Friend or Foe - Temporary Alliance? (IC)

[Cyroa]

It wasn’t too hard a job but then the haul wasn’t exactly stellar either. The houses and apartments here weren't the most wealthy but then they didn't have much in way of security. But you have to start somewhere. The small bag of jewelry and other little valuables probably wouldn’t be worth much after a fence but it was mostly worth the night’s effort.

Stinger crawled out the open widow and leaped away into the dark night. Several jumps later, she landed in a dark alley. It seemed a safe place to take a moment...

[Elfy]

Stinger hops into the dark alleyway, gracefully coming down in a crouch. She brushes her hand back through her hair, pushing its thick locks back out of her attractive face. Her highlight glints purple and blue in the moonlight as she slumps over to open the small cloth bag of ill-gotten gains.

A silver necklace with a small silver cross, a few rings, and a silver bracelet make up the meager treasure she managed to liberate. It’s not a lot, but it should give her enough money get by for a while.

So caught up in looking over the spoils of her burglary is she that she fails to notice anything out of the ordinary in the alley.

[Cyroa]

Stinger was so busy looking at her meager ill-gotten gains that she was caught totally by surprise as the wooden fence next to her suddenly exploded outwards toward her. Shards of wood and several tumbling figures slammed into her, sending the back of loot skittering away. There was swearing and guttural growling in abundance as the fight spilled out into the alley and Stinger.

There was a flash of fire and the smell of brimstone and two of the three figures vanished. The third figure stood up grinning wryly. "Suck on that you horny bastards," he muttered, his voice full of humor and amusement. He finally noticed Stinger and looked over with a smile. "Evening. Sorry about the mess."

He was about to say more when a half dozen squat figure bounded into view. Standing maybe 4 or 5 feet tall and hunched with red skin, small horns and a tail, these little demons of course had muscles and fangs to match their frighting appearance.

[Cyroa]

The squat imps growled to each other in a gutteral tone. Four summoned fire to their hands, flingingit at Hellion. While one hit him solidly dead on, it seemed to have no effect. The other two bounded forward. One lunged at Stinger and the other at Hellion, both slashing with their claws. Stinger was hit while Hellion barely managed to evade.

[Elfy]

After suddenly being deprived of her bag of loot and knocked aside unexpectedly, it takes the girl with short, black hair a moment to regain her bearings.

She spares the figures only a brief glance before her eyes seek out her spoils of the night. Just as she spots her small bag, a fiery flash of light and heat draw her eyes back to the commotion. The scent of sulfur catches her nose as she notices the teenage boy standing alone.

There’s little time to react as several more of the short, demonic-appearing creatures rush into the alley.

Although one of the red creatures swiftly attacks her, its slashing claws fortunately just catches her shirt and not the soft flesh underneath it.

Recovering her senses, Stinger shouts, "Back off, you little Freako!" and leaps some fifteen feet up onto a fire escape. She points both hands down at the odd creature that attacked her and a barrage of purple energy pulses dart through the air at it.

[Cyroa]

The squat little imp growl at Stinger as her leap carried her up to the side of the building. That was all the little creature had time to do as her hit blasted a hole straight through it, banishing it in a puff off smoke and the smell of brimstone.

James grinned, not particularly worried. He was actually having fun. Though admittedly, this was getting annoying. This was the 4th time in the last two weeks he'd had to fry some imps. It was getting to be a problem. Well, there a solution to the problem of course. Grinning, he gestured sending forth a wave of Hellfire to encompass the other imps. When the brief flash of flame ended, all the little imps had been burned and banished.

James, still smiling, dusted his hands off. "Things are annoying and plentiful but at least that can't take a hit." He looked at. "So...nice shot by the way. Very cool. We shouldn't stay long though." He noted her clothes and the bag of spilled jewelry. "Let me guess... you not a member of the community watch program?"

[Elfy]

As the fire-projecting boy blasts the remaining demon-creatures, the slim girl hops down from the fire escape and lands near her spilt bag. She looks over her shoulder just long enough to see the fading smoke rising up from where the monsters stood before she turns her attention to collecting her stolen goods.

The quickly scoops her jewelry back into her small bag and stands up with it. As she tucks away the black bag she looks at the boy and replies, "What clued you in, Firebug?"

