Teenagers {August}

[Waddle]

Mo slouched on the front steps of the abandoned store, legs propped on his suitcase and back against the wall. He liked it here, because most people seemed to avoid it. Probably from the smell of the dump behind the building. He didn't mind it, and neither did his three new friends. All stray dogs he'd found in his two days in this town. One was red, one was yellow, the last was white with a few light brown spots. All of them thin, with ribs showing. All of them, and Mo included, ragged. It was fine with all of them. Mo had yet to find any sort of place he could rent that he could afford, but he knew he would. He liked to just sit and watch people. This town wasn't what he had expected. One part of him had expected it to be nothing but ruins and a bloody battlefield. Another told him it would be like this. Either way, it wasn't as exciting as he had hoped. Not battles, no chases, no Hunters or Innocents or Undecideds. Well, they wouldn't exactly just run up to people and say 'Hiya! I'm a Hunter!', now would they? No, they wouldn't.

Sighing, he watched the three dogs play around, chasing each other. It seemed they were all old friends, and he was just the fourth wheel, just another new friend who would probably leave them behind. A grin split his face as the red one knocked the yellow one down, then the white one, then get double-teamed and knocked down by the yellow and the white. Mo pulled a piece of hard candy from his pocket, unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth, fiddling with the plastic wrapping. He loved candy. For a man almost in his forties, he was proud to say candy was his favorite food of all time. Any candy.

[Augustus is a SWOObat]

August hadn't really expected anyone to be near Kingfishers.. but sure enough, there he was. He didn't look too old, possibly handsome if he washed up. She watched the dogs with interest. A frown came across her face. August wanted a dog badly, but the last time she tried taking home a stray, it turned out he wasn't a dog at all. August took a few steps closer, but hesitated. She breathed out, determined to think this through. If she turned around, she'd be safe, but bored. If she talked to him, she could get hurt. Why was this decision so tough??

A smile popped onto her face when the Hobo ate some candy. That decided it. Confidently, she tip-toed behind him. She tried to be silent, but the box of Nerds in her pockets made too much noise. August frowned, and gave up her silent-stalk. She rushed up and sat beside him, chewing some candy of her own. "Are you a hobo?" She thought she knew, but she'd never met a hobo that liked candy. Most of the time they were homeless because of drugs, and no druggie would buy candy over drugs. She smiled as the dogs ran through her legs, and crawled over her lap. "They're pretty friendly, huh." Actually, the dogs reminded her a lot of the Hobo. They were cute, but unkempt. It smelled weird, so she flicked up the collar of her coat. August always smelled like candy. She smiled dreamily when the dumpster smell was obs curred. "I like candy." She mumbled to no one in particular. She scratched the red one behind it's ears before popping in another M&M.

[Waddle]

Mo jumped as the girl sat down beside him. He hadn't heard her coming, that side behind his bad side. Turning his head, he watched her warily. It was possible she wasn't a friendly, but she was just a girl. Probably fourteen, no older than seventeen. And the dogs seemed to like her. And she liked candy. What bad girl liked candy? "Err," he said stupidly. "I guess??" He wasn't really sure. It was a strange thought. Going from having a home to not having a home so suddenly, in a place he didn't know. "Friendly, they are..." He perked up at the mention of candy, pulling his feet off the suitcase and sitting up, turning to face the girl.

"Candy is very good, indeed," he claimed, beaming. Yellow-dog came up to him and shoved her cold nose into his hand, smelling the candy he had just held and wanting some. "No candy for you!" He laughed and patted her on the head. Red seemed to like the girl a lot, while Spot stood between them, looking at each as if wondering who would give him more attention. Mo crunched through the candy he had in his mouth, swallowed and popped another one in. They weren't very good, but they were better than nothing. "What's your name, girl?"

[Augustus is a SWOObat]

"It's August." Going against her better judgment and telling the stranger her name. August dug in her pockets for more candy, and shoved some into his hand. The spotted dogs eyes brightened at the candy, and it nuzzled it's head onto the strangers knee, begging for candy. The red on rested it's head on her lap and looked like it went to sleep. You do have a name, don't you? Unless Homeless people lose their names when they lose a place to live, but that was unlikely. She pulled out an ad she stuck in her pockets long ago. August stared at it for a bit, before handing it over to her filthy friend. "Want a job? I'm not sure if it's still open, and the ad's pretty old, but it's worth giving it a shot, right?"

