How To Catch a Thief

[Anonymous]

Tatsu nodded as Rica said that the situation could escalate and someone could get hurt. It was a real possiblity. He didn't like to hurt people when he didn't have to, and then only dealed out as much hurt as he felt strictly necessary.

Suddenly his body tensed, he could sense his scale, it had approached rapidly, and with the commotion he'd not realized it until now. Suddenly someone was yelling, to the thief they had detained, no doubt. There was a flicker of recognition as he noted the thief he'd gotten a very small glimpse of earlier.

There was a moment of confusion, then an explosion of activity, the thief had fired a crossbow at him, the shot was high, and wildly aimed, but Tatsu's eyes widened in surprise as blood trickled down his cheek. The second thief had jumped up, wanting to escape in the confusion. He pulled a knife and lunged at Rica, since she was the closest to the door.

Tatsu saw the action and threw himself between Rica and the thief. He wasn't about to allow harm to come to the girl when he felt responsible for her being in this situation in the first place. He should have just killed the human. The blade slid harmlessly off his armor as the thief tried frantically to bury it in his back. When that failed, he quickly aimed for a less protected target and fled, before he could get grabbed again.

Now that the danger was gone, Tatsu stumbled back and put a hand to the wall for support. There was a gash on his right cheek from the crossbow bolt, and the thief had left the knife behind, planted in Tatsu's upper left arm. His eyes looked at the weapon coldly. Stupid! How could he have let them take them by surprise like that!

[Anonymous]

Things started happening very fast. There was shouting, then confusion as the thief appeared at the door with the crossbow. Naturally, Rica turned to the commotion, and a startled gasp leapt from her when she saw the bolt flying.

Foolishly, she forgot about the burglar behind her, who lunged at her. All the Yoreiqi saw was Tatsu locking his cold eyes on her, or so she thought. She saw him move, and didn't think before leaping out of what she thought was his way. With a yelp she stumbled, eyes wide as she witnessed the brief struggle between the thief and Tatsu. The woman instantly regretted getting out of the way, berating herself for believing her companion was attacking her.  

"Tatsu!" The woman shouted, stepping to his side in an instant. "Oh gods, I'm so sorry." Rica nearly stammered at the sight of the blade buried in her companion's arm.

And without asking, without even thinking about it, the woman's hand went to pull the knife out of his wound, and proceeded to prick a finger of her own with it.

[Anonymous]

Really, it was all over very quickly. In the moment it always seemed like an eternity, but when it was over you realized only a few seconds had passed. Tatsu had noticed the way Rica recoiled from him when he had moved between her and the attacking thief, but he didn't really care. She didn't know him very well, and he didn't know her, and she hadn't seen it coming. All the more reason he was glad he had done it. Rica wasn't wearing armor, what could have happened to her if he had not intervened?

Both thieves disappeared down the alley, but Tatsu really didn't care right that moment. Rica was beside him in an instant, apologizing to him, for what? "Not your fault, it was my choice to make."

He hissed softly as she grabbed the knife and pricked her own finger with it. "Don't. Let me get it." It wasn't that he didn't trust her to know what she was doing, but well...it wouldn't be the first time he'd pulled a blade from his flesh, and judging by her reaction to violence, this wasn't exactly something she had done a great many times.

Gently pushing her hand away he gripped the hilt and in one quick, fluid motion he pulled the blade out, gritting his teeth as he did, and then threw it onto the floor disdainfully. Blood was trickling down his cheek and arm, but he'd suffered far worse before.

[Anonymous]

Rica frowned worriedly, hesitating to let the blade go but doing so once Tatsu began pushing her away. She stepped away, eyes flicking between the man and his wounded arm, the Yoreiqi observing every twitch and move he made. The woman sighed sadly, feeling guilty that she allowed her companion to get hurt.

But she had all the means to help him heal as well. The blood from her pricked finger was mixing with the dragon's blood upon her hand and upon the knife as well. The blood mageling could feel it quite clearly. She focused for a moment, throwing her will into the connection.

Blinking a few times, the Yoreiqi felt the energy from her blood, her very life force, funneling into nothingness, most probably going towards Tatsu. It was always a weird feeling, and the woman paused a second to adjust to it.

