A Delivery Disrupted

[TreeFolk]

She looked at him sideways. Perhaps he wasn't some noble? He seemed to have denied it up and down since they had left The Bull's territory, but she just couldn't get the look that had crossed his features out of her mind. He had looked shocked, and if she was right, a little bit afraid. Even now, she could feel the vibrations of his heart rate increasing. Either he was worried about the implications of being mistaken for nobility, or he really was trying hide something. Trying to bury something increasingly deep.

A man bumped into her shoulder, shoving her against Trest's sturdy chest. On instinct she nearly bared her teeth at the man, but curbed it and glared instead. Her own heart rate was hammering at the busyness of the streets at midday. She stuck closer to Trest, trying to tease. "I thought you could seduce your way into or out of anything?"

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"Oh, you going to bring that up now at a time like this? Look at all of this traffic! It's like a herd of buffalo in here. But I guess that's what we get for traveling in the city at mid day.
"Which reminded him why he always tended to avoid it."
Another person shoved into them, this time into Trest, and jostled the pair around.  Trest glared at the other man, and the other man glared back.

"Watch it, pal. With a shoulder like that, you'd think you're out here tackling a wild boar or something."

The man's gaze narrowed at Trest dangerously.
"You aiming to pick a fight, strawberry hair?"

"Strawberry hair?" He reached for his short sword, but didn't remove it from its hilt. "If anything, I think YOU'RE the one calling it out, scruffy. Now I suggest you push aside while I and the lady move on our way. If not, I can always help you shave off your face."

[TreeFolk]

The smell of food drew her attention more than the threat of a street fight, and so she gripped Trest's upper arm. "Come on now, food, remember?" She was beginning to feel rather grumpy from hunger.

When the other man moved for his sword, too, she was positively irritated. Green eyes flashed angrily as she stepped between the pair. "Yes, we can all see you've both got mightily big... Egos." She eyed the front of both of their pants, before crossing her arms belligerently and glaring down the man. "But if you don't go about your way, then I cannot get food in my belly." She took a threatening step towards the man, "And if I don't get to eat soon, I'm going to be in favor of letting 'strawberry head' shave your face off. While he does that, I might be inclined to remove your ego so I might have something small to snack on in the meantime."

The hand the man had been using to reach for his sword clenched into a fist, his jaw tightening in anger as he looked down at Kieta. Grumbling in irritation, he shoved passed her, muttering "Bitch." As he disappeared back into the crowd.

Kieta took a step or two back to steady herself from the shove, glaring at the back of the man's head until she could no longer see it. Turning to Trest, she tightened her mouth, "Here you go talking about promptness, but you stop to bicker like some old hen." Well, to be truthful, she'd wanted to punch the people shoving into them, too. And, to be even more truthful, she could tell that their situation was grating on his nerves as much as it was hers. It wasn't fair of her to expect him to keep up his act of the charming, nonchalant rogue.

Letting the glare drop from her features, she reached out and held his wrist. "Come, you said you wanted a drink and some meat. I smell some close by, am I right?"

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"I smell some close by too, but I also smell animal dung and the stink of other men."
Trest's normal jovial mood was easily replaced, and he no longer had the desire to keep on a happy face. "That way, see the stalls? You can see the steam from their meat. That's where we'll find our food."

And he moved with her to push through the crowd, and just as they were about to break through the crowd and address the first, sweet smelling cooked meat vendor on this side of the town, a rough shove sent Trest to the ground.

And when he looked up, he saw it was Scruffy, and about a dozen sinister looking men.

"It's a great day to die, don't you agree?" the man said, and drew out his blade, an ax looking sword, that if anything, looked like a glorified meat clever as it rung through the air as the man slammed in down into an arch, and it cracked into the cobblestone between Trest's legs, which he thankfully moved apart just in time. And he was lucky the man wasn't any closer- one more inch and he'd have been a eunuch!

[TreeFolk]

Kieta felt her hackles raise. This guy had no clue when to quit. Obviously he was the leader of this pack of rabid dogs, and it surprised her that there was not one, or two, but at least THREE gangs in the city. First there was Trest's bunch, who now that she knew the other two, she decided weren't all that bad. Then there was The Bull's organized herd of shit-eaters. They were the worst. And now there was this thuggish group.

Leaning back on her heels and pulling out her dagger, she gave herself a running start and leaped over Trest at the man. The man staggered back, though her body weight wasn't all that much to reckon with. It was the way she was able to get a grip on him, digging her fingers deep into his eye sockets and gouging out his eyes. "I... told... you.." She wanted to shove his eyes down his throat and make him choke on them, but his men were lurching forwards in reaction. They'd been slow, surprised by the small, ferocious woman launching herself at their companion. Tripping the crying man, she retreated to stand beside Trest, dagger gripped tightly in her hand.

