"Why, you [i]that[/i] girl?"

When Lys spoke, his voice was dripping heavy with an East London accent, but it was in good humour.

"You are a girl, right?" he asked, smiling. He poked his head around the side of the fountain to check, then still couldn't see, so came around the side and bent down close to look at his new comrade.

"You are," he confirmed at length. "So you're that funny caps-lock person? But what're you doing on the floor? We got work to do."

And amiably he offered a hand to help the girl up. From this distance his features could be seen in detail: for example the hair squashed under his tennis cap, which was a dark brown exactly the colour of rotting leaves. Close up it was possible to see the ineptly-shaved facial hair and the premature wrinkles that pitted his undereyes. And yet for a twenty-something it wasn't that he looked much older than he was; the effect more resembled a young kid wearing "old person" halloween makeup.

[img=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r256/SeaCanary/ly2.png]

"There was another guy who said he wanted to come," Lys explained. "But don't count on it... I reckon he chickened out. Wanna bet on it? Might as well spend as much money as we can; it's not like they can make us pay it back, where we're going."

He smiled a lopsided smile that split his face, showing several brown teeth at the back.

"You're not wearing shoes?" He noticed. "I guess you won't need them either, huh?"

He nodded to himself, seeming to approve of the thought.

"Yeah, eff shoes - who ever needed them anyway? But, you know, let's do things proper today and have brunch first, eh? All the death row criminals get a meal before they kick it; they can order what they like. Besides, it'll give you a chance to make sure y' ain't got any second thoughts. Don't want to rush it now - s' too important. C'mon," he said, already beginning to wander in a direction away from the statue. "I know a great place where they do all kinds of breakfasts."

He only paused to give the girl a careful look over his shoulder.

"You ain't got any second thoughts, have you?" he asked narrowly.