"We have to get out of here. Come on." She then spoke with determination, moving to grab Tatsu's hand and literally pull him out of the building if she had to, all the while hoping her healing spell didn't fizzle. If it worked, the stab wound would be gone in a minute or two, she knew.

[Anonymous]

There was something...Tatsu could feel her blood magic begin to work. Not just on the physical level, but on a mental level he could sense the magic. It was one of his gifts, to feel magical energies. Well perfect, she was a healer. A blood mage, of some kind, by the sensations he felt reverberating around himself. Ironic, that he would need a healer right when he was accompanied by one. Still, he was grateful. The wounds were trivial, all flesh and no substance, but still, there was the chance of infect with wounds, and this would make things so much simpler.

His eyebrows shot up as she said they need to leave, what was the rush? She grabbed his hand, he did not resist her, instead following obediantly, more out of curiosity than anything. The thieves were gone, disappeared once more, what was there to hurry over? He'd already gotten stabbed once today, and shot at, Tatsu wasn't sure how much more excitement he could handle in one afternoon.

"Where are we going?"

[Anonymous]

"Away from here..." She replied with a grumble, vaguely wondering why Tatsu didn't resist when she pulled him. Maybe he wasn't as scary as she thought he was. "Something was chasing our thief," The woman continued as she moved. "...and we don't want to run into-"

She stepped out of the house only to witness guards coming around a corner. There weren't many of them, and some even seemed like they barely had the time put their armor on. Some others were clearly pulled too fast out of their beds, still in their commoner clothes.

Naturally, all of them saw Rica and Tatsu walking out of a house that was clearly broken into, and given their connection to the stolen chest they had no qualms about giving chase to the pair. "That." Rica finished her line of thought with narrowing eyes. "Run." The Yoreiqi snapped, and attempted to drag Tatsu away from the guards while bursting into a sprint.

[Anonymous]

In his surprise at the attack, Tatsu had forgotten all about the fact that their thief had been trying to avoid pursuit. That was very unlike him. Usually something like that would have been at the forethought of his mind, but apparently he wasn't exactly on the money today. Had he really gotten this jarred by the little strange Yoreiqi woman?

There wasn't time to think about it. The guards rounded the corner, and for a moment all Tatsu could do was stare at them. His eyes shot back to the house and he cursed softly in his native language. Well this was just great! He was torn in what to do. He could run, as Rica urged him to do, but that only made them look guilty. Of course, he could stand his ground, and probably be arrested.

Cursing again, he shook off Rica's hand. "Just go. Now." He waved her away, hoping she would leave him behind. There was no way he could just run. He wasn't guilty, and he wasn't afraid. No, he wasn't running, Rica could leave him. He would explain to the guards, and they would believe him or not, but he wasn't running.

[Anonymous]

The woman cringed as he shook her hand off, looking worriedly up at the man. He waved her off, telling her to leave, but she knew she couldn't. He'd end up in jail, she knew it for sure. And if the thief truly got the chest from the guards, then who knows if Tatsu would ever see the light of day again.

On the other hand, what if her companion deemed their innocence worth fighting for? Rica didn't want to see blood getting spilled here today. It wasn't why she went on this crazy mission. Tatsu bailed her from jail, and was this really what she was going to leave him with? Rica felt sick with herself. She couldn't just leave him, but the man refused to move.

A part of her screamed at what she was about to do, but her companion left her no choice. The woman backstepped, perhaps giving an impression that she was about to bolt. Yet then, she exploded into action.

The Yoreiqi kicked at the back of one of Tatsu's knees, aiming to make the man crumble. At the same time, her hand went for her blade, pulling it with a fluid motion and aiming to slam its hilt into the back of Tatsu's skull. Lastly, she went to grab his shoulder, too keep him steady while she placed the knife under his neck.

"Halt! Or I'll slit his throat!" She called to the guards. If her companion decided he wanted to stay, then at the very least she was going to make him look as innocent as possible.

[Anonymous]

Tatsu decided that he must be ill. That was the only explanation as he went down on one knee, having felt the sting of her kick, then pain exploded in his head and a cold blade was against his throat. Was she out of her mind? His voice was low and gurgled slightly as he continued flying off curses in his own language.

