A Shopping Trip (Kiya)

[Samantha Slate]

“Why did you decide to settle down? I couldn't think of anything worse than staying in the one spot,” Kiya said in obvious bafflement, her expression one of confusion. Ah, that's right, Samantha thought as a ghost of a smile played across her lips, Wolves don't like staying in one place. At least, she didn't think they did. That was yet another subject added onto the wizard's ever-expanding list of things to research. She really ought to start writing them down; often, she'd forget about them as more immediate concerns took their place. "I meant 'settle down' in a light sense," Samantha explained, "I'll be staying in Zeltiva for a while longer than I've spent in most of the other places I've been in my travels. I'll still leave eventually." Though she would one day like to just choose a city and spend her days there, the wizard could sympathize with Kiya. She couldn't see the appeal in staying in any of the cities she'd been to, especially Zeltiva, for long. There was too much to learn and see in other parts of the world for her to be content wasting her days away like most people in the world were happy to. Before she could speak further, Samantha was struck by a startling realization; they were in East Street. She had been so involved with studying Kiya and speaking with her that she hadn't been paying attention to their surroundings. Now, surround by dilapidated buildings and shadowy alleys, the wizard felt a deep uneasiness building within her. She hadn't been to East Street since her childhood. Samantha had learned better than to wander around in a neighborhood such as this, and felt no need to rehash the lesson. "We should hurry," The woman cautioned her companion and picked up her pace. The sooner they were out of the rundown section of town, the better. Unfortunately, the wizard's worry came a bit too late to be of any use. Mere ticks after the words left Samantha's mouth it became obvious that they were being followed. The street was empty, now. Dark had fallen fully and most of the lower-class citizens were either resting in their homes after a long day of work or out prowling the streets for some ill-gotten goods. To Samantha's dismay, it seemed that the footsteps echoing behind her belonged to those of the latter category. The heavy footfalls echoed in the emptiness unchallenged, for even the whores and the cutpurses had gone to more hospitable territory. The wizard picked up her pace, hoping Kiya would catch up, but it was no use. Before she could break into a dash--something she was actually terrible at doing, thanks to her sedentary lifestyle--a meaty hand wrapped around her upper arm and jerked her in the other direction, stopping her in her tracks. "Well, lookie here," A deep, rough voice said. The wizard could barely make out the unshaven, scarred faces of the two hulking men that were confronting them. "We's found a couple'a nice liddle lassies, eh Teff?" Gruff laughter came from both men as Samantha tried unsuccessfully to rip herself free of the brute that had her by the arm. He just laughed harder and tightened his grip, making the woman squirm in discomfort. As the first man was busy attending to Samantha, the second one reached for Kiya, trying to get a grip on her arm. "Yeh," The man whom Samantha assumed was Teff replied as he was still trying to get a grip on Kiya, "Real nice ladies, Jem. Maybe gots some coin t'spare poor men like us," Again the coarse laughter echoed heavily in the empty street. Samantha would have called for help, but she knew that most people wouldn't trouble themselves with a pair of foolish women who had gotten themselves in trouble. Unless a passing Wave Guard found them, they would need to take care of this mess themselves. The wizard's eyes had shifted to a deep red, an almost black color that betrayed both her fear and her anger towards the thugs. Not for the first time, she wished that she'd learned a bit more about Reimancy. A fireball would be immeasurably useful right about now. Samantha tried to keep Kiya within her line of sight as she was being pawed by Jem as he sought out her coinpurse, assuming that Teff would be doing the same to the Kelvic. The wizard struggled, but the fight was halfhearted. She knew that it would be very unlikely that she'd escape unharmed by only running, but she couldn't think of any proper method of escape; she couldn't fight with them obviously, and Samantha had no experience negotiating with someone who was in a position of complete power. Not that they would have listened to her anyway. Hopefully Kiya had better luck with her captor.

