\'Ere we come a wanderin\'

[MissusHow]

Ara whistled cheerfully...a good day today had been. The wind was kicking up dust devils, making her tanned skin blend in to the background and the sound of her whistle carry off for a few seconds only to disappear. Only the fact that she was wearing a bright turquoise scarf seemed to distinguish her from the dust... her black clothes had already been fully covered, and the scarf was over her nose... for a moment, for a brief moment she remembered, but it was gone the second after that, and Ara clutched her dagger for assurance.  Her whistling had stopped.
 
It seemed to Ara incredible that this much dust could exist on one barren path, but on either side was dry dirt that came up loosely when the wind blew, and this was an especially windy evening.  With a quick movement, her knees bent and she crouched low on the ground, looking out into the distance... was that somebody coming? A silhouette danced in the dust, coming ever nearer. Carefully Ara crept to the side of the road, ready to startle the pedestrian and take the valubles... then run, disappear into the dust.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Joely had made himself a small fortune at the markets and now he was returning home to display his profit to his family, who worked hard and struggled to keep their heads above financial water.  They\'d always come through in the end, but Joe\'s success meant that they would have some reprieve.

The pouch upon which his multiple coins jingled were set upon his belt, his right hand straying to it, feeling the furry material beneath his fingers, one of the very items that he\'d sold.  There was enough coinage to last his family a feast for a month.

The young farmer was unaware of what malice lay in the shadows intending to take away his newly-earned prosperity.  He was merely walking through a city he didn\'t know, had taken a wrong turn and was now attempting to get to the main gates before they shut.  The last thing he wanted was to be locked into the Castle, for all he really knew and understood was his farmlife.

[MissusHow]

The tramping that the farmer was making made Ara\'s ears hurt, so used to treading softly she was. A little more listening brought about the sound of coins jingling, which calmed her aching ears down as she concentrated on the sound that seemed like sweet honey to her ears she ignored every other sound. The sounds got nearer, the tramping louder, and soon the boy was next to her, completely oblivious to her presence.

Ara looked briefly at the innocent face, and erased it from her mind, as she prepared to spring with catlike grace upon the victem. Almost like a panther in a black cave, hunting a glowing lantern. Easy prey.
A few second went buy, the shoes were next to her now, and she jumped. Her left hand hooked on his neck, shoving him bruskely to the ground, and she held her silver dagger to his neck with her right hand.

"What have we here?" she crooned into his ear, batting her eyes at him. "A farmer going back to his family? A celebrated hero because of his good winnings today? A happy ending for everybody..." Her tone was mocking, and her voice had a lilt to it that suggested she found this quite humorous, "Well, happy endings don\'t often come true in life, farmer... in fact-" she paused here, lifting up his money pouch which she had been untying with nimble fingers, and waved it in front of his face. "In fact you should know to keep your money in different places when out on dangerous roads where there could be strangers." she added with a sigh. His face was making her guilty...

She sat down a bit farther away from him, giving him space to run, and poured the money on the road, sifting it with her knife. After a brief silence, and when the farmer didn\'t move, she looked up with an annoyed sigh, "Well?"

[Malkavian Riddler]

The attack was sudden in a way Joely could never have believed. He\'d heard the warnings from his family about the cut-throats that lived within the castle walls, but he never would have believed he\'d find a blade against his neck. Stunned into submission he was docile as the pouch was taken away from him and aghast when it was dangled in his face like a bunch of grapes from an unreachable vine.

He scrambled to his feet once she let him go

A woman?  A cut-throat woman?  I thought women were soft and kind-hearted!

but instead of running away as she expected, his indignation refused to act as a life preserve and allowed him the courage to attack without a weapon, without training, everything hung in the balance of surprise. When she turned to look at him he was already mid-leap for her.

That was gold for his family!  That was gold for them to have food!

[MissusHow]

Ara\'s eyes widened for a brief moment, and then she was all business, she rolled onto her back and stuck her foot out just as the man was flying over her, and flipped him over her head and onto his back. Once again she had him in a death grip, with her silver dagger pressing to his neck again. "A brave farmer?" she asked, "No. Not brave if he attacks wihtout call, or anything of the sort." she growled, running the edge of her dagger on his face, as if she were caressing it...she removed it, letting the tip of her dagger knick his skin.

"You have no chance fighting against me farmer...what was your name again? DOn\'t believe I\'ve seen you much." she spoke amiably, as if sitting at a tea party, but still, her arm was holding him down on the ground in a less than tea partyish way.

Trying not to let the pity show in her dark wide eyes, she looked away, letting the farmer up once again, and bent down over the spilt coins. With quick fingers she counted out a little more than half, and tossed them at the farmer without a care. "Don\'t really need them anyway."

