Playing With Fire

[SkySilver]

Map ran a few blocks and stopped. The guards didn't seem to follow, it was all quite behind him. He let go of the kid's arm and sat down to catch his breath.
"What bloody pigs are yammering about? I don't get. What kinda city is that? First I get aressted and now I have some crazy fool accuse me of stealing his pigs... I swear" he sighed and let his hood drop revealing his nearly white spiky hair. He had to rest and think how is he gonna get back out into the desert. Oh and he had to find the other two along the way too. Damn it! Can't anything go right in his life for once.
"Where did the other two go I wonder?" he mumbled more to himself than anything.

[Nines]

This man had some nerve. Though, after witnessing his onslaught, lying most definitely was a trivial matter to him....but to call him a fool on top of it! Nines took a long look at his face once he revealed it. White hair, tattooed face, and blue eyes - It was the face of a pig killer. Vengeance demanded that he acted, no matter how bad the odds. He had always been strangely strong, not to mention he did work on a ranch. Loading and unloading crates made him only added to the fact.

Nines adjusted his large gloves so that his fingers were snuggly held by the leather. He tightened his smock and adjusted his belt buckle. Everything had to be just right. There would only be one opportunity, so he had to make it count. His eyes narrowed as he sprang into action.

While the man was uttering to himself, Nines lunged at him, grasping the strangers arm with both of his own. "YOU are not going anywhere until you pay me for my pigs!" He flinched as he spoke, unable to control his body. He had never been in a fight before. Perhaps he would have been better off had he remembered that fact before he tried to start one.

[SkySilver]

Mal was slightly taken aback by this attack but he wasn't really in a mood for a brawl. With his free hand he pushed into man's right and then left shoulder. Eng'go was a particulary favorite move of his. I rendered the target motionless but wouldn't kill. Mal hated senless violence even though he was well aware of how hypocritical it might have sounded.

The man gasped and both of his arms went limp. He slipped backwards and hit the ground. Mal stood over him watching him trying to get up but his arms were still immobile. Malcolm knew that if he left him here like that he would soon be found and arrested by Militia Guards. Even though it didn't look like the kid had all his wits about him Mal did not wish for him to end up in the prison. He would probably be eaten alive there the first night.

"Get up." He pulled The kid by the collar of his shirt to his feet. And pushed the two nerve endings back in place momenteraly restoring motor funcions to his both arms.

"Now you listen to me," Mal looked him straight in the eyes still hholding him up by the collar.
"You pull something like this again and its not Eng'go you are going to get. Something much more deadly. Dont underestimate me kid. I have no qurrel with you and no reason to kill you. I would much like it to keep it that way. I need to find a way to get out of this city somehow. Before I'm caught. And you...You are going to help me. Since i Have the notion that if I let you go, you'll go and find some guards to round me up. And I can't have that. So You are going to help me. And you are giong to stay close and quite, or else we got the problem. You Understand?"

Mal spoke quitely and slowly. There was no agression in his voice nor was it friendly. As the matter of fact it seemed to lack any tone what so ever. Malcolm starred the kid in the eyes for a moment longer and then he let him go.

"I'll take it as a 'yes'. Now what are we gonna do?" He looked around. He had no plan on how to get out of the city. Maybe with the caravan? They don't check the people too much only the goods. But...no caravans were going to leave tommorrow. It was quite tonight. Sandstorm might be comming. What are the ways out of the city besides caravan? Damn. There has to be some way...

[Nines]

Nines' mind went blank. What just happened? All he remembered was reaching for the man's arm and now standing there staring dumbfounded at the man in front of him while he was yelled at. He assumed his grand plan to subdue the murder had failed, but where did that leave him now? It was hopeless to try to physically restrain the stranger, so he came up with a new idea. Nines wouldn't let him out of his sight, which flowed well with the plan with man was now suggesting.

"I'll take it as a 'yes'. Now what are we gonna do?"

"I think I know. Follow me," he whispered as he turned the corner. Being a rancher, Nines knew virtually every grain of sand in the desert. He could tell you exactly how many steps it was from any cactus to any cactus. Why, he would nearly predict the weather weeks in advance just by glancing at the sky that day. Nines was born among the dunes - He was one with them. Everything they knew, he did as well. It was a beautiful relationship.

What he didn't count on was that a shield would be in the exact spot he had planned for his foot to be. A loud clang could be heard as Nines fell head first into a cart filled with boots. Hearing the commotion, a guard (the same guard who left his shield against the wall while he went to take a piss around the corner) came running over.

"Hey! I found them!"

[city guard]

It was a pleasant evening for a walk, and the General had almost managed to slip his bodyguards - almost. They'd caught up with him on his way out, of course. Ever diligent. It was a good thing too, if they'd actually failed to keep up with him, the General would have ensured their duties would be unpleasant. There were plenty of reaper and banta piles that needed cleaning up around here.

Insects zipped by his head now and then as he strode through the district, head held high. He was master of all he surveyed here. Well... effectively. The buildings and streets of this district were not his, but the people - they were all his troops - and therefore his to command. It meant nothing that the Lord of the Military District had control over the taxes and laws and buildings when it was HE, General Kavule, who commanded the people.