It felt weird not having the scrap of paper with her the whole time. August had looked at it so much she memorized it. She didn't need it, but it felt weird without it. Maybe Hobo would clean up his act, get a job, and buy his own place. August played around with Red's ears before asking. "You don't have any family here in Noatak?" It seemed impossible that he had almost no one. Someone had to care for him.

[Waddle]

Mo almost refused to take the candy, but knew it would be hopeless. She pitied him, and he didn't like people pitying him. So, instead, he quickly hid the candy from Spot before he got his grubby paws on it, mumbling a quiet thanks. She probably thought he was some old geezer who'd lost everything by gambling or drinking. No, far from it. Were they being watched, even now? Would someone hurt August in order to hurt him? Probably not. He couldn't see anyone hurting the innocent girl. Innocent. Maybe she was an Innocent. Then the Hunters surely would hurt her. Ah, why was he complicating things? She probably didn't even have a Talisman!

He took the offered scrap of paper and looked at it. Candy store? He grinned foolishly. Oh, the fun he could have in a candy store. "Thanks." He wondered what he could do to repay the girl. "Tell ya what, if I actually get a job, I'll see if I can pull some strings for you." It was the least he could do, and the hope was fragile. Who would hire someone like him? A foreigner off the streets, no home, no nothing, besides three dogs, of course. He blinked as she asked about family. "No, no one but me, myself, and I, and... I think that's more than enough." He tried to seem confident, tried to seem like he really believed in what he was saying, but failed half-way. Rubbing his left eye, he glanced back to the street. Few people passed by, even fewer looked at them, and even fewer of those actually noticed them. It was far different from the busy city-life he was used to, but he found he liked it.

[Augustus is a SWOObat]

August pouted. He didn't answer her question. "How come I tell you my name, but you won't tell me yours?? If you don't, I'm going to give you a lame nickname." August started thinking. Hobo was rude; Ho was even ruder; Candy Man was too.. August didn't know, it just didn't fit. "Blooky." She ignored the look Blooky was probably giving her. "You didn't tell me, so this is your punishment. Burn." August was actually in a good mood. New friends made her feel good.

"August? What the hell are you doing here?" The owner of the voice gave Blooky a weird look "With him.."

August's smile faded and her blood felt like it got colder. "How'd you find me?" Greg could never find her unless she wanted to be found, and at this moment, she didn't want to be.

Greg gave August a smug smile, "I smelled you out. You reek of candy." August didn't like the way he put that. Candy smelled good. "So you.. you went as your.." August sent a look Blooky's way, hesitant about mentioning anything in front of him.

"Talisman? Hell yeah! How else am i suppose to find you??" August covered her eyes. Greg was so.. stupid. "Don't give me that look! It's not like he'll understand what we're saying." It didn't matter if he could or not. Greg was being reckless, and Blooky wasn't stupid.

"So you just waltzed around town? You do know your talisman isn't indigenous to Urban Canada, right?" Of course he knew. He was just being stubborn and cocky. Greg hated that he couldn't ever find August, so just to prove a point, he does something stupid like this. "Is this important or are you just here to brag?" Maybe Greg would actually get the hint and leave.

No chance. "If by important, you mean Hunter business, then no." August was about to choke him. Did he not have any common sense? Maybe he thinks Blooky is deaf. "Then why are you here?" August tried hard not to hiss, but when Greg shrugged, she let it out. "Greg. Take you and your nasty Badger-Butt home."

As if Greg would make her life easy. "What if i don't want to? Get up." August looked at him like he was crazy. "No." He gave her a look, but she didn't budge. August was having a good time with Blooky, and Candy-Hating Greg was ruining it. "Come on. I want to practice." August didn't move, but repeated her firm 'No.' Red was getting restless, and kept making weird noises. When Greg said practice, he meant wrestling. The sadist like to practice on August cause he could win easy. It was actually pretty pathetic. A grown man wrestling a teenage girl for an Ego Boost.

August still didn't get up, which was getting Greg mad. It was bad to get Greg mad, cause he did even stupider stuff when he saw red, but August didn't care. Greg was grown up man with a toddler's temper, and she was sick of doing what he said. He made her life hell, and his babble was going to scare off Blooky.

