After several minutes of her sitting there, waiting for the boy to stop staring at her and respond in some way, she pushed herself up from the bench and gave him a glare. Shockingly, her speech impediment did not appear, and she felt oddly brave, in some odd way.
"It is very rude to stare, and even more rude to offer help to someone, and then not act upon that offer and completely ignore a person's questions," she snapped. Winsley gave him a scowl, turned, and walked away from him, her jaw clenched in anger.
It completely astounded her as to how rude and inconsiderate some people could be to others. What and annoying little ... She scowled further, her anger evident and her irritation prominent on her face.
She stifled a sigh and reached into the pocket of her skirt, where she removed a small wallet and flipped it open. Nothing inside of it had changed; she still had her gift cards to various stores - Cold Stone, Burger King, Wet Seal -, and she also had her library cards and her driver's license. She opened the part with her cash inside of it, and found that that, though, had changed. The bills were now changed to what she would imagine was Kalistos's currency, adding a bonus to her. At least she had money to buy food, water, and perhaps eventually a place to stay.
She stumbled to the side and caught herself on a wall, as someone large and burly slammed into her, nearly knocking her completely off of her feet. She tucked her wallet back into her skirt and looked over at the man that had bumped into her, her eyes wide.
The man glared at her and slowly began to move in her direction, causing her to take several steps back in order to avoid coming into contact with him again. A chill swept across her skin, goosebumps rising, and her blood ran cold.
"Stay away," she whispered, instantly recognizing the man's motives, due to the threatening aura he gave off.
He chuckled and narrowed his eyes at her. "Now why would I do that?" he asked quietly, snickering a little.
She clenched her jaw and balled her hands into fists. "Let's just say, I tried to warn you," she said in a soft growl.
With that, she struck out with her leg, her foot coming into contact with the surprised man's side. He let out a choked sound and stumbled to the side, before launching in her direction, his meaty palms up and stretched out to grab her. She ducked under and out of his grasp, threw herself in his direction, and tackled him from the waist - and directly into the marketplace.
Rolling off of him, Winsley flipped up mid-roll and spun around to face the man again, cracking her neck in the process. "Fifteen years of jujitsu, kung fu, and other various forms of karate, makes me determined to not allow an overweight sleaze-bag like you overcome me," she snarled.
The man pushed himself up, a lot more slowly and in more of stumble then she had, before fixing a glare on her and clenching his hands. As soon as he was up, he threw himself at her again, which only earned him a quick knee to the groin. He doubled over in pain, his hands protecting the 'family jewels', and she kicked out her leg once more, her foot slamming into the side of his head. He flew in the direction of a tomato cart and crashed into it, his howl of pain now gone due to his unconscious state.
"You pick a fight with the wrong Italian girl, ingannare," she muttered, her eyes narrowed.
Just then, something hard came into contact with her back, knocking her to the ground. The wind slammed out of her body, and she felt her arms restrained behind her back. "Lay still or face the consequences," somebody ordered in her ear.
The cold metal of the cuffs were shocking against the soft skin of her wrists.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Look, that man attacked me. I'm not lying! He cornered me in the alleyway, and for all I knew was going to kill me, so I defended myself. Why is that so hard to believe?"
"Because for some odd reason, nothing about you checks out, little girl. I've also never heard your accent before, in my entire life, and you do not have the coloring of any race of people I have ever met. Your ID is not one that anyone here has ever seen before, nor have we ever heard of any of the stores or the library that you have cards to. Now, I will give you one last chance. Who are you and where did you come from?"
"I'm telling you the truth! My name is Winsley, and I'm from Ghaliar. My mother and father are merchants at the local marketplace there. They sell bread. Why is that so hard to believe?" she asked, her expression sincere. "I was here traveling with my brother, and we were separated when we entered town. I was looking for him in the marketplace when that man slammed into me. He cornered me in the alleyway, I defended myself, and then you idiotas tackled and brought me here," she snapped.
The woman threw her hands in the air, her frustration evident. "Foreigners ..." she muttered, rubbing at her temples. Her partner, a young male only a few years older then Winsley, offered her a kind smile and slid a glass of ice-cold water across the table they sat at. "Here. Ignore her, she's been stressed lately and is taking it out on you. You hungry? I can run and get you something to eat," he offered.
Winsley began to shake her head, for she accepted the water and nodded a little. "I am a bit hungry ..." she murmured. The man smiled and looked over at his partner. "Can you run and get her some food? I'll stay here and watch her," he offered. His partner sighed, glared at the two for a moment, before she turned and left the small interrogation from.
Winsley shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked down at her water glass.
Cole ... Alessandra ... Where are you when I need you the most ...?