What You're In For

[Lorena]

Vhalar 5

"Please be open," Lorena muttered beneath her breath as she snuck around the corner of an alleyway to the front door of a stranger's house. She hurriedly took a hold of the door and tried to push it open. Clunk, clunk, clunk it was locked as tight as a thong on a fat lady's bottom. "Shit." Daylight retreated into the horizon, lighting the skyline with a cool mix of pale yellow green and blue. Evening had settled upon Scalvoris. Shops had started to close, soon the city night life would be vibrant with laughter, drunks and whores. In a fleeting moment of agitation with a grumpy old age pensioner who had been grilling Lorena, she decided to teach a couple of the kids to get their own back at him; in doing so she somehow managed to come out of the situation with a retinue full of burly looking individuals chasing her and a jewelry box filled with random trinkets.

Navigating around Scalvoris Town without knowledge of the local area had proved to be a challenge for her. Each avenue became a complication, a complication an inch closer to prison or even going back to Rynmere; she wanted neither. Biting back her lip Lorena surveyed the options around her, there was a lock on the door but what the hell was she going to open it with? Her eyes scanned her surroundings. This wasn't exactly the quietest place in town, a number of people were wandering up and down the street.

"Shit, shit, shit," she repeated looking down at the jewelry box grimacing. Why! she screamed inside of her head and considered ditching the object until she ultimately came to the conclusion it would be a lot more fun to see this through.

Bang, bang, bang "Hello?!" the young noble yelled, knocking on the door.

"Over there!" They'd found her yet again.

"Come on, come on" the young noble sailor knocked the door harder this time "Open up!"

They were getting closer.

"Good lord quit that knocking, I'm coming, I'm-" an old woman's voice came from behind the door, almost as immediately as it opened Lorena barged straight into the house and bolted for the stairs. "Granny who is it?" she heard the voice of a younger woman coming from one of the other rooms as she turned the corner of the wooden stairwell. There was no time for Lorena to mess around, she needed to buy herself time. In an attempt to save time Lorena tried to hurl herself over the banister, she instead stumbled only just saving the jewellry from dropping as she fell from a lack of force in the jump. "Argggh! Shit," she repeated as her thigh met the oak laden stairs and chafed against the wood, that was going to hurt in the morning.

Taking a moment she looked down the stairwell to see the old lady and a young woman staring up at her in a mixture of frustration confusion. "Hi," the seafarer waved.

"In here!" the old woman called glaring up at Lorena. Sold out, not that Lorena blamed the old lady - any of her family would have done the same if a random woman dressed like a sailor came rushing through their door.

Lorena shook her head, enough idle thinking. Pushing back against the wood the seafarer forced herself up, ascending as quickly as she descended up to the second floor, found a room and slammed the door behind her. There was no lock.

"This day just keeps getting better" a sigh released between her lips. She’d ended up in a small, well decorated room with old flowery looking wall paper, a simple looking double bed with a window hanging over it, a dresser and a couple of small tables scattered with everyday objects.

"She went upstairs," Lorena could heard the faint sound of the older lady's voice echoed from the hallway.

Promptly leaving the box of jewels onto a table, Lorena casually strode the set of draws and started pushing, pushing, pushing. What the? It would only budge an inch at a time. What in all of the realms of the immortals did an old woman have in her dresser? Eventually a bit of hard work turned into success - just in time before she could hear her pursuers attempted to open the door.

They were so close now. She'd backed herself into a corner and needed to get out. No time to focus on the problem, solution.... where are you? her eyes scanned the room, stopping at the bed. "Window."

Doubling her pace Lorena snatched the box from the table, leapt onto the bed, opened the window and lodged herself into the frame. There was no way she could jump from this height without hurting herself in some ridiculous way and not get caught. From a higher vantage point it looked like the majority of her "problem" had made their way inside the house while one stood waiting vigilantly outside. Just to make it worse there was also a series of odd looks and a couple of onlookers gathering around to watch.

"Up there!" one exclaimed pointing to her. Well this was just great... fantastic. Her eyes flickered from one onlooker to another, studying their physique until they finally settled upon a burlier looking man with short brown hair and dark eyes passing by.

"Hey you! Brownie boy with the scruffy hair bulky looking arms, catch me if you can!" A grin flickered over Lorena's features as her eyes peered down at the man, brimming with enthusiasm. Hopefully the man would bite given that none of what was happening was normal.

Bang, Bang, Bang...

The sound of the men barging their way into the door became louder and Lorena looked back readying to jump. She was waiting till the last moments to take a leap of faith into the arms of a stranger.

