Players:
Summary: Travis and Rashmi have a gift of books for Franky and Sister Lisa tells the pair some of how the shelter came to find Franky.
Date: May 9, 2011
Log Title: Helping Franky
Rating: PG
NYC - Mutant Town (Avenue A)
Mutant Town, also known as District X, has become a haven for mutants. This section of town doesn't care what you look like, accepting all mutants no matter what their appearance. Most of the businesses in this section of town are mutant run ranging from small convenience stores to clothing shops to restaurants to night clubs. The buildings here aren't the high rise buildings you might find in mid-town but most are about 5-6 stories high. Mutant Town might not be the most luxurious section of town, in fact it's fairly run down, but this section of where mutants are safe and welcomed regardless of race, religion and culture.
Early evening in Mutant town and the streets are illuminated by the scattered streetlights and the neon signs of various busineses along the main avenue. The street vendors are gone for the evening and the foot traffic is minimal, the evening air a bit cooler as the sun is almost down.
An unusual sight would come to the gaze of those on the street tonight as a small young woman wearing a Nun's habit is walking up the sidewalk with Franky following a few steps behind her. He carries a large commercial refrigerator over one shoulder like it was made of paper, and carries a equally large stove and rangetop over the over. The woman looks around a bit nervous and motions down the street. "Come along Franky, we best get these back to the shelter before it gets too late." Franky nods and continues to simply plod along with his load. "Hokay Zizter Liza.. Hy keepz going."
"This is around where the shelter should be." Travis tells Rashmi as he carries a canvas back with him in one arm, his four other arms are hidden by a jacket for the time being. "There is he is actually." He says nodding towards Franky and the nun, seeing as it's hard to miss the large build of Franky combined with him carrying a fridge. "I think we should wait till he's done since he's carrying that."
Upon having Franky and the nun pointed out to her, Rashmi actually stops dead for a moment, eyes widening. For all her widely varied experience with the mutant community, still there manages to be a surprise now and again. "…Wow. *Large,*" she murmurs, before shaking her head and clearing her throat, hefting the canvas bag in her hand. "Probably, yeah… but we should at least introduce ourselves, right? C'mon, let's go say hi."
The Shelter itself at one time looks to have been a gym or YMCA at one point, large windows with bars behind them dominate the front of the building with a pair of double-doors. There are two stories about the ground floor with similar windows, a few have been boarded up. As the pair approach the doors a few of the residents and volenteers come out and hold the doors open as a large wheeled push-cart is rolled out and Franky sets the refrigerator onto it with a grunt. When it's taken inside another comes out and Franky sets the Stove onto it and it vanishes into the building as well. Sister Lisa smiles and gives Franky a pat on the arm. "You did very well, I'll have Sister Bernice give you one of the containers of Ice-cream when she's moving things into the new refrigerator." She spots the two approaching figures and steps back a moment in concern, placing Franky between herself and the new arrivals. Franky smiles when he sees Travis and to the Sister's relief waves and calls out. "Hello der friend Traviz! Hyu vant some Ize Crem?"
"Hello Franky." Travis says waving at the large man. "How have you been?" He asks him as he approaches. He nods respectfully to Sister Lisa and smiles. "Sorry to interrupt but I have a gift for Franky, I'm Travis." He says introducing himself to her. "Franky this is Rashmi." He says. "And sure I'll have a little bit of ice cream."
Rashmi bobs her head as she's introduced, smiling brightly. "Travis told me about you, it's good to meet you, Franky! And… Sister Lisa, right?" she says to the nun, nodding deeply at the woman, before looking back to the oversized mutant. "Travis said you like books, right? Well… we thought we'd bring you some, in case you don't have them."
Franky looks to Travis "Hy em doink Hokay, helpinz Zizter Liza vit der chorez but dey iz all done now." At the mention of books he nods and smiles widely "Ho yez hy lovez Bookz, mine are a leetle old but theyz shtill Hokay." Sister Lisa looks are the three and smiles "Well I'll leave you to chat, I need to go check on the work in the kitchen and will be back shortly. It's nice to finally meet you Travis Franky has talked about you, it's good to see he has some friends outside of the shelter." She slips off into the building.
