[FIN] Night and Day

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Well hey there, little lady."

"Oh!" Nicolette exclaimed reflexively, the sudden voice pulling her back quite effectively from her thoughts. It appeared she'd zoned out more than she thought, since she didn't even notice the man in front of her. She'd probably almost walked right into him! Goodness, she really needed to pay attention while walking. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Excuse me," she added sheepishly, and moved to walk around him so she wouldn't block his path anymore.

He sidestepped to block her path instead. "Naw, don't worry about it. Where're you off to, hm?"

The young girl hesitated as he moved in front of her, unsure about his actions and the reasoning behind them, and so moved back to go around him before they both moved. "Just, to the store," she said, attempting to pass for the second time.

"Gonna do a little shopping, huh?" He asked as he thrust his hand out and placed it against the side of the building they were in front of, effectively barring her path once more and halting her progress.

"Um, y-yes," she said uncertainly, looking from his arm to the freedom of the sidewalk beyond to his face. She didn't like how he was looking at her, though, and so she returned her gaze to further down the sidewalk. The store was almost visible - just past a few alleys and around the corner - but all she felt like doing now was going home and not leaving for several hours. Maybe make cupcakes, but that was why she needed to go the store. It was kind of difficult to bake anything when you were out of ingredients. With a deep breath to steel herself, she uttered another "excuse me" before quickly ducking under his arm so she could get past and hurry to the store.

"Nnnope," he said, not allowing her to get far at all before his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

Her mounting discomfort quickly turned to fear as he pulled her backwards, one hand still around her wrist while the other grabbed her upper arm to push her back against the building. "Let go!" She cried as she tried to pull her wrist free or push his arm away, but her fear and rising panic hindered her attempts. Frightening situations were definitely way outside her comfort zone.  

[Suudonym]

"Hey."

A girl of dark hair streaked with bright red, likely no older than the brunette from her appearance, appeared as if from nowhere (i.e. from the mouth of a nearby alleyway), standing in the middle of the sidewalk with her feet at shoulder width and her hands in her the pockets of her jacket. She cocked her head to a side, disapproval evident in her features and in her voice as a Scizor stepped out to stand behind her, mirroring her posture and expression.

"The lady said she has somewhere to be. Step off."

Seemed that there were a bunch of annoying people in this city, same as in any other city. Bunch of complacent Mareep that were happy to just keep their heads down and keep walking even as some teenage girl was openly harassed. More annoying than that, though, was the dumbass in front of her that would openly harass a teenage girl in the first place.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Both of them paused when a third person interjected rather casually, both turning their heads to regard her with confusion. It was a little obvious neither of them had seen her approach. "Step off yourself," the young man said with a light scowl. "Go run along and mind your own business, little girl."

Nicolette, who still continued to struggle (in vain), refrained from voicing a request for aid despite - and because of - her fear, and instead gave a pleading look to the girl who had somehow appeared just when she needed help. Hopefully she could help, or call someone else to help. Ohh how she wished Luke were there to help. More than that, she wished she was back home - or had never left in the first place - so she could go curl up under a blanket and cry. And then make cupcakes to feel better.  

[Suudonym]

"Mm..." She removed a hand from her pocket to push her bangs aside idly, lowering the arm slowly. "Yeah, well, I'm kind of making this my business now, so..." Abruptly her stance shifted, and she reeled back her arm and threw it forward in a sharp jab aimed at the man's solar plexus.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He clearly had not expected violence from her - or at least, not that much - and the strength of her blow sent him staggering backwards. The blow startled Nicolette as well, and she squeaked rather pitifully as she raised her arms to shield her face in expectation of violence against her person. It took but a moment for her to realize it wasn't against her but for her, and she hastily lowered her arms and hurried a few steps to one side, putting more distance between her and her harasser.

It took him a moment or two to recover, but the young man wasn't about to be beaten. He threw out his left fist towards the other girl's side in a feint to cover for his real attack, as his right fist shot towards her face.  

[Suudonym]

She stepped backwards out of the man's reach and aside to avoid the Scizor behind her, the bug-type quickly moving forward to take her place and raising his large claws to clamp around the extended wrists. The girl, despite being the pokemon's apparent trainer, seemed surprised by his actions, though pleasantly so, and praised his response, "Nice, Senketsu!" Content to leave the aggressor to her partner for the time being, she extended a hand, palm up, towards the unfamiliar girl who had been the man's victim, inviting her to take shelter behind the large form of the steel-armored pokemon - or simply to take advantage of the opening to run, if she wished.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nicolette eagerly took the invitation and moved to join the other girl behind the pokemon that stepped in, incredibly grateful for their help.

