[Flashback] Houseguest [Roxanne]

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Any time Charlotte goes looking for one of her friends on the street in particular, it's always just a little bit worrying. It's a hazardous way to live, after all, and sometimes someone you've always been able to count on being where you expect them to be just suddenly disappears with no explanation. Though it could be for a number of reasons - they could have been killed, arrested, moved somewhere else. Sometimes you can find out what happened, sometimes you can't. So as Charlotte finds her way to the fire escape that leads to Roxanne's rooftop home, there's a part of her that's just a little bit nervous - will she find her friend safe and sound up there or not? It's only been a few weeks since she last saw her, which isn't very much time considering how long Roxanne's been living here, but you never know...

When she reaches the top of the fire escape, she sees the familiar shelter and calls out, "Roxanne?" But there's no reply. Though her nerves threaten, she walks over to inspect things before she panics - she's here a bit early, after all. It's still a couple hours until sunset and when things start to get very dangerous, so it could simply be that Roxanne hasn't come home for the night yet. Or it could also be that Roxanne has decided to spend the night elsewhere - that sort of thing has happened before. Last time that happened, Charlotte spent the night anyway and left a present, so that's the plan if it's happened again - though of course she'd much rather actually see Roxanne. Fortunately for her nerves, she can see a few signs of recent use around the shelter - perhaps even from this morning - so at least she can be reassured that Roxanne is around somewhere, even if she's not here.

As satisfied as she can be, Charlotte pulls the newspaper she snagged this morning out of her pocket, and selects a sheet of it to use because she has, once again, been out shoplifting and has some things to sort through. Though this time her haul is quite small since it's heavier and more valuable than usual - she'd hit a local hardware store about an hour ago. Most of the stuff at such a place would be completely useless to her, but various hand tools and stuff like duct tape is very useful to either keep or trade when she can get away with it. It's harder to conceal such bulky items though, so she wasn't able to take very much. Checking the position of the sun as she starts to sort through her haul, she figures that if Roxanne is going to show, she'll likely arrive within about two hours if she wants to avoid the night crime.

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    Left, right, dodge, duck, jump, right, around the pole. Roxanne, the young street-girl, was running about through the city streets and its alley-ways as she was going back to her roof-top home. Flying above and next to her, was a flash of black as quick as its companion, a small feathered black bird. Fredrick was his name, and he was Roxanne's new friend and a friend he was. The child actually found him two years back while she was taking a nice stroll in Robinson Park. It was migrating season and the bird's wing was injured. Now, Roxanne loves birds, it's evident on her home's concrete. So the kid took him in and nursed the little fellow. Since then Fredrick stuck by her, giving her companionship and helping her out in the best of ways.

Now Roxanne just came back from doing a delivery, a standard drug transaction. There wasn't any fear from either the Mafia or the buyer of Roxanne stealing the cash since all the money gets wired into system accounts firstly. It wasn't the more dangerous jobs Roxanne was given when she begin progressing with her age, but she always needs to be careful. Over the years though, Roxanne received injuries, mostly on her arms however.  The street-girl dealt with knives and a few non-life-threatening gunshot wounds and a few other methods of attack and defense. Now bandages wrapped on her upper arms and legs. How did the girl survived without risk of infection? Well the first time Harold and others had to forcibly bring her to the local clinic and ever since then with the counting injuries, Roxanne visited the Doctor. Doctor Thompkins is pretty nice to her.

Finally reaching the fire-escape that leads to her shelter, Roxanne jumped up onto it and begin to climb up, Fredrick soaring upward ahead of her. Before the girl could reached the top, Fredrick begin chirping in an alarming tone. "What are ya freakin' about Fredrick? Tat better be somethin' and not a squirrel again!" Fredrick always get a little protective and he squawks at the squirrels that appear on the roof at times. However, Roxanne should always be wary when she reaches the top in case something harmful was up on the roof. Reaching the top of the roof, Roxanne saw a silhouette hunched over near her home. Hand reaching for one of her weapons, a twinge of recognition calmed the defensive girl. Lifting herself onto the roof-top and standing straight, she calls out to the figure. "Charlotte?"

