~Fae~ An X-Men OC Story

Rodrigo's got you covered

Wandering the streets of North Eastern United states is no feat of existence. Scrounging for leftover food in dumpsters behind restraunts, looking for cardboard and sheet metal to make a lousy shack in a hidden alley. Avoiding the MRD blitzes.

Getting a job is a whole nother problem. Ecspecially for the mutants. In fact, I was in search of a job right now. I tried as hard as a homeless teenage girl could to look respectable, hosing myself off with a faucet behind an apartment building, scratching away stains on my cozy gray hoodie.

Thankfully it was summer, and I have another while until it gets cold again.

I had scraped up as much money as I could, making little wire trinkets and selling them, picking up money from the sidewalk. I learned to almost never beg, it looks pathetic, and people already want to help me. So I settled on small art projects with wire and what little pencil and paper I could manage.

I sold my mediocre art for five dollars a peice, no matter the size. Setting up a small stand on the side of a road commonly walked on, acting like you were a normal person, and that this was an everyday giftstand.

It was pretty foolproof.

But I was ready to move on.

On a fresh Thursday morning, I trotted down a street along with other residents of New Jersey, in the mild sunlight of early June. I tugged my 2 dollar beanie further down over my pointed ears, afraid of notice to the fact that I was a victim of the X-Gene.

I kept my bangs long over my right eye, shielding it from view. It's sheer black color and bright white pupil and iris tend to give off the wrong vibe. Although my left eye was quite a peculiar bright blue, people were more accepting of that.

From a mutant perspective, I was pretty fortunate. I wasn't covered with scales, I didn't have a big fluffy tail, and I wasn't a hulking brute. I just kind of... was.

Due to my slightly germaphobic nature, you couldn't tell right away that I was homeless. I just kinda looked like the average 15 year old girl who woke up and threw on whatever clothes she could find.

I waved to a kind looking man, smiling, then stooped into a side street when he passed me by.

Giving a sigh of relief, I curled my hands into the hems of my jacket, brushing the very end of my sleeve against the shadowed wall.

Avoiding sketchy puddles, I strategically approached a shanty camp set up in the corner. Cardboard had been laid out on the ground to form some kind of floor, blankets in one corner, encircled with useful supplies like pots, small boxes with water bottles in them, other knick knacks and whatnot.

I crouched under the sheet metal roof suspended by tent poles, (the tent had been damaged by a police officer looking for homeless scum-of-the-earth.)

"Hey" I greeted the lump of fabric in the corner. It moved, then a purple blanket jerked up and stood for a second. a small Hispanic woman with happy little wrinkles by her squinty eyes and wide mouth struggled to remove the blanket, flailing her arms, and kicking it away.

"Fae, dearie! I was wondering when you'd visit me again!" She hugged me, and I put an arm around her. I giggled, standing up.

Maria had taught me how to live on the streets, and how to appear kind to strangers. She raised me from when I was six years old, after-

Well, Maria missed her kids she had left back in Mexico, and missed taking care of someone. We were practically a match made in heaven.

I watched, smiling as Maria scrambled around, relocating random items as she rambled off about a pretty pigeon she saw the other day that reminded her of me.

She was about to turn and grab a fabric of some sort, and I took her hand. She turned to face me. "...and that's when I took the French fry from it's beak and- whazit- hmghm..."

Her face scrunched up and she grabbed my head, pulling it close to hers, brushing away my hair. She looked close into both of my eyes. "I know that look..." She gasped. "You are going to try something new!!!"

Nodding and chuckling, I pulled her her hands away from my cheeks, tugging my bangs back over my wonky eye.

Maria grasped at a small wooden cross and uttered a prayer towards heaven. "God help you, child. Whazit this time, eh?"

Her squinty eyes widened. "Oh. You go get job now, yes?" I nodded. "Oh, mi hija, it's a dangerous world. Ecspecially for you, and you know that."

I fingered my left ear nervously, biting my lip. Of course I knew that, my anxiety hadn't left me for weeks. But if I wanted to get off the roads and take care of Maria, I needed money, and that doesn't just come from thin air.

Of course, working somewhere public means way higher chances of getting turned into an MRD facility, and I don't even know what kinds of things happen in there, and... It means Maria would be all alone.

I caught myself before I got too emotional.

No! Don't worry about it, Fae. You'll be fine.

Maria gently pulled my hand away from my ear, intertwining her fingers in mine.

"Mija, don't worry about me."

She picked up an old stuffed animal that looked like some sort of moth.

"I have Rodrigo to take care of me!"

She held the raggedy, dirt covered thing to her chest.

"Go find a job! Go to somewhere with good food, bring back, or whazit. Just stay safe."

She gave my hands a kiss and patted my shoulder. I smiled, and stood to leave.

"Buy a broooom, child! I need to sweep around here.."

She trailed off, mumbling to herself as I stepped around the puddles and into the sunlight.

Fumbling with my hands in my pockets, I made my way to a small intersection with a couple small resteraunts scattered around. I remembered seeing one with a 'now hiring' sign in front, and I planned on asking for an application.

~•~ ~•~ ~•~

Six hours and four stores later, I had had no luck. Everyone turned me down.

Don't get me wrong, it's not because I don't have an education. I've bought tons of used textbooks from a bookstore for almost free because of the fact that they're covered in scribbles. Which, in fact, are useful input and notes from other people and their teachers make corrections.

Honestly, I would probably never be teaching myself stuff, if not for the fact that there's not much else to do, and the fact that in this world you can't do anything without an edumacation.

Haha.

I turned a corner, trudging along in the Misty, darkening air sending a chill inside me. The lonesome sounds of my fake, black converses scraping along the crumbling concrete sidewalk echoed along the street.

The air around me reverberated my silent nature, thick with fog.

Turning a corner, I spotted a small sandwich shop that looked like it sees very little people. It said it was still open, and I'm sure a place like that could use more employees.

I looked both ways across the street, the wet ground reflecting the streetlights in long, glowing strips. My foot left the curb, stepping into the street.

Someone grabbed my wrist.