13773/Kleptoroni

Kleptoroni
Date of Scene:	08 January 2023
Location:	Angelo's Pizza
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Knox Kennedy, Maria King

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Knox Kennedy has posed:
It's near closing hours at Angelo's. The front room has only a few groups of patrons, one of them is a single individual who's picked a corner to occupy. He is wearing a somewhat old combination of gray hoodie and black cloth trench coat. While no particularly fashionable and very monochromatic, it's warm. It's the kind of outfit someone throws on in haste when they need to satisfy a craving or just get out of their apartment.

He bounces his legs as he waits for his order to be served up regretting not ordering delivery. However, his latest apartment isn't far and the short walk saved him having to tip.

Laziness versus Cheap. It's a tough battle. Cheap won this time.

Maria King has posed:
Standing outside, watching through the window, the petite girl is bouncing from one foot to another while she blows into her hands, trying to stay warm. The coat that she found recently helps, though spend enough time outside and most any coat won't be quite enough.

Maria watches until something, experience or just luck, tells her its the right moment. She slips inside as a couple are heading out. The waitress is in back, and most of the other people aren't paying a ton of attention.

Maria makes her way across the restaurant, nothing particularly conspicuous about her actions. As she passes by the table that the couple just vacated, she surreptitiously reaches over to their plates. Two half-eaten slices of pizza await retrieval. She quickly slips them into a napkin from the table and into her pocket before moving on to take a seat in the booth nearby to Knox.

Knox Kennedy has posed:
Knox is a hunted person, and that makes him a vigilant person. He's also lived on the street and been in a situation where he didn't know where his next meal coming from. These two factors are critical in how he responds to the petite girl.

He watches Maria very carefully when she enters, his body coiling in the odd chance she was a threat. Witnessing the pizza theft, he relaxes at the obvious motive. He frowns a little bit, remembering the hit to his pride when he ate his first stolen and partially devoured meal.

Making a 'psst' sound to get her attention, he leans forward to whisper, "I've got large pepperoni coming that I don't need all of. If you can wait, I'll give you a few slices."

Maria King has posed:
Maria King had picked up a menu from where a few are stacked at the end of each table between the salt and pepper and such. The girl's face has very delicately formed features, and a bit of red and the tip of her nose from the cold. Knox might be able to guess she's planning to just use up as much time in the place warming up as she can.

She glances up at the sound the man makes, her eyes swinging over to him. Maybe she tenses up just a little, a hand tightening on the table's edge as she's prepared for him to out her to the waitress.

But he doesn't. The girl turns to glance towards the woman, who is over at the counter talking with the clerk there. She turns back towards Knox and says, "Thank you. That's very nice of you." She gives him a smile, the girl's smile a warm, beautiful thing.

Knox Kennedy has posed:
Knox offers a delicate shrug and murmurs, "Don't mention it. I was in your situation not too long ago."

He raises a gloved hand and gestures her over then points at the other side of his booth. "Might as well sit with me, too. Otherwise, they'll want to take your order. Fewer questions for you this way, and it'll be easier to share the pie."

Catching himself smiling back in response to the girl's charming smile, he blinks and shakes his head as if he's determined to be dour, lips returning to a neutral apathetic expression.

Serendipitously, someone walks out with his order. To the guy delivering his pizza box, he casually adds, "You are still open for a bit, right? I just had a friend walk in. I'm going to go ahead and eat it here, could we have two plates?"

The guy nods and snatches two plates from behind the counter laying them out on the booth table.

Maria King has posed:
Maria King hesitates for only a moment, then rises to her feet and moves over to Knox's booth. The girl is barely pushing five feet tall, and slender even for her size, once she unzips the jacket. After a moment she pulls it off and sets it beside her on the booth. Beneath she's wearing a reddish brown sweater that is looking a bit frayed and has a pair of small holes in it.

She looks up, giving the server a friendly enough smile as he brings them the plates and then heads back off to the counter. Maria looks back to Knox. "Thank you," she tells him softly, looking down with a soft, somewhat shy smile now.

"I'm Maria," she offers him quietly. She rests her hands in her lap, letting Knox get at the pizza, though that smell. Oh that smell, it's even better in here up close than it was standing outside.

Knox Kennedy has posed:
"Knox" he replies simply enough as he opens the box and pulls out a quarter of the pizza, dragging it into his plate. He leans to the side and grabs a napkin, quickly wiping off his fingers even though they are destined to be greasy again. Sagely, he waits before digging in. Too many burned mouths in the past, and he wasn't starving quite yet.

He waves toward the server and mouths the word water while holding up two fingers. A pair of glasses are soon delivered to the table.

While he waits for the pizza to cool, he quietly assesses Maria. His purplish gaze is both striking and intense. He then asks a pointed question, "You been on the street long, Maria?"

