District 16 was far from paradise.

Everyone had their own little social clicks. Everyone knew each other, however not as neighbors - they knew one-another as rivals. Enemies. Competition was at a permanent high in the outer district, and although gang activity had been lowered significantly due to a government campaign throughout district 16 (which ended no more than a month ago), the competition was still fierce among individuals. Whether they abode by the law or not didn't matter; District 16 was a ladder match to the top, with the top of the ladder reaping in all the rewards, be it legal or illegal. As one problem had vanished, two more popped up in it's place. It was like a serpent. 

Yet, the simple-minded and unobservant Markus was oblivious to all this, naturally. Supposedly being from the Outside, there were very few things Markus knew about society in general. Hell, not even he knew if he had proper morals or not. All he really knew was survival skills from the outside. He knew who were his enemies, and who were not. 

Thankfully, the folk of D16 weren't his enemies, however they certainly weren't friendly, either.

The entrance to district 16 was paved in a manner much like district 17 was, albeit had much more dark alleyways and shady shops - these inhabited places, Markus knew, weren't for sleeping like he'd been accustomed to. The people all seemed to carry this dark aura about them; the people who lined the streets were either incredibly punkish in appearance or scary due to the effects of drugs, or just life in general. It carried a grim shadow overhead, with the neon colours acting only as a front to hide the dark, grey reality of the district. Sometimes you could even see the grey when passing by an alley or happening upon a less-than-cheerful scene. 

Despite his lack of experience with New Ancora, even Markus could clearly see there was something really wrong with this district compared to that of District 17. It was like the world around him was trying to fake being happy. It was trying to look like D17 in a way, but was failing in all accounts. Even Markus could tell there wouldn't be many nice people here...

... though he still hadn't realised he stuck out like a sore thumb...

"I should probably try to make it to District 15 as soon as I can." He says to himself quietly as he wanders the streets. "These people look pretty... different. I'm not sure if I understand what's goin' on here, but it doesn't look like this is a very nice place." 

Markus navigated through the streets without any kind of sense of direction, keeping out of the darker places or those inhabited by certain groups that didn't look too friendly. Such groups reminded him of the people who wrote that [i]dreadful[/i] sounding music called... what was it, rap? Something along those lines. He had brought some old dvds back to life back in D17 and managed to play them on a dodgy music player. He broke the machine a few moments later after hearing a string of disrespectful words being directed towards women and other groups. [i]'Seriously, that stuff was horrible... Who would listen to that crap, anyways...?'[/i]

He sighs and journeys on, however he doesn't journey long. All of a sudden, the Outsider's head collides with a door - an unforgiving man walks out of the source building and carries on without any regard for the man with whom he left squat on his arse. "Ow! What the Hell, man?!" Markus exclaims, however it falls on deaf ears. The Wanderer sighs as he stands again, dusting himself off. "Seriously... I swear people here have, like, no manners." Yet as Markus comes to terms with the world around him, his eyes find themselves locked with the sign in the window of the building whose door had so rudely interrupted his casual stroll. "District... Hall...?" He read aloud, and instantly began to grin as he realised just where he had ended up. "Aww yeah! It's the town hall! That means I'll be able to get a map!" 

Being a government-controlled building, the District Hall was a lot cleanlier than the rest of the District, however it was still a zone beta building and thus still looked pretty average. The floors were an off-white colour, like stained marble, and the walls were painted cream with digital textures thanks to advances in technology leaving little need for paints. From the entrance, the area with which Markus entered split off in opposite directions, like a 'T', with a front desk sitting directly in front of him at the end of the hall. In the corner of the room, a holographic screen is playing today's version of television. As he approaches, he sees that the splitting hallways go off for about ten meters, with parallel doors decorating the halls, before splitting off elsewhere. However, Markus wasn't here to adventure - he was here to get a map. To find his way to District 15. Of course he could've just kept randomly wandering, however Mister Jones wanted to move to the next district ASAP. The sooner he could find his way, the better.