[Kiya]

Kiya barely heard what the woman next to her was saying, she was more preoccupied with her new surroundings and the dark shadows that seemed to be following at a too-close-for-comfort distance. The streets were very quiet, pretty much deserted. Any place this quiet meant trouble. The kelvic noticed the change in Samantha's mood, it seemed like the woman had only just realised the predicament they were in.
She had to quicken her pace to stay close to Samantha, it would be bad if they became separated at this point. But, as they sped up so did the bulky shadows behind them. Their footsteps grew louder and louder until it was almost unbearable to Kiya's heightened senses.

“We should hurry” the older woman said

Running would be the best idea, though Samantha seemed somewhat reluctant. But it didn't matter for the shadows were upon them. Kiya smelt the stale alcohol on their breath, the sweat on their skin and the overall foulness of human males. They were both much taller then the two girls and would no doubt be considerably stronger, they blocked their path so there was no chance of evading them. One caught hold of the woman's arm and pulled her back. There was a wicked grin on his ugly face and she could only imagine what horrid thoughts were going through his mind. They began talking amongst themselves, most likely gloating over their catch.

Kiya felt a growl escape her lips as the second man reached out for her; as his rough hand grabbed hold of her arm all the emotions and memories she had tried to suppress over the past few seasons came flooding back.

Without thinking of the consequences of her actions, the kelvic bit deep into the man's forearm. She didn't even let go when his disgusting blood filled her mouth. There was only one thing on her mind, she was never going to let a man touch her again.
Though, it quickly dawned on her what a terrible decision that had been.

[Samantha Slate]

For an instant after Kiya's teeth sank into Teff's arm, nothing happened. Samantha and Jem were both equally surprised, astonished that the girl's first reaction was to bite her assailant. The moment passed, and Teff let out a pained bellow, trying to jerk himself free of Kiya. Samantha noticed that Jem's grip had loosened as his slow mind considered the best way to assist his partner in crime; the wizard took advantage of the man's inattention and snatched herself from his grip. Instead of gracefully turning about to face the situation from a better angle, Samantha stumbled and ended up on her rear. Fortunately, she was still facing the combatants and could see what was going on. Jem was looking between Samantha and Kiya, trying to decide which one would be easiest to subdue; Samantha seemed more docile than Kiya, while the Kelvic would likely be taken if he and Teff worked together. With a malicious smile, the big man settled on Samantha and began moving towards her at a slow, determined pace. He didn't know what kind of surprises she might have up her sleeve. As for Teff, his blood was flowing copiously, running down his arms and likely getting on Kiya's face. After jerking himself around, trying to jar the girl loose, he decided that it would be easier to just pry her off of him. With that thought in his pain-blurred mind, Teff reached for the girl's hair and gave it an experimental tug. While Teff was trying to free himself of the Kelvic, Samantha was busy stalling Jem. She scuttled backwards with every step he took, trying to gain enough time to get to her feet. Samantha quickly realized that he would get to her before she could stand, and if he did, she was as good as dead. In an instinctive move, Samantha did what any woman would do, if she had no combat experience and was vastly outmatched. She kicked Jem squarely in the groin. With a shrill swear, the man doubled over as the wizard scrambled to her feet, looking around for some way to defend herself. Her eyes were a kaleidoscope of color, each fleeting emotion staining her eyes as it passed through her like the chill Fall wind. Predominately, though, the colors were dark. Her fear tinged everything around her, setting her on edge and releasing adrenaline through her body at a rapid pace.

[Kiya]

There was stunned silence for a moment. Then Teff cried out, trying to pull his arm away from the kelvic with little success. Without letting go, she fumbled with the buttons on her dress. Although knowing that being naked in front this particular type of man was probably the worst thing that could happen right now, she had no choice. If she wanted to transform then she couldn't be clothed. A wolf in this situation would be much better than a teenage girl.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Samantha pull away from the man who had been searching for her coin purse. She fell down, with no time to get up she crawled back in an attempt to evade Jem as he stepped towards her.

Kiya's attention was brought back to the man who's blood was dripping from her jaw. He brought his free hand up, grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her head back. She withdrew her fangs from his arms and snarled. She forgot about her dress which had fallen completely open, and dug her sharp claws into his wrist.