((Bleh, sorry for the godmodding, as a thief Ara would know all that back breaking stuff, but if you want me to change it I will definitely do so.))

[Malkavian Riddler]

*** ooc: Joely is just a farmer, your godmoding is acceptable ***

He attacked in anger without planning or ability, not a challenging opponent in the slightest. As Joe fell to the ground with Ara\'s assistance, his breath was knocked out of him and he found he couldn\'t even cry out for help now - even if he wished to. When the blade of her weapon found his face he was too shocked to react beyond a horrified expression, wincing when his skin was sliced.

At the request for his name he floudered, not wanting to reveal it in case she hunted him and his family down for more coinage - wealth that he didn\'t possess. He failed to come up with a very good lie however, so to placate her so that she wouldn\'t cut him again, she managed to get half his real name. "Joe... Flint."

As he was released, he scrambled to his feet, about to turn tail and run for his life. When coins bounced off his boots and some rolled past in the dirt, he paused, looking at the theif with confusion. She was giving him back his money? Watching her warily - so desperate not to lose everything - he crouched down and picked up the first two without his arm\'s reach. She didn\'t come at him with her knife. Hurriedly, he set about picking up everything she\'d tossed his way, not questioning why she\'d shown him this mercy, merely accepting it and getting ready to flee once he was done. It was obvious her very presence intimidated him.

[MissusHow]

Ara snorted, watching the man greedily pick up the coins. "Joe...Flint. Flint? You don\'t sound so sure there, Joey." she crowed cheerfully, bending down to watch him more closely, perhaps wrack his nerves a bit. "And no thanks at all... How rude." she continued, sounding dramatically hurt. "Next time I won\'t be so nice, Joey. I\'d watch yourself if I were you." her voice crooned at him, and her eyes watched his every twitch.

"Run away, sweet. Quickly, before meaner thieves than me come and kill you." she called, hopping up lightly and turning around, whistling again cheerfully, and doing tricks with her silver dagger. The few valuble coins in her pocket had gotten her in a good mood. With a small flick of her rist, she threw the dagger, up it went, and down, spinning, shining. That was maybe the last thing left to be seen in the dust, all but that spinning dagger, because the thief was gone, lost within the sand.

And then the dagger was gone, snatched from the air by an invisible hand, leaving Joely alone.

[Malkavian Riddler]

"Thanks?" Joely scoffed before quieting himself, wanting to insist he should not give thanks for the return of his own money.  He knew better than to provoke this woman however, and wiped the blood away that ran down his cheek, smearing it with the palm of his hand.

As he finished picking up his coins and then turning to find out that he was alone after the woman warned him against theives of a more cut-throat nature, he realised how both lucky and unlucky he was.  The coming darkness meant that he was not locked in the citadel with no place to sleep.  It also meant he could\'ve run into someone who would show no mercy.  Receiving half back was better than none and the loss of his life.

Still hunting for the last few coins hurriedly, he didn\'t realise he wasn\'t alone until he crawled to the feet of another castle dweller.  Looking upward, he hoped he hadn\'t run into yet another thief and with a more unfortunate ending.

[Existentially Odd]

Having just visited her father to receive her weekly dose of abuse and guilt-laden depression, Captain Wilson was morosely wending her way home - not paying a whole lot of attention to the goings-on around her, since she was so preoccupied by her personal concerns - when she came upon Joely. It took a few moments for the man\'s presence at her feet to register. Blinking curiously at the farmer, she peered down through the swirling dust (realising that something may have transpired for there to be so much of it upon the air) to see what he was doing.

"Are you alright? What happened?" she asked, her natural curiosity taking the place of her normal business-like tone. Since she was in plain clothes - hide boots, loosely-fitted longpants, warm shirt and coat - she doubted he would know who she was, or even that she might be able to help him. In her current mood, however... she wasn\'t sure she was ready to be of assistance just yet.  For this reason, she didn\'t introduce herself outright, but she did hold out a hand to help him up with.

[Malkavian Riddler]

"I..." he hesitated, wondering if this woman was a cut-throat woman too.  What did it matter if she was?  He\'d already had his share of misfortune.  May he put his life in Adora\'s hands and live by the truth and not lose his trust in other people.  "... got robbed," he finished after a brief pause as his thoughts and fears swirled about his head.

The young farmer couldn\'t hide the inquiry in his eyes however, wondering if this woman would take his hand only to slip a knife into his guts or if he would be helped to his feet.  He took her hand in any case, stepping up, not surprised (but still relieved) when she made no threatening gestures towards him and indeed helped him to his feet.

"Thank you," he said, ducking his head and minding his manners.

