Niccolo Machiavelli (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
auraofmystery) wrote2021-01-25 06:02 pm
auraofmystery) wrote2021-01-25 06:02 pm
It's a wonderful town
New York is one hell of a city.
Mac arrived a month or so ago now - he's lied about the date so often he's almost forgotten himself - and quickly found himself making his name among the usual suspects of petty theves and con artists, until a couple of incidents changed his direction. Stand up to a bully here, give a kid shelter there, and suddenly he found himself feeling reluctantly protective of a couple of younger kids who made an honest nickel or two selling newspapers.
Well, he wouldn't be Niccolo Machiavelli if he didn't know how to establish himself in a stable position of power, so he changed his methods somewhat. Harlem's been littered with empty buildings since the economic collapse of a few years ago, and Mac found himself one of those to provide unoffical shelter to some of his newsie friends as well as a base of operations for the continuation of his less legal enterprises. It's a fair exchange, really: he looks after the boys and they give a legitimate face to some of his seedier work.
Mind you, this means that some of the other kids downtown have started to hear about this thief who's set himself up as an unofficial leader in Harlem, and not everyone approves of this situation.
Mac arrived a month or so ago now - he's lied about the date so often he's almost forgotten himself - and quickly found himself making his name among the usual suspects of petty theves and con artists, until a couple of incidents changed his direction. Stand up to a bully here, give a kid shelter there, and suddenly he found himself feeling reluctantly protective of a couple of younger kids who made an honest nickel or two selling newspapers.
Well, he wouldn't be Niccolo Machiavelli if he didn't know how to establish himself in a stable position of power, so he changed his methods somewhat. Harlem's been littered with empty buildings since the economic collapse of a few years ago, and Mac found himself one of those to provide unoffical shelter to some of his newsie friends as well as a base of operations for the continuation of his less legal enterprises. It's a fair exchange, really: he looks after the boys and they give a legitimate face to some of his seedier work.
Mind you, this means that some of the other kids downtown have started to hear about this thief who's set himself up as an unofficial leader in Harlem, and not everyone approves of this situation.