[Edith, feel free to start with your intro story here]

The noise of the city was a familiar din.  Never a fond one, though.  For as long as she could remember, it had always bugged her.  The constant sounds everywhere, all the time.  Voices, feet stomping, car horns blaring, music and shouting and gunshots and screaming and screaming and screaming and--

Edith's eyes snapped open.  Wide as an owl's and just as unblinking once the perpetually weary, dark-lined lids came up.  Gasping for air.  Not from a panic of some bad dream, but to still her thudding heart and aching legs.  She'd run too much.  Leaped too far, crashed across the rooftops until she just collapsed on her back under the sky filled with stars and dingy fog and always too much noise.  For a time it was all she could do to just lay there on the rough, weathered roofing amid scattered boxes and clothing still on the line, blowing in the faint breeze.  Just lay there, breathe until her heart stopped hammering, and try to pretend none of it happened.  Try to ignore the worryingly near wail of police sirens in the streets below.

"Shit... shit, shit, shit!  Why did you do that?!" she cursed as her hands came up to grip about her pounding temples.  A question for nobody?  For herself?  She spoke it out to open air as if she'd get a response, yet... with her head quirked to one side, it was as if she heard a reply.  One that made her sigh out and slowly pull herself upright to sit, slumped over her own braced knees.

"I know.  It's just... damn it, Harlow's a cop!  Even if he hurt me, you-- we -- can't..." She knew the score full well, yet a sense of confusion not her own echoed in her thoughts.  "Because it's their city!  We just live in it!"  Anger rose as well, but she shared that one in kind.  Anger... that was plenty familiar.  That scummy lieutenant had been angry enough to lay hands.  Well, not anymore, Edith ruefully scoffed out her nose.  "Look, it's... it's fine.  Really.  Not the first time I've had to lay low, right?  Let 'em run all over a while, chasin' their shadows.  We just gotta keep quiet for a week or two and they'll forget all about us.  Plenty of other distractions for 'em, 'know?"

A few more moments passed as she lapsed into silence.  Her gaze vacant toward the rooftop sprawl, still having yet to blink even once since her eyes had come open.  After a handful of seconds she just heaved out a tired laugh.  "I'm not mad, promise.  Honestly, he had it comin'.  Both of those gumshoes deserve worse.  Harlow's a brute, sure, but that Gus... I hate liars, y'know?" Dirtied hands ran back through her hair to brush it out of her face.  "You showed 'em a lesson, that's for sure."

Another pause.  A smirk and a weary shake of her head.

"What?  Another chocolate malt?  We just had four!  With extra syrup!" Edith scoffed.  She couldn't stay mad though.  Not when whatever she heard brought a laugh out.  She hugged herself as her smirk turned into a softer, genuine smile.  "Yeah, they were good, weren't they?  But we gotta keep our heads down and save our pennies, so don't go thinkin' we're gettin' sweets whenever we want, got it?

Now... where can we go to get a snack where there ain't gonna be no coppers nearby?"

As Edith lies on the rooftop staring up at a cloudy night sky, there’s a sudden rush of cold air and a momentary glow of a pure white light on a fire escape nearby. Two figures appear once the light fades. She can’t quite hear them but they sound like teenagers, just like her…a boy and a girl.

The passing flash of light made Edith abruptly flinch away faster than even she realized.  Fear of it being the beam of a policeman's flashlight drove her into a sudden roll and leap aside.  Before she knew it, she was a few feet back from the roof's edge and on all fours, tense and low like a feral cat.  That such a motion and pose came to her by reflex, of all things, gave her pause as she realized what she'd done and gingerly eased out of it into a simple crouch.

Being light on her feet, however, was a far better-known skill she'd long harbored.  Being able to creep about unnoticed always served her well.  Smooth, silent steps carried her back to the edge so she could peer down and spy the two who'd shown up out of nowhere.  Where had they come from?  No way they'd climbed that rickety old ladder without making a din...?

There was enough illumination from the streetlights below to make out their outlines. The girl was blonde, wearing a white trenchcoat. She had a Midwest accent. That light she held like a candle…looked like a glowing knife, actually.

The boy…he was black, tall, broad shoulders. She couldn’t tell much else as he was shrouded in the blue sheet he wearing. Where the cloak was open, the girl’s light didn’t penetrate. He definitely had a Bronx accent.

”It’s not the lizard plague from the last year…they didn’t change that suddenly.” said the boy.

”The part about her being very hungry and hearing voices…could she be carrying the Darkness, like you, Cloak?”

Now it clicked. This had to be Cloak and Dagger, the self-appointed guardian angels of the city’s urchins. You’ve heard whispers from the others about these two. Cloak would leave pimps and muggers frostbitten on a hot summer night. The girl’s knife was a literal silver bullet that could cure almost anything.

”I hope not. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. If it’s anything like this, we need to find her quickly before her hunger grows uncontrollable.”

There was a nagging feeling at the back of her brain as she tried to place the two.  Something about them tickled a memory.  It wasn't until the name 'Cloak' came up that the recollection came to her.  She'd heard of them before!  Quite a few of the other girls from Brock's had mentioned encounters here and there, getting a helping hand when just getting by turned dangerous.  She didn't really give much credit to the claims of them being magic or some nonsense like that, though.  Just a bunch of hoo-doo theater tricks to push their reputation, she figured.

