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Post by Heather Glass - VerMillion on Sept 16, 2016 19:15:22 GMT -5
If you'd told Heather that she would be doing this back before she first met Jon, she wouldn't have believed you. She was definitely not the sort of girl who would have ended up in this situation. Now, though? Somehow she's exactly the sort of girl who would end up locked up in Arkham City - not because she was caught and convicted, but because she's here voluntarily (not that they wouldn't have thrown her in here anyways) - and who is now scavenging around for supplies for the hideout she shares with one of Gotham's Rogues. And she's okay with that.
Of course, this task has gotten more and more difficult as time has gone on. Most of the people in the city have been scavenging what they can from the fenced off area, and while it's a large area there comes a point when there's not much left to scavenge. Well, at least if you want anything that other people might want - the difficulty in finding laboratory equipment is not in the fact that someone else has taken it already, it's that there just plain wasn't very much of it to begin with. But more universally desired things like food, clothing, drugs, and bits of potentially useful equipment and machinery are becoming a rarer find. Which means that the city is rapidly becoming more dangerous - when the easiest way to get what you want or need is by stealing it from someone else, then that's what you do.
But, having been in the city from the beginning, Heather's been finding herself getting really street smart really fast. So far things have been getting dangerous at a rate that she can keep up with - the fact that she's prone to run like a rabbit the second things start to look even remotely problematic has served her well. It helps that she and Jon aren't facing too many hardships - they have enough supplies that she doesn't need to decide whether to venture into somewhere really scary or starve. But she'd like to keep it that way, so she does her best to keep their supplies up.
Today she's ventured further than she usually does - the hideout is a good hike behind her now - but perhaps she can find something that isn't completely picked over in this area she hasn't explored yet. More likely than not they have been, but maybe - she's had her best luck lately by looking in places that other people are likely to overlook. Case in point, the small pawn shop the catches her eye when she walks past - she can see that there are items still on display in the window. Odds and ends - she'll have to look into it further to see if there's anything especially useful for her and Jon, but if the well-stocked shelves visible from the front are any indication, odds are that there might be a motherlode of things inside.
But there's a good reason why it's untouched - the owner of the business was some kind of a security nut. The windows are smashed in, but you still can't loot anything from the window displays - they're covered in iron bars. And so is the door, which has several locks. It looks like several people have tried to force their way inside but have failed. But maybe, just maybe, she'll be lucky? She has found that her smaller size is helpful in these situations sometimes.
After looking at the place from the front for a moment, she's quick to glance around herself and keep walking - it isn't safe for her to linger in one place for too long. Most people would decide to ignore her at first glance - she doesn't look like a threat, and she purposely travels light just to make it look like it would be a waste of time to try to see if she's carrying anything they might want - in fact she wears her backpack beneath her hoodie just to disguise the fact that she has one at all. But if she lingers long enough for someone to get a second glance, they might decide that they need a hoodie, or that their girl needs her shoes. So it's better to keep going.
But she turns into the next alleyway, slowing down and being cautious - you're more likely to run into someone truly dangerous in an alleyway instead of out in the open streets if you're not careful. But she doesn't run into any problems as she turns and heads to where she can examine the back side of the pawn shop. There's not a back door, but there's a few windows, also heavily barred. Hey, wait - is that little slot window a part of the pawn shop? She thinks it is... Probably a little bathroom window. And much too small for most people to even consider getting into, but she thinks that she might be able to just make it if she really squeezed. It's not barred - the security conscious owner probably couldn't imagine anyone making it through there, but to say that Heather is petite is putting it mildly and she's also highly motivated. She may have a real find here, and it will only last for so long - someone will be by with a ram or some sort of heavy equipment sooner or later.
Glancing both ways first, she can see that it appears to be clear, so she moves some of the alleyway's debris - an empty, forgotten trashcan to be specific - underneath the window to give herself a boost. She tries to see if she can simply force the window open, but no luck - it may not have been barred, but it is locked. That means that she has to break it - but that's not a problem a rock can't solve. But now she really has to hurry because the sound of breaking glass might attract attention. Being careful to wrap her hand in her hoodie so that she doesn't risk letting broken glass getting in contact with bare skin, she reaches inside and unlatches the window, slides it open, brushes away the loose glass, and then carefully squeezes into the opening - which is a very tight fit even for her, but she can manage it if she shifts herself through it in just the right way. And hopefully she's managed to do all this completely unnoticed by anyone.
