Ready, Fire, Aim!

[Angel ♥]

Pari couldn't hide her obvious amusement at the face he pulled when she mentioned the sand, giggling to herself softly. Poor Kai really wasn't well suited to the climate, was he? He hated both the heat and the sand, she had no idea how he had survived for so long. Sure the heat was draining and the sand was just plain annoying, but they were things that you just learnt to live with. Then again, after everything that Kai had been through she guessed that he had every right to hate the Xyndi Empire. "Okay then, no sandles. You will probably be more comfortable with bare feet anyway, it's not too uncommon."

Kai was better behaved than she had expected him to be. He wasn't sniffing at people or wandering off or staring at people. He didn't look too out of place at all, which was good for them. The more they blended in the less chance there was that they would get caught. She followed his gaze over to the fruit stall and nodded, moving to lead him over towards the stall, digging a few odd shaped coins from her purse as she went. They were copper in colour, slightly dented with a hole in the middle and the symbol of the Empire printed onto them. "Here," She murmured, holding out the couple of coins for him to take. "You can buy whatever you like. Just tell them what you want and then give them the coins. You can spend all of that, it's the change from your clothes." She explained to him as clearly as she could. Well, now was the best time to start rehabilitating him, right? Buying food seemed to be a good place to start.

Pari stopped by the stall, lingering next to Kai as she left her gaze drift over the different fruits. She would, of course, make sure that the stall owner didn't charge him some silly price for anything, but other than that he was on his own with this one.

[Vyncent Schwarz]

Kai's people skills weren't the problem; he was fine around people, just as he had been around the slaves in the arena, and the audiences, and the guards. He might have a very negative opinion on all of them, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to behave. He trailed after her as they reached the stall, his nose twitching ever so slightly as the aroma of the sweet fruits drifted over them. They were colourful, and they smelled nice. He got the feeling he'd made the right choice here, oh yeah. Although the look on his face was priceless as he took the coins from her hand, tilting his head as he looked down at them. Money. She'd given him money. Kai had never owned a coin to his name in his life, and he spent a moment or two turning the copper coins over in his hands, sniffing at them experimentally and looking confused before turning back to the stall.

Bah, he couldn't see what was so special about money. He knew it made the world go round, and people would kill for it and all of that, but he didn't see the point in it personally. Shrugging to himself, he decided that he may as well do what she said, since she was the one who knew about the city. Opposed to asking the vendor right out what he wanted, he communicated in the rather easier 'pointing' at what he wanted. Kai didn't like to talk to people very much to begin with, and the vendor seemed to get his understanding alright, so what was the problem? He ended up dropping the coins into the merchant's palm in return for a small selection of the brightest of the fruits in a small paper bag. There, he had food. He hoped Pari would be happy with that.

"Done." he offered her a light smile, not bothering with the change, if there was any - he didn't care about the money, and he figured that she could take it if she wanted it. He was getting fidgety now though with the heat; the afternoon was getting well under way, and Kai was usually asleep by this point.

[Angel ♥]

Well, Kai didn't have the most polite way of getting what he wanted, did he? But he was making decisions for himself, and he did do what he needed to in order to get his food, so she supposed that he had done well. Better than she had expected, he had made his choice without too much of a delay, even though she had been momentarily worried that he would eat the coins that she had given to him. The vendor didn't even seem all that bothered that he just pointed to the things that he wanted; he was a man, most men tended to have the same way of communicating what they wanted.

Pari collected their change and tucked it away in her purse before turning to look up at him. "Good, now lets go and find some shade." She nodded, turning to head in the direction of the house that they would be staying at tonight. It was too early to turn up there yet, but she had decided that she could find somewhere nice and cool to sit while Kai ate. They could kill a little time talking, and then head to the house around late afternoon, early evening, when most would be at the arena for the last show of the day.

It didn't take long to find a suitably quiet place to sit, Pari leading them down another alley. This, again, lead to a dead end, but towards the end it opened out and the area was filled with drooping palm tree's and a patch of surprisingly well watered grass. "Will you be alright sat here? You can sit in the shade of the tree's, and the grass should be cooler than the sand..."

