Smiley? That damned bitch... He thought as she continued to talk. "Lose weight? You, sir, are seeing a beautiful girl in her prime--but I guess a guy with the soul of a crotchety old grouch wouldn't get that anyway, eh?" He backed up before making a half-assed laugh. "Psh, what ever." He leaned over the side, allowing his fellow co-workers take all the customers. "tough crowd in here today for people hanging out around this joint. You know, there really isn't anything wrong with not having everything in your life all worked out and perfect. Sometimes, you need some time to get yourself back on your feet. If that means spending a night or two in an alley," Skylar looked over at him. "well, you do what you have to do. You shouldn't judge people for being strong enough to deal with it."

"You've got to be kidding me. Don't talk all that shit to people whom you don't even know." He said, glaring at him before Skylar looked over towards Jo, who was looking uncomfortable. Being the asshole he is, Skylar grabbed a napkin before walking over towards Jo; he glared at him before throwing it at him. "You look uncomfortable. Whats wrong?" He said, Skylar's eyes already examining him before Kisa ran over. "Skylar, whats wrong?" She said, behind him. Skylar practically ignored her as his cold stare became almost as if it was in vain. Skylar looked at him before his eyes glanced towards Bre. "Have you thought about my offer?" He demanded almost arrogantly.

He looked back at Kisa. "Hey, do you have our grocery money? We haven't had a healthy meal in a month or so, and Santa is getting chubby from all those big macs and what not." He said, with a smirk kidding with Santana; they have been saving up for almost a couple of weeks now and all they had was enough to afford a gallon of canned milk, some coffee, tomato soup and some supplies for the electronics(Microwave, coffee maker and lights.) they had over at the church. Kisa looked at him as if she had just seen a ghost. "Uh, funny story about that..." She said looking at the floor and kicking her foot lightly like a small disappointed kid. "Um, on my way up, I was walking and well, by the time I got to the library, well... when I check my pockets, I lost it. Oh but I found it! But a stray dog ate it..." She said, quickly putting her hands over her ears before Skylar jerked her, Yoshi, and Santana away and outside. "What the hell?!?!?!??!?!" He scowled. He looked at Kisa, then Yoshi. This time, he happy that he had Yoshi.

"Hey, Yoshi, do you have any money we could have?" He said coldly before grabbing onto Kisa's ear and dragging it down like a mother would do. "How many times do I have to tell you to put your money in your shoe?" He growled. Kisa wined before grabbing until his hands. "But its itchy~!" She wailed, dancing up and down. When Kisa and Skylar argued, it was something laughable like where to put your money and how it could be the safest, or whether they should get whole milk or two percent; petty things like that. "The put it in your bra for ll I care!!" He scowled. "Do you know how much money that was? It was twenty!" He started one of his long lectures before Kisa drifted towards the back of the fast food restaurant.

There was two people; a boy and a girl. She waved her hands up in the air despite Skylar's grip on her ear. "HEY! Are you homeless!?" She said, waving it before Skylar jerked her head down and under his arm pit. Kisa waved her arms, trying to get out. He looked at Yoshi. "So, about the money; how much do you have?" He demanded like a gang boss or something.

Bre looked up at Skylar, "Yeah, I thought about it, we'll go to your little clubhouse tomorrow and check it out, okay?"
Then, she watched as Skylar and what seemed to be his little sister had a cat fight about money and homeless people. She laughed at them, how stupid.
She looked to Jo, who she heard silently saying sorry. Her expression softened and she smiled at her brother. "Why are you sorry, Jo Jo, you didn't do anything. Maybe we should go to that place that we're going, now, okay? I'll look at your arm there and you can rest."
Bre then looked back to Skylar, "hey cashier dude, you have a take out bag we can use?" She asked while packing up her brothers food, "you can eat it when we get there." She muttered to Jo.

