That was always on fire.

[Anonymous]

...Oh, well, Yahto had not meant to do that. Really, she hadn't. She had simply been playing with a candle, and as innocent as that sounds, somehow one of the flames simply flew, yes, flew to a highly flammable curtain. Not like it wasn't shitty anyway and didn't deserve to be burned. And... sheesh. The inn manager didn't have to be so mean about it. It was just a room, and not a very good one at that. He was just throwing a fit, screaming and wailing in her ear, but it all translated into 'blah, blah, blah, you idiot, blah, blah, blah, you dirty bitch, blah, blah, blah, that'll cost you...' and that was around the time she left the room to get a bucket full of water and toss it on the fire.

After a few minutes of people running around screaming -the hell were they screaming about anyway? And after one VERY stupid question. Now, this question was stupid beyond all reason. Some woman asked her this very question: "Was the room always on fire?" Yahto thought the woman deserved one good punch in the face. But she just responded, as seriously as she could, meanwhile dousing the fire, "Yes, that was always on fire." The woman believed her too. She said 'Oh' and mumbled something about her room not being on fire.

What the hell was wrong with people these days? Did that woman feel gyped or something? Whatever.. None of Yahto's concern.

When it was all said and done, Yahto was standing in the lobby. Then did it occur to her she was now possessionless. She figured it was a good thing she hadn't been carrying any explosives with her or that would have been one serious bitch. She'd be paying forever for this.... Or... she could bail on the bill. Yes. That sounded better. But why wouldn't that manager.. owner... guy shut up? God, he just never quit. Where was the exit? Window? Door? Crowd? People?

Yahto blinked as she glanced around her, ignoring the manager. Did she even have any money left? The owner was seriously trying to rob her. Hell, she figured that the building was better off with a cleared off charred room. Come on, the inn was hardly even third class. Why did she choose to stay here anyway? Oh, yeah... To cut down on paying.

Jeez. Now she had to buy everything all over again. What a great scheme THAT had been. Goddamn.

Oh. She still had that smoke bomb.... Yeah. Of all things to save.

She pulled it off from her waste and contemplated it, looking at the manager and all the people looking at her. Why were they looking at her? She didn't know why. She tossed the smoke bomb out, waved and wheeled away quickly as the smoke puffed out of the sphere and filled the room. She managed to slip unscathed and unnoticed from the room. No one noticed that she had just ran out of the room gushing smoke.

Nope. No one.

What a lie.

It took her quite a while to thoroughly merge with the crowd. Everyone seemed to be talking about something... She wasn't sure what. Hm... Was it the inn? She hoped they wouldn't come after her. That'd be a pain... Ow. The hell? People should watch where they're going... What did that guy look so angry anyway? Oh.. did she step on something? Now some kid was glaring at her.

Oh well. Easy come easy go.

Her true philosphy was: Shit happens. And it does. Uncontrollable shit. They all should deal. Not like she broke bones or anything. Or not like the inn actually fully burned to the ground. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Even for a third-class inn, this was a bit much. He'd been assured over and over by the inn-keeper that this was a quiet place, and he'd be able to get much needed rest even if he chose to sleep all day.

Pfft, so much for that. He'd crawled into bed, and it felt like his head hadn't even hit the pillow (it'd been all night and then a few hours, really, but it didn't feel like it) before people were outside his door in the hall. And making so much damned noise, at that! 'They'll go away in a minute,' he figured, and when a minute came and went and - was that smoke he smelled? - nobody left, he picked himself back out of bed, slipped into his shoes, grabbed his sword, and headed out to see what all the commotion was about.

And that was where he heard twenty million different versions of a similar story. Some people speaking about how some crazy tried to burn the place down, another telling him that a ritual sacrafice to some fire god (what?!) had gone horribly wrong, and some lady wandered by, muttering about how the room had always been on fire and she didn't see what the big deal was. ...Right. Maybe it was better to just step outside for a bit to get some fresh air while all the crazies went on with their talk. Someone had probably just fallen asleep with a candle burning and it caught fire to something. It happened all the time. Not that he'd ever done such a thing, of course, oh no.

Once outside, he leaned against the wall next to the door and closed his brown eyes with a sigh. At least the weather was nice, though too bad people out here weren't any quieter than the ones inside, but at least their obnoxious voices weren't contained by close walls. Times like these, he sorely missed the peace and quiet a forest gave him.

