The Streets

[Administrator]

With the impressive houses, the people that live around here are bound to have some change for a pape.

[Karl Gloeckner]

((New Day))

It was a nice day, really, if you didn’t mind the cold. A light snow was falling and, if there hadn’t been so much foot and horse traffic, the streets might have been covered in a blanket of snow to match the rooftops. As it was, though, it was more of a slippery, almost greyish slush littered with dents and grooves from the passersby. It wasn’t as if it mattered much anyhow, the horses were just as displeased with the cold either way and he wasn’t really paying much attention to the scenery at the moment.

Mrs. Noble was on another one of her shopping sprees and he was to stay with the carriage at all times while she was in the stores. He would have preferred to walk around a bit, but he really couldn’t complain seeing as he was being paid for his trouble. He was passing the time as he always did, reading a book in his native German. This book in particular wasn’t terribly good, but he was quickly diminishing the library’s supply (with the exception of technical manuals and philosophy books in which he had no interest whatsoever) and he liked seeing his mother tongue printed across the page, laying out the details of somebody’s life, be it a real person or not. It made him feel at home again, even when he was sitting in the seat of a carriage on the side of a chilly road waiting for his boss’s wife to finish spending an ungodly sum on essentially nothing.

After he had been waiting for about a half hour, Mrs. Noble came out with a small group of store workers following at her heels, each with a pile of boxes and bags towering above their heads.

“Karl, stop lazing around and make yourself useful!” she barked, standing on the side of the curb as the workers carefully made their way to the side of the carriage "Put as many of these in carriage and have the rest taken back in so that they can be sent to the house. I’ll be in the stores if you need me, but I trust that you’ll see to it that you don’t need me. God knows this task should be simple enough for the four of you dimwits to figure out together."

With a stiff smile, he set aside his book and got down from the seat. “of course, ma’am” he deadpanned back at her before approaching the store employees, opening up the door to the cab and starting to transfer the packages onto the extra seats and the floor as carefully as possible. With a final huff, Mrs. Noble left the group to their own devices and, as soon as she was out of sight, Karl turned to the men. “Just put this packages in the cab. I can fit them in.” he assured them, stepping back a bit so they could set down their heavy loads. They did so and headed back into the stores with a quick thank you leaving him alone to organize all of the boxes and bags securely and compactly in the cab. Well, he thought, at least it was more interesting than sitting around, waiting.

[Avalanche]

Recently, Alex had heard some news that Prince had possibly found some employment in Queens, took quite a while, if you were to ask him, though no one did. So, he was coming up that way to investigate. He always enjoyed being back in Queens. It was nice, comforting, almost like home. Not that he didn't like Brooklyn, but in his mind that had always been Red's territory, no matter what Spot said or did. Not that he meant any disrespect to Spot, just the way he'd always known it, and the way he always felt it should be. That's what happens when you grow up a certain way.

All that aside, he was back home once more, and heading up the streets looking for newsboys who had heard anything of, what felt to him to be his long lost friend. He didn't find any, but he did find a man who was struggling to load up a carriage. It was rather comical, the thought, if not the act too, of watching the man try and fit every last box into that carriage. He chuckled a little and walked towards him.

Avalanche's true smile was a charming one. It was genuine, heartfelt, and sweet, it just was, because Alex was almost always a happy person. He could find the bright side, or even make light of any situation if he felt that it called for it, and this man looked like he needed all the light he could get at the moment. "Pardon me sir," Avalanche said coming up in a very harmless way, wanting to show the man he only meant to help, "you look as though you're having a rough time. Is there anyway I can assist you? Free of charge, and you can check my pockets when we're through." A man like that looked as though everyone would steal from him given half the chance, Alex wanted to reassure him that was not why he was speaking to him.