[Waddle]

Mo's eyes narrowed at the new name. He sort of liked it, and sort of didn't. But, he decided, he had been quite rude, forgetting to answer her question. Ah well, it would grow on him. Then the new man came up. Mo, himself, was older than the stranger by some, but the stranger was older than August by quite a lot. The relationship between them was apparently not a fond one. It was also obvious that August wanted to not be around him. Mo's back stiffened at the word 'Talisman'. So, he was in the right place after all. That didn't change the situation much, until 'Hunter' was brought up. Surprised and stunned, he could only gape at the two as they fought their word-war. They talked about it so openly. Then again, August seemed to not like it being talked of so, while Greg didn't care, thinking Mo wouldn't understand. But he did all too clearly.

Only when Red started to whine and whimper did Mo remember to close his mouth. Red-faced Greg looked ready to punch August. Mo didn't care if the girl was a Hunter or not; it was obvious that Greg didn't treat her right. Things like that didn't pass with Mo. He stood up behind August, smiling easily, laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, and looked straight at Greg. The boy was a full head taller than him, but that didn't matter. "You're a surely sick bastard if you talk to a lady like that, actin' like you can boss her 'round the block," Mo said quietly. The hand pulled away from August to scratch his chin.

"I've got the short temper recently, 'specially 'gainst a Hunter bastard who picks on girls half his age and half his size, even if she is a Hunter, too, from what I gather." Mo knew he was at a disadvantage against Greg, if it came to a fight. If it came to anything, for that matter. But what else could he do? Simply let Greg boss August around, or try to? From the way the boy acted, he often bossed her around. He just hoped that the way he looked wouldn't egg Greg into a fist-fight. Egg Greg... That rhymed. The grin widened at Greg's slightly surprised face. "I know all about this hookey-pookey fookin' game, boy." He didn't realize it, but the new grin looked quite wicked on his rugged, tired face, and his odd left eye made him look more than a little insane.

[Augustus is a SWOObat]

August smiled when Blooky called her a lady. No one had ever called her a lady, and it sort of felt nice. He was like a scruffy gentleman. She glared at Greg with a look that could possibly burn the smile right off his smug face. Greg, of course, didn't care, or maybe he just didn't see. He had terrible eyesight. August's smile died though. So Blooky knows about Hunters... and from the way he talks about them, he doesn't sound too fond of us. Great. This was, by far, the shortest friendship she'd ever had. August gave Greg another glare for ruining it, but he wasn't even looking at her. If Blooky knew about talismans, that meant he had one. He wasn't a Hunter, obviously. And Innocent's always take care of their own, but Blook looked neglected. If he was an Undecided, then why did he act so hostile toward Hunters? "What are you gonna do about it, Old Man?" Oh, right. Because most Hunters were complete pricks. August frowned. Blooky wasn't that much older than Greg. Greg was just trying to get him angry.

"What's it to you? She isn't yours." Greg made her scowl. "I'm not yours either, Gregory." He didn't even hear her. Greg got like that when he was itching for a fight. He focused on one things and one thing alone. He was so focused he didn't even notice August used his hated full name. Greg walked forward hungrily. Why was he so aggressive? Without thinking, August stuck her leg out in front of him. Greg, so focused on Blooky, didn't even notice her little foot. He fell face forward, and didn't get back up. August waited a few minutes, but he didn't move. For a second, she thought she had killed him, but realized he was still breathing. Greg had hit his head directly, and went unconscious.

August was frozen. That's all it had took? She just had to trip him this entire time? August had always put up with his crap till now, thinking she couldn't do a thing to stand up to big bad Greg. "..I won?" A small smile creeped onto her face when realization hit home. "I WON!!" She jumped up and down, hugged Blook and howled, loudly. "I. Beat. Greg." August hugged Blooky again. She didn't know what he did, but whatever it was, it finally gave her the confidence to stand up to Badger-face Greg.

