Must I really resort to this?

This was just embarrassing now.

Felix stood at the edge of the woods, looking down on a road that led directly into London. His stomach was on fire with hunger. Hyde was thin as a stick, and it was getting past the point where they both needed food. But he knew the risks. Usually he went into the little village near his cave, but he had an unpleasant run in the other day, and he had felt it safer to avoid it for now.

He had attempted to do as he always had, snuck down to a far, took some eggs, and the little bit of food that little girl liked to leave for him. He had moved to the window and found himself at eye level with the little girl. She had decided to stay up and look for him. The window was open and she was holding the plate of food out for him. She was a cute kid, blonde hair that curled down to her shoulders. Bright blue eyes, and a huge grin on her face.

She had looked at him, and then turned around and looked over her shoulder. Where her father was standing. Felix had taken one look at the dad, and taken off running. He was actually pretty worried about being chased down, and immediately had started to pack up his sparse belongings. He had pushed them into the back of his cave behind a rock and put a charm on it so they wouldn't be able to see it.

And now that he had been forced to live off of the meager food he could catch from the woods. It wasn't much and it certainly wasn't enough to live off of. So here he was, staring down at this stupid road, contemplating whether it'd be safer for him to walk or apparate into town. He clutched his wand in one hand, before finally grabbing Hyde's collar and spinning on the spot.

They appeared in a dark alley with no one around. Just a bin and some trash bags, and a propped open door that led into what looked like a club of some sort. Felix let Hyde's collar drop and looked down at him. "Go find something to eat, it's easier for us to split up." he muttered and watched as Hyde trotted off out of the alley, and then off into the street, half pushing people out of the way in his need to find some food.

Felix stood there for a moment, leaning against the wall, and glancing down at himself.

He had once been able to wear expensive suits, wore expensive cologne, owned multiple hide-outs there were never out of stock of food. But he was too afraid to use his regular wiles to get his food. He couldn't just walk into a pub, order food and confund anyone who tried to get his money. It would be too sloppy, too noticeable, and he couldn't have that. He had stayed out of the way for so long, he couldn't mess up now.

So he slowly slipped his wand out of his pocket and glanced down the street, watching people pass before pushing himself into society, his wand clutched in his hand as he hobbled along, keeping his head low, his hair was long and scraggly, and he wore gloves made from rabbit's fur that he had made himself.

He had a limp, and had for quite some time, so he walked along, willing everyone to overlook the smelly madman. He glanced around as he came close to the Leaky Cauldron though. That was one place he could NOT go, but it still intrigued him. Apart of him was desperate to see a glance of the world he had used to belong to. He rounded the corner and stood there, leaning against the wall, staring at the Leaky Cauldron, food and people, and magic. Three things he missed dearly.

Diagon Alley was just beyond that, a world of magic, cauldrons, owls, wands, Gringotts. If he had dared he'd have gone in and just visited things. Walked along the road and looked at the people who were so scared of him, so happy with his absence. Felix snapped his fingers on his left hand nervously. It was an old habit, and eventually he stopped, instead tapping his wand in his hand, glaring at the shop before slowly turning around and heading to an alley across the way, hoping to find a door open that he'd be able to summon some food from inside.

Elsie Norton had to walk to the Leaky Cauldron because, if all were being perfectly honest, she was a rubbish witch. Apparition was completely out of the question for the girl who, after failing her test spectacularly nine times, had been asked for the safety of herself and of others to never try it out again. She had agreed because a life closer to that of a muggle's had always appealed to her more anyway. She already found herself limited by her fairly weak magic, so she had become quite used to inconveniences such as walking about London so she could take a quick trip to Madame Malkin's and pick up some new robes. It didn’t bother her a bit.

Besides, Elsie liked having an excuse to travel like this. It gave her an opportunity to look about and take in the world around her. She was a woman of the world, and she loved to be immersed in it. Especially muggles. Where her magical abilities failed her, her powers of perception thrived. She felt as though she could see the timelines and stories of those strangers she so often passed on the streets. She loved the chance to so nosily peer into their lives and see what she could learn or what she could do to foster a happier existence among them all. She sought to make this coexistence amongst her fellows as happy as possible. Maybe not always as peaceful or comfortable as most people would prefer, but definitely as happy as she could make it for them.

She had tried with Nash. He had brought everything that was not peace or comfort, but she had been happy for a season. And so had he. There had been moments of perfection. And then not. And the perfection. And then not. And then perfection for so long that she dared to step onto that dangerous precipice that begged she say the longest four-lettered word she would ever utter. But she had stuttered on the word, because he had revealed himself to be a stranger, capable of attempting to kill her. He had failed her, but something had died. And now, she had to focus on building a world of happiness again or she would succumb to one of darkness.

