Sagging and slogging herself out of the bus, Kayt found herself in front of the place she called home: an apartment complex, rundown and in dire need for a restoration. Some spots on the wall were completely free from the paint, and where that wasn't the case, it was still covered top to bottom with lichens. Sometimes she wondered how come; the sunlight doesn't make its way into the kettle very often.

Stepping over loose stones on the pavement, she made her way to the entrance, and a turn of a key later, into the hallway. “Why's he livin' so fah upwards?”, she thought to herself as she started to climb. It was a struggle against the monotony, since not having to run like your life depended on it also meant that one was feeling every step during the ascension. And she already had to do it once that day; after the second time, it was losing its charm.

After more steps than she dared counting, Kayt entered her apartment as her hands got another hold on just how much she made during today's tour: A couple bills and about half a dozen coins. Pushing her hand against her head as though she wanted to suppress a headache, she walked through the barren entry floor into a large, empty room, in which she could see a small kid scribbing on the wall with crayons while standing on a small ladder. Upon hearing somebody enter the room, he turned to her, looking rather pleased. “Hoy there, sis! Back from work awready?”

"Dem cops got onto me", she said, taking off her jacket. Looking over to the mural, she asked: "Did Jay allow dis?"

"Course he did!", the boy replied and nodded. "Said it saves paper!"

"Mmmh, dat's one way to look at it", Kayt said as she let go and got up. "Say, Sven... you been standin' here all day?"

"Mhm!", Sven said.

"Then you've done yer work fer school, eh?", Kayt urged him, getting sterner.

"Yes, sis", he replied, averting her glance. "It's so easy, I can do it with mah eyes closed!"

"Oh, we'll see 'bout that", Kayt said, grinning as she walked to his mural.

"You don't hafta check again", Sven explained. "Jay did and he said it's fine!"

"Then checking again shan't be an issue!", Kayt teased him, hitting his shoulder as she arrived at his mural. She stared at it for a moment, taking in every square inch. What she was sure of was that it was clearly a battle scene, depicting a fight between a single guy in funny looking underwear and hoards of different looking supposedly bad guys. She couldn't quite tell what most of the things fighting the man were, since her brother could still learn a thing or a dozen about drawing properly. It was hard to miss that Sven was just waiting for her response before she looked down to him and asked: "So, who's that meant to be?"

Sven didn't know what to make of her question, tilting his head. "Ya don't know 'im? He's all over the place right now!"

"Really?", she asked again before leaning closer towards the picture, taking a closer look. "Mmmh, I do recall his face poppin' up at a toy store once..."

"That's 'cause he's Captain Dazzle, ya dummy!", he joked. "Don't you see? Here! That's the symbol on his chest! And that there's Wild Fury!"

"Yer right, now ah see. Guess yer sis's on the dense side", Kayt commented, taking her eyes off the mural. "Now where's Jay?"

"Right aaaround the corner", she heard a voice speak before the one whom it belonged to came out through through the doorframe to her right. "Expect me to leave your boy alone?"

"No, but I 'spect you to be a good guardian", she joked as they approached each other before engaging in a, for outsiders, difficult to follow handshake, through which they kept talking. "Ya got the groceries? Stealin' from ther's a lost cause..."

"Not much, but we won't have to go to bed hungry for a few days", Jay told her. "They pretty much throw their leftovers after you."

"Fanally some good news", she replied. "People on the streets're gettin' too hard to mug. Only got two wallets before mah stalker showed up."
"Just two?", Jay said in disbelief. "That's a shame. Were they stacked at least?"

"Ah show you, but first..." Their hands then ran upwards alongside each other before they stretched their arms up so far that they couldn't anymore, finishing in a high five so intense that Jay reflexively pulled his arm down.

"Sheesh, dat hurt", he admitted, shaking it. "Should we sit down, then?"

"Sho'." She turned to Sven, who had just watched them go through the entire routine, and told him: "You keep doodlin'. We'll have ourselves some big people talk now."

Sven nodded before he climbed back onto the ladder and pulled out his crayons, continuing to depict the struggle of the Captain, as Kayt and Jay entered the kitchen and sat down around the small, round table.

