How We Cope;; Flashback;; Vic/Jiyu

Once more, she woke up to the sight of a ceiling that looked as if it could come down on her any second, hear the sounds of carriages going up and down the street outside. It was the street without a name where she now lived, a place that capital crocus would rather not admit to the existence of. The entire place? Was legally abandoned, no one owned anything here, not even the city as many of the buildings were in some way damaged beyond the use of the truly desperate. She had carved out of her own area of ownership, her ability to protect it built on the fact she was the only one who could repair things around here and wouldn't charge jewel for it, making her invaluable to the other faded masses. Young as she was, not even starting to bud in body, she had already figured out how to exist on the streets in only a few short years. When someone couldn't ever go back? They had to make going forward work somehow, and luckily she had several skill sets that helped her. However, sometimes she did have to defend herself considering she was small and looked much more fragile than she really was.

In spite of never charging jewel, the young girl was doing better than even some of the older more experienced street rats. Honest work only went so far, and she had learned that within the first year of being on her own. Scavenging food from random dumpsters, quickly rendered her sick, preventing her from working, which meant more eating out of dumpsters and even more drastic illnesses. Eventually, she had broken the cycle by stealing food for a few nights in a row even though she felt almost too sick to move, allowing her to get back on her feet. Ever since then, the female would make sure she had food, even if she had to steal it. For bathing? Streams worked fine even if she had to go a good distance for a clean one, and she could find almost anywhere to sleep, she had even slept in the woods before she was a runaway, so her biggest concern was keeping fresh food in her stomach. As a side effect of how well she had been doing as of late, the odd-eyed girl had gained a small following of slightly younger kids and even a few really young ones, who wouldn't be making it otherwise. Weighted by her old morals still, the ebony haired child was more than willing to help out the less capable children occasionally, kindness still a moral in her.

A brown paper bag was clutched in her arms as she walked down the cracked street, her bare feet unbothered considering she had gone since seven entirely barefoot, she already had the callouses to survive this. Removing a banana from the bag and beginning to chow down on it, she passed something else, an item she had adverse reactions towards, to a little boy who was gripping the bottom of her dress. "Huh." large eyes turned to see the direction her companion was pointing in, noticing another child rooting through the garbage, she hadn't seen this one much as she could not remember their gender. "Ey, outa te trash." she tossed a rock at the trash can, not at the kid, just the can, the object echoing, hopefully making sure the kids attention was on her. Once more? She reached into the paper bag, which she was heading out to refill today. "Here, I can't an'way, never an get te pit outa em." with that she tossed a peach in the direction on the other kid, taking another bite of her own fruit. The long-haired girl than put a hand on the back of her head, and tried to make a cool exit. "en'up sick tha'way." of course, considering she rarely bothered to speak properly, seeming as if she didn't care may be a bit easier.

For some odd reason, Victoria found herself flashing back to the bad old days of living in a rundown district of Capital Crocus. Whoever said that the life of a street kid was glamorous was full of it. All the movies, all the TV shows, all the books... they were a pack of lies. There was no romance, no glamor, and no adventure. But there was excitement, usually the wrong kind of excitement like running from street gangs, angry police, or rich people beating up the homeless for kicks.

She lived in a rundown building in a rundown district that all but the most desperate of homeless stayed away from. It had was so structurally compromised that a stiff breeze could have easily knocked it over. Some ebony-haired girl made needed repairs so that the building was still unsafe, but at least it would stand up to the wind. Now that the "shelter" was taken care of, what about food?

That was easy. Either work for it, scavenge from garbage cans, or just steal it. Victoria tried to work for it by carrying luggage at the carriage station, but some of the people were real assholes who got a kick out of abusing poor kids by tossing Jewels into the middle of the street and watching them scramble to gather them. Others did not give a tip and insisted that serving them was a privilege. If they persevered, the carriage station would sometimes find a way to screw street kids out of their wages by citing all manner of rules violations.

