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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2014 19:32:30 GMT -5
It's a good thing that Roxanne never mentioned her link with the mafia, or Charlotte certainly wouldn't have come with her. One of the reasons why she's never joined any groups is to avoid winding up connected into anything like that. She certainly doesn't consider the supposed safety of such a group to be worth all the additional trouble such a group attracts. It's better to keep independent if you can.
Watching Roxanne take the Twizzlers, Charlotte smiles and says, "You're welcome." Then she starts to busy herself sorting through the rest of it, counting them and sorting it all into piles of gum, chocolate, and fruit stuff so that she'll know exactly how much she has of what - she'd had much more important things to think about than remembering all that she had taken while she was in the candy store. It's definitely a very good haul - this ought to go a long way to replenishing her big stash.
But her mood suddenly changes completely when she suddenly sees her pocketknife in Roxanne's hands. Suddenly the candy is completely forgotten, because there isn't a single that Charlotte possesses that is more important to her than that pocketknife - it's her weapon. It's the thing that has protected her during her most frightening moments - her only protection. If she'd had a gun instead and Roxanne had taken that, she wouldn't have felt any differently about it.
Her reaction is pure instinct. One hand suddenly grabs Roxanne's wrist in a very tight grip, while the other grabs the blade of the knife. Fortunately for both of them, it's Charlotte's quick and accurate hands that makes shoplifting so easy for her, so she doesn't have to remind herself how to handle the familiar object - her hand pinches the blade from the back as she pulls it from Roxanne's hand so that neither of them are in much danger of being cut. Unfortunately for Roxanne, Charlotte's instinct to protect herself from losing such a valuable item as well as the sudden surge of adrenaline is more than enough to cause the teen's hands to not be very gentle at all. And her voice isn't much better as she viciously snaps, "MINE!"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2014 20:01:36 GMT -5
Curiously observing the weapon, Roxanne noted that it was a basic pocketknife. A standardized instrument for protection and if used correctly, a deadly one. But it won't be quite useful for someone with firearms or a person who is an expert swordsman. If Roxanne thinks about it, she was quite lucky that she didn't do anything very direct to Charlotte. The interaction between the two girls would have been very ugly and bloody as well.
Roxanne let out a painful frightened squeal when Charlotte gripped onto her wrist aggressively. "Le-Let go!" Roxanne whimpered out as the gripped on her became tighter and when the knife was pulled out of her own grip, it was really close to cutting her palm and fingers. Reeling her hand back and rubbing the area where Charlotte was gripping, she jolted back and let out a small sob when Charlotte yelled at her. The frightened girl ran towards to the den of her shelter and crawled into the back, curling into a ball and shaking fiercely, looking like a puppy that just got kicked.
Roxanne did not know what she did wrong, but Charlotte doesn't like her now.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2014 0:33:44 GMT -5
Perhaps what Roxanne is too scared to realize is that Charlotte is scared too, not angry. The mere thought of not having her pocketknife... In fact, it's several moments after it's back in her hands before she even starts to care about how badly she scared Roxanne - first she has to look it over to reassure herself that she has it back and it's completely undamaged. Taking a deep breath, she finds herself quickly calming down as she carefully folds it.
She starts to put it back in her pocket, but then she realizes that Roxanne got it in the first place by taking it from that pocket. But as she considers putting it into a more secure pocket instead, she realizes that none of her safer pockets are that easy to get things from in an emergency. Great, that means that there's no good place for her pocketknife now - the incident has shaken her sense of safety. She should just leave then... That thought prompts her to put the pocketknife back into its usual pocket, then turn her attention back to the candy. She starts to put it back into her pockets, preparing to go, though while she does so she remembers the hour and the fact that the Sharks are quite likely back where they were at the bottom of the fire escape. It would be very unsafe for her to leave before morning.
Which is what finally brings her back to thinking about Roxanne. Oh, what does she do with this situation now? She's not going to say that she's sorry or that she forgives Roxanne - neither of those would be true. You don't touch someone else's things unless you want trouble - you just don't. Especially not the knife. What was the girl even thinking touching her pocketknife? Stupid, stupid, stupid! Fortunately, she keeps those thoughts to herself as she continues to gather up the candy - which she might as well finish doing while she's thinking since she's going to need to do it anyway whether she's leaving or not.
