Rianne wasn't back with her ID yet. It was possible that Raine should have gone to the police and turned herself in, but as it turned out, New York was an expensive place to live and eat. And Raine rather liked to live and eat. It took her almost all day to get enough to continue living and eating, so by the time she fell into bed at the end of the day, turning herself in for possible imprisonment and deportation across the rift where SUPER was waiting was absolutely the LAST thing on her mind.

She still hadn't found a permanent job, but she had found more than a few quick ways to make a buck. And with Rebecca being such a dear, lovely, wonderful person who was letting her couch surf, now she wasn’t nearly as alone.

Was the X-team right for her? Probably not. This world’s team seemed very… in love with themselves.

Raine rolled out of bed after hearing Rebecca’s fourth alarm for the morning. Dishwashing was the worst. It was good then that it was the first job she went to.

Stealing from people was looking more and more tempting by the day. Especially when she sometimes caught them stealing from each other.

Stealing is bad. She reminded herself, after she got a pitiful few dollars in her water-wrinkled hands. After dishwashing was janitorial work. Raine slogged through the icy streets in search of the correct address. Apartments didn’t clean themselves...

She squinted as the gentle sleet turned sideways and made the apartment buzzers impossible to read.

She hit one at random. Someone would let her in.

Today was...better. It had been almost a month since he and Juliette had broken up and the librarian certainly wasn’t moping around like he had been. That had to be some kind of record, didn’t it? Normally whenever he had ended a relationship or a relationship ended on him, the man pretty much turned into a sick cat. He wandered his home, he grumbled and felt nothing. Nessa usually had a devil of a time getting him out of his funks but he always managed to find his way out. It wasn’t like when he had his PTSD episodes. No, this was just a general depression and Booker knew that with time he could get out of them.

And he had this time! Though he had really loved Juliette, part of him was beginning to realize that he wasn’t in love with her. She was amazing and sweet and awesome and, truly, one of the best things to happen to him, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. The effects that he had on her powers were -- unnerving. You know what it’s like to step away from someone and watch them cringe in pain? To fear spending too much time with them because they could end up keeling over before you kept them from accessing their abilities for too long? Booker knew; and it wasn’t a nice feeling.

So he let her go. It probably wasn’t his call to make. He should have talked more deeply about it with Juliette but deep down, he knew that he would never be strong enough to see her in pain because of him. Besides, she was too amazing to be tied to a stuffy librarian.

It was hard at first but, eventually things got better. He was smiling more, he was joking more, and he was making some amazing friends and meeting great people. Most recently, Javier had turned to be a rather interesting guy. He was a tailor and was making him his costume for the next convention he was headed to. That had been a welcome distraction, something that Booker could really sink his teeth too and help him move on from things; he was referring to the costume, of course, not the tailor.

Ahem.

But today was one of those rare days where the librarian unfortunately had nothing to do. He planned ahead of time to switch shifts earlier this week with a co-worker of his so this was now his day off. He didn’t have anything to film for his and Nessa’s ViewTube channel. Most of his books that were already in the apartment he had already read several times over. AND he was caught up on his DVR! Like, really, when does this kind of stuff happen? What was going to do with his time? Booker had pondered this for most of his morning until, he finally settled on a walk. A walk would be something right?

A walk turned into a trip to the bakery just down the street and now he was making his way back, down the sidewalk, wearing his black hoodie and thick jeans. In his arms he carried with him a smaller brown paper bag that had two long baguettes sticking out of it, as well as some smaller items he purchased that were nestled inside. Marching his way down the icy sidewalks and ensuring that his beane was still situated on his head, he turned a corner and stopped when he came to his building. There was someone there, pushing several buttons and receiving no answers. Clearly she didn’t live here otherwise she would know it was busted.

He walked up to the front of the building, stopped, watched the pretty blonde for a few moments before he smirked. ’Um, you having trouble there, miss?” he asked innocently. ”You know the way you’re supposed to Ding-Dong-Dash is to remember the vitally important ‘Dash’ part of the equation.” A peppy smile followed.

By the fourth button press, Raine was starting to wonder if they had a camera so that everyone knew she wasn't who they were waiting for. Or maybe absolutely no one in this building cared. Were they all at work? Usually someone was home when she was cleaning, probably because they feared that she would be stealing from them. Were they all snuggled up inside where any sane human should be? She was running through her options in her head at the speed of chilly molasses. Maybe she should go back to college...

