Welcome to Gaia! ::

Even with much of the heavy industry taking place in other cities, Holdine has its own thriving sector. Needless to say this part of town is nowhere as nice as the others. An industrial haze settles over the perpetually dreary streets. Crates, garages, warehouses and the occasional workhouse line these streets.

The influx of the poor into this area has been astounding. Braving the horrible living conditions for the promise of jobs. And thus, the cycle of the downtrodden being abused continues on and on.

"Is he alive?"

"Iunno, poke him."

"Dummies, of course he's alive, he's still breathing!"

"Poke him anyway."

"What's wrong with him? You think he's got the plague?"

"He wouldn't be here if he had the plague..."

A gaggle of street urchins had come across the monochrome man, and were now staring at him unabashedly. The first was a timid boy, chubbier than a little urchin ought to be and missing his left hand. The second was a small waif of a girl, with thin blond hair greased in grime and wide brown eyes that threatened to swallow the world. The third, and the oldest, was a strapping young lad with dark hair and darker eyes.

The oldest stepped forward towards the monochrome man. "Hey, there, sir, you need some help? Us'n could help you out with most anything, for a price."

The urchins turned to confer amongst themselves.

"We could take him to O'Rourke's..." This from the one-handed boy.

"O'Rourke's is way too noisy," the oldest said, shaking his head. "What about Maggie's?"

"Doesn't Maggie have a boarder?"

"Nah, he died a week ago."

"Stomach asploded," the girl interjected.

"Well...alright, then...but I think I'll stay back here..." said the one-handed boy.

"Suit yourself," the oldest said. "Get yourself back to the base, don't get in any trouble."

The one-handed boy nodded and took off, jogging. Soon he'd turned a corner and was out of view.

"Alright, sir," the oldest said, turning to face the man again. "We'll take you to Maggie's. It's a good place to stay, Maggie enforces the quiet around there, and there isn't any magic I've heard of. Dummies say she's a witch, but the only reason people drop dead around her house is cause she's got a rifle."

---------

Soon after turning around the corner, the one-handed boy had stopped dead, staring in shock at the vision before him.

"A-alci? Is that you?"

"O' course it's me, Stumps!" the girl exclaimed. "What, have you gone blind since I last saw you?" She was still wearing Anna's dress, and still carrying the backpack Maria had given her. She'd dropped her coin off at the doctor's, keeping the rest for herself...then realized it was way more than she could ever spend on herself, and way more than an urchin should be carrying around if she wanted to live a long life.

"But-" Stumps protested. "But you're in a dress!"

That earned him a kick in the shins. "Never you mind that!" Alci shouted, her face going red. "Where's Lenny?"

Stumps pointed behind him, down the narrow street he had just come from. "He's with a customer..." But Alci ignored his protest, and went marching off.

((Feel free to interrupt chatter at any point. And if I'm boring you, let me know. I just thought I'd take the opportunity to let an outsider hear that the Marquis de Altone was showering his fortunes upon an urchin))

"O' course, sir," the boy said, bowing in an exaggerated fashion like he was some kind of butler. "If you'll just follow me."

He headed off, the thin little blond girl trailing close behind him. Unfortunately, the forward motion was promptly arrested when an urchin with bright blue hair rounded the corner.

The boy's shoulders arched in anger. Apparently he wasn't happy to see this girl. "Alci. What are you doing back here?"

The little blond one had an entirely different reaction. Her eyes lit up, and she started craning her neck upwards, searching the sky for something.

"Lenny, you know I only left cause..." But Alci didn't get a chance to finish.

"Well we're doing just fine without you! So go home!" Lenny shouted. He glanced back at the monochrome man, his voice losing its anger and becoming brisk and business like once more. "Sorry, sir. Bit of a traitor we need to deal with. If you have any questions, please direct them to Wisp here."

He indicated the little blond girl, who was tugging at Lenny's pants leg. "Lenny, Lenny, I don't see the flying pigs. I been looking and looking. You said Alci would come back when pigs fly, but I don't see 'em."

"They went by a while ago," Lenny said softly. "You just missed 'em. Now, come on, we got a customer to take care of."

Wisp pouted, but nodded. "Come on, sir, Maggie's is right this way!" And she bounced off, expecting the man to follow.

In the meantime, Lenny rounded on Alci again. "Walk with me, I want to yell at you some more!" Alci didn't look happy, but she listened. She and Lenny started walking slow, some distance from (but still within earshot of) the monochrome man and Wisp.

((Quick question; is he reaching out to Alci in any way her untrained empathy/minor telepathy would pick up?))

((The bit surrounded by the "------" is stuff you can safely ignore if you choose.))

Wisp responded to his enthusiasm with more of her own, a bounce coming into her steps that made it seem she was practically skipping down the street.

She was already halfway down the street when he spoke, but she quickly came running back to him. "Something wrong with you, mister?" she asked. She glanced about, looking for something that might have upset him. Her voice lowered to a whisper "You don't have the plague or nothing, do you?"

------

Meanwhile, Lenny and Alci were continuing their conversation not too far away.

"So why'd you come scurrying back here?" Lenny asked, his eyes still narrowed. "Come on, spill it, this out to be good."

"You know what's in this backpack?" Alci asked him, adjusting the shoulder straps meaningfully.

"No, what? Should I care?" He found his eyes drifting that way, though. He was curious.

"Food," Alci replied, her voice dropping lower. "More than I could ever eat on my own before it goes bad. Fresh, never been thrown out food."

Lenny gave a low whistle of appreciation, forgetting to be angry for a moment. "You're telling me that whole thing is stuffed full of food? Alci, what'd you do, rob a bakery or something?" His tone was impressed, not accusatory. Then he realized what he was doing, and screwed up his face in anger again. "Well, yeah, so what?" he barked. "So you got a lot of food, you come back here to rub it in our faces?"

Alci didn't respond, which only got Lenny riled up more. She was staring off at Wisp and the monochrome man. Lenny felt like he ought to explode.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" he yelled at her.

----------

But Alci didn't look. She took one step toward the man and the girl, her body tensing like she was about to sprint. Lenny had only seen her like that when someone was chasing after them for thieving...

"Wisp, come away from him," Alci called. The little blond girl glanced back at her, puzzled.

"Whadda you think you're doing?" Lenny shouted, grabbing Alci by the shoulders and shaking her. "Just because you're doing well on your own doesn't mean you got the right to sabotage our customers!" He expected to be hit. The Alci he knew would have hit him hard for that. But she just stood there, staring blankly at him for a minute, then shook her head.

"Something's not right..." Alci spoke, her eyes still looking right through him, at where she could feel the unease rolling in waves off the monochrome man.