When she's done, she thinks that she can manage to say something that won't make it worse. "Roxanne, why did you do that?" she asks very quietly, without the slightest hint of anger in her voice. Instead she speaks with perfect mildness, letting her voice be of someone who patiently just wishes to understand. She remembers using the same tone on her brother a few times - he's only five, and if you yell at him it only makes him cry - you have to be gentle if you want to talk to him while he's upset. And she's guessing that Roxanne isn't that much different, at least right now.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2014 18:01:12 GMT -5
Resting her head on her knees, she closed her eyes and still shook, not even noticing that Charlotte was packing up her things to leave. That was a stupid thing to do. Her curiosity was endearing sometimes yes, but it hurt other people. And she just hurt the teen just because she wanted to see her knife.
Hearing the mild tone from the teen, like someone asking their child why they lied about placing the car keys in the toilet. With tear-stained eyes, Roxanne looked at Charlotte and apologetically said, "Wanted to see it." Roxanne let out a little sniffle. "Hate me now. I'm sorry...." The little girl wiped her eyes and went back to having her head on her knees.
To make herself feel better, knowing Charlotte will now leave, she took out a pink box. It was a plastic one and was quite small too. Inside of it was art tools and colors of all kinds. Picking up a paint brush, Roxanne scooted over to a spot on the roof and got onto her stomach. She dipped the brush into sky blue paint and stroked the brush on the concrete. The roof painting was nice, a black bird was sitting on top of a ledge and was looking upward where a group of other birds were flying in the clear blue sky. The black bird looked sad, and lonely as the creature was glancing at the flying ones.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2014 1:03:00 GMT -5
That answer is kind of a mixed deal to Charlotte. At least (if Roxanne isn't lying), she hadn't meant any harm at all then. But on the other hand, whether harm is meant or not, you don't take her knife! Which means that she's still not sure how to handle this. Staying near the fire, she paces a few steps, turns around, and paces back - not really paying much attention to what Roxanne is doing right now, just so long as the girl doesn't come next to her until she has this figured out.
Though after a little bit more thought she turns to look at Roxanne - who is painting something, apparently - and says, "I don't hate you. You scared me." Trying to find the words that explain her reaction, she adds, "My knife is what I use to keep me safe, and you took it, so I had nothing, and I got scared. Do you understand?" Because regardless of anything else, she doesn't want Roxanne to think that she hates her. Charlotte doesn't hate very easily at all, actually.
And she has to assume that Roxanne knows just as much if not more about what it means to be scared. Living on the streets means that you're at least a little bit scared at all times, after all. And Charlotte's instinct to protect herself from all the scary things is very, very strong - and since Roxanne made herself a scary thing for a moment there, the girl got a small taste of it. Considering for a moment, Charlotte adds, "If you take things from me then we can't be friends. But if you promise to never take anything from me again, we can still be friends - if you want to see something I have you need to ask." Which isn't something that she says lightly, since it kind of bothers Charlotte that she'd have to spell that out - to her that's like common courtesy on the streets. The only thing that makes her want to give Roxanne another chance is how upset the girl seems to be about it.
Well, and she has to admit that the fact that leaving now instead wouldn't be the safest idea is a factor too.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2014 16:44:41 GMT -5
Roxanne didn't mean to take Charlotte's pocketknife, it's just she never learned not to take things without asking. She can understand why the young teenager would be scared when Roxie took the weapon though. She would feel the same way as Charlotte if her defenses were taken away without noticed. Feeling a bit better now, Roxanne sat up to look at the teen and nodded as she a little bit understood what Charlotte was saying. Roxanne felt kind of relieved and happy that the older girl doesn't hate her, and she has a possibility of redeeming Charlotte's trust.
Getting up onto her feet, the hazel-eyed girl walked a few feet towards the girl but still enough feet to give Charlotte some comfortable space. Roxanne listened carefully to the words Charlotte told her and nodded enthusiastically, wanting to be friends with the teen. "Okay!" This was something new to Roxanne, she usually took things without anyone noticing so the statement Charlotte said was like a new lesson to the little nine-year-old. Not having any parents or guardian to discipline her from right to wrong can get Roxanne in trouble like what happened with Charlotte. Maybe Charlotte can teach her.
