The Front Gate

[Avalanche]

Avalanche turned around to see Lexi coming down the side walk, and he lit up instantly. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and leaned down to give her a hug. "Hey there," he said with a small smile. What was he doin' in the bronx? "Just takin' a walk on this lovely day, thought I'd come see one of my favorite leaders," he said with a small wink. "I had a day where I could relax so I thought I'd take a walk and just sorta landed here," he added with a grin. "What are you up to today?" he asked as he leaned back against the front fence to the lodging house.

Though Alex had friends all over New York, he seemed to spend a lot of free time out walking. And though he was the only one that noticed it, a lot of this free time walking was spent in the Bronx. What could he say? He'd spent years with Prince as a best friend and seeing her. He'd spent loads of time in Brooklyn seeing Red. He'd gone to Manhattan for poker games and to visit good friends. But now his favorite borough had come to be the Bronx. Did Lexi have something to do with that? More than possibly. But all the same, he knew that Lexi was just a good friend, and so did she. They weren't gonna be anything else, they knew that, and Avalanche was alright with that. Best friends were very important, and that was practically what Lexi was to him now.

[Alexandreia Halliway]

She laughed and pushed lightly on his forearm when he said he thought he'd visit one of his favorite leaders. "You're just saying that because Prince has stepped down so she can't be your favorite leader anymore." She laughed again to show she was kidding she shrugged her shoulder absently at his question. She hadn't really had any plans for the rest of the day. She was just glad to finally have some time off from work even if that usually meant she'd be cleaning up after a house full of girls or dealing with one or more issues going on at the lodging house.

"I don't really have any plans. Just finished work, so I have the rest of the day off." And if she were a normal person she would use it to catch up on some much needed sleep, but Lexi was used to getting too little sleep. Raising two younger brothers will do that to you, but she wasn't complaining. She didn't mind the extra responsibility of running the house because it really wasn't much more then what she'd been doing before. She'd always been the type to play mediator between the girls even before Dodger had asked her to become leader of the house. So now she just didn't have to feel bad when she told them to shut the feck up because people were trying to sleep. "Did you have anything specific planned for the day?"

[Avalanche]

Avalanche couldn't help but chuckle. "Hey now, you don't get to tell me why people are my favorites..." he smiled at her, teasing her. He took a drag from his own cigarette as he pulled out a pack and offered one to her. She looked a little tired, and since more people smoke in New York City he didn't figure offering her a cigarette would hurt much. At least give her a few minutes to hang outside before she went in doors.

"Rest of the day off huh? Sounds like you could use a sort of relaxing evening. I didn't have anything really planned for this evening except maybe making the rest of the walk home. Somehow I doubt that you wanna walk all the way to Brooklyn." He glanced over his shoulder at the lodging house, and the wheels in his head began to spin as he came up with an idea. "Hmmm... you need any help around here?" he asked. "I mean if I went home I'd probably just sit around and read or somethin', might as well do something productive. Plus... and not that you ain't capable or nothin but... maybe need somethin' fixed, or looked at, or even need help cleaning?" he offered. After all, there weren't exactly men just sort of hanging around this lodging house. Maybe he could be of some assistance. At the very least he was going to offer.

[Alexandreia Halliway]

Lexi laughed at his words and shook her head, running a hand through her hair absently. "Alright, alright I promise I won't." Her smile widened as she finished speaking and leaned against the front gate. Her thoughts drifted for a moment as she glanced at the house. She hoped everything was calm inside and that Jewel and Emma weren't both in there. The two of them in a room together usually meant an argument was brewing and although she couldn't fault either one of them she didn't feel like having to break up a fight. She was also sure that the boys would be furious if Emma got into a fight.