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The first hint that Charlotte has that Roxanne is on her way is the sound of a blackbird throwing a fit. Most people wouldn't have thought twice about that, but Charlotte met Fredrick the first time she saw Roxanne after she was back on the streets again. Unfortunately, it's probably impossible to explain to a bird that just because you see someone infrequently doesn't mean that they're not a friend. Then again, Charlotte thinks that the bond between the bird and her friend is rather... weird. But some of her friends in the streets are much weirder than that so she's willing to just shrug that off. At least if Roxanne is going to talk to the bird like he understands, she's talking to something that actually exists.

Moments later, she sees Roxanne appear at the top of the fire escape and she stands and smiles, "Yep, it's me! Mind if I stay over, or are you finally sick of me?" Which is a joke - she knows that Roxanne tends to enjoy having her company, even if the bird doesn't seem to approve. Of course, the streets tend to make Charlotte suspicious enough that she occasionally wonders if Roxanne actually likes her or simply likes that she gives her things, but since it's only fair to give something back when she gets help and isn't hard to get the things she gives Roxanne, that works out to almost be a technicality.

Her shoplifting skills have improved somewhat since she first met Roxanne - which is saying something since she was already pretty good at it back then. But it shows in the stuff she was going through: two thick rolls of duct tape, a few different kind of pliers, a few different kinds of snips, a hammer, an extension cord, a small set of screwdrivers, a file, two pocketknives, and a couple handfulls of nails. The hard part about this haul was figuring out how to hide them on her person without it looking weird. The next hard part will be trading it out for other things - most of these tools can also be makeshift weapons, and kind of scary ones at that since they're not designed for that, so she'll only be trading these out to the people she knows best. It's a lot easier to unload candy, but she can get a lot more for these than she can with sugar.

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    Knowing that her assumptions were correct when spotting Charlotte, Roxanne ran excitedly towards the teenager and groped her in a hug. Her little short stature only reaching to Charlotte's chest. Letting go after a few seconds, Roxanne glanced up endearingly to her friend and said with excitement, "Charlotte! Of course ya can stay mia sorella! Anytime! What's the occasion?" The fact that the teenager came to her was usually hiding away or simply just trading. Not like Roxie enjoys her company, she actually likes Charlotte's company ever since they first met each other. Over the years, the two became close like sisters, Roxanne viewing the teen as her own big sister.

Now that Fredrick was in the picture, it was sort of a competition for Roxanne's attention for the bird. The first time Fredrick met Charlotte was the summer after Roxie found him injured. The black-bird was very noisy and hostile towards the teenager, and it took a lot of coaxing from the younger street-girl to calm the bird. Roxanne loves Fredrick and is still teaching him the difference between friend and foe, but the bird was getting less violent to Charlotte. At least he stopped trying to pick her eyes out.

With a few bird-calls by Roxanne, Fredrick flew right on top of Roxie's winter cap, ruffling his feathers. Unfortunately his beady black eyes were still locked on Charlotte. The young street-girl looked over at the teenager's stash, eyes scanning the hard-ware that was scattered on the newspaper. Roxanne noted that some of it like the small pocketknives could make great throwing weapons. Her focus going back onto Charlotte, Roxanne commented on the teen's steal. "So, what moron did ya loot from?"

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Charlotte can't help but laugh at the way that's she's greeted, her return hug very firm and emphatic. She's not sure that she enjoys Roxanne's company as much as the other way around - perhaps then she'd stay around more - but when they're together she definitely enjoys the sisterly bond that's formed. She's never had a sister, so it's a very unique thing to her, though she does have a brother who is quite a bit younger than even Roxanne and perhaps that helped her know how to be a friend in spite of the age difference.

And that includes learning to tolerate Fredrick. Then again, that only required so much of her - even though it's been a slow process to get the bird to stop attacking her, he's still a bird and not an especially big one. He can attack her all he wants, he's not going to win. Though she isn't hostile back - her hands are quick but gentle whenever she needs to keep him from pecking where it might actually do damage.

"The occasion is that I needed a new pocketknife, and I remembered that the hardware shop a few streets down has ones that I like. And I got some other things while I was at it," she says pointing in the right direction - she assumes that Roxanne knows the place since it's not that far, "So I thought that I'd drop by while I was in the neighborhood." It's actually not that unusual for Charlotte to need a new pocketknife. Not that she uses one to fight often enough to wear it out. She does use it simply to cut things on a regular basis, though, and while it's possible to sharpen a pocketknife it's actually easier for her to steal a new one than it is to do that. She's also very quick to decide that it's reached that point - better to replace it early than to wait for the day it won't cut something she needs to cut.