> ’Um, you having trouble there, miss?”

"The buttons don't seem to—" Wait. Miss? Raine turned, ready to tell off whoever it was who dared talk to her as 'miss' but she was confused by what she saw.

He wasn't old-old, like she expected. Just maybe old enough to have his s**t together. He was all properly bundled up. He had food. He was... was that a... smile? And a joke to follow up. This foreign creature's face erupted into sheer brilliance that nearly blinded her. It wasn't until she met his eyes that she saw the smallest echo of something that looked real.

He was being nice. Because they were strangers.

"I don't need help." She grumbled ineffectively in the light of his pep and shoved her fingers in the pockets of her bulky sweater. "But I do need the door open. I need inside so I can do my job?" She offered a little smile, but couldn't tell if it worked, her face was long since numb.

Booker couldn’t help but look up in amusement at the young woman who was trying to get the buzzer working. It had been down in Friday, thanks to some jokesters who had put something in it so that it would ring all the apartments in the building at the same time, over and over again, without stopping. The manager finally had to just come down and remove the damn wires from it as it was the only way to make it stop. Now all the tenants were stuck waiting for their phones to ring to see if they had a visitor and delivery people were stuck outside until someone walked in or out of the building.

Unfortunately it seemed as if the young woman here came at a time when no one was coming or going and didn’t seem to know anyone in the place. That was rather...unfortunate, especially in this weather.

So he called out to her. Did she need any help?

>>"The buttons don't seem to—"

He offered her a smile. He started to climb the steps a few at a time, but stand at least two steps underneath her. This was New York and he was aware that not everyone liked to be approached by random, darkly dressed strangers. Then again, how many muggers and murderers carry baguettes with them? Huh...that would have to be something to research, but later.

With his patented sense of humor, he couldn’t help but tease the young woman a little bit. If she were trying to ring the bell and run, then she was doing it all wrong. For a moment there it didn’t seem as if she were going to take his words kindly, but as she stared at him, he could see her expression soften a tiny bit. He really meant her no harm, he was just had really, really bad jokes.

>>"I don't need help...But I do need the door open. I need inside so I can do my job?"

He tilted his head once she had revealed why she was here -- to do a job? She didn’t look like one of the building maintenance people, and he didn’t see a tool belt or anything like that. Then again, he knew better than to judge people at first glance. She could have been a hooker! And far be it from him to judge. Besides, if she were lying, he doubted she would get into any of the apartments anyways. So, with an understanding smile, he climbed the rest of the steps.

”Far be it from me to keep a harding worker individual from doing their job.” Once atop the stairs, he pulled his keys from his pocket, quickly found the right one, and inserted it into the lock. A turn and a click and he pushed the door open, holding it open with his foot as he shifted the bag between his arms. ”Go on,” he said with a smile. ”Ladies first.”

She saw the thinking filter down through the once-over she got. Raine didn't look like she was capable of much; she wasn't dressed well for the weather —admittedly kitten heels were a poor choice for the weather but great for her confidence, she didn't have any equipment on hand, and she was young, looking younger than others her age, even.

He took all that in and let her in anyway.

First.

On any other day, she might have taken issue with that, but Raine knew she had to get inside if she wanted to keep all her fingers and toes. The rush of warm air tightened the skin on her cheeks and made her fingers feel wooden despite the prickles of feeling that were starting to return.

Raine took the time to knock the slushy sleet from her shoes revealing the leopard print pattern. She definitely should have worn something more practical, but these were so her and so little in this world felt like it was right. She might have to pay for it in frostbite but to keep hold of who she was, she was apparently willing to take that risk.

"Thanks. I owe ya one." Fishing the paper from her pocket, Raine tried to make sense of the stairs and floors and figure out where she was going. This was her first time with this company and she was nervous going to someone's home, but they were supposed to be there and provide all the stuff she would need. It wasn't like she had a key or anything else to be responsible for.

Raine punched the button to call the elevator and huddled her hands together to breathe some warmth into them. The chunky sweater was not enough when there was wind and sleet. Little dots of ice were now melting and making her regret just about everything beyond getting out of bed today.