[Vyncent Schwarz]

He nodded rather gratefully as she suggested going to find some shade, following after her without a word and trying to ignore the other ambiguous and interesting sounds and smells and the like from the rest of the marketplace. He was rather surprised by how well they blended in to be honest; if he'd known that something as simple as a cloak could have made him less conspicuous, he'd have tried to steal one decades ago. But then his Master wouldn't have wanted any of that, would he? He scowled a little as he thought of his Master for the first time in the short space of his freedom, and a small, faint smirk crossed his face beneath the hood of the cloak. He hoped he was cursing. And punching things. He really did.

He seemed surprised at the sudden explosion of green in a place where beige, white and other sandy colours predominated, and as they wandered into the alley he was distracted by looking at the trees and the grass and the cactus flowers that bloomed along the walls overhead. He tilted his head up to look at the tall tops of the palm trees; they were the only thing that he could admit that he'd seen before. Kai had been thrown into the arena as a teen, so he could remember the vague images of other flowers and greenery from his Master's home, and the lynx that prowled through the corridors (Kai had hated the feline with a passion) and the fantastic fabrics and music and... well, he'd forgotten most of it after that.

"It's perfect." he murmured softly, nodding to Pari and shuffling over to a patch of shade under the leafy expanses of the palm trees, tugging his cloak off as soon as he thought it was safe and settling down with his back against the wide trunk of the tree. His injuries were already half healed by this point, and clean, and the half demon seemed visibly more relaxed as he sat in the shade, pushing his hair out of his face. He seemed to have forgotten all about the food he'd bought, the paper bag sat next to him as he let his fingers run through the blades of grass, his ears still swivelling about every now and then to catch the sound of the market in the distance, able to pick out distinct sounds now that the wall of noise had disappeared.

"What were you doin' at the arena today anyway?" he asked her all of a sudden, looking up from the greenery to tilt his head at her.

[Angel ♥]

"Glad that you like it." She smiled to him. She had been worried that taking him to the market had been too much for him and that she had ruined his mood for the rest of the day, but he seemed happy enough right now, which was a relief. If anything she had guessed that a break from the sand and a little green would cheer him up, almost like an apology for throwing him in at the deep end at the market. "When I was younger, every city had a little patch of garden like this, now people let the grass die and you have to go to nobles homes to see a garden, I'm glad there is still one left here." She continued as she moved to sit down next to him. Pari had taken to talking most of the time, guessing that he didn't really like talking too much.

Poor Pari actually looked a little guilty as he asked why she had been at the arena, brushing a stray curl back from her face as she studied the grass. "My father owns a school which instruccts warriors, every year he brings his favourite students here to see if they can pick up any new techniques. This year I convinced him to let me come along too. I wanted to come and try to help someone, and I managed to help you. Plus, I was planning on leaving home anyway, now seemed like the perfect time." She explained to him quietly. She didn't call it running away, calling it running away made her sound like a silly little girl. "I promise I didn't go to watch, I couldn't even bring myself to watch you..." She looked up at him when she spoke that time, her sincerity showing in her eyes.

After that she looked away from him again, cool azure gaze drifting over their surroundings. "I think that Dariyush half expected me to faint, he even bought me a fan so that I could hide." She murmured, taking the large fan out of her bag to show him, as if that proved that she hadn't gone to the arena for her own amusement.

[Vyncent Schwarz]

Kai seemed to sense that she was a little uncomfortable talking about why she had been at the arena today, and he tilted his head. After so long as a slave his anger had turned to apathy; it had been literally years since he'd been angry at the audience for coming to watch him fight tooth and nail for his survival. He'd decided that it wasn't their fault but the fault of his Master and everyone like him. The people wouldn't come to see people fight if others didn't put them up to it, after all. And Pari had decent, plausible reasoning for being there. A school which instructed warriors, and coming to the arena with the intention of picking up new ideas and techniques was one of the most valid of reasons he'd ever heard anyway.

