[ It was not safe to be on the street. The people looking for her were still out there, and it was just safer to break into the little bodegas when they were closed, get food and water, and go back to the alley where she hid. It was not very nice. It did not smell good, but no one came looking.
Apparently it was not something to last. The scuffle that ended in the alley after the man in the body armor and mask let the man with the van go knocked into her little hiding space near the dumpster, tipping over her can of food. Laura growled again, shifting and putting her backpack on, and bolting out to grab the can, then use her claws to dig into the wall to jump up to the fire escape.
Her clothes were dirty, hair matted and filthy, and she rubbed a dirty sleeve across her face once she landed above the strange man in red. She doesn't stay much longer to watch him, and heads up for the roof of the building to get away. ]
[A child alone at night in Hell's Kitchen isn't exactly ever safe in the conventional sense. If it isn't the bitter cold of the city, it's criminals and unsavory people. That's what colors Matt's expression as shock enough for his jaw to drop as he sees what could be a child. It had to have been. Unless there really are demons and creatures in the city.
Matt gets his wits to try and chase who or what that was. Though size means agility. And being on the ground, it takes effort to get to the roof though he is faster than the typical person. And she? Even faster.
The second time he meets her he's in plain clothes. A blind man on an errand. Another bodega. Another hour. His paper bag has a juice, a sandwich and a few other small things. It's easy to consider that strange encounter in an alley as a one off. New York is the home of those. Any thing can happen. Except...]
[ Laura is not what one would consider a conventional child. Most wouldn't even consider her a child. She's an experiment. A tool. A weapon.
It isn't hard for her to lose him on the rooftops. She can watch him from a safe distance until she's certain he won't follow her. She scents the air after he's gone: concern. The nurses who let them out felt the same. Concern. Worry. Fear.
Maybe this man is not all bad. Maybe she'll watch him. In turn, she watches others, and finds new ways to blend in. She finds a place to take clothes from, and another to clean up so that she does not look so unkempt. It's supposed to be cold outside (it doesn't bother her), but she wears the right clothes all the same so she doesn't stand out.
The man who runs this little bodega is nice. He caught her looking at things, wondering what she could take and run with. He must have known. Instead, he has a bag waiting for her when she comes in, and insists she picks out something sweet each time.
Laura's fiddling with the wrapper edges, and sniffing at a package she's picked up when she notices the familiar scent of the man in line. Her eyes widen a little, and she peers around the corner to get a better look at him. He has glasses over his eyes, so dark that she can't glimpse his eyes from her vantage point, and a cane in one hand. She's not sure what it means, no one in the place she came from had anything like it. ]
[It's that lunch rush. Matt had a late night and there was no way he could have wrestled together something. And his stomach needed more than a protein shake. His head tilts and as usual he listens around him. Familiar and yet not presence. Clothes do change up his perception quite a bit. Still young, still small. Not nearly as offensive to the nose. Though he knows when he is being watched.
And so once he's up to the counter he takes his time, getting out money and the bills folded carefully for him to organize. Damn, the prices went up. That's what you get when you don't plan, Murdock. Right now he can't pay direct mind to the person. Small person.
Not like he can tell if it is a child or not. The stiffness in her frame and the way she carries herself, it's not like any child he's known. Matt gets his change and he gathers his items to leave. Taking his time. He's going to eat out of the office, there's a bench close by and some shade under a tree. If there's a threat, if he's being followed he'll know for sure then.]
[ The place she stays at is not close to where she was before. That is the first place most would look if they'd spotted her before. He is not looking for her this time, but she knows she's been noticed. He says nothing, and so neither does she.
Laura notices that he keeps his bills folded in a way that the other people don't, and wonders what it means with all the other little things. She waits until he leaves to grab the first thing that smells good of the sweet things, and goes up to the man behind the counter. He gives her the bag that he makes for her, and she follows after the man with the cane.
She hangs back a little, backpack on her shoulders, and paper bag crinkling in her hand. Laura waits until he sits, and follows him there. She's severely lacking in social graces, and shows in the way she doesn't ask to join him. She merely climbs up to sit down on the other side of the bench. ]
[In the public eye and daylight hours, Matt Murdock cannot see and is a blind man. That's the one and only story. His cane is still extended but resting against his knees. The bench is not so large that he would not notice someone there. Just before he can begin to unwrap the plastic from his sandwich he tilts his head slightly, brow furrowed and listening. Sitting in stillness for a few vital seconds he tries to gauge what will happen next but.... there are no tells.
