There's no [I] in TEAM

[Kailey Iris Jones]

Her eyes fell closed in an instant, leaning into the harsh, hard warmth, that came from his fingers rough and worked, tired fingers they stroked her face. Her shoulders relaxed for a moment, and a hard arm came around the small of her back and pulled her, pushed her into the his hard body. Leaning her hand deeper into his hand, she opened her eyes and looked at him, the room came together, they materalized, he was standing in front of his door saying goodbye, for now at least, they were both wearing clothes, and she couldn't help but smile a little bit more, it was a happy smile, like this had been just another visit, she masked the saddness in her eyes as she pulled away from him, placed her lips on the side of his face for a heartbeat and turned around walking out the door, carrying with her now the promise to deliver what he needed, because that was her job.

Everyday she did this, this seemingly simple act, this job that no one ever really thought to much about. Working as a ghost most of the time, preparing and getting supplies, such as smokes, drugs, a partner for the night, and delivering sometimes before they even realized that they wanted them. Some thought that Kailey shouldn't have been doing such a job, espically those who knew her, knew she was easily talked into situations she shouldn't be in, but she liked her job, they wanted her higher, but she was just glad to be a ghost for the most part. A slate for someone to mold her into what she needed to be, she'd do anything for an ounce of love. So she left the apartment, thinking the same thought she did everyday, this would buy a little bit more of his love.

Her fingers were fast, her smile was a million dollars, and her lips never stopped while she walked down the city streets, taking the things she needed to gather from street vendors while they listened to her talk and never noticed her fingers. She was quick and cute, she could do no wrong most of the time to most, she liked her job to much, that didn't mean it wasn't tiring walking the city, running delivers all day, she was glad when she day was over and she returned to the warehouse, making a beeline for her favorite beat up couch, she smiled as she streched all over it. The warehouse was decorated like someone's basement, or livingroom, random miss match furniture and littered with people all in green, someone said her name and she smiled propping her feet up on the end of the couch, streched out, she dug out a cigarette, and patted her breast pocket before yelling to the warehouse, "Who has a lighter?"

[Ivory Jillian Paige]

OUTFIT

Leader.

It still hadn't truly registered yet. Sure, anxiety was bubbling in her stomach and her was always surprised by the new tattoo she now bore. A snake wrapped around her upper arm, the symbol of a Snake leader. When Ivy woke up that day, the first thing she did, was go to the mirror and let her delicate fingers wander over the ink lightly. It made her alliance so much more obvious, her lies to her father would get harder. But Ivy didn't regret it. She loved the Snakes, they had been her real family growing up.

She was more worried about keeping her post now. She had been a well liked Runner, spent a lot of time with the second, whom she kept as her second, and with Roy... It was so sad he had to die like that. Ivy knew she was tough, and had people's respect. She could plan, prioritize, do the things that set them apart from the Tigers. But she was worried. She was a beautiful blonde, it was obvious, and she wanted to be taken seriously, not as some bimbo who didn't know what she was doing. Anyone who knew her knew she wasn't like that, but new recruits? Would they understand? Kaz was a tough bitch people wouldn't mess with, but things ran differently on this side of town.

Her side of town.

Ivy had spent the day walking around, doing a sort of lap around her newly acquired territory, hers to protect and serve. Towards the end of the day, she hit the Warehouse, empty and broken, squatters lighting up in a corner. The basement had been turned into a make shift living room for people that frequented the place, and Ivy wouldn't have gone down except she heard a familiar voice call for a lighter.

Kailey. Ivy smiled softly and opened the door into the basement. "Hey K," She said, reaching into her pocket and tossing the lighter to the girl. Ivy didn't smoke, at least, it was only extremely occasional, but fire was a good thing to have on hand. She'd learned that years ago.

[Kailey Iris Jones]

They were just strangers on the street as far as anyone knew. Two random people with no lives, that meant nothing to most everyone else on the street they were a random pair, a pair or bodies, eyes, lips, that for a single moment smiled at the same time. Passed each other without a second thought on the street, as their hands hovered over each others pockets, tucking in and taking out in a fraction of a second, they were trading secrets without using their lips, theives in the mid day sun, as they went on with there lives, and Kailey left him standing in the dark, crystal in her pocket, on her way to deliever her newest dealing. She worked in secrets, in shadows that didn't need the night to hide and conceal their insides.