Which was why he threw her a light, almost carefree smile as if to reassure her that she needn't look so guilty. "Hey, don't panic. I'd not care if you did come there to watch, I promise. But s'nice to know not everyone goes there t'see blood." he shrugged to her, looking at the large fan curiously as he settled back against the trunk of the palm-tree, absently opening the paper bag and taking out a round, crimson apple, weighing it in his hands experimentally. After a while he smirked and chuckled for a moment, shaking his head before taking a bite out of the fruit. It was sweet, as he'd expected it to be, and he thought he could safely say that he now had a favourite fruit.

Once he was finished, he looked across at her. "I don't think you should leave home." he murmured with that crooked little smile still on his face. "Speakin' as someone who never really had a home, you don't know how good you've got it. But then, I dunno what your reasons are. If they're as good as your reasons for helpin' people, I'm not gonna question them." he smiled, before falling silent again to finish off his apple, keen eyes wandering around the little clearing, from the people faintly visible walking past it to the still, quiet garden around them.

[Angel ♥]

Pari seemed surprised that Kai wasn't angry with her. If the roles had been reversed she was pretty sure that she would have hated the crowds that flocked to the arena as much as she would have hated whoever owned her. Then again, she wasn't sure how long he had been in the arena too. If asked to guess she would say that he had been there for a long while, long enough for him to give up hope and accept that the daily fights were his lot in life. She opened her fan up with a flick of her wrist, smiling to him faintly as he spoke. "I don't know why anyone would go to for the blood." She shuddered and wrinkled her nose up. "Like I said, I promise I didn't go to watch the fighting."

She leant back against the rough bark of a palm tree as he went quiet, turning her gaze up to the sky, letting herself get lost in the blue expanse as she drifted off into her thoughts. had happened today, and she wasn't quite sure how it had happened. On an impulse she had actually gone through with her running away plan and practically waltzed into the restricted zone of the arena and liberated a slave. If she was caught she would be in big trouble, but if Kai was caught it would break him. Oh dear, she really had thrown herself in at the deep end of this helping people thing, hadn't she?

She blinked and looked across at him, tilting her head at his comment. It caught her off guard really, she had been expecting a comment about what the fruit tasted like, not about her family. She smiled to him faintly and shook her head a little. "Like I said, I don't want to be a burden to them anymore. It's time that I find my own way, and that's what I'm doing." She murmured, closing her eyes. "I'm sure that they will find it easier without me around." She sighed lightly before scowling a little. There seemed to be a big commotion all of a sudden, lots of shouting and running around. That was odd. She sat up and opened her eyes, looking to the entrance to the alley they were in. "Wonder what's going on out there...."

[Vyncent Schwarz]

"Findin' your own way, huh...?" he smiled to her and nodded, leaning back against the tree trunk and closing his eyes. "Sounds like a good idea, really. Though if I had a home I'd like t'stay in it, personally." he smirked a little, sighing and letting himself relax for a few minutes. It was the first time he'd gotten the opportunity to relax in what felt like forever. He had almost drifted off to sleep as the commotion sounded outside, but in next to no time his icy blue eyes had snapped open and his ears had pricked up to zone in on the sound. It was hard to tell the emotions in his eyes as he listened intently to the disruption outside; it was between panic, caution and anger, but there was no doubt that whatever was going on had unsettled him.

"We gotta go." he muttered suddenly, springing to his feet and rubbing his eyes to rid himself of the tiredness. "Guards." he murmured simply, as if that would explain everything, his keen senses picking up on the rushed conversations and orders and other things that were going on outside the alley way. And it was just a matter of time before they looked in there, where he and Pari were, and found them. Found him. And dragged him back to the arena and... and... it didn't bear thinking about. There was a flash of fabric and Kai had pulled the cloak around his shoulders again and tugged the hood up, eyes flashing intently as he searched out any escape routes. He hadn't done this in a while, he was surprised he could still think this quickly.