Abruptly a commotion interrupted his reflections, evoking a modicum of irritation. What chaos was it that dared to encroach upon his neat and orderly little kingdom. And then he saw what appeared to be an unkempt scumbag in the garb of Daroonian armor of a type worn by that Barony's reputed Rangers. And the General frowned. If a Daroonian Ranger were in HIS district for ANY reason, then he would have been informed.

"YOU THERE!" he snapped, pointing a finger directly at Silko Asad. "Who the HELL are you, and what are you doing here?"

All three of his bodyguards looked extremely concerned by this, and two of them drew the curved scimitars that the General insisted they carry. He had a certain image to maintain, and that requirement extended to his personal servants. His family had come from Kjef originally, and the Kavule line always maintained a specific style. Thus the scimitars and dress.

The third guard put a whistle to his lips and blew it loudly. The general winced in apparent pain and then slapped it from the guard's mouth. "Are you insane?" he demanded. "You're going to deafen me!"

Just then they all hear someone yell "Hey, I found them!"

[SkySilver]

Mal cursed at his new companion in his mind. Could nothing go smooth tonight? He had little strenght left and he had to conserve it. Even if he didn't care for conserving it he didnt have a chance of winning right now. His head was spinning and he was weak. Any attempt to break guard's neck would result in Mal getting stabbed and that kid would end up in prison.

Mal rose to his feet and looked at the guard. Suddenly it become apperant that the man didnt know what he found. If he knew he'd call louder for help.

"I'm sorry, found who? Did we do some thing wrong?" Mal put an expression of innocence on his face. He still was gripping the short knife in has hand behind his back. He didnt know what the young guard might do. He however hoped he would just let them go.

He took a step towards the cart and looked at the kid who was strugling to get out. Or rather he made it look that way. By doing so he brought himself closer to the guard in the case the fool decided to attack.

"So? What's the problem my good sir?" Mal asked with a slight smile, trying to come up wth a plausable explanation to why they were here so late.

[Plane Trip to Mars]

It was never in his intentions to get caught, though it came in his schematics as a plausible scenario. It was never in his intentions.

Perched on the rooftop, with the wind beneath his feet and the moonlight bathing him in luminance, he listened for the shrill whistle that was the call for the district to swoop down upon the unlucky fellows that were caught within. It was not safe here any longer. The whistle was close.

Dropping from the rooftop, he landed softly—yet still the sands around him scurried away. He rose from the sands, shifting from the mound of grains that the duster covering him made him out to be.

“Hey, I found them!”

The fools, they’d alerted the entire Military District with their foolish foolery. It was no telling how long they’d been mobilizing, but the stranger assumed that it was safe to assume he was @&*%ed. He broke out into a sprint, sliding up against a wall and peering down the walkway between them. Sure enough, there they were; the oddest couple that he’d run into in quite some time… aside from the Daroonian Ranger’s, because—aside from professionalism—they were an odd bunch.

Shaking his head soundly, he turned and walked. But there was that trampling of earth and the rattling of armor again. It was something of a nightmare, where your motor functions were rendered useless; the only difference between that and this being that all exits weren’t exits anymore.

Two guards came upon him. He could smell the sweat that built up beneath the armor from this close; they were fearful—though they stood their ground. They were put down immediately, helms snatched from their heads and elbows and knees breaking noses. They tried to swarm him, but the flying fists were swatted aside or flung overhead and he screamed something brutal and vulgar. It was more of a war cry than a word.

“Why’re there so many of you?” he grunted, slipping into a stance that anticipated incoming violence. There was undoubtedly too many. He was sure that they would kill him if he tried to stand his ground any longer, so he ran back to the source of this madness. Buildings whizzed past and the jingling armor was at his heels.

Flying past the casual murderer of Military personnel, his fist collided with the face of the guard he was sure would’ve been murdered either way.

“I’m an accomplice, now you’re a part of my problem.” He stated, matter-of-factly. Then the guards arrived.

[Nines]

Nines surveyed the scene with curiosity. With all these armed men around, surely they must be up to something. They were highly skilled, but not skilled enough. The newfound companion he traveled with seemed to dispatch of them rather easily. Though, maybe the men they had slain were training partners that were meant to be slain. That would be a poor existence, he thought, to be born only to die. Then he was reminded of his whole purpose before coming to Forwell. He was a rancher and one that specialized in raising pigs for the slaughter. They were just pigs though. Surely a man's life was worth more than an animal's.

Snapping back to reality, he realized his life was about to end if he didn't act quickly. He placed his hand on the violent stranger's shoulder and yanked him back before he knew what was going on. Nines stepped between the murder and the guard to try and pacify them both. The man could have killed him at least a dozen times over and hadn't done so yet, so he figured he wasn't about to do so now. Fighting was futile. The man couldn't kill everyone in the city and had a surprising lack of subtlety. Everywhere he went he tried to kill someone.

"I'm sorry, sir. Me and my friend here are new to the city and have gotten a bit turned around." It wasn't all a lie. He was fairly new and he certainly was turned around.

[SumDood]

Closing this thread. If you wish to have been captured and placed along with the other "conscripted" fighters onboard one of the balloon ships, then refer to the following thread. You can just post in here whenever you like.

The Second Expedition.

Alternatively, if you aren't interested in the Daeleos SL, then you are free to post anywhere else you wish and just note that you "escaped" the situation in the Military District (somehow). That's up to you. This the Playing With Fire OOC thread for more info.

Thanks.

-Dood!