Travis blushes a bit as he's heard that Franky's talked about him. "Well..there are some workbooks here to help you with reading and math. Also there are some books in here for reading too." He says handing him the canvas bag. Inside there are books for grades first, second and third grade and there are a few children's books for him as well. "If you need any help with anything Rashmi and I will be willing to help you."
Rashmi nods, her smile widening. "Definitely. …Also, um… I don't know if you have a library card or not, so I just went ahead and used mine." Setting her bag on the floor, she pulls out a small stack of Richard Scarry books. "I'm going to have to give these back in a couple of weeks, Franky, so take care of them, okay? If you're worried you'll lose them, I'm sure Sister Lisa will be happy to hang onto them for you."
Franky nods and picks up the bags, looking into them and then back up to you both. "Tank hyu Traviz, tank hyu Raz.. Razhy.. Razhmee!" He smiles, rather proud of himself for figuring out that name. "Hy vill give dem to Zizter Liza zo dey don't get vet or broke." As he speaks Sister Lisa re-emerges from the shelter with two bowls of vannila Icecream and nods "I'll make sure they stay safe, thank you for bringing them I'll make sure the library is reimbersed if anything does happen." She looks to Franky "Sister Bernice says Mr. Floppy is out of the Dryer, try not to sleep out in the rain next time Franky he got all wet. You have a room tonight so go put your books away and get Mr Floppy." Franky grins from ear to ear and dashs into the shelter "Mizshter Floppy! Hy iz comingz!" Lisa watchs him with a warm but sad smile before offering the bowls to Travis and Rashmi "I pray I never face that horrors that must have left that man in the state he's in. But he seems happy and that's all I can hope for. Thank you for helping him."
Travis watches Franky run off and has a sort of sad smile on his face. "I will admit I'm a bit worried about him and curious what happened but..he seems like he's a really nice guy…kid." He's not really sure. "You're welcome." He says as he takes a bowl of ice cream and takes a bite. "He told me he wants to be a hero, I think his heart is in the right place for it but he seems so innocent."
Rashmi accepts her bowl with a nod of thanks, watching Franky dash off into the shelter. "Well… whatever happened to him… If he can be happy now, that's good enough for me, I think… How long has he been here, Sister?"
Sister Lisa thinks for a moment "Sister Bernice brought him here about two months ago. She found him outside the city while on a family visit, stripped bare and covered in wounds and burns. She used to be a nurse and patched him up, but the injuries were practically gone the next day when she went to change the bandages. He was completely catatonic when she first brought him in, we sat him in front of the television and left it on while we tried to figure out who to call. After the 2nd day he started to speak again, but barely. He knew little english and what he did say was accented so badly it was almost impossible to translate. I don't know if the TV sparked his mind or what but his speech got better a few days later, though we still can't place the accent. I've contacted the Latverian embassy, as well as any european ones we could think of and no one is looking for him or even has records that he exists. Fingerprints had no match at the Police department and there's no missing persons reports."
Travis frowns at that. "He's right when he says he's a tough guy but…you're right with what you said before. If he's happy that's what matters. Not knowing who he is..I mean was doesn't seem to bother him but it's kind of sad to think about." Travis says quietly looking at the door. The idea of noone looking for Franky bothers him since it feels like he's just been ditched by someone. "Thank you for letting him stay here, I think this shelter is pretty much the closest to family that he has."
Rashmi's brow furrows, the corners of her mouth pulling down as well, as she considers this. "…Well, then. We'll just have to do something about it," she states, the set of her jaw clearly displaying that her sense of moral outrage is in full swing. "In the meantime… If there's anything he needs, Sister… or the shelter in general, if we can help… Just let us know, okay?"
