» what do you do with the left over you?

[timewreck]

Who: Kiden and YOU. This is an open log for any and everybody.
What: Teens with idle hands are the devil's playthings.
Where: All around Baedal
Warnings:Kiden's mouth.

For someone who is young both in body and mind, it shouldn't be this hard for Kiden to find something to do with herself these days. But with a lack of Laura by her side and her new found partner-in-crime Tommy probably causing mayhem without her, Kiden's left to stroll up and down the city blocks looking for trouble to get into. Let her tell it, trouble just follows her, but it doesn't help that she invites it closer to her with open arms.

She could get a job. Granted, she could use the pocket change, but really... last time she had a job she did it because she had rent to chip in for. Here in Baedal, she just freeloads off Remy and Wanda for the moment. They keep offering her food and a place to stay; she isn't ready to tell them no.

[ooc: Feel free to jump in on any of the two already posted threads or make up your own!]

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» in and around chimer

[timewreck]

The last time Kiden was in this area, she was digging through the trash for something to eat, only to find Laura and a place to stay. This time, she's back not quite for the dumpster (though that is always on her itinerary), but she's dipping in and out of the little shops entering empty-handed and leaving the same way.

Or so it seems. In the pockets of her coat, the blue one a size too big for her with the extra long sleeves, there's a growing stash of stolen candy, cigarettes, and small snack cakes. There's also a magazine slipped in between her coat and t-shirt that suspiciously looks like a normal teen mag, but the band names on the cover are ones Kiden's never heard of. (Durian Suicide Pact? Really?)

But hey, it's a book and she's reading. Leave her alone.

» in and around mog hill

[timewreck]

Now on the other side of town, Kiden's dipping into a long alleyway that's lined on both sides by giant dumpsters. She's pretty much hit the jackpot here behind a bakery, a card shop, and a pet shop that sells both normal animals and animals that look like they caught the wrong end of a toxic waste spill. She walks all the way to the end and carefully and slowly climbs into the large bin stationed at the end, closest to the bakery. For the first time in a long time, she isn't looking for food this time around, but experience has told her that people tend to toss good shit without paying attention. Hopefully today might be a wallet or two.

[requiresssacrifice]

Rex checks his watch as he exits the bakery, chewing on a fresh cinnamon-raisin bagel with the sort of urgency that suggests he's only got minutes before his lunch break is over. He takes a chug of his half-finished coffee-- lukewarm now-- and ducks into the alleyway behind the shop. It's easier than trying to get through the rush of people on the street, and provides a more direct route back to the Glory Shada, where he's about to go finish up the last four hours of his shift. Rex takes another bite of his bagel, tossing the coffee into a nearby dumpster as he passes. If he'd known there was a person inside, he probably would've thought twice about throwing away a cup that still had liquid in it.

[timewreck]

Kiden's deep into the second or third level of the trash that's mostly paper and a few empty bottles (they recycle in Baedal? Who knew?) when the coffee cup seemingly falls right out of the sky and onto her back, splashing the leftover drink on her coat.

"What the fu-" is her first reaction to the impact on her body and then she stands up to twist and look at the brown spot spreading and soaking into the fabric. Kiden turns around to look for the offender and finds him walking away without a care in the world. Like she'll let him. "Hey asshole! What the fuck was that for?"

[cerebral]

Apparantly this way gets its fair share of traffic from staff members of the Glory Shada and Charles is no exception. Despite the best efforts of the cafeteria staff and nurse's station, he likes to pop by Queequegs on his lunch break when he has the opportunity.

(There had been some initial identity confusion with his alternate, but afterwards he liked to go back and sift through the minds of the people working there to see how Raven had been while she was here. He misses her.)

He wasn't expecting to detect the mind of another mutant on his way, never mind such a comparatively young mind, and it makes him stop at the entrance of the alleyway with a slight frown on his face. It's doubtful that Kiden remembers him, but she might hear a very proper English voice calling out, "Hello?"

[requiresssacrifice]

Startled, Rex stops in his tracks, mid-chew. He's not exactly used to people shouting at him out in public, so it takes him a moment to process. Furrowing his brow, he swallows. "What? What was what for?"

