··· new places.

[hunt]

He was Hunter today. Though perhaps he was Hunter by default now, and only became someone new upon having to introduce himself. Maybe he hadn't been Jacob for years, at least not since his disappearance, and while he had a new name everyday, he had the same face, the same heart, soul and eyes, and if that set of thoughts and features and experiences needed a name, he supposed he would call them Hunter.

Irregardless of his namesake, this boy, who was perhaps actually a man, was wandering around St. Louis, his pace languid despite the way everyone around him seemed to be bustling, the whole lot of them like ants determined to get back to work after their lunch hour or smoke break just because they were supposed to. To hell with 'suppose to', he thought suddenly, wearing a grin that was just as lazy and carefree as his gait.

Hunter was quite possibly hotel shopping, eying the sweeping skyscrapers around him with a mix of intimidation and amusement - he did need a place to stay after all, even though all these high rises seemed ridiculously overdone and superficial to him. In truth he could be just as comfortable sleeping on some cardboard beside the gutter, but then again, he was really quite fond of his shirt, and wasn't particularly in the mood to ruin it.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, the boy continued to walk along and hum to himself, not overly concerned with a purpose or destination just yet.

[Ϛ Neilen Darkshire]

Alright, Waifster. Let's make your first thread a memorable one.

Today had been a boring day.

Neilen had sat around in his penthouse apartment (leased to a false identity, of course) watching reruns of sitcom families so deliciously dysfunctional it made him sick to look at them and wondering if anyone actually believed mothers had the time to dress up that nicely for a simple day at home with the family. He was out of beer, too, so he couldn't even get drunk and imagine what the TV stars would look like after a roll in the hay. Hell, even shapeshifting into the various characters from the shows and acting out the scenes in mocking voices wasn't doing it for him today.

Neilen was not good with boredom. Even back when he had been a lawful citizen, a respectable teacher, the sort of man you could generally look up to, it had been boredom that had led him to do all of the crazy things he'd done in his life. His first cigarette was lit on the day his best friend was out of town. The first time he'd had sex with a woman was a result of there being nothing on TV, causing him to decide sneaking into a club at 16 was a good idea.

Of course, nowadays, he did far less legal things when he was bored. Mostly stealing, the occasional hired hit, even high-end drug trafficking if he was really desperate. The only good thing about dealing was the fun he got to have dealing with raid attempts by the police. Good times.

He'd entered the bank not a moment ago, pausing down the road only to borrow the appearance of one of the poor unfortunates walking the street. Careful not to be seen by his dopplegangee, he had entered the bank at a very brisk walk, thrown two duffel bags on the counter, thrown a quick, charming smile to the teller, and told her, "I'd like to make a deposit." The teller seemed to have thought she was about to be robbed, and laughed nervously, smiling at the handsome young man she'd never believe could be a bank robber.

"Keep it safe for me," he finished, lifting a device that screamed 'bomb' onto the counter. "Don't scream," he warned, raising a finger. "It's set to only go off when it picks up the frequency of your silent alarms' signal to the police, but a high-pitched enough scream could set if off accidentally. Your pretty little head isn't worth losing over a couple duffels of cash, is it?" he nearly cooed, smiling warmly at the woman. She shook her head. "Good. Fill them up then, would you?"

While she got quickly to work, Neilen informed the other occupants of the bank of the situation. The tellers, anyway. They were trained to deal with this, where as the customers would surely panic. Neilen even made sure to leave enough money for their transactions so business could carry on as usual. It took under a minute for the process to complete, and then Neilen was gone.

However, a customer had spotted him exiting with suspicious looking bags, noticed the fright on the teller's face, and called the police. The station wasn't too far away, and the sirens could be heard as soon Neilen hit the street. The teller simply stared at the bomb, the last thing she'd see before she died, and blinked in unison with its LCD display at it changed to show a winking smiley face and the word 'Gotcha!'.

On the street, Neilen smiled as he noticed the man whose face he'd stolen had made it to the bank by then. He shifted back to his normal features and shoved one of the duffels at the man, not even breaking stride as he walked by him in the opposite direction.

And so Hunter would be left in front of the bank with a robber's face and siren's closing in on him, a bag full of stolen money in his arms, with his stolen fingerprints all over it. The smart thing to do would be to follow the clearly-experienced man behind the heist into the alley he'd just ducked into, but it wouldn't be long before the other was out of sight and the sirens closed in.

Today had been a boring day, but Neilen had taken care of that.