Still being a ghost, a shadow, known all in one. She was invisible to those except who she wanted to be seen by, it was hard work. By the time she ended up on her couch, her shoulders were already dropping and so were her eye lids, she felt like yawning inside, but her outside was so jittery. She was always like this, a mixture of hot and cold, secrets and open books, she was that mystery girl, that sat in the corner looking so exposed, but the closer you came the more you could see the webs tied around her, that held her together, and kept her secrets inside of her. She patted for her lighter, she must have traded it today she couldn't even keep track of everything she traded anymore, everything passed threw her hands to quickly.

She caught the lighter without even trying, just instinct from having many things thrown at her. She looked up, "Well lookie here, if it isn't Miss Ivory, lending a commoner a light." she put the cigarette between her lips, and held it there firmly, lighting it with the lighter, and taking a drag, while she looked over Ivory, she was tiny and blond, it made Kailey wonder how long she'd last as the leader, boys would have a hard time taking an order from a sweet face like that, maybe if she had a scar, she exhaled the smoke, after it'd burned her insides, and woken up her eyes. "She must be as kind as she is beautiful." she smirked at Ivory. "So what brings you to the warehouse?" she asked.

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[Ivory Jillian Paige]

Kailey was an interesting young woman. She and Ivy had interacted on many occasions, but it always felt different, felt strange. Ivy never knew quite what the younger blonde was thinking, no one could, or if she was thinking at all.

Ivy crossed the room and retrieved her lighter, lips hard set in a line, not commenting on her comment about a fine face and kindness. Ivy wasn't mean, but she was tough, strong, that was obvious. But her looks worried her, but she didn't let it show. Well, she probably did, but only to those who could see it, look close enough. "It's Ivy, remember?" She corrected. Only her father called her Ivory, and other people from her home world.

"I'm checking out all the ground I have to take care of now," Ivy explained lightly. Commoners, she didn't think that way. But she supposed she was now their monarch. As a runner, Ivy got very well acquainted with the territories, Snake and neutral alike. Today it was more of a customary walk around town as the new leader thing.

[Kailey Iris Jones]

The smile on her face was so sweet, her hair was curled, and her eyes were blue, you looked at this girl and most people thought, what was the worst she could do? She could lie like there was no tomorrow, and keep them all straight, she could smile while she was bleeding and wanting to scream in pain, she could steal before you even knew you were missing something, she could be out the door, and you could be oh so much poorer. Most people thought Kailey was a sharpe because she didn't have the guts to be a hitter, wasn't fast enough to be a runner, and wasn't strong enough to walk the streets on her own. They didn't know she could do it all and more somedays without the snakes, but were was the fun in just stealing to steal?

She wasn't happy to let go of the lighter, but she did. She rolled the cigarette between her thumb and index finger, not thinking about it, just doing it, just moving her hands, and keeping them sharpe she smiled at Ivy, she rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say Ivy, huh" she said after a second and started to laugh. "Ya know with all the green, your like Poison Ivy, ya know from batman, maybe you should die your hair?" she offered, before sticking the cigarette back in her mouth and taking another drag, she was too jittery right now she didn't know why, but she knew Ivy would catch it, she wasn't normally this jittery.

Looking into Ivy's eyes, it was hard to think of the girl as a runner, someone that Kailey used to talk to all the time. She kept up with the runners, espically when they got hurt, she kept track of them, who was down who was up, so she knew which way she had to go to get what she needed from who. Ivy wasn't a runner anymore though, she was the newest Leader of the Snakes, her boss now, she wasn't sure how she felt in her gut about that, just glad it wasn't her really. "Well your the boss now," she said she looked around, the warehouse seemed normal as always. "I don't care about what you do, so long as I get this couch," she petted it. She loved this couch, it was her favorite spot to watch people and things, to think about how she could rip off half the gang, if they only knew.

[Ivory Jillian Paige]

Ivy leaned back in the arm chair she had seated herself in. Kailey seemed too wound up, weirder than usual. She didn't comment on that, but it probably accounted for her strange words. "I have no interest in taking the couch away." Ivy had never liked the warehouse much anyway.

Somehow it felt different, talking to her, now that she was boss. It felt more formal, more like a job. Maybe that's what being a parent felt like... But Ivy was still the same person, tough, resourceful, smart. She was a good asset and she had been chosen for this position. Unlike Tigers where you battled for the top. Here, after the death of the leader, the second takes over and administers a vote for who is next for Leadership. "And I like my hair. I think I'll leave it as is." She would look atrocious with green hair. Her hair only went green when you spent too much time in chlorine.