And, just as he was starting to relax again, the scent of a different kind of smoke blinded his sense of smell and he straightened up, looked in through a nearby window and saw... nothing. The room was too full of smoke to see much of anything, except a few shadowy figures flailing just inside said window. Geez, had someone set something else on fire?

Right about then, a girl's figure caught his eye and he turned his head in time to see Yahto sneaking out of the inn. Brinn didn't think anything of it - though he watched her slinking off into the crowd - until the inn-keeper stumbled out a moment later, hacking and coughing and cursing about some damned girl and how he'd find her and make her pay double for the mess she'd made. Brinn's eyes swiveled from the man to the crowd again. He couldn't see Yahto anymore, but he'd gotten a good enough look at her, maybe he could find her and bring her back... there were often rewards for doing stuff like that!

So, off he went through the crowd, keeping a sharp eye out in search of the 'fire girl'.


((ooc: ...that has to be the longest first-response I've done to a thread before. x_X I hope it was okay~))

[Anonymous]

(It was fine! XD)


Great. Now SHE smelled like smoke. Fabulous. She had paused right smack-dab in the middle of the road, brushing at her clothes with frustration glimmering in her gray eyes. She brushed at her hair -black at the roots and gradually lightening to a brown at the ends. She touched the hair in the front of her head, cresting her face. It was shorter then the rest (which consisted of two tails with wraps around them) because of an accident with... fire. Yes. This wasn't the first time she had set something on fire.

Just at that time she had been too... daring and wound up singing off all the hair on the front of her head. That had -not- been fun. She didn't want to relive that ever again. It was worse then sunburn... And did I mention hairless? For the better part of a month she didn't have eyebrows. Or eyelashes. For a few months she had extremely shrot hair, like she was fashioning some odd hairstyle. Of course now it looked so much cooler. Eh... It was still short and choppy, all at odd lengths around her face, the longest being those wrapped tails at the back that reached slightly past her hips. There was hair that constantly fell between her eyes -an annoying tuft designed to make her go crosseyed.

After getting shoved for the tenth time - she had been too lazy and stubborn to go off to the side - she finally started moving, if only to catch up to the last person who shoved her and kick them in the back of the leg. When she had accomplished that she meandered off to the side, grumbling and shoving her way to stare at a stand. She had -some- money... And wait..

What was all that she even -needed- again? Yahto sighed and leaned against the stand, glaring at anyone who glared at her because she was 'in the way'. People liked convenience. They should get a grip. She wasn't so much in the way where they couldn't -go around- And it wasn't a life or death situation. Sheesh. People.

Now she remembered what she truly needed. Cigars.

Where the hell was she going to get cigars? ...Clothing would be nice. She could deal with these... But she needed a bath. And her clothes needed to be washed. Yahto also needed all the basic essentials that she had lost in that 'oh-so-dramatic' fire.

"...Did you hear about the fire in the inn?"

"Yeah. I heard the person even skipped out on the bill!"

"Really? I heard it was some exorcism..."

What the hell? Yahto looked at the woman talking and her eyebrow twitched.. Exorcism? Damn, did news travel fast. Yes. She had secretly been trying to perform an exorcism on the bed that smelled of sweat, old feet, and dirt.... Then again, could anyone exorcise such things from that bed?

Like she said. Better burned.

Yahto didn't see much reason to hide, as she was happily contemplating some trinkets offered by the man of the stand. Some bracelets, necklaces, stones, ribbons... etc. Nothing that could be considered glorious. But it suited for small things. Actually, she did need thread and needle... But now she also needed a pack... After she rested here for a bit, she supposed.

[Anonymous]

The fire-girl had such a head start on him that Brinn got himself lost trying to track her down. The streets were such a mass of people, and he twitched and bit back a snarl everytime someone bumped into or brushed past him. He was a tall boy, but not tall enough to be able to see over the heads of everyone else.

At one point, he grabbed the arm of a girl he was certain was Yahto... and was still nursing the stinging slap she'd given him for trying to drag her back to the inn. And then she'd started crying, at which point Brinn just felt guilty, apologized repeatedly and tried to make himself scarce before the girls' father, fiance, husband, brother, or any other relative could come to her rescue.

Now he remembered why he hated people...