And a ray of sunshine did not do well in the darkness.

She was very near the Leaky Cauldron when she saw what looked like a homeless man shuffling about. She began to plunge her hand into her purse to find some spare muggle money for him, when she noticed him glance up at the Leaky. Well, only a wizard could do that. She gave him a quick once over and saw the end of a wand in his hand. She raised an eyebrow – homeless magical folk was not a common occurrence. When someone could duplicate summon food and create fresh water and magically mend clothing, they did not often look like this man looked. Not unless something horrid had struck their unfortunate life.

Elsie withdrew her hand from her purse and turned into the alley, putting a hand to her face as she squinted into the darkness. “Excuse me, sir? Can I help you out? You look like you might need some help.”

Felix had just pointed his wand towards the door when a voice stopped him. A woman was standing at the entrance to the alley, staring in at him, saying something about helping him. He stood frozen in place for a moment before he turned towards her, carefully pulling off his gloves as he did, slightly afraid she might get closer. He was smelly, bearded, had long hair, and looked a complete mess. What in the world did she want with him? Some muggle who thought it was their life's purpose to help every poor person in need.

He stopped for a moment and realized this might be his best shot at food, if she was willing to help him... maybe he could make this work. He still had some charm in him, even behind the beard and wild hair. "Oh... my dear lass..." He said, limping towards her, exaggerating the limp a bit so as to appear even more helpless. "You needn't worry yourself over me.. I was just hoping... someone might.." He glanced at the club's open doorway, and realized he was still holding his wand.

Well it might help if he played it up. Acting like a madman usually either got people to go away, or to help you. This woman looked like she wanted to help, so he was going to let her. "Was just trying to summon some food! I'm not often in town, I usually live in the woods, but my game ran dry and I've always felt bad for stealing..." He said, looking at the ground.

This woman would either call the cops, or leave him alone. He hoped it was the latter, for he'd rather not have to deal with muggle cops either. "Can.. Can you spare some change maybe? Just for a sandwich... I'm not a drunk or anything, honest.. just had a bad run with luck in my life, lass. The world can be a big, bad place, full of big bad people who take all of your things away." He said and held up his wand, grinning like a madman.

"And I've never been very good with magic."

Elsie was relatively fearless. Very little in this world was scarier than it was interesting. Elsie found the unexplained was certainly terrifying, but between Magic and Science, almost everything in the world she resided in had already been explained or controlled, and that gave Elsie the peace of mind to embrace Life's Natural Progression towards Chaos. And people were the least terrifying, anyway. Yes, she had seen people turn into monsters, but mostly, people were lambs, and lambs only wanted to be reassured. She, herself, was neither. She was still trying to figure out just what she was, for certain.

The homeless man began limping towards her, looking downright pathetic. He continued to speak, explaining his predicament. Elsie glanced behind her to see if any muggles were watching as he waved his wand about, but again, they were doing what they did best - seeing without really seeing. The man was that in need, then, that he could not even remember to keep his magic a secret. Fortunately, he looked the part of a madman, so no one would truly question him if they happened to glance their way.

At his last comment, she smiled, revealing her own wand briefly. "Neither have I." She quickly tucked it away and shouldered the bag, certain no one had seen. "Why don't we do this? We'll step into the Leaky and I'll buy you some lunch."

Felix felt his eyebrows disappear into his long shaggy hair when she revealed her wand to him. So she was a witch.. wonderful. What kind of witch would pay attention to a madman anyway? Usually people who were mad got ignored, not that there were many mad wizards out there. They usually got picked up by the Ministry fairly quickly for issues with secrecy and things like that. However Felix was careful and the second he saw her wand, he put his own away, as though pretending to know the secret she did.

"Ahh!" He said and tapped his nose and moving towards her, a grin on his face. Felix grinned and got close enough to her to be a bit in her personal space, leaning down to look her in the face. "I don't know if they'd accept someone like me in Leaky.. they tend to kick me out of there.." he said looking down at his clothes worriedly and then back up at her.

"You have to excuse me, lass. I'm not used to being talked to! Name's Alex, Alex Fawn, what's your name, pretty lady?" He asked, leaning down towards her and grinning. His breath smelt bad, but had no alcohol on it, his beard and hair covered a handsome face that should have only been in his early twenties, though the way he acted he was well into his thirties. He had obviously been through hell and back to end up in an alley across from Leaky.