"Nice weather we're having, hmm?" Not sarcasm, that was Raine's attempt to be pleasant. The guy who'd let her in was nice enough. And if he wasn't she'd just stick him to the ceiling until he changed his mind. Being bale to use her mutant abilities in the open in the world was one seriously major perk.

The problem was that, yes, Booker probably should have inquired a bit more deeply as to the reason that the young blonde was here. For the safety of the building, in a world filled with madness, it probably made the most sense. However he didn’t really like to be the nosy type (that was more his sister) and whatever reason the blonde was here, that was her business. Of course the fact that she was here for a mysterious “job”, despite the fact that she had no equipment about her, did leave fertile ground for his imagination to blossom.

What was she here for? Did a job refer to her performing an assassination attempt on someone? Was she part of the church and going to exorcise a demon out of that nasty old Mrs. Watts on the third floor? Or was it something more mundane and down to earth such as a prostitution? If the latter were true, he’d probably feel far more sad. She was a bit younger, at least she looked it, and if she were already selling her body for rent money, what was the world coming to?

The narrative that began to form in Booker’s head was in-depth and tragic, involving the death of the blonde’s family, the passion to want to be a doctor, and the cruelty of a world who forced her to sell herself just to make ends meet; and all before he even knew her name! He sighed at his own imagination, shaking the thoughts away as he opened the door for her. Whatever her story, at least he wasn’t going to let her freeze out in the cold.

>>"Thanks. I owe ya one."

Oh. My. God. Was she offering him “one” on the house!? Did he really come off that pervy?! Dammit, he was stuck on this train of thought now. No, she wasn’t offering him that. It was a common turn of phrase and, therefore, had no other implications. He just offered her a smile in response and a nod of his head.

”No problem.”

Booker separated from the blonde, moving to his mailbox where he inserted the key, opening the door, and struggled to both balance his bag as well as the mail that was pouring out. Dammit, Nessa hadn’t checked the mail in a few days. He wasn’t surprised. He would always get on her about this but her reply consistently was that anything important she would get via email, text, or phone call. Who uses the regular mail anymore? He rolled his eyes and struggled to pick up the circulars and junk, finding a bill amongst the mess. He snorted -- Nessa was late paying something. What was surprise. Proudly he tucked that into his bag to present it to her later.

Mailbox seal and junk mail thrown away, Booker walked over to the elevator that had just now come down to greet the hooker blonde whom he had let in earlier. Though he had no problem taking the stairs, he didn’t want to offend the young woman into thinking he was too ride an elevator with her. So, waiting for the doors to open, he hummed to himself, rolling back and forth between the balls of his feet and his heels.

>>"Nice weather we're having, hmm?"

He blinked, turning his gaze back down to her. She seemed friendly enough. Maybe she had a heart of gold? Dammit, now he had to want Attractive Female again. He veered off his mental tangent and nodded to her.

”Oh yeah,” he agreed. ”Nothing says a fine January day like turning the city into an ice box.” He smirked and turned back to the elevator. It dinged, finally, and the doors slid open. ”So, um, you’re here for a job, right?” he asked. He waiting until she stepped in first before he punched the number for his apartment floor. ”Which floor?”

The way he said 'job' had... implications. She was only cleaning, for goodness sakes! Was this guy a heart-on-his-sleeve kind of Summer Child? Wanting to save people and all that? Somehow despite her earlier guess that he had it together, now she was guessing it might not be quite that simple. People never were.

Raine punched the button herself with a red and chilly thumb. She really didn't need his help, especially when he had his hands full of freaking delicious why-did-she-get-into-a-small-space-with-his-fresh bread.

"I got it." She checked her pay-per-use flip phone for the time, Raine would just barely make it assuming this wasn't one of those painfully slow elevators that was probably hand-cranked by gnomes.

She looked again at the guy, the only other person in the elevator, sorry that she was snippy and knowing it was just the exhaustion and monotony. Raine should give in and go back to one of the mutant shelters... it would be easier. She sighed as the elevator began to whirr itself up. A slow one.

"Look, I'm from across the rift and I'm just trying to get on my feet, okay?" She didn't owe him even that explanation, but he looked like he needed it. Raine folded her hands and breathed into them, ready to let that be the close of their conversation. "Just. Not sure how yet."

The elevator dinged and Raine realized that he'd never hit another button. Oh. Same floor. Yippy!

