[Kaizel]

"And remember, when you're in the shop, wear a skirt! For Xanths' sake you look like a child, dear!"

Kaizel refrained from being rude. In fact, she took a certain pride in being ridiculously polite. If someone ever behaved in a way that upset her, she was known to brush it off. There wasn't one person that could get under her skin.

Enter Marinelle Korin.

It was hard to love someone who could take a small imperfection and turn it into a full-fledged disabilty! Even if that someone happened to be your mother. Sure, she might've meant well but Kaizel seriously doubted that her refusal to wear a skirt would effect the street, let alone the world. But try telling that to Marinelle.

She had given up on her a long time ago, along with her siblings, and now found it convienent to gaze out a window or pretend to be immersed in work whenever the Nymph came around. She loved her mother, really she did. And on a good day, they could have a really lovely chat...once she started to tune out the multiple comments about bad posture and the importance of "flaunting it".

But today was different. Kaizel had been tired all day(plus D'Miri had been onry all day for being woken up and dragged to work) and really had no patience for her well-meaning mother. So, when Marinelle had gone to the back for some lillies(all the while commenting about how Kaizel "really should do something with her hair, it was starting to look too long"), she told the current customer, a nice young man, that his flowers would be ready soon and to excuse her.

Nicely, of course. Always nicely.

Now, without D'Miri to burden her walk, she strolled down the street letting her troublesome panther and her finnicky mother slip her mind. With this new found freedom, she felt...sort of giddy. There was no one to judge her eating choices, so she stopped at a kiosk(she could hear her mother's terrified gasp and winded spiel on the fat content of corn already) and enjoyed the newfound freedom of not having to pay the man for her panther wrecking his stand. She was so caught up in this thought that she didn't realize that she had wandered off a little farther than planned, and that the streets had thinned considerably leaving her alone. Near dusk.

She had also failed to notice that the man from the flower shop, "the nice young man", had followed her out.

(Well! there it is! Sorry for the wait, PM me if you have any ideas on what should happen from here on out! )

[Xephia]

Xephia walked through the empty streets. She'd stayed out exploring the city a little longer than she had anticipated and was eager to get back to her flat to read her recent purchases on lowland herbology. The cool dusk breeze lifted her hair off her face and she breathed deep. It was no stiff alpine mistral, for sure, but it was chill enough to make her huddle her shawl closer about her shoulders.

As she rounded a corner she barely registered the Nymph walking towards her, but the fellow behind looked kind of shifty, and seemed to straighten suddenly when he spotted the Anyelos. She turned a stern eye upon him, a look that said, "I know what YOU are up to so you'd better be careful" and he didn't appreciate it. As she and the Nymph were about to pass, an unwholesome gleam lit up the young mans eyes and he pulled out a knife to brandish it in her face.

It took a second or two to react. Her initial, instinctive response was to flare out her wings to make herself look more intimidating, but also to protect the Nymph. Then she felt a sharp, excrutiating pain in her right shoulder as the man dug his knife deep into her flesh. She'd never had to use her Aura Shield in anything but a practise, training situation before now, but she clenched in her will as her father had taught her and held out her right fist. Searing white light radiated outwards, pushing the man away and ripping the knife from her shoulder. Blood came lashing out, pulsing with the beat of her heart.

She cried out wretchedly, and as suddenly as it had appeared, the flash of her shield was out again, as quick as a flash of lightening. It had been pretty weak at any rate; it was much too dark about now, and her wounded shoulder hindered her determination.

The man looked pretty dazed as he dragged himself back up.

"Think you're so clever now, Anyelos?" he screamed in glee at her bleeding shoulder, "First I'll gut you, then I'll play with your little friend!"

Xephia had almost forgotten the Nymph and she twisted to see her just as a fist landed a hard blow against her nose

(ooc: Help the damsels, Aiden!)

[Aiden]

It was Minevas now and nearing springtime, but leftover snow still sat alongside the edge of buildings and the lesser travelled paths. No longer fresh, the snow was dulled by brown dirt and the residue of shoes. Rubbing his hands together for warmth, Aiden trudged at a leisurely pace along the streets of the city. He was careful to avoid the puddles of melting snow, and as the sun set swiftly behind the Duskies, his eyes grew wider to adjust to the dim skies.