Speaking of having parents, Roxanne wonders if Charlotte had a family before they met. Most street-kids are either runaways or children who ran away from the city system. Roxanne always wanted to know the feeling of having someone love and care for you as their own. The closest person in the child's life that resembles a mother is Louisa and they barely see each other except on the accounts of a delivery. Still standing near Charlotte, Roxanne decided to break the tension by asking the teenager a question. "Do you have family? Was it like? Were happy?" The girl was bombarding the other with questions. A curious look shining on her facial features.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2014 20:23:49 GMT -5
"Okay..." Charlotte echos with a nod, though she's still not completely comfortable. Then again, that feeling will probably only go away once Roxanne has had a chance to prove that she'll actually do what she said. It's not that hard to rattle Charlotte - a long time ago it would have been, but what's happened to her during the past few years has taken the proverbial rug out from underneath her feet and she's very slow to trust and quick to distrust anymore.
In fact, Roxanne's question touches right at the heart of all of that. For a moment, Charlotte doesn't answer that, but eventually she hears herself talking. "Yeah, I used to have all that," she replies, "But then my parents did some stupid things and got arrested, so my brother and I got sent to a foster home. But I didn't like it there, so I left." And now she's all alone in the world. Well, except her brother kind of - he's still at that foster home. Though since Maureen won't let her talk to him, he's just as effectively out of the picture as her parents are right now.
"Before all of that, it was really good, though," she adds after another moment, "Really, really good..." Though right now she almost wishes it had been bad - maybe things would have been easier for her now. At least it wouldn't have been such a shock when she found out how crappy the rest of the world is.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2014 23:33:48 GMT -5
The uncomfortable tone in Charlotte's voice gave Roxanne the hint that Charlotte didn't trust what she said. It was agreeable that trust was a hard thing to achieve between fellow urchins. Taking some months together usually establishes them knowing about each other enough to trust. However, there still needs to be wariness since betrayals and needed backstabs were common along their society, mostly for survival needs. So Roxanne was not affected by Charlotte's personal atmosphere to her.
Waiting for Charlotte to answer the questions, the young child notices that the teen seems to be....hesitant. When Charlotte begins to speak, Roxanne spots the spitting hate. At least her family wasn't killed like some street-kids. The added statement suggested that Charlotte misses her family and her brother. Roxanne felt sad for the teen. She doesn't know the feeling of being taken away from your family but she does know it's hard by the story accounts she hears.
Before Roxanne could say anything, the feel of a droplet smacked onto her forehead. Glancing up, she saw dark rainclouds filling up the night sky like heavy ash. Dark shadows casting any moonlight away that was illuminating Park Row. How did Roxanne never noticed the change of weather? Her attention going back to Charlotte, blinking a few times, she said in a monotone. "Storms a'coming. Need to get in shelter." Roxanne turned around, not minding if Charlotte chose to join her or not, it was best if she did however. It's not good to be caught up in a storm.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2014 4:05:16 GMT -5
If you were to ask Charlotte, she'd say that she thinks that perhaps it would have been better if her parents had been killed - at least that's better closure than knowing that they're going to be in prison until she's a grown woman who doesn't need them anymore. She definitely wouldn't include her brother in that, though - the kid is only five, and she loves the little guy. It had been hard to leave him behind, actually - but she'd known that he was better off staying in the foster home than going into the streets with her. Even if it bothers her just how much he seems to like it there.
She's actually kind of glad that the rain interrupts any further musings, even though that's the only upside to it. Nodding to Roxanne's words, she doesn't hesitate to go into the shelter and take a seat inside - all things considered, she'd rather share close quarters with a kid that she's not sure she really trusts than to let herself get soaked by cold rain. That may not be a big deal to a kid who can go inside a dry, warm house and get a change of clothes, but it is when you can't do any of those things - better to not get wet in the first place. Because while the idea that the cold can literally make you sick is a myth, it's true that it doesn't help things at all.