[Kailey Iris Jones]

Kailey nodded her head, and took another drag off her cigarette, she closed her eyes. Leaning her head back, she exhaled and inhaled from her cigarette again, letting the smoke crawl down her lungs, and warm her, calm her down and steal away her jittery nerves. She nodded her again, "I don't know what it is about this couch..." she stroked it's side. It was rough and hard, it reminded her of a mans hand, a man who worked with his hands how hard and firm they became, like they were steady, and protecting, they were always going to be there for her. "But I like this spot," she told Ivy shrugging her shoulders.

Her eyes looked over Ivy again, she thought about her, tried to picture her with green hair, and shook her head. It wouldn't look right, "I guess you can't do red, since well you know," she shrugged her shoulders and looked at the girl, obviously, she knew why she couldn't dye her hair red, maybe she could, she closed her eyes. "I hate the color spectrum," she said with another sigh and a drag, "I feel like yellow is iffy, and wearing red is complicated," the tigers original color was orange but did they get orange too? Who owned yellow? It was all so messed up sometimes she thought with a sigh.

[Ivory Jillian Paige]

Ivy shrugged. "Yellow is fine I think, red can be complicated, but its doable. Really, we just can't wear orange and they can't wear green. I mean, you can wear it if its in a pattern with other colors, like a rainbow, but not in big sections, you know?" Colors really defined them around here. Neutrals didn't have to wear blue but it was called the blue zone. Orange and green of course had their loyalties, everything else was up for grabs.

Ivy didn't bother telling Kailey that she had no intention of dying her hair any color. She liked it as it was, as she'd liked it her whole life. She absentmindedly twirled a bit of hair between her fingers, but nothing with Ivy was ever absent minded.

Here eyes wandered around this warehouse basement. It was so stark and the sad attempt at being homey sort of depressed her. No wonder she didn't like this place. She would never take it away from people who needed it. The homeless often took advantage of it.

[Kailey Iris Jones]

She tapped her cigarette without a thought, flicking the ashes off, she thought to the ground, but really onto her exposed leg. She looked down at the ashes, as they burned her skin, she sighed, and flicked off the ashes, she'd dropped her cherry, the ember in her cigarette, it hurt like a bitch but she didn't say a word, just wiped the ash off her leg, and looked down at her cigarette, her lip stick staining the stick, she dropped it on the ground not wanting it anymore, after seeing the red.

She sighed, and looked at Ivy. "You're right," she said absent mindedly. Ivy was right about the colors, which didn't bother Kailey at all, but when she looked at Ivy she was the leader and that meant she was going to be right nearly all the time. She smirked, at least it wasn't her in charge. "So who'se getting bumped up to runner? You know now that your not going to be running things around," she asked. It was important for Kailey to know, so she could keep up with who was there, and she needed to know if she was about to have a new charge to look after. Recruits weren't looked after very well, because of the flight risk, and you needed to work your way into the group. Things weren't just handed to you.

"Your not gonna keep running things right?" Kailey sat up and put her legs on the ground as the thought came to her. Her eyes went a little bit wider, while it was always the Leaders choice if they kept their orginial job or not, most didn't and a runner's job could be dangerous, they didn't always stick to the safest parts of town. Kailey bit her lip, she didn't like the idea of Ivy still running, not while she was leader, she was a pretty girl, who was walking alone in the city, Kailey'd never really liked it, but the fact she was in charge now maded it sit even worse with her.

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[Ivory Jillian Paige]

"No, I won't be running anymore." Ivy had loved running around the city with Oliver, giving out instructions and telling Tigers when shit would fall, where too meet for fights. She loved being part of a team. Now, she had to assign Oliver a new partner, or promote him to hitter like he wanted. But Ivy had no intention of making him a hitter, not if she could help it.

"I haven't decided yet who takes my place." She'd only been leader for a day, this would require some real knowledge of who deserved to be moved up and what her second thought on the matter. Oliver could run on his own in the meantime, or join another group until Ivy figured out who to promote and who to keep where they were.