He'd stay out on the streets for a few hours more until the night watch took over, so he glanced around for a place where he could stop for food. He knew Fritz was around here, but the hot dog stand was probably closed already. In this weather, Aiden would prefer something much warmer anyway, like a mug of hot chocolate that he could take along the walk. The west district was usually a quiet one, so he figured he'd have time to enjoy his drink. But just as he caught sight of an open cafe down the street, a small cry cut through the air. Raising an eyebrow, Aiden pivoted on a foot and turned toward the direction of the sound. Scanning his surroundings for the source of the noise, it was a mere minute before he heard the voice of a shouting man.

“...I'll gut you, then I'll play with your little friend!”

Aiden broke into a run then. He was already reaching for his tonfas. as he turned the corner and came across a trio of Others. An anyeli recoiled as if somebody punched her in the face, and the perpetrator was waving a knife in the air. Eyes narrowing, he strode toward the lot of them and shouted, “Hey! Drop your weapon now.”

Of course, the man had the gleam of insanity in his eyes and he could care less about the guardsman approaching him. “"Yet another fly. Wait there and I'll swat you next!"” Sneering, the criminal made a jab with his knife toward the anyeli, but Aiden was already close enough to sweep his tonfa in a block that struck the knife aside. He jabbed the other tonfa toward the man's stomach, but suddenly the man was gone. In his place was a massive desert lion, and Aiden didn't have time to react as the beast swatted him onto the floor and leaped toward the anyeli.

((Some help Aiden is, eh?
But I'm trying to make the fight more interesting. ;P))

[Kaizel]

Kaizel had planned on telling the Anyelos her wings were very pretty. She had always thought wings were beautiful in any shape and color, and felt like giving the lady a compliment.

That is, until she was hit in the face with them.

The Anyelos had shot her wings out before they had fully passed eachother, sending Kaizel to the ground to land on her hands. Before she could alert the woman of her own, no doubt, unnoticed presence she saw the man from the flower shop stab her in the shoulder.

What?

But her shock of the man's change in character was short-lived, because the instinct to help the Anyelos drove her to her feet. She was nervous about using her element, considering she had never done so in combat before and she figured she'd end up hurting her savior more than the attacker, so she decided against it. She went forward to help the woman, but stopped when some sort of shield sent the man away from her.

"I'll gut you, then I'll play with your little friend!"

Kaizel didn't know what to do! She had never been in any sort of situation like this before. Her fear of using her element increased as she realized her rescuer had now become two. A man had come to thier aid, but was caught off guard when the man turned into a desert lion and hit him to the ground. When the lion turned on the woman, Kaizel went with her first instinct. It wasn't to run, or hide, but to jump in between the Anyelos and the leaping cat.

Okay, so it wasn't the smartest instinct.


This became extremely apparent when the she saw the outstretched claws on it. She threw her hand up in front of her face, waiting for the painful strike. It was definitely going to hurt. Another thing she hadn't thought of.

But it didn't come.

Grrr.

Kaizel lowered her hands from her face, searching for the source of the very different growl, and saw her own cat lunging at the other. The lion flew back and hit the ground, snarling, his eyes still on Kaizel. She met them briefly before D'Miri stationed himself in front of her, his teeth snapping threateningly at the other feline. When the lion backed away a few steps, Miri turned and nudged Kaizel in the side, pushing her in the opposite direction.

Still a bit shocked, Kaizel kept backing away as Miri turned back to the predator, and bumped right into the Anyelos.

[Xephia]

Xephia was completely dazed by the strike to her nose. She raised her hand to find yet more blood pouring. Seeing stars, she stumbled a little way, hands grasping at both her wounds. She barely registered that another had entered the fray, though she did wonder why she was not being attacked still. Just as the fog cleared from her eyes, the Nymph, who had somehow gotten inbetween her and the attacker, bumped right into her.

The Nymph was quite tiny compared to Xephia's height and frame, but the Anyelos was loosing quite a bit of blood and stumbled to the ground, landing unceremoniously on her ample backside. She looked up to see a lion, a panther, and a young man, all appeared from no where it seemed. She grabbed at the young girls skirt to get her attention.