[Patrick]

He had taken a shortcut from the market district with the intention to reach the Four in Hand at some point in time, preferably soon since he had to make up for the time spent lost within that maze. Man if that wasn't an interesting situation he found himself caught up in though, needless to say the distraction from his current agenda wasn't very outrageous. He still had time to wrap up the preparations involved with prepping for his planned expedition, the final essentials being just some dried rations packaged for him by the butcher.

He had to pay at least a few nel just see to it he wound up with the good stuff, essentially a fortnight's worth of dried meat to keep himself going. Starving out in the wilderness wasn't something he was keen on doing, especially when it came to mountaineering the landscapes east of here. Yes. Patrick's latest intrigue was a rumor he felt invested in chasing, because he was essentially going after a mythical object lost within the peaks of Scalvoris somewhere. Where though? Hell if he knew! Last time he went there he found a cave and... well shit's never been the same quite honestly.

That was why chasing this rumor became a necessity, because what awaited him if it were actually a real object then he needed it. Especially if he wanted to take care of the loose end he left within that cavern, since it was pretty big and scary with all it's shadowy.... A shudder came at the recollection of the creature, and with it a grimace at his vivid memory of what transpired in that cave. Needless to say it'd left quite an impressive mark on him, one left behind by Chrien Her self when he made it out half alive.

Which was why now he needed to pursue this rumor, to confirm if the legend of this 'sword of light' really did exist. Maybe then he could use it against that beast, or maybe.... money was good too but honestly that wasn't an issue for him anymore. Thus with his travel sack filled with the packaged meat he took from the butcher in town, he moved along to roam down the street he deemed 'shortcut' towards the place he'd been staying at.

Yet it seemed something was afoot.

Dressed in with his green shirt and blue pants; he arrived at a commotion was going on as people clustered in the middle of the street, and ogled at what had to be a very brave or desperate lady. She seemed intent to hang out the window, and even called out to a fellow about as tall as Patrick since he stood the closest. But... why? What was this woman so intent to jump from a window? Was she in trouble with someone by chance? She held onto some kind of lockbox which could've very well been stolen property, but if she intended to jump into a stranger's arms... without the right push or turn in her form?

That's it... Patrick's jumped out of one window too many to know how to land or catch her properly! Needless to say he took it upon himself to find the moment to intervene, as the girl seemed to push off and flail herself into the air as she plummeted. The man she'd intended to have catch her seemed to hesitate and Patrick knew, quite well, such a thing wasn't going to end well for her otherwise in this instance. Thus his timely step to shove the man aside ended with him holding his arms out accordingly, so that when the woman fell into them he caught her by the knees and lower back.

People behind him gasped and seemed completely startled once they saw her land, and just as soon as Pat felt the impact of her fall he buckled his knees to reduce the force when he caught her. "Gotcha," He remarked with a grin as he looked at the face of the woman he caught, with actual surprise that he managed to catch her so calmly considering how last Bit the intervention was. "that was a close one!"

Sure enough the loud bangs were mixed with something heavy moving, and not long afterwards the guards of the Elements after this girl stopped to gaze out the window.... whoops. "Friends of yours?" He remarked as he lowered her so the lady could stand on her feet, she looked to be dressed as a sailor but definitely not one of the locals. Needless to say she was a very pretty woman, one Patrick couldn't help but smirk at when she finally stood on her own.

[Lorena]

Everything happened so fast, falling was as much of a thrill to Lorena as it had been in the past, it was almost liberating. First she looked to the jewels and then her knight in shining armour, the jewels were there but it was the wrong man. Not a bad man, just not the one she had expected. Dumbfounded Lorena suddenly felt a touch self conscientious in the arms of this stranger. Adorned in little more than a dirtied white linen shirt, mucky black breaches and water worn boots, she didn’t feel like she looked the part at all. For a moment her gold flecked hues trained on the mirth of his dark eyes with an emotion of the same vein, until the commotion of her hunters blundered themselves into the window frame. “Yeah,” the seafarer turned in his arms to look up at the window her pursuer was stood in, everybody was looking at her “...you could say that.” Her eyes trailed back to the physique of her rescuer, he would do as a companion.

Carefully shifting her weight in his grasp Lorena gently wrapped an arm around him to balance herself as he gently lowered her to the floor. Warm laughter escaped from between her lips “Thank you,” the soft velvet tones of her voice whispered only loud enough for him to hear. For the first time in a long time she was happy. This was it; adventure, excitement, friendship, these were what she lived for.

“Cutting it close…” she reflected returning his grin “Surely that’s the fun in it.”

“You can run, but you can’t hide.” The vile mutterings of an ugly man in ragged clothing with beady eyes and a misshapen nose came from the crowd behind her.