So, his own narrative aside, Booker was really just trying to be nice. He saw the woman was new to the building, it could get a little confusing, so he decided that rather than avoid her completely, he wanted to try to help. Once in on the elevator, he asked which floor she was on, but it seemed as if she already had that covered. He watched a she struggled to retrieve a piece of paper, or something, that probably had the apartment number on it but she didn’t say anything beyond:

>>"I got it."

Not wanting to intrude upon her anymore, Booker leaned back against the wall of the elevator, his bag held carefully in his arms. She didn’t immediately answer his question and he wondered if maybe she didn’t hear it. Did he talk loud enough? Seemingly she heard everything else that he had said, but why didn’t she hear that part? He would have questioned, maybe asked if she was having hearing trouble (probably a bad thing to have when being a hooker) but he thought better of it. After all, if he had hearing problems, he would hate for other people to point it out all the time.

But Booker thoughts were interrupted when the blonde seemingly huffed and started to go off on a tangent, the cause of which he...simply didn’t know.

>>"Look, I'm from across the rift and I'm just trying to get on my feet, okay? Just. Not sure how yet."

Blink.

He rewound back through their initial meeting and tried to understand where he had gone wrong. Why was she so mad at him? He didn’t think he had made any accusations that would have resulted in any of those comments. Then again, he wasn’t her and who knows if she saw something in his expression that would have set her off. Either way, she seemed irritated and their conversation time was up. So, with a meek little smile he dipped his head down.

”Um...welcome to the other side…” he simply said.

With that, and a careful step away from the blonde so he didn’t crowd her, Booker averted his eyes and waited for the slow elevator to make it to the next floor. They needed to fix this damn thing too. But, he didn’t grumble or say anything outloud for fear of angering the young woman again. Instead he kept to himself, waiting for those numbers to reach his and Nessa’s floor.

She even got a welcome. How did this guy survive in New York? Didn't he know the code? She, of course, could not talk about the code because the first rule of the code was that no one acknowledged it outwardly. Raine was already on thin ice for asking a pseudo-stranger for a hug, so she wasn't about to say anything, but it was there lurking beneath a fresh coat of snow-like paranoia.

New Yorker's needed to look out for themselves first, their neighbors second, and f*** everybody else. Kind of like how the safety masks were supposed to work on airplanes.

This guy was firmly in the 'everybody else' segment of Raine's life. Maybe he was acting neighborly because of the building? Bah! She tried to shake it off as she breathed into her hands to warm them.

Besides, his words reminded her of that Atele song Hello so she hummed that to herself for the rest of the excruciatingly slow elevator ride. She gave her sort-of kind-of pretend neighbor a little wave as she exited and made her way to the apartment noted on her slip of paper.

She knocked and waited. Glanced back to see where Mr. Neighbor had gone and by the time she was done the chain was rattling on the other side of the door. She readied her best professional smile.

This job was gonna be easy. It paid almost double what her last cleaning job offered and Raine was only scheduled for an hour before the next job. It couldn't be all that much work. In fact, as the door opened she saw that the apartment was decently clean already. So, probably just the deep clean areas then. Her scan of the apartment stuck firmly on the figure that'd opened the door.

Socks. Bathrobe. Wet hair.

> "Please, come in. Make yourself comfortable."

She'd expected the apartment to be a little bit nicer for how much they were paying her to clean. She stepped inside and started scoping out the baseboards and other potential problem areas. He was getting something out from a bowl on the kitchen counter top. Was that cash?

> "I was told we'd need to negotiate up front on what you will and won't do."

"Oh, I'll do just about anything so long as I have time."

Raine was getting the weirdest vibe. Her every instinct was telling her that she was agreeing to something she didn't mean to. Something like...

> "Have any idea what you want to do for starters?"

"Bath...tub?"

He chuckled. It was a good joke, if she'd been joking.

> "You are a dirty gi--"

"Uh. Yeah." She cut in on him because that was not what someone would say to a maid or house cleaner person. And she was very much wanting to be one of those two options and not at all whatever option he was imagining.

"I think there's been some confusion about..." She took a step back, but the front door was already shut and she'd wandered toward the hall. Her actual options for leaving were limited. How could she be so stupid!? THIS MAN HAD HIRED A HOOKER. "--this. So I'm going to go... You'll probably get a refund. So."

