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.