Akemi watched as Haru ate, but noticed a paper towel she didn't grab...was it placed there? Grabbing it she noticed some writing on it, it seemed odd...did the cashier place it on there? Ohoho~ A love letter perhaps~? reading it, a small frown of disappointment filled her. "If you do not have a place to stay; feel free to stay at the abandon church on Boulevard Road on North Meridian on the outskirts of town. There is an old abandon church that is quite comfy. Come if you want." she stared at it for a moment, of course her perverted mind wondered a bit; but soon snapped out of it only to find Haru staring at her oddly. " What?" "What do you have there?" " Oh well, here check it out. I think teddy decided to invite us to a church..." She kept her voice down, but enough for at least Haru to hear.

She watched as she quickly scanned it, he didn't seem to interested in it. Of course this was Haru...he never showed much expression unless it was scolding her or smiling at her. Once Haru was finished eating, he took the garbage and emptied it...awaiting Akemi to follow him out the door. Sighing, she got up and the both of them headed out...it seemed rather noisy in there any how. Boulevard Road... she thought to herself, perhaps he wasn't as mean as she thought. With a smirk she the two of them walked to their new destination, the church. Just like teddy bear, a bear can seem aggressive; but in the end they are soft teddy bears.



Haru was just finishing up his meal when Akemi was looking rather...strangely at a paper towel. Of course he knew that face, it was her being stupid face....other wise being perverted. She noticed how he was looking at her and spoke up and gave over the paper towel."If you do not have a place to stay; feel free to stay at the abandon church on Boulevard Road on North Meridian on the outskirts of town. There is an old abandon church that is quite comfy. Come if you want." it seemed odd, to him at least. He wasn't quite sure if he should trust this guy, but where else did they have to go? If anything did go wrong they had another, well he could easily loose up on Akemi. He got up and threw away his garbage and awaited Akemi to walk out the door with him, the place was getting crowded. Glancing at her he only hoped that they weren't walking into something awful, he stared ahead as the walked to their new destination. The Church...

AJ woke up to see a kid staring at her. "What are you doing in my..." Oh yeah, she realized, this isn't my room. She walked out from her hiding place in the jungle gym to see that the sun was already high in the sky. A low growling noise began to come from her stomach. She hadn't eaten in two days, she couldn't make it much longer. She cursed herself for not being able to find a job, she had no money. She inspected her surrounding seeing that there were very few people in the park that day, most of them mothers and children. She wouldn't steal from them. She couldn't bring herself to do something like that. AJ wandered into the city trying to find someone who looked as if they made a bit too much money. She was considering taking from a tall bald man wearing a very expensive looking Rolex, but then was run into by a very obnoxious teen.

"Hey! Watch it!" yelled the boy. She hadn't done anything to him and yet he had the nerve to yell at her? She wouldn't stand for it. "I'm sorry, I will watch next time." She walked right up to the boy bumping into him on purpose. "See? I was definetly watching that time." She smirked as the boy stared, dumbfounded by the rage in her voice. She had taken his wallet and hidden it in her jacket pocket. "Thanks for the advice and everything." She walked away happy that she had been so successful. She hadn't stolen often, she'd only been on her own for a couple months now. It seemed as though she was getting pretty good, no one had noticed so far. She ducked behind a McDonalds to inspect the contents of the wallet. She opened the pocket to find his school I.D., apparently his name was Tyler. AJ really didn't care for that, but she did care for the fifty dollars she found. Someone gets too much for their allowance, she thought. She was about to go buy herself a treat when she realized she wasn't alone. There were four girls and two guys behind the fast food reseraunt as well. "Uh......."

"The name's Damien. I've been out for just two weeks, not long." He gave her a smile. He side stepped a little so he wouldn't get into any other peoples way. "Oh no, I can't take food from-" and then his stomach roared. He covered it in embarrassment. He swallowed. "Maybe just a little?" He gave a sheepish smile. He could feel he already lost over five pounds since he escaped. Maybe he wasn't eating, starving himself to save what little cash he had. Or the walking. The exercise burned more calories then he took in.
A man passed them and gave the two teens a dirty look. He squirmed past them careful not to touch them. "Filthy kids," he mumbled walking away. Damien sighed. "I've been getting a lot of that." He looked at Naomi with a sad expression. His dad beat him and yelled at him but at least he had a roof over his head and daily meals. Now he lived on the dirty streets of the city and was lucky to get a decent meal once in two days. He was on the stage of deciding whether he made a smart or stupid decision of running away.