"Are you alright? He was about to attack you! I had to stop him! Oh Xanth! I'm sorry, I've gotten blood on your skirt..."

She seemed to swoon a little, but she wasn't quite ready to pass out just yet...

[Aiden]

Lion paws are heavy, and with the force of a sledgehammer, they batted the breath out of Aiden. Colliding with the ground, Aiden coughed for air (and partly from the pain) as he scrambled to guard himself. Looking toward the lion, and where it was going, he grimaced and lunged fruitlessly at the beast that was just too quick and was heading for the girl. Aiden knew that he wouldn't be fast enough to stop the lion, but grabbed for the lion's tail anyway and barely noticed the black blur before it tackled the lion out of the way.

“Crap!” Stumbling to a stop in front of the anyeli and her friend, he whirled to keep an eye on the two large cats. He'd lost hold of one of his tonfas, so he switched the remaining one from his right hand to his left. Not knowing if the panther was feral, domesticated, or hopefully just another therian, Aiden raised his single tonfa and watched warily as the black one stalked over and planted itself between the shorter woman and the lion.

“Is it yours?” He muttered to the lady--he had to make sure, because how often did you see a big cat that was tame? From the desert lion to the panther, and then the anyeli on the ground, Aiden wasn't sure who to focus on. But then he realized that the anyeli was bleeding.

With his eyes still trained on the cats, Aiden edged toward the anyeli. “Put pressure on your shoulder before you lose more blood.” He didn't mean to sound gruff, but considering how stressed he was, it probably came out that way. “How deep is the wound?”

[Kaizel]

Kaizel looked over the woman's shoulder to see her cat victorious. Their attacker had bounded off in the opposite direction, and D'Miri trotted over to the two and circled them curiously. She looked at the woman and processed her words. True enough, her skirt had been soiled with crimson liquid. Though Kaizel was more concerned with the fact that it was coming from the woman's shoulder.

Besides, now she had a fitting excuse not to wear it ever again.

"Nevermind my skirt", she replied to her fretting,"Are you alright? That looks just awful".

She put out a hand to help the anyeli up, and put her her gaze on the man, inching towards them. He indeed looked worse for wear, and confused by the previous events.

"Yes, he's mine", she answered,"and he's tame, so don't you worry about him". She said the last part quickly as to not sound rude, but figured it was a fact the man needed to be put at ease.

Or, at least, as much ease as you could have in these sort of situations.

Before she could thank the man for his help, his words grabbed her attention. "Oh!", she yelped. She had almost forgotten the current state of the anyeli on the ground. Without a second thought to indecency, or that she was in the presence of a man as well, she caught up the trim of her skirt(which came down to about the middle of her shin) and ripped it straight across until it was shortened to right below her knee. Wrapping up the fabric, she held it out to the anyeli.

"Here", she started soothingly," We can tie this around it".

(Ooc: HEy guys! I'm soooo Sorry for the wait! Life's been hectic! Sorry if I held up the thread!)

[Xephia]

Shaking back the fog in her head she smiled queasily at the young man,

"I don't know...but my father is a healer and I don't think I've ever seen this much blood! Hah hah hah!"

That was a little bit of an overstatement. Though she felt sick and faint and acting rather absently and a little blase about the whole situation, this was more through shock and high adrenaline than blood loss. The pale colour of her (now ruined) dress exagerated the ammount of blood actually lost and already the once thumping river was slowing to a trickle, a thick and gelatinous clot was beginning to form over the wound. Still, she was well enough versed in emergency field treatment to give herself a thorough enough examination (Xanth, this is way different when it happens to yourself!) and realise it was a shallow enough wound not to worry too much.

"No, it isn't very deep though," she said, her fingers running lightly over and around, probing and pulling the flesh (not without a grimmace and a hiss of pain) to determine the damage done, "But I think he managed to...ouch!" she winced as she tried to move the affected arm, "damage the muscle! I won't be able to move this thing for a while!"

By the time the young girl passed her the torn bit of skirt her nose had stopped pouring so she pressed it up against her shoulder to stem the rest of the bleeding,

"Thanks for coming to our rescue, sir," she addressed the young man, "I thought for sure I was a gonner, I couldn't hold that shield for too long. Where did that creep go?" she turned to the young woman, "do you know where he came from?"

