Sometimes you just don't know what goes wrong with a kid, if at all. Sometimes it's the parent's "fault" - or sometimes they just didn't do anything at all.

And that's exactly what Ronnie's Mom does. Nothing. Sure, she makes sure that he has a place to sleep, food to eat, clothes to wear, and grounds him when he really gets into trouble or doesn't check in for a few days - but other than that the boy had a lot of liberty for a 16 year old.

Normally, you'll find him downtown in St. Louis, 14-i docs firmly planted on his constant companion sticker covered skateboard, caramel eyes searching for the next little adventure. And that's exactly what he thinks life is. An adventure. He packs a lot of energy in that mere 5'4" frame.

Perhaps more energy than should be normal.

You see, his older brother Brian, the now newly graduated from bootcamp Marine, made the mistake of allowing Ronnie to party with him once several years back, and introduced the boy to Speed. It's been a love affair ever since that fateful 14th birthday.  Ronnie had a reason, all he needed now was an avenue.  And he found it.

He's got a love/hate relationship with his older brother.  Brian has paid for all three of his tribal tats - the black widow over his heart, the bat wings spanning his entire back from shoulder blades to tailbone, and the band wrapped around his right thigh. Of course, Brian also beats the tar out of him every once in a while.

All was good for a while.  Then his brother went out for a beer run one night and one of his friends decided to fuck with Ronnie.  A couple nights in the hospital, then Dani came to his rescue like she has so many times before.  The night Ben died was the night he met Alex - when this blond stranger helped Dani back up into Ronnie's room, stabbed and bleeding and they all kept Ronnie from knowing about it.  She's fine now, he spent the night drunk and sorely shaken in his best friend Jayden's arms. Alex slept over, too.

Nonetheless, it fucked Ronnie up for weeks.

Shortly after that, his Mom had an offering for a job in ShadowDrift.  He wasted noooooo time in packing his belongings and going with her.

Christmas time '99 rolled around, Mom was supposed to be out wirh one of her boyfriends til all odd hours of the morning as usual.  She came home early and found him passed out... it landed him in rehab for well over a month.  Withdrawals, counsellors digging up the past, shivers, shakes, and a whole lot of bad shit.  He didn't come out a happy camper.

Funny things happen in new towns, though.

One spring day he saw a familiar body practically dancing down the street.  And he watched, totally captured as he came closer..... finally realizing what his heart had been telling him all along since Alex spent several days passed out in his bed.

God, just the fact his pillow smelled like Alex for days after that.....

It took him a week or two to act on it, finally calling that number Alex slipped into his hand during that surprise meeting.  Now, Ronnie only goes home to do his laundry.

---

Christmas 2001 has rolled around, he's been clean for coming up on two years.... been engaged for a year, graduated high school, even in some college classes now. He's learned a lot of things in the past two years.

Alex was more than he was cracked up to be. An almost mugging one night in fall 2000 produced fur, spots, and big scarey teeth...... Alex was a Swara cub, and finally went through his first change..

But Ronnie didn't suffer the Delerium.....

Alex had to leave summer 2001, he had exhausted all the resources available to him in ShadowDrift to learn about what he was, and his Pride. He needed to go on a journey to find a mentor. Andrei decided to go with him, but this left our boy wonder home alone, and waiting. All the way until late November, just a few days after Thanksgiving, Alex and Andrei wandered back into Ronnie's life.

Alex learned a lot, in that coming of age journey, and a little bit more about why Ronnie didn't suffer the Delerium. He petitioned the spirits to ask who were Ronnie's kin, and found something mighty interesting.

Cats and dogs can get along....
 
 
 

... for the dot monsters