Noah lifted his little brother so that he could peer through the high window. "Ye see owt?" he asked. The little boy was so light that it hardly took any effort to hold him up as long as James held on to the window sill. 

"It's deserted," said the younger boy, and he pushed himself off with his feet, using Noah as a step, much to the teenager's annoyance, and climbed in. 

Noah followed nimbly. He was used to climbing through windows. They had had to climb through one in their old hide out and that had been more difficult, because there had still been some broken class in the frame. He had cut himself several times. This window - the only one that hadn't been boarded up, could be opened and closed, though there was no lock. He suspected that the board had been removed by a previous unlawful inhabitant, which was why he had let James peek inside. They didn't want to run into any thugs. But it seemed the place was deserted and they were lucky after all.

When he was inside, he shut the window behind him and looked around. The floor was covered with wooden floorboards and creaked under their feet. The wallpaper was hanging off the walls. This place had clearly been out of use for some time. It was a bit smelly. Mice, probably, possibly rats. But he had dealt with worse. 

"This will do," he said. He took a bundle from his back and untied it. It was a blanket, wrapped around another blanket and food. He spread one blanket out across the floor and put the other over it.

James was happy they had found a new place. The property owner had finally taken a look at the place where they had been staying illegally, and had kicked them out.

Time to furnish the room! He took his slingshot out of his pocket and placed it in one corner with much pomp. Then he realized he had no other belongings to give a place and he sat down on the blanket and picked a biscuit from their stack of food.

Caelan always celebrated a good pickpocket.  He ate tonight very well, though he tried to save some money for the next day or two.  He later went to a pub he frequented.  The bartender always served him liquor, in fact he made the drinks Caelan ordered stronger than usual.  Caelan was happy.  He enjoyed hustling a couple of guys at games of billiards.  Yes, tonight was a great night for the little scamp. 

He walked home slowly, walking a little bit in a zigzag, being drunk.  He came in and out of the front door of the house, though it was always locked.  He just picked the lock and enjoyed a feeling of belonging there.  He took out a small candle and lit it.  Tonight, he thought he heard voices as he walked down the hall to the living room area.  The house was empty for a long time and the perfect place to squat.  So far he had no unwanted visitors, but it seemed like he did tonight.  He was drunk and not in the mood to fight anyone.  All he wanted to do was go to sleep. 

Caelan walked slowly toward the living room, listening carefully to figure out how many people were there. He thought he heard at least one young kid. There was a deeper voice and Caelan couldn't figure out how old the owner of the voice was. He slowly walked toward the living room and saw two kids around a candelabra Caelan found in the place.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Caelan asked them. His tone clearly telling them they were trespassing. "This is my place. Get out! You're not welcome here."

Noah sat down next to his little brother and watched him eat. They had money, but it was hidden. He didn't want to spend anything if they didn't have to. But soon, once he had found a job, they'd be off the street. He didn't know how he was going to do that, but they'd be off the street.

He turned his head in the direction of the door when he heard something from outside of the room. When the door opened, he jumped up. He was ready to pull James up to his feet and leap for the window if it was someone stronger, but he eased a little when he saw the intruder. He looked roughly Noah's size and age, maybe a little younger. Noah wasn't going to let this kid chase him away.

"I didn't see your name on it," he mocked. "This is our place now, and you're not welcome, so sod off!"

James looked at the older boy, and then followed his brother's example and stood up as well. "Sod off!" he copied, with the half-eaten biscuit still in his hand.

Caelan blew out the candle in his hand. He didn't need it any longer. But he kept the candle in his hand. He heard somewhere on the streets where if you had something in your hand when you punched someone, the punch would be harder than if you punched him with nothing in your hand. Caelan didn't think they meant a candle but that was all he had in it at the moment, so it would have to do.

He approached closer to the older boy, sizing him up every step he took. He probably was stronger than Caelan was. it didn't help that he had a little brat with him who could help him in the fight either. Two against one, and Caelan was drunk. He looked up for a brief moment asking the Lord why he couldn't make anything - anything at all - easier for him. But considered the fact that he had been in this house for a rather long time already without any break ins, so actually - He decided to focus on the matter at hand.