All it took was a whiff of smoke to reach his sensative nose, and he was on her trail again. Following the scent proved easier than going by sight, and soon he was standing there staring at the girl he'd been following. ...At least, he hoped so. Not wanting to receive another blow to the face if he had the wrong girl (or even if he had the right girl this time), Brinn approached with caution, clasping a hand on her shoulder once she was within reach.

"Oi, are you the one that started the fire in the inn?"

[Anonymous]

What was this? A hand laid on her shoulder and she turned her head slightly to stare at it. It was a man's hand. It didn't belong her shoulder, so certainly there must be a reason why its place so quaintly there. She trailed her gray eyes up from fingers to shoulder, then slid them up his neck to his face. Great. Was he some lackey of the inn? Couldn't he just mind his own business. Truly, it was so annoying.

"You make it sound like it was intentional," Yahto finally said, and her voice glimmered some mild amusement.

She hoped that lady-who-deserved-a-punch was staying far away from anything that could harm her. The manager would probably be after her if the stupid woman started bleeding or crying or... something. Then again, she had skipped out on the bill, so none of that was any concern to her.

Wait.

"What do you want?" Yahto remembered to ask.

She had finally put together some clues. Such as that she had skipped out on a bill, a very high one, this guy knew what she had done, and his hand was on her shoulder. She was almost positive he wasn't captured by her beauty and actions and wanted to 'get to know her better'. Yahto found that thought even more amusing then the fire, and to keep from laughing took much more control than she was certain she had.

She managed, somehow. She was back to looking at his face, glancing at his hand now and again.

[Anonymous]

...Well, that was easier than expected. He hadn't thought she'd flat out admit she'd done it.

"Whether it was intentional or not..." His left hand stayed on her shoulder, but the right one caught hold of her wrist. "Hate to do this-" at least he sounded sincere, "but you're coming with me. I get the feeling you didn't pay for any of the damage your fire caused, judging by how you ran outta there like a bat out of hell."

As he spoke, Brinn turned, dropping the hand from her shoulder and proceeding to attempt to drag the fire-girl back through the crowd the way he'd come. "And I'll bet that inn-keep's willing to pay a reward to anyone that brings you back, so sorry."

[Anonymous]

What was this? Now he wanted rewards for bringing her back to the inn and he was dragging her along... Okay, that was just about it. She was growing irritable -smoke in her eyes, getting called vulgar names, smelling like smoke, it was so stressful losing all her belongings -and her precious cigars. And now she was going to return to that pit? Yeah, right... She glanced around her. She balked and writhed against his grip, settling down on her legs and looking upset. Her eyes got misty and she let the tears flow.

"Help! Help! RAPE! He's trying to rape me! HELP!" She shouted loudly above the noise of people.

There was no way she was going to pay. What kind of idiot put flammable curtains near candles anyway? Really. This place was doomed from the beginning. And Yahto was quite determined to keep a fair distance between her and such building. And if she had to lie, and fake it, by golly she'd become one of the best actresses. Actually, she was quite convincing, sobbing, tear-streaked face and looking wholly terrafied.

Inside she was more along the lines of bored, finding this amusing and fun. Maybe he'd stick around? She liked this. He could do this more often -she liked it rough. Well, she liked to play rough. Judging by the sincerity of his voice, he didn't sound like a person who'd actually rape someone. Really, she didn't mind damaging his reputation. If he even had one.

"Please, anyone! Help me!" She wailed again before some good-doers came and blocked his path.

See? She may not even have to use her own force. She just had to be a woman. Too bad her chest was bound -if it wasn't binded she could do alot more bribery with people. But that was an idea.

[Anonymous]

That was certainly effective, if not amusingly cruel! Brinn froze in place and just gawked at the girl, eyes wide and confused until realization dawned. Oh, that sneaky little...! "Stop that-!" he hissed, drawing her closer and attempting to clamp his large hand over her mouth. Being bitten had to be better than the way everyone was staring at him!

Glancing around at the crowd, Brinn laughed nervously. "Silly little sister's, always wanting to make a scene. She just got out of the asylum, folks; city's a little overwhelming for her!" He proceeded to haul Yahto towards the nearest building - some small bakery of some sort - just to get them out of view of so many people. If it weren't for the fact she was a girl, and a crying girl, at that (he was such a sucker for tears!), he'd have throttled her right there in the middle of the street.

"Will you shut up?! I won't take you back, I promise, just stop crying!"