Her options were limited. He didn't deserve to get stuck to the ceiling, no matter how fiercely she wanted to punish him for her own confused humiliation. Before her was the living room and the man. Behind her, the bedroom? Directly to the side? Kitchen and a window. She didn't see the fire escape but it had to be somewhere.

She did not want to walk close to him.

So screw all of everything.

"I'm leaving. Now." She made a break for the window and had it unlocked and shoved up before he got his wits back. The cold slapped her on the face like a library fine and she hesitated in order to look back.

She wasn't the only one confused. Only, he seemed to be taking this for some kind of farce or pretend game.

> "Ohh. You're not getting away."

He winked in the corniest way and made a grab for her.

"No! I mean it!" She slapped his hands away and raised her voice. Now that the window was open, maybe someone else would hear? "I would literally rather jump out of the window rather than let you touch me." She turned to go and noticed the fire escape wasn't at this window. Whatever. She could walk on walls when she wanted to. So she did. She stuck herself to the wall outside and jumped out the window with all her might.

The guy made a real scared sound at first and then grumbled when gravity pulled her back toward the outside wall. Raine landed hard next to the window and dashed with slippy heels on an ice-coated facade. She went around the outside of the building to get some distance until... until quite suddenly her slippy heels were slipping more than they should. She was sticking to the building any more.

Raine scrabbled at the nearest hand and footholds as her world shifted without her permission. She was quite a ways from the fire escape that had been her aim, but at least she was around to the other side of the building where she knew she wouldn't be barging in on the same tennant.

If she could just get there to the fire escape... she could get down. Her handhold turned out to be a window, so she tapped at it on the off chance that someone was home. The wind gusted and made her regret getting out of bed this morning.

Booker wasn’t sure what was up with the young blonde but it seemed like she was having a rather rough time of things. It was true, the rift certainly was causing some issues. A flood of people from a mirror world were coming other, most of them confused and lost, others looking to take advantage of a world where they didn’t exist. As interested as Booker was in the phenomena, he wasn’t fool enough to go and try to investigate it. He was an adapted, after all, and there was every possibility he could accidentally shut the wormhole down, leaving a mass of people caught on one side or the other, where they didn’t belong. He didn’t want to be responsible for that.

So Booker stayed on his side, lived his life, and tried not to think what another world and another Booker and what shaped him into the person he was. Nah, he wasn’t interested in that at. all.

Ahem.

Once the elevator ride was over, Booker stepped out and offered the young woman a kindly wave. The last thing he wanted was to over extend his welcome to the stressed out girl so he remained in silence until they reached their desired floor. Huh, it seemed as if they were getting off at the same stop. So, stepping out, he shared a little wave with her before he balanced his bag once again and headed for his apartment.

He only shared one more glance with the girl as she knocked on the door of a neighboring apartment. He still wasn’t fully sure what she was doing here. Everything in his mind screamed out “HOOKER” but he didn’t think his neighbors were really into that kind of thing. Then again, he didn’t know how all these people were behind closed doors. In the end, it was between her and her John, nothing he could really do about it. He just hoped she was of age because she did look a little on the young side. Okay, now his mind was straying and he needed to just butt out. So, unlocking his door, he stepped in and closed it behind him.

After depositing the bag of bakery goods on the kitchen counter, Booker sighed feeling weariness in his bones. It had been a minute since he had last been outside so the walk, including the cold, had been rather tiring. His jacket was removed with a loud “ziiiiiiiiiiip” and tossed onto a neighboring coat rack. Once he was sure it remained hanging, the towering librarian made his way to the couch, popped open the window, and took a seat with a satisfied sigh. He’d put groceries away in a moment. For now, he just wanted to kick off his boots and enjoy the sweet sensation of being in the calm and serenity of hom--

>>"No! I mean it! I would literally rather jump out of the window rather than let you touch me."

He blinked. ”...the f***?” he grumbled.

He was used to the noise and bustle of New York City but that seemed awfully close and alot more suicide-y than he was used to. His curiosity piqued, he stood from his comfortable seat and made his way to the window where he pushed it open just a bit more. Just before he could peak out, there was motion, unheard cursing, and the sound of someone tapping on the glass. Upon returning to his window, he glanced to see fingers gripping onto the side of the sill, attaching to hands, attached to arms, all of which were connected to a very familiar blonde.