She wanted to use her magic. It was SCREAMING at her to release it, but she still knew that something about magic use and this place was not the smartest decision. What would happen if she used her magic? She couldn't know, but she didn't want to find out just yet. Scruffy was now curled in a fetal position, yowling like a skinned cat. She threw his eyeballs at his men like she'd throw a pair of dice, ready for the next assault.

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Well....! That was unexpected!
And Trest watched for a stunned moment before the remaining angered men barked out, "KILL THEM! KILL THEM BOTH!"
And before Trest knew what was going on, a man behind him looped a large arm around his throat and began to strangle him, his face quickly turning purple as he kicked and flailed and scrambled to reach for a blade of any kind to get this damn man off-
But Angsar's name was he strong! And his grip was so tight, he swore his neck was going to snap!

[TreeFolk]

Kieta was not strong, but she was quick. And the men, well, they seemingly weren't all that bright or smart. She dodged their heavy axes and their meaty fists, rolling and ducking, slicing the achilles tendons of one man before she saw Trest in trouble.

For all that was good! Why'd he talk back at the Scruffy man if he couldn't handle himself in a fight? She didn't have much choice, did she? Summoning her magic, she hoped it wasn't at first obvious, she use a bit of fire magic to light the pants of the man strangling Trest on fire. There were still too many of them! Rushing forward, she grabbed Trest's wrist and took off in no direction in particular.

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Trest gagged and gasped and used his one free hand to clutch at his neck.

"Gods.." he stumbled as he ran, but managed to keep up, the men close at their heels. And ti was only then he noticed, with a smirk.
"Did you.. light a man's pants on fire?" he asked with a croaky laugh. "Remind me I owe you two dinners for that!"

[TreeFolk]

She'd been expecting him to be frightened by her behavior and her magic, or disgusted, or something other than amused. Her fingers were wet with blood where they gripped his wrist! Her experience of humans thus far had shown her that many of them were disgusted by her rather feral fae attributes. Sure, many thought of elves or pretty faeries when they thought of the human-like fae creatures, what with their pretty features and 'wise' and 'just' attitudes. That was just at the surface for those types of fae.

Her kind, well, they were wilder. Hah, hence the human name for them as "wildelves". No, they were wilder, fiercer, and crueler. They did not balk at the injustices of the world, they tore their throats out. When a wildelf decided to defend itself, there was no hesitation. Some humans might call it 'impulse control', she called it survival. The man had swung to kill Trest. She, in turn, gauged the mans eyes out. That was self-control on her part. Normally she'd just have killed the man and been done with it.

As for magic, while most places she had traveled to didn't have a ban on magic as this one did, there was a certain measured fear of it. Sure, her magic could be mistaken as beautiful, such as her affinity with nature, but her magic could also be savage. Fire, she had learned, only sought to manifest itself through her in violent ways. Slowly, she'd begun to learn how to curtail that "burn everything to the ground" instinct.

A wicked grin sprung across her features, "I've been practicing."

She swung them into an alleyway, ran down it, and they emerged in a dense crowd. They were listening to some person give a speech. Pulling him into the crowd, she yanked the blanket out of her pack and wrapped it over his head like a cloak, effectively covering his hair. She could blend into the crowd because she was so short in stature, but he was tall and had the sort if hair that tended to shout "look at me!". That is, unless it was among a crowd of other redheads. Even then, its unusual dark red hue was eye-catching.

The crowd of watchers closed in around them, and Kieta found herself packed with her backside right up against his front. She panted, trying to catch her breath, but the crowd making it difficulty. The thrill of the chase was quickly becoming replaced by the panic of the crowd.

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Trest accepted the blanket without a word. Holding it securely over his head, he began to look around. He saw the man who was preaching, preaching something about peace in this time of war. Trest made a face and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Not sure this is the best place to be hiding," he whispered. "Men who talk like him.." ANd he gestured to the fellow on the podium before using a hand to gesture across his own neck as if to slice it with a knife.

"Nothing good comes with voices that are against the Grand Duke. And if we don't want anymore trouble... I say we weave our way through this crowd and get the hell out of here."

[TreeFolk]

She'd never been so packed into a place in her life. When he tapped her on her shoulder she jumped in her own skin. "First place I saw to hide..."

Kieta was stiff, more afraid than she had been in the den of The Bull. Through gritted teeth, she spoke, trying to not let him see that she was frozen in spot, "Well, lead us... out... then."

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Trest nodded, and kept his head bent low. A finger pinched at the brim of his blanket, and he noticed the men who belonged to 'scruffy's' gang approaching the crowd. He grit his teeth.

