Pascal

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

The man returned to her side, and encouraged her to hold onto his shirt so that she could follow him. She preferred to hold on to the wall, since it was rather steady, but she didn’t complain. He could have just left her in the dark sewer, if he had wanted to. She followed him silently, trying not to be sick as they moved through the sewage from the town. When they finally saw the light, she fought the urge to pull away from him and run towards it. For all she knew, there were more guards out there already. The stranger was much more cautious, approaching the opening and clearly searching for any potential threats.

She stopped as the man held out his arm, looking down at the water below. “A bit.” She answered. “I flail mostly…but I can keep myself above the water.” She had to be honest. She and her sisters used to play occasionally in the water in town and near the town. Being the youngest, she had been picked up and thrown into the water against her will. She had learned the sorts of things that kept her above the water because she had already experienced those moments of panic, as her elder sisters looked on and laughed.

Rhys checked her bag, making sure it was secure. Some of her things, like her journal, shouldn’t get wet. The inside of the bag was lined to keep away water, but it wasn’t going to last forever. She needed to get the bag dry quickly if she had any hope of saving her things. Again, the gown would make it a bit harder to swim, but she would have to do her best. “After me?” She questioned, glancing over at the man. She imagined that she looked rather disgusting, and she was grateful at least that she had the chance to clean herself off, and maybe eventually she could find some cleaner water to use to fill up her waterskin.

Jumping into the water, Rhys was glad that it didn’t look or smell as bad as the sewer. She wiped her face with the water, trying to rid herself of the smell and grime from the sewer. As she had promised, she was able to kick her way to the surface, and paddle over to one of the sides, lifting her bag out of the water first. Rhys climbed out of the water on her own, and sat on the shore, her layered gown stuck to her and still dripping. She took the cloth and bunched it up a bit, twisting it to wring out some of the cloth.

Fortunately, it wasn’t cold outside, so she wasn’t terribly uncomfortable. With the immediate concerns out of the way, at least in her mind, Rhys opened her bag and pulled out her journal, breathing a huge sigh of relief when she found that it was still dry. She lay in on the grass beside her, and took a few other items out of the bag to ensure that they were still dry as well. In her mind, they didn’t need to keep running, not right now. She needed to get her bearings, and with all of the added weight from the wet gown, she would be even slower to move.

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

Rhys didn’t know how to answer the man when he asked skeptically if she was ready. Of course she wasn’t, but she needed to hold herself together for now, and so she did. She wasn’t happy when he took her wrist, but they did need to stick together. She was well aware that he needed her right now as well. Without her, he would get picked out in a moment. She followed him, and they moved quickly, but not suspiciously so. For the most part, she kept her head down, only thinking when he paused that she should have suggested leading, since she knew her way around the town. It was a little late now, but hopefully he would be able to get them past the guard.

One guard began to ask him about the suspect, and instead of quietly saying that he hadn’t seen anything suspicious, he knocked the guard to the ground, and then took off running. Rhys couldn’t really keep up, not in the dress at least. She stumbled a few times, but he didn’t let her go. She couldn’t discern which directions he was choosing, and just followed along, keeping her feet moving to keep up with him.

When he finally stopped, it was only to lift the edges of sewer drain. Surely he was setting it up so guards would think they went down when instead they were going somewhere else. “What?!” Rhys had kept her cool with everything that had been done so far, but going into a sewer to escape was the final straw. She opened her mouth to outright refuse, when he literally pushed her in. The fall wasn’t far, fortunately, though Rhys had no way of knowing that ahead of time. Rhys landed in a way that she knew was going to form a bruise, and she began to get up only to be bathed in darkness. It was only about 5 feet tall, and she had to duck a little in order to stand, her hand holding one of the walls.

“I can’t see…” She said softly, her voice shaking. She reached out with her other hand, unsure of which direction they were even going. “And the smell…” She began to gag, which was made worse by her general state of panic. “Sir? Are you there?” She asked, still whispering. The guards up on the street above them couldn’t likely hear anything down there, but she was terrified, and somehow whispering kept her from crying.

It was beginning to set in, though. She had run away from home with a man whose name she didn’t even know, a man she knew was a wanted criminal. What was she thinking? Maybe she could still turn back, apologize to the guard and say that she was so scared of the man that she had gone along with what he had told her to do.

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

Rhys began to grope around the counter, looking for something to grip to hit the man. She wasn’t going to just let him hurt her. Men like him always took what they wanted like they had earned it, and it greatly bothered her. She began to hit him with her arm and fist, trying to dissuade the man. Right now the short term greatly outweighed the long-term desire to be on the good side of the guards. The last thing she expected was for the injured man to come out of the back room and distract the guard. She pulled herself away from the guard quickly, and straightened her gown for a moment, wiping the tears away from her face, and then turned to face the situation. The stranger looked even more terrifying than he had looked when he got into the workshop in the first place.