“I...think...we need to leave,” Lorena said, further studying her surroundings. Any more time dallying and the jump would have been for naught. “Come on, let’s go!”

Lorena pulled away from Patrick and shoved past the crowd, it was bigger than she had originally remembered. Was she really that much of a spectacle? Ducking through the hordes of people one after the other Lorena ran as quickly as she could. A hand grabbed her arm from the sea of people surrounding her “You’re not getting away with this lady,” the sound deep voice grumbled as a tall figure loomed over her. She turned to see his face, he was stocky with greenish eyes, blonde hair and a dour face; apparently it was possible to be both ugly and agitating.

“Well aren’t you just the picture of justice,” she retorted, trying to edge her hand away from his with no luck. No matter how she pulled, tugged or twisted to get away her arm he would not budge. There was only one thing she knew how to do. Pivoting the box back for a stronger swing, she used it as an improvised weapon and swung her free arm upward into an uppercut that met the man’s groin. With a screeching yowl of agony Lorena could feel the man’s grip on her wrist loosen and used the distraction to get away. “I’m sure a woman will want you one day sir, but not today!” she called back, twirling around to grin back at the individual before running off again.

“Why you little shit!” his words were like music to her ears.

Lorena dashed off down the cobblestone pathway, dipping through and past any object that stood in her way. This event was either going to end really well for her, or really or really, really badly. Fatigue waned on her; the endless running, dodging, jumping and adrenaline was starting to get to her head. A nice dark quiet alleyway with no people to stab her would have been the ideal situation, but reality wasn’t so kind. She did find an alleyway that would be helpful if not for her mistrust in the people that were lingering within it. Her eyes narrowly settled upon the strangers for a moment, awkwardly focused on their movements as she backed herself behind a bin to regain her breath. Immortals forbid if one of these arseholes tried to mug her.

“I hope you’re okay knight,” she whispered aimlessly into the wind.

[Patrick]

Patrick has seen and dealt with quite a lot throughout the past couple of decades, especially the past several arcs, and in doing so met a wide array of colorful people in that time. Out of the many he could easily remember in a instance only few seemed to actually stand out, when he filtered their memory with the similar attitude that this particular individual possessed. Freya an immediate one he easily reflected on, but even then she paled in comparison to the uppity attitude this stranger possessed. With the individual in question now in his arms Patrick realized what he couldn't help, which was the moment spent admiring her adorable features when she looked to see her rescuer.

True she had to be as astonished as she appeared when she realized it was him, and not the man she'd called out to earlier, who had stepped in to catch her at the last moment. Hues of gold seemed to decorate the hazel rims of of her irides when he looked into them, and in just that moment he quickly realized why she created such a faint reminder of Freya. This girl had to be Biqaj if her eyes held such rich unusual hues, he'd seen it enough to be able to deter that about the race well enough. But just to look at this girl overall... wow she was a fetching if not fine specimen of her race. In that very moment when he realized he'd stared at her, he realized he did so with a pause in his breath. That is until reality settled back in and his eyes followed the directions her's did also, back up to the window of the Element guard who pursued her.

She was a troublemaker evidently... The box in her arms confirmed this for him when he glanced down at it. When she seemed to recite rhetoric with his own however, he couldn't help but secretly chuckle at the response before letting her down. "Somebody likes her already." Ri'ku chimed within the confines of his noggin, which he mentally shrugged off with a 'pff' as a thought in response to her statement. The woman he'd helped out seemed to add in on the idea of fun, in which her opinion with cutting it close seemed to be highlight of it all. By the Gods if she weren't speaking his language already, somehow in just the sparse exchange of words; he felt he could relate to her easily with what he'd just heard.

"Some would disagree." He remarked with a shrug as though to avoid showing disinterest, but an obvious grin also spoke volumes with the alignment in their interest. Just a moment after he said that it seemed the owner of her lockbox seemed to arrive, intent on getting back what belonged to him as the lady he rescued determined it time to leave. "Don't have to tell me twice." Since he practically aided a wanted 'criminal' at this point with escape, he didn't want to discredit the chance he too would need to be on the move. Strange how this easily reminded him of old times, back when he had to outrun a couple lightning knights before Dom joined.

He started right behind her but weaved into another part of the crowd, quite unaware of the fact she'd been held up until he was past the gathered crowd. He heard a remark of course and associated with it, a cry of anguish as the man who attempted apprehension found that his more personal family jewels were assailed. Ouch. That was one thing Patrick never wanted to experience, even if he was all too well familiar with such pain a few times. They were too far and frequent for him to dare challenge another, and so when he saw the woman he saved finally split from the crowd he then moved onward. Was he really that amused by her performance though?

