Street kids rp

Nivlac ran down the street, checking occasionally to see if his perusers where still there. He dodged into a crowd, but it quickly parted when the police came into view. You didn't want to get in their way.
"Stop him!" one of the officers yelled. Stupid, thought Nivlac.
There was chaos as everyone in the crowd tried to grab him at once, but Nivlac managed to dodge all the hands thrust in his path. He snuck away from the crowd, still upended in their search. He ducked behind a dumpster, catching his breath. He was sixteen, tall, with light blond hair and brown eyes. He had lived on the streets his whole life, and was one of the oldest kids. He didn't know who his parents where, and he didn't care. He had a new family now. He tossed the butterfly knife he held in his left hand up, catching it in his right, the blade now concealed between the two grips. He put it in his pocket, and looked around the corner and back into the square, where the crowd had managed to organize itself.

Raven was this boy's name. No, it wasn't his hair color, which was a light brown. It was how he watched the ravens in the sky, and mimicked their cries that he gained the reputation among other street kids. Raven himself, was sprinting, not among the streets like most, but on the rooftops. Normally, he wouldn't do this, it was stupid, even if he was an elite, at the age of fourteen. If he hadn't been running though, he would have been caught by the kid chasing him.

"Hey, you're supposed to be an elite, so fight me bitch! I want your knife!" The goon chasing Raven was pretty bulky for a street kid, and not all that bright. Raven on the other and, was tall and lean, and had the sense to prove he was an elite on the streets. He also didn't talk much, and not having said a single word the whole chase, only pissed off his attacker more.

Raven knew this was coming, he had no choice. He couldn't make the gap from this building to the next. He waited for the kid to catch up to him, and kicked him, right in the crotch, and punched him in the face, before grabbing his neck. "If, you want to live, quit following me." Raven saw a small bulk in the pocket of his now pinned enemy. Quickly, he grabbed it to reveal a knife. "Hey, give it back!" Obvious, this boy needed the knife to live on the streets, and Raven handed it back. Not really.

"You want it.. go get it," he said, chucking the knife at the last building they were on. When he ran after it, Raven quickly took action and jumped below, landing on a dumpster.

(I don't think you need help figuring out why the dumpster is important?)

Nivlac crawled back behind the dumpster. He had closed his eyes for a second, taking the moment to take a much needed rest, when he heard yelling from the rooftop. A moment later, something heavy landed on his dumpster. Nivlac quickly flipped out his knife, catching it with the blade protruding from between the two grips. He jumped up onto the dumpster, kneeling down, his knife upside down in his left hand. He quickly scanned his vision, and saw a thin boy with brown hair. He decided to give him a chance before slitting his throat.

"Who're you?" he snarled. "What are you doing here?"

Raven turned to face the person talking to him. Quickly, his hand went into the boy's neck, making a recoil and the knife drop. "I'm Raven. Perhaps you know me, perhaps you don't. I'm not popular, but I'm elite. I've been lost nine years, and I'm fourteen now. Now that I've told you about me, I want to know about you." Raven kept it short but informal to make sure he wasn't jumped by impatience. He pulled out his own knife to prove he wasn't afraid to kill if he didn't get what he wanted to know.

"I want your answer now. I mean, NOW." One thing he had learned in his time on the streets was to be harsh to keep things moving, and this guy wasn't willing to follow that.

Nivlac took note of the boy's overt display of aggression. He definitely was an elite, that much was obvious, or we was trying very hard to look like one. Nivlac hadn't heard of him though, so perhaps the latter. Maybe. You never knew with kids like that. He raised his hand to his neck, rubbing the place where the boy, Raven, had hit him.

"I am called Nivlac. Don't ask why. I've lived on the streets for sixteen years now; my whole life. Perhaps you've heard of me. I hope not." He picked up his knife, and carefully folded it back so the blade was sheathed. "Anyway. My whole life. That makes me elite too." He didn't mention that he was new to this part of the city. With almost everyone in his old streets wanting him dead, living there had been a health risk.

Raven nodded. "I can tell from the look on your face, and that fact you didn't even know that this is unclaimed territory and tried to attack me here in enough to say you're new here. Are you?" Raven inquired. "If you are, I have much to show you. In a couple hours we're having a brawl tournament. You might want to come, meet some of the people. They don't take kind to anyone better than them that they don't know." He pulled the neck of his white t-shirt down to reveal a giant scar, which perfectly nodded in agreement to his statement.

"By the way, you should join a gang here, it's how things work. Though I hate the people in all the gangs here, so I'm a loner. It isn't safe to be alone."

