Early that morning, an indescribable sensation splashed over Kairo's entire arm like a wave; and despite the battered condition that she was currently in, she couldn't help herself and started to giggle madly. It felt much like her arm fell asleep, yet she could wriggle her fingers with ease, and the circulation wasn't at all constricted. She would've looked up to see whether or not Amelia's Tabby Cat, Vernon, had snuck out of his cozy little kennel again and was giving her arm a bath (perhaps licking off all the dry blood), but she was much too busy chuckling hysterically. Sure, she had just been hammered by an intoxicated careless teenager and hadn't eaten anything for about two days, but whatever was happening to her arm was, needless to say, turning a horrible predicament into a giggle fest.
Kairo managed to blink the tears out of her eyes, from both the pain and the laughter, and lifted her pounding head up to face the Tabby Cat.
But there was no cat. Just her long, scrawny arm that somehow threw itself halfway through an old, dusty TV screen. Well that's odd, she thought to herself in awe, before she finally realized that half of her arm was in the Television and screamed with a dry, hoarse voice. Kairo desperately yanked her arm from the swirling thing in front of her as she managed to get back up on shaky legs, only to clumsily slip on the antique bear rug and nearly topple over face first into the portal. She violently waved her arms in counter-clockwise circles, and to her sore back's demise, toppled backwards instead of forwards, hitting her head against a cardboard box as she fell.
"OWW!" Kairo bellowed at the top of her lungs, skillfully scaring away a crow sitting atop the roof of the vacant house. Her head felt like it was thwacked by a steel baseball bat with full force, which it had been not too long ago. She sat up and gently ran her finger down the bruise on her temple. It wasn't as bad as it had been before, not bleeding and not as swollen as it was when she first obtained it. Nonetheless, it was the cause for her blistering headache, which unfortunately amplified the sound of something mewing behind her.
Kairo felt something coarse and furry nudge her elbow, but before she could turn around to see whether it was Amelia's sweet tabby cat or that disgusting little rat that resided with her in the attic, it scampered away, off to lord knows where. Kairo sighed as she heard the creatures little paws pat against the wood floor hastily; Even the animals didn't want to be with her. Or, perhaps they didn't want to be seen with her? She carelessly absorbed herself in her own thoughts and became oblivious to the rest of the world.
Maybe animals have a reputation. Maybe if they're caught hanging around a sorry little broken toy like me, they'd get laughed at by the other cats and dogs of the neighborhood. Maybe that's why the kids at school avoid me. Maybe that's why the kids at the orphanage-
Before Kairo could even finish her meandering outlandish thoughts, a seemingly deafening meow screeched behind her. Kairo clumsily got on her feet and was about to turn around when the meowing got louder as if it were coming closer. And, considering the fact that it jumped off of the attic shelf and had launched itself towards Kairo's back, this had to be the case. Its little tan paws crashed into her bruised back with unbelievable force, howling a mew of determination as it did so. The flimsy impact sent Kairo flying through the spiraling blue vortex on the screen. The cat landed perfectly on top of the TV with pride. At first, he thought that she would be alright on the other side of that thing, whatever it was. But then he recalled how easily she lost balance and slipped into the portal, and the cat let out what was supposed to be a sigh; he was now questioning himself whether or not the abused girl would be okay there, since being light enough to be carried off by the wind was a degrading trait to have indeed.
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"Oh, jolly good show!" the lollipop man squealed with delight as he departed the park managers' office. The overoptimistic lollipop man, equipped with a positive attitude and a joyful demeanor as well as a curious mind, giddily descended the houses' staircase. He certainly did enjoy the meetings that were held in Benson's office, even when Mordecai and Rigby were negative about them. He quite liked how his gumball machine friend insisted that he should be the one to pick the movie for that nights' movie night. And even if Rigby stated that Pops always picked the "stone age excuses for cool movies", Benson had allowed him to decide anyway. Pops couldn't necessarily put how much he loved his friends at the park into words; After all, they were always there for him when he needed help.
If someone were to differ this statement, Pops would, without a doubt, explain all of the events in which he needed their assistance all the while using his old-style words. He would bring up the time when he was too nervous to give a speech for his father, and how Mordecai and Rigby helped him overcome his fear. And he'd bring up the time when he was ridiculed by those rappers, and how the two mammals recited poetry with him in their rap battle. Even now, those memories that flooded his bulbous head only resulted in him spinning around and laughing as he entered the living room.