Lexi snapped her attention back to Alex as he spoke and chuckled quietly under her breath. "No, thanks. I'm not up for a walk quite that long." She had always thought Alex must have amazing stamina to be able to walk all over the city all the time. She took walks occasionally but she usually stayed in the Bronx, it was just easier for her that way. Plus there were some beautiful spots in this part of the city that she frequented. She pondered his offer for a moment and shrugged a bit, "There are a few things that need repairing around the house but I'm not sure we have the tools you would need to do it." She honestly didn't know much about fixing things and she didn't pretend to. "The house is clean though," She said with a smile. "But you don't have to do anything to stay." She enjoyed his company and he didn't need to be put to work to be welcome.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche listened to her with a quiet smile, broad all the same, but he was quiet. She was all too cute, if he could say that at least. From her stature, to her hair color, she was just... cute! No better word to describe it. When she mentioned that there were some things that needed fixing Avalanche was ready to bound up the stairs right there and then. Not have the tools he needed? "Oh, that's no problem. I can at least check out the damage, then the next time I have a free day I can bring what I need myself and then get everything fixed up," he said to her as though it were a promise that he didn't intend on breaking. For the most part that was true. If Avalanche promised to do something, whatever it be, he'd do it, one way or another, he'd do it, at least to some extent.

He honestly had no doubt that the house was clean. Lexi kept a nice place and he never doubted her. But, he didn't have to do anything to stay huh? "And who said that I was lookin' for a reason to stay?" he teased her. "Perhaps I was just lookin' to be nice and thought well maybe since there weren't no men that come around here too awful often that I'd lend ya a hand and maybe see what needed to be done." He smirked at her. "I know I dun hafta ta nothin'..." he gave her a sincere smile and looked at her with his gentle eyes, "I want to," he said. He was rather heart-breakingly sincere as he said it, but didn't care much at the moment. He then hopped over the front gate and opened the latch from the inside. "Welcome home, Miss Lexi," he said as he opened the gate for her and did an overly grandiose bow.

[Alexandreia Halliway]

Lexi nodded and smiled brightly as she rocked on the balls of her feet. "Well, we don't have to go in right now. It's so nice out," She said with a smile as she looked up at the sky. Even though she should probably feel dead on her feet from working so much she was enjoying how nice it was out. It felt like the winter had lasted forever so a sunny day was just what she needed. She also needed to check in with her brother, it had been too long since she'd seen him and they needed to catch up.

Lexi laughed and brushed her hair back from her face as she glanced back at Alex. "You've always been so sweet to me, Alex." Sometimes she seriously wasn't sure what she did to deserve his friendship but she appreciated it more and more every time she saw him. He was so easy and comfortable to be around. "Why thank you, Sir." She said with a large grin as walked in through the gate.

[Avalanche]

"It is nice," he agreed with her. "Well, I don't wanna rush ya inside," he said with his signature naturally charming smile. "If ya had other things out of doors that you had planned well, far be it from me to stop you." It was a beautiful day, and after what he thought was an awfully frozen winter, he would welcome a walk with some company for a change. He folded his arms and casually leaned back against the closed gate.

As for being sweet? He shrugged that off mostly. Lexi, or the female Alex, as he more affectionately referred to her, was an old and great friend, and Avalanche always took care of his good friends, new or old. Lexi was one of his best friends, and was definitely his favorite Bronx kid. So, being one of his friends, he took care of her, however, she would allow, and however he could fathom. He truly liked spending time with her too, she was a good person.

[Alexandreia Halliway]

"No plans really, just enjoying the day." Her smile brightened as she glanced around the yard. "I should probably go see Reid, but I can do that later." Her sense of obligation usually didn't interfere with her time with her friends. She didn't get to see some of her friends, especially Alex, as much as she'd like to so she wasn't going to run off to talk with her brother just yet.

She figured her brother would be happy not to have her around right now anyway. He spent most of his time with Rori these days and they usually caught up when he visited her at work. "So any special plans for the week?" She turned her attention back to Avalanche as she spoke. She always wondered why she never saw him dating anyone, but then again maybe he just wasn't in the mood to put up with the females that tended to flock around him.

[Avalanche]

No plans huh? Fair enough, Alex wouldn't push the issue or nothin'. Instead he slowly started meandering over to the front steps to take a seat there. "Well, when ya do go see ya brother, give him my regards. I ain't seen him in a while, tell him I said hi. Hope he's doin' well too," he added. As Alex walked down the side walk he kicked a few rocks absently, shuffling his feet, with his hands in his pockets before he tilted his head back and staring up into the sky.

