After hearing the elderly woman, Lovia, as Alex had called her, make a dark joke, Jack forces himself to smile politely and extends his hand in greeting. "Hello ma'am, my name is Jack Henlow. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Lovia turns her head to glance at Jack, her long, greasy, gray hair swaying from the movement. "Well, well! I'm Lovia Brink. It's a pleasure to meet you, too!" she side-eyes Alex, "Why can't you be this polite?"
Jack's voice tinges with pride as he answers for Alex, "My brother taught me."
Lovia grins, "Well, make sure to introduce him to the edgelord!"
Alex can't help but inwardly sigh. Weren't you practically sobbing over me earlier? How do you switch to teasing so easily?
Jack, oblivious to Alex's inner thoughts, tilts his head. "Edgelord?"
Lovia's grin widens, and she points to Alex, "It's a common character archetype in stories. Usually, these characters wear dark clothes, such as a gray raincoat, carry silly weapons, like small knives, and try to act cool as much as possible. A prime example would be-"
Alex coughs loudly, cutting Lovia's hoarse voice off. "First of all, my knife is really practical, and isn't little at all. Secondly, shouldn't we be focusing on more important things? Y'know, like why Jack and I are half-dead, or why, as you eloquently put it, 'our Fry is extra crispy.' "
A chuckle escapes Lovia's lips as she casually responds, "That was a good one, wasn't it? I only cared about Fry since I thought you might've died with him. But, seeing as you're here, I was clearly wrong!" She takes a dull metallic flask out of one of the many folds of her patched, charcoal dress. Despite knowing her for years, Alex still doesn't know how much alcohol she keeps on her.
Taking a quick swig and letting out a satisfied "ah," Lovia nonchalantly adds, "Plus, I'd say you're only a quarter dead at most."
A barely suppressed shout escapes Alex's lips, "That's still more dead than I'd like!"
Lovia's hoarse voice erupts into laughter, "You should be more grateful! Poor old Fry is a full four quarters dead!"
Alex grimaces and opens his mouth to retort, but Jack, noticing the escalation, changes the topic before an argument can erupt, "How did you know Alex was with Fry?" Thanks to Alex's earlier explanation, he has a good understanding of what happened.
Seeing through Jack's obvious attempt at de-escalation, Lovia chuckles but plays along. "It wasn't tough to figure out. Alex disappeared just a bit before smoke drifted over here. For a while, I thought that idiot started the fire himself!"
Jack nods. "He is a bit destructive."
"I know, right!" Lovia cackles.
"You're talking like I'm not here," Alex grumbles.
Lovia flinches in surprise and turns to look at him, "So you are! I thought a burnt tarp was there! You should really get those wounds checked out."
"You think!?" Alex desperately turns to Jack for backup, but is dismayed when he sees the wool-haired boy staring intently at Alex's raincoat.
Faintly, he can hear him mumble, "It does kinda look like a tarp." Luckily, he snaps himself out of it quickly and turns his attention back to the conversation. His words turn tentative, "Did you know Fry?"
Lovia chuckles once more, although her mischievous voice sounds a bit strained. "Of course, I knew him!" She takes another swig from her flask and messily wipes the excess off with her sleeve. "Fry was a cunning bastard who knew how to play the system! An illegal pawn shop targeting the lower class, you wouldn't believe the kinda stuff I've seen there! What a devilish idea!" She sighs, "His only redeeming quality was that he had a soft spot for kids."
"But…" Jack lowers his head and turns somber, mixed with confusion, "he died. Don't you feel bad?"
Resisting the urge to slap Jack for his blunt questioning, Alex inwardly groans. I totally forgot. He had completely neglected telling Jack about the culture of Tetanus Town. In hindsight, I should've expected this. Fry's incineration would obviously cause a stir in the residents of Tetanus Town. Some of them would be worried, and some would be sad, but most would move on instantly. Of course, Jack, with his strong morals, would ask a question like that.
Unsurprisingly, Lovia clenches her jaw and her words become terse."Of course I do. Fry was a beloved member of the community; everyone here is mourning him."
Jack lowers his head. "Oh, I-I'm sorr-"
Before he can finish, Lovia chuckles and slaps him on the shoulder. "Don't be, I know what it's like. If I had to guess, you come from a family with strong morals and ingrained values; it must be confusing to see us taking death so lightheartedly."
"Y-yeah."
Lovia sighs. "Well, let me tell you the hard truth. To us, homeless, there's no point in being sad. Ever since Layered Technologies took charge, the media has villainized us into lawless trash. We can't get jobs, we're refused service at stores, we're looked down on by the southern citizens, and the housing crisis is only making our numbers grow.
"Thanks to all that, we barely manage to get by. The smart will beg for cash, hoping someone luckier will take pity on them, and the prideful are constantly searching for food, starving to death in back alleys. Some form gangs, but that only ends badly, and the worst off are driven to do things you'd rather not know about.
"So, when someone dies, the best thing to do is take whatever they had." Lovia gestures to the empty blankets and sleeping bags. "That's what they're doing right now. Fry had a lot of things, so they're sifting through the ash for any that might've survived.
"Survival trumps all."
Jack stays silent for several moments before quietly responding, "I see." He pauses for a moment. "Is there… anything I can do to help?"
Lovia tilts her head back and lets her hoarse laughter fill the air, erasing whatever somber atmosphere she had previously created. "You're a good kid! The tarp didn't handle it nearly as well when I gave him that speech!" She turns around and waves for them to follow. "Come on, you need bandaging."
Slightly stunned by Lovia's dramatic changes in tone, Jack stays rooted in place. However, Alex doesn't hesitate and follows Lovia, patting Jack's shoulder as he passes by. "Just ignore her, she's crazy." Despite his words, Jack can't help but wonder. But, she's acting just like you. He intelligently chooses not to voice his thoughts and also follows after Lovia.
Lovia takes them to a small tent near the corner of the room. It reeks of alcohol, and empty bottles are scattered around it.
Unaffected by the smell, Lovia unzips the entrance and walks in. A few moments later, she exits with an old grey-blue dress over her shoulder and a large plastic water bottle.
Alex raises an eyebrow at the sight. "You have a second dress? I thought you were born with that one on."
Surprisingly, Lovia doesn't retort with another insult or joke; instead, she sounds almost reminiscent. "It was a gift for my honeymoon. It was never my size." She pauses for a moment, as if lost in memory, before making a grin and hefting the large water bottle up for Alex and Jack to see. "And this is a thirty-two-ounce water bottle filled to the brim with vodka! I swindled a few bottles from a salesman and hid it for a special occasion. Who knew I'd have to waste it on brats like you!"
Before the two can respond, she takes the grey-blue dress in her hands, letting it hang. She hesitates for just a moment, before ripping it apart by the seams.
Jack flinches back in shock at her abrupt actions. "Whoa! Hey, what are y-" He's cut off by Alex cupping his hand over his mouth.
Meanwhile, Lovia ignores him and continues to rip the dress apart in solemn silence. After a few minutes, a pile of long, grey-blue, cloth strips rests on the floor. Then she unscrews the lid of the large water bottle, picks up a fistful of the strips, and dunks them into the bottle, clear vodka overflowing and splashing on the ground. She leaves the strips to soak in the bottle and picks up another handful to repeat the process.
After the entire pile has been stuffed into the water bottle and sufficiently soaked in vodka, Lovia looks back at Jack and Alex and smiles. "Vodka's not a very good antiseptic, but it's the best I've got. Now let's get you two patched up."