"Yeah. I'm new." He didn't elaborate. As for joining a gang, he was convinced that if this kid could do it, so could he. He'd lasted weeks in his old home, with all the local gangs constantly patrolling for him. Finally he'd had enough, and he left. For all he knew, they were still looking. But anyway. It might be a good idea to at least check them out. Unnecessary risks were, well, unnecessary.

"Okay. Brawl tournament. Sounds fun. Anyway. What were you doing on the roof?" he said.

"I owed a gang some money," Raven said. "They sent someone after me to pay up. Of course, they're going to come up with even less. I took the knife from them and tossed it. Probably still looking for it. It isn't safe for me anymore right now. I broke their code of payback. That specific gang has a rule that if you don't pay back your fees, your gang has to fight them all. Like I said, I don't have a gang yet, and there's a lot of them, so I'm doomed." Raven sighed as he told Nivlac his predicament. "The leader is more skilled than me, and he's seen me fight before, so he knows what to expect."

Raven quit the subject right there and started walking away. After a few seconds, he looked back to Nivlac. "You coming?"

Nivlac jumped down from the dumpster, walking fast to catch up with Raven. "Yeah, of course. Don't have much else to do."
They walked out into the square. By now it was past the curfew, and the crowd had disbursed, but Nivlac was still cautious. Cops liked to stake out areas of recent criminal activity. All he'd wanted was the jacket. He still wasn't sure why, but he'd felt like he needed it. So he'd taken it. And he didn't have any money. So he'd run from the shop. Police had quickly followed. He'd come to a dead end in the square, where Nivlac had used the crowd (and the dumpster) to hide.

They walked through the humid night air, Nivlac wearing his new jacket. There didn't seem to be any police, but he started playing with his butterfly knife as he walked, flipping the blade between the grips and back out again.

"Hope you can climb Nivlac. "Elites have a certain way of fighting here. We run through the roofs and fight on them. It's difficult, and if you aren't careful, you'll fall. All fights are to first blood. If you don't obey the rule and stop fighting whenever one of you sees blood, then the rule-breaker is pushed off the edge." They were getting close "By the way, since you're new. Don't lose. You want a reputation for yourself, but not a bad one."

Two pair had come up to a fire escape ladder, and Raven jumped and clung up, and then started climbing up onto the platform. He quickly began running up the flights of stairs. He knew Nivlac would follow. At the top of all the stairs was a bunch of other elites. "You're late. Why?" A lot of people were there, Raven didn't know who said it. "I have a newcommer." There was a hush, because Avian was the last one to join them. Two years ago.

Nivlac climbed up onto the roof following Raven to find a group of kids, about his age, some older, some younger, staring at him. He guessed they didn't meet too many new people. Nivlac had already put his knife away before climbing, but suddenly he regretted it. Maybe they wouldn't all be as friendly as Raven had been. Nivlac's hand went into his pocket, and he had already assumed a more defensive stance as soon as he had got to his feet.

"Hey," he said lamely. There was no distinguishable leader of the group, and they didn't seem to be all from one gang either. Some were like Raven (and now him, he guessed) and bore no distinguishing marks, but others had tattoos or bandannas that they seemed to be showing off. Nivlac stared each of them in the eye, trying to see if any of them were thinking about attack.

There was a long pause where the group stared at Nivlac. Raven decided to break the moment by grabbed Nivlac's shoulder. "I call tag team. Nivlac and I, against... Jeremy and Demetri. Two tall boys walked out. One, Jeremy, was the taller of the two, and pale. His shirt was ripped, and his shorts were sagging. He used a bandanna hanging out of his pocket to signal he was in one of the top gangs. Demetri did no such thing, but his skin was like an Italian's, and he had a shaved head. "So, Raven, we haven't fought in a long time. I gave you a scar last time," Demetri mocked. "I was twelve, you were seventeen, and two feet taller. Don't be cocky."

"I will explain the rules once more," Raven whispered to Nivlac. "First blood, run on rooftops only, and don't lose, obviously." A small whistle was played, and Raven punched Nivlac to motion to follow. The other team was following suit.

"Blood, rooftops, no losing," said Nivlac. "Got it." He followed Raven as he ran across the rooftops, the other team behind them. The first gap was coming up, and Nivlac cleared it. The other kids did it like it was nothing.