Steady heart. Steady breathing. Fingers move slowly, peeling the wrapping from the bread.]
[ Laura doesn't know that part of the story, but he is not in the strange armor he was in before, so she won't bring it up. It must be like her secret if he does not wear it now. She'd watched him walk over here, saw the tapping with the cane, and guessed it was to help him navigate in some way.
She watches him start to unwrap his sandwich, and follows suit with her own after she digs it out of the bag. ]
Hello. [ Returned in Spanish. She knows some English. It's enough to manage at times, but she isn't comfortable with it. ]
[Hearing a counter wrapping noise of her own selections was not expected. Sugar, starch and edible dyes project from her food. Matt realizes that this is the most turkey smelling ham he has ever witnessed in his sandwich. Oh well.
One word, and it's the way she forms it in reply. Matt blinks thoughtfully before hesitating to take a bite.]
I could be wrong but I don't think that we've met before.
[He is not a native speaker though he has a good grasp on the language. Taking a bite of his sandwich, he tries to act natural.]
[ It's all very new to her. She likes the way the things taste. In the place she grew up, they had tasteless things. No sweets. Nothing but simple nutrients. Granted, her selection now is just based off what her nose likes the smell of.
She takes a bite of her sandwich. It's a little too big, and it makes her cheek puff a little comically. She doesn't finish chewing before she replies, but she at least makes sure no one is close enough to hear them. ]
[Hey, at least she's getting a sandwich with more rounded nutrients with all the sweets she's consuming. Matt doesn't know her story. Though he has compelling reason to believe that she is a child based on size, build and choices of food before this meal. Manners are being added to the list.]
Did I?
[Yeah that's not the most slick of answers though if he is going to play at denial, he will start right now.]
[ For now. There's some too-sugary drink in there along with her dessert choice. Pringles, too. She really likes those. She's barely swallowed the first bite before she's taking another bite, nodding. ]
Yes. Knocked over my food and chased me to the roof. You were fighting a man before that.
[ Not that Matt would know it, but the same way he can tell when people lie? She's pretty good at that, too. It's about how they smell, though. The animal side of her just picks up on that kind of thing. Even if he's not lying just now.
Laura rifles through her lunch bag with one hand, and pulls out her drink to open with the click of the pop-tab. ]
[He chews slower. The sandwich isn't great to begin with but this was not how he wanted to have a lunch. The weather is getting nice in the city. It was a chance to get some air. Maybe clear his head. Matt sighs and presses his lips to a line.]
[ Something about this is making him---uncomfortable? It makes her think of Gabriella, the nurse, and how tense she would get when they first ran. When Laura just wanted to bounce her ball outside, and look at all the things she'd never seen before. She doesn't know why it makes this man act like that. ]
Not safe for me anywhere else.
[ She balances the can in her hand easily enough, and gulps down some of it before sitting it in between her knees. ]
Do you have a safe place you can go to? The streets are not somewhere anyone should live.
[People do. Adults in dire situations. Junkies, runaways. Still, none of those children. Matt takes a sip of water. And reconsiders her choice of words.]
It's not safe to be out alone when you are young. Is there someone to look after you?
[Growing up without a mother or father has removed questions like where are your parents from Matt's vernacular. Not everyone has parents. Sometimes it's a grandparent. Sometimes an aunt. Sometimes...no one at all.]
Laura has seen those people. Some of them have approached her, but she avoids them for the most part. Not all of them can be trusted. Some have meant well, though. They worry like this man does. ]
Not anymore.
[ The only one who had, the one to help her escape, was dead now. The people looking for her now had done it. Gabriella had resisted. When she did not give them the answers they wanted, they killed her. ]
[He considers her words carefully. There aren't any details besides the fact that it's clear that English is not her first language and she's very self sufficient. Be that as it may, she is still a child alone. That's not right or fair. Nimble as she might be, that doesn't mean she's beyond harm. Who can guess what sort of psychological harm living on the streets has done. He sets his sandwich down beside him and turns more to her.]
My name is Matthew. What's your name?
[Because there's no way he can outright start being domineering without trying to be friendly.]
[ Laura watches him as he seems to think about the situation. She knows enough to know that she cannot stay on the street forever. It makes her easy to spot and target. It would be safer with someone else.
