ArchivedLogs:Charity Case

Charity Case
Can't Trust the System
Dramatis Personae Tess, Corey	2013-11-30 Buying bread for the cool chick
Location <NYC> Harlem
Harlem's gritty reputation has become less and less earned over the past decade or so as gentrification has set in. Its reputation as a hub of jazz and culture, however, is still very much earned -- throughout the years Harlem has been renowned for its contributions to music, from its swing dancing and jazz culture back when speakeasies were prevalent to the many hip-hop artists with Harlem roots in modern day. Saturday Morning in Harlem, NYC. It's a little above 30 degrees F and it's relatively quiet. In an alley, outside immediate sight but not hard to stumble upon by accident, covered nu a couple newpapers and a thin layer of ice is a teenage girl. She's not moving, eyes closed. Her clothes look dirty, somewhat torn and despite being obviously fairly new look rather worn. With all the troubles that the city has recently had, its been difficult getting all the suplies necessary to the people and organizations in the need of it. Still working with the Red Cross and helping those still put out buy the situation, Corey has volunteered to trudge through the cold weather to find places that have restocked. Bundled up in a warm winter coat with a beany emblazoned with the red cross logo on top, he walks with purpose down the streets, as much to get his mind refocused away from the past troubles as to get in the exercise he had been lacking. Warm breath steams the air as the big man trudges along down the street with a few empty reusable shopping bags hanging over his shoulder. The girl doesn't appear to notice Corey, at least, not initially. Not until he comes near, and even then her initial reaction is subtle enough to be hard to notice. Her pale skin is still covered in that thin layer of ice, which hasn't even cracked, and she hasn't opened her eyes yet either. At least she's awake now, though it's srill easy to mistake her for being dead. Noticing the color of skin amidst the pile of cloth and papers, Corey frowns and moves closer towards it. "Hello? Are you alright?" He isn't quite sure if this is a case of calling an emergency worker or just a call in for another body. Still with the dead rising up, its better safe than sorry, as he squats down but touches a leg rather than up near the more bitey areas. And the girl's leg retracts quickly, instinctively. The girl jumps back, her disheveled looks and handmade plastic jewelry make it pretty obvious that this might not have been the first time she's been sleeping out in the open. "I'm fine." She sounds sleepy, "What do you want?" "Checking for life," Corey replies, his gloved hands held up in a gesture of surrender or at least to show he isn't planning to hurt anyone as he remains in his squatted position. "Theres been a lot of people displaced from homes still, and well, lotta people froze over night." He looks over her again, the ice frozen to her drawing the attention. Tess shuffles back from Corey anyway. The ice doesn't melt, despite it being slightly above freezing. "Well, I'm alive." She starts to shove the ice off her skin, it looks like she's done this before at least a couple times. By now her sleepiness is starting to get replaced with wariness, "Why do you care?" Pointing to the red cross logo on his hat, Corey offers a smile at that. "Volunteer do gooder. Means I care more than I ought, and piss off all the people that hate sunshine and happiness." Standing back up, he readjusts the shopping bags and gives the girl her space. "I was just going out on a supply run," he says with a gesture to the bags. "Food and the like." Tess looks towards the bags hungrily, "What did you get?" She doesn't really mean to be rude, but her stomach is growling, quite loudly in fact. "Nevermind, got anything you can share? I'm hungry." "Still empty I'm afraid, but you're welcome to come along if you'd like? May as well get what you want right?" Corey offers a friendly smile at that. "If you'd rather not wait for all the steps in between, I can give you the address to the facilities." He pauses for a moment, looking at the ice again with a thought. "Though if that means what I'm assuming, I may need to give you one of the /Other/ addresses. They're a bit more friendly to those with certain additional capabilities." Tess frowns as Corey, rightfully so at least, jumps to a conclusion. "I'll come with you, but I'm not going to go to any mutie home, if that's what you're saying. I don't like that idea one bit." "That's fine. I just figured I would offer, since well, it's run by those sorts to begin with." Nodding, Corey steps further back out of the alleyway into the street and waits for her to join him. "Less military sorts guarding against zombies, but knowing where a bed and a meal is now and then can be useful." He puffs out warm breaths into the cold air, though he doesn't seem the worse for wear for the current weather. Tess doesn't puff out warm breaths, her breaths are cold. She listens to him speak but just grunts an annoyed sound. "Like I want to associate with 'em. I'll sleep under a bridge if I have to, and I've been getting my hands on food." She doesn't seem like she's starved yet, though she's probably been losing weight, she looks awful thin. Now that she's walking that's only more obvious, she's pretty young, too. Definitely a minor. Corey shrugs at her comment and walks along beside her, keeping his longer gait to a slower walk. "So anything in particular you like to eat? Soups, granola, cereal?" The lack of warm breath draws his gaze down to watch her occassionally as he walks, not quite sure to make of her. "Not quite sure what they will have in stock, but trucks have been making it in with more regularity now." Tess attempts to shove Corey, "Quit looking at me like that." Her hand is freezing cold, which likely confirms prior assessments as to her status. "I don't particularly care, something that isn't too warm." She keeps walking, her eyes on Corey, trying to follow him but also keep