Pops hummed to himself with glee when he knelt down in front of the movie shelf next to the TV to pick out a movie. Benson suggested that they buy a shelf for the movies that Pops collected over the years so that whenever it was Pops' turn to pick the movie, he wouldn't have to spend half an hour taking them out of their attic and fumbling through the box to choose one. Pops inspected his collection of black and white animations leisurely. He was thoroughly inspecting the summary of a rather eye-catching commentary when something on the Television Screen caught his eye. Pops set the old VCR down and turned is abnormally large head towards the TV, and his eyes grew wide. An arm was sticking out of the TV. Yes, there was a long, skinny arm dangling out of the edge of the television screen.
Normally, Pops would have screamed and dashed up the stairs to seek the peaceful atmosphere in the sanctuary of his room. But he then told himself out loud what he was seeing. "An arm protruding from a television screen?" after saying it out loud, it reminded him that he was not as caught up with the modern technology nowadays as Mordecai and Rigby were, and his expression changed from fear to curiosity as he dashed to the screen.
"Oh, how quaint! This must be the newfangled three-dimensional animation I have been hearing about lately!" The clueless gentleman waltzed over to the DVD player and clicked the eject button, revealing an empty slot. His puzzled face shot up to the staircase, back to the arm still hanging lifelessly from the screen, and back to the empty DVD console. "How can there be…perhaps it is a VCR…?" he slowly thought to himself, starting to near the arm in awe. "Or…perhaps it is real?…" Before he could get any closer, it twitched, wriggling its fingers around violently. Pops jumped back in surprise. The fingers stopped moving, and in a split second, it yanked itself back through the screen and disappeared. Pops, after staring at the swirling thing on the screen for quite some time, shook his head and sighed.
"What a pity. I expected a better production from these cutting-edge innovative chaps. Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to opt for one of my movies then." The ill-informed, ignorant man was just about to walk back over to his movie shelf when a loud noise came from behind the thing on the TV. "OWW!" a feminine voice bellowed, though it sounded faint coming from the portal. Pops stopped in his tracks and flipped around on the heels of his neat dress shoes. I believe that this player must be malfunctioning. The incompetent lollipop man thought to himself as he neared the television. And without warning, something came flying out of the screen. Pops jumped and his atypical high pitched voice squealed much like a woman. The figure that came from the other side of the strange whirling vortex on the screen landed in an awkward jumble in front of the couch, furiously trying to untangle itself. Finally, it looked up, and Pops caught a glimpse of who it actually was.
A young woman. A very young woman, considering the fact that she had those large, childlike eyes and a small, round nose. The girl's superficially grey eyes grew wide as they landed on Pop's head, and only grew wider when he reacted.
"Oh, good show! Jolly good production indeed, mhmm, I must say so myself! Good show!" he said as he clapped enthusiastically and a smile was plastered across his face. Kairo looked up at him peculiarly. Where was she? Maybe she died up there in that cold attic? Because it felt quite warm here. Gee, Kairo thought as the creepy man ceased his excited dancing, I wonder how Amelia's gonna cover this up.
Pops stopped cheering when he realized that she was all the way out of the television. No 3D movie could make such a thing, could they? No. No, they absolutely could not, unless it was an animatronics theatrical show, or a Broadway production. So this girl had to be real. Pops' inspected her curiously. For a young respectable woman, she seemed quite shabby. Her hair was knotted and matted across part of her face, but he could still make out a big, black bruise across her cheekbone. Her long, skinny arms looked frail, like they were skinny branches that were about ready to snap. Not to mention the long, jagged cuts all up and down her elbow and shoulder, which was revealed by a torn, ragged shirt. Her bony collarbone looked as if it were going to but through her pale, bruised skin.
Pops shook his head and reminded himself of his manners. "Why hello there, young lady! I'm Pops!" Pops exclaimed as he nearly jumped like a leap frog to shake her scrawny hand. Kairo flinched as he grasped her hand, and he pulled it back with a dumbfounded expression. "Oh, um…S-Sorry." she stuttered nervously, still questioning whether or not she was dead. Pops eyed her and gasped worriedly. "It seems you are injured, and badly injured at that." Pops straightened up and thrust his finger in the air. "Madame, you must visit the hospital immediately so that your wounds are properly taken care of! Come, I will fetch the cart." Pops swung back around and headed toward the door.
