Mouth sticky from the cotton candy she's eating, Lily spots a little boy outside of the shops near the boardwalk. Her little brain sizes him up, deems him not a threat, and a moment later, she's standing before him.

"Hello. My name's Lily. What's yours?"
Anthony simply gazes at her, so she tries again, louder.

"I'M CALLED LILY, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"
Anthony finches backwards, clearly not deaf. Lily frowned, her chubby, sticky cheeks puffing out at this enormous transgression. She's about to turn on her little patent-leather heel and stomp away, then reconsiders.

"Do you like candy?" She asks, holding out the cotton candy cone towards him.

Anthony studies the girl for some time, but soon comes to relax his tensions. He steadily reaches out and smears a morsel of candy on his finger, before inspecting it intensely. It eventually meets his lips, and he breaks a large smile.

He steps back and fumbles with his overshirt, pulling at the sides. Eventually a label appear in between his fingers. He presents it to the girl.

AnTH0ny

Squinting, she peers at the label. 

"Anthony. You're Anthony? Or your shirt is named Anthony, which would be silly," she says, giggling at her own humor. 

"Shall we play a game, Anthony? I like dolls, but you're a boy and boys don't play dolls. We could play house? We're outside, though, so that won't do," she says, frowning at the pavement. 

"OH! I have a string of yarn! Shall we play cat's cradle?" 

At Anthony's blank stare, she surrenders the rest of the cotton candy to him and pats him on the shoulder with her sticky little fingers.

"Don't worry, I can teach you. Come on!" She says, leading him to a clear spot at the curb before taking a seat and busying herself with the string she's pulled from her pinafore pocket. The string gets repeatedly snagged in her sugary fingers, so she leans over to spit clean them when she notices Anthony staring at her.

"Excuse me," she says before turning to the side and quickly spit-washing her hands and wiping them dry on her dress. Resuming her task, she's finally got it positioned on her fingers and presents them to the boy beside her. 

"You pinch them, you see? Pinch and tuck and go under my hands, then you'll have the string on YOUR fingers," she says, her curls bouncing as she nods her head at him. 

"Go on, try it!"

Anthony nods in agreement, his hair flopping forwards slightly. He watches watches the young girl intently, his eyes follow her movements, darting back and forth. Between his fingers, he rubs at the candy residue, feeling them stick together, then pull apart. With his head is tilted, he watches and listens as she talks. When she moves, he gradually picks his feet up and follows. 

When prompted, he holds his hands out, though they are uncoordinated and clumsy. 

"Now you must pinch that crossed part, yes like that, now swing your hand under mine...no, other way...okay now spread your fingers. See? Alright, now I put my fingers through this spot here, and twist. Now you need to pluck the long sides. No, you have to turn your hand the other way. No, not...no, no, no! You're doing it...stop, it's...arrrgghh Anthony, it's all knotted now," she whines, tossing the yarn in the gutter. Two men are chatting behind them near the tattoo parlor, and she catches a piece of their conversation.

"...Solonik as a crew leader. Look, I don't have any issue with the guy personally, but he's Russian. Can you trust a Russian?" The first asks, spitting on the sidewalk.

"Hell, I don't know. He knows what the fuck he's doing as a criminal, though. Look how fast he's risen to the top. And getting backed by Kathryn Renford? If you wanna make money, Joey, you need to look at him. Stupid not to," the second man replies.

Lily looked at Anthony, yarn all but forgotten.

"I'd like to make money. We could play skee ball and eat all the hot dogs we wanted to!" She whispers, standing up and brushing off her dress. Grabbing Anthony by the hand, she pulls him to his feet and drags him inside the tattoo parlor.