A brief scuffle resulted in the guard being knocked unconscious. In truth, she was relieved. He posed a much bigger problem for Rhys than the stranger had, and while she knew the stranger was dangerous, he hadn’t tried to attack her. The man came to the conclusion faster than Rhys had, saying that she couldn’t stay here. She took a few more moments to process the words, but she knew that they were true. She looked towards the door and took a big breath. “You are right.” She said. She thought that she could talk out of helping the stranger, but she couldn’t get out of the guard being attacked and outright refusing to submit to him.

The man had offered for her to come with him, and she looked up at him in surprise. He didn’t have to offer that. He could have simply told her good luck and left her on her own. Rhys bit her lip and looked around the shop. “Okay…” She said, mostly to herself to cope with the situation. She didn’t have time to go home, to get her things. But she didn’t have a pack here, with some of her belongings. Rhys went back over to the counter, and opened up a cabinet, taking out a leather satchel. She opened it for a moment, confirming that it carried the objects she had brought with her. She then took a small leather water skin off of the wall—though it was empty now, she knew that she would be away from the town soon, and she would need to have some tools for survival.

Stepping into the back room, she took a blade that was usually used for cleaning leather, and another for simple cutting, and then stuck them in her back. “I don’t have much…But I can’t go home.” She said. She lived on the other side of town, and by the time she got there, they might have closed the borders, or be looking for her. She walked over to the door to the shop, and turned the lock. “Are you ready?” She asked. It was the only exit, and he was very much a wanted man.

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

Rhys nodded as he suggested that they would begin doubling back. That certainly made sense, but she hoped that the guard would find themselves distracted at the brothel. There were many rooms in that place, and men who were not so eager about being seen by the guard, engaging in whatever acts they pleased. She moved back to the front as he argued with the strange creature, and began to scrub, only to have the door swing open once more. Hadn’t the stranger locked it before? Rhys frowned, but couldn’t do much to stop the guard now, since he was already in and questioning her.

“Have you seen any suspicious characters? Probably with an injury? He is tall, with dark brown hair.” He supplied. Rhys stood as the man spoke, holding the wet rag in her hands still.

“No, sir. I have not. The shop has been quiet today.” She said, looking at the guard, but not meeting his eyes. For one thing, she wasn’t sure that she could lie to his face directly. Further, she knew that these sorts of men tended to embrace their position, and he would likely feel that she was disrespecting him if she met his gaze. “I am sorry that I cannot help you.” She said, bowing slightly and turning away from him to go behind the counter. She wanted to make sure that she looked busy, and hopefully the man would take his leave, eager to catch this criminal. Rhys fought the urge to ask the question that was on the tip of her tongue, whether the man they sought was dangerous. If he wasn’t dangerous, then they wouldn’t be going door to door.

Rhys tried to make herself look busy, but glanced up to make sure that the guard was taking his leave. He looked around the shop for a few moments before he turned to the door, and when he placed his hand on the knob, she almost breathed a sigh of relief. Until she heard the door lock move into place. Rhys looked up at him quickly, and took a step back as he spoke, implying that he wanted some sort of gratification. There was a house of ill repute literally next door! Why did he have to want to demand something from her?

“Sir, I am sorry, but my boss has many things that he wishes for me to accomplish today. I cannot be distracted from those tasks.” She said, trying to sound apologetic. She couldn’t get around him, she was behind the counter, and so was he, now. She didn’t have weapons, and wielding them would be the end of her job, most certainly. “Please…” She begged as he grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her. She cried out in pain as he pushed her against the counter, leaning his weight on her arm. She couldn’t resist without breaking her arm.

“Miss… I can make things easy for you…or I can make them very…very difficult.” He said harshly, his other hand beginning to roam over her body. “You might even enjoy it.” He said, a hint of pride in his voice. His leg kicked forward prying her legs apart. She wore a long gown, but he would begin to pull that up shortly.

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

heading off to bed, since its after 2am. gnight.

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

Eventually, the man let her being to close his wound, and when he lifted his shirt, she saw that it was more of a puncture than a gash, which was worse, really. She took her cloth and gently began to dab the blood. “Please stay still.” She requested, knowing that the less he moved, the less he would bleed. She wiped away the blood until it was almost all gone, and then took the needle in her left hand, pinching his skin and pulling it away from him as she began to poke through it. “This is going to pinch.” She warned him, though she was already forcing the needle through his skin. Fortunately, her needles were very sharp, and clean, since her boss insisted on such to make sure that the leathers were completed with the best quality.

Stitching the wound only took a few minutes, since it was a puncture wound. “There might be bleeding beneath the skin. If so, I am sorry.” She said, dabbing at the spot once more as she cut the thread and leaned back away from the man. “I have done all that I can.” She walked over to a washing basin and began to wring the blood from her cloth and her fingers. By the time her boss returned, the man would have to be gone, and she would be back to stitching, hopefully a bit faster so that he didn’t suspect she had taken a break. He was a demanding individual, and there were many women that could sew.

