Alleyway - Clinton - Manhattan

         Heavily littered with newspapers, knocked over garbage cans and other unidentifiable pieces of refuse, this alleyway cuts a narrow pathway between two of the older buildings in the neighborhood. It is dimly lit because of the close proximity of the two buildings and comes to an abrupt end at a brick wall. A couple of doorways dot the crumbling brick walls but otherwise, there is little sign of life down here with the exception of the occasional rat scurries across from one pile of garbage to another.

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A man wanders down the alley, looking up, rather than down at the path ahead of him. Fox is looking for signs of shadowy figures hanging out on the fire escapes...Perhaps an odd thing to do if it weren't for the happenings earlier in the week. Fox stops and leans against a wall, rubbing his eyes a bit. This was the second night in a row he'd been searching for the two individuals that he had met two nights ago. He'd had no luck in China Town last night and had decided to try a different location tonight. He sighs and rubs the back of his head. Fox had assumed that Marrow at least would only come out at night, and he never learned the girl's name. Figuring that night would be the best time to find them, he'd spent the day at the library, looking up newspaper articles on mutant activity in the city.

Well, his luck seems to be turning tonight, for there's the sound of running feet and then Grey suddenly ducks up into the alley. She doesn't notice the man right away, she's too busy peeking back out of the mouth of the alleyway to look behind her. But if something or someone has been giving chase, she doesn't seem to see them there, and she ducks back into the alley, leaning back against the wall and breathing heavily. But despite the fleeing, she seems to be pumped with adrenaline and in good spirits, rather than panicked or upset.

Fox cocks his head, hearing the approaching of footsteps. He looks over to see Grey duck into the alleyway and chuckles softly to himself. He knew, or at least hoped, that if he hung around one of these spots long enough he'd find one of the two. Noting that the girl seemed to have been running from someone, Fox makes his way over to her quietly. He stops a few feet away and whispers. "Pssst...Oy, You in trouble there, girly?"

Grey jumps at the sound of Fox's voice, having previously assumed herself to be alone in the alley. She whirls around, eyes wide, but relaxes a moment later as she recognizes the man. "Nah, man, it's cool," she assures him, putting one hand over her heart to try and slow it. The other arm seems oddly encumbered by a large and seemingly heavy object tucked up inside her sleeve. "The hell are you doing here anyway?" she asks as she takes one last look out into the street and then saunters a little further into the alley itself.

Fox turns to follow the girl. "Actually, I've been a lookin' fer you an' that boney lass." He stops, ignoring for now the suspicion that the girl was up to no good a few moments ago. "By the by, I never caught yer name, sweetheart." He kicks idly at a bit of refuse at his feet, remembering with a slight frown that she'd seemed to him mildly disenthused to discover that he was a mutant.

"That's 'cause I didn't give it," Grey points out, before shrugging and offering up, "But it's Grey." Still a little hopped up on the adrenaline rush, she paces the alley, crossing her arms over that burden still hidden away up her sleeve. "So why you looking for us, anyway? Whatever it is, I didn't do it. So if you're missing anything or whatever, the boney chick took it, and you're gonna have to take it up with her. Good luck." Her tone implies she thinks that would pretty much be the end of Fox.

Fox nods. "Grey, huh? Grey..." He says it again so it will stick in his mind. "Why was I lookin' fer ya?" He frowns again. Why was he looking for them? He was lonely, he guessed. Alone in a new city. Grey and Marrow were the only two he'd revealed his powers to. He didn't have to hide around them. But...He wasn't about to admit that to a teenager. "Well..." He replies after a pause, "I suppose I..."He can't think of anything. "Um...Well I'm not missin' anythin', but that Marrow didn't seem too bad to me. I'm sure I'd have no need to scrap with her."

Grey gives him a skeptical look as Fox searches around for reason, and it lingers when he utterly fails to come up with one. But seeing as he's not sought her out to accuse her of stealing something, she opts to let it go with a shrug. "Nah, I guess she's okay. But if she takes something of yours, I'm gonna say it's good and gone. The coast still clear?" she asks, nodding towards the mouth of the alley, which her pacing has taken her away from. Without waiting for an answer, the girl plops herself down on an overturned crate and pulls the contraband item from her sleeve. It's a very large and very expensive-looking bottle of whiskey, which she sets carefully on the ground.