"Plans?" he echoed back to her, and then chuckled lightly. "Naw, not me," he said shaking his head, though it was still tilted upwards. "Pretty much same day to day anymore. Unload a ship, load a ship, run off of it before it takes off with ya on board," he smiled a little and brought his focus down to her. "Same ol same old." He then reached his destination of the front stairs. It seemed that for the little they saw each other there wasn't too much for the two of them to talk about, or that was how Alex saw it anyway. Usually there was snow to make a snow man, or songs to sing. Now there wasn't much except, "You see anything in that cloud there?" he asked rather literally out of the blue pointing up at a small fluffy cloud. "...I think it's a kitten... what you see?" he asked playing a game with her now.

[Alexandreia Halliway]

Lexi followed him as he walked towards the front stairs and smiled, "I will. I'm sure he's doing pretty well. He's got Rori after all and lord knows he's head over heels for the girl." A smile flitted across her face as she spoke. It was nice to see her brother so happy, he deserved it after everything he'd been through. And not just Perry's death but everything she'd put them through before that with uprooting them and moving them from their home to a new and large city.

"Sounds like it could get boring," She replied as she sat and gently pushed his shoulder with her own. She gave him a large smile before she followed his eyes up towards the sky and pursed her lips before tilting her head slightly to get a better look at the cloud he was pointing out. "Hmm....I think it looks like a bunny wearing a top hat." She giggled quietly and brushed her hair back as she continued to study the cloud. "Or maybe a baseball player's mitt."

[Avalanche]

"Head over heels huh?" he said, still maintaining his gaze on the sky. "Good for him," he said nodding with a smirk. He was always happy to hear of people really being in love and happy about it. It was something that he was never quite able to acquire. He knew all the reasons why. When it came to women Avalanche was far too particular. He didn't want women he had to spend every minute with, he didn't want a woman who that he could go a week without seeing. He needed someone who was concerned more about herself than him, but was still interested in how he was doing. Finding a balance like that was more difficult than he thought, because of course there were other small things that he valued as well.

He sighed a little but chuckled at her guess of the pictures in the clouds. In fact, he even laughed out loud. "I like the bunny in a top hat image," he said with a nod. He tossed a glance over towards her again, and delighted in the smile on her face. Just spending time with her made him grin from ear to ear, sort of made him forget about everything. In Avalanche's mind, Dodger was the single luckiest guy in New York. "how's about that one?" he said pointing to another cloud in the sky. "Looks like... hmm..." he stared at it for a moment, "I got it. A mermaid, talking to a fish!" he even pointed to the cloud next to it. "See her? There's her hand, and her face, and her really long hair," he added with a chuckle. Avalanche couldn't help but delight in the childish games that he used to play with the younger kids that he now played most often with Lexi. Building snowmen, seeing pictures in the clouds, singing silly songs, he enjoyed them more than anyone else probably realized.

[Alexandreia Halliway]

Lexi nodded, "Completely and utterly." Lexi was extremely happy for her brother. He was the single most important person in her life and she wanted nothing more then for him to be happy. Of course she had Dodger and Avalanche and Pallet whom she cared deeply for, but he was her only living relative and therefore the most important to her. More so after the last year and what they'd gone through. She felt like their relationship was stronger even if it had come at such a high price. Before, all they would do was argue about how she'd taken him away from the only life he'd known and a life he'd loved. Now though he seemed to understand and accept what had happened before they came to New York. She supposed that had as much to do with his growing up as it did with their loss.

Lexi giggled and glanced over at Alex as he spoke, "Me too." She leaned closer to look up at the cloud he was pointing and tilted her head to the side as he explained what the cloud looked like. She laughed when she realized it did look like that and laid her hand on his knee as she pointed out another cloud. "Look it's a mother duck with her ducklings..." She trailed off as she point at the three tiny clouds streaming behind the first. "She must be leading them to the pond for their first swim." Lexi laughed again, unable to help herself. She enjoyed her time with Alex more then she did with most others because he had the innate ability to make her laugh even if she were in the worst mood of her life.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche only listened as she talked about her brother for a second, and nodded his head in understanding. In the back of his mind he was thinking 'poor sap, fallen in love, now you'll never get him out," the idea of which made him smile even more. Though he knew he was a Sap for love just like many others, and wasn't too afraid to admit it. Every story is a love story after all, just a different kind every time.

