With Mama's belongings hanging off her shoulder Piper skipped the rest of her usual route. Of course that meant she missed poor Naomi who had been sitting and waiting on Piper's usual route. With her new burden Piper walked with a purpose, but not abnormally enough to attract attention. Her eyes darted to keep watch on the people she passed. A few eyed her and her bags, but no one made a move. When she reached her street she relaxed slightly. 

Wilson hailed her from his stall. "Back so soon. Find anything good?" The food vendor eyed her bags. The scrawny older man was friendly, but always noisy. He knew everything about everyone. And he had light fingers. You had to watch your pockets around him. 

Piper smiled at him and retorted, "[color=a187be]Maybe, Mr. Noisy, you'll have to wait and find out like everyone else.[/color]" She pitched her voice so all the stalls nearby could hear. At her words a chorus of laughter broke out. Wilson flushed but was undeterred.

"Just for that I'm charging you double!" He cried, his comb over flopping with his mock outrage.

Piper just kept smiling and waggled her fingers at him. Everyone watched out for everyone on this street. Piper worked for them at a discounted prices and they gave Piper the same courtesy. Without the extra help no one would make it. They, for better or worse, were family. Carly tried to get Piper to come over to her stall, but the black woman shook her head. [i][color=a187be]Later.[/color][/i] She mouthed as she continued on. 

The apartment complex she lived in had been built almost fifteen years ago. When the walls had gone up it hadn't been in the best shape. Now it was better and worse. Better, because the people who lived there knew they had no chance of leaving. And if they didn't care for the building, no one would. Worse because there was no way to continue fixing everything that went wrong. There was no running water on anything but the first floor. No AC no heat. Electricity was spotty at best, thanks to Piper's handy work. And of course TV was a thing of the past. 

The locks still worked through. Piper pulled out her key and let herself into her third story flat. She moved past organized mounds of scrap metal and parts towards her bed. She unloaded her bags and carefully sorted out what she might need that day and left the rest of be dealt with later. Since she had missed most of her morning rounds, she'd have to go before nightfall. But for now she needed to open her repair shop and earn what she could. She stripped out of her dress and into a pair of coveralls and boots.

Piper locked the door behind her and went back out onto the street. She clomped over to Carly's stall and passed over a small flower vase. Carly exclaimed at the workmanship. 

"My doll!" She cooed. "This is beautiful." She passed the vase to her daughter with instructions and the girl took off. "And this is yous." Carly passed over a small bag of tangerines. 

"[color=a187be]Thank you.[/color]" Piper said with a small bow. "[color=a187be]Let me know if I need to watch your little minions.[/color]" The two women shared a smile before Piper departed. Her store was further down the street the opposite way she had been all day. It was secured behind a metal pull down door. She pulled out her keys again and opened it on up, shoving the door upwards roughly. It groaned in protest and she mentally added grease to her list of things she needed more of. 

No lights worked in her store. But she was lucky the ambient light was enough to work by in the morning. In the afternoon she would spill out onto the street. By late afternoon she'd close up and finish her rounds that she didn't get to today. Then she'd go back home for some sleep. Once true night fell Piper would emerge again as a Fixer. 

Piper looked over her shops, checking for anything out of place. Satisfied everything was in order Piper got to work on pending jobs and waited for more customers.