[Anonymous]

That was quite effective. Regardless of monthly inconveniences of female, it did have its perks. This was obviously one of them. Making a scene was quite fun, she had to admit. Silly excuses he tried to make up, but she pretty much ignored them and drew more attention to them, struggling the entire way until he finally pulled he rout of the crowd to a bakery shop. It took all she was to simply not grin from ear-to-ear at him. But Yahto prevailed and ducked her head, glancing from under her choppy bangs as the crowd lost interest after awhile.

Good. Now he wasn't going to turn her in. What a useful trick.

"Okay!" Yahto said enthusiastically, having stopped crying as easily as she had started, smirking mischeviously.

"Fighting with a female will get you nowhere. A fact men have never learned," Yahto said, still smirking uncontrollably.

"Just appreciate the fact I could have made a much larger scene if I put more thought into it," Yahto said, smiling now.

"And thanks for not taking me back... I don't know what I would have done..." Yahto simply laughed. "But I'll treat you to a meal for compensation?" She added, more as a question. "And it'll have to be cheap. I just lost everything to that tragic room-fire and I need to buy stuff for myself," she said, grinning lazily.

She'd buy him something SMALL, or she'd seriously skip out again on the bill and leave him to pay for it. For amusement purposes, she was possibly prone to do that anyway. Even if it WAS cheap. But could she do that to him again after causing him such problems? Well.... Yes, she could.

[Anonymous]

Brinn was clearly not finding this as amusing as Yahto was. He scowled down at her balefully, releasing her wrist. It wasn't fair that girls were able to fake crying so easily!!

"I don't let girls buy stuff for me," he told her, looking positively sulkish. "Especially not ones that might light stuff on fire, throw smoke bombs and leave me with the bill and damage-control." Aha, so he was smarter than he looked! Or just paranoid. Or maybe he'd dealt with girls before that'd done similar things, the poor boy.

The mention of food, however, sent his stomach growling a reminder that he'd not eaten in over twentyfour hours, and that he should. If that wasn't enough convincing, the shop keeper behind the counter cleared his throat at them.

"Excuse me, but if you two are going to insist loitering in here, at least buy something!"

Brinn turned a little and stared at the man, then down at Yahto. "I'm going to assume you haven't eaten today, what with being too busy burning down inns and all." Dammit. Sucker for girls. Always. "I'll buy you something; at least then when you run off afterwards I won't be surprised when I'm stuck paying for it."

[Anonymous]

Oh, he'd be a challenging person! He understood the mechanics of females well. She couldn't resist to just grin up at him. He was so amusing and he didn't even realize it. Oh well, poor, poor boy. She guessed it couldn't be helped, considering who she was and how she acted up until now. Hell, she hardly trusted herself. She'd decide -not- to skip out on a bill and wind up ditching it at the last minute after gorging herself. Did it matter all that much?

"Aw, really now?" Yahto said, but she didn't seem disappointed in the least at his macho comment about not letting girls buy him things.

"That's always a possibility! Makes a life more interesting," Yahto commented.

Why lie when he already had a good grip of her personality?

"You're perceptive," she said, not bothering to hide her grin when he  mentioned about her not eating today.

Today had been very busy. Like he said, burning inns and running and being very 'uncharacteristically' spontaenous, she just simply hadn't found a single moment to sit down and eat.

"Very nice gentleman you are!" Yahto complimented him -more because he was going to be giving her food, afterall. "Hey, I should know the name of the guy who attempted to rape me -because I'm so irresistable- and whose now buying me food..." she said, joking around and wiping the dried tears from her face.

[Anonymous]

He gave Yahto a wary look, as though telling her his name would somehow give her some new power over him. But it would've been rude to not introduce himself, and his mother had taught him to always be polite to young ladies - even if they were crazy.

"...Brinden. People call me Brinn."

He shuffled away from her and over to the baker, who thankfully seemed bored enough by their conversing that he wasn't paying any attention. Brinn's dark eyes looked back at her, waiting patiently for her to come away from the door and figure out just what he'd be treating her to eat. But first, it was only fair...

"Can I know the name of the little fire-bug that now has half the city block hiding their daughters from me?"

