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harder than a bullet could hit you - Sohalia - 05-09-2023
Sohalia stumbled from the alley and onto the side street, tears running down her face. Her blouse and skirt were ripped and bedraggled and stained with blood, and her hair fell in a disheveled mess down her back. She paused outside the alley, her eyes glassy with shock, and looked around. She could go back to the Silk Houses to find help, but wouldn't that just make things worse? Murderer, her inner voice whispered. No. She couldn't go back there.
It seemed wrong, somehow, to let the man she'd killed lie alone in some alley, waiting to be found by whomever was unfortunate enough to stumble across him. But she didn't know what else to do. It seemed like forever that she stood there, numb, when in actuality it was only a minute or two; approaching footsteps warned her of company, and she twirled to face her newest adversary, painfully aware of the fact that her dagger was still buried in the man's side in the alley and that she was now completely defenseless. [say]"S-stay back!"[/say] she warned, flinching away from the approaching figure.
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Mateo - 05-10-2023
Mateo is not a fighter. He is also not very good at sobering up as soon as the situation calls for it, which usually leads to some hilarious consequences - but humour is not on the cards tonight, as it happens. Still, at the sound of a voice - shrill, panicked and with just enough authority to have him stutter-stepping to a halt, the botanist holds up his hands and sways on the spot, blinking hard to try and make out the stranger's features.
[say]"Oh,"[/say] he says cheerfully enough as he recognises a familiar face, his hands spreading in welcome rather than pretending at defence. [say]"I did not realise you partook in The Silk Houses. I am just on my way to The Black Swan if you would like to..."[/say] Drifting off, he notices for the first time the tears, the dishevelled clothing, the blood.
[say]"Oh,"[/say] he says again, raking a hand back through dark curls. [say]"Well. Do we need to run, or...?"[/say]
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Sohalia - 05-10-2023
In a state of shock, it took Sohalia a moment to recognize the familiar figure of Mateo. Thankfully, he stopped when she told him to in a high-pitched, frantic voice, and by the time he was asking if they needed to run, she'd recognized the shopkeeper from the botanical shop where she'd gotten her crown-of-thorns. [say]"I - I don't know,"[/say] she said in a voice that sounded far away to her ears. [say]"I - I think - I think I killed someone."[/say]
It was strange to say it aloud, in that voice that hardly sounded like hers, feeling as though she were watching from outside her body. At the admission, a metaphorical knife of pain slid between her ribs and she hunched over, suddenly sobbing, her arms wrapped around herself as though doing so could help her hold it together. [say]"He - he attacked me and I - it was an accident, I - I just wanted to get away, but I -"[/say] Her words were barely intelligible around her sobs. She looked up at Mateo, vulnerable and hurting, and asked, [say]"What am I supposed to do now?"[/say]
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Mateo - 05-10-2023
I think I killed someone is honestly something Mateo expects to hear himself say in various states of inebriation, so to find himself suddenly being the sober friend (except absolutely not) is something of a surprise. [say]"Oh,"[/say] he says again, third time being the charm and all that, and as adrenaline starts to creep up on the alcohol in his system, his eyes dart to the alleyway she's clearly emerged from.
[say]"Wait here, okay?"[/say] Fishing around under his shirt (it's a truly ghastly silk thing his sister had gotten for him, but Mateo thinks it sets off his eyes beautifully), he draws a cord necklace over his head and steps into the shadows where Soh had emerged. And he's gone for some time, truth be told, only to clumsily run back out accompanied by the sound of rough groaning.
[say]"I think he will be alright,"[/say] he blurts, stuffing the necklace back down his shirt with one hand, the other holding (and isn't he a peach at looking suspicious af) the bloody knife she'd used. [say]"But I do believe we should go. Can you walk?"[/say]
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Sohalia - 05-10-2023
Sohalia choked back another sob as Mateo instructed her to wait, rubbing her hands along her arms to ward off the chill that had settled in her bones. It seemed like he was gone for a while, but she'd be the first to admit that she was in no condition to count the seconds as they passed. She wondered if she should go into the alley behind her friend, if only to drag him away from the site of her crime. (She imagined it to be far more gruesome than it was, with only one stab wound in the man she'd left behind.)