"We might be able to get over that wall..." he nodded to a low wall just beyond the palm trees. "Then we could find a place to hide...?" he shrugged helplessly. Hiding sounded like the best idea, running would just equal to him getting worn out in the heat and passing out. And that wouldn't be good at all.

[Angel ♥]

For a moment Pari thought about asking how he could be sure that it was the guards. Afterall, it could be a variety of things. Someone could have been caught stealing, there might be a fight in the street, anything which was ordinary and had nothing to do with them. However, from the look in his eyes and the way that his ears had pricked up she knew that he was right. In fact, even without those hints she would have know he was right. As soon as she had heard the comotion her stomach had clenched, Pari becoming cautious and aware of everything that surrounded them.

One quick glance around the garden confirmed that going over the wall would be the best option, though the bite mark throbbed uncomfortably on her arm at the thought, as though reminding her that it was there. "Alright, over the wall and hide." She murmured as she rose to her feet, gathering up his clothes and hanging them over her bag so that her hands were free. "You go first, check over the top of the wall first. I'll follow you." She nodded, glancing to the entrance to the alley before stepping over towards the wall, waiting patiently by the bottom for him to clamber over.

"We will be better hiding inside a store, maybe in a basement or store room..." She was thinking out loud now, as though she hoped that voicing her idea's would make it easier to decide which one was the best, or would encourage a better idea to spring into her head. Her hand moved to rest over one of her knives as the guards rushed past the entrance to the alley, no doubt sealing off the market place so that they could. It wouldn't be long until they got to the alley. "Or maybe a roof...if we could find a seculded roof, that might work, but we need to make sure not to trap ourselves..."

[Vyncent Schwarz]

He nodded to her lightly as she thought aloud, moving over to the wall and managing to leap onto the top of it with one graceful bound, stirring up a little dust on the sandy flagstones as he scaled the thing. Climbing he could do, it sounded like the better option anyway. "Go for a rooftop, we can jump from them. Always a chance we can get trapped if we go inside." he told her softly and disappeared over the other side of the wall, landing silently in the shade of a secluded alley-way connected to this one. He thought about waiting for her for a second, in case she needed any help, but by the way her hand had travelled to her knife (that he'd just noticed she had) he realised that she seemed more than capable enough. Even if they did catch her she wouldn't be the one in danger. She'd be in even less danger if he wasn't around to make it seem like she was connected to him.

He let his eyes drift around the new area with animalistic impatience, moving out of the way of the wall to give her time to drop down after him; being landed on wasn't something he was likely to enjoy, after all. He sighed softly as his gaze drifted upwards, to the rooftops. The only problem was the small chance that they'd be seen on the way to the roof. But if they were quick, and managed it before the guards got into the alley-way, they'd be safe. Kai found himself silently thanking the wide balconies and uneven heights of Dibos' rooftops, it made it so much easier to climb.

Glancing over his shoulder, he listened intently to the noise of the guards for a second, looked to the entrance of the new alleyway, and began to scale the cracked stone walls of the building next to them. Climbing was easy enough when you weren't afraid of heights, but remaining unseen was more difficult. He paused for breath on a small ledge which seemed to serve as a place for people to stand when they hung out washing. It was just far enough up the wall for him not to be obvious to people walking past or looking around the garden in the clearing next to them, but he was low enough to put up a fight if they did catch him. Crouching low on the ledge, he peered over the edge of it to check how Pari was doing. "You okay?" he called softly.

[Angel ♥]

Pari waited until Kai had disappeared over the other side of the wall before glancing over her shoulder once again, just to check to make sure that there wasn't anyone watching them, before moving to scale the wall. Unlike Kai, she couldn't scale the thing with one leap, but it wasn't too difficult to clamber up. The vines growing over the wall were strong enough to hold her weight, and in places they had crumbled away the stone to create good foot and hand holes. It wasn't long until she was sat atop the wall, swinging her legs over to the other side and dropping over without a moment's hesitation. She swept the dust from her clothes as she landed before looking up to where Kai was, her eyes tracing a path up the wall to where he was.

