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Post by Jack Jewel on Jul 24, 2016 1:11:19 GMT -7
The next day came earlier than Jack would have wanted. As the usual darkness of sleep receded it left him with a weariness that was almost more exhausting than the fatigue he had felt the day before. The young man suppressed a sound that might have come out as either a violent yawn or a loud grunt and slowly forced his neck to raise his head a bit. Still alive it seems... For a moment he thought about brushing away some of the blonde hair that was hanging into his face but then he remembered his current situation and dropped the idea. Instead he shifted his weight slightly, pulled the dirty rag, that he used to shield himself from the weather, somewhat tighter and reached out for one of the many bent cups that he was using to store what little money hed get over the day. When he couldnt find it in the usual position Jack placed his hand on the ground and slowly started moving it about in an attempt to recover his "wallet". Finally he leaned forward somewhat, his eyes still closed, and increased the radius in which his hand and arm could move around. Shit... wheresit gon to?... His arm completed the circular motion over the ground and rested on a bottle that somebody had apparently placed next to him. With a fluid motion he raised the bottle above his mouth and tried taking a sip of whatever beverage had been donated by society. A few lonely drops wiggled their way out of the neck of the bottle and landed on his tongue.
Rainwater...whatta pleasnt surprise afterll tha piss... His hand didnt hesitate as he moved the bottle downwards in a quick motion, shattering it on a piece of his blanket that was covering some of the stony ground. The sound of a breaking bottle rang somewhat muffled through the street and the few people that were on their way to work or wherever one goes at this time of the day threw a glance of disgust at him. Jack didnt care. He placed the broken bottom part of the bottle in front of him and, in the same motion, nicked a few of the bigger shards. They might prove useful if somebody were to try and steal his money again. With this part of his daily routine finished and done for he let out a raspy cough before slumping back into his rags, forcing himself to appear as small and vulnerable as possible. Not an easy feat given his size. Then he forced himself to raise his voice and his arm in a begging motion. Pleasea penny madm? No? Have a gooday n bless ya. A bit ofa sometin mista? Aye, so beit, hava gooday n such. He didnt bother looking at most people and while his mouth was moving and his tongue was saying words, his mind drifted off into a less interesting corner of his mind.
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Post by April Itoh on Jul 25, 2016 19:22:18 GMT -7
After noticing the rays of sunlight peeking through her apartment blinds, April knew she needed to get ready to leave. She didn't have to worry about any lingering drowsiness, as she never went to sleep in the first place. Because of this, her morning routine only took up a handful of minutes. Soon enough she was showered, dressed and out the door.
If it was up to her April would have stayed home all morning, but today she had business to take care of. Some idiot scheduled a meeting during her time off in an effort to be more convenient for the actual professors in charge of her lab. Thanks to that meeting, they expected her to travel all the way to the university for two hours of boring conversation.
The trip started off as boring as usual. In an effort to distract herself from the annoyance waiting for her, April tried to find something interesting to look at. A difficult task since she frequently ended up on this street so nothing was really new to her. Soon enough, her eyes wandered towards the homeless man on the side of the street, and immediately frowned.
He didn't actually expect to get any money, did he? People like him were mistaken if they expected anyone to help them out. The world didn't work like that. This man might earn enough to eat another meal, but she could hardly call that living. Any situation that involved needing to rely on others only lead to disappointment and stagnation. There was no point in helping someone who refused to help himself. She walked past without even a second glance downward.
April only managed to take a few steps before she paused. She realized her thought process was hypocritical, but felt certain that he would never amount to anything. No, that's wrong. Having grown up with nothing and now working her way through college, she knew better than to write off any situation as impossible. Given enough time, this guy could turn things around become successful at something. Wasn't very likely, but by now April's curiosity had overcome her typical pessimism.
This. . . this might be a opportunity for an experiment. If provided with an adequate amount of money, would this beggar try to make something of himself? Or, would he be back here a week from now continuing the same routine? April knew she was only distracting herself from actual important work, yet she still wanted to know his choice. Besides, what else would she spend all this cash on? Videogames? No, this would be far more practical than any new toy.