After a year of that game, Victoria quit and looked for honest work elsewhere, but it was hard to come by. So she just started scavenging from garbage cans. That brought its own set of problems, such as getting sick from food poisoning or scavenging on someone's "turf" and getting into fights. Both were problems, but eating food of questionable safety beat starving to death. Victoria vividly recalled some hapless man starving to death over the course of several days during a winter storm that snowed her in... she could never forget hearing him constantly beg for food and then finally dying after a week of suffering.

It was while scavenging one day that she met someone. Victoria was digging in a garbage can looking for something that was not moldy. Before she knew it, someone had tossed her a peach. Their speech was hard to understand, but the gist of it was that she needed to get out of the trash and that could have the peach because the girl could not remove the pits from them. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Victoria went with it.

"Thanks. Thanks for the peach. Um, what's your name?" Victoria asked the dark-haired girl.

There was a slight culture of kids who came to live on the street without knowing what it entailed, due to seeing the movies or what not portraying it as an easy getaway. Most children who entered under that delusion? Rather ran back home quickly or didn't survive long enough to run home. The life entailed by living on your own so young, was rough and only the fittest survived if you didn't have something you were great at, no way were you going to make it. Jiyu happened to be good at numerous things, though she had not refined her crafts in any way yet, she was still too young to have it all together, but she was more together than most street kids her age.

Mismatched eyes looked back at the other child who decided to speak, ears that sometimes seemed almost too sensitive to be human listening intently. "Yu live ere, ight?" there was a slight scowl spread across her creamy complexion before her normal facial expression returned. How could someone who lived right around here still have no idea who she was? Of course, this was the street. "Ave lotsa names ound ere." she made the comment, momentarily leaning against a wall that she knew was safe because she had fixed it herself. What did she want this other kid calling her? Considering the child had not picked up one of her current range of names, she was free to select one this time! "call me.." the practicing future mage looked down at the stone wall she was running one finger over, scraping over the inscription she had carved into it as proof she had done the work. "Burr, fer now" the female decided that would do.

If she was going to interact with this girl in length, like if she ended up part of the gang of children who followed her around, then she'd tell her the other alias. However, Jiyu had not done well as she had by keeping everyone friends, s if someone didn't know who she was, the dark-haired woman never rushed around telling them. "Did te work ound ere." with that comment she tapped the wall and than leaned away from it, taking the little boy by the hand, leading him down the street since he had insisted on coming with her. "An es one of te kids who stick around me." from some of the things she said it was hard to tell if she was undereducated, had an accent, was just doing it on purpose, or if there some other reason for her way of speaking.

"Burr, huh?" Victoria asked as she looked at the girl and the small child following her.

"Yeah, I live around here. Whenever someone's not trying to take my space, that is." Victoria answered. When it was available, she tended to live in a corner of the top floor of a rundown apartment complex that Burr sometimes visited. When it was not available, she took shelter wherever she could avoid stepping on someone's toes, literally or metaphorically. The brunette had to live behind a brothel one time. It was not a pleasant experience; it made her determined not to enter the sex trade if she could help it.

Victoria took a bite of the peach. As a fresh foodstuff that did not come from a garbage can, it was of great value on the streets. She could not remember the last time she had fruit of any kind that was not in danger of rotting. Oh well. Such was the life of a street kid.

Victoria looked to find Burr leaving the area with a small child in tow. Victoria hustled to keep up. She did not want to be alone out here if she could help it. Strength in numbers was the rule. If gangs and police lived by it, so could the homeless.

"Hey Burr, mind if I tag along?" Victoria asked her.

The other girl was likely already very aware of the fact Burr could not possibly be her real name. What did the truth matter anyways?

