Lost and alone. Again. Stupid maps.

[kris]

Kris had an incredible sense of direction, really. It just always told him to go the wrong way. Maybe if the elf trusted more in maps, he would not have such problems. Unfortunately, he had the terrible habit of wandering down roads that 'looked about right' or 'sounded almost the same,' which meant he was not, in fact, going anywhere near where he wanted to be. That, in turn, meant that there was now a lost little elf wandering through the back alleys of New York City. A frail, helpless-looking elf, with long blond hair and a pretty dress (well, robes, but it did look like a skirt).

He went for about five minutes before getting jumped. Pretty good, all things considered.

"Hey there, pretty lady," growled a deep voice from behind the elf. He turned, but the attacker grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, shoving something sharp at the bottom of his rib cage. "Now you just calm right down and hand over your wallet, and I might just let you live." Three more people appeared from the shadows, all young males with looks in their faces that said they had time to spare and they knew just how they wanted to spend it.

This is not going to end well, she thought, staring up at the sky. It was fully dark, and they were far enough away from any main roads that he probably wasn't going to be able to call for help. And he really did not want to get raped and murdered in some dark alley. Keeping very still, he blanketed the area with a sleep spell. Affecting several people meant the curse didn't work well on any one of them, but it did give him a few seconds to twist out of the first man's grasp as he fought with a sudden onset of drowsiness. Kris took off running, tripping over his own clothing, but managing to catch his balance before completely falling over. He took the moment to lob a nauseate curse at one of the men, causing one to reel and clutch at his stomach.

Kris ran, only too aware that he was not an athlete, whereas his attackers were in far better shape than he was. Kris couldn't keep casting spells, since they took time, and his curses only affected one person. Plus, he didn't want to use anything flashy unless he had no chance of escaping. Hoping he would find his way to a better lit and more populated area, Kris turned a corner, glancing over his shoulder back at the men as he did so. Three were still following him. Not good. Not good at all.

[Sevestra Yysara]

The man who had grabbed Kris tripped up, his knife falling from his hands as he fell into an area of deep shadow. His momentary cry was muffled and cut short as he hit, presumably, the ground. The four attackers had nearly caught up to Kris by this point, but upon seeing their 'leader' go down, they stopped short. It really didn't matter if Kris got a little ahead of them; they could catch up again. Besides, the girl/guy didn't apparently didn't realize (s)he was headed toward a dead end.

Knife-guy stood silently from the shadow he had been temporarily hidden in and grabbed his weapon from the ground, giving a nod to the others to show he was alright before heading slowly after Kris, who would probably have noticed by now that (s)he wasn't going to escape the way (s)he had gone. The other thugs moved to flank him and make sure Kris couldn't run by.

The one to knife-guy's right, the same one who had the nausea curse used on him a moment ago, laughed derisively, sneering in Kris' direction. It was a terribly evil and annoying laugh, but luckily it was abruptly cut short as the man developed a look of surprise and slapped his neck. He pulled a shard of metal from his neck and stared at it for a moment in disbelief before slumping to the ground, apparently asleep by the movement of his chest. The others watched the man fall and then looked to their leader to see what they should do.

But the man with the knife was gone.

In it's place there was a blur a shadow and movement, and the knife the man had held was sliding across the ground toward Kris' feet. The shadow itself streaked to the left and brought down the handle of what looked like... a sword? onto the neck of another of Kris' attackers, knocking the man out. When the remaining thug pulled a gun and confusedly pointed it at Kris, thinking (s)he must have been behind the chaos, the shadow darted in front of Kris and, movement halted, resolved into the form of a winged woman, short as a child and clad entirely in black.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sevestra warned, katana held out in front of herself as she blocked Kris from the man.

(Er, feel free to take over the NPC again if you want. )

[kris]

((^^ Well, that was amusing. You know, you can just pick a pronoun and go with it, Kris is androgynous enough to be referred to as whatever you want.))

Hah! The legendary sense of direction struck again! Pretty bad timing, actually. Kris was faced with a big wall, not the well-lit street that he had been hoping for. I'm not going to panic, I just have to stay calm... I can do this if I just time everything all right... and hope none of them decide to stab me... The thoughts were racing through his head as he tried to keep himself from going into a panic, which would not be productive at all. Turning around, he faced his attackers, hoping he would get out of this alive. They had spread out to block his escape, which meant he would have to curse at least two of them to get enough of an opening to run. But that would take time, and if he tried one curse, the other two could attack...

The elf stood very still when the man slumped to the floor, surprised and not sure what to do. When the second one fell, he was not sure if he should be more scared than he already was, or just take this as some divine intervention and run the other way. His breathing was still ragged and his legs burned, which meant running was probably not the best option, if he could help it.

Then there was his savior standing in front of him. A pixie? He had not seen any pixies since his childhood. This one was obviously a warrior, but why she had stopped to help Kris was a mystery at the moment. The elf looked away from the pixie when he heard the sound of a pistol being drawn, terrified gaze fixing on the remaining man. "Sleep," he heard himself saying, casting the curse he had prepared a while ago, but had been too distracted to use. This time, it worked as it was supposed to, as Kris was not trying to spread it out among several people. The confused look never left the thug's face as he slumped to the ground, gun clattering to the ground next to him.

