Solo Stalking

[Aenisa]

85th of Spring - 517 AV

It had proven harder to hunt in the city than what Aenisa had at first thought it to be. Deep within she knew that she wasn’t supposed to be doing what she was doing but her mind had brought her onto other paths. Hoping that her visit to the temple of Ionu might reward her with some breathing room and clarity to do what she was supposed to be doing without interference from Ionu. It had turned out that after the visit to the temple it had proven an easier time for Aenisa, she wasn’t entirely sure if it was in her head or if Ionu truly had been listening to her prayers and her agony. There was no time to dwell on problems that wasn’t problems when she had more important issues to focus on and so she let it go.

Having spent most the first half of the day at Yuri’s, feeding and training the birds she had now gotten back into the city through the Gaping Maw and stood at the Sanity Center once more. There weren’t many shadows for people to hide from the midday sun in and as she paused near a wall, her eyes watched the droves of people pass her by. It was amazing how they all seemed to shift and blend together like a big ocean as they walked, tall mixing with short and occasionally there came a really tall person or a Pycon or a really short person. It was something that Aenisa didn’t quite know how to describe as she stood, watching it pass her by. Working, out in the sun had started to have some effect on her skin as it was slowly sizzling in the sun, pigments slowly turning towards the summer coat that she wore, brown.

It was a blessing to be able to just pause the day for a chime or two and watch, observe and appreciate the city, no matter how annoying it was. Feeling the ordinary stress just wash off of her shoulders and be replaced with a sense of peace and clarity, clarity on her task. It wouldn’t leave her mind and she thought back to that one incident at the Bizarre all those moons ago, the vision of death. Aenisa had cheated death, she had survived something that she was sure that she wasn’t going to. Her mind wandered off on a tangent about the rate of her own survival as her eyes sort of blocked out the inner workings of her own brain. It was weird, Aenisa had found that she was more able to separate her own inner thoughts and actions after she had gotten possessed by that one ghost upon arrival in the city.

Her eyes stopped short on one man that was moving with the crowd, medium length, crooked nose that spoke of weeks of healing and a stature that was familiar to Aenisa. “It can’t be, can it?” She uttered to herself in surprise, her eyes trying desperately to figure out who the figure was and if the figure was the one that she had been looking for. Whatever the person, she could not afford to not know about who it was and so she started towards the street where he was walking. “Thanks Ionu.” She muttered under her own breath as she was walking at a rather quick pace towards the street.

SPACER

[Aenisa]

85th of Spring - 517 AV

He was medium length, wearing what seemed at a distance to be leather but it was actually just cotton, woven into a black shirt, the darkness attested to the fact that it was new. Dark pants and the crooked nose with the hair seemed to match the description that Aenisa had in her head of the man she was hunting. The quick stride spoke of the fact that the person that she was having her eagle eyes on were on a mission. Rising buildings on either side of the street with little to no vegetation was going to make following the person harder than Aenisa had wanted or expected it to be. It could not be helped that the situation was against her though, she had to take the chance. Swiftly disappearing into the crowd again and moving with groups of people, Aenisa made sure that she had her eyes on the person that she was following at all times. Nobody seemed to care that she was randomly appearing in their groups, she wasn’t really looking to stand out and it seemed that if her target didn’t turn around, she wouldn’t.

The streets weren’t overcrowded with people and although there were quite a lot of talking going on, those that were in the streets were regular citizens. Aenisa had managed to block out their voices again and her focus lay on the person that she was following still. Her target was looking around after she had focused her eyes on him for a while, like he was getting nervous. Aenisa stopped in the middle of the street, she knelt. She could see the legs of the man and see that he was turning around where he stood, had he noticed her stare? Had he known that someone was following her? Or was this all just something random that he did? Whatever it was, Aenisa was happy that she had chosen to kneel before he turned around. It wasn’t very likely that he would have but thanks to her having the sight of his legs she didn’t have to worry about losing him.

Having not been able to see anything suspicious when he had been looking around, the man continued his walk and Aenisa popped back up like a mole out of a hole. Getting some strange looks from those that passed her by in the ever-thinning crowd, she didn’t care though. Aenisa needed to figure out where her target was headed so that she could see if it might be a regular spot and if it was, her task would become so much easier.

Quickly the man ducked into an alleyway and Aenisa was quick to follow, shoving a man out of her way to a surprised moan about her action before he ignored her with a sigh. The side-street that he had chosen were too long for her to wait until he was at the other end and so she had to follow him down the street. Colourful houses and walls decorated either side of the small street and at some places a miniature garden offered a tree or some plants to mix the look of the homes. Ionu had created the alleyway particularly nice this day. He was a good twenty paces in front of her and increasing his distance by about two paces for every ten that they both took. As they were moving down the street, Aenisa was hoping that the man wouldn’t turn around, it dawned on her that there were very limited places in which she could hide. It wasn’t an immediate danger but should the man turn around, she would find herself in a tough spot.

