It was bound to happen eventually. Ash shook her head as she emerged from the public gas station bathroom, kicking the door open so she wouldn't have to touch anything. She looked down at the black wool tights she reluctantly added to her normal day-to-day clothing. The days were getting cooler and pretty soon she wasn't going to be able to get away with sleeping on park benches at night.

She walked around the corner of the building and into the convenience store, careful to use her elbow to push open the grimy glass door. The doorbell tinkled as she entered, drawing the cashier's attention. She could feel his eyes on her as she scuffled to the farthest end of the store, following the comforting aroma of coffee. Ash let out a quiet sigh as she pulled her sleeves up from over her hands. When she picked up a styrofoam cup from the top of the stack she heard what she assumed to be the cashier's bored voice in her head. Gotta fill the creamer next. And when she pushed down on the lever below the coffee urn she was bombarded by the thoughts of four or five different strangers, each rushing for one reason or another.

the kids... late again

boss won't li-

i knew i forgot somethin-

Ash closed her eyes tight, waiting for the unfamiliar voices to fade away before returning to her task. At least I don't have a job to be late for, Ash thought to herself with a smirk. Good old Ash, always the optimist. Doesn't matter that she doesn't have a place to sleep tonight and she's running dangerously low on cash, because she isn't late for work.

With her too large cup or too hot coffee in hand Ash made her way to the counter. The cashier looked her over suspiciously, "Just the coffee, anything else?" Ash looked somewhere around his right ear when she answered him, "No." He punched in a few numbers, "That'll be $1.80." Ash clumsily dropped her backpack onto the dirty floor, spilling some of its contents. She bent down to pick everything up, coming back up to the counter with $1.80 in change. She dropped the small pile on the counter, picked up the cup with her sleeve safely between her skin and the styrofoam, and hurried out the door without so much as a "thank you."

A few moments later, Ash sat on a park bench in Central Park, bouncing her knees and holding the coffee in both hands to warm herself against the cold morning air. When she accidentally dropped her bag in front of the counter, two Nature's Valley bars accidentally fell into her bag in the process, so she was all set for breakfast. Ash felt a little smile creep across her face, she was getting pretty good at this, but if she didn't find somewhere warm to sleep tonight, she wasn't going to have to bother worrying about food much longer.

No trace of a smile remained on Ash's face, even if she managed to scrounge up a little extra money, no hotel would take a sixteen year old girl. She didn't have any friends and there was NO way she was going back to her mother, she'd just as soon freeze.

She shrugged, tugged on her gloves, popped in her headphones, and started walking. What else is there to- before she could even complete her own thought, she knew. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a paint splattered stencil while her other hand fished through her bag for the new can of purple paint.

This aughta keep me busy for a while, I can worry about sleeping later. The bridge ahead had her name written all over it. Well, not yet it didn't.

It was cold.

But then again, always being outside meant always being cold at this time of year. And she only assumed that because, well...it had to get better, right? Ashley Aran, known to Rhythm to anyone that asked, sighed and took to a habit she had been forming lately in times like this; reaching down to her front pocket and petting the sleeping kitten inside. She smiled as all she felt (through her gloves) was a sleeping ball of fur. Not wanting to disturb Duran she retracted her hand and stuffed them in the side pockets and kept walking.

At this particular juncture she wasn't sure what to do. She was bored, as per usual, was waiting on more information from what little contacts she had left in regards to the mutant she was hunting down. She could go and hunt for food and decided that she would.

The matter settled in her mind, she began walking to the nearest fast food joint, a McDonalds or something, when she spotted someone, a young girl if she was correct, heading towards a bridge with...things in hand. Ashley tilted her head and sighed. Well, the place was isolated to say the least, and this girl clearly had no real idea how things worked in New York if she was heading to a place here she could get mugged or worse with no one to watch her back. Ashley thought back to her first few weeks alone in New York and sighed. She had her powers to help her, as well as her extensive training in Muay Thai, she she could at least fight. The girl she saw skittering towards the bridge was an unknown, so Ashley simply assumed she would need help should trouble arrive.

And this was New York, a place she was heard someone call Mutant City. Trouble was everywhere.

Still, Ashley thought as she began trudging to the place the girl was heading to, she would love to be proved wrong and simply waste a few minutes (or whatever) to make sure the girl was safe and then be on her way to feed herself and her kitten. She felt Duran stirring in her pocket and smiled; she was very talkative for a cat, often mewing back responses whenever Ashley asked a question or made an offhand comment. She found it odd that she didn't feel weird talking to a cat, but...well, weirder tings have happened in her time in New York. Cats understanding and responding back really didn't faze her as much as it should have.