Sister Lisa nods again "Thank you, there's always somthing we need but thanks to Franky we've got a large part of that taken care of. A commercial appliance dealer had been offering us that refrigerator and Stove for weeks now but said they couldn't deliver them. The offer was little more than a mean-spirited joke since they figured we couldn't come get them ourselves. I know I shouldn't take pleasure in such things but I couldn't help but get a sense of satisfaction when Franky lifted them like they were nothing and simply carried them off." She smiles a little. "We've done everything we can for him, I called upon a Telepath we sometimes use for drug counciling hoping he could unlock Franky's memories but he said there's somthing strange about his mind. There are no traces of block memories at all, it's like the very first ones he ever had began little more then 24 hours before he was found.
"Well the best we can do help him out. I'll have my Mom help me get more workbooks for him since he seems to like to learn." Travis says as his brain is thinking so many things. He looks over at Rashmi and gives her a look that says 'we'll have to talk about this later' since Travis doesn't want to scare the Sister. "Well I'm glad he was able to help you out, he seems to have a big heart to match his size. Franky's a good guy…kid."
Rashmi nods fractionally in response to Travis' glance, offering her hand to Sister Lisa, chuckling at the story. "Oh, I understand… sometimes it's just so *satisfying* to see the look on someone's face when they realize their mean little joke's come up to bite them. We'll see what we can do to find more out… And I'll be sure to tell Mami and Papi about your shelter. They're really big on holiday charity, I'm sure they'd love to help make it a little happier for you and your people, Sister."
Sister Lisa shakes Rashmi's hand and nods "I appreciate any help you're willing to give, God bless you both for looking out for Franky." As if on Cue Franky emerges from the doors with a large stuffed rabbit under one arm, he's eating out of a half-gallon icecream container with a large cooking spoon. Sister Lisa nods to you both "I's best see to getting the shelter ready for the night. Thank you both again." She slips back into the shelter while Franky gives that dopey grin again. "Luvz Ize Crem, but haz to be verry good to get zum. Was verry good today." He takes another spoonfull before speaking again. "Youz both good friendz, hy em glad hy meet hyu. You needz my help hyu callz me hokay? Em Verry stronk, verry tuff. Ken doez all kindz uf tingz."
Travis nods to Sister Lisa and gives her a smile. "You have a good night and thanks, for looking out for him as well." He says before Franky comes out and gives him a wave. "Hey Franky, enjoying your ice cream?" He asks. "You are very tough Franky but also if you need any help with those work books with getting smarter let us know. Maybe you'll be able to understand all the words in your comic books soon."
"Oh, I believe it, Franky," Rashmi says with a wide grin. "We'll be sure to call you if we need help, definitely… And you too, okay? If you're in trouble and you need help, let us know."
Franky polishes off the container in a few more spoonfulls and grins widely. "Zizter Liza vill helpz vit der bookz, but hyu ken come helpz az vell. Like havink friendz come to zee me. Zizter don't likez me gettink hinto troublez, zo I shtay cloze to der shelter mozt uf der time." He looks back into the shelter and then to both of you. "Hyu gotz to go, lightz owt zoon and hy haff a room tonight. Gotz to be in bed zoon."
"Friends are good Franky." Travis says with a nod. "Well I'd like you to stay safe too, getting into trouble is never too much fun." He says making a face. "Well have a good night Franky, and you too Mr. Floppy. I'll see you around soon. And don't eat your ice cream so fast you might get an ice cream headache. Rashmi and I should head back to our school anyway."
Rashmi nods, reading out to pat the giant's arm, smiling gently. "We'd *love* to come visit, Franky. You have a good sleep, okay? We'll come back as soon as we can, to see how you like your books. You take care, all right? It was *really* good to meet you."
Franky smiles to Rashmi and nods "Hyu takez care too, zee hyu zoon mebbe." He gives the rabbit a hug and turns to head back into the shelter. "Comez on Mizshter Floppy, ve haff a room tonight zo no shleepink in der park und gettink vet." He disappears into the shelter, the sound of him humming the theme from Sesame Street echoing in the hallway for a few minutes before fading out.