"Fat---what--from all what big macs--I--what?!" Santana sputtered, utterly infuriated by Smiley's words, even if they were merely in jest. "That's bullshit! I'd rather eat grass than that shit!" she declared in the voice and tone of a queen making her royal proclamation. And it was the truth--no matter how dirt poor she got, Santana never let herself eat fast food--or, in her words, 'put that poisonous food of death in my system'. She'd be damned if she was gonna ruin her priceless figure like that.

Of course, the next second, something happened. Apparently Kisa had lost the grocery money, and now Skylar was rather pissed about it. He grabbed the girl and pulled her out the door; Santana glanced around, confused, before hastily making her way outside with them, if anything to make sure Smiley didn't drop a gasket or have a rage-induced aneurysm. Outside, the scene was much the same--Skylar ranting about how it was a whole twenty bucks and the usual lecture about how they had to watch their money and that every penny lost meant the possibility of going hungry for a day--on and on, the usual thing.

"Here, Skylar, just calm down for a sec, people are staring," Santana said, trying to get the guy to stop ranting before someone thought there was something wrong going on and called the cops. "If anything, I still have fifteen dollars from my last paycheck from the library..." Realising she was about to make it sound like she was actually doing something nice for a change, she quickly added, "I mean, if you all starve, I'm kinda screwed anyway. I reckon Yakuza Lady's got more money, but every little bit helps and all that spiel you give all the time."

Yoshi only rolled her eyes, too acustomed to the siblings' over the top antics to really be alarmed. "Oh, let her go. I happen to have cashed in today. We've been due for a trip to the grocery store anyway." For the love of God, if she didn't have a piece of bread she was going to shoot someone. She reached into the collar of her shirt and pulled a few bills unabashedly. She handed them over to Skylar while frowning at Kisa, shooting a glance at the pair in the alleyway. She cursed under her breath. "Can I just, once again, cast my vote against running a free-for-all hotel service through our home?" she grumbled. "You can't save everyone," she said, "not on McDonalds money, anyway..."

Skylar looked at Yoshi after her comments. "I feel pity for these people; I have to do something." He stated codly, grabbing the money and started to count it. It wasn't true; he really like helping others out who had similar hardships as himself and Kisa, and plus, those where the only people who he could trust to be good people. Then again, he would never help out a bum that was drunk on the streets; so he had his standerds...unless the bum asked him. Kisa looked at Yoshi before pulling her head out of her brother's arm-pits. She hugged Yoshi and Sanatana, bringing them together. "I was sooo scared! I thought I was about to die! Do you know how hard it is to breathe with with slim and grease?!" She cried and wailed, swinging them around with her. Skylar scowled at her comment. "Thats the smell of a man." He growled before he stuffed the money into his pocket. He turned to the two in the alley way before waving his hand in the air. "Eh! Are you two homeless?" He yelled with rudeness covering his voice.

AJ was intrigued. Had she really just heard that they were taking in homeless kids? She missed having a roof over her head. She was leaning in to hear what they had to say when she caught herself. She couldn't trust these people. They would just ignore her if she asked for a place to stay. But still, she couldn't resist listening in. She ducked behind the dumpster the girl had been in and tried her best to eavesdrop. She wanted friends desperately but she couldn't open up. She couldn't ask to stay at their place, but she could give them the money. They sounded like they needed it. She could get plenty more if she REALLY needed it. Maybe she could slip the money into the pocket of the older looking boy......

