"...This sucks."
Maxie sat in one of her favorite alleyways of the city, surrounded once again by stray animals. There was a gray cat on her lap, a white and orange cat to her left, and a scrawny golden retriever to her right. There were probably birds watching her from the rooftops or windowsills too, but she hardly cared about any of this. She'd just gotten fired. Again.
Seriously, she'd been lucky enough to get 3 jobs in these past two weeks that she'd spent living on her own, but somehow also unlucky enough to lose them within a short span of time. Mostly because animals kept getting into the store and following her around. Though, Maxie had a feeling that she would've been fired even if this WEREN'T the case, given how bad she'd always been about communicating verbally with other human beings. She felt like an alien most of the time. Or a ghost.
Maxie stood up, but not too fast so she didn't startle the cat on her lap too bad. She reached into the pocket of her "new" jacket, stolen by one of her animal followers from a laundromat (as most of her new clothes were nowadays), and took out her wallet.
"I wonder if I have enough to actually do something that doesn't suck today. Maybe eat out or stay at a hotel for the night, instead of stealing from grocery stores and breaking into people's homes. Oh yes, what a lovely life I live." Maxie laughed sarcastically at herself.
The girl stepped out from the alley and onto the sidewalk, watching other members of what was supposedly her species (seriously, she'd never be convinced again that she was a person) walking around, as if no war between Heaven and Hell had ever happened. Her mildly uncomfortable mood watching people go by seemed to translate itself to the animals who now trailed behind her. A couple of growls rose up from the cats. The dog had stayed in the alley, hopefully just sleeping...
"Shush." Maxie glanced down at them. "C'mon now. Don't act that way. I'm a terrible role model."
With the cats now hushed, and hopefully no one recognizing the stolen jacket she was wearing, Maxie began journeying down the sidewalks and streets of the city, on the lookout for "Help Wanted" signs, or anything interesting. When she passed by a hotel, she slowed down. Something about it bothered her, and not just that it looked like one of the shabbiest, seediest hotels she'd ever seen. The air around the place was some strange mix of unnerving and familiar. The cats hissed behind her.
"Hey! I told you guys to quiet down. No one's gonna pick you up off the street if you're not a nice kitty." Maxie was once again talking to cats. In public. Splendid.
Maxie let out a sigh, and walked closer to the hotel.