Her heart was still racing and she was still sat unceremoniously on the dirty floor. She wondered if she'd ever actually find it in her to stand again, but her arm just hurt so darn much!

[Aiden]

Clearly outnumbered, the attacker rumbled again and stalked to the side streets. Before it disappeared behind the buildings, it turned and tilted its head mockingly at the group. If big cats could sneer, it was certainly sneering. Eyes narrowing, Aiden raised his tonfa to warn the lion away.

Much as he ached to chase and give that psycho a lesson, Aiden turned to kneel beside the injured anyeli. “Gah, that looks painful. Are you sure you want to poke at it like that?” he murmured as the anyeli examined her own wound. Just seeing her do that was enough to make him hiss and wince as well.

As the anyeli thanked him for his help, Aiden shook his head in protest. “Don't thank me--I couldn't stop you from getting hurt. It's a good thing that you had a...shield?” For a silly moment, he looked for a physical shield and saw none. But then he remembered a few anyeli in the guard who mentioned a type of aura thing. He figured that was it.

“I'm curious though,” he looked between the two women, “What started the fight?” Unfortunately, there were hundreds of reasons why something like this would happen, and Aiden didn't want to guess. However, neither of the two women seemed like the sort to cause trouble...Perhaps the attacker was a thief who became desperate after being caught. Regardless of the reason, he was already reaching for his COM to message the guard.

((Sorry for the delay. ^__^)

[Kaizel]

(Ooc: Don't be sorry! ^.^ Welcome back! Lith and I had wondered where'd you'd gone...)

"Do you know where he came from?"

Kaizel thought back to when the man had entered her shop. She remembered D'Miri growling at him, but really hadn't thought much of it (he was like that with all strangers), and the man had been perfectly polite when asking for his flowers. When she asked him what they were for, he had smiled bashfully and answered, someone special. Besides, she was too busy tuning out her mother to do much of a character study, anyway. True, he had been a bit dodgy when she asked for his address to put into their contacts system. Her mother had commented that he had stared at her, and she brushed it off as her mother's perspective... but she wondered if she would've been sucpsicious even if he had been. It worried her a bit, when she realized the answer was no.

"No. He was a customer in the shop I work at, and he was very nice. Um, you know, before he pulled out a knife. But I didn't see him before I passed you.", she explained to the Anyeli, keeping her eyes to the ground and feeling stupider with every word. If you'd just paid attention, Kaizel, you would've seen the man before he attacked and..

And what?

She certainly had no idea. And she couldn't think of a different result for the situation, except of course the ones that didn't have the Anyeli in the picture. If she had been alone, or had realized the man's intentions before the woman had passed her...well, there was only a couple of scenarios that could've played out.

And none of them seemed to be in her favor.

Shuddering at the thought, she was distracted by the man's question. Fight? She couldn't understand how in the world what just went on could be considered a fight! But she figured it might have looked that way from the outside, so she turned to him, if not a bit shyly, and answered.

"I don't know him. He was buying flowers at the flower shop and he must've followed me out. I didn't notice until she came along", she gestured at the woman to clarify, then turning to her, "You don't know him, do you?"

She took a breath, hoping she had shed some light on the situation for the man and awaited the Anyeli's response.

[Xephia]

Xephia struggled to her feet, shoulder weak but the blood flow really slow now,

"Don't worry I'm a medic," she reassured Aiden, "well, in training anyway. In theory I know what I'm doing," she smiled weakly and tried to give a little chuckle but she felt very much worse for wear now.

She listened to what the young Nymph had to say on the matter before giving her own two penny's on the matter to the young man who appeared to be a member of the guard or some such thing (she wasn't entirley sure of the way things were policed around here, it was pretty much all vigilante justice in her own little village!),

"No, I'm afraid I don't know him. I was just walking home and I saw him eyeing up this young girl speculatively. He mustn't have liked the look I gave him because the next thing I knew there was a knife in his hand. I tried to push the lady out of the way since I happened to be standing in such a position as to be able to and the next thing I know I had a knife in my shoulder"

She cradled the wound, starting to feel self concious about standing out here covered in blood. She really wanted to go home, bathe, and sleep for oh, another thousand years might do the trick!