Naomi smiled sweetly at Damien, she then took his hand, "Come on I think I have somewhere we can stay", she had heard rumors of a guy that worked at this McDonald's that took in homeless kids. She smiled at Damian as they walked along no matter what happened to Naomi she always smiled. "I heard there was this guy that worked here at this McDonald's that takes in homeless kids", she said cheerfully. "How old are you Damian", she asked she sat down outside of the restaurant. She handed him a cheeseburger hand some fries, "I have plenty I actually took extra just in case I ran into someone who was hungry", she said with a giggle. "The fries are cold of course but I checked everything to make sure it was still good before I took it", she sighed "So why did you leave home you don't have to tell me if you don't want to", she said as she unwrapped her dumpster prize. Taking a bite she felt almost bad for taking it but when your hungry you'll do just about anything, "Maybe if we go up and ask for a water cup they'll let us have some and then maybe we can find a place to sit down other than outside", she said as the wheels turned in her head.

Jack watched the small group of teens through the glass windows while he munched on his burger, going from amused to alarmed to confused and back again on several occaisons. He was starting to think that he really didn't like that cashier guy. He was rude and rough with a group of girls, though they didn't seem to be having a problem with it. He shook his head, trying to curb his natural instinct to stick his nose in something that wasn't his business. He threw the wrapper for his meal in the trash can and pushed the door of the restaurant open just to hear the girl say something about a hotel and the boy respond. He stopped short. He hadn't imagined such a... well compassionate wasn't really the word for it, but it was something. He stared at the group a little harder. They all seemed fairly respectable looking at a glance, but then he noticed that none of their clothes were ironed and most of them had the faint air of something bought from a bargain store. Maybe he had more in common with them than he knew. He jumped a bit as the guy shouted across the street and tilted his head considering. Maybe he was going about this whole being-on-your-own thing all wrong. Maybe he needed to make a few friends who were in the same predicament.

"I'm homelss," he said quietly from just behind the group.

--

Yoshi snorted as Skylar snatched up the money. "Pity," she sniffed. "Cute feeling, but it doesn't--" her forehead wrinkled as she tried to recall the american saying correctly, "it doesn't bring home the ham." She snarled and shook herself free of Kisa's embrace roughly. She disliked being touched immensely. She was sulking with her arms folded across her chest when the chatty, opinionated boy from inside decided to volunteer his current residential status. She rolled her eyes, but remained quiet.

Damien smiled as she took his hand. A small shy innocent smile. They started to walk and Naomi began to say something about a place they could stay. Someone who took in homeless kids. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad living with others like him. "I never heard of anyone taking in homeless kids. All i hear is that we should get jobs and quit slacking." his voice was small, barely above a whisper. "Er I'm 16. I'm turning 17 in two months."

He took a French fry. "Cold fries are better than no fries," he said chewing. he bit into the burger she gave him. She was so smiling and cheerful. It made him feel like smiling. He wondered how she did it even though she was rummaging leftovers in a McDonald dumpster. "I left home cause my Dad's an asshole," he said simply. He didn't plan to go into detail of the abuse he went through because he didn't want to relive it. Beating after beating, it was all in the past now. Hopefully.

"Why did you leave?" he asked. If he wasnt going to reveal his story he didn't expect much from herbut it felt approppriate to relay the question she asked him. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I understand if it's private," he ate another fry. He looked at her and felt a blush coming on. He never talked to people he knew for years. Now he was walking with a pretty stranger who shared her dumpster pickings.

"Bacon," Santana corrected Yoshi, rolling her eyes a bit. "It doesn't bring home the bacon." Though Santana was fine with no bacon. That shit came with more calories in a bite than any one of those burgers from hell in McDonalds.

Santana turned her attention to the guy who had come up behind them, mentioning that he just so happened to be homeless. He didn't look homeless--he didn't have that particular feel about him. Then again, back when she herself was on the run Santana would have been damned if she was going to let herself look homeless either.

Santana's thoughts cut off right there as Kisa, bursting free of Skylar's grasp, turned around and flung her arms around both Yoshi and Santana--who was too busy being amused by the other girl's reaction to even really care herself. "Aw, cool it, Smiley," she said with a tiny smile on her lips, glancing towards Skylar as he continued grumbling about before he turned towards a pair of people in an alleyway and barked at them, asking if they were homeless with the sort of tone a person used when speaking to a criminal. Of course, Skylar was never one to be....ah, 'subtle' about it.