She had jinxed herself with her thoughts and just as she was finishing the thought, he stopped, she stopped and they both stood still for a brief moment. Aenisa started to search for where she might hide but she was in between two off-shoots from the side-street and so she had no escape route. It was bad and it got even worse as she saw the man starting to turn around to face her. What would she do? Panic started to settle into her fiery mind and her eyes were racing all around her, she acted. Pushing herself towards the nearest door she felt the handle of the door, it seemed to at first be locked but as she pushed a little it gave way. Just as she felt the door budge under her fiddling, she looked towards the man she had been following, he saw her, she saw him, had he recognised her? She didn’t know. She fell inside.

SPACER

[Aenisa]

85th of Spring - 517 AV

Having not paid attention to the door as she had thought that it was locked, Aenisa was now on a collision course with the floor. Some would classify it as the floor was flying towards her to greet her face but that would have been an inaccurate description in most cases. Coming to meet the floor with a thud she flopped about on the floor for a brief moment, trying befuddlingly to kick the door shut with her feet. Aenisa was too short to be able to do this and so it looked more like a child having a tantrum. After this brief but very embarrassing entrance to someone’s home, Aenisa hurried to shut the door after herself, still ignoring the interior of the home she was in. Only when the door was shut and she felt like she had a barrier between herself and the street, only then she felt secure enough to see where she had broken into.

Candles lit the interior of the small home in each corner and a small fireplace was smouldering near the back wall. As her eyes scanned the interior she could see a staircase leading up onto a second floor and although it seemed sparsely decorated with furniture, the home seemed nice enough. Wooden table and chairs were being occupied by the food for the day and a family of four, the food on the table and the people on the chairs of course. Since her entrance into the home, Aenisa had a suspicious feeling that no further eating had taken place as the four of them were all staring at her by the door. She shook her head a bit and allowed her gingerly hair to settle behind her shoulders before she stepped further into the home, her mixed gemstones first admiring the fireplace. Not much time was to be had though as she had to continue the hunt but she didn’t dare head back out onto the street again.

“Who’re you?!” The man of the household demanded as soon as Aenisa took a step further into the home, this demand was accompanied by the chair being pushed backwards. It was a threatening gesture that didn’t really seem to register with Aenisa as she stood, watching the man.

“I need help. Bad man hunt. I hide?” An arched eyebrow after the question didn’t really transfer the urgency of the request but still she stood near the fire, waiting for the reply by the man. A hand pointing towards the door and some shouting was all that she got, the message was clear, it was a no. She frowned, nobody were nice in the world any longer, what if she got killed the moment that she stepped out, did he even think of that? Obviously no. Aenisa scoffed and then she said; “Fine, I go.” Just as she was about to reach the door however there was a knock, freezing Aenisa and the man near their place. A quick exchange between the two allowed Aenisa to know that the man had no idea what was really going on, he came over towards the door. Aenisa stood still as the man spoke through the door.

“Who goes there?”
“It is I.”
“Who is I?”
“Me.”
“I don’t know who me is.”
“It is me, just let me in.”
“Hold on a moment!”

The man turned around to face the interior of the house again as he asked high enough for the others in the household and the man outside to hear. “Anyone know me?” Aenisa sighed and covered her eyes with her hands as she said in a low tone of voice. “Who names me? I can hide up?” She asked the man as she also reminded him of the fact that she was being hunted by someone, a lie, admittedly but not entirely wrong. With the man on the other side of the door it seemed easier to convince the man that she was indeed being looked for and so he shooed her away with his right hand, up the stairs. “Okay, hold on just a moment!” He shouted out the door as he waited for Aenisa to hurry up the stairs and as soon as she was out of view he opened the door for the stranger.


SPACER

[Aenisa]

85th of Spring - 517 AV

Quick, nimble feet carried Aenisa up the stairs and out, onto the second floor of the home, she found a few beds and some bits and bobs laying around but ignored it all. There was a balcony overlooking the street below, this was her ticket out. Down below she could hear the man in conversation with the other man, the man that Aenisa had been following. She just needed him to stall the man long enough for her to find a way out of the home, jumping down wasn’t a very good option either. The balcony on which she stood had a roof over it and sturdy beams held the balcony in place, it didn’t have any furniture beyond a small chair and some plant pots. It would be an annoyance for Aenisa to do anything from up there.