"I came in through the front door. Can you say the same thing?" Caelan asked. "How did you get in here anyway? Did you break a window? There better not be any broken glass on the floor!" He understood partly that the floor was already dirty as it could possily be, but he didn't need any broken glass on it. A large welcome sign in a window for anyone else to climb into. He would have to take a look at the windows, he thought. And probably lock all of them too.

Noah sized the boy up. He put one foot back a little and whipped out a knife, pointing it at the intruder. "Or what?" he challenged. "I don't care how you came him. You're gonna leave, or cut ye open!"

He actually hoped that the boy would leave, because Noah hadn't actually ever used his knife and didn't intend to. Did they hang people his age? He wasn't going to try and find out.

"The front door was closed." James pointed out helpfully. But when his big brother pulled out a knife, he knew that this was serious. A call to arms! He ran to the corner, picked up his slingshot and pulled a little pebble out of his pocket. "And I'll shoot yer eye out!" he shouted, feeling emboldened by the fact that it was two against one. He'd make a bigger boy run, ha! He put the pebble in the sling, pulled back, and aimed at the drunk teen.

Oh great!  Caelan thought.  He thought he wouldn't have to worry about the little brat and he was the worst of the two with that damned sling shot.  All right, he thought.  If that's the way it was going to go, he was ready to fight.  He had a knife in his pocket and he put his right hand on its handle ready to use it.  He thought the best thing to do was get the little brat so that he wouldn't be able to shoot at him with his sling shot when he started fighting his brother.  Hoping that one or two shots wouldn't hurt him, he ran at the smaller boy blocking his face with his hands.  His knife stayed in his pocket.  He would get it out when he reached the brat and put it to his throat.  Possibly if he hadn't been drunk, he would've left and come back when he thought they had been asleep.  But the alcohol seemed to quiet his rational thoughts.

"Stay out, James!" Noah warned. His little brother had a tendency to get in trouble and protecting him sometimes seemed like a full time job. Still, he wouldn't let any harm come to the kid.

Too late. When the intruder ran over to the child, Noah felt his heart skip a beat. He launched himself at Caelan, ready to put the knife to his throat and pull him back.

James screamed and let go of the pebble. He didn't wait to see whether it hit the attacker, but darted away.

As Caelan ran toward the little brat, he let loose the pebble in his sling shot. Luckily, it went by his head without hitting it. Caelan ended up where the kid was only to see peripherally that the older boy was coming toward him. Now he would be the problem. Caelan stopped and put his hand in his pocket and took out his knife.

"Okay, boy." Caelan said. "Now what do you wanna do?" He quickly looked at the little brat hoping he wasn't reloading his damned slingshot. He made a mental note that if he came through this night in one piece, he would have to get a sling shot. He figured he could practice in one of the parks or by the sea.

Alas, the pebble hit Noah on the cheek. "AAAAAAGH! Bloody hell, James!" he shouted. But there was hardly time to recover. He saw the other boy pull his own knife and stepped back. He wanted to see where James was. The kid had darted away and was somewhere behind him. But he dared not turn his eyes away from the intruder now that he held a knife. "Find your own place. We were here first!" Noah said, holding up his knife. He wanted to sit down. His cheek was hurting like hell and he could feel some blood trickle down from where the rock had scraped his skin.

Oops.

No time to apologize. James ran to the back of the room, behind Noah and searched his pocket for a pebble only to find he had none.

"I live here!" Yelled Caelan, not believing the bullshit the kid was saying. "Just because you came in here earlier than me today, doesn't mean anything. I was here yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. I forget how long I've stayed here, but I don't remember seein you until tonight." He stared at the kid and looked over where he thought the lil brat had run to. He had a weird idea of allowing them to stay only for the night. He could lock himself in the bedroom and place the bureau against the door for protection in case the boys might want to attack him as he slept. That idea quickly was turned down by Caelan's sense of self preservation. Unless... "You can stay tonight if you want but I want the br-kid's sling shot as rent. Otherwise, get the hell out! You ain't welcome here!"

"Oh boohoo, go and cry!" Noah mocked the other boy. "We don't take orders from some little whore's child, so go to hell and leave us alone, or I'll gut ye!" He tightened his grip around the hold of his knife.

