[Yael] She-Rat and the Knights of Slum Alley [Len x Jal]

[Tangled Puppet]

Jalase, for the most part, was still fresh meat as far as the guards were concerned. He was still one of the newest — and lowest ranking — members. And as such, he still got the shitty jobs — the jobs that no one else wanted or were reserved especially for those of his rank. They knew that they could assign these jobs to the newbies because most were too afraid to say anything otherwise. They didn’t want to screw up their chances of moving up in rank. Jal wasn’t really scared, but he also knew better.

Sighing, he raked a hand through his loose hair and pulled it back into a top knot. He’d recently gotten it cut — a more appropriate look, for a guard, he’d been told. He was just glad he hadn’t had to get it all buzzed off, like he’d seen others in the guard do. He gathered his gear and stepped out of his room and headed off in the direction of where he’d been assigned. The area wasn’t too far from the area he’d been patrolling the night he had ran into Len. It made him wonder what the younger boy was doing just then.

Huffing, he shoved those thoughts away and began patrolling around town. The sun was already setting and people were already gathering outside of establishments and whispering as he passed them by. Jal glanced at them out of the corner of his eye, fingers wrapping around the hilt of his sword. When he was several blocks past the prying eyes, Jal relaxed. Most of the night went by uneventful. A few fights here and there but as soon as they saw him coming, they ran off in different directions and Jal knew it’d be useless to chase after any of them. Small time trouble makers were not what he was sent out to find. If the fights broke up easy enough, he let them be.

With many hours behind him, Jalase decided to give himself a small break — he was thirsty, after all. Stepping into a nearby inn, Jal didn’t notice the same thugs from earlier, enter behind him and settle up at the far end of the bar at the same time Jalace did. He ordered a drink and turned to glance out at those who were sitting at the tables, careful eyes looking over everything that was going on. When the drink was sat in front of him, Jal thanked the man and took a swig. As he slowly finished off his drink, Jal felt his eyes grow heavy. He shrugged it off — it was late anyway. Any normal person would get tired at this time too.

When he stood, Jalace staggered and caught hold of the stool he’d been sitting on. Frowning, he reached up and rubbed his eyes. What on Tendaji was wrong with him? Grunting, he took a deep breath and pushed away from the stool. He stood still, letting the breath out slowly and trying his best to keep his balance. He was doing well enough, so moved toward the door. Perhaps it had just been a case of him getting up too quickly? Jal moved out of the inn and into the dark, cool night, unaware of those that had followed him yet again.

He felt a shove as he reached the corner of the building, and grunted as he swiveled to look at the culprits. “What’re ya doin’?” His voice was slurred, which caused Jal to frown just as one of the men shoved him harder and towards the alleyway. He stumbled, not really being able to resist the constant shoving that came at him. He heard the voices, her bits and pieces of what was said but mostly it sounded like gibberish to him. When the first punch connected with his face, he saw stars.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len didn't go looking for trouble.

In her experience, trouble was a floating constant in the world. It came when it pleased, interfered where it saw fit, and on very fortunate days, flit away again as quickly as it came. Sometimes it was more obvious than others and could be avoided beforehand. Sometimes it was so obvious that not avoiding it was entirely the fault of the person later suffering it. Other times, it simply bit in the arse out of the blue, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

She had no way of knowing yet what sort, if any, this night would bring, and even in retrospect, she wouldn't fully be able to say what sort exactly it was that she ran into when she did. But whatever it was, it wasn't entirely her fault. She didn't like seeing people beat about, that was all.

Normally, she would have avoided the scene altogether.

Just as she didn't look for trouble, Lenila was not a hero. She was small, and she rather liked breathing, after all. The gods - of whatever sort they might be - clearly handled the world's business one way or another regardless of who interrupted, and she didn't see it as her heaven-given task to do the interrupting in most instances. Unfortunately, as the case in this instance had it, she knew Jalase. If she just hadn't looked, perhaps she wouldn't have recognized him and could have gone on her way.