“Let me go” the girl ordered, her voice low and menacing.

[Samantha Slate]

Teff let out a cruel bark of a laugh at the girl's order. He didn't want to seem weak in front of the runt; she'd bitten him! Teff was going to make her pay for that. The big man let go of the girl's hair, but immediately balled the same fist up again and tried to catch her a glancing blow on the head to unsteady her. He'd seen many men who looked ready for a good brawl, and this girl, blood dripping from her mouth and a feral gleam in her eye, was clearly spoiling for a fight. He wasn't sure why she was taking her clothes off, but it surely wasn't for anything that might interest him. Teff didn't have time to dwell on it. "Time t' teach you a less'n!" He growled, immediately sending himself hurdling towards her, trying to send her to the ground. If he got her on the ground, he would reach a hand around her throat in order to choke her and cut off resistance, while if she dodged or otherwise eluded him, Teff would reposition himself to run towards the Kelvic again. It would take some ticks for him to be ready to attack her again, and it would likely be enough for Kiya to strip her clothes off and shift. For Samantha's part, she barely registered the Kelvic's struggles to disrobe and her fight with Teff. Her whole attention was focused on finding a weapon to defend herself with. While Jem recovered from the low blow Samantha had dealt him--she'd never laid claim to being a fair fighter--the mage looked about wildly for something, anything to fight with. She was too distressed to conjure up any kind of magic, not that a shield would be of much use here anyway, and she had never gotten around to learning how to defend herself. In a remote part of her mind, Samantha vowed that she'd remedy that as soon as she got out of this mess. Just as Jem was straightening up, Samantha located a fist-sized shard of brick lying by the side of the road. She made a dash for it, scooping the thing up and facing her opponent. His eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before the man's lips curled into a tight smile. "You ain't got the guts," He said as his smile widened, "Touch me with that an' I'll cut your fingers off before I slit your throat." Samantha, about to throw the brick at Jem, paused for a moment. he didn't have a--Oh. The man drew a wickedly curved blade from some hidden concealment in the back of his pants, and began advancing on her. She readied her brick, waiting for a good moment to send it careening into the man's head. Samantha doubted that she'd be able to do it; she had never had much of a good throwing arm. Still, she had to try. If nothing else, it might buy her a moment to retreat.

[Kiya]

The man laughed but Kiya didn't know what was so funny. He let go of her hair, before she could do anything Teff slammed his balled up fist into her cheek causing her to lose balance. She stumbled, but managed to stay on her feet. The kelvic snarled, her cheek was throbbing painfully and she felt fairly dizzy.

“Time t' teach you a less'n!” the man made towards her. It took Kiya a moment to work out what was going on; she spun out of the way as Teff lunged for her, but she was not quite fast enough. He caught hold of her shoulder and threw her against the cold ground, the force knocking the air from her lungs. Black dots clouded her vision, she drew in a sharp breath only to find Teff's fingers wrapped around her throat. The kelvic tried to pry the man's hands from her neck, her claws cutting through his flesh.

Kiya struggled against his weight; she growled fiercely, the world was still spinning and everything was beginning to blur together. The girl lashed out, aiming her unnaturally sharp nails at Teff's face.

[Samantha Slate]

