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OOC: Please post in Rifts Dead Man's Hand - Festival Day - Brad for now.

The trio arrive at the library, Maya is recluse and quiet as she sits at one of the study tables and buries her head in her arms, sniffling through her trauma. Meg walks to her usual spot behind the counter, turns, leans against the counter and slides down to the floor. "How can people be so AWFUL?"

At that moment, Mr. Swenson barges in. He looks from the girls to Dane, then walks towards him, wagging his index finger, "Tell me what happened!"

Frank assesses the scene, then Kendal before speaking. "Hey guys, why did she say that it was her fault? And why is everyone ignoring what she said? Just what the hell happened?" Frank starts to walk up to Kendal and sits next to her. She scoots away; either due to the trauma or possible dislike for Frank.

In a calm, soft tone, he asks, "Just what happened? I want to hear it from you not the mob around us."

Megana deeply sighs, nodding at Johnny, "Ill be okay, Sam. It's not the worst I've seen. Let's go meet up with Dane and the others," to keep calm. She begins heading towards the library, Sam right beside her, when Johnny notices Frank heading towards Kendal, he breaks away and joins Frank.

"Not a good idea, dude," Steve reinforces his prior warning as he follows Sam and Megana, Emily right with them. Johnny ignores him.

As the quartet meander through the dispersing crowd towards the library, Esther and Ethan Trent are forced out of the Justice Center, upset about their daughter being arrested. They begin trying to sneak around behind the building, probably to try and get in and save their daughter.

As they enter the library, Mr. Swenson, Teddy's dad, spins around, wagging his finger at them, "Someone tell me what the hell happened or I'll start knocking some heads around!"

Dane stops mid-stride on his way to Meg and pivots to face the man as he bursts through the door with the others. He takes a cautious step back from Mr. Swenson’s rage.

"Dude, chill," Steve holds up his hands, "We know less than you do. We were at the bar eating when we heard that Vi and Ted were gonna duke it out. We didn't even leave until someone screamed that Vi did something bad."

"Yeah! Don't blame us," Emily adds, moving closer to Steve, scared of Marty.

"So Vi did that to his face?" Marty bellows.

"Marty, stop it!" Miss Hoffman shouts, "None of us really knows anything. We were all having dinner and enjoying the festival when this happened."

"Oh you!" He turns, facing the librarian, "What were you, twenty something when he was thirteen? YOU should be in jail!" He spins to Megana, "Or was it you? Cus my awesome business is hurting your grandma's horse business?"

"Hey!" Steve steps forward, "I asked to you to chill, man! This isn't cool..."

Sam scoots in closer to Megana, obviously intimidated by the cowboy salesman's rage.

"Why don't you ask the one person who declared that it was her fault?" Maya absentmindedly adds from one of the study tables, where she's obviously been crying, "That pretty girl. What's her name?"

"Kendal," Miss Hoffman blandly answers.

Marty scoffs, "Teddy doesn't even like that two faced tramp. She's always tried underhanded ways to get his attention. She's white noise at this point." He looks back at Dane, "I want the truth. You look like you know something, Stryker. Tell me!"

Steve, with skateboard in hand, looks as though he's about to attack Marty.

Megana takes a deep breath as her temper begins to rise "ha you fucking think i want to harm Teddy just because your cruelty base buisness is hurting mine?! No! I been with Frank and his family at their bar so i wasnt even near that evebt you tempemental child. I know Teddy's life is on the line but you have no fucking right to accuse me of a crime i didnt commit you bastard!" As she snaps pissed at Marty's accuastion

“We don’t know, Mr. Swenson. We heard shouting that Vi and Teddy were having some kind of impromptu boxing match. I was going to check it out, but before I even got inside, the Sheriff and my dad were hauling Vi out the door, and all hell broke loose outside. The mob started shouting about d-bees, and when I said Vi was our friend, they almost came at me and called me a d-bee lover. I swear, we don’t know anything.” Dane pushes the edge of his persuasiveness, trying to calm the man without making things worse. “With how messed up Teddy was, whoever did it will have blood on them. I didn’t see any on Vi, and if you look around, you won’t find any on us either.” He deliberately leaves out his suspicions about Vi, Dusty, and Lord Stein, then glances around, hoping someone else will back him up. “If you want to find out what happened, ask the deputies. They’ll get to the facts." His voice softens with empathy. "Or, better yet, go be with your son and let the Sheriff handle the rest. He needs you, Mr. Swenson.”