Unfortunately, Len was a looker. Stifling curiosity had never been her strong suit, and on this night, she 'paid' that price.

"Oooiiiya, wha' 're you all doin' this far down, didn' the master want you back elsewhere some hour or two ago?" She fit two fingers of each hand into her pockets as she said it, hooking them there and cocking a hip and her head as she eyed the men - and woman - looming over Jalase's prone figure on the cobblestone. She recognized one of the men and the woman, at least, as those at least some of the time working for the man now currently 'employing' her, if that were even an appropriate term of art under the circumstances.  

[Tangled Puppet]

Jalase tried to fight back, he was a big man and normally it was very hard to overpower him. Tonight, however, his muscles felt sluggish and his brain was foggy. Each time he blinked it felt as if it took all he had just to open his eyelids again — and when he did, his vision spun. The first punch had knocked him backwards and he had stumbled until his back met the rough wall of the building. At that point it was all that was holding him up. He did his best to block the incoming punches but soon felt his lip split and tasted blood — along with other pains here and there when their punches contacted the spots they aimed for. A brief pause — and a voice — in the assault had Jalase squinting, trying to make his vision clear enough so that he could at least see those who were assaulting him.

“What do you care?” the female asked as she spat in Jal’s face and tensed, fists clenching slightly as he tried to make a move.

“Oi, what’re you think you’re doing?” A man’s voice growled and Jalase felt the rough, calloused hands grip at his throat and slam his head back against the wall — hard enough that pain shot through his skull and his vision blackened. Jalase groaned as the man continued to talk. “Just ‘bout to gut me a rat,” the man said as a wicked grin curled up his lips and he flipped a knife out of it’s sheath.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len surveyed her options, brain tripping into the place it went when active and thorough 'thinking' took too much time to implement practically and instinct rode over in its place. To the woman's question, she shrugged.

"Don't suppose I do, other'n you makin' more trouble than needs be made with guard could spell stink for the lot of us," she said. "Maybe it ain't so much of a concern for you, big an' armed an' nasty like, but me…" She tapped her chest in indication, "…I'm wee small, see? Can't deal so much with the city's armed folk in an extra tizzy at us thanks in part to you gettin' them all excited like."

Her gaze flicked, snapping to the gleam of the man's knife when he drew it, and a small needle twisted in Len's gut.

"Real shiny that is," she said aloud. "Might be a shame to mussy it all up with red here, though, in the street where every tiff-knocker and their grandmother can see and find what you done."  

[Tangled Puppet]

The man sneered at Len, gaze flicking to the streets off in the distance and the people passing by. The stupid boy had been loud enough that he noticed a few heads turning their way. And though they quickly looked away, the damage to the privacy had already been done. “Tch.” He grumbled, quickly returning the knife to its sheath. “Stupid boy. If you’d just kept your mouth shut it’d been over with already and we’d been gone before anyone could have seen us.” The man squeezed at Jal’s neck tighter, causing a gurgled sound to escape Jal’s lips as he gasped for air. “You’re lucky, rat.”

When the man’s fingers uncurled from around his neck, Jalase sunk to the ground and slouched. Pain radiated through every part of him and he still wasn’t fully aware of what was going on around him. He just knew that fingers no longer grasped at his neck and his lungs greedily gulped up the air as it filled them up.

“You should keep your nose out of other people’s business. If ya know what’s good for ya,” the woman said as scuffed her toe at the ground, sending mud and who knew what else at Jal’s legs. “Could get yourself hurt, hm?”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Lenila's heart felt wild in her chest, heavy and over sized like a great beast, too rebellious and untamed to properly belong inside of her. Her exterior, though, was small as ever, meek, and just beneath the surface, shaking like a winter leaf. She was doing well to hold her ground and tongue simultaneously, no matter how watching thick ugly fingers on Jalase's neck made angry heat pool in her cheeks and neck.

She watched him crumple like wet laundry, little more dignified than orphans' clothes on wash day dropped to the rock of the cobblestone street, and her breath seeped from her. Relieved, in spite of everything, and ready to move in the instant the opportunity presented itself.