"Care to 'splain why he's treatin' the wall like a canvas?", Kayt asked while taking the cash out of her pockets.

"Cheaper than paying the pros to do it and it's more, what's the right word for it, unique?", he told her while counting the money as she put it down. "Twenty, forty, fifty, fifty-five... Man, these people don't like heavy wallets anymore, do they?"

"They just got 'em failsafe bits of plastic and magnets now", Kayt lamented. "I didn't expect the numbahs to be so high, really."

"Still, that's enough for a few days at best", he said, his arms crossed. "Good lighting and heat ain't cheap."

"Ah know, but what else is there?", she said, her head sinking down. "Propah jobs are hard to come by, but who's gonna take summun who di'nt even finish school and pay me more than ah make by stealing?"

"No idea. But a steady cash flow would be nice to have...", Jay thought. "Or do you like poking into other people's pockets so much?"

"We got through so far, di'nt we?", she sighed. "Still, 'nuff is 'nuff. But what can I do?"

"Maybe we should get out of town?", Jay suggested. "Settle in a small village and start new from there? Think about what we could do there!"
"An' how d'we get 'ere?", Kayt stopped him in his tracks. "We live hand-to-mouth as is, so payin' fo' somethan that actually gets us somewhere's outta the question. Not to mention silly things like food to keep us fed till we settled and nevermind havin' a place to crash. And what 'bout Sven? 'Sorry, big sis's bored of stealing, so wave bye to yer buds'?"

"Kayt, Kayt, Kayt", he said, shaking his head. "I know, it's a tough decision. But we gotta move forward at some point. You don't wanna live this way forever, dontcha? Cold nights, long and boring days, always hiding from whoknowswhat..." He sighed. "We're stuck right now. What we need right now is a new approach, with or without moving away."

"Yer not wrong... but right now, I need a break from thinking about this." She went to the fridge and opened it, pulling out two bottles of ale and putting them on the table. "We don't get in trouble if we drink now, do we?"

"Two bottles ain't the world", he replied, taking one and opening it with his lower jaw. "You wanna have me open yours, too?"

"Have a go", she said, letting the bottle slide over to her friend before he opened it with a loud pop. She then took it back, wiping the opening before taking a sip. "Ah, tha's the spirit..."

 

Ray has had more successful days during his time in the police; at least, they felt more successful. Constantly chasing after those pesky thieves roaming the street wasn't the most thankful job he could hope for, especially when the one catch he'd been trying to make just kept wrestling its way out of the bait. That in itself would hardly justify feeling as let down as he did; after all, at this point, it was basically the norm. No, it had more to do with his boss thinking that driving around in circles through the town and catching wannabe masterminds that couldn't even pass a single block before they threw on the handcuffs was a too demanding job for the day, and instead relegated him, as well as Kirk, to the oh-so-exciting activity of “checking the files”. It wasn't a hard job, and it's not like they did it for free, but not even halfway in and Ray could feel the monotony trying to eat away at his gray matter. But even that job didn't last forever, as eventually Ray and Kirk moved out of the police department, making sure their jackets are all tight as they walked towards Ray's car.
“You wanna come to our place tonight?”, Kirk asked as they entered the car. “Or ya just wanna go home?”

“Let's ask Milana first”, Ray replied as he pushed the key into the hole and turned it. “Though she did look tired when she brought us lunch...”

The trip to the restaurant wasn't a long one, at least for having to drive through the city since, while crowded, the roads weren't stuffed from one end to another. As they reached their destination, a female bev was already waiting for them with crossed arms and restless legs. Swiftly and elegantly, Ray was parking in front of her before, with the push of a button, he made the backdoor open.
“Sorry that you had to wait”, Ray greeted her.

“Hi again, Milana”, Kirk said, raising his hand. “Wanna eat at our place or yours?”

“Let me inside first”, Milana commented as she climbed into the car. “So, how come you're a bit late?”

“Nothing big. Fenoc decided on a whim that parts of the database needed rearranging”, Ray commented. “If the night shift didn't come any sooner, we'd be even later.”