[timewreck]

The voice calling out to her bypasses her attention. It's still the afternoon and there's still people milling about on their lunch breaks especially in this foodie section of Mog Hill so for Kiden to hear people talking is expected. She hears the greeting but ignores it to search down further in the trash because that doubt is certainly correct. Kiden doesn't remember Chuck; he hasn't made that big of an impression on this teen yet.

[timewreck]

"You threw your shit at me!" He better get used to it because as long as Kiden's in town, shouting at people is her main goal in life. "Now my coat's wet and dirty."

She doesn't even care that she's standing in the middle of a dumpster; this is her only coat and doing laundry is not something she enjoys.

[cerebral]

Which is understandable, because it was one brief network conversation. Still, the non-reply doesn't deter him from finding out what's going on (deal with it, tinies) and he politely knocks on the dumpster.

"Are you all right in there? Have you lost something?"

[timewreck]

It's the knock that makes Kiden freeze in mid-movement, hand clutching a wad of old, yellowed newspaper. Charles can't see the furrow of her brow and the roll of her eyes, but he can probably sense her annoyance at being interrupted. Always somebody asking her questions about what she's doing. What next? He's going to tell her about the negative effect of picking things out of the trash?

She straightens up to look over the edge of the dumpster, just enough that only her head is out, narrowing her eyes at the man she doesn't recognize by face. "What's it to you?" Ah, there we go. Her true inability to speak without an attitude shines through. Even Charles's not safe from it.

[cerebral]

"Nothing," is his immediate reply. He picks up on the hostility in her forethoughts immediately and figures that saying something neutral is maybe his best bet at diffusing the situation. He also takes a step back from the dumpster, because he is perfectly aware that young women don't like being approached by strange men, even if they do have mutant abilities.

He does remember her, though. "You're the girl from the network. The one who knew I was Charles Xavier. I don't mean to interrupt or anything," he says, holding his hands up in a sort of surrender. This is a perfectly normal meeting, yes.

[timewreck]

Her eyes remain in slits, but the hostility fades away mostly because at least he introduced himself and Kiden can't fault him for that. Plus, this is supposed to be the guy who comes and saves all mutantkind (not really.) Considering the short time she's been a mutant and all the bullshit she's been through so far, Kiden can't afford to burn a bridge that hasn't been built yet.

"Yeah," she replies, seemingly unimpressed as she lets go of the paper and watches it flutter down back onto the pile she took it from. "I know who you are." But she still isn't feeling like explaining herself.

[controlledvariable]

Okay, so maybe it was a bit early to be checking out what the dumpster diving situation is like in Baedel, but Steph's had the 'be prepared' thing drilled into her and she'd wanted to go to the bakery anyway. She gets a coffee and a couple of rolls, before heading around the back to investigate. Bakeries had always been good spots for dumpster diving, 'cause they have to have fresh goods every day and a lot gets thrown out as a result.

Once at the dumpsters, she hears something moving in one of them and goes to it, walking fairly heavily so if it's a person they'd know she was coming. Peeking over the edge, she smiles when she sees Kiden, "Hey."

[timewreck]

It's never too early to have a backup plan in a strange place or any place for that matter. Far too many times Kiden has failed to plan ahead, only to beat herself up at the lack of hindsight. At the sound of heavy feet hitting the pavement, Kiden stops moving, halfway ready to curse whoever is coming to bug her. Color her surprised when a young blonde haired woman pops over the edge and greets her as if they're old friends. Kiden doesn't know this chick from anywhere, here or back home.

"Hey," Kiden replies, a little confused but not quite showing it. If this girl thinks Kiden is going to stop what she's doing just because she said so, she has a fight coming.

[controlledvariable]

"Sorry," the smile turns a little apologetic, "I was just checking out what the dumpsters are like in the city. If this is your area, I won't take anything from here."

Kids in Gotham tend to get pretty territorial, and Steph's gotten into a few fights before so if Kiden tells her to back off, she will.

[timewreck]

"It's not mine."

Kiden shrugs at the mere thought that anything in this alley, or city, belongs to her. Even when she ran around with the crusties back in the day, while they were territorial, she was less so, willing to share with those who didn't scrape up enough to fill their bellies. They had to look out for each other because nobody else would. To this day, Kiden's still living by that principle, but Steph doesn't look hard up or in need of whatever's to be found in the garbage, so Kiden's still left wondering what Steph really wants.