[Waddle]

"She's not mine, but she's got her own rights," Mo growled in return. He didn't mind being called names, and let the 'old man' thing slip, because, really, he had had no comeback for that. Tensing, ready to spring in any way, Mo thought it was just too easy for Gregory to be knocked out by August's little foot... He relaxed a bit, but only a bit. He laughed wearily at August's surprised exclamations. "Yes, you won." He patted her on the head, but then she threw her arms around him and hugged him. He froze, right hand still raised in mid-air behind her, unable to decide what to do. Then she let go, and he moved a step back, but then she had him again in a hug.

Pulling himself away from the girl, he sidestepped off the porch of the closed shop. The dogs were sniffing curiously at the unconscious Greg. Mo pulled his suitcase closer to him and leaned it against his leg while he stuffed the job advertisement in his back pocket, avoiding August's eyes, looking anywhere except at him face. Her feet, Greg, the dogs, the street, the passing people, the shop, his feet, the suitcase; his eyes moved fast as he took in everything around them again. That was what he had been doing before August had shown up, before she had distracted him, and a lot might have changed in the small time from then until now. But nothing was different, except the unconscious form of Greg. "I- I guess I'll see you, sometime, maybe," he stammered uncertainly. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see August or not. When Greg woke up, he would undoubtedly tell the other Hunters about Mo, and that was dangerous. The thought that August might tell them crossed his mind, but was dismissed. Surely August wouldn't... Would she? Either way, he didn't want to be mixed up with either of them. Completely forgetting about the dogs, he turns and walked away quickly, head bowed. Only two followed; Red stayed with August.

[Augustus is a SWOObat]

Mo shoved her away. Well, not really, August was over-dramatizing it, but the action still hurt. Maybe Blooky isn't the hugging type..? It was possible, but her theory died when she noticed he avoided looking at her. Blook looked at everything, except her, of course. His eyes moved fast, but not fast enough to make him look crazy, just uncomfortable. He muttered a quick good-bye. Something about seeing her later. That was a lie. It was in his face. Blooky didn't want to see her. He called the dogs, but Red stayed with her. At least she hadn't lost all her new friends. "You can't go!" Red started to whine, looking torn. Blooky didn't even turn around. "I gave you my candy!" He might as well slapped her in the face, and called her names. This was the true definition of betrayal. August just stood there. She wanted to go after him, but didn't know what to do when she got to him.

Thom's little raccoon ears twitched. He peeked off the roof he was sitting on, and found one of those unusual scenes that seemed to be common in Noatak. It was an old friend, also a common thing in Noatak, walking away from an unconscious man and a child. Thomas managed a smile, not easy with a muzzle and pointy teeth. Moeteski was always getting into oddball situations. Thom was getting use to his past following him around. It was actually pleasant when good people like Mo showed up. He crawled down from his perch, and shifted in the shadows. Thom fixed his gloves. He wasn't going to take any chances, not somewhere as filthy as here. "Oi! Momo!" He walked out of his dark corner joy in every footstep, until he realized how serious both of them were. The child looked like she was about to cry. "Ah! Mo, what did you do to her?" Thomas was only kidding. Hurting woman and children wasn't Moeteski's style. That's what Thom liked about him.

Thom gave one glance at the unconscious man. Hunter. He stepped over him gingerly, his disgust evident. Thom didn't know what happened, but it sure was making his night much more interesting. Mo always seemed to have adventure following him. It made Thom miss the old days, but he moved to Noatak to make new memories and have even better times.

[Waddle]

Mo didn't listen as August tried to call after him. But he did stop when a familiar voice called him a familiar nickname. Turning slowly on his right heel, he dropped the suitcase. No, surely not... Not strange Thomas. But there he was. Thin and funny-looking as normal. Mo almost laughed. Surely... Surely what? He wanted to deny it. He didn't want to see the boy, really. He would have to explain everything. Probably in front of the girl. He didn't want to think about it. Did that mean that Thom had a Talisman too? Possibly. Very possible. Then, he realized he was laughing, and, judging from his lack of air, he had been since he had turned around. Maybe he was losing it after all. Thom was just the sort of 'things that could change in the time it took to meet a girl and a rude Hunter and have the latter knocked unconscious by the former's foot' thing. Wait... That didn't make sense, not even to himself.