[Aiden]

The anyeli struggled to her feet, and Aiden reached toward her to help her get up. As he did so, he thought over the details. So the other girl was a flower shop-keeper, and had attracted the attentions of a customer. And unfortunately, neither of the victims here knew the guy, and now the psycho was out on the streets. Inhaling a large breath of air, Aiden sighed and ruffled his hair. As he did so, he cast another wary glance at the panther. He still didn't trust it---it was a freakin' panther! “Mhm, so we don't know this guy at all except that he was one of your customers.” Staring at his COM as he texted and thought about the situation, Aiden wondered if the flower girl might know more about the man. If the man had been there to buy flowers, he might have mentioned somebody he was buying the flowers for. People chatted about anything in stores.

Remembering that he still didn't know either of these girls' names, Aiden reached a hand toward the flower girl. As he did this, he couldn't help but notice the large tear that was now in her dress. It was a shame that the fabric had to be ruined, but it had been for a good cause. “By the way, I'm Aiden Roy. New Alexandria's Guard.” His uniform made his job very obvious, but he figured he'd confirm that for her. “Did you catch the man's name? Or did he ask you to deliver flowers for him?”

His initial text to the guard was very brief, stating the location of the crime, the number of people involved, and what happened. Even as he pressed the 'send' button on his COM, Aiden's eyes strayed to where the anyeli was holding her wound. The upper part of her dress was drenched in blood, making it difficult for Aiden to tell if the anyeli was still bleeding or not. Regardless, she needed somebody to check on the wounds. “Can I walk you two to the healer's? We can talk on the way there.” His eyes warmed up as he grinned with respect at the anyeli. “For your friend's sake, I'm glad you fought back. At the least, it sent that creeper running.”

[Kaizel]

While the anyeli explained what had happened, Kaizel took this time to call her panther over to where she stood. She patted his head gently and assessed him for damage. When she found none, she looked up to see the man holding his hand out to her.

"By the way, I'm Aiden Roy. New Alexandria's guard".

It was kind of obvious that he was an officer, but she was grateful for the kindness. She stuck out her own hand, when something caught her attention.

Kaizel couldn't help but notice how unique Aiden Roy's eyes were.

Blue green. And very warm. She quite liked them. It was a nice change from the stern expressions of the officers she'd seen before. She hoped this observation was acting as a small hint to how the man's attitude was all the time. The last thing she need was for an officer to insist she go home, or worse, rat her out to her mother. She took his hand in hers and shook it, smiling back a little less confidently, embarrassed by the state of her skirt.

“"Hello Aiden. I'm Kaizel Korin. New Alexandria er flower girl"”, she said, relaxing a bit more but mentally kicking herself for the additional quip she'd added(what kind of introduction was that anyway?!) ,but continued regardless.

"I'm sorry, but no. We didn't ask for his name, but he said the flowers were for someone special. Come to think of it, he didn't seem to have much interest in the flowers he picked at all, and he didn't have them when he followed me."
”
She smiled warmly at the anyeli when Aiden complimented her. Gently, she put a hand on the woman's non-bleeding shoulder. As an after thought when she saw him wander a bit, she beckoned D'Miri to her, but the cat turned away, trotting towards Aiden and curiously sniffing at him. Kaizel briefly hoped the officer wasn't frightened of panthers, but shook it off as she addressed the anyeli.
“
"He's right. Thank you so much for your help. I'm not sure what I would've done if I had been alone. But I am sorry you got hurt because of me. Are you quite sure you're alright?"

As for the invitation to the Healer's, Kaizel was going to politely refuse (she wasn't hurt and would probably just get in the way), but when she reached her hand up to nervously fiddle with a strand of hair on her shoulder she was surprised to hear herself take in a sharp breath as a sharp pain shot up her arm. Bringing her arm down quickly(and wincing with that decision), she put her eyes to the floor hoping that neither of her saviors had noticed.

Maybe a trip to the Healer's wasn't such a bad idea after all...

(Ooc: Im Sorry for the delay, guys! I've been ill! -.-)

[Xephia]

"Xephia Athoryx," she nodded to her two new aquaintences, though not really able to offer a handshake as she held her right shoulder firmly with her left hand, "and I'm afraid I'm the 'new' in New Alexandria," she smiled wanly at her bad joke but since Aiden and Kaizel were swapping life stories....