[Cyroa]

James grinned, amused. "I'll go with your rather...basic attire, the meager jewelry, judging from the appearance, belonging to someone a lot older than you. And lets not forget the hanging out in an alley in a bad part of town. Think those covered it," he finished answering the rhetorical question with a grin. "Well, how'd you like to do this? We could throw down, have a good tussle, be it a running battle or otherwise. Or we could head down the street to the diner over there, get a quick bite, and haggle over the value of that stuff while I buy it off you. Or we could stand here a little longer and wait for more of those suckers to show. Thoughts?" His voice was relaxed, even amused.

[Elfy]

Stinger considers her options for a silent moment. She could try to run away or fight...or she could let him buy her food and give her money for her illegitimate gains. Tough choice.

"So," she says, "You’re going to buy me food...and buy the stuff in my bag?" She raises an eyebrow.

She shifts her hips to one side and rests her hands on them as she looks at him.

"I doubt you have the money. You're just blowing smoke." She folds her arms across her chest. "You’re just trying to set me up or something."

[Cyroa]

Hellion grinned. "Unless you'd rather fight it out. While I'm sure that might be fun, I don't particularly see the need."

He laughed, amused. He could probably lie through his teeth and she'd never know. But what would the fun in that be? "Blowing smoke huh? Tell you what, let's make a deal. If I can buy that, here and now, you have to put it back, then we'll do a meal and I'll front you the money. If I can't, I turn my back and just let you walk. Whad'ya say?"

[Elfy]

Stinger says, "Show me the color of your money and I’ll consider it." She stands there smirking. Her lips are accented with purple lip gloss.

Her dark locks of hair flutter as a light gust of wind blows. Small, heart-shaped silver earrings adorn her earlobes. The light scent of perfume hangs in the air.

Her fingernails are decorated with purple nail polish. Each of her nails have a bare spot at the back as if it’s been several days since she’s applied nail polish to them and her nails have outgrown the previous coating.

Her belly shirt reveals her slim waist which is decorated by belly ring of a stylized black cat with purple eyes. Her jeans are worn, but her sneakers look nearly new.

[Cyroa]

James watched her, relaxed smile still on his face, as he reached into a pocket. He pulled out a roll of bills, held in one hand. He flipped one bill up and held it in his off hand. A tiny burst of flame and it burned away, showing how unconcerned he was with loose a C-note. He generally didn't get this flashy but she pushed it so what the heck? If you're going to do something, go all the way. "So, you going to put it back and we'll deal or are we going to go with plan B?" In the dark, his clothes looked simply like jeans, sneakers with t-shirt and button up over it. Of course, they were all from designer labels and certainly not cheap.

[Elfy]

Stinger’s eyes light up as Hellion flashes his wad of cashâ€â€and burns a hundred dollar bill into ash right before her eyes.

She says, "How about...Plan Câ€â€I take the money and run!"

With an underhanded motion, a purple energy whip suddenly lashes out to make a grab for the money.

She immediately makes a run for it around the nearest corner and attempts to put as many things between her and the fire projecting boy as she can to avoid his retaliation.

[Cyroa]

James wasn't caught unprepared; he'd been expecting something, maybe not a energy whip thing but something. Even so, she managed to whip it forward and snatch the roll out of his hand, if only by the slimmest of margins. Even as she started moving away, he was sprinting after. He got to the corner of the alley just after her, gestured and sent forth a wave of fire. The fire whooshed past her, covering her but leaving her completely untouched. Her bag of stolen loot and the rolls of bills however were definitely touched. The bills in here hand were completely consumed in burst of fire. The bag fared a little better, but not much. It caught on fire, parts of it immediately consumed leaving holes for the jewelry to spill through. They hadn't fallen out yet, but fast movements would surely accomplish that. Of course, given the bag was still on fire, it likely wouldn't last long regardless.

James grinned. "Or not."

[Elfy]

Stinger hears the woosh rapidly approach her, but she fails to elude the fire. She feels its heat swirl around her as the cash in her hand lights up and the bag at her hip catches fire.

The teenager cries out "Woah!" in surprise and instinctively lets go of the burning cash. As the burning embers and ashes of the paper money flutter around in the wind behind her, she notices her bag is on fire too and that her loot falling free.

She exclaims, "Oh, crap!" and lets the remnants of the burning bag fall to the ground. She quickly continues to run down the sidewalk to further put distance between her and the fire-wielding teenager.

[Cyroa]

James chuckled and shook his head as she bounded away. With a tiny bit of effort, he disappeared and reappeared twenty or so feet in front of her. "What? Leaving already? You like to take the hard path don't you? I was offering dinner and conversation. That usually doesn't provoke people to take off running, but there's a first time for everything I suppose." If she continued to run, he'd let her go. But this was entertaining and definitely not the usual event for him.