She let out a long sigh, as if she had just finished arguing with someone annoying, then turned around. “Fine.”
April walked the five or so steps and approached the giant of a man. Reaching into a barely noticeable pocket in her purse, she pulled out a bundle of dollars and handed it to him. Some time had passed since she last counted, but there should be the standard grouping of 100 ten dollar bills. “There, satisfied? Then stop bothering these people.”
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Jul 26, 2016 0:31:38 GMT -7
Normally when a professor cancels class, students take that day to catch up on work, or, as was more likely, take the day off because no class. Kasty was doing neither of these things (even though he had an essay due next week and he could really use a day to attempt to catch up on sleep), but instead the straight-C student was opting for something even more nerdy: research at the library. He’d gotten permission at the library to get into their old newspaper records, and so his day would be dedicated to flipping through old newsprint, scanning articles from as many different places as the Emerald City Library had in its care. It was going to be great.
Kasty was in good spirits in walking down the street towards the library. Today was the day he was going to be diving in blind, no leads to guide him and no afternoon plans to cut this short. His notebook and light laptop where the only things in his shoulder bag (besides a random assortment of papers, wrappers, forlorned writing utensils, and the few other ‘just in case’ things that populated the bottom of it). His sword bag shared in the reduced weight as he’d only brought along one of his usual two blades, and that one only because of habit and a small increase in paranoia that he noticed seemed to be proportional to the amount of sleep he got the night prior. The morning was crisp, the painkiller was going a great job of finishing off the last of his bruises, breakfast was a pastry from a just-opened bakery and a coke, and therefore life was good.
He knew this part of town pretty well; well enough that he could probably set himself on auto-pilot and he’d end up at the library just fine. He would’ve been happily zoning out to his morning walk, too, had a conversation not caught his attention.
It was two people, a ways into one of the alleyways. He should probably just keep walking, he told himself. It was probably nothing. It was certainly none of his business. He really shouldn’t have stopped in the middle of the sidewalk with head turned obviously towards the pair. Was he really going to make something out of this?
Yes, he decided, he was. Kasty turned into the alleyway (cutting off a man who had been more focused on his phone than the sidewalk) and strode towards the pair. The way she’d spoken to the man grated already somewhat worn nerves. The flash of green, if anything, only added to her air of talking down to the man. What bothered him was that she felt like she had the right to do that.
Kasty made his presence known if it hadn’t been already. “She bothering you?” He asked somewhat casually to the man, like a friend backing up another friend. He tried to sound and look important despite the woman having a couple inches and years on him.
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Post by Jack Jewel on Jul 29, 2016 15:51:33 GMT -7
Jack kept on talking for several more seconds before eventually noticing the pair of purple-ish Pants standing in front of him. Barely acknowledging the existance of whoever was wearing them he leaned to the side and reached with his hand for the bottom of the broken bottle that was still lying on the ground. The dirty piece of glass was still as empty as ever and with a regretful look he gave it an ever so light nudge. Suddenly a tight bundle of money appeared in front of him and his hand froze in disbelief and midair as his mind was guessing the amount. Then he blinked slowly again, just to make sure he didnt make a mistake. That'a be atleast...500 no...more'n that... His face didnt betray any of his thoughts, but his hand twitched once in a surpressed attempt to take the money immediately. Only now did he allow his attention to rest on the strange person, ...Girl... he corrected himself mentally, that was standing in front of him, waving around a grand like other people did with single dollar bills. Most if not all of her clothing seemed to be purple yet tidy and her voice had a certain seriousness to it that made him wonder what her daily job was if it payed well enough to be handing out money like that. Also, more importantly, what someone such as her would want from someone such as him. Before he could answer anything a second person interjected itself into the scenario. A small boy, of maybe 12 or 14 age walked towards them, a somewhat unsatisfied grimace plain on his face. Musta be the right kind'a day for crazy heh?.. For a moment none replied to the boy's intrusive question and the silence became almost awkward while Jack was trying to figure out what had gotten into this nice and silent morning of his, all the while his hand was still grasping thin air just millimeters away from the bundle of green. Botherin? That depends on what lil'missy wants i guess... The hobo spoke to the boy but looked at the girl. More specifically, he looked at the money, but that counted as such by rule of extension. Whats'it gonna be, lady? That much, people dont give it away for nothing...
