The streets and sidewalks of New York were the same as always, bustling with the rush of lunchtime. And whether on foot or in a vehicle, things weren't moving very fast. Well...for the most part.

"Outta the way!" a voice yelled through the crowd as he weaved through, fast as he could, occasionally bumping into the unsuspecting bystander. The young man was wearing a black leather jacket, unzipped, showing a dark green shirt with a snarling black panther on it. His red-blond hair blew in the wind, and one of his gloved hands stuffed a wallet into his pocket.

Behind him was the sound of barking, and occasional chuckling at the dude being chased by a dog. Leaping over some homeless dude, Ty didn't hesitate, and eventually got to a clearer area. Then...he looked behind him as he darted into an alley. All he knew was that he'd snatched some guy's wallet and the guy sicked a dog on him. What he didn't see was....

"A CHIHUAHUA? Really?!?" He exclaimed, panting for air as the little dog growled and tugged on his pants leg. "You gotta...be kidding me..." Jerking his leg away, he jumped over the dog, then dug through the wallet. "Five bucks!?! Really...Here..." He gave the dog the wallet, then sighed as the little black lapdog took the wallet in his teeth and triumphantly walked away.

"You gotta be kidding me...."

From somewhere above the stranger's head there was the sound of soft clapping, and a slim figure leaned over the edge of the fire escape. Tses had been relaxing here for a short while between 'projects', when the dogs barking caught her attention. Watching the boy take the money and toss the wallet back to the dog, she smirked, and then she decided to make her presence known. She smirked down at him, and gave a small laugh.

"Quite the fearless little thief there, aren't cha?" She usually didn't do much of the social game, but it was too much of an opportunity to pass by. Living off the streets, there was always a time or two when your plan didn't go quite as you wanted, and the only satisfaction you found after someone gloated over your mistakes was in the day you got to do the same to some other street scrounger.

Ty looked up to the source of the chuckling. Great..someone saw that....And he didn't even keep the five bucks.

"Hey," he said, looking up. "When you're in my line of work, and someone yells 'Get 'im, Devil!' You don't look back to see what's chasing you. You just run."

Shaking his head, he leaned against the wall. "Not my greatest heist, I admit. But hey, you win some you lose some." He shrugged, still catching his breath.

Tses laughed, and gracefully swung herself over the railing, then lightly dropped to the ground next to him. The drop was at least a story up, but she landed lightly into a crouch then stood. She a bit shorter than him, with a slim frame that her baggy over-shirt extenuated, and her eyes seemed to glitter mischievously in the sunlight.

"That's why you make sure not to get caught. First rule of pick-pocking." She leaned back against the wall of the building to her right, and sized him up, taking note of his hair color and eyes. He seemed a little soft around the edges to be a thief, but there were different types of thieves. Some stole to survive. Others stole for fun. Tses was hard to pinpoint.

"Although I'm not sure New York is the best place to start perfecting your 'profession'. People here are generally distrusting and tend to keep both eyes open."

"I get spotted sometimes, but I haven't gotten busted yet," he replied. "If my stealth betrays me, my feet won't." Ty gave a nod. "And if it counts, he only caught me cuz I bumped into someone." He propped his gloved hands behind his head, sizing her up as they spoke. She seemed the mischievous type. Sort of like him, but maybe a little out of his league.

"Nobody's perfect. New York may not be the place to perfect it, but it's sure as heck the perfect place to prove yourself." Ty smiled, a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes.

"Just don't make me run for awhile," he said with another wink.

Tses felt herself giving a laugh, "Well, I'll make sure to keep an eye out and see if you succeed next time, without the unfortunate 'bumping into someone'." She stretched her arms, and adjusted the straps on her left hand. Glancing at the sky, she seemed to make a mental note of something, and turned back towards the streets.

Distantly, she heard a small commotion coming from around the corner, and her eyebrows crinkled inward as her mouth pulled into a frown. Someone was yelling, people were arguing, although she couldn't quite hear what it was about. Letting her hands drop to her side, she took a step closer. "Something seems... off."

"I've gotten some pretty good hauls from just pockets; you'd be surprised. If you think I'm worth watching," he said, looking into the distance, his breathing now normal. He blinked at her reacting, not quite catching what she was getting at.

"Off? What do ya mean?" he asked, pushing off of the wall and giving her a questioning look. Then he heard the sound of faint yelling and arguing, but he didn't pay much mind to it. Ty didn't know what she was talking about.

From her vantage point at the corner, Tses could see a crowd had built up, angrily discussing the recent pick-pocking. While their words seemed dismissible at first, there was a certain level they had taken that managed to make her a bit concerned.

"I bet you it was one of those good for nothing mutants! I'm tired of having that filth on our streets! We have to do something about them!"