[Sevestra Yysara]

((Oh my goodness ;; I've been waiting patiently for you to post so I could reply, and there's been one here this whole time! How it slipped by me I have no idea! >_<;; Sorry for the wait!))

((Oh, and the use of the pronoun '(s)he' suits Sevy's personality too well to ditch it now ))

Sevestra remained frozen in place, except for the fluttering of her wings, for a good thirty seconds or so before she let out her breath. She then flew quickly over to the bodies of the criminals and checked to make sure they were out for good. Apparently satisfied, she held up her index finger in Kris' direction, signifying that (s)he should give her a minute.

She disappeared quickly the way Kris had come, and the reappeared, pulling along the real body of the man with the knife, whom she had tripped, knocked out, hidden, and assumed the form of under the influence of a freeze time spell. The man's body was being held aloft by the anti-gravity curse as she pulled him over to the others. She didn't want any surprises if one of them decided to wake up. The one under the influence of the Slumber spell, care of Kris, and the one she had hit with a shuriken covered in neurotoxin would definitely be out awhile, but the other two had just been knocked out the old-fashioned way and were liable to awaken, if a little sorely so.

Her work done, she finally addressed Kris outright. "Thanks for taking the gunslinger out. Bullets are a pain to deal with." She cast a meaningful glance at the weapon now lying on the ground. "My name is Sevestra Yysara, and I work for Thaumaturgy International. The CUSTODIANs will be by shortly to clean this mess up, I'd imagine, but in the meantime, are you hurt? I'm not a Restorer, but I can still heal pretty well if you are in need." Her trained eyes scanned the victim, who was curiously gender-ambiguous, but she saw no signs of serious injury.

Ironic, actually, that she would consider someone gender-ambiguous, considering it was impossible to tell, other than by her voice, whether she was a male or female herself, with her petite frame wrapped up entirely in black material as it was. But irony wasn't her strong suit, especially when she was on the job. Which, luckily for Kris, she had been. She had actually just been returning to a T-Zone when she had heard and felt the spells cast and decided to investigate. If nothing else, it could have resulted in someone being charged for irresponsible use of magic. Of course, TI would do no such thing if it was used in self-defence.

[kris]

(Bleh, sorry I kinda disappeared for a bit, it wasn't my intention. Hah, my turn to apologize.))

Kris was much too worked up to do anything more than just watch the pixie do her job. This was far too much excitement for her in one night. She took it as a sign for her to get some sort of self-defense training. Oddly enough, when she was with Quartz, she never had to worry about getting mugged, and they had lived in a dangerous neighborhood. She supposed that she was just being careless these days, concentrating too much about her situation and not enough on the outside world. Moping around had gotten her into a back alley full of bored gang members, or at least, she thought that was the reason.

Taking deep breaths, she leaned against the wall and used the short break to calm herself. It was odd that she did not feel any sort of nervousness around a strange pixie clothed in black who had appeared out of nowhere and knocked out four grown men within the space of a few seconds, but perhaps it was the fact that said pixie was on her side that kept her calm. She managed a weak smile. "I'm fine," she said, "just a little shaken up. I, uh, well, thank you."

Pausing for a few moments, she decided it would be a good idea to introduce herself. "I'm Kris. I just got a job at TI myself a few weeks ago. Nothing important, though, just stacking books and keeping things tidy," she added, not wanting to sound vain. She felt her job was unimportant when compared to the other people she had met in the company. After another pause, she hesitantly asked, "What's a CUSTODIAN? I mean, you don't sound like you're talking about janitors." She was very curious, but hesitated to ask Sevestra about anything. It did not seem like a good idea to annoy the woman who had just saved her life.

[Sevestra Yysara]

((S'okay :3))

Sevestra nodded when Kris confirmed her diagnosis of healthiness. "Good. You're welcome." Not exactly the most verbose reply, but then again, Sevestra wasn't exactly the most verbose person either. Again, especially when on the job. She was fine with the silence as Kris paused, and she used to time to watch the collection of wrongdoers with a keen eye, knocking one of them out once more as he attempted to awaken. He would be awfully sore when he woke up, but he only had himself to blame for that.

She looked back up when Kris introduced him/herself. She was not a fan of small talk, and she has only introduced herself because it was standard procedure, but she didn't want to be rude either. "Mhm," she said simply, nodding at his/her explanation. Contrary to her apparent lack of interest, she was listening intently; the information might come in handy later. Information had a way of doing that.

She fixated her gaze fully upon Kris, however, when (s)he asked about CUSTODIANs. Usually people either knew of them, or knew not to ask; it was unsettling to be questioned on them. But she supposed there was no real reason not to tell her, no protocol that dictated she couldn't speak of them. "Project: CUSTODIAN is an elite branch of TI's Shadow division. They clean up messes like this one."