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Locke gritted his teeth together and ushered Fluffy in the direction of the river. Mud didn't stay together nearly as well as concrete and definitely not like the marble floors. It slipped and slid about in ways that he couldn't prevent. After all Locke only affected dirt and rock stuffs, not water and not gravity. Not only was it hard to keep replenishing the golem, but moving it felt a bit like mixing caramel sauce and pancake mix.

This isn't right,[/i] Locke thought as Fluffy's first "foot" went into the water. It grew thinner feeling, and although there was a brief moment in which Locke was aware of the mud in the riverbed, the golem was dissolving too fast for him to connect and build back up Fluffy. It melted. There was a floating bit of mud that was broken up and carried downstream by the current. "Alright that didn't work. Guess that means we're both going in."

“Oh yeah, I haven’t introduced you to Fluffy yet,” Locke said with a grin. The mud was pretty good for working with, and so Locke descended his mind into it. He felt as though he was saying hello to an old familiar friend, and Locke pulled and prodded a human shape up and out. Fluffy wasn’t all that large, just slightly smaller than Chris, and as usual had only the vaguest similarities to a human. The mouth and eyes were just gaping holes that looked as if someone had scooped out handfuls of the mud. It had two arm like things, as well as two legish supports, but was hunched over more like a gorilla. “Meet Fluffy,” Locke somehow managed to grumble out. Talking while keeping Fluffy together was something he hadn’t experimented with much, but he’d have to get use to it sooner or later.

There was a click of something in Locke, a part that suddenly eased up when Tarin headed over. It didn’t mean that the teen was entirely happy about, one, having to ask someone to do something with him, and two, being in a place where he had meant to go with his dad, but in ways it was much better than simply sitting back at the school and getting crushed on all sides by guilt, homesickness, loneliness, and grief. Still Locke would have felt much more secure in the large crowed if he had been able to bring his backpack full of rocks with him. It was rather stressful to feel all those people walking about and Locke wanted something that he knew he could loose himself in should things get to be too much. Although Tarin had clearly spotted him and was making his way there Locke still raised a hand to signal where he was. When the medium finally got there Locke lifted is baseball cap, one with a cartoon hornet, off his head, adjusted his hair and set it back into place.

“Here,” he said, giving Tarin one of the tickets. It wasn’t anything epic like field seats or even a seat in the main row, but at least he didn’t get obstructed seats, and the Grandstand is nothing to sneeze at. “Compliments of Kendra. Consider it a down payment for last time.” He was of course referring to how Tarin had refused to accept his money. Locke didn’t know how much was usually charged for that bit of mojo, but the ticket had to cover at least a portion of it.

There were two big days that always were tough for the Tori family now. Fathers' Day affected them all, from Kendra who had lost her husband and love, to the twins who never had a dad and always gave there daycare and preschool projects to Locke. The absence of Dad always hurt Locke more than the absence of his mother, because he had had his Dad all those years. At least Locke knew and understood how Father's Day could be less painful for Chris and Mai than it was for him. His Mother's Day was like Fathers' Day to them. It's hard to entirely miss something you don't know or remember. How hard must it be for the twins now that he wasn't there to get excited over a brick of toast and a tinfoil Popsicle stick creation? Guilt. Major guilt.

The second big bad day changed the day number from year to year, just like the first major one did, but it was bad for the rest of the Tori family because it was a black one for Locke. Even his friend who on a regular basis liked to ignore the concept of personal space didn't want to approach him on the opening day of the baseball season. The only reason why this day that was not set in stone squeaked ahead of the day of the accident was it served as an additional reminder to Locke while the twins got psyched about their upcoming birthday. It was something personal, but bad enough to bring about sadness for them all in some measure. Nobody knew quite why it bothered him, nor did they bother to ask, which made things all the more worse.

Maybe it had been the guilt over missing Fathers' Day and forcing his little brother and sister to spend the holiday with no male parental figure that made Locke dig out the business card. Maybe it was homesickness and regret that he'd miss the big sixth birthday. Or maybe it was just that Locke was afraid of what he was going to do left on his own for another baseball season where he'd watch the games on TV and try and convince himself that it was just as good, if not better than actually being in the stands. Since the New Year he kept surprising himself with the lack of sense his actions had. Traveling across country to follow a stranger to a school, taking on Cthulu, running into a gunfight... Locke didn't think he was the type to try to hurt himself, but his past actions were scaring him.

He was alone for the opening game anyways. It took a few days before he finally plucked the business card off the mirror. Then a few more before he carried that card to a phone and called the number for a medium.

"Uh Tarin?" he mumbled and stumbled, trying to think of how to phrase this want that he had but couldn't explain, the need he had, "I uh.. this is Locke, and um.... I kind of need something...." The person on the other side of the phone line made a noise of recognition at the name, and Locke reminded himself that the man had said that if he needed help to call. He wondered briefly if Tarin could hear Dad, if Dad had stuck around at all. Usually ghosts left didn't they? "Do you want to go to a baseball game?" the words came gushing out, almost as awkward as the one time he had tried asking a girl out on a date on his own. Weird.

""Baseball? Uh....sure kid. When? Everything okay?" There it was again. Tarin showing as much concern as his own father had. When was the last time someone his step-mother wasn't forking cash over to asked him that question around this time of year and actually cared what he said in response to it?

"Steady as an earthquake," Locke told him. He rapidly a babbled something about earthquakes having a steady pulse to them before the adult could take it as him being shaken. After all Locke had to retain some level of manlyness.



But that was in the past, and now as Locke stood outside the Yankee Stadium, two tickets clutched tighter in his fist then even a diamond Fluffy could, he felt cold sweat trickle down his temples that had nothing to do with the unseasonably warm weather. Kendra had been more then willing to provide him with the funds for the tickets when he told her that he wanted to take a friend to see a game, though he wondered if she had mistaken the name Tarin for a girl's. It was hard to tell if he felt more afraid that Tarin wouldn't show up or that he was actually going to be a more active part of something he'd love but hadn't really indulged with in a long time. Maybe I should just sell the tickets to a scalper and get out of here before Tarin sees me, if he's coming at all.

Locke never was so out of breath before in his life. And although Saph had more ore less dragged him for the first part of the run, the teen had a stitch in his side that required him to hold onto himself. Heavy breaths can be painful enough, but when your throat is dry anyone's throat instantly makes it sound as if you spent your whole life working in a coal mine. Now he was at least able to stand, or at least support his weight enough to lean against a wall while bending over, clutching his shirt with the one hand and his jeans with the other. It really seemed like he was going to be going to jail for a minute there.

At times like this being an atheist came in handy, because Locke called upon a deity as a profanity with no fear of damnation. That little nap earlier did nothing to soothe his frayed nerves. In spite of the stitch in his side that nervous laughter started escaping from him. Did he think any of this had been remotely entertaining? Not at all. He'd be seeing those brain bits and motionless bodies for weeks. Locke just needed to get something out. "Hell, make it up with a Slushee."

Woods sounds good. Locke hasn't had much luck in the city. Besides he'd be more comfortable going around in swimming trunks there than in a public location