[b]Jessalyn - Baton Rouge/Plaza - Tremblay[/b]

Jess watched the man warily. He seemed almost... decent. But she had been taken in by that front before. It was going to take more then some kind words to make her believe he truly meant her and her baby no harm.

Sniffling, trying to dry her tears, she looked down at Ben, kissing his forehead before speaking. "I came here with my group. We were trying to find shelter and a safe place to stay for a little while. We found a house that had baby supplies, everything he could need. Everything... and because I wanted to help someone I have lost it all for him..."
She teared up again but shook her head, forcing the tears back once again. She would cry in earnest later.

"Ben's father is dead," she said, her voice quiet as her mind went back to that day. "Killed before he was born. His name was Bruce. He was the leader of a place a lot like this, a place called Haywood. He was trading women like cattle to a man who used them as breeding stock. But since I was already pregnant, I was more valuable. But I was pregnant by him, taken advantage off months before by him with the promise that he would take care of me, keep me safe. But as soon as he was done with me, he abandoned me. His cruel leadership crumbled and his people turned on him. When I told him that he was the father of my baby, he tried to kill us both. He was killed while trying to strangle me."

Jess swallowed hard but forced herself to continue. "A man named Floyd rescued me after I was traded away. He took care of me in the last months of my pregnancy, but we were seperated before Ben was born. I left Haywood with a friend to find him... and that is how we came here," she paused and looked at the man before her. "We never meant to stay here," she insisted. "We were going to continue on, to find Floyd. I know he's not dead. He can't be. He is too much of a survivor to die out there."

He offered her to ask him any question she wanted, so she chose the one that was upmost in her mind. "How did you become the leader of this place?"
The answer would tell her about what kind of man he was. It he took it by force, then his show of kindness was just an act. If the men appointed him, then maybe there was something in him that she could come to trust eventually.