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Post by April Itoh on Jul 30, 2016 14:43:32 GMT -7
Her eyes narrowed as some kid decided to involve himself. From the sound of things, he was the hobo defender, champion of the gutters. Apparently she can't even get away with doing a good deed without getting hassled. No wonder there's so many criminals in this town—half of them are probably innocent, but then people like this brat start assuming the worst over nothing. April almost regretted stopping here in the first place, but wasn't about to cancel a business transaction halfway.
She placed a hand on her chest and took one step backwards. With the most innocent look she could manage, April addressed the younger boy. “Oh, I'm sorry officer, didn't know generosity was a crime these days.”
The bum ended up being more careful than anticipated. He was right in questioning why someone would give away what must seem like a lot of money. If the situation was reversed, April wouldn't have taken it either.
What sort of excuse would make it easier for the man to accept the offer? Explaining the actual reason why she was handing out stacks of cash like Halloween candy wouldn't work. It took too much time and required mentioning where she had obtained this much money, which might only serve to drive him away. Hero Boy would certainly take things the wrong way. If they cared, she could lie and say it was leftover from a life insurance policy.
For now, that could wait. April folded her arms and tried to look the man in the eyes. All of that hair and his hood made it harder than usual. “I thought I told you already. I don't want to see you back here again. There must be something better you can do with yourself than groveling on the street. ”
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Aug 1, 2016 2:15:41 GMT -7
He wasn’t quite sure the reaction he was expecting to get, but that one wasn’t too far of the mark. People generally didn’t like it when one butted in on their conversations. At least she wasn’t any more hostile to him than he was to the other man. The real disappointment was the man giving him little more than a sideways acknowledgement when, to give Kasty any real weight, he kinda needed the man to play along.
Kasty paced towards the pair. Regardless, he was already here, already spoke up, so he might as well stick it through. Appreciated or not.
“Sorry officer, didn’t realize you had the right to tell people where they can or can’t be.” Kasty teased, giving her an innocent smile.
He eyed the wad of green in her hand. How much was there? Those weren’t ones or fives, that was a thick wad of tens she was offering out. Who was this woman? Another rich person, thinking because she had money to hand out like coupons at grocery stores she had some kind of power over this man? Did she see him as an eyesore and think throwing money at this problem would solve it?
Kasty fought off the oncoming frown and baseless impression of the woman. He didn’t know enough about her or this situation to jump to a frankly unfair conclusion like that. Even so, he couldn’t let what she was saying pass.
He coughed into his hand. “Sorry, but do you have a problem with this man?”
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Post by Jack Jewel on Aug 5, 2016 11:44:12 GMT -7
Jack was confused to say the least. Even if the girl said something like that, I don't want to see you back here again... nobody in the right mind would pay a homeless person that much money just to have him off the street. Even the few places he had been to that supported homeless would barely give more than a small meal and a thin mattress for the night to people like him. When the other newcomer, the boy, spoke up to her and Jack saw the girl turn her head to answer he carefully took the money that was still being shoved almost into his face. Without moving more than his arm he placed the stack of money on his lap and fixed it with the weight of his blanket. Then he proceeded to count it with experienced calmness as his thumb flipped through the individual notes like pages in a particular uninteresting book.
With a carfully maintained "pokerface" Jack stared at the boy's hands and feet, all looking like the placid and unprovoking homeless person that one could assume he was. In his mind however, he was trying to judge the current situation and predict its outcome at the same time. The two persons were obviously teasing each other in a way that only strangers could and while they seemed somewhat the same age to Jack, it was obvious that they had grown up rather differently. His hand finished counting the money and proceeded by slowly moving the blanket fully over it. That amount of money could last him for a very long time if he was careful.
He decided to refrain from commenting on the sudden gift and instead watched the exchange between the two persons. I wonder'f she's got more offit on her... It might prove advantageous to keep an eye on the girl, people with that kind of money usually had more of it than just what she had handed him.
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