((Meh, I just got off a plane and direly need sleep, so this is the best I could manage v_v))

Skylar practically ignored Yoshi and Santana; his attention drawn more towards the guy who had said he was homeless. Before Skylar could say anything, Kisa burst out from below his arm. "You could stay with us~!" Her voice sang out like a church bell. Skylar elbowed her lightly as she made an 'oof' sound before he turned around. "Give us all of your money and we will allow you to stay. If you have none, then you would have to get a job unless your underage or wanted by the government or police." It was like a robot was talking as Skylar looked at him; almost glaring. It was something almost everyone had to do, as long as it brung money on the table, he was fine what ever they did, even though some of them where against his morals. Before he could say anything else, a man rudely snarled at a pair of teens in the alley way, this made Skylar's blood boil a bit. He turned his eyes back towards Jack. Kisa on the other hand, scooted herself away from the group and towards the dumpster. She had thought she has seen something move, but wasn't for sure; her body leaned against the gate before she saw AJ. "Hey there!" she yelled.

"Damn it." cursed AJ under her breath. She considered her options. She could run, but she'd have to knock down all of those people, and considering she hadn't had much food lately it didn't seem like a llikely possibility. She could approach them and ask what they erre all doing back there like she owned the place, but the older looking boy clearly worked at the McDonalds. She could act like she's not homeless, only her clothes didn't actually look as such. She was out of options, she would have to go with whatever happened. "Umm... hey." AJ came out from where she was hiding to look at the girl who had yelled at her. They looked to be about the same age only maybe the girl was a little younger.

A million thoughts ran through her head. Will they ask me to stay with them? Can they be trusted? Are they going to take all of my money? AJ's hand fell to where her money was hiding in her pocket. She had already decided to give it to the group; she supposed she could always decline their offer and give them the money anyway. As she stepped closer to the girl she started to look around for people like the rude boy she'd run into earlier; someone with way too much money on their hands and not enough kindness in their hearts to give a damn about being nice to strangers on the street. She was careful not to mistake bad people with angry people. Angry people were a whole different story. AJ would never forget the day that she made a wrong choice on who to steal from...

There was something wrong with her. She was just a glutton for punishment. The young Native woman listened to how her boss screamed at her, watched as his arms flailed and threatened to hit her, ignored him as he threatened to fire her. Yes, she could be fired. She was underage, working in a restaurant for very little pay and she was a runaway. Yes, she could be fired, but did she care? No. There were other jobs. Other slums that she could slink through. If there was one thing that she had gotten good at, it was at surviving. “Yeah, I know,” she said finally, ducking as one of his meaty fists swung at her. She was nimble and knew what blows to dodge and what blows to take. “You leave a mark and you’ll make the customers angry,” she pointed out to him, “less money,” she spat out. She was underage, her boss didn’t have to pay her as much as he paid others. He could dock her tips more because “she didn’t pay taxes” and if she didn’t like it, what was she going to do? Go to the cops?

Runaway.

Such a negative word for such a strong individual. She wasn’t a victim. Never had been. When her family life turned too bad, she left. Her goal was to find her father, her birth father, a native man like her. She had met him once when she was younger and she remembered how good he was. She remembered that he loved her, and that he hadn’t wanted her to leave. There was nothing manipulative in his actions. He was just… there. Her father. Someone who wanted her. The only person in the world that did.

So, she ran with a dream in her heart, but she didn’t let herself get carried away. She stopped and worked. She remembered to eat. She squatted in houses, kept away from the dealers and the illicit users of both drugs and people. Everything she did was with a cold amount of logic. She trusted no one. She worked for her dream and didn’t allow herself to forget it.

Yet, while she didn’t forget the dream, everything she did was for survival so that she could reach her dream. She kept her long, thick black hair cut short so that no one could grab it when she was running. Her pants were tight, harder to pull off, her shirt was baggy to hide her chest. Her money was split between her right and left boots and her boots were always laced tight. She stole money from her bosses’ till. She skimmed off of the top when she had to give to the bartender. She, and her street companions Maggie and Tio, worked in a well oiled unit. She ran into someone, to provide the distraction. Maggie lifted the wallet and tossed it to Tio. Tio took the money and got rid of the wallet. There was always three of them. They were a gang: Aidan, the waitress. Maggie, the stealer, and Tio, the manipulator. They were careful, and all three wanted to get back to their tribes.

