This was the fifth time in as many days
that Llorne walked this street. He had been here, once, but there
was nothing to say where he went now. She had scanned it in every
way she knew and more, but there wasn't a single clue. It was a half
hope, at best, that her quick trip to the bar earlier in the night
would have produced anything, but it appeared that it was time to
start from scratch. That decision could wait until tomorrow. For
now, she would get some sleep, perhaps something would come to her in
the morning, and if not. . .
"Help!"
Llorne barely registered the scream,
but she still checked it out, albeit passively. It was coming from
nearby, moving rapidly down the road. Llorn caught a glimpse of the
girl ducking down an alley, with a man close behind. “Damnit
bitch, think you’re going to pick my pocket will ya.” It was the
drunk from earlier in the evening; the one Llorne had frozen in
place. Odd how their paths had crossed again, she added it to her
comments on the bar theory article, and casually followed both of
them down an alley.
It was clear on arrival that the girl
had fallen into the trash. She screamed out again for help and began
kicking at his reaching hands. A street rat from the looks of it,
probably trying to get by on what little she could get her hands on,
but this time she messed up and the drunk, already upset over the
event at the bar, had decided this was the best time to prove his
manhood, by beating up on a little girl.
"Help me!" the girl screamed
again. Her feet were kicking out, trying to knock the drunk out of
the way. Every snap seemed to impact the man, but none hurt him, his
drunken state making him nearly immune to much of the pain. He
reached out with an angry hand and tried to grab her arm to hold her
down, only to have the hand knocked away with another kick. He
reached again, and another kick. Five times he reached for her and
each time her foot connected with him. She probably would have
continued this if he hadn't decided to just jump on top of her,
pinning her to the ground with his massive weight.
"Quit your strugglin' you little
bitch." He raised up, lifting his fist high into the air,
preparing to issue forth the first of many blows on the thief who so
recently wronged him. A familiar chill ran through his body as
Llorne's hand touched his shoulder. Fear was the last thing that ran
through his mind and she pulled back on his shoulder and threw him
down the alley and into the wall across the street.
The girl was just as scared, or at
least shocked, by the sudden turn events, and lay on a pile of
garbage trying to figure out exactly what happened. "You can
get up, he won't be moving anytime soon."
"Uh, um," the girl stood up
and brushed some excess grime from her coat. She glanced over
towards the rather large dent in the far wall where her
would-be-rapist had hit. "Is he dead?"
Llorne checked, reading the life
energies emanating from the body, or the lack there of. "Well.
. ." A thought occurred to her and she ran a quick scan of the
girl. No sign of Ritch 'arrd, yet her instincts told her he would
have been interested in her. "Does it matter?"
"Yeah," she said. "I
mean, it would be wrong to kill him." Without another word she
headed out of the alley and across the street, apparently to check
the body herself.
Llorne sighed. It wasn't much, a
possibility at least, and even if it didn't pan out, what did it
matter? Of course, best to get in on her good side a little early if
she could. A slight bump should do.
The man's body heaved up with a
breath. The girl backed away in fear for a moment, then reached down
again. "He's still alive!"
"Fancy that." The girl
reached for his pocket, her instinct to grab what she could still
quite evident. "Don't bother. He spent all his money at the
bar. The wallet is empty." Llorne was now standing above them.
The girl seemed disappointed, so Llorne kicked the man's shoe
lightly. "But I think he might have hidden a 50 cred chip in
his boot. Probably forgot about it in his drunken state."
The girl pulled the boot of, keeping a
close eye on the man's odd hollow breathing. She tipped it up and
shook, dumping the chip out onto the concrete. "How'd you
know?"
"Heard him mention it in the bar
earlier. Like I said, he probably forgot it."
The girl stared back up at her for a
moment, pocketed the chip and stood up. "Well, uh, thanks."
She then ran off, disappearing into the night.
Llorne looked down at the breathing
corpse. "Well, that's enough of that." The body stopped
moving. She looked up to where the girl had gone, but there was no
sign of her. Didn't matter, Llorne already had a read on her. She'd
be back, eventually.
---------
Four days had passed. Llorne spent
most of those four days simply wandering around the city. All the
way around the city. She made it look as if she intended to walk
down every street in town, down every back alley, visit every
restaurant, hotel, shop and whatnot. There was no apparent rhyme or
reason to her routes, no particular direction she took or goal she
set for herself, aside from the eventual grand tour. She got up each
morning, walked around until well after sunset, then returned to the
relatively dingy motel where she had been staying since she arrived.
There was a purpose though, and that
purpose had been following her for the last three days. Llorne
hadn't seen hide nor hair of the girl that entire first day, but she
eventually appeared, lurking in the shadows and alleys and crowds,
always just a half a block behind. Llorne never acknowledged her,
never even made it look like she recognized her at all. And still
the girl followed her, that short cut blond top weaving in and out
between people and cars, and occasionally simply walking a short
distance behind.
Just after noon on the fourth day,
Llorne decided enough time had passed. She walked until the girl was
simply walking, not lurking, behind her along a long stretch of
buildings. Llorne then turned a corner, and the girl followed, only
to find that Llorne had given her the slip. She looked up and down
the street, across the way, even up, but no sign of the black haired
woman.
The girl simply walked on, following
the last path and thinking. She tried to figure out where, exactly
the woman had gone, and how. The thought came slowly, and grew ever
larger, pushing her into a run. How long would she be there? No way
to know, but the girl had to get there quickly. Her run erupted into
a mad dash, around trashcans and people, hopping over the occasional
lump of trash or begger, dodging around cars and bicycles, all for
one destination, the one place the woman could have gone.
The park.
Along one end of the park, amongst the
trees and benches, lay a long line of tables and small seats, two to
a table. People of many ages and walks of life gathered here on
occasion, but today it was near empty, save for Lcorn Llorne, who sat
at one of them, a collection of small figures arrayed before her on
the checkerboard that had been carefully marked off on the table.
The girl spotted her almost as soon as
she hit the table area, and simply stopped, leaning against a tree,
in total exhaustion. Llorne finally looked right at her, and
motioned her over to the table and the seat across from her. The
girl was too tired to refuse, and stumbled over to slouch on the
seat.
"You didn't have to run, I wasn't
going anywhere." The girl gasped back at her, but didn't really
say anything. Llorne smiled. "I knew you'd find me, in fact I
planned on it."
"What?" the girl said
between breaths.
"Doesn't matter now," Llorne
brushed away the question. "Know how to play?"
The girl looked down at the game board
laid out before her. "Chess?"
"Yup."
"Yeah, but why. . ."
Llorne reached over and moved a pawn
forward as the girl spoke. "Your move."
--------
Questions You don't have to answer ALL The questions, or every time for the repeated ones, just the ones you feel relevant.
1. What kind of person is Lcorn Llorne? What does she look like (in your mind)?
2. What kind of person is the little girl? What does she look like (in your mind)?
3. Does the setting seem fitting? Would you like to know more?
4. In the middle of the second part the perspective changes from Llorne to the girl, does this feel too sudden? Should there be a break or something more obvious to highlight the transition?
2. What kind of person is the little girl? What does she look like (in your mind)?
3. Does the setting seem fitting? Would you like to know more?
4. In the middle of the second part the perspective changes from Llorne to the girl, does this feel too sudden? Should there be a break or something more obvious to highlight the transition?
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