"Oi, Punch and Judy.  Us havin' a sweet tooth ain't that big a deal, y'know." Edith called down from where she leaned over the edge of the rooftop, arms folded to prop herself at its border.  She waited just long enough for the two to be able to put eyes on her and then eased back to pace away a few strides out of sight.  If they really wanted to talk, they'd be up the rest of their way along the fire escape quickly enough.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:21, Mon 14 Aug 2023.

The sound of furling fabrics and a flash of light behind Edith signaled the pair took a more direct route.

”Those were cop fingers, not lady fingers.” Dagger said.

"That's funny.  You're funny." Edith hadn't been looking their way when they ascended but cast a glance over her shoulder once they'd arrived.

A pause took her as her expression quirked, jaw clenched tightly, and head tilted to one side.  Like a bad cramp in the neck before she shook it out.  "It's fine.  No, you gotta-- it's fine.  They're not cops.  Okay?  Okay." she said to nobody in particular before her posture relaxed again.  She turned to address Cloak and Dagger directly, hands stuffed in her trouser pockets and gaze cautious while she kept her distance.

"Yeah, but you two sure are in the know even if you ain't with the fuzz.  What do you care if some crooked cop got his due?" she spoke up warily.  "Who you workin' for?  How'd you track us so fast?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Mon 14 Aug 2023.

”We’re not working with anyone. But your little snack has got the Shields after you and every waif on the streets that remotely looks like you.”

”….and you just called out to us. Remember?”

She looks to Cloak for a moment then takes a cautious step forward.

”Can you tell us how you ended up like this? Maybe that will help…”

Cloak, Dagger, and now Shields?  What was next, swords and lances and knights in shining armor?  Edith's lips pulled into a smirk at first, but the mention of other girls on the streets getting targeted because of her instantly dropped any mirth from her face.  Her expression darkened and, for a passing moment, the feelings going through her head were plain as day, written all across her face.  Realization.  Worry.  Fear.  Anger.

"...and you just called out to us. Remember?”

She stilled herself again but couldn't keep the edge out of her voice.  "Don't bullshit us, sister." she spat.  "A thousand rooftops in just this neck of the city, and we all just-so-happen to end up on the same one?  You think we're stupid enough to buy that?  Nah."

Another shake of her head, but that one didn't go so easily.  The edge of her lip pulled back, not in a smirk, but in a snarl as she paced like a furtive, caged animal across the roofing.  "Nah.  Nah.  No way.  Gotta go... gotta get their attention.  Can't just let the other girls get dragged down 'cause of us.  Gotta do somethin'..."

A distant police siren's wail caught Edith's attention.  That was, what, three or four blocks away?  She flinched at first from the shrill sound, but focused onto it a split second later as her pacing turned to a purposeful stride straight for the roof's edge.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:59, Mon 14 Aug 2023.

”Edith! Stop! Fighting them in the open will only make things worse! We can hide you!”

”We could slip into an ice cream store…?”

”We’re past that stage, Cloak!”

Surprisingly enough, she did stop.  Or, rather, Edith was stopped.

She ignored the calls and picked up speed, clearly ready to just bound right off the roof they were all on over to another across the alleyway.  But, just as she put a foot up on the bricks that lined the edge, she came to a jarring halt as everything below the waist just froze.  It was as if she'd suddenly been nailed to the floor as her upper body lurched forward, nearly losing her wind with a startled wheeze.  The same invisible force that stopped her dead in her tracks seemed at work again as she suddenly pitched away from the edge, thrown flat on her back to skid a few inches backward.

"What the hell are you doin'?!  I'm not gonna let them get hurt just so you can stuff us full of desserts!" Edith raged as she thrashed about where she laid.  It seemed she regained control of her body just as suddenly as she'd lost it, as she quickly rolled over and clambered back up onto her feet.  Eyes wild and unfocused, face flushed in outrage.  Her frustration wasn't aimed at the two interlopers though; she'd stopped paying attention to them entirely.  It was said she'd been hearing voices and, sure enough, Edith sure seemed to be having a full-on conversation in her head that Cloak and Dagger could only see one side of.

"Of course it's dangerous, that's exactly why we have to do somethin'!  You think a bunch of asshole cops are gonna take it easy on any girl they grab?!" Whatever response the unheard voice apparently had just made Edith seethe and tug at her long, inky-black hair.  "Because it's my fault!  That's-- ... YES, IT MATTERS!"

All at once Edith snapped out of her fugue as her gaze darted up squarely onto Cloak and Dagger, as if she just remembered they existed.  Hasty steps carried her toward them, hands outstretched and pleading.  "You two!  You're supposed to be some kinda do-gooders, right?  You really wanna hide while a bunch of innocent girls are gettin' roughed up by cops?" she insisted breathlessly.  "You can protect yourselves.  We can too.  But they can't!"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:18, Mon 14 Aug 2023.

”You have a god argument, but you’re flailing about and arguing with yourself.”

”Is she possessed?”

Cloak and Dagger nod to each other. In an instant Edith is enveloped in absolute darkness, save for Dagger’s blade hovering a few feet away.

”We’ll find out when we’re in sacred ground!”

[Edith emerges at the Cathedral with Peter and Marc, please join Marc’s thread!]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Mon 14 Aug 2023.

"Again, with the jokes!  That's real fuckin' funny, y'know that?  You're--!" Edith started up again, only to be cut off as Cloak's darkness swelled up in an instant.

---

[Marc Spector Starter Thread, awaaaaay!]