When the woman talked, Len's tongue flicked over her lower lip. Quick as a tiny snake. She set her hands back on her hips—or moved to do so, but then changed her mind midway there and folded them behind her instead, to mask her lingering impatience. There was no reason for them to stay. Her lips pulled into a grin.

"Aye, well, 'm sure he's learned his lesson then, ey? And the master'll be happy t' see you back in a timely manner, m'sure. Was good seein' friendly faces. Do hope t' meet again," she piped in.

The unimpressed and dismissive looks she received in answer were success enough, and the other two slipped off, she felt a momentary bubble of accomplishment—then scooted forward in a hop-hop-pause-and-linger beside Jalase, resting one hip to the dingy wall beside him. "Sooooo, ehhh…" Her syllables drug out as she eyed him, eyes glowing beneath her lashes. "They didn' hurt you too sharp, did they? Don' look so shimmery down there like y'are. Need a hand up?"  

[Tangled Puppet]

“Mmm…” Jalase managed to get some sort of a sound out of his lips in response to the voice he heard. His head still spun and he felt like he brain was trudging through slime. He sucked in a breath, held it for a few seconds and let it out slowly, forcing his eyes open as he did. The lights from the surrounding buildings seemed brighter, more intense to his drugged mind. He forced himself to focus, tearing his gaze from one of the many lit up windows in the distance and glanced to the side. Len. He’d not been so glad to see someone in a while. If he hadn’t of shown up… Jalase shoved the thoughts to the side as he tried to refocus on the last thing the boy had said. Help...up? He glanced down, noting that he seemed to be sitting on the ground with no real memory of how he had gotten there in the first place.

Jalase couldn’t help but let a small snort escape his lips as he glanced back up at Len. “You gonna let me lean on ya, shrimp?” His lips twitched up into a small smile as he leaned his head back against the wall. “Thanks for showin’ up when ya did, yeah? I...can’t quite remember how I got here.”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Lenlila watched as the fallen boy - man - grunted. He really didn't look so well, especially up close, and a splinter of worry needled through her briefly before she dismissed most of it. He wasn't her responsibility, there wasn't a great lot more she could do for him in the moment, and she had already risked herself to - and succeeded in - getting his attackers off of him.

When he spoke intelligibly, she tipped her head. "Dunno if I could. Big as ya are, might snap me. You c'n get up though, yea? Kinda looks as though ya may have been sippin' their juice before ya knew they were watchin'…"

The fact that he couldn't remember how he got there only emphasized the latter thought, but Len kept her puff of displeasure to herself, sending a brief narrow-eyed glance in the direction they'd retreated before tucking that thought, too, away for later if ever. She knew the band she worked under was a criminal organization. She knew they did foul things from time to time. She knew, if she let herself think about it, that they hurt people.

But she didn't. Or, so she told herself. Stealing wasn't hurting; it was an unconventional surprise redistribution of wealth for the betterment of the city as a whole—but especially her when she needed to eat. Wanting to fill her belly couldn't be that unreasonable, and she didn't put much thought into it beyond that.

"Where were ya last y' do remember?"  

[Tangled Puppet]

“Mmm…” Jalase let his head lean back against the wall, eyes closing as he tried to remember where he had been before all this had happened. His brain was still foggy and each time he tried to think, pain seemed to shoot through his body. He worked through it, though, finally remembering that he had planned to end his day with a couple of drinks and then head back to his temporary home (he really did need to find a place of his own soon). He blinked his eyes open, forcing himself to turn his head and look at Len — his rescuer. “I think...I was at a pub. I remember wanting to get a drink before heading home but...everything is so fuzzy beyond those thoughts.”

The Only Black Uke

 

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len grunted.

It wasn't a surprising story, and she could have thought up a thousand more interesting ones in the time it took him to say it, all of them less probable — which almost surely meant that it was, boringly, exactly what it looked to be. Common low-ball tactics, drugging and thievery. Or just petty revenge on authority, for that matter. Her gaze flicked out, down the grim alley and to the mainstreet.

