Young Writers Society

"So you haven't seen Rita around," James interjected, not making eye contact. Not that he could, anyway. Amy was looking at Ari with doe-eyed infatuation and wasn't really paying much attention to James in the first place.

"I did like, a week ago," she said, before changing the subject back to Ari. "So you knew someone else who stole for a good cause?"

He nodded vigorously. "His name was Lynx, 'r least that's what 'e called 'imself. I was a guard 'n all 'n I met 'im 'cause I was supposed t' be arrestin' 'im but then I learned that he was doin' more good 'n most of us were followin' the law so I 'elped 'im, but I'm a real bad liar 'n all so I got caught."

Amy smirked, and looked over to James. "He really isn't very good at lying, is he?"

James half-rolled his eyes. "No."

Ardeshir thumped his fist on his chest. "That's 'cause me momma taught me t' always be an honest boy 'n so I ain't got no practice!"

"Well, I guess that's a good thing. Makes it hard to keep secrets though," Amy said with a smile.

James sighed again before clapping his hands together and standing up. "Well. It was a pleasure meeting you Amy, but we really ought to get going."

Ari stood and scooped up Ursuku in his arms. "We ain't stayin' too far 'way from 'ere tonight, right?" he asked James.

James glanced over to Amy, who was still very much there.

"We should probably keep moving as far away as we can, since we still don't know where Rita is."

"But the horses could be usin' a rest anyways, no?" Ari points out. "I'm too big fer t'at geldin', 'e won't be goin' too much farther if he ain't gettin' a break."

James slowly looked over to Ari, then over to Amy, who were both giving him, essentially, the same puppy-eyed pleading look. With one unamused pause, he closed his eyes.

"...Fine. We'll stay here tonight."

Ardeshir grinned widely. "Thanks!"

Amy smiled with approval and pat James on the back, to which he flinched, and walked away, over to the horses.

"There's an inn just across the street!" Amy said, nodding at it with her chin. "I know the innkeeper there." She winked at Ari. "I could get you a deal!"

"Really?" he smiled. "That would be great!"

"Of course! And uh - w-we should totally hang out 'til you guys have to leave."

James looked back at Ari, dreading what he knew would be his response.

Ari, of course, was oblivious to James' pain, as he was preoccupied with the adorable young lady in front of him, and so unwittingly replied with a very enthusiastic acceptance. "Sure, that'd be fun!"

The time it took to tie up their horses, get a room at the inn, and settle in would've taken a short time if Amy and Ari hadn't filled so much of the space with talking. James had already resorted to mostly ignoring them as he followed them out of the inn in silence, shuffling his feet and keeping his hands in his pockets.

Amy seemed like a nice girl. Well intentioned, chatty, friendly. Her and Ari hit it off really well once James had quietly removed himself from the conversation, and had become engrossed in one another for quite some some as they walked through the streets of the town. It wasn't until until they began to hear music further into the town that they finally turned around to look at him, and before they even said anything, he knew what they were going to say.

Amy was beaming with a sparkle of excitement in her eyes. She bounced on her feet. "Oh! They're having a party downtown again! We should totally go!"

James was going to remind her that they were currently running away from a vengeful gang leader and trying to keep their heads low, but he didn't get the chance.

Ardeshir lit up with that huge, goofy grin of his. "That sounds like so much fun!" he agreed enthusiastically. "It doesn't sound like it can be too far away, neither! Either!"

Amy nodded, then looked over to James. "You'll come too, right?"

James looked back with a dead-eyed gaze. "Do I have a choice?"

"Psh. You're coming, then," she said with a wave of her hand - then not-so-subtly slipping that hand into Ari's, leading him forward.

He didn't object, smiling wider as their fingers entwined and she led him towards the music, the sound of a couple fiddles, flutes, and a lute reaching his ears. Ursuku trotted beside them with his tail in the air as the gleeful not-really-a-couple-but-pretty-much-one laughed their way towards the dance.

They stumbled into the square as they turned a sharp corner, stepping right into the party. It seemed the whole village was there, dancing about the cobbled stones hand-in-hand, twisting and turning and stomping to the wild jig that was being played by the musicians on a makeshift stage made of crates and some planks of wood.

Amy watched as people twirled and danced, nodding her head to the beat.

"They're moving so fast, haha," she laughed.

Ari grinned and glanced towards them, then back at Amy, extending his other hand to her in a plain invitation to dance.