"H-hey, wait! Wait a second!" the girl called desperately, causing Pops to turn back around.
"What seems to be the matter? Are your legs hurting as well? Perhaps I should carry you?"
"What? No! I-It's just…I don't know where I am. Can you tell me?"
"We are in the city park, of course! Where else do you think you were, silly youngin? Now come along, and we will purchase you some new attire as well!"
"B-But…hold on, what's your name again sir?"
"My name is Pops," Pops said enthusiastically, walking back towards the girl still awkwardly sitting on the floor. Kairo shifted uneasily and fidgeted with a torn part of her shirt. "Well…" Kairo thought about this. In the park, huh? And, with no one here knowing about her condition, except that weird guy. Maybe this could work out after all. "Well, Pops, I need you to do me a favor." Pops sat on the edge of the couch and stared at her oddly as she spoke.
"I-I need you to forget these," she said, pointing to her open cuts. "Forget them, and pretend you never saw them. I have to find someplace to stay, anywhere to get away from…" she slowly peeked over her shoulder and nodded towards the portal. Pops tweaked his head slightly as a sign of confusion. "You…are afraid of that blue vortex over there? Why, I assure you there's nothing to be afraid of!"
"No Pops, it's not like that, it's-"
"But, if you're certain, I am sure Benson won't mind if you stay. We'd have to get on his good side though, if you know what I mean!" Pops raised his eyebrows and giggled. Kairo just stared at him with disgust, being mistaken and not understanding that Benson could be charmed by a few bribes involving his two lazy employees and their work ethic.
"However," Pops carried on without a care in the world. "Those wounds must be taken care of! Surely you can't walk around the park without stitches and whatnot to keep them from getting infected, heavens no!"
"Listen Pops. I need you to do me a big, BIG favor."
"Yes?""You have to swear not to tell anyone about them.""What? Why on earth would you ask such a thing? I couldn't possibly-"
"I can take care of myself just fine Pops, but I just…gah, it's hard to explain. I don't want people knowing about this."
"Well, I suppose…How did you manage to obtain such an unfortunate burden anyways?"
"That's…what I don't want people finding out. It's-It's a thing, I guess. Just, promise you won't tell anyone."
"Then how will they get any better?"
"Promise!"
Pops glanced back at the girl sitting smack dab in the center of the living room. Her large watery eyes were prodding at him like a small puppy wanting to be loved. But then he glanced down at the bruises and cuts all over her, and it was more like a dog missing both of its front paws wanting to slip on booties and asking its owner not to say anything about it. "Well…alright then. I promise. As long as you promise me that you'll take care of yourself, miss-"
"I will, I will! But for now, er, umm…" her voice faded away as she looked down on herself as well. She looked back up with eager eyes. "Pops? You got anything to cover these up for now?"
"…I'll take a quick look," Pops somberly trudged up the stairs and flung open the door to his room. He walked towards the closet and pulled its ornate doors open gently, plucking off a gray sweatshirt from the hangar and closing them back shut. He walked back downstairs and handed her the sweatshirt. "I'm afraid this is the only feminine attire I have. It used to be my mothers, but I hope it will do."
"It'll do just fine Pops." she said as she pulled it over her torn shirt and battered limbs. It covered her hips excessively, which Kairo especially favored, since it covered more of her bruises.
"Yeah, and then the entire world explodes! The effects are so cool!" an eager voice got louder as the soft puttering of feet started coming down the stairs. "Well, yeah, but the assassin died dude. That's a stupid ending, and what ever happened to the ninjas?" a deeper voice said, and a slightly louder pounding started coming down the stairs. "Will you guys just stop complaining? Pops is picking the movie, so we're most likely not watching some stupid sci-fi techno-ninja crap again." A mature, irritated voice said hastily. Both Pops and Kairo looked towards the stairs as three figures walked into to living room. And Kairo's eyes grew wide at the sight of a raccoon, a blue jay, and a living gumball machine.
