pretty girl who stabbed him / cute guy who shot her

[SpaceCase]

"I kind of have to be. Girls who are frequently shoved into bad situations and are only halfway decent don't really last long, turns out." Aria shrugged. "That said, people usually don't land a hit on me. Well, not in a one on one fight, anyway. So I guess that makes you impressive too." She hesitated, lips lifting into something that was almost a smirk. "But only kinda."

 

[Gupi]

"I haven't been in a fight for a few years, unless you count escape attempts. I think I did okay considering," Kloude said, offering Aria a small smile. This felt like teasing, maybe even flirting. She was cute, and a decent fighter, he wouldn't mind at all if she was flirting.

 

[SpaceCase]

"Alright, I'll give you mostly impressive, then. I guess you might have earned it." Aria smiled back. Even if this whole thing was just a ploy to get her to agree to let him kidnap Ray again, which honestly she was pretty sure was the case, it was nice to get to relax a bit for five seconds. 

 

[Gupi]

Kloude grinned, tugging Nyx closer to give her a quick scratch. "Are you really begging because I shot your ankle?"

 

[SpaceCase]

"Well, at this point I'm begging because one of my friends threatened to shoot me in the other ankle if she realized I went back to work. Probably because she's being a mom and decided I'll manage to reinjure myself." Aria shrugged, leaving off the fact that prior experience had shown that to be correct. "But yeah, I honestly couldn't work for most of the week, and I'll give it a few more days at least before she decides I can back to work."

 

[Gupi]

"You don't have anyone to lend you some cash for a few days?" Kloude asked, concerned now. It hadn't really clicked until now that Aria was quite literally begging for money. Carter's father was loaded, the fact he could leave his friend like this after she got shot trying to rescue him was kind of horrifying. 

 

[SpaceCase]

"It's not exactly like anyone I know has any spare money." Aria sighed, shaking her head. "Look, I know you think that Ray's an easy bet for that, considering the ransom, and honestly his dad tries to help out when he can, but he can't do much without Ray finding out, and if that happens he'll be really angry. Ray isn't going to ask his dad for anything. He kinda hates Ghassan. But he does what he can, and honestly between Lily and him and me we can usually support ourselves, but you've put two of us out of commission for a longer period of time than we ever planned for."

 

[Gupi]

Kloude stared at her for a long moment, thinking things over. He found it pretty hard to believe that no one was able to give her any money, and frankly disgusted that Carter couldn't get over himself to ask his father for some help. Aria clearly needed it. "Do you want to get some lunch with me?" he asked, changing the subject, "My treat."

 

[SpaceCase]

Aria regarded him for a moment before shaking her head, sighing. "Can't. I'm very busy, as you can see, and honestly if my friends come to make sure I'm fine and I'm not here, they'll probably assume I did decide to go to work, which should definitely be avoided." She shrugged, leaning back against the wall.

 

[Gupi]

Kloude frowned a little, he'd thought the flirting had been going well before. "Dinner then, tonight," he tried. "I can pick you up if you give me a place."

 

[SpaceCase]

Aria's lips tilted into a faint smile. "Well-"


"Ariiiiiiiiii!!!"


".خرة" The redhead pulled away from Kloude as her brow furrowed, turning her head to look at the overly energetic blur of pink and black heading towards them. Soon, it slowed down into a girl. "Lily, I did tell you I'd be fine, right?"


"Okay, yes, I know, but-" Her eyes darted over to Kloude, the almost placating expression on her face turning into something much more quizzical. "Who's this?"


"Oh, uh, this, um-"


"Maybe don't bother lying and just tell me the truth?" Lily's hands settled on her hips. Aria practically flinched under her glower.


".... The guy who shot me?"


"That's descriptive."


"The guy who shot me most recently."


"Ohhhhhhh." Lily hesitated before adding, "Didn't you say if I saw that he'd approached either you or Ray, I should-"


"Nope." Aria cut her off hurriedly, not entirely willing to admit she'd basically ordered Lily to shoot him on sight.


"Are you-"


"Totally sure. Didn't say it."


"But-"


"And if I said it, it was when I was very irritated and should probably be disregarded."

 

[Gupi]

Kloude was more than a little taken back by the girl, Lily he'd heard her called, but he offered her a weak smile. "I'm not planning on shooting her again," he said, uncertainly  "If that helps anything."

 

[SpaceCase]

Lily's attention turned back to the blonde, though mostly to give a somewhat distracted smile and a wave that was supposed to reassure him. "Oh, don't worry, the thought didn't cross my mind. After all, Aria doesn't seem even vaguely threatened by you."


Aria shrugged. "Well, I am on a main street, and its not like most people are gonna pull a gun on a beggar in broad daylight."


"... Are you trying to save his pride?"


"No. I'm pointing out the fact that he isnt stupid enough to pull a gun on a girl in the middle of a busy street during the day."


Lily scrutinized her briefly before shrugging. "Aaaaanyway, hi! I'm Lily. You shot my best friend and also my, uh-"


"صديقها ؟" Aria tried to keep her voice down, even with the language switch. Lily scowled at her briefly.


"If you said what I think you said, no, and stop calling him that."


Aria smiled innocently.


"Anyway, nice to meet you!"

 

[Gupi]

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you too," Kloude said, smile growing a little more confident. "I really am sorry about shooting your friends. I was just offering to take Aria out for dinner as an apology." He might as well start trying to win her friends over now, shooting her certainly put things to a rocky start.