Teff grinned malevolently down at Kiya, squeezing her throat tightly. In his certainty of victory, the big man grew careless and was caught unprepared as the Kelvic's nails dug themselves into his hands. In alarm, he relinquished his grip on her throat and tried to crawl off of her; he hadn't anticipated her fingernails being so sharp! The man had always had a poor tolerance of pain, and relied on Jem's fancy knifework to allow them to succeed in the event of someone resisting. Unfortunately for Teff, his movements had given Kiya just enough room to rake her claws across his face. Her nails dug deep into the flesh of his face, cutting deep gashes on their way down. The man swore in a voice shrill with pain as he rolled off of her, his face quickly covering in blood. For the moment he was down, helplessly clutching his face. Samantha's eyes were drawn, for an instant, to the scene behind Jem. She took in the blood, noting it was not Kiya's, and her heart lifted a little. If a girl half Samantha's age could defeat a man that size, surely Samantha could work something out. She quickly acted on an impulse, strafing to the side of Jem--out of the reach of his knife--and hurling her rock at the man. Predictably, it missed him, but he did turn his gaze to it for an instant. In that small space of time, Samantha dashed closer to Kiya and further from Jem; she wanted to get the advantage of having the two of them facing a single opponent. The man was certainly no coward, but the blood all over Teff's face was evidence of whatever hidden talents Kiya possessed. If he thought far enough ahead, Jem might decide that it would be best not to press his luck. If it came down to a fight, Samantha doubted it would do much good to have Kiya on her side. A wolf would be helpful in a fight, but a grown man with a knife would probably be able to overcome the two of them. Unless Samantha had misjudged Kiya's prowess in battle, she was sure that they would lose. Jem turned on the two of them and once again began advancing, though much more warily than he had earlier. The sight of a little girl drawing the blood of his companion had put him on edge.

[Kiya]

Teff released his hold on Kiya and moved away; the girl took in a sharp breath of air, though choking on the blood that had trickled down her throat. She pushed herself up, wiping her mouth in an attempt to remove the foul tasting liquid. Once finished coughing and cursing, the kelvic looked around to where Samantha was.

The strange woman was standing almost an arms length from Kiya, and she was relieved to see that Samantha was unharmed. But Jem was approaching, a vicious but somewhat wary look on his face. She noticed the sword, and was not surprised really. There were only a few people the kelvic knew who were stupid enough to walk around unarmed, she and Samantha were one of them...

Stumbling to her feet, the girl went to the older woman's side. Without taking her eyes off the man in front of them she muttered, “Personally, I want to stay alive so is there any chance of reasoning with them?”

[Samantha Slate]

“Personally, I want to stay alive so is there any chance of reasoning with them?” Kiya murmered to Samantha, causing her to look away from their approaching assailant and briefly examine the Kelvic. She was certainly a sight; her mouth and hands were stained red with Teff's blood and her clothing half-falling off from what Samantha assumed was the struggle to escape Teff's grip. Samantha had thought that Kiya looked faintly feral before; now the girl looked positively bestial. The woman had to bite back a witty remark about how reasonable the thugs were likely to be; Kiya had given one a few nasty cuts, and the other didn't look too happy, either. If Samantha had to guess, the chances of them arranging some kind of deal were fairly slim. "I don't think so," The wizard answered Kiya in a hushed tone, returning her eyes to Jem. The man had halted a few feet away, eying Kiya warily. "But we can give it a try. It can't hurt." Samantha glanced again towards Kiya, at a loss for a way to deal with the situation. Samantha wasn't used to dealing with individuals of a coarse nature, much less ones whose goal was to rob her blind(or worse). The wizard took a few steps away from Kiya in order to make them a harder target for the single man. He'd need to come at one of them and leave himself exposed to the other, at the distance Samantha had moved. She looked towards Kiya, waiting to see if she'd try to reason with the brute; though Samantha was undoubtedly the more subtle of the two of them, she wasn't the one who had left Teff lying on the ground covered in blood. Surely that would command a bit of respect from Jem.

[Kiya]

The kelvic gave Samantha a confused look, did she really expect the young girl to talk their way out of this? Everything Kiya had done and said just led from bad to worse. And she was sure that the woman had misinterpreted the term, by reason the girl had not meant clever word play or bargains. She watched the older woman step away, and hoped that Samantha had a plan because she certainly didn't. It was clear that the wizard had not been in a situation such as this before and was not sure how to handle the men. And although this was not a new thing for Kiya, the girl had really thought she was had put it all behind her.

Apparently not...

“You're a woman, aren't you?” Kiya whispered back, “reason with him” she hoped Samantha would get the message. Surely the older woman would know that words were lost on men, the type they were dealing with especially. This type of men only understood two gestures – violent or sexual.

If Samantha could keep Jem distracted for the moment then it might buy them the time to think of a plan, or give them time to think at all.