Alrighty! Thanks for your characters. Like I said, I can only use six, and these are who I picked; Miracle, Mayfly, Empress, Artemis, Kat and Milkshake. Now, I picked who I did because I think they'll be the most useful in parts of the story that I have in mind.
Though I would still like to use Sunshine, Kitty, Bookworm, Aqua and Nova as the younger kids in the Guild. The parts aren't as big as the other's, but they'd still be in it. Tell me how you feel about that. If you don't want your girl to be a young'in, (meaning from 6-12) just say so, and I won't use her.
-The Second-Story Man's Guild
Jack slowly walked over towards Racetrack, holding his papers in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He sat down next to Race on the bench, setting his papes down beside him. "So, Race, you hear about that Guild heist?" he asked, lighting up his cigarette.
Race laughed. "'Course I did Jackie, I sell the same papes you do," he said with a smirk, nudging him in the arm.
Jack smirked sheepishly. "Yeah, yeah..." He too a long drag on his cigarette, looking up at the building across they street. "Who ya think it is, ah?"
Race raised a brow. "Who?"
Jack shrugged. "The Second-Story Man's Guild. I think they're those bums from Tap Street..."
Race shook his head, sticking his feet out in front of him to get more comfortable. "Nah. I don't think they're from 'Hattan. I mean, why would they stick around where they prowl? I think they're from another borough... maybe even Jersey, who knows?"
Jack nodded, considering. "Yeah, maybe. Man, those guys must have some guts, ah? I mean, the bulls are gettin' pretty tight on their watches lately, and that Guild's been walkin' right under their noses..." He took another drag on his cigarette, blowing dark clouds of smoke into the air.
Race raised a brow at Jack. "You think they're brave?" Jack shrugged.
"They gotta be, ah? To tests the bulls like that?"
Race made a face, shaking his head. "I don't think they're brave. I think they're cowards."
Jack looked at Race, a confused expression on his face. "What makes ya say that?"
Race lit up a cigar and stood from the bench, looking down at Jack. He took a long, lengthy drag from his cigar and let it out with a long sigh. He shrugged slowly, picking up his remaining papes from the bench. "I dunno, Jack." Then, without another word, he turned and headed off down the street, leaving Jack behind holding an odd expression.
-Down the street a ways, heh, in Brooklyn...-
"Please, sir. This was my mommy's ring. It was the nicest thing she owned. And... since she died... I have to sell it... so me and my baby brother can have some money for food. Please, sir..."
The clerk at the pawn shop looked down sympathetically at the seven-year-old girl in front of him. He heaved a heavy sigh, then opened up the cash register, pulling out ten dollars. The little girls eyes brightened. "Thank you sir!" she said as she took the money, then scurried out of the shop, her dark eyes still glowing. Her smile soon turned into a smirk as she headed down the street, holding the ten dollars tightly in her hand.
A few blocks down, three more girls were waiting for her. One, the tallest, had a wide grin on her face. Her long dark hair waved as the soft breeze played through it, and her dark eyes were alive with excitement behind her thin glasses. She stood as though antsy, waiting for the young girl to reach her. "So... what'd you make...?!" she asked as the girl reached them, doing a bad job of containing her excitement.
The small blonde smiled at her, pulling her hand out of her pocket. "Ten bucks!" she said, very proud.
The tall girl nodded. "Great job, Sunshine!" she said in a hushed voice. "The Thief Lord will be pleased."
The tall girl took the money, then led the four of them down the street a ways, and into an alley. They came out the end of it, then headed down another, twisting and turning down alley way after alley way. Finally, the four of them reached a rusted fire escape attached to a run down old tenement building. They climbed up and entered the building through a small window, filing into a small room with blankets and pillows strewn everywhere. Here and there, between the mess, were about seven or so girls of all ages, some in chairs reading, some on the floor playing games, others bundled up in blankets in a deep sleep. The four girls headed over to a small staircase, the tall one still leading the pack. She headed up right away, but stopped on the fourth step when she saw the other three weren't following. She turned and frowned at them. "What's the matter?" she asked, raising a brow at the girls.
They all looked around shyly. One of them, a short girl, (though taller than the other seven and nine-year-old,) blew her light brown hair out of her piercing green eyes and looked up at the tall girl. "Well, Mayfly... You know Massimo doesn't like being bothered before dinner..." she muttered, tracing the scars on her left arm with her right index finger. Mayfly made a face, as though she pitied the girl, then smirked at her.
"I don't think she'll mind if we bring her ten bucks, Milkshake. This is Sunshine's best bargain ever!" Sunshine smiled happily at being praised. Milkshake still seemed a bit reluctant, though followed Mayfly up the stairs. "And don't let her catch you calling her Massimo," Mayfly added quietly as she headed up the stairs.
The four of them entered a dim room, a bit smaller than the one below them. The floor of this room wasn't littered with blankets and such as the other one was; rather, there were many shelves and tables, with papers and bits of change strewn all about. There were no lights; the main light source in the room was the open sky roof above them, of which light was trying to pour into. No one was in the room.
"She must be up there..." the fourth girl said; she was a stiff-looking nine-year-old with fiery red hair and distrusting green eyes. She stood with the others, biting her lower lip in anticipation.
Milkshake nodded at her. "She's always on the roof, Kitty. Shall we go, then...?" she said to no one in particular, though looked over at Mayfly. Mayfly gave her a comforting smile and nodded.