What she was not expecting was for Mateo to emerge from the alley with her dagger in hand, stuffing something down the front of his shirt, with the proclamation that the man would probably be alright. [say]"He - he's not dead?"[/say] she squeaked, relief flooding her at the notion. [say]"Oh, thank the gods!"[/say] But in the back of her mind, something ugly and angry and afraid stirred. Why should the man who attacked her walk away freely, when they were having to run from the scene? It was a thought so unlike her that it left her reeling, and she shoved the ugly thoughts aside to examine later. Or never.
[say]"Y-yes,"[/say] she said, reaching out to take the dagger and slide it back into its sheath at her side. [say]"Where are we going?"[/say]
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Mateo - 05-11-2023
[say]"Well, unless dead bodies can cuss me out, I think he is very much alive,"[/say] Mateo says, despite it being absolutely not the time for jokes. Surrendering the knife back to Soh, he nods only once at the confirmation that she's able to walk, and an arm slips carelessly around her as he begins to lead them abruptly away from the scene of the definitely-not-a-crime-anymore. [say]"Oh, you know. Away,"[/say] he murmurs, pointedly ignoring the growing angry shouts from the alleyway.
Turning left abruptly and all but frog-marching them up a narrow lane, Mateo doesn't even bother looking over his shoulder, just in case he sees something he doesn't like. [say]"I will take you back to my boat,"[/say] he offers. [say]"We can give it some time for things to calm down. You, er, maybe want to clean up as well?"[/say]
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Sohalia - 05-11-2023
It was indeed not the time for jokes, but Soh huffed a relieved laugh anyway. [say]"Thank you,"[/say] she said softly. [say]"For... whatever you did."[/say] She wasn't about to ask too many questions, not when whatever Mateo had done had saved her from becoming a murderer.
Soh flinched when Mateo slung an arm carelessly around her, flashing back to the moment the man in the alley reached for her, but she swallowed hard and forced herself to march forward, struggling to keep pace with Mateo around her ruined skirts. The sound of angry shouts from the alley behind them both relieved and frightened her, and she hurried down the narrow lane beside Mateo without delay. [say]"O-okay,"[/say] she stammered, still a bit in shock, but slowly falling from the high of adrenaline she'd experienced during the fight.
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Mateo - 05-11-2023
[say]"You can thank my nonna,"[/say] Mateo says with a smile that only shows one dimple, affectionately patting his chest where the necklace lays beneath his shirt. [say]"She healed him."[/say] He walks them with all the purpose of the just-drunk-enough, and even if he hadn't known where they were going, he'd have likely looked like he did regardless.
Only once they are well away from the Silk Houses and heading up towards the Falling does he slow his steps a little, though his arm remains around her - call it habit, but he's used to having his arm around someone, okay?
[say]"May I ask what happened to you?"[/say] he says, his voice low and brows furrowed. [say]"I do not believe it is in a cartographers nature to get into very many fights, no?"[/say] And if it was in her nature, he doubts she'd have looked so horrified by the outcome.
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Sohalia - 05-11-2023
Well, thanking his nonna made as much sense as it didn't, so Soh simply nodded. As Mateo steered them through the streets, it was enough for her to just focus on putting one foot in front of the other, given how quickly he was tugging her along. Eventually, they slowed a little, and Soh was able to catch her breath. Looking around, she recognized that they were growing closer to the Falling and further from the Silk Houses, and she took a deep breath to steady herself. Maybe she would wake up in the morning to find that all of this had simply been a bad dream. But the sting of her blossoming black eye and the taste of blood from her split lip quickly banished that notion. If this was a dream, how could she possibly feel like everything was so real?
[say]"I - I was eating at The Red Lion,"[/say] she told him, in a voice that sounded distant in her ears. [say]"I was on my way home when that man - he said I'd dropped something, but when he got close to me - "[/say] She shivered, thinking of the way she'd been shoved into the alley, where she couldn't have hoped to escape. [say]"At first he just tried to rob me, but then - I think - I think he was trying to -"[/say] She shuddered again, fear coloring her voice. She couldn't say it, but the implication of what the man had tried to do to her was there. [say]"I tried to fight back, but he pinned me against the wall, so I - I -"[/say] She was shaking now, as she relived her worst nightmare. [say]"I was just trying to get him to let go,"[/say] she said pleadingly, tears coursing down her face. [say]"I thought if I stabbed him, maybe he would get off me and I could run away. I never meant to -"[/say] To kill him. Or nearly kill him. Wasn't it the same thing?