Having reminded herself of that, she turns back to her loot and picks up one of the new pocketknives - she got two of the same so there's no difference between them. Pulling out her old knife, she flicks it open and starts using it to cut the plastic packaging off of it. "So this one is mine - but if there's something else you like, you can have one," she says. It's almost become a ritual at this point - any time Charlotte sorts her loot here, Roxanne gets to have one. But it's usually food, so she's privately wondering if Roxanne will take that offer or not, and if so, which of things her friend would want. Making short work of the packaging for her new knife, she puts it into the pocket where she always keeps her knife, while the old one gets dropped into the pile with the loot - she'll trade that away now too, as there's plenty of people on the street who would be happy with a duller knife since not just anyone would agree that its easier to steal than sharpen.

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    "Well, nice of ya to visit, and I heard Ol' McGuire is ill. It's jus' sad when another one of Row's old folk is taking more piece of the past streets with them." Roxanne knows the place alright, the hardware store once apart of the Old Gotham before Roxie's time. The street-girl sometimes helping the aging owner with the jobs he can no longer do for a small fee. He was a sweet old man and Roxie gets a little riled up when anyone takes advantage of him or steals from his store. However, she wouldn't yell at Charlotte since the teenager practically only comes to this side of Gotham once in a while, not knowing much of the sector's citizens.

Inspecting the old knife Charlotte replaced, it seemed the weapon got a little more rusty over the years. A little smile appeared at the corner of her mouth as she remembered the first time Roxanne saw it....well took it. Since that faithful night, Charlotte was sort of teaching her things between visits she never learned about. Roxanne also taught Charlotte some few things of her own, like counting how many bullets come out of a single .thirty-two revolver for example. Both Charlotte and Roxanne give each other something in return, a balance that all started with a can of soup and a single twizzler. When Charlotte comes to her hide-a-way for trade, she usually gives food or art supplies and Roxanne would give her cash or something else important.

Feeling a weight on her shoulder pressing down, without looking, Roxanne knows that Fredrick hopped down from her hat onto her shoulder, the small blackbird rubbing himself affectionately on Roxie's cheek. Looks like Fredrick is in competition for her attention again. To calm the bird down, Roxanne reached over and gently stroke him on the head. Another reason people look at her funny is the bird on her head and shoulders, guess to any person it's weird to see that image. Yet Roxanne doesn't care what they all think, Fredrick's her friend and he loves her like a friend should.

Looks like it's time again to trade, Roxanne noted that she was allowed either the old knife or one of the hardware items that were laid out about the newspaper. Examining the objects of choice and thinking of what uses they were to her, Roxie decided to trade for the nails, they'll make deadly throwing weapons. "I'll trade for these Chars." Roxie picked up the tiny items, placing them into her palm one by one. Standing back up, Roxanne opened her tan satchel up and dug through the items on her person. "Sorry, I can' give ya any money right now. Kinda sort on dough, but, I am gonna give ya something I pickpocketed from a short stubby rich guy a few weeks back." Taking her hand out in a loosened fist, she opened her palm presenting a little bird whistle.  

"I pretty much used it to train Fredrick an' it is awesome!" Roxanne exclaimed with a big grin until her features mellowed out.  "I want to give it to ya for in-case ya ever get in trouble. Whenever ya blow this, Fredrick will hear an' lead me to ya, even if ya on the other side of Gotham." It was a safe-keep for her big sister so she'll always have a helping hand and without the fear of the dark shadows of the urban areas.

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Finding out that Roxanne doesn't just know the place but also knows the guy who owns it does nothing to make Charlotte feel bad about stealing from the store. The very cold weather is arriving and she needs enough winter clothing and other supplies to survive it, so she literally needs what she took more than some sick old man. The only people she'd feel guilty about stealing from is other people on the street - people who can afford stores obviously have way more than she does. So she nods but keeps her mouth shut.