"I'm fine. Keep going and I will meet you on the roof." She called to him as quietly as possible, not wanting to draw attention to them. Plus, alone Pari wasn't really in any danger. The guards wouldn't be suspicious of her if she kept her head down and covered up her bite mark she should be fine. Her only problem would come if the guards at the arena had described her to the guards; Pari might not have stood out in a crowd if you didn't know what to look for, but when you knew that you were looking for a girl with blue eyes your task got easier. She bet that, out of everyone in this town she was the only one with blue eyes.

She lingered on the ground for a moment to look around again, giving Kai the chance to carry on climbing. There was no-one else around, but the shouting from the guards was becoming louder. They were getting closer to where they were, they would need to hrurry. Pari made sure that nothing would drop from her bag before starting her climb, the pain in her arm growing the more weight she put on it. By the time she was halfway to the roof the wound was bleeding again, ribbons of blood running down her arm. She couldn't stop now though. She would have to grit her teeth and bear it.

When she finally got to the dusty roof the bleeding was only slightly heavier, her fingertips numb from the climb. On the plus side, she was sure that she hadn't been seen, swiftly moving away from the edge so that no-one on the street would be able to see her. "At least there is a bit of a breeze up here..." She murmured to him with a small smile, the warm breeze stirring the dust around her feet.

[Vyncent Schwarz]

Kai nodded down at her as she told him to carry on climbing, turning with a flick of the cloak to begin clambering along the vines and the cracks of the walls without too much trouble, even leaping from one of the ledges to cling to the wall. Soon enough he was at the top of the building and hurried onto the rooftop before he was seen, moving to the very centre of the thing so there was little to no chance that he'd be spotted by someone upwards. He was fairly certain that the guards would be searching inside shops and stalls and around the obvious places before going to the rooftops. And, judging by the fact that there was no door onto the roof of this particular building (well, there was... but it was well boarded off) nobody would think of looking for them up here unless they'd already spotted them climbing the wall.

He sighed heavily as he stretched in the middle of the rooftop, not wanting to pull down the hood for fear that he would get too hot. The breeze was nice, and the hood was a little stuffy, but it was the only shade he had from the sun. Ugh, he hadn't moved about this much in the afternoon for what seemed like forever, and it was starting to show. Coupled with the aches and injuries he'd sustained from the fight in the arena before his dash for freedom, he was feeling pretty uncomfortable right now. By the time Pari arrived on the rooftop he had kicked some of the dust from the floor to give him room to sit down, and he was sat waiting for her, leaning back on his hands.

"Sorry about your arm..." he murmured wearily as he nodded to the blood that trickled over her skin, "I didn't think I bit you that hard... must not even know my own strength any more." he yawned, tugging at the hood of the cloak a little to give him a better chance of hearing what was going on. The guards had reached the clearing by now, obviously searching for them since Kai could hear their voices below. He didn't think they'd look to the rooftops for a while though... they had more of the city to search before then. "Ugh, they couldn't search more when it was dark, could they?" he sighed, rubbing his eyes.

[Angel ♥]

"I don't think that you bit me that hard, I'm just easily injured." She told him, flexing her arm as she walked over to sit next to him. "I just don't have anything to clean the blood off with. Oh well, it will have to stay there until I get a wash tonight." She wrinkled her nose at her arm for a moment before sighing and looking up at him. There was nothing she could do about that now. At least the heat would dry the blood up quickly, she just had to mind not to get it on her clothes before it was dry. She didn't want to be walking around in blood stained clothes for the next few days, something like that would make the guards suspicous.

"Are you alright?" She asked, noting his discomfort. It was warm up there, too warm even for a native like Pari, but there wasn't much they could do about it. "You can borrow by fan if you like, it might make you a little bit more comfortable." She offered, tugging the fan out of her bag again to offer it to him. "We might be sat up here for a while waiting for the guards to finish with their ground search. Sorry, but this is the best place to hide. We won't have to sneak about as much once we are out of Dibos." She assured him with a light smile.