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Mateo - 05-11-2023
He'd suspected a case of mistaken identity, honestly, or Soh getting caught up in a fight that had already been developing. But as she begins to speak Mateo's steps slow, the botanist glancing across at her for a moment or so before his arms open suddenly to draw her in against his chest. [say]"It was not your fault,"[/say] he murmurs softly into her fair hair. [say]"It was never your fault."[/say]
Now, as a man with parents being who they were, one might think Mateo Taliesin of all people would have zero idea how to empathise with Soh when it came to something like this. But he's also wiry and delicate and flamboyant in a way that doesn't always draw the good kind of attention, not to mention his frequenting the seedier sides of town. In short, without saying as much, he's intimately familiar with this very sort of fear.
[say]"I should have let him die,"[/say] he mutters after a moment or two, drawing back to look down at her again. [say]"It is not much farther. Will you be alright to get there?"[/say]
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Sohalia - 05-11-2023
Soh stiffened when Mateo pulled her close, but it only took a moment before she melted against his chest, tears filling her eyes again. He murmured platitudes into her hair, and while she appreciated the sentiment, he was wrong - it was her fault. If she'd been smarter, stronger, faster, this never would have happened. She should have known not to stop for a strange man, should have known better than to wander the seedier sections of the city by herself. But she hadn't thought about what could happened, hadn't stopped to consider that perhaps not everyone wanted to be her friend. She'd simply assumed the best of people, and look where that had gotten her.
I should have let him die, said Mateo, and that angry part of Soh reared its ugly head again. It made things worse, somehow, that a part of her agreed that the man deserved to die. She'd never been a spiteful person, never been hateful, never carried a grudge. But that man - what he'd done, what he'd tried to do - why did he deserve to live? Trembling, Soh shoved those thoughts away. He was a human being. A son, a friend, a father, perhaps. Who was she to determine who lived and who died?
[say]"I'm fine,"[/say] Soh said as Mateo pulled away, her voice hollow in the lie. She was most certainly not fine, nor did she think she ever would be again. But she could make it to the boat, at least, and that was something to focus on for now.
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Mateo - 05-12-2023
[say]"I believe a great many of us spend a lot of time being fine,"[/say] Mateo says with gentle reassurance, as if to tell her it's okay not to be okay, and he focuses instead (as best as his easily distracted mind can) on getting them up to the Falling. It doesn't take too much longer, luckily, and Mateo points out a little schooner at the edge of the cliffsides in what can arguably called a quieter part of the docks. (As it should be, since the ship rarely moves).
Most noticeably, even in the dark, is the curtain of foliage that seems to pour across half of the hull, having been carefully cultivated over time. It's a species of lavender, and though Mateo has tried to introduce new flora to his lilac waterfall, this one is stubborn - and apparently very happy without the company of any other plants.
[say]"Here - please come in,"[/say] he says, producing a set of keys from honestly who-knows-where, carefully stepping on deck and offering a hand to her before heading for the steps down into the cabin.
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Sohalia - 05-12-2023
Things were most certainly not fine for Sohalia, but she didn't know how to put into words that she was afraid, and sad, and angry, and things were hurting in a way she was entirely unused to. She was ashamed and guilty, and she couldn't stop feeling the man's arm flinging her into the alley, his hand grasping her by the hair, being pinned to the wall as his hand roamed over her body. She couldn't stop seeing the life draining from the man's eyes as her dagger embedded itself in his side.
It didn't take much longer to make their way to Mateo's home, and in another place and time, Soh would have been awed by the little ship. It was in a quiet part of the docks, which Soh appreciated in that moment, and though it was small, it was covered in greenery. Even in the dark, the faint tinge of lilac was visible from the lavender flowers, and had Soh not been so far in her shame and grief and fear, she would have stopped to admire it. As it was, she took Mateo's hand and followed him down into the cabin.
RE: harder than a bullet could hit you - Mateo - 05-13-2023
Unlocking the cabin and ushering her inside, Mateo wastes little time in locking out the world behind them. Lighting a few lanterns, it isn't long before his living space comes into full view - cluttered and homely and (of course) filled with plants, herbs and other things growing and trailing along walls and shelves, a more minimalist person might consider the space a mess, but Mateo simply knows it as home.
[say]"Would you like some different clothes to wear?"[/say] he offers quietly, gesturing for her to take a seat on a patchwork couch shoved up against one of the walls. [say]"I'll make some tea."[/say] Maybe it'll be spiked with booze or laced with something else - he'll see how things go. [say]"I can let the dragoons know about that man, too,"[/say] he offers. [say]"If you remember what he looks like."[/say]