[Flashback] Losing A Tail (Open)

[Aehra]

23rd of Summer, 511 AV Aehra raced down the street, frantically dodging passerby in her attempt to avoid the trio following her. Somewhere behind her-- ten, fifteen feet, there's no way to tell-- an older woman shouted in alarm; by the sounds of things, one of them had barreled into her and was being held up. Aehra granted herself a half-satisfied smirk before she sped up, desperately avoiding the same fate. Even if one of the boys was permanently delayed by the older woman, that still left two people chasing after her, and the girl had seemed the strongest of the three by far. Aehra twisted, narrowly avoiding a collision with a young boy carrying a basket and fish, and darted into an empty alleyway, not bothering to check what buildings she was finding shelter between. She collapsed backwards against a building, pressing her back against the cool wall. Her breath was coming heavily and raggedly, clawing out of her throat in the Bonesnapper's biting chill. She tensed against the sharp wind, so unwelcome on an otherwise warm day, and waited. After a second, the girl and boy darted past, their identical golden hair flying in the wind. Aehra only took a moment to collect herself, clenching and unclenching her fists briefly, before swinging out of the alley and back onto the street. She ran, feet pounding with a dull ache into the stone, and for just a second, she turned to look behind her in search of her two followers-- long enough, apparently, to slam into another body and be sent sprawling backwards.

[Arianne]

It was one of those days where nothing seemed to go as planned. Arianne had been woken by the frantic barking of her father’s dog Pip who had spooked at a bird of all things. After her attempt at returning to sleep failed, she started her stable work early, only to have one of the horses upend not one, not two, but three water buckets all over the place. To top everything off, one of the new stable grooms had left a stall unattended, which allowed its occupant to escape. The said occupant happened to be one of the stables best breeding stallions, so Arianne and a number of other workers had spent little over thirty chimes trying to quietly coax him back to his stall without the stable owners noticing. After that episode, she had very much had enough, and since there was extra help at the table today, Arianne bolted for town at the first opportunity. She spent time wandering through the market and then down onto the docks, walking and thinking about nothing in particular. She avoided conversing with people - she knew a few of the noble family children wandering around - because she was sure to get irritable after a while. Once she was feeling satisfactorily calm, she turned away from the docks and headed back up through the streets. They were busy, but not overly so, and Arianne let her mind wander again. As it turns out, it was a bad idea. Her lack of concentration only alerted her to footsteps at the last possible second, and she turned to see who was approaching only to be slammed into with such force that she tripped backwards and landed on the unyielding stone. She pushed herself into a seated position with a slight wince - there would be a nice bruise on her elbow shortly - and looked over before her. Another girl appeared to be sprawled on the floor too, no doubt it was she who had crashed into Arianne. “Hey, are you okay?" She hoped the girl hadn't hit her head or something. “I wasn't looking where I was going, else I would have moved out of your way. I'm so sorry!" Arianne was still sat on the ground, much to the irritation of some passersby.

[Aehra]

Aehra groaned and pushed herself upright, rubbing at the back of her head absentmindedly. She frowned at the girl in front of her, a pretty brunette with a worried look on her face. Belatedly, Aehra realized that the girl had asked her something, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, what are you--" "Got 'er!" The shout had come from their left, and Aehra turned to find (to her dismay) that they had collided just beside the boy that had been delayed when chasing her. Her eyes widened and she swore under her breath as she scrambled to stand up, tugging the other girl up before she realized she was doing so. She stared at the boy in horror as he began to make his way towards him. His eyes darted to the brunette beside Aehra, and his face contorted in disgust. "She's go' a friend! Why didn' we see two of 'em before?" Aehra hadn't thought that the other two were in earshot, but she wasn't about to turn around to find out. She didn't really consider leaving this girl behind to deal with the thugs-- Aehra had no idea if she could fight, and she wasn't taking the risk of abandoning her to be beaten if she ccouldn't. She grabbed the girl's hand and tugged lightly. "We've got to go." She looked at the boy, now only a few feet away, but having to push through a few people to get to them. She looked back at the girl and repeated herself more insistently. "We've got to go now." With that, she began pushing past the brunette and picked up her pace. She figured that if the girl stayed behind now, well, it isn't as if Aehra didn't warn her. Sort of.