Slowly, the four girls climbed one by one up the ladder to the roof. When they got up there, their eyes all focused on a figure in black cloak, sitting on the edge of the building, staring intently at the horizon.
Mayfly gave a soft cough. "Thief Lord..." she said quietly.
The Thief Lord slowly turned her head, focusing her vision instead on the four girls. Her eyes were enchanting; they were a bright, shining blue, that seemed to reflect the air around them into a silvery haze. Her hair was as black as night, blending in perfectly with the black hood around her head. She looked the girls over for a moment, then swung her feet over the side of the building, so that her entire body was facing them. "Yes?" Her voice was sharp and quiet, and sent and intimidating chill through the girl's spines.
Mayfly gave a slight smirk at the Thief Lord, then stepped ahead of the others. "Sunshine pawned that ring Kat pulled out of the house on Second Street. She made..." she pulled the money out of her pocket, "...ten dollars." She walked over to the Thief Lord and handed her the money, who took it with a nod. Mayfly stepped back with the others.
The Thief Lord looked over the money briefly, then looked back up at the girls. She stood slowly. She only stood at about 5'6, though she stood with such pride and posture, it made her look like a giant. She stuck the money into one of the many pockets of her cloak, then spoke again, still in the same icy voice. "Sunshine," she said, looking at the shaking blonde. From behind the darkness of the hood, Mayfly could spot a small smirk playing on the Thief Lord's lips. "Well done."
It was as though all four girls had been holding her breath, then exhaled quietly at those words. They all seemed to loosen up for the better.
The Thief Lord stepped towards the girls and patted Sunshine on the head. "Well done," she said again quietly. Sunshine smiled at her, then she and Kitty headed back down the ladder and out of sight. The three remaining girls looked at each other.
"I got a watch," Milkshake said to the other two, pulling a silver pocket watch from under her hat. "Nicked it off a an old man while he was buying a sausage. The fool didn't even see it coming..." She and Mayfly chuckled, and the Thief Lord smirked. She took the watch from Milkshake and examined it. She nodded.
"Nice quality. No dings... We should get at least five off it," she said, taking her hood off of her head. She smirked at Milkshake. "Nice job, Shakes." Only the Thief Lord was allowed to alter Guild names. Each one was acquired to each girl in various ways, though the Thief Lord held the right to giving her own. She stuck the watch into another pocket in her cloak and looked back at Milkshake. "You've been doing well lately."
Milkshake smiled. "Thank you. Artemis has been showing me a thing or two."
The Thief Lord nodded. "So I've heard." The Thief Lord knew all.
Milkshake nodded. "Yes. Well, thank you again... See you at dinner." With that, Milkshake turned and headed down the ladder, disappearing as the two young'ins had. Just the thief Lord and Mayfly were left.
Mayfly smirked at the Thief Lord. "You scare the shit out of them, Massimo. All of them," she said casually, sitting down on the side of the roof.
The Thief Lord smirked and walked over, sitting down beside her. "Good. They should fear me. If they don't, then they'll get sloppy. And we can't have that, can we?" she said with prestige. She pulled a box of matches and cigarettes from another pocket and lit one up, then handed one over to Mayfly.
"No thanks. Hey, did you see the 'Hattan paper today?" Mayfly asked, raising a brow at the Thief Lord, who smirked.
"No, I didn't. Why?" she asked, blowing a cloud of smoke into the dimming evening air.
Mayfly smirked at her. She pulled a copy of the paper out of her back pocket and opened it up, holding it out in front of the Thief Lord.
The Thief Lord read the headline over quickly, then laughed. "'Menacing Guild Terrorizes Widow'?" she said, smirking at Mayfly. Mayfly laughed as well.
"I thought you'd like that. I nicked that off a newsboy while he was tyin' his shoe..." She leaned back on the roof, stretching her legs.
Mayfly was the oldest member of the Second-Story Man's Guild; aside from the Thief Lord. She and the Thief Lord met by chance one day on a street Queens when they were both just twelve years old; Mayfly had been trying to pick the Thief Lord's pocket, who caught her and threatened her life. Of course, she didn't kill her. She merely took her to her home; a broken down tenet in the slums of Brooklyn. The Thief Lord taught Mayfly the trade that is thieving. It was Mayfly's idea, a year later, to take in other strays of the city and form some sort of cult. The Thief Lord came up with the name the Second-Story Man's Guild, since they mostly stole from the upper windows of buildings, sneaking in and out with stealth. The two spread around word of the Guild, and soon it became some terrorizing gang wanted by every cop in the city. Since the very first day they met, Mayfly and the Thief Lord have been the best of friends.
The Thief Lord nodded, then rolled up the paper and stuck it under her arm. She let out another cloud of smoke, then extinguished the cigarette on the rooftop. "We should get downstairs, Ashleigh. It's about dinner time, those girls are gonna be antsy..."
Mayfly smirked and stood, wiping the dirt off her pants as she headed over to the ladder.
"Oh, and Ashleigh?" the Thief Lord said from behind Mayfly.
"Yeah, Massimo?" she said, turning to face her.
The Thief Lord smirked. "Don't call me Massimo."
Mayfly smirked back at her. "Don't call me Ashleigh."
-End Chapter 1-
Yeah, I think that's a good place to end. I know it's short, but if I keep writing, I'll have nothing for the next chapter... Obviously, I didn't get you all in yet. I will! That's another reason I made this one so short; it was mostly about Mayfly... I'm going to try to give each girl a significant chunk of chapter. Heh. Yeah! So, review!