"Yu ought stop etting em do tat." because make no mistake, no matter how weak someone was, there was some way they could stand their ground anyways. At least? Jiyu would like to believe that because it was whimsical and even if she was looked up to by several other kids, she was only a child herself. Even if she had run off, she still held onto some scrap of a dream someone she knew would find her, bring her home to a changed family, somewhere she could stay. In spite of how well she did, the truth of the matter was that Jiyu happened to be more innocent than Vic, unaware brothels were even things.

Hearing footsteps behind her, another pair besides for the boys, the girl figured that Victoria was likely following her. This would not be the first time a scrap of kindness caused another child to tail right after her as if they were literally a tail for her. What would she do if she ever had a tail? That would be funny, but only nonhumans had literal tails. "As yu please." the girl shrugged slightly handing the young boy her bag and pointing him towards Victoria. "ut yu elp him ith bag." the boy was clearly too small to carry it for long on his own. "Is ime to hunt dinner." and she did mean hunt, there was a nice place shortly outside of the capital that rabbits ran free, so long as she only took one every few weeks, no one noticed any were missing. Plus, she could fish, so the kids with her tended to eat well, meat was beyond scarce on the streets, it never stayed long before it became able to make one sick.

"You're right, Burr. I need to stand up for myself. But I'd say a dude with a two-foot height advantage and wielding a crowbar is a very convincing reason to move." Victoria stated to Burr. It was true that she needed to stand up for herself. But how could she fight back when most of her opponents were burly teenagers and adult men? Getting an equalizer. That was how.

"I need to find something that can level the playing field in a fight. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears." Victoria said to Burr. Suddenly the small boy reached towards her with a bag. Burr's words meant that she was to take it from him since he was too small to carry it for very long.

"OK, little guy. I'll take that bag." Victoria told the small boy as she accepted the bag from him and placed it onto her own shoulders. She could carry the weight. She was used to shouldering burdens... she had done so since the age of six, when she first found herself on the streets of Capital Crocus. The first days of street life were full of peril. She ran afoul of a gang of teenagers armed with lengths of chain while scavenging behind a restaurant and only escaped by running for her life through the back alleys until her pursuers grew tired and gave up the chase.

She was surprised when Burr announced that they were going hunting for rabbits. It was a risky activity. If they succeeded, they would have meat for tonight. If they failed, they would be out all the time and energy invested in the activity. If they were caught in the act, the full force of the law would come down on them. Still, the brunette went along with it... she wanted something more substantial to eat than fruit and she was willing to help Burr get it.

"OK, I'm in. Where do you wanna go?" Victoria asked Burr as the trio kept walking. This would be the brunette's first hunting trip. She had better not mess this up.

Hunting was nostalgic for her, every single step towards what she knew would be a hunt was misery, pain shot right through her like a gunshot. So many fond memories in her head? Had to do with hunting alongside someone else, or otherwise encountering a dead animal, well except for her fond memories with Astrid, unless there was an accident she was forgetting right now. Jiyu tried to forget all of it best she could so that the unbearable pain would ease up even just briefly, let her breathe once more. When she was actively hunting something, nothing else in the world existed, she could forget all of it because she had to focus so much on the life she was planning to end. Give and take, heading to the hunt was misery, but once she was hunting and the walk back was peaceful compared to most days. Suppose there was no way to avoid that, perfection nor happy stories existed for those living on the street. Jiyu didn't believe that at all, she was happy enough.

Two feet and a crow bar was all? "te field is ore even tan yu think." the female was walking along, keeping her eye on the environment as they moved through the city. "Yu w'll see." the older girl laughed, skipping forward with quick toe tipped steps, for some reason she never seemed to put her whole foot on the ground, almost as if it was impossible for her. Given she lived on the street? It was very possible that 'burr' had gotten into an accident that made it impossible or too painful to set her whole foot on the ground. The truth? Not even Jiyu herself knew, yet.