He had chased her that night. Does it make him safe? His concern? She doesn't know for sure. He doesn't smell like he is bad. He doesn't smell like Dr. Rice, or the Reavers. ]
Laura.
[ She takes another bite of her sandwich, hyper aware of each little movement, but makes no move to leave. ]
[This isn't a typical welfare or child services case and he knows it already. That hunch that drops on his head like a ton of bricks. Except this isn't from sensory feedback. A small, nimble and fast girl living on the streets of Hell's Kitchen that says that no place is safe. There has to be more to the story. He takes a bite of is own sandwich thoughtfully.]
Are you in trouble? What happened to the person watching out for you?
[ Matt will have to excuse her lack of basic social graces and manners. She's not used to carrying on long, drawn out conversations. This is probably the longest conversation she's had with anyone outside of the facility she came from, or her friends. Or Gabriella.
Laura takes another gulp of her too-sugary drink. ]
People are looking for me. They want to hurt me. They killed her.
[ She was nice. The nurses tried to do nice things for them. Once there was something they called a cake and they tried to sing a song to another of the group before Dr. Rice stopped it. She doesn't remember what it was called.
Sometimes they gave them toys. She likes the ball that bounces. ]
[People that would hurt a child, that would kill their guardian. Clearly more than the typical civilian danger. Matt's expression fights to keep neutral for their surroundings as well as not trying to emote too strongly. He lets himself take in the scene around them. Nothing intense, threatening or highly emotional.]
I know we just met, I want to help you if I can.
[Considering what a suspicious kid he was way back when, Matt tries to put himself in Laura's shoes. A little empathy, a little respect. Let's see where that leads.]
They kept us in a place that smelled like ---chemicals. Too clean? They wanted to make us soldiers, but we did not want to kill. Called us defective.
[ Not all of them got away. Laura fiddles a little with her sleeve, remembering the shocks that knocked others out, and how they drug them into the room and made them sleep. They didn't wake up, though. They killed them. That is what they did. ]
You are not like her. You are like me?
[ She saw the way he moved. The way he fought. That is not what the other people she's watched have done. It was the only reason she approached him after that night. Gabriela meant well, but she was not like them. Not trained like them. ]
[This is a lot of information in so many words. Whether or not it was an actual hospital or military facility, it was not at all ethical. Us. Children. The lines in Matt's brow deepen as he contemplates just what kind of a life that must have been. No wonder she happily consumes as much garbage food as possible--besides being a kid--anything from the outside must have been better.
And as though he wasn't already feeling himself pulled to help her cause, being a child trained for the art of war and then discarded. God doesn't always have subtlety.]
I'm different, yes.
[Since she's sharing so much of this, how can he just say no? Matt wants Laura to trust her. Though caution in this circumstance is completely and utterly understandable.]
[ There's a little furrow in between his eyes. He's concerned again, she can smell it on him too. It wasn't a life. They were tools to be used. They weren't even thought of as children. ]
Out here you---hide it? To be safe?
[ From what she's seen of this world outside the hospital she came from, they do not like different things. They like soft and gentle. They like ordinary. She's just learning what that means. It is hard for her to do.
Matt tells her about not liking bad people, but that he doesn't kill. She feels that strange feeling in her chest that she did after training. After they tried to hurt all of them. The men she stopped. She killed them.
She knows that. Knows that she had no choice. It does not make the feeling go away. It doesn't make her anger go away. ]
To be safe, yes. And to protect people I'm close to.... hiding in plain sight.
[Which makes him smirk. The turn of phrase is lost in Spanish. Perhaps the context might still find humor. Even if it doesn't, an odd moment to be sardonic.
Laura's heart is beating faster, and while he can't see her expression, Matt can guess that he's taking this conversation to a moral place.]
I don't doubt you, people who want to hurt children are vile. I'm sorry that happened... I'm sure you had to do things that you weren't proud of to be here.
[Maybe it wasn't all out killing someone. Maybe it was stealing, lying, doing things that could be construed as bad.]
[ The humor is a little lost on her. She doesn't have a lot of experience with things like that. Give her time.
Her heartbeat slows a little when Matt continues, but it doesn't make the feeling go away. She doesn't want to talk about the things that she's done. The people she's hurt. ]
I did bad things. Some---they asked me to. Others---to leave that place.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Apparently it was not something to last. The scuffle that ended in the alley after the man in the body armor and mask let the man with the van go knocked into her little hiding space near the dumpster, tipping over her can of food. Laura growled again, shifting and putting her backpack on, and bolting out to grab the can, then use her claws to dig into the wall to jump up to the fire escape.
