Unexpected Events(Open)

[Arleen Reinhart]

It's hard to tell what brought me to this place originally. You could call it curiousity, you could call it home-sickness; the label didn't matter. I'd come here because this place reminded me of home, with the poor and the destitute left to suffer while the wealthy and the strong prospered. IT had to be admitted; if there was anything to be said, it was that the similarities of my home and this place were just flat out scary. I could smell the stench of bad politics and ulterior motive in the air. Or at least I thought I could.

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I had arrived in the town called Archades through what could be said to be its underworld. It was a pathetic state to see, but apparently the way of life here. The weak suffer while the strong prosper. That seemed to be the underlined theme.

Amusingly enough, it wasn't a concept alien to me though. My mother and father fought a similar type of battle every day they went to work, and I fought that fight when I was rising in the ranks of the Guardian Corps. I stopped and took a good look around me, snapping back into focus. I had wandered into the more ornate area it seemed, which certainly was in much better shape than the previous place.

The buildings were tall, and the place was lush with activity, people roaming about constantly. No matter where I looked, the place held a totally different atmosphere. I strode to the side of the small plaza I was at and leaned against a pillar, sighing. What was I supposed to do now? I had come here for no reason, solely for the sake of just being here. Should I leave the place and head for Cocoon now, like I had told Auric?

It was then that I heard a commotion start up. IT was slightly distant at first, but as the distance seemed to decrease, my nerves shot up on end, and I searched for it. Before I knew what was going on, there were what seemed like soldiers surrounding me, brandishing weapons of all kinds. I let my right hand slid down and sit gently on Yakusai's grip. "Is there a problem?" I asked, all my senses on high alert.

"You're to come with us immediately. Hand over your weapons and don't resist." I frowned at the soldier who'd stepped forward. He had a stern voice, one that obviously labeled him as leader. I had no idea of the situation, but I knew that parting with Yakusai and Nayami wasn't a viable option. The memories I had regained were hazy, but there was one warning that stayed prominent throughout them.

"Control your limit!"

I kept my hand sitting on Yakusai and sighed. "I'll be more than glad to come with you, but I must refuse in handing over my guns. They're too valuable to me to let them out of my possession." I tapped my pointer finger along the side of Yakusai gently, waiting for a reply.

"These terms are not negotiable. If you resist, we will apprehend you using force." Two of the half-dozen soldiers took a step forward. That was all the incentive I needed. With a movement as smooth as breathing I slipped under one of the soldiers and took off through the crowd. I immediately heard the sounds of pursuit, but I didn't look back. I just had to lose the grunts and I could decide what to do next from there.

[godzlefthand]

This place Noctis was in was very similar to his own home city but at the same time if was much different. One thing that stood out to him was how busy this town was compared to his own. There were people everywhere, doing everything. The dark haired male kept strolling down the streets of this active city. Noctis was stopping at every stand and going in almost every store this place had to offer. He liked to know what kind of city he was in before doing anything else.

After having a bit more knowledge of this city, he learned that it was called Archades. The Prince then became very thirsty as he tried to swallow but felt that his throat was extra dry due to lack of a drink. It had been a good amount of time since he drank something and could tell that if he kept on waiting he would get dehydrated. Noctis then walked into a local pub and up to the barkeeper. Looking at what they had to offer, he finally decided to just get a water.

The liquid flowed smoothly down the Prince's esophagus and he was now more refreshed than ever. Feeling brand new he exited the pub and was once again brought onto the busy streets of Archades. Walking around just looking at the sights this city had to offer, Noctis heard a small uproar coming a little bit away, looking around he didn’t see anything at first but then once some civilians moved out of his sight he saw a blonde haired female surround by what looked like soldiers. The situation didn’t look good.

Noctis started to make his way over to the feud to see what was a matter, not that it was any of his business but he was bored, so he didn’t care. As he got closer he could tell that the soldiers meant business because of how they aimed their guns at the female. Where Noctis came from aiming a gun at a female, unless she proposed a threat, was looked down upon. This immediately made Noctis want to make what wasn’t his business, HIS business.

Suddenly the girl broke loose from the surrounding soldiers and bolted past Noctis. Like he figured, Noctis stepped aside just out of the way of getting ran over by the infantry. The odds were most definitely unfair. Smirking Noctis stuck his leg out and tripped one of the soldiers causing him to barrel over and hit the ground with a loud thud. This automatically made Noctis flee as well. He wasn’t too far behind the blonde female, so he sprinted to catch up.

[Arleen Reinhart]

I kept running, ducking and dodging through the crowd, the exercise reminding me of my days in the academy. I had no clue as to why the soldiers approached me as they did, and I figured it'd be useless to ask one of them at this point. I would figure out their reasons later. For now, I just had to focus on getting away.

