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 Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 6:56 pm
Heike was hungry. Normally this wasn't a big deal. She was a very good hunter and forager, having spent so much of her life exploring the wilds in search of food for her and her mother. She preferred that over having any kind of dealings with others. Relying on nature for everything you needed was the most satisfying experience to her. Not even living in a settlement of her own people could give her that kind of joy. But lately she was feeling a different kind of hunger.
From afar, the Elidae had been spying on this mixed town of Earthlings. They had different kinds of food than she'd seen out in the jungle, things sent from other places by ship or caravan. Usually she steered clear of everyone, but today she was feeling bolder than usual. Entitled. But she wasn't about to walk up to them and start a trade. Oh, no.
Just down the street there was a Shifter selling some sort of fruit that interested Heike. She moved towards the stall, trying to look for all the world as if she belonged there. Everyone around her gave her weird looks. She heard some whispering to each other, though she couldn't make out what they were saying. That didn't bother her. Heike was proud of who she was. Most of them had probably never seen anything but Alkidike's in their entire lives.
Ignoring them, she set her eyes on the fruit in the stall. This would be difficult with everyone watching her. Distraction? But from where?
1/10
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:32 pm
Walking down the same entrance to the town as Heike had moments before, Maia stopped and shrugged the pack off her shoulder, rubbing the sore muscles that had carried the heavy weight for a hour. If she was going to keep doing this, maybe she should invest in some sort of mount. She spent so much time out in the wilderness, it would have plenty of food. Or if not a mount, perhaps something smaller. All she really needed was something to help carry her bag. She was only in town to drop what she found off and than she was back out in the jungle for weeks at a time.
Or maybe she should make more trips to town so she felt less obligated to fill her bag as much as she could to make the trip more worthwhile. As she looked up and saw all the people around her, she closed the door on that option. No way did she want to come here more often than she needed to. How did anyone get used to all this noise?
Shouldering the bag over her other shoulder, Maia went to take a step and stopped, her eyes staring ahead at the tall pale lady with the thick blue hair. She'd seen Alkidike before, always from a distance, but this one wasn't an Alkidike. It really put into perspective how short Earthlings were when placed besides one of the Aishans.
For a split second, Maia looked away from the tall woman, listening to the shouts of a seller to her right. In that short amount of time, a commotion broke out in front of her. She looked back up the street just in time to see the tall woman sprinting towards her. Startled, she stood there frozen while everyone else around her ducked out of the way.
1/10
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 8:00 pm
As soon as chaos erupted around her, Heike reached down to grab a whole armful of the fruits. The seller, distracted by all the commotion around him, didn't even notice she'd taken anything. At least not at first. As she turned to make a run for it, he finally noticed and gave up the cry of alarm. But no one wanted to tangle with an Aishan. Heike had an almost clear path of escape, everyone clearing out of her way.
Except for one.
A single Shifter stood in her way. Heike debated pushing her out of the way, knocking her down so roughly that she wouldn't quickly get back up. From a distance, it looked to the Elidae as if the Shifter was there to stop her. As she got closer, she saw it was more out of shock that she stood so still in her path. That gave her a different, and more fun, idea.
The fruit was slowly tumbling out of her arms. As she closed the distance, Heike shoved a few into the Shifter's arms, yelling at her to "Run!" as she darted past her.
2/10
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 2:33 pm
Maia wasn't sure what propelled her to listen to the Aishan, but she did. Her arms bulging with the fruit, she turned back towards the entrance to the town and tried her best to keep up with the other woman. Perhaps her mind was still in shock over all the sudden excitement. Never before could she recall walking into a seemingly peaceful day that exploded into chaos out of nowhere.
The heavy bag, bouncing on her shoulder, slid down her arm. The sharp movement caused her to lose her grip on some of the fruit as well as the bag. It dropped to the ground. Maia stopped to pick it back up.