"ust follow, he knows" she didn't need to explain everything to someone who had just now joined up with them, especially not the details of why they could afford to hunt. The best-kept secret that Jiyu held onto around here? Was how good her senses were, allowing her to not only hunt better than the adults but also seem to know what was going to happen ahead of time at points, people never could keep their mouths shut. If Victoria really wanted to be involved, she would stay around and eventually figure out the truth of how the older child seemed to stay so far ahead.

When they got to the outskirts of town, the boy would grab the short haired girls shirt lightly. "If anyone who can do anything about Burr hunting comes by, we play lost children to give her time to get away, then slip away while they try to help us." he explained in a small voice, leaning back a bit with a small smile. It explained why she didn't just go alone, normally extra people would be a risk, but in this case, it could be the difference between getting away with the prize or in jail.

Victoria listened to Burr and the small boy who was traveling with them. They had a plan on how to hunt and get away without being caught. Victoria would do well to follow this plan. While she waited for the details to be revealed, she listened quietly.

She had spent so much time in the city that she did not really know what nature sounded like. Birds were chirping and grass was rustling in the wind. It was nature that was almost pristine. The trappings of modernity had not yet overtaken this area.

No horse-drawn carriages. No televisions or neon lights or radios. No telephones... well, except for ILacs, but those were only for people who could afford to get one. Besides, who was Victoria going to call even if she could get one? No one... that was who.

"I get the idea now. That's a good plan... um, what's your name?" Victoria asked the small boy. It had occurred to her that she had forgotten to ask for his name. Did he even have one? She would find out shortly.

Victoria wanted to know what the equalizer that could let her stand up to armed adults was, but she kept quiet and let Burr do her thing. Victoria would keep quiet. None of the trio could hear the rabbits if there was constant talking.

The plan had worked numerous times before, and Jiyu was careful to never bring the same little ones with her several days in a row. Alternating which of the lost kids of the city went with her? Ensured that adults and authority figures would never figure out what was really going on, at least until she was ready to go further out and try for deer which there was a hunting area near the city for. Of course, this was assuming she could dodge trouble long enough to get big, little did Jiyu know she was going to stay small forever, except for parts of her body maturing and such she was pretty much grown as she was ever going to be. Sadly, the little street rat had reached her full height young, not that she knew this yet, but she would be very salty over that fact when she figured it out. It was just impossible in her future conditions, to grow any taller.

"Don't remember, Burr calls me Nugget." he was tiny and had very rounded features with dirty brown hair, deep brown eyes, so the name wasn't too odd. Young as the boy was, it was remotely possible he had been abandoned before he was even old enough to realize it happened, left in the gutters to die but got a lucky streak when the older girl happened upon him sometime after he had been left. "Since I'm so small, I live in the next door apartment, a door goes between them so she likes the smallest of us there makes us easier to protect." Because small children were often targets for robbery and such across the streets if someone knew that child was also on the streets, it seemed that Burr had been doing more than feeding other kids. Since she had the senses to allow her to fight better than her fellow children? Jiyu had also taken to protecting them, but so far she had kept her magic a secret, out of habit, the fact she could perform magic was her trump card! Most of the people they dealt with, rather had no use of combat oriented magic or didn't expect someone so young on the streets to be averagely skilled with an incredibly dangerous elemental magic.

Mismatched optics looked back at the other's, nodding as she dropped low to the ground as if she was looking for tracks but the truth was that she was scenting for them. "Ust make sure yu an deceive em, run if not." there was no reason the other kids needed to risk getting caught, they didn't have the trump cards she did, and she had more motive than most, the other kids could be put into the system but she would be sent home if she was caught, the only way she would ever go back was in a coffin.

"It's nice to meet you, Nugget." Victoria said to him. She listened to where he lived and why he lived there. It was sad that he was even having to be protected from other people. However, she knew from firsthand experience that the streets could chew people up and spit them back out. Not even children were spared from the worst of human behavior; Victoria had heard plenty of stories of children being attacked and robbed, sold into slavery, or even killed.