her distance from him. Barely budging at the shove, Corey raises a brow and shakes his head. "Sorry, when you don't see what you expect to see it causes cognitive dissonance." He puts his hands back into his coat as he walks, keeping his pace. "Alright so no boxes of noodles then. Kinda hard to eat them without boiling first anyway." As he walks, he glances down other alleyways past as well. Tess snaps, "Yeah, I know I'm a mutie freak, no need to rub it in." She looks down at the ground, following Corey by tracing his feet, "Bread or something like that will do, not picky." "So am I. I just don't show it." Corey says without much emphasis. It probably wasn't the best of ideas to share with a stranger, but better to establish common ground. "Breads good, I think they might have some cinamon raisin bread this time of year. It gets more popular in the winter." Seeing the sign for the place in the distance he hrms. "Ah there we go, not to much further now." Aaand there Tess stops in her tracks, "Go. Away." Whatever Corey just said, it upset the girl. She slowly starts taking steps back, her fists balling up, she seems scared. "Go." Sighing and shaking his head, Corey seems about to react then just shrugs. "I'll leave the bread on a trashcan near where I met you then. Have a good rest of your day." He just didn't have the energy to try and convince someone any different. Tess takes a deep breath and shakes her head to clear it, lowering her fists, "Sorry." She takes another deep breath. She starts getting closer again, though she keeps an even larger distance than before, "Let's continue. Pretend that was a joke." Corey pauses on the sidewalk in front of the store and looks to her. "If you want to handle it that way fine. I'm going to head on inside, you are welcome to come along with me as well, but it may be best if we have another topic." He pulls his gloves off and puts them into a pocket. "The people inside are friendly, but they don't like trouble. Theres been enough of that recently, and I don't want to bring them any more. So if you want to come in and pick things out, just be calm and relax. Though the temperature is going to be at around seventy in there, so I don't know if that will be too uncomfortable." Tess shrugs, "I can handle it if we don't stick around too long. Hour, tops." She follows him in, and tries to be calm. "I haven't had a good meal in months. I've been getting by, but it's been hard." She tries to focus on why they're there instead of what she is. It's a better topic, she keeps her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Nodding at the time frame, Corey grabs a cart and starts along the aisles, checking a paper list on occassion as he grabs things. Most of the things he grabs are non-perishables and bulk size things anyway and he frowns when the shelves are empty in particular areas. "I guess its not too easy finding a job anyway. A lot of businesses are closed for repairs now." Tess follows along and frowns, "I've never had a job." She sucks in a breath, preparing for trouble from the statement that follows. "I'm only sixteen." Sh watches Corey closely, trying to observe how he'll react. "The way the economy has been it isn't too big a surprise." Corey nods, then pauses at the age she provides and returns to putting things into the cart. "I wont ask the story unless you want to share it. Though you are eligible for certain things at that age you wouldn't be otherwise." He seems to be putting effort into not pushing anything, and they eventually reach the bread aisle. "And here is what you sought." Tess grabs some of the bread on there, not a lot, and dumps it into the cart Corey took. He's paying after all, "Eligible for what?" She might as well ask, "I'm not doing anything I don't want to do, though." "Benefits, protections and the like. A minor tends to have care benefits prioritized over an adult, though most of that involves foster care unless you've been emancipated." Corey offers a shrug though. "There are also school programs designed to ensure that needs are met and education is provided. Its not a perfect system, but there are things available if you go for them." Tess shakes her head, "See. This is why I'm not sharing names. Not getting involved with that bullshit. I know I'm on a missing persons list somewhere, can't not be." She waits for Corey to move on, though it seems the area surrounding Tess is cooling down, "Shit. This place is hot." "Just was saying that they were available. I do not know your situation, and you don't want to share." Corey frowns at her temperature concern and checks a watch. "You can head outside if you want. It wont take me much longer to get the rest of the things on the list. Or I can give you a ten and you can get the breads you want and I'll finish up. Then you can disapear again while I'm shopping if you'd feel more comfortable." He puts his hand to his wallet and gives her an inquiring look as to which she would prefer. Tess shakes her head, "I'll wait outside." She leaves the store quickly, going back outside to lean against a wall and cool down. She's actually starting to sweat, little beads of water that freeze on her skin. It takes him about another ten minutes to finish up, but Corey's got everything in the reusable bags except for the separate order of Tess's things in a plastic bag. It seems like a bit much for one person to be carrying, but the big fellow seems to not be weighed down too much. Seeing her still there, he hands her the bag of stuff as he starts walking back the way he had come. "I've got to head back to the shelter to drop these things off. Is that going to be enough for you for now?" Tess looks into the bag and smiles nervously, "Should be. Thanks." Then she turns around and dashes off, she's not going to the shelter so she might as well leave him to himself. She doesn't expect to run into him again either. Corey shakes his head at that and heads off back to the shelter. Tess will find when she looks into the bag of food a small card with a hand written address for a mutant friendly shelter though.