Maria King has posed:
Her eyes go to the pizza with an obvious yen that betrays her level of hunger. After Knox has his pizza, she moves her hand hesitantly at first, as if to make sure it's ok for her to get a slice now. Assuming he does, she puts it on her plate. Waiting for it to cool enough to eat is going to be a small amount of torture, but worth it in the end.

She glances up as the man comes over with the water glasses, setting them down on the table. "About two years now," she tells him quietly. "Since I was sixteen." She picks up the water glass, taking just a small sip as it's cool and she's still in the process of warming up.

The girl's eyes lift for small peeks at Knox. "What about you. How long were you?" she asks him quietly.

Knox Kennedy has posed:
Knox leans back and gazes toward the ceiling searching his memories. He hums then answers, "I was around seventeen. It took me about three years to figure out stable income and convince someone to let me pay rent."

He frowns, "I remember it being scary and uncomfortable. Cold... and everything is designed to be awkward to sleep on."

Reaching for his water glass, he takes a sip then continues, "So... I ran away from my abuse home ten years ago, survived the streets for three, and have maintained my lifestyle for about seven."

He finally braves a bite of his pizza, nibbling off the tip and chewing vigorously. Craving satiated.

Maria King has posed:
She doesn't quite wait for the pizza to cool enough, resulting in that thing where you suck in air around the food inside your mouth to cool it off so it doesn't burn the roof of your mouth. After she blows on the next bite a bit more before taking it.

"Mmmmm..." she says and giving a heavenly sounding sigh. She finishes chewing and swallowing before replying. "Yah. Parents can be a real bitch can't they?" she asks in a tone of commiseration.

She takes another bite of the pizza after blowing on it. "So what kind of work did you get into?" the girl asks him. What had been small glances up to his face have turned into looking at him more steadily and regularly, the longer she's at the table and the more comfortable she gets.

Knox Kennedy has posed:
Knox nods his head in agreement offering a chuff of a laugh which is almost condescending as if she couldn't possibly know. It comes off a little arrogant especially combined with the eye roll that accompanies it.

He's silent for a moment just enjoying his pizza as he considers the question. He eyes her carefully considering if he should lie, keep his mouth shut, or risk the truth. He decides on the last. The girl was facing the cold reality of the street, he might as well shoot straight with her.

"I am a thief. Life really didn't leave me with many other options for gainful employment. I've been one ever since I was on my own. I just became a better one. Learned what to take, who from, and who to sell it to. Lot of uncomfortable lessons in the process." He offers a smile a faint smile.

"And you know what... I'm kind of proud of it. I'm picky now, but it's a great way to payback the real assholes in this city." He waggles his eyebrows and takes another bite of pizza, chewing and swallowing.

Maria King has posed:
If Knox harbored any concerns that the teen might react negatively to his admission, they would quickly be put to rest. She seems to take it in stride, just listening as she makes quick work of that slice of pizza. Her eyes flit to the box, obviously craving another slice but doing her best to have that be too apparent.

Rather than take one, she says, "I try to avoid doing that. Sometimes you don't have a choice. But, getting caught," she says, her voice tensing at the last few words as if remembering some encounters where that happened.

The server comes back over. "You folks doing ok? Anything else I can get you?" he asks.

Knox Kennedy has posed:
Knox gestures for Maria to take another slice and then looks to the server, "Let me get another one to go, please."

The server nods, "Alright, one more pie, but that's the last one of the night. We are closing shortly."

Knox offers a simple thumbs up in reply and then resumes munching on his pizza. He then nods in agreement with Maria's sentiment about getting caught. "Yea, it's not without its risks. I fortunately have a good talent for getting myself out of trouble when things go wrong."

He frowns again and considers, "Look. You'll probably say no, and I wouldn't blame you for it. I'm a strange guy in the middle of a stranger city. But... it's cold. I have a couch. If you want to take the risk that I could potentially be a creep or something worse then a thief, you can surf the couch and stay warm."

He wipes his hands on a napkin and eyes her again, waiting for her response. "Only price you have to pay is being respectful to the altar I've got setup in the corner. I'm pagan, and I've got two goddesses riding my ass to be a good boy."

Maria King has posed:
At the gestured invitation to take another slice, Maria doesn't delay in doing so. Two slices should be enough to fill up someone her size, though she will end up making short work of the second slice as well.

The girl's eyes lift from the food to look at Knox as he offers the additional bit of charity to her. She bites her lip and glances out at the night. The wind is blowing some trash down the street, a discarded wrapper bouncing off the ice and snow in the streets.

"Um," she says hesitantly, before finishing off the last bite of the pizza. Sometimes she just gets feelings about people, or places, or situations, that she's learned the hard way to heed. She's not getting any of those feelings in the moment though. "Ok," she agrees. "Thank you, Knox."