“No point complainin' now”, Kirk replied, having lost interest in that particular conversation. “So, where'll we go next?”

“I got enough of cooking for tonight”, Milana commented. “The sticky air really got to me today.”
“My place, then”, Kirk said. “Well, Ray, you know where to go.”

After another drive that ended sooner than expected, Ray parked his car in front of a small and stable, though not very pretty looking house. The three of them slowly left the car behind and walked to the door, from where they could already take in a glimpse at the incoming food.
“Smells good”, Ray noted. “Let's hope there'll be enough of it.”

Kirk opened the door and went inside, with Ray and Milana following him into a tight corridor and a stronger growing smell that was both sweet and spicy. One left turn into the kitchen later, Kirk approached his wife, busy with cooking, and kissed her on the cheek.

“Oh hello, hun”, she replied, turning towards him.

“G'evening, Mrs. Joffdes”, Ray greeted her from the doorframe.

“Hi there, Agate”, Milana following suit, bowing down in the process.

“Hello there, you two”, she said and turned to them for a moment before going back to Kirk. “How was work today?”
“Not much to say, as ever”, he told her while still clinging to her. “Our boss acted like he seriously needs a vacation again.”

“Did the monkeys not dance when he told them to?”, Agate noted. “Or did somebody spit in his coffee?”
“Who knows with this guy; he could spot a fly by the window and that'd be enough to upset him”, Kirk explained as he took a fork and tried to dip it into the pot, but his wife gently pushed his hand away with her elbow.

“If you're that hungry, how about you go get the kids? I'm sure they'd want some, too.”

“Just lemme have a li'l teaser”, Kirk joked, having another go, though Agate was persistent.

“Ray, would you mind taking care of him here for a moment? I think he forgot what words mean”, she said as Kirk let go and joined Ray by the doorframe. “And Milana, how about you help me give this the final touch?”

“Not tonight I'm afraid”, Milana replied, holding her forehead. “Just thinking about cooking anymore tonight gives me a headache.”
“Awww, don't be such a killjoy”, Agate said and shrugged. “Just messing around with some spices. I'm sure you can at least take that much”

“Mmmh... fine, I'll give it a go”, Milana said as she moved inside. “So what did you put in so far?”

“Wanna wait in the dining room?”, Kirk suggested to Ray as they walked away from the kitchen.

“Nah, I'll follow you”, Ray replied, further moving down the corridor. “You know how much your daughter likes seeing me.”

“Given how much she's at home, I'm sure she's happy 'bout anybody comin' over at this point”, Kirk replied. “It's so difficult to get her outside more often.”

“Can you blame the two?”, Ray replied. “After what happened?”

Kirk merely sighed as they went to the first door. Kirk knocked onto it and waited for a moment before he heard a voice coming from inside.

“Yeh?”
Kirk opened the door a bit to see his son sit by a worktable, presumably doing homework, with his head leaning heavily to one side and a lamp shining dimly onto the papers.

“Mom says dinner's ready”, Kirk told him.

“Kay. Just a sec”, was the short reply he got before Kirk locked the door again.

“Is this healthy?”, Ray asked quietly as they passed on to the next door. “Every time we take a look at his room, he's studying.”

“Well, the home teacher isn' skimpin' on their exercises”, Kirk explained. “And he wants to be ready when college starts, so I can hardly tell him to work less.”

“He actually wants to go out for college?”, Ray asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Eventually.” Kirk didn't seem confident about it as they knocked onto the second door. This time, the door opened on its own accord, with a girl peeking through from the other side, holding a bunny on one of her arms.

“Yes, Da-” As soon as she noticed Ray standing beside him, her eyes seemed to glow all of the sudden as she pushed the door open further. “Hi there, Uncle Ray!”

“Hello, Modys”, Ray greeted her back, raising his hand and showing a faint smile. “Your mom told us that we'll have dinner soon.”
“And you're staying for it?”, she asked, getting excited.

“That was the plan”, Ray said and nodded. “You'll come, too, right?”
“Of course!”, she said, rushing out of her room, with her bunny still resting on her arms. Kirk closed the door to her room as Ray and her went back down the corridor. “And, have you caught some baddies lately?”