"Yeah! Go to hell!" James echoed. He found a piece of glass near the window and loaded his slingshot with that.

Again, Caelan couldn't believe his ears. "Leave you alone?" Caelan repeated the boy. "You're in my home. I'm telling you to leave me alone and the get the hell outta here! Come on boy, I'm hungry, I always wondered what human meat tasted like." Once again, thoughts of meat pies, Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd came to mind. He hoped he could scare the kid. If not, he wasn't against cutting him. It was self defense, after all.

[Content warning: Crude, incestuous language]

"Then go suck your mum's cunt. I'm sure you get a reduction," said Noah, because it was totally a good idea to rile up somebody who held a knife.

"Yeah! Go back to the brothel you came from!" James chimed in.

"Ok, human meat it is then!" Caelan said. Taking note of where the litlle brat was, Caelan went straight for the older boy. Caelan ran for the boy but made sure the boy's body blocked any possible shot the brat might have from his sling shot. As he got closer to the boy, he tried to stab him in his stomach. It would be a shame to kill the two boys. Caelan really liked living here. He would have to find another place to live if he gutted these fuckers. And right now, he was trying to imagine how well the little brat would fit within his elder brother.

Noah jumped back and took another step back when the boy actually tried to stab him in the stomach. Oh shit! That could have been lethal. "How would you like a rope around your neck!" he shouted out. He tried to stab the boy in the arm.

James screamed when the boy attacked him brother and tried to stab him. He wanted to do something, but he was afraid to do anything, lest he hurt Noah. "Stop!" he screamed, and he began to cry.

[Content warning: Crude and vulgar language]

"I'm gonna cut off your dick and feed it to your brother." Caelan told the boy. "And I hope you'll stay alive to see it. I have to decide whether I'm gonna cook it first or not." He stepped forward to the boy as he moved back. Then he moved his arm out of harm's way at the boy's attack. "You can still leave. I'm only defending myself here."

He moved in again with a sweep of his hand toward the boy. Did he really want to hurt him? This was his first real knife fight, but he had no choice. They broke into his house and refused to leave. The older boy said bad things to him and the little boy tried to hurt him with his sling shot. He had to do something. He had to. All in self defense. He couldn't be hanged for defending himself. Caelan thought, trying to make himself believe it.

Noah jumped back again. Oh shit, this guy would actually kill him if he could. Time for a change of plan. "Fine!" he said bitterly. "We'll leave you alone." He was aware of James crying. Apparently this was not the safe hide out he had thought. They'd leave for now and he'd beat this guy up sometime when he was unarmed.

James still cried. He wanted to help his brother, but he stood nailed to the ground. He had had people threaten them before, but he hadn't ever had someone trying to kill his brother.

[Content warning: Crude and vulgar language]

As much as he was surprised the boy relented so quickly, Caelan was quite relieved. He really wanted the little brat's sling shot. Oh well, he'll probably see him on the street and out of his brother's sight, he would attack the brat and get it. He'll wait. Until then, he thought, he had better start locking the windows. Unless one was broken, then he would need some wood and a hammer and nails. In the meantime...

..."Get the fuck out and never let me see you here again or I will feed your dick to your brother. Raw!" His tone told those listening that he was serious.

Noah packed up their things and then helped his little brother climb through the window. He didn't say anything to the boy's threat until he was halfway through. Then he turned to face the boy. "I'd watch my back from now on, if I were you. I know some people who can make you disappear."

[Content Warning: More crude and vulgar language.]

Caelan just ran at the boy with his knife still out, wanting the other to just get the fuck out of his life. He already knew he had to watch himself on the streets more after tonight. And he would have to watch out for locking the windows. Whatever little security he once felt, he certainly wouldn't be able to feel it again. And he wanted these two fuckers to pay for stealing that from him! Yes, he thought to himself, he would take the little brat's sling shot the next time he saw them. That would teach them.

Noah jumped down, out to the other side, when the boy ran towards him with the knife. "Fuck you! We'll kill you later!" And he and James ran away.

"You fucking coward!"  Caelan shouted at the boy.

But Noah no longer responded. He and James ran away. They'd even the score later.