[Elfy]

Although unexpected, the appearance of the boy suddenly popping up in front of her doesn’t slow Stinger down. She makes a run at him. The loss of all her loot, however, does call for a change of plan.

Just before she reaches him, she flips up onto one hand, spins around, and kicks forward at his chest. As she flicks her right foot out at him, the upside-down girl says, "What kind of food did you have in mind, Firebug? Maybe I’ll take you up on it."

[Cyroa]

James staggered back with a wince and a grunt she kicked him. "Now that wasn't too friendly." He lunged forward, slamming into her with far more strength then he appeared to have, grappling her as they both continued back from his charge. He grappled, trying to pin her arms behind her, if for nothing else so she couldn't blast him. His grip was like iron, trying to pin her behind. "We can really throw down or we can talk, your call. Last chance," he said with a charming smile.

[Elfy]

Upside down and standing on one hand, the slim girl is easily knocked over as her opponent grabs her arm. The pain of his grip forces Stinger to flip over and upright herself.

She squirms in his arms, but the boy’s superhuman strength holds her firm. After another attempt at struggling to get free, Stinger stops trying. She says, "Fine. You win, Firebug. You can buy me dinner...but don’t get any funny ideas."

[Cyroa]

James nodded slow and vanished as he teleported away. Back where the jewelry fell, he scooped them up and teleported back, stuffing them in his pocket. "What ideas? That you're a headstrong thief with energy attack powers who doesn't play well with others? Got it thanks," he said with a grin. "Relax. I've got plenty of dates if I want them. But I seldom meet powered girls in dark alleys. A little social time doesn't kill you know. So where you wanna eat?" He pulled a little fire out, snuffing the remains of any embers from her smoldering clothing and bag. He pulled the fire into himself, letting it heal away the bruise under his shirt. "You're choice. If you're willing to sit, chat and play nice that is."

[Elfy]

Stinger raises an eyebrow when the teen hero pockets her loot. She folds her arms across her chest and shifts her hips to one side while she looks at him accusingly.

She continues to watch him as he snuffs out the remaining embers. Before he’s done, she says "Fine. I like deep-dish pizza with Italian sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese." Her hands drop to her sides and she starts walking off down the sidewalk towards the various restaurants, not bothering to look behind her to see if he’s following her or not.

[Cyroa]

Nodding he pulled out a phone. "Sounds good to me. Let me just get a table ready." He spoke quietly into the phone after a minute. If she was listening particularly closely, it would sound like he was asking for a table out of the way. Low key, he didn't want to be noticed. "Vitorio's. 5 blocks down, 2 over. Great food. He's got a table ready. No reason we can't have pleasant conversation, is there? I need to go get my car. I left it a few blocks back. I'll meet you there. If you want to walk away, it's your call. If not, at the very least, I'm offering a free meal of excellent food and some relaxing company for a little while. I suppose if you'd like to resume the scuffling afterwords, I suppose we could do that do. Hope to see you soon." With that, he vanished. He had a few things to do after all.

[Elfy]

Stinger hears the fire-projecting teen call out the name of the pizza parlorâ€â€it’s one she knows well. The restaurant is several blocks away, but she’s used to walking.

She casually walks down the sidewalk, never bothering to answer him or look back over her shoulder.

Along the way, she can’t help but think about the wad of cash burning to ashes. What a waste. If only she could have gotten away with it, she’d have been set and not had to risk herself for a while to get money to live on.

A short while later she approaches the entrance to Vitorio’s. Her eyes scan the area to see if the boy who took her loot is there.

[Cyroa]

James had only just walked in the door a moment or two before. He headed over and gave the server his name. While she hurried off, he turned and looked back outside. Seeing her, he waved her in. He greeted her as she walked in, cheerful if careful not to let her get within arms reach. "Nice to see you again. Glad you decided to come." The server returned, waited a polite distance away. "Looks like our table is ready. After you," he said politely with a smile.

[Elfy]

Spotting the rich boy waiting for her, she walks inside the entrance. Her arms are folded across her chest and her eyes look down at the floor as if she’s there under protest.

She avoids returning his gaze. She replies, "Free food." Her stomach makes an embarrassing hunger noise. A light blush briefly appears on her cheeks as she looks off to one side.

After a moment, she heads towards the indicated table with her arms still folded across her chest and sits down on one side of the booth.