”Oh jeez!” he reached out, taking a hold of one of her arms. ”What’s wrong?! What happened?!” And he started to pull her up, easy considering that was she was essentially a halfling when compared to him.

She did mean to made a dramatic window exit. Nothing short of drama was gonna stop the guy from understanding that she wasn't playing around, plus proximity was bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad. As soon as she was out that knot of tension loosened. It was replaced with a moment of sheer terror when she slipped because she did not mean to slip. She did not mean to inconvenience anyone, either. And she certainly didn't think she'd end up at Mr. Neighbor's window.

> ”Oh jeez! What’s wrong?! What happened?!”

"What? This?" Raine' phone buzzed in her pocket distracting her enough that she didn't bother rejecting his help. He was just Mr. Helpful Neighbor and she was just climbing in a window with frozen fingers and... oh! there went one of her shoes. Raine glanced back and frowned at its passing. She loved those dumb shoes, even if they had tried to get her killed more than once.

"This is just your normal average Tuesday, neighbor." She did make it in through the window and the temperature difference was absolutely glorious, especially on her now naked foot. If she was shaking, it was from the cold and not at all from her brush with hooker-dom.

"On the other side, I volunteer at the hospital and you should see some of the shenanigans they put the candy stripers up to." Like, for example, fighting crime as a cohesive team. Ridiculous, really. Raine fished out her phone, having just missed the call. She had to redial.

Raine glanced at Mr. Neighbor and decided to pocket the phone instead. It was not becoming of a lady to shout in front of kind strangers and Raine had some choice words to trade with whoever set up that ad for apartment cleaning.

So this wasn’t exactly what Booker was expecting when he looked outside of his window after hearing shouting. Instead of seeing an on-and-off again couple coming to blows, it was the familiar blonde whom he had just met in the elevator. However, as much as he wanted to believe that she was dedicated to her job of...window washing?...he had a sneaking suspicion that that wasn’t exactly what had happened. After all, with the shouting and the vague threat he heard about her leaping out the window, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to put those two things together.

At a loss for words, and not caring that there was a strange woman hanging outside of his window, he reached out and immediately started to pluck her out of the cool air like a winter strawberry.

>>"What? This? This is just your normal average Tuesday, neighbor."

He couldn’t help but crack a smile, albeit a small one. There was still the issue of the girl literally hanging outside of his window. Thankfully she didn’t weigh a lot so it was a simple matter of plucking her out of the open and into the warmth of his apartment. Thank god she was small, otherwise she ran the risk of pulling the both of them out.

>>"On the other side, I volunteer at the hospital and you should see some of the shenanigans they put the candy stripers up to."

”As, ugh, humorous as I’m sure those shenanigans are,” he replied. He pulled her in enough for him to cup his hands around her torso and lift her the rest of the way into the building. ”Let’s save the anecdotes for after you’re not dangle out of the window like a flightless pigeon, shall we?”

Setting her down inside the apartment, he could already feel the warmth of central heating refreshingly slap him across the cheek. The blonde, however was still pretty chill and a quick glance showed that her lack of appropriate footwear was even worse considering that she lacked a single shoe. Instantly his instincts to help kicked in as he moved past her and plucked up a throw blanket from the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders.

”Jesus, it’s cold out there,” He said. He left her to her devices as he leaned down to pull the window back down and keep the heat in. Once accomplished, he turned back to face her. ”So, that was interesting. Care to explain why you were hanging on my window sill? I want to say failed cat burglar attempt but you wouldn’t admit it if that were the case, would you?”

> ”Let’s save the anecdotes for after you’re not dangle out of the window like a flightless pigeon, shall we?”

"Flightless!" She was somehow sure that was an insult, but Raine couldn't quite fit it together how it was an insult, specifically. To be fair, she was having a rather spectacular mess of a day. It hit her all at once when her bare foot touched his apartment floor, which felt warm to the touch. Maybe even hot by comparison of her frigid toes.

"Flightless pigeons are just rats!" She complained.

Rats with wings - wings = rats. The math checked out.

He moved past and Raine more than made way for him. She kept a suspicious eye on him all the way to the couch and back, in fact. It didn't occur to her that the blanket was for her until it was already in place.

What must she look like to be pitied so by a stranger?

She considered protesting. Her mouth even fell open a bit, but any argument she attempted died before it had fully formed. She blamed her shoulders, which were starting to thaw. The fact that she could feel them was a distraction.