Nivlac glanced at the other team as they ran. What would happen now? When would the actual brawling start? Would he be able to use his knife, or would the other kids push him off if he tried it? Nivlac decided not to risk it. He figured with someone like Demetri on the other side, if he lost a fight he wouldn't have much to worry about afterwords anyway. Maybe he'd wind up with an "accidental" plummet to the empty streets below. He briefly entertained a mental image of the first commuters in the early morning stepping over his broken body to get to work. What would anyone care, if Nivlac died? Street kids died all the time. Nobody cared. Oh, some people said they were all for "civilizing" them, but after a few interactions with the kids they seemed to find quiet retirement very attractive. They were nothing, the dregs of a society that couldn't be bothered to wash them away.

The next gap came up, but Nivlac stopped. Why not? i have nothing to lose, he thought.

Raven watched his partner run, while keeping pace with his own self. The guy didn't seem to clear this as simple as the others did, but it was natural. Here, fighting on the streets was always a way to get caught. On the rooftop though, you had no chance of cops catching you. Raven wondered how far they would run before someone gave out, until he saw it. Nivlac froze in his tracks. Raven kept going, until he was at the near edge of the roof and stopped, barely making it before falling. The other team was too close. Quickly, Raven turned and got ready for a punch, and waited. "You're mine bitch," he threatened to Demetri as he neared, unable to stop without being hit or tripping and risking scaring his skin and bleeding. "I want revenge for this.... SCAR!" He ended the last word by extending his arm and connecting it perfectly with Demetris's face. Demetri recoiled and stepped back, but his face stayed in tact. Unfortunately, his opponent recovered quickly, and replied with a punch to Raven's stomach, kneeling him over. "Ugh." Demetri sent a kick right to Raven's face, but he quickly dodged and leaned backwards.

"Not so funny when your winning shot doesn't work, does it?" Raven taunted, jumping back up, and aimed a snap kick to his enemy's leg, but only to have it be caught and twisted , forcing Raven to hop around until his leg was twisted to a point where he slammed on the ground. With luck, he didn't fall hard enough to start bleeding, but it was painful. Demetri still had his leg, so Raven used his other to kick him in his face. His nose was bleeding. "Eat it bitch!"

(Now you have to beat Jeremy.)

While Demetri fought with Raven, Jeremy closed in on Nivlac. This was going to be fun. He hadn't fought anyone one-on-one in a while. Recently, it had always been five-on-one, the odds against Nivlac. Some of those had been scary. He'd almost lost an eye once. Nivlac had figured that the object in those fights hadn't been winning as much as staying alive, so he'd always fought until he had been able to run. He had a feeling that wouldn't work here. Jeremy was only five steps away. How would he deal with this? Nivlac was smaller, but probably stronger and heavier. Jeremy was probably faster though.

Four steps.

Three.

What was he going to do? Two.

One.

Jeremy swung his left fist towards Nivlac's face, but Nivlac blocked the blow and countered with a blow of his own; an uppercut to the stomach. Jeremy quickly stepped away, and kicked upward at Nivlac's face. Nivlac caught it, and brought his elbow down on Jeremy's knee, hopefully spraining it. Nivlac pushed back, and Jeremy fell onto his back. Nivlac was on him in a second, but he'd let his guard down. Jeremy punched him in the face, and he fell backwards. He quickly checked for blood: none. Relieved, he got up to see Jeremy trying to get up, though his knee was giving him trouble. Nivlac quickly stepped forward and tried to kick him in the face, but Jeremy caught it and they both fell onto each other. Nivlac punched wildly, until a blow to the jaw sent him backwards. It took him a second to realize that he was covered in blood. He quickly felt his face, his nose, his jaw, and glanced at Jeremy. He was unconscious, blood pouring from his nose. Nivlac rested his head against the hard cement, and breathed.

Glancing over, watching the fight. He studied Nivlac's fight. This kid's style was different, he looked forward to fighting him someday. Raven wondered how fast Nivlac could pull out punches like his blocks. He saw blood from Nivlac first, but then quickly to Jeremy. They had won, and Raven broke out of his hold, and went over to Nivlac, helping him up. "They'll know we won when we returned and I haven't bled," he explained, walking away, then breaking into a run to start clearing the buildings. When he returned, he was greeted with silence. They would stay like that until Nivlac returned.

Nivlac stood up, thanking Raven for the hand up as he did so. He looked down at Jeremy. He didn't want to thonk about the headache he'd have when he woke. Nivlac looked up, and started walking back towards the group. He jumped the first gap easily now. His hands were shaking from the raw adrenaline rushing through his bloodstream. He had won. Okay. What now?

Nivlac walked towards the group. They were all looking at him. His hand went once again to his knife.