He must have been because a smile split his lips as he ran down the alley he ducked into, with heels hot to trot on on the cobblestone he ran over to put as much distance behind him. He made a left turn to find that an obstacle awaited him, which happened to be a personal fence that stood four feet tall, as he ran past the back area of some buildings. "Remind me again why you're heading this way?"

"Not sure," Patrick answered verbally as he focused more on the upcoming jump he'd make, when he stood at about five feet away from the the first section of the fence he bent his knees into a bounce. With the amount of momentum built into his sprint Patrick rose up to briefly soar over the first section of the fence, and hit the ground with the flat of his boots to resume the running towards the otherside. "Do me a favor though and keep up with her!" Right as he finished this statement he reached the next fencing to jump, only he proceeded to use his hands to help brace for a quick hop over it.

"Sure, already on it." She assured him as the invisible creature darted further ahead of him, a good call on his part since Ri'ku could essentially cover more ground faster than Patrick could. He continued running until he made a second turn, to the right this time, to resume the back alley run he started earlier with hopes of a shortcut. It was also the way he last saw Ri'ku soar before he lost her entirely, so he essentially was on his own from there without a bit of guidance. "Found her!"

"Directions would be great!"

"I took a left when I reached the street at the end." So she hit the street and then went left from there, good enough to considering they could've easily wound up somewhere else; Patrick especially. As he closed in near the alley's end however another obstacle presented itself, a farmer's horse strolled with a wagon full of hay in tow and the Rharnian had a very short window of time to react.

"Oh crap!" Were the words that slipped as he either would've collided straight into the wagon, thankfully he had just enough time to react in a different fashion in comparison. With the application of a tuck using his upper body Patrick fell onto his bum and a forearm, with legs pointed at a slight upward angle to allow him for a quick slide between the wagons wheels. Granted felt a brief moment of intense burning from the slide across the stone, he cleared the gap underneath the wagon with narrowly solid timing nonetheless. A few people saw this naturally and seemed to gasp in awe at the scene, while he pushed to his feet with a brush of his scraped hand against his pants. Which way again? Left?

"You okay?" Ri'ku checked as she seemed to pop up almost from nowhere.

"Definitely cutting it close." He remarked as he started to move once more, with eyes on the next entrance to the alleyway nearby once he started to move.

"Down two more, should be on your right!"

Patrick needn't utter a thanks as she could already hear it in his mind, although it sounded as ragged as his breathing as he ran. After covering the nearest alley he pushed harder, barely even glancing down the next one he passed as he merely had to count it as 'two' in this case. When he arrived at the next one considered his necessary stop, he slowed until he reached the corner where she had to be waiting somewhere. Only... he didn't spot her outright like he'd hoped. Had she gone further down to possibly outrun a pursuer? "Scuse me," he called out to one of the few sketchy beggars found here, "did a woman pass through here recently?"

The filth covered man looked at him with a slight shake of his head as Patrick drew near, and while the Rharnian almost bought the gesture something else nearly slipped the radar. He noticed the man seemed to focus on a storage bin just a couple feet behind Patrick, as though he were fixated on something out of the ordinary for some reason... Oh... Oh wait a moment. Patrick looked to the beggar suspectively and with a look back his shoulder he discovered the lady, sitting with knees tucked near her body as she sat out sight. "Well," was the first word that came out of his mouth, "you certainly have a knack for hide and seek." While his eyebrows were raised at discovering her there, they quickly fell when he looked to the beggar once more half serious. "Nothing to see here, go back to doing your thing."

Whatever that was. Patrick could've been so much horrible and tell them to go back to begging, but between his exhausted pants for air and the fact he had a woman to help out; he really didn't have time to waste on ostracizing the locals here with his own rhetoric.

[Lorena]

Steady flows of heaving breath escaped Lorena’s lungs, there was no real telling how long she could stay in one place before company arrived and she wasn’t willing to take too many risks. By the immortals all the running though, it was exhilarating and exhausting all in the same twisted concoction of reality.

“You certainly have a knack for hide and seek,” a familiar voice beckoned her attention away from her respiratory cycle. There he was again, her knight in shining leathers; ever valiant shooing off the nasty looking stranger that had been eyeing her like a vulture eyed a half eaten carcass.

“Hah,” the sailor exclaimed, gathering herself to at least pretend she wasn’t suffering from running as much as she was. For too long now had she been dodging those guards, for too long had she been on her feet. Nonetheless, the young noble gave her best impression of a pill by ignoring the pain building through her ankles with the thrill of adrenaline that rushed through her brain. Stopping for too long was not an option, for her or her ankles.