Aidan moved ahead of the others and when she was settled, the other two would move in. That way, they wouldn’t be caught together. Aidan didn’t want to go back to the ward, Maggie didn’t want to go back to her mother and Tio didn’t want to go back to the Detention center.

Aidan felt the card that she had found in the street. A location scrawled on from a runaway that she had helped out of a bind. It was to a church, just for runaways. She grimaced. She hated the Anglos churches and their religions, but if she would be safe, she would go there. She listened to her boss one last time before she turned her back on him and walked out. He wouldn’t stop her. He wasn’t stupid. She was replaceable, expendable. She was nothing. She was worth nothing. She was no better than the dirt that people walked on. Less than dirt. She heard it all before.

So, she set off towards the address that she had. Who knows whether she was going to stay but she would squat there until she could contact Maggie and Tio and get them to come up. She ignored the pain that came from walking on change and dollars. Each step was agonizing but it was better than getting her money taken. Finally, she arrived at the church and sat on the front steps. She’d go in later, when she was sure that she was going to stay.

Until then, the Native woman, Aidan “Blue Jay” Levenque, leaned back and looked towards the sky, waiting for night so that she could see the path that her ancestors took.

{All of my intro posts tend to be longer. Oh well. None of the other posts will reach that length. Maybe 2-4 paragraphs since I still have to make up character sheets for Maggie and Tio.

Conner awoke in something of a daze, the sound of Alyssa rustling around nearby likely the cause for him stirring from his uncomfortable but prolonged slumber. Lids parted to reveal those soft brown eyes which narrowed in on the girl he now considered to be the closest thing he had to a sister, now that his was dead and gone. With a little groan, he stretched, moving into a sitting position. The shift would catch her attention immediately.

“Good morning, sleepy head!” Came that every cheerful tone as she glanced toward him, fingers still working nimbly on the object she held – something that looked a bit like an old wire coat hanger. Conner’s initial response was a grumble and a scratch of his weary head. Mornings were never good when they were spent sleeping in an alleyway… even if that alleyway was covered by a nice little overhanging and even if a crafty young woman had managed to make a bed out of trash bags, clothes, and cardboard boxes. Besides, this wasn’t a morning anymore. He’d snoozed through that, and on into the afternoon.

“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” He asked finally, shaking his head as his gaze panned from the bags under those big green eyes to her hands. Alyssa’s nails were left short, broken all too often by her efforts to invent new things for the two of them over the last three weeks. Now, blood stained those thin fingers in places, making it all too obvious that the wire coat hanger was proving to be more than a match for her meager strength. He thought about mentioning how torn up her hands were getting, but how could he stop her from doing something that seemed to make her so happy? Without thinking, his own hands wandered to the pendant that set in the middle of his chest. The multi-colored charm hung from a long black cord. This was what she’d made for him the night they left that foster home. In the three weeks that’d passed since then, it hadn’t broken and he certainly wasn’t about to remove it himself.

“Sleep is for the weak.” The female responded with a wave of one hand. Finally, she appeared satisfied with the shredding of the wire, now having two short, thin strips of it sitting just off to the side. She intended to bend these into hooks for what would eventually become earrings whenever her fingers quit throbbing. “Speaking of, I went to get food while you were out” From the grey messenger bag that set behind her, Alyssa removed a large bag of potato chips and tossed it to him. When his form was so rigid that he didn’t even make a move to catch it, she merely offered the tiniest of smiles in an effort to apologize for her transgressions. Conner hated it when she went anywhere alone – it was something she only managed to do while he was fast asleep, even. The look on his face made it abundantly clear that he was not happy with her, but he opened the bag anyway and popped the first crisp into his mouth. Eager to lighten the mood at least a bit, Alyssa spoke again.

