After wandering the streets in search of entertainment, she hears her great friend Swampie speaking.  She appeared to be telling a story, which interested Hayley.  Moving her way forward, she heads to the front, taking a seat right on the edge of the stage.

She listens contently, thinking it was an odd, but interesting story.  Sipping from her flask, she thinks about the great times and wonderful stories from her own mother.

When Swampie was finished, she stood up.

Great story!  I can't wait to hear more of them.

She flashes a smile to her dear friend and slightly stumbles off into the night.

Swampie had told Blaise that she would be doing some kind of street performance - reading some of her short stories. Arriving there just as she started, Blaise chose to stand and listened to the story. Smiling as she heard Swampie speak about the cat, and laughing when she heard what the alligator said, she applauded when her friend was finished.

"Well, that was refreshing! I hope she does another reading soon."

Clutching her purse as she felt someone brush up against her, Blaise continued with her day, feeling a bit lighter.

WhereWasI sighs,

"I can't imagine what would spur you to go about retelling this story. So I'll just ask, what made you feel like retelling this particular story?"

Sometimes TokyoZombi liked to pretend she was not in the life of crime. She closed her eyes, well, one eye lid the other had gone missing yesterday. Tokyo would replace crimes, killings and launderings with tea, crumpets and childhood stories. Today something magical happened. As she sat with her back up against the great oak tree in the park the story Tokyo was telling herself was coming to life. Not the story itself, but the narration. She kept her eyes closed as someone else was telling the story. Tokyo gave a toothy smile as she listened. 

It was nice to see another mafioso pretending they aren't in the mafia either. Specially after all the bloodshed today, it really was the biggest war these shores had seen in a very long time. Sometimes this world just needed to stop being what it was and instead the complete opposite. Between the story being told and the voice telling it, Tokyo drifted off to sleep.

In her dreams, she dreamed of The Chosen One. Unlike the story that lulled/bored (it was really a toss up between the two, zombi's have a thin attention span) her to sleep and had nothing to do with the mafia, her dream had everything to do with the life of crime. The story goes like this...

The Chosen One. The one that is behind all the wars the legends say. Though the wars will not start until that person has been given the nod to set up his own shop. Each time The Chosen One is reborn and fate gives him the same life. A healthy life full of joy, riches and fame and a bold suit. The Chosen One also spoke had his own type of slang. Swag. Swag was the slang. It wasn't  very popular, but some of The Chosen's followers got it down. It was how they communicated with The Chosen One and how he communicated with them. Some say that if you knew the slang, you would live when he put on a bold suit. More often than not, everyone just died. That's what The Chosen One does, he'll set up his own shop and hatred will run through the streets, washed away with blood. 

Ow!

Tokyo was suddenly awoken from her dream about the legend of The Chosen One. She looked up into the tree she sat under and noticed a squirrel chuckling at her. It was about to throw another acorn at her head. The little bastard. 

Hey Squirrel, what do you feed your babies? 

She asked it as she started to climb the tree, licking her lips, eyeing up lunch.

"He's probably hiding and waiting for a magic password, my guess would be try chanting the reasons why you decided to tell this story. It seems like one I heard in my childhood up until this line,"

The frog mills about aimlessly, speaking drivel to everyone, until they finally fail to even respond to him at all. He is about to admit defeat and head back home, when he notices an alligator on the bank.

"I find it odd that you would alter the story in such a way and I'd like to know why you would say something. It seems pointless to retell a story in an altered way without a clear reason as to why you would do that."

"Hell it almost feels like a poke at me given my recent role in discussions, but that can't be true because you'd really have to be a cowardly moron to really tell a story with the intent of attacking a real mobster's reputation with a children's story and then hide from your intent. It'd be quite the pathetic display, and to do so in public would be quite shameful. So why did you choose to retell this story in an altered way?"

"Take your time skating, I'll be happy to wait to hear why this isn't just spam."

Walking with her coffee in one hand while one of her bodyguards carried her ice skates, Blaise went to meet her friend Swampie at the frozen pond to spend some time ice-skating. Sometimes the cold weather slowed down business, but she welcomed the change in weather. "Makes you appreciate the warm sunny weather more," she muttered as she laced up her skates.

Waving to her friend who looked like she was having fun skating, Blaise started skating around the pond.

"Looks like the pond is frozen solid today - a good day for skating. First Snowball day, and now this...can't wait to see what happens next!" Blaise said as she happily skated with her friend.

WhereWasI, please do not take me asking you a question as a horrific personal attack, I know that in certain circles, asking questions has become the paramount of cruelty these days; though I'm sure you're made of much stronger stuff, but, what was the version of the story you heard in your childhood? I'm not sure that this was told where I grew up as a girl, so I wouldn't know if it was changed.

"The telling of the story I grew up with involved a baby frog for starters. There were also no insults at his expense for asking questions. Finally, I don't recall the frog actually being eaten, I believe the alligator only mentioned that it feeds its baby Large Mouthed Frogs."

"Admittedly there are different ways of telling the story so it could be a cultural difference, but one line does stand out as not matching the writing characteristics of the story, and that's the one I'm looking for clarification on the most."

The frog mills about aimlessly, speaking drivel to everyone, until they finally fail to even respond to him at all. He is about to admit defeat and head back home, when he notices an alligator on the bank.

Ziva offers WhereWasI a leaflet about emotional trauma and counseling after his horrific ordeal in being asked to answer a question.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, she looks him in the eye and says

The first step to recovery is admitting you need help man. You can do this.

I think I like your version of the story better though. I was brought up being taught to question things, to not just accept the status quo, or to be told that something is "the way things are" and that I need to suck it up and take it. There seems to be more of an educational point in your version, I guess. It encourages questions rather than implying that asking questions will get you eaten.

Blaise was doing well skating until she tripped on herself and fell backwards. "OW! That hurts!" She grudgingly got herself up from the ice and slowly made herself over to the seating area.

"Don't worry about me - I am just going to rest for a few, " Blaise said. "You will have to show me some of those moves Swampie - I have a lot to learn."

It was not long before Blaise was back skating on the ice, skating a bit more cautiously but still having a great time.

"No problem," she said when Swampie thanked her for coming out with her to the pond. "I wouldn't miss it for anything."

Blaise listened to Swampie's story as she took a break, rotating her ankles as she propped herself against the fence.

"Hmm...so because the fox was mean to the crane and had him eat from a dish that was not suitable for him, the crane got back at the fox by doing the same."

She pondered on the story for several moments.

"I guess it's good to treat others the way you would want to be treated. Had the fox treated the crane better when he invited him over for dinner, perhaps the crane would had reciprocated the favor. That's deep when you think about it."

"That's right Swamp_Rat, people can learn different things from the same story, such as mobsters seeing a person selected to be a direct representative of a district, like Miss Blaise, acting in a way that I would deem childish and promoting things like this in the streets. I can't wait to see what comes of this, I truly can't! I'm sure it'll be almost as captivating as your tales. I wonder what a mob boss would do if they shared my opinion and thought that a rival district had weak leadership because of a childish display by one deemed to be a direct representative? Oh but don't you worry about that, there's a lot more skating to do!"