Of course, this task has gotten more and more difficult as time has gone on. Most of the people in the city have been scavenging what they can from the fenced off area, and while it's a large area there comes a point when there's not much left to scavenge. Well, at least if you want anything that other people might want - the difficulty in finding laboratory equipment is not in the fact that someone else has taken it already, it's that there just plain wasn't very much of it to begin with. But more universally desired things like food, clothing, drugs, and bits of potentially useful equipment and machinery are becoming a rarer find. Which means that the city is rapidly becoming more dangerous - when the easiest way to get what you want or need is by stealing it from someone else, then that's what you do.
But, having been in the city from the beginning, Heather's been finding herself getting really street smart really fast. So far things have been getting dangerous at a rate that she can keep up with - the fact that she's prone to run like a rabbit the second things start to look even remotely problematic has served her well. It helps that she and Jon aren't facing too many hardships - they have enough supplies that she doesn't need to decide whether to venture into somewhere really scary or starve. But she'd like to keep it that way, so she does her best to keep their supplies up.
Today she's ventured further than she usually does - the hideout is a good hike behind her now - but perhaps she can find something that isn't completely picked over in this area she hasn't explored yet. More likely than not they have been, but maybe - she's had her best luck lately by looking in places that other people are likely to overlook. Case in point, the small pawn shop the catches her eye when she walks past - she can see that there are items still on display in the window. Odds and ends - she'll have to look into it further to see if there's anything especially useful for her and Jon, but if the well-stocked shelves visible from the front are any indication, odds are that there might be a motherlode of things inside.
But there's a good reason why it's untouched - the owner of the business was some kind of a security nut. The windows are smashed in, but you still can't loot anything from the window displays - they're covered in iron bars. And so is the door, which has several locks. It looks like several people have tried to force their way inside but have failed. But maybe, just maybe, she'll be lucky? She has found that her smaller size is helpful in these situations sometimes.
After looking at the place from the front for a moment, she's quick to glance around herself and keep walking - it isn't safe for her to linger in one place for too long. Most people would decide to ignore her at first glance - she doesn't look like a threat, and she purposely travels light just to make it look like it would be a waste of time to try to see if she's carrying anything they might want - in fact she wears her backpack beneath her hoodie just to disguise the fact that she has one at all. But if she lingers long enough for someone to get a second glance, they might decide that they need a hoodie, or that their girl needs her shoes. So it's better to keep going.
But she turns into the next alleyway, slowing down and being cautious - you're more likely to run into someone truly dangerous in an alleyway instead of out in the open streets if you're not careful. But she doesn't run into any problems as she turns and heads to where she can examine the back side of the pawn shop. There's not a back door, but there's a few windows, also heavily barred. Hey, wait - is that little slot window a part of the pawn shop? She thinks it is... Probably a little bathroom window. And much too small for most people to even consider getting into, but she thinks that she might be able to just make it if she really squeezed. It's not barred - the security conscious owner probably couldn't imagine anyone making it through there, but to say that Heather is petite is putting it mildly and she's also highly motivated. She may have a real find here, and it will only last for so long - someone will be by with a ram or some sort of heavy equipment sooner or later.
Glancing both ways first, she can see that it appears to be clear, so she moves some of the alleyway's debris - an empty, forgotten trashcan to be specific - underneath the window to give herself a boost. She tries to see if she can simply force the window open, but no luck - it may not have been barred, but it is locked. That means that she has to break it - but that's not a problem a rock can't solve. But now she really has to hurry because the sound of breaking glass might attract attention. Being careful to wrap her hand in her hoodie so that she doesn't risk letting broken glass getting in contact with bare skin, she reaches inside and unlatches the window, slides it open, brushes away the loose glass, and then carefully squeezes into the opening - which is a very tight fit even for her, but she can manage it if she shifts herself through it in just the right way. And hopefully she's managed to do all this completely unnoticed by anyone.