But no sooner is she sitting than she remembers, "Oh, yeah, we forgot the soup!" She looks over at the can but decides to let Roxanne handle it. Mostly because she's sure that not just the soup but the can itself is probably heated through by now, and having not had to figure out how to retrieve a hot can before it's better to leave that to the expert.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2014 21:31:46 GMT -5
Sitting down in the back of the shelter, Roxanne calmly watched Charlotte. The teenager seemed a little hesitant about what to do. But after a while longer, Charlotte chose to be close proximity with Roxanne then rather stay out in the rain. The rain doesn't exactly make you sick, however, without a change of dry clothes, you can get hypothermia. And that is something no one wants to have to deal with. Scooting a bit to make room, Roxanne stared at Charlotte a little longer until the teenager reminded her of the can of soup she placed on the fire pit a while ago. Getting a few things out of her satchel, Roxanne got up on her feet and walked outside to the barrel where the fire was dimming out. Taking out a pair of rusty clamps, Roxanne gripped the can and gently carried it over back to the home-made den. Sitting back down onto the newspapers and rags, Roxie set the can down and took out a shrapnel, pushing the object into the tin and circling the can around to open it.
Placing the utensils back into her satchel, Roxanne took out a small cardboard box. The box was filled with plastic knifes, forks, and spoons. Picking up a plastic spoon, Roxie gave the plastic to Charlotte to eat the soup with. As the older girl took the utensil, the little girl placed everything back. By this time, the rain was already pounding onto the roof of the shelter and the outside concrete of the apartment complex. The sound of thunder and flashes of lightning were already appearing as well. Being on the streets for a few years, Roxanne got used to the different weather conditions that come and go during the four seasons. Roxanne hoped that this wasn't Charlotte's first storm out of a home, but with her calm demeanor, she hopes that'll help Charlotte be calm as well.
Roxanne leaned against the back of her shelter, picking up a recent newspaper article that was lying fresh next to her. Unwrapping the article, Roxanne read the printed text inside. At least, tried to. The illiterate girl only tried to interpret what was happening by the pictures that was shown. What Roxanne could figure out was that something bad was going on over at the Gotham Gazette involving the Joker. Roxanne also saw Batman and Robin in the black and white photo. Maybe they stopped what the Joker was planning.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2014 23:55:35 GMT -5
Even as the storm quickly grows in strength, Charlotte doesn't seem too bothered by it. She's well past the age to be scared of the loud noises and flashes of light, so she hardly minds a thunderstorm as long as she's doesn't have to be out in it. On the other hand, she does know enough about lightening to realize that their shelter is made of metal and on the roof of a building... That's probably not good... Then again, there's a lot of more prominent things around for lightening to strike than the shelter, so she's got to figure that the odds are on their side. Still, she finds herself glancing around herself to make sure she's not touching anything metal, just in case.
Distracting herself from that thought, she turns her attention to the soup. Though she's really quite hungry, she forces herself to eat it slowly. There's something actually kind of comforting about eating soup during a storm - it reminds her of some of the better times during her early childhood, even if where she is right now is extremely far removed from that.
Though she isn't so distracted by the soup that she fails to notice what Roxanne is doing, and she comments, "Oh, yeah, I read about that - so sad." Not knowing that the girl can't read, she assumes that Roxanne knows exactly what she's talking about since all the information is right there in the article. Charlotte is a frequent newspaper thief herself - it's not a hard thing to steal and the information proves to be very useful. Not all of it, though - Charlotte pays the most attention to the weather reports, upcoming events in the city, and anything relating to crime. Those sorts of things can help her plan ahead and avoid dangerous situations.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2014 18:07:48 GMT -5
Hearing what Charlotte said, Roxanne quickly glanced up to the teenager who was eating the soup she heated up. Charlotte can read! Scooting over a bit to the teenager, Roxanne curiously asked, "You read?" The child quickly pushed the newspaper in front of Charlotte, excitedly exclaiming, "Read to me!" Roxanne got comfy as she was read to, awing at the happenings and having blank expressions at the bad.
