The wind had all but vanished as she raised her arms, stringing her along with a few piddly puffs. Dismayed, she'd lingered there long enough to attract attention, which admittedly didn't seem long at all in Caido. With the great bunch of nothing that shaped the sparse settlement that had grown out of the ruins it wasn't surprising that people just seemed drawn to more of their ilk. She'd noticed his footsteps first, tucking her arms as the first resolute steps of boots on paving stone caught her ear, cautiously fanning the collar of her tunic a few times before realizing that that weirdo was headed for her!
In her short stay here Mel had grown comfortably accustomed to being approached though she still bore her scars, some running deeper than flesh. Dark and brooding and built to hurt the stranger was easily picked out from the native population as she didn't think there was enough meat in this barren sprawl to feed a man that big in the first place. Maybe it was just his face, but in the lengthening shadows he certainly didn't look friendly.
As he drew closer, Mel scanned the streets, her breath quickening and her grip tightening on her stick as she considered a route of escape, wondering with rising panic if she even knew the streets well enough to make it somewhere familiar, or if she'd simply get lost.
The latter seemed more realistic, that was if she even managed out out strip him. Big as he was he didn't seem to have much of a limp and looked as though he could run all day carrying his bodyweight in supplies. There was no way.
She was out of time - she could hear him. Mel turned, staggering in place a few steps before finding her balance one again with the aid of the stick clutched in her left hand, fixing him with a piercing glare that might even have had a teacher or two shivering. "Can I help you?" Her grip tightened, lips pressed into a thin, neutral line.
She hoped that he'd walk on by.
In her short stay here Mel had grown comfortably accustomed to being approached though she still bore her scars, some running deeper than flesh. Dark and brooding and built to hurt the stranger was easily picked out from the native population as she didn't think there was enough meat in this barren sprawl to feed a man that big in the first place. Maybe it was just his face, but in the lengthening shadows he certainly didn't look friendly.
As he drew closer, Mel scanned the streets, her breath quickening and her grip tightening on her stick as she considered a route of escape, wondering with rising panic if she even knew the streets well enough to make it somewhere familiar, or if she'd simply get lost.
The latter seemed more realistic, that was if she even managed out out strip him. Big as he was he didn't seem to have much of a limp and looked as though he could run all day carrying his bodyweight in supplies. There was no way.
She was out of time - she could hear him. Mel turned, staggering in place a few steps before finding her balance one again with the aid of the stick clutched in her left hand, fixing him with a piercing glare that might even have had a teacher or two shivering. "Can I help you?" Her grip tightened, lips pressed into a thin, neutral line.
She hoped that he'd walk on by.
