"You're making a mistake," you stated, your attention resting fully on the man before you as you decided that it was best to use diplomacy, to influence things in the manner that you knew you were able. You had no money to give this man had you have wanted to avoid this entire situation by simply doing such. Had that been an option, you wouldn't have taken it however, as ultimately you knew that this man was evil, that no matter what his claim of motivation was, there was a divide between him and somebody else who was stealing to survive.
Stealing to survive, to ensure that you didn't starve to death you could understand, but threatening anothers life for selfish gain made this man no different to many people you had killed over the course of history.
"Th' only mistake being made 'ere is ye people not givin' me yer money, now 'and it over!" The man snapped, clearly growing agitated as he took the knife away from Joy's throat for a brief moment, waving it at you threateningly.
"I suggest you take the weapon away from her throat, before your life is forfeit," you stated as you once more attempted to make it clear to the man that he was making a mistake in this situation, that he was better off turning and running. The man merely hissed this time. "Your choice to pursue such a violent means of aquisition will ultimately lead to your demise, if not now, then not too far down the line. You are visibly a physically unimpressive specimen of humanity, you lack any street smarts to survive on as is evidenced by your choice of us as your potential mark, and you are intellectually unimpressive, as you have clearly failed to discern that we have no money to give."
"Yer lyin'!" the man snapped, once more waving the knife at you, while you quickly came to the realisation that he wasn't responding well to your influence due to how he believed that his weapon, his hostage gave him the edge here. Despite this however, you had clearly intimidated him, to the point where he was unwilling to go through with slashing Joy's throat without any immediate reason to do so.
Joy however, seemed almost oblivious to the danger she was in as she looked down for a moment, wiggling her toes. "I require footwear," came Joy's words as she looked up at you again, further frustrating the man as her impassive tone betrayed how little she was intimidated by him. "His feet are approximately the same size as mine, may I terminate him?"
"Wha'?" the man stammered as he gripped the knife tighter, pressing the edge of it to her throat as he swallowed nervously. "Th' only person 'ere gettin' term'nated is ye, if yer friend's don' pay up!" the man stated, while Joy's hand snaked up unseen from his position, before darting up to grasp his hand hand by the wrist, pulling it away from her as she maintained that impassive expression.
The man yelled in suprise as Joy pulled his hand away, before crying out in pain as her grasp slipped towards his wrist, slowly twisting it as the man struck ineffectually at her with his free hand. Even so he was quick to abandon that idea, to start reaching with his free hand for the knife. Joy was faster still to twist about, grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt before she twirled about swinging the man face first into a lamp post.
There was a crack and a howl of agony as the man struck the lamp post face first, the knife clattering to the floor along with a number of teeth as the mans hands went to his face, as he writhed, sobbing as blood ran down the sides of his face.
"No!" you shouted as Joy reached towards the blade, prompting her to look up at you with confusion ever so briefly crossing her features. "I will not permit you to kill that man, evil as his intent may be, you would be no better than him if you were to finish him off in this state," you snapped, hurrying towards the fallen man as you kicked the knife into a gutter a good few feet out of Joy's reach.
"I do not understand," Joy stated blankly, looking down at the man before her as she did so. "His intent was clearly to kill, yet-" You placed a finger against her lips, taking a deep breath as you did so.
"That is no better justification for killing him, than you being one of the Enlightened was for this to be done to you, for you to end up stripped of your humanity," you responded, "I will not allow you to dirty your hands with his blood when your reasons are clearly the wrong reasons. This man deserves to die, that much is true, yet you do not grasp the concept of justice in this matter," you stated as you knelt besides the man, twisting his head sharply as you broke his neck. You stood as all further movement and noise from the man quickly ceased, gesturing towards his feet as you did so. "Now, take his shoes if you must, it's best we get on our way before anybody else comes this way."
"I... Do not require them any longer."
You raised an eyebrow as you turned your attention back towards Joy fully, while there was no visible reaction, you had the feeling that you had struck a nerve. This was good, this meant that there was enough of a person left for you to work with, that out of touch with her feelings and her nature as she may be at this moment, that you could slowly help her rediscover it.
"Are your feet causing you discomfort?" you asked, eliciting a nod from Joy as she stood there silently, almost awkwardly as you turned about, kneeling down for her. "I'll carry you, then," you stated as she followed your lead, climbing onto your shoulders as she took the same position she had earlier held. "You seem to fast be recovering your motor skills at least, though I would have preferred to find this out in another manner. For that matter, I'd have preferred to have talked that man down."
"Oh, shush you. I was hoping to see her kill him," Anne butted in as you stood, as you started on your way down the street once more towards the docks. "A man much like that one slit my throat when I was left on my own after your capture," she added with an almost indifferent tone.
"I'm not certain I am going to like the answer to this, but, am I right in assuming that you dealt with him without mercy?"
"Naturally. He slit my throat so I stabbed him until he stopped moving."
"With my machette?"
"No, I stabbed him to death with my penis. Of course I used the machette, what kind of a stupid question is that?" You gave Anne a funny look as she huffed at you. "Besides, it's my machette, you gave me it, I'm not giving it back to you," she added in a hurt tone.
The rest of the journey was without event, with Anne occasionally attempting to strike up conversations with Joy, typically getting little more than a few words in response from her. It was dusk by the time you reached the docks, with the familiar figure of William stood in the distance, gesturing as he spoke with the few others who had gathered so far. Out of earshot as you were, you could see he was directing them to set up the fire, to haul the crate of beer that had been brought there to its usual position.
One of the men there caught sight of you, uttering something to William as he pointed in your direction. William turned his attention away from the men, ceasing overseeing the little that needed doing to set the scene for the fighters each night as he watched you approach.
"You know, we were wondering where you'd gotten to," William stated once you had finished crossing the that ground that lay between you. "I see that we needn't have worried however, as it seems you've been off chasing skirt instead of getting captured as we'd heard. Strange, none of us would have expeted that from you, you always struck me personally as being rather uninterested in men or women in general," William mused, rubbing his chin. In the light that still remained you could see that he hadn't shaven recently, that he had half an inch of facial hair currently.
"Chasing skirt?" Anne huffed. "Oh please, he only ever had eyes for me, we got married a few weeks ago. I'm Anne, Anne Zia-" she paused, "Anne Koles," she stated, making it sound as if she had corrected herself. "And this-" she gestured towards Joy as she did so. "Is our daughter. They grow up so fast."
William raised an eyebrow as Anne gave a soft sigh, one of mock pride in your so called child. "So, is the woman on your shoulders just as crazy as this one?" William asked, grinning slightly as he did so. "She almost me for a moment, anyway, what really happened, you've been gone for long enough that you no doubt have either an interesting story behind it, or a wife. That woman clearly ain't your wife, so it must be a story you have to share."
You knew you were going to have to ask William to keep an eye on these two, just incase, though the question was, how much of the story did you tell him, how much of the truth of why you wanted him to keep an eye on them did he get, and what would you do while you waited for the rest of the people to turn up?
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Topic: They told me I could be anything... (Read 79033 times)