Mouse was walking past the old data dump when she saw Phylaina
striding down the sidewalk before her. She cautiously kept her distance,
but followed her as she turned from one street to another, trying to keep
close but not too close. The industrial sector, G-Prime, wasn't the best
part of the city to roam about unarmed, and Mouse wasn't about to let this
strange girl get clobbered.
Phylaina rounded a corner, turning into a narrow alley. After a moment's hesitation, Mouse followed. She turned into the dim alley only to find it empty. Cautiously stepping further into the gloomy gap between buildings, she felt an icy metal bade against the back of her throat.
"Tell me what you want, hacker," Phylaina growled, tightening her grip on the metal blade which arose from the tip of her staff.
"I should of known you wouldn't need watching after, sugar."
Mouse tried to keep her voice calm, but the tense laughter which followed her remarks gave her away. She knew better than to play with strangers, even strangers as special as Phylaina.
"Don't you 'sugar' me, hacker. Do you think you can just wash all the blood off your hands so easily? Not everyone forgets what you've done; who you are. Did you really think you could escape the past that simply?"
Mouse felt the blade press against her neck threateningly for a moment, and then release. She sensed the sprite move away from her. Mouse raised a hand reassuringly to her neck to where the blade had been. She turned around to face Phylaina. Her flame-haired assailant was standing defensively, her feet fimly planted on the cracked and trash-strewn alley floor, and her long staff gripped menacingly in her hand, it's scythe-like blade gleaming in the faint light coming through the polluted air.
"That's some stick you've got there. You should probably put that away before somebody's eye gets poked out, sugar."
Phylaina raised the staff's point menacingly.
"I told you; don't sugar me. I'm not one of your 'buddies,' Mouse."
Her voice had an edge sharper than the blade in her right hand. She stepped forward as she continued.
"You know who I am, Mouse."
Phylaina rounded a corner, turning into a narrow alley. After a moment's hesitation, Mouse followed. She turned into the dim alley only to find it empty. Cautiously stepping further into the gloomy gap between buildings, she felt an icy metal bade against the back of her throat.
"Tell me what you want, hacker," Phylaina growled, tightening her grip on the metal blade which arose from the tip of her staff.
"I should of known you wouldn't need watching after, sugar."
Mouse tried to keep her voice calm, but the tense laughter which followed her remarks gave her away. She knew better than to play with strangers, even strangers as special as Phylaina.
"Don't you 'sugar' me, hacker. Do you think you can just wash all the blood off your hands so easily? Not everyone forgets what you've done; who you are. Did you really think you could escape the past that simply?"
Mouse felt the blade press against her neck threateningly for a moment, and then release. She sensed the sprite move away from her. Mouse raised a hand reassuringly to her neck to where the blade had been. She turned around to face Phylaina. Her flame-haired assailant was standing defensively, her feet fimly planted on the cracked and trash-strewn alley floor, and her long staff gripped menacingly in her hand, it's scythe-like blade gleaming in the faint light coming through the polluted air.
"That's some stick you've got there. You should probably put that away before somebody's eye gets poked out, sugar."
Phylaina raised the staff's point menacingly.
"I told you; don't sugar me. I'm not one of your 'buddies,' Mouse."
Her voice had an edge sharper than the blade in her right hand. She stepped forward as she continued.
"You know who I am, Mouse."