[Kailey Iris Jones]

Kailey relaxed a little bit at hearing that Ivy wasn't going to be running anymore. She put her back to the back of the couch, intead of the arm rest. "Thats good, no offense or anything, but you were to pretty to be running anyway," she said with a smile. She meant it as a compliment but she didn't know how Ivy would take it. "Plus Tigers don't always listen to the rules about who they can and can't hit," she said frowning. She sighed still, Oliver was second now, she frowned a little bit more, Ivy being in charge with Oliver meant she was going to have to teach someone new to get the stuff she needed from them and figure out the hook ups differently. She'd have to figure that out soon.

Nodding her head at Ivy, "Keep me updated so I can keep everything running smoothly," she said looking at her. Kailey's job was a funny one, mostly because the first person she'd ever been assigned to had been an addict, so she delt mostly with the drugies, who all wanted to be clean, but weren't strong enough. Kailey didn't know if Ivy knew about all of that, but it was Kailey's job to keep them in what they needed to function, and runners were key in her operation.

"God," she shook her head and laughed a little bit. "I am so glad I don't have your job," she smiled at Ivy and held her hands. "No offense or anything, I just don't know how your gonna do it. I couldn't do it," Kailey was brutally honest more than she should sometimes, now might be one of those times. "You know you've always got me if you need anything taken care of with care, I mean I'm always here for you, and I'm sure Oliver is, but man...you've got a hard job,' she said.

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[Ivory Jillian Paige]

ooc- oliver isnt her second. oliver and ivy were runners together, you have that they always go in pairs. ivy kept the previous second, whoever the cannon is. oliver is still a runner.

Kailey really wasn't helping. Sure the girl probably meant well and simply wanted Ivy to succeed or something... but Ivy hated that Kailey thought her 'too pretty' to run. Being Leader was more dangerous than being a runner. the higher up in the food chain, the higher the bounty on your head, the more years when you get caught. If you get caught anyway. But Ivy just reclined calmly, her eyes flat and attentive, lips pulled together and she shrugged like it was no big deal. When Ivy was nervous, she had to move, and as leader she'd taken to moving her toes, less people noticed that.

"I'll be sure to keep you informed," Ivy promised. Kailey was one of the best Sharps, and if she simply wanted to be a little ahead of the news curve, Ivy figured she could comply.

[Kailey Iris Jones]

Kailey watched Ivy, she knew she'd said something to throw her off. "I don't mean it in a bad way, there are just some bad people out there you know. People tend to think of girls as weaker." she shrugged her shoulders. "It's not true of course but there are still sexist jackasses out there," she said with a sigh, she wished there wasn't but there was nothing she could do about that. "They won't know who you are, and that might get you in trouble some day," unlike Kaz who everyone knew and could spot a mile away by the sea of orange around her, and just the way that girl walked, Ivy wasn't well known, not yet anyway, she was smarter that way, she kept her face unknown the cops couldn't pin her, not as well as they could Kaz.

Kailey nodded her head, "Thanks, I'm trying to keep things smooth," she said. She was, she worked her tail off trying to keep everyone happy. Making sure everyone was taken care of, everyone got whatever they needed. She sighed, and looked away and then back at Ivy. "You think your gonna be able to do the job?" the way she asked the question. All aditude was dropped, everything she'd been acting like she was fell away, and she was just looking at Ivy like a friend, someone who would worry about her, and try and take care of her, even if she could do it all on her own, which Ivy acted like, that didn't mean she needed to. She was just a friend in this moment looking at Ivy, if Kailey could change in the blink of an eye, she would have. The lipstick and the black would have disspeared she'd look like anyone else, like an angle without those two, and she'd look like a friend concerned. "It's a big job.." she bit her lip. "I mean I know Oli's gonna help you but..." she bit her lip and shut up. She didn't know if Oli would be her new second or not she'd been assuming.

[Ivory Jillian Paige]

Oliver. He was a good kid. Followed Ivy around like a puppy, always there to lend a hand in return for the time she'd saved him from bullies as a kid. And over the years they became good friends, runners together. It made sense to make him her second. But she wasn't sure he could handle the pressure. He was a good runner. And he wanted to be a hitter, but she would never let him, it would ruin his inherent goodness. "Oliver's not my second, I'm keeping him as a runner. At least for a while." She was beginning to wonder if he should be her second. But for now, things would stay the same.

Ivy stood up and rocked on her heels a little. "I should probably head out. I have a lot to think about before tomorrow." She had to absorb the fact that she was holding this gang together now, and find her inner resolve.