Approaching the front desk, Markus clears his throat. Standing behind said desk is an innocent girl, barely out of her teens, with the deepest orange hair with which the considerably older man has ever laid eyes on. She's short, at least compared to him, standing at something around 5'7. Her features are innocent and clean, much unlike those found on the women roaming the street clad in suggestive clothing, and her attire, like herself, is proper and refined. She greets him with a friendly smile.

"Hello there! Welcome to the District 16 Hall! How may I help you today?"

[i]'Not like the rest of the people here, I'll give her that.'[/i] Thought Mark as he stressed over how best to explain his situation without sounding like a complete idiot. "Hello, yeah, uh... This probably sounds really dumb, but I need directions to the ground-level access to District 15 - a map. Do you have anything which could... help?"

Her dumbfounded expression caused Markus' brow to unconsciously sweat. [i]'Dammit, I probably screwed tha-'[/i]

"You don't have a PDA?"

"A PD-what?"

The desk girl sighs. "I suppose not. Hmm, that really is troublesome..." The girls seems to be in a spot of troubled thought, before apparently coming to a conclusion. "Hold on! I think we have some old non-digital maps around somewhere! Please wait just one moment, sir!" The desk girl disappears through a door behind the desk, leaving Markus alone in the hall. Once again, Markus is left to his senses, however he appears naturally drawn to what's being presented on TV. It appears some kind of presentation is being held with lot's of people in a big, fancy room. A woman, whom looks very pretty and well-mannered, like the desk girl, was presently speaking to the masses. 

"Project T-95.3 is showing no signs of hostility towards humanity by no means other than poor programming. The issue in which we are faced is only a slight malfunction that can be addressed simply by a software update transmitted via satellite. Not only is this method more effective, but it will also take less time than issuing a mass recall on the model leaving countless thousands without a reasonable product to provide their breakfast favorite."

"Debate Over Toaster Sparks After Deaths of Hundreds... What?!" Exclaims a rather surprised Markus as he invests more time into the debate. "What on Earth have people done to toasters? Last I saw the only things toasters did was toast toast, not spontaneously combust! Seriously, what is the point of a computerised toaster? That's so dumb." The homeless man sighs with disbelief. [i]'Guess we still have our dumb inventions even today. I can't believe this...'[/i]

"Found it!"

Markus's attention snapped back to the voice which belonged to the desk girl, who soon came running into the main lobby area and to the desk. "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. It was hard to find due to how rare physical maps are nowadays. Please try to understand."

"Why are you apologising?" Chuckles the Wanderer after seeing the girl's reaction. She appears confused. "You got me the map and it wasn't a long wait, so there's no need for apologies. Thanks for helping me out!"

The desk girl is quite surprised by his words. Kindness was a rare thing to come across in District 16 when it came to government workers. You were considered lucky if the general populace treated you as though they treated each other: with ignorance. Yet, this man appeared genuinely kind. It was almost dangerous.

"S-sure thing." She answers back, handing him over the map. "That'll be 625 credits."

...

...

"... Huh?"

Once again, the desk girl looks up at him with a confused look. "Uh, sir? You DO have the money to fit the expenses, right?" She asks, ready to hit the alarm under the desk, thinking Markus would make a break for it, or worse. Yet, she was pleasantly surprised -- rather, a more fitting term would be 'shocked' -- to see Markus hand the map back with a regretful look.

"Well bugger. I forgot to keep track of how much credits I had." He states, looking down at his measly 200 credits whilst scratching the back of his head. "But don't worry! I'll be back soon! All I gotta do is get 625 credits, right? Alright! I'll see ya in a little but!" His abrupt statement was said just before he made it to the door, and, with a quick wave, the Outsider leaves the District Hall and heads back into the streets, leaving a dumbfounded desk girl standing with a map in hand...

[i]'I wonder... who is he...?'[/i]