Fox raises an eyebrow at the girl as she pulls out the whiskey, but he turns away. "Not that you'd have to worry with me 'round, but let me have a Captain Cook, anyway." He looks out the alleyway into the street. There are a few people out there, but no one that appears to be hunting down a teenager. He turns back to the girl. "I think yer safe. But um, I think ye may be a bit young to be havin' any o' that turp, there." He doesn't make to take the bottle, he's just voicing his observation. "Where are your oldies? Ya got a mam an' pop?"

"Have a /what/?" Grey asks, apparently just to be difficult since she can figure out what he means from context if nothing else. When he gives the all-clear, she nods and settles back on the crate, leaning back against the bricks behind her. Of course, his concern just earns a roll of her eyes. "Well, I wasn't hatched, was I," she answers in a dark tone, as to her parents, opting to take the literal route on that front. "And I'm /not/ too young, but this isn't for me. I got a guy who'll give me twenty-five bucks for it," she states proudly, even though its market value is clearly quite a bit higher than that.

Fox frowns a bit. "Naw, thought perhaps ye blossomed from a flower." He shakes his head. The way she avoided his question he figures she's an orphan or runaway. "An' I think perhaps ye ARE a bit young, me dear. I happen to be an expert when it comes to grog." He looks down at the bottle. "An' that," He points "is definitely worth more than twenty five buckaroos, miss." He pulls out his wallet. "Tell ye what." He ferrets through the contents of his wallet. "I'll take it off yer hands fer sixty." Not that he really wants the bottle, he just wants to help in some way. He holds out three twenties to Grey.

"Dude," Grey says in disbelief as he offers her more than twice the asking price. Apparently it's an affirmative though, for she doesn't waste any time in leaping up from her perch, snatching at the bills as she shoves the bottle towards him. "For an extra thirty-five bucks, you can lecture me all you want." Of course, that's not to say she's actually going to listen to what he's going to say, not when she has money to count and squirrel away. "If you think you want more, let me know. I can totally hook you up," she offers with a solemn nod.

Fox smirks down at the bottle before bending down to sit it next to his boot. "Oh I've got plenty of the stuff meself, but I wouldn't turn down such a bargain. This stuff costs big bickies" He motions to the bottle with his foot. He walks a few feet and half sits - half leans on a garbage can nearby, watching the girl count her money. He wonders if she has someplace to stay, or when the last time she ate was. He realizes he probably looks creepy and decides to start up a conversation. "So um..." He looks around. "I went to the library today...Read up some stuff on this city and such."

"Fine, if you decide you want another bargain then," Grey replies indifferently. "And you don't even have to feel bad about ripping off a kid, 'cause I get a discount." Of the five fingered kind, is clearly the implication there. He gets a brief look as he watches her, but the cash seems to have put her into as agreeable a mood as she's ever capable of, so she lets it pass without comment, looking back down at her money and counting it one more time (since three twenties only really take so long to count) before folding it in half and carefully tucking it away in a pocket. "Uh huh," she replies to his library talk as she works. "So, uh, learn anything interesting or useful? Like how to not get lost so much?"

Fox ignores her response that she gets a discount, but smirks when she mentions his getting lost. "Ye know, Id like to put you in the middle of a new city an see how you do." He chuckles. "An no, I didn't look up stuff like that. I was...er...researching I guess." He rubs his chin a bit. "Ye know, where I'm from ain't within a cooee o this place. Never really heard much o the bigger news events in Oz." He looks at her. "I read about this girl today. Name was...Daniels. Something Daniels. Ever heard of her?" Why is he asking her this? He has no reason to suspect that she would be interested in such matters. He supposes he just wants to keep the conversation going.

"Sure, I'm game," Grey agrees with a shrug, as he jokes about dumping her in the middle of a new city. "At least it'd be an adventure, right? And I bet I'd do better than you do about getting lost," she adds challengingly. Some of his slang gets a skeptical eyebrow from the girl, but she manages to decipher the gist at least. "What, that crappy mutant singer?" The reference comes to her awfully quickly, considering her dismissive tone. "Her music sucked." And then she shrugs, her tone relenting just a little: "But, I mean, it was shitty what happened to her."

Fox nods. He figures since the girl was killed in the city, the locals would all know about it, and the fact that Grey so instantly recognizes who he is talking about doesn't raise any flags. He figures that it's safe to have such a conversation with Grey, since she seems to be friends with Marrow, who is obviously a mutant. "Well, I never really listened to her music. Probably not my type o' songs. But um...Yeah. The cops here just kill mutes if things go awry?" There were many websites explaining the incident. A few had made it out to look like a hate crime.