“You know I usually get caught,” she remarked, eyeing the stranger curiously. Had he been tracking her this whole time?

Rising from her huddled position Lorena looked quickly behind her to check the street for passing guards and confirming it was clear. “My apologies sir,” the noble turned back to the man in front of her and curtsied “I thank you for your assistance back there. It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Lorena.”A hint of formality slipped through her rebellious facade. No matter how Lorena tried to pretend to be like the common people and do whatever common people do, she was raised to be a lady.

Sudden sounds of clunking and gasps of dismay sounded in the distance of the streets behind them. Almost like lightning Lorena’s head turned in panic. Looking left to right she studied the situation. The long, grey cobblestone alleyway they had chosen to hide in would not offer them shelter for much longer and they needed a place to hide. Her knight was a tool that was no use to her at the moment, he too had been subject to the enemy and the bishops were closing in around her. Lorena’s eyes flickered to the vultures who were watching them from further down the alleyway; bingo.

Removing some coin from the small purse she kept on her, Lorena brought out two gold nel and breezed her hand over patricks muscled biceps “We should probably find a better place to hide, come with me.”

Carefully stepping past her actually, mildly impressive new friend; the sailor wandered over to the vultures with a wide smile. “Hey. Reckon you could help me? I’ll make it worth your while.”

A rat faced man covered in rags with dark matted hair and squinted green eyes brought his hands slowly to his belt as she approached. “‘Ow much?” his gnarled voice demanded from between his broken teeth,

“2 Gold Nel,” the noble haggled, thinking not much of such a small amount. A glimmer of excitement flickered across one of his companion’s eyes and Lorena looked between the vulture and his henchmen with a look of alarm. Had she offered too much gold prematurely?

“Ah dun rip us off lady, y’ look like a workin’ woman. Seen ya down aroun’ the docks with them sailor folk. But I like tha’ ya ‘av spirit kid. ‘Ow about 20?” a scavenger through and through the vulture’s price made the sailor flinch. She didn’t know what was more uncomfortable, that an ugly haggard old man like this knew who or what she was or the price that he charged for his help.

“Damn it, 15” the sailor chose a random number not really knowing how all of this worked and she didn’t have time for details. Unfortunately for her, the stranger could sense her urgency “20 or nothin'.”

“Fine,” the lady relented searching her pouch for half of the coin and handing it to the group of nasty looking men “I’ll give you the other half when we’re safe.”

Grinning menacingly the stranger laughed “You got a deal lil' lady,” his eyes darted past her over to Patrick “Will ya boyfriend be joinin' us?”

Lorena blinked and turned to Patrick with a raised brow “Oh no he’s a-” if she was honest with the stranger she didn’t really know the guy “You know what… yes, he will be joining us.” It didn’t really matter to her what these strangers thought of her or the kindness of the man that had so valiantly picked her up through the window.

The Vulture’s grin widened “Come, ya friends are catchin' up. We’ll lead ya down a secret path beneath the city.” Cackling behind broken toothed smiles, the man’s lithe looking henchmen eyes Lorena with bright, hungry looking eyes.

“Fresh meat boss?” one of them proclaimed aloud.

The Vulture stopped in his tracks and turned to grin at Lorena one last time before he hobbled off “Maybe, we’ll see 'ow they do… Come, make 'aste we must.”

[Patrick]

It really proved interesting to see the sort of spunky attitude that this sailor had to possess, even when she had to be incredibly worn out she still put on a gambling face. Honestly Patrick had found himself rather intrigued with the girl, and it didn't help she had the looks to compliment her sass either. "Really now? You sound like quite the trouble maker then." He complimented with a smirk as he watched her move, a hint of curiosity in his hazel green eyes when he watched the lady curtsey out of nowhere.

A woman with etiquette it would seem. The longer he spent with her the quickly Patrick realized she had it all, from the looks to the wits and even the manners she projected. He honestly couldn't tell if it were simple humor or actual behavior ingrained in her mind, but nonetheless he chuckled with a brief bow accompanied by a nod. "Same to you Lorena, helping you was only a matter of luck honestly." Meaning when one considered it he could've very well taken a different route to his room, and then the lady certainly would've found herself stuck on the run alone; if she were lucky enough to be caught by her first gentleman to begin with.

"Patrick's the name though a lot of people here call me Rharnian, mostly because I'm still the foreigner they consider too rebellious when it comes to drinking." He mused to Lorena with a cross of his arms as Ri'ku fluttered around him.

