<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="background-color:#050505; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><div style="background-color:#101010; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;">Smoke curled almost invisibly from the many narrow chimneys of the nice houses. The nice people inside probably only spent very little time considering the poor children who were earning their living crawling up and down inside said chimneys. Victor took a drag of the roll-up he'd lit. It was a terrible habit, one his mother had repeatedly asked him to kick, claiming the smell was bothering her. He blew the smoke out between his thin lips. Victor chalked it up to a motherly instinct to complain about her child's behavior. His dad had smoked a pipe for three hundred years, and he'd never heard her say a word against it.<br/><br/>His peaceful smoking in the cool night was interrupted by a woman. Victor raised an eyebrow. Normally, he wouldn't complain, but she was looking at him something awful. He was quite certain that no one simply passing by would have noticed the tiny glow of his roll-up, much less be able to see him in the dark alley, its only lantern unlit - perhaps forgotten by the watchman. With a roll of his shoulder, he pushed himself from his comfortable position leaning against the brick wall of one house bordering the alley, throwing the remainder of the roll-up on the cobblestone. He grinned humorlessly.<br/><br/>"Lost?" He asked, placing his hands behind his back in a childishly mischievous <span style="font-style: italic">I didn't do it</span>-gesture. He cocked his head to the side, watching her and already knowing the answer to his question. This woman certainly wasn't lost, and she was in too much of a hurry to be a whore. They wouldn't be walking home this early in the night, either.<br/><br/>He was torn out of his speculations about the obviously not lost woman when he noticed a gentleman some way behind her - who was also definitely not lost. The man was strolling casually, but determinedly in their direction, stopping every now and then to examine a poster or exchange a few words with another citizen. Victor sighed lightly. Poor sap probably thought he was doing an awfully good job of the whole skulking business.<br/><br/>He strode towards the lady on his long, thin legs, tipping his hat to her. "I'm sorry," he began, speaking very quietly. "but you've got someone stuck to your shoe, madam." He gently took her arm, leading her back the way she came as if it was the most natural thing in the world for them to have stumbled upon each other in an almost pitch-black alleyway. He nodded politely at the other man as they passed him, knowing full well that he couldn't follow them without blowing his already cracked cover completely. Whoever she was, whoever were following her, Victor had very simple motivations: he was bored, and he'd sooner come to the aid of a woman than a man.</div><div style="background-color:#202020; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">Notes:</span> <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-LKY4cbQ2o&amp;list=PL6Lftel7brSNJhwfNyQtZXmjEgT1lNlDS">Music</a>. Took the liberty of taking a little bit of control to get things moving; this isn't something you'll be seeing often from me. I hope it's okay; if not, of course tell me to change it. I'll be more than happy to.</span></div></div></div>