Taking Out the Trash

Who: Adelaide and Max
Where: On the streets
When: Late morning

Adelaide had things to do today and most of them involved some good, old-fashioned pickpocketing. She had things she needed to get, money she needed to store and save, and it was all going to start with a busy Saturday morning on the streets.

She had zeroed in on one older woman, her purse dangling from her arm as she meandered around the streets. And it wasn’t until the woman was distracted looking at an outside display of scarves that Adelaide made her move, slipping her hand into the purse to reveal a pocketbook. She slipped it onto her jacket pocket and headed on her way, smiling at how easily it had been to snag that from the woman. Then she crossed the street, knowing it was better to be inconspicuous but also as far from the scene of the crime as possible.

Max had watched the entire thing, not a stranger to the slight of hand either and he was amused by the desperation of street children to risk such trouble just for something snuck away. He’d seen this one around before; some little street queen with delusions of grandeur. He thought of Arienne’s plans for organizations under her rule and how this street child would fit into that. Not much of a threat.

He was though and the children knew.

Falling in step behind Adelaide with his hands shoved in his pockets he whistled a tune, one that he liked to lure children with. They all knew the sound, by stories or having heard of it and corpses followed in his wake.

Adelaide couldn't pretend not to know that song but she could pretend not to hear it. It wasn't like she was frightened of the singer anyway. She wasn't frightened of anyone or anything and the stories that came along with that tune didn't scare her. She turned a corner, just one off the main street and toward a little, less populated side street, then stopped and whirled around. "What do you want? You're following me. Don’t you know that’s rude?”

Max followed her into the side street and wasn’t at all surprised when she turned around to scold him and he shrugged his shoulders. “I just wonder how much longer you’ll be running your kingdom,” he said matter-of-factly. Street kids weren’t much on him and Arienne’s radar but the opportunity to mess with someone’s head was always entertaining.

Adelaide made a point of showing him just how unafraid she was of him. She crossed her arms, looking up at him. "And that's supposed to mean what, exactly?" She could understand a threat, but this one seemed cowardly. "If you're going to threaten me, then do it right. But just so you know, my kingdom is perfectly fine."

He was greatly amused by her defiant stance and he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, there’s this girl living under the sixth street bridge I heard was gathering up her own little gang,” he said, which was a complete lie but it was said with all honesty that there was no reason why she shouldn’t believe it. “I saw her with a few other girls gathered up.”

“Oh, is there? Because generally, I take my intel from people like you,” Adelaide said, heavy dose of sarcasm in her voice. “You can’t even give me a name. Why should I be cautious about a nameless, possible girl?” She watched Max for a moment, frowning. “...Give me your name and perhaps I will treat your threat credibly.”

“My name? Why should I give you my name when I can give you Missy’s name?” That was the name of the girl he knew lived around there and he rocked back on his heels with a shrug.

Adelaide, unimpressed, simply watched him. "Do you know my name?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Because if he didn't, she was probably just going to leave. Why would she take this seriously if he wasn't willing to be serious about it?

“Adelaide,” he answered simply. “You run this gang of girls who live in a warehouse a few blocks from here. Must be terribly drafty in the winter.” He smiled broadly at her, amused by her tone but it probably wouldn’t last for long. Depended on how long his patience held out. Running a hand through his hair, Max leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"You're right about my name but wrong about where I live." She said, watching him with amusement in her eyes. "And like I said, I am just fine. I have no threats to worry about so while it was terribly considerate of you to tell me this, it was also probably misguided."

Whatever it was was trashy and Max didn’t really care. “Well, there was that time I disemboweled that little girl from sixth street. She wasn’t one of yours I don’t think but regardless, I imagine the threat of that happening to any of your girls, yourself included, should be considered a threat I’d imagine. Makes you a pretty bad leader if you don’t.” He tsked, sounding very sorry for her and shook his head. “Girls might need better leadership.”

"My girls are just fine and your tall tales of butchery don't bother me. Why do you care enough to warn me? From experience, if you wanted to overthrow my leadership, you wouldn't tell you. You'd just try. And you aren't trying. So the point of this is...?" Adelaide asked, looking back up at him again. Sure, she wasn't a fan of the idea of her girls being slaughtered like pigs, but she also wasn't a fan of people spouting steam simply for the fun of it either.

“Overthrow your leadership? I have no need since, well, I’m not homeless trash and have nothing to gain in my life by doing so. I simply just wanted to warn you since I’m a caring citizen of this city and I know how much you enjoy your position, since little girls tend to cry out for Adelaide before they die.” He continued to smile broadly at her, white teeth practically flashing.

"You say you're not trash, yet you speak freely of killing little girls. The only people I know who do that are worse trash than rats." Adelaide said, her face unamused now. He was making it personal and she was falling for it, but he couldn't bring her name into that and expect her not to.

Max looked offended and pushed off the wall. “That’s very rude,” he said to her. “I’m not a rat.”

Adelaide watched up, looking right up into his eyes. "That's not what I said. I said you were worse than a rat. But if you aren't killing little girls, then perhaps, then it means nothing."

Taking a step towards her, he tilted her head and studied her curiously. “So let me get this straight,” he said in a low, curious voice. “You don’t really believe me when I say that I like to kill little children and you don’t see me as a threat whatsoever.” His mood switched from the friendly, casual jokester to something far more deadly and serious.

Adelaide didn't like him touching her and proved so by stepping back, glaring at him. She wasn't so naive to think that she could take him on physically so she didn't touch him even if she wanted to slap his hand. "What I'm saying is that you so casually dropping something like you possibly killing children into conversation doesn't make it as intimidating as you think it does."

“Really. So you don’t believe I’d do anything to a skinny little girl who no one will ever, ever miss. Right.” Straightening up with a firm nod, he tangled a hand in her hair and slammed her against the wall, her head connecting against the brick with a thud, her whole light body flinging against it.

Adelaide should have seen it coming, but she didn't. And now she wasn't seeing much of anything considering she was blacked out, body slumped on the ground. There'd been a moment where her vision had pooled with black and white splotches but the white faded out and the black was all that was left and Adelaide was done for. Just another body on the ground in an another, forgotten alley.

Looking down at her still body then over his shoulder at the busy street, Max considered what to do. She was still breathing; he could see the rise and fall of her chest and kneeling down he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder as he looked around for what he needed. Spotting the dumpster her smirked at the perfect solution. The street girl was trash after all. Striding over to it he propped open the lid and looked down at the bags piled inside, some cardboard boxes. He hefted her over the side and she landed with a rush of air and the horrible smell of dumpster. He needed to go and wash his hands.