"Feelin' up to puttin' your feet beneath ya yet? Or I can sit with ya and we can have a quick chit-chat while ya get your head together. Seems the worst spot f'r you t' be right now is here in the dirt alone."  

[Tangled Puppet]

If Jalase was being honest with himself, he’d rather be anywhere but where he currently was. The ground was cold and mucky and his head was hurting him something awful. “I can try to stand. I really don’t want to stay here.” He thought for a moment, eyes focusing off into the distance before replying any further. “I’d still like that chit chat, though. Just not...here,” he said, gesturing to the dirty alley surrounding them. Taking a deep breath, Jalase braced himself and his body up. He sucked in a breath as he felt his head spin for a moment and found himself falling back against the wall and using it to keep himself up. “Just gonna...let my eyes refocus for a moment.”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len watched as Jalase shifted, keeping an eye out for any signs of him toppling messily in an unfavorable direction. The last thing he needed now was to collapse and bash his own head up worse by sheer stroke of dumb misfortune. Not that there was much she, in all her four-foot-nothing, weighs-less-than-a-bag-of-grain-sopping-wet self could do if he did decide to go teetering back towards horizontal on his way up.

Fortunately, he made it to vertical.

“Aye, take your time…” ‘…isn’t as though I’ve nothin’ else to do,’ came near to the tip of her tongue, but then she kept it there, holding it back instead because—well, there wasn’t much else specifically for her to be doing at that given moment, she certainly didn’t intend to leave the man where he was, and while self-preservation instinct suggested she oughtn’t stand too near to him for too long on the open street where prying eyes of an unwanted sort might get the wrong impression, she couldn’t exactly rush him either.

So she tucked her fingers into her pockets, watched, and waited. She wondered what it took to grow up and decided this — whatever it was precisely that Jalase did, ‘serving’ the city, putting on a uniform, obeying someone’s orders — was what you wanted to do for the rest of your life.  

[Tangled Puppet]

Jalase felt like he remained leaning against the wall, eyes closed, for hours. When he finally opened them, his mind was a lot more clear and his body ached even more. He pinned Len with a narrowed stare as he thought back to what had happened. Memories were still foggy but he swore he remembered Len talking to Jal’s attackers as if he knew them. “Did you...know them?” he finally asked, pushing away from the wall. He wobbled a bit but quickly caught his balance as he ran a hand through his loose hair. He could already feel a headache coming on and he knew that he would be bruised and sore the next morning. Explaining what had happened to his superior would not be fun. Jal finally let out a sigh and shook his head. “I guess it doesn’t matter if you do or not. I’m glad you showed up when you did. Guess I’m lucky you were around, hm?” He gave Len a small smile but he didn’t quite manage to lift up both corners of his mouth. He really just wanted to get back to his home and collapses into bed. He could deal with the after effects in the morning.

The Only Black Uke

 

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len opened her mouth.

But then, Jalase seemed to answer his own question, or cut off whatever she might have said, and she gave a dismissive puff, stepping nearer to him just the same. “So what made ya decide it was this getup tha’ suited y’ best, oi? Muckin’ about in alleys with folk who’d sooner poison your drink than have one with ya…suits nice an’ all an’ the sword’s real long, but don’ so much see what you figure ya owe the city if it’s gonna knock up your juice all wrong an’ leave you dizzy near dead.”  

[Tangled Puppet]

Jalase eyed Len for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to phrase what he was thinking. Why had he joined the guard? Did a choice like that ever really have a simple reasoning behind it? He didn’t think so. But — and maybe it was because of the pain pounding at his head — he decided to keep it as short as possible, for the time being. “I wanted to help people, I suppose.” He gave a small shrug and took a step forward. He let out a breath of relief when he didn’t just stumbled forward and fall to his knees. Whatever they had used on him had worked its way out of his system rather quickly — and he was forever grateful for that — for the most part. “I figured the best way to do that, would be to join the guards and help protect the city that’s made it possible for my mother and father to make a living and provide for me.”