"You know you could try flirting with her later, after you know the watch has given up on pursuing you two." She had a point there and Patrick checked back around the corner, half tempted to consider them still safe if not only for another fleeting moment. Sure enough the sound of footsteps clanking on stone alarmed them, and suddenly it seemed as though Lorena had an idea for escape. Yet she considered asking the beggars nearby for help, and while he didn't think it so wise... he had to observe just how she handled the situation.

Bribery? Just who in Idalos was Patrick associating with? One Bit she was a damsel in distress, the next a wanted fugitive, just a moment ago she was a proper lady, and now she was a negotiator with coin to bribe. He had to admit seeing this many sides of a stranger felt more than intriguing, it actually held his interest better than any game he played with another individual. The fine game of seduction was something he'd been far too involved with, and over the past couple seasons felt less interested in really. But now? All this sense of adventure he found in just one person, really he hadn't expected himself to be so pulled in by her mystique.

And her naivety also... For he listened closely and when he heard them say one thing in particular, he knew good and well that they were about to be duped by the two beggars. Thankfully she only gave them half now, which meant she did have a sense for business thankfully. But as far as Patrick knew; no such thing as tunnels or underground networks existed in Scalvoris town, otherwise he'd have found them not long after his arrival for dubious reasons. These men outnumbered the both of them, and if they weren't deeper into the alleys of the town they'd be well out of the Element's grasp; because they'd be found much later somewhere in the city as corpses due to lack of caution. No. He had to step in and determine the proper way to ditch both authority and danger, and it started with placing him between Lorena and these men.

"Sorry boys," Patrick called out with a wry grin on his face as they all stopped and stared blatantly, "Fooling a tourist with the suggestion of an underground tunnel might've worked; but I. Am calling. Your bluff." He then looked down to Lorena and then past her towards the wall of the building next to them, aware of the stones lined in their repetitive pattern as they created the wall. The buildings they stood in between weren't too tall, and with a bit of help they could both scale the side with the right amount of practice.

Unfortunately... he doubted Lorena possessed that sort of experience. However improvisation was something he proved good at and, with some quick thought, he moved to stand close to the wall to her right. "Lorena I want you to run towards me and try to hop on my hands, I'm going to hoist you up so that you can grab the edge of that roof."

"Are you daft?!"

"You clearly are daft." Ri'ku seemed to agree as she flew up to the spot Patrick mentioned, hardly convinced the plan would come together as he planned.

"Look pal you've got your ten nel, leave us and pretend you saw nothing; consider it on the house while we slip away." Patrick warned the beggars as they started to approach the two slowly.

"Piss off! We were promised more anyway!"

"Lorena," Patrick's tone deepened as he looked from them to her, "now's our only chance. Run!" Hopefully she understood what he meant, and would proceed to follow through with his idea. Daft as it was it was the next best plan he had, which was better than ending up dead by a band of homeless thugs in some dark alleyway.

[Lorena]

Vultures and fiends, the lady stood watching her companion dart in front of her to create distance between her and the slimey, snot faced beggars that called themselves a part of their society. Noako would have scolded Lorena for her indifference to the lower classes, in fact she would have scolded herself for it; but these were the worst kind of people.

Gently lifting her hand to rest on Patrick’s shoulder Lorena offered a brief gesture of comfort, she knew the stress she must have been placing on him was great regardless of his willingness to assist her. “Thank you,” the quiet whisper of her voice only partially shrouded her damaged pride. Very gingerly the man re-positioned himself next to the wall and her dark hazel-gold flecked hues followed him. No, no way – surely he wasn’t thinking.

In preparation for the events that she sensed were going to follow Lorena quickly ripped the shirt from under her armour and secured the box in a wrap of white linen cloth that she knotted onto her belt. The leather was likely going to chafe, for right now though; that was the least of her concerns.

“Run!” the word rang through her ears.

“Shit,” she cursed under her breath, he was thinking of launching her onto the roof. Why?! Was he daft? Surrounded and vastly outnumbered, Lorena knew her life was in his hands and in the interest of her own self- preservation chose to trust him fully. Her eyes turned to the vultures that pursued, back to her knight in shining leathers, over to the cultures, back to the knight. The corners of her mouth lifted into a grin “Three, two… one,” the time for anticipation ended and she charged straight toward Patrick, launching herself into the air as he weaved his hands in a flat motion to support and boost her up. Scarily, he did it with more ease than she had anticipated. Just what kind of hulk of a man had she got herself involved with?

Lorena was jolted up into the air and as she fell, she could feel the scrape of tiles against her fingers, the friction creating small burns on her fingers that slipped down, clutching onto the edge. Hanging for dear life Lorena grit her teeth, she could hear the sounds of her pursuers from all around her and although she had some muscle; her strength was not great.