"What the--?!" Finding his wrists now trapped, he tried to pull them free briefly before he stopped caring, and instead twisted to aim a kick at one of the pokemon's legs.  

[Suudonym]

The Scizor reflexively stepped his leg backwards in response to the kick, using the sudden shift in his stance to create enough momentum to fuel his effort to twist and swing the man in an arc that would terminate against the nearby building facade.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A curse escaped the man as he suddenly found himself swinging towards the front of the building, though the profanity was cut short as he hit the wall and fell to the ground with a groan, too dazed to retaliate at the moment.  

[Suudonym]

The girl returned her hands to her pockets as the Scizor released the dazed man's wrists and turned towards his trainer. She responded with a slightly disappointed frown, "I coulda done that myself, you know." Well, not that that, but winning. She could have won. Oh well.

She turned to the stranger beside her, nodding her head towards the sidewalk that was now clear of obstruction. "We oughtta go before some numbnut comes along and thinks we're the bad guys."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nicolette watched the pair - and the man on the ground - with wide eyes, though any hint of tears they might have held previously were now absent. Her eyes widened further, however, as her savior - the one who could speak, anyway - voiced the thought of someone saying they were bad. "Why would they think that?" She asked, startled and almost afraid of how someone could possibly think such a thing. They had helped her and saved her, how could they possibly think ill of her?

Regardless, the young noble moved to follow wherever the other girl led, unsure where she was headed but wanting to stay with her for at least a little while, until she could appropriately thank her. With the internal reminder of her lack of manners, Nicolette raised her hands to her chest, sincerely grateful both that the pair were nearby and that they had been kind enough to aid her. "Thank you so much for helping me," she said earnestly, lowering her hands as she walked, eager to get away from the spot where the frightening situation had occurred. The more she thought about this girl's selfless actions to help someone she didn't even know, though, the more she wanted to cry. Such a brave, selfless person - she reminded her of Luke a little.  

[Suudonym]

She led the other girl through the nearest alleyway and out onto the street on the opposite side, her Scizor on her heels. "Most people don't think too highly of knocking a guy out," she explained, "even if you had a good reason. That kind of thing, you don't really wanna do it in broad daylight - if you can avoid it."

She stopped and turned to face the girl, raising an accusatory finger, "Speaking of that! Why didn't you just knee the guy in the groin if he was being a creep? Most people won't bother sticking their necks out for a stranger, you know."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Yes, that made a lot of sense - violence out in the middle of the city usually was frowned upon. That was justified though, certainly that made a difference?

She hardly had time to even think of a response, let alone say something, before finding a finger in front of her face and she came to an abrupt halt. "What?" She was startled by her sudden shift in position as well as the suggestion that she hurt someone else on purpose, but more startled at the thought of even doing so, and she gasped quietly as her hands flew to cover her mouth. Such a thing was difficult to even think about, let alone seriously consider. "How could I ever strike someone else?" She asked, though the question was a rhetorical one. Even thinking about such a possibility frightened her and riddled her with immense guilt for even thinking about the possibility of purposefully causing harm to another person.  

[Suudonym]

The dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow and turned and opened her hand in an inquisitive gesture before moving it to place it and its twin on her hips, "Well the alternative is to just stand there and let sleezebags like him do whatever they want with you, and you obviously didn't like that so much. What, it's fine if I knock a guy out - or if a pokemon does - but it's unspeakable for you?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She shook her head 'no' because she didn't like that one bit, but the alternative alternative was to just escape from the situation without either party coming to harm, though that obviously hadn't worked this time. The dark-haired girl's question surprised her, however, and she blinked a few times. "Well, I don't think it's fine at all. Violence is..." Scary? Horrible? Terrifying? "...not good, but if it's necessary, then it's.. necessary, unfortunately..." This was difficult to think about, especially since it was something she had probably never given any thought to before in her entire life. Her gaze shifted down to her hands as she raised them, palm up, as she continued, "But I couldn't do that, I... It's.." How could she ever hurt anyone?