Amy looked up at Ari with wide eyes, hesitantly taking his hand. "I don't know how to dance though," she said nervously.

He laughed. "Don't worry, it's not hard, just listen to the music and follow me. It'll come naturally, for real!"

Amy laughed, still nervous. "You say that but-"

Before she could finish he swept her out into the square and took her hand in his, resting his left on her shoulder and guiding her with his right as he pulled her into the wild mess of the party. It was fast, but he kept it simple for her, letting her get into the music before moving too much. She was obviously struggling, as he feet stumbled with unsure steps, but she was smiling and laughing the whole time.

He grinned and spun her around, stomping his bare feet on the cobblestones in time with the tune as he brought them towards the less-active middle, weaving through the many moving dancers who rotated about the edge. Ursuku disappeared into the alleys - he didn't like the noise, the people, or the commotion.

James sighed as he watched the two bound off into the middle of the dance floor and stayed back, falling to the outskirts of the large gathering. He walked out of the crowd to where things were just a bit quieter, and he sat down in front of one of the store-front buildings. It seemed like everyone in town was in the square, so the store was quiet and empty behind him.

He leaned his head back on the building, looking out at the constantly moving crowd.

A thick, furry head butted into his shoulder and he felt the deep vibrations of a large feline's purr reverberate through him. He turned to look down at Ursuku, and reached out to pet the cat's neck, scratching under its chin. The beast leaned into him in typical cat fashion, purring with vigor as he rubbed his face against James' shoulder and shoved his face into the scratch.

"I wonder how often this happens," he spoke quietly as he kept petting Ursi. "Ari... getting distracted and all." He tilted his head, grinning a little. For a cougar, Ursuku was a very tame cat, in many ways. "I hope he enjoys himself, though," he muttered, looking back over to the crowd and spotting them for a brief moment before they dissapeared. They were still dancing.

He took a deep breath and slouched down, falling into something of a cuddle with the big cat as he kept petting it. He figured Ari and Amy would be a while, so he had time to just breathe.

"Hell of a pet you've got there," a brusque voice observed from the shadows of the alley, revealing the presence of a stern-looking woman. Her carrot orange hair was cut short and her single eye watched him with a piercing, ice blue gaze. A beautifully crafted broadsword hung at her hip, the black leather well-worn from years of use, and her face was marred by countless scars, the most notable of which was a long, vertical slash mark that extended from her hairline to just above her lip and was partially hidden by a worn eyepatch.

James looked up, inwardly flipping back from relaxed to tense as he saw the weapon, and the eyepatch, and met the piercing gaze.

"It's - well - he's..." he looked down at Ursuku, who'd laid his head on James's lap. "He... belongs to a friend of mine, but... yeah."

Ari glanced up towards the stage as they danced, a stray thought forming into first an idea, and then a plan. A smile danced across his lips. "Excuse me one moment," he said with a glint in his eye before leaping up onto the stage and approaching one of the fiddlers. In moments he was back facing Amy with the fiddle in his fingers and the other musicians stepped a bit to the side to give the giant man space as he started up the beginning of another tune as joyful as the first, if a bit slower at the beginning.

He started by just tapping a foot, and then stomping, and finally dancing as the song picked up, hopping off the stage and making his way back towards Amy, fiddling all the while with that goofy grin plastered on his countenance.

Amy gaped, smiling in surprise and awe, unable to stop from doing so as her face turned red and people in the crowd started to stare. She cupped her hands over her mouth, giggling.

He beamed at her as more people began to turn around and stop what they were doing to spectate. It got faster and faster as he came towards her and he began to spin and jump with it too, managing to keep his upper body still enough to play all the while with a surprising amount of coordination for someone who was usually such a klutz. It hit a brilliant crescendo as he finally reached Amy and in a single, smooth movement, he produced a single, crimson, slightly-mushed rose from his boot and handing it to her with a gallant bow.

As the crowd around them burst into applause, Amy felt like she was about to melt into a puddle, still hiding her face behind her hands and feeling her cheeks burn. Finally taking her hands away, revealing her giant smile, she reached out and took the somewhat imperfect, but just as romantic, rose.

"Ari, oh my gosh," she whispered, unable to find any words to say.

The musicians who'd lent him the fiddle burst into cheers and he grinned up at her before he righted himself. "You've lit up my day like a sunfish, Amy."

As Amy took the rose she had to keep herself from snorting with laughter, but ended up laughing anyway. "Bahahaha, a sunfish! That's perfect!"

