With the Company of Bad Luck(open)

[snake eyes]

Snake Eyes had just sold his last paper. He’d started out with twenty that morning, he usually started with more, but he was running low on money lately. He walked slowly down the street passing stranger after stranger. Then he spied him up ahead- the jack rustle terrier. “Mud! Here boy,” Snake Eyes called. The dog turned and pranced over to him. The boy bent down and scratched behind the dog’s ears before continuing down the street. Mud followed. Snake Eyes was just glad to have some company.

The day before had been rough for Snake Eyes. First of all he was more tired than he’d ever been because he couldn’t sleep the night before due to the cold. Then while trying to sell papes he was pushed into a back ally by a tall man. The man had two other men with him. They had demanded that Snake Eyes give them his money and other belongings right away. Snake was an easy target. He was small and wasn’t too fast with comebacks, but he could normally hold his ground. He would have done it that day too, but he was out numbered. There was no way he would give up his money though. Just when he thought he was done for an idea popped into his head. “Copper!” Snake Eyes yelled pointing out towards the main street. The three men turned and he quickly ran off. That was one advantage he had- he was fast. This was a very good thing because one the thieves found that there were no police around they were ready to kill him.

Mud suddenly barked at something ahead and took off leaving Snake Eyes alone once again. This always happened. Sure he would spend some time playing games and talking with other newsies around the city, but at the end of the day they wandered off and as always Snake Eyes was all alone in the world. All he wanted was a friend. Someone who would have his back, and listen to him for once. Snake eyes pulled out his harmonica from his pocket as he turned onto another street. He held it in his hands for a while to warm it up, and then he began a slow song. Music was his only friend. The notes drifted up into the air and he was at peace. That is until he stepped onto a patch of ice and down he went onto his behind. “Me and my darn luck,” he mumbled to himself.

[Perch]

Oh man. You knew the day was gonna be bad when you started off with a pounding headache. Maybe she shouldn't have...eh well, too late now. As she shuffled down the stairs, the view into the room below opened up and she noticed that nobody had bothered to clean up. Empty bottles sat on the tables, floor, and couch. It even smelled like alcohol. Uch, boys. At least she'd thrown away her garbage.
As Perch left the brooklyn lodging house, she pulled her hat on tight and took a breath of air before wandering out to start her day. Ignoring the pounding in her head, she sold her usual 100, and bought an apple to munch on while she wandered around.

After stopping to get a cup of water she proceeded to wander around, feeling much better, and eventually ended up in queens. Queens was an alright sort of place, if you knew your way around. Otherwise it was just annoying. Good thing she'd gotten a tour once and had never really forgotten. She was thinking of stopping to get some food somewhere but a dog ran past her, almost tripping her in the process. "what the.." she steadied herself but her chain of thought had been broken. "that was weird..." she shrugged and kept walking.

Stuffing her hands into her pockets to make sure she had enough money to grab some fries and still have enough to buy papes the morning she turned onto another street. She heard faint music and as she walked farther down the block she saw a boy playing harmonica. It was a nice song, sort of slow but nice all the same. She didn't quite register his movement until it was too late but her hand stretched out instinctively when he fell even though she was still half a block away. She couldn't help but chuckle as the kid landed on his butt in the patch of ice that he apparently hadn't seen."You okay kid?" she said walking up to him.

[snake eyes]

"You okay kid?"

Snake Eyes looked up at the girl now standing beside him. His cheeks blushed with embarrassment. “Oh, Um, yeah I’m fine,” He said jumping to his feet and brushing himself off. His hands were stinging with cold after touching the snow covered ice. Luckily his Harmonica was unharmed. “I didn’t see the ice there,” he explained the obvious. He was such a bonehead. He always had a way off making himself sound dumb or messing things up.

Snake Eyes looked at the girl with a sort of puzzled look, then he stared off into the distance. He wasn’t sure what he should do: introduce himself or walk away. Could this girl be trusted? He’d been in this city for a while now and if he’d learned anything at all it was to be careful who you hung around with. A large part of him wanted to say thanks and continue down the road, but there was another part of him that wanted to speak.

He felt something brush his leg. Looking down he saw Mud staring back at him. Something about the look in the dog’s eyes said it was ok. Something told him he could at least say his name. She had stopped to ask if he was all right most wouldn’t have. He put the harmonica back in his pocket and rubbed his hands together to warm them up. “I’m Snake Eyes. This dog here is Mud,” He said.

Just then he heard voices. “Well will ya look at what we’ve got here,” said a dark haired man. Snake Eyes gulped as he stared down the street to where the three men from the day before stood. They all stared at him with evil smirks on their faces. He new what was bound to come. Not only did they want his money, but he knew they were mad for being tricked. “They tried to rob me yesterday. They’ll kill me!” Snake Eyes quickly explained to the girl. The men got closer. It seemed they didn’t even notice the girl standing there. Snake Eyes stared at her with wide eyes full of worry just praying that she would somehow help him.