The Captain\'s Capture

[Existentially Odd]

She grunted at his silly comeback, finding it too trivial to warrant a polite response.  She might be known in the castle proper and much of the outlying farmlands, but she didn\'t enjoy the status that the monarchy held - nor would she even suppose to usurp it.  All he\'d proved with his words was that she was merely her position in his eyes, for it was the job that raised her to awareness in the populace\'s summation, not her.  Not Lam Wilson - an excessively tall and masculinely-inclined female with an interest in combat arts, no ability to paint whatsoever and a secret, desperate longing to be loved for herself.

She looked Ridley over critically once more, deciding that he was bordering on insufferable and that she had better things to do with the daylight hours her readjusted shift would afford her, than stand around being flattered by a braggart.  "Good day, Master Beck," she bade him suddenly, inclining her head before spinning smartly on her heel and marching off in prime military fashion.  Her strides were as long as the crowded market permitted, for she intended to leave him behind and return to her home as quickly as possible.

[Trillian]

He walked in step behind her, taking equally long strides, talking as he walked.  He\'d seen the disappointment in her eyes at being called a celebrity, obviously she had an issue with being recognised for her rank - but how else was he supposed to know her?  Her uniform was all he had knowledge of.  It was along this vein that he struck.
 
"Perhaps I admire the type of woman who puts her King and country first," he declared, shouldering past people who moved out of the way for her and not for him.  "Perhaps there is a quality that the uniform gives you that initially attracts those such as myself who wish to get to know you better.  After all, is not your rank a mask you hide behind whether you would like to or not?  You seem not to enjoy recognition for your enviable position, perhaps you would like to inform the citizens that it\'s not so enviable.  Please, right now I only have aspirations as to the kind of woman you are, and I\'m tired of all the woman that don\'t have an opinion until I offer mine first, and I believed that you would be one of the select few in this rotton little nest that could see I\'m not the sum of my parts."
 
This last he spat, the passion coming from a forgotten life when he\'d been battling his father and forgetting himself he reached for her arm to hold her in place.

[Existentially Odd]

She reacted just as instinctively, whirling her body and striking with her hand, twisting his arm up and pinning it behind his back in one of the first and most basic manoeuvres she\'d ever learned.  She loomed over him - in an effort to make it not hurt too terribly much - her teeth clenched and her fiery gaze locked on his, her feet balanced on either side of his.  Her free hand went to the dagger strapped to the belt beneath her tunic without any extra thought, but she didn\'t draw it.

"I do have an opinion and it has nothing whatsoever to do with how pretty you are or how much you desire to know what lies behind my mask," she spat at him, offended by his words and his aggressive pursuit.  Perhaps, if she were not in uniform, fresh from a summary meeting with the King regarding the recently-passed Tournament of the Corn and how Oberon could better play its part next season - perhaps if she were in plain clothes, relaxing at a tavern and in a melancholy mood - perhaps then she might have found his confidence appealing (she was much the same, after all), but not now.

Movement beyond Ridley caught her gaze; she looked up and gave a sharp shake of her head as two of her guards approached at a jog, obviously having seen her and her suitor from their posts within the marketplace.  They were only doing their duty so she said nothing to them but they milled about a few metres away, obviously wanting to come to their boss\' rescue but too well-trained to defy her.  She looked back at the man within her grasp, wondering if he was enjoying the attention three guards and everyone gawking in their immediate area were giving him and his antics... wondering if he thought she was worth it now.

"My opinion is that I nicely refused your advances and you haven\'t the wit or the ego to take my rebuttal in the spirit that it was meant.  I hereby state my case more vehemently; I am flattered by your unique approach but I am not interested in anything you have to offer, is that blunt enough for you?"  She could hardly avoid watching him, pressed nose to nose as they practically were, but it was enough to see the nod she expected to come.  Already she regretted her harsh treatment of him, the humiliation she was forcing him to suffer by pinning his arm behind his back in the open street but it was a crime to deliberately lay a hand on any of the King\'s guard.  At least she wasn\'t arresting him for his boldness.

[Trillian]

"I understand," he said, his gaze downcast so that she wouldn\'t see the hatred for her in his eyes.
 
Oh how quickly things had changed, his plan to seduce her to his charms so that he could worm his way to her office through her heart so he could then pull the maps to the dungeons from her files.  She\'d taken his pride from him and left him hurting and seething, regretting that he\'d pursued her so hastily.  It was just like him to be stubborn to a fault, to want her to give into him so badly that he\'d ignored the very obvious signs that she wasn\'t impressed.
 
The necklace lay in the dirt at his feet, for even though he\'d held it in the hand that wasn\'t now twisted at his back, he at least had forgotten his grasp of it, deeming it unimportant.
 
He hoped his acknowledgement would be his release.

[Existentially Odd]

She let him go almost immediately, rolling her shoulders and straightening down her cloth uniform in an effort to calm her emotions and the situation.  Her lips were pressed together - for she wanted to both berate and apologise to him - yet she felt her actions were justified.  She could only hope he understood that she\'d reacted as any guard would, upon being manhandled without warning, and bear her no grudge.  Neither a confidante nor an enemy did she wish to make of this man.

"Perhaps when next we meet, there will be clearer expectations on both our parts and we can enjoy that civil conversation you were after," she told him after a few moments, not walking away because she was interested in how he would respond to her actions overall.  She doubted he had any genuine interest in her left now, but was more concerned about reprisal than anything else; arrogant men often reacted waspishly to being bested by a woman - especially physically.  She wasn\'t about to turn her back on him if he was going to throw a punch.  It was now his turn to make his way through the markets first.

[Trillian]

With his eyes still lowered, for he did not wish for her to see anything blazing in them, he stepped back.  She could see his face and the pout upon it for though his gaze was downcast, his head wasn\'t bowed.  He wasn\'t blushing but he turned his head to the side and his body followed soon after.  He stepped on the necklace purely by accident and looked down at it suddenly, not realising what the lump was beneath his soft boots.  He breathed in a sharp expulsion of air at the sight of it before moving away from her into the crowd, a moment later his hand moved to massage his shoulder opposite, the one she had twisted.
 
He didn\'t look back.

[Existentially Odd]

The crunch from under his foot drew her gaze and she reached down to pick the pretty necklace up, inspecting it briefly - it wasn\'t damaged, Ridley seemed relatively light on his feet - before watching his retreat.

Once he\'d been swallowed up by the crowd, she gave a vague smile of reassurance to anyone still keen to catch her eye in her immediate vicinity and then headed back to speak with her guards.

It seemed she\'d found a new person of interest for them to keep an eye on.