“Not today, I'm afraid”, Ray told her, feigning embarrassment.

“You gonna catch some tomorrow!”, she replied enthusiastically. “I know you can do it!”

“If you say I can...”, Ray said as he messed up her hair with his hand. “But enough about me. How are you?”

“Eh, our teacher's been flooding us with homework”, she said as she put her other arm beneath her bunny. “I was just done with it before you showed up.”

“I'm sure she's wellmeaning”, Ray responded as they took a turn to the left into the dining room. “But maybe you could ask her to give you just a bit less?”

“I can't”, she replied as she put down the bunny while Ray and Kirk were taking their seats by the table. “Then Mom will just talk about how Woud does so much more and how he's a great role model for me and-”
“Modys, you shouldn't drag your mother into these conversations”, Kirk interrupted her. “Ray's our guest, not your counselor.”
“I told you before, I don't mind”, Ray replied before turning back to Modys, who also took her seat. “Now, your mom might have a point, but your brother's also a fair bit older than you, isn't he?”

“Yes, about six years”, Modys said. “But Mom doesn't care!”

“Okay, now really, we shouldn't talk about this before dinner”, Kirk said, fearing the worst. “What'll happen if your mom catches wind of it?”
“Catches wind of what?”, Agate said as she entered the room together with Milana, carrying a big bowl as well as dishes. “I got other things to worry about, y'know. Speaking of...” She turned towards him. “What about your paycheck? It's about time for the bills again.”
“Soon, my dear. Soon”, Kirk assured her. “Even told the boss 'bout it. The money's gonna be on our account in da next couple days.”
“It better be”, Agate said, plopping down on a free chair. “Or else we gotta deal with having no electricity again.”
“They're not that heartless”, Kirk said, not being quite convinced himself. “I'll talk to 'em again tomorrow, if that helps.”

“Still, it's stupid that they're taking so long to process your salaries.” Taking a closer look at the table, she asked: “Where's Woud?”
“Sorry”, they heard a voice coming from the corridor as Woud entered and took the last free seat by the table. “Had to get something done quickly.”

“So you're done with your homework for today?”, Kirk asked him.
“Nah, not quite”, was the response. “Smells good, Mom.”

“And you're not just slacking?”, Agate asked as she got ready to serve him a portion onto his platter. “You used to be faster.”
“Just tired, nothin' else”, he responded as he held his dish closer to her. “Tha's enough, thanks.”

Slightly annoyed by how little Woud ended up taking, Agate decided to switch the topic and asked: “Say, Kirk, Ray, have you heard about that incident in the outskirts of town?”

“You gotta be more specific than that”, Kirk suggested. “There's plenty stuff happenin' in Kopernika.” Turning to Milana, he asked: “How about you? Did your customers say anything?”

“Mmmh, not that I remember... I think there was something on the radio about vandalism in the commercial district?”

“Yes, that might be it!”, Agate pointed out. “That one protest group that's constantly yelling about freeing animals... what were they called again?”

“People United For Animal Equality?”, Ray asked, noticing from a glance to the side that Modys got tenser by his mere words, anxiously looking at her bunny. “Yeah, that made the rounds today once or twice.”

“A small group was trying to demolish a pet shop”, Agate explained. “They only got as far as breaking their store window before they got tackled and tied up.”

“And we're sure that's not just been a bunch of crazy people or being desperate for attention?”, Ray pondered. “Seems a bit too on the nose.”
“Even if they weren't, they made a public statement about how they're in favor of their actions”, Agate added. “There's even rumors about the organization planning to get them a lawyer.”

“All that money going to waste”, Kirk added, annoyed. “I don't even understand how they got it.”

“Well, it's a fringe group, so even with all the money in the world, they can't get widespread public support, at least not legitimately...”, Ray pondered. “Still, those people are a mess.”

“Don't you guys get 'nuff politics at work?”, Woud said between bites.

“I don't like being called “guy” by my own son, but he's got a point”, Kirk said before taking his dish. “An extra large portion for me, please.”