"I got her!" someone yelled nearby. She looked up to see a big burly dude chasing after her. Flight instincts took over and she continued running down the street, leaving the bag where it now lay, pushed out of her mind by the larger priority of incoming danger. The Aishan was now nowhere in sight. At least until an arm shot out from a side alley, dragging her in with it. More fruit went tumbling down to the ground. The same arm bent down to pick it up as Maia doubled over, trying to catch her breath.
"Thanks for the help," said a voice.
2/10
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 7:41 pm
Well. That was....Exhilarating! Exciting! Heike's heart couldn't stop pounding in her chest. She'd never have called herself a good child, but she'd never done something like that before. She'd always kept her naughtiness to words, slinging them about like weapons when adults told her not to do something or stop speaking to them in a tone.
Such was her excitement, she never thought to keep going, to get out of the town. In the self-absorbed way of youth, the Elidae was far too focused on her own self and what she was feeling to realize she may eventually be caught. It wasn't like she was hiding all that well.
For now, though, she was safe. Or as safe as she could be in a town swarming in Earthlings. But even the fact she was surrounded by Earthlings was being lost in her new emotions.
"I can't believe I did that! Wasn't that awesome?" Heike asked of the Shifter with her.
3/10
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:19 pm
Maia didn't think that it was. In fact, she felt petrified. She'd just aided, even if it wasn't at her request, in a theft. Everyone here knew her face, she'd been passing by this street every month for years, now. They were all aware who she worked for. Oh, if this got back to Chiro, his reputation would take such a hit. Unless he fired her. Surely he would. All his hard work gaining the credibility he had would be gone. Who would trust where anything came from ever again? And all over a few moments of stupidity. How was she going to fix this?
"No! That wasn't awesome!" she yelled back, straightening up. Her eyes met the other woman's chest. She normally wasn't this close to an Aishan, so close she could smell the sweat off her skin. Maia backed up, so her neck wouldn't have to crane back so far to look the other in the eyes. Who was beginning to scowl right back at her. "Why did you do that?!"
3/10
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:28 pm
Why was she angry? Heike couldn't understand it. Who cared about some silly Earthlings and their fruit. To emphasize how little the whole situation mattered to her, the Elidae picked one out from the bunch in her arms and bit into it, munching on it loudly before she decided to make an answer.
"Thought it'd be fun." She stuffed the fruit in her mouth, holding it in place with her teeth so her arm was free to remove the bag on her back. Carefully maneuvering the strap over her thick dreads, she held it up and dumped the rest of the fruit into it. That done, she took another bite. "You made the best face," she added around the second mouthful. The Shifter still didn't seem to think it was amusing. What a boring person. What did she know about fun? Probably sat inside and stared at books all day. Why read about excitement when you could live it for yourself?
Holding the bag out, Heike offered a smirk, knowing she'd be refused. "Want one?"
4/10
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:46 pm
"No!"
Maia shoved the bag out of her face, scowling ever the more as the tall woman laughed at her. She hauled it back to her body, heaving it on one thin shoulder. Staring at it, something clicked in Maia's mind.
Her bag!
Fingers moved all along her shoulders and as far up and down her back as she could, though she knew she'd never find it there. It had been so heavy, she couldn't have missed it hanging off her body. It must have fallen when she'd started running. Someone would pick it up and claim everything that was in there. All the artifacts she had spent over a month hunting the wilderness for, digging under everything. A whole month's salary! Gone!
Bending down, Maia flung her arms out in front of her and buried her face in the crooks of her elbows. The day seemed like it'd be so good, too. Now here she crouched, a theft who at the same time had lost so much herself.
4/10
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:48 pm
Heike did indeed think it was all good fun. The looks on all those Earthlings' faces she wouldn't soon forget. The memory would serve to amuse her for many days to come. Just like the reactions of this one Shifter was amusing her.
But as the other woman sunk down into despair, the Elidae soon began to grow bored. She'd had her fun. Now she wanted to leave and enjoy her spoils in peace.
With a final look at the Shifter on the ground, Heike turned to go and found only blackness. An unknown amount of time later, she found herself in what appeared to be a cellar, staring up at the dirty boards on the ceiling, her head throbbing.