Grey sits back down on her crate again, picking up a small piece of brick that had broken off the wall at some point, and turning it over between her fingers. "Nah," she replies, studying the detritus thoughtfully. "Well, I mean, it's complicated," she amends after a moment. "Most of the cops, I think they don't know what to think, y'know? Mostly they just hassle you. Some more than others." She glances up, rolling her eyes and clearly thinking of some officers in particular. She chucks the pebble against the far wall in a gesture similar to skipping a stone across the water. "I guess if you're smart, you keep your head down and your nose clean and all that bullshit. I wouldn't really know. I'm not that sorta smart."

Fox nods, mulling this over for a few moments as he watches the stone skip away into the darkness. There were several accounts of what had happened. Perhaps the death was accidental, as some of the sites had indicated. "I see." He looks over at her. "An' you've had run-ins with the coppers have ye?" He assumes from her tone. "But you seem to have done well for yerself so far." He shakes his head. "Not that they'd shoot an electric-net at you fer takin' a bottle o' grog."

"Please. I can handle the fuckin' cops," Grey replies disdainfully, peering at him from out behind those manky locks. "I'm not as stupid or helpless as everyone seems to think I am. I can take care of myself." She sits up a little straighter for a moment, before slumping back against the wall again. "You planning on having run ins with the cops?" she asks, her tone actually free from any judgement that he might be, but just merely curious, perhaps even intrigued as to what he has planned.

Fox wonders about her confidence, hoping she doesn't think she's invulnerable. "You know, the cops won't let you go forever." He suspects that perhaps if she's being bothered by the police, they don't pursue her as strongly because of her age. "And I don't know about myself." He shakes his head. "I don't plan on going out and lookin' fer trouble, ya know?" He turns and looks out the alley toward the street. "It just depends on the situation I guess." He looks back to Grey. "Not that I couldn't handle a few cops on my own...given the right circumstances." He smirks a bit.

Grey gives her eyes a half-hearted roll as he warns her about the cops, this advice glancing off her shield of obtuseness as readily as the rest. The smirking comment though gets a grin of approval. "That's the spirit," she urges with a nod. "Fuck 'em, right? If they mess with you, you do what you gotta do." She studies him a moment before digging up another little pebble to toss, skipping it down the length of alley this time. "So if you don't go looking for trouble, does it tend to find you?"

Fox watches as the second stone skips off into the darkness. He frowns a bit. "I suppose it does, yeah." He decides not to go into his family past. "Well, Im a known mutie back home. Accidentally outed myself in the RAIC." He looks over at her. "Er, that's the Aussie Infantry." He figures she probably wouldn't know that. "Decided to leave home, came here. Heard there were others like me round these parts. Jus' rumors, but apparently true."

Grey looks back at him, just about to ask about those initials when he explains it himself. "Oh. Guess they didn't go in for the whole don't ask, don't tell thing, huh?" She gazes off down the alley again in the direction her last stone had gone. "There's lots of rumors about lots of things these days. But yeah, some of 'em might be true. You keep your eyes open and you might be surprised." Her head swivels back to regard him searchingly. "And what do you plan on doing when you find these others?"

Fox shakes his head. "Actually, they were more than happy to let me stay. Take part in some research project. I wasn't too keen on that, so I left. When they wouldn't leave me alone, I came here." He tilts his head a bit, thinking about what he actually had planned to do once he'd found others like himself. He hadn't really thought about it until now. "Well...I ain't sure yet. I guess I was just tired of hiding away, you know?" He looks over at Grey. "I think Marrow's the first mute I've met 'sides meself." He shifts his weight a bit. "It's only natural to seek out yer own kind. Roos don't bed with dingos, ya know?"

"You want to /bed/ her?" Grey asks incredulously, an expression of open distaste clear on her features. "How would that even- Yeah, I don't wanna know," she cuts herself off, waving a hand abruptly. She muses on the rest for a moment before getting to her feet. "Look man, maybe I ... kinda get where you're coming from, about the hiding. But as for the whole finding your own kind thing, I dunno, I guess I've never fit in with anybody. It's cool though. I'm better on my own." Speaking of, she seems to be edging towards the mouth of the alley. "I gotta jet, but, uh, hang in there or something. Fuck if I know."

Fox shakes his head. "Bed with Marrow? Naw. Sheilas ain't my type...It's a figure o' speach." He watches her pass. "Well uh...Thanks fer chatting I guess. Take care, ya hear?"

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