She reached the girl she was following and watched for a moment as she did something with a stencil and paint. Ashley sniffed and reached up, taking off her headphones for a moment to turn off the music, something she rarely did but figured that, right now, it would be useful. The other girl seemed intent on her work, and if Ashley hailed her on all frequencies she would probably talk over her shoulder...and Ashley Aran couldn't lip read that, no matter how good she was at it.

But even as she replaced the headphones, she didn't say a word, merely looked around for the trouble she thought might come. She went to cross her arms but felt the head of Duran peek out from her pocket and instead contented herself with petting her head. It was soothing, really, especially when she felt the little kitten began to purr. She felt much calmer around her new friend, and she let a faint smile come to her face. Though, like most times when she did smile, no one would see it. The long red scarf she wore covered the expression, leaving only her eyes twinkling for anyone to see.

Ash scuffed her boots over the pavement as she walked and hummed along with her iPod. One ear in, one ear out, just like her father always encouraged her to do in the city. Her father's words echoed in her mind, "remember Ash, never take candy from strangers, and never let your guard down." She frowned as the memory began to fade, her father never would have let her get into this predicament, what with being homeless and all. She shook her head as she came to the bridge and began her work. Her quick, practiced hands added quick bursts of black and chrome over her purple nautical star.

After taking a step back, Ash admired her work. She wasn't purposefully doing anything wrong, she normally considered herself to be a pretty good kid. The underside of the bridge just needed a little jazzing up and she really needed a way to occupy her time. Ten stars into her design she braced herself, listening. Someone was nearby, walking in her direction. Not that coming across other people in the park was uncommon, she was in the middle of CENTRAL PARK after all. Ash returned her focus to her illegal pastime , but prepped herself, ready to run if need be.

Once the slow footsteps seemed to have stopped Ash sneaked a peak over her shoulder, only to snap her gaze to the ground. The red headed girl seemed to be watching her. She couldn't begin to imagine why, so she shrugged and did what any impulsive teenager would do.

"Hi," Ash blurted out the word, almost too loud and too eager. She took in the girl's appearance, long tan coat and a red scarf covering half of her face. Her eyes darted up to the massive headphones engulfing her head. She took the girl to be around her age and her curiosity grew. She shoved the still wet stencil and paint into her pockets and took a step forward. She could be underestimating this girl, this stranger, but she honestly didn't sense any threat. Regardless, her father would so not be happy with her right now.

"What're you listening to?"

There was only a few moments of silence before the girl spoke, and Ashley wasn't really surprised. Just judging from how she handled herself it didn't seem like she was worried about her surroundings at all, even though (now that she was up closer) Ashley could see that she only had one earbud in while the other remained out. Okay, that was good. At least she was TRYING to not get jumped and killed. For a brief moment Ashley wondered why she cared but suppressed that thought. Better to think on such things later, when she was home. And the cat was fed.

>>>"Hi.” A step forward. “What're you listening to?"

Ashley took an instinctive step back at this. She stopped herself from taking more and, for no other reason then to avert her eyes from the other girl's pretty purple ones, she looked down to Duran, who was looking up at her with what could only be described as a confused look. Ashley knitted her eyebrows at this and put a hand over the kittens head and engulfed it for a moment, causing the small kitten to go into a tizzy as she shook her head for a brief moment and then retracted her hand, scratching the top of her head playfully.

“Nothing, now.” Ashley answered, her usually husky voice a bit muffled under the scarf. “Dangerous, you know. Out here. Yer...alone. Might get hurt, right?” She huffed a moment, her voice going a little softer. “Don't deserve to be hurt.”

Well, that was odd. It wasn't like Ashley prided herself on being a 'lone wolf' or whatever other cliché things people called themselves when they were really antisocial doucheclowns, but it wasn't like her to really care. And despite trying to put off the thought on WHY she cared, the thought came back with a vengeance and Ashley stalled it for awhile, thinking of the most logical reason for wanting to make sure this person wasn't hurt; because it was the right thing to do. The HUMANE thing to do, anyways. And, really...that was good enough.

The redhead shifted from one foot to the other as she continued to look down and only looked up when she thought it was safe to do so. Hooded gray eyes took in the image of the girl, her mind going to it's usual routine and determining that yeah, the girl could fight, but not in the level she was trained at. She was young, about the age Ashley was when she lost her memory permanently if the redhead had to guess. She looked beyond the current position of the Purple Eyed Girl and to the tagging on the bridge. She nodded her approval.

“Pretty.” she voiced out, looking back to the gorgeous violet eyes. “You tag alone? Always? No lookout?”