“I actually found something on the way to the store – or someplace, rather.” Her smirk had Conner quirking an eyebrow with obvious interest, even though he said nothing as he continued to munch on the chips. She smiled, starting to speak again, this time with a general gesture toward the alley’s exit at her right. “An abandoned building. It looks like a church, but most importantly, it looks empty. We may have some solid shelter for awhile, if we can break in.”

Viktor Akunin strode down the hall of the local post office, yawning a bit as he did so. He'd drawn the short stick when he'd applied to work here, getting the 4:30 AM to 12:30 PM shift--needless to say, a pretty shitty gig. But it brought home the dough, and as long as Viktor had a 'home' at all to bring the dough to, he didn't care where he worked or what he did. Not to mention that his pay contributed to a portion of the earnings the 'runaways' lived on, so Viktor couldn't be picky about that anyway. They gave him a home, a place to stay, as long as he could also provide some measure of money to keep them going. It had taken a while, but at last an opening had come up in the local postage office, and Viktor had applied immediately for the job. Soon after, he got it. Jobs were in high demand in this city, and he'd been lucky he'd managed to get even that rather undesirable time shift before some other schmuck had gotten it.

The young man reached his destination after what seemed like hours--waking up so early in the morning did that to a guy. It was the check in-check out booth, and Viktor, having reached the end of his shift, was about to do the latter. He took the cheap paper card that read "Viktor Akunin--4:30AM-12:30PM" from the "Checked In" section, and then placed it in the stamping slot, withdrawing the card, which now had a circle cleanly stamped through it; he slid it onto one of the racks of the 'Checked Out' section, and turned, beginning to walk away, content to let the workers' whose shifts were beginning now to do their jobs.

Viktor stepped out of the office and into the cool afternoon air, glancing up at the sun overhead, shining just too brightly. As usual. Narrowing his eyes in an attempt to keep the bright rays at bay, he began to walk back on his way towards the place he and several other similar people called home--to retrieve a book he had borrowed from the library, and then possibly go down to the McDonald's Skylar worked at; Santana's shift at the library was over by now, and it could be assumed she and Kisa were currently with Skylar, and maybe Yoshi as well.

As he approached the abandoned church, hidden as it was by years of neglect and apathy, Viktor saw a figure sitting on the steps--a figure he did not recognise. An eyebrow raised, he paused, and then continued forth. No one came to this church by accident. It was off the beaten path, nowhere near where you could just happen to come across it. As he came nearer, further details came to Viktor's eye--the woman's clothes were clearly old and second-hand, not to mention the shirt looked baggy and maybe too big for her. Perhaps she had come here for a reason.

As he walked towards her and the church, he paused to think of what he was going to do. He couldn't just walk by and ignore her without addressing why she was here--and he couldn't do what Skylar did, which was walk right up to her and demand to know if she was homeless (he'd seen how often that strategy worked out). Instead, he merely approached her at a casual pace and, smiling slightly, said, "Excuse me miss, you wouldn't happen to be here for any particular reason, would you?"

((Yeah, it's a horribly shitty post...fortunately, I have a similarly horribly shitty excuse in that I had literally five minutes to type it up XD))

Skylar rolled his eyes before turning towards Kisa. "Hey brother~ I found someone!" She giggled before pointing towards AJ. Skylar looked at her before looking up and down her. "You homeless?" He growled as Kisa ran back to him; thats right, thats who he was missing out of the group: Viktor. He didn't particularly like him since the first day they took him in, Skylar had to hide all the girls away; Kisa, Yoshi and Santana to prevent anything from happening. Skylar hated how he flirted with anything that looked good in a skirt. He also knew that Viktor would flirt with them just to get on Skylar's nerves; not like he had feelings for any of the girls, he just hated how he would flirt. It bugged him.

"Umm you could say that I guess. More like between homes. Doesn't matter. Heard you're in a bit of a money situation and i've got some money. Interested?" AJ held out the 50 she had in her hands hoping that she didn't seem like a criminal or a loan shark. The girl looked so happy. She was so confused. Homeless people weren't usually the happiest people around. What made this girl so full of joy? The boy obviously knew how crappy they had it. The girl's happiness was infectious. Suddenly AJ didn't even want to steal for more after she gave them the money. Perhaps she would return to the park and advertise herself as a dog-walker. She made good money last time she did that, and she loved the little fluff balls called dogs.