"There's nothing in here." That's partially a lie. Kiden hasn't found anything worthwhile so far, but there's still so much more paper to dig through.

[controlledvariable]

"Good to know. bakeries were always my second favorite, after diners."

She rests an arm on the edge of the dumpster and takes a sip of her coffee. She's not really after anything in particular from Kiden, she's just being friendly.

"S'okay, I'm not looking right now, and even if it's not yours, you were here first"

[timewreck]

She has to agree. Between those two and maybe supermarkets, there was some good eating in the back of those places. It was where Kiden learned that expiration dates were just a suggestion, not a rule.

Kneeling back down to finish her search, Kiden continues talking to Steph. She might as well; Steph looks like she has no intention on leaving anytime soon.

"You don't look homeless." Neither does Kiden nowadays, with the handful of much needed pounds added on by home cooking and her constant shoplifting to take the edge off her sweet tooth. She's had her hair cut back into shape courtesy of Wanda and she looks less exhausted now that she gets to sleep in a real bed. But the only hint that something is still not right at home is that all of Kiden's clothes seem to be ill fitting, either too big or just a bit too smaller. So much for appreciating weight spurts.

[controlledvariable]

"I never was, but having a home doesn't mean you have food." She shrugs, during the times her dad was in jail and her mom was too drugged up to go to work, Steph had to get food other ways. "I'm just checking things out in case I can't find a job now I'm here."

"You don't look homeless either." It's not an accusation, she's just turning the question around.

[timewreck]

"I was," Kiden mumbles, continue to dig around, but the tone of her voice says she still is. She hasn't gotten to the point where she can fully consider that house her home. Maybe to Laura it's a home, but Kiden's jaded to hell and back. She'll slip up and use the word home to refer to it, but she's still waiting on the day Remy or Wanda get sick of her and turn on her like every other adult in her life has done.

[controlledvariable]

"You having much luck in Baedel?" Steph keeps her voice and expression neutral, but she's a little worried, and if Batgirl starts patrolling she'll be keeping an eye out for Kiden. "I wasn't sure how the militia would be about this sorta thing."

She's also trying to gather a little information about how the militia operates because it's one of the things high up on her list of worries.

[timewreck]

Another shrug and Kiden pops up on her feet, giving up on this container. "I'm doing okay." She's not about to tell this complete stranger her life story and current situation, but anybody with common sense and a sharp eye could tell that Kiden is in a home where she gets some sort of attention that she's probably not used to. And let's not get started on her seeing her dead father who's been suspiciously missing since Kiden's arrived.

About that pesky militia. Kiden is the last person to know anything about it. Steph is better off asking that old lady walking down the street a few feet away. Kiden's been keeping to herself mostly and those she does hang out with aren't the type to sit about discussing the makeshift government here. "They haven't said anything to me."

[controlledvariable]

Steph nods and finishes off the last of her coffee, tossing the empty cup into one of the other dumpsters. Kiden does look well enough, like she's eating and sleeping regularly and Steph knows there's only so long you can carry along a conversation with an ex-street kid before they start getting twitchy. She doesn't want to push it with Kiden.

"Nice to know they ain't bothering anyone." She takes a step back. "I should head off, good luck with the rest of your searching."

[timewreck]

"Yeah," Kiden agrees with both parts, though not making that much too obvious, but at least it's a testament to Steph's approach that Kiden didn't immediately shut her down. She didn't even toss out much of an attitude so it's almost like somebody could say that Kiden appreciates Steph knowing her boundaries.

Almost. Let's not get too crazy here.

"Hey," she calls out to Steph as she clambers over the edge of the container and hops to the ground. "The dumpsters in Chimer usually have fruit and stuff in them. Healthy stuff." Just a little friendly advice.

[controlledvariable]

"Thanks," Steph gives Kidden a bright smile. She doesn't really need the info just yet, but she appreciates what it means.

"I'm Steph, by the way, look me up if you ever need an extra pair of hands." It's a vague sort of offer, and Steph is hoping it won't be taken as a suggestion that Kiden needs help because those never tend to go over well.