“We don’t know, Mr. Swenson. We heard shouting about Vi and Teddy having some kind of impromptu boxing match. I was going to check it out, but before I even got inside, the Sheriff and my dad were hauling Vi out the door, and all hell broke loose outside. The mob started shouting about d-bees, and when I said Vi was our friend, they almost came at me and called me a d-bee lover. I swear, we don’t know anything.”

Megana takes a deep breath, letting her temper boil over, "Ha! You fucking think I want to harm Teddy just because your cruelty-based business is hurting mine? No! I've been with Frank and his family, at their bar, so I wasn't even near that event! You temperamental child," she unconsciously begins approaching Marty, "I know Teddy's life is on the line but you have no fucking right to accuse me of a crime I didn't commit, you bastard!"

Dane pushes the edge of his persuasiveness, trying to calm the man without making things worse. “With how messed up Teddy was, whoever did it will have blood on them. I didn’t see any on Vi, and if you look around, you won’t find any on us either.” He deliberately leaves out his suspicions about Vi, Dusty, and Lord Stein, then glances around, hoping someone else will back him up. “If you want to find out what happened, ask the deputies. They’ll get to the facts." His voice softens with empathy. "Or, better yet, go be with your son and let the Sheriff handle the rest. He needs you, Mr. Swenson.”

Steve looks about to ram the end of his skateboard into the back of Marty's head when the man just slowly raises his hands, "I... I'm so sorry, everyone," as he struggles to hold tears back, "He's all I have. I don't care about my business if it means getting him back." He looks to Miss Hoffman, "I'm sorry. He loved you so much," then Megana, "I didn't really mean that. They won't let me see Teddy and told me to stay away from the Justice Center. I was calm when I came here, but... Who would do that to him?"

Steve lowers the skateboard, "It's all good with me, dude. I can't imagine what it's like for you."

Marty peers back at him, "I don't know you guys, but this isn't how I am. I'll give my own life to make sure my boy survives this." He glances back to Maya and nods, "Thank you. But I'm certain that she was lying."

"If he even wants to survive..." Maya mutters under her breath, "I don't know if I would want to."

Sam scoffs, "What, cus he'll have horrific scars?" he briefly glances at Dane, "I don't think that that will define the person he is."

Marty finally sighs, centering his focus on Dane again, "Would you walk with me? I'd like to ask you something."

Megana goes silent and returns to Sam's side and muttering sone curses as she was not happy being accused of hurting teddy

“Umm...” Dane blinks, caught off guard. .oO Didn’t calculate this outcome. Oo. He glances at Meg, then the others, before looking back at Mr. Swenson. “I suppose. But I told you, I don’t know what happened to Teddy.”

“Umm...” Dane blinks, caught off guard. oO(Didn’t calculate this outcome)Oo He glances at Meg, then the others, before looking back at Mr. Swenson. “I suppose. But I told you, I don’t know what happened to Teddy.”

Megana quietly leans against Sam, quietly, yet strongly muttering, "Son of a bi..." mixed with, "Accuse me?" and "Teddy's my friend and he dares..."

"Megana," Emily's small voice starts as she walks over and whispers, "What's the best way to ask Steve out?" into her ear. Steve is probably four or five years older than Em, yet she's barely a teenager at best; reinforced by the sheer inappropriate timing of the question. Sam flashes Megana a confused 'what's going on?' look.

Maya puts her head back down, trying to erase the mental images of the past twenty minutes from her brain. Miss Hoffman frowns as she shrugs at Dane. While Emily is distracted, Steve goes back over and sits with Maya, trying to comfort her. Emily's shoulders sink as she notices and sighs.

"There are a few things about Lord Stein and Vi that I'd like to ask you... Alone," he frowns as he nods towards the non-fiction aisle, "I didn't like how our Lord and Savior," dramatically waving his hands in the air, "Suddenly took an interest in Vi these past few weeks. Scheduling that boxing event, like it would draw more people. I guess it could be an innocent publicity stunt, but I found it bad timing especially when they both finished ranking matches just weeks ago." Everyone heard him and seems interested suddenly.

"Or," Miss Hoffman's icicle stare meets Marty's, "We could all hear. She's our friend and so is Teddy." Dane's never seen her so serious and intimidating.

"Uh," Marty resigns with, "I guess it's up to Dane. But this doesn't leave this room. Okay?"

"EH?!" megana takes a double look at Emily "hun this is not the time and place for askin that plus hes much older than you youngster". Megana sighs and looks at Sam "Kid has a crush on steve and asked me how to ask him out..."