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"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."
- Friedrich Nietzche.
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Once my job was secured, I stayed in the store helping Jacob clean up a little bit since things clearly needed that extra care. I didn't get extra money but I was happy enough to help, so once that was done I made my way out of Everett's Electronics and started walking again. I would need to find a cheap room or something to stay at, so I started to search on the internet while I still had signal and mobile data on my phone available. Turns out, Ark City's rental market was actually pretty damn good. I saw decent rooms at a few hundred a month, only for students, but that was a good sign.
Probably.
I wanted to believe they weren't the type to be crack houses so I just kept looking until I found the location of a motel over in the industrial district. Which reminds me I should really check out the lay of the land in the city if I wanted to start with vigilante work huh? Checking once more, I noticed the city was divided into multiple districts. Not fixated on weird rules, but rather just named after the most prominent features they held, which made things way easier than having to learn a new system of identification alltogether.
The community center was still considered to be inside the urban district, though it leaned heavily into the industrial one. Downtown was classified as a singular district but she figured there would be sub-divisions in that case since there were so many skyscrapers and such. So, Urban, Industrial, Downtown and....Rich people district, noted. High Eden was the name, but I physically felt myself recoiling at the name since it was a bit too on the nose. Plus, I wouldn't be going aorund there too much since crime inside rich people areas usually tended to be more on the political side rather than bank robbery and drug traficking.
No can do, maybe when I get an actual public image I could try my hand at that? I've never been a big fan of politics though, so maybe I just won't.
The store was on the edge of the Urban District, so I made my way to the southern part of town where the houses and occasional stores turned into warehouses and factories. Oddly enough, there was little smog above in the sky and the air didn't actually smell much. That was good at least.
Eventually I reached the motel and paid for a room. It was twenty-five dollars a night and there was no food included. The bed was clearly used, I'd rather not check with UV light since I feared I wouldn't like what I'd see otherwise. Instead I just made sure to check for bedbugs and needles, disposing of what needed to be cleaned and deciding to tidy up the entirety of the room a little more once I was done. Eventually it was actually usable and I laid down on the bed. The springs sounded a bit old but it was better than a bench in the park!
Doing the math on my head, helping out at Everett's would give me enough to pay for the room and would leave me with a whole fifty dollars to use on food and clothes. I had survived on less before, but not while needing to buy clothes, in the middle of winter, and without a bank account or even a usable ID.
I sighed.
"Man, things will be hard for a while huh?" I mumbled to myself, rummaging through my pockets to jack the battery to the outlet to get it charged while I looked through the internet.
As expected, the few contacts on my phone were not available, but I did manage to fix the GPS error by re-starting the phone. The globe looked a bit strange, but the continents were the same. I was within the USA, about where Albuquerque would be more or less. Good to know. Putting my phone away, I stood back up to do a few stretches, causing my shoulders to pop a little in response. Once I was done with that, I started to think on what to do. I could go out that same night and see if I could do a patrol, but I didn't wanna be late on my first day on the job so I just undressed and went to sleep.
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I woke up to the sound of my alarm, got dressed and stepped outside to be welcomed by a freezing cold that was just a teensy bit more agressive than the previous day. I checked I had all my things on me and grabbed tightly onto the blanket that I was using as a jacket. I did have some time, so I could probably stop at a clothing store on my way to Everett's...Yeah, that'd be for the better.
It was 7:32 and the shop opened at 8:30, so I had more than enough time.
On my way through the streets I found what looked like a clothing store, making my way inside and noticing there were already a few customers. Some of them I remembered from the community center, while the lady attending the counter was also present as a staff member when handing out blankets. she probably got thos eherself huh? Nice. Would be a good idea to stay on good terms with her, plus, I could now pay her back for it.
Since she was busy talking to an elderly couple, I just browsed the store for a nice jacket until I found one with fluffy insides and a cool leather outside material. It looked like a typical motorcycle club bald guy winter jacket, and I loved it. I checked the price and was pleasantly surprised when it was way less than I thought it'd be. I picked it up and tried it on, putting the blanket aside. The sleeves were a bit long for me, but that didn't matte rmuch. I still had another two years to grow up and I was sure it was better for it to be a bit larger than a bit too small.
I nodded and took it off, taking a pair of wool gloves and a scarf. It was a bright red while the gloves were some kind of navy blue. The colors looked pretty when sued with the obscure jacket, so I brought them all up to the counter when the couple left. I waved at them since they seemed to also recognize me, and they smiled as they walked out. They were wearing pretty thick coats, so they really wouldn't feel the breeze outside. That was good to know.