He sprinted back to Thom, practically tackling the man in a huge bear-hug that included the girl. He couldn't help himself. He may not have wanted to see him, but he was so glad he was there. It was too confusing to even think about. At least the dumpster smell covers my smell, Mo thought, making him laugh only more. "Thomas!? I must be dreaming, but no, it's you, you crazy..." He couldn't think of something to call Thom, and could only ruffle the boy's hair as he stepped back to look him up and down. Thom was a boy in Mo's eyes. Had been since he'd first seen him, and always would be. And he looked fantastic, in Thom-standards. Mo could only shake his head and rubbed his left eye again with the knuckles of his index finger, a habit he'd fallen into.

[Augustus is a SWOObat]

He definitely didn't have a problem with hugs, considering how eager he was to hug the shifty man that happened to pop out of the shadows. August got caught in the crossfire, and she got lifted slightly thanks to the huge bear hug. He could be a bear... maybe. August kept mulling over possibilities. She was still mad at him, but was too curious about him to yell. At least he didn't leave. Red was wagging his tail, under the impression that Moeteski, as tall, skinny, and shifty called him, planned to stay. Poor dog, he'd get his heart crushed twice when he found out the truth.

Thom restrained the urge to hiss at Momo's touch. He bit the inside of his cheek. It's okay. Mo doesn't know. Thomas gently tugged out of the hug, playing it casual. "No Dream, old friend! Thomas Harper, in the flesh." Thom gave a glance back at the unconscious filth lying on the floor. "What happened here?" Thom was almost 100% sure that Moeteski had a talisman. He wouldn't be hanging around a Hunter if he didn't, how the little girl was involved was a mystery.

[Waddle]

Mo couldn't stop beaming like an idiot. He looked from Thom to August, and still beamed, even though she looked ready to slap him. "Sorry," he told her. "It's been a rough while." He turned back to Thom, then followed the slim man's gaze to the unconscious Greg and spoke before thinking. "Damned Hunter thought he could boss around August," he muttered angrily, the smile turning into a sneer. "She showed him wrong with nothing more than her foot." He turned Greg over with his own foot covered with a dirty black cowboy boot till the boy was face-up. The huge, ugly bruise on his forehead only made Mo feel even more satisfied. Then he realized he'd said Hunter, then turned uncertainly back to Thomas.

"You have one too, don't you?" he asked warily. "A Talisman. What side you on?" What would Thom be? A Hunter? Hopefully not. The thought made Mo tense again. If Thom was a Hunter, that meant there were a lot of Hunters around, which meant there could be more hiding, ready to pounce. Mo's eyes flicked around again, his nervousness obvious as he shifted from one foot to the other. The shadows would move and cause him to pause in his scan, staring into them, until he decided it was his imagination that had made them move and he resumed. But Thom... Thomas Harper... A Hunter? That was like saying the sun froze people and the moon sang polka while doing a samba. It was still possible, though. After all, a young girl, who looked better off as an Undecided, was a Hunter. Not a good one, from the looks of it, but a Hunter was that... A Hunter. An Undecided, maybe? An Innocent? Either of those sounded better. The latter, and Mo was scared to know what would happen to Thom if another, more threatening Hunter showed up.

[Augustus is a SWOObat]

August looked Mo over again. He looked unkempt, obviously, but he was clearly a man with integrity. From the faint laugh lines around his mouth, it seemed he smiled a lot, more now that Thomas was here. He stood up straight, and seemed confident, but Mo kept looking around. It gave him a sort of paranoid feel. Blooky was almost the exact opposite of Thomas. Thomas slouched, and looked uncertain. He always had a quaint smile on his face, but nothing goofy or carefree. Sometimes the quaint smile would be replaced by an excited one, but that was pretty much it. Thomas didn't look around. He didn't look at all alert, unlike Mo, who was straining to hear every little sound.

Thom gaped, but laughed it off quickly. "The little girl beat him with her foot?" Thomas went into a nasty bout of wheeze-ish laughing. He calmed down, but his face was a little red. She didn't look confused of shocked at the mention of Hunters, so Thom concluded she had a Talisman. More than half of Noatak probably had one. Thom tried to think if he ever saw her before, but nothing came to mind, which was odd, because Thom seemed to know everyone. "Well, she don't look like a Hunter."