“Whe.. is s..? I ..w her.” The voices came from below, muffled as they had to travel through the door and out into the streets and up to Aenisa. It was breaking her concentration as she was trying to figure out her immediate surroundings of where she stood. One thing that became apparent to her was the fact that the house was built in two different stages, the colour that had been added to the home had been done later. However she could see the divide between the two ages of the structure, or so she thought. It wasn’t helpful in any way shape or form and Aenisa had to remind herself that she was under time pressure to find a relatively easy escape route. Below the conversation had gotten heated as the man was accusing the owner of the home of hiding a thief and a nuisance to the city.

So many distractions that were taking away from her task, thankfully however the streets below were empty still and offered no onlookers to this, should her eventual plan go wrong. Aenisa started to pace back and forth on the balcony, looking at the jump to the ground below, it would no doubt hurt her again, she didn’t want that. Some stones in the façade of the house were sticking out, they looked almost like a very dangerous and rickety staircase up onto the roof. She scratched her head, she was out of ideas, it was the best of times to be out of ideas because she could hear the owner below saying. “Fine, go ahead and search the house then! You won’t find anything at all anyways!” With those few words she could instantly hear the sound of boots in the stairway and knew that the man would be with her shortly. She had to make a decision, jump or try the dangerous staircase made out of the wall to the rooftop above, she was going to have to pull herself up the last bit too. Going up it was.

A foot up onto the railing that surrounded the balcony and then the other, she held herself against the wall, working quickly, as quickly as she could. Looking down below, Aenisa almost felt like she was back in Wind Reach again and then she put the toes onto the first of the “steps” on the “staircase” that would take her higher. There wasn’t much space to play with as her hands grasped onto a pair of bricks above her, she pressed her body tightly against the wall as she tried to be as stable as possible. Within the house, she could hear how the man was now moving into the first room, checking every possible hiding spot within the rooms. Aenisa’s second foot came to stand a little higher than the first one, she looked up towards the underside of the roof as she held tightly with her grip onto the small stones. Switching her feet to come one step higher, her hands one at a time being moved upwards in a rather mechanical and yet urgent fashion. It would not be long until she could grasp ahold of the edge of the roof, then she would be safer and could possibly pull herself up.

“See? Nobody and nothing here! Now leave my home!” The owner tried to convince her follower. “I will look throughout the home.” The other voice said calmly back as he no doubt pushed the man out of the way to continue his search. A couple of steps and her hand grasped onto the edge of the rooftop above her. The footsteps as they came out onto the balcony were eerily close to her, Aenisa took a deep breath.

SPACER

[Aenisa]

85th of Spring - 517 AV

The two men, the pursuer as the leader and the pleading owner as the follower had emerged out onto the balcony just next to Aenisa. The pleading man took ahold of the other man’s shoulder and spun him around as he seemed to get a little pissed as he said. “You’ve seen everything and invaded my own property enough now!” Meanwhile, Aenisa was pushing off of the wall and pulling herself upwards, trying to get up onto the roof. With the push of her feet and her hands to help she was able to pull herself up, however, her actions caused some noise. She heard how the man threw the arm of the owner away from him and hurried out to the edge of the balcony where just moments before, Aenisa had been. Sticking his head outside he started to look around frantically.

Easy breathing, be quiet, don’t move, easy breathing. Aenisa reminded herself as she lay on top of the gently sloping roof just above the balcony, just above her pursuer, trying to not get noticed. Adrenaline pumping worse than ever before, she kept her eyes on the skies above who amazingly had a slight red hue to it, it was beautiful. “What was that then?” The voice asked below. “I got no idea, you think I would know? Is there anyone in the air out there? No, I don’t know.” The annoyance in the man’s voice where really clear as he spoke to the invader. For a few moments there was nothing but silence as her pursuer was no doubt trying to hear her out and then quick steps headed back inside the house and then they slowly faded away.

It took several bells before Aenisa felt secure enough to stand back up, in case she was still being hunted, either by the owner or by her earlier pursuer. Truth be told, Aenisa had been staying on the roof because her ribs had hurt a little as well from her sudden escape and she figured the best way to get better was to stay still and embrace the reality. She had seen the day gone towards the evening and the sun was just about touching the horizon by the time that she ventured to stand up. It had been a bad hunt for her and now he knew that she was after him as well, this was going to be harder than she had thought.

SPACER

[Yisanareysin]

The ssssssnake hassss your gradesssss...

Aenisa

Skills

‡ Observation +4
‡ Intelligence +1
‡ Stealth +2
‡ Planning +2
‡ Rhetoric +1
‡ Climbing +2

Lores

‡ Hunting: Harder in the city
‡ Location: The Temple of Ionu
‡ Following Someone: The importance of escape routes
‡ Persuasion: Pretending you're being hunted
‡ Best avoid distractions while escaping
‡ Alvadas skies are beautiful

Comments
The plot thickens! I'm really enjoying this plot, and I appreciate your willingness to see your character fail and hurt.

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