Dreams of Stars Part 2

This was the fifth time in as many days that Llorne walked this street. He had been here, once, but there was nothing to say where he went now. She had scanned it in every way she knew and more, but there wasn't a single clue. It was a half hope, at best, that her quick trip to the bar earlier in the night would have produced anything, but it appeared that it was time to start from scratch. That decision could wait until tomorrow. For now, she would get some sleep, perhaps something would come to her in the morning, and if not. . .

"Help!"

Llorne barely registered the scream, but she still checked it out, albeit passively. It was coming from nearby, moving rapidly down the road. Llorn caught a glimpse of the girl ducking down an alley, with a man close behind. “Damnit bitch, think you’re going to pick my pocket will ya.” It was the drunk from earlier in the evening; the one Llorne had frozen in place. Odd how their paths had crossed again, she added it to her comments on the bar theory article, and casually followed both of them down an alley.

It was clear on arrival that the girl had fallen into the trash. She screamed out again for help and began kicking at his reaching hands. A street rat from the looks of it, probably trying to get by on what little she could get her hands on, but this time she messed up and the drunk, already upset over the event at the bar, had decided this was the best time to prove his manhood, by beating up on a little girl.

"Help me!" the girl screamed again. Her feet were kicking out, trying to knock the drunk out of the way. Every snap seemed to impact the man, but none hurt him, his drunken state making him nearly immune to much of the pain. He reached out with an angry hand and tried to grab her arm to hold her down, only to have the hand knocked away with another kick. He reached again, and another kick. Five times he reached for her and each time her foot connected with him. She probably would have continued this if he hadn't decided to just jump on top of her, pinning her to the ground with his massive weight.

"Quit your strugglin' you little bitch." He raised up, lifting his fist high into the air, preparing to issue forth the first of many blows on the thief who so recently wronged him. A familiar chill ran through his body as Llorne's hand touched his shoulder. Fear was the last thing that ran through his mind and she pulled back on his shoulder and threw him down the alley and into the wall across the street.

The girl was just as scared, or at least shocked, by the sudden turn events, and lay on a pile of garbage trying to figure out exactly what happened. "You can get up, he won't be moving anytime soon."

"Uh, um," the girl stood up and brushed some excess grime from her coat. She glanced over towards the rather large dent in the far wall where her would-be-rapist had hit. "Is he dead?"

Llorne checked, reading the life energies emanating from the body, or the lack there of. "Well. . ." A thought occurred to her and she ran a quick scan of the girl. No sign of Ritch 'arrd, yet her instincts told her he would have been interested in her. "Does it matter?"

"Yeah," she said. "I mean, it would be wrong to kill him." Without another word she headed out of the alley and across the street, apparently to check the body herself.

Llorne sighed. It wasn't much, a possibility at least, and even if it didn't pan out, what did it matter? Of course, best to get in on her good side a little early if she could. A slight bump should do.

The man's body heaved up with a breath. The girl backed away in fear for a moment, then reached down again. "He's still alive!"

"Fancy that." The girl reached for his pocket, her instinct to grab what she could still quite evident. "Don't bother. He spent all his money at the bar. The wallet is empty." Llorne was now standing above them. The girl seemed disappointed, so Llorne kicked the man's shoe lightly. "But I think he might have hidden a 50 cred chip in his boot. Probably forgot about it in his drunken state."

The girl pulled the boot of, keeping a close eye on the man's odd hollow breathing. She tipped it up and shook, dumping the chip out onto the concrete. "How'd you know?"

"Heard him mention it in the bar earlier. Like I said, he probably forgot it."

The girl stared back up at her for a moment, pocketed the chip and stood up. "Well, uh, thanks." She then ran off, disappearing into the night.

Llorne looked down at the breathing corpse. "Well, that's enough of that." The body stopped moving. She looked up to where the girl had gone, but there was no sign of her. Didn't matter, Llorne already had a read on her. She'd be back, eventually.

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Four days had passed. Llorne spent most of those four days simply wandering around the city. All the way around the city. She made it look as if she intended to walk down every street in town, down every back alley, visit every restaurant, hotel, shop and whatnot. There was no apparent rhyme or reason to her routes, no particular direction she took or goal she set for herself, aside from the eventual grand tour. She got up each morning, walked around until well after sunset, then returned to the relatively dingy motel where she had been staying since she arrived.

There was a purpose though, and that purpose had been following her for the last three days. Llorne hadn't seen hide nor hair of the girl that entire first day, but she eventually appeared, lurking in the shadows and alleys and crowds, always just a half a block behind. Llorne never acknowledged her, never even made it look like she recognized her at all. And still the girl followed her, that short cut blond top weaving in and out between people and cars, and occasionally simply walking a short distance behind.

Just after noon on the fourth day, Llorne decided enough time had passed. She walked until the girl was simply walking, not lurking, behind her along a long stretch of buildings. Llorne then turned a corner, and the girl followed, only to find that Llorne had given her the slip. She looked up and down the street, across the way, even up, but no sign of the black haired woman.

The girl simply walked on, following the last path and thinking. She tried to figure out where, exactly the woman had gone, and how. The thought came slowly, and grew ever larger, pushing her into a run. How long would she be there? No way to know, but the girl had to get there quickly. Her run erupted into a mad dash, around trashcans and people, hopping over the occasional lump of trash or begger, dodging around cars and bicycles, all for one destination, the one place the woman could have gone.

The park.

Along one end of the park, amongst the trees and benches, lay a long line of tables and small seats, two to a table. People of many ages and walks of life gathered here on occasion, but today it was near empty, save for Lcorn Llorne, who sat at one of them, a collection of small figures arrayed before her on the checkerboard that had been carefully marked off on the table.

The girl spotted her almost as soon as she hit the table area, and simply stopped, leaning against a tree, in total exhaustion. Llorne finally looked right at her, and motioned her over to the table and the seat across from her. The girl was too tired to refuse, and stumbled over to slouch on the seat.

"You didn't have to run, I wasn't going anywhere." The girl gasped back at her, but didn't really say anything. Llorne smiled. "I knew you'd find me, in fact I planned on it."

"What?" the girl said between breaths.

"Doesn't matter now," Llorne brushed away the question. "Know how to play?"

The girl looked down at the game board laid out before her. "Chess?"

"Yup."

"Yeah, but why. . ."

Llorne reached over and moved a pawn forward as the girl spoke. "Your move."

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Questions You don't have to answer ALL The questions, or every time for the repeated ones, just the ones you feel relevant.

1.  What kind of person is Lcorn Llorne?  What does she look like (in your mind)?
2.  What kind of person is the little girl?  What does she look like (in your mind)?
3.  Does the setting seem fitting?  Would you like to know more?
4.  In the middle of the second part the perspective changes from Llorne to the girl, does this feel too sudden?  Should there be a break or something more obvious to highlight the transition?