The pocketknife she just replaced isn't the one that she'd had years ago - she replaces them far too frequently for that, and back when she was caught the first time they took her stuff. She got most of it back when she was released and put into foster care, but since her new foster parents didn't approve of knives she wasn't allowed to keep the pocketknife that she'd had at the time. However, she does have a favorite kind and gets it whenever she can so they don't look any different - just newer. That's an advantage since she's used to the one she's used to, so she doesn't have to get familiar with a new one.

Since the bird isn't presently attacking her, Charlotte is ignoring it even as it begs her friend for attention. She sees no reason to compete with a bird for Roxanne's attention. She is, after all, a human and therefore automatically better than a bird. Besides, it often seems like Roxanne hangs on her every word even when she's not even trying, though that's usually when she's teaching her something. Which happens quite a bit - at least until she was 13, Charlotte had a pretty normal life, after all. So she knows not only what she learned in school but lots of basic things that help you get along that Roxanne didn't get as much of a chance to learn - like the very first thing she taught about how friends ask permission to look at things.

Looking back on it, Charlotte is kind of regretful about how that whole thing happened with her pocketknife back when they first met. But then again, in the end it might have actually have been a good thing that Roxanne learned how touchy people can be about their weapons from Charlotte instead of someone who would have killed her for that. Unfortunately, Charlotte isn't nearly as good at teaching what few street skills she knows that Roxanne doesn't, because she simply has a knack for them and gets frustrated trying to teach it to someone who can't pick it up as quickly. But that's okay - Roxanne has her own method for stealing things already.

Though Charlotte hadn't thought of it before, upon reflection she realizes that she shouldn't be surprised that Roxanne wants the nails. She knows how good the other teen is at throwing things, after all, and the nails will be very dangerous in her hands. It makes Charlotte that much happier that they're friends so that she doesn't need to worry about being on the receiving end of it. "Okay," she says with a nod. The slight frown that flickers across Charlotte's face when Roxanne says that she can't trade money reveals what she'd kind of been hoping for, but it's quick to disappear. She'll easily be able to get money from someone else for the other things that she got, so that's not a problem. Besides, one of the cool things about being such close friends is that they take turns being generous without having track of which of them gives the other more things.

With that in mind, she's open-minded when Roxanne pulls out a little bird thing. Taking it in her hand so that she can examine it, she smiles and nods, "Yeah, it's pretty cool!" Probably not worth much, but then again it's the kind of more sentimental thing she wouldn't want to get rid of anyway - she doesn't have many of those. Though as Roxanne explains about Fredrick, it sounds even better. Well, except for the last bit, which causes Charlotte to chuckle, "The other side of Gotham? That's over fifteen miles, Roxanne!" No, of course Fredrick wouldn't be able to hear it that far away! It might make a few miles, though, since birds have better hearing than people, so it would still be useful if Roxanne was at least a little close.

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    With Roxanne's impatience, it was a back-breaking time for her to learn the stuff that Charlotte teaches her, and sometimes tries to teach her like how to shoplift correctly. Just one of those things that Roxie can't get the hang of. Kind of like how she can't get the hang of writing and reading when the teen tries to teach her the literate skills. But she listens to every word Charlotte says and tries her best to get it, whist Roxanne teaches Charlotte street smarts, the teen teaches the twelve year old moral lessons like to take things without permission and stuff the older girl learns from school.

Speaking of school, Roxanne always wondered about the stuff that went inside the building. She hides behind the stone walls in front of the school to look at all the students that come in and out carrying their books and backpacks and binders. Unlike Charlotte, Roxanne never went to school, so she didn't learn a lot of the educational basics. Of course, there's never a normal life for the young girl.

The young girl did not miss the frown that crossed Charlotte's face when she said that she couldn't give the teen any money. Roxanne was distraught on the bad week of getting income out of the citizens, just it was just an unlucky week for her. "Ya know, I can give ya money next week once I got some cash in me pocket." Roxanne commented. She really would both give her friend the whistle and the money. It's just her selflessness showing.

Roxanne perked up as Charlotte was enthusiastic about her gift, letting out a small chuckle about her supposed exaggeration. The thing was, apparently the whistle was strong and even from afar Fredrick can hear the faintest call from a lot of miles away. It surprised Roxie herself when she tested it as birds from the coast came flying towards her location. The younger let out a small chuckle escape her lips, replaying to the teen, "I thought it impossible too! But when I keep testing it out, geese from the coast flock to where I am. That thing's pretty dang powerful." Roxanne said as she pointed to the whistle.