Her clothes were dirty, hair matted and filthy, and she rubbed a dirty sleeve across her face once she landed above the strange man in red. She doesn't stay much longer to watch him, and heads up for the roof of the building to get away. ]
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Matt gets his wits to try and chase who or what that was. Though size means agility. And being on the ground, it takes effort to get to the roof though he is faster than the typical person. And she? Even faster.
The second time he meets her he's in plain clothes. A blind man on an errand. Another bodega. Another hour. His paper bag has a juice, a sandwich and a few other small things. It's easy to consider that strange encounter in an alley as a one off. New York is the home of those. Any thing can happen. Except...]
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It isn't hard for her to lose him on the rooftops. She can watch him from a safe distance until she's certain he won't follow her. She scents the air after he's gone: concern. The nurses who let them out felt the same. Concern. Worry. Fear.
Maybe this man is not all bad. Maybe she'll watch him. In turn, she watches others, and finds new ways to blend in. She finds a place to take clothes from, and another to clean up so that she does not look so unkempt. It's supposed to be cold outside (it doesn't bother her), but she wears the right clothes all the same so she doesn't stand out.
The man who runs this little bodega is nice. He caught her looking at things, wondering what she could take and run with. He must have known. Instead, he has a bag waiting for her when she comes in, and insists she picks out something sweet each time.
Laura's fiddling with the wrapper edges, and sniffing at a package she's picked up when she notices the familiar scent of the man in line. Her eyes widen a little, and she peers around the corner to get a better look at him. He has glasses over his eyes, so dark that she can't glimpse his eyes from her vantage point, and a cane in one hand. She's not sure what it means, no one in the place she came from had anything like it. ]
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And so once he's up to the counter he takes his time, getting out money and the bills folded carefully for him to organize. Damn, the prices went up. That's what you get when you don't plan, Murdock. Right now he can't pay direct mind to the person. Small person.
Not like he can tell if it is a child or not. The stiffness in her frame and the way she carries herself, it's not like any child he's known. Matt gets his change and he gathers his items to leave. Taking his time. He's going to eat out of the office, there's a bench close by and some shade under a tree. If there's a threat, if he's being followed he'll know for sure then.]
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Laura notices that he keeps his bills folded in a way that the other people don't, and wonders what it means with all the other little things. She waits until he leaves to grab the first thing that smells good of the sweet things, and goes up to the man behind the counter. He gives her the bag that he makes for her, and she follows after the man with the cane.
She hangs back a little, backpack on her shoulders, and paper bag crinkling in her hand. Laura waits until he sits, and follows him there. She's severely lacking in social graces, and shows in the way she doesn't ask to join him. She merely climbs up to sit down on the other side of the bench. ]
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Steady heart. Steady breathing. Fingers move slowly, peeling the wrapping from the bread.]
...Uh....hello?
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She watches him start to unwrap his sandwich, and follows suit with her own after she digs it out of the bag. ]
Hello. [ Returned in Spanish. She knows some English. It's enough to manage at times, but she isn't comfortable with it. ]
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One word, and it's the way she forms it in reply. Matt blinks thoughtfully before hesitating to take a bite.]
I could be wrong but I don't think that we've met before.
[He is not a native speaker though he has a good grasp on the language. Taking a bite of his sandwich, he tries to act natural.]
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She takes a bite of her sandwich. It's a little too big, and it makes her cheek puff a little comically. She doesn't finish chewing before she replies, but she at least makes sure no one is close enough to hear them. ]
Wrong. It was dark. You wore something different.
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Did I?
[Yeah that's not the most slick of answers though if he is going to play at denial, he will start right now.]
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Yes. Knocked over my food and chased me to the roof. You were fighting a man before that.
[ Not that Matt would know it, but the same way he can tell when people lie? She's pretty good at that, too. It's about how they smell, though. The animal side of her just picks up on that kind of thing. Even if he's not lying just now.
Laura rifles through her lunch bag with one hand, and pulls out her drink to open with the click of the pop-tab. ]
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I remember now.
[Yeah. That. His brow furrows.]
Why were you hiding there?
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Not safe for me anywhere else.
[ She balances the can in her hand easily enough, and gulps down some of it before sitting it in between her knees. ]
You are concerned. Why?