She drifted off as she looked around the rooftop to the city beyond, looking in the direction of the arena. Her family would have left the arena by now and were probably sat in some well aired, shady room having lunch and discussing what they had seen. They probably hadn't even noticed that she was gone yet, they would assume that the arena had been too much for her and that she had gone to explore the city instead. That was kind of lonely really. When you run away you want people to notice that you are gone, and maybe even to come looking for you...but by the time they realised that she wasn't coming back it would be rather difficult for them to trace her whereabouts.

[Vyncent Schwarz]

Kai could only wish that he'd been as lucky as Pari. He'd kill to have been noticed a little less in his situation. Then they wouldn't have to sit on this scorching rooftop hiding from the guards, and they wouldn't have to proceed with such caution when doing something as simple as wandering through the city. Though he could see where she was coming from. If he'd had any family then he could bet he'd probably want them to know that he was gone. Well... he did have family, but they were vague and snowy memories. And he got the feeling that the majority of that 'family' didn't like him very much anyway. Ah, well. He looked up a little as she asked him if he was okay, nodding a little and smiling faintly. "Just not used to movin' around this much when the sun's this high." he murmured to her.

He tilted his head curiously when she produced the fan, taking it gently from her hands and flicking his wrist to open it up, taking a particular interest in the little gilded designs. But then Kai would always be one to appreciate the little details; he was still expecting to wake up and for all of this to be a dream after all. After a few moments of consideration he began to fan himself, smirking at her statement and nodding. "I know. I'd prefer to hide up here with the heat and everythin' than get caught and end up back in there." he nodded to the arena, following her gaze over to it and scowling faintly. "We're leaving Dibos?" he asked and glanced over to her for a second, seeming interested again now. He'd never even seen beyond a few of the arena walls, and now he was getting out of Dibos? He couldn't have asked for more, smiling faintly as he gazed back over the city.

It wasn't long before Kai realised that spending energy to use the fan and cool himself down was actually a lot more hot and tiring than just sitting in the heat and dealing with it, the half-demon sitting up a little to watch the people wander around below them, trying hard to keep his eyes open. It was so hot... and he was so tired... It was safe to say than only a few minutes later he was dropping off to sleep, his head falling to rest on Pari's shoulder without him meaning to as he drifted off. By the time the shouting of the guards was beginning to fade away as they searched the rest of the market for the escaped slave he was fast asleep, preferring to spend the hottest part of the day unconscious, rather than suffer through it.

[Angel ♥]

"'Course we are leaving Dibos. If we stay here then it's only a matter of time until we are found." She explained to him, "We will both be safer when we leave here. The further away we are the safer we will be." It was true, though Kai would always stand out, when they were out of Dibos he wouldn't be anything more than an interesting stranger. News about his escape from the arena would, of course, travel, but with less people around to recognise him it would be easier to tell people a little fib about who he was. They would have to agree on a story for him to use, but they could deal with that later.

"You don't mind leaving, do you?" She asked, but when she looked to him it was obvious that he was half asleep, which made Pari smile. He was cute, wasn't he? She would have expected to him to be all angry and broody, but he was just like any other person. She gently eased the fan out of his hand as his head fell onto her shoulder, turning her gaze back out over the city as she fanned the both of them slowly. She didn't want him to overheat while he slept, or to have heatstroke when he woke up.

As time wore on Pari found her own eyes growing heavy. Not sure how she managed to stay sat up. At one point she must have drifted off for a moment or two because one minute she had been watching a wispy cloud drift across the sky and the next her head had been leaning against his and the fan had dropped from her hand.

She allowed him to sleep until the sun had begun to sink low in the sky. She had long since lost the feeling in her shoulder, and the temptation to reach up and stroke his ears was growing stronger and stronger. "Kai." She murmured to him softly, gently shaking his arm to wake him up. "Kai, you need to wake up now. We need to go." Soon the guards would start searching the rooftops, now that it wasn't so hot up there. They needed to get down before they were caught, and use the lengthening shadows in the streets below to help them get to the house that they were staying tonight,