[Karl Gloeckner]

After at least twenty minutes, Karl’s task had begun to grow very tiresome. He had never had any great fondness for puzzles and this was undoubtedly just that. He knew it was possible. After all, Mrs. Noble had been on larger shopping trips in the past without having to have anything delivered to her residence and the carriage hadn’t shrunk at all since then. It wasn’t as if fitting all of the packages would win him any accolades from Mrs. Noble, nor would it spare him any criticisms, but, he told himself as he looked away from the already half full carriage floor and towards the pile of boxes still sitting on the curb, it was part of his job and he certainly had plenty of time to do it. She had only been in the stores for an hour or two which meant he had at least an hour left before she decided to either go home or head to another set of stores.

Slowly, he began taking out some of the packages that he had already put in and setting them on top of the pile of others. “Vielliecht kann ich sie in einer anderen Art stellen….” He muttered to himself, glancing back and forth between the two piles. Then, all of a sudden, he heard a voice behind him. He turned around, wholeheartedly expecting to see a store attendant with another stack of boxes, but, instead, he saw a young man dressed in comparatively shabby-looking clothes, with a broad smile and no boxes whatsoever in tow.

He raised an eyebrow at first at the lad’s proposition, not sure whether or not to believe him, but upon inspecting the boy for a moment or two, he saw no hint of deceit in his expression and cautiously decided to trust him. “well… ja, alright. Danke, young man.” He conceded, taking a step back from the carriage to assess the situation before adding, “I will, however, need to include that final piece of your offer.” as an afterthought. He pulled out a few more of the packages that he had already put in the cab before continuing “Our goal is to fit all of this packages in the carriage leaving a still comfortable space for one passenger and not stacking them high enough so they will fall in the passenger’s space. First, we should take them out. This current arrangement will not work.” He set down the packages in his hands and stepped back again to see whether or not there were any empty spots that he had utilized before and since forgotten about, perhaps under the seats, but he couldn’t find any. He sighed and looked over at the young man “and I promise, so impossible though it may look, I have managed this in the past. Believe it or not, my employer’s wife has made buying so much a frequent pastime. ”

[Avalanche]

As shabby and possibly untrustworthy as Alex looked, he had no intention of stealing anything or trying to get away with anything he hadn't promised. So when the man agreed to let him help he smiled a little more. "Sounds like a deal," he said and started forward. He paused a moment when he added that he would check his pockets when it was all said and done, to which Avalanche couldn't help but chuckle, just a little. "Alight good sir, you have yourself a deal," and with that he waited for direction.

Take everything out? "Alright..." he said and they unloaded the carriage once more. He listened to Karl explain that it was indeed possible, and the set 'rules' of the puzzle. he nodded listening to everything that he said and nodded along. "Alright," he said again when Karl was done. "Also," he said, "my name is Alex," he said. He figured it was descent to introduce himself, plus that way if he had some sort of instruction for Alex, he could comply easier rather than going, 'hey you boy.'

Once the carriage was unloaded Alex looked at all of the boxes scattered across the ground. "Hmmm..." he looked at them all. "Might I suggest that we start by organizing them by size?" this was fairly similar to loading the boats down at the docks, so he could figure this out, or at least he thought he could. "Put the biggest one over here and the littlest ones in a pile right here?" he said pointing to two different places on the sidewalk. "Maybe from there we can find a way to load them into the carriage without squishing or breaking them, and keep them from falling over."

[Karl Gloeckner]

Karl gave the boxes in the carriage and those on the ground a once-over before turning back to Alex. "Yes, that may do the job." he agreed with a Kurt nod "we can try to do this and if it does not function as expected, we will choose another method." he was sure that he hadn't begun the last time that he had undergone a challenge like this by sorting the boxes by size, so they're must have been another way to do it, but it seemed like a good enough method, so it was worth a try. This boy, Alex seemed confident enough in it anyhow. Karl wondered briefly if he might have had a job along those lines. He looked too old for school and many of the young men who were less academically inclined or who had families to support would take such jobs, down at the docks or delivering to stores. His attire certainly seemed to match such a profession. He looked over at Alex again and realized that he had not yet reciprocated the young man's introduction. Not to be rude, he promptly extended his hand. " oh, yes, and it is a pleasure to meet you, Alex. My name is Karl."