"Hello, how may I help you today?" The lady at the counter said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Hi, I'd lake to take these please." I put the jacket, scarf and gloves on the counter and nodded, taking out my wallet where I had put sixty of the two hundred dollars the wod of cash I took previously held.
I was sure the bank wasn't tracing these....right? Well, no matter, if trouble came to bite me in the ass later on I would deal with it, but for now I really needed the extra layers of clothing. The lady seemed to agree, as she hummed and made the math.
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"These'll run you about....Thirty-five." She said, and I was about to hand her the money when I noticed she had deducted five dollars from the total.
"Shouldn't it be fourty?" I asked, to which she smiled and leaned forward on the counter a little bit.
"I saw you at the center, you can pay those back when you get a proper home alright?" She said and I just opened my mouth to reply but didn't say anything. Instead I just handed her the money and put on the items I bought.
"Thank you!" I said, finally finding the words in my throat and walking out the store.
I still had the blanket under my arm but I was feeling much more comfortable with the new clothes instead of using the blanket like a poncho all the time. It was still fairly early, so I just walked into an alley and climbed up a building, reaching the ceiling and taking a picture of the morning view of the city. Thankfully, my phone's camera was quite good so it really captured the feeling of the sun rising on the horizon as the air still froze the clouds above into falling snow.
The view was really good, maybe I could make photography a hobby again? I wouldn't have money to buy a new camera until I get a few more paychecks and even then I might run short a good one. My phone would do for now, it's not like I would be joining any competition anytime soon after all.
Though that may be a good idea for some extra cash on the side...
My early morning was spent wondering about ways to make more money and working at the store once it was time to open it. Jacob seemed to approve of me getting there early, and he gave me a key in case I happened to get there before him so I wouldn't freeze outside. There was also a comment on my jacket but I think he might've tried to make a bad joke so I just let that slide, he was a good eprson from what I've seen but he wasn't a very humorous guy.
Still, work was nice and easy all day and he even shared some of his lunch with me since I forgot to bring one. He cooked it himself, really nice stew with no potatoes in sight, I never liked those to be in my soup so it was a welcome surprise to know he also didn't like them boiled. After lunch he had me un-tangle some more wires that were left around and after that I was free to organize things in the back if I wanted or just relax until it was closing time.
The store wasn't very busy during the day, but in the afternoon quite a few clients happened by. Jacob seemed to be well-known around the city since I noticed not only the people living at the edges of the urban district came by, but also one or two from the rich people area. I was a bit surprised, but it seemed Everett's had quite the reputation for being a genuinely good business. While my new boss dealt with all that, I just cleaned the electronics and made sure no circuits were left in the open, boxes of old repair parts and abandoned components were dusted and re-organized, until it was time to close shop and I was promptly told to go and enjoy the rest of the evening.
Payments would be on a weekly basis until Jacob accepted me as a proper worker, then it would be a monthly wage of what I assumed to be a whole load of money.
And maybe some extra homecooked food since his stew was so good.
But that aside, it was 5 PM and I had little to do, so I walked off into an alleyway and made sure nobody was seeing me before walking up the walls and taking a series of shortcuts through the ceilings of the district until I arrived at the community center again. I wanted to ask James a few things on how it worked under the guise of being interested in helping out as a volunteer, maybe a few days of work in there to listen to whispers and complains would give me a better light on what sort of scheme was being run.
Thankfully I didn't have to go through all that trouble, at least not yet, as a fancy black car parked just in front and a familiar face stepped down. It was one of the candidates that was running for mayor, and he was complaining about how cold it was, sneezing and all as his bodyguard seemed to hand him a heavy coat.
"Your coat, sir." He spoke with a thick accent, probably some kind of easter european man by the sound of it.
"Than-*sneeze*" He was cut off by his own sneeze, taking a moment to recuperate before speaking again. "Thanks, Ivan. Damn, why do I have to come all the way down here? I thought the rally was enough."
A young woman stepped off from the other side of the vehicle. Judging by her glasses and her similar heavy coat, she assumed her to be an associate or a secretary.
"Public service is very well seen in this side of the city, Mr Blackwood." Wow, talk about a villain name. He even had the sexy secretary and the russian bodyguard.
This was starting to smell fishy, so I kept listening from my spot on the ceiling. The bodyguard seemed to catch on to me, and I waved as I bit into a sandwich I bought on my way over. He grinned a little and just ignored me for the most part, that was nice of him.