“Do you think that you will soon be able to leave?” She requested. Rhys didn’t want to force him out when he was physically injured, but he was likely a criminal, and she had to save her own skin, first. “And…do you think that someone will come here, looking for you?” She was thinking drastically, but she was wondering if she should have some sort of injury, that way it looked as if she was held against her will, rather than aiding him by her own suggestion. Of course, if she could just get the man out quickly, then she wouldn’t have to worry about any of that.

Rhys waited a few moments for an answer, and then turned to the door, not to escape, but to check the floor in the front and make sure that there was no blood. She took the damp cloth and walked out of the back room to scrub a few spots on the floor, just to be safe. Her boss would be frustrated with her for taking time off to scrub, but he would be more angry about his place of business not being kept looking beautiful—despite the fact that the traffic on this street was practically nonexistent.

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

He didn’t say anything until after she tried to stitch his wound, and then he begged not to be touched. She could sense that he was off-balance, and clearly had some trust issues, and she paused, not wanting to encourage him to act rashly. “Sir…” She said, her voice barely a whisper. “You are bleeding too much for it to be a graze. If you do not have your wound tended to, then you will only sit here and continue to bleed. I would normally suggest proper medical treatment, but I am pretty sure that if you could have gone to a proper doctor, you would have. So you have to decide. Option 1, you sit here until you bleed to death, and then leave me to clean up after… or you let me close the wound, and then you can leave and we can both get back to our lives.”

A part of her had thought that maybe he was stuck-up enough to think himself better than her, but he had already grasped her before, clamping his hand upon her mouth. Ruling that as unlikely, her next guess was that he simply had issues with trust. “Do you think that you can stitch this yourself?” She asked, her voice a bit skeptical. He was bleeding, there was no way that he could easily keep his hand steady enough to do more than just hurt himself more.

The woman was trying to be patient, but the sooner she stitched him up, the faster he would leave. After a few more moments, she gave another offer. Most people would think it was insane, and would serve no purpose, but to Rhys, it made all the difference, and maybe…just maybe, such was the case with this man as well. “I can put on gloves, if that would make it easier.” She offered.

For Rhys, sometimes contact with the skin was too much. It was rare for her, as usually the haunting visions came in her sleep, but there were times, especially when she was under great stress, that she found physical contact to be too great. Touching someone showed her their future, or the future of their loved ones, and she couldn’t handle it. In the workroom there were thick gloves for handling large amounts of leather, but she also had a smaller pair that fit her more snuggly in her apron, for occasions when she was worried about being around other people. It was another reason that she wore two layers, one of which had long sleeves, even in the summer.

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

okay, well i think i will leave the post a little short then instead, and let him have another choice here- she is trying to work with him a bit.

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

Curious, if she went ahead and touched him anyway, would he completely panic?

Hunted (Pascal and Merbella)

He didn’t seem quite so terrifying when he backed away from her, and even less so when he held up his hands, revealing a patch of blood. Don’t bleed on his floor! she thought to herself, knowing that her boss would be furious, especially if the man bled on any of the products. She should have felt guilty for being concerned about the product first, but she had no idea if this man was a serial killer, or what. She didn’t get the chance to address his words about needing to hide before there was a crash in the back room. She turned, half-expecting to see an accomplice robbing her blind, but instead she saw some sort of creature that…she had most certainly seen before.

It took her a few moments to place the creature, because she hadn’t seen it when she was awake. No, she had seen this creature in her dreams, in her visions. The man seemed to communicate with the creature by whistling, or this was some sort of extravagant ploy to make her think that she was insane. She stood in frozen shock until the creature left, and the stranger spoke to her again. “You…” She paused, turning back towards him and looking down at his wound. “You cannot bleed on this floor… Come.” She gestured, but didn’t reach out to touch the man.

Going into the back room, Rhys saw that a few boxes had been knocked over, nothing disastrous. There was a work-table back here with a stool and some supplies for cutting and templates for shoes and other products. She gestured to the chair and scooted some things out of the way. “If my boss finds you here, you threatened me and my family with a gruesome death and making sure that we could not confess our sins…He is deeply religious, and otherwise, he might strangle me for allowing you here. Do you understand?” As she spoke, she became a bit more authoritative, taking control of what little she could.

She grabbed another needle, and a thin string, along with a clean cloth from her gown. “Let me see your wound.” She said, kneeling in front of him as she thread the string. “You likely need it stitched if you have a chance of getting out of here quickly.” She said. If he doubted her ability, she would gesture to the intricate work he had seen in the front of the shop. Blood didn’t particularly make her squeamish, having two sisters, and a father who worked in construction. They couldn’t afford proper medical care, so her mother would sew her husband back together when he injured himself.

Rhys was usually quite shy around boys, but her desire to get rid of this stranger quickly propelled her to act. When it actually came time to touch the man, however, her nerves would begin to set in, and she froze for a few moments before she regained her composure and would be able to clean and then stitch the wound properly.