"Sure," Cal says, reaching over to grab the plug and pass it to him. Frankly, he thinks Andrei has as much right to complain about the blackout as anyone, but it was a relief to see that he wasn't doing badly. A bar could be just as tempting a target as any other kind of store, something that wasn't lost on Cal even if he wasn't quite old enough to drink yet.

"Our neighbors getting mugged is exactly why I'm out here." Cal settles back down on his perch, leaning forward slightly with his arms draped over his lap. "If there's more of us out on the streets to come running when there's trouble, then we won't be an easy target anymore. Once all the gangs around here figure that out, they'll go back to smashing in store windows and leave us alone."

Cal wasn't a stranger to getting into fights, usually because he couldn't stand to step back and let trouble happen right in front of him. Of course, most people that got a look at his face assumed he'd gotten cut up from doing something similar, and Cal never bothered to correct them.