<span style="color: #FF0000">"Maximillian Arcadias" he rolled his eyes at his own name, 'god how I hate that name' he thought as he stood at the unemployment counter for the twentieth time that year, as most people are not having very good luck keeping city jobs, he was luckier than others, but that didn't stop him from going dark a few times. Max left the office and two blocks down, half a block from his apartment, a young woman seemed to be lost, "well well well" he said under his breathe as he slowly walked towards her, planning on pick-pocketing her. He was about five feet from her when some guy tried to grab under her skirt, Max was there in an instant and lifted the guy off the ground by his neck, "what do you think your doing, bub? Think people're gonna stand by while you rape a woman? This is a pretty shitty town, but not everybody in it is" he spit, "you disgust me" Max threw him against a wall and he crumpled to the ground, he turned to the woman, his eyes concerned, "you OK miss, are you lost?"</span><br/><br/>Willow jerked as a man near her was grabbed and she turned to see another man choking him. He....he'd been about to rape her!? She hadn't even heard him there. She wasn't used to city scenes. She was from a smaller town in the south and just recently moved up here. She didn't want any trouble. When the other man turned to look at her, she looked quite rattled, and her big, blue eyes showed residual fear in them. "I'm alright thanks to you..." She spoke her voice holding a thick, southern drawl. "As a fact of the matter, I am lost..."<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">Max smiled, "what exactly were you looking for, and may I say, what a lovely southern accent you have" he crooked his arm for her, "I can take you anywhere in this city, and besides guys like him, people in this city are quite pleasant."<br/></span><br/><br/>Her face turned cherry red at that and she spoke. "I...well, thank you." She gave a soft smile to the man in question as she tried to hide how flustered she was. She gently took his arm and spoke. "I appreciate the help, this place is so huge and I have no idea where i'm going..." She showed him a paper with the address of an apartment complex in the worse side of town. "That's where i'm going, but I think I made a wrong turn somewhere....My name is Willow by the way."<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">As they began walking, Max looked at the paper, "hey, that's my apartment building, and my name is Max, nice to meet you Willow" they walked the rest of the way, "here we are," he let go of her and dug in his pocket for a key, which he jammed into the lock and turned the knob, "Welcome to the Hilton, just kidding, but your room's right next to mine it seems" he hands her back the paper, "and I'm gonna tell you this, don't look anyone in the eyes, trust me, just don't" he leads her to her room and goes to his own room, "and keep your windows and door locked at all times" he went in his room, "nice meeting you Willow." He calls and closes his door.</span><br/><br/>She smiled and chatted with her new friend Max as they walked. He seemed to be very friendly. She was a naive girl, and she had no idea he'd intended to pick pocket her just moments prior, or even if he already had. She walked into the run down building. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't this. She listened to his warnings and got scared. She questioned him. "B..but why?" She asked about looking people in the eye as she was left in the hallway.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">"You know the guy outside? That'll happen, so keep your chin up, just don't make eye contact" he waved and closed his door again.<br/></span><br/><br/>She watched as the door was abruptly shut in her face leaving her scared in the hallway. It was a frightening concept to her that she couldn't do something as simple as make eye contact. That was something that back home, it was considered polite.... She hurriedly went inside her apartment and locked the door behind her feeling unsettled.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">Max lays in his bed, "and if you need anything, just ask!" he yells through the wall. He sleeps the rest of the day.<br/></span><br/><br/>Willow heard his voice through the wall, and it let her know exactly how thin the walls really were. She didn't answer him as she didn't feel like yelling, but she did go get a hot shower and begin to clean up around her place.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">Max awoke the next morning and got ready for his part-time job, he left his apartment and got ready to go down the steps. He stopped, his foot hovering over the first step, he went back and knocked on Willow's door, "hey! You OK in there?" he yelled through the door and tried to use his wolf-like hearing, he smelled her alright, but his hearing had gotten worse from all the constant noise, he tried to stay well-groomed with the shitty stuff he had, but he'd usually get marked as ominous, and therefore, dangerous, he thought it was the trench-coat, and he wanted it to stay that way.<br/></span><br/><br/>Willow had fallen asleep the night before on the couch after a long evening of cleaning everything and getting the space livable. She'd also had to place some bowls and buckets on the ground to catch some leaks near the corners of the building closest to the street. She was awoken by yelling and banging on the door. She came to the door with messy hair looking tired. She rubbed one eye with her hand. "Good Morning..." she said softly sleep still clouding her voice.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">"Rise and shine sleepy head! I paid this month's rent for your apartment, if you wanna stay here you should probably come with me to get you a job" he smiled, as energetic as a dog(he is technically).<br/></span><br/><br/>She blinked. He'd paid her rent? She had some savings that she'd brought with her, but the job thing was the truth. "You paid my rent? Thank you...." She was surprised that he'd do that for a person he just met. "I will pay you back I promise.''<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">"Nah, don't worry about it, despite the fact that I live in the shitty part of the city and i wear shitty clothes, I can afford a month of rent" Max looked at his watch, "I gotta go, I'll see you there" he handed her a piece of paper with an address on it, "take the subway, see ya later!" he jumped over the banister onto the first floor and out the door without missing a beat.<br/>Max sat at his desk, bored out of his mind, "it's been 30 minutes, where is she" he sigh at the leather-covered cubicle, he stood and looked over all the cubicles.</span><br/><br/>As he looked over the cubicles, Willow had made her way there and wandered in. She was holding the paper he'd given her in her hand and looked lost. She also looked much more presentable now. Her hair had been fixed, and she'd changed into nicer clothes. She walked over to a map of the building hanging by an elevator to see where she was.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">Max saw her, "Psst, Willow over here!" he said in a loud whisper and started waving an arm, when she got to him, he smiled "so, what do you think?" he spread his arms, indicating the well-cleaned office, "pretty neat huh?"<br/></span><br/><br/>She heard the loud whisper among the soft clacking of fingers on keyboards and turned to see her new neighbor and friend waving. She smiled and she followed his voice around to where his cubicle was. "It is. I've never seen so many people working in one building before..."<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">Max took her to an office, which was the boss' office, he accepted her. "You'll be next to me, stay close at all times, I don't want anything happening to you, the were groups of men be the water coolers, "and definitely stay away from them, don't even look at them" he set her in a cubicle, "just redirect any calls that come in" he began explaining the job until she got it. He went to his cubicle next to hers and sat there waiting for calls.<br/></span><br/><br/>Willow was thankful that his boss had accepted her application. It tickled her pink to know that she didn't have to worry about expenses anymore. That was one worry out of the way. As Max explained her job and such she wondered why she shouldn't go anywhere without him and why she shouldn't talk to anyone. Wasn't it a good thing to make friends on the job? She thought it was normal to feel a sense of security in the workplace. After awhile she needed the ladies room and didn't exactly think he'd accompany her (even if he'd wanted to) to that, so she left her cubicle and started wandering down the hall past the water cooler to find one.<br/><br/><a href="//www.creativefreedomrpg.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=111884">@Daemon</a>(Here's our shiny, new thread!)