Sauntering over to the edge of the roof; she over-looked the streets below, eyeing the citizens and others like a watchful hawk. The girls looked as if no one was giving no trouble, there were no dealers out so they're probably either laying low for the night or at another part of the East Ends. There were some fire-pits going as the locals were trying to get some warmth for the night and some of the older street-kids were doing a little music symphony with the trash cans and such. Roxanne let out an amused smirk as she saw that Roddy-one of the younger street-kids-was dancing around in front of the group. Guess it was one of those rare night for Park Row without any crime going on.

"So Charls, ya gotta stay tonight or ya have somewhere to be? It's actually quite nice to walk around now. One of those rare not blowy up nights ya know?" Roxanne said as she glanced to Charlotte, still over-looking Row. If she did decide to get going, the street-urchin wouldn't be upset about it, but it is nice for someone to talk to. And the fact that Roxanne showed Charlotte the safest routes to get out of the East without guidance.

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When Roxanne explains the timeframe for getting more money, Charlotte nods and says, "Well, maybe I'll come again soon, then. But don't worry about it - I'll get money for the rest of this stuff easy." Besides, as far as she's concerned, not only is she getting the bird whistle but a safe place to spend the night and Roxanne's company - that's easily at least as good as the nails.

Though as Roxanne explains about the whistle, the skepticism doesn't leave Charlotte's expression. Really, she suspects that the real problem is that Roxanne doesn't really 'get' the concept of '15 miles'. The coast is only a few miles away from here, so yes that may be within range of the whistle, while the bulk of the city stretches on much further in the other direction. So it may seem to be 'way far away' to Roxanne, but it isn't really. Charlotte's very keenly aware of just how big this city is, on the other hand, because she wanders far and wide all the time rather than sticking close to any one spot.

But she's not in the mood to correct her friend right now, so she lets the matter drop as she instead starts to regather her loot. Though she doesn't stash it all in her pockets like she did so many years ago - instead she uses the newspaper to wrap it all into a bundle. Mostly because all the hard metal would be uncomfortable in her pockets when she sleeps tonight, but also because of the way she'll trade it off later. And she also trusts Roxanne a lot more - she knows that her friend won't try to steal any of it overnight, unlike when they first met.

As she finishes with that, she notices where Roxanne is looking down over the streets and so joins her there when she's done. Looking down herself as her friend talks about how quiet it is tonight, Charlotte realizes it's true. "Heh, you could almost mistake this for south Gotham," she comments with a smile. Or maybe only the peacefulness - south Gotham also has prostitutes, homeless people, and such, but not nearly as many. Mostly because there's many more cops there. They say that crime in this part of the city has dropped at least somewhat since the days before Batman, but a police officer is still taking his life into his own hands if he appears in uniform in the wrong part of this borough. So while crime has to keeps its head down in most of the city, here it can hold its head high even on a 'not blowy up' night such as this.

Yet the answer to Roxanne's question is easy. "Eh, I'm staying. I was planning on it already, I'm tired, and you have the best shelter around," she says with a smile. Well, except possibly where she currently has her big stash, but that's her little secret and she doesn't want to walk that far before she sleeps.

Charlotte's never showed Roxanne her big stash before, though she's explained her system. The stuff that she carries with her always, like her pocketknife, she calls her 'little stash'. She also has her 'medium stash', which is a bag full of the things she likes to have overnight, like a snack and an extra blanket - she carries it when she's traveling from place to place, but leaves it hidden when she's going shoplifting or something. She doesn't bother bringing it to Roxanne's place because Roxanne already has those things anyway. And then there's her 'big stash', which is basically storage for everything she owns but doesn't need to have with her - extra clothes, extra food, her savings, stuff like that. That gets hidden in an extra good place where she knows she can leave it for days or weeks on end without worrying that it will be found. She only moves it around when she's found a better spot for it, and that takes several trips because a street kid who is obviously carrying an abnormally large amount of things is a sitting duck for any greedy mugger that happens to see them.