August scowled, but wiped it off. She could see the logic behind his thinking. She had beaten up Greg, which wasn't very Hunter-ish of her. And maybe August wasn't the baddest looking kid in town.. It felt weird having Thom talk about her like she wasn't there. She wanted to tell him she was a Hunter, but they'd probably just leave her there. Being a Hunter was lonely. There was hardly any Hunters friendly enough to talk to, and people seemed to avoid her. August looked at Greg only slightly worried. When he waked up, she'd get an earful for what she did, but August didn't want to think about that. Greg was a good-looking fellow, and he knew it. That big bruise was going to stick around for awhile. The thought made August smile.

At first, Thom looked shocked when Mo so blatantly asked if he had a talisman, but he shook it off. "Correct, friend. I have a Talisman, and I'm Innocent, but I bet you can't guess what I am!" August bit down on a smile. It was painfully obvious what Thomas was. He hung around at night, had dark circles around his eyes, and kept getting distracted by Mo's belt buckle. Thomas was a raccoon, no doubt about it. Thomas wasn't a Hunter. He looked like one, but he wasn't. August would have known if he was. Thomas and August gave the phrase Don't judge a book by it's cover a whole new meaning. She petted Red and decided to keep quiet, listening to the conversation.

Thomas was trying to hide his excitement. There was so much going on. Unconscious Hunter, Mystery Girl, Old Friend. Something was holding Thom back, a weird feeling. Moeteski wouldn't leave South Africa without his family, and Tale would never let Mo out of the house looking so slovenly. "How'd you convince Tidy Tale to let you out of the door? You may be charming, but not that charming." Thom gave a light-hearted laugh, but it died quickly. Something about Mo's face wasn't right. His left eye looked off, and his expression changed when Thomas mentioned Tale. "Moeteski.. Is everything all right with you and Tale..?" Thom regretted mentioning her. Maybe they had a fight, maybe they divorced. Thomas hit himself mentally. He should have thought before he spoke.

((I decided to have Thom not know about Tale and Paki. He would have stuck around while they were a happy family, then left, then the tragedy happened, and he wouldn't know.))

[Waddle]

Mo laughed nervously, voice shaking like a leaf in a windstorm, and mumbled a confirmation that August had beaten Greg with only her foot. Why was he so scared all of a sudden? He hadn't even been this frightened when Greg had been there, much less Thom. The Irishman revealing he was an Innocent didn't do anything to help, either. It should have, Mo knew, but, if anything, it only made him more nervous. His eyes caught once more on August. Honestly, she would look more in place taking a walk with a handsome young man from school in a beautiful garden than stalking Innocents. She probably wasn't a real Hunter, just an informant, maybe. A spy. A spy to tell them where to find their enemies, and those who could possibly be their allies. That didn't help Mo either.

Thom's excited dare made Mo grin as he followed the man's gaze to his old, small belt buckle. "Something that likes shiny things, so probably something somewhere along the lines of a raccoon or a bluejay?" Then Mo realized his own interest in reflective objects may have come from his raven Talisman. He wasn't near as bad as Thom, though. He liked to follow shiny things from one place to another when he had nothing better to do. But he always had something better to do. Maybe he should make the time to just lighten up and chase sparklies around town. The looks on passersby's faces would be priceless. Especially if Thom was with them. He put that idea in the back of his head.

He started when Thom mentioned Tale, hands falling back down by his sides. He couldn't remember when he'd started to rub them together. "Oh," he mumbled, once again unable to meet the gazes of either the girl or Thom, instead looking at his boots. "Erm, well, Tale... And Paki... Umm..." He choked, then cleared his throat. He had no more tears to cry, but that didn't stop his throat from clogging up. He regained his composure, but it was a forced one, and he spoke so quickly that, combined with his accent, his words were almost unintelligible. "The house was burned down. Paki and Tale didn't make it out. They're dead." For some reason, he felt somewhat better for telling it to someone like Thom. Thom was a good man. I should have never doubted him. Bah, what kind of Hunter could Thom be, except maybe a thief? Then he remembered how the two had met up. Thom had been busted for stealing a lady's jewelry, and Mo and his partner had been sent to arrest him. After that was taken care of, Mo and Thom had somehow become friends. That was before the meth lab explosion. A seemingly long time ago. And that probably meant that Thom might be confused as to Mo's weird eye. Most people were.