpse of him whilst half asleep last night, and found his-(Iori's frame) looking incredibly gaunt. Unfortunately, Rock had disappeared back into his room before Terry could catch him and try to feed him something.

Oh man… what do I do…

Terry's child-rearing experience had been much smoother than most. When he took Rock in, the boy was eleven years old - extremely well behaved, and seemed to live in a constant fear of having something thrown at him. It took about a month for the young boy to recognize Terry wasn't out to hurt him, and another to recognize that Terry was going to take care of him. After that, it'd been mostly flowers and rainbows… and flowers and rainbows taught Terry jack shit about what to do when his twenty-year old adult son was suddenly beset with voices in his head, tried to starve himself, and locked himself in his room.

… Mary said she'd stop by and try to convince him… haah… maybe I'll call her.

Unfortunately for Terry, Mary was quite busy. She had been doing overtime for the past week, and Terry hardly saw her. She was supposed to have yesterday off - and they were looking forward to sharing dinner and a conversation - but she had texted him last minute to frantically explain something had come up at work, and she needed to stay. Hopefully whatever she needed to do had finished, because Terry needed someone to share this weird situation with, and maybe bounce some ideas off of.

Terry flipped open his phone and found Mary's contact. He sighed and slumped into the couch, careful not to kick over his coffee mug. He glanced at Rock's bedroom door as the dial tone rang.

*Brrrrrrr*

*Brrrrrrr*

*Terry? Hey hon.*

She sounded pretty flustered.

"Hey Mary, what's up. Hey, Rock's acting a little weird, and I-"

*Oh man… (What?! Are you serious? Who the hell is this guy?!)... ah, sorry Terry, I think I've gotta go. There's some crazy going around slashing people up… stay safe out there, hon.*

"... What? Like a killer?"

*Yeah, we're not sure who or what it is. Maybe a gang? Geese said it wasn't him… I've gotta go, I'll talk to you later, okay?*

"Ah, sure… Stay safe out there, babe."

*Will do. (Let's go guys! Move! move! move!)*

C'mon, guess! lol