The guards halted, looking between each other as they didn't really know just what to make of the situation. The gears in Tatsu's head were already turning. Several armed guards, against just him, he would not have worried, but he had to think about Rica's safety, which she had just terribly compromised. There was only one real option at this point, as far as he was concerned.

Suddenly a burst of light emitted from him, followed by a wave of magical energy. The light grew brighter and brighter, growing as he transformed. His long, serpentine dragon form was revealed as the light died. Bringing his long tail around he slammed the entire group of guards, knocking them back and away, letting out a deafening roar as he did.

[Anonymous]

Rica gravely hoped he'd forgive her for threatening his life. She hoped he would see what she was trying to do and that he would go along with it.

She was wrong, and she saw it a moment too late. A blinding light shone, and the woman was simply pushed away from Tatsu.

The Yoreiqi stumbled back, blinking to clear up her vision. Once she managed, all she was able to see was a tall creature of scales where Tatsu once stood. Out of a corner of her eye, she spotted the tail moving, and the woman yelped and ducked, throwing her wing over herself in a pathetic attempt to protect herself, even though the tail sped past her completely safely.

A moment later and Rica fled from the dragon, form paling in terror. Adrenalin helped her run like there was no tomorrow, yet once the shouts of guards and the roar of the dragon reached her ears, the Yoreiqi lost touch with reality. Screams of terror, snarls, flashes of fangs and claws coursed through her senses - a mix of memories assaulting her mind.

The youth blinked, suddenly finding herself on her hands and knees, with a prayer from her tribe leaping from her lips and tears pouring from her eyes. It took her only a moment to remember where she was, and the instant she did she turned in her kneeling form with a gasp.

"No! Please, don't hurt them!" The Yoreiqi pleaded, pitifully outstretching her hand towards Tatsu, even though she knew well she couldn't do anything to stop him.

---

The two thieves rounded about a corner, and finally stopped to rest. Both wheezing for breath, they took a moment to listen to their surroundings.

"Hah!" The chest-wielding one panted out. "No guards. They must've been held up by that bodyguard and the yoreiqi. Do you think they got arrested?" He chuckled, looking to his companion, who wasn't really amused.

"Probably." The man said, feeling awkward without his favorite knife. "We should get out of the city."

"What's the rush?" The other asked with a daring smile. "The bodyguard is gone, leaving the antiques stall utterly unprotected!" He all but exclaimed, greed glinting in his eyes. And before his fellow thief could respond, the man bolted with a "Come on!", heading for the parked wagon on the riverside.

[Anonymous]

Tatsu had counted on Rica's fear to propel her to run. Of course, she didn't go far. Frustration welled up inside him. She looked and sounded so pitiful as she called out to him. The guards were getting back to their feet. A few of them ran, the rest drew weapons. Letting out another roar of anger he flicked his tail again and sent them crashing a second time. He didn't want to hurt them, he never did.

The second tail swipe seemed to do the trick, as the rest of the guards fled in terror of what they saw as a rampaging dragon. Huffing slightly to himself he turned to look back at Rica, regarding her with those icy eyes, their coldness only amplified by his true form. He wasn't quite sure what he should say to her. He had gone out of his way to help her, and she had pulled a knife on him. So what if she was trying to trick the guards? It hadn't been very...fair.

[Anonymous]

Hand still outstretched, the Yoreiqi cringed as the dragon swept his tail for a second time. The guards crashed again, then scooped themselves off the floor and fled. For a moment, the woman was glad they ran away to safety. But that was before she realized she'd been left alone with a very dangerous and angered being.

Rica shuddered, eyes widening as the dragon turned towards her. Mind screamed at her to run, but all the Yoreiqi could do was stare at those cold eyes of his, paralyzed in terror. She'd certainly forgotten how to use her legs for a few seconds, gawking in breathless silence.

And then she thought she saw the scaly creature opening his maw. While other dragons and even some people would have guessed he was about to speak or merely sigh, Rica only assumed it was a fire-filled death coming her way. At that, her mind finally threw her into motion – the woman let out a frightened cry, scrambling to her feet and bolting away as fast as her bare feet could carry her.

((Mmm I've had second thoughts about making her run into the thieves... seems kinda forced))