"Plan B... well, plan B is the same as PLan A, except we make our exit as discrete as possible, because we got trouble at 9 oclock... or maybe 10. Wait.. does your kind even use a clock?"

[TreeFolk]

"No... Well,  sort of... Different..." It didn't matter, they were heading out and through the crowd. Trest would have to keep a hand on her to help her get through, because she still couldn't fight down the rising panic.

Once they broke through the crowd they continued to walk, but quickly, trying to not catch any more attention.

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Thankfully, if Scruffy's band of men had spotted them, they were already off into a nearby alleyway and booking it. Trest still had his hand on hers, and was all smiles to feel the rush of air around them.

"Whew! Call that a close call!"A nd as they came to the end of the alley, he stopped abruptly, and a smile consumed his face because right before them was a stall selling...

"FRESH FRIED FISH ON A STICK!" the vendor shouted. "TWO FOR A COPPER! GET 'EM HOT AND FRESH!"

And Trest wasted no time approaching the man and saying,
"We'll take twelve!"

[TreeFolk]

Twelve seemed... excessive, but she was more than willing to accept the challenge of filling herself full of them. She panted lightly from the exertion of sprinting, though she was in great shape from all of her traveling. Mostly she panted because she could still feel the panic of being surrounded by a sea of people.

This street was not nearly as bad, but she still held onto Trest's hand, small fingers trying not to grip so strong as to make him realize she was nervous.

His grin was quite contagious! When the vendor held out twelve fish sticks, Kieta wasted no time in taking her share of the food, dropping his hand as she forgot about her fear. Her stomach growled in excitement, and she moved to put her mouth around the top of the fish... And yelped. What the FUCK was this weird coating on the fish?! Kieta's face scrunched up as she ran her brunt tongue across her mouth several times, shocked by the taste. Still, she was hungry. Shaking her head, she tore back into the first one, which had cooled enough for her to not burn her mouth again.

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A hand went to her shoulder.
"Woah, there, you might want to take your time eating these. You'll burn more than your mouth if you keep that up."
He knew, he'd done that before!
"You have to at least wait for the fish to cool to a reasonable temperature." And as they began to walk away from the fried fish vendor he foun dhimself asking, "Aren't you used to cooked meat?"

[TreeFolk]

Kieta really didn't have the best impulse control. It was a act of pure magic that she was able to listen to his advice. She really didn't want to burn her mouth or anything else more... But she was so hungry!

She took another bite, keeping her mouth open a bit and breathing out to cool the piece of meat in her mouth, before chewing and swallowing. Licking her lips, she answered his question. "Yes, but this coating is odd. I think it makes it hotter." She was referring to the fried coating on the fish. She finished the first stick and let it drop to the ground, blowing hurriedly at them, willing them to cool. "Plus..." Blow, blow. "I don't really..." Blow, blow. "Eat fish cooked much." Blow, blow. "Or eat meat as often, really." 

[visualspice]

Well, that explained a lot!
He scratched his chin.
"I guess the breading might affect its temperature, never really considered that a trait, but hey, we're hungry and its good so..." He shrugged then gave her a lopsided grin.
"And I figured. You the berries and salad type?"
She had the lithe build for it, unlike the stockier men who ate meat for a living.

[TreeFolk]

Kieta's head tilted to the side, curiously, her mouth sunk halfway into another fish. Swallowing it down. "Zallad?" The word was strange in her mouth. "I eat berries, nuts, greens, stuff I can gather from a forest. Sometimes eggs, rabbits, fish, breads. But what's a 'zallad'?"

The second fish stick was finished, and she moved onto the third. She could easily eat as much as a man twice her size, if given the opportunity. She was accustomed to eating when there was food available. Perhaps if food was more regularly readily available she'd have had a little more meat to her structure, but eating was sporadic and small. So, at the moment, it seemed like she was eating like she didn't know where her next meal might be.   

[visualspice]

Trest was no better in his own manners as he walked and sunk his teeth into his fried fish stick. Grease dribbled down his chin, making it glisten, and his fingers fell to the same fate, even despite when Trest would go to lick the grease off (for what good would it do if his palms were greasy and he dropped one of these tasty fish?)

However, as she went on to pronounce salad wrong, he paused in mid-bite to look at her, and nearly choked on the meat.

"We'll just go with you're a scavenger then. But hey, you're in luck. In this country? Scavenging for food is a rare art. Most folks live near a town or own a farm, so food is readily available. But, can't say there aren't people that do live off the land that way, eating whatever and where ever."

He shrugged and went on, working on his third fish before he paused and muttered, "Uh oh. Bad dudes at 3 o'clock."