[Arianne]

A light frown creased Arianne’s brow as she noticed the other girl rubbing her head. She hoped that she hadn’t hit it too hard for she knew first-hand the kinds of headaches one could get. She also noticed that the girl appeared to have missed everything she had said. Arianne’s mouth twitched at the corners, threatening a smile, and she made to repeat herself. She had just taken a breath to speak when a shout rang out to the left. It sounded like a boy had found someone he had lost, which Ari supposed was a good thing. She didn’t see the look on the other girls face, didn’t hear her hushed curse. Arianne only realized that something was happening when there was a yank on her arm. The girl was pulling her up, and Ari hastened to her feet, curious at the frantic look in her companions bright blue eyes. She followed the gaze to a boy with what seemed an angry expression, and when he spoke his voice matched that of the earlier shout. It didn’t take Arianne long to put two and two together. Her mouth opened in a little “oh” as it dawned on her that she had been plunked right in the middle of... well whatever this was. She was in half a mind to try and talk to this boy, when she felt a tug on her hand. ”We’ve got to go.” The words entered her mind, but she didn’t do anything to act on them. They came again, repeated with more urgency, and Arianne glanced quickly at the other girl. Without hesitation, she turned and raced after the blue eyed girl. Arianne was no stranger to running, after all she lived at a stable and had to chase horses around daily. She managed to keep pace with the other, not wanting to find out what would happen if she didn’t keep up. “What... what is going on?"

[Aehra]

Aehra glanced to the side, surprised to find the girl keeping up with her; one glance at her slight frame, and Aehra had pegged her as having no muscles at all. She scolded herself for making the same mistake so often in the past. She tried to respond to the girl's question, but her response came out in short, breathless bursts. "They're chasing us--" (she waved her arm over her shoulder vaguely) "--we're running--" (she gestured to the two of them) "--and I can explain the rest when we've stopped." The commotion behind them was slowly fading into the distance, and when they rounded a corner, Aehra flattened herself against the wall of the nearest building and motioned for the girl to do the same. She peered around the corner, back towards the way they came, and--deciding that they had a brief reprieve-- turned back to face the girl. Aehra pursed her lips, thought about lying, and when she met the girl's large brown eyes, thought better of it. "Basically, I got into a fight with one of their..." She waved her hand around in a general sort of fashion. "I guess you'd call her their boss? She sort of was in charge of them. Whatever it is that they do." She shrugged and rolled her shoulders to ease some of the tension had built up. "I musta hurt her somethin fierce, 'cause those jokes cornered me on my way to pick up some bread and tried to 'teach me a lesson'." She lets a grin slip onto her lips at the memory. "Thought they were real clever, gangin' up on me way they did." Rather suddenly, it occurred to her that she'd gotten a complete stranger into a mess without bothering with niceties. Her father would've been-- She shook her head slightly and thrust her hand out between them. "Aehra or A or whatever you want to call me." She flashed another smile at the girl. "You?"

[Arianne]

Arianne was too busy concentrating on not tripping over to miss the surprise on the other girls face. She was getting slightly breathless now; ever since she had asked the question she had to suck in air in short, sharp pants. Her brows raised, drawing together at the girls response. Of course, Arianne realized, now was not really the idea time to be holding conversation. She followed the other round a corner and almost ran right past. Stopping just in time to catch the signal, she drew against the side of the building, her shoulders hitting the wall with a jarring thwack. She sucked in a deep breath, paused for a moment and turned to face the other girl, meeting her large blue eyes. Her eyebrows rose again, meeting in a frown. Those children had a..boss? And this girl had fought one of them? Arianne resisted shaking her head in disbelief. The girl spoke in a way she had not heard before, and she wondered where she had been raised. Arianne wasn’t quite sure what to make of the smaller girl and she was about to ask exactly why she had been fighting when a hand was presented to her rather suddenly. After a slight pause, she shook it and smiled. “Aehra, nice to meet you I suppose.” Her eyes glinted with amusement at their circumstance. “I’m Arianne, but I suppose you can call me Ari if you want” A light shrug of the shoulder was given before she paused again. “Out of curiosity, might I ask why you were fighting with a.. a gang leader?”

[Aehra]

Aehra shifted her stance uneasily as the noises behind them became louder. She chanced another peek around the corner of the building, spotting the trio about fifty yards down. They called out taunts as they slowly made their way towards their makeshift hiding spot. When she turned back to the brunette-- Ari, she corrected herself-- she plastered a cocky grin on her lips. "Didn' like the look of 'em, to be honest." She shrugged. "To be fair, though, I also caught 'em tryin' a steal from the baker down thataway." She jerked her thumb to their right, towards Camilla's bakery. Camilla was an old friend of Aehra's father, and the older woman was always kind to Aehra, even if that kindness was rather conditional. The catcalls and mocks were louder, now, and loud enough that they could easily be heard at their corner. "Come out, come out, little squid!" "We ent gonna hurtcha!" "You really think you gonna git away with somethin like what you pulled?" Aehra considered Arianne. Her eyes darted down the girl's lithe frame with one quick sweep. Doesn't look like a fighter, she thought. Then again, didn't look like a runner. When her eyes finally skittered up to meet Ari's, Aehra hardened her stare, searching her companion's face for any flicker of hesitation. "Any of that muscle good for a punch, Ari?"