Eventually, after a few more minutes of complaints, the three made their way into the community center. I made my way down and followed inside a few moments later, mainly so they wouldn't suspect me of following them. As I passed through the doors, I noticed the man was saying hello to all the people inside with a very practiced 'Politician Bullshit' smile on his face. I approached one of the benches and noticed the elderly couple I had seen in the morning at the clothing store. I waved at them and they waved back.
They seemed to be doing fine.
I looked around the room and saw the mother and her child. They were looking a bit better than the day before, but they were clearly underdressed. They also were closer to the politician so I made my way over and sat with them, giving my blanket to the child and making small talk on how I got an actual job at Everett's. Most of the conversation was pretty mundane, just going over how it was getting colder with each passing day and the snow kept piling up on the outskirts of town.
While I had this conversation, however, the politician finally freed himself from the staff people and was now talking with his secretary about some interesting topics. As if by instinct, I felt a bit of vertigo as I noticed the bodyguard was looking in my direction. I waved at him and smiled, he seemed a little suspicious but stopped looking and just remained by his employer's side. A few minutes later, Mr. Blackwood made his way outside and the staff people seemed to be a little on edge after something they were told. I even saw James scratching the back of his head, clearly worried about something.
"So yeah, that's where I got the jacket from. It's pretty cheap so you should go there and get a pair of gloves if you can." The mother nodded to my suggestion and looked over to her child. His hands were not shaking, but they were clearly a bit more red than they should be. "If you need help with anything just tell me okay? I can put some money aside if you need something extra for him."
"Thank you, really, but I shouldn't ask for anything from you, you're-" I interrupted, knowing where she was going.
"Young? I also had a little brother before, he's....Doing better now, but it's really important to protect their innocence while it lasts you know?" I said, placing my hand on top of the mother's.
We remained in silence for a few seconds until I felt it was enough remembering. I stood up and said my goodbye before approaching the staff room where James and a few others had retreated a few minutes before. Since there was no one else outside, I knocked twice before he opened, his worried expression turned into a smile.
"So, I'm told you got the job huh?" He said, visually glad his suggestion worked.
"Yup! Also found a place to sleep so I'm all set to start saving money." I said, he nodded, approving of the idea.
"Good to hear, kid." He said, before looking behind me to the other guests in the hall. "So, what brings you here? We serve dinner at 7 PM so you're a bit early for that."
"Not here for dinner, but it would be a good idea to stick around huh...." I shook my head, smiling again as I looked up to him. "No, just wanted to know what happened before. You all looked a bit worried about something. Anything I can help with?"
He seemed quick to reply but then held his tongue. He double-guessed himself and just told me to enter the room, closing the door behind him. The other staff workers were sitting on different tables while others had walked outside to take a smoke break. The ones inside waved at me so I responded with the same, they looked tired and a little more than worried, judging by their expressions. James gestured for me to sit with him, so I did and then he finally spoke again.
"Mr. Blackwood, the one that is donating money to keep this place running, said he'll be cutting corners soon." He said, fumbling with his interlocket fingers for a moment before continuing. "Food will run low and the heating unit might need to be turned off on the weekends to save on electricity bills. How things are going...."
"He'll cut all support after the elections..." I finished, and James just nodded with a grim expression in his face.
"Did Jacob tell you I was homeless a while ago?" He asked, and I nodded. A little grin appeared on his face.
"That was after I got fired from my corporate job for yelling at my boss. I don't do well with people like Blackwood normally, and now that he'll be shutting this place down one piece at a time...."
He sighed.
"I'm just worried about these people. Martha and Arthur, the elderly couple have been around here since I got thrown into the street. They won't see another winter if they don't get access to the food and the heat, they almost live here. Hell, they sleep here every other day." He took a breath before he continued. "Then there's Angela and her kid. She's paying for his school but she barely even eats her own portions, I can't tell what'll happen to them once food starts running low a week from now."
He just leaned his face on his hand, grunting a few insults under his breath that the others caught. A few seemed to retreat a little from their seats, seemingly expecting him to blow up or something. I just looked at him and kept a determined look on my face, it seemed James was more of a softie than I thought. He genuinely cared about these people...And they deserved better.
"Okay, so how are we fixing this?" I asked.
The volunteers, including James himself, looked at me with a mix of confusion and pity.
"There's gotta be something we can do. Blackwood can't be the only one interested in running a charity right?"
Then they got the gist of it, and a few started to brainstorm amongst each other. They were all good people, and I wasn't about to let them all lose this place just because some dumb dumb politician decided the 'Charity' wasn't giving him enough votes!