The fiddle slipped out of his fingers as he swept her off her feet, scooping her up in his arms and leaning forward, his face mere inches from hers. There was a moment of hesitation as he tried to figure out whether or not this was fine with her, because it was their first date and it wasn't even explicitly a date and the last thing he'd want to do was make her uncomfortable or overstep her boundaries. She looked a little surprised at first to be scooped up in his arms, but when she looked up at Ari, she grinned and closed her eyes. The spectators went wild as they kissed, a few flowers being thrown from the more exuberant individuals who were conveniently near the florist's stall, and a few seconds stretched into an eternity as he held her in his arms.

As soon as James heard the band die down and the fiddle start up, he looked back over into the crowd only to witness the entire event of Ari playing the fiddle to Amy in the crowd, giving her a smushed rose, and swooping her up in a final kiss.

He... honestly didn't know what to think of it. They'd known each other for less than a day and that one scene made them look like they'd been lovers for... months. Years, even. He raised his brows and slowly drew his eyes away, looking somewhere between the one-eyed woman and the crowd.

"And... the fellow with the fiddle and the girl is said friend," he muttered.

She clapped sarcastically. "Quite the show," she observed with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't even know he could play the fiddle," he said quietly.

"Well, he's not half bad," she replies. "But what are you doing here? You don't seem the party type." She paused, looking over at Ari. "Unlike him."

"I was coerced."

"Seems to me that 'dragged' might be more accurate," she smirked.

He narrowed his eyes at her, giving her a look.

The woman gazed back at him coolly, resting her wrist on the pommel of her sword with an idle, but guarded posture. After a few prolonged seconds of eye contact, James pulled away his gaze and looked back at the crowd.

"You don't seem much the 'party type' either," he said. "What's your reason for being here?"

"Just following a lead," she replied, keeping her reply vague, if sufficient for polite purposes.

James kept his expression the same, but her vague reply set off alarms in his head. He knew the woman wasn't associated with Rita, from what he'd seen, but it was possible she was a bounty hunter, or knew who he was. "Lead for what?" he asked.

"I'm a monster hunter," was her simple reply. It didn't really tell him much about what she was doing, but was hopefully enough to stave off his curiosity.

He looked at her again, biting back any more questions he'd want to ask. He didn't detect any deception from her, so he had no reason to think she was anything but what she described. But he wasn't going to let his guard down.

"Anything I should be watching for in the forests, then?" he finally said, begrudgigly forcing small-talk.

"Werewolf, if the rumors are correct, and a gryphon eyrie relatively nearby. Nothing terribly exotic."

James nodded, feigning interest. "Hmm. I see."

She didn't elaborate without prompting, and she didn't find it necessary to put herself through the torture of figuring out how to small talk, and so she turned her attention to Ari and Amy who are still out dancing. Ursuku moved to the other side of James, putting the bearded man between him and the stranger.

Ari and Amy slip through the crowd back to James and Ursuku, beaming. "Sure ya don't want to get in on the dancing?" He says, oblivious to the presence of the orange-haired hunter.

“Yeah, you should totally go out there and dance!” Amy urged, giving a brief sidelong glance to the red haired woman, but not giving it much mind.

James sat up straight, but didn’t move from his spot beside Ursuku.

“I’ll pass.”

The red-haired woman gazed at Amy and Ari for several moments, contemplating silently as Ari spoke in his usual oblivious and joyful manner. "Who's yer new friend?" he asked, following Amy's glance and realizing there's another person.

She pushed herself off the wall, most of her focus on Amy and James, not really paying much heed to Ardeshir. "The name is Tasha. You two had quite the show if I do say so myself."

Amy flushed. "Sh-show? Haha, I mean," she looked up at Ari. "I guess... you could call it that. Or something."

"Display? Spectacle? Something along those lines," Tasha shrugged, taking a note of this girl's appearance, her habits, her nervous manner of speaking. This wouldn't be difficult.

James quietly observed Tasha, noticing how she ignored Ari completely.

"Well, in any case," Amy said, looking down at her feet, and intertwining her fingers with Ari's again. "It was nice."

"How long have you two been together?" she asked, using small talk to keep the young girl chatting. Know your enemy. That was the first rule of the game.

"Oh shoot, uh," she looked up at Ari. "This was our first... date? It was a date, right? I mean, we might as well call it that. Even though it was very spontaneous."