66th Ymiden, 718
Vega was sitting on a low wall, waiting for Arlo to catch up with her. She'd gone off to buy a dress, or to have a look for one and rather than have him huff and puff while she tried it on, she suggested that she'd be quite content on her own and there was that stall they'd passed earlier, full of cookware and pots and pans and things which were as incomprehensible to her as undergarments and petticoats were to him. So, she'd said that if he gave her half a break, then they could both go and purchase things which the other did not comprehend but appreciated no end.
And as great an idea as that was, here she was sitting on the wall outside the shop some five bits later because the people in the shop had refused to serve her. Not overtly, of course, it was too high class an establishment for that, but they had nothing that would fit her, nothing suitable, no nothing of the sort. Perhaps a different shop, they'd suggested. Vega had grown more and more frustrated until she'd told them where to shove their undergarments and flounced out of the shop. But that meant that she was going to be waiting a while for Arlo, which was fine because frankly she needed the time to calm down.
Things had been getting more tricky, she knew. Since the whole Ring of Fire, Aukari thing, Vega had realised that things in Rharne weren't great but they didn't come here often enough for her to realise that things were way, way beyond "not great" and so, she sat on the wall and waited. She was humming a tune to herself, thinking about how she'd play it on the fiddle when she felt a drop of rain hit her face. Or that was what it felt like until she raised her head and realised two things. First, there were a group of men standing there. All men, all broad and well built and all very angry looking. She counted eight of them as the second realization hit her. It wasn't raining.
"Did you jus' spit on me?" Vega asked, incredulously.
Standing, she held her arms out with the intention of using an ability from her Nalos mark. There were too many of them and, bizarrely, the street had cleared. "Well, this is trouble," she said with a smile. It might seem like a strange thing to say, but it wasn't for them that she spoke it. It was for the little Diri which she knew, knew was with her even though she was unseen to the redhead. The words hadn't got out of her mouth, though, and her hands had certainly not lifted to the point that she could use her ability when one of the men, the one who had spit, stepped forward and backhanded her across the face. Vega, for her part, didn't hesitate. He was slapping, and that was nice for him, but she put every ounce of strength she had into punching his square between the eyes. As she did, she realised that blood was gushing in a fountain from his nose as he fell and she had the satisfaction of feeling his face crack under her knuckles.
She didn't have time to care, though. That left seven of them and Vega knew that there was no way on Idalos that she was going to win. So, she determined in that moment that she was going to kill as many of them as she possibly could before they did the same to her. Immortals, she thought in sudden cold fear, she hoped that was what they did. Either way, she determined there and then that five was her minimum number of casualties before she could die happy.
As they moved in, the rest of them, Vega let out a yell of pure fury and kicked out at the knee of the one nearest her. She didn't like to do it because, frankly, she'd had a broken knee and she knew how it felt. Turned out, she didn't need to worry because she didn't kick the knee quite where she meant to and although she hurt him and he howled, his punch to her jaw was much better aimed and Vega got a moment to wonder just how it was that she got herself into these situations. With a wild punch to the one in front of her, Vega got him in the right eye and he, too went down. She was already bleeding from her nose and her ear, but she wasn't done yet and so, fists and feet flew as Vega did her best to make sure that she got at least three more before they got her.
And as great an idea as that was, here she was sitting on the wall outside the shop some five bits later because the people in the shop had refused to serve her. Not overtly, of course, it was too high class an establishment for that, but they had nothing that would fit her, nothing suitable, no nothing of the sort. Perhaps a different shop, they'd suggested. Vega had grown more and more frustrated until she'd told them where to shove their undergarments and flounced out of the shop. But that meant that she was going to be waiting a while for Arlo, which was fine because frankly she needed the time to calm down.
Things had been getting more tricky, she knew. Since the whole Ring of Fire, Aukari thing, Vega had realised that things in Rharne weren't great but they didn't come here often enough for her to realise that things were way, way beyond "not great" and so, she sat on the wall and waited. She was humming a tune to herself, thinking about how she'd play it on the fiddle when she felt a drop of rain hit her face. Or that was what it felt like until she raised her head and realised two things. First, there were a group of men standing there. All men, all broad and well built and all very angry looking. She counted eight of them as the second realization hit her. It wasn't raining.
"Did you jus' spit on me?" Vega asked, incredulously.
Standing, she held her arms out with the intention of using an ability from her Nalos mark. There were too many of them and, bizarrely, the street had cleared. "Well, this is trouble," she said with a smile. It might seem like a strange thing to say, but it wasn't for them that she spoke it. It was for the little Diri which she knew, knew was with her even though she was unseen to the redhead. The words hadn't got out of her mouth, though, and her hands had certainly not lifted to the point that she could use her ability when one of the men, the one who had spit, stepped forward and backhanded her across the face. Vega, for her part, didn't hesitate. He was slapping, and that was nice for him, but she put every ounce of strength she had into punching his square between the eyes. As she did, she realised that blood was gushing in a fountain from his nose as he fell and she had the satisfaction of feeling his face crack under her knuckles.
She didn't have time to care, though. That left seven of them and Vega knew that there was no way on Idalos that she was going to win. So, she determined in that moment that she was going to kill as many of them as she possibly could before they did the same to her. Immortals, she thought in sudden cold fear, she hoped that was what they did. Either way, she determined there and then that five was her minimum number of casualties before she could die happy.
As they moved in, the rest of them, Vega let out a yell of pure fury and kicked out at the knee of the one nearest her. She didn't like to do it because, frankly, she'd had a broken knee and she knew how it felt. Turned out, she didn't need to worry because she didn't kick the knee quite where she meant to and although she hurt him and he howled, his punch to her jaw was much better aimed and Vega got a moment to wonder just how it was that she got herself into these situations. With a wild punch to the one in front of her, Vega got him in the right eye and he, too went down. She was already bleeding from her nose and her ear, but she wasn't done yet and so, fists and feet flew as Vega did her best to make sure that she got at least three more before they got her.