"Thought you could steal from us, did ya? You'll pay for that mistake!"
A door slammed above her, cutting off most of the light. With effort, Heike sat up, looking around her with one hand to her head. She quickly saw that the Shifter woman who she had forced to partake in her bout of fun was here, too. Sitting up and looking at her with a mixture of fear and anger on her face.
5/10
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 5:46 pm
Sitting down on the ground as she was, Maia hadn't seen the approach of the man behind the other woman. Nor heard the one behind her. Not that she was certain she would have given an alarm. She had nothing to do with this, she was as much a victim as the fruit seller. They knew her. They'd believe her.
Now, as she sat in what appeared to be someone's cellar, the Shifter wasn't so sure of that anymore. They'd thrown her down here, too. Clearly they thought she was a part of it. In all her time spent living out in the wilderness, she'd never felt so unsure of what would happen next. So afraid of what that might be.
Also, she felt angry. Maia couldn't help glaring at the Aishan across from her.
5/10
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:00 pm
The Shifter could be mad all the wanted. Heike hardly cared what an Earthling felt or did. There was nothing noble about them. She tried to glare right back, but the pain in her head only made her grimace. For many moments, the two sat in silence. Upstairs, it was quiet. It was difficult to say whether the men had left to find someone of authority to take care of them or were just quietly sitting in each other's company. Regardless, once the throbbing melted into a tolerable pulse, Heike was up and moving around, running her hands along the walls and checking every crevice and corner. No way was she going to sit idle and let them do whatever they were planning on doing with her. She was going to find a way out.
6/10
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:35 pm
Maia's eyes watched the other woman going about the room silently, her knees pulled up to her chin, her arms hugging her legs. What did she expect to find, some tunnel dug long ago by previous captives? They would be the luckiest pair in the world if there was a secret passage somewhere down here, hidden by some lazy person who didn't think twice to conceal it. Or think their cellar would be used as a prison. No, they would remain here until the men returned with others of higher authority to punish them for their crime. Chiro would lose what reputation he had built up by having hired a thief like her and that would be the end. She guessed she'd have to return to her father, back to that mundane life.
She buried her face in her knees, just so the other woman wouldn't see the desolate expression on her face.
6/10
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:41 pm
Her continued distress was going ignored as Heike continued around the room, starting on the second wall farthest from her prison-mate. There had to be something. Some fault in the building of the cellar. Some hole in the wall she could take advantage of. A pillar holding the ceiling that was rotting away so she could collapse it and get away in the confusion. Something! Anything!
Glancing over at the Shifter, Heike made a sound in her throat. She should be ashamed of herself, showing such weakness and giving up so easily. She stopped in what she was doing and walked over, towering over the other woman.
"What is the point of this? Cowering down here. Do something!"
7/10
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:53 pm
"What?" came the weak reply, so muffled it was barely audible. Maia raised her head, raised it up and up until she could clearly see the angry face of the other woman towering so tall above her. So intimidating. She watched as the Aishan threw her arms up in defeat, as if Maia was the one to blame for everything.
That got her own blood boiling. For the moment, fear had won over her own anger, but seeing how the other reacted to her despair brought it all back up to the surface, again. She stood up, wiping at her face and planting fists on her hips.
"If you hadn't been so greedy, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
7/10
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:49 pm
Now that was better. So she did have a spine after all. There was little more annoying to Heike than those who gave up at the first signs of trouble, that just rolled over and accepted their fate without a fight. She fully intended to put up a fight if she had to.
"I should have took the bag when you offered and brought everything back," the Shifter started mumbling, pacing the floor and not looking at Heike anymore. It was just a bit of fruit, what was the big deal? It wasn't like she'd stolen some precious jewelry. She had no interest in fancy accessories.
Going to the third wall, Heike continued her search for anything of note. So far, every crack had been too small and the pillars sturdy.
"That doesn't matter. You can stay here and rot for all I care, if you aren't going to help."
8/10
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