With little activity on the part of police except to contain the crime in the "bad" parts of town, crime was a part of everyday life. Theft, robbery, and assault were everyday occurrences. There was even a murder from time to time. The public's response to it?

"Let the animals kill each other!" Was how one well-dressed "gentleman" in a white three-piece suit with matching shoes and top hat put it when asked about his views in a cafe by his wife.

Faced with a hostile outside world and faced with danger from within, the street kids of Capital Crocus did not have many ways out. Honest work was hard to come by and even harder to keep. Many turned to theft and other less savory acts to live another day; Victoria herself had stolen food on more than one occasion just to stay alive. Others joined gangs in an attempt to at least grab a few crumbs of the neighborhood pie for themselves before violence, disease, or hunger claimed their lives.

Victoria's reminiscing was interrupted by Burr's advice to make sure that she sold the deception if caught by authorities. If she could not sell the deception, she was to run like her life depended on it. The brunette did not need reminding.

"Believe me, Burr. I'll run for it if I have to. I have a feeling that I'll won't survive if I'm caught." Victoria said frankly. She hoped that it would not come to that. She hoped that they could snag a rabbit and make a clean getaway. Victoria would do anything to make sure that happened.

The little boy smiled at the older girl, brushing off a little bit of dirt from his shorts as he smiled, a rather nice grin for a street kid who knew how rough his life was. Nugget knew that there was far worse he could be exposed for if it was not for the near teenager who had taken him in. Thus, the young boy counted himself lucky that he had found someone that had somehow not been completely corrupted by how harsh life was out here, someone willing to help and protect others.

It was nearly an hour in that expansive area right outside of the town, with numerous people passing by on the street and paying no mind to the children, much less to the elder girl in the wooded area. A loud squeal could be heard briefly, causing many people to jump and glance around. "Must be one of the wild dogs again." oh it was a dog of some kind, the sort that was not ever going to go down easily as others believed she would. The 'dog' was Burr making the kill of a rabbit she had been hunting for the last hour, carefully chasing it into an area where any evidence left would be blamed on a canine. Most of the wild dog attacks? Were actually the young girl, with careful steps the footprints she left in the dirt looked much like a very large dog, and with a little bit of effort to scratch tree's and leave a half-eaten corpse for some reason people were entirely convinced her bite was that of a dog, thus they blamed it on a dog.

"'ll lear?" she made the comment from the brush, concealing the rabbit behind her, to ensure no one who happened to pass by could catch a view of it.

"Still here." Victoria whispered to Burr. She did not want to draw too much attention to the trio's illicit operation. People who could care less about street kids suddenly cared a lot when their property was threatened by street kids. Authorities would come down on the trio like the wrath of an angry deity if they were caught taking a rabbit that was deemed more valuable than they were. However, Burr had taken that into account and was doing her best to ensure they did not get caught.

The brunette watched and waited quietly for Burr. She was not going to make any more noise than she had to. That was why she kept her communication to short, clipped sentences. Shorter sentences were harder for eavesdroppers to understand than lengthy, detailed ones. Victoria was counting on that fact to stay alive.

"What next?" Victoria whispered a question to the trio's leader. Things would be risky from here on out. Everyone would have to be focused on the task at hand, which was sneaking the prize out of the park without being detected. Burr had a plan for that too. At least Victoria hoped she did.

Looking almost the exact same as when she had gone into the wooded area, Jiyu came out holding the rabbit as if it was some pet she was playing with. The only sign of her murder? Was a small bit of blood smeared on the front of her dress, which was just as easily mistakable for her own blood considering how day to day life was, nothing anyone would grow suspicious about. Since the coast was all clear, she picked the rabbit up by its ears and dropped it into the bag. If Victoria glanced down, she would find that this action was only wise because the older girl had stuffed the kill wound with numerous absorbent plants, preventing any blood from leaking and the kill itself had been very clean.

Of course?