While humans typically didn't bother her, angry hoards were something she'd rather avoid, especially when they were targeting mutants. Sometimes, the only way to escape those situations was to fight, and that tended to make the hostilities worse in the end. Backing back into the alley, she jumped up and caught the edge of the fire escape, and yanked the ladder down. Pulling herself up, she faced the boy and motioned for him to follow.

"I think this is the point where it's best to make a more stealthy getaway. Unless you'd rather face an angry mob this early in the day." Her face was more serious now. She wasn't afraid, but survival instincts were taking over as the voices seemed to be getting closer.

Ty made a face at what he heard; almost as if he'd just licked the underside of a snail. "Heh. Seems like mutants take the blame for everything nowadays..." he muttered, quickly climbing up the fire escape after her. "I swear...I was a pickpocket long before I was a mutant." This was said quieter, and more to himself, but there was still a possibility that she'd hear him.

"Hey," he said to her, but quieter in case someone was close enough to hear. "Face an angry mob first thing in the morning, and nothing worse can happen to ya for the rest of the day." He flashed a cheesy grin, continuing to climb up. The run earlier had taken it out of him, so he wasn't quite as quick as he would have been if he was at a hundred percent.

Tses continued to climb, giving him time to follow, and was close enough to hear his small muttering.

>> "I swear...I was a pickpocket long before I was a mutant".

Without thinking, she felt herself respond. "Most of us were." At this point, it would be hard to her to pretend she was normal anyway. She swung herself onto the roof and glanced down at him in time to see his grin. "You like to see the glass half full side of life, don't you?" She said it more as a statement than a question. "Never been much of an optimist myself. Don't expect anything, don't get disappointed."

From her vantage point, she could see the edge of the crowd starting to reach the corner of the alley. She felt her eyes knit together a little, but it was too soon to panic. Besides, humans only posed a problem if they were close enough to restrain you.

Ty followed her onto the roof, missing a step at first, but he managed on the second try. If he hadn't have been worn out by a freaking lap-dog, he could have made it on the first as well, but hey, that was just how it went sometimes.

"Me? I'm at a point where I'm just thankful my glass has something in it," he replied. "I've learned to play the hand I'm dealt; work with whatever it is I have." It wasn't too chilly out today, so he shed his leather jacket, slinging it over his shoulder as he lay back, keeping his black gloves securely on his hands. Not that he planned on touching anything, but better safe than sorry.

"My name's Ty," he said, realizing they never introduced.

Tses watched the group come into the alley, looking around, their angry voices echoing up the fire escape to the roof. She smirked a little. Humans never thought to look up, from experience, so as long as you kept off the streets, you could escape a lot easier. She sat on the roof for a second, and glanced over at the guy next to her. It was odd having another mutant nearby that wasn't trying to attack her, or she wasn't trying to blackmail.

"I don't like waiting for someone else to deal the cards." Tses smirked. "I deal my own." She walked away from the fire escape towards the middle of the building, and looked down at the New Yorker's below, assessing the situation. She was half tempted to drop one of her personal power 'grenades' on the group of anti-mutant haters, but it was better to avoid that for the time being. She'd get them back later.

"Tses." She responded to his introduction, and turned back to where he was sitting. "T-s-e-s-, first s is silent."

"Heh. I usually don't have to wait for life to throw something at me. I play one hand, and hey there's another one. Guess life loves me. Or hates me, whichever." He gave a chuckle, looking at his gloved hands. He'd really need to try to get a grip on his mutation at some point. It'd be so much nicer if he could somewhat control it and not need gloves all the time. Even if he did tend to take them off when uncomfortable...

"Nice to meet you," he said, brought back to reality by her introduction. Looking down at the humans, he half debated dropping something on them, but that'd only give away their position. As funny as that would be...

Tses felt her hands glowing with energy before she could stop herself, and a small orb of energy condensed in her hands. The opportunity was too much for her to avoid, and so with a mischievous grin, she gave the orb a little toss, and it landed in the trash can in front of the fire escape.

"Hey, what was that glowing thing?"

A small boom finished the question, and Tses quickly ducked down as bits of trash flew in every direction, a few nearly reaching the roof. Below, the onlookers were thrown backwards by the blast, unhurt but covered in filth. Tses wasn't really waiting for there reaction, however. She was already calmly moving towards the other end of the roof.

"So, what was that you said about making you run?"

Ty chuckled at her little trick; that was actually a really interesting power. And it got the humans covered in garbage, which was freaking hilarious. He lay flat on the roof when he saw them look up, so as not to be seen, before scooting away to where he was out of sight.

Looking back, he saw Tses moving to the other side of the roof. "I'd said not to, but...that was worth it," he said with a grin, moving so he was by her side. What had started as a pretty lame day was now becoming more interesting.