Th e hooded kid smriks a little as you tu rn. Nicotehsut shakes his head and closes the gate.

Kena nd Lish meet you outside. "Wow, youre not dead. Kid must think youre cool." Lish xomments.

"And youre not dead." Ken grins

You can't see anything over the tall brick wall besides some greenery peeping over the edge.

"A street kid. He's...an interesting person. We call him X." Lish shrugs.

"Only Nic, Nic's brother Newt, and Lish know his actual name. Except maybe some of hte adults." Ken adds.

"And I'm not telling. I can win an argument, I can't win a fistfight." Lish chuckels.

"Thats a defense thing." Lish has statted walking and you and Ken find yourselves trialing him. "I met him some time ago on the streets. The weird thing is, he acts like he hates you and he might geniuinely hate you for no reason. But then you could do something really minor and suddenly he'lm act like a normal person. "

"He's usually the oddball in a group. Doesnt really get much notice but hes still there." Ken adds.

Lish turns back to you. You, him, and Ken are in front of Lish's house now.

"Sylva, you've never lived on the streets have you? Well, here's the grit of it: When you're on the streets and you're underage, stuff doesn't come quick nor easy. You carry what you own, and you usually don't have more then a small trash bag's worth at the most if you're lucky. You gotta stay on edge and be prepared for anything. Usually that means getting robbed, a lot. I was lucky. I didn't have anything to carry with me. X is a different story. He's got a sister to keep an eye on. Now that she's disappeared, he has no idea what to do. He's pretty much lost everything at this point. Don't get me wrong, lending a hand to help is a great thing to do. But...well, when you've hit rock bottom and you've got almost no hope left, most folks would start trying to shut the world out. If he can't get close to anyone again, he can't get hurt if they disappear too. And if he doesn't get close to anyone, he can't be manipulated." Lish explains. You remember that he used to be a runaway.

Ken tilts his head. "Ok, that makes way more sense now."

"Figured an explaination might help." Lish shrugs. "Though I have to wonder why he's still letting Nic wrangle him into whatever it is that happens over there. My guess is that Nic's made a deal with him."

"Nowhere in particular. Just figure we shouldn't be talking about this stuff in hearing range of the Markers. Good chance of one of them passing by or their maids or gardeners hearing." Lish shrugged. "And who knows? Food, clothes, supplies. Anything really. Help finidng his sister?"