Then I heard something peculiar, and something I had no expected in the least. Someone was actually catching up to me. At first I resisted the urge to look back, focusing on losing the person in question, however, after that notion failed I looked back. The man was obviously not a soldier here in the city, that was for certain. In fact, he seemed more familiar to her in appearance than did any person she saw here. He had an eerily familiar look to him.

The soldiers had been having trouble keeping up, and now were almost out of sight, barely keeping a visual on me. That was what I needed. Seeing the nearest alleyway, I swung into it, ducking beneath eyesight in the crowd so as to confuse the soldiers. I didn't stop running until I was well within the crevice and had a definite means of escape. I stopped here, regaining my breath shortly as I waited to hear the man who had kept up with me approaching. I had no notion of what he intended, so he was a kind of anomaly. If he was in fact helping the guards, there was no foreseeable way to avoid a fight.

Well, that was if he didn't require me to give up my lifelines.

[godzlefthand]

The female he pursued was moving in and out of crowds with little effort. She was agile and fast but that didn’t stop him from closing the space between them. It was clear, from looking back behind him, that the soldiers could not keep up. Now, she was probably thinking Noctis was helping them chase her, but soon she would be informed of why he was following her. She continued to move through crowds of people before swinging into a nearby alleyway. Noctis followed, only trailing by a few yards. She finally came to a stop so she could regain her breath and The Prince did the same.

As he got closer the female gripped her weapon causing Noctis to halt in his tracks. Obviously she thought he wanted to fight but that was not the case. The Prince raised his hands to about ear level showing that he intended no harm. He started to step forward toward the blonde female, keeping his hands high. When he got to a comfortable distance to speak, he did so.

“Don’t worry, I do not want to fight you. I was actually hoping you were going to engage them soldiers back there.” Noctis said with a grin appearing across his face. “I didn’t like how they aimed their guns at you and that is why I got myself involved. Now maybe there was a reason they approached you, but from your body language even you had no clue” he added, lowering his hands to his sides.

[Arleen Reinhart]

I tapped the side of Yakusai speculatively a I frowned at the man, remaining skeptical. He had those types of ethics then? While it wasn't surprising to find someone who thought like he apparently did, it was surprising he would go against a city's security force for it. Was he naive, or just an idealist? Either way, he posed no threat.

"If I'd engaged them, they'd be dead right now, regardless of whether you would've helped me or not. However, if I had, that would jut draw more attention to the area. It'd be foolish to try and fight them all." I sighed, frustratedly. He seemed to be a novice at reading the situation, but I had been the top student in my class at the academy for a reason. I only had knowledge of how to do everything. Whether it worked out or not for now would just be left up to luck, as I had no actual experience in this type of warfare.

Regardless, I had an objective: Find out why I was almost captured by this city's troops. I turned on my heel from the man and began walking further down the alley. "Come if you want. I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

[godzlefthand]

"If I'd engaged them, they'd be dead right now, regardless of whether you would've helped me or not. However, if I had, that would jut draw more attention to the area. It'd be foolish to try and fight them all."

Noctis nodded. He knew they would get through the first few waves of guards but eventually would be overwhelmed by the entire city's forces. It was almost everyday back in his home city that he fought to keep his kingdom, so the Prince was a very skilled fighter. The blonde haired women turned and began walking down the alley before stopping and speaking.

"Come if you want. I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

“Seeing how I have nothing else to do, sure why not. This could get interesting." he replied as he began to jog to catch up to his new acquaintance.

"The name is Noctis, by the way." the Prince said when he caught up to her.

[Arleen Reinhart]

This could get interesting, huh? That's the understatement of the year. I had ran from the city's guard, and I had such a distinctive outfit that they'd spot me as soon as I meandered out into the streets again, so it seemed I'd have to acquire some means of disguise. A trench-coat might do it, but the fact of the matter was finding a place to acquire one. "Arleen." I replied to his declaration of his own name with mine, although it was short and static.

I had more pressing things to think about than meet-and-greets. First off, the town itself was more than likely filled with guards and soldiers, so it'd be best to find an isolated one and get information from him. However, doing that might not be such an easy task. I might have to take on a small group to capture one, but I did have an ally in this, so it should be easier than I thought it might be. We'd have to keep moving too, unless they weren't searching for us fervently.

I stopped just before the alley's exit into the street and regarded Noctis. "Well, first thing's first, we need a way to get around this city undetected. Any ideas?" I posed the question to see if he had any ideas better than I did. If he didn't, we would have to trust luck to guide us, and I ALWAYS hated doing that, as it normally never ended well.