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[People do. Adults in dire situations. Junkies, runaways. Still, none of those children. Matt takes a sip of water. And reconsiders her choice of words.]
It's not safe to be out alone when you are young. Is there someone to look after you?
[Growing up without a mother or father has removed questions like where are your parents from Matt's vernacular. Not everyone has parents. Sometimes it's a grandparent. Sometimes an aunt. Sometimes...no one at all.]
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[ She repeats the words almost exactly.
Laura has seen those people. Some of them have approached her, but she avoids them for the most part. Not all of them can be trusted. Some have meant well, though. They worry like this man does. ]
Not anymore.
[ The only one who had, the one to help her escape, was dead now. The people looking for her now had done it. Gabriella had resisted. When she did not give them the answers they wanted, they killed her. ]
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My name is Matthew. What's your name?
[Because there's no way he can outright start being domineering without trying to be friendly.]
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He had chased her that night. Does it make him safe? His concern? She doesn't know for sure. He doesn't smell like he is bad. He doesn't smell like Dr. Rice, or the Reavers. ]
Laura.
[ She takes another bite of her sandwich, hyper aware of each little movement, but makes no move to leave. ]
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[This isn't a typical welfare or child services case and he knows it already. That hunch that drops on his head like a ton of bricks. Except this isn't from sensory feedback. A small, nimble and fast girl living on the streets of Hell's Kitchen that says that no place is safe. There has to be more to the story. He takes a bite of is own sandwich thoughtfully.]
Are you in trouble? What happened to the person watching out for you?
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Laura takes another gulp of her too-sugary drink. ]
People are looking for me. They want to hurt me. They killed her.
[ She was nice. The nurses tried to do nice things for them. Once there was something they called a cake and they tried to sing a song to another of the group before Dr. Rice stopped it. She doesn't remember what it was called.
Sometimes they gave them toys. She likes the ball that bounces. ]
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[People that would hurt a child, that would kill their guardian. Clearly more than the typical civilian danger. Matt's expression fights to keep neutral for their surroundings as well as not trying to emote too strongly. He lets himself take in the scene around them. Nothing intense, threatening or highly emotional.]
I know we just met, I want to help you if I can.
[Considering what a suspicious kid he was way back when, Matt tries to put himself in Laura's shoes. A little empathy, a little respect. Let's see where that leads.]
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[ Not all of them got away. Laura fiddles a little with her sleeve, remembering the shocks that knocked others out, and how they drug them into the room and made them sleep. They didn't wake up, though. They killed them. That is what they did. ]
You are not like her. You are like me?
[ She saw the way he moved. The way he fought. That is not what the other people she's watched have done. It was the only reason she approached him after that night. Gabriela meant well, but she was not like them. Not trained like them. ]
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And as though he wasn't already feeling himself pulled to help her cause, being a child trained for the art of war and then discarded. God doesn't always have subtlety.]
I'm different, yes.
[Since she's sharing so much of this, how can he just say no? Matt wants Laura to trust her. Though caution in this circumstance is completely and utterly understandable.]
While I don't like bad people, I do not kill.
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Out here you---hide it? To be safe?
[ From what she's seen of this world outside the hospital she came from, they do not like different things. They like soft and gentle. They like ordinary. She's just learning what that means. It is hard for her to do.
Matt tells her about not liking bad people, but that he doesn't kill. She feels that strange feeling in her chest that she did after training. After they tried to hurt all of them. The men she stopped. She killed them.
She knows that. Knows that she had no choice. It does not make the feeling go away. It doesn't make her anger go away. ]
People hurt me.
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[Which makes him smirk. The turn of phrase is lost in Spanish. Perhaps the context might still find humor. Even if it doesn't, an odd moment to be sardonic.
Laura's heart is beating faster, and while he can't see her expression, Matt can guess that he's taking this conversation to a moral place.]
I don't doubt you, people who want to hurt children are vile. I'm sorry that happened... I'm sure you had to do things that you weren't proud of to be here.
[Maybe it wasn't all out killing someone. Maybe it was stealing, lying, doing things that could be construed as bad.]
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[ The humor is a little lost on her. She doesn't have a lot of experience with things like that. Give her time.
Her heartbeat slows a little when Matt continues, but it doesn't make the feeling go away. She doesn't want to talk about the things that she's done. The people she's hurt. ]
I did bad things. Some---they asked me to. Others---to leave that place.
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