If Victoria looked that close and had seen other wounds or bodies in her life? She could also easily tell that there had been no knife involved, the other girl had straight up bitten through the jugular like a wild animal.

Long hair waivered behind the tween as she walked for the entrance back into the city as if she hadn't just killed a rabbit and shoved it into a bag her companion was carrying. "'ow we go round, ew ore stops." after a few stops she had in mind, they would go home for a good dinner, cooked by her own hand.

Victoria walked briskly to keep up with Burr and Nugget followed close behind. Running would only draw unwanted attention to the trio at a time when they needed to minimize attention of any sort. That need for secrecy was emphasized when the surprisingly clean dead rabbit was dropped into the bag she was holding. Victoria quickly shut the bag, made certain that it was closed, and placed it on her shoulders.

Burr must have been prepared for this hunt long before she recruited Victoria and Nugget. The older girl must have also thought of ways to hide the evidence of the rabbit kill. Having that kind of foresight was not a bad thing. Being prepared did a lot to extend one's lifespan on the streets.

"OK." Victoria quickly said to Burr. Now they would have to play it cool and not act suspiciously. The best way to do that was to walk with purpose and act naturally. Looking around constantly would attract police attention and a whole lot of trouble. She had to trust in Burr and do her part to help the plan succeed.

Living on the streets was much like existing in the forest back home with the other predators lurking within it. More than once? She had needed to defend her sleeping place in the woods from something like a wolf or small mountain lion. Jiyu had found quickly that if she abided by rules similar to what wild animals did, in most cases she was just fine on the streets, actually better than she had been at home. Of course, why else would someone with a family be uncountable miles from it out on the streets? If things had been perfect there wouldn't have been a reason to run away in the first place.

They went through the town, stopping several places for Burr to talk to several people, though most locations she had the other two wait in an alley nearby. If she was always seen with an entourage? It would make things more difficult for the goals she was trying to accomplish. Each time she returned to the pair following her around, she seemed to have something else to put in the bag, most times some item of food. Later on? She would reveal to them how she got this stuff, but for now, it was best kept as her secret.

"Ime to ead ome." finally after one more stop, she announced that it was time for them to go home for the day. Across town they went, back to the street area, to a side alley where she started climbing the metal fire escape, helping nugget up considering he was still a bit short to do it on his own with the expectation of in dire circumstances. "You'll like the other's." at one point while Burr was hoisting him up onto the next platform before following herself, the little boy made the comment with a smile down at Victoria.

Upon their entrance into the building, the level of skill Burr possessed with her hands was beyond crystal clear. While the outside still looked much like trash by her own preference? The interior of the halls while not attractive was not in disrepair, the doors seemed to lock as well. "Et te others." she patted the boys head and he went running off down the hall, knocking on several doors, Burr taking Victoria's hand and leading her down to the largest of the rooms on the floor, opening the door. The inside of this room? Was sparse, a single backpack thrown against a wall seemingly forgotten, an old leather book lay next to it, and the open flap showed how little existed within it. "Tis is my room" the tween explained things, motioning next to the kitchen she had managed to get working. "Bag tere, tan et te table wit te others." shortly after that comment, Nugget came running back in and it wouldn't be long before the other few kids living on the floor would make their way over. There was no hoard, but it also was fairly impressive that such a diverse range of children chose to stay with her, even if there were not many of them.

Victoria followed Burr until they were safely at home... or what passed for home. It looked like it had seen better days, but it was a roof over one's head. That was good enough for Victoria.

She quickly climbed the fire escape with bag in tow and was led by the hand into the kitchen. The halls were fixed up enough that a structural collapse was not imminent. What was more amazing was that there was a working kitchen. That was a valuable resource for homeless kids worth its weight in Jewels.

Victoria put down the bag where told to and took a place at the table with the other kids. There were quite a few of them present. So Burr and Nugget were not the only occupants of the structure.