"It's really nothing, though," she smiled at Aiden as he suggested their trip to the healers, "it looks worse than it is, I just need to get home to wrap it up and it'll heal fine on its own," she peered down between her blood caked fingers, "it'll leave a nasty scar though..."

As Kaizel retold her tale of the attacker, Xephia pondered in her head who he might be, where those flowers may be (in some gutter, somewhere, perhaps) and where he himself may be now. She came to from her reverie as Aiden and Kaizel both thanked her for her help, but she just shook her head modestly, about to respond that how could she not help this small lady from the grasp of such a brutish creep, but she realised Kaizel had hurt herself,

"You've hurt your arm" she stated in a matter of fact kind of way, "why didn't you say so before?"

Well, at least 'getting to business' and talking about someone elses wounds was much better than focussing on her own!

[Aiden]

Although he was disappointed to hear that Kaizel didn't seem to have any info on her attacker, Aiden tried not to show that in his expression. The woman seemed slightly nervous, and he didn't want to worry her. Instead, he merely nodded to show that he was listening. “Darn it,” he censored his own speech, “did he say anything else to you?Anything could be a clue...” Currently, all Aiden could report to the Guard was that somewhere within Alexandria, a crazy figure (middle-aged, pug-nosed, about 5'7", dark brown hair, wields a knife, and was wearing a brown cotton shirt and jeans up to the point that he turned into a desert lion) was on the loose. Considering the large city and the portal, the man could be anywhere in Elysia by now, and the best they might do is to keep an eye out for people who looked like the attacker.

Aiden was watching the panther again, which had returned to its owner and was pacing nearby. As Kaizel spoke to Xephia, the panther walked toward Aiden to look curiously at him. It was sniffing its nose toward Aiden's hand, so he brought his hands up and crossed his arms. The large cat seemed tame enough, but by common sense, Aiden was not going to pet it as if it were a common house pet. Generally, Aiden liked animals and would pet and play with them any day--but this was a panther. He knew first-hand that a cat's mood could change as fast as a coinflip.

Hearing Xephia insist that her wound was 'really nothing', his lips drew into a flat line. She seemed to know a lot about injuries and such, and Aiden didn't want to force his opinions. However, it just didn't feel right to let Xephia go home with her wounds untreated, and he voiced that worry. “Still, I would feel much more comfortable if you checked with the healers. They might heal it without leaving a scar.” He nodded toward Xephia's bloodied shoulder. It would be a shame to be scarred this badly by some psycho in New Alexandria.

He had been watching Xephia (with some amount of doubt), so he did not notice Kaizel's injury until the anyeli pointed it out. Concerned, he edged past the panther and closer to Kaizel. “It seems that I am a horrible guardsman,” he muttered with disappointment, “how bad is it?”

[Kaizel]

D'Miri seemed affronted by Aiden's snub and moved away from him, closer to the girls. He turned his back on the officer as Kaizel blushed when she realized that both Aiden and Xephia were looking at her, concerned about the wound. She suddenly felt much smaller than both of them, and her eyes met theirs briefly, then returned to the ground. She cursed her own reaction. If she hadn't cried out, she'd be on her way home by now, rather than being in the spotlight about such a small injury. She hated being the center of attention, even for a good reason.

"It's fine, really. I think I just tweaked it a bit when I fell down and landed on it. I'm sure it'll go away soon. See? It looks fine.", she insisted, but as she lifted her wrist to show the pair that it was in good condition, she noticed that a dark purplish bruise was already beginning to form, like an unattractive bracelet around her wrist. With that contradictary sighting, she placed her hands behind her back, hiding it. Smiling kindly at the anyeli and the guard, she stood up a little taller to appear older than she was beginning to feel.

"I'm sure with a little stretch, it'll be good as new. It's really not that bad", she continued answering Aiden, still hiding her wrist behind the remains of her skirt,"I don't even think I need a healer for it".
This was an untrue fact, and she was pretty sure they all knew it, but she didn't want to get in the way of the anyeli's healing, which was much more critical than a sore wrist, though it did hurt quite alot, and she could feel something wrong with it.

But hadn't she already caused enough trouble for the two kind strangers?

She thought so.