In a moment of sheer will the noble attempted to push herself up to no avail. The grip on her fingers was slipping and she needed to readjust herself. Letting go with one hand Lorena swung her arm back over the tiles and grabbed, taking purchase on a slot between two slightly damages tiles that must have broken on her way down.

She tried again and finally, after what seemed to her like an eternity rushing of dread, the noble managed to heave her body weight up haphazardly onto the roof. Time was not on her side. Blindsided the instant she got up, the sharp cut of a dagger sliced through her flesh, leaving a small wound on her right arm, followed by the pound of a small rock against her torso. “Ah. Codswallop.” Eyes sifting between her knight and the vultures, Lorena knew for a fact she wouldn’t be able to lift Patrick even if she wanted too. The plan of jumping on the roof had already turned to a strange one. Lorena bit back the pain of her wound, covering it with her hand as she watched her knight with worry, what was he going to do next?

[Patrick]

She might've paused which was to be expected given the capacity to question his antics, but nonetheless once commanded to do so Lorena charged at him with all she had. The timing couldn't have been done at any better moment either seeing as how the others reacted, Patrick saw an object drawn but with the fast pace of things he hardly had time to register just what exactly. The distance between them was short but just enough to serve purpose, and thus when she reached him to bring a leg up a little higher; Patrick caught the underneath of her boot with knees bent for better support.

Come the moment he felt the rest of her weight fall into place he buckled just a little, and then with a firm grip found in his fingers he pushed against her with all his might. With just enough force she bounced from his hand and rose higher into the air, just enough so that she'd caught the edge of the roof as he planned. "That's it!" He encouraged when she seemed to have a handle, but then started to struggle and nearly slip off. For a moment he nearly panicked and forgot about the others there, that is until something quickly reminded him that trouble was merely a few feet away.

"Patrick!!"

A look to his left revealed the vulture of a beggar from before lunging with knife in hand, and thus Patrick reached out with his hands to grapple and hold the man at bay. Just in the knick of time too considering where that dagger would've gone, if his back had stayed towards the man he'd have had a blade to the shoulder for sure. The beggar found his arms useless now that they were held away so instead, he sent a knee upward to hit Patrick in the lower reaches of his gut. The Rharnian winced with a groan as he shifted from the pain of impact, which then resulted in his upper body strength waning just enough; for the beggar to push down hard enough for his dagger to plummet. Only by a few inches.

Patrick's forearm pressed against the forearm of the arm in possession of the weapon, and right when he felt the beggar's weight shift for another incoming kick; the Rharnian rocked his head back so that the forward motion which followed gained a bit of momentum. Impact followed and he felt his forehead crash into the nose of the criminal, who teetered just enough for Patrick to regain his footing away from the wall. Without any second chances to leave an opening Patirck brought an arm back, with a fist spiked at a downward angle to punch the man before him almost from above. In that time the beggar's friend had taken to throwing stones at Lorena, up until he realized that his pal happened to have his hands full at the moment.

"Nph!" The dagger wielder staggered back a few feet after the blow he just took at the side of his skull, while Patrick suddenly felt the aftershock of his headbutt when he stood still for a moment. That was all his friend needed apparently as the Rharnian soon found his arms ensnared, and then locked in a hold as the rock thrower held him at the elbows.

"Gah." Patrick growled as he struggled to attempt a break for freedom, but he found the movements useless without a bit more force. So out of defense he took to jabbing the man behind him, sending elbows into the ribs of his captor while the dagger wielder recollected himself. "Get off already!" He barked with a few more harsh shoves of his elbows, until at last he seemed to weak the man's grip around him just in time. The vulture ran to try and skewer him but Patrick had just enough leeway to break out, if only to struggle with his assailant once more if he did so... So what could the Rharnian do when he found himself still held in place? Quickly he bent his knees and did a short bounce to throw the rock tosser off, Patrick's upper body brought up so that his feet would rise just with him at just the right time.

With legs pulled in Patrick sprung them out into a kick that crashed into the dagger holder, and in turn caused his holder to fall with him on top of the man from the brief amount of force. All three men groaned loud as they could now that all of them were on the ground, with Patrick in a roll away from the one who held him; so that he could once more push himself onto his feet in earnest. How much time did he have left?! A look at the other friends associated with these two beggars, and then a glance at the alley's entrance showed that the window of time narrowed by the Trill. The Element guard had been accompanied with a friend or two from the looks of it, and they were intent to stop all this trouble which unfolded in their town.

