just another dirty wolf in a crowd

@"Appren"

Cold streets, cold people, cold skies, cold limbs. Adder was used to it all, and he was familiar with it. It was what he expected, what he knew. He had found food once today, and though pizza crusts were a good find he was hardly going to stop looking now.

Adder took food as he found it, and fought for it when he couldn't find it. That was his habit and his tactic, and it had lasted for over a decade... even if it worked far better in a city where there was less casual magic to dispose of scraps and keep food from spoiling. There was less edible waste here.

That led to more wandering for Adder, more energy expended to find food, and often less food overall. He was quickly wearing through the reserves he'd built up during his period of captivity, and hunger lurked all around him again.

Well. He was still clean enough to walk a common street without feeling especially out of place; the scattered looks of discomfort and disgust he drew in his worn jacket and ragged jeans were things he was used to. Looks didn't bother him; it was words and actions that signalled true threat.

@"Appren"

Being approached without warning always pushed Adder's alert level up, and the strange woman pushing money on him was no exception. His ears twitched and he squinted at her, pupils narrowing in suspicion.

"What are you getting at?" he asked warily. He tried not to be too obvious about looking at the money but...

He could buy warm clothes and food for a long time on that. It was worth a lot...

but not worth some things. He held his ground and refused to truly accept without knowing the cost. "What kind of work?" He knew the work that was offered to people like him, and he was not interested in sex or murder.

@"Appren"

This seemed to be far too good of a deal. Wary, suspicious, and distrusting was how Adder had survived this long, and even if he'd had to let up on all three in order to get past a recent rough night didn't mean he was inclined to keep doing that. It was a special occasion, a unique case.

Probably.

He did kind of owe the city-guy for it, though....

Adder stared the woman in the eye. His harshly yellow eyes, lined in black and one of the few physical signs of his inhumanity, tended to make people uncomfortable and he had used it to work out truth before.

"And you just walk up to strangers and offer them work?" He wasn't biting yet. There was good and there was too good.

@"Appren"

Hm. If she was lying, she was good at it. She smelled more... up-front than that, though. Adder held back for a few more moments, listening carefully to what she said and how she said it, how her physical scent changed as she spoke.

And didn't pick up on anything that implied she was trying to use him. Well, no more than she had said, anyway. Everyone used everyone to some extent. This didn't feel like a trap, anyway.

"What is your business?" Mostly deciding that she wasn't trying to trap him didn't mean it was a good deal for him. He had to take care of himself. He couldn't rely on other people to t-

He didn't want to rely on other people to protect him, just in case they couldn't or wouldn't continue to do so.

@"Appren"

So what, this woman was the head of a gang who specialized in debts and favours? That wasn't good for him.

"So you give me money to make me owe you, and then get to make me dance to your tune?" Adder snorted and held the money back out. "I'm not getting involved in that. I've seen it backfire way too many times, and my survival is far more important to me than whatever grand goals you have. I don't owe people."

And he would give away several hundred dollars and all the security and survival it meant in order to keep from putting his life into someone else's hands.