"I— You didn't—" Words were hard. Raine tucked her shoeless foot behind her shoed one in an attempt to hide it. She sighed, knowing that hiding the fact that she was a ship without a rudder (or a hoe without a heel) was a ship that had already sailed. Instead, she tugged the blanket closer around herself and cocooned as best she could without moving from her designated standing spot.

"No. I'm not here to steal your stuff." She didn't make a move to return the blanket, though. "But I totally could be. You can't trust anybody in this town. That fool thought I was a hooker!"

Or maybe, she realized, she was the fool for accidentally hooking.

So maybe the situation was a little...weird. Though it wasn’t the first time that Booker had to drag someone into his apartment through the window (Becca still wouldn’t forgive him for that) it wasn’t exactly something that a guy can get used to. Even with the blonde angrily snapping at him for comparing her to a pigeon-rat, the librarian ignored her bluster, assuming that it merely had to do with her momentary affliction of nearly dying and all that. So responding to her sass really wasn’t appropriate. Rather, he merely set the young woman down and quickly went about doing whatever he could to warm her up given how cold it was outside.

Some may have been suspicious of the towering man but the librarian really didn’t give helping others a second thought. He liked to think that an act or two of kindness would go a long way in a world where selfish bitterness was the norm. Once the blanket was wrapped around the blonde’s shoulders, he milled about, giving her space, ensuring the window was closed and that the heater was still circulating through the apartment.

Once all that was done, he turned to gave the other a slightly amused, but cautious look. Booker wasn’t all together stupid, after all, but she looked fairly harmless enough. So he inquired what had happened and why she had been hanging out his window. He tossed the idea that she was a cat burglar out the window he doubted it was true. Besides, there was nothing wrong with adding a bit of levity to the situation.

>>"I— You didn't—"

Apparently she wasn’t as amused. Booker winced under the look that she gave him before she finally just tugged her blanket a bit closer around her to fend off the cold. Eventually she seemed to understand that he was trying to help so she, begrudgingly, went into what happened.

>>"No. I'm not here to steal your stuff...But I totally could be. You can't trust anybody in this town. That fool thought I was a hooker!"

She confirmed that she wasn’t a thief, but that trust was something that was closely guarded -- especially given the snafu of his neighbor mistaking her for a hooker. A small wave of relief rolled over Booker’s shoulders at the revelation. He suddenly felt a bit better about the situation, though he was also saddened that she had to go through that. What the hell did his neighbor do to cause her to actually try to throw herself out the window?

What could he say now? The woman was clearly worse for the wear and having an absolutely terrible day. He wanted to try to comfort but she was akin to a tiny ferret in a classroom that had been prodded one too many times by the kids. The last thing he wanted to do was be bitten. Still, the librarian couldn’t help but...well...help.

”Oh so you’re not a hooker,” he said with a confirming nod. ”Good.” A beaming smile followed as he turned to head to the kitchen. ”You must be freezing. Go ahead and have a seat if you want. Do you want something warm to drink? Tea? Coffee?” He peered back from the edge of the kitchen door. ”Unless you are planning to steal my stuff?”

"Why does everyone--!?" No. Actually, Raine didn't want to know WHY people thought she was a hooker. She had some idea already and did want it confirmed. "No!" She breathed to calm herself and the man took the opportunity to offer her tea. TEA. Like... like she was a welcome GUEST.

Had she ever been a welcome guest, and offered tea? Raine stood very still in her little designated safe-to-stand spot.

"I'm on the wrong side of the rip so I was trying to make some cash under the table. I'm damn lucky I haven't been picked up by human traffickers." That made her cold in a whole new way. She wavered in her safe spot.

"Coffee. I'll only steal your stuff if you made a bad pot." She put her bare foot back down. She was joking about the stealing, but her tone made it fall flat. She had to shake off her funk. If she wanted to be an actress, she would have to put on a face, no matter how she felt.

Raine took heart from that. She could pretend.

"I'm a coffee snob, you see." And a coffee snob would not need to use the blanket like a shield. Coffee snobs weren't wounded animals. She smiled, falling into an easy tease as she pulled off the blanket and walked toward the kitchen with a fresh eye. What was there that was even worth stealing? If he had a espresso machine maybe. "Let me learn you a thing or two."