Poor men. First they were merely chasing a woman and now they'd have to deal with homeless criminals. Fortunately for Pat that meant a chance to get away, since now seemed to be the best time to act on his impulses. Quick as he could Patrick ran towards the wall and bounced to where he'd caught the underside of his boot on it, as to provide a moment to snag the top of a window frame with his fingertips to start the climb. "There! Stop!" Too late Mr. Guard. By the time they started to run Patrick pulled himself up and threw arms above to grapple an arch beneath the roof, using that to help climb to the edge of the roof where Lorena awaited him as the Elements and the beggars all seemed to watch.

"Don't let 'em get away! Bastard's robbed me o' all my nel!!"

Patrick glanced from where he dangled at towards the blood-nosed beggar, with a scowl to boot, as he pulled himself further up to where the lady was. His hands found the same spot that Lorena did earlier, which made the rest of the climb easier as he heaved his body onto the roof with a grunt. "Asshole." Was all he could mutter in turn as he panted for a bit, with a look cast past Lorena towards the roof next to them. It was a bit of a jump but they'd be able to make it, especially if he went first this time around and sure enough; they'd be able to make their getaway from there hopefully.

[Lorena]

Balanced carefully on the edge of the roof with the wind flowing through her long chocolate brown hair, Lorena’s gaze steadied upon her knight, the danger that posed a threat to her averted its attention to him. With fists of fury she observed the ferocity of her companion in silence; despite the odds he overpowered them.

Danger was upon them once again as the Element Guard closed in around them, shouts of anger and frustration barked up at them from the streets below. Pain poked at Lorena’s side, egging her to go onward before something more malicious like arrows came flying in their direction. The idea of more pain coaxed her to move quickly.

Where haste was required so was caution, the momentum of one foot hastily stepping in front of the other kept Lorena from falling as she leapt up the tiles piece by piece, each on slipping loosely shifting beneath her feet. Forced to jump, she to clung to the center beam and pulled her weight up toward it. Waiting around the Patrick wasn’t an option, the idea of being saved a fourth time wounded her pride.

“Arrgggh,” the pain from the cut in her arm stung as she clung to the tiles, protesting against her struggle to lift herself onto the thin surface that offered itself some level of surface. Gritting her teeth she pulled her leg up over the other side of the roof, briefly struggling to find grip on the tiles as she very slowly stood again.

Determination saw no measure. Adamant not to give into the fatigue that made her body feel like it was weighed down by iron, the pain was too much. She could feel her survival instincts kick in as within an instant the world turned to a hazed black rage. Caught between instincts and unconsciousness Lorena became unaware of the true intentions of what she was doing, or the people that surrounded her. Footfall by footfall the woman ran forward down the other side of the tiles and jumped using the momentum of her run. She latched onto the other building and sharpened edges of still tiles scraped across her fingers, peeling the skin away to reveal bloodied muscle, but still she felt nothing.

Her eye-line turned to the alley, survival was her singular thought. Like a monkey she shuffled across, edging toward the main street, swinging around onto a nearby crate of vegetables.

An arrow lodged into her hip, causing her to lurch forward. Pain should have hit her, should have hurt her but her rage continued. Quickly, without hesitation her body charged through the crowd out into another alleyway until finally there was no immediate danger. Patrick had worked as enough of a distraction for her to get away, but she was in trouble. Her fury was starting to subside and as it did the pain came back, the bruises, the wounds. Unable to continue, she collapsed onto a cart on a pile of hay, blood oozing from her side.

“Sorry,” the soft, quiet word uttered between her lips as she felt her last shred of energy drain from her being and darkness took her consciousness. She had failed.

[Ghoul]

Modbomb!

Territory.

It was perhaps the most important word in her vocabulary - and there weren't many. Her expertise did not lie in words. What mattered were nel, profit, and no mistakes. The pair - and the subsequent crowd that followed them - had already made a mistake in passing through her big word. She had watched, for the most part from her stoop in the shadows, shrouded in the guise of a beggar. She had waited as they scuffled and bled, pressed up against a wall and still donning the cloak of innocence as she peered up with burning eyes. She watched, and she waited, and she watched. Because that was what she had learned to do and that is what she'd been used to.

They moved and she had to continue on after them. But a scuffle had been a warning that they were trouble. Had they held their own? Certainly, they had. Maybe not as well as they should have. Could have. As good as her eyes had been, they weren't that good. Why would they need to be if she could constantly illuminate her way. So she did just that, a flicker of flames sparking to life as she snapped her fingers - perhaps a reckless mistake, but she made none of those these trials if she wished to live. And now these two would learn the same thing. The sound might be a small thing from the height they were at, but not for long.

The flame became a blaze and Scalvoris knew a thing or two about blazes in these past seasons. The pair, or well just Patrick at this point, would see a body on fire propelled towards them. The figure engulfed in flames would watch them and wait a moment before speaking.

"Who you?"