He got close to her but Elsie held her ground. The girl was typically useless, but if he was going to get grabby with her, she knew she could fight him off. Claire had insisted the two of them take some self defense classes when they had moved to Manhattan, especially since Elsie's judge of character often seemed to go on the fritz after she had drank a few martinis. She knew that if this man tried to harm her, she could at least get away from him. And she doubted he would actually do anything anyway, as he was probably just creepy by default, seeing as he was a smelly homeless man.

His words meant little to her. She had seen worse and shadier people in the Leaky before, and she knew she could throw a tantrum big enough to get them to bend to her will. "Nonsense. The bartender is a sweet guy - he's practically in love with me, so he'll do anything I want, so long as I bat my eyelashes at him." And push my boobs together. Despite the sort of trashy means, the cause was noble enough. She was certain she could provide a meal for the man.

"Come on, let's get you inside," she said, moving to hold the door open. He approached and leered over her. She squinted, trying not to breathe in. Though kindness still rested on her face, only one thing was going through her mind now. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. She forced a smile. "Elsie Norton."

Felix hesitated, but figured the girl was naive enough and was a good enough alibi that he didn't really need to worry too hard, plus he'd get to see inside the Leaky Cauldron, which was something he had been wanting to do anyway, now he had a cover. A pretty young woman who thought he was some sort of madman who needed a bit of food. Well he certainly needed food, but his mind was as sharp as always, and he was keeping a close eye on everyone in the area, watching to make sure they weren't looked at too seriously.

He let her hold the door open, and he grinned at her, before ginning and bowing elegantly. "It's wonderful to meet you Miss Norton, a kind stranger you are indeed." He said with a broad grin, before moving inside, bringing one hand up to scratch his beard as he looked around the dingy interior, his eyes scanning for anyone important enough that might recognize him inside. After seeing no one, he turned back to Elsie, grinning again.

"I do believe the honors are yours." He beamed and gestured her towards the bar. He would have touched her, but he figured after how much dirt and things were wrong with him, he would let her take care of herself without too much interference on his part. It'd just be rude to get dirt and grime on her when she looked so neat and clean.

He seemed to agree, giving her a friendly if scraggly smile, and opened the door for her. She smiled at him and forced herself to walk slowly through the doorway, even though she sort of wanted to skitter past him. Even though she was happy to help, she had been raised in a life of privilege, and dealing with dirty people really was not her thing. It was Claire that was the charitable one of the two females, not her. Elsie was known to be the self involved of the two, only going out if she knew she was to profit. That did not mean she wasn't a sweetie, though.

She just didn't like dirty people, was all.

He gestured the bar and she smiled, walking over there relatively quickly, her long legs moving her across the cluttered space in a short amount of time. She approached the bar and rested her elbows on it, leaning forward. "Is Carl here?" Carl turned around and smiled at her, calling her name jovially. "Hey, Carl. You're looking much better, after that whole pox incident." He grimaced. "I'll have an iced tea. And whatever my friend here orders is on me." She sat at the bar and patted the stool next to her.

Felix noticed her unwillingness to stand near him, and he couldn't help but grin wider. He had forgotten just how smelly he probably was. Having gotten used to his own stink, and not really had reason to be anything but smelly, being in public eye meant his smell was more noticeable then ever. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be truly clean.

Felix sat down heavily on the stool next to her and grinned at the barman, glancing around the bar once before staring at his hands. "Err.. a sandwich, anything will do, and some tea.. thank you sir." he said and glanced over towards the woman who was helping him. Though the look on her face made him wonder if she was helping him to be nice, or if she had some secret agenda in helping him, in that case he wondered what she wanted from a homeless wizard.

"So do you regularly help out smelly men on the street?"

The man from the street, this Alex Fawn, took a seat next to her at the bar and ordered. Carl gave Elsie a look of worry and mild concern, not certain as to what had possessed her to suddenly take this wild man for company. Elsie counted herself lucky to have people like Carl who were worried about her, and so quickly too. She had not been in the country very long, and already she had acquaintances who seemed set on watching out for her. It was a nice feeling. New York was a lot more 'fend for yourself.'

She gave Carl a reassuring smile and a nod, and the bartender hurried down the bar to go tell the kitchen their order and begin preparing their drinks. Elsie stared forward for a moment, lost in the thoughts of her abandoned city. She missed New York, but not nearly as much as her best friend. That whole Fend-For-Yourself scene just exhausted her.

She looked at him as he spoke and she let out a smile. "No, not usually. That's my friend, Claire. She's the thoughtful one. I'm just trying to fix my karma. It's not so hot right now." Her American accent was undeniable through her comfortable slang.