[Existentially Odd]

"Robbed!" she cried in startlement, automatically swiping at the dust clinging to the gentleman\'s arm with a gloved hand, as her gaze sought his. His shy head dipping made such a thing quite difficult, but she was determined to look him in the eye. She didn\'t really doubt that he\'d been robbed, she simply wanted to gauge the effect such a trial had had on him. He seemed... relatively traumatised.

"Well, you need to go to the guardhouse and report this crime - did you get a good look at the thief that did it? Or was there more than one of them?" Wilson pressed, falling back into the comfort of her work like a foot slid into a boot. It was a good distraction from wallowing in the muddy feelings she had been swamped by just a few moments ago - plus, she couldn\'t abide lawbreaking, especially on honest citizens such as this fellow seemed to be.

[Malkavian Riddler]

"Uh..."
 
Report his crime? He understood that he had a duty, but to be bested by a cut-throat thief - a small sized woman who\'d launched him into the dirt - was not something he wished to freely admit to. He also had the added paranoia that she would somehow know, and find him... and slit his throat. He understood women were just as good as men in all things, better if they were trained, yet there was still a sense of shame in being toseed about in the dirt like a garden salad by someone almost half his size. He was not large, but she\'d been quite small.
 
"The attack was swift," he said without lying. "I didn\'t take a long look at my attacker\'s face." He hadn\'t, but he was fairly sure he\'d recognise her if he saw her again. "I would rather just find a place to stay and sleep it off. I should take comfort in the fact I\'ve still got my life and half of my earnings." He managed a wan smile as his gaze lifted to the captain.
 
The assumption Wilson made was correct - Joely did not recognise her, though had responded automatically to her authority, making a suggestion as to what he should do rather than deliberately contradicting her.
 
"I thank you for your concern, miss... uh..." he realised now that he hadn\'t introduced himself. "My name is Joely Durum, and... I thank you for your assistance," he said hurriedly. The nervous quality of his tone displayed that he was well out of his element - for he hadn\'t the first clue where to find lodgings for the night. He wasn\'t sure whether to request further help, and after some debate he pressed on despite his growing displacement.
 
"Could you point me in the direction of..." the gates, he was going to ask, but now he was aware of the darkness and knew that the gates had already shut.  He\'d been the last to pack up at the markets, had nobody to follow to the gate, they\'d all gone ahead without him - and now it was likely he couldn\'t get home.  "A comfortable inn for lodging? Cheap," he added, not wishing to lose any more of his bounty.
 

[Existentially Odd]

Ignoring both his requests - the subtle one for her name and the blatant one for a place to stay - she narrowed her eyes and pressed for the details she was interested in. "So there was only one attacker? Were they male? Female? Do you know that at least?" Wilson knew of a few thieves who liked to frequent this area and there were rumours of a woman heading them, but she\'d never been able to ascertain any strong evidence. It was not uncommon for victims to wish to simply forget they were ever mugged but she was always hopeful there\'d be someone who could shed some light on the city\'s (organised?) attacks.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Joely was not a liar for he\'d not been brought up that way. His inability to answer dishonestly worked against his desires now, for the captain had correctly presumed that he was the type to want to forget about being robbed.
 
When she shot more questions into his face he found himself flustered, wondering why this woman was so intent on knowing all the details. He wished now that he\'d been brought up in a way that allowed him to be rude - for she was most certainly being rude, not telling him her name and demanding all sorts of answers from him without supplying the single one he\'d asked of her.
 
"Miss, please, I don\'t wish to be interrogated," he said so politely that it could\'ve been a plea. He tried to find a common ground for them so that she would agree to leave him alone. "You can point me in the direction of the guardhouse."
 
He would not promise he would end up there, however.

[Existentially Odd]

At his declaration that he didn\'t want to be interrogated, she sighed and ran a hand across the crown of her head; her red hair was pulled into a modest braid that ran down her back a short way. She really did need to relax and not be so... so... authoritative. Especially since the poor man had obviously just experienced quite a harrowing ordeal. He didn\'t deserve to be the golden answer to so many of her thief-induced questions and he certainly wasn\'t the foil to alleviate the inner turmoil provoked by her drunken father. He was a simple man that was owed her sympathy and concern.

"I\'m sorry; I didn\'t mean to pressure you unduly," she told him honestly, placing a friendly hand upon his upper arm. "It\'s simply that... well, a lot of thefts go unreported in these areas and I\'d really like some more information that could lead to us having someone to question at greater length. I\'m Wilson, by the way; Captain of the Guard. I\'m off duty - as I\'m sure you can tell," she laughed breathily, removing her hand to gesture at her casual attire before she held it out to be shaken, "but I\'d really appreciate it if you did come to the guardhouse and told me as much as you could. It would help a lot."  Her smile was genuine and hopeful, despite the darkness.