Sector had been prowling the same ally for two hours. No one had come through, which meant no robberies, which meant jack shit for him. He cursed silently, crouching in a dumpster, peering out through a crack in the lid. "Sec?", said a small voice, crouching beside him. "I'm bored." Sector sighed quietly. "I know, Al. Just keep your voice down, we'll get something, goddammit." After ten minutes and six more complaints, a man in a suit shuffled into view. Sector smiled, the lenses of his sleek gas mask reflecting the man. Or, more accurately, his wrist. He nudged Alvin, who was beginning to doze off. "See his watch? That's a Rolex, top model. Those go for seven hundred easy, and he probably has more in his wallet than the average Joe." Al stared wide-eyed. "Get him?" Sector nodded, silently exiting the dumpster, pulling up the hood of his black sweatshirt, Alvin following. The duo quickly walked to the man, and spotting no witnesses, Sector looped his arm around his neck and held. The poor man barely made a small rasp before going unconscious. Al frisked him professionally, removing anything of any value and putting in a drawstring bag. Sector dragged the victim aside, and they departed. Clockwork. The pair traversed the rest of the winding ally and ended up outside a McDonald's. Al loved this place, and often sneaked out and hung out alone until Sec retrieved him. As they walked by, Al clinging to Sec's side, the young man shoulder protectively around him, he stared toward the restaurant longingly. This was not lost on Sector. "Alright, alright. We'll go inside, sort our loot, and get a soda. Diet for you, though." Al pouted, but nevertheless strolled with him to the restaurant. Before ordering, the pair sat at the farthest booth back, and discreetly counted the loot. Well, Sector did, as Al was getting the soda which was most certifiably not diet. "What'd we get?", said the small boy plunking the drinks down a sitting across from Sec. The young man smiled, although Al couldn't see. "No cash, but a seven hundred dollar watch some silver cuff links." They smiled together, and sat for a while, until Alvin broke the silence. "You still have your mask on..." He said sheepishly. Sec nodded. "Good call." He gulped his soda, gathered Al, and left. "Gotta go, Al. Remember what I said?" "Attention is bad." Al echoed, sucking on his soda. Sector ruffled the boy's hair, and firmly reprimanded himself for leaving his mask on. They walked aimlessly, as they always id together, watching the streets turn to leaves, and found themselves at the back crumbled old building. "Good Luck, this. But first, close your eyes until I say so." Al began to tremble. "Why?" He said, nervous. "Well, there's a guy behind us. A mean one." Al needed no encouragement. Sec turned to face the stalker. He was a cop. He was in uniform, but didn't have a gun, just a baton, which was clenched in his hand. "I saw the robbery, and now I know who that serial mugger is! Get on the gro-gurk!" Sec had moved so fast it was a blur, ending up behind the cop, hand over his mouth, arm around his neck. "Too slow." He squeezed hard, and their was a small, wet cracking noise. He let the victim fall over, hitting the ground with a thud. "It's over, Al." The boy strolled up, casually prodding the corpse with his foot. "Dead?" Sector nodded, and steered the boy around, to face a girl sitting on some steps, and a guy standing next to her. He slowly held up the bag. "Don't do anything, please. We can trade, yes?" He said, coldly yet calmly.

Naomi was suprised as a girl jumped out from behind the dumpster. She had started to talk to a girl about a place to stay. A thought registered in Naomi's head that she must be the sister and brother that took in homeless kids. "Hey Damien, over here. I think we're about to get a home." She walked away from their cold french fries without looking back. As she approached the group she looked at the girl holding out money. It was $50! Naomi hadn't seen that much money in a long time. That would get her out of the dumpsters for a month! Maybe even two! "Umm.. hey. I'm homeless." She smiled sweetly hoping that she didn't look too horrible.