[Arianne]

Arianne was still trying to catch her breath properly, though her panting was slowly returning to something like normal breathing. Her eyes still showed confusion, and that stray hint of amusement as she listened to what Aehra was saying to her. She gave a slight nod. Of course something had to be done about thieves, but there must have been a better, less violent way to go about it. She said nothing though, since the shouts from the pairs pursuers were getting closer. She was about to ask what happened next - for she really should be working - when she caught Aehra studying her carefully. The girls blue eyes had a sort of steely gleam in them. Ari couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows in surprise at the next words she heard. “I uh... I can’t say I ever tried it.” Her own brown eyes lit up with anxiety. She wasn’t weak by any means; handling horses had lent her strength that a lot of girls her age lacked. She had never been in a fight though! Arianne let her breath out slowly, her eyes somewhat clearing. “I mean... maybe. I think so, at least if someone tried to hurt me I think I would be okay.” The words escaped her in a rush; she hurried to speak since the trio were drawing ever closer. If it came down to it, Arianne supposed she would have to retaliate. She wasn’t really one for violence, but that was not to say she would not defend herself. If Aehra jumped on the three in the street, she supposed she would follow.

[Aehra]

Aehra nodded quickly at the other girl, but decided that she was mostly going to be on her own for this one. Despite her words, Aehra didn't believe that Arianne would be thrilled about fighting, and she'd seen enough fights gone wrong to know that a reluctant fighter could end up as a dead fighter. Aehra turned and pressed her back against the side of the building once more. "Don't need ya to fight for me, but I can't promise I'll be able to keep 'em all focused on me, yeah?" She tensed and prepared for her attack, focusing on the sounds of the trio's footfalls as they came closer and closer. "If one of 'em comes at ya, try an' defend yerself. They ent the best fighters around, but they're angry, an' that can be mighty dangerous." Aehra stilled completely, and then closed her eyes. Time seemed, for a moment, to slow down, and she focused on listening to her would-be-attackers. The sounds of the waves, of the wind in her ears, her own heavy breaths-- slowly, it all faded into nothingness, and Aehra was left listening to the low thud of leather soles on cobblestone. Aehra's eyes snapped open and she darted just around the corner, grabbed the arm of the first boy just as he walked by, and swung him around until he slammed into the wall beside her. He had time to shout before his nose collided with the stone; judging by the resounding crack and sudden spurt of blood on the boy's face, his nose was broken. "She broke my petchin' nose!" He wailed, and his whimper of pain was enough to distract Aehra. She heard a sharp intake of breath behind hear, and whirled around to find the girl only a few inches away, and the next thing Aehra knew, her head was jerked back by the force of the girl's punch. Aehra growled and ducked her next (clumsy) blow easily, sweeping the girl's feet out from under her with a quick turn. The girl fell, and her head smacked roughly against the pavement, but Aehra didn't think she'd be out of the fight for longer than a minute, at best. Aehra wiped the back of her hand across her split lip and bared her teeth at the third boy. "Come on, kid, you wanna sit at the grown up table, you gotta take part in the conversation." She didn't think about the boy still behind her until he grabbed her by the hairs at the nape of her neck and yanked her back roughly. Aehra let out a startled yelp as he forced her head back so far that she met his eyes, narrowed in hatred. He still clutched at his bloody nose with the other hand, and his fingers were caked in blood that was just beginning to dry. "You got some kinda nerve, squid, y'know that?"

[Arianne]

Arianne could tell that the other girl had not been convinced by her words. Of course, she wasn’t sure if she had convinced herself. She knew for sure that she wouldn’t sit idly by if she saw someone being hurt, and she certainly wouldn’t let someone try and hurt herself either. She sucked in a breath. “...mighty dangerous...got it.” Aehra seemed to calm then, her eyes closing, her frame going still. Arianne suspected it was something like a storm, how everything seems to go quiet before thunder shouts across the skies. Only a second after she had thought it, the girl leapt round the corner taking Ari - and the boy she had grabbed - by surprise. The crack of his face hitting the wall made her wince. Arianne was definitely not ready to fight anyone. As Aehra engaged with the girl, she flattened herself against the wall again. Eyes wide, she watched as the thug was sent to the floor, her head hitting the pavement hard. Yep, Arianne was proving to be completely useless. She was too focused on watching Aehra to notice the first boy had recovered from having his face slammed into the wall. She gasped as he yanked on Aehra’s hair, pulling the girl back. She glared at the back of his head, before realizing that everyone still standing was focused on the pair. Her mind took over then, and Arianne quietly and quickly stepped up behind the boy. She raised her arm, and slammed her elbow into the side of his head with as much force as she could muster. She knew that it would be more effective than a punch from her, and she hoped it would be enough to get him to let go of Aehra.