 

[SpaceCase]

Lily lifted an eyebrow, a quiet murmur of "I see" accompanying the faint grin she shot towards Aria. The desired effect was completely lost on the redhead, though; in the short time she had slipped out of the conversation she'd returned her full attention to showering Nyx with affection. Lily rolled her eyes over-dramatically, an almost theatrical shake of the head before she turned back to Kloude.


"That sounds great! And I'm sure Aria would be more than happy to do so on another day-"


The sound of her name drew Aria's attention half-back towards the actual humans present. "Hmm?"


"But I gotta check up on her ankle-"


"It's really fine, Lily-"


"And there's something I need to talk to her about anyway, so she's gonna need a rain check. Really sorry." She glanced back at the redhead, offering a hand out to help her up. "C'mon, Ari. Time to go."


Aria ignored the hand extended to her, giving Nyx one more scratch behind the ears before pushing back to her feet-  with only a slight wince, mind you -and glancing back at Kloude with a smile. "It was nice talking with you, Glacie."

 

[Gupi]

"You too, and your friend," Kloude said, standing up himself and tugging Nyx's lead so she didn't try and follow after Aria. He knew when he was being dismissed. It was always nicer when he was rejected by a girl herself though, but he could understand Lily's protectiveness. He had shot Aria.

 

[SpaceCase]

Lily barely waited until he was out of earshot before she nudged Aria in the side. "Aria, I can't believe you never mentioned that he was cute."


Aria didn't feel like that deserved even a glance in the taller girl's direction, barely shrugging in response. "I didn't? Huh. Maybe it was because he shot me and kidnapped my older brother. I mean, that does tend to put a bit of a damper on people's attractiveness."
"Okay. Maybe. But you didn't have much issue with him today. And he wanted to take you out for dinner!" Lily's words, while cheerful, were almost accusatory. Almost. Aria shot her a sideways glance, a little surprised to notice how carefully she was being scrutinized at the moment.


"I know, he's very nice and wanted to apologize for putting me out of work. Which, by the way, I was going to accept before you pulled me away."


Lily shrugged. "Well, I mean, I can't let you go on a date with someone who shot you before I give him the full rundown."


Aria choked on air, any attempt to pass it off as anything vaguely 'normal' completely obliterated by the red flush stealing up into her face and her stammered "I-it wasn't- I wasn't- He wasn't-! That- It wasn't a date! It was an apology dinner."


Lily shook her head, shoulders shaking in nearly silent laughter. "An apology dinner? Aria, sweetie, for someone who's supposed to be pretty good at reading people, you're oblivious."


"I- No! No. Lily. No. It was not a date. No."


"Did he offer to pick you up for it?"


"Y-yes?"


Lily's face split into a grin, her next word coming out in singsong: "Daaaaaaaaaaaate." 


Aria was pretty sure she couldn't get any redder. "It's common courtesy! It's good manners! It's-"  She shook her head, realizing that simple protesting wasn't going to help matters. "He saw me begging, Lily, he probably just assumed I didn't have a car!"


"Date."


"It wasn't!"


"Date~"


"Lily-"


"It's a date."

 

[Gupi]

Kloude made sure to hit the fire alarm on his way out of the club, irritated at having wasted almost the whole night on a false lead. Ignoring the uproar inside as the sprinklers went off, he slipped out of the fire exit and peered down the alley he'd stepped into. There wasn't much to see, the only light coming from a distant street light, and it smelled like vomit. Turning his nose up at the place, he started toward the light, scanning the shadows as he went in case of aggressive homeless men. He didn't want to deal with an attempted mugging on top of his already awful evening. 

 

[SpaceCase]

Aria was beyond irritated with herself for letting herself get jumped. Or would be, if she weren't still a little dazed. It wasn't like she was dying, and she still had everything she'd managed to make that day, but the fact that she'd allowed herself to get distracted enough that they had the opportunity was infuriating enough. Her lip and knees really stun, too. But while sitting in this alley was not her favorite choice, her head was still spinning enough that she couldn't fully trust herself to get up and start walking again. She adjusted her hood before leaning back further, trying to avoid attention while also avoiding touching any of the wall with her actual body. Not an easy task, but something that currently felt beyond necessary is she didn't want to throw up.

 

[Gupi]

Kloude paused as he spotted a shape a few steps in front of him. A tiny figure in a hoodie, he noted after a moment, and sighed. "Hey, kid. You alright?"

 

[SpaceCase]

So much for avoiding attention. Through the bit of fog in her head and the dim recognition of the actual voice, Aria took the time to be offended at the use of 'kid'. "I am fine, and I am not a kid." She glowered up at the silhouetted figure, trying very hard to not seem out of it, although she had no idea how well that was actually working.

 

[Gupi]

Kloude rolled his eyes. Definitely a kid. "Okay, Miss. Have you run away from home?" he asked, approaching slowly. His hand hovered by his hip, ready to go for his gun if the girl attacked. "It's not safe for a girl out here at night. Especially not in this part of town."

 

[SpaceCase]

As much as Aria would have loved to tear into him and make him stop sounding so condescending, she recognized the hand movement for what it was. Gun or knife. Either way, at close range when I'm still out of it? Not exactly in my favor. Deep breath. She collected herself before deigning to respond, although her tone still betrayed her irritation. "No, I did not run away from home, and I assure you that I am far more aware of how 'dangerous' it is for a girl out here than you could ever hope to be." Jerk.

 

[Gupi]

"Then you shouldn't be sitting in an alley in the middle of night," Kloude reasoned. "Why are you out here?"

 

[SpaceCase]

"Because I'm a complete idiot. Obviously." Aria rolled her eyes, folding into herself a little further. "Clearly I have a reason for being here, but why should I tell you when you just left one of the seediest clubs in this part of town?"