[Anonymous]

After a few moments of dwadling at the door she finally toddled in after him, brushing a hand through her choppy bangs. She examined the food with scrutiny. She tended to be a picky eater -and she had a weak stomach against things. She didn't want moldy food. SOME people could tolerate it, but definitly not her. Hell, she'd have more money now -well, not necessarily more, but her pouch would keep its weight until she spent it. She was used to not eating for sometimes days. If she absolutely had too, of course.

"Thanks for the food, Brinn," Yahto said, pointing at a twisted piece of bread -specifically designed that way, mind you.

Ah, so he wanted to know her name? She could lie, but she didn't see any reason too. Afterall, she did owe him at least that after tarnishing his reputation and allowing him to buy her some food. Wasn't he nice?

"Yahto," she said, grinning.

"I'm sure you could find some girl who'd risk it. Just put on some charm.... Hell, any of them would be glad to be raped by you rather then some old, bloated bar-goer," she said, whether it was reassurance or not was uncertain.

She glanced around and noticed that the manager, or someone she distinctly remember yelling at her was walking down the street, telling people about the incident. She rolled her eyes dramatically. God. She hadn't killed anyway. Seriously.

"By the way they acted you'd think I murdered someone. Just a room," Yahto said to Brinn, although more quietly so the baker wouldn't hear.

"That room was burn-worthy anyway," she said as an invalid excuse.

[Anonymous]

Brinn wasn't sure whether to be pleased with the so-called 'compliment' or not. He gave Yahto a side-long look, frowning, and decided not to childishly say that he could get a girl into bed without having to rape her, thankyouverymuch.

Once the baker had one of the twisty-bread things out for Yahto, Brinn settled on just a plain-looking loaf of something or other, which he tore a small chunk off of to eat once it was in his hands. The rest would be put into his pack back at the inn and saved for later when he left the city that afternoon. Once he'd paid the baker and thanked him, he started for the door again, figuring Yahto would follow if she were so inclined.

"I bet that inn keeper would've been less unhappy with you if all you'd done was kill a person," he said flatly. "Corpses are easier to dispose of than it is to repair a burned room." ...It was really hard to tell whether or not he was joking...

[Anonymous]

Yahto happily took the twisted-bread thing, breaking the piece of bread apart along the twists, truly mutilating the piece of bread with her sharp nails that were something more like claws then fingernails. She then proceeded to break off a piece from that before popping it into her mouth, trailing after him. She'd follow him as long as he wasn't going to the inn..

Well, maybe she owned something that was still in the room? Unless it was already confiscated by that damn owner. He was such a fickle person. Had to go and just try to find her. Now she had fully set her mind on -not- paying that bill. There was absolutely no way they could get her to pay the bill now. They had made such a big deal out of it, she'd make an equally big deal.

"How true! But if candle flames jumped too people and would JUST burn the person, then... well, I'd still have a burned down room unless they started using people as curtains," Yahto said, nodding her head.

Suddenly, she saw the manager. Again. How did he get OVER THERE? She ducked quickly to the other side of Brinn. She glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow over her eye. She smirked mischeviously.

"How long do you think I can stalk you for?" She asked, mostly joking about the 'stalk' part. Stalking was a fun hobby.

"Although, I want a cigar before we go where ever your destination is," she said flatly.

[Anonymous]

"A cigar?" Brinn made a face that clearly said he thought she was joking at first. Yahto smoked? She would be the first woman he'd ever seen that did so. ...No, wait, that wasn't true. The tavern owner in his home city was a large woman that smoked like a chimney, but he wasn't sure he'd ever heard anyone refer to Birtha as a 'woman'. Ahah...

"Follow me as long as you want, I guess. But I have to go back to the inn after I buy some supplies. I'm leaving town tonight."

For curiosity's sake, perhaps he'd go into the burned room and see the damage the little firebug had done. If he was feeling generous, perhaps he'd even check to see if there were any posessions of hers left over that hadn't been swiped up just yet. ...If he was feeling generous. That would depend on how many more times Yahto embarrassed him in public before then.

[Anonymous]

"Hmm... I'm tempted to tempt how lucky I am..." Yahto said thoughtfully. She tapped him on the shoulder quick, holding up a finger for him to wait as she detoured over to a burly man behind a stand.

While she adjusted her shirt to show some more cleavage, she added more sway to her walk. She quickly fixed herself as best she could as she went over, flirting with the man and skimping on the money, while taking a few more cigars then the money covered. Oh well! She smiled and winked, said her thanks and departed.