"Technically" he began, turning his attention back to unloading the boxes, this time with their size in mind, " I am a chauffeur, but that job often includes a great many more responsibilities than only driving" He pulled out one of the largest boxes and placed it in the spot that Alex had indicated. "one must.... What was the term?..." he paused for a moment as he searched in his mind for the phrase that he had heard so often "... Oh, yes, one must wear so many hats". He gave slight chuckle at the odd phrase. Before resuming the process of unloading the carriage. "Anyhow, what is it that you do for work, Alex?" Karl wasn't always quite so eager to chat with the people that he met from day to day given that most of them were friends of the Nobles and far to wealthy to consider him a worthwhile source of information or even simple conversation but it seemed more appropriate in this situation, considering that they both seemed to be from roughly the same social class. Besides, loading a carriage was a rather tiresome job if you had nothing to distract you from it and, from the looks of it, they would be working on this for awhile.

[Avalanche]

"Karl," Alex said as he accepted the new friend's hand. "Very pleased to meet you as well," he said with a grin. He enjoyed listening to the man talk, he sounded so learned and so interesting. Alex thought it might have been the accent, but all the same, couldn't have been a bad guy, right?

He chuckled a little as he said that he wore 'many hats,' it just sounded weird when he said it, but in a good way. All the same, it made him chuckle. "Well, being multi-talented and skilled comes in handy," he said nodding in agreement. But all the same, a chauffeur wasn't a bad job, steady work at least, and good money too, he had to figure, especially for the higher classes. Maybe even a place to live depending. Much worse off jobs he figured. "I work down at the docks in Brooklyn," he explained. "I've been down there doin' that for a while. I came up here to visit a friend, but you looked like you needed an extra set of hands. The loaders do this kinda thing down there all the time, so I'm glad my skills can be of some use somewhere the he lifting maybe isn't quite as heavy," he said with a grin. Picking up these boxes of clothes hats and jewelery was noting compared to the crates of fruit and tobacco and tea he's unloaded in the past. Believe it or not, sometimes those herbs can get heavy!

[Karl Gloeckner]

Karl gave Alex’s hand a firm shake before turning back to the carriage to unload another package and move it to its proper pile. “I thank you for your consideration. I certainly appreciate a bit of expert help.” He grinned over at Alex before returning to work yet again with a slight shrug “As for my work, however, talent and skill are not the true matters. I suppose actually driving the carriage requires some small amount of skill, but it is easily learned.” He paused to lift another package. “This, though, and some of my other duties….” He placed the package, which was quite possibly the largest of the bunch, on the far side of the other packages. “I cannot say with honesty that I have so unique a talent with them.”

It was actually a rather considerable concern for him most of the time. He’d only gotten his job in the first place because Herr Noble’s mother had come from Göttingen just as he had and the maid that she had brought over with her had been rather close with his family back when she had lived there. To be honest, had no particular talents or qualifications to set him apart from the crowd in a good way and, in fact, that put him a good bit behind most other German expatriates, who often had made it through Beruftschule and were trained in some sort of trade. He was, quite frankly, very replaceable. His only saving grace was that he had worked for the nobles for so long that they had grown accustomed to him. Still, he tried to keep everyone as happy as possible because God only knew what would happen to his girls if he was out of work.

“…but” he continued, casting his worries into the back of his mind, “I am grateful for the work, regardless. It keeps my daughters fed and in school.” With a sigh he moved another box into the mid-sized pile. “Your job is quite good too. I did a small bit of dock work when I first came here, but that job is for young men and…” he stood up a bit straighter and rubbed his back, which had begun to ache from all the stooping and standing up again “I fear that I am quickly leaving that category.” It was really Mathilde that had kept him feeling young. Now that she was gone, he felt older every day.