He happily laughed with her about the mermaid, and then again about the duck leading the ducklings to water. "Very cute," he added with a small smirk to her, glancing at her once more before directing his gaze, once again, towards the heavens. "Hey that one there looks like Manhattan!" he said with a smile. Not very impressive to see, but he was proud of discovering it in the clouds no less. "Ya know," he said, "I used to love doing this with my younger siblings when I was a kid," he said. "We'd go outside and drink lemonade and stare at the clouds and find all kinds of pictures like this. Real fun times," he said reminiscing about family a little bit himself. Come to think of it, he didn't know where Max was these days, it'd been years since he'd seen Belinda, and as for his mother? He wasn't sure she was even still alive. But he preferred not to think of her.

[Alexandreia Halliway]

Lexi laughed as he pointed out the cloud that was shaped like Manhattan. She leaned against him as she continued to search the sky for interesting clouds. There was one that resembled a mans face with a pipe sticking out of its mouth. She said as much to Avalanche before he explained that he used to do this with his younger siblings. She turned her head to look at him and nodded, "Yeah it's fun. I used to as well when we were all younger."

She turned her attention back to the sky not wanting to fall into a melancholy mood thinking about Perry and how he'd been very creative in finding shapes in the sky. "Do you see them often? Your family?" Lexi couldn't remember them ever really talking about Avalanche's family and it sent a pang of guilt through her that she'd gone on and on about her own time and again but never bothered to ask about his. Lexi brushed her hair back as she glanced back at Alex.

[Avalanche]

As for Avalanche's family, he never spoke of them, to Lexi or anyone really. He wasn't exactly proud of his place in his family, nor of his younger male sibling Max. Family to him was a mistake, and something he'd always meant to fix and just, never quite did. He didn't mean to make her feel guilty about never asking about them, he didn't talk so, it didn't matter. After all, people didn't usually ask about things unless you bring them up first. After all, for all Lexi knew, his entire family died years ago, and she'd have no idea, and he wouldn't have minded. All the same, he would answer her questions honestly.

"No," he said shaking his head. He still had a small smile on his face, it just wasn't the big one that usually occupied his features. It was a slight more neutral and reminiscent as though he was remembering good times. And he was, just not all of them good. "It's been way too many years since I seen my sister and mom," he said honestly. He wasn't sure if they still lived in the same house, or lived at all. He should go finding them again, honestly. "As for Max...?" he thought for a moment. "The boy never did make good choices, hard to say where he is now, or who he's gotten himself mixed up with."

Avalanche originally left home to seek his fortune, to make money, and to send it back to benefit his mother and sister. He had taken his younger brother with him, in hopes that the two boys could be more prosperous together. However, work was harder to find when he was younger than he had thought, and he'd lost track of Max about the time Prince came around. He never made the money to send home, and he never went back. It was the one thing in his life that he wished he could fix, but he didn't know how.

"But," he said his mood picking up. After all, Alex didn't know how to be anything besides cheerful, right? "When I was real little we had all sorts of fun," he said nodding and remembering. "My mom would take us to the park and we'd play tag, and build snow men, and go swimming in the ocean on real hot days," all things that he'd done with Lexi in the last few years. Well, they hadn't gone swimming, but he had found her at the ocean before. "Sometimes it's important to be a kid ya know?" Even though Avalanche was no longer a child, by any stretch of the imagination, he understood the importance of giving children a childhood, of some sort, even if they did have to work as well. "Even if you ain't a kid anymore, sometimes ya just gotta act like one," and with that he was right back up in the clouds looking for pictures. The proud and energetically charming smile was on his face and he grinned as he searched for silhouettes in the sky.