"... I usually pay full price. I swear. I don't have that much money to fool around with," Yahto said, as if THAT was a valid excuse for stealing.

She readjusted her shirt and shook her head. It was nice to add the charm and be all 'womanly' but she wasn't prepared to stay that way CONSTANTLY. She was just lucky that cigar stand man wasn't gay -or wasn't the type who was resilient to come ons made by woman. It always complicated matters when you barked up the wrong tree or made moves on a man who didn't bend at your will.

Thank God for the old people. As gross as it was to flirt with them.. Well, she could usually steal form the old men too. And it was fun stunning the old woman. Or any woman by flirting with them, too. Then again, that was purely for her own enjoyment. She had only managed to steal from one woman while using charms. That had been a pleasant surprise on Yahto's part.

Yahto managed to light her cigar -almost burning her finger tip. Oh well. She took a long puff on her cigar and looked around.

"Yeah, I need to get supplies too," she told him.

[Anonymous]

Brinn gave a side-long look at the cigar distastefully. So long as the smoke wasn't being blown in his direction, however, he would keep his mouth shut. It wasn't his job to inform Yahto that those cancer-sticks would be an early death for her. She probably already knew. Most people did.

"You said you didn't have a lot of money," he pointed out after a quiet moment. "Are you planning on showing your chest to all the male vendors and hope they'll cut you a damned good deal everytime?" And then he paused for a moment, looking a little worried. "What if you can't afford everything you need?"

It wasn't that Brinn was particularly worried about Yahto in specific... he was just a nice guy that didn't think any woman should be without something she needed, or have to go hungry.

[Anonymous]

"Hopefully. Really, it's the only use I can find out of these things anyway," she grabbed her chest crudely to emphasize her meaning.

"If I don't have enough money, I'll steal. If I'm caught, I'll make a scene. I'll escape somehow. Hell, if it boils down to force, I'll do it. I'm not about to lack essentials just because I don't meet the necessary requirements. I don't like paying for the right to live," she said, shrugging.

She didn't seem worried. She was -marginally so. She glanced down at her chest -minimized by the confines of the wrap. She thought about it. She should probably unwrap it to get the best deals and distract, but that would be a bit of a bother if it ever came down to force.

"What do you think? Should I take the binding off my chest or no?" Yahto asked him, totally serious about the question. "It's just if it comes down to force they'll be troublesome," she debated.

She wasn't shy nor really all that modest, apparently. Flashing guys and things like that to get what she wanted she didn't mind. Showing her goods didn't bother her. And if she wanted a guy's opinion, whose opinion would be best to get besides the one who attempted to 'rape' her? .....Yeah. She'd probably never let him live that down.

"I've been doing this for years, so there isn't much to worry about anymore. I've ran into just about every problem there is in the aspect of getting what I want," she laughed, smirking, but it didn't seem she was entirely too proud of that either.

She took a puff on the cigar, knowing full well it'd probably lead to a few years off her life. But what the hell, she had an excessive amount of years to live -according to demon lifespans- so she truly didn't mind. Shit would happen. She may die from getting hit by a carriage for all she knew.

[Anonymous]

Oh, sure, put the boy into a spot. How could he leave her to wander off, steal things, possibly get caught and maybe have to fight to get away? It violated everything he stood for (or something) to let a girl go off into a situation like that. But, dammit, he had his own agenda to keep! Supplies to buy, forests to get to because this stupid city and all its people sucked...

But really, would helping her out tack on that much longer to his stay there? He didn't imagine it would. He could spend an hour or two helping out, then go on his merry way to... wherever it was he would go.

At her question, Brinn's eyes automatically went straight to the girl's chest, and immediately his face went red and he jerked his gaze away. For a moment, at least, before wandering back to its previous location. So... she bound her chest? Why would any woman do that? That question of course led to mental thoughts of what she'd look like with it unbound. ...C'mon, he was a typical guy, can you blame him? "Uh... I guess so..." he muttered, rather forgetting just what she was asking.

He was forced to pay attention to where he was going when, a moment later, he ran smack into a man even taller than he was, and happened to be built like a brick wall. An apology and awkward few seconds later, and Brinn was making doubly sure to keep his eyes straight ahead this time. "What do you need supplies for, anyway?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't notice exactly what had led to his momentary clumsiness. "I mean, what sort of things do you need? Are you leaving the city?"