The storm was still going on outside of the shelter, the entire night dark and the splish splash of the heavy rain. The thunder dimming down that it was only faintly heard. It sounded like a little lullaby, compared with the reading. Getting a little sleepy, Roxanne took her tattered long rag blanket up to her chest and rested along the steel wall.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2014 23:24:21 GMT -5
"Um, yeah..." Charlotte answers easily. She's been able to read for half her life, after all - in fact she's just as good at it as your average adult. Then again, even in this country, keeping up with the average adult is actually a pretty low bar to reach. "Um, okay," she agrees pulling the paper closer so that she can see it better from where she's sitting.
It's not too good of a bedtime story. The Joker ended up killing quite a few people before Batman and Robin got there and, though the dynamic duo managed to stop him from making it even worse, the clown had managed to get away. And sadly for anyone yearning for information on the city's vigilantes, it seems that the newspaper knows far more about who got killed and how upset their friends and families are than they do about exactly how things went down between all the people wearing costumes. That's why, like Charlotte said, it's a sad story.
Well, that and the fact that she personally fixates more on the civilians in the story. When it comes to people wearing masks, she mostly just doesn't want to meet them and doesn't think about them too deeply other than that. Then again, she's not going to get upset reading about people dying either - she didn't know any of them, so she'll recognize that it's sad but move on from that easily.
When she finishes reading the article, she finds that the combination of the sound of the heavy rain, the hour, and having food in her stomach is enough to make her feel tired. So she curls up on her side, pulling the hood of her jacket over her head and using her arm for a pillow. It's not the most comfortable way to sleep, but she's warm enough and got used to sleeping even when she's not comfortable a long time ago. Though she doesn't fall asleep immediately - it's far easier to settle the body than it is to settle the mind.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2014 15:34:30 GMT -5
Staring blankly at the newspaper, Roxanne listened intently to the story, her eyes occasionally changing into some sort of dark emotion whenever mention of a citizen's death appeared. She did not care for them. They were a bunch of cats running around with their high-tailored suits and snobby demeanors. Yes, it was sad for the families but everyone must die one day and those who lost themselves just got an early dismissal.
What she was actually paying attention to was the dynamic duo. Their ethnics of right verus wrong and not caring who they save. Roxanne even saw them save a few criminals and street-people when they were in distress. And the fact that they flew, well, the little girl knows that they actually did not fly but it's still a sight to see. Batman and Robin were Gotham's protectors, and no matter who you were or what class you belonged to, they will always watch out for everyone. And putting the true scum away.
Almost asleep but not exactly, Roxanne notices after the reading that Charlotte was tired as well. If the hood up and position was any evidence. Feeling generous, Roxanne placed the tattered blanket over Charlotte, getting cozy with herself. Of course, they needed to share the blanket so Roxanne was closer to Charlotte but was still leaning against the steel wall. By tomorrow morning, Roxanne will escort Charlotte back to the edge of the East Ends where they'll party their ways. Huh, maybe they can visit each other and she can introduce Charlotte to Harold and the others.
Guess life in Gotham is shining a bit more each day for the little rat.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2014 3:08:44 GMT -5
When Charlotte feels the blanket being partway placed on her, she smiles a little and shifts slightly so that she's even closer to Roxanne - it's both generous and selfish to share the blanket since their combined body heat will keep them both much warmer than either of them alone, which is especially nice on a rainy night like this. That's one advantage of having someone to be with.
But there's disadvantages too, and at least in Charlotte's opinion the disadvantages are somewhat bigger - that's why she's a wanderer who isn't a part of any group and won't think twice about leaving Roxanne behind in the morning. But that doesn't mean that she won't see Roxanne again - far from it, actually. One advantage of wandering is that she's met more than her fair share of other people on the street, and quite of few of them are friendly when they know you, so she can add Roxanne to the list of friendly faces. Right in the heart of the worst part of Gotham, even, which means that Charlotte's likely to drop in whenever she's in the area as long as Roxanne's willing to offer her hospitality - especially if she needs a safe place to sleep. She's a good houseguest - she'll always bring a gift.
Right now, though, she finds the extra warmth to be all she needed to help settle her mind as well, so she says, "Good night, Roxanne." And sleep overtakes her only a few moments later. Even though she's still just wary enough to fall asleep with her hand in her pocket, her fingers wrapped around her pocketknife.
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