Raven watched his movement, and made to stop him. "None of them are going to fight you. We don't talk much, if you didn't realize." His attention turned to the rest of the group. "They're probably headed back. I'm getting out of here before Demetri knifes me for winning." He motioned to Nivlac to follow and ran towards the edge where they had come, and jumped onto the fire escape and started to run down the stairs. I fucking love these things. Not. His goal wasn't to run from Demetri, there was too many of them if he did have a freak out. There was something he needed from Nivlac. He needed a gang, and he wanted that person as the co-owner. The more people he recruited, the safer. He even knew what they were going to do. All the members would tie a bandanna with a raven on it. A white one, in the center, the rest all black. He had a couple with him, as he learned to make them a long time ago. Perhaps he would ask Nivlac when they stopped running.

Raven froze as he hopped off the escape and waited for Nivlac.

Nivlac pulled his hand from his pocket, and quickly followed Raven down the fire escape. Nivlac wondered if Demetri really would attack Raven for winning. Probably. But there? With all those people around? Probably not. So what was the real reason Raven had left so quickly? Nivlac figured he'd find out if it was something important, so he just followed Raven. He caught up with him at the bottom.
"What's up?"

"I told you a while ago, I hate most of the people and won't join a gang. I don't hate you though," he said, not even waiting to be asked twice. "I have a couple bandannas with me," he continued, "and I was wondering if.. you would wear one, and make a gang with me?" Ending with a question, he wanted Nivlac to feel he had a choice. "We can recruit people, but only the ones truly worthy. We'll stand and grow our territory, starting from the roof I domain over. It's a few miles from here, and it's small, but I have a place to make more and more bandannas, and more and mroe members. We'll take over this hood man." Raven was slowly adding the pressure to Nivlac's answer. "So, what do you say?"

Nivlac knew what was coming, and he knew what his answer was going to be. He knew there was safety in numbers, but only when the numbers around you were trustworthy. Only when you were sure the numbers around you weren't going to stab you in the back was there safety in numbers. He didn't know Raven very well, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't stab him in the back. And hey, he didn't have anything better to do with his life. Who knows, he might even become pretty powerful in this neighborhood. That would be interesting. So...what the hell.
"Yeah, I'll help you found your gang. Could be fun. Where's my bandana?"

Raven took his out and tied it around his neck. he thought for a moment. "Wait.. no," he said, untying it. He dropped it and took out his knife, and stabbed a small hold in his jeans to the inside of his pocket, and then tied his bandanna, so it hung out of his pocket. Having the bandanna on a leg symbolized freedom to him. "Cut a hole in your pants to your pocket, and tie this to hang out," he said, reaching, and pulling out a bandanna, which he handed to Nivlac. "I haven't seen anyone do this before."

Nivlac flipped his knife open and obliged, cutting the hole and tying the bandana in place. It was new. Nivlac wondered if they'd start a trend. The thought made him smile, it was so ridiculous. The kids in his old neighborhood wouldn't change the way they did things to save their lives, not if another gang tried it first. Not out of respect and detest for uniformity, but because if they were doing it, it had to be wrong. No matter how successful the group became, they were wrong. Because they were different. Because they aren't us.

New was good. Nivlac wanted to change the way the gangs operated. And new was definitely a way to start changing things.

"Looks good," Raven smirked. He looked up and noticed the sky was pitch black. "It's pretty mother fucking late. We should probably go to sleep before we get challenged to a fight," he said. "Follow me, I'm going to my hideout." He once again began running, liking the feel of the wind rushing in his face as he started going through turns. Once down a final alley, he met at a door. He pulled something from his pocket and began to pick the lock and smiled upon hearing a soft click in the silence of the night. "Got it," he said quietly, looking back to see if Nivlac was following. He swung open the door and looked inside. There was a run down couch and wooden table, and a couple open drawers. It was obvious they were stuffed with stolen items that piled up more and more.

Nivlac walked up to one of the open drawers, examining the contents. It was filled with various objects, obviously stolen, as Nivlac doubted Raven could afford any of it (who could?). There were several watches, a few knives, both with fixed and folding blades, and other miscellaneous things that could be used or sold on the streets. He looked up at the solitary couch, and down at the bare, dirty floor and said, "I hope you have another couch." He walked over to the couch and lay down, absentmindedly playing with his knife, flipping the blade in and out quickly. Nivlac examined the blade quickly, looking for places where the edge caught the light. He would need to sharpen it soon. The last time he'd used a whetstone was before he'd left his original gang.